Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of Job 25:5
Behold even to the moon, and it shineth not; yea, the stars are not pure in his sight.
5. The thought of Job 25:4 amplified. Even the moon, the brightest star, does not shine, is dark, when He looks upon it, and the stars are not pure, how much less man, which is a worm? The contrast drawn by Eliphaz between man and the angels is drawn here between man and the heavenly bodies; comp. ch. Job 15:15. The Hebrew has two words for “worm” here, the one the worm of decay and corruption (ch. Job 7:5, Job 17:14, Job 21:26, Job 24:20; Exo 16:24; Isa 14:11), the other in the second clause, used to express the utmost abasement and abjectness, “Fear not thou worm Jacob,” Isa 41:14, “But I am a worm and no man,” Psa 22:6, though occasionally occurring also in the sense of the other word. We have only one word in English, for though Shakespeare speaks of “Grubs and eyeless skulls,” such a term can hardly be used now in language of any elevation.
Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges
Behold even to the moon, and it shineth not – Or, behold even the moon shineth not. That is, in comparison with God it is dark and obscure. The idea is, that the most beautiful and glorious objects become dim and fade away when compared with him. So Jerome renders it, Ecce luna etiam non splendet. The word here rendered shineth ( ya’ahalyl) frequently means to pitch or remove a tent, and is a form of the word ‘ohel uniformly rendered tent or tabernacle. Some have supposed that the meaning here is, that even the moon and the stars of heaven – the bright canopy above – were not fit to furnish a tent or dwelling for God. But the parallelism seems to demand the usual interpretation, as meaning that the moon and stars faded away before God. The word ‘ohel derives this meaning, according to Gesenius, from its relation to the word halal, to be clear or brilliant, from the mutual relation of the and verbs. The Arabic has the same meaning.
Yea, the stars are not pure in his sight – That is, they are not bright in comparison with him. The design is to show the glory of the Most High and that nothing could be compared with him; see the notes at Job 4:18.
Fuente: Albert Barnes’ Notes on the Bible
Verse 5. Behold even to the moon, and it shineth not] It is continually changing its appearance. It never appears twice in its whole revolution with the same face: it is ever waxing or waning; and its face is variegated with opaque spots. Its changeableness can never be compared with the unchangeable nature of God.
Yea, the stars are not pure in his sight.] Whatever their excellence may be as stars, it is nothing in comparison with him from whom they have derived their being and splendour. See the notes on Job 4:18; Job 15:14-16. The Targum reads: “Behold, the moon is as yet spotted in her eastern part; the sun shines not; and the stars are not pure in his sight.”
Some think that by stars are meant those angels who kept not their first estate: this may be so, but I cannot see it in the text. It may, however, mean the heavenly host, as it is supposed to do, Job 28:7; but I still must hesitate on the propriety of such applications.
It is probable this speech of Bildad was delivered in the night-season, when clouds interrupted the bright shining of the moon. The third verse seems to refer immediately to the stars, which to the naked eye are innumerable. The sun is not mentioned, because of his absence.
This speech of Bildad is both confused and inconclusive. His reasoning is absurd, and he draws false conclusions from his premises. In the third verse, he says, “Is there any number of his armies? and upon whom does not his light arise?” But how absurd is the conclusion which he draws from his questions: – “How then can a man be justified with God, or he be clean who is born of a woman?”
This has no relation to the premises; still to us the question is not difficult, and has already been answered in the notes: “A man can be justified with God,” through the blood of Christ; and “he can be clean who is born of a woman.” through the sanctification of the Spirit.
Fuente: Adam Clarke’s Commentary and Critical Notes on the Bible
The moon, though a bright and glorious creature, Job 31:26; Son 6:10, if compared with the splendour of the Divine majesty, is but as a dark and earthy lump, without any lustre or glory. He names the
moon and the
stars rather than the sun, because they many times are eclipsed or disappear even to our eyes, which is a plain evidence of their utter obscurity in respect of Gods light; whereas the sun, though that also he obscure, if compared with God, yet it casts a constant and most clear light. Or by naming the moon, and thence proceeding to the stars, the sun is included between them.
The stars are not pure in his sight; he can discern many spots and blemishes in them which we cannot see; and in like manner he can discover those corruptions or sins in us which are unknown to our own conscience, which should make thee, O Job, tremble to appear before his tribunal.
Fuente: English Annotations on the Holy Bible by Matthew Poole
5. “Look up even unto themoon” (Job 15:15).”Stars” here answer to “saints” (angels) there;”the moon” here to “the heavens” there. Even the”stars,” the most dazzling object to man’s eye, and theangels, of which the stars are emblems (Job 4:18;Rev 9:1), are imperfect in Hissight. Theirs is the light and purity but of creatures; His of theCreator.
Fuente: Jamieson, Fausset and Brown’s Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible
Behold, even to the moon,…. If all things that are glorious and illustrious in the lower world, and which are between that and the region of the moon, are beheld; or all from the seat of the Divine Majesty, down to that glorious luminary, are viewed, they lose all their lustre and brightness, when compared with the Divine Being;
and it, even that itself
shineth not; it is darkened, confounded, and ashamed; it hides its beautiful face, and draws in its borrowed and useful light, at the approach of him, who is light itself, and in whom is no darkness at all: or it tabernacles not n; has no tabernacle to abide in, as is said of the sun, Ps 19:4; or does not expand and spread its light, as a tent o or tabernacle is spread; it does not diffuse, but contracts it. No mention is made of the sun, not because that shines in its own light, which the moon does not; but perhaps because the controversy between Job and his friends was held in the night, when the moon and the stars were only seen, and therefore only mentioned; otherwise, what is here observed equally holds good of the sun as of the moon; see
Isa 24:23;
yea, the stars are not pure in his sight; as there are spots in the sun and in the moon, seen by the eye of man, aided and assisted, so such may be seen by God in the stars also, and in these, both in a natural and in a mystical sense; as by them may be meant the angels of heaven, even those are not pure in the sight of God, and in comparison of him, the most perfectly pure and holy Being; see Job 4:18.
n “et non ponet tabernaculum”, Montanus, Bolducius; so Schmidt, Schultens. o “Non expandet lumen suum in modum tentorii”, Complutenses apud Bolduc.
Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible
2. Man is not pure before God. (Job. 25:5-6)
TEXT 25:5, 6
5 Behold, even the moon hath no brightness,
And the stars are not pure in his sight:
6 How much less man, that is a worm!
And the son of man, that is a worm!
COMMENT 25:5, 6
Job. 25:5Eliphaz had contrasted men and angelsJob. 15:15; now Bildad contrasts men and the brightness of the moon and stars. In contrast to Gods radiance, all creation pales into darkness. What then is mana little lower than the angels! In this verse physical light is contrasted with ethical light or righteousnessPsa. 8:3-4 and Ecc. 7:20.
Job. 25:6To Bildad, the smallness of man is symbolic of his worthlessness. In the text the first word suggests decay and the second abasement. No man should have the brashness to assert his innocence before God. Certainly no worm should argue with God about his integrity or seek self-vindication. Man is only fit to be compared to a maggotJob. 7:5; Job. 17:14; Job. 21:26or to a wormPsa. 22:6; Isa. 14:11; Isa. 41:14. Bildad not only repeats arguments first uttered by his friends; he introduces a Jobian vocabulary seeking to ensnare Job in his own words. Bildad, like Eliphaz, is a forerunner of Islamic Monotheism, which ignores the facts of good and evil, the nature of God beyond power, and Jobs moral integrity before his holy God.
Fuente: College Press Bible Study Textbook Series
(5) Even to the moon and stars, pure and chaste as their light is, they are not clean before Him (comp. Job. 4:18), for the stars rise and set, and once in every month the moon hides her face.
Fuente: Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers (Old and New Testaments)
b. In the sinfulness and corruption of an entire race, Job may certainly find occasion for humiliation and repentance, Job 25:4-6.
5. It shineth not The moon pales its light in the presence of God. As no mention is made of the sun, some have supposed it was then night.
Not pure He means not the taint that comes from sin, as in this world, but metaphorically the dazzling sheen of the starry hosts; (a high symbol of purity among men;) even this is tainted when compared with the purity of the infinitely pure God.
Fuente: Whedon’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
Job 25:5 Behold even to the moon, and it shineth not; yea, the stars are not pure in his sight.
Ver. 5. Behold even to the moon, and it shineth not ] i.e. Either descend in thy thoughts, from the highest orbs as low as the moon; or else ascend from gold, gems, jewels, and other orient resplendent creatures, as high as the moon and stars, and comparing them with the surpassing majesty of God, thou shalt find no more beauty or brightness in them than is in a lump of earth or clod of clay; those heavenly lights will appear to be as so many snuffs. Or if thou canst discover no spots and blemishes in them, yet God can, without the help of any such perspective glasses as Galileo got him to explore the mountains on the moon. Some think it was by moonlight that this speech was uttered, and therefore the moon is mentioned. But as the moon is confounded, so the sun also is ashamed when the Lord of hosts will display the beams of his glory, Isa 24:23 ; Isa 60:19 . There is a learned interpreter (Mr Abbot) who thus paraphraseth the test: Consider, that by reason of the fall of man, the very creatures that in themselves are sinless, yea, the very moon and stars (that are so far from earth, and so near to heaven), have contracted defilement, and are blemished; so that with God, for man’s sake, and by man’s sin, even they are not accounted free from pollution in his sight: thus he. The visible heavens are defiled by our sins, and must therefore be purged by the fire of the last day; as of old the vessel that held the sin offering was to be broken if earthen, or to pass the fire if of better metal.
Yea, the stars are not pure in his sight
Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
Behold. Figure of speech Asterismos. App-6.
Fuente: Companion Bible Notes, Appendices and Graphics
Isa 24:23, Isa 60:19, Isa 60:20, 2Co 3:10
Reciprocal: Gen 1:14 – Let there 2Sa 6:9 – How shall 1Ch 13:12 – How Job 4:18 – he put Job 15:15 – he putteth Job 35:5 – Look Psa 8:3 – moon Rom 3:20 – in his sight Col 1:22 – in his
Fuente: The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
Job 25:5. Behold, even to the moon, and it shineth not The moon, though bright and glorious, if compared with the divine majesty, is without any lustre or glory. By his naming the moon, and thence proceeding to the stars, he shows that he includes the sun also, and all other creatures, and signifies that the brightest and most glorious objects in nature shine not when compared with Gods ineffable and essential brightness. Indeed, the highest order of beings make but small advances to the essential perfection which is in him; so that, when a comparison is made, their highest purity will be little less than impurity, when brought before the standard of divine perfection.
Fuente: Joseph Bensons Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
25:5 Behold even to the moon, and it shineth not; yea, {d} the stars are not pure in his sight.
(d) If God shows his power, the moon and stars cannot have the light which is given to them, much less can man have any excellency but from God.