Bible Commentaries

Bildad Rebukes Job Again.

Since Job had asserted his innocence in such emphatic terms, Bildad believed it incumbent upon him to reprove him, chiefly in two propositions, namely, that man cannot argue with God, and that no man is pure before God. He thereby changed the issue; for the original point of the friends had been that Job's affliction proved him guilty of some special transgression in the sight of God.

v. 1. Then answered Bildad, the Shuhite, and said, speaking for the last time,

v. 2. Dominion and fear are with Him, the awe through which God exercises His sovereign power; He maketh peace in His high places, even the heavens and all their host being subject to Him and bowing to His decrees without argument.

v. 3. Is there any number of His armies, of whatever forces of angels and of heavenly powers He chooses to carry out His will? And upon whom doth His light arise? The great light of God's majesty surpasses all understanding of creatures, it cannot be grasped by their finite minds, 1Ti 6:16. It shuts off in advance all criticism on the part of men.

v. 4. How, then, can man be justified with God? How could any mortal hope to vindicate himself in God's sight? Or how can he be clean that is born of a woman? It is impossible for any man to contend with the Almighty in the hope of establishing his moral purity.

v. 5. Behold even to the moon, and it shineth not, the moon itself pales beside the absolute glory of God's light; yea, the stars are not pure in His sight, their scintillating brilliancy also fades into darkness beside God's majesty.

v. 6. How much less man, that is a worm, mortal man being like a maggot given to corruption in God's sight, and the son of man, which is a worm, weak and groveling in the dust before the Lord's almighty power! So Bildad emphasized the general sinfulness of man, his statements implying the admonition that Job should now confess with proper humility. It is so much easier to reprove others than to take a proper inventory of one's own weaknesses and sins.