Verse 8. — Hast thou considered my servant Job, that there is none like him upon the earth, a simple and upright man, and fearing God, and departing from evil? 13. The combat of God and the devil, of which Job was the material. — It was already treated in the preceding discourse, that the devil proposed a combat not against Job, but against God; but blessed Job was in the midst as the material of the combat. And if in our discourses we say that Job failed amid the scourges — which it is impious to think — we say that God lost in His proposal. For behold, even in this place it must be considered, that the devil did not first ask blessed Job from the Lord, but the Lord praised him to the scorn of the devil. And unless He had known that he would remain in his justice, He would surely not have proposed him.
Nor would He have conceded him to perish in temptation, concerning whom, before the temptation, from the praises of God, torches of envy had been kindled in the mind of the tempter. 14. How cunningly the devil seeks whence to accuse us. — But the ancient adversary, when he does not find evils which he may accuse, seeks to bend the good things themselves to evil. And when he is overcome concerning our works, he scrutinizes our words for accusation. When he finds no accusation in words either, he strives to darken the intention of the heart; as though good deeds were not done with a good mind, and therefore good things ought not to be weighed by the judge. For since he beholds the fruit of the tree to be green even in the heat, he seeks, as it were, to place a worm at the root. For he says: