Job 8:22

They that hate thee shall be clothed with shame; and the dwelling place of the wicked shall come to nought. They that hate thee shall be clothed ... The haters of Job are the wicked. They shall be clothed with shame ("We lie down in our shame, and our confusion covereth us," Jeremiah 3:25; "Let them be clothed with shame and dishonour," Psalms 35:26; Psalms 109:29) at the failure of their hope that Job would utterly perish, and because they, instead of him, came to nought.

Remarks:

(1) Whatever befalls, us, and however inexplicable in our eyes God's dealings with us may appear, of one thing we may be sure, God cannot "pervert justice" (Job 8:3), the Judge of all the earth must do right. All the impatient words which affliction tempts us to utter are but "wind," causing a violent commotion about our own heads, but utterly incapable of affecting or impairing the majesty of Yahweh. Our true wisdom in pleading with God as to His trying dealings is to begin by justifying Him in all His ways, obeying the holy instincts of faith, rather than the corrupt impulses of self-willed reasoning. So Jeremiah (Jeremiah 12:1), when in perplexity, cried, "Righteous art thou, O Lord, when I plead with thee: yet let me talk with thee of thy judgments." Even though we may not remember particular and grievous sins which have caused God's judgments, yet there is so much of sin cleaving to us all continually that we should, like David (Psalms 51:4), always join with justification of God condemnation of ourselves: "Against thee, thee only, have I sinned, and done this evil in thy sight; that thou mightest be justified when thou speakest, and be clear when thou judgest."

(2) To "accept the punishment of one's iniquity" is the surest way to obtain from God the removal of it (Leviticus 26:40). So also as to the chastisements which God permits the godly to suffer under, for the testing of their faith, entire submission under the stroke, abhorrence of self, and justification of the Almighty and all-loving Father, are the true way to bring God to our deliverance (Job 40:3; Job 42:2). Bildad's mistake was that he regarded Job's sufferings as the penal consequences of special sins, instead of the permitted chastisements of a loving Father, who would at last vindicate his servant Job, after He had taught him to renounce all self-justification, and to acknowledge without reserve the righteous sovereignty of Yahweh.

(3) The short-lived existence of man should lead him (Job 8:9) to entertain an humble opinion of his own attainments in knowledge. If we would learn lessons of true wisdom, we must go, not so much to the traditions of the fathers, as to the revealed Word of "the Ancient of days," "the everlasting Father."

(4) How vain and perishing is the hope of the hypocrite! Scripture searches the domains of the animal and vegetable kingdoms for images to represent the sudden doom of his self-deceiving confidence. He may seem to himself and others flourishing and prosperous, but he is not as the godly, like a tree planted by the waters (Psalms 1:3). He has not God as the ever-living, ever-flowing spring of his prosperity. Hence, like the "rush" or "flag," whose growth and even life depend on water, and which "withereth before any other herb" when that is removed, he suddenly, in the midst of his seeming good fortune, is hurled to destruction. Like the spider's house, he is liable to have the web of self-deceit and hypocrisy which he has woven, and on which he leans, torn asunder in a moment. But "the expectation" of the humble believer shall not so perish (Psalms 9:18). God may long and sorely try him, but "will not cast him away" at the last. "The Spirit of the Lord God hath anointed Christ to appoint unto them that mourn in Zion beauty for ashes, the oil of joy for mourning, the garment of praise for the spirit of heaviness; that they may be called trees of righteousness, the planting of the Lord, that He may be glorified."