CAN THE BLAMELESS SUFFER?

Job 8:1-22 / Keywords 8:3

Does God pervert justice? Does the Almighty pervert what is right?

 

Bildad

8:1 Then Bildad the Shuhite replied:

2 “How long will you say such things?

    Your words are a blustering wind.

3 Does God pervert justice?

    Does the Almighty pervert what is right?

4 When your children sinned against him,

    he gave them over to the penalty of their sin.

5 But if you will seek God earnestly

    and plead with the Almighty,

6 if you are pure and upright,

    even now he will rouse himself on your behalf

    and restore you to your prosperous state.

7 Your beginnings will seem humble,

    so prosperous will your future be.

8 “Ask the former generation

    and find out what their ancestors learned,

9 for we were born only yesterday and know nothing,

    and our days on earth are but a shadow.

10 Will they not instruct you and tell you?

    Will they not bring forth words from their understanding?

11 Can papyrus grow tall where there is no marsh?

    Can reeds thrive without water?

12 While still growing and uncut,

    they wither more quickly than grass.

13 Such is the destiny of all who forget God;

    so perishes the hope of the godless.

14 What they trust in is fragile[a];

    what they rely on is a spider’s web.

15 They lean on the web, but it gives way;

    they cling to it, but it does not hold.

16 They are like a well-watered plant in the sunshine,

    spreading its shoots over the garden;

17 it entwines its roots around a pile of rocks

    and looks for a place among the stones.

18 But when it is torn from its spot,

    that place disowns it and says, ‘I never saw you.’

19 Surely its life withers away,

    and[b] from the soil other plants grow.

20 “Surely God does not reject one who is blameless

    or strengthen the hands of evildoers.

21 He will yet fill your mouth with laughter

    and your lips with shouts of joy.

22 Your enemies will be clothed in shame,

    and the tents of the wicked will be no more.”

Footnotes

a. Job 8:14 The meaning of the Hebrew for this word is uncertain.

b. Job 8:19 Or Surely all the joy it has / is that

1. Bildad is a horrible comforter! Immediately, he dismisses Job’s words as being “blustering wind” and brings up the death of Job’s children in a very insensitive way. Bildad’s premise is that God never perverts justice. He always gets it right. Therefore, Bildad argues, their sin was the reason Job’s children died. It was their due penalty from God for what they had done. That is a huge assumption, isn’t it? Aren’t we all sinners and deserving of death? Bildad’s argument moves to encircle Job himself. If Job was really blameless, God would restore his prosperity. If not, then maybe he, too, is getting what he deserved. We must reject Bildad’s way of thinking. We know that trials come to the lives of the godly and ungodly alike. God uses them for his purposes and glory.

 

2. Bildad uses several images to illustrate the destiny of those who forget God. They are like reeds without water and the worldly things they prop themselves up with are no stronger than spider webs. The implication was that Job had forgotten God. If he were truly blameless, none of this would be happening. Jesus is the only truly blameless person who ever lived and he suffered more than we could ever imagine as he bore the penalty for our sins on the cross. Bildad is wrong. Sometimes the righteous do suffer.

 

Prayer Father, help us to glorify you even in trials.

One Word Even the blameless endure suffering