Job 18:1-4

Bildad’s criticism of Job 18:1-4

Obviously Bildad was impatient because Job refused to change his mind or admit great guilt (Job 18:1-2). Job had claimed that God was tearing him like a beast tears its prey (Job 16:9), but Bildad said Job was tearing himself (Job 18:4 a). We can see his disgust with what he regarded as Job’s pride in his statement that Job should not expect God to do anything particularly great on Job’s account (Job 18:4 b-c).

"A speaker who has run out of ideas can always resort to satire. No [true] pastor mocks a sufferer by throwing his own words back at him." [Note: Ibid., p. 188.]