Page 69 - Job

Bildad said, “Believe it, Job, because” and then he gave a human name.
Never once does Bildad refer to his own experience or his own
observation. He is the well-read scholar. He goes back to the authority of
the fathers. I suppose, in one sense, he advances on Eliphaz. In the sense,
that it is probably more modest to be guided by a group of voices instead
of just your own. But the fact is, experience is not the foundation.
Tradition is not the foundation. When you make that the foundation you
are in trouble. Isaiah 28:16,
“Therefore thus saith the Lord GOD, Behold, I lay in Zion for a
foundation a stone, a tried stone, a precious corner stone, a sure
foundation: he that believeth shall not make haste.”

1Corinthians 3:11,
“For other foundation can no man lay than that is laid,
which is Jesus Christ.”
Now let’s look at Zophar. On what did he base his truth? Zophar is the
dogmatist of the group, almost a bigot. He is also the nastiest one. He is
the one who comes across very blunt, cold, and detached. His view of
God is very low. Take, for example, chapter 20:1,

“Then Zophar the Naamathite answered, ‘Therefore my disquieting
thoughts make me respond, even because of my inward agitation. I
listened to the reproof which insults me, and the spirit of my
understanding makes me answer.’ ”

He says, “I know so much, I have to speak”. Later on Job says to him,
“Yes, and when you die wisdom dies, with you!”. Zophar is the one who
says I know it is right! And then he gives a creed. A cold, hard doctrinal
formula. He says “This is what we believe, and Job, if you are one of us,
you are going to believe this too”. He doesn’t even care that Job is a
human being stripped by God and in agony. He has no concern about that.
All he wants to know is, “Is your doctrine right?” Let’s check your creed.
That is Zophar.
Here is the point. The foundation of truth is a revelation of God. What
God says, what God reveals. Experience is a wonderful thing if it
illustrates and confirms God’s manifested wisdom. Tradition, the voice of
men, is a wonderful thing, if it illustrates what God has revealed. Doctrine
also can be wonderful if it illustrates God’s foundational truth. But so
often doctrine is like that woman who reached out and touched the hem of
His garment. A lot of people think that the virtue(power) was in the

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