Bildad the Shuhite Character Analysis in Book of Job

Bildad is Job’s friend who, with Eliphaz and Zophar, visits Job with the alleged intention of comforting him in his suffering. The book gives no further details about Bildad, and the three companions don’t have very distinct personalities (or arguments, for that matter). At first, the friends commiserate with Job in silence, but after Job begins to lament his pain and to argue that he suffers unjustly, Bildad and the others begin to argue with Job in return. Basically, Bildad says, wisdom teaches that God does not punish the righteous, and if Job is truly innocent, then God will restore his fortunes. Like the other two, Bildad applies wisdom to Job’s situation in a simplistic way that Job rejects as useless.

Bildad the Shuhite Quotes in Book of Job

The Book of Job quotes below are all either spoken by Bildad the Shuhite or refer to Bildad the Shuhite. For each quote, you can also see the other characters and themes related to it (each theme is indicated by its own dot and icon, like this one:

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Now when Job’s three friends heard of all these troubles that had come upon him, each of them set out from his home—Eliphaz the Temanite, Bildad the Shuhite, and Zophar the Naamathite. They met together to go and console and comfort him. When they saw him from a distance, they did not recognize him, and they raised their voices and wept aloud; they tore their robes and threw dust in the air upon their heads. They sat with him on the ground seven days and seven nights, and no one spoke a word to him, for they saw that his suffering was very great.

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So these three men ceased to answer Job, because he was righteous in his own eyes. Then Elihu son of Barachel the Buzite, of the family of Ram, became angry. He was angry at Job because he justified himself rather than God; he was angry also at Job’s three friends because they had found no answer, though they had declared Job to be in the wrong. Now Elihu had waited to speak to Job, because they were older than he. But when Elihu saw that there was no answer in the mouths of these three men, he became angry.

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Bildad the Shuhite Quotes in Book of Job

The Book of Job quotes below are all either spoken by Bildad the Shuhite or refer to Bildad the Shuhite. For each quote, you can also see the other characters and themes related to it (each theme is indicated by its own dot and icon, like this one:

).

Now when Job’s three friends heard of all these troubles that had come upon him, each of them set out from his home—Eliphaz the Temanite, Bildad the Shuhite, and Zophar the Naamathite. They met together to go and console and comfort him. When they saw him from a distance, they did not recognize him, and they raised their voices and wept aloud; they tore their robes and threw dust in the air upon their heads. They sat with him on the ground seven days and seven nights, and no one spoke a word to him, for they saw that his suffering was very great.

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So these three men ceased to answer Job, because he was righteous in his own eyes. Then Elihu son of Barachel the Buzite, of the family of Ram, became angry. He was angry at Job because he justified himself rather than God; he was angry also at Job’s three friends because they had found no answer, though they had declared Job to be in the wrong. Now Elihu had waited to speak to Job, because they were older than he. But when Elihu saw that there was no answer in the mouths of these three men, he became angry.

Related Characters: , , , , ,