Job 25 explained: Bildad's Last Word: Humans Are Small

A short, final reply (v. 1)

This is Bildad's last speech and the shortest in the debate, and Zophar, the third friend, never gives a third speech at all. The friends may be running out of arguments, though some scholars think chapters 24 to 27 got rearranged and part of Bildad's speech now sits in chapter 26.

God rules the heavens (vv. 2-3)

Bildad says God holds supreme authority and keeps peace and order in the sky, where the countless troops under his command are likely the angels and stars. His light rising on everyone means no one lives outside his sight and care.

No one is pure before God (vv. 4-6)

If even the moon and stars look dim and flawed to God, Bildad argues, humans are no better than maggots and worms. The Hebrew uses two different words here, one for a creature that feeds on decay and one for something weak that crawls, and Bildad is echoing a point Eliphaz made earlier (4:17 to 19; 15:14 to 16).

Key verse: Job 25:4

Where Christians differ

Christians differ on whether Bildad's low view of humanity states a real truth about people before God or is part of the friends' flawed thinking, since God later says the friends did not speak rightly about him (42:7) and Job never claimed to be sinless, only undeserving of such suffering.

Something to think about

When someone answers your pain by pointing out how small you are compared to the universe, does that bring perspective, make things worse, or miss the point entirely?