“Please inquire of past generations. Find out about the learning of their fathers.
(For we are but of yesterday, and know nothing, because our days on earth are a shadow.)
Shall they not teach you, tell you, and utter words out of their heart?
Parallel Translations
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“Please inquire of past generations. Find out about the learning of their fathers.
(For we are but of yesterday, and know nothing, because our days on earth are a shadow.)
Shall they not teach you, tell you, and utter words out of their heart?
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For enquire, I pray thee, of the former age, and prepare thyself to the search of their fathers:
(For we are but of yesterday, and know nothing, because our days upon earth are a shadow:)
Shall not they teach thee, and tell thee, and utter words out of their heart?
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For inquire, I pray thee, of the former generation, and apply thyself to that which their fathers have searched out —
For we are but of yesterday, and know nothing, because our days upon earth are a shadow —
Shall not they teach thee, and tell thee, and utter words out of their heart?
Cross-references (29)
- 1 Chronicles 29:15 (v9) For we are strangers before you, and foreigners, as all our fathers were. Our days on the earth are as a shadow, and there is no remaining.
- Psalms 144:4 (v9) Man is like a breath. His days are like a shadow that passes away.
- Deuteronomy 4:32 (v8) For ask now of the days that are past, which were before you, since the day that God created man on the earth, and from the one end of the…
- Deuteronomy 32:7 (v8) Remember the days of old. Consider the years of many generations. Ask your father, and he will show you; your elders, and they will tell…
- Job 14:2 (v9) He grows up like a flower, and is cut down. He also flees like a shadow, and doesn’t continue.
Show all 29 cross-references
- Job 15:18 (v8) (which wise men have told by their fathers, and have not hidden it;
- Psalms 102:11 (v9) My days are like a long shadow. I have withered like grass.
- Romans 15:4 (v8) For whatever things were written before were written for our learning, that through perseverance and through encouragement of the…
- Genesis 47:9 (v9) Jacob said to Pharaoh, “The years of my pilgrimage are one hundred thirty years. The days of the years of my life have been few and evil.…
- Job 7:6 (v9) My days are swifter than a weaver’s shuttle, and are spent without hope.
- Proverbs 18:15 (v10) The heart of the discerning gets knowledge. The ear of the wise seeks knowledge.
- 1 Corinthians 10:11 (v8) Now all these things happened to them by way of example, and they were written for our admonition, on whom the ends of the ages have come.
- Psalms 39:5 (v9) Behold, you have made my days hand widths. My lifetime is as nothing before you. Surely every man stands as a breath.”
- Psalms 90:4 (v9) For a thousand years in your sight are just like yesterday when it is past, like a watch in the night.
- Matthew 12:35 (v10) The good man out of his good treasure brings out good things, and the evil man out of his evil treasure brings out evil things.
- Deuteronomy 6:7 (v10) and you shall teach them diligently to your children, and shall talk of them when you sit in your house, and when you walk by the way, and…
- Deuteronomy 11:19 (v10) You shall teach them to your children, talking of them when you sit in your house, when you walk by the way, when you lie down, and when…
- Job 12:7-8 (v10) “But ask the animals, now, and they will teach you; the birds of the sky, and they will tell you. Or speak to the earth, and it will teach…
- Job 12:12 (v8) With aged men is wisdom, in length of days understanding.
- Job 15:10 (v8) With us are both the gray-headed and the very aged men, much elder than your father.
- Job 32:6-7 (v8) Elihu the son of Barachel the Buzite answered, “I am young, and you are very old; Therefore I held back, and didn’t dare show you my…
- Job 32:7 (v10) I said, ‘Days should speak, and multitude of years should teach wisdom.’
- Psalms 44:1 (v8) We have heard with our ears, God; our fathers have told us what work you did in their days, in the days of old.
- Psalms 78:3-4 (v8) Which we have heard and known, and our fathers have told us. We will not hide them from their children, telling to the generation to come…
- Psalms 145:4 (v10) One generation will commend your works to another, and will declare your mighty acts.
- Proverbs 16:23 (v10) The heart of the wise instructs his mouth, and adds learning to his lips.
- Isaiah 38:19 (v8) The living, the living, he shall praise you, as I do today. The father shall make known your truth to the children.
- Hebrews 11:4 (v10) By faith, Abel offered to God a more excellent sacrifice than Cain, through which he had testimony given to him that he was righteous, God…
- Hebrews 12:1 (v10) Therefore let’s also, seeing we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, lay aside every weight and the sin which so easily…
Cross-references from openbible.info (CC BY 4.0)
Explain this passage (18 sources)
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Geneva Bible translators 1599 · Public Domain On vv8–9 He willeth Job to examine all antiquity, and he…
He willeth Job to examine all antiquity, and he shall find it true which he here saith.
Geneva Bible (1599) marginal notes — public domain.
John Trapp 1656 · Public Domain On vv8–10 Job 8:8 For enquire, I pray thee, of the…
Job 8:8 For enquire, I pray thee, of the former age, and prepare thyself to the search of their fathers:
Ver. 8. For enquire, I pray thee] Bildad speaks fairly, as Eliphaz had done, whom he all along imitateth.
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A bove maiori discit arare minor.
Of the former age] The generations who came before, the Kadmonim, as the Jews called their ancestors, and used this saying concerning them, Cor priscorum fuit sicut porta, &c., the heart of our progenitors was as the gate of the porch of the Temple, ample and beautiful; but the heart of their posterity is as the eye of the needle, narrow and of no receipt in comparison, Rara datur longo prudentia temporis usu (Talmud). Of witnesses Aristotle witnesseth, that the more ancient they are the more creditable, because less corrupt, Pιστοτατοι οι παλαιοι, αδιαφθοροι γαρ (Rheto. lib. i). Nihil mihi antiquius, say the Latins; Nothing is more ancient to me, that is, more highly reputed. And new things are nothing, say the Greeks, τα καινα κενα. Siculus maketh mention of an Egyptian priest, who said to Solon, one of the Greek Sages, You Greeks are very boys (ye are but of yesterday, as it is in the next verse), neither is there an old man (that is, a man versed in ancient histories, or acquainted with antiquities) to be found amongst you all, Seris venit usus ab annis, Gερων δε ελλην ουκ εστι (Diod. Sic.). Much of the ancient divinity was traditional till Moses set pen to paper; the mind of God was either immediately revealed, or handed down and transmitted from father to son, from generation to generation. Hence Bildad here bids Job inquire of the former ages; and thereto refers him for further information; so doth Moses the Israelites, Deu 4:20; Deu 32:7. Antiquity, so it be right, is of no small authority; that is a received rule, Quod antiquissimum verissimum, That is truest which is most ancient; as we prefer the newest philosophy, so the ancientest divinity. The Papists boast much of antiquity (as the Gibeonites did of old shoes and mouldy bread); but when they come to prove it, they go no higher than to about a thousand years ago. They scornfully look upon us as novelers, and ask where our religion was before Luther? We answer them, that our religion was always in the Bible, where their religion never was. This is the old commandment, saith St John, which was from the beginning, 1Jn 2:7.
And prepare thyself to the search of their fathers] Or fit thyself, fix thy mind upon it, as Psa 100:1. We must not think to find truth but upon a serious search, Pro 2:3. Anaxagoras complained omnia esse circumfusa tenebris, that all things were full of darkness. Empedocles, that the inlets of the senses were very narrow. Democritus, that truth lay hid as it were in a deep pit that could hardly be fathomed. St Paul cries out, O the depth! How unsearchable are God’s judgments, and his ways past finding out! Prepare therefore to this search after God; and pray as that poor man did that cried after Christ; and when he was asked, What wouldst thou have? Lord, said he, that mine eyes might be opened.
John Trapp, A Commentary or Exposition upon All the Books of the Old and New Testament (1647–1656) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Matthew Poole 1685 · Public Domain On vv8–10 Of the former age, i.e. of our predecessors, who…
Of the former age, i.e. of our predecessors, who had the advantage of longer life and more experience, besides more frequent revelations from God, than we have; who also will be more impartial judges of this cause than we may be thought to be. Inform thyself from them by the instructions which they left, either in word or writing, what their opinion was about the manner of God’s dealings with men.
Prepare thyself to the search of their fathers; do not slightly, but seriously and industriously, search the ancient records.
Matthew Poole's English Annotations on the Holy Bible (1683–1685) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
Matthew Henry 1710 · Public Domain On v8 Bildad here discourses very well on the sad catastrophe…
Bildad here discourses very well on the sad catastrophe of hypocrites and evil-doers and the fatal period of all their hopes and joys. He will not be so bold as to say with Eliphaz that none that were righteous were ever cut off thus (Job 4:7); yet he takes it for granted that God, in the course of his providence, does ordinarily bring wicked men, who seemed pious and were prosperous, to shame and ruin in this world, and that, by making their prosperity short, he discovers their piety to be counterfeit. Whether this will certainly prove that all who are thus ruined must be concluded to have been hypocrites he will not say, but rather suspect, and thinks the application is easy.
I. He proves this truth, of the certain destruction of all the hopes and joys of hypocrites, by an appeal to antiquity and the concurring sentiment and observation of all wise and good men; and an undoubted truth it is, if we take in the other world, that, if not in this life, yet in the life to come, hypocrites will be deprived of all their trusts and all their triumphs: whether Bildad so meant or no, we must so take it. Let us observe the method of his proof, Job 8:8-10.
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1. He insists not on his own judgment and that of his companions: We are but of yesterday, and know nothing, Job 8:9. He perceived that Job had no opinion of their abilities, but thought they knew little. "We will own," says Bildad, "that we know nothing, are as ready to confess our ignorance as thou art to condemn it; for we are but of yesterday in comparison, and our days upon earth are short and transient, and hastening away as a shadow. And hence," (1.) "We are not so near the fountain-head of divine revelation" (which then for aught that appears, was conveyed by tradition) "as the former age was; and therefore we must enquire what they said and recount what we have been told of their sentiments." Blessed be God, now that we have the word of God in writing, and are directed to search that, we need not enquire of the former age, nor prepare ourselves to the search of their fathers; for, though we ourselves are but of yesterday, the word of God in the scripture is as nigh to us as it was to them (Rom 10:8), and it is the more sure word of prophecy, to which we must take heed. If we study and keep God's precepts, we may by them understand more than the ancients, Psa 119:99,Psa 119:100. (2.) "We do not live so long as those of the former age did, to make observations upon the methods of divine providence, and therefore cannot be such competent judges as they in a cause of this nature." Note, The shortness of our lives is a great hindrance to the improvement of our knowledge, and so are the frailty and weakness of our bodies. Vita brevis, ars longa - life is short, the progress of art boundless.
2. He refers to the testimony of the ancients and to the knowledge which Job himself had of their sentiments. "Do thou enquire of the former age, and let them tell thee, not only their own judgment in this matter, but the judgment also of their fathers, Job 8:8. They will teach thee, and inform thee (Job 8:10), that all along, in their time, the judgments of God followed wicked men. This they will utter out of their hearts, that is, as that which they firmly believe themselves, which they are greatly affected with and desirous to acquaint and affect others with." Note, (1.) For the right understanding of divine Providence, and the unfolding of the difficulties of it, it will be of use to compare the observations and experiences of former ages with the events of our own day; and, in order thereto, to consult history, especially the sacred history, which is the most ancient, infallibly true, and written designedly for our learning. (2.) Those that would fetch knowledge from the former ages must search diligently, prepare for the search, and take pains for the search. (3.) Those words are most likely to reach to the hearts of the learners that come from the hearts of the teachers. Those shall teach thee best that utter words out of their heart, that speak by experience, and not by rote, of spiritual and divine things. The learned bishop Patrick suggests that Bildad being a Shuhite, descended from Shuah one of Abraham's sons by Keturah (Gen 25:2), in this appeal which he makes to history he has a particular respect to the rewards which the blessing of God secured to the posterity of faithful Abraham (who hitherto, and long after, continued in his religion) and to the extirpation of those eastern people, neighbours to Job (in whose country they were settled), for their wickedness, whence he infers that it is God's usual way to prosper the just and root out the wicked, though for a while they may flourish.
II. He illustrates this truth by some similitudes.
1. The hopes and joys of the hypocrite are here compared to a rush or flag, v. 11-13. (1.) It grows up out of the mire and water. The hypocrite cannot gain his hope without some false rotten ground or other out of which to raise it, and with which to support it and keep it alive, any more than the rush can grow without mire. He grounds it on his worldly prosperity, the plausible profession he makes of religion, the good opinion of his neighbours, and his own good conceit of himself, which are no solid foundation on which to build his confidence. It is all but mire and water; and the hope that grows out of it is but rush and flag. (2.) It may look green and gay for a while (the rush outgrows the grass), but it is light and hollow, and empty, and good for nothing. It is green for show, but of no use. (3.) It withers presently, before any other herb, v. 12. Even while it is in its greenness it is dried away and gone in a little time. Note, The best state of hypocrites and evil-doers borders upon withering; even when it is green it is going. The grass is cut down and withers (Psa 90:6); but the rush is not cut down and yet withers, withers before it grows up (Psa 129:6): as it has no use, so it has no continuance. So are the paths of all that forget God (v. 13); they take the same way that the rush does, for the hypocrite's hope shall perish. Note, [1.] Forgetfulness of God is at the bottom of men's hypocrisy, and of the vain hopes with which they flatter and deceive themselves in their hypocrisy. Men would not be hypocrites if they did not forget that the God with whom they have to do searches the heart and requires truth there, that he is a Spirit and has his eye on our spirits; and hypocrites would have no hope if they did not forget that God is righteous, and will not be mocked with the torn and the lame. [2.] The hope of hypocrites is a great cheat upon themselves, and, though it may flourish for a while, it will certainly perish at last, and they with it.
2. They are here compared to a spider's web, or a spider's house (as it is in the margin), a cobweb, Job 8:14, Job 8:15. The hope of the hypocrite, (1.) Is woven out of his own bowels; it is the creature of his own fancy, and arises merely from a conceit of his own merit and sufficiency. There is a great deal of difference between the work of the bee and that of the spider. A diligent Christian, like the laborious bee, fetches in all his comfort from the heavenly dews of God's word; but the hypocrite, like the subtle spider, weaves his out of a false hypothesis of his own concerning God, as if he were altogether such a one as himself. (2.) He is very fond of it, as the spider of her web; pleases himself with it, wraps himself in it, calls it his house, leans upon it, and holds it fast. It is said of the spider that she takes hold with her hands, and is in kings' palaces, Pro 30:28. So does a carnal worldling hug himself in the fulness and firmness of his outward prosperity; he prides himself in that house as his palace, fortifies himself in it as his castle, and makes use of it as the spider of her web, to ensnare those he has a mind to prey upon. So does a formal professor; he flatters himself in his own eyes, doubts not of his salvation, is secure of heaven, and cheats the world with his vain confidences. (3.) It will easily and certainly be swept away, as the cobweb with the besom, when God shall come to purge his house. The prosperity of worldly people will fail them when they expect to find safety and happiness in it. They seek to hold fast their estates, but God is plucking them out of their hands; and whose shall all those things be, which they have provided? or what the better they will be for them? The confidences of hypocrites will fail them. I tell you, I know you not. The house built on the sand will fall in the storm, when the builder most needs it and promised himself the benefit of it. When a wicked man dies his expectation perishes. The ground of his hopes will prove false; he will be disappointed of the thing he hoped for, and his foolish hope with which he buoyed himself up will be turned into endless despair; and thus his hope will be cut off, his web, that refuge of lies, swept away, and he crushed in it.
3. The hypocrite is here compared to a flourishing and well-rooted tree, which, though it do not wither of itself, yet will easily be cut down and its place no it no more. The secure and prosperous sinner may think himself wronged when he is compared to a rush and a flag; he thinks he has a better root. "We will allow him his conceit," says Bildad, "and give him all the advantage he can desire, and bring him in suddenly cut off." He is here represented as Nebuchadnezzar was in his own dream (Dan 4:10) by a great tree. (1.) See this tree fair and flourishing (Job 8:16) like a green bay-tree (Psa 37:35), green before the sun, it keeps its greenness in defiance of the scorching sun-beams, and his branch shoots forth under the protection of his garden-wall and with the benefit of his garden-soil. See it fixed, and taking deep root, never likely to be overthrown by stormy winds, for his roots are interwoven with the stones (Job 8:17); it grows in firm ground, not, as the rush, of mire and water. Thus does a wicked man, when he prospers in the world, think himself secure; his wealth is a high wall in his own conceit. (2.) See this tree felled and forgotten notwithstanding, destroyed from his place (Job 8:18), and so entirely extirpated that there shall remain no sign or token where it grew. The very place say, I have not seen thee; and the standers by shall say the same. I sought him, but he could not be found, Psa 37:36. He made a great show and a great noise for a time, but he is gone of a sudden, and neither root nor branch is left him, Mal 4:1. This is the joy (that is, this is the end and conclusion) of the wicked man's way (Job 8:19); this is that which all his joy comes to. The way of the ungodly shall perish, Psa 1:6. His hope, he thought, would in the issue be turned into joy; but this is the issue, this is the joy. The harvest shall be a heap in the day of grief and of desperate sorrow, Isa 17:11. This is the best of it; and what then is the worst of it? But shall he not leave a family behind him to enjoy what he has? No, out of the earth (not out of his roots) shall others grow, that are nothing akin to him, and shall fill up his place, and rule over that for which he labored. Others (that is, others of the same spirit and disposition) shall grow up in his place, and be as secure as ever he was, not warned by his fall. The way of worldlings is their folly, and yet there is a race of those that approve their sayings, Psa 49:13.
Matthew Henry's Commentary on the Whole Bible (1708–1710) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.
John Gill 1763 · Public Domain On vv8–10 For we are but of yesterday (s),.... Which is…
For we are but of yesterday (s),.... Which is not to be understood strictly of the day last past, but of a short space of time backward; and especially when compared with the antediluvian fathers, who lived the far greater part of them upwards of nine hundred years; otherwise Bildad and his two friends were men in years; Eliphaz says, that with them were the gray headed and very aged men, much older than the father of Job, and Elihu speaks of himself as a young man, and of them as very old; see Job 15:10,
and know nothing; which is not to be taken in an absolute sense, for they knew much of the things of nature, providence, and grace; they were men of great understanding in things natural, civil, and religious, as appears by their discourses; but in a comparative sense, or when compared with the long lived patriarchs, who through the length of their days had much time and opportunity to make their observations on things, to learn the arts and sciences, and improve themselves in all useful knowledge, human and divine; for which reason Job is sent to inquire of them; whereas they had been but a little while in the world, and knew but little, to whom might be applied that saying, as now to men since, "ars longa, vita brevis"; and they knew nothing as it is to be known, or perfectly, or in comparison of the saints in heaven; for they that know most here know but in part, see through a glass darkly; but in the other world they see face to face, and know as they are known. Moreover, Bildad might say this of himself and his friends, in a modest manner, having learned to know themselves, their weakness, and their folly; and the first and great lesson of wisdom is to become fools in men's own apprehension, in order to be truly wise, having the like sense of themselves as Agur had, Pro 30:2; see Co1 3:18; or rather this might be said as being the sense of Job concerning them, who had a very mean and indifferent opinion of them; see Job 12:2; and therefore Bildad would not have him take their sense of things, but inquire of persons older and wiser:
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because our days upon earth are a shadow; man's time is rather measured by days than by months and years, being so short; and these are called "days" on earth, to distinguish them from the days of heaven, which are one everlasting day, in which there is no night of darkness, either in a literal or figurative sense, and which will never end; but the days of this life are like a "shadow", dark and obscure; full of the darkness of adversity and trouble, as well as greatly deficient in the light of knowledge; there is nothing in them solid and substantial; the greatest and best things of this life are but a vain show; in heaven there is a better and more enduring substance: every thing is mutable and uncertain here; man is subject to a variety of changes in his mind and body, in family and outward estate and circumstances: and life itself is but a vapour, which appears a while and soon vanishes away; or rather like a shadow, that declines, is fleeting, and quickly gone; see Ch1 29:15.
(s) Pindar. Pythia, Ode 8.
John Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible (1746–1763) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.
John Wesley 1765 · Public Domain On vv8–10 Search - Seriously and industriously search the ancient records.
Search - Seriously and industriously search the ancient records.
John Wesley, Explanatory Notes Upon the Whole Bible (1754–1765) — public domain. Text via the GEBible commentary corpus.
Adam Clarke 1810 · Public Domain On vv8–10 Verse 8. Inquire - of the former age] לדור…
Verse 8. Inquire - of the former age] לדור רישון ledor rishon, of the first age; of the patriarchs; the first generation of men that dwelt upon the earth: not of the age that was just past, as Mr. Peters and several others have imagined, in order to keep up the presumption of Job's high antiquity. Bildad most evidently refers to an antiquity exceedingly remote.
Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible (1810–1826) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
Joseph Benson 1811 · Public Domain On vv8–10 Job 8:8. For inquire, &c., of the former age…
Job 8:8. For inquire, &c., of the former age — That is, of our predecessors, who had the advantage of longer life and more experience, besides more frequent revelations from God than we have. They also will be more impartial judges of this cause than we may be thought to be. Inform thyself by the instructions which they have left, either in word or writing, what their opinion was about the manner of God’s dealing with men. And prepare thyself to the search, &c. — Do not slightly, but seriously and industriously, search the ancient records.
Joseph Benson's Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1811–1818) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Albert Barnes 1834 · Public Domain On vv8–10 For inquire thee of the former age - That…
For inquire thee of the former age - That is, attend to the results of observation. Ask the generations which have passed, and who in their poems and proverbs have left the records of their experience. The sentiment which Bildad proposes to confirm by this appeal is, that though the wicked should for a time flourish, yet they would be cut off, and that the righteous, though they may be for a time afflicted, yet if they seek God, they will ultimately prosper. It was common to make these appeals to the ancients. The results of observation were embodied in proverbs, parables, fables, and fragments of poems; and he was regarded as among the wisest of men who had the fruits of these observations most at command. To that Bildad appeals, and especially, as would appear, to the fragment of an ancient poem which he proceeds to repeat, and which, perhaps, is the oldest poem extant in any language.
And prepare thyself - Make an effort, or give diligent attention to it.
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To the search of their fathers - Of the bygone generations, not only to the age immediately past, but to their ancestors. He would bring the results of the observation of far distant ages to confirm the sentiment which he had advanced.
Albert Barnes' Notes on the Bible (1834–1885) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
Haydock's Catholic Bible Commentary 1859 · Public Domain On v9 That. Hebrew, "because our days." (Haydock) --- Baldad strives,…
That. Hebrew, "because our days." (Haydock) --- Baldad strives, in vain, to prove what nobody contested. But he does not come to the point, and shew that Job was guilty. Past histories might have informed him that the just are often persecuted, like Abel, Abraham, Jacob, and Joseph. (Calmet) --- It is true, these were afterwards conforted in honour, except the first, who was slain, and better off in the other world. But Job might hope for the same treatment; and no man can be pronounced happy or miserable till his death. After a storm a calm frequently ensues; as Baldad might have seen verified in the person of his friend, if he had waited patiently, and not judged so peremptorily from equivocal arguments. (Haydock) --- We must allow, however, that what he said had been generally true. (Houbigant)
George Leo Haydock (1774–1849), Haydock's Catholic Family Bible and Commentary, 1859 edition — public domain. Excludes Psalms (Douay-Rheims chapter numbering differs from Protestant) and Deuterocanonical books (Catholic canon only).
Robert Jamieson, A. R. Fausset & David Brown 1871 · Public Domain On vv8–10 The sages of the olden time reached an age…
The sages of the olden time reached an age beyond those of Job's time (see on Job 42:16), and therefore could give the testimony of a fuller experience.
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown — Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.
Daniel D. Whedon 1874 · Public Domain On vv8–10 Second long strophe — THE WISE TEACHINGS OF THE…
Second long strophe — THE WISE TEACHINGS OF THE ANCIENTS AS RESPECTS THE MERITED END OF THOSE WHO FORGET GOD, Job_8:8-19.
a. Introductory — Praise of the collective wisdom of the ancients, “the oldest patriarchs,” (Dr. Clarke and Ewald,) whose vastly longer lives afforded a vastly wider range of experience and observation than that enjoyed by Job and his brother ephemera, Job_8:8-10.
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8. Search — Rather, the results of searching — deep wisdom, that which comes from profound investigation.
Daniel D. Whedon (gen. ed.), Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1874–1909) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges 1878 · Public Domain On vv8, 10 8. prepare thyself to the search] i. e., give…
8. prepare thyself to the search] i. e., give heed to the research, or, to that which their fathers have searched out. By referring to a former age, and then to the fathers of that age or generation, Bildad intimates that his truth was recognised through all antiquity backwards till history loses itself in the beginnings of time.
8–19. The moral wisdom of the ancients
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Bildad, having laid down his moral principle, invites Job to reflect that it is a principle resting on the research and the generalized experience of men of generations long past, whose long lives enabled them to weigh and balance and infer from the multitude of cases the general truth. It is no new theory of his or of the short-lived men of to-day, who are but of yesterday and know nothing. These maxims of the ancient world are clothed in rich and gorgeous similes drawn from the luxuriant plant-life of the sultry East.
The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges (gen. ed. J. J. S. Perowne; Cambridge University Press, 1878–1918) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Pulpit Commentary 1880 · Public Domain On vv8–10 For inquire... of the former age. Put the matter…
For inquire... of the former age. Put the matter to the test of experience not the short-lived experience of living men, but the treasure of experience which has been handed down from generation to generation since the remotest times, and which is embodied in proverbs the expression of the concentrated wisdom of antiquity. Search out and see what has in former ages been thought concerning prosperous men, like thyself, when suddenly cast down and afflicted. And prepare thyself to the search of their fathers. Go back, i.e. , to the past age, but do not stop there pursue thy researches further and further to their remote ancestors. Bildad implies that the records of these remote times have been, in some way or other, preserved, either in writings or by oral tradition. Writing was certainly known in Egypt and Babylonia from a time anterior to Abraham, and to the Hittites at a date not very much later. Books of advice and instruction embodied in proverbs, or moral precepts, were among the earliest, in Egypt certainly. See the "Instructions of Amen-em-hat." in the "Records of the Past," vol. if. pp. 11-16, and the "Proverbs of Aphobis," published by the Revelation Dunbar Heath. Bildad"s speech is thought to indicate "special familiarity with Egypt.
Vers. 8-22. Bildad to Job: 2. Wisdom from the ancients.
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I THE TEACHERS. The world"s gray fathers, not the immediate predecessors of Job, Bildad, and their contemporaries, but the progenitors of these their remote ancestors, who are here described as:
1. Early born. In contrast to the men of Job"s time, who are characterized as being late born, literally, "yesterday;" i.e. of yesterday, as if ascending the stream of time meant the same thing as approaching the primal fountains of truth a popular fallacy which the royal Preacher corrects. (Ecc_7:10) Antiquity is no sure test of truth; novelty is no sure mark of error. Rather error has a tendency to array itself in a quasi-sanctity derived from age. Many respectable fallacies and popular delusions have descended item remote times. Yet truth that bears the stamp of successive generations is all the more valuable on that account.
2. Long-lived. In comparison with their successors, who are here depicted as a short-lived generation: "Our days upon earth are a shadow" (ver. 9); the probability being that Bildad alluded to the remarkable longevity of antediluvian times, and of the patriarchal era immediately succeeding, as affording greater opportunity for making and collecting the results of observations than the brief span of human life at the period when Job and he flourished. Yet the long leisure enjoyed by the Macrobii is now more than counterbalanced by the appliances of modern civilization. So that the results gathered in an ephemeral and shadowy life may rest upon a broader basis of experience than those collected by primeval sages in the course of centuries. Still, were each age dependent on the amount of knowledge it could accumulate for itself, the world"s advancement would be tedious, if not practically at a standstill. Hence the duty of recognizing our obligations to the past, and of transmitting to posterity, not diminished, but if possible augmented, the gathered stores of matured wisdom inherited from bygone generations.
3. Deep-thinking. As men who with powers fully exercised employed the leisure of centuries in observing the phenomena of Divine providence, in comparing their a priori theories with life"s facts; in investigating the profound problems of religion, and, after carefully elaborating the results, crystallized them in brief, sententious maxims, apothegms, parables, "bearing the impress of deep thought, and often deeply trying experience" (Davidson), which were passed along from age to age for the instruction of succeeding generations, in contrast with whom the contemporaries of Bildad and Job, and indeed the short-lived sages of modern times "know nothing." Bildad"s estimate of the relative values of ancient and modern thought subject to correction on the grounds above indicated.
II THE TEACHING.
1. The proverb of the papyrus.
(1) The image. A papyrus plant (Cyperus papyrus"L.) a gome, so named from absorbing water, or a reed, an achu, like the Nile grass in Egypt, (Gen_41:2) springing up suddenly, not upon dry ground, but on river-banks, in marshes, upon the margin of canals, wherever there is water (ver. 11), attaining to remarkable luxuriance even before it is ripe for the sickle, being the finest of all natural grasses (ver. 12), then quickly disappearing, withering before any other herb, when once the fierce summer heats have licked up the scanty moisture which caused it to flourish (ver. 12).
(2) The interpretation.
(a) The plant, an emblem of the ungodly man who lives in forgetfulness of God (ver. 13). Forgetfulness of God, of God"s existence, (Psa_14:1) of God"s omniscience, (Psa_50:22) of God"s character, (Isa_51:13 Isa_64:5) of God"s works, (Deu_6:12 Psa_78:10) of God"s Word, (Ecc_12:1 Hos_4:6) the essence of ungodliness. (Psa_9:17 Eze_22:12)
(b) The water, a symbol of that outward prosperity without which the hope of the ungodly cannot spring. A melancholy truth that wicked men, in whose thoughts God never is, (Psa_10:4) have sometimes a hope of eternal life. This not founded on a sure basis; on their own morality, ability, formality, or on some mistaken view they possess of the character of God, instead of on God"s mercy, Christ"s work, and the Spirit"s grace; Commonly dependent on outward circumstances, and not derived from an inherent principle of spiritual life.
(c) The luxuriant verdure while the water lasts, a picture of the hypocrite"s display of religion while things continue prosperous.
(d) The speedy withering when the water fails, a representation of the swift and utter collapse of the hypocrite"s religion and its hope when, in the providence of God, the fostering element of material prosperity is withdrawn.
2. The proverb of the spider"s web. (Vers. 14, 15) Changing the simile, the wisdom of the ancients likens the hypocrite to a spider, and his hope to a spider"s web, In respect of
(1) its construction, being deftly and dexterously, with much care and infinite elaboration, built up and fashioned;
(2) its intention, being designed, like the spider"s web, for a habitation, a house for the soul in the day of trial and the day of death;
(3) its attenuation, being as unsubstantial as a thin cobweb spun from the insect"s bowels, and like that fabricated mostly from the hypocrite"s own imagination;
(4) its destruction, being easily cut asunder or detached from its main support, as the cobweb is by the lightest touch of broom or breath of wind; and
(5) its deception, as miserably disappointing the sinner who trusts in it, leans upon it, expects to find support from it, as the cobweb does the spider who clings to it in vain, finding no safety in the threads of his gossamer palace, but along with them being precipitated into dark and dreary overthrow.
3. The proverb of the climbing plant. (Vers. 16-19) Disentangling the moral from the fable, we have here presented, under the similitude of a creeping plant, the fortunes of an ungodly man in five stages.
(1) Luxuriant prosperity; like the succulent plant swelling with sap in the sunshine, shooting forth leaves and branches over all the garden (ver. 16), twining its roots about the heap of stone, "seeing the inside of stones (Carey), i.e. penetrating into the smallest interstices thereof, "living in the midst of flints" (LXX), clasping and embracing the stony structure, a striking image of exuberant and seemingly stable prosperity.
(2) Complacent satisfaction; looking down proudly upon his material fortune, as the plant upon its house of stones, regarding it as a solid structure which he has reared and in which he anticipates finding repose.
(3) Sudden destruction; being unexpectedly swallowed up, i.e, violently stricken down either by God (Delitzsch) or by it, the house of stones (David son); in the one case a monument of Divine retribution, in the other an example of the serf-destroying character of worldly prosperity as the plant is, in an evil moment, torn up from its place among the stones.
(4) Public contempt; the former boon companions of the hypocrite in his prosperous days ignoring him, feeling ashamed of him, denying all acquaintance with him, as if the very ground where, the uprooted plant grew were to. disown, it. (cf. Job_18:18 Job_20:27) "Behold, thus endeth his blissful course a grimly ironical expression.
(5) Utter oblivion; the place left vacant by him in society being immediately filled, and himself completely forgotten; "others in succession springing up from the dust." What a sermon on the vanity of human greatness! The disappearance from the stage of time of one who has lived in affluence, grandeur, fame, but a momentary wonder, like the dropping of a stone into the calm bosom of a lake a noise, a ripple, and then the stillness resumes its swayOr like the snowfall in the river, A moment white then melts for ever. (Burns.)
III THE MORAL.
1. A general principle. God will neither reject a righteous nor assist a wicked man (ver. 20). A good man may be cast down, but he cannot be cast off. (Psa_94:14 2Co_4:9) The character, (1Sa_12:22 1Sa_15:29 Job_23:13 Mal_2:16 Mal_3:6) the covenant, (Deu_4:31 1Ki_8:23 2Ki_13:23 Psa_111:5) the promise, (Lev_26:44 Isa_54:9 Hos_2:19 Rom_11:29 2Co_1:20 Heb_10:23) the people, (Gen_24:27 Jos_23:14 1Sa_12:22 2Sa_23:5 Rom_11:2) of God, all combine to testify the impossibility of God"s turning his back upon a truly pious man, a thought fall of comfort for the Christian. (Joh_10:28) Equally do they proclaim the doctrine that God cannot really, however appearances may declare the contrary, take a had man by the hand. Otherwise his Word would be falsified, (Psa_34:16) his purity tarnished, (Hab_1:13) his Godhead forfeited, (1Jn_1:5) an idea fraught with warning for the wicked.
2. A particular application. This being so, on the hypothesis of Job"s integrity, Job might with certitude reckon that God would not cast him off, hut interpose in his behalf, till prosperity once more dawned upon him, and his mouth was filled with laughing, and his tongue with rejoicing (ver. 21); while the contrary portion would be allotted to all Job"s enemies and God"s, viz. shame and everlasting destruction (ver. 22). What Bildad here affirms of the respective fortunes of the righteous and the wicked is only true when we take into reckoning the eternal futures of both, the everlasting happiness (Psa_73:24 Isa_35:10 Dan_12:3 Luk_10:20 Luk_12:32 Rom_2:7, 10 8:18) of the saint, and the everlasting perdition of the ungodly. (Mat_25:46 2Th_1:9 Rev_21:8)
Learn:
1. If it is wrong to over-estimate, it is also wrong to depreciate, the men and things of bygone days.
2. It is much safer in our reasonings to rest upon the results of experience than to build upon the speculations of fancy.
3. The brevity of life should stimulate to diligence in pursuit of knowledge.
4. The teachings of tradition, though not infallible, have a place and value of their own.
5. It is well that the tongue should only speak what the mind and heart have meditated and prepared.
6. Covet not material prosperity, which may exist without inward piety.
7. Beware of an appearance of religion which has no corresponding reality beneath.
8. The secret of soul-prosperity, as the source of spiritual vitality, is frequent meditation upon God.
9. The entire world of common things is full of parables of heavenly truth to them who can interpret the same.
10. It is possible to make a fair promise at the outset of a Christian profession, and yet eventually fall away.
11. The wicked man"s joy must ultimately be exchanged for sorrow.
12. The sorrows of earth in the case of God"s saints will be succeeded by the hallelujahs of heaven.
Vers. 8-19. The hypocrite"s hope.
Back to the testimony of the ages (vers. 8-10) Bildad refers his suffering friend, to find there evidences of the security of the perfect man and the worthlessness of the expectation of the hypocrite. With beautiful figurativeness he illustrates these truths, and only errs in the covert implication that in hypocrisy is to be found the cause of Job"s present sufferings. The hypocrite"s hope vain and deceitful.
I IT IS TEMPORARY. Passing away as the "rush without mire, or the reed without water." Quickly it grows up, but as quickly withers. The promise of it is vain. "While it is yet in its greenness, and not cut down, it withereth before any other herb.
II IT IS UNSUBSTANTIAL AND UNTRUSTWORTHY. AS "the spider"s web." It is weak, unworthy of any confidence. As the gossamer thread is broken by a touch or even a breath of wind, so his expectation is cut off by the most trivial incident. It has no firmness, no endurance, no permanence.
III IT IS IMMATURE AND NEVER COMES TO PERFECTION. "It is green before the sun" With rapid haste it strides forth, but only with equal haste to fail. In its own judgment it is firm and enduring as a stone structure. With proud self-confidence so he prides himself. But it is that all may fall to ruin. The destroyer is at hand, even he who casts away.
IV IT IS FORGOTTEN AND DISAPPOINTING, AND PASSES OUT OF MIND. Its very place denies it. "I have not seen thee." No greater joy or reward can the hypocrite"s hope afford him. Disappointment is his lot. He sows the seeds of vanity; vanity he reaps. He leans upon a thread which a breath may break. Deceitful himself, his hopes are as the heart which gave them birth. They return to their own. He created them; they are as their maker. From this rude disappointment men may guard
(1) by sincerity of spirit,
(2) by basing their hopes upon a true foundation, for which nothing prepares them but
(3) a thorough honesty and cherished truthfulness. R.G.
Lessons from history.
Bildad invites Job to consult antiquity and to attend to that which the fathers have searched out. Even this pedant may remind us that wholesome lessons are to be culled from the gardens of the past.
I HISTORY TEACHES BY EXAMPLE. Here we can see truth in the concrete. The ideas which we discuss in the abstract are embodied and at work in the living facts of history. We can study republicanism in ancient Greece, and monarchy in the Roman empire; the consequences of heathenism in the pagan world, and the fruits of Christianity in the story of the gospel and its triumphs; the power of the gospel in the romance of missions, and the weakness of man in the failure and ruin of ancient Churches. Here we see not lifeless arguments, but living men. Therefore much of the Bible is history; God"s Word comes to us through man"s life. We should pay more attention to men and facts.
II HISTORY REVEALS THE ORIGIN OF INSTITUTIONS AND MOVEMENTS. Most of those which we have to do with took their rise in a more or less remote past. If we can trace them back to their source, we can better judge of their whole characters. Much attention is given to the childhood and youth of a great man by his biographer, for therein lies the secret of his after-life. It is well to trace back the Christian story, and see how God has been shaping his Church through the ages. Our religion is emphatically historical. It springs from facts, things done in the past. In this respect it is unique among the religions of the world. All the doctrines of Christianity are lessons of history; they all take their rise in the story of Christ and his cross. Yet we are not bound by pedantic rules and frivolous precedents. We find the origin of our faith in certain facts. The interpretation of those facts must grow with our advancing knowledge, and the application of their lessons must vary with changing circumstances.
III HISTORY HELPS TO MATURITY OF JUDGMENT. If we are weak and lack independence of mind, it may weigh us down with the incubus of its precedents. This is how it affected Bildad with his veneration for the fathers, and this is how it affects those good Christian people who make the Church Fathers absolute authorities, when they should dare to trust a careful and devout interpretation of Scripture and the ultimate judgments of the Christian consciousness. Yet, on the other hand, there is a good use of the Fathers. The very variety of explanations of Christian doctrines in the past should teach us caution and a large wisdom in treating difficult subjects. The student of history will often know that some pretentious notion, flashed out on the world as a magnificent discovery, is but a thrice-slain error of ancient controversies. Old truth will endure the test of time. But standing on the experience of the ages, we should be able to reach forth to higher truth in the future, the more readily because we thus use the past. W.F.A.
The Pulpit Commentary (1880–1919), ed. H.D.M. Spence-Jones & Joseph S. Exell — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Biblical Illustrator 1887 · Public Domain On v9 For we are but of yesterday, and know nothing,…
Job_8:9
For we are but of yesterday, and know nothing, because our days upon earth are a shadow.
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The intellectual poverty of life
The two unquestionable truths that Bildad here expresses are the transitoriness and the intellectual poverty of our mortal life. We know nothing. Bildad seems to indicate that our ignorance arises partly from the brevity of our life. We have no time to get knowledge.
1. We know nothing compared with what is to be known. This may be said of all created intelligences, even of those who are the most exalted in power and attainment. Each subsequent advance in science has shown us the comparative nothingness of all human knowledge.--Sir R. Peel.
2. We know nothing compared with what we might have known. There is a vast disproportion between the knowledge attainable by man on earth, and that which he actually attains. Our Maker sees the difference.
3. We know nothing compared with what we shall know in the future. There is a life beyond the grave for all, good and bad, a life, not of indolence, but of intense unremitting action,--the action of inquiry and reflection.
I. If we are thus so necessarily ignorant, it does not become us to criticise the ways of God. How often do we find some poor mortals arrogantly occupying the critics chair, in the great temple of truth, and even suggesting moral irregularities in the Divine procedure.
II. Difficulties in connection with a revelation from God are to be expected. Place in the hands of one deeply conscious of his ignorance, written with profundity of thought, and extensiveness of learning, and would he not expect to meet with difficulties in every page? How monstrous then it is for any man to expect to comprehend all the revelation of the Infinite Mind. The man who parades the difficulties of the Bible as a justification of his unbelief, or as an argument against its Divinity, is pitiably ignorant of his own ignorance. Were there no difficulties, you might reasonably question its heavenly authorship. Their existence is the signature of the Infinite.
III. The profoundest modesty should characterise us in the maintenance of our theological views. It is the duty of every man to get convictions of Divine truth for himself, to hold these convictions with firmness, and to promote them with earnestness; but at the same time, with a due consciousness of his own fallibility, and with a becoming deference to the judgment of others. The more knowledge, the more humility. True wisdom is ever modest. Those who live most in the light are most ready to veil their faces.
IV. Our perfection is to be found in moral qualities rather than in intellectual attainments. If our well-being consisted in exact and extensive information of our great Maker and His universe, we might well allow despair to settle on our spirits. Few have the talent to become scientific, fewer still the means; but all can love. And love is the fulfilling of the law; and love is heaven.
V. There must be an afterlife affording opportunities for the acquisition of knowledge. We are formed for the acquisition of knowledge. If we are so necessarily ignorant, and there be no hereafter, our destiny is not realised, and we have been made in vain.
VI. We should with rapturous gratitude avail ourselves of the merciful interposition of christ as our guide to immortality. Unaided reason has no torch to light us safely on our way. Our gracious Maker has met our ease, He has sent His Son. That Son stands by you and me, and says, Follow Me. (Homilist.)
On the ignorance of man, and the proper improvement of it
What do we know of ourselves? We carry about with us bodies curiously made; but we cannot see far into their inward frame and constitution. We experience the operation of many powers and faculties, but understand not what they are, or how they operate. We find that our wills instantaneously produce motion in our members, but when we endeavour to account for this we are entirely lost. The laws of union between the soul and the body, the nature of death, and the particular state into which it puts us; these and many other things relating to our own beings are absolutely incomprehensible to us. One of the greatest mysteries to man is man. What do we know of this earth, and its constitution and furniture? Almost all that we see of things is their outsides. The substance or essence of every object is unintelligible to us. We see no more than a link or two in the immense chain of causes and effects. There is not a single effect which we can trace to its primary cause. And what is this earth to the whole solar system? And what is the system of the sun to the system of the universe? And if we could take in the complete prospect of Gods works, there would still remain unknown an infinity of abstract truths and possibles. Observe too our ignorance of the plan and conduct of Divine providence in the government of the universe. We cannot say wherein consists the fitness of many particular dispensations of providence. There is a depth of wisdom in all Gods ways which we are incapable of tracing. The origin of evil is a point which in all ages has perplexed human reason. And then carry thought to the Deity Himself, and consider what we know of Him. His nature is absolutely unfathomable to us, and in the contemplation of it we see ourselves lost. This imperfection of our knowledge is plainly owing--
1. To the narrowness of our faculties.
2. To the lateness of our existence. We are but of yesterday.
3. To the disadvantageousness of our situation for observing nature and acquiring knowledge.
We are confined to a point of this earth, which itself is but a point compared with the rest of creation. Our subject ought to teach us the profoundest humility. There is nothing we are more apt to be proud of than our understanding. Our subject may be of particular use in answering many objections against providence, and in reconciling us to the orders and appointments of nature. There is an unsearchableness in Gods ways, and we ought not to expect to find them always free from darkness. Our subject should lead us to be contented with any real evidence which we can get. And our subject should lead our hopes and wishes to that future world where full day will break in upon our souls. (R. Price, D. D.)
Our days upon earth are a shadow.
Life a shadow
The author of Ecce Homo has remarked that Westminster Abbey is more attractive than St. Pauls Cathedral. The reason is obvious. Westminster Abbey is full of human interest. There lie our kings, poets, and conquerors. Statues of great men in characteristic attitudes confront us at every turn. St. Pauls, on the contrary, is comparatively barren in this respect. An imposing temple it is, nevertheless, almost empty. As much may be said of Dante and Milton. The poems of the former are occupied with the hopes and fears, loves and hates of those who were of like passions with ourselves, whereas the productions of the latter are occupied with heaven and hell rather than with our own familiar earth. To which of these classes the Bible belongs we need not state. While Divine in its origin, it is intensely human in its theme, end, and sympathies. Mans dangers and duties, character and condition, absorb the anxiety of each sacred writer. The text reminds us of this. It speaks of life. Our existence is compared to a shadow. The figure is a favourite one in the Old Testament. No less than eight times is it used. What does it mean?
I. A shadow is dark. We always associate the word with that which is gloomy and sombre. And, alas! how dark is life to many! To them the statement of Holy Writ emphatically applies, Man that is born of woman hath but a short time to live, and is full of misery. As Sydney Smith observed, We talk of human life as a journey, but how variously is that journey performed! There are those who come forth girt, and shod, and mantled, to walk on velvet lawns and smooth terraces, where every gale is arrested and every beam is tempered. There are others who walk on Alpine paths of life against driving misery and through stormy sorrows, over sharp afflictions; walk with bare feet and naked breast, jaded, mangled, and chill. Yonder is a poor lad, a wretched city arab. He cannot read or write. He does not know that there is a God. He has hardly heard the name of Christ. Father and mother he does not recollect. His days upon earth are a shadow. Here is a young widow, scarce out of her teens. Less than twelve months ago she was a blooming bride; now she weeps at her husbands grave. Her fondest earthly expectations are blasted. Her days upon the earth are a shadow. There is a large and prosperous household. Father and mother, son and daughter, have a noble ambition--to excel each other in kindness. Brothers and sisters emulate one another in affection. On a certain morning, however, a letter is laid upon the breakfast table which tells them that, by one blow of misfortune, they are ruined. The home nest is destroyed. They must go forth, separated for life, in order to procure their subsistence. Their days upon earth are a shadow. All lives are more or less shadow-like.
II. A shadow is not possible without light. Natural or artificial radiance is essential to shade. As much may be affirmed of our troubles. They are accompanied by the light of the Sun of Righteousness. To console us in all trial we have the light of Gods presence. When thou passest through the waters I will be with thee. A vessel crossing the Atlantic was suddenly struck with a terrible wind. She shivered and reeled under the stroke. Passengers and crew were thrown into confusion. The captains little girl awoke during the disturbance, and, raising herself in bed, said, Is father on deck? Assured that he was, she laid herself down quietly and slept again. We may do the same. Calmly ought we to trust our Heavenly Father, who is always with us in lifes storms. Does the reader remember the dying words of John Wesley? As he was drawing near his end he tried to write. But when he took up the pen he discovered that his right hand had forgotten its cunning. A friend offering to write for him asked, What shall I write? Nothing but this: The best of nil is, God with us. Such was the support of the expiring saint, and such is an unfailing source of strength to us in every hour of trial. We have also the light of Gods purpose. The very meaning of certain commonly used words bears important testimony to the kindly and wise object of the Lord in afflicting us. Punishment is derived from the Sanskrit pu, to cleanse. Castigation comes from castus, pure. Tribulation has grown out of tribulum, a threshing instrument, whereby the Roman husbandmen separated the corn from the husks. To quote from a living author: A Chinese mandarin who has a fancy for foreign trees gets an acorn. He puts it in a pot, places a glass shade over it, waters it, and gets an oak; but it is an oak only two feet high. God does differently. He puts the sapling out of doors; He gives it sunshine and pure air. Is that all? No. Hail whistles like bullets in its branches, and seems as if it would tear them to ribbands. But is the tree the worse for it? No; it is cleansed from blight and mildew. Then come storm and tempest, bowing the tree until it appears as if it must fall. But only a few rotten boughs are removed, and the roots take a firmer hold, making the tree stand like a rock. Then comes the lightning, like a flaming sword, rending down huge pieces. Surely the tree is marred and injured now! Not at all. The lightning has made a rent through which the sunlight reaches other parts. This is a picture of Gods dealings with us. The storms of trouble develop holiness and virtue. Two men stand by the ocean. As he looks at the grand green waves, galloping like Neptunes wild horses, and shaking their foaming manes with delight, one of them sees in the ocean an emblem of eternity, a symbol of infinitude, a manifestation of God. But the other, as he glances at it, sees in it nothing but a fluid composed of oxygen and hydrogen, forming a convenient means of sending out shiploads of corn and iron, silk and spices. To the pure all things are pure. Let us be righteous, and we shall find spiritual help in everything. If we have but a heart yearning after Christ, we shall never fail to get strength and solace from nature, revelation, and mankind. The same bee has a sting for its foe and honey for its friend. The same sun sustains and ripens a rooted tree, but kills the uprooted one. The sane wind and waves sink one ship and send another to its destination.
III. A shadow against with its substance. It corresponds in shape. The tree has a shadow, which is its precise similitude. It corresponds in size. A small house or stone has a small shadow. Life is a shadow. God is the sun. What is the substance? Eternity. Surely it is not outstraining the figure to say this. Life is a shadow of good things to come in the other world. But is it so? Is life a shadow of good things to come? That depends upon circumstances. The character of our being hereafter agrees with the character of our being here. The people of Ashantee believe that the rank and position of the dead in the other world are determined by the number of attendants he has. Hence, on the death of his mother, the king sacrificed three thousand of his subjects on her grave, that she might have a large retinue of followers, and therefore occupy a situation of eminence. In this horrible custom there is the germ of a solemn truth. Our moral and spiritual state in eternity are regulated by our experience in the present. Whatsoever a man soweth, that shall he also reap. He that is holy, let him be holy still; and he that is filthy, let him be filthy still. Oh, what a mighty argument on behalf of goodness! Be it not forgotten. God help us in our daily deeds to remember that our thoughts, feelings, acts, help to decide our everlasting destiny. May we so affectionately serve Christ and so zealously bless our fellows that our inevitable future may be bright and glorious.
IV. A shadow is useful. It is serviceable in many ways. Sometimes it saves life. The shadow of a great rock in a weary land is of more value than we in our climate can fully understand. Distance may be measured by shadows. The height of mountains has been discovered thus. Time, too, is ascertainable by shadows. Orientals are known to practise this method of finding the hour of the day. To be true followers of Christ, our fives, like the shadow, must be marked by utility. St. John closes his Gospel with these remarkable words, And there are also many other things which Jesus did, the which, if they should be written every one, I suppose that even the world itself could not contain the books that should be written. Nay (we feel inclined to say), not so, thou beloved disciple! Surely thou art wrong. Think again. Withdraw thy hyperbole of enthusiasm. We venture to correct thee. Less than the world itself; very much less will contain an accurate account of all thy blessed Master did. Peter gives us His whole biography in five words, Who went about doing good. Doing good; that was the entire work of Jesus. Good, good, good, nothing but good. Good of all kinds, good at all times, good to all sorts of men. To be His real servants, then, we must distinguish ourselves by usefulness. We can do so. It is astonishing how much may be accomplished. We have before quoted Sydney Smith; we will borrow another thought of him. He argues that if we resolve to make one person in each day happy, in ten years we shall have made no less than three thousand six hundred and fifty happy! Is not the effort worth making? Let us try the experiment. It will not be in vain. Neither shall we go unrewarded. No bliss is like that which attends benevolence.
V. A shadow is soon gone. It cannot last long. Speedily does it depart. Life is short. Our sojourn on earth soon ends. Do not then trifle with the Gospel. Your opportunity for seeking salvation will soon be gone. (T. R. Stevenson.)
Life as a shadow
On the face of the municipal buildings at Aberdeen is an old sundial, said to have been constructed by David Anderson in 1597. The motto is, Ut umbra, sic fugit vita.
The Biblical Illustrator, edited by Joseph S. Exell (c. 1880s–1900s) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Paul E. Kretzmann 1924 · Public Domain On v8 An Accusation of Wickedness against Job.
An Accusation of Wickedness against Job.
Bildad was convinced that Job was, in some way, guilty of some special great transgression against the Lord, that his present affliction was the punishment for some specific wrong committed by him. Therefore he continued his harangue in this strain.
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v. 8. For enquire, I pray thee, of the former age, generations of men which have gone before, and prepare thyself to the search of their fathers, searching through the annals of history, finding out what the fathers had investigated and learned;
v. 9. (for we are but of yesterday and know nothing, our own experience alone counts for nothing, because our days upon earth are a shadow, the term of a single human life is insufficient to fathom the eternal laws which govern the universe and determine its history;)
v. 10. shall not they teach thee and tell thee, uttering their thoughts and experiences plainly, and utter words out of their heart? Note that the heart, as the seat of understanding, is here mentioned over against the words of Job as mere products of the lips. Bildad now introduces some of the sayings of the ancients.
v. 11. Can the rush, the papyrus reed, grow up without mire, outside of the rich, moist marsh soil? Can the flag grow without water?
v. 12. Whilst it is yet in his greenness and not cut down, namely, if growing in soil which is not continually moist, though rich enough otherwise, it withereth before any other herb. Swamp-plants may thrive for a while on dry ground, if there is enough water to start their growth, but as soon as moisture fails them, they immediately wither to the ground, even if all other plants are still in rich verdure.
v. 13. So are the paths of all that forget God, in the midst of their apparent prosperity they suddenly fail; and the hypocrite’s hope shall perish, the expectation of the ungodly, of him who has fallen away from the paths of righteousness, shall fail;
v. 14. whose hope shall be cut off, and whose trust shall be a spider’s web, that in which the godless trust, on which they place their confidence, is like a spider’s web, which is broken at the slightest touch.
v. 15. He shall lean upon his house, thinking that his possessions, the object of his trust, are secure, but it shall not stand; he shall hold it fast, as he feels it collapsing beneath his weight, but it shall not endure, it will tumble into ruins with all his hopes. There follows another picture of the uncertainty of the godless person’s trust.
v. 16. He is green before the sun, like a succulent creeper in the sunshine, and his branch shooteth forth in his garden, the whole garden being overrun with his root-sprouts.
v. 17. His roots are wrapped about the heap, taking hold in piles of stones, and seeth the place of stones, having entwined himself between the stones by means of all his shoots, so that he embraces the entire house. So the godless person believes that nothing will cause him to lose the house of his good fortune.
v. 18. If he destroy him from his place, namely, if the Lord takes his prosperity from him, then it, the former place of his happiness, shall deny him, saying, I have not seen thee, his very native ground denying him and refusing to have anything more to do with him.
v. 19. Behold, this is the joy of his way, thus his pretended joyful way of living comes to a sudden, disastrous end, and out of the earth shall others grow, out of the dust other men blessed with external prosperity will sprout, who, in turn, will crumble away as the first ones did. Bildad now again presents a contrast.
v. 20. Behold, God will not cast away a perfect man, He will not despise the pious man, the inference once more being that Job could not have been really pious, neither will He help the evil-doers, He will not grasp their hand to support them,
v. 21. till He, or, while He will, fill thy mouth with laughing and thy lips with rejoicing. That, Bildad intimates, would have been the lot of Job always if he had not become guilty in some unusually bad way.
v. 22. They that hate thee shall be clothed with shame, Jer 3:25; Psa 35:26; Psa 109:29; and the dwelling place of the wicked shall come to naught, literally, "and the tent of the wicked, it is no more. " Bildad here acts as though he were ready to give Job the benefit of the doubt and to take his part against the wicked, but the entire purpose of his reproof is evidently that of accusing Job of some heinous act, which he wanted him to confess. He also, like many others since his time, had not grasped the purpose of God’s chastisement, but accused Job wrongfully.
Paul E. Kretzmann, Popular Commentary of the Bible (1921–1924) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
unfoldingWord translationNotes 2017 · CC BY-SA 4.0 On v8 General Information:
General Information:
Bildad continues to use parallelism in each of these verses to emphasize that their ancestors agree with the things Bildad is telling Job. (See: Parallelism)
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give your attention to what our ancestors learned
"study carefully what our ancestors discovered" or "consider the things our forefathers learned"
our days on earth are a shadow
The shortness of life is spoken of as if it were a shadow which quickly disappears. (See: Metaphor)
Will they not teach you and tell you? Will they not speak words from their hearts?
Bildad uses these rhetorical questions to rebuke Job for not agreeing with Bildad and the ancestors. They can be translated as statements. AT: "They will teach you and tell you and speak what they sincerely believe." (See: Rhetorical Question)
from their hearts
Here the word "hearts" represents their inner beliefs. AT: "that they sincerely believe" (See: Metonymy)
translationWords
earth
shadow
word
heart
unfoldingWord translationNotes — © Distant Shores Media and the Door43 World Missions Community, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Source: git.door43.org/Door43/en_tn.
Tyndale Open Study Notes 2022 · CC BY-SA 4.0 On vv8–9 8:8-10 Bildad made the case for traditional wisdom by…
8:8-10 Bildad made the case for traditional wisdom by appealing to ancient tradition and history (Deut 4:32; Jer 18:13).
Tyndale Open Study Notes — © Tyndale Open Resources, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Text via the HelloAO Bible API.