Job 25:1–3

Bildad's address is short, and it contains practically nothing new. It seems the friends have exhausted all the arguments their position allowed them to advance. Their language is noble and elevated, and their images have rare beauty and force. But their position and argument were wrong, narrow, and untenable.

"Dominion and fear are with Him." Who can declare the infinite greatness of God, who fills heaven and earth, and goes beyond all His limitless creation? "Heaven and the highest heaven cannot contain You." Nor is this infinite being powerless; He reigns over all things, the government is His.

Who would not fear such an infinite Being? And yet almost no one fears God. What an awful proof this is of man's fallen, rebellious condition! Tiny sinners ignore and blaspheme the One before whom the seraphim cover their faces!

"He makes peace in His high places." Those heavenly bodies display His power by their sheer size. They also display His wisdom and skill, for they keep their appointed courses in perfect harmony. He who created them holds them fast in orbits of unthinkable greatness. "Not one is missing." There is no discord, no clash — all makes melody as they declare His glory.

There is a great deal that is very beautiful in what Bildad said, only it had no bearing on the matter at all. "Dominion and fear are with him; he makes peace in his high places." Yes, but what troubled Job was that he had anything but peace in his low place. There he was in terrible humiliation and suffering, and he could not tell why… The fact is that Bildad was at ease. He had no trial of his own at all. So he could talk reasonably, and calmly enough. But he had no understanding of Job.

The Lord was near His great sacrifice of Calvary. As He entered Jerusalem, God moved the crowd to say, "Blessed is the King who comes in the name of the Lord! Peace in heaven and glory in the highest!" (Luke 19:37-38). Earth refused Him, but heaven received Him very soon after His resurrection. Anyone today who wants true peace will find it only by looking to the Prince of Peace in heaven… Of course, Bildad did not understand how the Lord "makes peace in His high places." But how good it is for us to understand it today!

He does injustice to Job's claims of integrity, if that is what he refers to in the last part of his speech… Job simply rejected the charge that deep evil, covered by loud professions of piety, was the cause of his terrible trial. But Job was as unwilling as Bildad to put the creature on a false level with the Creator — least of all man, who is morally corrupt… Taken on its own, what he urges is unquestionable truth. As a reply and application to Job, it is perverse and futile.

We cannot speak scornfully of these few sentences. They state the two great basic facts that stand out clearly at the close of the book… The address divides into two parts: God's greatness (verses 1-3) and man's nothingness (verses 4-6)… But Bildad is scarcely aware of the force of what he says. He ties it to his theory, and so tries to prove that Job is the evil man they have all along insisted he was.

"Who can number His armies?" At one word our Lord could have received "more than twelve legions of angels." "The number of them was ten thousand times ten thousand, and thousands of thousands." They are an "innumerable company of angels… the general assembly." What are the armies of men compared with these? The prophet prayed that his servant's eyes might be opened to see the mountain "full of horses and chariots of fire" (2 Kings 6:17).

Also, "Upon whom does His light not arise?" Just as the sun rises on all the earth (Ps. 19:6), so the Lord Jesus is the true light who, coming into the world, shed His light upon everyone (Jn.1:9). Of course Bildad had no knowledge of this, and little realised that God moved him to speak in this way.

"God is light," and His hosts are hosts of light; they shine in a glory not their own: "Whom does not His light surpass?" Let any of these sons of the morning boast of themselves, and their brightness would become dim… His light surpasses that of all His creatures, however exalted they may be. It rises above and exceeds infinitely the light of the brightest of them all. This gives a meaning more in keeping with the context than that of our version — "Upon whom does not His light arise?"

There is a great deal that is very beautiful in what Bildad said, only it had no bearing on the matter at all. "Dominion and fear are with him; he makes peace in his high places." Yes, but what troubled Job was that he had anything but peace in his low place… "Is there any number of his armies?" That is all very true; was that any comfort to Job, or any answer? "And upon whom does not his light arise?" Well, there might be an implication that Job was all wrong because he did not enjoy the light, and not that Bildad himself did.

Such is the closing effort of Bildad, evidently wishing to say something, rather than having something to say… The main point is the awe-inspiring majesty of God, who must resent the unholy thought of man drawing near to His throne, above all, debating with Him as if He could make a mistake, or as if the creature could vindicate itself against His dealings.

Since God is so great, "what is man?" Can men possibly be righteous before God? Can anyone born of a woman be pure? By nature there is no hope of man ever reaching such righteousness and purity, for man is a totally corrupted sinner. Bildad however was not applying this humbling lesson to himself, but to Job! But we all need to learn this as regards ourselves. The New Testament supplies the answer to this serious question. Man can be righteous before God, but only by faith in the Lord Jesus who has suffered for our sins. Righteousness is not ours by nature, but is imputed to believers only because of their faith in Christ (Rom. 4:20-24).