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Job Chapter
Twenty-five
New King James Version (NKJV)
INTRODUCTION TO JOB 25
This
chapter contains Bildad's reply to Job
such an one as it is; in which
declining the controversy between them
he endeavours to dissuade him from
attempting to lay his cause before God
and think to justify himself before
him
from the consideration of the majesty of God
described by the dominion he
is possessed of; the fear creatures stand in of him; the peace he makes in his
high places; the number of his armies
and the vast extent of his light
Job 25:1; and from
the impossibility of man's being justified with him
or clean before him
argued from thence
Job 25:4; and which
is further illustrated by a comparison of the celestial bodies with men
and by
an argument from the greater to the less
that if they lose their lustre and
purity in his sight
much more man
a mean despicable worm
Job 25:5.
Job 25:1 Then
Bildad the Shuhite answered and said:
YLT
1And Bildad the Shuhite
answereth and saith: --
Then answered Bildad the Shuhite
.... Not to what Job had
just now delivered
in order to disprove that
that men
guilty of the grossest
crimes
often go unpunished in this life
and prosper and succeed
and die in
peace and quietness
as other men; either because he was convinced of the truth
of what he had said
or else because he thought he was an obstinate man
and
that it was best to let him alone
and say no more to him
since there was no
likelihood of working any conviction on him; wherefore he only tries to possess
his mind of the greatness and majesty of God
in order to deter him from applying
to God in a judicial way
and expecting redress and relief from him;
and said; as follows.
Job 25:2 2 “Dominion and fear belong
to Him; He makes peace in His high places.
YLT
2The rule and fear [are]
with Him
Making peace in His high places.
Dominion and fear are with him
.... Not with
man
as Sephorno interprets it
as that with him is power to rule over the
imagination (the evil figment of his heart) to choose the good
and refuse the
evil; and with him is fear of punishment
and also the fear of God to restrain
him from evil; but with God
as may easily be perceived from the whole context
though his name is not expressed in this clause
and not till Job 25:4; this
dominion he is possessed of is universal; his kingdom rules over all
over all
the angels
good and bad; over all men
over all the nations of the world
and
the great men in it
the kings and princes of it; and over all
of every age
sex
and condition; and it is absolute and uncontrollable; he governs according
to his will
and is not to be controlled in his ways; nor is he accountable to
any for what he does
and his kingdom is an everlasting one
and his dominion
for ever and ever: and by the fear that is with him is not meant actively
with
which he fears; for he is afraid of none
be they ever so great and mighty
Job 22:4; but
passively
with which he is feared; for holy and reverend is his name
and so
his nature
and all that belong to him; he is feared by the angels in heaven
who cover their faces before him
and cast their crowns at his feet; and by the
saints on earth
in whose assemblies he is served with reverence and godly
fear; and should be stood in awe of by all the inhabitants of the world
because of the glory of his nature
the greatness of his works
and the
goodness of his providence:
he maketh peace in his high places; in the high places of
his earth
and among the great men of it
creating and commanding peace
and
causing war among them to cease
whenever it is his pleasure; and in the
regions of the air
where
though there are often thunder and lightning
storms
and tempests of wind
hail
and rain
yet
when he says
Peace
be still
all
is serene and quiet; and in the orbs of the heaven
the sun
moon
and stars
which know their appointed times and seasons
and keep their place or course
and do their work and office in the most easy and cheerful manner; and among
the angels in the highest heaven
which are properly his high places
who
though their numbers are so great
and they themselves thrones
dominions
principalities
and powers
and have various offices and different work
assigned them
readily do his will
and are in the utmost harmony and concord
among themselves
show no reluctance to him
nor any discord to each other: now
Bildad would have Job consider whether he could think himself so significant
that cognizance would be taken of him and his cause by so great
glorious
and
majestic a thing; or that he would suffer his high places
where peace reigned
to be disturbed by his noise and brawl.
Job 25:3 3 Is there any number to His
armies? Upon whom does His light not rise?
YLT
3Is their [any] number to
His troops? And on whom ariseth not His light?
Is there any number of his armies?.... His armies in
heaven
the heavenly host of angels
which are innumerable; there are more than
twelve legions of them
thousand and ten thousand times ten thousand
employed
in a military way
for the safety and preservation of the saints; see Genesis 32:1; and
the sun
moon
and stars
often called the host of heaven
the latter of which
cannot be numbered
and which fought in their courses against Sisera
Judges 5:20; and
his armies on earth
all the inhabitants of it; yea
every creature
even the
smallest insect in it
which are without number: thus
frogs
lice
flies
and
locusts
were the armies of God
with which he fought against Pharaoh and the
Egyptians
see Joel 2:11;
and upon whom doth not his light arise? either
natural light
that grand luminary the sun
which rises on all
the evil and
the good
nor is anything hid from the light and heat of it; or moral light
the light of nature
with which everyone that comes into the world is
enlightened by him; or the light of providential goodness
which is unto all
and over all his creatures; the whole earth is full of it
and all the
inhabitants have a share in it; nor is anything hid from his all piercing
all
penetrating
all seeing eye
who is light itself
and dwells in light
inaccessible
and from which light nothing can be hid.
Job 25:4 4 How then can man be
righteous before God? Or how can he be pure who is born of a woman?
YLT
4And what? is man righteous
with God? And what? is he pure -- born of a woman?
How then can man be justified with God? Since he sees
all his ways and works
his secret as well as open sins; either be more just
than he
as Eliphaz expresses it
Job 4:17; which no
man in his senses will say; or just as he is
and upon a level with him
or in
comparison of him
or before him
and in his sight: and this is what Job
himself denies
Job 9:2; for
however righteous a man may be in his own sight
or in the sight of others
he
cannot of himself be justified in the sight of God; nor can any be justified
with him by his own righteousness
because the best righteousness of man is
imperfect; and
if Bildad thought this was the sentiment of Job
he mistook
him; for
what he meant by coming to the seat of God
and ordering his cause
before him
Job 23:2; to which
Bildad seems to refer
and being judged by him
when he doubted not but he
should be acquitted
was no other than the justification of his cause
and not
of his person before God; or that he should be cleared of the imputation of
hypocrisy
and of being the sinner and wicked man
and guilty of very bad
things
though secret and private
for which he was afflicted; for otherwise
Job knew full well that he could not be justified with God by his own personal
righteousness
for he knew himself to be a sinner
and owns it; nor did he
think himself perfect
and his righteousness a complete one; and therefore he
expected not to be justified by it; he knew his living Redeemer
and believed
in him for righteousness
and expected the justification of his person
and his
acceptance with God
only by him; and in this way there are many that are
justified with God secretly
"in foro Dei"
in the court of God
and
in his sight
who always beholds his people as righteous in Christ
and openly
"in foro conscientiae"
in the court of conscience
when they believe
in him; and who will be publicly justified
and declared righteous
at the day
of judgment:
or how can he be clean that is born of a woman? which
suggests a doctrine that Job as firmly believed as Bildad did
that all men are
unclean by natural generation
or as they are born into the world; their
ancestors being such
the more immediate
and the more remote
which may be
traced back to the first man and woman
Job 14:4; so that
as no man is clean and pure as God is
or in comparison of him
or in his
sight; they can neither be naturally clean
nor so of themselves
by any means
or methods they can make use of; but then they may be
as many are
clean by
the blood of Christ
and grace of God
through which his people are cleansed from
all their sins
and all their iniquities
and are without spot before the
throne and in the sight of God.
Job 25:5 5 If even the moon does not
shine
And the stars are not pure in His sight
YLT
5Lo -- unto the moon
and it
shineth not
And stars have not been pure in His eyes.
Behold
even to the moon
.... If all things that
are glorious and illustrious in the lower world
and which are between that and
the region of the moon
are beheld; or all from the seat of the Divine Majesty
down to that glorious luminary
are viewed
they lose all their lustre and
brightness
when compared with the Divine Being;
and it
even that itself
shineth not; it is darkened
confounded
and ashamed; it hides its beautiful
face
and draws in its borrowed and useful light
at the approach of him
who
is light itself
and in whom is no darkness at all: or it tabernacles notF14ולא יאהיל "et non ponet
tabernaculum"
Montanus
Bolducius; so Schmidt
Schultens. ; has no
tabernacle to abide in
as is said of the sun
Psalm 19:4; or does
not expand and spread its light
as a tentF15"Non expandet
lumen suum in modum tentorii"
Complutenses apud Bolduc. or tabernacle is
spread; it does not diffuse
but contracts it. No mention is made of the sun
not because that shines in its own light
which the moon does not; but perhaps
because the controversy between Job and his friends was held in the night
when
the moon and the stars were only seen
and therefore only mentioned; otherwise
what is here observed equally holds good of the sun as of the moon; see Isaiah 24:23;
yea
the stars are not pure in his sight; as there are
spots in the sun and in the moon
seen by the eye of man
aided and assisted
so such may be seen by God in the stars also
and in these
both in a natural
and in a mystical sense; as by them may be meant the angels of heaven
even
those are not pure in the sight of God
and in comparison of him
the most
perfectly pure and holy Being; see Job 4:18.
Job 25:6 6 How much less man
who
is a maggot
And a son of man
who is a worm?”
YLT
6How much less man -- a
grub
And the son of man -- a worm!
How much less man
that is a worm?.... Whose
original is of the earth
dwells in it
and is supported by it
and creeps into
it again; who is impure by nature and by practice
weak and impotent to do
anything that is spiritually good
or to defend himself from his spiritual
enemies; and is mean and despicable
as even the best of men are
in their own
eyes
and in the eyes of the world: and
if the best of men are comparable to
such creatures
and our Lord himself
in human nature
was content to be called
a worm
and no man; what must the worst of men be
or man be in and of himself
without the grace of God and righteousness of Christ
by which he can be only
clean and righteous? see Isaiah 41:14; and
if the celestial bodies above mentioned are eclipsed of all their brightness
and glory
in the presence of God; what a contemptible figure must man make in
the court of heaven
who
in comparison of them
is but a worm
and much more
so
as appearing before God?
and the son of man
which is a worm; which is
repeated with a little variation for the confirmation of it; or it may signify
that even the first man was no other than of the earth
earthy
and so are all
his sons. The Targum is
"how
much more man
who in his life is a reptile
and the son of man
who in his
death is a worm?'
to
which may be added
that he is in his grave a companion for the worms; and
indeed it appears by the observations made through microscopes
that man
in
his first state of generation
is really a wormF16Lewenhoeck apud
Scheuchzer. Physic. Sacr. vol. 4. p. 721. Vid. Philosoph. Transact. abridged
vol. 2. p. 912
913. ; so that
as Pliny saysF17Nat. Hist. l. 7. c.
7.
one that is a judge of things may pity and be ashamed of the sorry
original of the proudest of animals. By this short reply of Bildad
and which
contains little more than what had been before said
it is plain that he was
tired of the controversy
and glad to give out.
──《John Gill’s
Exposition of the Bible》