Commentary on Job 1 part 10/12

'But if I ate my morsel alone,' he says, 'and did not share it with the orphan; and from my youth I nourished him as a father, and from my mother's womb I guided him; but if I overlooked the naked man perishing and did not clothe him, and if the helpless did not bless me, and were not warmed with the shearings of my lambs; but if I lifted up my hand against an orphan, trusting that much help was at hand for me—then let my shoulder fall from its socket, and let my arm be broken off at the elbow.'

'For the fear of the Lord constrained me, and by reason of his majesty I could not endure to do so.'

'If I made gold my treasure, and if I put my confidence in a precious stone; and if I rejoiced when great wealth came to me, and if I set my hand upon things without number'—

And yet what sin is this? Do you see him not bound fast to riches? Behold him philosophizing, and that in accordance with truth.

Having considered the perishable nature of human affairs—their transience and brevity and how easily they pass away.

Then again he tears down his own praise.

For that he might not seem to be doing some great thing, see what he says:

'Do we not see the sun that shines forth suffering eclipse, and the moon waning? For it is not in their own power.'

'This bright light,' he says, 'perishes and is made to vanish and is no longer seen.' Do you see what cause he assigns for the changes of the luminaries? Then the creation suffices us for philosophy, and not only for the knowledge of God.

When you see that the sun is great, marvel at the Maker.

When you see that it suffers eclipse, learn thoroughly the corruptibility of human affairs.

For if that which is the most brilliant of all things upon the earth thus fails and diminishes and comes to an end, much more do all the rest.

If that which is so useful and necessary, and without which life is impossible, admits of change, much more do the superfluous things and those attached to us without necessity.

'And if my heart was secretly deceived,' he says, 'and if, laying my hand upon my mouth, I kissed it, let this too be reckoned to me as great iniquity, that I lied before the Lord the Most High.'

Some say this was spoken concerning idolatry, but I am not persuaded;

for he would not have placed this among his greatest good deeds.

But it seems to me that it is the very thing which those disposed to passionate love experience when the objects of their love meet them:

they kiss their own hands with their mouth—whether over wealth or over things which they happen to admire.

'Because I lied,' he says, 'before the Lord the Most High'—saying these things now,

or rather, 'because I do not lie before God';

for this is a lie—thus to hang upon human affairs.

'And if I rejoiced at the downfall of my enemy, and if I said in my heart:

Well done, well done—then may my ear hear my curse, and may I be an object of common talk, being ill-treated by the people.'

By his deeds he was fulfilling that saying which declares:

'If your enemy falls, do not rejoice over him, and at his stumbling do not be exalted.'

Then, too, how gently he was disposed toward his household servants:

'And if my maidservants often said,' he says,

'Who will give us to be filled with his flesh?'—so exceedingly kind was I.

For from this comes all fairness: when one is humane and not violent toward those who are subject to him.

'And the stranger,' he says, 'did not lodge outside, and my door was open to every traveler.'

'And if, having sinned willingly, I hid my sin;

for I was not put to shame before the great multitude of my people so as not to confess it in their presence.'

You see that he looked to nothing for the sake of glory, nor did he act for the sake of others? For the man who so despised their esteem as even to proclaim his willful sins—

for as to involuntary faults, even any ordinary person might confess them, since he expects to obtain pardon from his hearers;

'for I was not put to shame,' he says, 'before the great multitude of my people'—

of those subject to him, of those who knew, of those who were even acquainted with the very nature of the sin.

This is true philosophy.

For do you tell your sins first, that you may be justified.

'Of my good deeds, then, I made no one a witness, but of my sins and my faults I wished all to be aware.' This is the greatest philosophy, this is the rule of virtue: to conceal one's good deeds, but to publish abroad one's sins.

But people nowadays do the opposite.

'And if I ever let a helpless man go out through my door with empty bosom,' he says,

'not even when he wished it did I permit it.'

He did violence even to those who came wishing to pass him by;

for he knew the matter, that it was an occasion of abundance.

As much zeal, then, as the poor now show in troubling those who are indebted and able to stretch out a hand, so much did he then employ in troubling those who were obliged to receive good treatment.

'Who,' he says, 'would grant me one who would hear me? And if I did not fear the hand of the Lord, and the bond which I held against anyone, having placed it upon my shoulders like a crown I read it aloud; and if I did not tear it up and give it back, taking nothing from my debtor; if—'

'if ever the earth groaned against me, and if its furrows wept together with one accord, if I ate its strength without payment, I alone; and if I grieved the soul of the lord of the land by casting him out—then let a nettle come forth to me instead of wheat, and a bramble instead of barley.'

'I made each of the needy,' he says, 'to share my roof, granting them fellowship of my shelter, not merely gazing upon them in the marketplace.'

'I possessed my house in common, my table in common, all things in common.'

'I considered myself to be a kind of steward of those set in need, reckoning what was mine not as mine, but as belonging to the Master.'

'The Lord gave; therefore let it be distributed among my fellow servants.' It was a measured allowance of food;

for he did not merely tend them by receiving them, but also provided provisions against the poverty that would come afterward, so that they might not only take pleasure in the present comfort, but might also delight in the hope of things to come.

But we drive them away even when they stand before us as suppliants.

And observe: he does not say what he gave, but even in that very necessity he conceals his good deeds and covers over his own praises.

'The helpless man,' he says, 'did not go out through my door with empty bosom.'

'And if I did not fear the hand of the Lord'—

'I did not do these things simply, but looking toward God, being merciful not merely by nature,' he says, 'but on account of the fear of God.'

No one can say that 'I indeed performed these good deeds, but I was puffed up and grew presumptuous'; rather, like those conscious of sins in themselves, so always did I fear God and tremble. 'Every unjust bond I tore apart.'

'I did not adorn myself with it, but tore up the bond'—and the phrase 'having placed it upon my shoulders' hints at certain people who pride themselves upon others' misfortunes—'and I did not simply give it back, but first rendered it powerless by tearing it apart.'

'Every unjust bond,' he says, 'I tore apart. And if ever the earth groaned against me, or its furrows wept together with one accord—'

And yet the earth neither groans nor weeps.

What, then, does he mean? Not as though it groaned, but as though even inanimate things have perception amid acts of injustice, just as the prophet also says:

'And the earth groans, when we deal unjustly with its fruits.'

'And Job ceased,' it says, 'from his words, and his three friends also fell silent.'

To these things they said nothing.

Job indeed fell silent, giving them opportunity to speak;

but since he had also called God as witness and pronounced a curse upon himself, they were reduced to silence.

'Job still made reply,' it says.

For he was righteous in their sight.

They changed the verdict which they had held before, so that they were now compelled to condemn God and to give sentence against Him.

And they condemned both this man and God, and gave sentence against both.

But God says nothing on His own behalf, yet on behalf of Job He speaks:

He lets His own case go—for He looked to the intention—but concerning Job He says that 'you did not speak well against My servant,' and yet the one who was most of all wronged is God Himself.

But He does not press His own cause; rather He presses the cause on behalf of that man, and says that they must make atonement and offer sacrifices.

'And Elihu was angry in wrath,' it says, 'the son of Barachel the Buzite, of the kindred of Ram, of the land of Uz; and he was angry in wrath at Job, because he declared himself righteous before the Lord.'

'And he was also greatly angry against his three friends, because they were unable to make fitting reply to Job and yet held him to be impious.'

It was not because he declared himself righteous that Elihu was angry, but because it was 'before the Lord,' since he called Him as witness, or because he pleaded his cause as though against God.

For to justify oneself is no great matter, but to do this as though pleading against God—this is absurd.

'For do not justify yourself,' he says, 'before the Lord.'

And indeed these men too were angry for this reason and said:

'For can a mortal be righteous before the Lord?' What, then, did this man have more than they? For those men also brought the same charge.

But if this were true, it would be the utmost impiety on Job's part, if he supposed himself to be more righteous than God.

What, then, came to pass? He did not suppose this.

For this indeed is what Elihu supposed; yet it was not with such a mind

that Job spoke, namely, that he himself was more righteous than God, but rather that these things had been done by him

he was by no means charging God with injustice, but Elihu supposed this to be the case

but against those men he was justly bringing his charge, since they had betrayed God's part and had denied it

But Elihu, it says, forbore to give an answer to Job, because they were older than he in days

And Elihu saw that there was no answer in the mouth of the three men, and his anger was kindled in wrath

He forbore, showing that though he was angry, he did not dare to say anything until Job had poured out everything

And yet behold his understanding: how from the very outset he at once set to work, how he keeps the fitting order

I am indeed younger in years, but you are older

Therefore I kept silent, being afraid to declare to you my knowledge

And for what reason did you not from the beginning contend with us on God's behalf? He took refuge in his age, and expecting, he says, that from you something noble and wonderful would be spoken

See how free he was from love of honor, how he yielded the first place to those men, how he showed that he would not even now have spoken, had they not brought him to necessity

It is not time that speaks; and are they not in many years ignorant of wisdom? And it is not so, but there is a spirit in mortals, and the breath of the Almighty is that which teaches me

From both sides we may estimate his understanding: both from his silence and from his discourse

For neither did he leap forward before the time and say any of these things, nor when the time called did he keep silent

Then he also states a just reasoning:

For it is not those of many years who are wise, nor do the aged know judgment

For it is not necessary, he says, that the elders alone should be wise, but one may hear something noble even from youth

For if time makes men wise, much more does God. Therefore I said:

Hear me, and I will declare to you what I know

Give ear to my words:

for I will speak while you listen

Behold, I have heard your words, I have given ear to your understanding, until you searched out your words, and until I could understand you

And behold, there was none among you who reproved Job, answering his words in return

He means either this, that not even then, when you reproved, did you reprove as you ought, or that afterward you fell silent

We have found wisdom by cleaving to the Lord:

but you have permitted a man to speak such words

They were dismayed, they answered no more, they let their words grow old within themselves

For they spoke not, because they stood still, they answered not

For I am full of words, and the spirit within my belly destroys me; and my belly is like a bound wineskin bursting with new wine, or like a smith's bellows bound fast and rent asunder

He shows that he had long been in travail to say these things, yet forbore and endured, though he was ready to burst asunder:

so that there is need of much patience, which above all things is especially the work of wisdom, to be able to hold back one's words

And this he suffered from his zeal toward God, so to be set on fire

I will speak, he says, that I may find relief, opening my lips

I will by no means be ashamed before a man, nor indeed will I show deference to any mortal

For I know not how to flatter a face

This he hints at concerning them, that for this reason they kept silent, being ashamed before him

But if not, then me too, he says, the moths shall devour

as it devours those who are respecters of persons, and especially when God is in the midst and we honor men rather than him

But nevertheless, he says, hear, O Job, my words, and give ear to my speech

For behold, I have opened my mouth, and my tongue has spoken in my throat

My heart is pure in its words, and the understanding of my lips shall meditate with pure knowledge

It is not out of malice nor out of envy that I utter these things. So that, even if the three friends said the same things as this man, yet perhaps not with the same mind nor on God's behalf; since Judas too and the eleven uttered the same words concerning the alabaster jar, but not with the same mind

So that we should not scrutinize the words, but the intention with which each one spoke

How so? Those men wished to cast him down, but this one the contrary

And observe: this man, coming later, utters many of the things which God is about to say, so that God may the more make his defense, when he hears the same things even from a fellow-servant which he will later hear from the Master

This we too do in the case of our household servants:

when their fellow-dwellers bring a charge against them, then especially we too press upon them

For he cannot bring a charge against those men as though they do this unjustly

The divine Spirit it is that made me, and the breath, he says, of the Almighty is that which teaches me

If you are able, give me an answer to these things, wait and stand up, you over against me, and I over against you

You were formed of clay as I also was; of the same clay were we formed

If indeed there were one to judge—and because I am a man, behold, I am as you are, we are, he says, of the same clay

My fear shall not terrify you, nor shall my hand be heavy upon you

Nevertheless you have spoken in my ears, and I have heard the voice of your words, because you say that:

I am pure, I have not sinned in my deeds, and I am blameless:

for I have not transgressed the law, yet he has found a complaint against me

Since he was saying concerning God:

He will not hear me—this, he says, is what you charge, that he did not hearken to your cause

Whence is it plain, tell me, that he did not hearken? Because he chastises and punishes? This is his work, namely, to make men better

Often indeed, he says, he has delivered many over to the last extremity of sickness, and yet, when a man is thus enfeebled by such an infirmity, no one will be able to destroy him, even if there be ten thousand death-bearing angels. And he has counted me, he says, as though an adversary to himself; and he has set my foot in the stocks and has watched all my ways

I am righteous, and he has not hearkened to me; for he who is above mortals is eternal

Why has he not hearkened to my cause in every word? For in the Lord's speaking once, and in the second time by a dream as a vision, in nightly meditation, as when a dread fear falls upon men in slumbers upon the bed

Then he uncovers the mind of men:

By such forms of fear he terrified them, to turn a man from his unrighteousness; and his body he delivered from the fall of unrighteousness, and he spared his soul from death, that he should not fall in battle

And again he reproved him with sickness upon the bed, and the multitude of his bones grew numb

And he can by no means receive any food of grain, though his soul shall desire food, until his flesh rots away and he shows his bones empty, and his soul draws near to death, and his life is in Hades

Though there be a thousand death-bearing angels, not one of them shall wound him

He shall not be able, he says, since he himself holds him fast. And many, he says, he has also instructed through dreams, and has snatched them out of war and battle, but has delivered them over to another kind of punishment. What he says is of this sort:

If you had not enjoyed his providence, would you not have perished? Would you not have fallen in war and battle? So that let this above all be a proof to you of his providence, that wrestling with so great a sickness and infirmity you have not died, though you might often, even apart from this infirmity, have died, had he himself forsaken you. And you say:

'Why do you not hearken to my righteousness in every word?' For 'when the Lord has spoken once,'

he does not hearken and instruct in each single instance, but this is characteristic of God, to do a thing once and not little by little.

Often he admonished through dreams, through visions in sleep. For he said:

'Why do you frighten me in dreams, and terrify me with visions?' 'Behold,' he says, 'the Mighty One works all these things, three ways with a man, to turn back his soul.'

What does 'three' mean? Often, he says, God does not cease to hold us fast, caring for us so as to make the soul better. You say, he says, that unjustly and without cause the Almighty will pervert what is just. Paul says:

'Otherwise how shall God judge the world?' See how from another quarter he establishes His justice:

He made the earth and the heaven and all the rest.

For are His works foreign to Him, that He should do us injustice? He spares what is His own—'and You spare all things,' he says, 'because they are Yours, O soul-loving Master'—not only because it is His, but also because He Himself rules over them.

For even among wicked men this happens:

Even were they willing, they do not endure to wrong their own subordinates;

for it is the custom of all to spare their own and what belongs to them.

But when He Himself is both the Maker and the Ruler, how should He pervert justice, He who has sown it so splendidly throughout the whole inhabited world? Nor can you yourself say that it is out of weakness that He does no wrong;

for it is so easy for Him to destroy all, that willing alone suffices, and there is nothing to hinder.

But the time that is past is conscious of no such thing. Then, after much more, he says:

'Do you think the Lord will do absurd things? Or will the Almighty pervert what is just, He who made the earth? And who is it that makes what is under heaven and all that is therein? For if He should will to gather up and to withdraw the spirit unto Himself, all flesh would perish together, and mortal man would return to the earth from which he was formed.'

'But if you are not admonished, hear these things, O Job; give ear to the voice of the words.'

'But if you do not think that He who hates iniquities and destroys the wicked is eternally just—'

What does 'but if you' mean? He did not dare to draw the conclusion.

Out of great reverence he refrained from the word.

It is not only from creation, not only from the fashioning of things, not only from the beginning that we ought to infer these truths, but also from His very essence and from His very works:

He hates evil and loves mankind, not as we do;

for it is not out of hatred toward evils that we abstain from wickedness, but out of fear of the punishment to come.

How so? Because He hates iniquities. 'He destroys,' he says, 'the wicked.'

Well too has he set down 'eternal,' so that He does not demand an accounting of what has been done every single day nor at every single deed.

Often He administers some dispensation whose end must needs be extended over a long period of time.

Do not leap ahead of the end, nor before the whole is completed will you seek to understand the righteous judgment of God, since nothing more will come to you from your rashness than harm.

For this reason he says 'eternal and just.'

All the time that is past bears Him this witness:

For has He now changed? 'Impious,' he says, 'is he who says to a king:'

The reckless man pays the penalty, and indeed before a king it is not without danger.

This seems to me to hint at something else as well: that the king is not subject to laws, but stands above them;

he himself is the maker of those very laws.

Fittingly, then, against the maker of the laws the one who says:

'You transgress the law' is himself accused, just as if one should say to the fashioner and the maker:

The king is a law unto himself.

'He who did not respect,' he says, 'the person of the honorable, nor did He grant honor to set up men, so as to have their persons marveled at.'

For even if you do not know, yet you ought to yield to Him and to His glory, so as not to seek to learn everything. So then, he who prys into God does not honor God.

See what Paul too says:

'Giving glory to God, and being fully assured that what He had promised He was able also to perform.'

From what was he fully assured? Tell me.

For the ordered sequence of nature spoke the contrary against those things.

'But in vain,' he says, 'will their crying out and begging a man turn out for them;'

for they dealt lawlessly with those who were shut out and helpless.

'Your supplication itself,' he says, 'stands against you.'

You transgress the law, and even if you beg, you will beg in vain. Then concerning the knowledge of God he says that He knows all things:

'For He Himself,' he says, 'is the beholder of all men, and nothing of what they do escapes Him, nor is there any place for those who work iniquities to hide.'

'For the Lord beholds all things, He who apprehends things inscrutable, both glorious and extraordinary, of which there is no number.'

'Knowing their works, He will also turn the night, and they shall be brought low.'

But note for me how nowhere does he assail Job as those others did, but he says that God is just, and does not say to him, 'You seized orphans and widows,' how he is admonitory, not accusatory.

'Job, you have not spoken with understanding, nor were your words uttered with knowledge.'

This is gentle and full of forbearance, whereas those others say:

'How long will there be a spirit of many words in your mouth? Yet learn, O Job, do not any longer give answer like the foolish, lest we add,' he says, 'to our sins;'

'and there shall be iniquity upon us who speak many words before the Lord.'

Not unlawful nor impious words, but 'many,' showing that one ought not to answer back to God even with many words.

For if before a king no one would dare to answer back with many words, much more before God.

'What did you consider this to be in judgment? Who are you, that you said:'

'I am righteous before the Lord,' or you will say:

'What shall I do, having sinned? I will give you an answer, and your three friends as well:'

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

Even if not from reasonings, yet from the things you see learn how far above you He is and how much higher.

'If you have sinned, what will you accomplish? And if you have transgressed greatly, what can you do?' That is to say:

You will do Him no wrong, nor yet will you benefit Him by being righteous. For since he had said:

'If I have sinned, what can I do to You?' he says:

'Why did you say this? For does He care about your sinning as though He were wronged? As though He suffered harm? And if you are righteous, what will you give Him?' he says, 'or what will He receive from your hand? Your impiety concerns a man like yourself, and your righteousness a son of man.'

'Being oppressed by a multitude, they shall cry out; they shall shout because of the arm of many.'

'Where is God who made me?' Do you not see, he says, the height, how great it is? 'Who appoints,' he says, 'the watches of the night.'

Do you not see all things arranged, and with great exactness each thing abiding in its fitting order, none of all things overstepping its proper bound nor leaping into another's territory—just as, when guardians keep watch over all things, no one plots against men while they sleep?

When He passes over, then these sleep.

The cities ought not to have been overrun, they ought not to have perished; bound, they sleep.

'He who distinguishes me,' he says, 'from the four-footed beasts of the earth and from the birds of heaven.'

There they will cry out, and He will not hearken, because of the insolence of the wicked.

For the Lord does not wish to look upon iniquities.

For the Almighty Himself is the beholder of all who work lawless deeds, and it is He who shall save me.

Enter into judgment before Him, if you are able to praise Him as He truly is.

And now, because there is none who visits His wrath, and He has taken no great notice of transgression, Job also opens his mouth in vain, and in ignorance he multiplies words with a heavy weight.

Do you see, he says, how in heaven the stars, like soldiers, each keeps circling its own appointed rank? He also spoke of God's peculiar benefaction toward him.

He who sets me apart, he says, from the four-footed beasts.

He will not hearken, he says, because of the insolence of the wicked.

For the Lord does not wish to look upon what is disgraceful.

Not only does the Lord not accept it, but He does not even wish to see it, as another prophet says:

His eye is pure, so as not to look upon evil things.

Do you see how great is His providence, how great His watchfulness, how great His understanding? Even if He does not immediately avenge you, yet He holds the matter in abhorrence.

He does not wish to see it, lest you should think the matter is one of ignorance; but that you may learn it is a matter of deliberate disposition and of opposition, hear how he goes on:

For the Almighty Himself is the beholder of those who work lawless deeds.

Enter into judgment before Him, if you are able to praise Him as He truly is.

If He had convened a court, he says, and set forth its ordinances, would you not have praised Him? Would you not have glorified Him worthily for the things that have now befallen you, when you suppose you are being wronged and punished? For not to be able to hymn God worthily is no great thing; but that one who is about to be judged in his own case against Him should be unable to hymn Him worthily, this is a great thing. And Elius, adding further, still says:

Wait for me yet a little, that I may teach you.

Taking up my knowledge from afar, and by my works I will speak justly, in truth, and not unjustly, he says; you understand my words wrongly, as though they were unjust.

The things which issue from their very works, these I call just; these are not mere words nor speeches.

But take heed, lest you do unjust things.

You have done them. Remember therefore, Job, that His works are great, over which men have held rule.

Every man has seen in himself, as many mortals as are stricken with wounds.

Perishing every day, as many as He takes away.

The drops of rain have been numbered by Him.

Here he speaks of His knowledge and His providence.

He has overshadowed the clouds above innumerable mortals.

He has appointed a season for the cattle, and they know the order of their resting-place.

And these, though deprived of reason, have come to know it from nature.

He makes a preface concerning these things, concerning which God is about to converse with him.

Upon all these things, he says, is not your mind amazed? He did not say:

Does it not marvel? but, Is it not astounded?—for it is truly a matter of astonishment and awe, whence the unreasoning creatures preserve such good order—that you may learn that you too are governed not by your reason, but by Him who gave the reason.

That every man may know his own weakness.

For this reason, he says, His works are so great; for this reason there is cold and heat; for this reason the inconstancy of the seasons. Was it not possible for an excellent temperate blend to have come to be? Yet it was so, that from every side He might restrain the excess and the uprising of pride, that every man might know his own weakness.

Before the face of His cold, he says, who shall stand? And the whole creation has been fashioned for this end, and all things have come to be for this purpose.

For since this above all things cast man out from his freedom of access to God, God contrived all things toward the opposite end—both the creation and the framing of the body and the conduct of life—so that all these things are for the sake of humility, that we may learn to be moderate and may recognize our own weakness, that we may say with Abraham:

But I am earth and ashes; that we may say with David:

But I am a worm and no man; that we may say with the apostle, that He was seen by me also, as by one untimely born.

He made him weak, and yet he supposes himself to be strong;

wherefore he becomes even weaker.

Some things, then, show at once both His power and our weakness; others show His power alone.

For He does not everywhere wish to be marveled at by us together with the grieving of us, but there are times when He even relaxes our mind.

But your robe is warm, and there is quiet upon the earth.

Either he means this, that you are now in pains, but afterward you shall find rest;