Last week Eliphaz basically told Job he had abused all the weak and oppressed.  Whether by commission or omission, it didn’t matter, Job was down the road of those evil men that God destroyed in the flood.
 
Bildad’s final hand is something like this story:
Harry and Sally have been married for 22 years.  Something’s been sitting uneasy inside Harry for a long time.  One day he finally figures out what’s been eating away at him.

Year after year he has felt a subtle drift in their marriage.  He had never been able to articulate it but today the light turns on and it’s all so clear.  Sally has never supported him from day one.  They were 19 when they got married.  They were young.  He’d felt Sally needed more than to stay at home with the kids, so he encouraged her to nurture a career.  Over the years she managed a successful career while juggling the responsibilities of being a mom.

Now here he was 3 kids, one out of the house, two others not far behind.  His life was at best routine.  He felt the weight of responsibility pressing down on him with one chore after another.  This isn’t what life was supposed to be like.  What he really needed was to find a career that more suited his interests.  He had suggested this to Sally a few times over the past few years and it seemed to him that she too readily dismissed him as “a dreamer.”

Now he knew what he must do.  Tonight he’d go home and tell Sally how it is. “As the church submits to Christ, so also wives should submit to their husbands in everything.”  That was it!  His wife was not submitting.  He’d show her that by not supporting his decision she was in effect not submitting to God.

Harry played the “God” card.
 
This week Bildad tries to trump Job with the “God” card.
 
Bildad says his last
Bildad: Man cannot be righteous when compared to God
Job 25
1 Then Bildad the Shuhite answered:
2 “Dominion and awesome might belong to God;
      he establishes peace in his heights.

God is over all whether in the heavens, on earth or below the earth.

“establishes peace” (or order) – either God brings order from chaos or in the realm of spiritual warfare, it is God who rules.
3 Can his armies be numbered?
      On whom does his light not rise?
“armies” adds to the concept of warfare vs. simple chaos
4 How then can a human being be righteous before God?
      How can one born of a woman be pure?
5 If even the moon is not bright,
      and the stars are not pure as far as he is concerned,
6 how much less a mortal man, who is but a maggot —
      a son of man, who is only a worm!”
Bildad echoes Eliphaz’ statements from v4:17-19 & v15:14-16

God is more brilliant than the stars, the moon is reflected light and less brilliant yet.

Has Bildad’s argument run it’s course and now he must seize Eliphaz’ in one last try?

Q: What is Bildad trying to say to Job?

Q: Is there untruth in what Bildad says? Explain.

Job: God is indeed all you say AND MORE
Job 26
1 Then Job replied:
2 “How you have helped the powerless!
      How you have saved the person who has no strength!
3 How you have advised the one without wisdom,
      and abundantly revealed your insight!
4 To whom did you utter these words?
      And whose spirit has come forth from your mouth?
“you” is singular.  Job is very specifically speaking to Bildad whereas beginning in Chapter 27 “you” is plural

Sarcasm!
Q: What is the message of Job to Bildad underneath the sarcasm?

Q: Bildad has defended God, condemned the wicked and warned Job about his place with God.  What has he done to comfort Job?

The might of God in death
5 “The dead tremble —
      those beneath the waters
      and all that live in them.
6 The underworld is naked before God;
      the place of destruction lies uncovered.
Q: Might Job be trying to “one up” Bildad?

Q: Why are the dead trembling/in anguish?
(The “elite dead” should have nothing to fear but even they tremble before God from Sheol.)
The might of God in the visible universe
7 He spreads out the northern skies over empty space;
      he suspends the earth on nothing.
“empty space” = without form.  Allusion to the creation account.
Notice how he brings in Bildad’s argument about the the stars (v25:5) to show even great power than Bildad referred to… the power of creation!
8 He locks the waters in his clouds,
      and the clouds do not burst with the weight of them.
9 He conceals the face of the full moon,
      shrouding it with his clouds.
10 He marks out the horizon on the surface of the waters
      as a boundary between light and darkness.
11 The pillars of the heavens tremble
      and are amazed at his rebuke.
Science & mysteries:
1. Water falling from the sky
2. Moon, master of the night sky, so easily hidden by the clouds, eclipses & phases
3. “marks out the horizon” = marks a circle.  Did job understand the earth as spherical?  It is not possible to see the arc of the terminator line from the ground but the horizon is circular.
4. Pillars hold the heavens in their place
12 By his power he stills the sea;
      by his wisdom he cut Rahab the great sea monster to pieces.
13 By his breath the skies became fair;
      his hand pierced the fleeing serpent.
5. Maintains order in chaos
6. Orders the weather

God are over chaos: refer to Rahab in v9:13 and mythos in Dec 17, 2009 study.  Note: Reference to Rahab has not been found in extra-biblical sources.
Compare v26:12 in NET, NIV, NASB, KJV
“By his power he stills the sea; by his wisdom he cut Rahab the great sea monster to pieces.“
Compare Isaiah 51:9 in NET, NIV, NASB, KJV
“Wake up! Wake up!  Clothe yourself with strength, O arm of the LORD!  Wake up as in former times, as in antiquity!  Did you not smash the Proud One?  Did you not wound the sea monster?“

Babylonian Creation Epic, in which the storm god Marduk defeats the sea monster Tiamat and creates the earth and sky by cleaving her corpse in two.  Tiamat could be Rahab.
14 Indeed, these are but the outer fringes of his ways!
      How faint is the whisper we hear of him!
      But who can understand the thunder of his power?”
“outer fringes” – this is just scratching the surface of His omnipotence.
All scripture quotations from the New English Translation (NET)
“Scripture quoted by permission. Quotations designated (NET) are from the NET Bible® copyright ©1996-2006 by Biblical Studies Press, L.L.C. www.bible.org All rights reserved.”

Some commentators feel that v26:5-15 either belong to Bildad’s speech (which is very truncated) or that they are part of Zophar’s 3rd speech and somehow the credit to Zophar is not given.  Their basis is the general lack of flow and at times seeming contradiction to a stance taken through out.  Since it seems there are no manuscripts to fit this theory, I feel it is best to interpret the text as listed.  The bottom-line is that the thrust of the discourses is not changed nor the overarching themes in the book.

Failures of Jobs counselors and friends
(excerpted from: The Bible Knowledge Commentary, Walvoord & Zuck; SP Publications, Inc.; 1985; page 748)
1. They did not express sympathy toward Job
2. They did not intercede with God on Job’s behalf
3. They seemingly ignored his expressions of physical and emotional agony
4. They talked too much and did not listen enough
5. They became defensive and argumentative
6. They belittled Job vs. encourage him
7. They insisted they knew the cause of Job’s suffering and misery
8. They stubbornly persisted in their thoughts even when the facts contradicted their thinking
9. Their suggestions to Job were inappropriate because they missed the “problem”
10. They condemned Job for expressing deep grief, anguish and frustration
11. They already had a solution for the problem before they met Job
12. They did not offer comfort in words or actions
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