Job chapter 8

After reading chapter 8:

*Next, we hear from Bildad the Shuhite. He basically asks Job how long he's going to talk nonsense. Then he rhetorically asks, "Does God (ha-el, possibly 'the God') pervert Justice?" He also outright blames the fate of Job's children on their sins. If Job looks to God (El) and pleads with him, and if Job is pure and upright, he will restore Job to his former prosperity. Then Bildad tells Job to look into the accumulated knowledge of their forefathers. They will instruct Job.

*Verses 10-19 are full of poetic imagery and metaphor that boils down to say that those who forget God (El) have a fragile, tenuous existence, without hope. This is the same religious propaganda being touted today about nonbelievers. It's wierd because, at least today, christians claim to believe in a wonderful afterlife. There has been no sign of that kind of belief in the Old Testament so far. What other kind of hope is there that is different than the normal hopes of humans everywhere, nonbelievers included? Is this like a prosperity doctrine? Believe, and you get stuff.

*Bildad ends by saying surely God (El) does not reject a blameless man, or strengthen the hands of evil doers. He's hinting that if something bad is happening to you, it must be the result of something you did wrong. Bildad then promises Job that God will make him happy again and destroy Job's enemies. Even though it hasn't been mentioned that Job has any enemies.