Job and Bildad. Job 17 & 18

 

Job 17 – Job Thinks He is Dying

 

Job thinks he is dying, and his friends are standing around mocking him These men who had come to comfort him are debating with him and condemning him. It is possible to be a hard-boiled Christian and not be very helpful to the poor sinners of this world.

There are times for harsh words. God will be harsh with Job, but He is also going to comfort him, and God is going to restore him. God is a God of judgment, and the God of mercy and the God of grace.

Job pleads that he his friends do not butter him up. He says that corruptions and decay are closer to him than his mother or father. His body, which is so weary and so sick, is ready to return to the dust.

 

 

Job 18 – Bildad Speaks Again

 

Bildad starts out by telling Job if he would just stop talking and start listening to them they might just get somewhere. If his friends were to stop talking and start listening, they might learn something. God is preparing Job to hear His voice, and later he will listen.

Bildad asks Job why he holds his friends in contempt, when it was really them who held Job in contempt. His friends are no longer friends at all. He continues by asking Job if he thinks God is going to run the universe just to suit him. His anger and contempt are not going to release him from the trap he is in.

They spoke of the trap as a sin in his life that he is not confessing. Bildad is telling Job that he had brought this on himself and without confessing he will remain trapped. He said that disease shall waste the body of the wicked. That is a true statement, but not applicable to Job. Bildad talks of Job’s children and grandchildren which are all dead now. It is cruel of Bildad to talk to Job in this way. Bildad classes Job with the wicked and tells him he is at the end of his road. They believe that Job is wicked and that he is hiding some secret sin, and they will not accept any other reason for his suffering.

 

 

Please read the chapter listed so that you can understand God’s Word better.

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J. Vernon McGee Commentary and Nelson’s Quick Reference Commentary.