Introduction. Read Job18and19

There is nothing very new in what Bildad and Job have to say. They tend to repeat views already expressed but with greater vehemence. However it is worth dealing with the two chapters in detail because certain important issues are raised about how we deal with people who suffer great misfortune for whatever reason.

(A) Bildad's outburst.

(1) Bildad's criticisms of Job. See 18v1to4.

(a) He wants Job to shut up! He and his friends find it difficult to counter Job's arguments. They feel very uncomfortable and insecure when Job challenges their theological position. The three comforters are too proud to admit they have been wrong.

Several of my friends are like this. My views on hell are different from theirs. They cannot believe that millions of Christians have been wrong about this for hundreds of years. Another subject about which many Christians have closed minds is the inerrancy of Scripture. It does not matter what evidence is provided to demonstrate that this cannot be the case very few fundamentalists have any intention to reconsider their position. For example, if Scripture is infallible why does Paul so often quote the Old Testament inaccurately or why does each gospel author report what Pilate had written about Jesus differently. We do not know the exact Greek words on the notice the Governor had nailed to the cross. (It was written in Greek, Latin and Aramaic.)

(b) He wants Job to be sensible. By this Bildad means Job should agree with him and his friends! Job should stop challenging perceived wisdom and conform to the prevailing theological orthodoxy.

This again is a very common reaction among Christians and others. It was evident in the debate about redefining marriage. The majority of members of parliament want all the dissidents to be sensible and to fall into line. The views of those who wanted to redefine marriage were very simple: marriage is good so let's open it to gays or it is discriminatory to ban gays from marriage. Several excellent articles appeared in the Daily Telegraph opposing the redefinition of marriage which went unanswered and unheeded.

I have heard preachers in my own association of churches say that Calvinism is the only possible theological position for those who accept the inspiration of Scripture. This is equivalent to Bildad's, 'Be sensible Job; agree with us.' Many Calvinists believe that the only way to be sound is to agree with them. I wonder what they make of a Scripture like 1Tim2v3: This is good, and pleases God our Saviour, who wants all men be saved and to come to a knowledge of the truth.

(c) He accuses of Job of showing lack of respect. Bildad considers Job treats him and his allies as though they had the mental capacity of cattle. There is no doubt that Job was highly critical of his friend's unwillingness to accept he had done nothing deserving of the catastrophes that befell him. But then Job may be correct and Bildad the one guilty of sticking with bovine stubbornness to an untenable theological position.

Bildad's tactic is one frequently used today whenever contentious issues are discussed. Jesus was a controversial preacher! He challenged the prevailing orthodoxies and was dismissed as a man who had never studied the rabbinical writings. Paul's reputation was trashed in Corinth by the "super apostles" because he lacked their qualifications.

Scientists through the years have often been very slow to accept new ideas - especially if they discredit long held ones. It took some time before the medical world was convinced that diseases were caused by germs and not nasty smells.

So when I attack Calvinism there are those who dismiss me as an amateur lacking in respect for eminent theologians and Bible scholars who espouse its distinctive doctrines. There were great Jewish scholars in Jesus day - who lacked the spiritual insight of a country carpenter.

(d) He tells Job his whole approach is self-destructive. Bildad considers Job's anger at his condition is making his situation worse rather than better.

It is very true that when a person feels intensely and expresses themselves vehemently they are likely to arouse antagonism in others. In my experience the English find vehemence difficult to cope with. You undoubtedly damage your cause by getting worked up and expressing yourself intemperately. It is rare in such circumstances for anyone to actually consider the truth of what you say.

I speak from experience! I often spoke vehemently in school staff meetings. My colleagues didn't like it. I very rarely carried the day!! However one deputy head used sometimes to say to the headmaster, "If we discount the way Mr Reed spoke there is a grain of truth in what he said." The deputy head was a rare breed!

(e) He accuses Job of thinking too highly of himself. Bildad says in effect, have the eternal verities to change because of you; has the natural order to be overturned and the rocks rearranged at your say so.

This is a common reaction when a dissident calls for change in a long established organisation or denomination. When a nonconformist advocates reform the reaction is often: "Who do you think you are? Why should we change our procedures for you?" Each year my association invites a man to write a letter to the churches. The letter is discussed at the annual meeting of the association. If the author is present he is asked to leave. One year I proposed that this practice be abandoned on the grounds that any criticisms should be made to the author's face and not behind his back. The reaction of the chairman of the meeting was hostile in the extreme. He retorted, "We are not going to change our long established procedure for your benefit."

(2) Why did Bildad react the way he did?

There are three reasons:

(a) Wounded pride. Job discounted Bildad's explanation for his suffering. Job mounted an assault on the Shuhites's intellectual competence and on his theological understanding. Pride is very much like a wild animal and like any injured animal it goes on to the attack. Many, many Christians through the centuries have lashed out because of their pride in being right. They cannot bear to think that they are actually in the wrong and need to change.

(b) Insecurity. Bildad may not have been as secure in his beliefs as he seemed. One way to disguise insecurity and vulnerability is to adopt an aggressive posture. This a tactic much employed in the animal kingdom to deter predators.

(c) Fear. If Bildad admitted he was wrong then his beliefs about God would start to unravel and who knows where he would end up. Would anything he believed be true? Lots of Christians are like this. If they admit, for example, that their understanding of hell is wrong then who is to say what other of their cherished beliefs are wrong as well. This is particularly true in so far as the inspiration of the Bible is concerned. It is very hard for some Christian to accept that the Bible can be both inspired and also contain minor inaccuracies. Their attitude is rather: if there is just one mistake how can we sure any of it is true? Some Christians are very reluctant to admit that Jesus quite often spoke ironically. They choose to believe that he never spoke ironically because they prefer not to make judgments over when he used irony and when he didn't. They are frightened of making a mistake!

(3) Bildad tries to frighten Job into changing his opinion. See 18v5to21.

It seems that Bildad lists in graphic detail all the ills that befall the wicked in the hope that Job will repent and change his ways.

(a) A wicked person is like a lamp that is extinguished or a fire that is stamped out. Death is inevitable. See 18v5and6.

(b) All sorts of snares and traps lay in wait for the wicked. See 18v7to10.

(c) The wicked is subject to many terrors, calamities and diseases. In the end the king of terror will snatch the wicked from this life (his tent). See 18v11to15.

(d) The wicked man is like a dead tree the memory of which is soon lost. He disappears into the eternal night with no family to mourn him. This is a situation that horrifies all who who knew him. Such is the fate of all who do not know God. See 18v16to21.

It is very difficult to find this at all convincing. The fact is, almost everything Bildad writes could also be written of a righteous man. A Christian is not immune from traps and snares, calamities of all kinds and the depredations of advancing age, death and future anonymity. John Bunyan's, 'Pilgrim's Progress,' paints a realistic picture of the Christian life with its many trials and tribulations. One only has to read the catalogue of Paul's woes in 2Cor11v21to29 to appreciate the enormous suffering of some believers.

The Christian takes heart in all his disappointments, setbacks and losses in the promises of Jesus. Death eventually claims us all but Jesus said: "For my Father's will is that everyone who looks to the Son and believes in him shall have eternal life, and I will raise him up at the last day." Jn6v40. Wonderful, wonderful words!

Standing on the promises of Christ my King,
Through eternal ages let his praises ring;
Glory in the highest, I will shout and sing,
Standing on the promises of God.

Job's response is a pretty straightforward mixture of complaints against his friends, acquaintances and God. But there is something else: a far from straightforward affirmation of faith in God - in spite of everything he says and suffers.

We can divide Job's reply to Bildad into five sections:

(1) The inadequacy of his friends.

He accuses his three counsellors of:

(a) Being ultra-critical. Their criticisms are wearisome, crushing and just what he does not need.

We need to be very careful before we criticise others that we are not going to do more harm than good. A school teacher who is battling to control a class of disruptive and unruly children does not want all his faults pointed out. He needs: his difficulties to be acknowledged, support and encouragement. Similarly a leader of a declining church is not helped by outsiders questioning whether he is making sufficient effort or the right kind of effort.

(b) Exceeding their authority. His failings, if they existed, were no business of his friends. Rather they are something for Job to sort out with God.

(c) Using his predicament to exalt themselves. Job's protagonists consider that because they have not been afflicted like their friend they must be morally superior to him.

This was a very common view by the time of Christ. The Pharisees said of the man born blind whom Jesus healed: "You were steeped in sin at birth." Jn9v34. The religious leaders explained his affliction in terms of sins he committed in the womb. Ill health was doubly a curse. It was unpleasant in itself and it carried a stigma. Suffering was God's judgment upon sin.

There are people who think along these lines today. They teach that suffering is a consequence of unconfessed sin. Without a doubt an unhealthy lifestyle may cause illness but not all people who suffer from lung cancer are cigarette smokers; not all people who have heart attacks are couch potatoes.

Job, himself, may well have subscribed to the same view as his friends, namely, that only those who deserve it are made to suffer. He can only make sense of his predicament by supposing that God has made a mistake and wronged him.

(2) The inadequacy of God. See19v7to12.

Job in his misery and perplexity launches a bitter attack on God. He accuses God of:

(a) Denying him justice. He says: Though I call for help, there is no justice. 19v7. God is like an armed robber who attacks with impunity and when hauled into court gets off scot free!

Many must feel like this today. All over the world terrible things are happening to Christians. In many countries they are not being treated fairly. Jesus told a story about a widow who finally received justice from a corrupt judge through her persistence. Jesus concludes by saying: And will not God bring about justice for his chosen ones, who cry out to him day and night? Will he keep putting them off? I tell you, he will see that they get justice and quickly. Lk18v7and8. Sometimes it seems God is very slow to carry out this promise of Jesus. See exposition on Luke18v1to8.

(b) Denying him protection. Job feels like a man who has been trapped in a dark alley, waylaid and stripped of his possessions - his honour and prestige. I am reminded of what happened to Mr Little-faith in John Bunyan's Pilgrim's Progress. He was mugged in Deadman's-lane by three sturdy rogues: Faint-heart, Mistrust and Guilt. Mistrust stole his silver and Guilt dealt him a fearful blow to the head. But, in the words of the author, The place where his jewels were they never ransacked.

(c) Destroying his hope - it was uprooted like a tree in a storm. Only those firmly rooted in the Saviour's love can survive the worst of storms.

(d) Overwhelming his defences. Job likens himself to a city whose walls are breached by a besieging army. His defences are down and he is exposed to all his foes.

These are terrible accusations to level at God. Some who have suffered greatly would share Job's view. Many stop believing in God when they experience the same calamities as Job: business failure, death in the family and distressing, debilitating, painful, personal illness.

(3) The inadequacy of everyone. See 19v13to22.

It seems that the calamities of Job meant he lost the respect of everyone. He was alienated from his brothers, estranged from acquaintances, deserted by kinsmen, forgotten by friends, an alien to his guests, disobeyed by his servants, repugnant to his wife, cheeked by little boys and detested by his intimates.

This is a terrible litany of woe. It illustrates how illness and infirmity can isolate. It results in respect being replaced by pity and at worst contempt.

A representative of the Albanian Mission spoke at our church recently. He said many doctors in Albania refused to treat the mentally handicapped. Parents and carers are told it would be kinder to let them die. What the doctors really mean is that the mentally impaired are not worth bothering about.

Job reckons he only survives by the skin of his teeth. In so far that teeth have no skin his survival was very precarious indeed!

So Job cries out for compassion. "Be gracious to me, be gracious to me. You ARE my friends after all." (After Wilson). Job has been pulled down by God the heavenly predator but instead of his friends rushing to his rescue they are like scavenging vultures tearing at his flesh. See19v21and22. This is a truly shocking picture of what Job considers his situation to be.

There are still those who feast on human tragedy. A politician may be brought down through his own folly. His inglorious and humiliating fall from grace will be picked over endlessly by the vultures of the "gutter" press.

There are gossips in the church who are little better than the unprincipled journalists. They enjoy a bit of scandal and will feast upon it. The gossips won't leave it alone - gnawing on the very bones of sinful indiscretion. How little love we show - love which does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres. 1Cor13v6and7.

(4) The yearning for restoration. See vs23to27.

This well known and much loved passage is actually very difficult to understand in the original Hebrew and this has given rise to many variant translations. So let us try to work out what Job says.

(a) The man of Uz wanted a permanent record made of his case. To this end he wants it engraved upon a rock in the hope that God would eventually get round to dealing with it. Today this would be called a cold case - waiting to re-opened and re-evaluated. How little human nature changes through the years.

(b) Then Job, after all his scathing remarks about God, expresses his residual faith. He says: "I know that my Redeemer lives." 19v25. In the time of Job a redeemer was one who restored a person's fortunes. The redeemer would restore land or property or family members lost through misfortune. Abraham acted the part of a redeemer when he restored goods, women and children to the king of Sodom that had been lost in battle with king Kedorlaomer and his allies. A kinsmen redeemer restored the family line of a brother or close male relative who had died childless by marrying his widow. Job believes that a day will dawn when God will examine his case and restore his damaged reputation. He will be justified.

(c) There are lots of different opinions about when Job expected his justification to take place. 'In the end' probably means finally or at the last - when his skin is all but destroyed. So Job clings to the belief that before he dies he will see God; he will have a direct encounter with his Maker. He will see God with his own eyes and not as the stranger and outcast he has become in the eyes of others.

(d) Job yearns for this. He longs to meet God whom he believes will justify him and restore his reputation as a righteous man. His deepest desire is for vindication.

The gospel message is about restoration. But there is an essential difference between the Christian's hope and Job's. Job hoped to be pronounced righteous because he was righteous. The Christian albeit aware of his unrighteousness is declared righteous through faith in the sacrificial work of Jesus.

Job's situation and hope is more akin to that of Christians who are victimised and discriminated against by non-Christians because of their moral stance on marriage, abortion and working on Sunday. Anyone who is wrongly accused and treated unjustly longs for vindication. It may be the Christian falsely accused and imprisoned in a predominantly Muslim country or the Christian activist who faces unfair criticism from his fellow believers.

(5) A warning to his critics. See 19v28and29.

Finally Job warns his friends to be careful. They have told Job: "The root of the trouble lies in you." Job responds by suggesting if he is receiving the necessary punishment for his sins what is to stop them from suffering for theirs. He says: "You should fear the sword yourselves."

Jesus teaches us to be careful with what judgment we judge. He said: "For in the same way as you judge others, you will be judged, and with the measure you use, it will be measured to you." Mt7v2. Cautionary words indeed!