OPENING OF BILDAD'S FIRST SPEECH. The two younger friends, says Duhm, make a less favourable impression than Eliphaz. Bildad's great point is the discriminating rectitude of God, who unfailingly rewards the righteous and punishes the wicked. His whole idea of fortune and misfortune is even more mech... [ Continue Reading ]
THE WISDOM OF THE ANCIENTS. Bildad recalls Job to tradition as enshrined in the proverbs of the fathers (Job 8:8). Authority belongs to the voice of the past (Job 8:9). The respect which our age has for books, each of which is collected from a hundred older ones, a non-literary civilisation has for... [ Continue Reading ]
Bildad has warned Job of the fate of the impious. Now he returns to the other half of his doctrine also, and sums up his whole position in Job 8:20. God can neither reject the blameless, nor uphold the wicked. If Job is really blameless, _i.e._ if he humbly accepts the Divine chastisement, God will... [ Continue Reading ]