\\INTRODUCTION TO JOB 8\\

In this chapter Bildad enters the discussion with Job; proceeding upon
the same lines as Eliphaz, he reproves him for his long and loud talk,
\\#Job 8:1,2\\; asserts the justice of God in his providence, of which the
taking away of Job's children by death for their transgression was an
instance and proof, \\#Job 8:3,4\\; and suggests, that if Job, who had not
sinned so heinously as they had, and therefore was spared, would make
his submission to God, and ask forgiveness of him, and behave for the
future with purity and uprightness, he need not doubt but God would
immediately appear and exert himself on his behalf, and bless him and
his with prosperity and plenty, \\#Job 8:5-7\\; for this was his ordinary
way of dealing with the children of men, for the truth of which he
refers him to the records of former times, and to the sentiments of
ancient men, who lived longer, and were more knowing than he and his
friends, on whose opinion he does not desire him to rely, \\#Job 8:8-10\\;
and then by various similes used by the ancients, or taken from them by
Bildad, or which were of his own inventing and framing, are set forth
the short lived enjoyments, and vain hope and confidence, of hypocrites
and wicked men; as by the sudden withering of rushes and flags of
themselves, that grow in mire and water, even in their greenness,
before they are cut down, or cropped by any hand, \\#Job 8:11-13\\; and by
the spider's web, which cannot stand and endure when leaned upon and
held, \\#Job 8:14,15\\; and by a flourishing tree destroyed, and seen no
more, \\#Job 8:16-19\\; and the chapter is concluded with an observation
and maxim, that he and the rest of his friends set out upon, and were
tenacious of; that God did not afflict good men in any severe manner,
but filled them with joy and gladness; and that he would not long help
and prosper wicked men, but bring them and their dwelling place to
nought; and this being the case of Job, he suggests that he was such an
one, \\#Job 8:20-22\\.