Job 8 THE ANSWERS ARE WHAT TRADITION SAYS Bildad plainly stated his position as to why Job suffered by rebuking Job for claiming to be an innocent man. His point of view is that God does not do anything that is not just. In that he was correct because the justice of God is always right and is not changed by the ideas of men, or the things they might do to earn His favor. God does not overlook sin of any kind, and it is on that ground Bildad took his position. But God can, and does, forgive sins on a just basis. That is where Bildad was wrong. He said God is perfectly just so does not allow suffering in someone who is just. If a person is unjust and they suffer punishment, they are evil. Evil always fails and righteousness always prospers was his point.
Bildad seemed like he was a rude man even compared to Eliphaz. His assertion was that because God hadn't healed and restored Job to what he once was, something was still radically wrong with Job. His traditional view was that when things are right with Job he will get rich and increase in every way because that is what the traditionalists believe. He rejected Job's defense of suffering without evil on his part having caused it. He ignored Job's charge of his friends not caring for him and giving him a little bit of sympathy. He did not consider all the months that Job had already been suffering patiently compared to Job's few words of impatience
Bildad was of a harder personality than Eliphaz when he said that Job's children all died because they were all wicked people. His lack of sensitivity stands out like that of the Pharisees and those who know their own traditions but do not know God. More than just what happened to Job and his family, Bildad takes the position that there are no exceptions to what he believed. One can deduce that if something happens repeatedly it is a general rule, but to be dogmatic that it always happens like that in everyone is not right. He was not right in Job's case.
Satan took advantage of Job by using Bildad to introduce the judicial aspect of suffering because of offended justice. The impact would be to tempt Job to think, "Where is justice? Where is the God of justice?" In Bildad's hard-hearted opinion Job's children's wickedness was fatal because they had gone too far in sin. He affirmed there was hope for Job because he was still alive even though suffering, so he should seek God.
The wisdom Bildad claimed he had was passed down from one generation to the next through the ages, and he accused Job of arrogance by not thinking that the traditional beliefs Bildad adhered to applied to him. We have seen the teaching of evolution become a tradition from one generation of school teachers to the next until it is accepted as a fact in many different parts of the world. People don't seem to mind that it does not stand up to scientific scrutiny, normal human logic and reason, but is based on mere speculation and unfounded faith that defies common sense. Evolutionists will say, "The past will teach us," so from bits and pieces of stone and bone they think they have learned all about origins and the development of the earth and mankind. This has become a modern-day tradition that is so accepted, those who believe it mock and openly oppose those who do not.
Speculation that all that people say and do is changeless and must be adhered to, comes from man's changing opinions. Bildad used a garden and a swamp that can be changed by cutting it down as an illustration, as to how change comes, rather than basing reality both of things that change and things that don't on the word and character of an unchanging God. He made some assertions that were correct when he said that the happiness of the wicked will be gone very quickly and it is fragile because it is based on appearances. But he mistakenly applied all of his traditional opinions to Job who did not fit the portrait of the wicked. Eliphaz had implied that there was hidden wickedness in Job, but Bildad bluntly asserted that Job was inherently wicked.
Bildad was saying that he had learned all this when he was young. It was told to him by others and passed on as tradition, people have been believing it down through generations, so therefore it was true. He seemed to think that by examining Job's situation through the eyes of the past traditions, he could tell him why all those things had happened to him and what to expect. All of what he said was not wrong, but was of no help to one who is suffering in great agony of body, soul and spirit. Even his warnings regarding the ungodly were directed at Job. He said God will not cast off a perfect man which is true, but there is no one perfect.
God will not reject the blameless is right, and he will not "uphold evil doers is also right. But the "if you are pure and upright" statement more or less negated the brief words of encouragement Bildad gave at the end of his discourse. To really sum up what Bildad said about Job so far is that Job is a hypocrite or none of this would have happened to him.
Those who are Bible-believing Christians have placed their confidence and security on the unchanging foundation of God and His word. This is not blind faith based on traditions or ideas of man who sees nothing greater than themselves. This is based on the observable and tried and proven scriptures of truth. This is a secure foundation that is not able to be undermined by speculation and opinions without any basis in reason, logic and observable evidence.