Note some of the things both Eliphaz and Bildad pointed out concerning the wicked.
Eliphaz The Wicked Bildad
15:22-23, 30 experience darkness 18:5-6, 18
15:30b, 32-33 are like unhealthy plants 18:16
15:30, 34 are destroyed by fire 18:15
15:27-31 lose their influence 18:7, 15-16
15:21, 24 are terrified by anguish 18:11, 14
15:34 lose their homes 18:6, 14-15
15:4, 13, 25-26 oppose or do not know God 18:21
Another noteworthy feature of this section is the frequent recurrence of the idea that the wicked will end up in a trap, especially in verses 8-10. Bildad promised not only their capture but that they would experience terror, as animals hunted down by a predator (v. 11). As in Eliphaz's second speech, much of what Bildad said here concerning the wicked was true of Job (e.g., 18:13a, 15). "The first-born of death"may refer to "death in its most terrible form."84Another possibility is that this is a reference to Namtar, the Mesopotamian god of pestilence and vizier of the underworld.85Both Job and Bildad had a lot to say about death.
"Bildad felt Job did not really understand the doctrine of retribution. He probably considered Job weak on this subject because Job kept harping on how the righteous suffer and the wicked prosper. In these speeches Job and his friends had nothing to say about future retribution at the day of final judgment or the balancing of the scales of justice after death. This is a truth that unveils gradually (progressive revelation) in the OT."86
Often when we counsel suffering people it is more important to help them think about God and talk to Him than it is to get them to adopt all our theology. Job's companions seem to have given up on Job because he would not agree with their theological presupposition. They failed to give him credit for being sincere in his desire to come to terms with God.
