Commentary on Job 1 part 14/19

My fear will not confound you, nor will my hand be heavy upon you.

'And let not fear of him confound me' — behold, he says, there is nothing fearful or powerful in my case as there is in God's, nor is your mind turned about and overturned by fear of me, nor, should you speak against me, am I able to inflict any blow upon you by making my hand heavy against you.

For you were saying that, if you had not feared these things, you would have wished to contend to the end with God.

But Elihu says these things, as we have already noted before, not fitting the intent from which Job had brought forth his words.

But you said in my hearing, I have heard the sound of your words.

You dared to say such words, of which I have become an eyewitness hearer.

I am pure, not having sinned; I am blameless, for I have not transgressed the law.

But he has found fault against me, and has regarded me as an adversary.

And he has put my foot in the stocks, and has watched all my ways.

'I am pure and blameless,' says Job, 'but God, like some enemy, having strictly investigated my affairs — whether I had transgressed anything unwittingly, whether I had sinned in my youth — having tracked it down, has found fault against me, so as to punish me.'

As for 'he put my foot in the stocks,' he means this — as Job had said —

as though with the so-called shoemaker's last he measured my foot, that is, to say:

he has also precisely counted out the measures of my words.

or that he has shut up all my ways, as those who bind a person's foot in a pierced block of wood, hinting at the inescapability of the punishment.

'I am righteous, and has he not listened to me?' For he who is above mortals is eternal.

'Why has he not heard every word of my righteousness?' But you even dared to say:

'I indeed am righteous, and I made a righteous petition to God, but he did not assent, nor did he listen to my words.'

And yet you ought to have considered that the eternal and unoriginate God, governing the affairs of the world in the best manner, will overlook nothing that is just.

For when the Lord has spoken once —

— all the things that God has determined and ordained he did not enact as a man who changes his mind or reconsiders something better, but everything he has determined is blameless and praiseworthy.

For this is what 'the Lord has spoken once' signifies: that men often change their minds about what they say or do, but God does not undergo this.

But in the second way, through a dream, as an apparition in nocturnal reflection, as when dread fear falls upon men in slumbers upon their bed —

— then he uncovers the mind of men.

God, therefore, he says, who is the guardian of our affairs, has ordained certain things which we ought by nature to keep, such as loving God and one's neighbor as oneself.

For this is the law of natural equality.

But if we go astray in something, like an affectionate father he often disciplines us through dreams and nocturnal visions.

For since we did not keep the natural law, he sometimes brings disciplinary fear upon us through dreams, as in reflection, that is:

by inward discourse, producing certain visions in a dream and terrifying the soul, when one has fallen asleep upon one's bed.

and through these terrors, turning them back, he uncovers the mind of men — instead of saying:

he brings them to an awareness of God, so that, driven together by fear, we may turn back to him, correcting our own life.

He disciplined Abimelech concerning the holy wife of Abraham, that he should not approach her.

But 'as' here is not now used in a comparative sense; rather, it signifies, with intensification, the very thing that is.

Thus the psalmist too sings, striking up a god-inspired hymn:

'How beloved are your tabernacles, O Lord of hosts' — this is used instead of:

With such fearful visions he terrified them, to turn a man away from iniquity, and he delivered his body from ruin;

and he spared his soul from death, that he should not fall in battle.

So then, this disciplinary fear, brought on through such apparitions and visions, is useful, since it also averts a punishment that was about to come, so that the one who has become better through fear both keeps body and soul sound, and is snatched away even from the hand of enemies.

For perhaps, had he not turned back, he would have paid the penalty for what he had sinned, either by a blow sent from God or by an assault of enemies;

but God, who is slow to punish and loves mankind, calls him back to repentance through these fears, and by the threat restrains the punishment that was expected.

Again he rebukes him with sickness upon his bed, and benumbs the multitude of his bones, so that he cannot receive any food of grain, and his soul craves nourishment, until his flesh rots away and his bones show bare;

and his soul draws near to death, and his life to Hades.

But another person — or even the same one, if he does not repent — he chastises through a bed-ridden sickness, instilling a shivering into his bones, so that he wishes to desire food but is unable, because of the disease, to take in nourishment; so that from this his flesh, wasting away, is consumed, and the strength of his bones fails, and at last his soul draws near death, giving up its final breaths and picturing to itself the things in Hades.

Even if there were a thousand death-dealing angels, not one of them shall wound him, if he resolves in his heart to turn back to the Lord;

and let him declare to the man his own fault, and show him his transgression.

This man, he says, being tried at the last extremity, if, having recognized that sin is the cause of his sickness, he turns back to God through confession, avowing his own faults and sins, halts, even in his present state, the death that was expected — even though many angels appointed for the removal of souls stand about him — since repentance blots out the sin, and moves God to compassion, so that he recalls the sentence.

Such indeed is what the Ninevites did, checking through repentance the sentence of utter destruction.

He will hold him fast, so that he does not fall into death, and he will renew his body like plaster upon a wall, and fill his bones with marrow;

and he will make his flesh tender like an infant's, and restore him, grown to manhood, among men.

And God, taking hold of him as he lies prostrate, just as those who renew a wall that has broken down and crumbled, by plastering it over with, say, lime or clay, so he renews his corrupted body;

and, as if granting him a refashioning from the beginning, he grants his bones fullness of marrow, and gives him freshly-formed flesh as to an infant, and finally, having brought him to manhood and made him strong again, just as he had been before the illness, he restores him to his accustomed manner of life among men.

Having prayed to the Lord, it will indeed be acceptable to him, and he will come in with a clean face, together with confession.

Then the one who has been saved will offer up to God a hymn of thanksgiving and a well-accepted confession, with a clean face — clearly, that of the soul;

for the soul is purified through discipline and confession.

And he will render to the man his righteousness.

Either the one who has confessed, henceforth honoring what is just and having become better through the discipline, or God, henceforth coming to the aid of the one who has repented, in accordance with justice.

Then, at that time, the man will reproach himself, saying to himself:

'Such were the things I used to do, and yet he did not chastise me to the full measure of what I had sinned.'

And the one who has been saved, having recognized the profit of God's wise discipline, will offer up a hymn of thanksgiving, saying that he has not suffered in proportion to what he had done before the testing.

'that I might not come into corruption, and my life shall see light.'

And these are the words of the hymn.

For he asks not to come to be, after this life, in the portion of the unrighteous, in corruption, but in that of the righteous.

For Scripture everywhere proclaims that light belongs continually to the righteous.

'Behold, all these things the Mighty One works, three times, with a man;'

'but he delivered my soul from death, that my soul might praise him in the light.'

These are the works of the mighty and wise God, who benefits us in various ways, so that we may escape death of the soul, and in life unspeakable and light unceasing send up doxologies to him.

For 'three times' is used instead of:

Or [it says] 'three' because divine discipline brings a threefold benefit: abstention from vice, the taking up of virtue, and the things promised to the saints upon this;

Or 'three times' because of 'reprove, rebuke, exhort' — for these are the works of God and of divine teachers;

Or 'three times,' so that our soul and body and spirit may be saved whole and entire.

'Give ear, Job, and listen to me;'

'Be silent, and I will speak.'

'If you have a word, answer me;'

'speak, for I want you to be justified.'

'Be silent, and I will teach you wisdom.'

If, then, you have anything to say against this, and to refute me as speaking things not right concerning God's justice, speak; for I am glad to give ear to your plea.

And 'and I am' is used instead of:

'Do not be afraid; I am of the same nature as you, fashioned from the same clay, not someone fearsome and terrifying, but I am the one urging you to answer.'

'But if you have nothing to answer, listen in quiet, and also to the words of a further wisdom.'

And Elihu, taking up the discourse, says:

'Hear me, you wise men; you who have understanding, give ear to what is good.'

Overview of the chapter: Having spoken of the manner of God's providential discipline, and how, disciplining us through fearful dreams and through illnesses, he leads us back to what is better, Elihu again begins his discourse from another starting point, and, by way of preface, exhorts his hearers to an understanding of what is said.

He goes on to teach further concerning the punishment that destroys the unjust, and he asks his hearers to judge whether Job has spoken rightly in saying that he himself is righteous, yet suffers unjustly at God's hand.

Then he also says that God, apportioning to each what is deserved, punishes the unjust, and he sets forth reasonings for this:

For, first, he says, the Creator would not endure to wrong his own works; and moreover, being the guardian and benefactor of mankind, the Lord would not inflict punishment on anyone contrary to justice.

Now concerning God's just judgment, Elihu has spoken rightly; but the cause for which Job suffers, neither he himself understood, nor did the friends.

For they said that he suffers in return for what he had done, whereas Elihu, though he holds a right opinion about God, does not discover the cause of what has befallen Job.

Yet he differs from the friends in this, that he does not condemn the righteous man.

But not even the great Job himself had yet been fully assured as to the cause for which he suffered.

Hence the arguments of them all are different, though all speak rightly and with sound doctrine concerning God; yet the ground of the affliction was known to none of them.

This alone is what Elihu finds fault with in Job: that he wished to be judged with God on equal terms — attending only to the outward utterance of his words, but unable to perceive out of what love and faith concerning God's just judgment the holy man uttered these words, and how, far from accusing God, but wishing to refute his friends, he longed for a legal contest with God.

The text: 'Hear me, you wise men; you who have understanding, give ear to what is good; for the ear tests words, and the throat tastes food.'

Wise men, he says, consider what has been said;

for hearing judges words, just as the throat discerns foods.

'Let us choose judgment for ourselves; let us know among ourselves what is good'; for Job has said:

'I am righteous; the Lord has set aside my judgment.'

'He has dealt falsely with my judgment; his arrow is violent, though I am without wrongdoing.'

Let us ourselves become judges as to whether Job has spoken rightly, saying:

'I am [righteous], but God did not preserve just judgment toward me; rather, he dealt falsely with my judgment, not judging my affairs according to their true worth, and, acting as one mighty rather than just, brought the blow by force against one who had done no wrong.'

Elihu, then, understood what was said in this way; but what Job was saying was this:

'God has put off judging my case.'

'For if he had been willing to hear me, being just, he would have delivered me from my distresses.'

For this is what he means by 'He has taken away my judgment,' and 'he dealt falsely with me concerning my judgment' — the words of the saint, since he had been fully assured that God had testified on his behalf: 'How is it,' he says, 'that though he testified for me, he has encompassed me with such torments?' But Elihu distorts Job's words in ignorance, as we have often said, of the love from which he uttered these words.

'What man is like Job, drinking mockery like water' — one who has not sinned nor acted impiously nor associated at all with those who do lawless deeds, so as to walk with the impious? 'I myself, then,' he says, 'know Job's virtue, how he receives insults by deliberate choice, as those who drink water.'

And this is a sign of the greatest virtue: to bear insult without grief.

I also know that he neither sinned against men nor acted impiously toward God, nor did he ever embrace association or intimacy with the lawless or the impious.

'There shall be no visitation of a man;'

'and yet there is visitation for him from the Lord.'

Having spoken to the friends concerning Job, he then turned his discourse toward Job himself.

'For I find fault with you,' he says, 'not as unjust, but as one who supposes our affairs to be unwatched over and unprovided for, as though God did not visit mankind with providential care.'

'Therefore, you who are wise of heart, hear me:'

'Far be it from me to act impiously before the Lord, and to disturb what is just before the Almighty; rather, he renders to each man according to what he does, and he will find him in his own path.'

Hear, as those able to understand what is said.

For may it never be that I fall into impious words, nor that in speaking about God Almighty I should utter anything contrary to justice.

For I know that God, apportioning to each what is according to his desert, seizes him in the very path in which he walks — that is to say:

As he finds him going about, so he judges him.

'Do you think the Lord will do absurd things? Or will the Almighty, who made the earth, disturb what is just? And who is it that made all that is under heaven and everything in it? For the Lord is God and Almighty, and the creator of all things that exist.'

'The Master, then,' he says, 'would not do anything absurd concerning his subjects, nor would he who holds power over all things bring about a confusion of justice, nor would the maker of all things wrong his own creation.'

'For if he should wish to constrain all things and to hold back the spirit with himself, all flesh would perish together.'

'for every mortal will return to the earth, from which he was also formed.'

For if he should only wish to withhold the breath which he granted to living creatures, all things would be destroyed in utter ruin, and there is no man born of earth who would not be dissolved back into the kindred element, the earth.

He says these things at once both to show that the Maker does not wrong his works, and to bring Job to fear, as one who wished to contend with God on equal terms.

'But if this does not admonish you, hear these things; give ear to the sound of my words.'

If these things do not persuade you, then at least also hear what follows in the words.

'Behold him who hates lawless deeds and destroys the wicked, being eternal and just.'

Consider that God, being eternal, without beginning, and just, hates lawless deeds, and punishes the wicked.

And by a syllogism he persuades Job:

For if he himself, being just, hates lawless deeds and punishes wickedness, he would not do anything contrary to justice.

'You are a transgressor' — 'most impious one' — to rulers.

For if, according to human custom and legislation, one who says to a king:

'You transgress the law,' is judged by the rulers as most impious, what then would happen to those who dare to say to God:

'You transgress the law'? And he spoke well in saying:

'to the rulers' — for it is not altogether the case that one is also judged impious before God for saying to an earthly king:

such a person is judged for impiety according to human custom, as we have said, as one who did not show shame before the honored and rich man, nor marveled at the power that belongs to him.

'And it will turn out empty for them to have cried out and to entreat a man.'

For those who admire the persons of the honored, it will turn out empty, because they trust not in God but in man.

'For they acted lawlessly while the powerless were turned aside.'

The powerless are turned away from their own just due by those who wish lawlessly to show favor to the king and to the rulers.

For this reason, then, it will turn out empty for them, because for the favor of men they overlooked justice.

'For he himself is the observer of the works of men, and none of what they do escapes him, nor is there any place for the doers of lawless deeds to hide.'

But the all-seeing eye of God beholds all things, and there is no place to which the all-surveying power of God does not reach.

'For he shall no longer set his hope upon a man;'

And God does not allow the saints to place their hope in man, but in himself, because it is the unjust who hope in man.

'For the Lord watches over all, he who comprehends things past tracing out, glorious and marvelous things without number, he who knows their works.'

God, then, being all-observant, comprehends things past tracing out, and works glorious, marvelous, and innumerable things, knowing everything that is done among men.

The word 'comprehending,' then, applies to both — both to tracking out and to accomplishing.

'And he will turn it into night, and they shall be humbled.'

He will change their prosperity into night.

By overturning what seem to be the righteous deeds of the impious, he shows that their outward appearance is in truth night;

And what he means is this:

They do certain things as though out of just acts, but what they accomplish are works of darkness, and they are humbled before God.

Namely, after they have been exposed and convicted.

God looks upon the impious not by way of gracious visitation, but with a view to punishing them, according to what is said in the Psalms:

'But the face of the Lord is against those who do evil, to utterly destroy them.'

'because they turned aside from the law of God, and did not acknowledge his ordinances, so as to bring upon him the cry of the needy; and he will hearken to the cry of the poor.'

He has stated the reasons for which the impious are punished.

He says that the cry of the needy is brought unto God, because, being wronged, they take refuge in him, crying out and calling upon vindication from God.

'And he will grant quiet, and who will condemn?' But if God, being long-suffering, for a time allows the impious to remain in quiet, who can condemn him whom God has not condemned? 'And he will hide his face, and who shall see him?' This he says because, though invisible, he still carries out his judgments.

'both against a nation and against a man together.'

He punishes not only each individual, but also whole nations together, working utter destruction according to reasons known to himself.

'making a hypocritical man king, because of the perverseness of the people.'

'And I gave them a king in the wrath of my anger.'

For often he permits one who appears good in outward form to be proclaimed king, so that through him the subjects may be afflicted, on account of their own perverseness and wrongdoing.

'For to the Mighty One is the one who says:'

'Apart from myself I shall see; do you show me.'

I shall set forth whatever has been said by the older commentators concerning this passage.

Some say that what he means by this is that no one dares say to one who is stronger than himself:

'You have unjustly taken what is mine, and not for the sake of a pledge, as though it were owed, and you have taken it against my will;'

'Show that you have done this with good reason.'

But if no one dares to say these things to one who is powerful, how do you dare to speak boldly against God? They say this is the meaning, but they also admit that the saying is full of obscurity.

'The one who believes,' he says, 'does not take pledges; the one who hopes in God does not demand pledges of him,' just as the Jews, when demanding pledges, used to say:

'Perform a sign, and we will believe you;' or:

Come down from the cross.

Apart from my own power, trusting in you I hope to see, namely, the good things.

But Symmachus has rendered it thus:

'Since I have taken up a discourse concerning God, I will not restrain myself, but proceed unhindered; do you make it clear to me.'

But this is what Symmachus understood:

'Since I have taken up discourse on behalf of God,' says Elihu, 'I do not hold back, but proceed unhindered with my argument.'

'But if I do not speak well, do you make it clear' — instead of:

'If I have done wrong, I will not persist in it.'

'Tell me then,' he says, 'Job, if I speak unjustly, and I will not add to what has been said.'

'Will it be repaid by you, seeing that you reject it? Are you about to pay the penalty for my words? Therefore do not reject them, but refute what has been said.'

'For you shall choose, and not I.'

For it is yours to choose and to determine whether I have spoken well or ill, not mine, the one who spoke.

If, then, you know anything more, answer.

'Therefore men of understanding heart will say these things, and a wise man has heard my word.'

Since Job has fallen silent, Elihu confirms his own words and says:

'These things which I have said to you, other men of understanding will also say to you; and if any man is wise and praiseworthy, he listens to my words.'

'But Job did not speak his words with understanding, nor with knowledge.'

There is knowledge in speech, when someone, attending carefully to what he is about to say, brings forth his words with understanding, making his questions and answers in a commendable manner.

'You, then,' he says, 'have spoken without understanding and without knowledge, rashly and haphazardly.'

Nevertheless, learn this, Job: do not give any further reply like the foolish, lest we add to our sins, and lawlessness be reckoned against us for speaking many words against the Lord.

Since sin will not be escaped through much talking, Elihu counsels Job not to talk excessively, nor, like the friends, sometimes to contradict and sometimes to agree, and to carry on many confused discourses about the same matters.

For this is characteristic of fools, and above all one ought not to say such things when speaking about God.

'For I,' he says, 'am cautious in my words, lest concerning the things we speak we should also be held accountable before the righteous Judge, and add to the sins arising from deeds those arising from words;'

'and if we have also erred in our words, let us not utter the same things again, lest we add second sins to the former ones.'

For this is what he seems to be saying to Job:

'Do not bring forth such words again henceforth, lest we add to our sins.'

And Elihu, taking up the discourse, says:

'What is this that you have reckoned in judgment? Who are you, that you said:'

'I am righteous before God'? A Preliminary Survey of the Chapter. Having previously discoursed on the discipline of God that turns sinners back, and then on the punishment that destroys the unjust, Elihu now introduces the discourse concerning the longsuffering and majesty of God, rebuking Job for having said:

'If I have sinned, what can I do to you?' — and for wishing to be judged in the presence of God.

The words: 'What is this that you have reckoned in judgment?' Either he means this:

'What did you think concerning the judgments of God? As though you were able to comprehend them?' Or that:

'What did you think, wishing to be judged against God,'

'that you are righteous before the Lord? How did you dare to declare yourself righteous before God?' Elihu, then, understood Job to have said this;

yet Job by no means declared himself sinless, but rather that he had, to the utmost of his ability, kept all righteousness.

For concerning the sins committed in transgressions, even the involuntary ones, he himself also confesses to being liable for these, saying in one place:

'And you took note, if I transgressed unwittingly in anything'; and in another place:

'But if, having sinned willingly, I concealed my sin —'

'what shall I do, having sinned?' But you ought not even to have said, he says:

'What shall I do, having sinned?' For you know what you ought to do:

to abstain from sin, to weep, to repent, to entreat God to grant you amnesty for your transgressions.

Elihu, then, in accordance with his own understanding, gives good counsel to Job; but the blessed Job, with a superior understanding, said:

'I have sinned; what can I do to you?' — instead of:

'I am not able to do anything so great as to blot out my sin, unless I obtain your loving-kindness.'

Job, then, spoke more reverently, saying:

'Even if I should bring in all my power in order to blot out my sin, I am at a loss as to how to accomplish this;'

'for this matter stands in need of your compassion.'

'But I will give you an answer, and the three friends as well.'

Since both the three friends had erred and Job had not spoken with understanding, he himself promises to bring forth words better than all of them.

'Look up to heaven and see; consider how high the clouds are above you.'

'Lift up,' he says, 'your eyes — both the bodily eyes and those of the mind — and having observed how far the heaven surpasses men, yield to the majesty of God and to his unattainable judgments.'

'If you have sinned, what will you do? And if you have also transgressed much, what can you do to him who is so wondrous? Since, then, you are righteous, what will you give him? Or what will he receive from your hand? And even if you are righteous, what righteousness of yours will you perform, that you may please him? Your impiety concerns a man like yourself, and your righteousness a son of man.'

According to the aforesaid sense, he says this:

With difficulty, having sinned against a man, and then having offered him every kind of service, can you match your righteousness to the point of redeeming the offense.

But he who has sinned in some way against God — what such thing can he do, or what righteousness can he bring forward in exchange for redemption? But it is also possible to understand what lies before us in another way.

For since Job had said:

'If I have sinned, what can I do to you?' — and had said that he himself was righteous, Elihu says:

'Whether you have sinned or whether you are righteous, God will in no way be harmed or benefited by this.'

Do not, then, be puffed up over your righteousness.

'Being oppressed by the multitude, they will cry out.'

'For men,' he says, 'being oppressed will cry out because of the multitude of evils.'

'They will cry out because of the arm of the mighty.'

and because of the many terrible things they suffer from the strength — for this is what 'the arm' signifies — of the mighty, it is those who cry out to God

'Where is God who made me?' And it is against those, against those who do not consider that they have God as their Maker, that the wronged come forward crying out.

'who appoints the night watches,'

not considering that he himself appointed the measures of the night.

For since the night is divided into four watches, by these he indicated the measures of the night — he who also taught men to praise God during the night watches.

'At midnight,' says David, 'I arose to give thanks to you concerning the judgments of your righteousness.'

And in accordance with this same sense, Theodotion also rendered it thus:

'He who gives praises in the night.'

But according to a deeper sense, since the present life is night because of the confusion of sin, God has appointed guards for us -- namely, the commandments and the angels who watch over us.

{And he it is who appoints the night watches.} -- He who sets me apart from the four-footed beasts of the earth, and from the birds of heaven.

The unjust did not consider how they were honored above the irrational creatures upon the earth and the birds flying through the air.

There they will cry out, and he will not hear, because of the insolence of the wicked.

Or, 'those who are wronged there' -- that is, instead of saying:

'they will cry out to God because of the insolence of the wicked,' so that the phrase 'and he will not hear' should be taken as a question, instead of meaning:

And God will hear them when they cry out.

Or, if the unjust and arrogant, being wronged by other wicked men, cry out to God, they are not heard.

For toward such men, he says, God remains unmoved.

What follows fits either interpretation.

For the Lord does not wish to see improprieties; for the Almighty himself is the beholder of those who work iniquity, and he will save me.

Having spoken of God's hatred of evil, and how nothing done among men escapes him, but he also watches over the lawless with a view to punishment, he wove a prayer into his discourse, saying: