In Ch. 24, Job laments the wickedness of many humans and the seeming indifference of God to the fate of the good versus the wicked. In the mercifully short Ch. 25, Bildad again tries to blame Job for his own fate.
While we continue to wade through this interminable rich purple poetry, I'll at least try to entertain you with a bit of speculation about the origin of this story. Job was probably written in its present form in the 6th Century BCE, or perhaps a bit later. A Sumerian work dated around 1,700 BCE, usually called in English the Poem of the Righteous sufferer, tells a similar story, far more briefly, of a man who maintains his faith in God -- in this case Marduk, one of a pantheon -- although God has seemingly abandoned him. A lengthier version was composed in Babylon in the 11th Century BCE, with the title Ludlul-Bel-Nemequi which means "I will praise the Lord of wisdom" although it is usually also called Poem of the Righteous Sufferer in English. Here's a summary:
The poem begins with the speaker lamenting his suffering as he cries out for help from his god (Marduk) and receives no answer. His personal goddess is also silent, and the seers he consults offer no hope. He compares himself to one who suffers because of ingratitude toward the gods ("Like one who the sacrifice to god did not bring", line 12) but maintains he has always "thought of prayers and supplications" and how "honoring the gods was the joy of my heart" (lines 23 and 25). At the same time, he acknowledges, what one thinks is good, the gods may consider evil (lines 34-36), and no one can truly understand their plan. . . .
[A]s the speaker is suffering, he does not dwell on his cultural theology but speaks directly to his present problem. Life is unpredictable – "He who lives at evening is dead in the morning" (line 39) – the speaker says, and one's fortunes change constantly, and seemingly so randomly, there is no way to recognize any cause and effect or meaning to any of it (lines 40-47).
Like Job, however, the speaker refuses to curse his god and die. His faith and patience are rewarded when Marduk sends 'a conjurer' – a physician in ancient Mesopotamia known as an asipu, who relied on spells and 'magic' to cure illness – and the speaker's suffering is relieved. The Sumerian text breaks off at the end, but enough is preserved to recognize that the speaker, by maintaining his trust in Marduk's goodness and sovereignty, is rewarded.
The plot is more or less identical, with the omission of the tedious comforters. One is strongly tempted to think this is not a coincidence. While it was written a thousand years before the book of Job, it is possible that versions of it were extant during the Babylonian exile, so that literate Hebrews were familiar with it. In any case the theme is universal.
24 “Why are not times of judgment kept by the Almighty,
and why do those who know him never see his days?
2 Men remove landmarks;
they seize flocks and pasture them.
3 They drive away the ass of the fatherless;
they take the widow’s ox for a pledge.
4 They thrust the poor off the road;
the poor of the earth all hide themselves.
5 Behold, like wild asses in the desert
they go forth to their toil,
seeking prey in the wilderness
as food[a] for their children.
6 They gather their[b] fodder in the field
and they glean the vineyard of the wicked man.
7 They lie all night naked, without clothing,
and have no covering in the cold.
8 They are wet with the rain of the mountains,
and cling to the rock for want of shelter.
9 (There are those who snatch the fatherless child from the breast,
and take in pledge the infant of the poor.)
10 They go about naked, without clothing;
hungry, they carry the sheaves;
11 among the olive rows of the wicked[c] they make oil;
they tread the wine presses, but suffer thirst.
12 From out of the city the dying groan,
and the soul of the wounded cries for help;
yet God pays no attention to their prayer.13 “There are those who rebel against the light,
who are not acquainted with its ways,
and do not stay in its paths.
14 The murderer rises in the dark,[d]
that he may kill the poor and needy;
and in the night he is as a thief.
15 The eye of the adulterer also waits for the twilight,
saying, ‘No eye will see me’;
and he disguises his face.
16 In the dark they dig through houses;
by day they shut themselves up;
they do not know the light.
17 For deep darkness is morning to all of them;
for they are friends with the terrors of deep darkness.18 “You say, ‘They are swiftly carried away upon the face of the waters;
their portion is cursed in the land;
no treader turns toward their vineyards.
19 Drought and heat snatch away the snow waters;
so does Sheol those who have sinned.
20 The squares of the town[e] forget them;
their name[f] is no longer remembered;
so wickedness is broken like a tree.’21 “They feed on the barren childless woman,
and do no good to the widow.
22 Yet God[g] prolongs the life of the mighty by his power;
they rise up when they despair of life.
23 He gives them security, and they are supported;
and his eyes are upon their ways.
24 They are exalted a little while, and then are gone;
they wither and fade like the mallow;[h]
they are cut off like the heads of grain.
25 If it is not so, who will prove me a liar,
and show that there is nothing in what I say?”Footnotes
25 Then Bildad the Shuhite answered:
2 “Dominion and fear are with God;[a]
he makes peace in his high heaven.
3 Is there any number to his armies?
Upon whom does his light not arise?
4 How then can man be righteous before God?
How can he who is born of woman be clean?
5 Behold, even the moon is not bright
and the stars are not clean in his sight;
6 how much less man, who is a maggot,
and the son of man, who is a worm!”Footnotes
- Job 25:2 Heb him
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