Commentary on Job 1

What is fitting for everyone who sets out to make an examination of some text — namely, to deal beforehand with the matters pertaining to its subject — must be done in the present case also, and all the more since the book set before us, being most profitable, contains an understanding that is not to be despised.

For in it the whole discourse concerning the judgements of God is set in motion by Job — how nothing of the painful things that befall men comes to pass apart from God's permission, together with other doctrinal considerations; and further, in the foregoing discourse, matters concerning steadfastness and endurance and the disdain of things indifferent — I mean wealth and possessions and having many children and having good children — and besides these, the manifestation of free will and the teaching of manifold doctrines; and, God granting it, we shall see this in each of the sayings to which these things pertain.

If, then, we must begin with the subject-matter, let us begin.

The change in the value of substances appears to be of different kinds: on the one hand when bodies decay and grow, and on the other hand when a change of the will comes about.

And as many changes as come to pass in respect of the body reveal a subject that is neither blameworthy nor praiseworthy.

For no one is approved either for the decay of his body or for its growth;

for these things lie outside what is in our power.

But whatever is done by the agent as he is moved deliberately by reasoning — these things show him to be either blameworthy or praiseworthy.

And this follows for those who change from vice to virtue, or from virtue to vice.

There came to be, then, a rational substance that became an apostate from God, lifting up its neck in defiance before the Lord Almighty.

And this is the devil — not one that came into being as a devil (for God did not make death), but perfect and virtuous (for God made all things very good) — who, having fallen from his right condition and blessedness, envies those who turn toward it;

for through the envy of the devil death entered into the world.

For he reasons within himself, like an outcast, that:

'I must hinder those who possess a heavenly citizenship, so that they may not ascend to that place from which I have fallen.'

For he considers the advancement of men to be an accusation against himself, since he was the morning star of the heavens and the star that rises early and shines, yet because he prepared those who were to be enlightened by the Sun of Righteousness, he fell from the heavenly regions.

But these hasten toward the virtuous way of life — those very ones who have a greater inclination toward vice.

For the mind of men is diligently bent upon what is evil; and the Apostle, wishing to set this forth, says:

'Shall we not judge angels?' — making clear that:

We who live the heavenly life upon earth shall condemn those who did not keep their own rank; just as the Ninevites also shall condemn the Jews who were not persuaded by the Saviour, they themselves having been persuaded by the preaching of Jonah when he proclaimed repentance.

But also what is said concerning the queen of Sheba is illustrative of the same thought;

for being a woman and a queen, and dwelling far off, and about to pass through foreign provinces, she disregarded all these things and hastened to be a hearer of Solomon's wisdom, whereas the Jews had their instructor near at hand and were unwilling to derive any benefit from him, even though one greater than Solomon was present.

For that man, having become wise by his own means, was of benefit; but the Saviour, in addition to the benefit that came from His words, also displayed by signs and wonders a power of miracle-working sufficient to change the minds of even the most utterly faithless;

for raisings of the dead, restorations of sight to the blind, cleansings of lepers, and in short the healing of every disease and infirmity, were accomplished by Him.

This, then, was the diabolical envy: that men were hastening to lay hold of those things from which he himself had fallen.

Wherefore he does not neglect his malicious assault against the race of men;

the devil walks about as a lion, seeking whom he may devour.

So too, having cast into Judas a reasoning of avarice, he made him the betrayer of the Saviour, having entered into his mind as into his own lair.

So too Hymenaeus and Alexander suffered shipwreck concerning the faith, having on this account become an instrument of the devil through their own free choice; and these the blessed Paul even delivered over to Satan himself, that they might be taught not to blaspheme.

And in general the devil's ambush against men is manifold, since he works in the sons of disobedience, yet does not hold off even from the virtuous, but assails them as well.

For this is what the oracle signifies when it admonishes:

'If the spirit of the ruler rise up against you, do not leave your place.' He attempts and mounts up, descending upon a man; but the man who has become virtuous stands secure and thwarts the plot.

Job, then, being a perfect man and abstaining altogether from vice and partaking of virtue, gave no place to the devil;

for he is called righteous, true, blameless, God-fearing, abstaining from every evil deed — words which prove him most perfect, not only abstaining from vice but also having reached the summit of virtue.

For then does one properly possess virtue, when by deliberate choice he abstains from the opposite dispositions.

For this is what the blessed David teaches when he says:

'Turn away from evil and do good.' But also the saying:

'Cease from your wickednesses; learn to do good' is of the same purport.

Job, then, abstaining from vice, did not so abstain as infants do, but as one perfectly practising virtue.

And his praise arose from his courage — not because he was lacking in the other virtues (for they all attended him, being bound to one another), but from his pre-eminence in courage; which is the case with the Beatitudes also:

for the poor in spirit possesses the kingdom of God, even while he is adorned with the other virtues and is meek and righteous.

Job, then, possessed the other virtues also, as is shown in what follows;

for as he was ready for hospitality, so also for almsgiving, becoming a father to orphans, a helper to the powerless, an eye to the blind, and found to be a foot to the lame.

The devil, then, tried to remove from so great a virtue this man who was thus secured on every side by both practical and contemplative virtue — for on account of this he is called true, so as to be even blameless — often, as is likely, suggesting reasonings which the holy man did not accept, according to him who says:

'When the evil one turned aside from me, I did not know it' — which makes plain that:

'Often, when the adversary approached, I did not give way, so as to recognize him present by means of sinning.'

For he was not ignorant that he was present, in so far as the holy man was warring against him, but he 'did not know' him in this sense — namely, so as to receive experience of his base suggestions.

And as his last assault the devil brought to bear the plot of the demand, thinking through this attack to remove him from virtue; which he did also in the case of the patriarch Abraham, if it be pleasing to anyone to accept the Book of the Covenant.

Having made many attempts, and often, against the holy man and been defeated in all of them, since he hoped to pervert Abraham as one disposed toward a son born in old age and beloved, he brought forward the demand for the child, which God for His own part makes, wishing to put the adversary to shame, saying:

'Take your son, the beloved one whom you loved' — through the varied words rousing the father's tender affection, in order that his courage might be made manifest; and this courage he preserved, referring what was to come neither to his wife nor to his children, lest any hindrance should arise to the noble deed.

But he did not give way even at the words of the child, when he said:

'Father, behold the fire and the wood;'

And that the devil is of such a plotting disposition we are taught from the Gospel also, when the Saviour says to His own disciples:

'Behold, Satan hath asked to have you, that he might sift you as wheat.' And the book has its title in keeping with the man of the same name, since the whole book contains the history concerning him, no one else being compared with him.

And it is fitting to add this also, since it has been inquired by some, to whom the book might belong.

Some assign it to the holy Ezra; but others, since at the end of the book it is said [...], say that, inasmuch as they were kings, the friends of Job, being pleased with the noble deed, deposited the writing concerning it in the archives.

But let the lover of the beautiful inquire concerning this, if he does not approve of what has been said.

And Job is the fifth from Abraham, as this very thing is stated at the end of the book.

[...] There was a certain man in the land of Uz, whose name was Job.

And that man was true, blameless, righteous, God-fearing, abstaining from every evil deed.

And there were born to him seven sons and three daughters; and his cattle were seven thousand sheep, three thousand camels, five hundred yoke of oxen, five hundred grazing she-asses, and a very great household, and he had great works upon the earth.

Fittingly, as the discourse is about to relate the surpassing virtue of the blessed Job, it makes mention both of his country and of his blameless manner of life, and of his many good children, and of his wealth both in herds and in other things, in order to teach that he did not despise things of little worth — for indeed he was not proud even while possessing them — having been deprived of all these in the trial.

And in announcing him it also displays the purity of his soul, showing that it was no negligent man whom the devil demanded.

For it was necessary, before the wrestling against the adversary, to portray the greatness of the athlete: that abstaining from every evil deed he was not content with this alone, but also gave heed to perfection — which is subversive of those who say that even children and irrational creatures abstain from evil deeds.

For this man was both righteous and blameless.

By this very point those who raise objections concerning the first Psalm also are refuted.

For they say that to be called blessed for not having walked in the counsel of the ungodly and for not having sat in the seat of the scornful would fit even irrational creatures and infants.

But they are refuted from what follows;

[...] But his will was in the law of the Lord, and in His law will he meditate day and night — which does not fit infants and irrational creatures.

And it is well too that this man dwelt in Uz, which is interpreted 'counsel';

for the righteous man does nothing without counsel, but his house and city is the pure counsel.

And that man was noble, of those from the risings of the sun. And with respect to the sensible meaning, this is possible.

But if it be understood according to the anagogical sense, it may be said that the righteous man acquires nobility, not from men, but shining forth from the light of the Sun of righteousness.

And his sons, going about to one another, made a feast each day, taking along with them also their three sisters to eat and drink with them. Being well brought up, the sons of Job did not make their gatherings and their feasting with others, but among themselves, according to what is said in the Psalms:

Behold now, what is good or what is pleasant but for brethren to dwell together in unity. Presenting virtue in harmony, they were also in sensible matters free from strife toward one another, walking together and not far apart;

for they held their assemblies in the house of their eldest brother, not only according to age but perhaps also according to virtue, being instructed by him in things profitable.

And well too was their taking along their own sisters, which is a clear sign of temperance and orderliness.

concerning them, sacrifices according to their number, and one calf for a sin offering for their souls. According to him who says:

From the night my spirit rises early to You, O God; and:

O my God, to You I rise early; and:

In the morning I will present myself to You and will look up. For it was to no other work that the blessed Job rose in the morning, but to offer sacrifice to God on behalf of his children according to their number, that is, for each one, and in good order;

for there is nothing confused in a diligent man.

But also after this he offered the calf on their behalf according to his own manner, thus accustoming them to the training of children.

Thus then he cleansed them after the feast was completed, showing along with the sensible cleansing also those purifications which are effective for the mind.

But if the calf offered on behalf of all, on behalf of the human race, signifies the Saviour who endured the cross, consider also that he is called 'fatted' in the parable of the Gospel because he is nourishing with the divine teaching.

And do not marvel if the calf hints at the Saviour;

for indeed Job was not uninitiated into the mystery of the sojourning of the Saviour;

he who was to subdue the great sea-monster.

Lest perhaps in their mind my sons have conceived evil things against God. A great purity is shown in this concerning the children;

for not seeing any sensible sin of theirs, he offered the sacrifice concerning things pertaining to the mind, reckoning that human weakness and softness in youth often has a slip.

Wherefore also the holy Paul said:

I am conscious of nothing against myself, yet I am not thereby justified; and the psalmist:

Cleanse me from my hidden faults. Whence it is to be observed that they were not subjected to such a death on account of sins.

Thus then Job did all the days of his life. The unbroken constancy of the holy man's tension is here shown, since he did not practise virtue at one time and not at another.

This David also says concerning himself, singing:

I will bless the Lord at all times. And when this day came, behold, the angels came to stand before the Lord, and the devil came with them. The word, displaying the form of the expression in a more narrative manner, related the matters concerning the standing of the angels in the phrase:

And when it came to pass as on this day—we understanding accordingly a fitting time and a suitable condition of the standing before the Lord, when the angels rendered their own ministries and their own labour directed toward God.

While they were being appointed, indeed the devil also presented himself.

Even if he is manifold and versatile, he does not escape God's notice.

It is said that he too came with the angels, not to stand before Him, but himself also being known by the all-seeing eye of God.

And the text may also be indicating the hypocritical character of the devil, who transforms himself into an angel of light and in these things escapes the notice of created beings, but is unable to escape God, the author of the generation of all, and Him through whom are all things, and the Holy Spirit;

for the Trinity is of the same essence.

For as it is said concerning the Word that He is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart, and there is no creature hidden before Him,

but all things are naked and laid open to His eyes—so also concerning the Spirit:

For the Spirit searches all things. And concerning the Father it is said by the apostles:

You, Lord, who know the hearts of all. And fittingly it belongs to the Godhead alone to see the minds.

For if this were also clear to created beings who do not possess God's goodness, they would be estranged from those who sin, so as not to help them but to turn away, out of caution because of the greatness of the evils, lest they should share in the peril by interceding for such people.

Since they too stand before the Lord when He comes, and the devil with them in hypocrisy, they fittingly committed to God the judgment concerning his standing there—which indeed came to pass.

For God Himself says the following to him:

And the Lord said to the devil:

Whence have you come? He said this to him, that we who hear might understand the phrase:

Whence have you come? These my angels, being commanded by me to perform the divine ministries and carrying them out, stand before me, doing this very thing in place of standing—for their standing is not local;

but you, whence? For you are not a minister of mine.

Whence then have you come? You will understand this in a manner similar to what was said to Adam by God:

Adam, where are you? The phrase was a reproof of the vain movement of the devil:

And the devil answered the Lord and said:

Having gone about the earth and walked about under heaven, I am here. If the answer which arose in the devil to the question posed by God were a thought of his own, it would be seen by God as coming from him.

For God, wishing to speak His own will to a created being, implants it in that being's mind;

but the devil, answering the Lord, is not said to do so in this way, but as he chooses to answer.

But what his answer is, let us see.

Having gone about, he says, the earth and walked about under heaven, I am here.

One need not be astonished if, being a subtle spirit, he traversed the aforementioned places.

For not even God reproved him as lying.

He goes about as an adversary, seeking whom he may devour, that he may drag away those who are persuaded by his wicked suggestions, and demand as his own those who resist—which indeed happened in the case of Job.

Whence he does not compel, nor does he come upon us beyond our power.

For it is as to those able to resist that the command is given:

Resist, steadfast in the faith; and:

If the spirit of the ruler rises up against you, do not leave your place. And that God also supplies the power is stated, He who will also give the way of escape, that you may be able to endure.

It should be noted that the earth and that which is under heaven are different places, the earth being under heaven, but the places under heaven not being altogether earth.

And the devil went about also those places, taking delight together with the spiritual demons of wickedness.

These then, he says, having gone about, I am here—which is to be understood thus:

Having come through all these and having found the blessed Job unable to receive any of my things, I am here, that is:

I display my hidden purpose to your inescapable eye, wishing to demand him as my own.

Have you then set your mind against my servant Job, that there is none like him among those on the earth, a man blameless, true, God-fearing, abstaining from every evil deed? The phrase:

The Lord said to the devil—is to be taken in the same way as the preceding, it being not incongruous, if what God wishes the devil to understand is put to him for his most severe reproof, since God did not overlook it in His deliberation.

For it must not be supposed that God's converse with the devil was purposeless;

for nothing is purposeless with Him who has established all things, but this too was for a benefit, that he might be put to shame by the setting-forth of the righteous and blameless man.

The Lord called Job His servant according to both meanings;

for he was His attendant according to what was said by the psalmist:

I am Your servant and the son of Your handmaid; and a son from the service and genuine servitude, having been counted worthy of the grace of the Spirit, and himself saying too, according to the wise Paul:

The Spirit Himself bears witness together with our spirit that we are children of God. For he who does righteousness has been begotten of God.

That the devil is a rational being is emphatically shown by what is said: 'Have you given attention with your mind?'

'Have you given attention with your mind?'

For to reason with the mind is proper to a rational being.

And it is not only here that this is said of the devil, but also in the passage:

'But you said in your mind:'

'I will ascend into heaven' — which, as has been said, indicates that he is a rational being.

And it comes about that, if reasoning takes place in his case, one must inquire whether perhaps also repentance may.

For after understanding come reasoning and repentance.

And since reasoning lies within his will, perhaps repentance does too.

But let the one who does not grant these things take care lest he unwittingly make God the author of the devil's wickedness — for if the devil possesses no reason and no mind...

And even if he has in some way been altered, yet by being rational he shares in common with those beings that are of this nature.

For even though human beings are mortal, yet we say the fellowship is not according to mortality, but according to rationality, which is common both to immortal and to mortal beings.

And reasoning belongs neither to the diligent alone nor to the base alone.

For just as the use of perception is common to both the diligent and the base — which the diligent person, using it rightly, does not employ in the manner of the base one who looks up to heaven and deifies it — so too is reasoning.

Found in both the diligent and the base, it differs according to its use.

'Have you then given attention with your mind,' He says, 'to my servant Job, that there is none like him among those upon the earth?'

'Of those upon the earth.' For there are rational beings like him and above him that exist above the earth.

There is none like him — by saying:

'There is none like him among those upon the earth.'

For how could he not surpass all those upon the earth, when the God of all bore witness to him in the words:

'A man blameless, true, God-fearing, abstaining from every evil deed.'

Now he properly abstains from wickedness who is by nature capable of receiving it.

For praise has its place then, when one who is able to be base abstains from wickedness out of hatred toward it.

For not everyone who does not practice wickedness is said to abstain from it.

For infants, who do not practice it, one could not properly say abstain from wickedness.

For the one who does this does so by judgment and reason.

But the matters of wickedness and virtue require a fitness for them.

And one could not say that an infant abstains from licentiousness or is temperate.

For it has not yet come to the discernment of these things.

Having treated of these matters in what preceded, when we also set forth the words from the first Psalm, we demonstrated that these things — being God-fearing — belong to him.

For he is truly God-fearing who reveres with a life of reverence what is worthy of reverence, while those who revere what is not sacred prove to be impious.

Moreover, there belongs to the blessed man also truthfulness, both in the contemplation of the truth and in his being without pretense in matters of conduct.

For the one who practices virtue for some ulterior motive is not truthful.

'And the devil answered and said before the Lord.' It is possible to say plausibly concerning the phrase:

'Before the Lord' — that he spoke contrary to the testimony of God, being a lover of evil, or that he had brazenly conceived his thought.

So then also what he brings forward he utters out of an evil-loving disposition, tending to diminish the righteous man's virtue.

For what does he say? 'Does Job revere the Lord for nothing? Have you not fenced in the things outside him, and the things within his house, and everything he has round about? You have blessed the works of his hands, and made his cattle many upon the earth.' It is characteristic of those who love evil and are hostile to virtue not to reckon the good deeds of their neighbors as genuine, but by all means to say that this man is righteous through inability to do wrong, that man is temperate through what is called stupidity, this one has no interest in money and gain through his ineptitude for such things — sometimes even reckoning the gentle man a hypocrite; and in short, no base person accepts anyone's virtue as genuine.

Being the originator of this wickedness, the devil, conceiving such thoughts about Job, made them manifest to Him who knows the hidden things, saying that Job is righteous on account of his outward goods.

Reckoning these to belong to virtue — in which he was convicted of speaking wrongly.

For even when deprived of these, he remained likewise unconquered.

And in truth, an abundance of wealth does contribute something toward virtue for the one who uses it well, but of itself it contributes nothing to this.

And blessed Job showed his virtue undistorted both in poverty and in wealth.

'But send forth your hand and touch all that he has;'

'Surely he will bless you to your face.' We must understand His 'hand' variously: either as the punitive power that serves this purpose — which things divine Scripture is accustomed to call 'vessels of wrath' — or as the protecting and guarding power, according to what is said:

'No one can snatch out of my Father's hand.' And it is possible to take the Son also up into a hand that shelters and upholds those who are under it, according to what is said:

'The right hand of the Lord has exalted me, the right hand of the Lord has wrought power.' And the phrase 'touch' perhaps here signifies 'assail,' instead of merely touching.

For we have this customarily borne out in Scripture.

'Touch not my anointed ones' — it does not forbid the mere touch, but the insolence against the saints aimed at harming them.

'He who touches you touches, as it were, the apple of His eye' likewise signifies the one who touches so as to do harm.

And even if the devil has become an apostate and has stiffened his neck in the presence of the Lord Almighty, yet he still has some reverence toward the Creator of all.

'Surely he will bless you to your face' — using this expression instead of 'he will curse' or 'he will blaspheme,' so that he might not utter the harsher word against God, employing a euphemism as was said before.

'Then the Lord said to the devil:'

'Behold, all that he has I give into your hand, but do not touch him himself.' The things set forth indicate that no one...

...falls into temptations without the divine permission.

'Behold, I have given all into your hand.' But that it may become manifest that He grants the permission also by measure, there is added:

'But do not touch him himself.' Whence these circumstances befall neither by fate nor by chance, but by the permission of God — in the present case, for the demonstration of Job's virtue, and sometimes also for other reasons, concerning which it will be spoken in what follows.

'And the devil went out from the Lord.' This is said more properly of the devil, that he comes to be outside the Lord, even beyond Cain.

For concerning that one too it is said:

'For Cain went out from the presence of the Lord God.' And the going out signifies that he is void of the imagining of God.

And so this one too always goes forth, being always among those outside, even though he came in pretense together with the attendants of God.

'And it happened, as on this day, that the sons of Job and his daughters were drinking wine in the house of their elder brother.' Consistently He mentions both the day and the gathering together of the children, so that thus the account of their death might also become credible, since they died all at once, at one time, under the collapse of the house.

... in common usage frequently ...

...Scripture; for the majority, since most people suppose that those who come together to such gatherings drink, and they not only drink but also eat and converse as at an assembly.

And consider also the present passage according to allegory: whether perhaps they were being given to drink the wine that gladdens the heart of man by their elder brother, who was making the beginning of divine instruction.

'And behold, a messenger came to Job and said to him:'

'The yokes of oxen were plowing, and the she-donkeys were feeding beside them;'

'And the raiders came and took them captive, and slew the servants with the sword;'

'And I alone escaped and have come to tell you.' Through these words it is shown that the events of the assault came about in a single day.

For the yokes of oxen were plowing, and the donkeys were feeding beside them.

And it is worth observing how the tidings, having come to pass all at once, carry, even in the telling, what is grievous and inclined to overwhelming sorrow.

For the yokes of oxen being taken captive while they were ploughing works a double grief: both from the loss of the animals, once the grazing donkeys had also been carried off besides—donkeys which yielded no slight income—and from the loss of the anticipated revenue and the increase of abundance expected from the sowing.

of surpassing distress; and there was also the slaughter of the servants by those who took them captive, announced together with the rest.

These things, then, were sufficient—even had they been reported falsely—to throw a man all at once into confusion.

And yet, grievous though the events that had befallen were, the holy man was in no way troubled.

It is said in one of the psalms concerning the holy man:

He shall not be afraid of evil tidings;

his heart is fixed, ready to hope in the Lord. And if, in accordance with blessed Paul, he might also have said:

Who shall separate the faithful from the love of God? Neither tribulation nor distress, neither persecution, nor famine or sword—then consequently the most manful Job continued inseparable from the love of the Lord, though so many painful blows had burst upon him.

For one might say that it was possible to make light of the irrational beasts and of the labour derived from them.

But to have heard also of the slaughter of the servants and to have borne it manfully—this clearly displays the courage and steadfast endurance of the holy man.

It must be observed whether the one who alone was saved, so that he might bring the report, was being preserved for a yet greater trial.

For if Job had continued unaware of what had befallen until the ulceration of his own body, then, when the greater afflictions were present, the lesser ones would not have been so distressing.

While this one was still speaking, there came another messenger and said to Job:

Fire fell from heaven and burned up the sheep, and likewise devoured the shepherds;

and I alone have escaped to come and tell you. The unbroken succession of the report of grievous tidings sets forth the extraordinary and wondrous courage of the blessed man.

For observe the point: that while the one reporting the former things was still speaking, the second, standing over him, took his stand not to bring them relief, but to add to their intensity, announcing yet more grievous things—it being the way of such a report of afflictions to turn the reasoning about, to muddy it, and thus to throw it into confusion, so as to make a man, dragged this way and that among the various sorrows, fall outside his fitting composure.

But the holy man was not of that sort.

But as an unbreakable wall, though ever so many of those able to take it dashed against it, remains likewise unshaken, so the holy Job, having his foundation upon the rock of salvation, when the trials came upon him was not shaken.

It is worth beholding also the substance of the second report, how it raises the distress to a higher pitch.

Fire, he says, fell from heaven and burned up the sheep and likewise ate the shepherds. For even though the holy man, having exactly grasped the doctrines of the truth, knew that the permission granted to the trials had not come about apart from God, yet what was happening brought him the greatest grief, on account of those who were being made to stumble, as though God too were advancing against him.

For as to the fact that the raiders, coming upon him, both took away the livestock and slaughtered the servants, the simpler folk could reckon this—as being by the law of enemies when raiders fall upon men, doing this out of lawlessness and hostility—that what was happening was not from God.

But when fire was reported to have come down from heaven, there was danger lest one of the weak should reckon that virtue is nothing to marvel at, since even the one who possesses it is punished by God.

Yet even when this befell, the holy man did not give way, being wholly given over to the contemplation of God.

For neither does the devil have authority to bring down fire from heaven; rather, this came about by divine judgment, so that the God of Job, who had given the devil the authority, might demonstrate to the devil that none of human things is a concern to the blessed man, however many devices he may contrive.

God brought it to pass, in order that, having displayed the greatness of the athlete, he might confute the adversary, since Job bore nobly no small or trivial assault, but the destruction of seven thousand sheep, and that together with shepherds who were plainly not few.

And again the one who brought the tidings was preserved, for the reason we have stated before.

While this one was still speaking, there came another messenger and said to Job:

The horsemen formed themselves against us in three companies and encircled the camels and took them captive and killed the servants with the sword;

and I alone was saved and have come to report to you. Perhaps there was an army in the region which came on divided into three commands against the camels.

The horsemen formed themselves against us in three companies. It is also admissible that there was a continual raid of enemy horsemen occurring at that time, set in motion by diabolical instigation, and that thus, because it was happening as was customary, the reporter said:

The horsemen formed themselves against us in three companies. Not only did they carry off the camels, but they also killed the servants.

Take note how in a certain order, ever more grievous, the succession of the trials comes about.

For first the yokes of oxen, being five hundred, are taken captive, together with the female grazing donkeys, five hundred; then fire, brought down from heaven upon the sheep, being seven thousand, made the calamity more grievous than the one that had gone before.

Third, the camels, being three thousand, were taken away, the servants having been slaughtered as in the former cases too—a costly matter, and a token of no contemptible wealth.

After these came the sudden death of the children, as will be made plain in what is to be set forth.

For even if the death of the servants had been announced first, all the preceding things would have been light by comparison.

But when it happened by a certain intensification of grief, their unbroken succession was sharp and all the more capable of throwing the understanding into confusion—which the devil too wickedly contrived, having demanded it.

And he was put to shame, since the holy man's reasoning was in no wise bent.

While this one was still speaking, another messenger comes, saying to Job:

While your sons and daughters were eating and drinking at their elder brother's house, suddenly a great wind came from across the wilderness and seized the four corners of the house, and the house fell upon your children and they died;

and I alone was saved and have come to report to you. Not in vain is added the phrase:

while your sons and daughters were eating and drinking; rather it was for the intensification of distress, this too being contrived by the devil who is the author of evil, so that the report of what had happened, becoming heavy, might work surpassing grief in the holy man.

For if the collapse had come to pass while the children were sleeping, then, reckoning the calamity to be without any awareness on their part, he would not have grieved so.

But when it brought on the trial while they were occupied in the necessary care of the body, this makes the grief the more grievous.

For it is beyond doubt that very many were present, as at such an occasion, whom the reporter did not mention, being content with the surpassing grievousness concerning the children, and having what followed concerning those who were present implied along with it.

For such a manner is customary to Scripture:

For when the Saviour broke the five loaves, with which he satisfied five thousand men, the evangelist records, saying:

besides women and children, numbering only the principal ones.

But what is the wind that came from the wilderness and seized the four corners of the house and cast it down—consider this together: whether it was a whirlwind stirred up with excessive force and thus dashing against the house and bringing it down, or a spirit serving the devil, or the devil himself.

For this too is a great, evil spirit, seizing the four corners of the house and bringing it down.

It is possible, once this is inquired into, to ask whether the reporter could have known that it was a spirit serving the devil that did this, or the devil himself.

But if the wind be understood to be a whirlwind, then it must be taken as spoken in the same way as the descent of the fire from heaven upon the sheep, and the things said about that likewise fit this case.

For the devil is not able to set a wind in motion.

And there is added and set upon it the word 'suddenly,' which is emphatic of no one's being able to escape the collapse, the matter having so befallen—the reporter perhaps having been found outside.

Then Job arose and tore his garments and shaved the hair of his head, and falling to the ground he worshipped and said:

Naked I myself came forth from my mother's womb, and naked shall I also return thither.

The Lord gave, the Lord has taken away; as it seemed good to the Lord, so has it come to pass.

Blessed be the name of the Lord. The divine Spirit forestalls the malignant designs of wicked men and of the devil himself.

For perhaps one of such men would say that Job was not fond of his children, since he had done nothing worthy of compassion.

But his tenderness of feeling and his courage are shown together, in that he made clear that he had received the terrible blow of the sudden and pitiable death of his children neither without feeling nor ignobly:

for through tearing his garments and shaving his head—this being customary among the ancients over the dead—he shows his sympathy and tender affection;

but what follows brings forth a most manifest proof of his courage and surpassing wisdom, for it says:

He did not lose heart, he uttered no cry unbecoming to a man of understanding, he did not bring forth a word of pusillanimity, but he worships the Author of all beginnings, being persuaded that these things do not happen outside the divine judgment, and that, happening from the beginning, they come to pass consequently and according to a certain right reason.

For he adds also, after having worshipped:

Naked I came forth from my mother's womb, and naked shall I also return thither.

The Lord gave, the Lord has taken away.

As it seemed good to the Lord, so has it come to pass.

Blessed be the name of the Lord. Consider, then, how together with courage wisdom too is found in the blessed Job, in accordance with which, through his words, he introduces divine doctrines beneficial to the whole race of men.

Naked, he says, I came forth from my mother's womb, and naked shall I also return thither.

Concerning which those who hold nothing divine touching the immortality of the soul ought to be questioned.

For where is Job to go forth naked? Is it perhaps into his mother's womb? For it was from there that he came forth naked, according to what is said.

But away with this false notion!

Rather it is clear that this was said as a teaching that the soul is not sown together with the body, as some have supposed.

For the blessed Paul writes something similar to this, saying:

'For we brought nothing into the world, and it is certain we can carry nothing out.' For just as the 'carrying out' shows that the one who has died existed beforehand, so too the one who 'brought nothing in' has a prior existence and enters from some place bringing nothing of the sort with him.

And by saying the following he introduces yet another doctrine unknown to many:

'The Lord gave, the Lord has taken away.' By this he establishes that Job's possession was not unjust, nor had it taken its beginning from some improper means of support.

'The Lord makes poor and makes rich' — not by some irrational inclination, as those who introduce Fate imagine, but so that the one who is stretched taut amid these things may be made known, whether he bears them fittingly; and there are also other causes, some indeed familiar even to men, but some unspeakable and known to God alone — which the blessed man, understanding, says:

'The Lord gave, the Lord has taken away.'

'As it seemed good to the Lord, so also it came to pass.' The word 'seemed good' must be understood not loosely, but as of God having thus judged with certainty.

Something similar to this is found in the Acts of the Apostles, when, writing a letter about not circumcising those who were coming to the worship of God, the apostles said:

'It seemed good to the Holy Spirit and to us' — not loosely, but with deliberation.

This word 'enduring' might also indicate the adversary, showing that Job was not handed over in order to grant delight to the devil who had demanded him, but so that what seemed good to the Lord might come to pass.

And this was what God himself said to Job:

'Do you think I have dealt with you for any other reason than that you might be shown to be righteous?' — and that he departs from virtue neither on account of riches nor on account of children.

One may also marvel at his thankfulness, as he says:

'May the name of the Lord be blessed' — which is a refutation of those who despair in such misfortunes and utter such things as are not even seemly to say.

But the holy man is not such a one — senseless, unbending in his reasoning; rather, amid so many and such calamities he becomes a herald of true and divine doctrines.

'Thus Job rent his garments' — this must be taken in a figurative sense.

It might be plausible to say that he stripped himself for this reason: first, showing the tempter that:

'If you desire even what is left over, take these too'; then, symbolically showing that, like a contestant, he strips himself for the struggle against the opponent.

The cutting off of the hair might also be a symbol of reckoning all superfluous things to be of no great account, but rather contemptible to a righteous and prudent man — one who is neither made slack amid times of ease nor distressed amid afflictions; which the blessed David also set forth in his psalm, singing:

'I will bless the Lord at all times.' In all these things that befell him Job did not sin before the Lord, nor did he impute folly to God. A great testimony is given by the Holy Spirit to the blessed Job in what is said:

'In all these things Job did not sin before the Lord.' For it is often possible not to sin openly, yet for a disturbance to arise in the mind, according to what is said:

'I was troubled and did not speak.' But the added phrase 'before' shows that no fault at all occurred;

for otherwise he would have been observed by God.

'This man sinned in nothing' — and the phrase:

'He sinned in nothing before the Lord' — which manifests a surpassing purity, in that the holy man stumbled neither in word, nor in deed, nor in reasoning, nor in thought.

It was to this end, at any rate, that God, calling those who repent, said:

'Remove your wickednesses from your souls before my eyes' — which shows that:

we are to abstain from evil not in deed alone, but also in thought, since God sees.

This the Saviour also says in the Gospel:

'But when you do alms, do not sound a trumpet as the hypocrites do'.

'He who sees in secret will reward you.' For just as the one who does alms in this manner does not hear the praise that comes from the many, so the one who does not sin before the Lord is beyond all evil.

'And he did not impute folly to God.' For the one who is persuaded that what happens is dispensed by divine providence does not impute folly to the God who governs; whereas the unbelieving in these matters often lay blame and say:

'This ought not to have happened, or that; so-and-so ought not to have been poor, or rich, or sick, or well'; or:

'Why has the young man departed from life while the old are still living?'

And in short, those who say such things suppose the governance of the world to be senseless.

But the holy man, even while in such great trials, blesses the Lord, being persuaded that the judgment of God is just.

'And it came to pass, as on this day, that the angels of the Lord came to stand before the Lord, and the devil came in the midst of them.'

'And the Lord said to the devil:'

'Whence do you come?' Then the devil said before the Lord:

'Having passed through the whole earth under heaven and walked about all of it, I am here.' At his former coming the devil, having received authority from God over all Job's possessions and children, and having destroyed everything, was yet unable to overturn the manly resolve of the holy Job.

For he remained the same through his greatness of soul, and the same in his godliness.

The devil undertakes to set in motion a second demand, against his body, being eager to subject him to unbearable pains.

Since the same verses are found as the preceding ones, what was said with regard to those must also be applied to these, so that the same things need not be repeated many times — adding only this much, that the diabolical [character] is shown exceedingly.

Namely, that what was said by the Lord to the devil is most reproving, since he had no upright deed of his own to speak of with confidence — and it is shaming, in that he had been vanquished, which he himself shamelessly would not confess.

It must be noted that the devil does not now answer in the same way.

[Formerly:] 'Having gone around the earth and walked about under heaven, I am here'; but now:

'Having passed through the whole earth under heaven and walked about all of it.'

And consider carefully whether, like a liar, he did not wish to make mention that he had gone around the earth, so as to be thought not to have assailed Job at all from the beginning, but then out of shamelessness.

For he knows that nothing escapes God.

'The things over which you gave me authority, I have done:'

'I have taken away Job's possessions and destroyed his children.' For this would have been the consistent thing to say, and:

'He remained the same.' But he proceeds to a second request, from which he supposes he will overturn the holy man's resolve.

And if the devil also conceals his own intention by saying 'all of it' in place of 'the earth,' yet let us establish from the Scriptures that the earth is often called 'all of it' [the whole].

'The whole [earth] was filled with the knowledge of the Lord.' And Job also, in what follows, says concerning God:

'He who makes the whole [world] in the highest,' showing that God draws [a man] up from earth to heaven on account of virtue.

'And the Lord said to the devil:'

'Have you considered my servant Job, that there is no man like him among those on the earth — righteous, godly, guileless, blameless, abstaining from all evil?'

'And still he holds fast his guilelessness.' And now the phrase: