Job 8

Job 8 belongs to the first cycle of dialogue in the Book of Job (chapters 4–14) and records the first speech by the second of Job's friends. After Eliphaz speaks (chapters 4–5) and Job responds in chapter 6 and Job 7 by lamenting his suffering and the injustice he feels, Bildad the Shuhite speaks for the first time.

Outline

• Verses 1–2 Bildad rebukes Job, likening his words to "a strong wind."
• Verses 3–7 Bildad declares that God does not pervert judgment or justice. He then flatly asserts that Job's children, who died in Job 1, were punished for their sin. He urges Job to seek God diligently, assuring him that if he is pure and upright, he will prosper again.
• Verses 8–10 Because his own generation is "but of yesterday" and its knowledge is shallow, Bildad tells Job to inquire of the former age and the wisdom the fathers attained.
• Verses 11–19 Bildad says that the hope of those who forget God and of the hypocrite (one whose heart is crooked and not upright) shall perish. As illustrations he cites the rush and the flag that wither early without water, the spider's web, and a plant torn up by its roots.
• Verses 20–22 Bildad states that God will not cast away a perfect man, nor will He help the evildoers. He concludes that Job's mouth will again be filled with laughing, that those who hate him will be clothed with shame, and that the dwelling place of the wicked will come to nought.

Key Verses

• Job 8:3 "Doth God pervert judgment?" — the starting point of Bildad's argument, which views suffering as the consequence of sin.
• Job 8:7 "Though thy beginning was small, yet thy latter end should greatly increase." — one of the most widely quoted verses from Job in Korean churches.

Characters and Places

• Job: The protagonist, who is in the midst of suffering. In this chapter he does not speak but listens to Bildad.
• Bildad: One of Job's three friends, called "the Shuhite." Some connect Shuah with the descendants of Shuah, the son of Abraham and Keturah (Genesis 25:2), but this connection is uncertain.

Points for Reflection

• The content of this chapter is Bildad's argument. At the end of the book, the Book of Job records that God said of the friends' words, "ye have not spoken of me the thing that is right" (Job 42:7).
• Interpretations therefore differ. Some caution against quoting 8:7 as though it were a promise from God. Others hold that individual statements within the friends' speeches contain general truths. Paul's quotation of Eliphaz's words (Job 5:13) in 1 Corinthians 3:19 is often cited in support of the latter view.
• Some readers point to the ending, in which Job ultimately receives greater blessing than at the beginning (Job 42:12), and suggest that Bildad's words were fulfilled in a way he did not intend.
• The view that suffering is necessarily punishment for sin stands in contrast to John 9:1–3, where Jesus answers that a man's blindness from birth was not the result of anyone's sin.

In Korean Churches

Job 8:7 is frequently used as a word of blessing at worship services marking the opening of a business or the anniversary of a church's founding, and it commonly appears on framed plaques and cards. At the same time, sermons sometimes point out that the verse is Bildad's speech and caution against quoting it out of context.