Having heard Job’s response to Eliphaz, Bildad resented how he kept insisting
on his innocence. He objected angrily at how Job spoke about himself and God. Both
Eliphaz and Bildad dealt with the subject of destruction of the wicked. Eliphaz
saw the punishment of the wicked from his conscience, Bildad saw destruction coming
from without. Nature itself came against the sinner. Eliphaz rebuked Job for
dealing with his friends unfairly, calling them by all sorts of names such as:
annoying comforters, scorners, mockers, blind and ignorant advisers. Bildad
felt that Job had also maligned his friends thinking that they were stupid and beastly.
Besides, he felt that Job had also accused God without according Him the reverence.
In Job 18:4, Bildad told Job that it was not God who had torn him up but it was
his own uncontrolled fury against God that was tearing him up.
Bildad then described the downfall of the
wicked using several figures of speech. While he spoke about it generally, he
was referencing Job in veiled language. He lumped Job together with sinful men
and spoke generally about the negative experiences sinners would have to endure.
In verses 5-7, he was saying that the light of the sinners would go out, meaning
they would experience darkness. In verses 8-11, Bildad said that sinners would
be snared and be caught in their own errors. Verses 12-14 describe for us how
sinners would be stricken physically and devoured. In verses 15-17, we are told
of the extinction of the sinners’ name and race. Finally, in verses 18-21, Bildad
said that what sinners would go through would puzzle and astound the onlookers.
What Bildad
did to Job is something that we should never do to another person, no matter
how justified we feel about it. It is better to be true and correct in what we say more
than being brilliant in our presentation. No matter how right our message maybe,
it is pointless when administered to the wrong person. A right message can only
make impact when it is given to the right recipient.
No comments:
Post a Comment