Job 8 · The Lantern

Then Bildad the Shuhite made answer and said,

How long will you say these things, and how long will the words of your mouth be like a strong wind?

So Bildad the Shuhite reproached Job because he thought that the words that Job had said for the sake of truth and justice were, in fact, spoken out of arrogance and disdain.

Bildad says, "be unjust in his judgments, or will he who has created everything overturn what is just?" Observe what he means: justice accompanies the Creator. However, even though Bildad's words are not entirely applicable to Job, let us see what he means. Do you not perceive the profound justice that reigns in the creation and its profound order?

How long wilt thou speak these things? and how long shall the breath of the words of thy mouth be multiplied? When multiplicity is blamed in the speech, surely it is thereby denied that there is weight of meaning in the sense. For the power of speakers on the highest matters is distinguished by a fourfold quality.

Does God give wrong decisions? or is the Ruler of all not upright in his judging?

If your children have done evil against him, then their punishment is from his hand.

Even Bildad is confused in his speech and is pulled in different directions by various doctrines, when he says, "If you yourself have not sinned, your sons have." Thereby he does not believe one is punished for someone else. But he may be included (in his reasoning), for he delivered the transgression into their hand due to their own sin.

Even if thy children have sinned against Him, and He have left them in the hand of their transgression; yet if thou wilt seek to God at dawn, and make thy supplication to the Almighty; if thou wilt walk pure and upright; surely now He will awake for thee, and make the habitation of thy righteousness at peace.

There were two things which seemed to keep Job from being restored to his former prosperity even if he were converted to God as Eliphaz advised. One of these was the fact that the children which he lost were dead and he could not expect them to be brought back to life by his conversion.

If you will make search for God with care, and put your request before the Ruler of all;

Bildad says, "I suggest you pray to the Lord with all your devotion and diligence. Everything else should come after your prayers." This is what "be early" means.

Yet if thou wilt seek to God at dawn, and make thy supplication to the Almighty. For inasmuch as heretics think that the light of truth rests with themselves, they bid and summon Holy Church, as being in the night of error, to come to the dawning of the truth, that in the knowledge of God it may be led to rise, as in the dawning light, and by the prayer of penitence wash off pa…

The other thing which seemed to keep Job from returning to his former prosperity was the fact that he had already finished the greater part of his life and little remained for him, as Job said before. So it did not seem that his former prosperity could be restored sufficiently in that little time, even if he were converted back to God.

If you are clean and upright; then he will certainly be moved to take up your cause, and will make clear your righteousness by building up your house again.

And though your start was small, your end will be very great.

You will enjoy an abundance of goods as great as you possessed earlier. Notice how Bildad demonstrates in this part of his discourse of praise his belief that the happiness of the righteous is found in the material goods of worldly life.

Insomuch that though thy beginning was small, yet thy latter end shall greatly increase. But if it is counsel within the soul that he calls 'the habitation of righteousness,' the leaders of false opinions promise afflicted Catholics 'the habitation of their righteousness at peace,' in that if they draw them to their own views, then indeed they hold their peace from opposition.

He promises again an excess of prosperity so that Job could not complain about the shortness of the time, saying, "as your past prosperity was small," in comparison with the goods which will follow, "so your future prosperity will be greater," such that the great prosperity will repay you for the time which you spent in adversity.

Put the question now to the past generations, and give attention to what has been searched out by their fathers:

In order to give authority to his words, Bildad calls the venerable past as a witness, so that he may appear to know through long experience what he has said or is about to say. In a different sense, Bildad wants Job to learn from ancient examples what he had said before, that is, that God is appeased by the prayers of the righteous.

For inquire, I pray thee, of the former age, and diligently search into the memory of the fathers. They give us notice that 'the former generation' and 'the memory of the fathers' are not seen but 'searched,' because they will not have that to be seen therein, which lies open before the eyes of all men.

In the preceding verses, Bildad of Shuah defended the same opinion Eliphaz the Temanite had proposed that men divinely punished in this present life for sin return to a state of prosperity after their conversion. He now intends to prove this in two ways: first from experience, second from analogy.

(For we are but of yesterday, and have no knowledge, because our days on earth are gone like a shade:)

Will they not give you teaching, and say words of wisdom to you?

Will the river-plant come up in its pride without wet earth? will the grass get tall without water?

Previously Bildad said that the teaching is passed on from the ancestors and fathers to the following generations. Now he supports this with an example.

Can the rush grow up without moisture? can the flag grow without water? To whom Bildad compares 'the rush' and 'the flag,' he himself immediately discloses, when he adds; Whilst it is yet in his greenness, and not cut down, it withereth before any other herb. So are the paths of all that forget God, and the hypocrite's hope shall perish.

He then introduces an analogy taken from material things to prove the proposition. He gives the example of two plants which grow in the earth. One of them demands moisture from the earth for its preservation, i.e. the bulrush or rushes. About this he says, "Do rushes flourish without moisture?" Also the other plant which requires an aqueous environment is the sedge.

When it is still green, without being cut down, it becomes dry and dead before any other plant.

So is the end of all who do not keep God in mind; and the hope of the evil-doer comes to nothing:

Job has not really forgotten God. Being still subject to the test, Job has offered blessings and praise. That is why the final condition of the righteous is not comparable to the grass dried up by heat.

So are the paths of all that forget God, and the hypocrite's hope shall perish. But as we have before said, who he is to whom Bildad likens 'a rush' or 'a flag,' he makes plain at the moment, where he adds, So are the paths of all that forget God, and the hypocrite's hope shall perish.

He adapts this example to his purpose. Consider that he understood the clinging of man to God in this way to be the cause of earthly prosperity just as water is the cause of the verdant color of the grass. This is because he thought that the good of man consisted in earthly prosperity. It is clear, however, that the good of man consists in the fact that man clings to God.

Whose support is cut off, and whose hope is no stronger than a spider's thread.

He is looking to his family for support, but it is not there; he puts his hope in it, but it comes to nothing.

He is full of strength before the sun, and his branches go out over his garden.

The papyrus and the reed are dried by the scorching heat of the sun and their shoots rot, even though they are moistened by water. In fact, this is what "his branch shall sprout from his dung heap" means. The impious will suffer the same destiny, when the wrath of God falls upon them.

It is seen moist before the sun cometh, and his produce issueth forth in his springing up. Oftentimes in Holy Writ the Lord is represented by the title of the Sun, as it is said by the Prophet, But unto you that fear My Name shall the Sun of righteousness arise.

He applies the comparison which he used before about the rushes to this opinion which he has related about the frailty of confidence. For his trust seems to be related to rushes in two ways. First like the verdant color of the rush, which fades quickly when the sun comes out and the moist earth is dried. He expresses this idea saying, "it seems moist," i.e.

His roots are twisted round the stones, forcing their way in between them.

If he is taken away from his place, then it will say, I have not seen you.

Such is the joy of his way, and out of the dust another comes up to take his place.

Behold, this is the joy of his way, that out of the earth others also should grow. As though it were in plain words, 'When the Judge cometh, he is not acknowledged, but receives punishment a thousand fold, because he rejoiced in his wickedness more amply in proportion as he spread evil among others also.' For he that is not satisfied with being wicked himself here, must be torm…

"Out of the earth still others will spring." In other words, God inflicts these punishments on the impious as their just reward, but with regard to the righteous, regardless of the state of abasement in which he finds them, God will make them spring up again, rendering them glorious.

He next explains the reason for this, "For this is the joy of his path," or "of his life that others may be brought forth from the earth again," as if to say: The progress and life of the rush do not tend to abide in some place by natural desire towards this end nor is it preserved through this outcome, namely, that the same number of rushes replace them as were uprooted, but t…

Truly, God will not give up him who is without sin, and will not take evil-doers by the hand.

The time will come when your mouth will be full of laughing, and cries of joy will come from your lips.

Your haters will be clothed with shame, and the tent of the sinner will not be seen again.

Job8