Page 20 - The Poetic Books - Student Text

desert. A caravan turns aside to find refreshment, but the stream has vanished, and they die. So his
friends are no help (6:14-23).

To convince them of the injustice of his situation, he talks about his
misery. “When I lie down, I think, ‘How long before I get up (7:4)?”
Yet his days pass away faster than a weaver’s shuttle, coming to an
end without hope (7:6). He compares himself to some sea monster
under God’s guard as if to protect the rest of the world from the
terrors he might inflict (7:12). The punishment does not fit the
crime. Job has done nothing to merit such treatment.

In a remarkable paragraph, Job asks a series of questions of God. “Why Figure 10: Argue with God?
have you made me your target? Why do you not pardon my offenses
(7:20-21)? Perhaps even more powerfully, he ponders, “What is mankind that you make so much of
them, that you give them so much attention (7:17)?” Perhaps we are reminded of another place in the
scriptures where this exact question is asked. Psalm 8:4 ponders, “What is mankind that you are mindful
of them, human beings that you care for them?” Job doubts the sense of such suffering in the life of
someone so small. David is amazed at the sense of such blessing in the life of someone so small. The
questions go together. David, from the vantage point of a later time with more revelation, knows that
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God’s interest in mankind for blessing is far more wonderful than God’s interest in mankind for hurt.

Job’s second friend is angered by all the comparison talk. Bildad calls Job a blowhard (8:2). He insists that
the Almighty does not and cannot pervert what is right (8:3). Speaking of children, “[God] gave them
over to the penalty of their sin (8:4).” Like Eliphaz Bildad promises blessing if only Job would seek God
earnestly and plead with him (8:5-6). The source of Bildad’s information is different than Eliphaz. “Bildad
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appeals to the wisdom of the ancients, as if what he is saying is common knowledge.” “Ask the former
generation and find out what their ancestors learned (8:8).” He is something of a traditionalist.

In another of the book’s extended metaphors, Bildad compares a human to a papyrus reed withering
without water. Its roots may be entwined around a pile of rocks, but it is easily torn away and withers
(8:11-19). Generation after generation knows that God does not reject the blameless. Generation after
generation promises Job laughter, shouts of joy, and victory. This is how the world works (8:20-22)

Job’s reply highlights the key issues in the conversation and in the book gathering them together. Three
of God’s characteristics are entwined: righteousness, justice, and power. The speakers have referred to
each of these characteristics already, but now Job ponders them together.

Eliphaz asked, “Can a mortal be more righteous than God (4:17)?” Job responded insisting that his
“integrity [righteousness] is at stake (6:29). Bildad than asked, “Does the Almighty pervert what is right

24 The NIV footnotes the verse in Psalm 8:5 noting the literal Hebrew. “Or what is a human being that you
are mindful of him, / a son of man that you care for him? The singular is quite different and is what the
writer of Hebrews picks up in 2:6-8 as a reference to the Messiah not to mankind in general.
25 Francis I. Anderson, Job (Downers Grove: Inter-Varsity Press, 1976), 141.
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