Глава 8

Bildad's speech. 1–2. Attack. 3–22. Bildad's main idea: God is an unconditionally just being, and supporting considerations. Job 8:1. And Bildad the Shebahite answered and said: Job 8:2. how long will you talk like this? - the words of your mouth are a stormy wind! Bildad's impatience ("how long?") is caused by the impatience and emptiness of Job's speeches: "your mouth is a stormy wind." Without touching the first feature, noted and condemned by Eliphaz (Job 5.2 etc.), he stops only on the second. Job 8:3. Does God pervert judgment, and the Almighty pervert righteousness? The emptiness of Job's speeches is reflected in his denial of Divine Justice (Job 7.12). God Almighty cannot be allowed to distort the truth. As the Almighty, that is, the provider and ruler who leads everything that exists to its destination and maintains order, God cannot be unjust (Job 34.10–17). Job 8:4. If your sons sinned against Him, He delivered them into the hand of their iniquity. God's justice is reflected in the facts of punishment. It was not for no reason or by God’s will that Job’s children died. If they sinned, were in the hands of - in the power of lawlessness, then the latter’s dominion led them to destruction (Job 18.7 et c. Job 20.12 et c., Job 20.18-21; Proverbs 11.5-6, 12.13). Job 8:5. If you seek God and pray to the Almighty, Job 8:6. and if you are pure and right, then He will now stand over you and pacify the dwelling of your righteousness. Job 8:7. And if at first you had little, then later you will have very much. God is also just in the facts of reward. If Job turns to Him with all his heart, then He will protect him (“will stand over you”), deliver his house, in which truth dwells, from all misfortune and reward him with countless blessings compared to previous ones. Job 8:8. For ask the previous generations and delve into the observations of their fathers; Job 8:9. and we are yesterday’s people and know nothing, because our days on earth are shadows. Job 8:10. Behold, they will teach you, they will tell you and they will say the words from their hearts: To convey greater conviction to his thoughts, Bildad presents them not as a personal opinion: he, as someone who has lived a little ("we are yesterday's", "our days are a shadow on the earth", v. 9; cf. Job 14.2; 1 Chr. 29.15) and therefore knows little, may not be trusted, but as a deep, sincere ("from the heart" - v. 10) conviction of those wise for a long time life and experience of ancestors (cf. Job 12:12, 32:7, 9). Job 8:11. does reed rise without moisture? does reed grow without water? Job 8:12. It is still fresh and uncut, but dries up before any grass. Job 8:13. Such are the ways of all who forget God, and the hope of the hypocrite will perish; Job 8:14. his hope is cut off, and his confidence is the house of a spider. Job 8:15. He leans against his house and cannot stand; will grab hold of it and not hold on. On behalf of the ancestors, Bildad cites two tributary sayings. In the first of them, the life and fate of the wicked is compared with the fate of two Egyptian plants: “gome” - papyrus, and “ahu”. This name is found only in Gen. 41.2 and means, according to Blessed Jerome, all greenery growing in the swamp. Just as “gome” and “ahu” cannot grow without moisture and water and, in the absence of it, die prematurely, so exactly the same fate awaits those who forget the Lord, who is the hope of man (Proverbs 3.26). Their desire to ensure their existence through personal efforts is futile; confidence in this is shaky ("house of the spider" cf. Is 59.5–6). Job 8:16. It turns green before the sun, its branches extend beyond the garden; Job 8:17. Its roots are woven into a pile of stones and cut between the stones. Job 8:18. But when they pull it out of its place, it refuses it: “I have not seen you!” Job 8:19. This is the joy of his path! and others grow from the ground. The second tributary saying of the ancestors, comparing fate with the fate of a creeping vine plant, is meant to note the fact of its death, despite its strength and stability. A liana is an unpretentious plant and at the same time possesses such strength that if it encounters a pile of stones, it intertwines them with its numerous roots: “its roots are woven into a pile of stones, and cut between the stones” (v. 17). But when it is torn out, not a trace will remain of it (v. 18, cf. Job 7.10). This is exactly the result of the initially flourishing life of the wicked (v. 19). Job 8:20. You see, God does not reject the blameless and does not support the hands of evildoers. Job 8:21. He will also fill your mouth with laughter and your lips with joyful exclamations. Job 8:22. Those who hate you will be clothed with shame, and the tent of the wicked will be no more. A conclusion from the experience of our ancestors and its application to Job. God does not reject a blameless person and does not patronize an evildoer - “does not support his hand” (Is 41.13, 42.6; Jer 23.14). Under the condition of Job’s turning to God, his future life will be full of joy (v. 21; cf. Ps 125.2-3), and his enemies will be put to shame (“they will be clothed with shame”; cf. Art. 13–15; Ps 34.26, 108.29, 131.18) and will even disappear from the face of the earth (“their tent will not be”, cf. vv. 18–19; Ps. 51.7). You might be interested in: