Job 8:21

8:20-22 Bildad here assures Job, that as he was so he should fare; therefore they concluded, that as he fared so he was. 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. Sin brings ruin on persons and families. Yet to argue, that Job was an ungodly, wicked man, was unjust and uncharitable. The mistake in these reasonings arose from Job's friends not distinguishing between the present state of trial and discipline, and the future state of final judgment. May we choose the portion, possess the confidence, bear the cross, and die the death of the righteous; and, in the mean time, be careful neither to wound others by rash judgments, nor to distress ourselves needlessly about the opinions of our fellow-creatures.

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 Psalm 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, Ecclesiastes 9:1 . Bar Tzemach interprets "laughing" as at his own goodness, and "rejoicing" as at the evil of the wicked.

(21) Till he fill thy mouth with laughing. —Rather, he will yet fill thy mouth with laughter — afflicted though thou hast been, thou shalt again rejoice. The attitude of Bildad is one of unsympathetic selfishness. He wishes to think well of his friend because he is his friend, but he cannot reconcile his afflicted condition with any theory of righteous government, and therefore is driven to suspect that all is not right with him, though he feels warranted in promising him that if he casts away that secret sin all shall yet be well with him. We may say that if the contrast here indicated is not intended by the speaker, then we must consider the “he” of Job 8:16 the person before spoken of, and must understand his luxuriance of a merely apparent luxuriance; but then in that case one is at a loss to see why the “he,” of Job 8:16 should be emphasised as it is in the Hebrew.

Verse 21. - Till he fill thy mouth with laughing, and thy lips with rejoicing . This is very elliptical. The full phrase would be, "God will not cast away a perfect man; therefore, if thou be such, he will not cast away thee, till he fill thy mouth with laughter, and thy lips with rejoicing," or "with shouting for joy." Job 8:21

And what I have said in general of all perfect men, shall be made good to thee, if thou be such a one; God will not forsake time, nor desist from doing thee good, till he fill, & c., i.e. God will give thee such abundant matter of rejoicing, that thy heart shall not be able to hold it, but it shall break out at thy mouth and lips.

Till he fill thy mouth with laughing - Until he make thee completely happy. The word rendered "till" (עד ‛ad), is rendered by Dr. Good, "even yet." Noyes, following Houbigant, DeWette, and Michaelis, proposes to change the pointing, and to read עד ‛ôd, instead of עד ‛ad - meaning, "while." The verse is connected with that which follows, and the particle used here evidently means "while," or "even yet" - and the whole passage means, "if you return to God, he will even yet fill you with joy, while those who hate you shall be clothed with shame. God will show you favor, but the dwelling of the wicked shall come to naught." The object of the passage is to induce Job to return to God, with the assurance that if he did, he would show mercy to him, while the wicked should be destroyed. With rejoicing - Margin, "Shouting for joy." The word used (תרוּעה terû‛âh) is properly that which denotes the clangor of a trumpet, or the shout of victory and triumph.

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 Isaiah 41:13; Isaiah 42:6. Instead of עד (Job 8:21), there is no great difficulty in reading עוד: again (as e.g., Psalm 42:6) He will fill; but even עד is supportable; it signifies, like Job 1:18; Psalm 141:10, while. On the form ימלּה, vid., Ges. 75, 21, b. This close of Bildad's speech sounds quite like the Psalms (comp. Psalm 126:2 with Job 8:21; Psalm 35:26; Psalm 109:29; Psalm 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.