Before we come to Bildad's rebuttal in chapter eight, I would like to say something further concerning Job's self-vindication in chapters six and seven. Job's vindication of himself in these chapters is an extract of the whole book. The entire book of Job is actually a kind of vindication.
As he vindicated himself, Job stated his grievances, challenged God, blamed his friends, justified himself, and expressed that he had the common knowledge of the vanity and end of human life. Job was challenging God and his friends to give him an answer. Actually, the entire book of Job, which has become a big problem to many Christians, needs an answer. As we will see, the needed answer is found not in the book of Job but in the New Testament.
After stating his grievances, longing for his vexation to be weighed and his ruin to be lifted onto the scales together with it (6:2), Job challenged God concerning how much God would require of him. Job seemed to be saying, "God, I have done what You have required me to do. What else do You want? What do You want me to be, and what do You want me to do? Because You did not tell me these things, I am puzzled." When we come to chapter nine, we will see that Job wanted an opportunity to present his "case" before God in "court," with himself as the plaintiff and God as the defendant. However, Job expected that God, who is almighty and wise, would win the case. As a result, Job felt that he had no way out of his situation.
After challenging God, Job turned to his friends, blaming them for not showing kindness to him, who was fainting under the striking of God. Job seemed to be saying to them, "Your way is not right. You reprove me, condemn me, and despise me. This is not love, and this is not kindness. I need direction. You should tell me what my direction should be. Tell me where I should go and what I should do."
Next Job turned to himself, justifying himself by saying that he was not wrong in anything. He expressed that he had the common knowledge of the struggle, the vanity, the trouble, the suffering, and the end of human life. Regarding this, he felt that he knew more than his friends did. Eventually, Job said that he loathed life and indicated that he no longer had any taste for life. Since there was no answer to his situation, Job concluded that the only thing for him to do was to die.
Job and his friends were in the wrong realm. They were in the realm of good and evil, in the realm of promoting man's integrity. They needed to get into the right realm, the realm of the tree of life. They needed to come back to the tree of life. The tree of life was their answer.
Instead of trying to attain to the peak of integrity, Job needed to do his best to pursue God, to pursue Christ the person directly. Job's direction should have been toward that peak, not toward the peak of human integrity. This is the answer to Job and his friends regarding the purpose of Job's sufferings.
Let us now go on to consider Bildad's rebuttal to Job in chapter eight.