約伯記註釋 第 1 章 第 6/15 段

'And let the powerless one come forth from the hand of the mighty.' These words, even according to the form of the phrasing, might so indicate that they are optative, so that what is said would be:

'May it be that the weak obtain help, so as to escape the hands of the powerful.'

It is also possible for it to be carried as if from a narrative, so that it would run thus:

'He who does great things and things past finding out, glorious and marvellous things, of which there is no number; who gives rain upon the earth; who sends water upon that which is under heaven; who exalts the lowly; who raises up those who have perished,' as has been said, and so forth.

This One delivers all the powerless too from the hand of the mighty.

We have this instance in the books of Kingdoms: for when Saul was pursuing David so relentlessly that David had to hide himself in a cave — the very cave in which Saul also lodged.

And what is the marvel? For hemmed in on every side by his enemies, David was preserved by divine power, so that his very enemy was delivered into his hand; yet by the virtue of bearing no grudge he refrained from slaying his adversary, not only not cutting him down but even instructing him to depart from his wickedness.

For by cutting off the corner of his double cloak he showed him that he could also have cut off his head.

Thus he instructs in two things at once: both God's providential care for His own servants, and his own forbearance of evil, to the imitation of which he summons his enemy, teaching him that God rescues the powerless from the powerful and the treacherous.

'But let there be hope for the powerless, and let the mouth of the unjust be stopped.' And this saying is fitting to the theme of providence.

If a man is powerless, being left destitute of strength, let him not reject himself, let him not turn away from every expectation;

for even for the powerless there is hope.

And the mouth of the unjust man is stopped, whenever, puffed up with arrogance against those he wrongs, he beholds them escaping the violence he inflicts and even become glorious thereby ... common ... blameworthy ... from the holy ones ... 'I will lay waste the strength of the nations, and by the wisdom of understanding I will remove the boundaries of nations; the whole inhabited world I will seize with my hand as a nest, and as forsaken eggs I will take it up' — things which are done out of arrogance, as though he were all but saying:

The whole inhabited world, as it were ...

... not yet fledged with wings, but easily overcome ... will escape, but ... to escape the hopes ...

... because of the innocence of asps ...

... 'He has given power to tread upon serpents and scorpions, and over all the power of the enemy.' For indeed ...

... to be able to endure ...

... 'Shall the axe boast itself without one who cuts with it?' ...

By way of pre-eminence you hold the axe in the role of reason (logos).

The theme of providence hands down which things ...

Do not be confident in yourself.

'Shall the saw exalt itself without one who draws it?' ... you might saw ... the great trees ...

For I am ... the one who draws ... and in the seventy-first psalm it says:

'For he delivered the poor from the hand of the mighty, and the needy who had no helper.'

'He will spare the poor and needy, and will redeem their souls from usury and injustice' ... he wrought by the cross ...

... having bestowed grace ... the powerless one from the hand of the mighty ...

... those sinning ... of their own sins, which through ...

... is made manifest, of the ...

... heavenly things, nor things that are visible ...

... from the ... and according to the ...

But the hope that belongs to the powerless is a reproof against the Novatians, who by taking away repentance also cut off hope.

These men ought at least to have been instructed by Eliphaz ... naturally ...

... coming to be, that hope ...

... of salvation, and indeed if one of them willingly ... and it is ...

'And let the mouth of the unjust be stopped' ... the inhabited world ... of a maiden ... transgressing ... of a young man ... inclining ... upon this every injustice will stop its mouth, which is said in place of 'the unjust.'

For often ...

If, then, Paul writes concerning love, he fits the words not to love itself but to the one who has it.

'Love does not vaunt itself, is not puffed up' ...

And these things too are said properly of the one who possesses it;

For virtue does not fall, but the one who has it.

'Let the mouth of it be stopped by injustice' — that is, the unjust one, who is the devil, having nothing more to say; which Paul also writes when he says:

'that the adversary may be put to shame, having nothing evil to say concerning you' — meaning:

'Blessed is the man whom the Lord has reproved; do not reject the admonition of the Almighty.'

'For he himself causes pain and again restores; he has smitten, and his hands have healed.' ... having ... of the prophet ... caring ... this ... most grievous ... comes about by way of recompense.

'And I will not visit their daughters when they commit fornication, nor their brides when they commit adultery.' And observe that of the daughters fornication is spoken, but of the brides adultery.

But also what is said in the Proverbs:

'Whom the Lord loves he chastens, and he scourges every son whom he receives' — conveys the same meaning.

And one of the holy ones, having eagerness for this and speaking boldly, offering words of repentance to God, said:

'I am ready for scourgings;'

'For I know that it comes profitably from you' — just as one might say to a skilled physician:

'I am ready even for the incision, trusting in your unerring art.'

Still holding, then, to the same starting-point, Job in a certain way ... as toward a ... reproof ... good ... form.

'For he himself causes pain and again restores' ... and concerning ...

But ... authoritative ... God.

And he himself, Moses, out of ... says:

'I kill, and I will make alive; I will smite, and I also will heal.' For it is not, as the Manichaeans hold, that one causes pain while another heals;

for the one who heals is one and the same, who also permitted the bringing-on of harmful things, leading the demons toward the aim of providence ... for ...

... the things of affliction they bring on toward health ...

'Six times he will deliver you out of distresses, and in the seventh no evil shall touch you.' Attending to what is said and reflecting that Eliphaz is not one of the holy ones, one might be perplexed how such words, which might also be spoken by holy ones, are uttered by him.

And of the written teaching they spoke many things unwritten, with wisdom, which someone later handed down in writing, by divine bestowal indeed.

It is likely, then, that Job's friends too, having an articulated conception, remembered the words disposed by the holy ones.

And this is what leads them to bring forth intelligent words, even if in some points they went astray.

What, then, the verses set forth suggest, is this:

For as long as anyone is under the world that came into being in six days, he endures the distresses and afflictions within it.

For even if someone is holy, he has the necessity that arises from the body's need, from which he is set free when he passes beyond the world and comes to be in the sabbatical rest.

'Pain and grief and groaning have fled away.' For according to this meaning too it is not inapt to understand the saying.

For harm does not touch the one who has passed beyond the world, since neither does loss touch the one who has a disposition free from love of money and is without possessions — 'touch' being understood intelligently, as we also noted before, since the word signifies more than one thing:

In 'you shall touch all,' it signifies both the drawing-near and the very contact itself; but in:

'He who touches you is as one who touches the apple of his eye,' it signifies the onset and assault against someone and the plotting, even if the wrongdoer does not effect it through himself.

The one who is still advancing, as though pressing on toward the goal through works and deeds, this one would be in the six distresses, becoming a kind of violent man (biastēs);

for 'the violent seize the kingdom.'

But when he attains to perfection, he will no longer need the violence constrained by progress that consists in toil and sweat born of deficiency, being brought by compulsion to perfection.

This, then, is shown symbolically in the patriarch, who was first called Jacob because of his supplanting the passions, but afterwards Israel because of his devoting himself to contemplation after his wrestling against the passions.

This, at any rate, is what Jesus also said to his own disciples:

You are no longer of this world, since you have leaped up above it.

But if anyone should object that no elevated contemplation is being suggested by what was said by Eliphaz, he would be justified in giving back the sense and saying—if indeed he supposes it ever to bear such a meaning—that God permits a man to be afflicted up to a sixth affliction, no longer permitting a seventh, having experience of him, since men have often fallen into many trials.

In famine He will deliver you from death, and in war He will free you from the hand of the sword. One might say that it is not unreasonable for someone who supposes that the sufferer suffers on account of sins to think that a man admonished by the Lord, right after the admonishment, is at once deemed worthy of such things—that he is delivered by God from death in famine and freed by God from the sword in war—yet this is not beyond dispute;

for many earnest men have died in famine, and not all who perish in war are wicked; only when the passage is taken according to its higher (anagogical) sense does it become indisputable.

For that which is said in the Psalms—

'For I have grown old, and I have not seen a righteous man forsaken, nor his seed seeking bread'—

'all the day long he shows mercy and lends'—is true and necessary when taken according to its inner meaning;

for neither does the righteous man have need of the things that nourish the soul, being full of the life-giving Spirit,

but even his seed—that which is begotten according to the divine generation—will not be subject to this lack of nourishment;

for the earnest man becomes an imitator of Christ, according to Paul who says,

'Be imitators of me, as I also am of Christ.' He has as his food the will of God, walking in His commandments and ordinances.

And this same man both shows mercy and lends—not a forbidden loan (for how could it be? for 'his silver he did not give out at interest')—but divine instruction and teaching, from which comes progress and profit both to the hearers and to the teacher.

so that they can say boldly:

'Silver and gold have I none,' he says;

'Him who wishes to borrow from you, do not turn away'—clearly, as has been said before.

The wicked man, therefore, when he borrows, does not repay;

for though he hears many words that lead to instruction, he brings nothing forth into deed.

'You shall lend to many nations,' spoken as a command;

'but you shall not borrow'—which has no literal history (for how could it be possible to cross over into hostile nations for the sake of lending at interest? but even concerning the Israelites who borrowed it is said,

'To your brother you shall not lend at interest,' and,

'If you take a pledge, before sunset you shall return it,' which shows that they were in need)—this bears the meaning that the one who possesses divine riches must instruct everyone who comes to him, not himself coming into the condition of one in want.

For that the righteous have hungered and endured many afflictions in war is clear to whoever has read the histories of the Kingdoms—the sons of the prophets suffering famine, and Lazarus, and David being in many straits—clearly they possessed the soul's nourishment, according to what is said:

'Open your eyes and be filled with bread,' and being outside of the trial that is found in the mind, not permitted to endure the death of the soul, or being outside the bonds of sin, apart from the threat according to which is brought 'not a famine of bread nor a thirst for water, but of hearing the word of the Lord'—since they drink of the water which Jesus supplies to the righteous, which also becomes in them 'a spring of water leaping up unto eternal life.'

'From the scourge of the tongue He will hide you, and you shall not be afraid of evils that come.' Concerning the one admonished by the Lord and as it were having repented, he speaks these things again, following his own premise—though this too, which he says, is not necessary.

For many righteous men have often been reviled, among whom is Joseph, the chaste man falsely accused of licentiousness by the Egyptian woman, and Susanna, who endured the scourges—the slanders of the lawless elders.

If, then, he supposes that 'being hidden from the scourge of the tongue' means not being slandered or reviled, the saying is not true; but it has truth in this way, that slander or reviling—the so-called scourge of the tongue—cannot seize the one who lives according to God, since virtue both proves him not liable to the charges and hides him.

And this very same man is not terrified even by the expectation of evils, according to the blessed Paul who says:

'Who shall separate us from the love of God? Tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or the sword?' For he is more than conqueror over these by the abundance of virtue.

And no less will such a man be hidden from the sophistries of a falsely-named wisdom, since God frustrates the counsel of the crafty, turning it away from those who employ it.

'And you shall not be afraid of evils that come'—equivalent in force is the prophetic saying that runs thus:

'Your tribulation shall come from afar,' and that which might thus be understood:

'The kingdom of heaven is within you.'

For we have an aptitude toward virtue, which He has called a kingdom.

But the harmful and injurious thing comes from without, as does the shame of sin.

For man, having been made according to the image of God, has in himself the seeds of the good.

But when he is turned aside, he falls in with evil, not having received occasions from God for this.

'You shall laugh the unjust and lawless to scorn, and of wild beasts you shall not be afraid.'

'For the wild beasts shall be at peace with you.' It is clear that he speaks these things concerning the one who has become righteous out of the admonishment, from the fact that he laughs the unjust and lawless to scorn, showing that:

'Having escaped their plots, you will deride them who have devised many things against you.'

But this would not befit a righteous man;

for the earnest man is not given to mockery, but is compassionate, saying rather with Paul:

'I have great sorrow and unceasing pain in my heart'—which things he said concerning the careless among the righteous.

The earnest man is said to laugh to scorn in the sense of proving those who make vain attempts to be worthy of derision.

And the saying 'of wild beasts you shall not be afraid,' and what follows, which is astutely stated, would thus attain greater clarity from the things which the saints experienced.

of which perhaps he himself also learned that similar things had happened.

For the lions sent against Daniel caused him no fear, since he had his hopes toward God;

but they were even at peace with him, in no way grieving him at all.

Similar things the lover of the good will gather from the Scriptures—like the prophet who had died, whom the lion not only did not devour but even guarded, not so much as touching the donkey; and the things concerning Elisha, who like a king led forth the beasts in array against the insolent, himself in no way harmed by them.

'But with you they are at peace,' he says, those which are of such a nature according to their kind.

But it is also possible to understand men or demons in place of wild beasts, according to what is said:

'Do not deliver to the wild beasts a soul that confesses to You.' For it is clear that He does not say this concerning visible things, but it is possible to conceive of wild beasts of the soul.

But the devil also 'goes about as a lion, seeking whom he may devour.'

'The Lord has broken the molars of the lions.' From these wild beasts the righteous man is delivered, accomplishing none of their purposes.

And the greatness of the saints' courage is this, that it is a difficult thing to subdue those who wage war against iniquities.

For the Savior has given authority 'to tread upon serpents and scorpions, and over all the power of the enemy.' And that Eliphaz too knows of adverse energies we have already set forth before this, when he said:

'Or if you shall see any of the holy angels. Then you shall know that your house shall be at peace, and the abode of your tent shall in no way sin.

And you shall know that your seed shall be many, and your children shall be like the pasturage of the field.' ... (the text) reported through the manner of a narrative ... the truth ... we (consider) whether the things reported as it were historically are able to exist for us, or are unprofitable or profitable.

And now then, since Job no longer has a house—for he himself in what follows says:

'I perished, and became homeless'—he says to him, cast out upon the dunghill:

'Then you shall know that your house shall be at peace.' For again, the things concerning him having been destroyed, only his wife remaining, and knowing that he no longer had children, he says:

'And you shall know that your seed shall be many, and your children shall be as the pasturage of the field.' For neither was he disposed as one who could beget children, being so grievously afflicted and (as it were) childless;

for this man was feeling the discharges of matter and the worms.

And what abode of a tent did he say would not fail, when the man had no tent at all but was cast away? Whence indeed, since the literal history is very much strained when applied to sensible dwellings, the meaning must be pursued intellectually, especially because in what precedes we were saying that they were not inattentive nor deaf to teaching according to due measure;

for Job is commanded to offer a sacrifice to God on their behalf for ignorance—for sins;

and indeed the friends ... of so great a one ... and of virtue ... to those who follow ...

there is one cause of the calamities: they had erred.

the wild beasts, as has been rendered, being at peace with you—both the house of your mind shall be at peace, and the abode of your tent, which is the betterment found in your progress, shall not fail.

And in addition to these things you shall know that in good reasonings your seed multiplies, being brought to completion unto the begetting of children and coming into being

'as the pasturage of the field,' both because of the living ember of virtue and because it increases to the utmost.

And indeed we have in the divine writings, spoken also with reference to the house of the saints, their habit, their manner of life, their virtue, just as it has been recorded concerning the Hebrew midwives, that:

Since the midwives feared God, they made houses for themselves — which signifies the virtue built up by them out of the fear of God.

And that which is said in the Proverbs:

'The houses of the lawless shall owe purification, but the houses of the righteous are acceptable.' For these things are said not concerning things perceived by the senses, but concerning the dispositions in the mind: the base ones stand in need of cleansing, while the virtuous prove acceptable — 'acceptable' signifying not that which is chosen by someone, but that which is worthy of praise.

For the good is choiceworthy even if no one chooses it, and it is acceptable even if no one receives it.

And that which is said concerning the one who fears the Lord and greatly delights in His commandments:

'Wealth and glory shall be in his house' — this is spoken not concerning a house or glory perceived by the senses.

For many who fear God have neither human glory nor a rich house, such as Elijah, such as Elisha, and those like them; rather it is the one rich in good works and 'in all utterance and in all knowledge,' as Paul writes, who has wealth and glory in the house of his mind, and is adorned in his manner of life through all the virtues.

Moreover, the Gospel too makes clear this kind of house:

'Whoever hears my words and does them is like a wise man who built his house upon the rock; and the rain came down, the winds blew, the rivers came, and the house was not shaken' — which is the disposition of the virtuous man who has turned the words of the Lord into works, who abides unshaken by storms, in no way harmed by the opposing energies.

For such a man has founded his disposition and purpose upon the rock, which is Christ.

For to the one who confessed Him it was said by Him:

'You are Peter, and upon this rock I will build my church' — while the one who hears the words carelessly and does not join deeds to the words is likened to a foolish man, 'who built his house upon the sand,' that is, upon the disposition set on the fluid affairs of life, which admit of no sowing or firm establishment.

For this reason such a man, being unstable, has a swift fall when even a small trial is sent — whether through another's teaching or through some circumstance brought on by an evil spirit.

The one who has the praiseworthy house with a steadfast standing will, like Moses, hear from God:

'But you, stand here with me.' And concerning such a one the Saviour says:

'There are some of those standing here who shall not taste of death.' Such a house, then, Job too possessed, which the wise man, having built it firm, founded upon the rock.

Having it likewise, the disciples of Christ also kept their standing unshaken, keeping the words of salvation.

And the house of the mind is at peace when the mind is unconfused and untiring, since virtue works peace, because the virtues mutually accompany one another.

For there is nothing discordant in the earnest man.

Concerning the virtues that proverbial saying might fittingly be spoken:

'Wise women built a house, but the foolish one pulled it down with her hands.' For wickedness works a swift overthrow of what has been built.

One single virtue, then, is not sufficient for the building of a house.

For this reason it is said in the plural:

'Women built a house.' But one single vice is enough for the overthrow.

'If someone performs all acts of righteousness but commits one transgression, all his righteous deeds are set aside.'

For they no longer stand nor abide once one vice has entered.

And it belongs to the same virtuous man not to fail in the ordering of his tent.

For one making progress must pray — which is signified by the tent — not to stumble nor to sin.

For it is possible, while he is still making progress, that from his very progress — the one who dwells in the house being already at peace on account of his perfection — the one who has borne fruit and who sings should say:

'I will pass through in the place of the wondrous tent, even to the house of God' — in which the one who has attained to reaching the summit of virtue is hard to move and most firmly established.

'Everyone who is begotten of God does not commit sin.' And rendering the cause he adds:

'He abides in Him,' meaning the One who made him.

For concerning such a one it is said in the Gospel too:

'No one is able to snatch out of my Father's hand.' And we did not say this as though the virtuous man is incapable of falling, but that...

But of himself he might come to be outside the hand of God by falling away.

'For they,' He says, 'were thrust away from your hand,' having plainly become unworthy to be guarded by the hand of God — which is what Judas suffered, himself having gone out from the sheltering hand of God.

No one shall go out — but rather:

'No one is able to snatch out of my Father's hand.' Yet He Himself thrusts away those who first tore themselves loose.

'God will thrust them away, because they did not hearken to Him' — while the one guarded by Him knows that his seed is abundant.

For good ground is the mind of the earnest man, which fittingly and eagerly receives the seed sown from the Bridegroom Word, or which itself sows those being made disciples through the word given to it.

And often the seed is also called a child:

'The seed of Abraham are his children' — though the seed is not in every case already also a child.

When, at any rate, the Jews were boasting that they were the seed of Abraham, the Saviour said, was it not:

'If you were children of Abraham, you would do the works of Abraham.'

For not all who are of Israel are truly of Israel.

Nor, because they are the seed of Abraham, are they in every case children. He says to them, therefore, as to those who are not children of Abraham:

'You wish to do the desires of your father.' And those who do the desires of the devil, receiving him as their father, are not children of Abraham.

For blessed is the one who proves to be the seed of Abraham by having the virtues of godliness, and who has become a child by being formed and by not becoming a miscarriage but being brought to birth.

And there are times when the seed and the child are spoken of in parallel, as also in the passage now set forth.

The mind of the holy man, then — which must be understood as a field — makes to spring up offspring corresponding to the field's rich growth, surpassing both in multitude and in vital power, so that this man may thus be likened, according to the Gospel, to the kingdom of the heavens, sowing in the field of his own heart, that he may bear fruit a hundredfold, sixtyfold, thirtyfold at the beginning, the middle, and the end; sowing in tears, that he may reap in exultation; and seeking out the Lord, that offspring of righteousness may come to him.

'You shall come to the grave like ripe grain reaped in its season, or like a stack of the threshing-floor gathered in at its due hour.' There is nothing among existing things that does not have its own proper end, even if one considers the case of a craft.

Nature and craft each have an end and a goal.

For the vine grows for the reasonable enjoyment of man, and the craftsman builds so as to complete a house, having as his goal a dwelling.

And, that the discourse may not become long: man was fashioned that he might live according to virtue.

The psalmist, contemplating this very thing, said:

'Make known to me, O Lord, my end, and the number of my days, what it is, that I may know what I lack' — that he might quietly say something of this sort:

'For this I came into being, that I might live according to virtue and, partaking of Your wisdom, both speak and do all things according to it.'

'But since I see myself falling short in much' — which he says out of modesty — 'make known to me my end, until how long a time I remain here, that I may be diligent in it to fill up my deficiencies.'

According to this same understanding it is said also in Ecclesiastes:

'Do not be stubborn, lest you die when it is not your time' — which signifies that:

'Since you have come into being in order to bear the fruit of virtue, do not delay towards it, lest you depart incomplete.'

Which again David says in prayer:

'Do not take me up in the midst of my days.' But Abraham too is said to be an elder and full of days.

And even if we take this in a more simple way: many of the many before him lived even more years, and yet were called neither elders nor full of days.

Full of days, however, is the one who has received the illuminations of the Sun of righteousness without deficiency.

And this one is an elder, honoured with those honours of eldership concerning which it is said:

'For honourable old age is not that which is of many years, nor is it measured by the number of years; but grey hair is wisdom for men, and old age is an undefiled life.'

Since, therefore, Abraham believed God, so that his faith was reckoned unto righteousness, and he was full of days and an elder, fittingly, nourished in a good old age, he fell asleep.

And that 'full of days' is understood in this way can be confirmed also from other passages:

'Honour,' it says, 'your father and your mother, that it may be well with you and that you may be long-lived upon the earth which the Lord gives you.' And this is not beyond dispute.

For many who showed great honour toward their parents died an untimely death, while others who dishonoured their mothers and fathers lived to a great age.

But in the Psalms too it is said concerning the one who dwells in the help of the Most High:

'With length of days will I satisfy him, and I will show him my salvation'—which signifies perfection.

For neither does the sojourn here last for the longest time.

'For he was caught up,' it says, 'lest wickedness should alter his understanding.'

All these things have been said by us to those who wish to show that the things which happen come about with some end in view, both on the part of many, and much more so under God.