“Behold, God will not reject a blameless man, nor take the hand of evildoers.
Bildad ends his first speech with a saying that sounds like solid truth. God stands by the blameless man and gives no support to the evildoer. The problem is the man he says it to. God was testing Job at that very hour, so the saying landed as a hint that Job's ruin proved his guilt.
The sentence and its hidden "if"
Read on its own, the verse is a statement about God's character. Read in Bildad's mouth, it carries a condition he never says out loud.
Leslie M. Grant"Behold, this is the joy of his way" (v.19), that is, the joy of the hypocrite is short and soon over. In contrast to this, "God will not reject the blameless," while He will not uphold evildoers (v.20). If Job were blameless, God would fill Job's mouth with laughing and his lips with rejoicing (v.21). No doubt Bildad was implying that Job could even yet find such blessing if he would return to living a blameless life.
True words at the wrong moment
The man in front of Bildad was the living exception. God was troubling a blameless man at that very hour.
William Kelly"Behold, God will not reject a blameless man." But God was trying and troubling the blameless at that very moment. Job's friends could never take this into their minds. They did not understand it or believe it in the slightest degree. So their reasons were all false, and more than that, unkind through and through. It is a sad thing to be unkind to what is good and true. It is just as sad to be very kind to what is not good and not true.
Judging by what he could see
The verse has two halves: God does not reject the blameless, and He gives the evildoer no hand. Bildad said both with no thought of God, so his comfort came out as a verdict.
William KellyIf Job really is a blameless man, God will not reject him — and neither does He take the hand of evildoers. He will not cast Job off until He gives him the fullest grounds for thankful praise, defeats his enemies, and destroys the wicked forever. But applied to this case, Bildad's thoughts held no fellowship with God and no gracious care for the sufferer. So he judged by appearances, and his judgment was unrighteous.
Testing a man God is pleased with
Bildad allowed for reward and for punishment. He had no room for a hard trial sent to a man God is pleased with.
An Outline of Sound WordsJob knew that much of what Bildad said was true. God will not reject a blameless man. He will fill the blameless man's mouth with laughter and his lips with shouts of joy, and those who hate him will be clothed with shame (Job 8:20–22). All of this happened to Job once his days of testing were over. But Bildad did not understand that God could test a man hard — a man whose life already pleased Him — so that it might please Him still more.
The question the verse forces
Job did not argue with the saying. He asked who could ever meet it.
W. W. FeredayIt was all very well for Bildad to say "God will not reject a blameless man." No one ever thought He would. But where is the blameless man to be found? Job himself felt that he was not that man. God gives His answer to the guilty man's "hard question" in Romans 3:21-26. The redemption that is in Christ Jesus lets God justify by His grace, as a free gift, everyone who owns his guilt and believes in His Son.
Fulfilled on terms Bildad never imagined
Bildad offered mercy on his own terms: turn to God in prayer, and prove pure. Job's restoration came another way.
Samuel RidoutNext, he argues that God's ways are just by telling Job there is restoring mercy for him, if he will only turn to God in prayer. "If you are pure and upright" — those words carry a strong hint of suspicion — then God will restore everything and bless Job's later days. This did come true, but in a very different way from what Bildad expected. God blessed Job not for his purity, and not because he confessed the evil Bildad suspected.
Summary
- True — the saying itself is sound. God will not throw away a blameless man, and He gives the evildoer no support.
- Wrongly timed — said over a suffering blameless man, the same words became an accusation. God was troubling the blameless at that very moment.
- Blind — Bildad had no room for a hard test sent to a man whose life already pleased God, to make it please Him more.
- Exposed — the saying raises Job's own question: where is the blameless man to be found? The answer is that God justifies guilty people by His grace, through Christ.
- Fulfilled — God filled Job's mouth with laughter at last, but not for his purity and not on Bildad's terms.