Job 8:7

_THOUGH THY BEGINNING WAS SMALL, YET THY LATTER END SHOULD GREATLY INCREASE._ Thy beginning - the beginning of thy new happiness after restoration. LATTER END. So it actually came to pass, but not as Bildad supposed; for not the friends, but Job was justified by God after he had humbled himself before God: "The Lord blessed the latter end of Job more than his beginning" (Job 42:12); "Surely there is an end; and thine expectation shall not be cut off" (Proverbs 23:18)....

1-7 Job spake much to the purpose; but Bildad, like an eager, angry disputant, turns it all off with this, How long wilt thou speak these things? Men's meaning is not taken aright, and then they are rebuked, as if they were evil-doers. Even in disputes on religion, it is too common to treat others with sharpness, and their arguments with contempt. Bildad's discourse shows that he had not a favourable opinion of Job's character. Job owned that God did not pervert judgment; yet it did not therefore follow that his children were cast-aways, or that they did for some great transgression. Extraordinary afflictions are not always the punishment of extraordinary sins, sometimes they are the trials of extraordinary graces: in judging of another's case, we ought to take the favorable side. Bildad puts Job in hope, that if he were indeed upright, he should yet see a good end of his present troubl...

Verse Job 8:7. _THOUGH THY BEGINNING WAS SMALL_] Thy _former state_, compared to that into which God would have brought thee, would be small; for to show his respect for thy piety, because thou hadst, through thy faithful attachment to him, suffered the loss of all things, he would have greatly multiplied thy former prosperity, so that thou shouldest now have vastly more than thou didst ever before possess....

THOUGH THY BEGINNING WAS SMALL - On the supposition that the children of Job had been cut off, his family now was small. Yet Bildad says, that if he were to begin life again, even with so small a family, and in such depressed and trying circumstances, if he were a righteous man he might hope for returning prosperity. YET THY LATTER END - From this, it is evident that Job was not now regarded as an old man. He would still have the prospect of living many years. Some have supposed, however that the meaning here is, that his former prosperity should appear small compared with that which he would hereafter enjoy if he were pure and righteous. So Noyes and Rosenmuller interpret it. But it seems to me that the former interpretation is the correct one. Bildad utters a general sentiment, that though when a man begins life he has a small family and little property, yet if he is an upright man, he...

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

THOUGH THY BEGINNING WAS SMALL,.... When, he first set out in the world; and which though it greatly increased, and he was the greatest man in all the east, yet Bildad suggests, should he behave well, that was comparatively small to what it would be with him hereafter; and which was fact, for he had double of what he before enjoyed; so Mr. Broughton renders the words, "and thy former state should be little to thy latter": or rather the sense and meaning is, "though thy beginning should be small" r; be it so that it is; or rather that though he should begin again in the world with very little, as indeed at present he had nothing to begin with, and when he did it was but with little; one gave him a piece of money, and another an earring of gold: YET THY LATTER END SHOULD GREATLY INCREASE; as it did, for the Lord blessed his latter end, and he had more than at the beginning, even double to...

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

OPENING OF BILDAD'S FIRST SPEECH. The two younger friends, says Duhm, make a less favourable impression than Eliphaz. Bildad's great point is the discriminating rectitude of God, who unfailingly rewards the righteous and punishes the wicked. His whole idea of fortune and misfortune is even more mechanical than that of Eliphaz. The idea that God remains an unchangeable factor, and the relation of man to Him only changes, comes out if possible even more clearly in opposition to Job's idea of a God who has changed and may again change his relation to him. The other point of importance in Bildad's speech is that he supports his doctrine, not like Eliphaz from revelation, but from the wisdom of the ancients. Bildad, in beginning his speech, passes over in complete silence all that Job has said as to the lack of sympathy evinced by the friends. He expresses the dislike, natural to the sober ma...

The discriminating rectitude of God 2. Before coming to his principle and by way of introducing it Bildad expresses his wonder that Job should allow himself to speak such things as his discourse contained. _These things_are such things as ch. Job 6:29; Job 7:1-2; Job 7:12-21, and perhaps even ch. Job 6:10. He refers to the general drift of Job's speech, which appears to him to be an assertion that God was unjust (Job 8:3). _a strong wind_ Violent, and empty, cf. ch. Job 15:2;...

D. THE GREAT ABSENCE: EMPATHY AND SYMPATHYBILDAD Job 8:1-22 1. God is just and has not been unrighteous. (Job 8:1-7) (A rebuke of Job.) TEXT 8:1-7 8 THEN ANSWERED BILDAD THE SHUHITE, AND SAID, 2 How long wilt thou speak these things? And _how long_ SHALL THE WORDS OF THY MONTH BE _like_ A MIGHTY WIND? 3 Doth God pervert justice? Or doth the Almighty pervert righteousness? 4 If thy children have sinned against him, And he hath delivered them into the hand of their transgression; 5 If thou wouldst seek diligently unto God, 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 And though thy beg