Nachdaily: 5 Minute Perek Of Tanach Covering The Entire Navi. Sefer Yehoshua, Shoftim, Shmuel, Melachim, Yeshaya, Yirmiya, Ye

Welcome to NachDaily with Iyov, perek 18. This is Bildad’s second response to Iyov. The Malbim explains that Bildad is upset about Iyov’s denial of an afterlife and the immortality of the soul because if the soul does not live on, there is no difference between man and animal. Why would God create man “in His image” if there was no spiritual upside to our existence? Since God created man with more spiritual capabilities, we are set aside from the rest of creation. This should make it obvious to any thinking person that while the physical body decays, the neshama, soul, lives on. Bildad feels that true success is only spiritual. Material and physical achievement is not considered a success. Whatever the wicked achieve in this world with material gain is only physical. As they are cut off from true, everlasting spiritual success, they ultimately suffer. The Malbim notes that this is similar to Bildad's original argument, that the righteous suffer in this world in exchange for more reward in the World to