Job 8 - Does God Twist Justice?

INTRODUCTION

[READING - Job 8:1-2]

Job 8:1–3 NASB95

1 Then Bildad the Shuhite answered, 2 “How long will you say these things, And the words of your mouth be a mighty wind? 3 “Does God pervert justice? Or does the Almighty pervert what is right?

[PRAYER]

[ILLUS] Supreme Court Justice Horace Gray (who died in 1902) once informed a man who had appeared before him in a lower court and had escaped conviction on a technicality in the law, saying, “I know that you are guilty and you know it, and I wish you to remember that one day you will stand before a better and wiser Judge, and there you will be dealt with according to justice and not according to law.”

Job’s friend, Bildad, believes that Job’s guilt has been discovered and that Job has been dealt with according to justice from God, the better and wiser Judge.

[CONTEXT] Eliphaz, Bildad, and Zophar came to comfort Job in his agony after Job's wealth, health, and children were taken from him by Satan.

Initially they sat with him and wept with him, but after Job gave voice to his lament, Eliphaz was the first to rebuke Job and now in Job 8 Bildad does the same.

Bildad’s rebuke of Job focuses on God’s justice.

Bildad begins his rebuke by saying Job’s complaint is like a blustering wind, and then Bildad asks, “Does God (pervert or) twist justice? Does the Almighty twist what is right?” (NLT)

Bildad believes God is just, and because He is just, He defends the oppressed and punishes the wicked.

[CIT] By Bildad’s logic, Job must be wicked because he is being punished by God, but Bildad says if Job repents and lives with integrity, then God will restore him.

In this chapter, Bildad says a lot but understands very little.

[TS] Let’s look at Job 8 by looking at Bildad’s Assumptions, Arguments, and Assurance.

MAJOR IDEAS

#1: First, notice Bildad’s assumptions (Job 8:3-7)

Job 8:3–7 NASB95

3 “Does God pervert justice? Or does the Almighty pervert what is right? 4 “If your sons sinned against Him, Then He delivered them into the power of their transgression. 5 “If you would seek God And implore the compassion of the Almighty, 6 If you are pure and upright, Surely now He would rouse Himself for you And restore your righteous estate. 7 “Though your beginning was insignificant, Yet your end will increase greatly.

[EXP] Bildad states his main point in Job 8:3-7. He is certain of the cause of Job’s suffering and the remedy for it. But Bildad’s certainty is built on a foundation of assumptions.

Assumption #1: Bildad assumed that Job’s suffering was the execution of God’s judgment.

Job 8:3 NLT

3 Does God twist justice? Does the Almighty twist what is right?

Bildad thought Job was accusing God of injustice when God was justly pouring out His justice on Job because of Job’s hidden wickedness.

Job was getting what he deserved.

Bildad’s idea of God’s justice is the idea of divine retribution where any misfortune is evidence of God’s judgment.

Assumption #2: Bildad assumed that the death of Job’s children was the result of their sin.

Job 8:4 NASB95

4 “If your sons sinned against Him, Then He delivered them into the power of their transgression.

This is insensitivity of the highest order.

Bildad believes that because Job’s children died, they must’ve sinned.

In Job 1:5, we saw that Job feared his children would sin, so he went to great lengths to ensure that they would be counted as innocent.

Bildad was not only saying that Job’s children died the death of the wicked, but that Job also failed as a father.

Assumption #3: Bildad assumed that Job had sin to repent of so that he would be saved from God’s further judgment.

Job 8:5–7 NASB95

5 “If you would seek God And implore the compassion of the Almighty, 6 If you are pure and upright, Surely now He would rouse Himself for you And restore your righteous estate. 7 “Though your beginning was insignificant, Yet your end will increase greatly.

“Seek (God) and implore him… Be pure and upright…” this is good counsel, but Job has already been described in terms of the pure and upright.

Job 1:8 NASB95

8 The Lord said to Satan, “Have you considered My servant Job? For there is no one like him on the earth, a blameless and upright man, fearing God and turning away from evil.”

How is Job supposed to repent if God says that he is already fearing God and turning away from evil?

Assumption #4: Bildad assumes that if Job does repent then God will restore him.

You can see that in vv. 6-7, which I’ve already read, but how would Job respond to this?

Not only can he not find anything to repent of, but he lost everything when he was pursuing God.

How is Job supposed to believe that God will restore him when Job is tempted to believe that God is the one who robbed him?

All of Bildad’s assumptions add weight to Job’s misery.

All of Bildad’s assumptions threaten to crush him.

[ILLUS] A carpet-layer stepped back to survey some newly installed carpet. Reaching into his shirt pocket for a cigarette, he realized the pack was missing; then he noticed a lump under the carpet in the middle of the room about the size of the missing cigarette pack.

There was no way to retrieve the pack from under the attached carpet without ripping everything up and starting over, so he decided to stomp the object flat, erasing any evidence of his mistake.

When he finished, he gathered his tools and walked out to his truck, and there on the seat was the pack of cigarettes.

Confused, the carpet layer lit up a cigarette just as the homeowner came out to give him his check.

As he took it, the homeowner said to him, “Hey, you didn’t happen to see my son’s gerbil crawling around, did you?”

[APP] Assumptions kill.

Bildad’s assumptions were killing Job.

He assumed that what Job was experiencing was God’s justice…

…but he wasn’t.

He assumed that the death of Job’s children was the result of their sin…

…but it wasn’t.

He assumed that Job had secret sin to repent of…

…but he didn’t.

He assumed that God would restore Job to his previous estate if Job repented…

…but there had been no such promise from God.

All of these assumptions only served to rub salt in Job’s wounds.

Bildad thought he was defending the justice of God, but he and his assumptions were only pushing a suffering friend over the edge of despair.

Are your assumptions about your suffering pushing you over the edge of despair? What about your assumptions concerning the suffering of others?

If we are suffering, we might assume it’s because of some sin we’ve committed. We might assume the same thing about the suffering of others.

If there is sin to repent of, it should be repented of immediately, but sometimes God’s purpose for suffering is larger than just punishing sin.

Sometimes God is revealing the tested genuineness of our faith.

Sometimes God is making us perfect and complete, lacking nothing.

Sometimes God is teaching us that His grace is sufficient and that His power is made perfect in weakness.

Sometimes God is allowing us to partake in the fellowship of Jesus’ sufferings so that we might know Him and the power of His resurrection.

[TS] Assumptions kill when it comes to suffering.

I wonder what assumptions Bildad would’ve made about the suffering of Jesus?

#2: Secondly, notice Bildad’s arguments (Job 8:8-19).

He makes two arguments in support of his assumptions.

One argument is based on past wisdom.

The other argument is based on analogies from nature.

Let’s look at Bildad’s first argument beginning in v. 8 where Bildad says, “Please inquire of past generations...”

Job 8:8–10 NASB95

8 “Please inquire of past generations, And consider the things searched out by their fathers. 9 “For we are only of yesterday and know nothing, Because our days on earth are as a shadow. 10 “Will they not teach you and tell you, And bring forth words from their minds?

Eliphaz drew on his own experiences (Job 4:8, 12-17; 5:3), but Bildad appeals to the wisdom of his ancestors.

Bildad says that he and Job are essentially ignorant because their lives have only been a shadow (i.e., they have only been around a day or two compared to the ancients whose knowledge has been passed down through the ages).

According to Bildad, the ancestors will agree with him: where there is suffering, there must be sin (v. 10).

Bildad’s second argument begins in v. 11 with a question, “Can the papyrus grow up without a marsh? Can the rushes grow without water?”…

Job 8:12–19 NASB95

12 “While it is still green and not cut down, Yet it withers before any other plant. 13 “So are the paths of all who forget God; And the hope of the godless will perish, 14 Whose confidence is fragile, And whose trust a spider’s web. 15 “He trusts in his house, but it does not stand; He holds fast to it, but it does not endure. 16 “He thrives before the sun, And his shoots spread out over his garden. 17 “His roots wrap around a rock pile, He grasps a house of stones. 18 “If he is removed from his place, Then it will deny him, saying, ‘I never saw you.’ 19 “Behold, this is the joy of His way; And out of the dust others will spring.

Bildad uses three analogies from nature to support his case against Job…

In vv. 11-13a, Bildad says the godless person who forgets God will wither like a papyrus without a marsh.

The papyrus tree can grow 10-15 feet tall in a good marsh, but it will wither and perish without one.

In vv. 13b-15, Bildad says the trust of a godless person is fragile like a spider’s web.

A simple wave of the hand will bring a spider’s web down.

In vv. 16-19, Bildad says the foundation of the godless person is like a shallow root, which is easily removed and quickly forgotten.

Are Bildad’s arguments convincing?

[ILLUS] The wisdom of the past is not perfect.

Bloodletting was once a widely practiced medical treatment based on the ancient belief in the four humors—blood, phlegm, yellow bile, and black bile.

Physicians thought that illnesses resulted from an imbalance of these humors, and removing blood was believed to restore balance and health.

They believed this because of observation and assumption, but we know now that this ancient wisdom isn’t so wise.

In the same way, Bildad’s ancient wisdom (or at least his interpretation of it) wasn’t so wise because it didn’t recognize the limitations of observation and the ignorance of it’s own assumptions.

Have we observed every case of suffering?

Then how can we assume that every case of suffering is the execution of God’s justice?

Would it be possible for a suffering to be a demonstration of God’s mercy?

Wasn’t that the case with the suffering of Jesus?

[ILLUS] Furthermore, just because an analogy can be made, it doesn’t mean that the analogy actually fits the situation.

Bildad applies his three analogies from nature to Job’s suffering, but…

Job isn’t a papyrus without a marsh.

He’s a man created in the image of God who feels abandoned by God.

His trust is not fragile like a spider’s web.

The foundation of his faith has been rocked by unimaginable suffering, and at this point, his faith may be teetering, but it hasn’t fallen.

And Job isn’t godless. He’s no shallow root easily removed and quickly forgotten.

Job is still here rooted in God, pleading with God even in his confusion.

Neither Bildad’s appeal to ancient wisdom or his analogies from nature prove that Job is suffering under the justice of God.

[APP] Rather than the wisdom of the ancients, we ought to be relying on the wisdom of God, and if we need an analogy from nature, how about this one: cursed is everyone who is hanged on a tree (Gal. 3:13).

In his present circumstances, Job was not suffering for sins he committed, but everyone deserves to suffer for sins they’ve committed.

In his present circumstances, God was not pouring out His justice on Job, but God is just and He demands that the price for every sin be paid.

That’s why in the cross of Jesus, we see the wisdom of God.

Because Jesus paid the price for our sins on the cross, God is just and the justifier of the one who has faith in Jesus.

Bildad’s counsel to Job to repent and be restored doesn’t apply to Job in his present situation, but it does apply to us in our eternal situation.

[TS]…

Finally, look at Bildad’s assurance (Job 8:20-22).

Job 8:20–22 NASB95

20 “Lo, God will not reject a man of integrity, Nor will He support the evildoers. 21 “He will yet fill your mouth with laughter And your lips with shouting. 22 “Those who hate you will be clothed with shame, And the tent of the wicked will be no longer.”

[EXP] Bildad assures Job that God will restore him if he just repents.

When Bildad says to Job, “God will not reject a man of integrity,” he adds to Job’s confusion and drives him further into despair because Job has been a man of integrity, and yet feels as if he has been rejected by God.

He feels as if his tent will be no longer.

The tent was often a symbol of welfare.

If the tent was removed, it meant those who dwelt in it were no more.

Later, Job will argue that it’s the tent of the wicked that actually prosper (Job 12:6), while tents like his—the tents of the faithful—perish.

But much later, Job will be restored, but not because he followed the counsel of Bildad.

Job will be restored—his mouth filled with laughter, his lips filled with shouting—by grace.

[APP] Justice is getting what we deserve. Grace is undeserved favor. But this doesn’t mean that God’s justice and His grace are opposed to one another.

No, God’s justice and grace work together in Jesus to bring us to restoration, to bring us to that place where our mouths are filled with laughter and our lips are filled with shouting.

In the death and resurrection of Jesus, God’s justice is satisfied and God’s grace is poured out on those who believe.

Jesus is the ultimate man of integrity whose integrity is imputed to us.

Jesus is the one whose tent shall never be removed, and all who are hidden in Him dwell securely forever.

[TS]…

CONCLUSION

Do you believe in Jesus?

Do you believe that He satisfied the justice of God on the cross?

Do you believe that the wisdom of God is on display in the death and resurrection of Jesus?

Do you believe that Jesus is the ultimate man of integrity, the perfectly blameless one, whose perfect righteousness must cover us so that we are saved from the wrath of God?

Do you believe that Jesus is the tent of the righteous that shall never be removed?

If you do not, now is the time to start believing because one day you will stand before a better and wiser Judge and you will answer to justice.

[PRAYER]

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All the Way My Savior Leads Me, Hymn #474

Gives me grace for every trial, Feeds me with the living bread, Though my weary steps may falter, And my soul a’thirst may be, Gushing from the Rock before me, Lo! a spring of joy I see.