Commentary on Job 1 part 12/19

We explained 'Sophir' earlier, that this word refers to wealth.

With precious onyx and sapphire.

Gold and crystal shall not be equal to her.

But not even the most precious of stones, sardonyx and sapphire, nor transparent crystal, shall be made equal to this possession.

Blessed Job goes through these things, persuading his friends that more than anyone he both understands the surpassing excellence of piety and holds fast to it exceedingly.

And her price is vessels of gold.

But it is not even possible to say that, according to him, many vessels of gold could be an exchange for wisdom.

For lofty things and 'gabis' shall not be mentioned.

'Gabis' seems to signify things that are exalted.

For Symmachus rendered it thus:

'Heights and exalted things shall not be mentioned.'

He means that, in comparison with wisdom, all things that seem to men to be lofty and exalted are not even worthy of mention.

And draw wisdom above the innermost things.

By 'the innermost things' he means either the money stored up in treasuries, or the precious stones brought to us from the innermost regions of the Indians.

Therefore, he says, prefer wisdom above all treasures.

Draw from true wisdom through piety, according to what is said in the Psalms:

'I opened my mouth and drew in the Spirit.'

For it is fitting that we draw this wisdom from there, from the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ.

For unless by participation and partaking of the true wisdom of the Word who is of the Father, it is impossible to attain the wisdom that accords with piety.

'Draw,' therefore, he says, 'wisdom,' which is equivalent to saying:

the spirit of wisdom, which is granted only by the grace of the divine gift.

The topaz of Ethiopia shall not be equal to her.

The 'to' here is not the article, but 'topazion' is a single word.

This stone is said to be found among the Indians, and to be most translucent.

It shall not be weighed together with pure gold.

Things that are weighed against one another, placed in each of the two scale-pans, are weighed together by means of the balance-beam.

'It shall not be weighed together,' then, is equivalent to saying:

'But whence was wisdom found? And what place is there for understanding? It has escaped the notice of every man, and it has been hidden from the birds of heaven.'

'Destruction and death said:'

'We have heard the report of her fame.'

The metallic ores, then, he says, and gold, and whatever else is precious among men, are found in certain places.

But the fame of wisdom has reached even down to the regions beneath the earth, whereas wisdom itself — a divine and invisible thing, granted to men only by divine gift — it is altogether impossible to seek out and apprehend in any place.

But if it is not possible even for rational human beings, made according to the image of God, to apprehend her in any place, how much more, surely, is this so for irrational nature?

For signifying this, he made mention of the birds.

'The Lord well established her way, and he himself knows her place.'

This, then, is the invisible and incomprehensible thing:

Wisdom — whence and how it comes to men — is known to God alone.

'For he beholds all that is under heaven, knowing all things on the earth, and all that he made.'

God alone, then, who sees all things and oversees all things, beholding the whole of creation, knows the way of wisdom.

'The weight of the winds, and the measures of the waters.'

'When he made it thus, having looked he numbered, and a way for the voices in the shaking.'

He, then, who fashioned all his works with measure and proportion — so that neither would the winds, by excess, ravage the things upon the earth, nor would the flow of the waters, from a similar excess, either dissolve or flood the earth — made even the thunders, which the shaken air produces, useful and well-ordered.

For these he calls 'the voices in the shaking.'

For above all, the crashes of thunder lead us into awe and divine fear.

And as they say, by a certain principle of counter-affection, they calm the waves of the sea when they crest, so that the psalmist even says concerning them:

'At your rebuke they will flee; at the voice of your thunder they will be afraid.'

'Then he saw her and declared her; having prepared, he searched her out.'

Having wisely prepared these things and precisely searched them out — that is equivalent to saying:

knowing them according to the principles of his own foreknowledge and providence; then also having created and brought all things into manifestation, and having fashioned this wondrous harmony of his own works, then, having beheld all things and seen that they were very good, then he also expounded wisdom to us.

How did he expound it? By setting forth his creatures as a kind of tablet displaying his own wisdom, so that from the beauty and greatness of the creatures we might apprehend the invisible things of his wisdom.

'For his invisible things, from the creation of the world, are clearly seen, being understood by the things that are made, both his eternal power and divinity, so that they are without excuse' — so says the divine apostle somewhere.

'Having prepared, he searched her out' does not mean that God deliberated beforehand about his works, as though he needed prior deliberations in order to create.

For at once he both wills and brings forth; at once he wills, and the resolve passes into action.

But whatever things he had to bring forth, he brought them all from non-being into being, ready, firmly established, and searched out with complete proportion.

'Behold, piety is wisdom, and to abstain from evils is understanding.'

It was fitting, then, that man, having come into being according to the image of God, should become a partaker of wisdom.

Bestowing this on him, God said to him:

'I grant you a brief and undistracted gift: be pious and guileless.'

For this is the acquisition of wisdom and understanding.

These things, then, blessed Job said, marveling at the power and wisdom of God, and persuading his friends that nothing is better than piety.

And the sense of everything that has been written is this:

If you wish to marvel at the wisdom of God, consider first how wisely he fashioned the nature of man, so as to be able both to mine the earth and to bring precious materials from what is hidden into what is manifest, and to plow and to sow and to gather the fruits from the earth, and to open up springs of water.

And journeying from this understanding toward the fear of God, let us prefer it above all things, being clearly persuaded that nothing precious can be set against it, but that it is truly wisdom and knowledge, bestowed on human beings by God.

But if these things are wonderful and worthy of admiration, what could anyone conceive concerning the essential Wisdom, the Only-begotten Son of God, who timelessly shone forth from the Father's bosom, our Lord Jesus Christ? For Christ is the power of God and the wisdom of God, as the sacred apostle said.

And Job, adding further, spoke in his preface:

'Who would set me according to the months before the days in which God kept watch over me?' Preview of the chapter: since Job had wondrously expounded and taught concerning the power and wisdom of God, namely that wisdom is more precious than all precious things, and that the God-fearing and guileless man is wise, his friends again fell silent, having nothing to say against what had been spoken.

Therefore Job again takes up his speech from another starting point, longing to be in his former prosperity and under the oversight and watchful power of God, while also teaching that wealth given by God, when joined with almsgiving, is worthy of love, and that eminence, when mingled with righteousness, is praiseworthy.

For circumstances lie before the philosophical mind as raw material; and if one uses this material according to the will of reason, one is shown to be at once God-fearing, a lover of God, and blessed.

And since his friends had at length slandered him with impiety and injustice, he draws up a catalogue of his own good deeds, all but saying what the apostle later said:

'I have become foolish in boasting; you compelled me.'

'Let your neighbor praise you, and not your own lips' — yet it is above all necessity that leads even the perfect to such words, often causing them, without passion and without vanity, to recount their own affairs.

And God so orders these things to happen for our edification, that, having the lives of holy men as polished images of virtue and gazing intently upon them, we might regulate our own life.

He also recounts in tragic detail his own affairs, so that we, in our own circumstances, might find consolation by looking to the sufferings of Job.

He also teaches a most excellent doctrine: that one must not remove oneself from the body, because of God who has bound the soul to the body.

Again, although he is righteous and suffers, he does not join the party of the impious; rather, he pronounces them wretched.

And next he draws up a catalogue of his own upright deeds, for our instruction and benefit.

Having said these things, Job concluded his speech.

And his friends too fell silent, having nothing to say in reply to what had been spoken.

For they too knew well the righteous man's upright deeds.

For, it says, Job was righteous in their sight.

The words: 'Who would set me according to the months before the days in which God kept watch over me?' By divine oversight and watchful care he means not only the blessing of good children and abundance of wealth, but also that even amid such great renown he preserved righteousness to the utmost, guarded as he was by the oversight of God.

Therefore he also prays to be in those former circumstances again, as one who loves God and longs to be under God's protection.

'As when his lamp shone above my head, when by his light I walked in darkness.'

'Your law is a lamp to my feet,' the psalmist somewhere said in song.

The divine law, then, and the word spoken by God in Job's mind — for the written law did not yet exist — prepared him to walk as in light amid the moonless darkness of this life, and to carry out deeds according to virtue, shining like a lamp above his head, that is, from above, and granting a safe journey to those who travel it.

'And I flourished with all human goods, and I journeyed safely along the paths of piety, illumined by the divine light.'

Being by nature light and easily swayed, yet weighty and firm in character, and pursuing the good unshaken.

'When the Lord kept watch over my house, when I abounded greatly in substance, and my children were round about me.'

When God deemed my affairs worthy of his own oversight, I had wealth and good children as material for virtue, raising my children according to the divine will, and sharing my wealth with the poor.

'When my ways flowed with butter, and my mountains flowed with milk.'

By these he signifies the multitude of his flocks and herds, as grazing everywhere, both on the mountains and in the plains;

for from the butter and the milk he indicated the multitude of his herds of cattle and the flocks of his other livestock.

'When I went forth early in the morning in the city, and my seat was set in the broad streets.'

As a ruler and teacher of virtue, he did not give himself to sleep and drunkenness, but sat in the early morning in the broad streets, becoming a law and a pattern for those in the city.

'The young men, seeing me, hid themselves.'

Those who possessed a youthful character hid themselves out of reverence for the great Job's virtue.

'And all the elders stood up.'

According to the literal sense, the young hid themselves, while those elderly in age stood up, honoring him.

But according to the spiritual sense, those possessing elder-like prudence stood up, listening attentively to his words.

'And the great men ceased speaking, putting a finger upon their mouth.'

According to the literal sense, by 'the great men' he means the rich, who revered him and kept silent, and who, by putting a finger to their mouth, signaled to one another and urged silence upon each other.

But according to the spiritual sense, even those rich in word and teaching yielded place to Job's instruction, and took the position of disciples, listening in silence to what was said.

'And those who heard called me blessed, and their tongue clung to their throat, because the ear heard and called me blessed.'

The phrase 'their tongue clung to their throat' is joined with 'putting a finger upon their mouth,' so as to say that:

Those who heard reports concerning him called him blessed, as did those who had an ear fit for hearing wise words and who enjoyed his teaching.

'And the eye, having seen me, inclined toward me.'

'For I delivered the poor man out of the hand of the powerful, and I helped the orphan who had no helper.'

We have already stated, in the preview, the reasons for which the righteous draw up a catalogue of their own upright deeds.

'May the blessing of the one who was perishing come upon me, and the mouth of the widow blessed me.'

The one who was about to perish, but did not perish because he obtained his help, and the widow who had no protector, having gained him as her protector — these justly blessed him.

'And I had put on righteousness, and I clothed myself with judgment as with a robe.'

By 'judgment' he means righteous judgment; and such, then, are the wondrous garments of Job.

But contrary to these are the garments of the impious:

'for they put on cursing as a garment, and they wrap their shame about them as with a robe,' as the great psalmist taught, chanting the hundred and eighth psalm.

'I was an eye to the blind, and a foot to the lame.'

He supplied the bodily members that were lacking to those in need, by furnishing them with necessities.

And he also opened blind minds, and strengthened the footing of the feet of the soul, by employing the word of instruction.

'And the case which I did not know, I searched out.'

Hearing the litigants with discernment, having heard nothing beforehand nor learned anything in advance from either party, nor having my hearing corrupted beforehand, I searched it out and, having diligently investigated, grasped what was just.

'And I broke the jaw-teeth of the unrighteous, and I snatched the plunder from between their teeth.'

When, he says, those who had done wrong thought they held securely what they had taken away, as if snatching it from the very midst of the teeth of wild beasts, I restored what had been plundered to those who had been wronged.

'Doing these things, I hoped to have good things until the end.'

'I shall live a long time, like the trunk of a palm tree.'

These things, he says, I said within myself: that living together with righteousness and enjoying divine assistance, I would be ever-flourishing and long-lived;

and just as trees that have their roots by the waters, so I hoped to be flourishing and fruitful.

And as fruits, having enjoyed dew and rains and having become full, are harvested in their season, so I hoped, growing old amid good things, to depart from this life.

'My glory was empty within me, and my bow shall go forth in his hand.'

I used to say, he says, that my bow too would proceed in the hand of God, and that everything would turn out for me according to the mark, just as an arrow sent by a skilled archer flies straight to the target.

I supposed that my affairs were being guided by the divine hand; but now my glory and my hope have become empty, that is, vain, since my circumstances have been overturned into their opposite.

'Having heard me, they paid attention, and they kept silent at my counsel, and they added nothing to my word.'

Regarding my words as a law, a rule, and a standard, and being able neither to add anything to them nor to take anything away.

'And they were filled with joy whenever I spoke to them.' Just as thirsty ground awaits the rain, so did these men await my speech.

For his words were fruitful and possessed effective power in the souls of those who heard them.

For he first acted, and then taught.

Praise belongs both to the one speaking, when his words are backed by deeds, and to the one listening, when he listens with thirst and longing.

If I laughed at them, they would not believe it.

considering the matter to be a trial, because it was so unaccustomed.

In these words he sketched out a teacher's character.

For it befits the divine teacher to be so grave and unyielding toward every gentleness of disposition that even when he smiles he is not believed.

And the light of my countenance did not fall.

But also, he says, the divine grace of my countenance shone forth, displaying beforehand through my cheeks the beauty of the peace within my soul.

Not one of my words was dark or without light, but all were filled with light.

For the face of teachers is their teaching.

For it is through the distinguishing character that we recognize the father of the discourse.

I chose their way and sat as ruler, and I dwelt like a king among the light-armed soldiers.

I did not seize rule over them by force; rather, because I chose and proposed what was advantageous to them, and showed them the way of virtue, they proclaimed me ruler over themselves, and thus submitted to me as soldiers to a king.

Their name, 'the light-armed,' is derived from some peculiarity in their equipment.

In the manner that I used to comfort those who were suffering.

But even when they themselves were in sufferings, whether of soul or from outward circumstances, I consoled them both by words and by deeds.

But now they laugh me to scorn; now the very least of them admonish me in part—men whose fathers I would have disdained, whom I did not consider worthy of the dogs of my flocks.

But my circumstances have been overturned into so great a reversal, that the least of men—because of poverty, low birth, youthfulness, and utter worthlessness on account of their wickedness—now admonish me in part; that is, they suppose that through their admonition they are repaying me in some measure for the benefits I had previously bestowed upon them.

So then, his refusal even to compare them to dogs is not a word of arrogance, but a proof of their utter worthlessness.

Now, according to the obvious sense, he seems to be speaking about certain companions—poor and lowly men.

But insofar as he hints at certain poor self-appointed teachers, ostensibly speaking of others while prolonging his discourse about them, he means: 'Now,' he says, 'they admonish me, though they are not worthy to bring me words of counsel, since not even their fathers possessed such power of virtue as to appear worthy to be entrusted with the guardianship of rational flocks'—so that he means:

Not even their fathers were worthy to admonish my disciples, and now these men attempt to admonish me.

He compares the guardianship of the rational flocks to that of dogs; for Scripture speaks of dogs with praise on account of their protectiveness, goodwill, and vigilance, as in, 'the tongue of your dogs shall be red from their enemies.' Or else, certain base and wicked men were mocking him, concerning whom he adds also what follows:

'And indeed, of what use to me is the strength of their hands?' But I did not even ask assistance from them, that they should for this reason use such words against me.

Upon them, their full vigor has perished.

Or he says this: that they had no restrained disposition, but a bold and reckless one.

Or that, being wicked, they had long owed a penalty, and in some way their punishment had escaped them.

Or that, desiring death because of their want and extreme poverty, they do not obtain it.

In want and famine, barren.

But they are also in want, and being famished, they were unable to devise or produce any means of livelihood.

For this seems to be the meaning of 'barren.'

Or he also means this: that not even by their want were they brought to their senses so as to become productive of good, but they remained barren, unable to produce anything good.

The verse can also be understood on its own—for many of these verse-lines admit of being understood independently—as signifying those who did not partake of the nourishment of instructive teaching, and who were therefore unable to learn anything good.

Or he is also speaking about them, as concerning poor men who did not partake of good instruction.

Those who yesterday fled a waterless distress and hardship.

'Those from dry land and desert, yesterday'—that is:

In time past, being in distress and hardship.

He seems to be denouncing them as ignoble, as coming from obscure places and poor fathers.

This blessed man also relates these things so that, if we too should be insulted by base and dishonored persons, we might not be indignant as though we alone had suffered such things—seeing that a man so great in virtue, and so great in wealth and renown, suffered the same things as we do, and even worse.

Those who go about gathering mallow upon the echoing place—whose food was mallow, but who were dishonored and despised, lacking every good thing, and who even gnawed the roots of trees because of a great famine.

Mallow, as they say, is a certain plant that quickly fills the one who eats it and produces satiety.

'Upon the echoing place' means upon ravines and rocky places.

For such places resound clearly, and echo back to those who cry out.

Or he calls 'echoing' a place that has woodland, in which the breath of the winds, moving the wood, produces sound.

He means, then, that these men wandered about through the woodlands and ravines, because of extreme want, searching out plants and scraping around the roots of trees for some relief of food.

Thieves rose up against me, whose houses were the crevices of rocks.

In the midst of the echoing rocks they will cry out—those who dwelt beneath wild brushwood.

Sons of fools and of dishonored men, whose name and renown is extinguished from the earth.

Such men also turned to banditry, having as their houses the hollows of rocks and self-hewn caves, dwelling in deserts and sheltered by brushwood—fools sprung from fools, dishonored men sprung from the dishonored, nameless and inglorious upon the earth.

But now I have become their song, and I am their byword.

I became, he says, a song to them, and a mockery, and they keep my misfortunes on their lips in place of any other conversation.

They abhorred me and kept far off, and did not withhold spittle from my face.

But whenever they draw near to me, he says, after spitting on me they withdraw far off, regarding me as an abomination and a disgust.

For God opened his quiver and afflicted me.

Clearly, having shot arrows at me from every side.

And he sent forth a bridle binding my face.

In this too the righteous Job strikes at the devil, not claiming that the devil had any power against him, but that it was God who had brought these blows upon him.

He says that God also sent forth a bridle, as it were binding his face, meaning that he was rendered without any defense, since all who reproached him brought forward his misfortunes as proof of his impiety against him.

On the right hand of the offspring they rose up against me.

Trampling upon me; or, this means that they rose up against my right-hand shoots, that is, my righteous deeds, saying that I did not pursue piety with purity.

He stretched out his feet and made paths of destruction against me.

When God moved himself against me, they too obtained a way of attack.

My paths were worn away, for they stripped off my robe.

All my ways vanished, since God stripped from me the robe of comeliness; that is:

Having removed his own proper help.

He shot me down with his arrows, and he deals with me as he wills.

Through these words he showed the intensity of the trial.

I am carried about in pains, and my pains turn back upon me.

I suffer recurring pain, that is, with intensification and increase.

My hope has departed like a wind, and my salvation like a cloud.

And every kinder hope of mine has flown away, just as a wind that has passed by and a cloud that has dissolved.

And now my soul shall be poured out upon me.

The sinews of my soul have been loosened by the evils that have come upon me.

Days of pains hold me fast, and by night my bones have been consumed with burning, and my sinews are loosened.

By nights and by days I am in pain, so much so that my bones have been scorched and my sinews loosened by my excessive suffering.

With great strength he has taken hold of my garment, just as the collar of my tunic has gripped me round about.

Many people, often tightening the collar of a garment around the neck, choke a person.

Having forcibly seized me all around, he squeezes and chokes me.

You have counted me equal to clay; my portion is in earth and ashes.

I have cried out to you, and you will not hearken to me.

As a son to a father, he laments before God, and puts forward the lowliness of his nature as his plea.

'Consider, Master,' he says, 'that I am earth, and I am returning to earth.'

Hearken to my cry, and do not turn away my petition.

The phrase 'you will not hearken to me' carries a strong sense of his love toward God.

For he spoke thus as one who believes he is being heard.

They stood and gazed intently at me.

Either mocking, or also marveling at the greatness of the calamity.

You have come upon me without mercy; with a mighty hand you have scourged me.

You have set me amid pains and have cast me away from salvation.

The saints know the great mercy of God; therefore David also said:

Have mercy on me, O God, according to your great mercy.

Looking to this ineffable mercy of God, he says:

You have come upon me without mercy.

For if I had obtained your great mercy, I would not be put to the test in these present pains.

These, then, are the words of one who asks and considers himself worthy to obtain mercy.

For I know that death will grind me away, for earth is a home to every mortal.

For would that I were able to lay violent hands upon myself, or, having entreated another, that he would do this for me.

'I know,' he says, 'that having become mortal I am certainly bound to die, so that I would gladly be delivered more swiftly from my misfortunes—rather than lay violent hands on myself and thereby fall into sin, or entreat another to bring about my destruction.'

Does he then teach us, as a most excellent doctrine, that one ought not to take oneself out of the body? And yet he was able to do so, seeing that even his wife was urging death upon him.

But being a righteous man, he was not able to do so, because of God who had bound the soul together with the body.

But I have wept over every helpless one, and I have groaned when I saw a man in dire straits.

Again he recounts his own manner of life.

Since God had thus ordered things for my benefit.

I was waiting and expecting good things, being sheltered by God.

Behold, instead days of evils have met me.

The opposite of what he hoped for came to pass for him.

My belly has boiled over and will not be silent.

He states the reason for recounting his calamities in so tragic a manner and enumerating his own valiant deeds.

'For I have,' he says, 'occasion to speak, because my soul is filled with evils.'

'To boil over' is when water in bronze vessels is made by fire to gush up and bubble forth; and 'belly' signifies the soul, because of its invisibility and hiddenness, or because it is the receptacle and conveyor of speech.

I go about groaning, without a muzzle, and I stand in the assembly crying out.

Poverty overtook me beforehand, and, though without any perceptible muzzle, being pressed by pains I am unable to speak.

And sometimes, even with a crowd standing around, I am compelled to cry out.

This is wont to happen to those in pain: that their voice is held back by anguish, and then again they cry aloud, being goaded by their sufferings.

The phrase 'I stand in the assembly crying out' can be understood in light of what was said by the apostle, namely:

We have become a spectacle to the world, both to angels and to men.

I have become a brother to sirens, and a companion to ostriches.

Symmachus rendered this as 'ostriches' (στρουθοκαμήλων).

By 'sirens' he means either singing birds, or demons in the form of men.

He says these things as one lying outside the city, exposed to the open air.

My skin has been greatly darkened.

Blackened by the disease, or also by the sun.

And my bones, from the burning heat.

My harp has turned to mourning, and my song of praise to weeping for me.

The things of my joy have been turned into mourning for me.

He says these things, calling God to compassion.

I made a covenant with my eyes, and I would not gaze with desire upon a virgin.

He kept the strictness of the Gospel, though he lived before the Law.

For since whoever looks at a woman so as to lust after her has already committed adultery with her, he trained his eye not to pry curiously into the comeliness of virgins.

'And what portion has God apportioned from above, and what inheritance from the Almighty on high?' 'Why then,' he says, 'after such strictness of life, has the mighty and most high God apportioned to me such a portion and inheritance? The reasons I do not know.'

Woe—destruction to the unjust man, and estrangement to the one who works lawlessness.