Devotional Thoughts: How can one born of woman be pure?

Job 25 picked up with one of Job's friends speaking ... and its real short!

I guess the friends are getting tired. I think this is the shortest monologue so far?

A bit of "inside baseball" on reading the Bible before we breakdown the short speech from Bildad.

The Bible contains various literary forms. Each literary form contains sort of an "agreement" between the author and the reader. If you want to explore this idea some more check out How to Read the Bible for All Its Worth.

Anyway, in poetry, one of the things to look for is parallelism. For instance, sometimes, Line 1 will say something and line 2 will say the same thing but using different words. Or line 1 will say something and line 2 will say the opposite to make a point. And other times, line 1 will say something and line 2 will explain line 1 and even on occasion subsequent lines will explain line 1.

So what do we have here?

Then Bildad the Shuhite replied:
"Dominion and awe belong to God;

Bildad's first line is then explained by the following three lines ...

he establishes order in the heights of heaven.
Can his forces be numbered?
On whom does his light not rise?

All of them are pictures of God's power.

The next set is 3 pairs of lines that say similar things but in different words.

How then can a mortal be righteous before God?
How can one born of woman be pure?

See the parallels?

Mortal = born of woman. Righteous = pure.


image source: http://www.freedigitalphotos.net/details.php?gid=165&sgid=&pid=1750

If even the moon is not bright
and the stars are not pure in his eyes,

Moon = stars. These are similar in that they are objects in the sky. Today, with science, we know the moon is a cold rock in space while stars are hot fiery massive objects. But to the ancients, they were lights in the sky.

Not bright = not pure.

Again, the theme of purity and how we are not pure compared to God.

how much less a mortal, who is but a maggot -
a human being, who is only a worm!"

Mortal = human being. Maggot = worm. Technically, maggots and worms aren't the same kind of thing. But they are icky crawly things! I resisted the temptation to link to an image of a worm or a maggot.

Is Bildad wrong in what he is saying?

As a general observation on the state of humanity, it is a correct assessment.

But in the case of Job, it isn't relevant. Yes, he is born of a woman and a sinner. But he has also cast himself before God and is righteous in God's eyes such that God has allowed Job to be tested to demonstrate faith in difficult circumstances.

Lord, I come before you in humility knowing you are a powerful and righteous God and that I'm sinful and mortal. Yet, I can come boldly because you have cleansed me through Jesus. I can be shamelessly audacious in asking you for help in the meeting the needs of others. Please give wisdom to friends who are making important decisions. Please provide for the needs of people I know regarding employment issues. I do not know who might click on this blog post but whatever their need might be, may they seek you for help. Help me to live righteously with honesty when I fall short. Give me a mix of love, boldness and humility in how I interact with others. Amen.