Bildad: Man Cannot Be Righteous
“Then Bildad the Shuhite replied: “Dominion and awe belong to Him; He establishes harmony in the heights of heaven. Can His troops be numbered? On whom does His light not rise? How then can a man be just before God? How can one born of woman be pure? If even the moon does not shine, and the stars are not pure in His sight, how much less man, who is but a maggot, and the son of man, who is but a worm!”
Now Bildad is weighing in again. Bildad seems to be the kind of guy who just can’t keep quiet; if someone else has given an opinion, Bildad is going to try to top it. Job has just affirmed, “Yet He knows the way I have taken; when He has tested me, I will come forth as gold. My feet have followed in His tracks; I have kept His way without turning aside. I have not departed from the command of His lips; I have treasured the words of His mouth more than my daily bread.”
Bildad cannot possibly allow that statement to slide! Job has just made a statement of faith that will echo down the centuries, lighting a fire that will illumine lives forever. Bildad re-ties his sandals, adjusts his robes, slicks back his hair, examines his fingernails to make sure his most recent manicure is perfect, and then proceeds to blast Job. Having previously accused Job of unspeakable wickedness, now Bildad contends that men are merely maggots and worms in God’s sight. Question for Bildad: if you know that men are maggots and worms, then why are you reproaching Job for behaving maggoty and wormy?
Bildad’s main problem seems to be that he does not think Job is abasing himself enough. Perhaps Bildad has never gotten enough attention from his father and so feels under-valued. It is likely that Bildad has always regarded Job as a father figure with a mixture of awe and envy. Now Bildad wants Job to give Bildad the respect Bildad never received from his own father.
Looking at Job, one might wonder how anybody could be more abased than Job – penniless, covered with running sores, covering his body with sackcloth so that people can’t see just how awful his skin is. But Bildad wants satisfaction in any way he can get it. What Job’s other visitors think of Bildad is an open question. Notice that Bildad is the last one to speak; that suggests that he is younger and of lower status than everyone else. It’s possible that Job’s other visitors have failed to give Bildad the respect he has anticipated, so now Bildad intends to collect from Job.
APPLICATION: Mixed motives! Bildad is the king of mixed motives. Reading Bildad’s scathing remarks, we wonder why Bildad has ever chosen to come visit Job in the first place. Perhaps Bildad has been hanging around the city gate in hopes of being seen as one of the elders; meanwhile, everybody in town knows that Bildad is just a pretender and a fake. William Faulkner, the author, may have enjoyed a wide reputation as a writer, but to his fellow citizens in his small Mississippi town, he was known as “Count No-Count.” Bildad’s towns people may view him similarly.
Bildad’s speeches appear to be riddled with cliches. If Bildad were alive today, he would express himself strictly in memes and emojis. What can we learn from Bildad?
There is a saying in the American South that ”everybody is good for something; some folks are only good to serve as bad examples for the rest of us.” Bildad fits that description. If you want to learn how to comfort someone who is grieving, just look at Bildad and then say/do the opposite! The sad thing is that if Bildad were really to behave as a comforter should, we would have a far different view of him. Bildad could have simply come to Job and continued to sit with him sympathetically while the rest of the delegation raged and orated. Had Bildad told Job, “I don’t understand what God is doing, but I am here for you,” Bildad’s name would have been preserved as one of the righteous. But Bildad failed, choosing to copy the rest of the delegation.
How can we avoid Bildad-type behavior? Look for the small things grieving people need and then offer to do them. One famous story concerns a man who came to his neighbor’s family after his neighbor died and cleaned and polished the family shoes so that they could wear them to the funeral without appearing shabby. Wash a car. Ask for the family grocery list and do the grocery shopping. Take kids to practices or piano lessons. Offer to teach the Sunday School class the grieving person has been handling – the options are endless. And above all, do things willingly, cheerfully, sensitively, and QUIETLY! Jesus warned his disciples that when they were going to donate money to the temple, they shouldn’t advertise the fact. Do not force the situation. Do not do something very kind, only to spoil things by running out and telling everybody how thoughtful you have been. Do not insist on teaching that Sunday School class if the grieving widow or widower wants to continue. The people in that class might be serving as his/her lifeline.
Above all, pray and ask God to show you the needs of your grieving friends and what God wants you to do about them. Only God truly knows the human heart; the rest of us simply guess.
PRAYER: Father God, thank You for loving us and for caring for us. Lord, help us to comfort others with the comfort we ourselves would hope to receive. Help us to be quiet, sensitive, and loving in our efforts. In the mighty and precious Name of King Jesus. Amen.
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