Job 18-19

Bildad His second discourse Nothing new this time He is traditionalist Job 18 Bildad His second discourse Nothing new this time He is traditionalist Old sayings & proverbs Some are good But none help Job

Bildad Job 18:1-3 “Job, if you would shut up ...” “Then we could speak” “You should be listening to us” But they should shut up Not prepared for voice of God

Bildad Job 18:1-3 God is preparing Job to hear Him Later Job will listen to Him Bildad asks why Job looks at him & his friends contemptuously Answer is obvious!

Job 18 Bildad Job 18:1-3 This is how they have been looking at Job ... with contempt So it is a standoff These friends no longer are his friends

Job 18 Bildad Job 18:4 “Do you think God is going to run His universe just to suit you?” “Do you think that your rage against us or God is going to release you from the trap that you are in?”

Bildad Job 18:5 One of Bildad's aphorisms Nothing truer could be spoken But does not apply to Job

Bildad Job 18:6-8 Job, you are caught in a net Not because we did anything We are here to help you But you don't listen to us It is because of some secret sin

Bildad Job 18:6-8 You have walked into a trap You set it for yourself

Bildad Job 18:9-10 Spouts pious platitudes Works them like geometry problems Steps of proof lead to conclusion But life is not like that

Bildad Job 18:9-10 Easy in life to begin w wrong premise Wrong premise → wrong conclusion

Bildad Job 18:9-10 These men put down their formulas But based on wrong premises Say Job walked into trap he set for himself

Bildad Job 18:11-18 Disease wastes body of wicked Destroys home & family of wicked All of this is true of the wicked But all this not applicable to Job

Job 18 Bildad “A statement can be absolutely true, and yet have no application to an individual situation.” “This is the reason, I feel, that a great deal of so-called 'counseling' today is dangerous. I think that there are many fine Christian

Job 18 Bildad “psychologists; I know some of them, and I would recommend them. But, candidly, many psychologists often have premises which are not accurate, and for that reason they are not able to counsel.”

Bildad Job 18:11-18 These men try to counsel Job But based on false premise Yes, wicked will be blotted out Hitler, Stalin: wiped out But not applicable to Job

Bildad Job 18:19-20 Any man likes to have sons, daughters Source of pride, satisfaction Sometimes wicked have more But Job has none left to him

Bildad Job 18:19-20 So this is cruel for Bildad to say God is going to make it up to Job

Bildad Job 18:21 Bildad states destiny of wicked Classifies Job with the wicked Job does not fit this description

Job 18 Bildad Job 18:21 “When Job answers, he will say, 'Can't you conceive it possible that God has entangled me in His net and left His actions unexplained? There must be an explanation for it, but your explanation may not be right.'”

Job Job 19:1-2 He knows his friends are wrong But that doesn't make him right He also has wrong concept of God Light breaks in every now & then

Job Job 19:1-2 “Opponent tore down our defense” His friends have been doing that

Job 19 Job Job 19:3 “The more they talked, the more alienated from Job they became. They were not right, but neither was Job. Job thought that, because they were wrong, he would be right.”

Job 19 Job Job 19:3 “If Job's conscience and his life had been open in the presence of God, what position should he have taken?”

Job 19 Job Job 19:3 “Let me make a suggestion: I think that he should not have replied to his friends at all. Unfortunately, most of us think that we must defend ourselves.”

Job 19 Job Job 19:3 “I thank God for giving me the gift of preaching and teaching, but I will be very frank with you and say that it is a dangerous gift to have, because it puts you up where you can be shot at and criticized.”

Job 19 Job Job 19:3 “People ask me from time to time, 'Why don't you defend yourself?' The answer is that I don't need to. As someone has stated it, your friends who know you don't need an explanation,”

Job Job 19:3 “and your enemies wouldn't believe you anyway. I have learned that in time things pretty much answer themselves.”

Job 19 Job Job 19:3 “Job should have listened to what they had to say, then told them good-bye and shown them the front gate of the city. But Job was determined to vindicate himself.”

Job 18-19 References J. Vernon McGee Commentary