Albert Barnes Commentary Job 25:6

"How much less man, that is a worm! And the son of man, that is a worm!" — Job 25:6 (ASV)

How much less man - See (Job 4:19). Man is mentioned here as a worm; in (Job 4:19) he is said to dwell in a house of clay and to be crushed before the moth. In both cases, the design is to represent him as insignificant in comparison with God.

A worm - רמה rı̂mmâh; see (Job 7:5). The word is commonly applied to such worms as are bred in putridity, and therefore, the comparison is stronger.

And the son of man - Another mode of speaking of man. Any one of the children of man is the same. No one of them can be compared with God; compare the notes at (Matthew 1:1).

Which is a worm - תולעה tôlê‛âh; compare the notes at (Isaiah 1:18). This word frequently denotes the worm from which the scarlet or crimson color was obtained. It is, however, used to denote the worm that is bred on putrid substances, and is so used here; compare (Exodus 16:20; Isaiah 14:11; Isaiah 66:24). It is also applied to a worm that destroys plants (Jonah 4:7; Deuteronomy 28:39).

Here it means that man is poor, feeble, and powerless. In comparison with God, he is a crawling worm.

All that is said in this chapter is true and beautiful, but it has nothing to do with the subject in debate. Job had appealed to the course of events as proof of the truth of his position.

The true way to respond to that was either to deny that the facts existed as Job alleged, or to show that they did not prove what he had brought them forward to establish. But Bildad did neither; nor did he candidly confess that the argument was against him and his friends.

At this stage of the controversy, since they had nothing to reply to what Job had alleged, it would have been honorable for them to have acknowledged that they were in error, and to have yielded the palm of victory to him. But it requires extraordinary candor and humility to do that; and rather than do it, most people would prefer to say something—though it has nothing to do with the matter at hand.