Adam Clarke's Bible Commentary Verse 6. How much less man, that is a worm? ] Or as the Targum.- "How much more man, who in his life is a reptile; and the son of man, who in his death is a worm." Almost all the versions read, "Truly man is corruption, and the son of man a worm." The original is degradingly expressive: "Even because wna enosh, miserable man, is hmr rimmah, a crawling worm; and the son of Adam, who is h[lwt toleah, a worm, or rather maggot, from its eating into and dividing certain substances." - Parkhurst. Thus endeth Bildad the Shuhite, who endeavoured to speak on a subject which he did not understand; and, having got on bad ground, was soon confounded in his own mind, spoke incoherently, argued inconclusively, and came abruptly and suddenly to an end. Thus, his three friends being confounded, Job was left to pursue his own way; they trouble him no more; and he proceeds in triumph to the end of the thirty-first chapter.
Matthew Henry Commentary
- Bildad shows that man cannot be justified before God.
--Bildad drops the question concerning the prosperity of wicked men but shows the infinite distance there is between God and man. He represents to Job some truths he had too much overlooked. Man' righteousness and holiness, at the best, are nothing in comparison with God's, Ps 89:6. As God is so great and glorious, how can man, who is guilty and impure, appear before him? We need to be born again of wate and of the Holy Ghost, and to be bathed again and again in the blood of Christ, that Fountain opened, Zec 13:1. We should be humbled as mean guilty, polluted creatures, and renounce self-dependence. But ou vileness will commend Christ's condescension and love; the riches of his mercy and the power of his grace will be magnified to all eternit by every sinner he redeems _________________________________________________
Original Hebrew אף637 כי3588 אנושׁ582 רמה7415 ובן1121 אדם120 תולעה׃8438
