Job 8:11

achu, a soft reed that can only grow in moist ground: it is eaten by cattle. Job 8:11.

The papyrus does not lift its head so high by any strength of its own. It rises from the abundant mire in which it thrives its little day. The same is true of the flag or bulrush of the East: it grows from sheer excess of moisture, not from solid ground. This is so true that they do not decay slowly, like other plants. They are the first to wither, even without being cut down.

Eliphaz argued from his own observation — from what he had seen. Bildad argued from tradition — from what could be learned in the records of earlier days. He distrusted conclusions drawn from personal experience, since the days of a man on earth are only "a shadow."

Bildad here seeks confirmation of his contention from the wisdom of past ages. He goes beyond Eliphaz: "For we are but as children of yesterday." That is true. But what does the stored-up wisdom of all the past give us when the question is God's truth? It is not to the past that we are to turn, but to God and His word.

Yet Bildad had much to say that was right and good. There is always a reason for things developing, but Bildad did not read that reason correctly in Job's case. Also he says that a reed may wither while yet green, and he uses this as a picture of those who forget God (vv.11-12). True enough. But he was wrongly suggesting that Job had forgotten God. He treated Job's perishing hope as a sign that Job must be a hypocrite (v.13). It is certainly true that the hypocrite's hope shall perish, but to apply this to Job was totally unfair.

And here we have the wisdom of Bildad as he learned it from the past. It is all true and sublimely stated: the wicked cannot prosper, their doom is certain. On the other hand God will not cast off the perfect man. But Job is in the position of a man God has cast off. So he must belong to the wicked who do not prosper. Bildad hides this beneath his fine words.

Well, that is just what their condition was — mire and water. There was no substance at all, just mire and water. Their thoughts were no better than the flag that grew out of the water, or the reed that grew out of the mire. And he talks about the hypocrite being no better than a spider's web. That is exactly what they were, though they were not hypocrites. Still, they were all wrong in their reasonings, and wrong reasoning is never better than a spider's web.

This is all true of the stony-ground hearers. But it is not true of Job, and not true of the soul that sincerely trusts in Christ. The water that is in him is a well of water, springing up into everlasting life. "The hypocrite's hope shall perish", but the feeblest sheep of Christ shall never perish. But if he looks at his own imagined greenness — at his own boasted goodness — it will fade away. And so Satan gets the advantage. There may be much freshness of soul at conversion, like the green flag; but beware of trusting in this.