Job 25

Bildad

1 Then Bildad the Shuhite replied:

2 "Dominion and awe belong to God;
he establishes order in the heights of heaven.

3 Can his forces be numbered?
Upon whom does his light not rise?

4 How then can a man be righteous before God?
How can one born of woman be pure?

5 If even the moon is not bright
and the stars are not pure in his eyes,

6 how much less man, who is but a maggot—
a son of man, who is only a worm!"

Side Notes:

Bildad's final reply was weak. It ignored Job's examples of the prosperity of the wicked. Instead of attempting to refute Job, Bildad accused Job of pride because he was claiming that his suffering was not the result of sin. Job never claimed to be without sin, but only that his sin could not have caused his present trouble.

vs. 6 It is important to understand that Bildad, not God, was calling man a worm. Human beings are created in God's image (Gen. 1:26, 27). Psalm 8:5 says that man is "a little lower than the heavenly beings." Bildad may have simply been using a poetic description to contrast our worth to the worth and power of God. To come to God, we need not crawl like worms. We can approach him boldly in faith (Hebrews 4:16).