God will not cast away the simple, nor reach out his hand to the evildoer:

“Behold, God will not cast out a perfect man, neither will He stretch out His hand to the evil. In that assuredly when the Strict One appeareth in the Judgment, He will at once lift up the despisedness of the simple by glorifying them, and break in pieces the greatness of the evil-minded by condemning them. For hypocrites are called evil-minded, who do good acts but not well, and practise every thing right only in eagerness after praise. Now anyone, to whom we stretch out our hand, we plainly lift up from below. Thus God does not stretch out His hand to the evil-minded, in that all that seek earthly glory He leaves below, and how right soever the things that they do may seem to be, He doth not advance them to the joys above. Or, as may well be, hypocrites are for this reason called evil-minded, because they make a shew of being wellminded toward their neighbours, and cover over the arts of their wicked designs. For in all that they either do or say, they shew simplicity externally, but they are inwardly conceiving in the subtleties of double-mindedness; they counterfeit purity on the outside, but they conceal an evil heart at all times under the semblance of purity. In respect of whom it is well spoken by Moses, Thou shalt not wear a garment woven of woollen and linen together. For by 'woollen' is denoted simplicity, by 'linen' subtlety. And it is the fact that a garment made of 'wool and linen' hides the linen within and shews the wool on the outside. And so he 'puts on a garment of woollen and linen together,' who in the mode of speech or behaviour that he adopts conceals within the artfulness of an evil purpose, and exhibits without the simplicity of an innocent mind. For whereas it is impossible to detect craftiness under the semblance of purity, it is as if linen were hidden under the thickness of wool...”

“"But Bildad the Shuhite answering," etc. In what has gone before, blessed Job had answered Eliphaz's statement, effectively and profoundly emptying it out; but Bildad the Shuhite, agreeing with Eliphaz in the same view, had not grasped the profundity of blessed Job, and therefore he speaks against Job's response just as men are accustomed to speak against statements they have not understood. Now men who do not grasp the minds of speakers commonly fail in two respects: one, that they do not know when the one who is speaking has arrived at his intended goal; the other, that they cannot grasp the ordering of the speaker's discourse. And this appears manifestly in Bildad's words, for it is said, "But Bildad the Shuhite answering said: How long will you speak such things?" For it seemed to him that Job had drawn out his speech too far, since he neither considered nor understood to what end Job wished to bring his discourse; and likewise he did not grasp the ordering of the things Job had said, namely how they were joined to one another, and therefore he adds, "and the manifold spirit of the words of your mouth?" For he reckoned that, because Job had brought forth many things whose order he himself did not grasp, they were disjointed words, as it were of a man speaking various things without order of reason, out of an impulse of spirit, without rational sequence. And because, as has been said, Bildad had not grasped Job's intention, taking his words in another sense, he strives to reduce them to an absurdity. For Job, wishing above to exclude the position of Eliphaz, who held that adversities occur in this world on account of men's sins, and that sinners scourged by God, if they be converted, will be brought back to a state of prosperity, had spoken against both: for against the first, as was explained above, he had said, "Would that my sins and the calamity that I suffer were weighed in a balance." Against the second he had said, "I have despaired, I shall live no more," and many things of this kind, as is clear from what preceded. Now Job was saying these things intending that the punishment of sins and the reward of justice are not to be expected from God in this life; but Bildad, who knew nothing of another life, took these words as though Job intended to say that God does not punish sins nor reward good deeds, which seems to be contrary to divine justice, and therefore Bildad puts forward the objection, saying, "Does God pervert judgment, or does the Almighty subvert what is just?" As if he were saying: this follows from your words, if he punishes men in this world without sin, or beyond the measure of their sin, or if he does not render good things to those who have turned back to him. And it is to be noted that justice is corrupted in two ways, namely through the cunning of some wise man and through the violence of some powerful man; but in God there are both, perfect wisdom and omnipotence, and yet neither through the wisdom that is understood by the name of God does he, as it were cunningly acting, pervert judgment, nor through omnipotence does he, as it were violently, subvert what is just. Now there were two things that seemed to prevent former prosperity from being restored to Job even if he should turn back to God, as Eliphaz had said. One of these was that the children he had lost were dead, and it could not be hoped that they would be raised to life again through his conversion; and therefore Bildad says, "even if your sons sinned against him, and he delivered them into the hand of their own iniquity" — as if he were saying: when you shall have turned back to God, you will recover those things which you lost on account of your sins; but your sons were crushed by death not on account of your sins but on account of their own, whence it is not contrary to Eliphaz's statement — in which he had said that through conversion you will return to prosperity — if your sons are not raised again once you have been converted. And it is to be noted that, because he believed the punishments of this present life happen on account of sins, and the last of the present punishments is death, then a man seems to be perfectly punished for sin when he is brought all the way to death for his sin; and therefore he says pointedly, "and he delivered them into the hand of their own iniquity," as it were into the power of their own sins, so that without any restraint they were led all the way to the final punishment for their sins. The other thing that seemed to prevent a return to former prosperity was that the greater part of Job's lifetime had already passed and little remained, as Job had said above, whence it did not seem that in that little time his former prosperity could be sufficiently restored to him even if he were converted to God; and therefore Bildad promises him that a recompense will be made after his conversion, proportioned to the time, namely that he will obtain goods much greater than he had before, on account of the fact that he would have them for only a short time. And so Bildad first describes to him the manner of the conversion that is required, for which three things are needed. The first of these is that the sinner rise from sin without delay, and this is what he says: "yet if you, at daybreak" — that is, in timely fashion — "shall have arisen to God," having abandoned your sins, according to that word of Ecclesiasticus 5:8, "delay not to be converted to the Lord." The second is that man make satisfaction for his sins, and as to this he says, "and shall have made supplication to the Almighty" — for among the works of satisfaction, prayer seems to be, as it were, the chief. The third is that man persevere, taking care against a relapse into sin, and therefore he says, "if you shall have walked pure and upright," namely, taking care against the uncleannesses of the flesh and against the injustices by which one's neighbor is harmed. This perfect conversion having thus been described, he then adds the promise of prosperity, saying, "forthwith he will awake for you" — for God seems, as it were, to sleep when he permits the just to be afflicted, but to awake when he defends them, according to that word, "Arise, why do you sleep, O Lord?" And he adds the effect of this awakening, saying, "and he will make the dwelling of your righteousness peaceful" — as if he were saying: your house and your household were disturbed in the time of your sin, but in the time of your righteousness it will have peace. And lest he might be able to complain of the shortness of the time, he promises an excess of prosperity, saying, "so that your former things shall have been small" — namely, in comparison with what follows — and this is what he adds: "and your latter things shall be multiplied exceedingly," so that the magnitude of your prosperity may compensate you for the time you were in adversity. "For ask the former generation," etc. Bildad the Shuhite, in what precedes, defending the same position as Eliphaz the Temanite, had proposed that men divinely punished for sin in the present life would, after conversion, return to a state of prosperity, and this he now intends to prove. He proves it in two ways: first from experience, second from a comparison. For experience in particular matters is most effective for proving something, and the more so the longer it has been observed and found infallible. Now things that require a long span of time are proved above all through the memories of the ancients, and therefore, to prove his point, he has recourse to the memories of the ancients — as to the ancients, when he says, "For ask the former generation," and as to those immediately preceding, when he says, "and search diligently into the memory of the fathers," that is, the things your fathers hold in memory. Now to inquire of the former generation is to consider the writings of ancient deeds and the things that are reported of the ancients by common report; and because concerning ancient matters many things are both written and told in a fabulous manner, lest anyone should think himself deceived by this, he refers him to the fathers, who can relate the things they themselves saw. He shows the necessity of this inquiry, adding, "for we are but of yesterday" — as it were born yesterday — "and we are ignorant of ancient things on this account"; and this indeed he says to show the brevity of our life, whence he adds, "because our days upon earth are as a shadow" — for a shadow passes quickly, that is, as soon as the obstacle to the light is removed, and while the body moves, in relation to which the shadow occurs, the earlier shadow passes and another succeeds it: so too the days of man are in continuous passing, as one succeeds another. What benefit follows from the aforesaid inquiry he shows, adding, "they" — namely, the ancients and the fathers who have been asked — "will teach you the truth concerning the aforesaid matters," whether the fathers by word, or the ancients by writings and report; "and will bring forth sayings from their heart," which he adds to show the truthfulness of this teaching, as if he were saying: they will teach nothing other than what they perceived in their heart, because there is in them no reason to deceive. He then introduces a comparison to prove his point, drawn from bodily things. And he sets forth the example of two things that grow from the earth, of which one requires moisture in the ground for its preservation, namely the "scirpus," that is, the rush, whence he says, "can the rush live without moisture?" The other requires watery places, namely the "carex," and these are broad plants, sharp at the top, which grow only in watery places, whence he adds, "or can the sedge grow without water?" For "carectum" is the term for a place in which plants of this kind grow; and that the rush requires moisture and the sedge water he shows because, by the mere withdrawal of moisture or water, they easily dry up, with no other cause of drying present. Now in other plants that grow from the earth there is a twofold cause of drying: one is natural, on account of age, the other is violent, when they are plucked up; but with both these causes absent, the rush and the sedge dry up from the sole withdrawal of moisture and water, and this is what he says: "while it is yet in flower" — that is, while it is yet in its youth and its vigor, by which the antiquity of time is excluded — "and it is not plucked by the hand," by which violence is excluded, "it withers before all other herbs" — that is, more easily than all other plants. This he now applies to the matter at hand. Here it is to be considered that he understood man's cleaving to God to be, in this respect, the cause of worldly prosperity in the way that moisture is the cause of a plant's greenness, and this because he reckoned man's good to be earthly prosperity; but it is evident that man's good consists in this, that man cleaves to God, and therefore he believed that, since he does not cleave to God, his earthly prosperity fails him. This indeed is true of spiritual happiness, which is man's true good, but not of earthly prosperity, which is reckoned among the least of goods, as serving instrumentally toward man's true happiness; and therefore he adds, "such are the ways of all who forget God, and the hope of the hypocrite shall perish." Here it is to be considered that, corresponding to the two things set down above, he here adds two corresponding things: for the sedge requires manifest water for its greenness, and by its withdrawal it dries up, while the rush requires water hidden in the ground and moistening it, and by its lack it dries up; similarly, according to his view, there are some who perish because there is withdrawn from them, in manifest fashion, a cleaving to God — namely, because they manifestly do works contrary to God — and these he signifies by those "who forget God"; for those who do not fear to act wickedly openly seem altogether to set aside reverence for God and not to have him in memory. There are others who, according to his view, perish through the withdrawal of a hidden cleaving to God, and these are the hypocrites, who outwardly pretend as if they cleave to God, but their heart is set on earthly things; and therefore, speaking of the hypocrite, he named "hope," while of those who forget God he named "ways" — that is, operations — because their works are turned away from God, whereas the hypocrite's is hope. How the hypocrite's hope perishes he shows when he adds, "his folly of heart shall not please him" — where it is to be considered that the hypocrite has a heart that is indeed vain and negligent as to spiritual things, but solicitous as to temporal things, and this indeed pleases him as long as things go well for him in temporal matters according to what he hopes; but if temporal things be withdrawn from him, then it is necessary that it displease him that he did not have a true and firm heart toward God. He says therefore, "his folly of heart shall not please him" — that is, when adversity comes it will displease him that he did not have a right heart toward God; and the solicitude he had concerning temporal things will altogether fail him, and this is what he adds: "and his confidence shall be like a spider's web" — that is, the things in which he trusted will easily be broken like a spider's webs: for he trusted not in divine help but in the strength of his house, that is, in abundance of riches, multitude of kinsmen, and other such things, but these will easily fail him, whence it follows, "he shall lean upon his house," that is, he will have confidence in the stability of the prosperity of his house, "and yet it shall not stand," because when divine help is lacking to him it will collapse. Now it happens that someone, foreseeing adversities to come, prepares certain supports for himself and his house against adversities, but this too will avail him nothing, for it follows, "he shall prop it up" — with certain remedies, that is, against adversities, just as certain supports are applied to a house that threatens ruin — "and yet neither he nor his house shall rise up" to a state of prosperity. To this statement, which he had made concerning the fragility of such confidence, he now applies the comparison of the rush that he had set forth beforehand. For confidence in the rush seems to be had on two grounds: first from its own greenness, which nevertheless, when the sun comes and dries up the moisture of the ground, quickly fails, and as to this he says, "it seems moist" — namely the rush — "before the sun comes," which takes away its greenness; "and at its rising" — namely, that of the rush — "its shoot goes forth": for it seems to grow quickly and to produce its own fruit; and similarly the hypocrite, because from the beginning fortune smiles upon him, seems to prosper, but when the sun comes — that is, tribulation — his prosperity quickly fails. Second, confidence in the rush can be had from other things, namely either from the multitude of other rushes clinging together with it, or from the solidity of the place in which it grows, when it is born in a stony place; and therefore he says next, "over a heap of stones its roots" — namely, those of the rush — "shall be thickened," insofar as the roots of many rushes are joined together at once — which he says as to the first point; as to the second he says, "and it shall abide among the stones." So too can some hypocrite have confidence in his own stability, not only on account of his own prosperity but also on account of the multitude of his kinsmen and household, or even on account of the strength of the kingdom or city in which he dwells. But this confidence of his fails him just as happens with the rush, for it follows: "if someone swallows it up" — namely, the rush — "from its place, that place will deny it and say, 'I do not know you'" — as if he were saying: the rush is so torn up from its place that neither does any trace of it appear in the place, nor does its place do anything toward that same rush being planted there again. And he adds the reason, saying, "for this is the joy of its way" — or of its life — "that from the earth others may spring up again" — as if he were saying: the process and life of rushes dwelling together in some place does not tend by natural appetite toward this, nor is it preserved by this, that the very same rush in number which has been torn up should be replanted, but toward this, that others of the same species should be born again; so too it is when someone, through death or in some other way, is separated from some company of the strong: he is at once, as it were, given over to oblivion, according to that word of the Psalm, "I am forgotten as one dead from the heart"; but such a company rejoices in those who succeed to it, according to that word of Ecclesiastes 4:14, "another is born poor in the kingdom. I have seen all the living who walk under the sun, with the second youth who shall rise up in his place." Now these things have been introduced in order to show that, even though some prosperity sometimes befalls the wicked, it is nevertheless not something firm in which they can trust, but it quickly passes, whence it is to be reckoned as nothing. From all that has been said above, he consequently shows what he intends, saying, "God will not cast away the simple" — that is, he will not put him far from himself so as not to sustain him, the one who cleaves to him with a simple heart — "nor will he reach out his hand to the malignant" — that is, he will not give them help so that their prosperity may be confirmed. And because Job could say: whatever you say, and whatever you may wish to confirm by comparisons, yet I have experienced the contrary in myself, who, though I was simple, suffer adversity, and my malignant adversaries have prevailed against me — therefore, to exclude this, he adds, "until your mouth be filled with laughter, and your lips with rejoicing" — as if he were saying: what I have said is true to this extent, that you will experience this in yourself, provided, however, that you be simple, so that from the prosperity that will follow your joy will burst forth into laughter and rejoicing, which are wont to arise from the greatness of gladness; and on the contrary, "those who hate you shall be clothed with confusion" — that is, they shall be manifestly and in many ways confounded, so that confusion shall be to them as a garment. And lest this should seem impossible to anyone on account of the present prosperity in which they seem to flourish, he adds, "and the tabernacle of the wicked shall not stand" — for by "tabernacle," in which very many of the Orientals were accustomed to dwell and to keep their riches and furnishings, can be understood everything that pertains to the prosperity of the present life. It is to be considered, moreover, that Bildad made mention of the hypocrite and the simple because he reckoned that Job had not truly been a saint but a hypocrite, and that his prosperity had therefore not been firm; but if he should begin to be simple, he promises him that prosperity will come to him.”

“Bildad here, in the close of his discourse, sums up what he has to say in a few words, setting before Job life and death, the blessing and the curse, assuring him that as he was so he should fare, and therefore they might conclude that as he fared so he was. 1. On the one hand, if he were a perfect upright man, God would not cast him away, Job 8:20. Though now he seemed forsaken of God, he would yet return to him, and by degrees would turn his mourning into dancing (Psa 30:11) and comforts should flow in upon him so plentifully that his mouth should be filled with laughing, Job 8:21. So affecting should the happy change be, Psa 126:2. Those that loved him would rejoice with him; but those that hated him, and had triumphed in his fall, would be ashamed of their insolence, when they should see him restored to his former prosperity. Now it is true that God will not cast away an upright man; he may be cast down for a time, but he shall not be cast away for ever. It is true that, if not in this world, yet in another, the mouth of the righteous shall be filled with rejoicing. Though their sun should set under a cloud, yet it shall rise again clear, never more to be clouded; though they go mourning to the grave, that shall not hinder their entrance into the joy of their Lord. It is true that the enemies of the saints will be clothed with shame when they see them crowned with honour. But it does not therefore follow that, if Job were not perfectly restore to his former prosperity, he would forfeit the character of a perfect man. 2. On the other hand, if he were a wicked man and an evil-doer, God would not help him, but leave him to perish in his present distresses (Job 8:20), and his dwelling-place should come to nought, (Job 8:22). And here also it is true that God will not help the evil-doers; they throw themselves out of his protection, and forfeit his favour. He will not take the ungodly by the hand (so it is in the margin), will not have fellowship and communion with them; for what communion can there be between light and darkness? He will not lend them his hand to pull them out of the miseries, the eternal miseries, into which they have plunged themselves; they will then stretch out their hand to him for help, but it will be too late: he will not take them by the hand. Between us and you there is a great gulf fixed. It is true that the dwelling-place of the wicked, sooner or later, will come to nought. Those only who make God their dwelling-place are safe for ever, Psa 90:1; Psa 91:1. Those who make other things their refuge will be disappointed. Sin brings ruin on persons and families. Yet to argue (as Bildad, I doubt, slyly does) that because Job's family was sunk, and he himself at present seemed helpless, therefore he certainly was an ungodly wicked man, was neither just nor charitable, as long as there appeared no other evidence of his wickedness and ungodliness. Let us judge nothing before the time, but wait till the secrets of all hearts shall be made manifest, and the present difficulties of Providence be solved to universal and everlasting satisfaction, when the mystery of God shall be finished.”

“Till he fill thy mouth with laughing, and thy lips with rejoicing. Directing himself to Job; and suggesting, that if he was a perfect, sincere, and upright man. God would not cast him away utterly, but help him out of his present circumstances, and restore him to prosperity; and not leave him until he had filled his heart with so much joy, that his mouth and lips, being also full of it, should break forth in strong expressions of it, and in the most exulting strains, as if it was a time of jubilee with him; see Psa 126:2; but Bildad tacitly insinuates that Job was not a perfect and good man but an evil doer, whom God had cast away and would not help; and this he concluded from the distressed circumstances he was now in; which was no rule of judgment, and a very unfair way of reasoning, since love and hatred are not to be known by outward prosperity and adversity, Ecc 9:1. Bar Tzemach interprets "laughing" as at his own goodness, and "rejoicing" as at the evil of the wicked. Job 8:22”

“20 Behold! God despiseth not the perfect man, And taketh not evil-doers by the hand. 21 While He shall fill thy mouth with laughing, And thy lips with rejoicing, 22 They who hate thee shall be clothed with shame, And the tent of the ungodly is no more. "To take by the hand," i.e., ready to help as His own, as Isa 41:13; Isa 42:6. Instead of עד (Job 8:21), there is no great difficulty in reading עוד: again (as e.g., Psa 42:6) He will fill; but even עד is supportable; it signifies, like Job 1:18; Psa 141:10, while. On the form ימלּה, vid., Ges. 75, 21, b. This close of Bildad's speech sounds quite like the Psalms (comp. Psa 126:2 with Job 8:21; Psa 35:26; Psa 109:29; Psa 132:18, with Job 8:22). Bildad does all he can to win Job over. He calls the ungodly שׂנאיך, to show that he tries to think and expect the best of Job. We have seen that Job in his second speech charges God with the appearance of injustice and want of compassion. The friends act as friends, by not allowing this to pass without admonition. After Job has exhausted himself with his plaints, Bildad enters into the discussion in the above speech. He defends the justice of God against Job's unbecoming words. His assertion that God does not swerve from the right, is so true that it would be blasphemy to maintain against him that God sometimes perverts the right. And Bildad seems also to make the right use of this truth when he promises a glorious issue to his suffering, as a substantial proof that God does not deal unjustly towards him; for Job's suffering does actually come to such an issue, and this issue in its accomplishment destroys the false appearance that God had been unjust or unmerciful towards him. Bildad expresses his main point still more prudently, and more in accordance with the case before him, when he says, "Behold! God does not act hostilely towards the godly, neither does He make common cause with the evil-doer" (Job 8:20), - a confession which he must allow is on both sides the most absolute truth. By the most telling figures he portrays the perishableness of the prosperity of those who forget God, and paints in glowing colours on this dark background the future which awaits Job. What is there in this speech of Bildad to censure, and how is it that it does not produce the desired cheering effect on Job? It is true that nothing that God sends to man proceeds from injustice, but it is not true that everything that He sends to him comes from His justice. As God does not ordain suffering for the hardened sinner in order to improve him, because He is merciful, so He does not ordain suffering for the truly godly in order to punish him, because He is just. What we call God's attributes are only separate phases of His indivisible holy being, - ad extra, separate modes of His operation in which they all share, - of which, when in operation, one does not act in opposition to another; they are not, however, all engaged upon the same object at one time. One cannot say that God's love manifests itself in action in hell, nor His anger in heaven; nor His justice in the afflictions of the godly, and His mercy in the sufferings of the godless. Herein is Bildad's mistake, that he thinks his commonplace utterance is sufficient to explain all the mysteries of human life. We see from his judgment of Job's children how unjust he becomes, since he regards the matter as the working out of divine justice. He certainly speaks hypothetically, but in such a way that he might as well have said directly, that their sudden death was the punishment of their sin. If he had found Job dead, he would have considered him as a sinner, whom God had carried off in His anger. Even now he has no pleasure in promising Job help and blessing; accordingly from his point of view he expresses himself very conditionally: If thou art pure and upright. We see from this that his belief in Job's uprightness is shaken, for how could the All-just One visit Job with such severe suffering, if he had not deserved it! Nevertheless אתה וישׁר זך אם (Job 8:6) shows that Bildad thinks it possible that Job's heart may be pure and upright, and consequently his present affliction may not be peremptory punishment, but only disciplinary chastisement. Job just - such is Bildad's counsel - give God glory, and acknowledge that he deserves nothing better; and thus humbling himself beneath the just hand of God, he will be again made righteous, and exalted. Job cannot, however, comprehend his suffering as an act of divine justice. His own fidelity is a fact, his consciousness of which cannot be shaken: it is therefore impossible for him to deny it, for the sake of affirming the justice of God; for truth is not to be supported by falsehood. Hence Bildad's glorious promises afford Job no comfort. Apart from their being awkwardly introduced, they depend upon an assumption, the truth of which Job cannot admit without being untrue to himself. Consequently Bildad, though with the best intention, only urges Job still further forward and deeper into the conflict. But does, then, the confession of sin on the part of constantly sinful man admit of his regarding the suffering thus appointed to him not merely not as punishment, but also not as chastisement? If a sufferer acknowledges the excessive hideousness of sin, how can he, when a friend bids him regard his affliction as a wholesome chastisement designed to mortify sin more and more, - how can he receive the counsel with such impatience as we see in the case of Job? The utterances of Job are, in fact, so wild, inconsiderate, and unworthy of God, and the first speeches of Eliphaz and Bildad on the contrary so winning and appropriate, that if Job's affliction ought really to be regarded from the standpoint of chastisement, their tone could not be more to the purpose, nor exhortation and comfort more beautifully blended. Even when one knows the point of the book, one will still be constantly liable to be misled by the speeches of the friends; it requires the closest attention to detect what is false in them. The poet's mastery of his subject, and the skill with which he exercises it, manifests itself in his allowing the opposition of the friends to Job, though existing in the germ from the very beginning, to become first of all in the course of the controversy so harsh that they look upon Job as a sinner undergoing punishment from God, while in opposition to them he affirms his innocence, and challenges a decision from God. The poet, however, allows Bildad to make one declaration, from which we clearly see that his address, beautiful as it is, rests on a false basis, and loses its effect. Bildad explains the sudden death of Job's children as a divine judgment. He could not have sent a more wounding dart into Job's already broken heart; for is it possible to tell a man anything more heart-rending that that his father, his mother, or his children have died as the direct punishment of their sins? One would not say so, even if it should seem to be an obvious fact, and least of all to a father already sorely tried and brought almost to the grave with sorrow. Bildad, however, does not rely upon facts, he reasons only priori. He does not know that Job's children were godless; the only ground of his judgment is the syllogism: Whoever dies a fearful, sudden death must be a great sinner; God has brought Job's children to such a death; ergo, etc. Bildad is zealously affected for God, but without understanding. He is blind to the truth of experience, in order not to be drawn away from the truth of his premiss. He does not like to acknowledge anything that furnishes a contradiction to it. It is this same rationalism of superstition or credulity which has originated the false doctrine of the decretum absolutum. With the same icy and unfeeling rigorism with which Calvinism refers the divine rule, and all that happens upon earth, to the one principle of absolute divine will and pleasure, in spite of all the contradictions of Scripture and experience, Bildad refers everything to the principle of the divine justice, and indeed, divine justice in a judicial sense. There is also another idea of justice beside this judicial one. Justice, צדקה or צדק, is in general God's dealings as ruled by His holiness. Now there is not only a holy will of God concerning man, which says, Be ye holy, for I am holy; but also a purpose for the redemption of unholy man springing from the holy love of God to man. Accordingly justice is either the agreement of God's dealings with the will of His holiness manifest in the demands of the law, apart from redemption, or the agreement of His dealings with the will of His love as graciously manifested in the gospel; in short, either retributive or redemptive. If one, as Bildad, in the first sense says, God never acts unjustly, and glaringly maintains it as universally applicable, the mystery of the divine dispensations is not made clear thereby, but destroyed. Thus also Job's suffering is no longer a mystery: Job suffers what he deserves; and if it cannot be demonstrated, it is to be assumed in contradiction to all experience. This view of his affliction does not suffice to pacify Job, in spite of the glorious promises by which it is set off. His conscience bears him witness that he has not merited such incomparably heavy affliction; and if we indeed suppose, what we must suppose, that Job was in favour with God when this suffering came upon him, then the thought that God deals with him according to his works, perhaps according to his unacknowledged sins, must be altogether rejected. God does not punish His own; and when He chastises them, it is not an act of His retributive justice, but of His disciplinary love. This motive of love, indeed, belongs to chastisement in common with trial; and the believer who clearly discerns this love will be able to look upon even the severest affliction as chastisement without being led astray, because he knows that sin has still great power in him; and the medicine, if it is designed to heal him, must be bitter. If, therefore, Bildad had represented Job's affliction as the chastisement of divine love, which would humble him in order the more to exalt him, then Job would have humbled himself, although Bildad might not be altogether in the right. But Bildad, still further than Eliphaz from weakening the erroneous supposition of a hostile God which had taken possession of Job's mind, represents God's justice, to which he attributes the death of his children, instead of His love, as the hand under which Job is to humble himself. Thereby the comfort which Job's friend offers becomes to him a torture, and his trial is made still greater; for his conscience does not accuse him of any sins for which he should now have an angry instead of a gracious God. But we cannot even here withhold the confession that the composition of such a drama would not be possible under the New Testament. The sight of the suffering of Christ and the future crown has a power in calming the mind, which makes such an outburst of sorrow as that of Job impossible even under the strongest temptation. "If the flesh should murmur and cry out, as Christ even cried out and was feeble," says Luther in one of his consolatory letters (Rambach, Kleine Schriften Luthers, S. 627), "the spirit nevertheless is ready and willing, and with sighings that cannot be uttered will cry: Abba, Father, it is Thou; Thy rod is hard, but Thou art still Father; I know that of a truth." And since the consciousness of sin is as deep as the consciousness of grace, the Christian will not consider any suffering so severe but that he may have deserved severer on account of his sins, even though in the midst of his cross he be unable clearly to recognise the divine love. Even such uncharitable, cold-hearted consolation as that of Eliphaz and Bildad, which bids him regard the divine trial as divine chastisement, cannot exasperate him, since he is conscious of the need for even severer divine chastisement; he need not therefore allow the uncharitableness of the friend to pass without loving counter-exhortations. Hengstenberg observes, in the Excursus to his Commentary on the Psalms, that the righteousness on which the plea to be heard is based in the Psalms, like Psa 17:1-15; Psa 18:21., Psa 44:18-23, is indeed a righteousness of conduct resting on righteousness by faith, and also this again is only to be considered as the righteousness of endeavour; that moreover their strong tone does not sound altogether becoming, according to our consciousness. We should expect each time, as it happens sometimes urgently (e.g., Psa 143:2), the other side, - that human infirmity which still clings to the righteous should be made prominent, and divine forgiveness for it implored, instead of the plea for deliverance being based on the incongruity of the affliction with the sufferer's consciousness of righteousness towards God. We cannot altogether adopt such psalms and passages of the Psalms as expressive of our Christian feeling; and we are scarcely able to read them in public without hesitation when we attempt it. Whence is this? Hengstenberg replied, "The Old Testament wanted the most effectual means for producing the knowledge of sin - the contemplation of the sufferings of Christ. The New Testament, moreover, possesses a more powerful agency of the Spirit, which does not search more into the depths of the divine nature than it lays open the depths of sin. Hence in Christian songs the sense of sin, as it is more independent of outward occasions than formerly, so it is also more openly disclosed and more delicate in itself; its ground is felt to lie deeper, and also the particular manifestations. It was good that under the Old Covenant the cords of sinful conviction were not strung too rightly, as the full consolation was still not to be found. The gulph closed up again when the sufferings were gone." (Note: Vid., Hengstenberg's Commentary on the Psalms, iii., Appendix. p. lxiii. Clark's Foreign Theological Library. 1654.) Such is the actual connection. And this development of the work of redemption in the history of mankind is repeated in the individual experience of every believer. As the individual, the further he progresses in the divine life, becomes the more deeply conscious of the natural depravity of man, and acquires a keener and still keener perception of its most subtle working; so in the New Testament, with the disclosure of actual salvation, a deeper insight into sin is also given. When the infinite depth and extent of the kingdom of light is unveiled, the veil is for the first time removed from the abyss of the kingdom of darkness. Had the latter been revealed without the former in the dispensation before Christ, the Old Testament would have been not only what it actually was in connection with the then painful consciousness of sin and death, - a school of severe discipline preparatory to the New Testament, a school of ardent longing for redemption, - but would have become an abyss of despair.”