Bildad is a lot more aggressive in accusing Job of wickedness. Job is forced to realise that he needs a mediator in God’s court to answer these charges. That mediator will be Jesus.

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Transcript

Dan: (00:00)
Hi, everyone. And welcome to training for life redeemed. I’m your host, Dan, and as always, I’m joined by my father, David Jackson. And today we are continuing our series through the book of Job and enjoying all the experience and wisdom that comes from my dad, in this area. So Dad last week Eliphaz was talking to Job and Eliphaz kind of started off nice as he was talking to Job, then Job got offended as he went on, This week we are looking at, Bildad, and Bildad kind of comes in without being so nice to be, you know, so much fluff at the beginning of it, but is Bildad speaking the truth here when he says, yeah, he says the job deserves it. Right? But, in Job’s case is God being unjust. It’s doing, God’s already said that, you know, in chapter two, verse three, I think it is that you incited me to swallow Job up, talking to Satan and to start putting these things in life that are causing him All these dramas is, is God being unjust? Let’s start there.

David: (01:05)
Yeah. Well, God says to Satan, you got me to do all this stuff to Job without cause. So in a sense, he’s saying what’s happening. to Job is not based on any justice or any punishment or anything like that. There’s no reason to do this to Job except to satisfy your accusation. That’s what he’s saying to Satan, Bildad coming up, you got to love. I mean, these three guys come to be Job’s comforters and Bildad’s opening line is, ah, look, you got less than you deserve. You know, your 10 kids are all dead, but you got less than you deserve. God even forgot some of your sin. You’re so terrible. And this, this isn’t comforting, but it’s, it’s also failing to address reality. This idea that the righteous would never suffer and God is always clobbering the wicked and the righteous, you know, going through life and having all the blessings in the world. The problem is God is just, and he does clobber the wicked and he does bless the righteous. And so reality doesn’t make any sense. Bildad’s solution is to blame Job. Job’s solution is I’m confused.

Dan: (02:30)
Does it sound like Job is agreeing with Bildad? Well, is that right?

David: (02:35)
Is Job agreeing with Bildad? The problem with Bildad is he’s got half the story, but not the other half. So yes. God blesses the righteous. Yes. God punishes the wicked. Yes. God is just, Job’s agreeing with all of that. The problem is it doesn’t line up with Job. Yeah. It’s created this, this disconnect. Um, we know the character of God. We know what, what his word says, but what I’m seeing in front of me, doesn’t line up with that. So Bildad’s solution is cruel. It’s all Job’s fault So, what do you do? Do you take God to court and Sue him?

Dan: (03:23)
Well, it seems like Job’s at least like he’s calling God to court. Whether or not he wants to sue God or not, but may help you the right.

David: (03:31)
Yeah. Well that the word ribh in Hebrew is the word for go and sue somebody. And that word is flying all through these debates. Do you have a case against God? And really what Job is saying is I want my case to go before God. And I want him to tell everybody that I’m innocent and in the process, I’ve got a few questions for God. You know, I can’t understand what’s going on. This is a puzzle. It’s a, it’s a riddle. I can’t solve it. But I’m not going to let go of the truth. I’m not going to let go of what you said. So I want to come and talk to God. Meanwhile, Bildad, if only you’d shut up and let me go and listen to God, that would be good.

Dan: (04:18)
Does Bildad, even add anything like compared to Eliphaz. Is he saying anything different or is it all just kind of repeat.

David: (04:26)
It? He’s taking it a step further, He’s being more aggressive about it. Um, and this aggression is going to just build gets, you know, as you go through these speeches for me, for us as believers in Christ, when we go out there and we tell the world, the gospel, one of the responses is, are your, you think you’re holier than everybody else, you know, you’re better than everybody else. because you’re God’s friend. And how do you get people to hear grace, to hear, hear gospel? And Job doesn’t understand how the gospel works. He’s just hanging on to it. So you know, is like pile on the abuse and you sit there, wrestling with that and trying to be polite. It doesn’t advance the cause too far. So yeah, it’s going to get a little bit more intense.

Dan: (05:24)
So the conversation is not so much a reserved white Australian type conversation. It’s more of a middle Eastern friends debating over something.

David: (05:37)
Yeah. Or a couple of fellows down the pub. Who’ve had a couple of beers going at it, except these fellows can’t use the beer as an excuse. But Bildad is supposed to be his friend, come to comfort him. And he thinks that if he can get Job to repent of all his wickedness, that he thinks he’s done that then God will just sort of pull the stopper out and fix everything, but Job’s going, but God said I’m innocent. So that can’t be the solution. And so your you’ve got all the answers and I’m sitting here with no answers and you’re just abusing the daylights out of me. I want to talk to God. He’s the only one who knows the answer.

Dan: (06:25)
So how then do we get to the Gospel? He has this argument that’s going on. Get, get To the gospel,

David: (06:28)
Bildad is doing what I think a lot of Christians do. he’s trying, he’s jumping into defend God. You know, the, some unbeliever is accusing God of being unjust. So you know, the Christians pile in there to argue their case and throw up the evidence as if God needs rescuing, you know, Bildad says, you know, I’m here to speak on behalf of God. And I think God in heaven, sort of having a bit of a giggle at that and Job comes back and he’s saying, look, forget about why we don’t take God to court. God is the judge. He’s not, but somebody’s prosecuting me. Somebody. He understands that there’s an accusation at Job. And he wants to answer the accusation. He doesn’t know what the accusation is, but it’s in God’s court. I can’t take God to court as my accuser and the two of us sort of face off in court. I mean, who’s the judge, there’s your problem right there. So if God is the judge and I’m innocent and I’m falsely accused, how do I go into God’s court? And so he comes up here, you we’re sort of learning with Job. The logic drives him to say, if I had to go to court and argue my case with God, I’d need a mediator.

David: (08:03)
There’s no other way around it. Even a blameless man. He could stand in court and present his argument, but I’m going to make a mess of it. And God is powerful and God is Just. I don’t know how I’m going to handle it. I wouldn’t need a mediator. Who’s big enough to put his hand on God and his hand on me now, who on earth could put his hand on God and Job’s going, I don’t know the solution to this. And you and I are reading the Bible and we’re reading the new Testament. We’re going. I do, you know, Jesus, he’s a man and he’s God. And he’s going to put his hand on the, on God and on me. And he’s going to mediate. He’s my advocate in God’s court. And he’s he’s God and he’s man. And what Job doesn’t understand is, and he died in my place. And that’s why the judge has said I’m blameless. So Job’s just got the I’m blameless. God said it. And I don’t know who my accuser is, but God’s got all this under control, but I don’t know how to get into his court. And if I do, I don’t know what to say. So he’s coming, God’s drawing him to realize I need Jesus. And if we’re reading this along with Job, we’re going, I know I was starting to appreciate what Jesus has done for us,

Dan: (09:32)
But I thank you so much. That brings us to the end of this episode. So if you, want to go and grab the study notes for this episode, you can head to trainingforliferedeemed.com/51, and grab the study nights there. If you enjoy the episode, we would love for you to leave us a review. And of course, make sure you hit the subscribe button and come back and join us again for our next episode, when we look at Job chapter 11 and following.