🥊 It’s time for Round 2 with Bildad. (This section is a Job sandwich. Bildad and Zophar speak with a speech from Job in the middle.)

Bildad feels personally insulted by Job. Job has rejected not only his words but his worldview.

• I’m just going to interject here that you are, but are not, your worldview. It’s separate from you and can change but it’s the lens through which you interpret everything so it’s very intertwined with your personal sense of worth and identity. This is true of others too. If you attack someone’s worldview, good luck with them not feeling personally attacked. Expect them to react accordingly. K. Random thought over. Back to Bildad.

Bildad’s speech feels quintessentially passive-aggressive to me. He describes the generic “wicked” in a way that sounds so suspiciously like Job that it’s impossible not to make the connection. Here are a few lines that I find particularly charming:

v5: “Surely the light of the wicked will be snuffed out. The sparks of their fire will not glow.” (As Job literally sits in ashes, 2:8)

v13: “Disease eats their skin; death devours their limbs.”‬ ‭(As Job is covered in boils from a raging staph infection.)

v15: “The homes of the wicked will burn down. Burning sulfur rains on their houses.” Ok- Job’s house didn’t burn but his son’s house collapsed, killing all of them.

v19: “They will have neither children nor grandchildren, nor any survivor in the place where they lived.”

In background: 🪦🪦🪦🪦🪦🪦🪦🪦🪦🪦

My 21st century American worldview says, “Job! Why don’t you just tell these turkeys to leave?!” I think it may have something to do with him having lost all standing/respect/authority. In chapter 19 verse 16, Job says he can’t even get his servants to help him. He- their once-powerful boss – now has to beg them. And if they feel like it, they might help.

Job says to the friends: “Even if I have sinned, that is my concern, not yours. You think you’re better than I am, using my humiliation as evidence of my sin. But it is God who has wronged me, capturing me in his net. “I cry out, ‘Help!’ but no one answers me. I protest, but there is no justice. God has blocked my way so I cannot move. He has plunged my path into darkness.” Job‬ ‭19‬:‭4‬-‭8‬

Job then elaborates on what God has done and the results of it. It’s a depressing list. And Job has a lot of nerve accusing God of it all.

But I had an idea on verse 17:

“My breath is repulsive to my wife. I am rejected by my own family.”

This verse always made me laugh. I mean, in King James it says, “My breath is strange to my wife.” That’s hilarious. 😆 Looking it up in Hebrew is even better. The word translated “strange” is zoor and it means “to turn aside.” Bad breath indeed. 😷🤢😂

But… it’s the idea of “to turn aside for lodging”, which is what one does if one is a foreigner. So, zoor also means foreign or other. As in “the other woman.” So it also can mean adultery. But foreigners (the not-God’s people) were also considered profane because, well, they rejected YHWH and embraced idolatry. Idolatry is often spoken of as adultery in the OT. There is a strong correlation of the ideas in Hebrew. That woman is not your woman. She is an other. That god is not your God. It’s an other.

So, on further reflection I don’t think verse 17 is a roundabout way of saying that Job has a bad case of halitosis and needs a breath mint, (though I suppose a staph infection could cause that). His wife considers his “breath” (ruach, wind, air, spirit- the breath of life)… foreign. It is not mine. That’s not my life-breath over there suffering. It is other. Not my problem.

I wonder if Job is saying that his wife wishes he would just stop breathing and be unalived already? It’s as if he’s a barely-living critter that just needs to be put out of its misery. If Job and his unnamed wife ever had a real union of heart, that is gone now. She hasn’t moved out, but emotionally, she has left him.

Then, Job runs out of fight.

“Have mercy on me, my friends, have mercy, for the hand of God has struck me. Must you also persecute me, like God does? Haven’t you chewed me up enough?”

“Oh, that my words could be recorded. Oh, that they could be inscribed on a monument, carved with an iron chisel and filled with lead, engraved forever in the rock.”

Well… here we are a few thousand years later reading them, so I’d say, Request granted, Job.

And then out of the absolute blue (blue, as in depressed, discouraged, down)…

“But as for me, I know that my Redeemer lives, and he will stand upon the earth at last. And after my body has decayed, yet in my body I will see God! I will see him for myself. Yes, I will see him with my own eyes. I am overwhelmed at the thought!”‬ ‭19‬:‭23‬-‭27‬

Where. Did. This. Come. From?!

One of the most glorious statements of faith in God and hope in the resurrection and it just… BAM! 💥 ‬‬shows up out of absolutely NO WHERE. Umm, remember the end of chapter 17? Job was going down into the grave and his hopes buried with him. Where does this… What happened?

Remember the bookmark I asked you to put in Job 14:13-17? Job has gone from kinda hoping… maybe there will be a resurrection, to full on stating it as fact.

Perhaps this was some kind of revelation on par with Peter just blurting out, “You are the Christ, the Son of the living God.” To which Jesus says, “Blessed are you, Simon Bar-Jonah! For flesh and blood has not revealed this to you, but my Father who is in heaven.”
‭‭Matthew‬ ‭16‬:‭16-17‬ ‭ESV‬‬

Whether it was revelation or an ace that Job has kept up his sleeve all this time, it’s as wonderful as the sun coming out after a wet week or the crocuses popping up in the melting snow of spring. It’s wonderful. And I love it.

That declaration has been an anthem for God’s people for generations. Just type “I know my Redeemer lives” into YouTube and see what happens. Handel. Hymnals. Nicole C. Mullen. Darlene Zschech. Keith & Kristyn Getty… to name only a few!

There’s something else. Job is testifying of a literal bodily resurrection. None of this reincarnation or “spiritual resurrection” nonsense please. He is going to see the Lord with his own eyes. Somehow. Even after those eyes have decayed. Not “spiritual” eyes. Real ones. His. And because of that, ☝️ I fully expect to have my exact shade of blue eyes for eternity. And I find that a very happy thought. ☺️🌷

Job ends this speech with a warning to his friends. It will prove to be prescient. We are going to find out that God is not pleased with them.

But not yet. No, in the meantime, Zophar gets his second at-bat to try to get an argument on base.

Out of the gate he seems to make an allusion to the (probably fairly recent) failed Tower of Babel project:

“Though the pride of the godless reaches to the heavens and their heads touch the clouds, yet they will vanish forever, thrown away like their own dung. Those who knew them will ask, ‘Where are they?’”
‭‭Job‬ ‭20‬:‭6‬-‭7‬ ‭NLT‬‬

Aside from basically calling Job a pile of 💩, Zophar starts picking at an idea- that Job’s sin had something to do with his wealth.

“Their children will beg from the poor, for they must give back their stolen riches.”

“They will never again enjoy streams of olive oil or rivers of milk and honey. They will give back everything they worked for. Their wealth will bring them no joy. For they oppressed the poor and left them destitute. They foreclosed on their homes. They were always greedy and never satisfied. Nothing remains of all the things they dreamed about. Nothing is left after they finish gorging themselves. Therefore, their prosperity will not endure. In the midst of plenty, they will run into trouble and be overcome by misery.”

This sounds like something Charles Dickens might’ve written about Scrooge or Jacob Marley.

• Drat. And now I have We’re Marley and Marley from The Muppets Christmas Carol playing in my head. 🙄

The remainder of Zophar’s speech is a litany of curses that he calls down upon the head of the “squeezing, wrenching, grasping, scraping, clutching, covetous, old sinner!” (Well-said, Mr. Dickens).

Is there any evidence to back this wild accusation of Zophar’s? No. Not a lick. Recall, if you will, chapter 1 of this story. I put it here for our review:

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“There once was a man named Job who lived in the land of Uz. (Oots) He was blameless—a man of complete integrity. He feared God and stayed away from evil. He had seven sons and three daughters. He owned 7,000 sheep, 3,000 camels, 500 teams of oxen, and 500 female donkeys. He also had many servants. He was, in fact, the richest person in that entire area. Job’s sons would take turns preparing feasts in their homes, and they would also invite their three sisters to celebrate with them. When these celebrations ended—sometimes after several days—Job would purify his children. He would get up early in the morning and offer a burnt offering for each of them. For Job said to himself, “Perhaps my children have sinned and have cursed God in their hearts.” This was Job’s regular practice.

Then the Lord asked Satan, “Have you noticed my servant Job? He is the finest man in all the earth. He is blameless—a man of complete integrity. He fears God and stays away from evil.”
‭‭Job‬ ‭1‬:‭1‬-‭5‬, ‭8‬ ‭NLT‬‬

Do you see a greedy man? Neither do I. Apart from his kids possibly being trust-fund babies, there is not a speck of dirt to be dug up on this man. (Reminds me of the prophet Daniel.) Just because someone is wildly rich doesn’t mean they are a crook.

…unless they are a politician. Then that’s exactly what it means.

😏

Zophar, of course, has completely missed the mark about Job. He is assuming things. And you know what happens when you assume, right? It makes an ass out of u & me.

Interestingly, this is the last time we will hear from Zophar. 🫏

In the next segment, Job is going to respond to this assumption and accusation. Then Eliphaz is back up on deck for his final speech followed by Job’s response to it.

We’re about half way through the book of Job now. Let’s do a quick recap and preview:

• The initial event (Ch.1-2)
• Job / Eliphaz 1 / Job (Ch.3-7)
• Bildad 1 / Job (Ch.8-10)
• Zophar 1 / Job (Ch.11-14)
• Eliphaz 2 / Job (Ch.15-17)
• Bildad 2 / Job (Ch.18-19)
• Zophar 2 / Job (Ch.20-21) <you are here
• Eliphaz 3 / Job (Ch.22-24)
• Bildad 3 / Job (Ch.25-26)
• Job’s Final Speech (Ch. 27-31)
• Elihu finally speaks. Ellie who? Elihu. (Ch. 32-37)
• Then the LORD shows up and everyone else shuts up. Longest oral pop quiz on science known to man. (Ch. 38-41)
• Job responds and Paul Harvey shares “The Rest of the Story” (Ch. 42)

See you in chapter 21.