Job 8:8

BILDAD QUOTES THE FATHERS AS ENDORSING HIS WORDS

"For inquire, I pray thee, of the former age,

And apply thyself to that which their fathers have searched out

(For we are but of yesterday, and know nothing,

Because our days on earth are a shadow);

Shall not they teach thee, and tell thee,

And utter words out of their heart?"

"Inquire ... of the former age ... that which ... fathers have searched out" (8). "Back to the fathers, they say, back to antiquity; but there is no guarantee that they will not select the follies of the past instead of its wisdom."[11] Bildad was correct in one thing, namely, that the wisdom of the world in his day harmonized exactly with what he was saying. "Much of the Mesopotamian Wisdom Literature is in accord with Bildad's doctrine."[12] Anderson wrote that one of the purposes of the Book of Job is to challenge and repudiate, "The unthinking acceptance of such traditions."[13]