XXV.
(1) Then answered Bildad. — Bildad attempts no formal reply to Job’s statements, he merely falls back upon the position twice assumed by Eliphaz before (Job 4:17-21; Job 15:14-16), and twice allowed also by Job (Job 14:4) — the impossibility of man being just with God — and therefore implies the impiety of Job in maintaining his righteousness before God. God, he says, is almighty, infinite, and absolute. How can any man contend with Him, or claim to be pure in His sight? This is the final speech of the friends. Bildad no longer accuses Job; he practically owns himself and his companions worsted in argument, seeing that he attempts no reply, but reiterates truisms that are independent of the special matter in hand. Job, in Job 23:3-12, had spoken of his longing for the Divine judgment; so Bildad labours to deprive him of that confidence, as though he would say, “I have nothing to do with your facts, nor can I explain them; but be that as it may, I am certain that you, or any mortal man, cannot be pure in the sight of God.”