Bildad

Bildad the Shuhite was the second of Job's friends to speak, appealing to the wisdom of the ancestors and the fixed moral order of the world. He insisted that God does not pervert justice, implying that Job's children died for their sin and that Job must be impure. His rigid traditionalism, like that of the others, was corrected by God, who required Job to pray for him.

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Biography

Occupation: One of Job's counselors
Era: Patriarchal Age
Nationality: Shuhite

Old Testament Job

Did You Know?

Bildad the Shuhite anchors his arguments in ancestral tradition, urging Job to 'enquire of the former age' (Job 8:8) rather than reasoning from his own experience.

His speeches grow shorter each time, and his final one (Job 25) is a mere six verses on human insignificance before God - a sign the friends are running out of answers.

Bildad bluntly suggests that Job's ten children died because of their own sin (Job 8:4), an example of the cold logic the book exists to refute.

Key Chapters

Job 8 Bildad's First Speech 2 min read Bildad urges Job to inquire of past generations, insisting that God never perver... Job 25 Bildad's Third Speech 1 min read In his brief final speech Bildad exalts God's dominion and questions how any man...

Key Passages

Bildad Appeals to Tradition

Job 8:1-10

Bildad urges Job to inquire of past generations, insisting that God never perverts justice.

T¹hen answered Bildad the Shuhite, and said,

² How long wilt thou speak these things? and how long shall the words of thy mouth be like a strong wind? ³ Doth God pervert judgment? or doth the Almighty pervert justice? ⁴ If thy children have sinned against him, and he have cast them away for their transgression; ⁵ If thou wouldest seek unto God betimes, and make thy supplication to the Almighty; ⁶ If thou wert pure and upright; surely now he would awake for thee, and make the habitation of thy righteousness prosperous. ⁷ Though thy beginning was small, yet thy latter end should greatly increase. ⁸ For enquire, I pray thee, of the former age, and prepare thyself to the search of their fathers: ⁹ (For we are but of yesterday, and know nothing, because our days upon earth are a shadow:) ¹⁰ Shall not they teach thee, and tell thee, and utter words out of their heart?

Read full chapter: Job 8 →

Bildad on God's Majesty

Job 25:1-6

In his brief final speech Bildad exalts God's dominion and questions how any man can be righteous before Him.

T¹hen answered Bildad the Shuhite, and said,

² Dominion and fear are with him, he maketh peace in his high places. ³ Is there any number of his armies? and upon whom doth not his light arise? ⁴ How then can man be justified with God? or how can he be clean that is born of a woman? ⁵ Behold even to the moon, and it shineth not; yea, the stars are not pure in his sight. ⁶ How much less man, that is a worm? and the son of man, which is a worm?

Read full chapter: Job 25 →