Job 25
OGCTODAY’S ENGLISH VERSION
Bildad
1-2 God is powerful; all must fear him;
he keeps his heavenly kingdom in peace.
3 Can anyone count the angels who serve him?
Is there any place where God’s light does not shine?
4 Can anyone be righteous or pure in God’s eyes? 5 In his eyes even the moon is not bright,
or the stars pure.
6 Then what about man, that worm, that insect?
What is man worth in God’s eyes?
QUESTIONS FOR DISCUSSION 25:1-6
What are the textual problems in Chapter s 25-27?
What could be suggested in the imagery of verse two? Cf. Job 21:22; Job 40:9 ff; Isaiah 24:21.
What is Bildad’s thesis? What is wrong with it?
Is original sin taught in verse four? Discuss.
What is the point of verse five?
Is man a worm? Discuss.
Job 25:1-4
C. MANA LITTLE LOWER THAN THE ANGELS
- Man cannot argue with God. (Job 25:1-4)
TEXT 25:1-4
**1 Then answered Bildad the Shuhite, and said,
2 Dominion and fear are with him;
He maketh peace in his high places.
3 Is there any number of his armies?
And upon whom doth not his light arise?
4 How then can man be Just with God?
Or how can he be clean that is born of a woman?**
COMMENT 25:1-4
**Job 25:1**As with the preceding chapter 24, there are a considerable number of textual problems in the following three Chapter s.[268] The Chapter s 25-27 contain the third speech of Bildad, the eighth response of Job, and the third speech of Zophar. One cannot but be struck by the brevity of Bildad’s speech. He fails miserably in responding to Job. Let the facts of history stand, but the spirit with which Bildad sets them forth must be forever false.
[268] On the technical matters concerning the section of Job, see P. Dhorme, Les chapitres XXV-XXVIII du Livre de Job, Revue Biblique, 1924, pp. 343-356; and R. Tournay, L-‘ordre primitif des chapitres XXIV-XXVIII du Livre de Job, Revue Biblique, 1957, pp. 321-334.
**Job 25:2**God alone is Lord, the omnipotent Creator of the universe. His magnificence inspires awe. Perhaps the imagery In line two stems from His reordering the chaos among the heavenly beingsJob 21:22; Job 40:9 ff; and Isaiah 24:21. The peace comes in the form of retributionDan 10:13; Daniel 10:20 ff and Revelation 12:7-12. The Qumran Targum contains the more specific reference to God in line onedominion and grandeur are with God.[269]
[269] J. P. M. van der Ploeg and A. S. van Der Woude, trans, and eds., Targum De Job (Brill, Leiden, 1971), on this verse.
**Job 25:3**Bildad’s thesis is that God’s power is His purityJob 4:17; Job 15:14. The symbolism here expresses the universal beneficent rule of God. His light emanates and illuminates the entire creation. Nothing is concealed from God’s sight.
**Job 25:4**The argument of Eliphaz in Job 4:17 and Job 15:14-16 is repeated in Job 25:4-6. In comparison to God who can presume to be righteous? No human can be faultlessEcc 7:20. The verse has no reference to what classical protestant and Catholic theology has called original sin.
Job 25:5-6
- Man is not pure before God. (Job 25:5-6)
TEXT 25:5, 6
**5 Behold, even the moon hath no brightness,
And the stars are not pure in his sight:
6 How much less man, that is a worm!
And the son of man, that is a worm!**
COMMENT 25:5, 6
**Job 25:5**Eliphaz had contrasted men and angelsJob 15:15; now Bildad contrasts men and the brightness of the moon and stars. In contrast to God’s radiance, all creation pales into darkness. What then is mana little lower than the angels! In this verse physical light is contrasted with ethical light or righteousnessPsa 8:3-4 and Ecclesiastes 7:20.
**Job 25:6**To Bildad, the smallness of man is symbolic of his worthlessness. In the text the first word suggests decay and the second abasement. No man should have the brashness to assert his innocence before God. Certainly no worm **should argue with God about his integrity or seek self-vindication. Man is only fit to be compared to a maggotJob 7:5; Job 17:14; Job 21:26or to a wormPsa 22:6; Isaiah 14:11; Isaiah 41:14. Bildad not only repeats arguments first uttered by his friends; he introduces a Jobian vocabulary seeking to ensnare Job in his own words. Bildad, like Eliphaz, is a forerunner of Islamic Monotheism, which ignores the facts of good and evil, the nature of God beyond power, and Job’s moral integrity before his holy God.
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