“Then Job answered and said,”
Job responds to Bildad by acknowledging that he knows Bildad's arguments are true in principle, yet the fundamental problem remains: how can a mortal be righteous before God? Job's opening acceptance of the theoretical truth of Bildad's claims coupled with his interrogation of their application reveals his position: the problem is not that the friends' theology is false but that it fails to account for the reality of innocent suffering.
Church Fathers on Job 9:1
BAD minds, if they have once broken out into the eagerness of opposition, whether what they hear from those that withstand them be right or wrong, assail it with contradictory replies; for whereas the speaker is unwelcome from being in opposition, not even what is right is welcome when he utters it. But, on the other hand, the hearts of the good, whose dislike rises not at the speaker but at the offence, in such sort pass sentence on what is amiss, as to adopt still any right…
Nicene & Post-Nicene / Ante-Nicene Fathers translations · public domain
COMMUNITY REFLECTIONS
Publish a reflection on this verse
No reflections on this verse yet. Be the first to write one!