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.