Commentary on the Book of Job part fifty one

                                        Job 25:1-6

In Bildad's next answer to Job, he contended that God possesses awesome power and huge armies of angels but only for the purpose of establishing peace in His universe. Bildad also conceded that God allows His sun to rise on both the good and the bad of the earth. In his answer, Bildad seemed to yield somewhat to Job's contention that God really cares about His creations, but he also still clung to his idea of a deist God.

In Job 25:4-6, Bildad demonstrated his philosophy of deism when he asserted that no man can become justified or clean in God's eyes. He even portended the beliefs of the future Gnostics when he contended that God did not create a pure and unflawed universe.

God must have given Bildad a little insight into the truth when he proclaimed that man is a "worm." The word "worm" in the Bible (KJV) almost always symbolizes human sin and evil. In Exodus 16:20, when the Israelites tried to save some of the manna until the morning when God had told them not to do so, "it bred worms and stank." These worms symbolized the Israelites filthy disobedience to God. In Isaiah 14:11, the Bible teaches that those whom God consigns to the regions of the dead become immersed in a field of worms which symbolizes the filthiness of their sins. In Acts 12:23, Herod died because he was "eaten of worms" which symbolized the horrible nastiness of his rebellion toward God. In Isaiah 1:18, Isaiah taught that God can cleanse humans from the stain of their sins which he compares with the color "scarlet" and "crimson." The Jews obtained this red dye by crushing certain crimson worms. In this way, God revealed that worms symbolize sin and evil in His Word. Other examples of the word "worm" symbolizing sin and evil can be found in Isaiah 41:14; Isaiah 51:8; Isaiah 66:24, and Jonah 4:7.

In all of these passages thus noted, something exists that has been stained and soiled by sin and evil. The manna was good because God gave it to the Israelites for food, but the worms made it filthy. This something which has become stained and soiled by sin and evil can only be the life of every human which God created in His image and gave to every human. God loves all humans, but He hates their sin and evil, so the only something which God can love must be His good image that He put into every human. Genesis 1:27; Genesis 1:31; Genesis 3:20; Luke 20:38. Sin and evil is the same as spiritual death. If sin and evil completely replaced the good life that God has given to every human, then all humans would become totally evil and demonic and commit only evil acts, but they do not. Even the worst humans have some good in them which proves that God's good life still remains in them. God still loves every good life that He has put into every human, and He fully intends to recover, rescue, recreate, and reconcile every one of man's good lives to Himself, some by His grace and all others in a general resurrection in the end of the world. John 3:16; Luke 20:38; Romans 11:36; Colossians 1:15-20; John 5:28-29; Romans 11:29; Revelation 20:5; Genesis 3:20; I Corinthians 13:8.