Bible Figure
Bildad
character from Book of Job
Bildad the Shuhite was one of Job's three principal friends who came to comfort him but increasingly argued that Job's suffering reflected divine judgment for wrongdoing.
Biography
Bildad first speaks in Job 8, defending God's justice and suggesting that Job's children died because of their sin. He urges Job to seek God and appeals to the wisdom of earlier generations. In later speeches Bildad becomes increasingly severe, describing the fate of the wicked and emphasizing human impurity before God. Like Eliphaz and Zophar, he assumes a close connection between suffering and personal guilt that cannot adequately explain Job's case. At the book's end God rebukes Job's three friends for not speaking rightly about Him as Job had, and they must offer sacrifices while Job prays for them.
Biblical Significance
Bildad represents a form of conventional wisdom that affirms true principles about God's justice but applies them rigidly and wrongly to an innocent sufferer. His speeches help expose the limits of simplistic explanations for suffering.