Job 8:22

_THEY THAT HATE THEE SHALL BE CLOTHED WITH SHAME; AND THE DWELLING PLACE OF THE WICKED SHALL COME TO NOUGHT._ THEY THAT HATE THEE SHALL BE CLOTHED ... The haters of Job are the wicked. They shall be clothed with shame ("We lie down in our shame, and our confusion covereth us," Jeremiah 3:25; "Let them be clothed with shame and dishonour," Psalms 35:26; Psalms 109:29) at the failure of their hope that Job would utterly perish, and because they, instead of him, came to nought. Remarks: (1) Whatever befalls, us, and however inexplicable in our eyes God's dealings with us may appear, of one thing we may be sure, God cannot "pervert justice" ...

20-22 Bildad here assures Job, that as he was so he should fare; therefore they concluded, that as he fared so he was. 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. Sin brings ruin on persons and families. Yet to argue, that Job was an ungodly, wicked man, was unjust and uncharitable. The mistake in these reasonings arose from Job's friends not distinguishing between the present state of trial and discipline, and the future state of final judgment. May we choose the portion, possess the confidence, bear the cross, and die the death of the righteous; and, in the mean time, be careful neither to wound others by rash judgments, nor to distress ourselves needlessly about the opinions of our fellow-creatures....

THEY THAT HATE THEE SHALL BE CLOTHED WITH SHAME - When they see your returning prosperity, and the evidences of the divine favor. They will then be ashamed that they regarded you as a hypocrite, and that they reproached you in your trials. AND THE DWELLING-PLACE OF THE WICKED ... - The wicked shall be destroyed, and his family shall pass away. That is, God will favor the righteous, but punish the wicked. This opinion the friends of Job maintain all along, and by this they urge him to forsake his sins, repent, and return to God....

EXPOSITION JOB 8:1 THEN ANSWERED BILDAD THE SHUHITE, AND SAID. Bildad the Shuhite has the second place in the passage where Job's friends are first mentioned (Job 2:11), and occupies the same relative position in the dialogue. We may suppose him to have been younger than Eliphaz and older than Zophar. He does little more than repeat the arguments of Eliphaz, stating them, however, more bluntly, and with less of tact and consideration. The chief novelties of his discourse are an appeal to the teaching of past ages (verses 8-10), and the employment of new and forcible metaphors (verses 11-19). JOB 8:2 HOW LONG WILT THOU SPEAK THESE THINGS? An exclamation li

THEY THAT HATE THEE SHALL BE CLOTHED WITH SHAME,.... The Chaldeans and Sabeans, who had plundered him of his substance, when they should see him restored to his former prosperity, beyond all hope and expectation, and themselves liable to his resentment, and under the displeasure of Providence: the phrase denotes utter confusion, and such as is visible as the clothes upon a man's back; see Psalms 132:18; AND THE DWELLING PLACE OF THE WICKED SHALL COME TO NAUGHT; or, "shall not be" t; shall be no more; be utterly destroyed, and no more built up again; even such dwelling places they fancied would continue for ever, and perpetuate their names to the latest posterity; but the curse of God being in them, and upon them, they come to nothing, and are no more: thus ends Bildad's speech; Job's answer to it follows. t איננו "non erit", Pagninus, Mercerus, Drusius, Mi

CHAPTER 8 BILDAD'S ADDRESS _ 1. How long, Job? (Job 8:1)_ 2. Enquire of the former age (Job 8:8) 3. God's dealing with the wicked and the righteous (Job 8:11) Job 8:1. Bildad the Shuhite now speaks to Job. He is less dogmatic than Eliphaz, and less courteous, but more outspoken. He must have lost his patience listening to Job's reply. Especially does he resent what Job had said about God, the insinuations which had fallen from his lips. But we shall see he too follows the logic of Eliphaz, that God punishes Job for his sins. He starts in at once to rebuke Job for what he had said. “How long, Job, wilt thou speak these things? How long shall t

Bildad has warned Job of the fate of the impious. Now he returns to the other half of his doctrine also, and sums up his whole position in Job 8:20. God can neither reject the blameless, nor uphold the wicked. If Job is really blameless, _i.e._ if he humbly accepts the Divine chastisement, God will yet reward him (Job 8:21 f.)....

CLOTHED WITH SHAME. Compare Psalms 35:26; Psalms 109:29; Psalms 132:18. DWELLING PLACE. tent. WICKED. lawless. Hebrew. _rasha'._ App-44....

Finally Bildad repeats his general principle and augurs from the one side of it a happy and brilliant future for Job. _cast away a perfect man_ This word "perfect" is the title given to Job by the Author, and acknowledged due to him by God, see on ch. Job 1:1. The phrase, God will not cast off a "perfect" man, becomes almost the text of Job's reply, cf. ch. Job 9:20-21; Job 10:3. _help the evil doers_ lit. _hold by the hand of_evil-doers, cf. Isaiah 41:13; Isaiah 42:6....

BEHOLD, GOD WILL NOT CAST AWAY— _Lo! as God doth not cast away the perfect man, so neither doth he strengthen the hands of the wicked;_ Job 8:21. _Therefore he will again fill thy mouth with laughter,_ &c. Houbigant. This appears a kind of sarcastical conclusion; in which Bildad observes, that, though the hypocrite perishes in the manner above described, yet God will never reject the good man; and therefore, if Job were really such a one, which he appears greatly to doubt, he might be assured that God's providence would remarkably display itself in his behalf. REFLECTIONS.—1st, We have here, 1. Bildad's hasty reproof of Job: _How long wilt thou speak these things?_ impatient in thy complaints, obstinate in self-vindication, disregarding the good advice that was given thee, and charging God foolishly. How long shall the words of thy mouth be like a strong win