Job 8:8

Matthew Henry's Complete Commentary - Job 8:8-19

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... read more

John Gill

John Gills Exposition of the Bible Commentary - Job 8:8

For inquire, I pray thee, of the former age ,.... With respect to the truth of what he had said, or should say; he does not desire Job to take his word for it, but inquire how it was in former times; by which it would appear, that when good men have been in affliction and trouble, and have behaved well under it, as became them, they have been delivered out of it, and have been afterwards in more flourishing and comfortable circumstances, as Noah, Abraham, Lot, and others; and that wicked men... read more

Adam Clarke

Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible - Job 8:8

Inquire - of the former age - רישון לדור 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. read more

Spence, H. D. M., etc.

The Pulpit Commentary - Job 8:1-22

Shall not the Judge of all … do right? The supposed attack of Job , by implication, upon the justice of God gives an opening for renewed admonitions and rebukes on the part of his friends. Bildad now comes forward and delivers a discourse full of noble faith, however its principles may be in this case misapplied. Rebuking the grievous complaints of Job as a wind, full of noise and emptiness (verse 2), he proceeds— I. TO INSIST ON THE RIGHTEOUSNESS OF GOD . This is an... read more

Spence, H. D. M., etc.

The Pulpit Commentary - Job 8:8

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... read more

Spence, H. D. M., etc.

The Pulpit Commentary - Job 8:8

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... read more

Spence, H. D. M., etc.

The Pulpit Commentary - Job 8:8-19

The hypocrite's hope. Back to the testimony of the ages ( Job 8:8-10 ) 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... read more

Spence, H. D. M., etc.

The Pulpit Commentary - Job 8:8-22

Bildad to Job: 2. Wisdom from the ancients. 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... read more

Albert Barnes

Albert Barnes' Notes on the Whole Bible - Job 8:8

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... read more

Joseph Benson

Joseph Benson's Commentary of the Old and New Testaments - Job 8:8

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... read more

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