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J O B
CHAP. XXV.
Bildad here makes a very short reply to Job’s last discourse, as one
that began to be tired of the cause. He drops the main question
concerning the prosperity of wicked men, as being unable to answer the
proofs Job had produced in the foregoing chapter: but, because he
thought Job had made too bold with the divine majesty in his appeals to
the divine tribunal
(ch. xxiii.),
he in a few words shows the infinite distance there is between God and
man, teaching us,
I. To think highly and honourably of God,
II. To think meanly of ourselves,
These, however misapplied to Job, are two good lessons for us all to
learn.
| God Exalted and Man Abased. | B. C. 1520. |
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1 Then answered Bildad the Shuhite, and said,
2 Dominion and fear are with him, he maketh peace in his high
places.
3 Is there any number of his armies? and upon whom doth not his
light arise?
4 How then can man be justified with God? or how can he be
clean that is born of a woman?
5 Behold even to the moon, and it shineth not; yea, the stars
are not pure in his sight.
6 How much less man, that is a worm? and the son of man,
which is a worm?
Bildad is to be commended here for two things:–
1. For speaking no more on the subject about which Job and he differed.
Perhaps he began to think Job was in the right, and then it was justice
to say no more concerning it, as one that contended for truth, not for
victory, and therefore, for the finding of truth, would be content to
lose the victory; or, if he still thought himself in the right, yet he
knew when he had said enough, and would not wrangle endlessly for the
last word. Perhaps indeed one reason why he and the rest of them let
fall this debate was because they perceived that Job and they did not
differ so much in opinion as they thought: they owned that wicked
people might prosper a while, and Job owned they would be destroyed at
last; how little then was the difference! If disputants would
understand one another better, perhaps they would find themselves
nearer one another than they imagined.
2. For speaking so well on the matter about which Job and he were
agreed. If we would all get our hearts filled with awful thoughts of
God and humble thoughts of ourselves, we should not be so apt as we are
to fall out about matters of doubtful disputation, which are trifling
or intricate.
Two ways Bildad takes here to exalt God and abase man:–
I. He shows how glorious God is, and thence infers how guilty and
impure man is before him,
Let us see then,
1. What great things are here said of God, designed to possess Job with
a reverence of him, and to check his reflections upon him and upon his
dealings with him:
(1.) God is the sovereign Lord of all, and with him is terrible
majesty. Dominion and fear are with him,
v. 2.
He that gave being has an incontestable authority to give laws, and can
enforce the laws he gives. He that made all has a right to dispose of
all according to his own will, with an absolute sovereignty. Whatever
he will do he does, and may do; and none can say unto him, What
doest thou? or Why doest thou so?
Dan. iv. 35.
His having dominion (or being Dominus—Lord) bespeaks him
both owner and ruler of all the creatures. They are all his, and they
are all under his direction and at his disposal. Hence it follows that
he is to be feared (that is, reverenced and obeyed), that he is feared
by all that know him (the seraphim cover their faces before him), and
that, first or last, all will be made to fear him. Men’s dominion is
often despicable, often despised, but God is always terrible.
(2.) The glorious inhabitants of the upper world are all perfectly
observant of him and entirely acquiesce in his will: He maketh peace
in his high places. He enjoys himself in a perfect tranquillity.
The holy angels never quarrel with him, nor with one another, but
entirely acquiesce in his will, and unanimously execute it without
murmuring or disputing. Thus the will of God is done in heaven; and
thus we pray that it may be done by us and others on earth. The sun,
moon, and stars, keep their courses, and never clash with one another:
nay, even in this lower region, which is often disturbed with storms
and tempests, yet when God pleases he commands peace, by making the
storm a calm,
Ps. cvii. 29; lxv. 7.
Observe, The high places are his high places; for the heaven,
even the heavens, are the Lord’s
in a peculiar manner. Peace is God’s work; where it is made it is he
that makes it,
In heaven there is perfect peace; for there is perfect holiness, and
there is God, who is love.
(3.) He is a God of irresistible power: Is there any number of his
armies?
v. 3.
The greatness and power of princes are judged of by their armies.
God is not only himself almighty, but he has numberless numbers of
armies at his beck and disposal,–standing armies that are never
disbanded,–regular troops, and well disciplined, that are never to
seek, never at a loss, that never mutiny,–veteran troops, that have
been long in his service,–victorious troops, that never failed of
success nor were ever foiled. All the creatures are his hosts, angels
especially. He is Lord of all, Lord of hosts. He has numberless armies,
and yet makes peace. He could make war upon us, but is willing to be at
peace with us; and even the heavenly hosts were sent to proclaim
peace on earth and good will towards men,
Luke ii. 14.
(4.) His providence extends itself to all: Upon whom does not his
light arise? The light of the sun is communicated to all parts of
the world, and, take the year round, to all equally. See
That is a faint resemblance of the universal cognizance and care God
takes of the whole creation,
All are under the light of his knowledge and are naked and open before
him. All partake of the light of his goodness: it seems especially to
be meant of that. He is good to all; the earth is full of his
goodness. He is Deus optimus–God, the best of beings, as well
as maximus–the greatest: he has power to destroy; but his
pleasure is to show mercy. All the creatures live upon his bounty.
2. What low things are here said of man, and very truly and justly
(v. 4):
How then can man be justified with God? Or how can he be clean?
Man is not only mean, but vile, not only earthly, but filthy; he cannot
be justified, he cannot be clean,
(1.) In comparison with God. Man’s righteousness and holiness, at the
best, are nothing to God’s,
(2.) In debate with God. He that will quarrel with the word and
providence of God must unavoidably go by the worst. God will be
justified, and then man will be condemned,
There is no error in God’s judgment, and therefore there lies no
exception against it, nor appeal from it.
(3.) In the sight of God. If God is so great and glorious, how can man,
who is guilty and impure, appear before him? Note,
[1.] Man, by reason of his actual transgressions, is obnoxious to God’s
justice and cannot in himself be justified before him: he can neither
plead Not guilty, nor plead any merit of his own to balance or
extenuate his guilt. The scripture has concluded all under sin.
[2.] Man, by reason of his original corruption, as he is born of a
woman, is odious to God’s holiness, and cannot be clean in his sight.
God sees his impurity, and it is certain that by it he is rendered
utterly unfit for communion and fellowship with God in grace here and
for the vision and fruition of him in glory hereafter. We have need
therefore to be born again of water and of the Holy Ghost, and to be
bathed again and again in the blood of Christ, that fountain
opened.
II. He shows how dark and defective even the heavenly bodies are in the
sight of God, and in comparison with him, and thence infers how little,
and mean, and worthless, man is.
1. The lights of heaven, though beauteous creatures, are before God as
clods of earth
(v. 5):
Behold even to the moon, walking in brightness, and the stars,
those glorious lamps of heaven, which the heathen were so charmed with
the lustre of that they worshipped them–yet, in God’s sight, in
comparison with him, they shine not, they are not pure; they have no
glory, by reason of the glory which excelleth, as a candle, though it
burn, yet does not shine when it is set in the clear light of the sun.
The glory of God, shining in his providences, eclipses the glory of the
brightest creatures,
The moon shall be confounded, and the sun ashamed, when the Lord of
hosts shall reign in Mount Sion. The heavenly bodies are often
clouded; we plainly see spots in the moon, and, with the help of
glasses, may sometimes discern spots upon the sun too: but God sees
spots in them that we do not see. How durst Job then so confidently
appeal to God, who would discover that amiss in him which he was not
aware of in himself?
2. The children of men, though noble creatures, are before God but as
worms of the earth
(v. 6):
How much less does man shine in honour, how much less is
he pure in righteousness that is a worm, and the son of man,
whoever he be, that is a worm!–a vermin (so some), not only mean
and despicable, but noxious and detestable; a mite (so others),
the smallest animal, which cannot be discerned with the naked eye, but
through a magnifying glass. Such a thing is man.
(1.) So mean, and little, and inconsiderable, in comparison with God
and with the holy angels: so worthless and despicable, having his
original in corruption, and hastening to corruption. What little reason
has man to be proud, and what great reason to be humble!
(2.) So weak and impotent, and so easily crushed, and therefore a very
unequal match for Almighty God. Shall man be such a fool as to contend
with his Maker, who can tread him to pieces more easily than we can a
worm?
(3.) So sordid and filthy. Man is not pure for he is a worm, hatched in
putrefaction, and therefore odious to God. Let us therefore wonder at
God’s condescension in taking such worms as we are into covenant and
communion with himself, especially at the condescension of the Son of
God, in emptying himself so far as to say, I am a worm, and no
man,
Ps. xxii. 6.
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