Job 8:11-22 – “They That Hate Thee Shall Be Clothed With Shame”

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Job 8:11-22 Bildad’s Self-Righteous Verbal Assault on Job

[Study Posted Jan 2, 2012]

Job 8:11 Can the rush grow up without mire? can the flag grow without water?
Job 8:12 Whilst it is yet in his greenness, and not cut down, it withereth before any other herb.
Job 8:13 So are the paths of all that forget God; and the hypocrite’s hope shall perish:
Job 8:14 Whose hope shall be cut off, and whose trust shall be a spider’s web.
Job 8:15 He shall lean upon his house, but it shall not stand: he shall hold it fast, but it shall not endure.
Job 8:16 He is green before the sun, and his branch shooteth forth in his garden.
Job 8:17 His roots are wrapped about the heap, and seeth the place of stones.
Job 8:18 If he destroy him from his place, then it shall deny him, saying, I have not seen thee.
Job 8:19 Behold, this is the joy of his way, and out of the earth shall others grow.
Job 8:20 Behold, God will not cast away a perfect man, neither will he help the evil doers:
Job 8:21 Till he fill thy mouth with laughing, and thy lips with rejoicing.
Job 8:22 They that hate thee shall be clothed with shame; and the dwelling place of the wicked shall come to nought.

Introduction

Last week we saw how a very self-righteous Bildad inferred that Job must be a secret sinner because God Himself would never pervert judgment or justice and punish a righteous man in the way Job was being made to suffer. If God has given us any spiritual vision, then we know by now that Bildad is us when we are in self-righteous Babylon, telling ourselves we are rich and increased with goods and in need of nothing, when in reality we are poor, wretched, miserable, blind and naked in our own self-righteousness.

We saw that Bildad, the type and shadow of us, had the very attitude which Christ rebuked when he condemned the attitude of those who thought that the men who died at the hands of King Herod were sinners above all in Galilee, and that those on whom the tower of Siloam fell were sinners above all who were in Jerusalem.

Luk 13:1 There were present at that season some that told him of the Galilaeans, whose blood Pilate had mingled with their sacrifices.
Luk 13:2 And Jesus answering said unto them, Suppose ye that these Galilaeans were sinners above all the Galilaeans, because they suffered such things?
Luk 13:3 I tell you, Nay: but, except ye repent, ye shall all likewise perish.
Luk 13:4 Or those eighteen, upon whom the tower in Siloam fell, and slew them, think ye that they were sinners above all men that dwelt in Jerusalem?
Luk 13:5 I tell you, Nay: but, except ye repent, ye shall all likewise perish.

Bildad’s and our answer to Christ’s questions would have been in the affirmative in both cases. However, the message of this book of Job is the same message of Christ, only many centuries earlier.

Christ is rebuking any spirit of self-righteousness in all of us. The book of Job does the same in type and shadow, long before the spiritual reality Christ brings to us.

Notice how Bildad continues his self-righteous assault upon the man he is supposed to be comforting:
Job 8:11 Can the rush grow up without mire? can the flag grow without water?
Job 8:12 Whilst it is yet in his greenness, and not cut down, it withereth before any other herb.

The “rush”, according to Strong’s Concordance, is the papyrus plant, and the ‘flag’ is simply “a marshy grass”. Both grow only where the water is not deep and is not flowing swiftly. Both grow best in marshy swampy areas where the water is stagnant and polluted. That is Bildad’s assessment of his supposed friend, Job.

Job 8:13 So are the paths of all that forget God; and the hypocrite’s hope shall perish:

Bildad supposes Job to be a hypocrite. After all, it is Job who is suffering at the hand of God. It is not Bildad. The fact of the matter is that one can be very sincere, very zealous and very self-righteous without being a hypocrite. It is entirely possible to be sincere and yet be sincerely wrong. Remember this “all happened to them, and it is written for our admonition…” It is “the first man Adam” in all of us who “believes a lie” and is damned.

2Th 2:11 And for this cause God shall send them strong delusion, that they should believe a lie:
2Th 2:12 That they all might be damned who believed not the truth, but had pleasure in unrighteousness.

The old “first man Adam” in “all” men first believes as Bildad and Job believe. We all first see ourselves as righteous men who have given our lives to God, and it is our friends or even God Himself who is unjust and worthy of condemnation. We are Bildad before we are Job, but both are just types of us being forced to see the self-righteousness within us. So Bildad continues to show us how we think of everyone but ourselves:

Job 8:14 Whose hope shall be cut off, and whose trust shall be a spider’s web.
Job 8:15 He shall lean upon his house, but it shall not stand: he shall hold it fast, but it shall not endure.

“The first man Adam” thinks anyone but himself is possibly a hypocrite who has “forgotten God”. It is true that all who forget God will have their hope “cut off, and [their] trust shall be a spiders web.” The word ‘web’ is actually the Hebrew word for ‘house’. It is the Hebrew word ‘bayith‘ and Strong’s defines it as “a house”. This is the root of Beth-el, house of God, and Beth-lehem, house of bread. The hope of the hypocrite, and of all who forget God, will be cut off, and their trust will be a spider’s house. A spider’s house is of course a web, which entangles all who come to it. A spider’s house “shall not stand: he shall hold it fast, but it shall not endure”. Our own self-righteousness will entangle us and cause us to trust in ourselves and in our own righteousness which is really nothing more than filthy rags to our God. How similar to Job 8:14-15 is this verse of Isaiah?

Isa 64:6 But we are all as an unclean thing, and all our righteousnesses are as filthy rags; and we all do fade as a leaf; and our iniquities, like the wind, have taken us away.

Bildad, as the Biblical type of our old man, continues to see all the evil that is in his friend, Job. He now sees Job as a tree which God Himself will destroy:

Job 8:16 He is green before the sun, and his branch shooteth forth in his garden.
Job 8:17 His roots are wrapped about the heap, and seeth the place of stones.

It is of utmost importance we realize that both the tree of the knowledge of good and evil and the tree of life both come forth “out of the ground”.

Gen 2:9 And out of the ground made the LORD God to grow every tree that is pleasant to the sight, and good for food; the tree of life also in the midst of the garden, and the tree of knowledge of good and evil.

Of course, we all eat of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil first, and it, too, is well grounded in the earth, “the place of stones”. We all by nature first eat of this tree, and it is only natural that we die. Death is the necessary catalyst that produces life:

Mat 10:39 He that findeth his life shall lose it: and he that loseth his life for my sake shall find it.

Joh 12:24 Verily, verily, I say unto you, Except a corn of wheat fall into the ground and die, it abideth alone: but if it die, it bringeth forth much fruit.

Life comes only through death. This does not seem to be understood by either Job or his friends at this time.

Col 1:21 And you, that were sometime alienated and enemies in your mind by wicked works, yet now hath he reconciled
Col 1:22 In the body of his flesh through death, to present you holy and unblameable and unreproveable in his sight:

Heb 2:14 Forasmuch then as the children are partakers of flesh and blood, he also himself likewise took part of the same; that through death he might destroy him that had the power of death, that is, the devil;

Scripturally we are are not appointed to death, but to life. Yet it is also scripturally true that it is only “through death” that death is destroyed.

Job 8:18 If he destroy him from his place, then it shall deny him, saying, I have not seen thee.

The destruction of our old man by our Lord is so thorough that ‘our place’ will deny that we were ever there, and will say, “I have not seen thee.”

Psa 109:15 Let them be before the LORD continually, that he may cut off the memory of them from the earth.

Pro 10:7 The memory of the just is blessed: but the name of the wicked shall rot.

Ecc 9:5 For the living know that they shall die: but the dead know not any thing, neither have they any more a reward; for the memory of them is forgotten.

So our old man “is green before the sun, and his branch shooteth forth in his garden. His roots are wrapped about the heap, and seeth the place of stones.” It all seems so very permanent when we are in the prime of our beast within. He is granted to “overcome the saints”, and we are told that he “wondered after the beast”. We are our own God, and we worship that beast, and in doing so, we are also worshiping our father the devil.

Psa 37:35 I have seen the wicked in great power, and spreading himself like a green bay tree.

Mat 24:15 When ye therefore shall see the abomination of desolation, spoken of by Daniel the prophet, stand in the holy place, (whoso readeth, let him understand:)

2Th 2:4 Who opposeth and exalteth himself above all that is called God, or that is worshipped; so that he as God sitteth in the temple of God, shewing himself that he is God.

Rev 13:3 And I saw one of his heads as it were wounded to death; and his deadly wound was healed: and all the world wondered after the beast.
Rev 13:4 And they worshipped the dragon which gave power unto the beast: and they worshipped the beast, saying, Who is like unto the beast? who is able to make war with him?

God’s saints are all first in “the world”, and while there in the world, they too, “wondered after the beast” and were overcome by their own beast. Job is the type of God’s elect, and it is his and our own beast within which has him and us worshiping himself and we ourselves. It is he and we who place our own righteousness above God’s righteousness.

Rev 13:6 And he [Job as us] opened his mouth in blasphemy against God, to blaspheme his name, and his tabernacle, and them that dwell in heaven. [It is we who ‘condemn God that we might be righteous’ (Job 40:8)]
Rev 13:7 And it was given unto him to make war with the saints, and to overcome them: and power was given him over all kindreds, and tongues, and nations. [The beast in Job and in us overcomes and rules us mercilessly.]
Rev 13:8 And all that dwell upon the earth shall worship him, whose names are not written in the book of life of the Lamb slain from the foundation of the world. [It is us in our own self-righteousness who set up ‘the abomination of desolation’ within God’s temple… ‘which temple we are’. [Mat 24:15 and 1Co 3:16]
Rev 13:9 If any man have an ear, let him hear.
Rev 13:10 He that leadeth into captivity shall go into captivity: he that killeth with the sword must be killed with the sword. Here is the patience and the faith of the saints.

It is this entire process which “is the patience and the faith of the saints”. It is being granted to “keep the things which are written therein”. (Rev 1:3 and 22:6-8) So the first Job is the type of “the first man Adam”, and the Job of Job chapter 42, is the type of “the last Adam… Christ in you…”

1Co 15:45 And so it is written, The first man Adam was made a living soul; the last Adam was made a quickening spirit.

Col 1:24 Who now rejoice in my sufferings for you, and fill up that which is behind of the afflictions of Christ in my flesh for his body’s sake, which is the church:
Col 1:25 Whereof I am made a minister, according to the dispensation of God which is given to me for you, to fulfil the word of God;
Col 1:26 Even the mystery which hath been hid from ages and from generations, but now is made manifest to his saints:
Col 1:27 To whom God would make known what is the riches of the glory of this mystery among the Gentiles; which is Christ in you, the hope of glory:

“Hid from ages and from generations” would certainly include this part of our own walk when we are worshiping the beast within us. It certainly also includes the generation of Job as the Old Testament type and shadow of these spiritual realities we now enjoy with ‘Christ in us’, if indeed that is where He dwells.

“Here is the patience and faith of the saints” and “this is the joy of his way” if and when he is granted to understand what “the patience of the saints” and what the “joy of his way” are.
Job 8:19 Behold, this is the joy of his way, and out of the earth shall others grow.
Job 8:20 Behold, God will not cast away a perfect man, neither will he help the evil doers:
Job 8:21 Till he fill thy mouth with laughing, and thy lipswith rejoicing.
Job 8:22 They that hate thee shall be clothed withshame; and the dwelling place of the wicked shall come to nought.

“God will not cast away a perfect man [and] He will not help the evil doers till He fills your mouth with laughing, and your lips with rejoicing” for all those who are granted to know what the patience and the faith of the saints are and who are given to understand that the trials of Job are the Old Testament type of the seven last plagues of Revelation, which must be poured out upon all who will be granted to enter into the temple of God.

Rev 15:7 And one of the four beasts gave unto the seven angels seven golden vials full of the wrath of God, who liveth for ever and ever.
Rev 15:8 And the temple was filled with smoke from the glory of God, and from his power; and no man was able to enter into the temple, till the seven plagues of the seven angels were fulfilled.

Rev 14:9 And the third angel followed them, saying with a loud voice, If any man worship the beast and his image, and receive his mark in his forehead, or in his hand,
Rev 14:10 The same shall drink of the wine of the wrath of God, which is poured out without mixture into the cup of his indignation; and he shall be tormented with fire and brimstone in the presence of the holy angels, and in the presence of the Lamb:
Rev 14:11 And the smoke of their torment ascendeth up for ever and ever: and they have no rest day nor night, who worship the beast and his image, and whosoever receiveth the mark of his name.
Rev 14:12 Here is the patience of the saints: here are they that keep the commandments of God, and the faith of Jesus.

“Here is the patience of the saints” is the New Testament spiritual reality of the typical Old Testament ‘patience’ to which James points us all:

Jas 5:11 Behold, we count them happy which endure. Ye have heard of the patience of Job, and have seen the end of the Lord; that the Lord is very pitiful, and of tender mercy.

“The patience of Job” typifies “the patience and faith of the saints”. It is granted to the saints to see and understand that the story of Job is the Old Testament type of the seven last plagues, “which are written therein” (Rev 1:3). Those who are granted to “keep the things written therein know that the seven plagues of the seven angels must therefore be fulfilled before any man can enter into the temple of God.

Rev 15:8 And the temple was filled with smoke from the glory of God, and from his power; and no man was able to enter into the temple, till the seven plagues of the seven angels were fulfilled.

Knowing all of this, God’s saints are forced to deny the false doctrine of a rapture which supposedly takes us away from God’s wrath. They must also deny the false doctrine which says that the seven last plagues are not to be kept by those who “are not appointed to wrath, but are appointed to salvation…” This is a seditious and blind spirit which denies all of these plain Biblical statements by twisting “We are not appointed to wrath but to salvation” into ‘We are not to keep the things written therein, and we can indeed enter into the temple without fulfilling the seven plagues of the seven angels.’ Refusing to believe such heresy almost cost Jeremiah his life, and refusing to believe such heresy will, to this very day, cause you to “be hated of all men”.

Let’s examine that verse in 1 Thessalonians.

1Th 5:9 For God hath not appointed us to wrath, but to obtain salvation by our Lord Jesus Christ,
1Th 5:10 Who died for us, that whether we wake or sleep, we should live together with him.

Who is appointed to obtain salvation?

1Co 15:22 For as in Adam all die, even so in Christ shall all be made alive.

Who, then, is not appointed to wrath? Is it not the same as those who are appointed to salvation? Is it not “all… in Adam?” Is it not those who “wake or sleep”? Obviously that is who is under discussion in this verse. It is not just God’s elect. It is all who are “appointed… to obtain salvation”. Is this not the same as saying, “Whosoever lives and believes in me shall never die?”

Joh 11:23 Jesus saith unto her, Thy brother shall rise again.
Joh 11:24 Martha saith unto him, I know that he shall rise again in the resurrection at the last day.
Joh 11:25 Jesus said unto her, I am the resurrection, and the life: he that believeth in me, though he were dead, yet shall he live:
Joh 11:26 And whosoever liveth and believeth in me shall never die. Believest thou this?

Those who take John 11:26 to mean that anyone who is living and believing in Christ will never physically die are attempting to make Christ’s words here in John 11:26 contradict His words in this verse:

Joh 12:24 Verily, verily, I say unto you, Except a corn of wheat fall into the ground and die, it abideth alone: but if it die, it bringeth forth much fruit.

Anyone who ‘knows the voice of the true shepherd’ knows instinctively that “shall never die” means after they who believe on Christ are raised from the dead to which all men are appointed:

Heb 9:27 And as it is appointed unto men once to die, but after this the judgment:

It is the same spirit of the same harlot which would have you and I to believe that “not appointed to wrath” in 1 Thessalonians 5:9 contradicts the truth that we must all “keep the things which are written” in the book of Revelation, which includes these words: “ no man was able to enter into the temple, till the seven plagues of the seven angels were fulfilled.” (Rev 1:3, Rev 15:8, Rev 22:7)

1Th 5:9 For God hath not appointed us to wrath, but to obtain salvation by our Lord Jesus Christ,

Rev 1:3 Blessed is he that readeth, and they that hear the words of this prophecy, and keep those things which are written therein: for the time is at hand.

Are these “things written therein”? Is “the time at hand” to “keep” these things?

Rev 14:9 And the third angel followed them, saying with a loud voice, If any man worship the beast and his image, and receive his mark in his forehead, or in his hand,
Rev 14:10 The same shall drink of the wine of the wrath of God, which is poured out without mixture into the cup of his indignation; and he shall be tormented with fire and brimstone in the presence of the holy angels, and in the presence of the Lamb:
Rev 14:11 And the smoke of their torment ascendeth up for ever and ever: and they have no rest day nor night, who worship the beast and his image, and whosoever receiveth the mark of his name. [What is all of this? What is the experience of Job?]
Rev 14:12 Here is the patience of the saints: here are they that keep the commandments of God, and the faith of Jesus.

Rev 15:7 And one of the four beasts gave unto the seven angels seven golden vials full of the wrath of God, who liveth for ever and ever.
Rev 15:8 And the temple was filled with smoke from the glory of God, and from his power; and no man was able to enter into the temple, till the seven plagues of the seven angels were fulfilled.

Job 14:13 O that thou wouldest hide me in the grave, that thou wouldest keep me secret, until thy wrath be past, that thou wouldest appoint me a set time, and remember me!

Does 1 Thessalonians 5:9 contradict these verses “written therein”? The vast majority of Christians who comprise the harlot wife of our Lord say it does, but this is God’s answer to all such heretics:

Jer 25:28 And it shall be, if they refuse to take the cup at thine hand to drink, then shalt thou say unto them, Thus saith the LORD of hosts; Ye shall certainly drink.

God’s own people hated Jeremiah for standing on this truth. To this very day they hate anyone who agrees with those words and with the words of Revelation 15:8. Nevertheless, the truth remains that anyone who knows the voice of the true shepherd knows that “it is through much tribulation that we must enter the kingdom of heaven”, that “whom the Lord loves, He chastens and scourges…” and that “no man can enter the temple till the seven plagues of the seven angels has been fulfilled”. Those are the words of Job. Those are the words of Jeremiah, and those are the words of Jesus Christ.

Conclusion

If God wills, we will stand on “the sum of [God’s] Word” and believe Revelation 1:3, 15:8 and Jeremiah 25:28. When we do, we will be “hated of all men”. The multitudes who came to Christ to hear His parables and eat His loaves and fishes are the same multitudes who cried, “Crucify Him!” Nevertheless, the Truth remains that:

Psa 107:25 For he commandeth, and raiseth the stormy wind, which lifteth up the waves thereof.
Psa 107:26 They mount up to the heaven, they go down again to the depths: their soul is melted because of trouble.
Psa 107:27 They reel to and fro, and stagger like a drunken man, and are at their wits’ end. [He does so with His seven last plagues]
Psa 107:28 Then they cry unto the LORD in their trouble, and he bringeth them out of their distresses.
Psa 107:29 He maketh the storm a calm, so that the waves thereof are still.
Psa 107:30 Then are they glad because they be quiet; so he bringeth them unto their desired haven.
Psa 107:31 Oh that men would praise the LORD for his goodness, and for his wonderful works to the children of men!

Because our natural man cannot see that being brought to his wits’ end is ‘God’s goodness’, he hates those who are granted to see that.

Rom 2:4 Or despisest thou the riches of his goodness and forbearance and longsuffering; not knowing that the goodness of God leadeth thee to repentance?

So while Bildad within us cannot yet see that Job’s suffering makes him the type of God’s elect who have been granted “the patience and faith of the saints” and who are in the process of being brought “to repentance”, His words are nevertheless words of Truth:

Job 8:22 They that hate thee shall be clothed with shame; and the dwelling place of the wicked shall come to nought.

Next week, if the Lord wills, we will hear Job, who is experiencing all of this “for our admonition” (1Co 10:11), confess Bildad’s words are true, and that it is foolish to contend with God, even as he continues to do so.

Here are our verses for next week:

Job 9:1 Then Job answered and said,
Job 9:2 I know it is so of a truth: but how should man be just with God?
Job 9:3 If he will contend with him, he cannot answer him one of a thousand.
Job 9:4 He is wise in heart, and mighty in strength: who hath hardened himself against him, and hath prospered?
Job 9:5 Which removeth the mountains, and they know not: which overturneth them in his anger.
Job 9:6 Which shaketh the earth out of her place, and the pillars thereof tremble.
Job 9:7 Which commandeth the sun, and it riseth not; and sealeth up the stars.
Job 9:8 Which alone spreadeth out the heavens, and treadeth upon the waves of the sea.
Job 9:9 Which maketh Arcturus, Orion, and Pleiades, and the chambers of the south.
Job 9:10 Which doeth great things past finding out; yea, and wonders without number.
Job 9:11 Lo, he goeth by me, and I see him not: he passeth on also, but I perceive him not.
Job 9:12 Behold, he taketh away, who can hinder him? who will say unto him, What doest thou?

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