Third Discourse of Bildad
This brief chapter contains the final discourse of Bildad. It is plain that the three friends are all but silenced. We shall see are long that Zophar has not a word more to add. Job has much in proof that they, none of them, saw aright even the surface of his trial, not to speak of God's ways underneath. Yet Bildad speaks grandly of God's dominion as suited to overwhelm all thought of human righteousness, and sets out the sun and stars as pale and impure in presence of His light: how much more a mortal, son of Adam!
And Bildad the Shuhite answered and said,
With Him [are] dominion and fear;
He maketh peace in His high places.
Is their number to His armies?
And on whom ariseth not His light?
And how is mortal man righteous with God (El)?
And how is he pure, born of a woman
Behold, to the moon, and it shineth not,
And the stars are not pure in His eyes:
How much less mortal man, a maggot;
And the son of man, a worm!
Such is the closing effort of Bildad, evidently wishing to say something, rather than having something to say. So far as it is a reply, it seems directed against the opening of Job's answer to Eliphaz (chap. 23), as has been noticed by others. The main point is the awful majesty of God, who must resent the unhallowed thought of man's drawing near to His throne, above all, to debate with Him as if He could mistake, or the creature vindicate itself against His dealings. What gross forgetfulness of His countless hosts, as if His power could be measured by man; and what ignorance of His all-reaching light, which penetrates and manifests the remotest and otherwise hidden objects in the universe!
But he does injustice to Job's asseverations of integrity, if he alludes to them in the latter part (for Job in no way denied man's natural impurity), but had, on the contrary, already heard, in reply to himself, a full demolition of every pretension to righteousness in chap. ix. Job simply repudiated the imputation of deep evil, cloaked by high professions of piety, on his part, as the cause of his exceeding trial. But he was as far as Bildad from putting the creature on a false level with the Creator, least of all man, morally corrupt as he is. The lights of heaven lack luster in his eyes: what is a sinner accounted? Abstractly, what he urges is unquestionable truth; as a reply and application to Job, perverse and futile.
Chapter 26
Answer Of Job
The rejoinder of Job begins with bitter sarcasm on the abundant help afforded by Bildad's curt speech, which really betrayed the inability of the friends to continue the discussion, and that judgment must go by default, on the triumphant counter-proof that in this life the righteous may suffer, and the wicked prosper. He then asserts the magnificent power of God, with a bold elevation far beyond Bildad, who failed to see the true question.
And Job answered and said,
How thou hast helped the powerless,
Saved the arm that is strengthless
How thou hast counseled the unwise,
And declared wisdom in abundance
To whom hast thou uttered words?
And whose breath came forth from thee?
The shades [Rephaim] tremble
Beneath the waters, and they that dwell there.
Sheol [is] naked before Him,
And destruction hath no covering.
He spreadeth the north over the void,
He hangeth the earth upon nothing.
He bindeth up waters in His thick clouds,
And the cloud is not rent under them.
He fasteneth the face of the throne,
He spreadeth over it His cloud.
He hath placed a bound on the face of the waters,
Up to the limits of light and darkness.
The pillars of the heavens tremble,
And are astonished at His rebuke.
By His power He stilleth the sea,
And by His understanding smiteth Rehab.
By His Spirit the heavens are brightness,
His hand pierceth the fleeing serpent.
Lo, these [are] the ends of His ways,
And what a whisper of a word we hear of Him!
And the thunder of His might who understandeth?
The irony with which Job notices the last effort of the interlocutors is not more withering than is evident the sublime description of God's glory in creation. Job begins with the, to us, invisible depths to which are consigned the gigantic forms of those who once fought against God, and are now made to tremble, though the hour of judgment be not yet come. He sees not only peace in the high places, but the dread of God piercing far beyond the earthly scenes of His government. Sheol and Anaddon stand unveiled before Him. How incomparably nobler and more accurate is the description of the world than anything in the mythology of the heathen, or their philosophy God is spoken of as spreading the north over empty space, Himself sustaining the vault of heaven, and suspending the earth on nothing, tying up the waters in thick clouds, so that their contents should not escape till He please; while He encloses the face of the throne (the outside of the heavens towards the earth), spreading over it His clouds. Then Job glances at the waters beneath, and the horizon, where darkness meets light; but the mightiest of earth's pillars, towering on high, are made to tremble and wonder at God's rebuke, while the restless sea is stilled at His pleasure, and the proud foe is smitten by His knowledge. It is by His Spirit that the heavens are brightness, and it is His hand that woundeth the fleeing serpent, a figurative description of the constellation in the sky. Yet Job rightly feels that these are but the extremities or fringes of His Ways; and if it be but a whisper that we hear, what must be the thunder of His might?