Bible Commentaries
Job 25

Introduction

Job Chapter 25

Job 25:1 "Then answered Bildad the Shuhite, and said,"

Job 25:2 "Dominion and fear [are] with him, he maketh peace in his high places." This answer from Job’s friend, Bildad, was not answering what Job had said in the last chapter. He was bringing up the greatness of God, which is undeniable, and also, bringing up the worthlessness of man. God is the absolute Almighty of the universe. God set the world into motion and created all living things. Since they are His creation, they are controlled entirely by God. The only time there will be real peace on the earth is when the King of Peace {Jesus Christ} reigns here as King of kings and Lord of lords.

Job 25:3 "Is there any number of his armies? and upon whom doth not his light arise?" We know from specific Scriptures that there are at least 20,000 chariots of God. There are thousands of angels who bear arms for God. One of the earliest mentions of the angels being armed was when God stationed armed guards at the gate of Eden to keep Adam and Eve from going back into the garden. Every living being is the answer to, "upon whom doth not his light arise?"

Job 25:4 "How then can man be justified with God? or how can he be clean [that is] born of a woman?" The Light of God that is within all who dare to believe is the Light of God. The flesh of man is born in sin. The flesh is in constant warfare against the spirit. The flesh of man wants to sin. It is the spirit of man which reconciles with God. To be justified means just as if I had never sinned. The only way a person can be justified is for the penalty for his sin to be paid. Jesus Christ paid the penalty of death for the sins of the world. Job looked forward to that very event, when he said his Redeemer liveth.

Job 25:5 "Behold even to the moon, and it shineth not; yea, the stars are not pure in his sight." The moon and the stars are no more than containers for light. They are not creative Light. Jesus Christ is the source of all Light. The moon is a reflector of an existing light.

Job 25:6 "How much less man, [that is] a worm? and the son of man, [which is] a worm?" Bildad forgot that man was made in the image of God. Compared to God, he might be thought of as a worm. Bildad said, that Job was of no greater value to God than the lowly worm. Job really had never said that he was free of sin. He was forgiven.

Job 25 Questions

1. Who spoke in the first and second verse, here?

2. What two things was Bildad saying in this chapter?

3. When is the only time there will be real peace on the earth?

4. How many chariots do many Scriptures say God has?

5. When is the first specific mention of armed guards of God on the earth?

6. Every __________ _________is the answer to "upon whom doth not his light shine?"

7. What is the Light within the believers?

8. It is the _________ of man that is born in sin.

9. What does "justified" mean?

10. What are the moon and the stars?

11. Who is the source of all Light?

12. What did he call man in Job 25:6?

13. What had Bildad forgotten?

Verses 1-6

Job 25:1-6

Job 25

BILDAD’S THIRD AND FINAL SPEECH:

THIS BRIEF RESPONSE IS THE LAST WORD JOB’S THREE FRIENDS HAD TO SAY

Job 25:1-6

"Then answered Bildad the Shuhite, and said,

Dominion and fear are with him;

He maketh peace in his high places.

Is there any number of his armies?

And upon whom doth not his light arise?

How then can man be just with God

Or how can he be clean that is born of a woman?

Behold, even the moon hath no brightness,

And the stars are not pure in his sight:

How much less man, that is a worm!

The son of man that is a worm!"

All that Bildad said here was as applicable to himself as it was to Job; and there does not appear to be any logical argument whatever in this speech.

"The stars are not pure in his sight" (Job 25:5). One may well wonder where he got an idea like this. When God viewed the Creation, "He beheld everything that he had made, and behold, it was very good" (Genesis 1:31). This means that the stars were pure in God’s sight; thus Bildad’s word here is another example of the fact that Job’s friends had not spoken of God the things that were right (Job 42:7).

It is believed by many scholars that much of this last half of Job is obscured by the imperfect preservation of the text, The critical analysis of these middle chapters takes special notice of, "(1) The extreme brevity of Bildad’s speech, (2) the similarity of some things in Job 24 to what Bildad said, and (3) the fact that much of Job 27 seems to contradict what Job had previously said." Any rearrangement of the text in these chapters should be delayed until scholars can agree on the way it ought to be presented.. We shall limit our comments to an exploration of the text as it stands.

Meredith G. Kline has given us what this writer considers to be a completely sufficient comment on this chapter.

"Bildad avoids Job’s challenge in the last verse of the previous chapter. Anxious, however, to say something, he repeats some of Eliphaz’ earlier remarks (Job 4:17 ff and Job 15:14 ff). This inept repetition by Bildad indicates that Job’s philosophical friends have exhausted their resources of wisdom. Bildad’s brief and feeble effort represents their expiring breath. Zophar’s subsequent failure to speak is the silence of the vanquished."

E.M. Zerr:

Job 25:1-2. Bildad’s turn came next; his was the second in order of the speeches. It is significant that his speech was very brief and contained nothing new. The strength of Job’s position has been shown by the fact that the friends were unable to answer a single one of his arguments. Instead, their speeches became weaker and weaker, and Bildad finally was able only to make this weak speech of 6 verses. The next in line would have been Zophar, but he will not be heard any more at all. This paragraph describes the greatness of God, all of which is admitted but is not to the point.

Job 25:3. The power of God is likened to a king with many soldiers at his command.

Job 25:4. No man can be just in the sight of God and Job was foremost in teaching that truth. As to the last sentence, Job had already affirmed its answer in the noted passage of Job 14:1-4.

Job 25:5. God’s power to stop the shining of the moon does not prove any objection to the light of that body. The stars are material things and not subject to the laws of righteousness.

Job 25:6. Of course one man would be a worm if his father were one. The word is from two different originals that have practically the same meaning. The idea is that man is of such lowly origin that he will perish like a worm. In view of that no man should think to compare himself with God. To all of this Job would have given his approval but it was not on the subject.