Commentary on Job 1 part 17/19

But if these things are not yours to know, nor do you possess knowledge of them, how do you wish to know the judgments of God? For this is what is signified by what is shown through these examples.

'Their offspring shall break away; they shall be multiplied in their brood; they shall go forth, and shall not return again to them.'

And how is it, he says, that the mothers abandon their offspring once they have grown to maturity, having come to forget their natural affection? For those that have gone forth and feed among the produce of the earth no longer return to their own parents, but grow and multiply as they graze from the earth, holding no remembrance of those who bore them.

'And who is it that let the wild ass go free? Who loosed his bonds? I have appointed the wilderness to be his dwelling, and the salt land his habitations.'

Whence, he says, does the wild ass derive this self-governance? Whence is it that he does not obey the commands of men, but has the wilderness as his dwelling and abode, and encamps in salty places — meaning instead:

'in barren and utterly desolate places.' And according to the deeper sense, what is depicted here is the monastic life, the life outside worldly things and not subject to them, the life that also shuns the bond of marriage.

For through the words which the Savior spoke:

'He who is able to receive it, let him receive it' — he loosed the necessity of the marital union, according to which male and female had come into being.

And the salt lands are the dwellings of such a one, because spiritual realities have no part in corruption.

For salt in its saltiness is destructive of corruption.

'Laughing to scorn the crowded throng of the city, and not hearing the reproach of the tax-collector.'

From this it is clear that the text directs us toward allegory.

For this tame, burden-bearing ass here does not hear the reproach of a tax-collector.

It is quite clear, then, that the text speaks of the spiritual man, who does not tolerate the intelligible tax-collector — who, as though exacting some tribute, compels those under him to be enslaved to pleasures and passions.

'He will survey the mountains as his pasture, and seek after every green thing.'

Roaming about the mountains, he tracks down the herbs for his sustenance.

According to the contemplative sense, the spiritual man surveys the commonwealths of the heavens, and seeks not the things now present, but the things in the age free from care.

'Will the unicorn be willing to serve you, or to lie down at your manger? Will you bind its yoke with straps, or will it draw furrows for you in the plain? And will you trust in it, because its strength is great, and commit your labors to it? And will you believe that it will render back your seed to you, and bring in to you your threshing-floor?' According to the literal sense, the unicorn — which another of the translators called 'rhinoceros,' because it has its horn in the middle of its head — being exceedingly strong, is untamable, trusting in its strength and the sharpness of its horn.

The unicorn, then, he says, does not endure being bound at the manger, cutting furrows, plowing, tilling the soil, and gathering the produce onto the threshing-floor. And according to the deeper sense, the saint is a unicorn, because he looks toward God alone, and has him alone as his horn, his strength, and his help; or because he gores only the things of the world — whereas he who also looks toward the things of the world, and has dealings both to the right and to the left, now goring this thing, now that, is two-horned.

But he who is beheld as a unicorn serves not human affairs, but God alone.

'The wing of those who take delight is the ostrich, if she should mate with the stork and the wild duck: for she will leave her eggs on the ground and warm them upon the dust, and has forgotten that a foot will scatter them, and the beasts of the field will trample them.'

He wishes to speak of the difference among birds, namely that some have been endowed by God with understanding, while others are more lacking in understanding.

And he says that the ostrich is a delight to behold, but that God made the stork and the wild duck lacking in understanding.

And some have said that the 'asida' is the stork, understanding it wrongly.

For the stork does not lay its eggs on the ground, but in the tops of trees; and those who have written treatises on birds have said that the stork is a different kind from the 'asida.'

The wild duck and the 'asida,' then, he says, are birds lacking in understanding — for so also Jeremiah rendered the correct reading:

'The asida {and the ostrich}.'

For when they have mated and given birth, they warm their eggs beneath the earth and fly away, as though forgetting that these will be scattered by the feet of men, and that wild beasts will trample them.

It is said that the 'asida' was made mindless by God as a matter of providential arrangement.

For she surpasses in size and strength, so as to be able to disdain even a horseman; yet along with this strength she did not receive understanding, so that her young might not all survive, and the species thereby multiply excessively.

For those who delight in birds, the ostrich is a beautiful sight, especially when she is found together with the stork and the wild duck, and they mate with one another.

And the 'asida' is a simple-minded bird.

But Aquila rendered it as 'of the heron and the hawk,' as though these too warm their eggs beneath the dust.

But for my part, I am not yet persuaded that the heron lays its eggs on the ground, because the psalmist says:

'The dwelling of the heron leads the way for them,' meaning that the bird dwells among the foliage of the tallest trees.

Those who have inquired into these matters and observed them with their own eyes know the exact truth of it; but for us, who have once grasped the intent of the Scripture, there is no leisure to labor over such minute points — namely, that it wishes to speak of the difference among birds.

And some have said that the ostrich is the Arabian bird which is found in Mesopotamia.

'She has hardened herself toward her offspring, as though they were not her own.'

This bird, then, he says, having abandoned the egg and neglected it, 'hardened herself' — meaning instead:

'She allowed the chicks to be worn down,' so that she might not wear herself down by rearing her young.

'She has labored in vain, without fear.'

Not fearing, then, the loss of her chicks, but neglecting them, she labored in vain, having conceived and given birth, though her chicks were not entirely preserved.

'Because God has kept wisdom silent from her, and did not apportion to her a share of understanding.'

This is what the bird undergoes, since God 'kept silent' — meaning instead:

'He held it back,' and God did not measure out understanding to her.

'In due season she will exalt herself on high; she will laugh to scorn the horse and its rider.'

Possessing this, and holding in contempt the horse together with its rider.

But if the passage speaks of the 'asida,' then, on account of her strength, as they say, and her size, she considers the horseman to be nothing.

'Or have you clothed the horse with strength, and clothed his neck with terror?' You made the horse mighty and high-necked, so that he appears fearsome by the raising up of his neck, or also by the neighing that issues forth through his neck; 'have you clothed him with full armor, and given his breast the glory of boldness?' As though armed by you, he is bold and confident, having a glorious and comely breast and a courageous heart within his breast — meaning instead:

'Digging up the ground in the plain, he exults.'

Striking the ground with his hoof, he exults and prances with fierce pride.

'He goes forth into the plain in strength; he meets the arrow, laughs it to scorn, and will not turn back from the iron.'

He goes forth through the plain into battle, fearing neither the arrow nor the edge of the iron.

'Upon him the bow and the sword exult, and in wrath he will lay waste the land.'

That is, through the rider, who has both bow and sword, and who in wrath lays waste the land of the enemy.

'And he will not stand still in confidence until the trumpet sounds; and when the trumpet sounds, he says:'

'From afar he smells the battle, and goes forth with the chariot and with a shout.'

And as long as the signal for battle has not yet sounded, he convulses with eagerness and is impetuous, yet does not yet leap up and bound forward.

For this is what is signified by 'he will not stand still in confidence.'

But when the trumpet sounds fearsomely, he perceives that it is the time for battle, and rejoices at the signal.

For this is what "he says" means:

and together with the shout of the camp, leaping forth, it charges upon the enemies

But if someone says that these traits belong not to the horse's nature but to its training, let him know that men could not teach it in any other way unless the animal had been constructed by God as suitably disposed for this—since even we men are not taught anything unless we are suitably disposed toward what is to be learned.

God, therefore, displays through these small things his ineffable wisdom, so that we may be taught thereby not to pry curiously into things great, immense, and hidden.

Is it by your understanding that the hawk stands, having spread its wings motionless, gazing toward the south? Was it your intelligence and understanding that taught the hawk to spread its wing motionless and be borne aloft by the air? It is said that the hawk spreads its wing toward the southern regions and stands, as it were, upright in the air, watching for its prey, and thus swoops down upon it.

They say that this bird is able to turn and see what is behind it.

Is it at your command that the eagle soars aloft? Did you command the eagle to have its high flight? And the vulture, settling upon its nest, lodges on a projecting and hidden ledge of rock;

Remaining there it seeks its food; from afar its eyes keep watch;

and its young wallow in blood; and wherever there are dead bodies, they are found at once.

"At your command" is to be taken in common [with what follows].

The vulture, sitting upon the projections of sheer rocks, with its keen senses perceives together where dead bodies lie, so that it may procure food for itself;

Did you teach its chicks, while still small, to devour flesh and to love blood? These things, then, according to the literal sense.

But the text, according to allegory, portrays in the vulture the unclean and flesh-loving man who is slothful toward virtue;

"For the vulture," it says, "settling upon its nest, lodges there"; and the eyes of the one seen to be slothful and unclean keep watch from afar;

for, forsaking what is near at hand and indulging present things for the sake of pleasure, and putting off the working of virtue, he imagines to himself that spiritual things will belong to him later.

For there are men who say:

"For now let me enjoy myself, and afterward I will be temperate, and show mercy, and fast."

And "the chicks" of such a one, that is to say:

his ways always settle upon dead and unclean things.

And God answered Job and said:

Will you contend in judgment with the All-sufficient One? Let him who reproves God answer it.

The earlier words presented to Job God's wisdom and power; but now he turns his speech toward Job himself and says:

"Will you contend in judgment with the All-sufficient One?" instead of [meaning]:

"Will you adjudicate? Do you not know how these things come to be? Do you have any account of them?" "Let him who reproves God answer it"—that is to say:

If you think you are able to reprove me as one who has not spoken rightly, then answer the case which I have set before you—that is to say:

Give an answer concerning the wondrous workings of the things I have spoken of.

He says these things not as being ignorant of Job's pious disposition, but because he wishes to show the friends what kind of man Job was toward God, through the manner in which he responds in turn.

And Job, taking up the word, says to the Lord:

"Why do I still contend, being admonished and reproving the Lord, hearing such things, I who am nothing?" [Preliminary study of the chapter:] Job, the lover of God, who knew his own proper measure, having unexpectedly heard the divine voice calling him to converse and to a refutation of what had been said, became, as is fitting, overjoyed; yet from the very outset he confesses his own weakness and yields to God the prize of victory.

"For in the face of God's wisdom," he says, "there is nothing else to do but to show one's wonder by silence, and to admire the incomprehensible by remaining speechless."

The words: "Why do I still contend, being admonished and reproving the Lord, hearing such things, I who am nothing?" [Paraphrase:] "To what end, Master, do I contend? To what end do I hear these things and am admonished, as though I were about to reprove God—I who am nobody, and not worthy of any word at all? And what answer shall I give to these things? I will lay my hand upon my mouth."

"And what shall I utter in response to what has been said? I judge it better to admire your incomprehensible wisdom in silence."

These are words fitting for Job, and profitable for our instruction, [teaching] that we ought not to speak back against the divine words, nor to pry curiously into what is said by God, but to give our assent with faith and to admire in silence God's ineffable wisdom.

"Once I have spoken, but I will not add a second time."

"I was speaking," he says, "when the discourse was with men, when I was being condemned as one paying the penalty for sin; but regarding the second matter, that is, concerning God's wisdom and power, there is nothing to add, nothing to say, nothing to gainsay."

And the Lord, taking up the word again, said to Job out of the cloud:

"No, but gird your loins like a man;"

"and I will question you, and you shall answer me."

[Preliminary study of the chapter:] Here too God's surpassing loving-kindness is shown.

For when Job, in a manner befitting holiness, drew back from disputing with God and confessed that he was nothing, the loving and justice-loving God spoke to him both gently and kindly:

"For it is for no other reason that I have addressed you, but that I might make your righteousness known to all."

And again, through his discourse with the righteous man, God teaches us his own power and supremacy.

And discoursing also of beasts, he introduces also the account of the dragon, which some, following the literal history, have supposed to be an animal surpassing in strength and size, while others have said that this is the Leviathan who from the beginning served the devil and deceived Eve—now the Hebrews call the great sea-monsters "Leviathan"—but most of those who have shone forth in the Church, in their own commentaries and treatises, have referred what is written allegorically to the devil.

As for me, whether there is indeed such an animal, I am not able to say;

for I have neither seen it myself, nor have I heard of others who have given an account of it.

But that what is written is rightly referred to the apostate dragon, the great mind of the Assyrians, that is, Satan, and that such an interpretation befits the divine utterance, with this I fully agree.

He discourses on all things, but the book is mystical, and looks wholly toward allegory.

If, then, there is indeed such a beast according to the literal history, I am not yet persuaded of it; yet I do not contend over the matter.

But that the Scripture hints at the devil has seemed so to many holy men who have distinguished themselves in the Church.

Therefore, according to this understanding, let us attempt to interpret the passage concerning this.

The words: "No, but gird your loins like a man; and I will question you, and you shall answer me."

"Do not be silent, but gird your loins like a man"—that is:

"Rouse yourself, be a man, shake off despondency."

But according to the deeper sense, the self-controlled man girds his loins because the seed is said to reside in the loins;

for this reason Levi too was said to be in the loins of his father when Abraham offered the tithes to Melchizedek.

He girds his loins as a man who has girded his loins with the truth of the doctrines, one who possesses self-control and is rich in orthodox doctrines, who has put away the things of a child and has become a man, having received growth in knowledge.

"And I will question you, and you shall answer me";

having considered who it is that is asking the question, answer accordingly.

"Or will you set aside my judgment?" Do not refuse to plead your case, nor flee from my judgment.

"Do you suppose that I have dealt with you for no other reason than that you might appear righteous?" "I desire," he says, "that you should set forth your own just claims."

For since Job desired to speak before God of the things that pertained to him, trusting in God's righteous judgment, and used to say:

"If God judges, I know that I shall be shown righteous"—God leads him to recall these very words, saying, as it were: "Plead your case, be judged before me; you believed rightly, you hoped rightly that you would be shown righteous;

for indeed it was for this very reason that I permitted the trials, that in the end I might speak with you and proclaim your righteousness to all generations."

"That you might become righteous"—not that, for he had already precisely practiced righteousness—but "that you might be shown to be righteous," that is:

that what concerns you might be made public, both for your own good repute and for the benefit of the world.

"Or do you have an arm like the Lord's, or can you thunder with a voice like his?" Here God shows Job his own power, for the sake of these two reasons.

"I permitted you," he says, "to be struck, not as one making war against you, nor as being angry, but that you might be shown to be righteous;

since what strength do you have, that I should set myself against you in war?" And in another respect too:

since God had said to him:

"For this reason I have addressed you, that you might be shown to be righteous"—and lest he should on this account become proud, he immediately shows him his own power, restraining that arrogance which for the most part attends those who succeed in virtue, even though the blessed Job would not have fallen into this.

But since these words are for the common benefit, it behooves us always to be restrained, even should we attain to the very summit of virtue, bearing in mind the ineffable majesty of God.

'Do you then,' he says, 'have power to set yourself against God, or can you thunder as he does? Take up, then, height and might, and clothe yourself with glory and honor.'

These indeed belong to God by nature.

'And send forth angels in wrath;'

'and humble every arrogant man, and quench the proud.'

Make use of the angels, if you are able, for the punishment of the arrogant and the proud.

'and hide the ungodly at once, and make them rot away together into the earth outside.'

'and make the ungodly vanish, and send them into the lowest parts of the earth, and into the outer darkness' — here 'to rot' is used in place of 'to be punished,' preparing them for this.

And 'at once' is used in place of:

'without hindrance, whenever you wish.'

'and fill their faces with dishonor.'

{'and hide them together in the earth with the ungodly.'} Understand 'faces' here also to mean the faces of the demons, through whom they of old deceived mankind.

'Then I will confess that your right hand has power.'

If you are able to accomplish these things, you will have me joining you in acknowledging your power.

'But behold, wild beasts are beside you, eating grass like oxen.'

From this point he introduces the discourse concerning the spiritual beasts, and concerning Satan himself: 'Behold,' he says, 'there are wild and untamed beasts beside you, which are held in check and bridled by my power, like the oxen that eat grass.'

they would have swallowed us alive, according to the word of the great psalmist.

They are said to eat grass because they take delight in the corruptible and transient things of this present life, and through these deceive mankind — things which, like grass, will quickly wither, and like the green herbs, will quickly fall away.

'Behold now, his strength is in his loins.'

The power of the beast, he says, is in fornication.

Giving bodily form to the person of Satan, he depicts him by means of his powers.

Since, then, the seed [of generation] is in the loins, his strength, he says, is in fornication.

'and his power is upon the navel of his belly.'

This is because a woman conceives in the womb through fornication, and because it drives one to madness in gluttony.

But I have also heard someone else give this interpretation:

'The navel,' he says, 'lies in the middle of the whole body;'

his strength, then, is fixed in the middle of him, and he is unswerving on every side, being only evil, and never inclining toward the good.

'He set up his tail like a cypress tree.'

The tail signifies the end, and the cypress is a stubborn, unbending tree.

He persists, then, he says, obstinately, all the way to the end.

And in another sense, his servants are called 'the tail.'

'You shall be a tail, and not a head.'

And so these servants, following him, likewise transform themselves into angels of light;

for the saints are called 'cypresses' because of their fragrance, as in the Song of Songs:

'our rafters are cypresses.'

The rear-guard of Satan, then, pretends to be a cypress, though it is not.

'and his sinews are intertwined.'

His sinews are his cunning craftiness;

it is full of entanglement, and hard to unravel.

There are also certain men who are, as it were, members of Satan and his intertwined sinews.

He who unravels the deceits of these men fulfills the words of Isaiah, who says:

'Loose every bond of injustice, and undo the knots of violent contracts.'

'his ribs are ribs of bronze.'

The ribs are his deceits, his cunning devices, his schemes, because the ribs are slanting, just as his thoughts are crooked and oblique.

And in another sense, just as the woman was made from the rib of Adam, and the apostle, the initiator into mysteries, beheld in her [a figure of] the church, saying:

'This mystery is great; but I speak with reference to Christ and the church' — so likewise the ribs of Satan are understood to be the assemblies of all the heretics.

They are of bronze either because they insolently resist the truth, or because bronze, when polished, resembles gold, and gold is regarded as a symbol of the mind.

The heretics too seem to have a certain mind, but not a true one, nor the mind of the Lord, but rather a falsely-named knowledge.

'and his backbone is cast iron.'

The filings of iron, when melted down together, become an unconquerable implement.

Now the backbone is the connective bond of all the members.

By this, then, is signified that which comprehends all the passions, from which all things spring forth.

And in another sense, since animals bear their burdens upon their backs, Scripture has signified his strength by means of the backbone.

And just as such men of the church are called members of Christ according to each one's proportion — one being, as it were, an eye, another a foot, and so on — so also those who do the deeds of Satan, in proportion to their own cunning, are reckoned as members of the dragon.

'This is the beginning of the Lord's fashioning.'

Some say that God created this one first;

but others, avoiding saying that the first work of God underwent the [fatal] change, say that he did not come into being first, but held the foremost rank among the angels, being one of the first rulers, according to what is said in the Psalms:

'and you shall fall like one of the princes'; and he was cast out for having raised his hands against God.

Others say that man is the fashioning of God, and that the devil was appointed by God to rule over men; but that, not using his rule as he ought, he himself fell away from God and persuaded men to do this same thing.

And they make use of the apostle's saying:

'according to the ruler of this air.'

'The beginning,' they say, 'of the fashioning of the Lord' means this:

since men have chosen of their own free will to suffer this.

But others understood 'of the fashioning' in place of 'of the deception,' for, they say, when the Lord became man, he deceived him, and having caused him to attack, he bound him by means of the cross.

But those who hold the opinion that souls pre-exist the body, who fable that souls, having fallen in love with bodies, clothed themselves in bodies, say that he, before all earthly things, conceived desire, and so was fashioned and became a dragon.

But those who say that this dragon is, according to the literal history, a real animal, said that he came into being before all the creatures of the sea, and that for this reason he is called 'the beginning of the fashioning of the Lord' — evidently, of those creatures that came to be in the sea.

'made to be mocked by his angels.'

For since he fell away from God, he is mocked both by the holy angels, and by men who are equal to angels — those who have received authority from the Savior to tread upon serpents and scorpions and upon all the power of the enemy.

'And having gone up onto a steep mountain, he caused rejoicing to the four-footed beasts in Tartarus.'

By 'steep mountain' he means the Word who became man.

For when he came upon Him and made preparation for His crucifixion, the foolish demons worthy of Tartarus rejoiced, and Jews and Greeks likewise, and even to this day they make sport of and mock the cross.

'He sleeps under trees of every kind.'

Either under every kind of men, because it makes attempts even against the righteous, or under the trees kept in reserve for Tartarus, concerning which it is written:

'autumn trees without fruit, twice dead.'

'Sleeps' is used instead of 'lodges' or 'rests.'

'beside the reed and the papyrus and the bulrush.'

These happen to be material and fuel for fire.

He lodges, therefore, especially among those worthy of the fire.

'And great trees, together with their branches, overshadow him.'

Or he says this, that certain great demons—even ones inferior to him in wickedness—dwell together with him; or that he creeps in beneath both small and great men alike, undermining them all in the same way.

For 'branches' means the boughs, the shoots.

He says, therefore, that he rests as it were under the shade of trees, and beside them.

since many, even though they have often practiced chastity, have nevertheless become his portion, like the foolish virgins.

And there are also heretics who often pursue the utmost chastity.

'If there be a flood, he will not perceive it.'

'If there be an abundance of knowledge'—that is to say:

even if the whole inhabited world should come to know God, he himself will remain in wickedness;

and though the teaching of the gospel, like river waters, has gladdened the inhabited world—for 'the river of God is full of water,' says the psalmist—he himself has not come to awareness, nor has anything better come to be for him.

'He is confident that the Jordan will dash into his mouth.'

He trusts in his own calumny, and he disparages the divine gift, belittling it with mocking words.

This one may also hear from those Greeks and Jews and lawless Manichaeans who are worked upon by him, who do not accept the redemption granted through the Jordan.

For the Manichaeans are not baptized, being unworthy.

'With his eye he will take it in.'

For as one who knows how to seize it, he receives it, and slanders the gift.

Since he watches intently those who have come to grace, and rages especially against them, he is said to war against them 'with his eye.'

'Twisting himself about, will he pierce his nose?'

Having rushed forward and struck against the cross, he was wounded in the nose.

For the text, representing him as dragon-like, shows him warring with his head.

For with the whole of his power he came upon our Savior, and the Savior's invincible power crushed the molar teeth of the lions—clearly both his own and those of the powers arrayed under him—so that the nose and the teeth and the whole face of the dragon were shattered.

'Will you draw out the dragon with a hook?' He says: can you, O Job, do what the Only-begotten later accomplished? For putting forth His own flesh before him as a kind of bait, He caught the fish through His own nails as through hooks.

'a cord about his nose? Or will you fasten a ring in his nostril, and pierce his lip with a clasp?'—'clasp' is used instead of 'restraint.'

Just as with a clasp and a restraint, He bound his mouth, so that he might no longer boast greatly.

And a nail, when it is driven in and bent round, becomes a ring:

and so He bound his nostril with a ring, taking away his bull-like arrogance, and He put a cord around him, making him an object of mockery.

'Will he speak to you with entreaty, with supplication, softly?'—he said this because of the demons' begging the Lord not to cast them into the abyss.

'Will he make a covenant with you?' Or he says this because he (the devil) had said to the Lord:

'All these things I will give you,' or because:

'Can you so subject him that he chooses no longer to war against you?' 'And will you take him as an eternal slave?' A slave becomes a slave either by choice—as one who chooses to serve God—

or by compulsion, being taken captive and bound fast—which is indeed what the devil has suffered.

'Or will you play with him as with a bird, or will you bind him as a sparrow for a child?' Having bound the enemy, our Lord has granted to the saints to make sport of him as of a sparrow—to those who have turned and become as little children, according to the teaching of the Savior Himself.

'And nations feed upon him.'

For just as the Lord is the food of the righteous, so is he the food of the impious.

'You gave him as food to the Ethiopian peoples,' says the psalmist—that is, to the sons of darkness, to those in ignorance.

'And the tribes of the Phoenicians will divide him.'

The Phoenicians are commercial and fond of gain.

By this, therefore, he hints at those who are steeped in sins.

And moreover, present-day Phoenicia was formerly called Canaan, for the Gospels call the Syrophoenician woman a Canaanite:

And the Canaanites are idolaters.