Job 5-8

This is supposed to be just Job 5-6, but it's such an odd place to begin and end a reading, I'm continuing through chapter 8 and Bildad's speech.

Job 5 resumes Eliphaz's call to Job to examine his life for the sin which has caused all his troubles. Verse 5:13 I quoted by Paul in 1 Corinthians 3:19 in describing the foolishness of the world. Apparently the friends do manage to make some correct points. They just fail to apply their knowledge correctly.

Job answers in chapters 6 and 7. It is hard to tell if he is addressing Eliphaz or God Himself. Job wants to be put out of his misery. But he also is rebuking his friend for being so harsh with him. Job wants to get a direct answer from Eliphaz as to what he has done to deserve this. Then he asks the same of God, although without the same venom toward the Creator as he had with his friend.

In chapter 8 Bildad steps in to save God's dignity. He says that Job's children died because of their sins. He also points to the past generations as to what they learned about God. All seem to repeat the old saw that God will bless the blameless and punish the sinners. What they seemed to forget was the possibility that the rewards and the punishments were not restricted to this earth.