Commentary on Job 1 part 9/19

'For I know,' he says, 'that even if I am dissolved' — that is, if I die — 'yet God always remains, who is able, even after my death, by his own judgment to make what concerns me known to all' — which indeed came to pass according to the request of the righteous man.

And the most holy churches were not deprived of so great an example in trials, but the things concerning the blessed Job were recorded, whether by one of the prophets or by some holy man, yet by the cooperation and inspiration of God — as also one of the apostles tells us:

'You have heard of the patience of Job, and you have seen the end wrought by the Lord.'

From where did we hear, or from where did we see, if not from this writing that came about according to the request of the righteous man and the cooperation of God? — '...to raise up my skin that endures these things.'

'And may it be,' he says, 'that God also raises up my skin that endures these things.'

From this we are taught a most excellent ecclesiastical doctrine, that the very body which endured the trials and the torments is raised together with the soul, so that together with it, it too may enjoy the eternal goods.

For this reason he said, 'that endures these things':

For it is not just that one thing should suffer and another be raised up.

'For these things have been accomplished for me by the Lord, which I myself know within myself, which my eye has seen, and not another's.'

'And all these things have been accomplished for me in my bosom.'

'And all these things, which I asked for, God alone is able to do — he who also brought such things upon me, which my soul alone knows.'

'For no one perceives evils so keenly, nor is able to see into them, as I who suffer them.'

'For I have, so to speak, taken all these terrible things into my bosom, and they have, as it were, become united and joined together with me.'

For 'bosom' is used to denote what is inseparable.

Wherefore also the Only-Begotten is said to be in the bosom of the Father, on account of the inseparability and consubstantiality of the Son with the Father.

'What shall we say against him? And we shall find a root of a matter in him.'

'Be wary, you too, of a pretext, for wrath shall come upon the lawless, and then they shall know where their substance is.'

'But you,' he says, 'instead of words of consolation, consider privately what objections you might find, and, like those who search out roots, you track down my words to see from where you might take hold of me.'

'Therefore be wary, and do not, under the pretext of wishing to plead God's cause, pass judgment against me.'

For this is what 'from a pretext' signifies, as if he were saying:

'Though you know nothing against me, you put on the appearance of pleading God's cause.'

'Be wary, therefore, lest God, who is no respecter of persons, be justly angered against you, and then you shall know that your substance is nothing.'

By 'substance' he seems to mean either the abundance of their own words, or their prosperity in every respect and the superabundance of their wealth.

'For if,' he says, 'God should be angered, you will quickly find yourselves in no better condition than I.'

And Zophar the Minaean, taking up the discourse, says:

'I did not suppose that you would reply with these things, nor do you understand any better than I do.'

Preliminary Consideration of the Chapter: Since Zophar himself had spoken many excellent doctrines, and the rest of the friends as well had spoken them, he hoped that Job would no longer make any reply.

But since he saw him taking courage in his own righteous claims and rebutting all their arguments, finding himself outside what he had hoped for, he says, 'I did not suppose that you would reply with these things.'

Then he also says to the friends:

'You do not understand as precisely as I do the things said by yourselves and by Job.'

'Nevertheless I will say whatever understanding dictates.'

Then he lists the things concerning the impious — both what they do and what they suffer according to divine justice — and that their prosperity differs in no way from dreams, and that nothing goes forth with them from this life, except their own impiety.

'...of the impious — this is given to them by God as their portion and possession.'

But again he did not know that what happens does not always come about on account of sin, but also according to other dispensations.

But neither were these things said well with regard to the person of Job, so that good words, if they are not spoken well — that is, with a right disposition, with fitting discernment, at the proper time, and to a person suited to what is said — are worthy not so much of praise as of blame.

The words: 'I did not suppose that you would reply with these things.'

'I thought,' he says, 'that since many good words had been spoken to you, you would keep silence, assenting to our exhortations.'

'And you do not understand any more than I do.'

'Yet,' he says, 'you do not at all understand what is said by Job and by yourselves as I do.'

This he said to the friends.

'I shall hear the instruction of my correction, and a spirit answers me out of understanding.'

'I shall hear the instruction of your correction' — some copies contain this reading.

According to the reading 'of my correction,' then, he says this:

'I shall hear the instruction that concerns reverence' — for by 'correction' he means reverence — 'which the spirit of understanding teaches me.'

And it teaches what he says next concerning the impious.

What he means is this: that the well-instructed, reverent, and understanding know that the impious are certainly punished for their own sins.

'Of your correction' — understand it thus:

'I shall hear your instruction, by which you have rightly put us to shame, and the spirit of your understanding, by which you answered us well.'

But he said these things ironically, meaning instead:

'You have spoken nothing understanding or well-instructed, nor such as would put us to shame.'

'Have you not known these things from of old, from when man was placed upon the earth?'

'Tell me,' he says, 'can you still object and say that, from the time man was placed upon the earth, you have known any of the righteous to have suffered such things, or that reverent and righteous men have fallen into such punishments?' Then, having spoken as if it were an indisputable statement that from eternity no one who was righteous has ever suffered, he goes on consistently to add:

'For the gladness of the impious is an extraordinary downfall, and the joy of the lawless is destruction.'

And Zophar spoke a most excellent doctrine, that the gladness of the impious, in which they rejoice over their lawlessness, will be the destruction and extraordinary downfall of their own soul.

'Even if his gifts should ascend to heaven, and his sacrifice touch the clouds, when he seems already to be firmly established, then he shall perish utterly.'

'And those who saw him shall say:'

'Where is he? Like a dream that has flown away, he shall not be found; he has flown off like a nocturnal apparition.'

'Even if,' he says, 'a man should offer gifts reaching to heaven, and even if his sacrifices should seem to touch the clouds, and he should seem to hold his goods securely, yet since God does not accept the offerings of the impious man, he perishes utterly, having gained no benefit from his feigned sacrifices.'

But thus his affairs vanish away and pass into non-existence like a dream and a nocturnal apparition, so that those who formerly knew him say with astonishment:

'Where is the glory, where the power, where the honor, where the wealth? All is vanity; his arrogance has come to nothing.'

'The eye has glanced at him and shall not do so again.'

'And his place shall no longer take notice of him.'

'Those who have seen him once,' he says, 'no longer see him' — for by this he signifies his swift destruction — 'nor indeed shall he be recognized in his own place.'

Something similar is said in the Psalms:

'I saw the impious man greatly exalted and lifted up like the cedars of Lebanon; and I passed by, and behold, he was not; and I sought him, and his place was not found.'

'May the weaker destroy his sons, and may his own hands kindle the fire of sorrows.'

'And his sons,' he says, 'are slain by certain very insignificant men, while he himself kindles the fire against himself through his own deeds.'

For 'torch' means the flame, and 'hands' means his deeds.

The prophecy says something similar:

Walk by the light of your fire and by the flame which you have kindled.

His bones were filled with his youth, and it shall lie down with him upon the dust.

And, he says, the sinews of his soul were filled with youthful desire.

'His desire,' that is, his unjust deeds.

For by 'dust' he means either the grave, or the dissolution of the body, according to the saying:

You are earth, and to earth you shall go.

If wickedness be sweet in his mouth, he will hide it under his tongue.

For if, he says, having deliberately taken up wickedness he finds it sweet, he then hides it under his tongue, beginning to converse craftily and deceitfully, and to say everything with hypocrisy.

He will not spare it, and he will not abandon it.

And he will gather it in the midst of his throat, and he shall in no way be able to help himself.

But without restraint and insatiably he will cling to it and embrace it, and, as though it were some sweet food, he will hold it in his throat with pleasure.

But at the time when he undergoes his punishments, wickedness will be able to bring the wicked man no help at all.

The gall of an asp is in his belly:

Wealth unjustly gathered shall be vomited up.

The impious rich man, he says, when he thinks he has swallowed down his unjust wealth—that is:

to hold it securely—then, having received the divine wrath as it were some poisonous drug compounded from the venom of an asp, he will vomit up entirely the wealth gathered through injustice.

just as those who are made to vomit by some poison, amid retching and pain, bring up everything within them, so he brings forth all his wealth.

May an angel drag him out of his house.

But also, he says, a certain angel—one of those appointed for punishment—will drive him out of all his goods;

for by 'house' he signified the whole of his estate.

May he suck the venom of dragons, and may the tongue of a serpent slay him.

And thus, he says, he will come to utter destruction, like one who has been bitten by a serpent, or who has swallowed the venom of dragons.

For by 'venom' (thymon) he signified the poison.

'May he suck' is said to mean that, choosing it willingly and with pleasure, drawing off the death-bearing poison as though it were some milk of wickedness, he grows together with it and is formed according to it, but is destroyed by it.

May he not see the milking of the flocks, nor the pastures of honey and butter; he has toiled for wealth unto empty and vain things, of which he does not taste, like tough meat that cannot be chewed nor swallowed.

May he, he says, have enjoyment of none of the wealth belonging to him, but the fruits of his vain labors will be to him like tough gristle.

'Striphnos' is the sinewy flesh of oxen;

it is also an inedible plant.

And for this reason 'striphnos' cannot be swallowed, since it also cannot be chewed.

May he not digest his goods, nor come to their complete enjoyment.

For he crushed the houses of many of the poor, and seized their dwelling, and did not restore it.

There is no safety for him among his possessions.

He crushed them mercilessly, and seized all their substance, and did not give it back.

For 'he did not restore' stands for:

just as he himself seized the goods of the poor and did not restore them, so also his own goods will not be preserved.

In his desire he shall not be saved:

There is no remnant of his foods.

For, he says, unjust desire will not preserve him; nor will he ever have any food left over, having nothing to leave behind because of his extreme poverty.

Therefore his goods shall not flourish.

But when he thinks he is already filled, he will be afflicted;

and every distress shall come upon him, if by any means he might fill his belly.

So perhaps his goods will not even come to blossom, but will wither along with the blossom.

But if he should also seem to be full and to abound in all good things, then every distress and affliction will overtake him so as to fill his belly—instead of saying:

He will fill his soul with pains.

He will send upon him the fury of wrath, to rain down pains upon him.

For God, punishing him to the utmost, will overwhelm him with pains as with a snowstorm.

And he shall in no way be saved from the hand of iron; a bronze bow shall wound him.

And may the arrow pass through his body.

He has spoken these things by way of metaphor, drawn from those in wars who receive mortal wounds by iron and are shot through by mighty bows.

For this is what 'bronze' signifies—that is to say, that the mighty God powerfully wields his wrath against the impious.

And may the stars walk about in his dwellings.

That is to say, that no brightness will be left to him.

And concerning 'may the stars walk about in his dwellings,' instead of that:

fearful apparitions shall terrify him.

But Aquila has rendered it thus:

'And lightning shall go forth from his face upon him'—instead of that:

'from the face of God,' that is:

'at his command'—thunderbolts and lightning strikes shall be hurled down upon the impious man.

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

The stars are the righteous, according to what has been said:

But you shine as lights in the world, holding fast the word of life.

Since, then, it has been said above:

'For what those men gathered, the righteous shall eat'—he has said the same thing in a different way, namely that the stars, that is, the righteous, will walk about in the dwellings of the impious, that is:

they will take possession of their goods.

And may all darkness remain for him.

He says that his affairs will be in darkness, in obscurity, and in fears.

And unkindled fire shall devour him.

Zophar has taught us a fine lesson, that there is an unkindled fire: on the one hand, that which burns up the impious in their conscience; on the other, that which is reserved for them at the judgments to come.

But observe whether, besides these things, he is not also hinting here at fever;

For those who are feverish are consumed with burning heat, though no external and material fire is applied to them.

'And may an intruder bring evil upon his house.'

'And may the heaven uncover his iniquities.'

The divine nature making manifest what concerns him.

The punishments that come from the earth are famines, plagues, and whatever else there may be.

'May destruction drag his house down to the end.'

According to which the divine justice is stirred against him.

'And this is the portion of the impious man from the Lord, and the possession of his substance from the Overseer.'

Since the impious man, having acquired good things, did not perceive the divine benefaction, there is given to him as possession and portion the fullness of wrath from God who oversees all things.

Let bishops, hearing that God is called by this title in Scripture, keep the dignity of that appellation, watchfully overseeing the affairs of the flock, and being adorned with faith, with life, and with irreproachable teaching.

'Hear me, hear my words, that this may not be your consolation to me.'

Preview of the chapter: Job's friends, having come to console him and having become eyewitnesses of his irremediable calamities, being pious men, reasoned nothing untoward concerning God;

but, not knowing that the blow was a certain trial and testing of virtue, they judged it better to condemn Job as suffering for sins, and to declare God just, as not having punished him unjustly.

But the most valiant Job, even so, thought nothing unjust concerning God, nor did he entertain any opinion at odds with the providence of God, which administers all things well and justly;

yet, being conscious in himself of nothing deserving so great a punishment, he cannot bear the unjust condemnation of his friends.

And after many disputations had taken place between them concerning these matters, now that Zophar has again condemned him for impiety, he says to them:

'Hear my words, that you may know that you have not brought forward a consoling word, but that you utter your judgments mistakenly and out of ignorance.'

And, refuting their ignorance by way of a question, he says to them:

'If you know the principles of providence, answer me: why do the impious flourish, and why does prosperity flow around them from every side without stint, and they pass their days in ease, uttering words that war against God? And yet their prosperity too can be overturned; and how is it that one man ends his life in wealth and in every happiness that men enjoy, while another ends it in bitterness of soul, having shared in none of the good things of life?'

Then, in between, he inserted [the question]: 'Is it not the Lord who teaches understanding and knowledge?' thereby showing that the judgments of God are unattainable and incomprehensible, and that not all the reasons of that providence which administers everything well are known to us.

The words are as follows:

'Hear me, hear my words, that this may not be your consolation to me.'

'Listen,' he says, 'to what I am about to say, that you may know that you have brought forward words not of consolation, but of ignorance.'

'Bear with me, and I will speak; then you will not laugh at me.'

'Raise me up' — [that is,] from my lying down.

'Bear with me as I speak; endure my words.'

'For you will not laugh at what is said.'

What then? Is my rebuke [merely] from man? And why should I not be angered? 'You provoke me to wrath,' he says, 'by falsely charging me with such things — since which of men can convict me of ever having been a plunderer, or impious, and a lover of what belongs to others, as you have accused me?' Or does he also say this, which the Apostle later spoke:

'But to me it is a very small thing that I should be judged by you, or by man's day of judgment; he who judges me is the Lord.'

And for this reason I am moved to anger, that, not knowing the plain truth, you anticipate the divine judgment.

'Look upon me and be astonished, laying your hand upon your cheek.'

Those who listen with quietness — as is very often the case — prop their elbow upon their thigh, and, resting their face upon their hand, apply their mind to what is being said.

'Listen to me with quietness and attention, that you may marvel at what is said.'

'For if I but call it to mind, I am dismayed;'

'and pains take hold of my flesh.'

In haste I will speak, and I will briefly recall the things about to be said:

for the torments besieging my flesh do not allow my discourse to linger.

'Why do the impious live, and grow old even in wealth?' Since you suppose yourselves to be wise men, and say that those who pay the penalty of impiety fall into such calamities, tell one who asks you: how is it that many impious men often not only live, but even grow old in wealth?

'Their offspring is according to their soul's desire, and their children are before their eyes.'

'Their houses prosper, and fear is nowhere;'

'and no scourge from the Lord is upon them.'

'Their cow does not miscarry, but she that is with young among them is kept safe and does not fail [to calve].'

'And they remain like eternal/everlasting sheep.'

Their crops flourish luxuriantly for them, they delight in their children, they prosper, they fear no one, they receive no blow sent by God.

'Their farming cow does not miscarry' — that is:

she did not bring forth a dead and unformed offspring; and the women among them do not lose an untimely birth.

'And they remain in their prosperity like sheep' — instead of [meaning]:

'eternal,' as though they had laid hold of some divine and immortal lot, so as to say:

outside the range of human suffering.

'And their children play, taking up the psaltery and the harp, and they make merry to the sound of the psalm/song.'

'And they complete their life amid good things, and they fall asleep in the rest of Hades.'

'Depart from me; I do not wish to know your ways.'

Another form of a father's happiness is the joy of his children.

'But,' he says, 'they even come to the end of their life together with their good things, having their prosperity extend the whole length of their life — and this while openly warring against God, departing from him, and saying to him without shame:'

'We do not wish to know your ways' — instead of [meaning]:

'What sufficiency has he, that we should serve him, and what profit is it that we should meet with him?' For their good things were in their own hands, and he does not oversee the works of the impious.

These words are spoken as from the person of the impious.

'What more,' he says, 'is God able' — for this is what 'the Almighty' signifies — 'to give us, that we should serve him and go out to meet him?' — that is:

that we should come to worship him, as those who rise up before distinguished persons and go out to meet them for the sake of honor.

'We have,' they say, 'these things in our own hands; we acquire our goods from our own household.'

'What more can God profit us?' And again the saying 'he does not oversee the works of the impious' comes from them, as they say:

'Does God oversee these things? Does he concern himself with them? He cares nothing for what is done among men.'

'Yet nonetheless, the lamp of the impious will also be put out.'

'But,' he says, 'just as we see impious men who have prospered even to the end, so also we see other, equally impious men, whose life's brightness has been extinguished.'

'And they shall be like chaff before the wind, or like dust which a whirlwind has carried away.'

'From the wrath,' he says, 'of divine justice, by which their affairs are so easily blown away and scattered, like chaff by the wind, or dust by a whirlwind.'

'May his possessions fail his sons; he will repay him, and he shall know it.'

This is the misfortune of fathers: that their children live in want.

'When, then,' he says, 'the impious man perceives the divine retribution, then he will know that God does indeed oversee what is done, and that there is punishment laid up in reserve for the impious.'

'May his own eyes behold his own slaughter, and may he not be delivered by the Lord.'

He calls destruction 'slaughter.'

He will therefore, it says, become an eyewitness of his own destruction, having no help from God.

"Because his will is in his house with him."

The will of the impious man is impiety itself.

According, then, it says, to his own will it shall be for him and for his whole house, that is to say:

He shall receive in accordance with his own sins.

"And the number of his months has been cut short."

But also, it says, the span of his life shall be cut short, and he shall die after a short time.

"Is it not the Lord who teaches understanding and knowledge?" Of this apparent irregularity among men, then, it says, who knows the explanations? Who penetrates the judgments of providence? No one—unless the Lord himself should choose to grant someone understanding and to bestow knowledge concerning these things.

"But he himself will discern the wise."

Only the all-wise God, then, it says, knows the causes of these things—he who discerns those accounted wise among men, approving and accepting those who are wise in God, while rejecting and casting out those who pursue merely human wisdom.

"This one will die at the height of his folly, altogether at ease and prospering."

"And his innards are full of fat, and his marrow flows freely."

"But another dies in bitterness of soul, having tasted nothing good."

"Yet together they lie down in the earth, and decay covers them."

Who then knows the explanation of these things, except God? How is it that one fool dies at the height of his folly, full of every fleshly prosperity—for this is what is signified by the fatness of his flesh and marrow—while another, perhaps even a righteous man, without having tasted sweetness or partaken of any good thing among men, ends his life? Yet both undergo the common death and the same decay and dissolution of the body.

"So then, I know you, that with boldness you set upon me, that you will say:"

"Where is the house of the ruler, and where is the shelter of the tents of the impious?" Considering these things, it says, I know that you dare to overstep even the divine judgment, pronouncing against me as against an impious man, saying that my possessions were destroyed on account of sin.

"Ask now those who pass by the way, and their testimonies will not be denied."

Nevertheless, it says, even if some irregularity is seen in this present life, I do not concede that vice has the advantage over virtue.

For if, it says, the affairs of those who pass by the way—that is, of those who walk outside the divine way—are examined, it will be evident from their very deeds that they will not escape the divine judgment.

For "their testimonies will not be denied" signifies this, in place of:

the truth about them will be made known.

What then are these things? That "the wicked man is spared for the day of destruction; he will be led away to the day of his wrath."

That is, even if the wicked man is now given ease and is exalted by temporary glory, still a day of destruction and of divine wrath awaits him.

"Who will declare his way to his face? And he has done it—who will repay him?" He laments over the impious, as men who have no perception of the punishment awaiting them, and do not know that there is a God who renders to them according to the worth of what they have done.

"And he himself was carried off to the tombs, and kept vigil over the graves."

"Who will declare to him" applies in common to what follows as well, so as to bring him to the realization that he will be carried off to the tombs, and that after all his sleepless anxieties, the coffin and the grave await him.

"The pebbles of the streambed became sweet to him."

Even if such great abundance came to him that even the barren earth became fruitful for him, he is nonetheless no less mortal.

In pleasure, it says, the impious man regarded the instability of this life, which runs past like a torrent, without considering that he is mortal.

"And after him every man will go, and before him are innumerable ones."

Not even this was the impious man able to understand: that those who died before him are innumerable, and that all who come after him likewise undergo the common death.

This blessed man said these things both to check impiety and to teach that one should not cling to things that pass away as though they were things that stand fast.

"But how do you comfort me with empty words?" You, it says, have vainly brought forward your own words as though they were consoling, offering them neither usefully nor at the right time.

"And that I should have rest from you is nothing."

It seems, it says, that I profit nothing, whether I keep silent or teach you what is useful.

And Eliphaz the Themanite, answering, says:

"Is it not the Lord who teaches understanding and knowledge? For what does it matter to the Lord if you were blameless in your works?" Survey of the chapter: The friends were mocking Job, declaring that afflictions must necessarily follow, by sheer necessity, upon those who have sinned, on account of their sins.

But he, setting himself against their arguments, questioned them by way of objection, saying:

"If these things happen altogether and in every case just as you claim, how is it that we see many of the impious prosper right up to the end, and finish their lives in prosperity?" To this Eliphaz is at a loss for an answer, and turns instead to other insults, abusing the righteous man still more harshly and heaping upon him charges which even the worst of men could scarcely have carried out.

And having thoroughly scrubbed him with insults, he turns to exhortation and counsels him to turn to repentance, so that, having obtained divine assistance, he might recover his former prosperity and gain the propitious, all-powerful right hand of God.

Now with reference to Job, these words are altogether unfitting; but the sayings of Eliphaz are nonetheless useful in other respects:

for he teaches not only to abstain from evil, but also instructs one to do good, since divine justice subjects to punishment not only those who practice evil, but also those who fail to carry out good deeds.

For since the words of the friends are useful, even though they were spoken discordantly and unfittingly with regard to that righteous and true man, for this reason divine grace has, for our benefit, arranged that these words be handed down in Scripture.

The Phrases: "Is it not the Lord who teaches understanding and knowledge?" Job having said this, Eliphaz likewise runs along with the statement, and says that:

"I too know together with you that it is God who teaches understanding."

Therefore, even if righteous men teach us, having received the grace of teaching, it is nonetheless Christ who teaches us through them; and understanding itself, and the opening of our hearts to receive the divine teachings, comes about by divine grace. "For what does it matter to the Lord if you were blameless in your works, or what benefit is it that you extend yourself upon your way? Or will he, taking account of you, reprove you and enter with you into judgment?" Since you think so highly of yourself as blameless, let it be granted that you are pure.