Commentary on Job 1 part 11/19

Leading Job to fear, he sets forth the power of God, and says that God, being most high and above all things, fashioned all things and is the maker of all.

But it is also possible to understand "in the highest" in another way, as referring to the Son.

For the Son is Most High, just as the Father also is.

"For let no one suppose that there is delay for plunderers? Upon whom will his ambush not come?" Now "pirates," properly speaking, are those who plunder the sea.

Let no one suppose that God for long continues to defer punishments against the unjust; rather, like those who lie in ambush, he comes upon them unexpectedly, and it is not possible for any of the impious to escape the divine justice.

"For how shall a mortal be righteous before the Lord, or who that is born of a woman shall purify himself?" Baldad has taught a beautiful doctrine.

For no man is able to purify himself, because of the sin handed down from our forefathers, unless he should obtain the divine purification.

And in another sense too, even if many are reckoned righteous by human judgment, yet in the all-seeing eye of God no one is righteous, no one able to say:

"If he gives command to the moon, and it does not shine..."

By this he signifies the power of God.

For indeed, at the consummation he commands the moon, and it does not shine forth its own light.

and the stars are not pure in his sight.

There is a light purer than another light;

for instance, the light of the stars happens to be purer than the light among us — the coal-like light that comes from fire.

So, he says, in comparison with the divine purity, not even the light of the stars is pure.

But how much more is man mere corruption, and the son of man a worm?

It is superfluous even to reason concerning man, for he is wholly corruption, and a worm crawling about in that corruption.

for the mind of man is bent upon evil things from his youth.

He said these things, constructing his argument from superabundance, and striking at Job as one who prided himself on purity.

For if, he says, none of the created things can think highly of itself with respect to purity, how much more man, who differs in nothing from corruption and a worm?

'To whom do you cling, or whom are you about to help? Is it not he who has great strength and a mighty arm?' Overview of the chapter: Since Baldad had discoursed about the wisdom and power of God as though he were some advocate of God, blessed Job answers this and says:

Why are you so eager to plead God's case, as though he needed the contrivance of arguments in order to be shown wise and powerful? Then, in order to show that he holds and glorifies the things concerning God more finely and more loftily than they do, he discourses at greater length concerning God's wisdom, and hymns the incomprehensible power of God, and prophesies concerning the Only-begotten, and foretells the overthrow of the devil's tyranny.

Having thus made this his preamble, he says:

It is impossible for me, whatever I may suffer, to speak anything lawless concerning God, until I come to death;

and he confirms this promise with an oath.

Then, speaking boldly with a clear conscience, he says that he himself is not conscious of having done anything improper, but that divine justice will deal with the impious.

And again he resumes his theme, inasmuch as the divine wisdom is manifest in the works of divine creation and has been sown into rational beings, and he declares that to be wise is more precious than all things.

Having discoursed at length concerning this God-given wisdom, and having taught that nothing can be compared to it, he also says this: that the renown of wisdom has been spread abroad to all, but that it is impossible to find adequate words concerning it;

and he hands down a most excellent lesson: that for a man to be wise it is not enough to search out the unsearchable things, but rather to fear God and to abstain from every kind of wickedness; and he defines this to be the acquisition of wisdom and understanding.

He set forth these things, at once rightly glorifying the things concerning God, and at the same time persuading his friends not to suppose absolutely that he was suffering on account of sin, but rather to leave discussions of such matters to the unsearchable judgments of God.

He speaks, as I have said, concerning wisdom — not that of the hypostatic Word, that is, the Only-begotten Son of God;

for even though he too is called Wisdom and belongs to the Father, the present discourse is not about him, but about the natural activity of the rational beings made by God, consisting in the God-loving and good-loving disposition which the Creator sowed into rational beings.

But if this wisdom, given to us by participation, is beyond comparison and of such worth, what then ought we to think concerning Wisdom itself, essential Wisdom, the Only-begotten Son of God who is consubstantial with the Father, the Father's Wisdom, the hypostatic Word, through whom we too become and are called rational and wise, by transmission and participation through the Holy Spirit, being made wise by divine grace? The words: 'To whom do you cling, or whom are you about to help? Is it not he who has great strength and a mighty arm? To whom do you contribute your own power, and with whose portion do you range yourself, or for whom are you eager to plead, as though he needed your assistance? Away with it, O man! We all know that God is without need and almighty.'

Wisdom? But that God is all-wise is also perfectly evident.

Why then have you been so eager, as though a partaker of his counsels, to make speeches on his behalf? Or whom will you follow? Is it not he who has the greatest power? And whom are you eager to follow, as though you would bring him some alliance? Is it not the all-mighty and almighty one? To whom have you declared your words? And before whom have you displayed your own wisdom? And whose breath is it that has gone forth from you? For consider, O wondrous one, that even your very breathing, and living, and speaking, you have received from God.

The blessed one said these things, mocking Baldad for wishing to appear as a novel advocate of God, when all alike already know concerning God that he is both powerful and all-wise.

Having spoken these things to him mockingly, he turns his discourse to the power of God, showing that he glorifies the things concerning God's strength better than they do, and he says:

'Shall the giants be brought forth to birth from beneath the water and its neighboring regions?' Can the powers under the earth, he says — those beyond the waters and the neighboring earth, that is, those in Hades — bring forth the dead as though from a womb by the art of midwifery, and give them life? What he means is this:

Can the powers in Hades bring about a resurrection? But God even raises the dead, employing his sovereign power.

But it is also possible to understand it in another way:

Long ago, when God was cleansing the earth by the flood as being utterly corrupted, he overwhelmed and made to vanish those God-fighting men called the Giants.

Can those Giants again be brought forth to birth and raise themselves up by their own power? Did their great strength profit them at all when they set themselves against the invincible might and power of God? 'Hades is naked before him, and destruction has no covering.'

For destruction, which is the neighbor of Hades, has no hiding place before him.

And by 'destruction' one should understand death:

and the Only-begotten, having become man, both despoiled Hades and said to those in darkness:

'Be uncovered,' and no covering resisted the divine command, but they were immediately uncovered.

He stretches out the north over nothing, hanging the earth upon nothing.

For the earth has no other vehicle or support, but it hangs and is upheld by the divine will.

He binds up the water in his clouds, and the cloud is not torn beneath it.

For unless he gave command to the clouds, they would not release the rain upon the earth in the measure they have been commanded.

He who holds fast the face of the throne, spreading out his cloud upon it.

Heaven is called the throne of God in many places in Scripture:

and the air lies in front of heaven.

He says, therefore, that by holding fast the air and spreading out the clouds, he does not allow the rain to drip down except in the manner he himself knows to be beneficial.

He has drawn a boundary upon the face of the water, unto the limit where light meets darkness.

Moreover, having set his own command in a circle around the waters, he does not permit them to overstep and flood the neighboring earth.

And the divine providence extends unto the limit where light meets darkness, that is, persuading night and day to yield their courses to one another in turn.

The pillars of heaven were stretched out, and were struck with astonishment at his rebuke.

But also the supports of heaven, and as it were its foundations, do not prop it up and bear it from below, as certain pillars bear what lies above them; rather, the foundations of heaven happen to be situated somewhere above.

For this is what 'were stretched out' signifies, that is, in order to say that:

even heaven itself subsists by the divine word, with nothing supporting it from beneath.

Nevertheless, even the very foundations of heaven are shaken and moved, whenever he commands.

And this happens at the consummation, for he says, 'Like a garment you will roll them up, and they will be changed.'

By strength he stilled the sea, and by understanding he wounded the sea-monster.

Having proceeded to the discourse concerning the sea, he made mention of the intelligible sea-monster.

And the divinely inspired psalmist is seen to have done the very same thing:

'There is no number' — he immediately added, 'small creatures together with great.'

'This dragon, which you formed to sport with.'

He says, therefore, that by divine power he stilled the intelligible sea, that is:

he made sin vanish through the washing of regeneration.

And he laid the devil low beneath us, having given us authority to tread upon serpents and scorpions and upon all the power of the enemy — not by employing his all-mighty power, nor accomplishing this by sheer sovereign authority as God, but by knowledge and wisdom, through humility, through forbearance: the Creator of mankind having become man, and having humbled himself unto death, even death on a cross.

And the bars of heaven are afraid of him.

Just as, indeed, when the powers above beheld him being escorted by the angels as he ascended to his own Father together with his own flesh, they said with awe and wonder:

'Who is this King of glory?' And then they heard those escorting him answering back:

'The Lord of hosts, he is the King of glory.'

And by a command he put to death the apostate dragon.

In agreement with these things the apostle spoke, saying:

'whom the Lord will destroy with the breath of his mouth.'

But if you should also understand this as referring to the devil himself, because he too is destined to be sent away into eternal darkness and into the fire prepared for the devil and his angels — for the apostle's saying is spoken concerning the Antichrist — this too is not said without purpose.

'Behold, these are but parts of his way, and we shall hear but a drop of his word concerning him.'

'These things,' he says, 'are but a few we have spoken out of many,' having explained only some small part of the power and wisdom of God, according to which, traversing and encompassing this world, he governs it, and we have heard but a small drop of his word.

For it is impossible for a created nature to receive the whole flood of his wisdom.

'But who knows the might of his thunder, at what time he will unleash it? And who is a sufficient interpreter to declare the crash that is borne through the air with the thunder, according to what principles or what causes it comes to be?' And Job, adding yet more, spoke this as a preface.

When the three friends had fallen silent in the face of what had been said, the blessed Job, joining what follows to what came before, adds the next words.

He spoke what had been said before as a preface with respect to what follows.

But Aquila has rendered it thus:

'And Job again took up his parable, and said:'

Now in Scripture 'parable' is used not only for a saying introduced by way of comparison, but for every wise saying as well.

For Balaam too, taking up his parable, spoke in this way, and David as well:

'I will open my mouth in parables' — not thereby setting forth likenesses, but wise sayings.

'As the Lord lives, who has judged me thus, and the Almighty, who has embittered my soul,'

'surely while my breath is still in me, and the divine spirit that remains in my nostrils, my lips will not speak lawless things, nor will my soul meditate unjust things,'

'far be it from me to declare you righteous, until I die.'

The phrase 'until I die' is spoken in common with respect to what follows, and the sense is this:

By the living Lord, and by him who, according to his own judgment and by reasons of his own that are beyond my reach, has surrounded me with such great evils — as long as I breathe and live, even should I suffer worse than these, I would never utter or think anything discordant, or lawless, or blasphemous against God, resisting sin even unto death.

But may it never be my lot to hold one thing in my mind, and know that you condemn me in vain, while out of shame before you I falsify the truth and say that what you say about me is rightly thought.

Observe how, while speaking of one God, he made mention of the holy and consubstantial Trinity.

For first he said, 'As the Lord lives,' referring to the Only-Begotten;

for 'there is one Lord, one faith.'

Then he added, 'the Almighty,' hinting at the Father of the Only-Begotten;

then next in order he made mention of the Holy Spirit, whom the saints breathe in rather than the air.

the Word made flesh, who said to the disciples:

For God, who is one by reason of the one essence and Godhead, is known in Trinity by reason of the hypostases.

The soul is said to be embittered when nothing sweet, pleasant, or attractive is present to it.

'For I will not put away my integrity.'

'But holding fast to righteousness, I will not let it go;'

'for I am not conscious in myself of having done anything improper.'

'For I will not put away from myself my integrity and simplicity, nor will I betray righteousness, nor, while holding some other thing in mind and being conscious in myself of nothing contrary to what is true and just, will I speak otherwise.'

'Yet indeed, let my enemies be as the overthrow of the ungodly, and those who rise up against me as the destruction of transgressors.'

'I myself, then,' he says, 'am conscious of nothing against myself;'

'but the things which you charge against me as against an impious man, let them turn back upon the heads of my enemies.'

'For what hope does the ungodly man have, that he should wait for it? Will he indeed be saved by trusting in the Lord? Or will the Lord listen to his supplication? Or, when necessity falls upon him, does he have any confidence before him? Or will God hear him, as though he had called upon him?' For what hope, he says, does the impious man have, even if he holds out for a time? With what confidence does he expect salvation from God? And how, having fallen into necessity, will he call upon God with confidence, as though his prayer were about to be heard? 'But now I will declare to you what is in the hand of the Lord;'

'what is with the Almighty, I will not lie about.'

'I will declare to you also the things brought by the hand of the Lord upon the ungodly.'

'Behold, you all know that you are heaping vain things upon vain men.'

'This is the portion of an ungodly man from the Lord, and the heritage of tyrants that shall come upon them from the Almighty.'

'You yourselves, then,' he says, 'know that you are stringing vain words upon vain words, writing down impiety against me.'

But I say, what indeed is the portion of the ungodly man, and what possession and what inheritance belongs to those who are mighty in wickedness, and what shall come upon them from the all-powerful God.

'And if their sons become many, they shall be destined for slaughter;'

'and if they grow to manhood, they shall beg.'

'And those of his who survive shall come to their end by death, and no one will show mercy to their widows.'

He speaks of what is likely to happen to the ungodly.

For these things will not necessarily happen to them in every case;

for at times they drag out their prosperity even to the end of life, as he himself taught above, when he raised this very difficulty to his friends.

And by 'slaughter' he means death at the hands of enemies, and by 'death' he means the sudden and untimely kind.

'If he gathers silver like dust, and prepares gold as abundant as clay, all these things the righteous shall obtain, and the upright shall possess his wealth.'

This came to pass, as we said before, when, because of the sins of the Amorites and Canaanites and the rest, the Hebrew people inherited their possessions.

'And his house has turned out like that of a moth, and like a spider's web.'

For impiety, like rust, consumes those who possess it.

'The rich man shall lie down and shall not do so again; he opened his eyes, and he is no more.'

Because of the swift, fleeting nature of his enjoyment:

for having gazed but briefly upon his own wealth, he shall depart, paying the penalty.

'Pains have come upon him like water.'

and pains shall take hold of him even to his innermost parts, which David also said concerning the accursed:

'It entered like water into his innermost parts.'

'and by night a darkness has stolen him away.'

His circumstances shall be as in the night, filled with darkness, and evils shall surround him on every side like a thick gloom.

'A scorching wind shall carry him off, and he shall be gone, and it shall winnow him away from his place.'

He shall depart, he says, as though blown away and swept up by a scorching wind.

He rightly said 'scorching,' for unquenchable fire awaits him next.

'To winnow' means, by tossing the grain up with a winnowing-fan, to separate from the wheat, by the breezes of the winds, that which is chaff-like and light.

When the threshing floor is thus cleansed, the wheat is gathered into the barns, while the chaff is burned with unquenchable fire, as the gospel parable says.

'And it shall be hurled upon him, and shall not spare.'

Clearly, both the punishment and the scorching wind fall upon the ungodly man like a robber.

'From his hand he shall flee in headlong flight.'

'He shall clap his hands at him, and shall hiss him out of his place.'

It is Scripture's custom to depict God in the guise of an enemy, whenever it wishes to display the divine punishment against the ungodly.

For instance, David straightway arms him with weapons and depicts him holding a javelin, when, singing, he says:

'Take hold of shield and buckler, and rise up to help me.'

'Draw out the sword, and bar the way against those who pursue me.'

This, then, is what he does here too: he depicts God as pursuing after the manner of an enemy, while the impious man flees; and Him as one who has conquered and, exulting in the victory, claps his hands and drags the impious man out of his place — that is to say:

from his former prosperity.

Being angered after the manner of an enemy, God strips of all his possessions the one who lives together with impiety.

For silver has a place from which it comes, and there is a place for gold from which it is refined.

For iron comes forth from the earth, and copper is quarried like stone.

He has set an order for darkness, and he himself determines every limit with exactness.

What then does he mean? Does God bring on his punishments at random, unwisely or without counsel — although indeed he has wrought all things surpassingly and wisely, and has given order to each thing? Then, in demonstrating this, this blessed man teaches at once the wisdom and harmony of the creative Word, which he has established in all things, and at the same time how he has honored us by adorning us with reason.

But he also directs us toward the higher contemplation (theōria):

For such are the sayings of the holy prophets: mingling contemplation together with what is readily understood, and mingling the knowledge of the mysteries together with what is related according to the historical sense.

Since, then, the things that come from God are not without judgment, let us consider his work of creation and marvel at it; let us ponder the rational knowledge given to human beings as a divine gift, and be struck with amazement.

For silver has a place from which it comes, and there is a place for gold from which it is refined.

And gold-bearing earth does not produce silver, nor does silver-bearing earth produce gold;

iron is mined from one kind of earth, and copper from another.

And the statement that 'copper is quarried like stone' does not mean that the mountains happen to be made of copper, but that, when quarried according to the metallurgical art given to human beings by God, they yield copper and iron.

And the darkness of night yields to the light as it draws near, just as the day in turn yields its course to the night, each according to its own order.

And God wisely determines with exactness the limits and outcomes of all things, encompassing all things together by his boundless providence.

Therefore, he who has ordered all things with measure and order and harmony neither postpones the punishments against the impious in vain, nor brings them on to no purpose.

the stone of darkness and the shadow of death.

Indeed, he says, these stones that are mined lie somewhere in the depths of the earth, as it were beneath the very shadow of death, so as to say that:

both in the lowest depths and in deep darkness.

A torrent breaks through from the dust, and those who forget the righteous way grow weak.

The dust of the earth, he says, when cast into the smelting furnace, flows out like a river by means of fire — whether it be gold, or silver, or copper, or iron.

Just as the torrent breaks through the earth if it finds it crumbling because of dust, that is, without firm foundation, so divine justice, coming upon the unrighteous, causes them to grow weak — like a torrent breaking through crumbling ground — cutting off the prosperity of the impious.

As for the earth, out of it bread shall come forth; but beneath it, it was turned as it were by fire.

But there is also, he says, another earth which, being sown by the cooperation of God together with the art of farming, and receiving the seeds down within its own bosom, then, as though by fire, dissolves by its own inherent heat what has been cast into it, and, multiplying it by the seminal power inherent within it, sends up the ear of grain for the making of bread.

But according to the higher sense, the earth is the Church, which offers the living bread to those who are worthy, while for the unworthy she prepares the fire below, that is, the eternal fire in Hades.

Its stones are the place of sapphire.

it produces precious stones; but understood [spiritually], this signifies the apostles and the rest of the saints, concerning whom it is written:

holy stones roll upon the land.

And the stones are 'the place of sapphire,' since, though they exist on earth, their citizenship is in heaven:

for the sapphire stone displays a heavenly color.

Of the sensible earth, as we said before, there is a certain soil which, when smelted, contributes to the production of gold.

But in the holy Church, even those things that seem to be lowly, like soil, turn out to be precious.

a path which no bird has known, and the eye of the vulture has not beheld it.

As to the literal sense, he says this: that God has granted this path of the metallurgic art not to vultures — though they are most sharp-sighted and can discern from on high the things lying in the depths — nor to the other birds, but to the rational nature of human beings.

But as to the [spiritual] meaning concerning the holy Church, the demon — called a 'bird' because he is aerial — has not known her way, nor was the eye of the vulture, that is, the lover of the flesh, able to comprehend her;

for the vulture is a flesh-devouring bird.

The sons of the arrogant have not trodden it, nor has the lion passed over it.

But neither, he says, have serpents, or the other great beasts — for these he calls 'sons of the arrogant' — nor lions, received this art from God.

Those who are disciples of the demons, and are rightly called their sons, cannot tread upon this land thus spiritually understood; nor indeed can even the intelligible lion himself, that is, the devil.

He stretched forth his hand upon the sheer rock; he overturned mountains from their roots, and he broke through the banks of rivers.

Man, made wise by God, has left not even the peaks of the mountains untouched, but by opening up and breaking through the sheer rocks, he has caused springs to gush forth from them like rivers; and he has often cut away certain lofty elevations, which indeed he calls 'mountains,' leveling them to the rest of the land.

God turned the flint rock into springs of water, causing the Church of the nations, once barren, to pour forth spiritual gifts like rivers.

'He overturned mountains from their roots' — shaking the opposing powers from their very foundations, concerning whom it is written:

'If you have faith as a grain of mustard seed, you shall say to this mountain:'

'Be lifted up, and be cast into the sea,' and it shall be done.

It is also possible to understand in another way the 'banks of rivers broken through by God' as the onslaughts of temptations.

And my eye has seen every precious thing.

As a holy man and prophet, he says that he has been fully assured of these precious mysteries; but as one assuming the common person of humanity, he says that man has been made wise by God concerning every precious thing.

He has uncovered the depths of rivers, and has brought his power to light.

Man, he says, by cutting through the earth and bringing forth the waters, has brought forth into the open the power of his own knowledge, which he has received from God.

He means that, by the very things man accomplishes, he shows how great a power and authority he has received from God.

The Word, having become man, uncovered the multitude of spiritual gifts, just as the apostle also said concerning the mystery of Christ:

which in other generations was not made known to the sons of men.

But he also showed forth his own power in the light, according to the prophet who said:

God shall come manifestly — our God — and he shall not keep silence.

But whence has his wisdom been found? And what is the place of knowledge? Mortal man does not know its way, nor shall it be found among men.

'It is not in me,' [the deep says]; and the sea said:

Here he calls 'wisdom' perfect piety, a divine and invisible thing, granted to human beings by God alone.

And the sense of these words is this:

God, he says, has bestowed great things upon human beings, having sown in their nature the capacity for discernment, wisdom, and skill; and having received this, human beings mine the earth, cultivate it, and cause the flow of waters to pour forth.

But the wisdom that pertains to piety cannot be found in any place — not in the depths, not in the sea —

— nor can [any created thing] hand it over; rather, for this we specifically need God himself as our teacher, and the holy men shown forth by God.

For this reason, too, the wise men of the Greeks, seeking piety by their own power, missed the mark.

For this matter is not attainable by human beings, but they need the divine gift and grace; wherefore from the beginning God instructed human beings in piety — partly through visions, partly through the visitation of angels, and partly through the holy prophets who were borne along by God.

So then, a certain wisdom is present by nature even in irrational creatures, as also in the bee, but it is present especially in rational beings — that wisdom from which we are moved toward arts and pursuits, since God has honored man above the rest of the animals with reason and understanding; and this we all possess in common, both unrighteous and righteous, pious and impious alike.

For inasmuch as we have become rational beings, we have received this from God.

But as for perfect piety, even though we possess by nature the seeds of it, it is nevertheless impossible to bring it to perfection, or to discover it of our own accord, or to grasp it in any place; rather, for this we need the divine grace alone, so that it may lead us safely by the hand toward it.

For this reason it was also said before:

'Is it not the Lord who teaches understanding and knowledge?' — since this possession is God-given.

We must, then, seek by being moved from natural conceptions, and we must ask God to guide us unerringly toward this.

It is also fitting to know this: that mortal man does not know her way as he ought to know it.

He will not give an enclosed treasure in exchange for her.

By 'enclosure' he seems to mean a treasury of money, because we securely lock these things away.

Such wisdom, he says, is therefore not a thing that can be bought.

And silver shall not be weighed out as an exchange for her.

Nor shall she be weighed in the balance together with the gold of Sophir.

Nothing, he says, is found equal to this possession, nor can anything be weighed against wisdom; for this is what 'she shall not be weighed together' means: not the finest gold, not an abundance of silver.