Job 25 Study Notes: Bildad on Human Impurity
Bildad gives his brief final speech, praising God’s rule and His countless troops. He asks how any mortal can be right with God when even the moon and stars fall short of purity, and he compares human beings to maggots and worms.
General
How does Bildad the Shuhite open his short third speech in 25:2-3?
Answer: By praising God’s rule, His countless forces and His light over all
Bildad’s final speech is very short. He begins by saying that rule and reverence belong to God, who brings peace to the highest heavens (25:2). No one can count God’s forces, and His light shines on everyone (25:3). These statements are true in themselves. Isaiah says God leads out the vast host of stars, counted so that none is missing (Isaiah 40:26), and Jesus says the Father makes His sun rise on both evil and good people (Matthew 5:45). But Bildad praises God’s greatness in order to make his next point, that no human being can be pure before such a God (25:4). His aim is still to show that Job must be guilty. At the end of the book the LORD says the three friends did not speak about Him accurately, as Job did (42:7).
- Job 25:1-3 (BSB)“Then Bildad the Shuhite replied: “Dominion and awe belong to God; He establishes harmony in the heights of heaven. Can His troops be numbered? On whom does His light not rise?”Bildad opens his third speech by praising God’s rule, His forces and His light.
- Isaiah 40:26 (BSB)“Lift up your eyes on high: Who created all these? He leads forth the starry host by number; He calls each one by name. Because of His great power and mighty strength, not one of them is missing.”Isaiah says God leads out the starry host by number and not one is missing.
- Matthew 5:45 (BSB)“that you may be sons of your Father in heaven. He causes His sun to rise on the evil and the good, and sends rain on the righteous and the unrighteous.”Jesus says the Father makes His sun rise on the evil and the good.
- Job 42:7 (BSB)“After the LORD had spoken these words to Job, He said to Eliphaz the Temanite, “My wrath is kindled against you and your two friends. For you have not spoken about Me accurately, as My servant Job has.”The LORD later says the friends did not speak about Him accurately, as Job did.
Theological
How does Bildad begin his brief third speech in 25:2-3?
Answer: By praising God’s rule, His countless forces and His light over all
Bildad’s last speech is brief. He opens by ascribing dominion and awe to God, who establishes peace in the heights (25:2), whose forces are beyond counting and whose light rises upon all (25:3). The assertions are true in themselves, matching Isaiah’s picture of the starry host led out by number (Isaiah 40:26) and Christ’s word that the Father makes His sun rise on evil and good alike (Matthew 5:45). Yet Bildad exalts divine majesty only to press his conclusion that no mortal can be pure before God (25:4), still in service of the friends’ case against Job. The LORD finally says the friends did not speak about Him accurately, as Job did (42:7).
- Job 25:1-3 (BSB)“Then Bildad the Shuhite replied: “Dominion and awe belong to God; He establishes harmony in the heights of heaven. Can His troops be numbered? On whom does His light not rise?”Bildad opens his third speech by praising God’s rule, His forces and His light.
- Isaiah 40:26 (BSB)“Lift up your eyes on high: Who created all these? He leads forth the starry host by number; He calls each one by name. Because of His great power and mighty strength, not one of them is missing.”Isaiah says God leads out the starry host by number and not one is missing.
- Matthew 5:45 (BSB)“that you may be sons of your Father in heaven. He causes His sun to rise on the evil and the good, and sends rain on the righteous and the unrighteous.”Jesus says the Father makes His sun rise on the evil and the good.
- Job 42:7 (BSB)“After the LORD had spoken these words to Job, He said to Eliphaz the Temanite, “My wrath is kindled against you and your two friends. For you have not spoken about Me accurately, as My servant Job has.”The LORD later says the friends did not speak about Him accurately, as Job did.
General
Bildad implies in 25:4 that no mortal can be righteous in God’s sight. How does the rest of Scripture treat this claim?
Answer: It is true that no one is righteous before God on the basis of merit
The point behind Bildad’s question is true in itself. Job had asked nearly the same thing near the start of his reply to Bildad’s first speech (9:2), and David confesses that no living person stands righteous in God’s sight (Psalm 143:2). The problem is how Bildad uses the truth. He treats it as a weapon to silence Job and prove his suffering is deserved, and the LORD later says the friends did not speak about Him accurately, as Job did (42:7). Bildad asks the question but offers no answer. The rest of Scripture gives one: everyone has sinned and falls short of God’s glory, yet sinners are declared right with Him as a free gift of grace, by means of the redemption (the setting free) that Christ Jesus accomplished, and this righteousness is given to everyone who believes, through faith in Christ (Romans 3:22-24). To be justified means to be declared right with God, and this comes as His gift, received by trusting Christ, not as something earned.
- Job 25:4 (BSB)“How then can a man be just before God? How can one born of woman be pure?”Bildad asks how a man can be just before God or one born of woman be pure.
- Job 9:2 (BSB)““Yes, I know that it is so, but how can a mortal be righteous before God?”Job himself had asked how a mortal can be righteous before God.
- Psalm 143:2 (BSB)“Do not bring Your servant into judgment, for no one alive is righteous before You.”David confesses that no one alive is righteous before God.
- Romans 3:22-24 (BSB)“And this righteousness from God comes through faith in Jesus Christ to all who believe. There is no distinction, for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, and are justified freely by His grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus.”Paul says righteousness from God comes through faith in Christ to all who believe, and that all who have sinned are justified freely by His grace.
- Job 42:7 (BSB)“After the LORD had spoken these words to Job, He said to Eliphaz the Temanite, “My wrath is kindled against you and your two friends. For you have not spoken about Me accurately, as My servant Job has.”The LORD says the friends did not speak about Him accurately, as Job did.
Theological
Bildad’s question in 25:4 implies that no mortal can stand righteous before God. How does the wider canon treat this claim?
Answer: It is true that no one is righteous before God on the basis of merit
Bildad’s question is sound as a statement of human inability: Job had raised it himself (9:2), and David confesses that no one living is righteous before God (Psalm 143:2). Bildad’s error lies in its application, wielding a universal truth to establish Job’s particular guilt, and the LORD later says the friends did not speak about Him accurately (42:7). Bildad poses the question without resolving it. The gospel resolves it: all have sinned, yet are justified as a free gift of grace on the ground of Christ’s redeeming work, a righteousness from God given to everyone who believes, through faith in Christ (Romans 3:22-24). Righteousness before God is never achieved by human merit; it is a gift of grace received through faith.
- Job 25:4 (BSB)“How then can a man be just before God? How can one born of woman be pure?”Bildad asks how a man can be just before God or one born of woman be pure.
- Job 9:2 (BSB)““Yes, I know that it is so, but how can a mortal be righteous before God?”Job himself had asked how a mortal can be righteous before God.
- Psalm 143:2 (BSB)“Do not bring Your servant into judgment, for no one alive is righteous before You.”David confesses that no one alive is righteous before God.
- Romans 3:22-24 (BSB)“And this righteousness from God comes through faith in Jesus Christ to all who believe. There is no distinction, for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, and are justified freely by His grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus.”Paul says righteousness from God comes through faith in Christ to all who believe, and that all who have sinned are justified freely by His grace.
- Job 42:7 (BSB)“After the LORD had spoken these words to Job, He said to Eliphaz the Temanite, “My wrath is kindled against you and your two friends. For you have not spoken about Me accurately, as My servant Job has.”The LORD says the friends did not speak about Him accurately, as Job did.
General
True or False: Bildad argues in 25:5-6 that since even the moon and stars fall short in God’s sight, a human being, whom he likens to a maggot and a worm, falls far shorter.
Answer: True
This is true. Bildad reasons from the greater to the lesser: if the moon lacks brightness and the stars lack purity in God’s eyes, then surely a mortal is lower still, whom he calls a maggot and a worm (25:5-6). Eliphaz had used the same argument, saying that if the skies themselves lack purity before God, humans are far worse (15:14-16). Bildad’s point shows the huge gap between God and His creatures, but it says nothing about God’s care for people. By contrast, David looks at the same moon and stars and marvels that God pays attention to man at all (Psalm 8:3-4). And when the LORD calls His people a worm in Isaiah, He follows it with a promise to help them as their Redeemer (Isaiah 41:14).
- Job 25:5-6 (BSB)“If even the moon does not shine, and the stars are not pure in His sight, how much less man, who is but a maggot, and the son of man, who is but a worm!””Bildad argues from the moon and stars to the lowliness of human beings.
- Job 15:14-16 (BSB)“What is man, that he should be pure, or one born of woman, that he should be righteous? If God puts no trust in His holy ones, if even the heavens are not pure in His eyes, how much less man, who is vile and corrupt, who drinks injustice like water?”Eliphaz had used the same argument from heaven’s impurity to human corruption.
- Psalm 8:3-4 (BSB)“When I behold Your heavens, the work of Your fingers, the moon and the stars, which You have set in place— what is man that You are mindful of him, or the son of man that You care for him?”Looking at the moon and stars, David marvels that God is mindful of man.
- Isaiah 41:14 (BSB)“Do not fear, O Jacob, you worm, O few men of Israel. I will help you,” declares the LORD. “Your Redeemer is the Holy One of Israel.”The LORD addresses Jacob as a worm, yet promises to help him as his Redeemer.
Theological
True or False: In 25:5-6 Bildad reasons that since even the moon and stars fall short in God’s sight, a human being, likened to a maggot and a worm, falls much further short.
Answer: True
This is true. Bildad argues from the greater to the lesser: if the moon lacks brightness and the stars lack purity before God, how much less a mortal, whom he calls a maggot and a worm (25:5-6). Eliphaz had made the identical move from the impurity of the heavens to human corruption (15:14-16). The argument rightly marks the distance between Creator and creature but is silent on God’s gracious care for His creatures. David contemplates the same moon and stars and marvels that God is mindful of man (Psalm 8:3-4), and when the LORD addresses His people as a worm, He pairs it with the promise of help from their Redeemer (Isaiah 41:14).
- Job 25:5-6 (BSB)“If even the moon does not shine, and the stars are not pure in His sight, how much less man, who is but a maggot, and the son of man, who is but a worm!””Bildad argues from the moon and stars to the lowliness of human beings.
- Job 15:14-16 (BSB)“What is man, that he should be pure, or one born of woman, that he should be righteous? If God puts no trust in His holy ones, if even the heavens are not pure in His eyes, how much less man, who is vile and corrupt, who drinks injustice like water?”Eliphaz had used the same argument from heaven’s impurity to human corruption.
- Psalm 8:3-4 (BSB)“When I behold Your heavens, the work of Your fingers, the moon and the stars, which You have set in place— what is man that You are mindful of him, or the son of man that You care for him?”Looking at the moon and stars, David marvels that God is mindful of man.
- Isaiah 41:14 (BSB)“Do not fear, O Jacob, you worm, O few men of Israel. I will help you,” declares the LORD. “Your Redeemer is the Holy One of Israel.”The LORD addresses Jacob as a worm, yet promises to help him as his Redeemer.