^25:1 Then Bildad the Shuhite answered and said:
^25:2 Power and terror are with him who makes harmony in his high places.
^25:3 Is there any number of his soldiers? And over whom does his light not rise?
^25:4 Can man be justified when compared with God? Or can one born of woman appear clean?
^25:5 Behold, even the moon does not shine, and the stars are not pure in his sight;
^25:6 how much more is man rottenness and the son of man a worm.

355. Then Bildad the Shuhite answered and said: Power and terror, etc. In his response Job had already refuted the two slanders that Eliphaz had cast upon him in his preceding response, showing that he had neither been punished for sins nor denied divine providence. Now he had shown very expressly that it was not opposed to divine providence if the impious prosper in this world, because their punishment is reserved for another time, and therefore they could not press further against this; but the other point, namely, that he had not been punished for sins, he had not shown so evidently—indeed, rather, he signified the weakness of his demonstration when he said: No one can discern his thoughts. And therefore Bildad strives to resist further against this, reproving Job because he asserted that he had not been punished for his sins.

356. And, as though forgetful of Job’s words by which he had said that it did not suffice him if someone contended against him from God’s strength, he takes the beginning of his disputation from divine power, and proposes the greatness of divine power in two ways:

first indeed with respect to the fact that he exercises power over the higher creatures, preserving them in the greatest peace, whence he says: Power and terror, that is, power by which he ought to be feared, are with him, namely, with God, who makes harmony in his high places. For among the lower creatures manifold discord is found, both among rational creatures, as is clear from the contrary movements of human wills, and among bodily creatures, as appears from their contrariety, by which they are subject to generation and corruption; but in the higher bodies no contrariety is found, whence they are also incorruptible. Similarly also the higher intellectual substances live in the greatest harmony, whence they are without misery. But this greatest harmony of the higher creatures proceeds from the divine power, which establishes the higher creatures in a more perfect participation of his unity, as being nearer to him; and therefore he pointedly says: in his high places, that is, in those more conformed to him.

357. Second, he commends the divine power from the things that it works in the lower creatures, in which he works through the ministry of the higher creatures, whose multitude is unknown to man, whence he adds: Is there any number of his soldiers? Indeed, he calls all the heavenly powers God’s soldiers, which follow the divine command as soldiers obey the command of a leader; but the number of these heavenly powers is unknown to man, and similar is what is found in Isaiah 40:26: who brings out their host by number. And lest someone believe that the heavenly powers do not conduct themselves like soldiers submitting to another’s command, but like leaders and princes doing all things from their own judgment, as the worshipers of many gods supposed, he adds: And over whom does his light not rise? As if to say: all the heavenly powers are directed by divine illumination, just as men are directed by the fact that the light of the sun rises over them.

358. Therefore, having set forth the divine power, he comes to the point, saying: Can man be justified when compared with God? As if to say: since God is so great and so excelling in justice that he makes harmony even in the high places, which is the effect of justice according to that of Isaiah 33, the work of justice is peace, all the justice of man, compared with divine justice, is counted as though nothing. Nor can man, when compared with God, merely not appear just; but, what is more, when compared with him, he appears unjust, just as, in comparison with the most beautiful things, things that have little beauty seem unclean, whence he adds: Or can one born of woman appear clean? This he says pointedly, because from the very fact that man is born of woman through the concupiscence of the flesh, he contracts a stain.

359. But what he had said he consequently confirms by a likeness when he adds: Behold, even the moon does not shine, and the stars are not pure in his sight. Here it must be considered that he does not mention the sun, because it does not appear sensibly that its light is darkened by the presence of a greater light; but the moon and the stars are obscured even by the presence of the bodily sun. Hence much more is their brightness, as it were, a kind of darkness when compared with the immensity of the divine light. And from this he concludes the point, adding: how much more is man rottenness and the son of man a worm, namely, that he cannot be regarded as shining with the splendor of justice if he is compared with divine justice, nor as clean through innocence if he is compared with divine purity. But he pointedly compares man to rottenness, as existing from matter near to putrefaction, and the son of man to a worm, because a worm is generated from rottenness. Now he brings this in to show that man cannot set forth however great his justice and innocence may be, as though they were counted nothing in comparison with God, when divine judgment is at issue.