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Easton's Bible Dictionary
Son of contention, One of Job's friends. He is called
"the Shuhite," probably as belonging to Shuah, a district in Arabia, in which
Shuah, the sixth son of Abraham by Keturah, settled ( Genesis
25:2 ). He took part in each of the three controversies into which Job's friends
entered with him ( Job
8:1 ; 18:1
; 25:1
), and delivered three speeches, very severe and stern in their tone, although
less violent than those of Zophar, but more so than those of Eliphaz.
Hitchcock's Dictionary of Bible Names
old friendship
Smith's Bible Dictionary
(son of contention) The second of Jobs three friends.
He is called "the Shuhite," which implies both his family and nation. ( Job
2:11 ) (B.C. about 2000.)
International Standard Bible Encyclopedia
bil'-dad (bildadh, "Bel has loved"):
The second of the three friends of Job who, coming from distant regions,
make an appointment together to condole with and comfort him in his affliction
(Job
2:11). He is from Shuah, an unknown place somewhere in the countries East
and Southeast of Israel (or the designation Shuhite may be intended to refer to
his ancestor Shuah, one of Abraham's sons by Keturah, Genesis 25:2), and from
his name (compounded with Bel, the name of a Babylonian deity) would seem to represent
the wisdom of the distant East. His three speeches are contained in Job
8 ; 18
and 25. For substance they are largely an echo of what Eliphaz has maintained,
but charged with somewhat increased vehemence (compare Job 8:2
; 18:3
, 4)
because he deems Job's words so impious and wrathful. He is the first to attribute
Job's calamity to actual wickedness; but he gets at it indirectly by accusing
his children (who were destroyed, Job
1:19) of sin to warrant their punishment (Job
8:4). For his contribution to the discussion he appeals to tradition (Job
8:8 - 10),
and taking Eliphaz' cue of cause and effect (Job
8:11) he gives, evidently from the literary stores of wisdom, a description
of the precarious state of the wicked, to which he contrasts, with whatever implication
it involves, the felicitous state of the righteous (Job
8:11 - 22).
His second speech is an intensified description of the wicked man's woes, made
as if to match Job's description of his own desperate case (compare Job
18:5 - 21
with Job
16:6 - 22),
thus tacitly identifying Job with the reprobate wicked. His third speech (Job
25), which is the last utterance of the friends, is brief, subdued in tone,
and for substance is a kind of Parthian shot, reiterating Eliphaz' depravity idea,
the doctrine that dies hardest. This speech marks the final silencing of the friends.
John Franklin Genung
Tags:
bible commentary, bible history, bible reference, bible study, bildad, book of job, define, job, the shuhite
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