1. Job 18-19

2. 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

3. 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

4. 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!

5. 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

6. 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?”

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

8. 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

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

10. 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

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

12. 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

13. 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

14. 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

15. 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.”

16. 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

17. 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

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

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

20. 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.'”

21. 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

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

23. 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.”

24. 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?”

25. 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.”

26. 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.”

27. 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,”

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

29. 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.”

30. Job 18-19
References
J. Vernon McGee Commentary