The way of error is often defended by accusing its critic of being evil and wicked. Eventually, they who embrace error fall silent in debate, because error cannot be successfully defended against a worthy opponent. Although they have no adequate reply, none of these folks ever seem to repent and admit fault. This proved itself so with the friends, and, later, we would see its presence during the ministry of Jesus. In order to defend their own way, Jesus’ enemies accused him of all manner of wickedness, from having a demon (Mark 3:22; John 10:20) to being an imposter and a hated Samaritan (John 8:48). Those who embrace error will always attack the truth or at least choose error over truth. Thus, Jesus’ accusation against the Pharisees was that they held to doctrines of men, which, in reality, set aside the word of God, and ended in having no effect in the lives of those they taught (Mark 7:8, 13). The friends did likewise by desperately holding to indefensible error, while accusing Job of wickedness, because, if Job was righteous, while suffering the wrath of God, that would disprove their religion. Therefore, it was imperative that the friends make Job out to be wicked, if they hoped to defend their own beliefs about God, vis-à-vis their worldview.
Bildad began his final reply to Job, after which the friends would then fall silent. Nevertheless, not one of them ever ceased his attack on Job’s righteousness, nor did any of them admit error on their part. So, Bildad began the friends’ concluding remarks by glorifying God, saying that he is sovereign. In other words, he is above all other authority. He is the King of kings! Therefore, he gets to say what is so. That is, God is the one who establishes order throughout his creation (cp. Genesis 1:1-25). In the beginning, he brought order out of chaos (Genesis 1:2), and, afterwards, established justice in the world of men (Genesis 9:6). The implication is, how dare Job appeal to him for an audience in an effort to protest his judgment before his throne (Job 25:1-2; cp. 23:3-7)!
Next, Bildad asks the first of three questions: Is there any number to his armies? (Job 25:3). In other words, not only is God above all, having the authority to do as he pleases with his own creation (cp. Daniel 4:35), but he has the power to enforce his will, whatever that may be. Bildad’s question implies that there is no end to the armies of God, and his reference isn’t merely to the angels of heaven but also to the armies of men.[1] All serve him, and not one is able to question his authority (Job 1:12-17; cp. Job 23:3-7). So, according to the friends, Job is wicked, because God judged him as a wicked man, and Job can’t justify himself either in the presence of the friends or in the presence of God. Truth is truth, case closed.
Bildad’s second question is: Upon whom does his light not arise? (Job 25:3). Bildad’s reference seems to be the light of the sun, concerning which nothing escapes its light (cp. Psalm 19:6). Whether Bildad’s point embraces idolatry or is metaphoric isn’t clearly shown in the text. Nevertheless, the implication is God alone is Light. All men, including Job, receive their light from him, but no one is able to reflect the whole of God in his life. In other words, even though the light men have is a reflection or an image (cp. Genesis 1:27) of that Light, which is God, the light, which men possess, is only a partial image of the Light and, therefore, is not God’s equal.
This brings us to Bildad’s third and final question, which is presented in two parts (Job 25:4, 6): How, then, can man be justified with God? Or put another way, how can he who is born of woman be clean? (Job 25:4). Clearly, Bildad has led up to this point by presenting man as an image of the real Light in verse-3. So, his point is, if man is an image of God, but the image, which man reflects, isn’t the whole Being of God, how could man ever hope to be righteous, when there is none wholly righteous but God. He is the goal, but no man, not even Job, is able to be as righteous as God, because the image of God that Job bears isn’t the whole Righteous Being and is, at best, only partially righteous.
When men behold the heavens, the sun alone is pure light. The moon merely reflects that light, and its waxing and waning only proves it is unable to reflect the whole light of the sun. In fact, even once in a month the moon is totally dark. As for the stars, their twinkling shows that their light, as viewed from the earth, isn’t as pure as that of the sun, and this is reflected in mankind, from the worst to the best of men (Job 25:5).
Therefore, Bildad concludes by saying: how much less is man or any of his descendants, who is a worm (cp. Genesis 3:14). Men eat of the fruit of the land, which really is formed out of the dust of the ground, and it decays in his body and then eliminated (cp. Mark 7:18-19). Likewise, when a man dies, the worm comes and eats up his body, which is then eliminated in the form of the dust of the ground (Job 25:6)! So, how is man, who not only images God (Genesis 1:27) but also images the worm (Genesis 3:14), ever hope to be truly righteous with God (Job 25:6, cp. verse-4)?
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[1] The reference here is not simply numberless armies, although that may be so, but the implication is that not one army of all the armies in existence, whether in heaven or on earth, is able to refuse him, when God wishes to judge a man or even a nation.
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