Bildad

Bildad (Biblical Hebrew: בִּלְדַּד‎, romanized: Bildaḏ;^[a] Ancient Greek: Βαλδάδ, romanized: Baldád), the Shuhite, was one of Job's three friends who visited the patriarch in the Hebrew Bible's Book of Job. He was a descendant of Shuah, son of Abraham and Keturah (Genesis 25:1–2),^[2] whose family lived in the deserts of Arabia, or a resident of the district.^[3] In speaking with Job, his intent was consolation, but he became an accuser, asking Job what he has done to deserve God's wrath.

Speeches

The three speeches of Bildad are contained in Job 8,^[4] Job 18^[5] and Job 25.^[6] In substance, they were largely an echo of what had been maintained by Eliphaz the Temanite,^[7] the first of Job's friends to speak, but charged with somewhat increased vehemence because he deemed Job's words so impious and wrathful. Bildad was the first to attribute Job's calamity to actual wickedness, albeit indirectly, by accusing his children (who were destroyed, Job 1:19)^[8] of sin to warrant their punishment (Job 8:4).^[9] His brief third speech, just five verses in length,^[10] marked the silencing of the friends.^[11]

In popular culture

• Bildad the Shuhite is depicted in the Prime Video Series Good Omens, where the demon Crowley disguises himself as "one of the friends of Job" in a satirical retelling of the Book of Job.
• Bildad is also the name of one of the owners of the Pequod in Herman Melville's Moby-Dick.
• Dr Grantly, archdeacon of Barchester in Anthony Trollope's novel Barchester Towers, is on occasion compared to "Bildad the Shuhite" (vol. II, ch. 44).

See also

• Eliphaz
• Zophar
• Elihu

Notes

References

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