Yes, I am reminded of an old joke that I heard in childhood: Q. Who was the shortest man in the Bible? A. Bildad the Shuhite [Sounds like Shoe-height, get it?]
And in Job 18 we find the words of Bildad the Shuhite: "He has no offspring or descendants among his people, no survivor where once he lived. People of the west are appalled at his fate; those of the east are seized with horror. Surely such is the dwelling of an evil man; such is the place of one who does not know God."
Ok, so does this mean that having no offspring or descendants necessarily signifies a person's wickedness? How can you boast of knowing God when you have not yet reproduced yourself? Yes, I do remember that I once sang a song about a ring and yet there was no ring. It was only an performance, acting, about an abstract and theoretical ring in principle.
Is there no good person without descendants and is there no evil person who has descendants? Is the having of descendants or offspring necessarily the signal that one knows God, whereas the person who has no offspring or descendants is necessarily unknown to God?
Knowing that Job's friends were later harshly rebuked by God for being mostly useless, and that my understanding of the Gospel and my personal salvation mostly is not based on the commentaries of Bildad the Shuhite, I somehow do not put very much weight on this particular passage of the Bible. Sometimes these commentaries are there to show us what not to say.
