Is there any numbering of his soldiers? and upon whom shall not his light arise?
הֲיֵ֣שׁ מִ֭סְפָּר לִגְדוּדָ֑יו וְעַל־מִ֝֗י לֹא־יָק֥וּם אוֹרֵֽהוּ׃
3 Church Fathers comment on this verse
In response to Job's statement, "Thou hast not yet visited him" (Job 24:12, LXX), Wildad claims, "Indeed, there is no delay for those who are criminals." Nevertheless, he contradicts the reality of what occurs, as there is, in fact, a delay. His intent in making this assertion is to oppose Job's perspective.
Is there any record of His hosts? Job 25:3. The human intellect cannot fully grasp the multitude of celestial beings, and so it remains unable to ascertain the vast number of Invisible Spirits that Daniel described as “A thousand thousand thousand served Him, and ten thousand times ten thousand stood before Him” (Dan. 7:10). The inhabitants of the highest realm are portrayed as both infinite and yet able to be counted to illustrate that what can be computed by God is beyond human calculation. To ‘stand before’ and to ‘serve’ are indeed different actions. Those entities that stand before Him do so without conveying messages to humanity.
Conversely, those who serve Him are the messengers, and because the servants outnumber those who merely stand, the standing ones are depicted as a fixed quantity while the servants are shown as innumerable.
The angelic beings are rightly referred to as God’s ‘army’ since they combat the forces of evil, engaging not through labor but by divine authority, seeking the aid of the Almighty in their confrontations with unclean spirits. It is recorded that when our King was born, “And suddenly there appeared with an angel a multitude of the heavenly host" (Lk. 2:13). Along with this heavenly host, a select number of the elect joined, individuals who, through elevated reasoning, had been freed from the grip of earthly desires. Paul states, “No man that is a soldier binds himself to the affairs of life” (2 Tim. 2:4). Although they appear few in number now, in the unseen realm they are countless, and while they may seem fewer than the forces of evil, collectively they cannot be measured. The effectiveness of these warriors, however, is not derived from their abilities but from the divine grace granted to them from above, which leads to the question, “And over whom does not His light rise?” (Job 25:3). The ‘light’ of God acts as a safeguarding grace; without this divine illumination filling our hearts, our minds remain shrouded in the darkness of sin. Hence, it is further emphasized:
In his brief address to Job, Valdad abandons his previous arguments, merely viewing Job's desire to pass judgment before God as irrational. He supports this view by highlighting the majesty and holiness of God, which renders humanity inconsequential in comparison, akin to a minuscule insect.
Passages read together with this verse.
THEOSIS