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Bildad (2)

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Bildad

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(Heb. Bildad', בַּלְדִּד , according to Gesenius, for בֶּןאּלְדָד, son of contention, i.e. quarrelsome; according to First, for בַּלאּאֲדָד, Bel-Adad, but less likely; Sept. Βαλδάδ ), "the Shuhite," one of the friends of Job, and the second of his opponents in the disputation (Job 2:11; Job 8:1; Job 18:1; Job 25:1). The Shuah of which the Sept. makes Bildad the prince or patriarch (ὁ Σαυχέων τύραννος ) was probably the district assigned to Shuah, the sixth son of Abraham by Keturah, and called by his name (Genesis 25:2). This was apparently in Arabia Petraea, if Shuah settled in the same quarter as his brothers, of which there can be little doubt; and to this region we are to refer the town and district to which he gave his name, and in which Bildad was doubtless a person of consequence, if not-the chief. (See SHUAH).

Bildad takes a share in each of the three controversial scenes in the Book of Job. He follows in the train of Eliphaz, but with more violent declamation, less argument, and keener invective (Wemyss, Job and his Times, p. 111). His address is abrupt and untender, and in his very first speech he cruelly attributes the death of Job's children to their own transgressions, and loudly calls on Job to repent of his supposed crimes. His second speech (18) merely recapitulates his former assertions of the temporal calamities of the wicked. On this occasion he implies, without expressing, Job's wickedness, and does not condescend to exhort him to repentance. In the third speech (256), unable to refute the sufferer's arguments, he takes refuge in irrelevant dogmatism on God's glory and man's nothingness; in reply to which Job justly reproves him both for deficiency in argument and failure in charitable forbearance (Ewald, Das Buch Job). (See JOB).