Thomas Aquinas Commentary Job 25:1-6

"Then answered Bildad the Shuhite, and said, Dominion and fear are with him; He maketh peace in his high places. Is there any number of his armies? And upon whom doth not his light arise? How then can man be just with God? Or how can he be clean that is born of a woman? Behold, even the moon hath no brightness, And the stars are not pure in his sight: How much less man, that is a worm! And the son of man, that is a worm!" — Job 25:1-6 (ASV)

In his answer, Job had now refuted the two false accusations that Eliphaz had thrown at him in his previous response (Job 22:5, 12). He had shown that he was punished neither for sin nor for denying divine providence. He had also shown very clearly that it is not contrary to divine providence for evil men to prosper in this world, because their punishment is reserved for another time. Therefore, his friends could not resist this argument any further.

However, Job had not demonstrated the other point—that he was not punished for his sins—as clearly. Instead, he revealed the weakness of his own arguments when he said, “No one can know his thoughts” (Job 23:13). Bildad, therefore, now opposed this argument, contending with Job for claiming that he was not punished because of his sins.

Seemingly ignoring Job's statement that it was not enough to argue against him based on God's power (Job 23:13), Bildad begins his argument from that very premise. He presents the greatness of divine power in two ways.

First, he points to the fact that God exercises His power over higher beings, preserving them in perfect peace. Thus he says, Power and terror... are with him, who makes peace in his higher works. This is why He should be feared. More discord is found in lesser creatures, both in rational creatures (which is clear from the conflicting movements of human wills) and in physical creatures (which is apparent in the opposition that subjects them to generation and corruption).

But one finds no opposition in the heavenly bodies, and so they are incorruptible. Similarly, the higher spiritual beings also live in supreme peace and are therefore without misery. This supreme harmony of higher beings comes from divine power, which has placed them in a more perfect participation of His unity, as if they are nearer to Him. This is why Bildad specifies, "in his higher works"—that is, those more conformed to Him.

Second, Bildad shows God's power through what He does in lower creatures, where He acts through the service of higher beings, whose great number is unknown to humanity. So he asks, Can one number his soldiers? He calls all the heavenly powers "soldiers of God" because they follow the divine will just as soldiers obey their leader's command. The number of these heavenly armies is unknown to man, as Isaiah says, He who leads out his host without number (Isaiah 40:26).

So that no one would deny that the heavenly powers see themselves as soldiers obeying another's command—and not as leaders and princes acting on their own will, as polytheists thought—Bildad then asks, And over whom does his light not rise? This is as if to say: All the heavenly powers are directed by divine illumination, just as people are directed by the fact that the sun's light rises over them.

Building on the premise of divine power, Bildad moves to his main point, asking, Can a man be justified in comparison to God? It is as if he is saying: Since God is so great and so excellent in justice that He even creates harmony in the highest beings—which is an effect of justice, according to Isaiah, The work of justice is peace (Isaiah 32:17)—all human justice, when compared to divine justice, is considered as nothing.

Not only can a person not seem just when compared to God, but what is more, they appear unjust. Similarly, things that have very little beauty seem ugly when compared to the most beautiful things. And so he then asks, Or who born of a woman appears pure? He emphasizes this because from the very fact that a person is born of a woman through the desire of the flesh, he acquires some stain.

Next, Bildad reinforces his point with a metaphor, saying, Behold! Even the moon does not shine, and the stars are not pure in his sight. Notice that he does not mention the sun, because it is not obvious to our senses that its light is obscured by a brighter light. The moon and stars, however, are darkened even by the physical light of the sun. Therefore, their brightness seems even more like darkness when compared to the immensity of divine light.

From this, he concludes his proposition: how much more is man corruption and the son of man a worm. A person cannot be considered to be shining with the splendor of justice when compared to divine justice, nor clean in innocence when compared to divine purity. He explicitly compares man to corruption, as consisting of matter that is close to decay, and the son of man to a worm, which is generated from putrefaction.

Through this, Bildad wants to show that a person cannot put forward their own justice and innocence, no matter how great it may be. When divine justice is the standard, human righteousness is considered as nothing in comparison to God.