Bildad and Zophar

Up to this point in the story, Job has been concerned only with his own problems, and his lament has been entirely personal, not theoretical.

The Trial of Job: Orthodox Christian Reflections on the Book of Job, by Patrick Henry Reardon

With chapter eight, we hear from Job’s second friend, Bildad the Shuhite. He can make no argument on the basis of his experience, instead arguing from a moral tradition that he does not understand very well.

To the mind of Bildad, the effects of sin follow automatically, as the inevitable effects of a sufficient cause. The presence of the effect, that is, implies the presence of the cause.

While both Eliphaz and Job show signs of knowing God, Bildad demonstrates nothing of this. Bildad’s argument is entirely objective, virtually mechanical. Retributive justice functions as a law of nature, therefore what has come to Job must be the result of something done by Job.

The thing is, Job has said nothing to this point about the abstract question of divine justice. Bildad is raising an argument having nothing to do with Job’s concerns, pain, and suffering. Whereas Eliphaz demonstrated at least some level of compassion, Bildad displays none. Keeping in mind, all of Job’s children have been taken, Bildad offers:

Job 8: 3 Does God subvert judgment? Or does the Almighty pervert justice? 4 If your sons have sinned against Him, He has cast them away for their transgression.

Cause and effect – they sinned, they were punished. Automatic, mechanical. Bildad urges Job to repent – again, there must be some sin in Job that brought on this tragedy.

Job 8: 5 If you would earnestly seek God and make your supplication to the Almighty, 6 If you were pure and upright, surely now He would awake for you, and prosper your rightful dwelling place.

Bildad ends on a prophetic note, albeit he is delivering it as irony – or sarcasm. We know the end of the story, which is the only reason we can recognize Job’s future in the following statement.

Job 8: 20 Behold, God will not cast away the blameless, nor will He uphold the evildoers. 21 He will yet fill your mouth with laughing, and your lips with rejoicing. 22 Those who hate you will be clothed with shame, and the dwelling place of the wicked will come to nothing.”

Job now replies. He is growing increasingly despondent, dealing with friends who are increasingly obtuse and insensitive. For the most part, he ignores the self-righteous ranting of Bildad. It’s as if Job tuned out Bildad during some point of his council. Instead, Job returns to something said earlier by Eliphaz – that of man’s inability to be just in the sight of God.

That earlier remark of Eliphaz posed for Job a problem he addresses in the present chapter. If God’s will is that which determines justice, and there is no other measure of justice to be consulted, how does a man of clean conscience deal with the problem of suffering.

Job discerns that God is near, but he cannot discern the path God is following:

Job 9: 10 He does great things past finding out, yes, wonders without number. 11 If He goes by me, I do not see Him; if He moves past, I do not perceive Him; 12 if He takes away, who can hinder Him? Who can say to Him, ‘What are You doing?’

Job cannot answer God, instead supplicating Him:

Job 9: 15 For though I were righteous, I could not answer Him; I would beg mercy of my Judge.

God must be different than what his friends tell Job of Him. They have wrongly judged Job; how can they speak rightly of God? In chapter ten, Job examines various theories to deal with the question of suffering: is God cruel, or deceived, or shortsighted with respect to Job? Job answers: No. God knows that Job is innocent:

Job 10: 5(b) Are Your years like the days of a mighty man, 6 that You should seek for my iniquity and search out my sin, 7 although You know that I am not wicked, and there is no one who can deliver from Your hand?

Job then offers an eloquent passage: God, you made me thus, yet now you destroy me? All this care taken by God in creation – was it all for naught? Job concludes that God afflicts the just as well as the unjust, for reasons best known to God.

But we, the readers, know the reasons – we have an advantage that neither Job nor his friends hold. From the beginning of the story, we were told: Job is being tried by a God (or being allowed by a God) who has great confidence in him. For this reason, we also understand how wide of the mark are Job’s friends.

Through this chapter, we are beginning to see the deeper nature of Job’s character. Not only is he an observant doer of God’s will, he is very thoughtful about God and his relationship with Job and with creation. We are also exposed further into Job’s heart, and we see what God already knew: Job is a man that truly loves God.

This brings us to the first speech of Zophar the Naamathite. No personal religious experience, no inherited moral tradition. Zophar has, at best, third-hand wisdom – although it is something more like his own theory of wisdom – a wisdom that is, as far as he is concerned, self-evident.

…Zophar seems to identify his own personal perception of wisdom to the wisdom of God Himself.

Like the two earlier friends, Zophar calls on Job to repent – again, seeing the situation as might be understood with the facts available, but not in accord with Job’s plea, nor in accord with the reality. Go figure out how you have offended God, then make it right.

Zophar, unfortunately resorts to sarcasm. This rhetorical form can be appropriate in certain situations, but not when one has lost all that Job has lost. He calls Job a man full of talk, a liar, a vain man, and wicked. Further, he sees Job’s “death wish” as a sure sign of Job’s wickedness:

Job 11: 19 You would also lie down, and no one would make you afraid; yes, many would court your favor. 20 But the eyes of the wicked will fail, and they shall not escape, and their hope—loss of life!”

Conclusion

Zophar offers an undeniable eloquence in his description of divine wisdom. Contrast this with the human actors, none of whom is really wise. No human character in this story has a clear grasp of it. Until God cracks the code at the end, none of the four men will have an understanding of what is happening.

Punishment for the Egyptians, or a trial for the faithful? This is known only to God and Satan; it is not even a question being asked by Job and his friends.