It appears that Job is stopped dead by Bildad. Bildad prides himself on being a philosopher who has inherited the wisdom of the fathers of antiquity. Like the proverbial ‘bull in a China shop’, he rushes straight in and attacks Job. The overall thrust of his speech is this, ‘Job you are a hypocrite and I’ve never met somebody as vain and proud or stubborn as you’.
Henry, in his commentary, says the following.
‘Job’s friends, like the messengers of his disasters, followed each other in rapid succession, the messengers with evil tidings, and his friends with harsh censures, perhaps both the messengers and the friends being unaware of how effectively they fitted into the design of Satan. The messengers were calculated to drive Job from his integrity and the friends, chosen by the evil one, sought to drive him from the comfort of that integrity.’
Bildad more or less calls Job a hot air balloon, ‘keep up pretence’, Job 8:1-2. He says he accused God and everybody but himself. His theories are the same as Eliphaz’s, God is just and righteous in all his dealings with men even if he should afflict pain in some way, Job 8:3. He rebuked Job for what he said in the last speech since Job had assumed that he was right, Job 6:29-30.
Dummelow, in his commentary, says the following.
‘Can there be injustice with God as Job seems to think is possible? Bildad thinks the All-powerful must in the nature of things be righteous. Job does not deny the omnipotence, but he questions the righteousness.’
He states the theory of retribution and states that Eliphaz is right. With Bildad, it is a foregone conclusion that whoever God afflicts is a sinful man, Job 8:4 / Luke 13:4 / John 9:2-3. Since Job had argued that man is shaped in life by unbearable trials that are brought on him by God, Job 7:1-7 / Job 7:17-18, Bildad says that God was just in whatever He did in the life of man.
He leads down a bad path and he points to Job’s children and says that they died because they were sinners too, Job 8:4. Those words must have hurt Job deeply. He uses the argument to demonstrate Job’s unrighteousness Job 8:5. Since God is the Almighty, then everything that comes from Him is just. Bildad concluded that if Job will repent, then God would restore Job’s blessings beyond what he had, Job 8:6.
Bildad says he should turn to God, Job 8:5, or the same fate will happen to him, Job 8:6. He uses the same faulty argument that prosperity means righteousness, Job 8:7. As far as he is concerned, Job was a big sinner, because he can see how bad Job is struck by bankruptcy.
Bildad now challenges Job to consider the past experiences of man that would confirm the exhortations that he was giving to Job, Job 8:8. All wisdom from the past may well be wrong, Job 8:8. If this man thought Eliphaz was too easy on Job, he wasn’t going to be. Following the principle of cause and effect, every effect is there by cause. This is true but in Job’s case, it doesn’t apply, Job 42:10-17.
He says that he was right, simply because the advice he was giving was found in the traditional teachings of the society in which they all lived, Job 8:9-10. However, his assumption was wrong because the antiquity of teaching does not prove that a particular teaching is right.
The papyrus plant grows while in the presence of water but when the water is removed, it withers, Job 8:11. Man’s life is like the reeds, while alive the plant spreads its roots among the rocks in order to survive, Job 8:12. Bildad says such is the destiny of all who forget God, so perishes the hope of the godless, Job 8:13.
The hope of an ungodly man is as flimsy as a spider’s web, Job 8:14, that is, there is no support, Job 8:15. Green plants prosper in the sun but if uprooted they die, Job 8:16-18, but when dead, it is no longer remembered and another plant takes its place, Job 8:19 / Job 7:13. The point is that Job was once prosperous but because of that, he was uprooted.
Bildad contends that God will not cast away a perfect man, Job 8:20 / Matthew 27:43. Looking at him, he says he was cast away from God so therefore he is unrighteous. He says if Job would only repent than His mouth would be filled with laughter and his lips with shouts of joy, Job 8:21.
Notice Bildad says, your enemies will be clothed in shame, Job 8:22. By the time we get to the end of the book of Job, he himself would be one of those who is clothed in shame. All these accusations are in conflict with what God has said about Job, Job 1:8 / Job 2:3.
Keil, in his commentary, says the following.
‘Bildad’s tragic mistake lay in this, that he thought his commonplace utterances were sufficient to explain all the mysteries of life.’