Chapter 25 is the sixteenth speech in the Book of Iyov, in which Bildad the Shuchite returns and attempts to reinforce his position. Originally, he had two arguments: that the suffering of the righteous is "by way of compensation" - true, you suffer here, but there is compensation for the toll, and on account of this you will receive good; and that the success of the wicked is because their primary punishment is in the World to Come, where their flesh and soul will be cut off. Yet Iyov had already refuted both claims: You say that Hashem will give me good in exchange for the bad - I want neither good nor bad, do not give me good in exchange for bad; and you say that the wicked man's success is because his punishment is in the World to Come - on the contrary, let the wicked man receive his punishment here in this world, in the place where he transgressed! Why does the Holy One, blessed be He, let him do whatever he pleases and leave the punishment for there?
Following Iyov's responses, Bildad now comes to strengthen his words and reaffirm them anew. The foundation of his argument is: everything is subject to individual divine providence (hashgachah pratit), and Hashem repays the righteous according to their righteousness and the wicked according to their wickedness. And if you ask - behold, I see the wicked prospering and the righteous suffering, so how can you say everything is governed by individual providence? To this he answers: at times individuals are penalized not in accordance with strict personal justice, because the general governance (hanhagah kelalit) opposes granting them good; and conversely, at times people receive good unjustly, even though they deserve bad due to their wickedness, because the general governance opposes bringing evil upon them.
Let us imagine fifty fields belonging to righteous people, and among them one field belonging to a wicked person. By strict justice, rain should not fall upon the wicked man's field, and judged from the perspective of individual providence, he does not deserve it. However, the general governance does not permit this: if there are fields of righteous people here, rain must fall, and consequently the wicked man receives good incidentally through the general governance, even though he is unworthy of it.
The same applies to darkness. Darkness in general, nighttime - is it for benefit or for harm? Certainly for benefit. How could a person sleep if it were perpetual daylight? Nowadays people work from dawn to utter exhaustion, but there is night and people go to sleep. Nevertheless, there are those who exploit darkness for evil, to rob and commit crimes. Should Hashem refrain from bringing darkness into the world on account of those who abuse it? And should He withhold rain because of the wicked, just so the wicked man will not benefit? No. The Holy One, blessed be He, provides for all, and consequently the wicked man also benefits from what he does not deserve, for the general laws of nature cannot be altered for the sake of an individual.
By the same token, the reverse is also true: when there are wicked people, "When fire breaks out and catches in thorns, and a stack of wheat or standing grain is consumed." Why did the fire break out? Because of the thorns. Yet in the end, the stack of wheat and the standing grain - representing the good produce, the righteous - were also consumed, because on a general level punishment is warranted. Would you expect the Holy One, blessed be He, to perform individual rescues for each and every righteous person? The general governance opposes rescuing him from the situation in which he finds himself. Hashem cannot cause rain to fall on everyone yet withhold it from a single plot because a wicked person lives there. And since that is impossible, there are situations where the wicked enjoy benefits they do not deserve, and situations where the righteous endure suffering they do not deserve.
And if you say: I understand why it must be so, but ultimately there is an injustice here - the righteous man served Hashem and suffers, while the wicked man angered Hashem and is happy and receives good. To this he answers: know that even though in physical reality you see the righteous man suffering, ultimately Hashem will reward the righteous man, either in this world or in the World to Come, in a manner that does not require altering the general governance on his account. Likewise, the wicked man will receive individual retribution, in this world or in the World to Come, in a manner that does not require altering the general governance. There is no need to shut off the water valve above his field; rather, he will ultimately receive an individual punishment in some other matter that does not disrupt the entire order of governance. Here he benefits because there is a general governance of rainfall that cannot be altered for one person, but in the end he will receive his punishment, and the righteous will receive his reward.
From here, Bildad proceeds to an additional explanation. It is not only that rain falls for everyone and therefore the wicked also receives it, nor only that calamity strikes everyone and therefore the righteous also suffers, but also a matter of the mazal (celestial influence) under which a person was born. If he was born at an hour when celestial influences are negative, it is natural that he should experience hardship. Would you expect Hashem to alter the entire order of the stars so that at the moment of his birth everything would turn to the good? Just as Hashem does not withhold all rainfall on account of the wicked man's field, and does not halt war and bloodshed directed at the wicked on account of the merit of one righteous person, so too when a person is born under an unfavorable mazal - the hour is the determining factor, and Hashem cannot alter everything happening in the world for the sake of that righteous person born at that hour.
And this is precisely the meaning of the Gemara in the story of Rabbi Elazar ben Pedat, who underwent bloodletting and afterwards needed to eat, but had nothing to eat, and the only thing he had was a clove of garlic, and he was in mortal danger out of terrible, dreadful poverty. The Holy One, blessed be He, revealed Himself to him and asked what he desired. He said before Him: Master of the Universe, how long will I remain poor and suffer? He said to him: What do you want, that I overturn the world? That you be reborn under the mazal of wealth, and perhaps then your situation will be better? He asked: Will I live longer than the years I am destined to live? He said to him: What you have lived, you have lived. He said to Him: If so, I decline, leave me as I am; I do not wish to come into the world once more, for who knows what will become of me.
After all, he was born under a certain constellation. Would you expect the Holy One, blessed be He, to upend all the constellations of nature just to change the fortune of a particular righteous person who happened to be born at this precise hour? But know that he will receive his reward: both for the righteous deeds he performed and for the suffering he bore for no fault of his own, since he did not suffer on his own account. For the suffering he endured without having committed any crime - there is an eternal world. That eternal world is not subject to the stars and constellations, and there he will merit to bask in the light of the living; there he will shine, radiate, and his crown will flourish. Ultimately, then, there is no injustice here; rather, the injustice will be rectified.
What he is saying here connects to what he said in his first response - that the suffering of the righteous is by way of exchange: what you suffer here is in order to increase your reward in the World of Truth or at the end of your days. However, there he did not explain himself properly, and therefore Iyov dismissed his words. Now he clarifies that this exchange is not because Hashem actively wishes to afflict him now in order to grant him goodness later. To that, Iyov had argued: "Thank you very much, but keep your favors - do not do me any favors! You want to bring misfortune upon me now, telling me not to worry because I will receive good in the end? I do not want it at the end and I do not want it at the beginning; neither them nor their reward!" To this, Bildad replies: "It is not that I am bringing evil upon you now in order to give you good later. Rather, evil comes upon you because it is unavoidable, for when misfortune descends in a general way, individuals who do not deserve it suffer as well. The constellation of the natural order dictates that there be misfortune, or the collective needs to suffer harm and you are part of that collective - you are part of the standing grain and the sheaf, and when the thorns burn, the crop burns along with them. But do not worry: ultimately, you will receive what is due to you, and great goodness in the future on account of this. It is not inflicting evil for the sake of giving good, but rather the onset of evil out of necessity, and despite everything, you will ultimately receive compensation."
According to this, the parable Bildad offered earlier is also understood: a plant uprooted from one place because its growing ground is poor, and then replanted elsewhere. At first, the uprooting seems like a terrible calamity for the plant. Until now, it was connected to soil and a water source, drawing sustenance, and suddenly it is torn out. But the truth is that this is done to place it in a better garden, in superior soil, in a moister and richer location. It turns out that what seemed like misfortune was actually for its ultimate benefit. So too, Hashem uproots the righteous person from a bad place and subsequently plants him in the land of the living, in a spiritual realm, where he will experience goodness.
In light of this, the concept is wonderful: "planted in a bad place" means that he finds himself in the midst of the wicked. And when he is among the wicked, he must inevitably endure what everyone else endures. Not as a punishment, Heaven forbid, but rather as a circumstance of reality: if there is a war, it affects him too; if everyone is gripped by fear, he too is afraid; if everyone is in danger and fleeing, he flees as well. The majority here are wicked and deserve this, and you happen to be caught in the middle of it. But know that Hashem will uproot this plant from that negative place and replant it in the Garden of Life, in Gan Eden of the World to Come, where he will receive reward for all his deeds - and through this, he will be compensated for the misfortune that had to be visited upon him here.
By the same token, the wicked person: his mazal dictates that he should succeed, that he should be wealthy, possessing fortune and assets, that any iron he touches will turn to gold - such was the mazal under which he was born. Shall I alter the constellation of nature just because he chose to do evil? The celestial order indicated that this man would prosper in his days - should I alter all the stars at the hour of his birth because I know he is destined to become wicked? No. Hashem leaves nature and the system as they are. And if you ask: Where is justice, seeing a wicked man receiving reward here? Do not worry; ultimately, he will receive his eternal punishment, and for generations upon generations he will be judged in Gehinnom. It emerges that there is a kind of necessity that the wicked man should enjoy this world, an inevitability born of the circumstances of his birth, but despite this, everything is settled in the end. Hence, one must not question why he prospers in this world, for the mazal of his birth caused it, or the majority of the public is worthy of good, and that abundance flows upon them while he is among them - and when a group is doused with water, even one who did not want to get wet gets soaked; when rain falls, the wicked receive it too. In the end, the wicked will be punished for his evil deeds, and the righteous will be rewarded for his good deeds. From here, let us examine the verses directly inside.
וַיַּעַן בִּלְדַּד הַשֻּׁחִי וַיֹּאמַר׃ הַמְשֵׁל וָפַחַד עִמּוֹ עֹשֶׂה שָׁלוֹם בִּמְרוֹמָיו׃ - Bildad the Shuchite answered and said: Dominion and dread are with Him; He makes peace in His heights.
The Holy One, blessed be He, grants dominion to others - "Dominion" (hamshel), He makes others rule beneath Him - and nevertheless, "dread is with Him" (vafachad imo), the awe and dread remain directed toward Him. To what is this comparable? To a mighty king who appoints rulers under his authority. The rulers are the ones who carry things out into action, but of whom are they themselves afraid, and of whom are the people in awe? Of the king, for everyone knows they are merely his officials. So too are the forces of nature: the celestial systems, the stars, the constellations, and the supernal ministers - they are the ones who exert influence and hold dominion, and yet "dread is with Him"; there is a Ruler above them all, the Holy One, blessed be He, and He rules in judgment and righteousness.
"He makes peace in His heights" - even though we observe opposing forces in creation, one force clashing with another, one constellation opposing another, know that all these forces originate from Him, blessed be He. He harmonizes them all into one complete, comprehensive direction, and they perform their operations at apportioned times and in distinct ways so that they do not create conflict. Light originates from the Creator and darkness originates from the Creator, and though they are conflicting forces - "He forms light and creates darkness," followed immediately by "He makes peace." He assigned light to rule the day, and darkness to rule the night.
This is also the basis for the ruling that "one who sees a pot (kedeirah) in a dream should anticipate peace." Why? When there is a force called fire and opposing it a force called water, they negate one another - intense fire evaporates water, and abundant water extinguishes fire. How, then, is peace made between them? One takes a pot: the fire is underneath, the pot rests upon it, and the water is inside it, and a benefit is achieved - the fire heats the water, and one can drink a cup of coffee. Who brokered peace between the fire and the water so that they could influence each other constructively? The pot. This is how the Maharam Banet explains it, as noted in the work Bemishnat Hachalomot. Thus, even though the forces that emanate from Him are light and darkness, the Holy One, blessed be He, makes peace between them, assigning them different times and distinct domains of operation so that they do not clash with one another.
הֲיֵשׁ מִסְפָּר לִגְדוּדָיו וְעַל־מִי לֹא־יָקוּם אוֹרֵהוּ׃ - "Is there any number to His legions? And upon whom does His light not arise?"
Up to this point, we have spoken of the Creator of the world and of the governing powers, which are the heavenly ministers. Now the focus shifts to the specific forces, the "legions" beneath these ministers - like the analogy of a chief of staff, officers, and soldiers. The individual details are likewise like legions placed under rulers, and they are beyond count because of their vast quantity. Yet despite all this - "And upon whom does His light not arise?" Upon whom can one say that the light of Divine Providence does not watch and supervise? Not only over the great ministers, but also over the smallest details of individual providence: what happens when one puts a hand into a pocket, what happens when crossing the street, and what happens when opening a book and having it fall open to the exact right page. All of these are vast legions of individual providences. This is not general providence over what will become of the Jewish people - which is the higher order of governance referred to as the rulers - but specific, minute providences over each and every detail. Seemingly, the contradictions among them could be far more numerous, yet the Holy One, blessed be He, rules over them all and makes peace in His heights. "His light" is the light of the Holy One, blessed be He, the light of providence and guidance, which oversees and watches over everything seen in the world down to the tiniest details. And everything is aimed at a benevolent, positive purpose, and not, Heaven forbid, toward evil.
וּמַה־יִּצְדַּק אֱנוֹשׁ עִם־אֵל וּמַה־יִּזְכֶּה יְלוּד אִשָּׁה׃ הֵן עַד־יָרֵחַ וְלֹא יַאֲהִיל וְכוֹכָבִים לֹא־זַכּוּ בְעֵינָיו׃ - "How then can man be justified before God? Or how can one born of a woman be pure? Behold, even the moon does not shine, and the stars are not pure in His eyes."
Bildad says to him: Can man ever be justified in the claims he makes against God? Can he truly lodge complaints against Him? And what are his claims? "Behold, even the moon does not shine" - if a person was born under a certain constellation while the moon was shining, and his astrological sign was unfavorable, what do you expect? That on the day you were born the moon should not shine as it normally must, just so you would not suffer an adverse influence from it? "And the stars are not pure in His eyes" - you claim that the arrangement of the stars does not suit you either; zakhu ("pure") denotes clarity and purity, as if to say: it does not seem fitting to me, and Hashem should have altered the planetary order because I am righteous. Would the Holy One, blessed be He, alter the entire celestial order just for you as an individual? Could you possibly raise such an argument, that Hashem should create different stars for you to portend goodness and herald your success? Can one born of a woman make such an absurd claim?
אַף כִּי־אֱנוֹשׁ רִמָּה וּבֶן־אָדָם תּוֹלֵעָה׃ - "How much less man, who is a maggot, and the son of man, who is a worm!"
All the more so since mortal man is mere decay: his physical matter is destined to wear away in the grave and become maggots and worms. The essence of man is the spiritual soul, whereas the material body is nothing more than a garment. How could one imagine that for the sake of this temporary physical existence, which lasts only seventy, eighty, or a hundred and twenty years, Hashem would alter the entire system of the stars, remove the moon, and remove the constellations?
Rather, know that there is no injustice in this. Ultimately, the righteous person will receive his reward and the wicked will receive his retribution. What is seen in this world is due to the overarching celestial system and the configuration of the stars: the righteous person suffers not because he deserves it, but because the celestial arrangement dictated it at the time of his birth; and for the wicked, the constellation indicated good fortune. In the end, everything will be balanced out. This world is merely physical, where mortal man is a maggot and human flesh is destined to become a worm; but there, in the spiritual realm, each person will receive what is truly fitting and deserved.
In this chapter, Bildad reinforces his position that the suffering of the righteous is compensated through ultimate reward, but with a more precise explanation than before: it is not that the Holy One, blessed be He, brings misfortune simply to reward someone for enduring it - to which Iyov had already responded, "Neither them nor their reward" - but rather that the general system of governance and the astrological order do not change for an individual. Rain that falls on the fields of the righteous also waters the field of the wicked, and a fire that breaks out among thorns consumes both the standing grain and the shocks of wheat; likewise, the celestial orders are not overturned for someone born under an unfavorable constellation, as seen in the story of Rabbi Elazar ben Pedat. "Dominion and fear are with Him" - the stars and heavenly ministers govern, but the awe and sovereignty of the Holy One, blessed be He, reign supreme over them all, making peace between conflicting forces; "Is there any number to His legions?" - the light of His providence extends down to the finest details; and "How then can man be justified before God?" - a person has no standing to demand that the celestial systems be overturned for him, especially since his body is mere maggots and worms while his true essence is the spiritual soul. In the final analysis, there is full compensation: the righteous will be uprooted from the place of affliction and planted in the garden of life, receiving immense recompense for the suffering endured undeservedly, while the wicked will receive his punishment eternally, and there is no injustice.