Potshots from the Shortest Man in the Bible

Job, you’re a windbag!
Job, your kids got what they deserved!
Job, if you were a person of integrity God would have heard you by now!

The lack of tact on Bildad’s part is breathtaking. I have read this portion of Job dozens and dozens of times and still find it hard to believe that this Bible School theologian had the audacity to say this to his friend while he is dieing on this lonely ash heap.

Bildad the Shoe Height (I know it’s supposed to “Shuhite,” but that name more aptly fits the depth of his theology) was the second comforter to speak. Perhaps Eliphaz, Bildad, and Zophar were close in age, but as Hartley writes, “The order of speaking is based on their status and their eloquence rather than their age.” He doesn’t begin as kindly as Eliphaz. I call him the Excel Preacher. Not because he’s an excellent preacher, but because he has sort of a spreadsheet theology: all life’s circumstances fit in either two columns (righteous and unrighteous) and in two rows (blessing and calamity). FI Anderson states, “He is objective and analytical in his speech about God and man.” Whereas Microsoft Excel has an entire array of formulas to decipher data, Bildad only has two:

1) Unrighteousness always results in calamity
2) Righteousness always results in blessing

And with Bildad, there are no variables and there is no formula for forgiveness. To state his formulas with an “if –then” proposition they would sound like this:

1) If calamity strikes then their must be sin (either hidden or overt)
2) If blessings come then their must be righteousness.

Exceptions to these formulas only “seem” to be exceptions (and are only momentary).

Case closed!

FIA sums it up this way, “In his simple theology everything can be explained in terms of two kinds of men – the blameless and the secretly wicked; outwardly the same, God distinguishes them by prospering the one and destroying the other.”

I’ll bet Bildad never offered to pick up a broken piece of pottery and help scratch Job’s back where he couldn’t reach. I’ll bet he never said, “Hey Job, let me run down to Walgreen’s and see if I can get you something for that awful itching.” He just got out his Bible, pointed to a passage with his long boney finger, blasted away with some proof texts and said, “Read this Job! This is you!”

Swindoll writes, “Arguments and insult eclipsed comfort and sympathy…They kept offering their shallow answers and simplistic solutions as Job struggled to survive. The longer they argued, the further they drifted from helping him.” In his commentary, Swindoll also quotes HL Mencken who says, “There is always an easy solution to every human problem – neat, plausible, and wrong.”

Let’s just briefly unpack these ten verses:

8:1-2 Then Bildad the Shuhite answered, 8:2 “How long will you say these {things,} And the words of your mouth be a mighty wind?” A pastor friend recounted another pastor’s comment about the blow dryers/hand dryers in the restroom. “They should put a little sign here,” he said, “that reads: ‘For a copy of today’s sermon, push here!’” I thought that was hilarious. But that’s how Bildad viewed Job’s ash heap sermons – just a bunch of hot air from a misguided windbag!

8:3 "Does God pervert justice Or does the Almighty pervert what is right?” The word “pervert” here simply means to twist or bend or make crooked. A sign that hung over the old blacksmith’s shop simply read, “All Kinds of Fancy Twistings and Turnings Done Here.” That’s what the three comforters accused Job of doing…twisting theology to fit his circumstance.

8:4 "If your sons sinned against Him, then He delivered them into the power of their transgression.” Can you imagine visiting a friend in the hospital who had almost died in a car accident, and whose wife had been killed, saying to them, “Well…I guess she got what she had coming!” Chuck Swindoll says in his commentary that if this had been “Chuck 8:4” instead of “Job 8:4” he would have hauled off and punched Bildad.

8:5 "If you would seek God and implore the compassion of the Almighty, 8:6 If you are pure and upright, surely now He would rouse himself for you and restore your righteous estate.” Translation? Job if you had any kind of a prayer life, and if you were a man of integrity, God would have answered by now!

8:7 “Though your beginning was insignificant, yet your end will increase greatly.” I can’t help but think that there is just a tinge of jealousy in Bildad’s statement. Job, the wealthiest man in that portion of the world, an insignificant beginning?

8:8 “Please inquire of past generations, and consider the things searched out by their fathers. 8:9 For we are {only} of yesterday and know nothing, because our days on earth are as a shadow. 8:10 Will they not teach you {and} tell you, and bring forth words from their minds?” FI Anderson writes, “As is usually the case, the weaker the case or argument, the more confidently it’s stated.” Bildad was at least right about one thing…he knows nothing! (vs. 9)

Conclusion: I wonder how all three of the comforters will feel when we get to the end of the story and find that the promises that they had held out to our hero are fulfilled (God will heal and restore you Job!), but without following their theology or their advice!

I definitely believe that God blesses obedience and integrity. And I believe there are at times just some simple and basic steps we need to take to correct difficulties in life. But we also need to be careful about offering simplistic and superficial solutions to the complex problems that face us.

Job, Your Theology is Upside Down!

We are often impressed when men and women, while under the most extreme pressure and the most trying of circumstances, remain calm and composed. Perhaps they do not raise their voices and perhaps they seem to radiate a certain stoic steadfastness. We may conclude by their serene demeanor that “What tremendous faith they must have!” In the only New Testament reference to Job, James says this, “You have heard of the patience of Job and have seen the outcome of the Lord’s dealings…” (5:11). The Greek word for patience (or rather “endurance”) is hupo-mone and means “the ability to abide under.” Thayer defines it as “the characteristic of a man who is not swerved from his deliberate purpose and his loyalty to faith and piety by even the greatest trials and sufferings.”

Uhmmm, excuse me Mr. Thayer, but Job seems to have swerved just a wee little bit from his hupomone/endurance (and has almost run off the road).

Francis I Anderson writes, “A calm and heavenly frame for a closer walk with God is not the uniform standard for biblical religion.” If it were, Job would be excluded from the club.

In this passage (7:11-21) Job is intense, vehement, furious, sarcastic, and bitter. And his theology has turned upside down!

7:11 "Therefore, I will not restrain my mouth; I will speak in the anguish of my spirit, I will complain in the bitterness of my soul.”

Hartley writes that the three “I will’s” reveal Job’s determined resolve and “for one plagued by such excruciating pain, silence is not golden!” If Job were to respond to an altar call and kneel down at the front of the church and pray, they wouldn’t be quiet and reverential King-James-English types of prayers. They would be a torrent of emotion that would probably shock the average “Shhhhhhh, this is church!” churchgoer. Writes FIA, “So Job makes his way to God with prayers that are sobs.”

7:12 "Am I the sea, or the sea monster, that Thou dost set a guard over me?"

In ancient mythology and in sort of a divine WWF Smackdown fashion, the gods would fight for control of the planet. The sea (Yam) and the sea monster (Tannin) engaged in a cosmic battle with Baal or some other god. So Job seems to be saying, “Am I (this bag of bones covered with worms and dirt) some sort of threat to You that You have to throw me into this prison of misery? This is ludicrous the way I am being treated!”

7:13 "If I say, 'My bed will comfort me, My couch will ease my complaint,' 7:14 Then Thou dost frighten me with dreams and terrify me by visions; 7:15 So that my soul would choose suffocation, death rather than my pains.”

During the day he thinks that if he could just lie down and get some sleep, he would feel better. But then when he does sleep, he is tormented by nightmares. And at times, probably as a result of his sickness, he coughs so violently that it is hard for him to catch his breath; he feels as though he is strangling (some commentators point to this as a symptom of elephantiasis).

7:16 "I waste away; I will not live forever. Leave me alone, for my days are {but} a breath."

In verse 7 of this chapter Job cried out, “Remember me!” (I paraphrased that just a little). But here he says, “Leave me alone!” As we wind our way through this chapter (and the entire book), we witness the wild swings in Job’s thinking and emotions.

7:17 "What is man that Thou dost magnify him, and that Thou art concerned about him, 7:18 That Thou dost examine him every morning, and try him every moment?"

These words parallel a portion of Psalm 8. Hartley writes, “Job is so frustrated at God’s hostility that he parodies two hymnic lines in praise of God’s exaltation of humanity…Job experiences God’s vigilance as unrelenting oppression…it seems to Job that God’s gaze is a continual effort to find and punish his every flaw.” Notice the three “Thou’s”: Thou dost magnify…Thou art concerned…Thou dost examine. Three phrases that should bring comfort; but Job uses them in a caustic way that borders on sarcasm.

7:19 “Wilt Thou never turn Thy gaze away from me, nor let me alone until I swallow my spittle?"

The Vander Ark paraphrased version: “God, can’t you even give me just a moment of privacy!? Can’t you just let me spit in peace?!”

7:20 “Have I sinned? What have I done to Thee, O watcher of men? Why hast Thou set me as Thy target, so that I am a burden to myself? 7:21 “Why then dost Thou not pardon my transgression and take away my iniquity? For now I will lie down in the dust; and Thou wilt seek me, but I will not be."

In these last two verses, three words are used to describe sin in its every facet (sinned, transgression, iniquity); and the two words for forgiveness in the last verse (pardon, take away) emphasize the completeness of God’s forgiveness.

But note Job’s scathing sarcasm: “What have I done to Thee, O Watcher of men?” Normally we take great comfort in the fact that “His eye is on the sparrow, and He watches over me!” Or the fact that He knows the very number of hairs on our head (I am down to 113 by the way).

In Job’s severe and life-threatening illness, his theology had turned so completely upside down. In chapter three he complained that God had hedged him in so that he couldn’t escape his troubles, when in fact chapter one revealed that God had a force field hedge around him so that the enemy couldn’t attack him! And in chapter 6 (vs. 9) he wished that God’s hand would just strike one final blow upon him and get it over with, when in fact it was the hand of Satan that was causing him so much trouble (and only the command of God that kept Satan’s hand from killing him!). And now in verse 20 he sarcastically asks God why He has set him up as a target in His cosmic shooting gallery, blasting away at him with everything from 22’s to M-16’s to Howitzers. And yet Satan was the shooter; God was all the while defending Job (and admiring him!).

If your world seems to have turned upside down lately, don’t let your theology do the same. Remember that God is fighting for you! We may not understand what is happening to us (nor the “why”), and our own personal “Job chapter 38 encounter with God” may be a long way off, but God’s grace is sufficient to carry you through.

A Wardrobe of Worms (Job 7:1-10)

In Chapter 7 we gain a further glimpse into the intense emotional and physical struggle of Job and the seemingly total abandonment by God. Hartley writes, “That Job speaks realistically about his pains here, in contrast to the unrealistic wish never to have been born that he uttered in his curse-lament in chapter 3, means that he is beginning to cope with his real situation.

Most of this week’s verses will be from either the version of the Bible called “The Message” (MSG) or the “New Living Translation” (NLT).

(MSG) 7:1-3 “Human life is a struggle, isn’t it? It’s a life sentence to hard labor. 2 Like field hands longing for quitting time and working stiffs with nothing to hope for but payday, 3 I’m given a life that meanders and goes nowhere—months of aimlessness, nights of misery!”

At least field hands have the hope of relaxing in the shade at the end of the day; and employees, as much as they may hate their jobs, have at least a paycheck to look forward to at the end of the week. But Job? There is no relief from his misery and no “wages” so to speak for his toil in his trials. The New American Standard Version puts verse 3 this way, “So am I allotted months of vanity, and nights of trouble are appointed me.” Francis I. Anderson (FIA) writes, “Job does not even have the satisfaction of rest or wages at the end of his work day….instead of pay there is emptiness; instead of rest, nights of misery.”

Notice the phrase “months of vanity…” An indication of the length of his suffering? As I stated in one of the other devotionals, we are not sure about how long Job’s trial lasted. It seems to have been at least a year and perhaps, according to Jewish tradition, it was a total of 7 years. For sure it was at least “months.”

(MSG) 7:4 “I go to bed and think, ‘How long till I can get up?’ I toss and turn as the night drags on—and I’m fed up!”The New Living Translation puts it this way, “Lying in bed, I think, ’When will it be morning?’ But the night drags on, and I toss till dawn.”

At night his depression grew worse. It was just Job, the ash heap, his agony….and the unsettling quietness. Hartley pens, “The night passes so slowly that in its stillness he becomes conscious of every pain in his body.” But contrast vs. 4 with vs. 6: (NASV) "My days are swifter than a weaver’s shuttle, and come to an end without hope.” In verse 4 his days seemed to drag on and on and on, but in verse 6 they are swifter than the shuttle of a loom (and a shuttle flies very swiftly in the hands of a skilled weaver). Hartley painfully reminds us, “During the slow agonizing nights, memories of his past make him sadly aware that his days are passing far too swiftly.”

FIA states, “Conflicting thoughts are bound to rage in the heart and mind of one who says ‘I am full of tossing.’”

(MSG) 7:5 “I’m covered with maggots and scabs. My skin gets scaly and hard, then oozes with pus.” The NLT reads, “My body is covered with maggots and scabs. My skin breaks open, oozing with pus.”

A number of years ago when I was delivering supplies at the clinic where I worked, I was waiting for the elevator by the doctor’s dining room. On their bulletin board I read a rather unsettling account of an individual who had some sort of ulcer on their shoulder blade area that wouldn’t heal. (Why this was posted on a bulletin board by the dining room I will never know). Upon further inspection the doctor found that some type of worm or larva was living under the skin in the open ulcer! (Excuse me for a moment, but THAT’S LIKE TOTALLY GROSS!) The cure? I know it sounds like a medieval “Leeches R Us” type of cure, but the doctor PLACED A STRIP OF BACON over the ulcer (I am not making this up) and waited for the larva to eat its way up to the bacon and poke its head through! The doctor then grabbed the little alien with a forceps, pulled it out and then cleaned, medicated and bandaged the ulcer. Oh, and he removed the strip of bacon. (So I guess if you have a sore that won’t heal and when you go to see the doctor the nurse brings out a package of Hormel Bacon, well, you might just be infected with some alien Bot Fly larva.)

The point of that little story? A good portion of Job’s body was infected with worms in the open and pus filled sores! You can’t really blame his friends from turning their faces away from him. Just so we don’t forget his pathetic and miserable condition lets read verse 5 once more (this time from the Amplified version), “My flesh is clothed with worms and clods of dust; my skin is broken and has become loathsome, and it closes up and breaks out afresh.”

(NLT) 7:7-10 “O God, remember that my life is but a breath, and I will never again feel happiness. 8 You see me now, but not for long. You will look for me, but I will be gone. 9 Just as a cloud dissipates and vanishes, those who die will not come back. 10 They are gone forever from their home—never to be seen again.”

The Message paints verse 10 in a rather poignant way, “They don’t return to visit their families; never again will friends drop in for coffee.” Job’s thinking? “Never again will family, friends and loved ones just pop in for a visit so that we can visit and laugh and catch up on how the kids have grown and how the grandchildren are doing in school. Never again.” From Job’s point of view (while wrapped in a worm robe), he had nothing to live for. His kids were gone, his businesses destroyed and it seemed that God had abandoned him. And his illness was terminal.

But notice one more time the end of verse 7, “…I will never again feel happiness.” (Its literally “I will never again see good"). Perhaps your situation or circumstances make you feel like you “will NEVER feel happiness again.” But you will! The story is not over for Job. And the story does not have to be over for you! God can give hope in the darkest of storms. It may take some time (even years), but He can and will restore happiness and joy to your heart! Keep crying out to Him and trusting Him.