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1 Then answered Bildad the Shuhite, and said,

2 How long wilt thou speake these things? and how long shall the wordes of thy mouth be like a strong wind?

3 Doth God peruert iudgement? or doth the Almightie peruert iustice?

4 If thy children haue sinned against him, and he haue cast them away for their transgression:

5 If thou wouldest seeke vnto God betimes, and make thy supplication to the Almightie:

6 If thou wert pure and vpright, surely now he would awake for thee, and make the habitation of thy righteousnes prosperous.

7 Though thy beginning was small, yet thy latter end should greatly increase.

8 For enquire, I pray thee, of the former age, and prepare thy selfe to the search of their fathers.

9 (For we are but of yesterday, and know nothing, because our dayes vpon earth are a shadow.)

10 Shall not they teach thee, and tell thee, & vtter words out of their heart?

11 Can the rush growe vp without myre? can the flag growe without water?

12 Whilest it is yet in his greennesse, and not cut downe, it withereth before any other herbe.

13 So are the paths of all that forget God, and the hypocrites hope shall perish:

14 Whose hope shall be cut off, and whose trust shall be a spiders web.

15 He shall leane vpon his house, but it shall not stand: he shal hold it fast, but it shall not endure.

16 He is greene before the sunne, and his branch shooteth forth in his garden.

17 His roots are wrapped about the heape, and seeth the place of stones.

18 If he destroy him from his place, then it shal denie him, saying, I haue not seene thee.

19 Beholde, this is the ioy of his way, and out of the earth shall others grow.

20 Behold, God will not cast away a perfect man, neither will hee helpe the euill doers:

21 Till he fill thy mouth with laughing, and thy lips with reioycing.

22 They that hate thee shall be cloathed with shame, and the dwelling place of the wicked shall come to nought.

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Commentary for Job 8

Bildad reproves Job. (1-7) Hypocrites will be destroyed. (8-19) Bildad applies God's just dealing to Job. (20-22)1-7 Job spake much to the purpose; but Bildad, like an eager, angry disputant, turns it all off with this, How long wilt thou speak these things? Men's meaning is not taken aright, and then they are rebuked, as if they were evil-doers. Even in disputes on religion, it is too common to treat others with sharpness, and their arguments with contempt. Bildad's discourse shows that he had not a favourable opinion of Job's character. Job owned that God did not pervert judgment; yet it did not therefore follow that his children were cast-aways, or that they did for some great transgression. Extraordinary afflictions are not always the punishment of extraordinary sins, sometimes they are the trials of extraordinary graces: in judging of another's case, we ought to take the favorable side. Bildad puts Job in hope, that if he were indeed upright, he should yet see a good end of his present troubles. This is God's way of enriching the souls of his people with graces and comforts. The beginning is small, but the progress is to perfection. Dawning light grows to noon-day.

8-19 Bildad discourses well of hypocrites and evil-doers, and the fatal end of all their hopes and joys. He proves this truth of the destruction of the hopes and joys of hypocrites, by an appeal to former times. Bildad refers to the testimony of the ancients. Those teach best that utter words out of their heart, that speak from an experience of spiritual and divine things. A rush growing in fenny ground, looking very green, but withering in dry weather, represents the hypocrite's profession, which is maintained only in times of prosperity. The spider's web, spun with great skill, but easily swept away, represents a man's pretensions to religion when without the grace of God in his heart. A formal professor flatters himself in his own eyes, doubts not of his salvation, is secure, and cheats the world with his vain confidences. The flourishing of the tree, planted in the garden, striking root to the rock, yet after a time cut down and thrown aside, represents wicked men, when most firmly established, suddenly thrown down and forgotten. This doctrine of the vanity of a hypocrite's confidence, or the prosperity of a wicked man, is sound; but it was not applicable to the case of Job, if confined to the present world.

20-22 Bildad here assures Job, that as he was so he should fare; therefore they concluded, that as he fared so he was. God will not cast away an upright man; he may be cast down for a time, but he shall not be cast away for ever. Sin brings ruin on persons and families. Yet to argue, that Job was an ungodly, wicked man, was unjust and uncharitable. The mistake in these reasonings arose from Job's friends not distinguishing between the present state of trial and discipline, and the future state of final judgment. May we choose the portion, possess the confidence, bear the cross, and die the death of the righteous; and, in the mean time, be careful neither to wound others by rash judgments, nor to distress ourselves needlessly about the opinions of our fellow-creatures.

Commentary by Matthew Henry, 1710.

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