Matthew Henry Commentary Job 8:1-7

"Then answered Bildad the Shuhite, and said, How long wilt thou speak these things? And [how long] shall the words of thy mouth be [like] a mighty wind? Doth God pervert justice? Or doth the Almighty pervert righteousness? If thy children have sinned against him, And he hath delivered them into the hand of their transgression; If thou wouldest seek diligently unto God, And make thy supplication to the Almighty; If thou wert pure and upright: Surely now he would awake for thee, And make the habitation of thy righteousness prosperous. And though thy beginning was small, Yet thy latter end would greatly increase." — Job 8:1-7 (ASV)

Job spoke much to the purpose; but Bildad, like an eager, angry disputant, dismisses it all with this: "How long will you speak these things?" People's meaning is not understood correctly, and then they are rebuked as if they were evildoers. Even in disputes on religion, it is too common to treat others with harshness and their arguments with contempt.

Bildad's discourse shows that he did not have a favorable opinion of Job's character. Job acknowledged that God did not pervert judgment; yet it did not therefore follow that his children were castaways, or that they were punished for some great transgression. Extraordinary afflictions are not always the punishment of extraordinary sins; sometimes they are the trials of extraordinary graces: in judging another's case, we should take the favorable side.

Bildad gives Job hope that if he were indeed upright, he would yet see a good end to his present troubles. This is God's way of enriching the souls of His people with graces and comforts. The beginning is small, but the progress is to perfection.

Dawning light grows to noonday.