Job 25:5,6

2. Man is not pure before God. (Job 25:5-6)

TEXT 25:5, 6

5 Behold, even the moon hath no brightness,

And the stars are not pure in his sight:

6 How much less man, that is a worm!

And the son of man, that is a worm!

COMMENT 25:5, 6

Job 25:5Eliphaz had contrasted men and angelsJob 15:15; now Bildad contrasts men and the brightness of the moon and stars. In contrast to God's radiance, all creation pales into darkness. What then is mana little lower than the angels! In this verse physical light is contrasted with ethical light or righteousnessPsalms 8:3-4 and Ecclesiastes 7:20.

Job 25:6To Bildad, the smallness of man is symbolic of his worthlessness. In the text the first word suggests decay and the second abasement. No man should have the brashness to assert his innocence before God. Certainly no worm should argue with God about his integrity or seek self-vindication. Man is only fit to be compared to a maggotJob 7:5; Job 17:14; Job 21:26or to a wormPsalms 22:6; Isaiah 14:11; Isaiah 41:14. Bildad not only repeats arguments first uttered by his friends; he introduces a Jobian vocabulary seeking to ensnare Job in his own words. Bildad, like Eliphaz, is a forerunner of Islamic Monotheism, which ignores the facts of good and evil, the nature of God beyond power, and Job's moral integrity before his holy God.