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Job's friends are like Job's messengers: the latter followed one another close with evil tidings, the former followed him with harsh censures: both, unawares, served Satan's design; these to drive him from his integrity, those to drive him from the comfort of it. Eliphaz did not reply to what Job had said in answer to him, but left it to Bildad, whom he knew to be of the same mind with himself in this affair. Those are not the wisest of the company, but the weakest rather, who covet to have all the talk. Let others speak in their turn, and let the first keep silence, 1Co 14:30,31. Eliphaz had undertaken to show that because Job was sorely afflicted he was certainly a wicked man. Bildad is much of the same mind, and will conclude Job a wicked man unless God do speedily appear for his relief. In this chapter he endeavours to convince Job, I. That he had spoken too passionately, Job 8:2. II. That he and his children had suffered justly, Job 8:3,4. III. That, if he were a true penitent, God would soon turn his captivity, Job 8:5-7. IV. That it was a usual thing for Providence to extinguish the joys and hopes of wicked men as his were extinguished; and therefore that they had reason to suspect him for a hypocrite, Job 8:8-19. V. That they would be abundantly confirmed in their suspicion unless God did speedily appear for his relief, Job 8:20-22.
1-22
The Address of Bildad (1520 BC)
简体中文
约伯记第八章
比勒达的发言（主前1520年）
¹ 书亚人比勒达回答说：
² 这些话你要说到几时？你口中的言语如狂风，要到几时呢？
³ 神岂能偏离公平？全能者岂能颠倒是非？
⁴ 你的儿女若得罪了他，他就因他们的过犯把他们除掉；
⁵ 你若殷勤寻求神，向全能者恳求；
⁶ 你若清洁正直，他必定为你醒来，使你公义的居所兴旺；
⁷ 你起初虽然微小，终久必甚发达。
一、比勒达责备约伯所说的话（伯 8:2）
遏制他的怒气，却也许（如太多时候所行的）以更大的怒气。我们以为约伯说得大有见识、十分切题，又有理有义在他那边；比勒达却如一个激烈发怒的争辩者，一概以这话推掉：「这些话你要说到几时？」——以为以利法已说得足以使他闭口，所以他所尽说的都不切题。如此（如卡锐尔先生[Mr. Caryl]所观察）责备常常建立在误解上。人的本意未被正确领会，便被严厉地当作作恶之人责备。比勒达把约伯的讲论比作*「狂风」。约伯曾以此自解：他的话不过是「如风」（伯 6:26）——所以他们不必如此大作文章。「是」（比勒达说）「「但如狂风——呼啸威胁、暴烈危险——所以我们不得不设防抵挡。」*
二、他为神所作的辩护
此时他本不必作此（因约伯并未如他要人以为的那样定神的罪），或至少本可以不必如他在此所作的影射约伯的儿女。他岂不能作神的辩护人，而不作弟兄的控告者吗？ 1. 他 总则上是对的——「神绝不偏离公平」，从不违背任何既定的公正原则（伯 8:3）。 远离他的是这样，远离我们的也当是这样。他从不欺压无辜，也不给有罪者加过于所当受的重担。他是神——审判者；「审判全地的主，岂不行公义吗？」（创 18:25） 若神有不义，「他怎能审判世界呢？」（罗 3:5-6） 他是全能的——沙代——全足之神。人有时因惧怕别人的权势而颠倒是非（但神是全能的，不惧任何人），有时为得别人的恩惠（但神是全足的，不能因任何人的恩惠得益）。人的不义常因他的软弱无能；神的不能不义是他的全能。 2. 然而他应用并不公正坦诚。 他假定约伯的儿女（其死是他最大苦难之一）犯过某种臭名昭著的恶，他们死的不幸情形便足以证明他们是东方人中最坏的罪人（伯 8:4）。约伯乐意承认神不偏离公平；然而这不能因此推论：他的儿女是被弃绝的，或他们死是因为犯了大罪。诚然我们和我们的儿女都得罪了神，我们当在他所加于我们和我们家人身上的一切上称义他；但非常的苦难不总是非常的罪的刑罚，有时是非常的恩典的试炼；在判断别人之案时（除非有相反证据），我们当采较有利的一方——如我们的主所指示的（路 13:2-4）。比勒达在此失误了。
三、他把盼望给约伯：他若确实如他所说正直，他必看见目前苦难的好结局
「虽然你的儿女得罪了他，在其罪中被除掉（他们死在自己的罪中），但你若自己清洁正直——又作为证据如今寻求神、顺服他——一切仍要好」（伯 8:5-7）。 这话可两解： 1. 作为要证约伯是假冒为善的、是恶人——虽非凭苦难之大、却凭苦难之久。「你被剥夺、儿女被杀之时，你若清洁正直、在试炼中证己如此，神早已以怜悯归向你、照你受苦之时安慰你；但他既未如此，我们便有理由结论你并不如你所自称的那样「清洁正直」。你若在前次苦难中行得好，便不会受后次的击打。」 比勒达在此不对；因为好人可能为试炼受苦——不仅极重，也极久——然而若仅一生之久，与永恒相比不过片刻。但比勒达既把这事放在这考验上，神便乐意与他同考，并以比勒达自己的论据证明他仆人约伯是诚实人；因为不久之后，他使约伯末后的日子比起初更大。 2. 或作为要引导鼓励约伯，免他如此自陷绝望、放弃一切；他若走当走的路，仍有盼望。 我以为比勒达此意是要定约伯的罪，却要人以为他是在 劝导安慰他。 〔1〕他给他好 劝导——也许并不指望他接受——与以利法所给相同（伯 5:8）：「寻求神」，又「殷勤」*（即迅速认真地），不在归回悔改上拖延 儿戏。* 他劝他不要抱怨、要恳求——「向全能者恳求」——存谦卑和信心；又当看到（他恐怕迄今所缺乏的）心中有真诚——「你当清洁正直」——家中有诚实——「那必作你公义的居所」，不可装满不当得之物，否则神不听祷告（诗 66:18）。正直人的祷告才是可悦有效的祷告（箴 15:8）。 〔2〕他给他好盼望——他必再见好日子——却暗中疑心他无资格见之。 他保证他：他若早求神，神必为他醒起、记念他、归向他——虽然如今他似乎忘记他、离弃他——他若居所公义，那必是兴旺。当我们以本分之路归向神，便有理由盼望他以怜悯之路归向我们。约伯不要以自己所剩无几、无从再起、不可能如从前兴旺为推辞；不，「你起初虽然微小——坛里一点面、瓶里一点油——神的赐福必使它大为加增。」 这是神以恩典和安慰丰富他子民灵魂之法——不是 per saltum——一跃而成——而是 per gradum——一步一步。起初小，进步至于完全。微明之光长至正午，芥菜之种长成大树。所以我们不可藐视*「小事之日」（亚 4:10直译），却当盼望「大事之日」*。
⁸ 请你考问前代，追念他们列祖所查究的。
⁹ （我们不过从昨日才有，一无所知；我们在世的日子好像影儿。）
¹⁰ 他们岂不指教你、告诉你，从心里发出言语来吗？
¹¹ 蒲草没有泥，岂能发旺？芦荻没有水，岂能生长？
¹² 尚青的时候，还没有割下，就比百草先枯槁。
¹³ 凡忘记神的人，景况也是这样；假冒为善之人的指望要灭没；
¹⁴ 他所仰赖的必折断，他所靠的如蛛网。
¹⁵ 他要倚靠房屋，房屋却站立不住；他要抓住房屋，房屋却不能存留。
¹⁶ 他在日光之下发青，嫩枝在园中滋长；
¹⁷ 他的根盘绕石堆，扎入石地。
¹⁸ 他若从本地被拔出，那地就否认他，说：我没有见过你。
¹⁹ 看哪，这就是他道中的喜乐；以后必另有人从地而生。
比勒达在此对假冒为善者和作恶之人的可悲结局、并他们一切盼望喜乐的致命终点讲得很好。他不敢像以利法那样大胆说：从未有义人如此被剪除（伯 4:7）；然而他假定：神在护理的常轨中，通常使那些似乎敬虔、本已兴旺的恶人在此世蒙羞灭亡，又藉使其兴旺短促，揭露其敬虔为假冒。这是否必证一切如此灭亡者都被断为假冒为善的，他不敢说，倒只是怀疑，并以为应用容易。
一、他以诉诸古人、并一切智者善人共同的见解和观察，来证明这真理——假冒为善者一切盼望喜乐必灭没
若把来世也算在内，这是无可置疑的真理：若不在此生，则在来生，假冒为善者必被剥夺一切倚靠、一切夸耀——不论比勒达是否此意，我们必须如此领受。让我们观察他证明之法（伯 8:8-10）。 1. 他不依恃自己和同伴的判断：「我们不过从昨日才有，一无所知」（伯 8:9）。 他察觉约伯对他们的能力毫无评价，以为他们所知甚少。「我们承认」（比勒达说）「「我们一无所知，承认自己的无知与你责备它一样情愿；因为我们按比较而言不过从昨日才有，「*「我们在世的日子」短促瞬逝，如「影儿」急速而去。 由此—— 〔1〕「我们离神圣启示之源不远」（那时启示显然藉口传流传）「「不如前代近；所以我们当查问他们说了什么、追念我们所听到的他们之意见。」* 感谢神，如今我们既有写下来的神的话，又被指引查考它，便不必*「考问前代」、不必「追念他们列祖所查究的」；因为纵然我们自己不过从昨日才有，神在圣经中的话离我们如离他们一样近（罗 10:8），又是「更确的预言」（彼后 1:19直译）——我们当在其上留意。我们若查考守神训词，便藉之「比古人通达」（诗 119:99-100）。* 〔2〕「我们不像前代人活那么久，对护理方法作观察，所以在此类案件中不胜任如他们的审判。」** 请留意：我们寿命之短是知识长进的大拦阻，身体的脆弱和软弱也是如此。Vita brevis, ars longa——生命短促，技艺无涯。 2. 他诉诸古人的见证，并约伯自己所知他们对之的意见。「你「考问前代」，让他们不仅告诉你他们自己在此事上的判断，也告诉你*「他们列祖」的判断（伯 8:8）。「「他们必指教你」（伯 8:10）——告诉你自古以来神的审判常随恶人。这是他们*「从心里发出」的——即他们自己所坚信、大受感动、又切望别人知之感之的。* 请留意： 〔1〕为要正解护理、解开其难，比较前代的观察经历与我们今日的事是有用的；为此当查考历史，尤其圣经历史——最古老、最无误真、特为我们学习而写。 〔2〕要从古人取知识，必须殷勤搜寻、为搜寻作准备、为搜寻吃苦。 〔3〕出自教师之心的言语最可能达到学者之心——*「那从心里发出言语的」最能教训人——凭经历、不凭死记属灵神圣之事而说的人。 学者帕特里克主教以为：比勒达既是书亚人——亚伯拉罕由基土拉所生之子书亚的后裔（创 25:2）——他在此诉诸历史，特别指神之福所保证明白信实亚伯拉罕后裔（他们至今、此后许久仍守其信仰）所得之赏赐，以及那些东方邻邦（住在约伯邻国）因恶被剿灭；由此推论：兴旺义人、拔除恶人是神寻常之法——虽然恶人一时茂盛。
二、他以比喻说明这真理
1. 假冒为善者的盼望喜乐在此比作蒲草或芦荻（伯 8:11-13）。 〔1〕它从泥水中长出。 假冒为善者非凭某种虚伪败坏的根据便不能得其盼望——从中抬起它、支持它、保其存活——如蒲草无泥不能长。他把盼望建于他的属世兴旺、他敬虔看似有理的宣认、邻舍的好评、并自己的自视——这些都不是建其信靠的坚实根基；全是泥水；从中所长之盼望不过是蒲草芦荻。 〔2〕它一时可看青翠悦目（蒲草长过百草），却轻而空、无用——为青翠而青翠，全无用处。 〔3〕它不久枯萎——「比百草先」（伯 8:12）。 正「尚青」之时，已枯干而去。 请留意：假冒为善者和作恶之人最好的状态临近枯萎；青翠之时已在去。草*「被割便枯」（诗 90:6直译）；蒲草「未被割便枯——未长成便枯」（诗 129:6直译）：既无用，也不久。「凡忘记神的人，景况也是这样」（伯 8:13）——他们走蒲草所走的路——「因为假冒为善之人的指望要灭没。」* 请留意： ① 忘记神是人假冒为善的根底，也是他们用以自媚自欺的虚妄盼望之根底。人若不忘那与他们打交道的神是察看人心、要在心里要求真诚的——他是灵，他的眼目在我们灵上——便不会作假冒为善者；假冒为善者若不忘神是公义、不容以残缺瘸腿之物 嘲弄他，便无盼望。 ② 假冒为善者的盼望是大大自欺，虽一时茂盛，至终必灭，他们也与之同灭。 2. 他们在此被比作「蛛网」（或作「蜘蛛之屋」*——旁注如此）——蛛网（伯 8:14-15）。* 假冒为善者的盼望—— 〔1〕从他腹中所织；是他自己的幻想所造，仅出于对自己功劳和本事的自视。 蜜蜂之工与蜘蛛之工大有分别。勤劳的基督徒如勤蜂，从神言之天露得一切安慰；假冒为善者如狡蛛，从关于神的虚假 假设——仿佛神完全如他自己一样——织出其工。 〔2〕他十分喜爱，如蜘蛛爱其网；自得其乐，裹在其中，称之为他的家——*「倚靠」它、「抓住」它。 论到蜘蛛，说「用爪抓物，住在王宫」（箴 30:28直译）。* 属肉体贪世者正是如此：在自己外面兴旺的丰盛和坚固中自抱；他以那屋为宫自傲、以之为堡自固——又作为蜘蛛之网，用以网罗他所要捕食之人。形式上的宣认者正是如此：他在自己眼中自媚，不疑自己的拯救，对天堂安稳，以虚妄的自信欺世。 〔3〕易被扫除如蛛网之被扫帚——神来洁净他家之时。 属世者的兴旺在他们指望在其中找安全和幸福之时必失败。他们图守产业，神却正从他们手中拔出；他们所预备的这些要归于谁？他们从中又有何益？假冒为善者的倚靠必失败。「我告诉你们，我不认识你们」（路 13:25-27）。 建在沙上的房屋在风暴中要倒——正在建造者最需要它、又最盼望其益处之时。「恶人一死，他的指望便灭没」（箴 11:7）。 他盼望之根据必显为假；他必失望于所盼望之物；他那用以浮自己的愚妄盼望必变为无尽的绝望——如此他的盼望被剪断，他的网——那谎言的避难所——被扫除，他被压碎其中。 3. 假冒为善者在此被比作一棵茂盛根深的树——虽不自己枯萎，却易被砍下，其地也不再认它。 安逸兴旺的罪人被比作蒲草芦荻，也许以为受了委屈；他以为自己根更深。「我们容让他这自视」（比勒达说）「「给他所要的一切优势，仍要叫他突然被剪除。」 他在此被描绘如尼布甲尼撒在自己梦中所见的大树（但 4:10）。 〔1〕看这树秀美茂盛（伯 8:16）——如「青翠的香柏树」（诗 37:35直译）；「在日光之下发青」——顶住灼日仍保其青；「嫩枝在园中滋长」——赖园墙之护、园土之益。看它稳固、深扎其根——不似蒲草在泥水中，似永不会被暴风推翻；「他的根盘绕石堆」*（伯 8:17）。* 恶人在世上兴旺之时正是如此自以为安稳；他的财富在己意中是*「高台」（箴 18:11直译）。* 〔2〕看这树仍被伐被忘——「从本地被拔出」（伯 8:18）——被全然拔除，不留它所长之处的任何记号或迹象。那地本身说：「我没有见过你」；旁观者也如此说。「我寻找他，却寻不着」（诗 37:36直译）。 他一时大有声势大有动静，却突然消失——「根枝一无所有」（玛 4:1直译）。「这就是他道中的喜乐」（伯 8:19）——即恶人之路的终点和结局；他一切喜乐所归于此。「恶人的道路却必灭亡」（诗 1:6）。 他以为其盼望至终必化为喜乐；但这才是结局——这才是喜乐。「收割之时，变为忧愁绝望之日之堆」（赛 17:11直译）。 这已是其最好；其最坏又如何？但他不留一家后人享受其所有吗？不，「以后必另有人从地而生」——非从其根——与他全无亲缘，却填满其位、辖管他所劳的。别人——即同灵同性情的人——要在其位上长起，与他一般安稳，未受其跌之警。贪世者之路其愚如此，却仍有一族*「随其所说而自许」（诗 49:13直译）。*
²⁰ 看哪，神必不丢弃完全人，也不扶助恶人。
²¹ 他必以喜笑充满你的口，以欢呼充满你的嘴唇。
²² 恨恶你的，必披戴惭愧；恶人的帐棚必归于无有。
比勒达在此讲论之末，以几句话总结他所要说的——把生与死、福与祸摆在约伯面前——向他保证他怎样便必怎样结局，所以他们可以结论：他怎样结局，他就是怎样。 1. 一方面，他若是完全正直人，神不「丢弃」他（伯 8:20）。 如今他似被神弃绝，神仍要归向他，渐渐*「将他的哀哭变为跳舞」（诗 30:11）——安慰要如此丰盛临到他，以至他的「口」必「以喜笑充满」（伯 8:21）。这快乐的转变何等感人（诗 126:2）。爱他的必与他同乐；但恨他的、曾在他跌倒时夸胜的，必因自己无礼而惭愧——他们看见他恢复从前的兴旺。诚然，「神必不丢弃完全人」——他可一时被推下，却不会被永远丢弃。诚然，若不在此世，则在彼世，义人的口必「以欢呼充满」。他们的日头虽在云下落下，却必清朗复升——永不再被遮；他们虽哀哭到坟墓，那却不能拦阻他们进入主的喜乐。诚然，圣徒的仇敌见他们戴冠冕之时必「披戴惭愧」。但因此不能推论：约伯若不完全恢复从前兴旺，他便 丧失了完全人的称号。 2. 另一方面，他若是恶人、作恶的人，神不「扶助」他——任他在目前的困境中灭亡（伯 8:20）；他的「帐棚必归于无有」（伯 8:22）。* 这也是真的：神「不扶助作恶之人」——他们把自己抛出他的保护，又 丧失他的恩惠。他「不拉不敬虔之人的手」（旁注如此）——不与他们相交；因为「光明和黑暗有什么相通呢？」（林后 6:14）——他不伸手救他们脱离他们自投的苦难——永刑之苦；那时他们向他伸手求救，却已太晚：他不拉他们的手。「在你我之间有深渊限定」（路 16:26直译）。* 诚然，恶人的帐棚——迟早——「必归于无有」。 唯独*「以神为居所」的人永远安全（诗 90:1；91:1）。以别物为避难所的必失望。罪使人和家族归于毁坏。然而因约伯的家族沉沦、他自己目前似乎无助，便推论他必是不敬虔的恶人——如比勒达（我恐怕）暗中所作的——只要有他与神不虔诚的证据不足，便既不公正也不慈善。让我们「什么都不要论断，只等主来」（林前 4:5直译）——只等众人暗中之心显明、护理目前的难局得到普世永久的解决——那时「神的奥秘成全」（启 10:7）。*
英文原文
The Address of Bildad (1520 BC)
¹ Then answered Bildad the Shuhite, and said,
² How long wilt thou speak these things? and how long shall the words of thy mouth be like a strong wind?
³ Doth God pervert judgment? or doth the Almighty pervert justice?
⁴ If thy children have sinned against him, and he have cast them away for their transgression;
⁵ If thou wouldest seek unto God betimes, and make thy supplication to the Almighty;
⁶ If thou wert pure and upright; surely now he would awake for thee, and make the habitation of thy righteousness prosperous.
⁷ Though thy beginning was small, yet thy latter end should greatly increase.
Here, I. Bildad reproves Job for what he had said (Job 8:2), checks his passion, but perhaps (as is too common) with greater passion. We thought Job spoke a great deal of good sense and much to the purpose, and that he had reason and right on his side; but Bildad, like an eager angry disputant, turns it all off with this, How long wilt thou speak these things? taking it for granted that Eliphaz had said enough to silence him, and that therefore all he said was impertinent. Thus (as Caryl observes) reproofs are often grounded upon mistakes. Men's meaning is not taken aright, and then they are gravely rebuked as if they were evil-doers. Bildad compares Job's discourse to a strong wind. Job had excused himself with this, that his speeches were but as wind (Job 6:26), and therefore they should not make such ado about them: "Yea, but" (says Bildad) "they are as strong wind, blustering and threatening, boisterous and dangerous, and therefore we are concerned to fence against them."
II. He justifies God in what he had done. This he had no occasion to do at this time (for Job did not condemn God, as he would have it thought he did), or he might at least have done it without reflecting upon Job's children, as he does here. Could he not be an advocate for God but he must be an accuser of the brethren? 1. He is right in general, that God doth not pervert judgment, nor ever go contrary to any settled rule of justice, Job 8:3. Far be it from him that he should and from us that we should suspect him. He never oppresses the innocent, nor lays a greater load on the guilty than they deserve. He is God, the Judge; and shall not the Judge of all the earth do right? Ge 18:25. If there should be unrighteousness with God, how should he judge the world? Ro 3:5,6. He is Almighty, Shaddai—all sufficient. Men pervert justice sometimes for fear of the power of others (but God is Almighty, and stands in awe of none), sometimes to obtain the favour of others; but God is all-sufficient, and cannot be benefited by the favour of any. It is man's weakness and impotency that he often is unjust; it is God's omnipotence that he cannot be so. 2. Yet he is not fair and candid in the application. He takes it for granted that Job's children (the death of whom was one of the greatest of his afflictions) had been guilty of some notorious wickedness, and that the unhappy circumstances of their death were sufficient evidence that they were sinners above all the children of the east, Job 8:4. Job readily owned that God did not pervert judgment; and yet it did not therefore follow either that his children were cast-aways or that they died for some great transgression. It is true that we and our children have sinned against God, and we ought to justify him in all he brings upon us and ours; but extraordinary afflictions are not always the punishment of extraordinary sins, but sometimes the trial of extraordinary graces; and, in our judgment of another's case (unless the contrary appears), we ought to take the more favourable side, as our Saviour directs, Lu 13:2-4. Here Bildad missed it.
III. He put Job in hope that, if he were indeed upright, as he said he was, he should yet see a good issue of his present troubles: "Although thy children have sinned against him, and are cast away in their transgression (they have died in their own sin), yet if thou be pure and upright thyself, and as an evidence of that wilt now seek unto God and submit to him, all shall be well yet," Job 8:5-7. This may be taken two ways, either, 1. As designed to prove Job a hypocrite and a wicked man, though not by the greatness, yet the by the continuance, of his afflictions. "When thou wast impoverished, and thy children were killed, if thou hadst been pure and upright, and approved thyself so in the trial, God would before now have returned in mercy to thee and comforted thee according to the time of thy affliction; but, because he does not so, we have reason to conclude thou art not so pure and upright as thou pretendest to be. If thou hadst conducted thyself well under the former affliction, thou wouldst not have been struck with the latter." Herein Bildad was not in the right; for a good man may be afflicted for his trial, not only very sorely, but very long, and yet, if for life, it is in comparison with eternity but for a moment. But, since Bildad put it to this issue, God was pleased to join issue with him, and proved his servant Job an honest man by Bildad's own argument; for, soon after, he blessed his latter end more than his beginning. Or, 2. As designed to direct and encourage Job, that he might not thus run himself into despair, and give up all for gone; there might yet be hope if he would take the right course. I am apt to think Bildad here intended to condemn Job, yet would be thought to counsel and comfort him. (1.) He gives him good counsel, yet perhaps not expecting he would take it, the same that Eliphaz had given him (Job 5:8), to seek unto God, and that betimes (that is, speedily and seriously), and not to be dilatory and trifling in his return and repentance. He advises him not to complain, but to petition, to make his supplication to the Almighty with humility and faith, and to see that there was (what he feared had hitherto been wanting) sincerity in his heart ("thou must be pure and upright") and honesty in his house—"that must be the habitation of thy righteousness, and not filled with ill-gotten goods, else God will not hear thy prayers," Ps 66:18. It is only the prayer of the upright that is the acceptable and prevailing prayer, Pr 15:8. (2.) He gives him good hopes that he shall yet again see good days, secretly suspecting, however, that he was not qualified to see them. He assures him that, if he would be early in seeking God, God would awake for his relief, would remember him and return to him, though now he seemed to forget him and forsake him—that if his habitation were righteous it should be prosperity. When we return to God in a way of duty we have reason to hope that he will return to us in a way of mercy. Let not Job object that he had so little left to being the world with again that it was impossible he should ever prosper as he had done; no, "Though thy beginning should be ever so small, a little meal in the barrel and a little oil in the cruse, God's blessing shall multiply that to a great increase." This is God's way of enriching the souls of his people with graces and comforts, not per saltum—as by a bound, but per gradum—step by step. The beginning is small, but the progress is to perfection. Dawning light grows to noonday, a grain of mustard seed to a great tree. Let us not therefore despise the day of small things, but hope for the day of great things.
⁸ For enquire, I pray thee, of the former age, and prepare thyself to the search of their fathers:
⁹ (For we are but of yesterday, and know nothing, because our days upon earth are a shadow:)
¹⁰ Shall not they teach thee, and tell thee, and utter words out of their heart?
¹¹ Can the rush grow up without mire? can the flag grow without water?
¹² Whilst it is yet in his greenness, and not cut down, it withereth before any other herb.
¹³ So are the paths of all that forget God; and the hypocrite's hope shall perish:
¹⁴ Whose hope shall be cut off, and whose trust shall be a spider's web.
¹⁵ He shall lean upon his house, but it shall not stand: he shall hold it fast, but it shall not endure.
¹⁶ He is green before the sun, and his branch shooteth forth in his garden.
¹⁷ His roots are wrapped about the heap, and seeth the place of stones.
¹⁸ If he destroy him from his place, then it shall deny him, saying, I have not seen thee.
¹⁹ Behold, this is the joy of his way, and out of the earth shall others grow.
Bildad here discourses very well on the sad catastrophe of hypocrites and evil-doers and the fatal period of all their hopes and joys. He will not be so bold as to say with Eliphaz that none that were righteous were ever cut off thus (Job 4:7); yet he takes it for granted that God, in the course of his providence, does ordinarily bring wicked men, who seemed pious and were prosperous, to shame and ruin in this world, and that, by making their prosperity short, he discovers their piety to be counterfeit. Whether this will certainly prove that all who are thus ruined must be concluded to have been hypocrites he will not say, but rather suspect, and thinks the application is easy.
I. He proves this truth, of the certain destruction of all the hopes and joys of hypocrites, by an appeal to antiquity and the concurring sentiment and observation of all wise and good men; and an undoubted truth it is, if we take in the other world, that, if not in this life, yet in the life to come, hypocrites will be deprived of all their trusts and all their triumphs: whether Bildad so meant or no, we must so take it. Let us observe the method of his proof, Job 8:8-10.
1. He insists not on his own judgment and that of his companions: We are but of yesterday, and know nothing, Job 8:9. He perceived that Job had no opinion of their abilities, but thought they knew little. "We will own," says Bildad, "that we know nothing, are as ready to confess our ignorance as thou art to condemn it; for we are but of yesterday in comparison, and our days upon earth are short and transient, and hastening away as a shadow. And hence," (1.) "We are not so near the fountain-head of divine revelation" (which then for aught that appears, was conveyed by tradition) "as the former age was; and therefore we must enquire what they said and recount what we have been told of their sentiments." Blessed be God, now that we have the word of God in writing, and are directed to search that, we need not enquire of the former age, nor prepare ourselves to the search of their fathers; for, though we ourselves are but of yesterday, the word of God in the scripture is as nigh to us as it was to them (Ro 10:8), and it is the more sure word of prophecy, to which we must take heed. If we study and keep God's precepts, we may by them understand more than the ancients, Ps 119:99,100. (2.) "We do not live so long as those of the former age did, to make observations upon the methods of divine providence, and therefore cannot be such competent judges as they in a cause of this nature." Note, The shortness of our lives is a great hindrance to the improvement of our knowledge, and so are the frailty and weakness of our bodies. Vita brevis, ars longa—life is short, the progress of art boundless.
2. He refers to the testimony of the ancients and to the knowledge which Job himself had of their sentiments. "Do thou enquire of the former age, and let them tell thee, not only their own judgment in this matter, but the judgment also of their fathers, Job 8:8. They will teach thee, and inform thee (Job 8:10), that all along, in their time, the judgments of God followed wicked men. This they will utter out of their hearts, that is, as that which they firmly believe themselves, which they are greatly affected with and desirous to acquaint and affect others with." Note, (1.) For the right understanding of divine Providence, and the unfolding of the difficulties of it, it will be of use to compare the observations and experiences of former ages with the events of our own day; and, in order thereto, to consult history, especially the sacred history, which is the most ancient, infallibly true, and written designedly for our learning. (2.) Those that would fetch knowledge from the former ages must search diligently, prepare for the search, and take pains for the search. (3.) Those words are most likely to reach to the hearts of the learners that come from the hearts of the teachers. Those shall teach thee best that utter words out of their heart, that speak by experience, and not by rote, of spiritual and divine things. The learned bishop Patrick suggests that Bildad being a Shuhite, descended from Shuah one of Abraham's sons by Keturah (Ge 25:2), in this appeal which he makes to history he has a particular respect to the rewards which the blessing of God secured to the posterity of faithful Abraham (who hitherto, and long after, continued in his religion) and to the extirpation of those eastern people, neighbours to Job (in whose country they were settled), for their wickedness, whence he infers that it is God's usual way to prosper the just and root out the wicked, though for a while they may flourish.
II. He illustrates this truth by some similitudes.
1. The hopes and joys of the hypocrite are here compared to a rush or flag, Job 8:11-13. (1.) It grows up out of the mire and water. The hypocrite cannot gain his hope without some false rotten ground or other out of which to raise it, and with which to support it and keep it alive, any more than the rush can grow without mire. He grounds it on his worldly prosperity, the plausible profession he makes of religion, the good opinion of his neighbours, and his own good conceit of himself, which are no solid foundation on which to build his confidence. It is all but mire and water; and the hope that grows out of it is but rush and flag. (2.) It may look green and gay for a while (the rush outgrows the grass), but it is light and hollow, and empty, and good for nothing. It is green for show, but of no use. (3.) It withers presently, before any other herb, Job 8:12. Even while it is in its greenness it is dried away and gone in a little time. Note, The best state of hypocrites and evil-doers borders upon withering; even when it is green it is going. The grass is cut down and withers (Ps 90:6); but the rush is not cut down and yet withers, withers before it grows up (Ps 129:6): as it has no use, so it has no continuance. So are the paths of all that forget God (Job 8:13); they take the same way that the rush does, for the hypocrite's hope shall perish. Note, [1.] Forgetfulness of God is at the bottom of men's hypocrisy, and of the vain hopes with which they flatter and deceive themselves in their hypocrisy. Men would not be hypocrites if they did not forget that the God with whom they have to do searches the heart and requires truth there, that he is a Spirit and has his eye on our spirits; and hypocrites would have no hope if they did not forget that God is righteous, and will not be mocked with the torn and the lame. [2.] The hope of hypocrites is a great cheat upon themselves, and, though it may flourish for a while, it will certainly perish at last, and they with it.
2. They are here compared to a spider's web, or a spider's house (as it is in the margin), a cobweb, Job 8:14,15. The hope of the hypocrite, (1.) Is woven out of his own bowels; it is the creature of his own fancy, and arises merely from a conceit of his own merit and sufficiency. There is a great deal of difference between the work of the bee and that of the spider. A diligent Christian, like the laborious bee, fetches in all his comfort from the heavenly dews of God's word; but the hypocrite, like the subtle spider, weaves his out of a false hypothesis of his own concerning God, as if he were altogether such a one as himself. (2.) He is very fond of it, as the spider of her web; pleases himself with it, wraps himself in it, calls it his house, leans upon it, and holds it fast. It is said of the spider that she takes hold with her hands, and is in kings' palaces, Pr 30:28. So does a carnal worldling hug himself in the fulness and firmness of his outward prosperity; he prides himself in that house as his palace, fortifies himself in it as his castle, and makes use of it as the spider of her web, to ensnare those he has a mind to prey upon. So does a formal professor; he flatters himself in his own eyes, doubts not of his salvation, is secure of heaven, and cheats the world with his vain confidences. (3.) It will easily and certainly be swept away, as the cobweb with the besom, when God shall come to purge his house. The prosperity of worldly people will fail them when they expect to find safety and happiness in it. They seek to hold fast their estates, but God is plucking them out of their hands; and whose shall all those things be, which they have provided? or what the better they will be for them? The confidences of hypocrites will fail them. I tell you, I know you not. The house built on the sand will fall in the storm, when the builder most needs it and promised himself the benefit of it. When a wicked man dies his expectation perishes. The ground of his hopes will prove false; he will be disappointed of the thing he hoped for, and his foolish hope with which he buoyed himself up will be turned into endless despair; and thus his hope will be cut off, his web, that refuge of lies, swept away, and he crushed in it.
3. The hypocrite is here compared to a flourishing and well-rooted tree, which, though it do not wither of itself, yet will easily be cut down and its place know it no more. The secure and prosperous sinner may think himself wronged when he is compared to a rush and a flag; he thinks he has a better root. "We will allow him his conceit," says Bildad, "and give him all the advantage he can desire, and bring him in suddenly cut off." He is here represented as Nebuchadnezzar was in his own dream (Da 4:10) by a great tree. (1.) See this tree fair and flourishing (Job 8:16) like a green bay-tree (Ps 37:35), green before the sun, it keeps its greenness in defiance of the scorching sun-beams, and his branch shoots forth under the protection of his garden-wall and with the benefit of his garden-soil. See it fixed, and taking deep root, never likely to be overthrown by stormy winds, for his roots are interwoven with the stones (Job 8:17); it grows in firm ground, not, as the rush, of mire and water. Thus does a wicked man, when he prospers in the world, think himself secure; his wealth is a high wall in his own conceit. (2.) See this tree felled and forgotten notwithstanding, destroyed from his place (Job 8:18), and so entirely extirpated that there shall remain no sign or token where it grew. The very place say, I have not seen thee; and the standers by shall say the same. I sought him, but he could not be found, Ps 36:36. He made a great show and a great noise for a time, but he is gone of a sudden, and neither root nor branch is left him, Mal 4:1. This is the joy (that is, this is the end and conclusion) of the wicked man's way (Job 8:19); this is that which all his joy comes to. The way of the ungodly shall perish, Ps 1:6. His hope, he thought, would in the issue be turned into joy; but this is the issue, this is the joy. The harvest shall be a heap in the day of grief and of desperate sorrow, Isa 17:11. This is the best of it; and what then is the worst of it? But shall he not leave a family behind him to enjoy what he has? No, out of the earth (not out of his roots) shall others grow, that are nothing akin to him, and shall fill up his place, and rule over that for which he labored. Others (that is, others of the same spirit and disposition) shall grow up in his place, and be as secure as ever he was, not warned by his fall. The way of worldlings is their folly, and yet there is a race of those that approve their sayings, Ps 49:13.
²⁰ Behold, God will not cast away a perfect man, neither will he help the evil doers:
²¹ Till he fill thy mouth with laughing, and thy lips with rejoicing.
²² They that hate thee shall be clothed with shame; and the dwelling place of the wicked shall come to nought.
Bildad here, in the close of his discourse, sums up what he has to say in a few words, setting before Job life and death, the blessing and the curse, assuring him that as he was so he should fare, and therefore they might conclude that as he fared so he was. 1. On the one hand, if he were a perfect upright man, God would not cast him away, Job 8:20. Though now he seemed forsaken of God, he would yet return to him, and by degrees would turn his mourning into dancing (Ps 30:11) and comforts should flow in upon him so plentifully that his mouth should be filled with laughing, Job 8:21. So affecting should the happy change be, Ps 126:2. Those that loved him would rejoice with him; but those that hated him, and had triumphed in his fall, would be ashamed of their insolence, when they should see him restored to his former prosperity. Now it is true that God will not cast away an upright man; he may be cast down for a time, but he shall not be cast away for ever. It is true that, if not in this world, yet in another, the mouth of the righteous shall be filled with rejoicing. Though their sun should set under a cloud, yet it shall rise again clear, never more to be clouded; though they go mourning to the grave, that shall not hinder their entrance into the joy of their Lord. It is true that the enemies of the saints will be clothed with shame when they see them crowned with honour. But it does not therefore follow that, if Job were not perfectly restored to his former prosperity, he would forfeit the character of a perfect man. 2. On the other hand, if he were a wicked man and an evil-doer, God would not help him, but leave him to perish in his present distresses (Job 8:20), and his dwelling-place should come to nought, Job 8:22. And here also it is true that God will not help the evil-doers; they throw themselves out of his protection, and forfeit his favour. He will not take the ungodly by the hand (so it is in the margin), will not have fellowship and communion with them; for what communion can there be between light and darkness? He will not lend them his hand to pull them out of the miseries, the eternal miseries, into which they have plunged themselves; they will then stretch out their hand to him for help, but it will be too late: he will not take them by the hand. Between us and you there is a great gulf fixed. It is true that the dwelling-place of the wicked, sooner or later, will come to nought. Those only who make God their dwelling-place are safe for ever, Ps 90:1,91:1. Those who make other things their refuge will be disappointed. Sin brings ruin on persons and families. Yet to argue (as Bildad, I doubt, slyly does) that because Job's family was sunk, and he himself at present seemed helpless, therefore he certainly was an ungodly wicked man, was neither just nor charitable, as long as there appeared no other evidence of his wickedness and ungodliness. Let us judge nothing before the time, but wait till the secrets of all hearts shall be made manifest, and the present difficulties of Providence be solved to universal and everlasting satisfaction, when the mystery of God shall be finished.
约伯的朋友们正如约伯的报信者：后者接连带来凶讯，前者则接连以严厉的论断相随——两者都在无意中成就了撒但的计划；前者要将他从纯全中驱逐，后者要将他从其中的安慰中驱逐。以利法并未回答约伯针对他所作的回应，而是把这事交给了比勒达，因为他知道比勒达在这事上与他意见相同。最聪明的并非那些争着要垄断发言的人，反而是最软弱的才如此。"若有旁人得了启示，那先说话的就当闭口……因为你们都可以一个一个地作先知讲道"（林前14:30、31）。以利法曾力图证明：约伯既受重灾，必是恶人。比勒达与之意见相近，并将断定约伯为恶人——除非神速速显现搭救他。在本章中他设法使约伯信服：I. 他说话过于激动（伯8:2）。II. 他和他的儿女受罚是公义的（伯8:3、4）。III. 他若真心悔改，神必速速使他被掳的光景归回（伯8:5-7）。IV. 按着护理的常例，恶人的喜乐与盼望必如他的一样被熄灭；因此他们有理由怀疑他是伪善者（伯8:8-19）。V. 除非神速速显现搭救他，否则他们对他的疑心将大得印证（伯8:20-22）。