איוב, פרק כ״ו, פסוק ד׳

Job reacts to his friend Bildad with biting sarcasm and sheer disgust, completely rejecting the supposed wisdom just presented to him. He delivers two stinging rhetorical questions designed to belittle his friend's arguments and expose their absolute uselessness.

Job first challenges the intended audience of his friend's speech. The primary approach among commentators is that Job is mocking the severe lack of originality in the argument. He wonders who exactly his friend is trying to enlighten with such ordinary statements. Everyone already knows these simple truths about God's greatness, and there is no one who actually needs them explained [רש״י, רמב״ן, מצודת דוד, ביאור שטיינזלץ]. Taking a different angle, this challenge is also understood as a personal protest regarding Job's own honor. Job demands that his friend realize exactly who he is speaking to. He is outraged that humiliating ideas comparing a human being to a maggot or a worm are being directed at a pure and upright man like himself [אלשיך].

Job then questions the breath or spirit behind the speech, playing on the idea that spoken words are naturally formed by breath leaving the mouth [מצודת ציון, חומת אנך]. One approach focuses on the source of the ideas. Job cynically asks where his friend heard these concepts and what supposedly great spirit rested upon him to make him speak with such authority [רש״י, אבן עזרא, מצודת דוד, ביאור שטיינזלץ]. Another perspective focuses on the effect the speech has on the listener. Since teaching someone is often compared to giving them life, Job mockingly asks whose soul his friend actually managed to revive. He wonders if these words successfully saved or guided anyone who was previously lost in despair [רלב״ג, רמב״ן]. Finally, the question is viewed as an expression of deep spiritual defiance. Job challenges his friend's arrogance in judging him, wondering if he somehow received a special reincarnated soul filled with hidden knowledge. He questions whether a great soul emerged from his friend that grants him the right to act so superior, just as the soul of Abraham indirectly came from Job himself [אלשיך].