He is a lush plant before the sun, and his shoots spread over his garden.
Bildad is arguing that God pays every man back for what he is. Here he draws a picture from the garden: a plant thriving in full sun, its shoots running everywhere, its roots gripping a pile of stones. Is that thriving real strength? And did Bildad have any right to aim the picture at the man in front of him?
The picture in the words
One commentator takes the picture phrase by phrase, and explains why the plant grabs at stones. His wording follows an older translation:
William Kelly"He is green before the sun, and his branch shoots forth in his garden. His roots are wrapped about the heap" — to get a little strength from the heap — "and sees the place of stones." That is what the reed does to get a firm hold.
So the green spread proves nothing about depth. The roots are only borrowing a hold from a stone heap.
What the picture is meant to prove
Another commentator weighs how much of Bildad's argument is sound:
Samuel RidoutThere is much truth in what he says, though it is not all the truth... Once more he reaches for a picture. He compares this passing prosperity to a rich vine covering a heap of stones in the garden, full of sap and strength in the bright sunshine. Soon God cuts him off, and the place that once knew him will know him no more.
So prosperity can be full of sap and have nothing underneath it. The error is not the picture. It is the use Bildad makes of it.
The point aimed at Job
Bildad did not mean this as general wisdom. It was a hint, and he meant Job to feel it:
Leslie M. GrantIn verses 16 and 17 he speaks of the hypocrite. At first he grows green in the sun, his branches spreading out and his roots wrapped around the rock heap, and he appears to be doing well. But he may be destroyed from his place, and his place denies that it ever saw him (v.18) — that is, there is no evidence left that he was ever prosperous. This may well be true of the hypocrite when he is finally exposed and shamed. But Bildad hinted that Job had suffered things like the destruction he describes, so Job must be a hypocrite! But Bildad did not yet know the end of the story, and his assumptions were ill-considered and false.
Job had flourished. Then Job lost everything. Bildad joined the two facts with a rule.
The rule underneath
That rule is where the whole speech goes wrong. All three friends hold it:
Samuel RidoutFor all his ignorance of divine principles, Bildad cares deeply about the honour of God, and cannot let anyone accuse Him. In this he is right. But he fails to convince Job, because of the root error in the thinking of all of them: God must punish sin, and Job must be a sinner, because God is punishing him.
What silence would have done
Bildad could not see what God was doing. A better response than speech was open to him:
William KellyWe need not be surprised that he could not see in advance the lessons God meant this very book to teach. But a believer should not rush. He should wait where he is not sure of God's mind. Least of all should he have put the worst possible meaning on what he did not understand. That is what he did, and it made Job's trial heavier and provoked his spirit... Did it ever occur to the three friends that the wise thing would have been to pray, instead of talking, judging and blaming?
The warning for the soul
The withering plant still has a use, if you turn it on yourself and know what part of you it describes:
C StanleyThis is all true of those who hear the word on stony ground. It is not true of Job, and not true of the soul that truly trusts in Christ... But if he looks at his own imagined greenness — at his own boasted goodness — that will fade away, and so Satan gains the advantage. There may be much freshness of soul at conversion, like the green reed. But beware of trusting in that. Very often the reaction is as strong as the joy was great, when the true character of the flesh comes to light.
Summary
- Green. The plant looks strongest in full sun. It spreads across the garden, and nothing on the surface shows that anything is wrong.
- Gripping. Its roots wrap a stone heap to borrow a hold. The vigour is real; the foundation is not. In the end the ground that carried it denies it was ever there.
- Aimed. Bildad pressed this at Job. You flourished, then you fell, so you must be the hypocrite in the picture. The assumption was false.
- Root error. He defended God's honour by one fixed rule: suffering proves sin. That rule misread Job.
- Better. Where God's mind is not clear, wait and pray instead of talking, judging and blaming. Turn the withering plant on your own boasted goodness, not on a suffering friend.