“How much less man, that is a worm? and the son of man, which is a worm?”
How much more so a human, who is a worm, and a mortal, who is a maggot, completing Bildad's argument by reducing humans to images of decay and insignificance, establishing that if stars are impure, humans cannot possibly sustain claims to righteousness. The comparison to worm and maggot—creatures associated with death and decomposition—suggests that human existence is fundamentally aligned with corruption and mortality. This rhetoric aims to silence Job's complaint through radical humiliation: if you are but a worm, what standing do you have to question the Almighty? The vivid language of debasement represents Bildad's final attempt to shame Job into theological submission.
Church Fathers on Job 25:6
How much more is man rottenness, and the son of man a worm? As if it were in plain words; ‘If those very persons also cannot be void of contagion, who amidst the darkness of the present life shine bright by virtuous attainments, with what guilt of wickedness are they bound, who still live after the flesh? If those persons cannot be free from sin, who are already walking in the way of heavenly desires, what they who still lie under the loads of sinful habits? who whilst they…
Nicene & Post-Nicene / Ante-Nicene Fathers translations · public domain
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