1Then Bildad the Shuhite replied: 2“How long will you go on saying such things? The words of your mouth are a blustering wind. 3Does God pervert justice? Does the Almighty pervert what is right? 4When your children sinned against Him, He gave them over to their rebellion. 5But if you would earnestly seek God and ask the Almighty for mercy, 6if you are pure and upright, even now He will rouse Himself on your behalf and restore your righteous estate. 7Though your beginnings were modest, your latter days will flourish. 8Please inquire of past generations and consider the discoveries of their fathers. 9For we were born yesterday and know nothing; our days on earth are but a shadow. 10Will they not teach you and tell you, and speak from their understanding? 11Does papyrus grow where there is no marsh? Do reeds flourish without water? 12While the shoots are still uncut, they dry up quicker than grass. 13Such is the destiny of all who forget God; so the hope of the godless will perish. 14His confidence is fragile; his security is in a spider’s web. 15He leans on his web, but it gives way; he holds fast, but it does not endure. 16He is a well-watered plant in the sunshine, spreading its shoots over the garden. 17His roots wrap around the rock heap; he looks for a home among the stones. 18If he is uprooted from his place, it will disown him, saying, ‘I never saw you.’ 19Surely this is the joy of his way; yet others will spring from the dust. 20Behold, God does not reject the blameless, nor will He strengthen the hand of evildoers. 21He will yet fill your mouth with laughter, and your lips with a shout of joy. 22Your enemies will be clothed in shame, and the tent of the wicked will be no more.”
Matthew Henry's Commentary
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.