Job 25:1 - Meaning and Application

Bildad deserves credit here for two things. First, he stops arguing about the matter on which he and Job disagreed. Maybe he began to think Job was right, and then it was honest to stop talking, since he cared more about truth than winning. Or if he still thought he was right, he at least knew when enough was enough and would not keep fighting just to have the last word. Perhaps he and the others also realized that Job and they did not differ as much as they first thought. They all admitted that wicked people may prosper for a time, and Job admitted they would be destroyed in the end. If people understood each other better, they might find they are closer in thought than they expected.

Second, Bildad speaks well on the point where Job and he agreed. If our hearts were filled more with awe of God and humility about ourselves, we would not quarrel so easily over uncertain and minor issues. Bildad uses two ways to lift up God and put man in his proper place.

He first shows how great God is, and from that he shows how guilty and unclean man is before him (Job 25:2-4). God is the sovereign Lord of all, and with him are power and holy fear. He has the right to rule because he gave everything its being, and he can enforce every law he gives. He made all things, so he has full authority to direct them as he wills. Whatever he chooses to do, he does, and no one can say to him, “What are you doing?” or “Why do you do this?” (Daniel 4:35). Because he rules all things, he is both owner and governor of all creation. Everything belongs to him, and everything is under his command. That is why he must be feared, meaning honored and obeyed, by all who know him. The seraphim cover their faces before him. In the end, everyone will be made to fear him. Human power is often weak and often mocked, but God’s power is always awe-inspiring.

The holy beings in heaven fully obey him and accept his will without resistance. “He makes peace in his high places” means that heaven is perfectly still and orderly under his rule. The angels never quarrel with God or with one another. They gladly do his will without complaint or debate. So God’s will is done in heaven, and we pray that it may also be done on earth. The sun, moon, and stars keep their courses without colliding. Even here below, where storms often rise, God can command peace and calm the storm into quietness (Psalm 107:29; Psalm 65:7). Notice that the high places belong to him, for “the heavens, even the highest heavens, belong to the Lord” (Psalm 115:16). Peace is God’s work. Wherever real peace exists, he is the one who makes it (Isaiah 57:19). In heaven there is perfect peace because there is perfect holiness, and God himself is there, who is love.

He is also a God of irresistible power: “Is there any number of his armies?” (Job 25:3). We judge a ruler’s greatness partly by the size of his army. God is not only all-powerful in himself, but he also has countless armies at his command. They are like standing troops that never leave service, disciplined troops that never fail, veteran troops long trained in his work, and victorious troops that never lose. All creatures are his hosts, especially the angels. He is Lord of hosts, Lord of all armies. Yet though he has these countless armies, he makes peace. He could make war on us, but he is willing to be at peace with us. Even the heavenly army was sent to announce peace on earth and good will toward people (Luke 2:14).

His care reaches everywhere. “Upon whom does not his light arise?” The sunlight spreads over the whole world, and in the course of the year it touches all places. That is a faint picture of God’s universal knowledge and care over all creation (Psalm 19:6; Matthew 5:45). Everything lives under the light of his understanding and stands open before him. All also enjoy the light of his goodness. This likely points especially to that. He is good to all, and the earth is full of his goodness. He is the best being, as well as the greatest. He has power to destroy, but he chooses to show mercy. All creatures live on his kindness.

From this, Bildad draws a low, but true, view of man: “How then can man be justified with God? Or how can he be clean?” (Job 25:4). Man is not only small, but sinful. He is not only earthly, but unclean. He cannot be justified, that is, shown to be right and accepted, in comparison with God. Human righteousness and holiness, even at their best, are nothing beside God’s holiness (Psalm 89:6). Man also cannot stand against God in debate. Whoever argues against God’s word and providence will surely lose. God will be shown right, and man will be found wrong (Psalm 51:4; Romans 3:4). God’s judgment has no error in it, so there is no valid objection to it and no higher court to appeal to.

And how can man stand before God? If God is so great and glorious, how can a guilty and unclean man appear before him? Because of our actual sins, we are liable to God’s justice and cannot justify ourselves before him. We cannot say, “I am not guilty,” and we have no merit of our own to make up for our guilt. Scripture has already declared all people under sin. Because of our birth from fallen human nature, we are unclean in God’s sight. He sees our impurity, and that impurity makes us unfit for fellowship with him in grace now or for seeing and enjoying him in glory later. So we need to be born again of water and the Holy Spirit, and to be washed again and again in the blood of Christ, that opened fountain of cleansing.

Bildad then shows how even the heavenly bodies are dim and lacking when compared with God, and from that he shows how small and worthless man is.

The lights of heaven are beautiful creatures, yet before God they are like clods of earth (Job 25:5). Look at the moon, bright in its shining, and the stars, those glorious lamps of heaven that many pagans admired so much they worshiped them. In God’s sight, and in comparison with him, they are not pure and have no glory. Their beauty fades beside his greater glory, as a candle loses its light when set in the full sunlight.

God’s glory, shown in his works and rulings, overshadows even the brightest created things (Isaiah 24:23). “The moon will be put to shame, and the sun will be ashamed, because the Lord of hosts will reign on Mount Zion.” The heavenly bodies are often hidden by clouds, and we can plainly see spots on the moon. With strong lenses, we can sometimes even make out spots on the sun. But God sees flaws in them that we do not see. So how could Job speak so confidently to God, when God might see what was wrong in him that Job himself did not notice?

The children of men, though noble creatures, are before God like worms of the earth (Job 25:6). How much less can man be bright in honor, or pure in righteousness, when he is only a worm, and the son of man, whoever he is, is also a worm. Some take this to mean a kind of vermin, something not only low and despised, but harmful and disgusting. Others take it to mean a tiny creature, so small it cannot be seen without help. That is what man is.

This means, first, that man is small and unimportant when compared with God and with the holy angels. He is weak, worthless, and easily brought down, because he comes from corruption and is moving toward corruption. What reason, then, does he have for pride, and how much reason does he have for humility?

Second, man is weak and powerless, so he is a very unequal match for Almighty God. Should a person be foolish enough to argue with his Maker, who could crush him more easily than we can crush a worm?

Third, man is unclean and filthy. He is not pure, because he is a worm, brought forth in decay, and therefore offensive to God. We should marvel at God’s kindness in bringing such worms as we are into covenant and fellowship with himself, and especially at the kindness of the Son of God, who humbled himself so deeply as to say, “I am a worm, and not a man” (Psalm 22:6).