Verses 8-10
Job 8:8-10 8 For inquire only of former ages,
And attend to the research of their fathers - 9 For we are of yesterday, without experience,
Because our days upon earth are a shadow - 10 Shall they not teach thee, speak to thee,
And bring forth words from their heart?
This challenge calls Deu 32:7 to mind. לבּך is to be supplied to כּונן; the conjecture of Olshausen, וּבונן, is good, but unnecessary. רשׁון is after the Aramaic form of writing, comp. Job 15:7, where this and the ordinary form are combined. The “research of their fathers,” i.e., which the fathers of former generations have bequeathed to them, is the collective result of their research, the profound wisdom of the ancients gathered from experience. Our ephemeral and shadowy life is not sufficient for passing judgment on the dealings of God; we must call history and tradition to our aid. We are תּמול (per aphaeresin, the same as אתמול), yesterday = of yesterday; it is not necessary to read, with Olshausen, מתּמול. There is no occasion for us to suppose that Job 8:9 is an antithesis to the long duration of life of primeval man. לב (Job 8:10) is not the antithesis of mouth; but has the pregnant signification of a feeling, i.e., intelligent heart, as we find לבב אישׁ, a man of heart, i.e., understanding, Job 34:10, Job 34:34. יוציאוּ, promunt, calls to mind Mat 13:52. Now follow familiar sayings of the ancients, not directly quoted, but the wisdom of the fathers, which Bildad endeavours to reproduce.
Verses 11-15
Job 8:11-15 11 Doth papyrus grow up without mire?
Doth the reed shoot up without water? 12 It is still in luxuriant verdure, when it is not cut off,
Then before all other grass it with 13 So is the way of all forgetters of God,
