Showing posts with label Job 25. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Job 25. Show all posts

Monday, October 22, 2007

Job 25:5-6

This study is from an on going online Daily Bible Study at:

DailyBibleStudy.Org | Daily Bible Study Index Page | Daily Bible Study Online E-Book Library

Job 25:5-6


5 Behold even to the moon [yareach], and it shineth ['ahal] not; yea, the stars [kowkab] are not pure [zakak] in his sight [`ayin].
6 How much less man ['enowsh], that is a worm [rimmah]? and the son [ben] of man ['adam], which is a worm [towla`]? KJV-Interlinear



5 'If even the moon has no brightness And the stars are not pure in His sight, 6 How much less man, that maggot, And the son of man, that worm!' NASB


Throughout this chapter, Bildad has been rambling a bit. Hs remarks are arbitrary and have nothing to do with Jobs situation, but despite that, we are able to learn a great deal about God, mans relationship with God and especially what people way back in that ancient time, understood about these various spiritual subjects.

For example, the moon has no brightness of its own. Its light comes from the reflection of the sun. Bildad mentions the moon and stars, but does not mention the sun in this passage. The brightness of the sun is absent. And as we will see later, mans brightness is really absent also, leaving only a light which does not belong to him, and light which is so dim that it might as well be a trillion miles away, doing man absolutely no good.

Bildad is making a comparison of mans brightness with that of God, and he is using the moon and stars in his comparison.

The moon is the brightest object in the night sky, and yet its light is not its own. The stars possess their own light, because they are also sun type objects, yet they are so far away, their light is not so bright. They, the stars, can be viewed only in the darkness (the lies of life) of night and are totally obliterated when the morning light (truth) arrives.

When compared to God, both are extremely dim. Gods light is bright enough to reach beyond the entire universe if He so chose, and yet God has the power to limit and control the exposure of His own glory.

And that leaves man. Who is he and why does he think so highly of himself?

We are about to enter into a new election season next year, but one would think that the elections are nearly upon us now, given all of the very early campaign activity of this year. All of the candidates will have egos and opinions of themselves and others, and of issues. In fact everyone on the planet has a ego of some sort. We all have opinions of our self and of others, and of what we believe to be the issues of the day.

But what is man described as? Man is a maggot and a worm. And this is put in the reverse of mans life. During life, man is nothing more than a living worm crawling in the dust from which he came. And in death, his physical body is consumed by maggots.

Where then is mans shining light?

Nowhere!

Bildad's whole point here is that Job is no shining saint. No human being is. So how can Job possibly hope to gain a hearing from the Almighty?

And again, we note that Bildad did not listen to Jobs comments, which we studied long ago, wherein Job repeatedly stated that he was certainly a sinner as all of humanity is, but he looked to a redeemer who was both God and man, and the one and the same who will be his advocate, who is still both God and man, and of whom representation of Job would be made to the Father, who is God.

Bildad did not pay attention, but then most of humanity doesn't pay attention to divine words anyway.

People already have preconceived ideas about God or gods, life or their chosen lifestyle, about what is important to them in life, and especially about what is not important to them. And a legitimate spiritual life is not generally considered important.

People have their own ideas about spirituality and such things, and they are generally related to their emotional feelings, or standards of living which they have adopted from a wide variety of beliefs which did not come by the Word of God.

And here is Bildad's point in all of this. Man thinks highly of himself and yet man is no better than the maggot that consumes him. And, just as the maggot consumes a dead thing, so too, man is self-consumed by his own false beliefs, which too are dead things.

That is the glory of man, self invented, self imagined, and totally detached from reality.

If you stick with this Bible study, then you can transform your thoughts into living thoughts.

And of course, if you are not impressed with this study, or any other legitimate study for that matter, then you can continue with your dead thoughts and those creepy little things crawling around inside your head.

Sunday, October 21, 2007

Job 25:4

This study is from an on going online Daily Bible Study at:

DailyBibleStudy.Org | Daily Bible Study Index Page | Daily Bible Study Online E-Book Library

Job 25:4

4 How then can man ['enowsh] be justified [tsadaq] with God ['el]? or how can he be clean [zakah] that is born [yalad] of a woman ['ishshah]? KJV-Interlinear


4 'How then can a man be just with God? Or how can he be clean who is born of woman? NASB


Bildad is not asking questions with which he expects an answer, his remarks are rhetorical. Bildad is commenting on a subject that everyone knows the answer to already.

Bildad has heard Jobs remarks, but what he heard was Job proposing that he make his appeal to God directly. And that is not what Job had in mind at all. Bildad simply did not listen.

But what Bildad has to say here is of the utmost importance to all of humanity.

What is the fundamental truth in life? What is the most important matter that affects everyone, regardless of color, culture, gender, height, weight, talent, social status, and so forth? What is it that affects everyone who has or who will ever live?

There is God, who is life, and there is man who is the created being.

Between the two is a giant barrier, an impenetrable barrier, which cannot be overcome by man on his own.

The first layer of that barrier is sin. Everyone who has ever lived, has sinned. No person, has ever, nor will ever live a life apart from sin, Rom. 3:23. The humanity of Jesus Christ is of course the single and only exception.

The second layer of the barrier is the penalty for sin. And death is that penalty, Rom. 6:23. Death is a separation. In this case, it is a separation from God who is life, and when you are separated from life, then your face eternal death.

The third layer of the barrier is mans physical birth. Man is born of woman. Mans physical origin is in the dust of the earth. Adam was formed from the dust of the ground. This is a genetic reference to his biological life. Through his biological life, the human race is perpetuated. Man is born physically alive, but spiritually dead, Eph. 2:1.

The fourth layer of the barrier is mans relative righteousness. No matter how goodie-two-shoes you might be, no matter how squeaky clean you might think your life is, mans righteousnesses are no better than filthy dirty used and never washed menstrual rags, Isa. 64:6.

The fifth layer of the barrier is the character of God. God is infinite. Man is finite. God is all powerful. Man is nothing. God is life. Man is dust and nothing more. Man can never hope to rise to the level of Gods perfection, Rom. 3:12.

The sixth layer of the barrier is mans position in Adam. In Adam all die. Man by being descended from Adam shares in his failure in the Garden. Mans spiritual existence was placed in jeopardy and mans life span was limited, 1 Cor. 15:22.

How can man approach God? How can man strip off his human heritage? On his own, he cannot.

In order to have anything more than eternal death, man needs help from outside of his own realm. His own realm includes the invention of religion, discoveries in science, reasoned beliefs, and so forth. In all of these, man invents conclusions from the source of his own imagination. None of them are real, and therefore none of them have any real power or solution.

There is only one real power, only one real solution, only one God and Savior, and that is Jesus Christ. He is the only truth. Jesus Christ is the only common enemy of all religion, cult, politics, beliefs and philosophy invented by man, by either rejecting Him or ignoring Him or substituting something or someone else.

Saturday, October 20, 2007

Job 25:3

This study is from an on going online Daily Bible Study at:

DailyBibleStudy.Org | Daily Bible Study Index Page | Daily Bible Study Online E-Book Library

Job 25:3


3 Is there [yesh] any number [micpar] of his armies [gaduwd]? and upon whom doth not his light ['owr] arise [quwm]? KJV-Interlinear


3 'Is there any number to His troops? And upon whom does His light not rise? NASB


Throughout the Bible the scriptures speak of the innumerable grains of sand on the shores, the innumerable stars of the heavens, all beyond counting, and yet they are a finite number. But they are so many that it is nearly impossible to count them, and most can just guess as to their numbers. Only God knows the exact count.

Man has been given authority in many areas in life. Some over their own self, and that is all. Some have authority over office workers where they work. Some have authority over departments, over companies, over multiple companies or organizations. In the military, there are commanders of dozens, over hundreds, over thousands and even over millions.

In countries throughout history, leaders have been allowed to have authority over empires.

And in every case, limits are reached, limits beyond which man fails in his leading capacity. Some quit and some become tyrants and cruel. Some are qualified for their position and many are not.

But yet, God controls everything in life, everything in existence, and even everything that has not yet come to pass.

God is organized.

His angels are here referred to as armies. Their number is beyond counting. They probably number in the many hundreds of trillions and more. And yet despite their vast number, they are well organized, they all have free will, they all can think on their own, and they all freely and completely subordinate themselves to God.

God maintains perfect order and discipline within the ranks, the numbers of which no human being can comprehend.

We cannot count the stars in the universe. Even those we can see have not been identified or mapped completely.

Man cannot superimpose his own will or ideas on those around him, and yet Gods light and power extends throughout the universe and beyond. Remember, as we studied earlier in Job, this universe is contained inside a vault. God walks about in His heaven, round about on the periphery of this universe.

We have no idea where that limit is, nor will we ever, in this life, be able to detect it.

In this chapter, Bildad is giving us a very good description of the phenomenal vastness of God, His power, His abilities and so forth. No one can possibly comprehend it all.

And still, humanity thinks pretty highly of itself. Man makes no effort to hide his opinions about life. Opinions, which are filled with imagination and short on fact. Any opinion which lacks in facts, has only the imagination to turn to. All religion is based on imagination or invention, which is the same thing.

World leader want-to-be's presume they are qualified for the task of ruling. Leaders of one, that is yourself, are also filled with opinions about self and life. And none come even close to the low level of cluelessness about life, when compared to God.

God rules, controls, maintains, and sustains the infinite, and how many folks consider Him in their life? Not many.

You, as an advancing and growing believer in Christ, are among the most unique minority in all of human history. You have a unique and personal access to the ruler of the infinite. Something that should be taken very seriously.

Friday, October 19, 2007

Job 25:2

This study is from an on going online Daily Bible Study at:

DailyBibleStudy.Org | Daily Bible Study Index Page | Daily Bible Study Online E-Book Library

Job 25:2


2 Dominion [mashal] and fear [pachad] are with him, he maketh [`asah] peace [shalowm] in his high places [marowm]. KJV-Interlinear


2 'Dominion and awe belong to Him Who establishes peace in His heights. NASB


Job has maintained his innocence in this entire matter. Not innocence as in never having sinned, but innocent in that he was not the evil and wicked person that his friends have suggested as being the cause of his suffering.

Job has stated that even though we are mortal man, we still have the right to appeal to the Most High, who is the Father, through one who is equal with the Father and equal with man, and our redeemer as well as our advocate before God in all matters of truth.

This person of course is Jesus Christ, as we have in our present day, come to know His name.

And so Bildad suggests here that God is so powerful and so far above man, that no one could or should in their right mind, even attempt to approach God. After all, how can man, who is lower than life, approach someone who is greater than life? How can man who lives in an environment of violence even think of approaching God who maintains peace in this vast universe?

God is the absolute sovereign of all that is. By His sovereignty, He establishes peace, preserves order, and maintains control over all of creation, in spite of all of the anti-God attitudes that have existed and still do exist from Satan and his followers, and man.

God is supreme. None can equal Him. None can attain His height in power and holiness. God is above all that is. God includes all within His divine plan of operation. He does not exalt himself above all to the exclusion of lower beings. God does not lead or rule through coercion or tyranny. And yet God rules and administers the entirety of this universe. God rules with paternal affection while maintaining truth, righteousness, and justice.

Gods rule is a necessity for the preservation of life. By Him all peace, all order, all security is maintained. Without God, the universe would fall into disorder and tyranny and eventually into self-destruction. Neither man nor angel can control the vast operations of the universe. Man can't even control the common cold.

And still, the angels who are vastly superior to humanity, have had their issues in lack of self control, so too man who is inferior, needs an outside influence and mediator in order to have any kind of control on this earth.

God leads vast armies of angels. Their number has never been revealed to humanity, and most likely far out number all of humanity in all of human history. God is still able to maintain order with all of these masses.

Humanity cannot even control his own thoughts, his own family, his own city, or state, or country, or empire. And yet man believes that he is somehow up to the task of running things in this world?

God is able to maintain peace in heaven, and will one day bring that same peace to this earth.

Thursday, October 18, 2007

Job 25:1

This study is from an on going online Daily Bible Study at:

DailyBibleStudy.Org | Daily Bible Study Index Page | Daily Bible Study Online E-Book Library

Job 25:1


1 Then answered [`anah] Bildad [Bildad] the Shuhite [Shuchiy], and said ['amar], KJV-Interlinear


1 Then Bildad the Shuhite answered, NASB


Bildad, the second of the three friends, which have been introduced thus far, has run out of things to say. He is the last of the three to speak, and what he has to say gives us some additional information regarding our place in this universe, but has nothing to do with Jobs situation.

Bildads' name means, 'son of contention,' or 'Bel has loved.' Bel means, 'wisdom of the distant East.' The location of his homeland is not known, but it apparently is east of Job's home. Bildad's speeches have generally echoed the words of Eliphaz, but have been delivered with more severity and sternness.

The gist of what Bildad has to say is this. That God is all-powerful. Man is nothing more than a worm. Angels, or Gods armies, are far superior to man. And if the angels cannot live up to the standards set by God, then how can man possibly achieve a state of innocence?

But before we get into the details of Bildad's final argument, we need to think about a few things.

First, Bildad represents the thought of the world. The beliefs that are expressed by the world and loved by the world. Loved so much that nothing else is listened to.

Second, Bildad does not listen to Jobs arguments. He is so hung up on his own arguments that he doesn't even consider for a moment that there might be some other explanation of Jobs suffering.

Third, Jobs arguments are filled with irrefutable facts. Bildad ignores the facts.

Fourth, Bildad is not interested in facts that do not fit his beliefs. With Bildad, his beliefs come first, and then the facts are invented to fit them.

Fifth, Bildad knows a great deal of truth. He has learned many proverbs during his lifetime, proverbs which have their foundation in truth.

Sixth, however Bildad lacks the wisdom of application. Knowledge of principles does not make one wise when reality is ignored.

Seventh, knowledge is merely the comprehension of facts or details in life.

Eighth, understanding is the ability to form the details of knowledge into general principles.

Ninth, wisdom is the ability to apply understanding to the realities of day-to-day life, and arrive at correct decisions or conclusions.

Lack of wisdom means that you will form beliefs or draw conclusions based on what you have heard from others (gossip, hearsay, media), or what you have conjured up in your imagination.

True wisdom is derived from the study of Bible doctrine.

Lack of wisdom means that you will form a false wisdom within your own soul. And false wisdom leads to all kinds of bad decisions and conclusions in life which have been tainted with emotional or biased beliefs.

Candidates are not considered for their qualifications. Issues are not viewed objectively. Decisions are based on emotions, lusts, agendas, and so forth.

And most important of all, truth gets ignored more and more, making it more and more difficult to transform the thinking of a mind filled with erroneous thinking.