The Continued Horror of Partial Truths (Job 8-10)

Bildad continues Eliphaz’s dangerous, partial truth, arguments. The reality is that God IS just and that fairness does reign. The problem for us is that we are all indeed sinners in rebellion against God. There are no righteous people who can earn, in fairness, good. We cannot hope to earn God’s mercy. Nor can we claim the sort of integrity that would render us immune from calamity. 

Bildad’s argument, then, is only half true. Evil people deserve bad things to happen to them, and good people don’t, but we are all evil to some degree. We are none of us perfect. So, we all deserve negative consequences that are born from our rebellion, but none of us have earned the good things that happen to us. The nascent “Health and Wealth” thinking here is wrong.

Even the logical leap of claiming that all bad things that happen are directly caused by those who suffer them is faulty. Such logical errors are only natural for us as limited creatures. Bildad understands this to a degree. We do absolutely need to look to the history and learning of past generations to better understand the ways of the world. But again, this is only a partially helpful bit of advice. Just as we are limited in our understanding, so too is the accumulated understanding of every generation of humanity.

Job’s response—both to Bildad and Eliphaz as well as directly to God—reveals Job’s desperate grief and anger at his condition. Yes, it is true that we suffer for the evil that we have done, but how can anyone every stand before God in judgement? We are all imperfect. And we can never measure up even if we try. So, Job declares twice over at the end of chapters 9 and 10, what is the point? A worldview of fairness in this fallen world is one without hope. “Health and Wealth” is an empty philosophy, but so too is one based on God’s justice and holiness without an understanding of grace…