With Friends Like These . . . Job’s Friends and Religious Foolishness (√XVII. Job’s Response to Bildad – Chs. 26-27)

Bildad’s third round asked the question, “Can a mortal be righteous before God?” (25:4). He not only extols the greatness of God, but he then demeans the human person as a maggot, a worm (25:6).

XVII. Job’s Response to Bildad – Ch. 26)
Job’s sarcastic response mocks the three friends’ unhelpfulness. Their advice has been void of wisdom. It has been so poor, in Job’s estimation, that they must have had some kind of spirit assist them in their counsel! (vv. 1-4).

Job then refers to the dead being “in deep anguish” (v. 5). What does he mean by his statement that “the realm of the dead is naked before God” (v. 6)? Perhaps Job’s point is that his friends have referred quite a bit to the death of the wicked, and Job knows that he does not deserve their fate.

He then speaks about “the outer fringe of [God’s] works” in which he mentions God’s power over the realm of the dead (v. 6), over the northern skies and the very suspension of the earth (v. 7), and over the clouds and the horizon (vv. 8-10). He speaks of God’s  power over the sea (v. 12) and His judgment on Rahab (!) (v. 12). Then Job says, “And these are but the outer fringe of his works” (v. 14).

But, in light of God’s magnificent works in His world, Job laments, “how faint the whisper we hear of him!” (v. 14). In contrast to such acts of God’s power, Job is grieved at His silence. And he certainly isn’t buying the premise that God is speaking to him through his “friends”!

XVII. Job’s Response to Bildad – Ch. 27)

In his second chapter of responding to Bildad’s round three, we notice that the NIV translation has the inscription “Job’s Final Word to His Friends.” Whether this chapter is a specific response to Bildad or a general address to the three friends, we don’t know. Here’s what we do know:

We know of Job’s conviction that God has denied him justice and has made his life bitter (v. 2). We know that Job is determined to say nothing wicked as long as the breath of God is in his nostrils (v. 4). And we know that he is resolute in maintaining his innocence and will never admit that his friends are right (vv. 5-6). His conscience simply won’t allow it (v. 6).

 

With Friends Like These . . . Job’s Friends and Religious Foolishness (√XVI. The Badgering of Bildad Round Three – Ch. 25)

What has Bildad said to Job in his first two rounds? He claimed to know why Job’s children were crushed to death (they had sinned). He challenges Job to seek God and repent and promises that restoration will then come to Job. Arguing from the aged, Bildad says that former generations would agree with him that Job might well perish with the godless. God, of course, does not reject the blameless.

In his second round, Bildad goes to great length to describe the fate of the wicked man. He concludes by saying, “Surely such is the dwelling of the one who does not know God.” In effect, he is challenging Job’s relationship with God.

 XVI. The Badgering of Bildad Round Three – (Ch. 25)

Bildad jumps in with his third round of rebuking Job. He begins with his doctrine of God (that dominion and awe belong to God and that His forces cannot be numbered) (vv. 2-3). This brings Bildad to the point which is obvious to him: “How then can a mortal be righteous before God?” (v. 4). This is almost exactly the same message that Eliphaz says he got from a vision in the night (“Can a mortal be more righteous than God?”, 4:17).

In a unique application of the greater to the lesser argument, Bildad says that only God is pure. Man is but a maggot! This “worm theology,” which was popular during the Reformation among some of its leaders, especially Luther, argues for the greatness of God and the puniness of man.

One contemporary writer says, “Many people have suffered spiritual abuse at the hands of what is sometimes called ‘worm theology.’ In this theology, God’s holiness is set against our sinfulness to such a degree that the only appropriate response seems to be self-loathing. The name may come from a line in the Issac Watts hymn ‘Alas! and Did My Savior Bleed,’ which says ‘Would he devote that sacred head for such a worm as I?’ The idea seems to be that only by abasing ourselves are we able to grasp and receive God’s mercy. Churches taken with this view think it their job to induce guilt and shame, working people up into a state of such remorse and self-revulsion that they are compelled to repent and seek God’s mercy.” https://www.christianitytoday.com/ct/2010/aprilweb-only/23-51.0.html

How will Job respond to Bildad’s worm theology?