The Bible Provocateur
The Bible Provocateur
LIVE DISCUSSION: (Job 8:1-7) - Bildad, A Cold Man - Part 1 of 4
The room goes quiet when someone says, “God offered Job to Satan.” That single claim frames our journey through Job 8, where Bildad arrives with blunt certainty and a theology that sounds tidy but lands like a stone. We trace Job’s plea from chapter 7—his confession of sin in general, his cry for pardon from the preserver of men—and then watch how a friend turns a true principle into a cruel verdict: if you suffer, you must be guilty. The story presses on the same nerves today. Is suffering always proof of hidden sin, or can a righteous life still pass through shattering loss without a secret scandal behind it?
We unpack Bildad’s style—direct, detached, and devoted to tradition—and ask why appeals to antiquity so often replace discernment. History matters, but it does not absolve us from context. When Bildad suggests Job’s children died for their transgression, the panel names the error: retribution theology applied without wisdom. That’s the danger of half‑truths; they’re accurate in the abstract and devastating in the moment. Along the way, we step into the hard comfort of providence. Permission versus action isn’t a loophole in the text—God sets the bounds, appoints the times, and nothing breaks His leash. For some, that offends. For others, it’s the only footing that holds when the ground gives way.
Together we explore how to offer better counsel: slow down, listen deeply, refuse tidy equations, and speak truth aimed with care. Lament is not weakness; it is faith breathing under water. If you’ve ever been told to “just confess and move on,” this conversation offers a sturdier path—one that honors God’s sovereignty and the sufferer’s humanity without pitting them against each other. Subscribe for more verse‑by‑verse studies, share this with someone who needs wiser comfort, and leave a review with your take: Did Bildad get anything right, or did he miss the heart of God?
BE PROVOKED AND BE PERSUADED!
Christians, good evening on this Wednesday night. Looking forward to this continuation of our exposition into the book of Job. And we just completed chapter seven of the book of Joan of Job. And now we are about to get into chapter eight. Chapter eight in the book of Job. Now we're going to be introduced to a new character in the book of Job. One of his friends, one of his, what has often been referred to as a miserable comforter. But tonight we are being introduced to Bildad. Bildad. And so far, we've only heard from the first friend, which was Eliphaz. And so the book began with Job speaking, his friend Eliphaz, then Job's response to Eliphaz. And now we're going to see a new character introduced. And this is going to be Bildad. Now, when we left off on Job in chapter seven, at the end, the last two verses read as follows. Job says, I have sinned. And he's speaking to God. He says, I have sinned. What shall I do unto thee? O thou preserver of men. Why have you set me as a mark against thee, so that I am a burden to myself? And why do you not pardon my transgression and take away my iniquity? For now I shall sleep in the dust, and you will seek me in the morning, but I shall not be. And I explained that even though Job acknowledges himself in general as one having sinned, like all of us who are believers, often admit and remind ourselves of. But he also understands that the only way that his sin can be dealt with is by dealing with the one that he refers to in verse 20 as the preserver of men. And that is God. He is the preserver of men, he is the sustainer of all men. He manages life. He appoints the times of birth, and he appoints the time of death. And he appoints his providence to affect each person throughout their life. So Job is one who knows that he is a sinner. He knows that something must be done about his sin. And he knows that God is a preserver of men, and that God is the only one who can provide a remedy or allow him or grant him any form of respite if he is to receive it at all. Verse 21, again, he says, Why do you not pardon my transgression and take away my iniquity? Job is assuming that the reason why he is undergoing so much suffering, he's assuming that it has to do with his sin. And he thinks and he believes and feels, as it would seem, that he feels that what he is going through is a response to that sin. Only thing is, Job does not know what it is. His friends are speculating that Job has a secret sin that he is not dealing with, but they are also wrong because we all know how it all started. It started with Satan looking for someone whom he may devour. And as he presented himself amongst the sons of God, God looked to him and said, Have you considered my servant Job, one who is perfect and upright, who fears God and to shoes evil. So Job's situation, after having been given permission to Satan by God, Job was to be afflicted with a series of blows, with Satan as the instrument. But God certainly commanding the order for him to go for Satan to go and do to Job what is causing those things that cause what he is currently going through, all of his afflictions. It's terrible, it's a terrible thing. And the thing that is hard to swallow for most folks is the fact that God is behind all of this. And I have to tell you something, brethren. Christians, Christians have a serious problem with this. There are unbelieving Christians, those who I call unbelieving Christians, who find it difficult to believe that God is the one doing these things. We had one of our brothers the other day say to me that God doing it is not the same as God giving permission. It is the same. God has allowed it and God gave Satan leave to do it. God certainly could have prevented it or stopped it. He didn't have to offer Job up, but he did. It was God who said, Have you to Satan, have you considered my servant Job? I don't know how much plainer it could be. But as I like to tell people, Satan is God's dog. That's his pit bull, that's his rottweiler, that's his dog. He does only what the Lord allows him to do. If the Christian understands that, it helps them to be more grounded in their faith and understanding that there is nothing that goes outside of God's sovereign command and control. It is God's providence that guides all the events that surround the Christian. And that is why Paul can say that neither death nor height, nor the breadth nor width, none of these things, nothing can separate us from the love of God. Nothing. When we understand, when we understand that all things fall from the hand of God that befall us, all things come from Him, it gives us a more sure foundation. It gives us more sure-footedness. It gives us those hind feet. That gives us strength to climb the highest of mountains. Hind's feet in high places. Job's miserable comforters don't understand this. But Job understands this. He understands this. He just can't put his finger on why him at this particular point in his life when there seemed to be nothing that was going around, going awry in terms of his spiritual life. There was no adultery to point to on Job. There were no murders to a point to look at and point to with Job. There was no underhandedness or cheating in business, dealing with unfair weights and unbalanced scales that you can point to with Job. Job was not characterized as a man who was guilty of lying and having these sinister agendas against others. There was no fault that you can look at to Job and say, this is why he should suffer so immensely and so extremely as he is undergoing at this point. And so even he asked his friends, if there is something I had done wrong, please point it out. Tell me about it. Point it out and tell me about it. And I will listen. And I will respond. I want to settle the issue, but I want someone to tell me what I have done. I know I'm a sinner, but in this circumstance, I don't, I can't rationalize in my mind why I am being subjected to such extreme extremity of affliction. And so his friends are coming to give, have come to give their assessments of his situation, and we find them wanting. In chapter uh eight, what I want to do first is read the first two verses, and then I want to go to the panel for opening remarks before I get into the passages. So the first two verses of Job chapter 8 read this way. Then answered Bildad, Bildad the Shuhite, and he said to Job, How long will you speak these things? How long shall the words of your mouth be like a strong wind? You can see Bildad gets right into it. He gets right into it. This guy does not hold back. And I'm gonna show you after I go through the panel for opening remarks, the kind of person that Bildad is. And as I said earlier, as I did with Eliphaz, I'm going to give each person that is introduced into the book of Job. I'm gonna give a brief bio about their personality and about the way they approach Job and the way they approach dealing with his situation. So starting with that or begin ending with that, I want to go to the panel just for opening remarks and anything that all of you may want to say with regard to where we are in the book and and and um and what you think about what we're talking about so far. So Sister Lisa, what do you think so far? Opening remarks. Job 8.
SPEAKER_06:Hey and good evening. Good evening. Um no, I just look forward to getting into this. Um I reread Job 8 again today, and um I'm looking so forward to um the insight that you have um on this man, and and you know, because I noticed there he speaks there are some truth in there, but it reminds me of someone else called the accuser who speaks truth, but then just twist twists it a little bit. So um I'm I'm I'm looking forward to hearing tonight. So that's it, but thank you.
SPEAKER_03:Amen. Sister Angie, welcome, sister, and I got your text message. But uh McGue, what are you looking for?
SPEAKER_07:Hello, family. Good evening, anybody. Can you hear me?
SPEAKER_04:I can hear you fine.
SPEAKER_07:Uh, you know, I agree with Lisa. I'm really looking forward to getting into this, but to me, this if someone speaks like the way he just says things, it just sounds like you know, the accuser, it's a twisting of half truth, so that's very manipulative. So to me, that's what I'm seeing in these first two verses, if that makes sense. You know, like Lisa said, I agree with her on this part too. Uh, when I hear that, how long you say these things, these words from your mouth be great. Well, you know, he's a righteous man. So, you know, Dova's a righteous man. So for him to come and not, you know, to say, oh yeah, these things, it's manipulative all the way. That's all I'm gonna say about it.
SPEAKER_03:Sister Kenny. Glad you're here, sister. Sister Kenya. Opening remarks.
SPEAKER_04:He needs to put his PCs down and put his mouth with God's first day's night against his own children like that.
SPEAKER_03:I can't hear you. I can't hear you very well, sister. Angie. All right, she might be having a little bit of a problem. Brother Pat, opening remarks.
SPEAKER_01:Well, all I have to say about this beginning of this verse is it reminds me of that I've had friends in my life who love me, and sometimes they give advice and they're being sincere, and they can be sincerely off base.
SPEAKER_03:Right. That's true. That's true, that is very true. Uh, Sister Mariah, opening remarks. And good evening.
SPEAKER_05:Good evening, everyone. Um, yeah, it seems like he's uh more blunt than Eliphaz was. It's not like all these elegant words and these drawn out, uh beautiful, trying to uh eloquent words, you know, trying to paint a picture for him. He's just getting straight to the point, hitting him with uh gut punches, and you know, so I'm intrigued to see what we could bring out and break down this verse by verse.
SPEAKER_03:Sounds like you did your homework because he that the blunt is one of the best ways to describe Bill Dad. He's very blunt, very blunt. So you're you're right about that. You've done your homework. Uh, brother Jeff, encourage your servant. I know you said you had some things you wanted to say about verse two, particularly, so go ahead.
SPEAKER_02:Well, thank you, uh Jonathan, and good evening, panel. Boy, Jonathan, we got a good-looking panel in here again tonight, don't we? We're gonna have a good uh study tonight. No, when I went back, uh everybody, and I read verse two, something popped into my mind. Now we're uh we know Bill Dad is very direct, but he is to me, he is saying to Job, forgive me if this sounds a little bit crude, but it's accurate, Job, how much longer are you gonna keep blowing smoke up all of our butts before you tell us what you did so we can get it out there before God and you can confess it and repent of it? That's what he's asking him. How much longer are you gonna keep, you know, stalling, fooling around, not telling us what happened, you know, wasting our time, yada yada yada, and just come clean so we can get this out there. God can forgive you of it, you repent it, you repent of it, God forgive you of it, we can go home. Right. So that's kind of my my take on verse two. Bill Dad is he is he is being direct, he is being forceful, and telling Job, get it out there, okay? Been here long enough. Tell us what's going on, right?
SPEAKER_03:I mean, Bill Dad, he this guy, like like uh Sister Mariah said, dead on. This this is a guy who is very blunt. He's very blunt. He takes himself out of the equation, he shows no personality at all, and he doesn't show any emotion at all. He just tells it the way he sees it, tells it the way he sees it. Sister Angie, go ahead. You were gonna say something.
SPEAKER_07:I wanted to piggyback on what um Jeffrey Kerzy Serge said just a while ago. It seems that to me in verse two, those first, how long? You know, just those two words. How long? He's it's like he's getting fed up, and he is blind. I love what Mariah said about that. He is very blind. Um, how long were you gonna be going through this? And I've had people who have said those things, friends have said to me, You've been going through this for too long. How much longer are you gonna go to this? I was like, as long as God says so, because this is his thing, you know. Like, so I've had people say those things to me, and it's like you don't rush the process of what God's doing. So even if you don't like it, even if you don't, so apparently he doesn't, because he's saying, How long are you gonna do this? He's getting frustrated and fed up.
SPEAKER_03:Right. Right, absolutely. No, he he he he he he is this guy, he's he he's interesting. All these guys, they they have this really interesting, uh, they have this really interesting mix uh uh personality traits that Job has to deal with. So he's like, he's like they're ganging up on him, and they all come at him from a different angle. So one of the things that really one of the things that really um aggravates this whole situation is that not only does Job has on top of all the things that he went through, these friends who he expected to understand, he four of them, and what happens is they all become they all hit him from a different angle and they come at him from a different way. So now he's fighting north, south, east, and west. He's just getting it from all sides. And he's this is the kind of guy that he speaks a lot of, he speaks in a very proverbial way, in a very blunt way. He doesn't show Bill Dad shows no compassion whatsoever. He is not a he's not a compassionate guy. You would never be uh confuse him with somebody who's who's who's compassionate. Just when you watch what he says, he says some pretty crazy things. And he doesn't have uh the patience. I mean, when you think about it, when we read the kind of things he's gonna say, Eli Foz sounds like a saint. Bill Dad is brutal and unemotional. He's completely detached. Completely detached. And what he does, he has a tendency to, he's the kind of guy, and you guys are gonna know what I'm talking about, and I give you an example. He's the kind of guy that likes to appeal to antiquity, if you know what I mean. He likes to appeal to antiquity, he likes to go back into history and dig up a lot of the historical teachings that he believes um give weight to his arguments, give weight to his assessments. And he always uh explodes with these sort of old school cliches and maxims and these ideas. And he's the kind of guy, and I've been seeing this a lot on this platform. I've been seeing this a lot. Everybody, uh I've seen so many people who, when they don't like something. You say that is true. And they want to find a way to, and they can't argue with you on the issue. They can't argue with you on the doctrine. What they do is they start throwing up church fathers. I'm sure many of you guys have heard this. I know Meg has, as many of those uh lives as you've been in. People love to appeal to church fathers antiquity to argue their case. Well, Clement of Alexandria said this, so it must be true. Well, Origen said this, or Iranius said this, so it must be true. And it's not always true. It is not. It very often depends on who you're talking about in what particular context. Like what were you talking about? They may have been right and strong on certain things, they may have been wrong on other things. But Bildad is this guy. He's always bringing up like the church fathers, what they used to say, the old school guys. He doesn't appeal to the truth of the word of God. He appeals to the church fathers. Now, don't get me wrong. There are a lot of church fathers in the history of the church that said a lot of good things that brought us to the place where we are able to understand many things today, but many of them got certain things wrong. And here's the other thing. When you talk about church fathers, for example, which ones are you talking about? Depending on what theological perspective you want to maintain, you will pick and choose a quote-unquote church father that you like, not realizing that there are counter opposers to the church father you like versus the one that they are using. For example, you had a great uh debate that went on between Pelagius and Augustine. Now you can make an argument, people will make the argument that they like things that Pelagius taught because it's consistent with the Arminian persuasion of belief. You can call him the church father, but his system of theology was wrong. Bildad is this guy, he's always appealing to quote unquote the church fathers, or in his case, antiquity. Going back, you know, what did the fathers say? What did the old school guy say? What did what does what does tradition teach? Job, you need to go back. I can cite some things for you to remind you of what it is that you need to understand that will help clear up things. To give you an idea, well, let me let me deal with this for a second. He's also the kind of guy that believes that everything is really cut and dry. He's that guy that a lot of people will say everything is black and white. And I have to say, I have to be guilty of that position in a lot of ways. And we should be black and white when it comes to the truth. The issue is nailing down in a given situation what the truth actually is. Because again, as we have said early on, that these men, many of these men, all these men that Job was talking to, they are saying the truth. They're saying true things. But the problem is they're misapplying them to Job. They don't apply to him, but they are true. And so Bildaz's position is simply this. He thinks that he goes, if you're suffering, then that means guilt. That's the way he looks at it. This is the reason why you're suffering. Suffering. You are guilty of something. And it is easy to determine, it is easy to determine what the outcome of what the wicked is going to be. And what's inevitable about it. You're going to suffer. You're going to suffer. This is what they say. And we have to let this be a lesson to us. Now, look, I'm gonna give you an example. In Job 8, verse 4, I haven't got to verses 1 through 3 yet, but I just want to point out something by way of example. Look at what Bildad says in verse 4. He says to Job, if your children have sinned against him, meaning God, if your children have sinned against him, and he have cast them away for their transgressions, um, I'm sorry, I read it wrong. If your children have sinned against him and he have cast them away for their transgression, you know what he's saying here? He's saying to Job that the reason why your children have died is because of sin. The reason, this is what he's telling this man. He's that's right, Lisa. He's saying they died because they deserved it, they received God's justice now. Begs the question why they lived as long as they did. Because if his reasoning is right, how does any of us live as long as we do? Because is there one among us who hasn't sinned and who doesn't sin? But this guy is looking down on Job and he's saying, and he's and he's telling the man who lost everything. And you know, back in those days, children were your legacy. He tells Job, if your children hadn't sinned, they would probably still be with us. But in his mind, there's no doubt that it has everything to do with their transgressions against God, and that's why they're no longer here. And so he interprets Job's situation as being the same. He is receiving retribution for silk for sin. He has guilt to be accounted for, and God has brought home the chickens to roost, so to speak. And so he continues to be um in opposition against Job. And he's irritated by Job's complaints and in his eyes, Job's murmuring. He wants Job to just fess up. Tell us, tell us, just come out with it, come clean with it. And he's the kind of guy that thinks, you know, everybody else is soft speaking and and and peddling around the issue. But I'm gonna come out and tell you, like it is, Job. That's build that. He's that guy. He's that guy. Enough is enough. That's him. He's the guy that's gonna be like, okay, Ellie Faz, he said some good words. He's an older guy, he's been around for a while, but I'm gonna tell you straight. He's that, he's that, he's that person. And so as he becomes more and more irritated by Jove, um, he continues to just become more and more uh harsh. Um, but you will find out when we get to when we get to chapter 25, which will be the, I believe chapter 25 is the last time that Bildad speaks. But in 25, he only he only has six verses. There's only six verses. It's like he's exhausted. There's nothing left for him to say. So by the time we get to 25 with him, chapter 25, he has very little to say at this point. And he thinks that he's he said enough, quite frankly. So he's the kind of guy that sits back, folds his arm, and says, I said what I needed to say, and that's what it should be. That's what it should be. So that gives you a little bit of a backdrop behind this guy, uh Bildad. And now let's look at the let's look at the verses. So in Job uh chapter 8, I'm gonna read verse 1 and 2 again. Then Bildad answered, then Bildad the Shuhite answered, and he said to Job, How long will you speak these things? How long shall the words of your mouth be like a strong wind? So as I said, this guy, he goes in hard immediately. Immediately. Sharp tongue, cutting tongue, you know, and he he he's he's basically it's it's almost like he's offended. In his mind, it's like Joe, you and I understand you and I both know that you have got some sin that needs to be dealt with. You and I know this. I know it, you know it. So why are you wasting our time with all this blubbering and self-pity? What are you trying to elicit from us? We are here to hear from you. You need to confess whatever it is that is causing you to go through this suffering. And so he sees Job's words. He calls it, what does he call it? He calls it wind, a strong wind. It's empty. There's nothing there. It's just, as we say today, it's just noise. And he and he calls it a strong wind, a strong wind, a violent wind, but it has no substance. There's nothing in it. You're talking, and it's just meaningless. Because you're not dealing with the truth of the matter, you're not dealing with what's going on, you're not being upright, you're not being forthright in the real reason. And he's like, we know you know, we know you know that there's a situation. Just talk to us and we can cut, we can cut through all of this. That's bildad. Brother Jeff, go ahead.
SPEAKER_02:No, I just wanted to add that uh uh bildad undoubtedly was part of the conversation that Eliphaz had with Job, and he is frustrated that they haven't gotten to the truth yet. So he uh Bill Dad ratchets up the conversation and comes after Job even harder than Eliphaz has. Okay. And my thought is what is going on in Job's mind right now? Is he thinking, are these guys really my friends or are they here to kick me while I'm down?
SPEAKER_04:Right.
SPEAKER_02:Because that would be the thought in my mind, especially because I've committed no sin.
SPEAKER_04:Right.
SPEAKER_02:So it's good.
SPEAKER_03:Right. Anyone else? Sister Mick, what do you want to add?
SPEAKER_00:Anything I I just think I think that we're going to be even madder at Bill Dad at the end of all this. Um, I just he I think that he's taking, I think again, he's speaking truth, but the fact that he in him speaking about God's justice, again, this is misapplied. And so he thinks my dog is snoring. Um so he I think again it was.