Yea, the stars are not pure in his sight. ] Whatever their excellence may be as stars, it is nothing in comparison with him from whom they have derived their being and splendour. See the notes on chap. iv. 18; xv. 14-16. The Targum reads: "Behold, the moon is as yet spotted in her eastern part; the sun shines not; and the stars are not pure in his sight." Some think that by stars are meant those angels who kept not their first estate: this may be so, but I cannot see it in the text. It may, however, mean the heavenly host, as it is supposed to do, chap. xxviii. 7; but I still must hesitate on the propriety of such applications. It is probable this speech of Bildad was delivered in the night-season, when clouds interrupted the bright shining of the moon. The third verse seems to refer immediately to the stars, which to the naked eye are innumerable. The sun is not mentioned, because of his absence. This speech of Bildad is both confused and inconclusive. His reasoning is absurd, and he draws false conclusions from his premises. In the third verse, he says, "Is there any number of his armies? and upon whom does not his light arise?" But how absurd is the conclusion which he draws from his questions: - "How then can a man be justified with God, or he be clean who is born of a woman?" This has no relation to the premises; still to us the question is not difficult, and has already been answered in the notes: "A man can be justified with God," through the blood of Christ; and "he can be clean who is born of a woman." through the sanctification of the Spirit.

Matthew Henry Commentary

--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