Commentary on Job 1 part 2/19

He is also able to transform himself, and to disguise his own attendant demons so that they appear as enemies and as men bringing reports of calamities, and to create the illusion of fire descending from heaven and of a violent gust of wind rushing against the house — since he even transforms himself into an angel of light, having received from the Creator a certain such authority over nature.

Whether, then, he contended in this way or in that, nevertheless he employed his wrestling-tricks bitterly, cunningly, and maliciously.

The yokes of oxen were plowing, and the female donkeys were grazing beside them:

and the raiders came and carried them off captive, and killed the servants with swords.

And I alone escaped and came to tell you.

Do you see the diabolical report, proceeding with malicious art and by way of increase, in order to shake the unshakeable soul of the righteous man? He did not simply say 'the yokes of oxen,' but also 'were plowing,' meaning:

they were producing a livelihood from the earth's produce:

not just 'the donkeys,' but 'the female donkeys,' from which come offspring and increase.

Then he adds also the slaughter of the servants, thereby increasing the calamity by addition.

'I,' he says, 'alone was saved, the one who brings back the reports of evils.'

While he was still speaking, another messenger came and said to Job:

Fire fell from heaven and burned up the sheep, and likewise consumed the shepherds.

And I alone escaped and came to tell you.

Since, at the first report, the righteous man was not disturbed, but bore the news with a noble soul and repelled the assault of the malicious one, immediately another attendant of the devil came forward, no longer saying that he was being warred against by men, but that the sheep and the shepherds had been struck by lightning from heaven — thereby signaling to him that God, whom he worshiped, had become his enemy.

While he was still speaking, another messenger came and said to Job:

The horsemen formed themselves into three companies against us, and surrounded the camels and carried them off captive, and killed the servants with swords:

and I alone escaped and came to tell you.

Again the report of war comes from below, so that, being warred against both by God and by men, he might grow weary and give up.

The phrase 'three companies' means:

the enemies arranged themselves into three commands and divisions.

And again, the bearer of the tidings of calamities says that he alone was saved:

He added also the destruction of the people, at which the righteous grieve the most.

While he was still speaking, another messenger came, saying to Job:

While your sons and your daughters were eating and drinking at the house of their elder brother, suddenly a great wind came out of the desert and struck the four corners of the house, and the house fell upon your children, and they died;

and I alone escaped, and have come to tell you.

Observe here too the bitterness of the devil, how he specifically names the offspring, saying 'your sons' and 'your daughters,' well-nigh striking the very nature of the righteous man.

He also dignifies the banquet, saying that it took place at the house of the elder brother, and that they were making merry, and that suddenly a wind came from the desert and touched no other house, but shook down only that one where the children were feasting.

And again note the bitterness of the message:

'And it fell upon all those within' — although he says he killed them all, of whom he himself alone, he says, escaped — yet he speaks particularly, saying:

'And it fell upon your children,' reminding him of nature and dealing him mortal blows.

Again he contrived the calamity as god-sent, fashioning two assaults of enemies, and two from God, namely that of the fire and that of the wind.

Having brought on the destruction of the children as the last blow, and the strangeness of the fact that only the messengers survived, he goads the righteous man on toward helplessness and confusion and blasphemy against God.

'Then Job arose, and tore his garments, and shaved the hair of his head.'

At the earlier reports he was thoughtful, as was fitting, and marveled at what was happening.

But when he heard of the sudden death, all at once, of his many and beautiful children, lest he should seem to anyone to be unfeeling and without compassion, he pays the debt owed to nature, and tears his garment, and shaves his hair in mourning.

For those among whom it was customary to wear long hair as an adornment, these would shave it off in mourning;

but those to whom it seemed proper to shave, these would let their hair grow in mourning, enduring the burden of their hair.

That compassion is not contrary to philosophy, Paul also shows, saying in the Acts:

'Why do you weep and break my heart?' David also shows this, lamenting not the obedient one of his children but the most hostile, groaning with bitter wailing and saying:

'My son Absalom, my son!'

Our God and Savior himself also weeps with compassion, whether for Lazarus or for the perdition of the Jews, which indeed is the truer thing to say.

For victory does not consist in not suffering, but in enduring while suffering.

Having truly become naked, may he utter those much-praised words:

'And falling to the ground, he worshiped, and said:'

'Naked I came forth from my mother's womb, and naked shall I depart thither;'

'the Lord gave, the Lord has taken away;'

'as it seemed good to the Lord, so it has come to pass;'

'blessed be the name of the Lord.'

O the surpassing excellence of his philosophy!

In outward form he paid the debt owed to nature, but in disposition he turns toward God, and bends the knee, and worships sincerely, and lays hold of natural philosophy in the very midst of his sufferings, preparing the remedy of consolation both for himself and for us.

It is a law for man, he says, to be brought from non-being into being naked, and likewise to depart from life in the same condition;

what terrible thing, then, have we suffered, he says, since by nature we possess nothing, but have received from God, and again have been deprived of, those things whose loss we must in any case undergo a little later?

And he considers that he suffers these terrible things at the hand of God, yet he worships and thankfully returns the deposit, and with those very devilish darts he shoots down the accursed one.

For the one was saying, in mockery:

'Surely he will bless you to your face' — meaning, he will blaspheme — while the other, weaving a hymn of thanksgiving over what has happened, utters this very same word, blessing God, and says:

'Blessed be the name of the Lord.'

'In all these things that happened to him, Job did not sin before the Lord, nor did he ascribe folly to God.'

In all these waves of misfortune, he says, Job did not even in thought reckon anything unseemly concerning God;

for this is what 'before the Lord' signifies.

For man looks upon the face, but God looks upon the heart.

With genuine disposition, then, he offered up the doxology, and did not bring forth base and foolish reckonings in place of good ones.

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

'And the Lord said to the devil:'

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

'Having gone about the earth under heaven, and walked through the whole of it, I am here.'

'And the Lord said to the devil:'

'Have you then given heed to my servant Job, that there is none like him among the men on the earth, blameless, true, without fault, God-fearing, abstaining from all evil? And he still holds fast to his innocence;'

'yet you said that his possessions should be destroyed in vain.'

First, when the righteous man had been trained in poverty and childlessness and had displayed the utmost philosophy, on account of which he not only did not blaspheme but even sent up words of thanksgiving, the holy angels rejoiced together in his victory, while the devil ground his teeth and begged to obtain authority for a second trial against him.

But the good God, glorifying his own genuine servants, provokes the beast further, so that he might be all the more put to shame, and crowns the righteous man with many praises, as one who preserved natural truth and endured no perversion from his misfortunes.

'But still,' he says, 'he holds fast to the same innocence, having undergone no change;'

'but you boasted in vain' — meaning:

'if he loses his possessions, he will blaspheme.'

Observe from this that God, being foreknowing and knowing the outcome, and that the great Job would never utter anything unseemly, permitted the contest against the righteous man;

but the devil neither knows the future nor knows the things in our heart; therefore, being ignorant that he would be defeated, he babbled, saying:

'Surely he will bless you to your face.'

And again, thinking that he would prevail, he begs for a trial upon the skin of the righteous man, and says:

'All that a man has he will give in exchange for his life.'

'But indeed, stretch out your hand and touch his bones and his flesh; surely he will bless you to your face.'

The beast is savage and shameless;

for he is not content merely to gorge himself on our flesh, but wishes to penetrate even to the bones and marrow.

Yet the hater of mankind, though refuted, again grows shameless, and says:

He refrained from cursing only because he was afraid, lest he provoke you to anger and you bring the blow upon his own body.

And besides, often someone, in order not to be struck in the eye, stretches out his hand and receives the blow on the less valuable member, offering skin for skin, in order to save the more essential part.

'It is no great thing, then,' he says, 'if he despised what is external.'

Belittling the righteous man's good speech toward God, the evil one says, 'He has given skin for skin' — meaning:

'Having suffered but little harm, he offered a little praise; and it is no great thing if a man disregards his possessions, so that he himself might not be harmed.'

For he said 'for his life' meaning 'for himself.'

'And the Lord said to the devil:'

'Behold, I deliver him into your hands; only preserve his life.'

Again, in due measure, God tests the golden statue in the devilish fire, not wishing to know for himself the one he already knew, but for the refutation of the devil and to make this man known to us.

And he gives him power over the body, but does not allow him to remove the soul from the body, so that from posterity he might grant him double blessings.

Or he also says this: 'Do not touch his governing faculty, but wage the contest through torments upon the flesh.'

'And the devil went out from the Lord and struck Job with a grievous sore from feet to head.'

'And he took a potsherd to scrape off the discharge, and he sat on the dunghill outside the city.'

After the removal of his possessions, his servants, and his children, then the devil brought upon him the disfiguring sore, so that sharp, biting discharges flowed from his body, while there was utter destitution both of necessities and of those who might nurse him.

And, as one disfigured, he sat outside the city.

He did not catch the festering discharges with his hand, lest he be worn away even more, but scraped them off with a potsherd.

He lay in the open air, on the dunghill, so that he might at least hear a human voice or breathe pure air, or, to speak more truly, so that by the greater hardship he might propitiate God.

And when much time had passed, his wife said to him:

'How long will you endure, saying:'

'Behold, I wait a little while longer, expecting the hope of my salvation'? Now the noble and God-loving Job endured his poverty and sufferings for no small time, and comforting himself he said:

'One must bear it manfully, one must endure, one must wait for the help that comes from God; God does not delay to come to our aid and to deliver us from present troubles.'

But his wife grew weak in the face of the calamities, having been held in reserve by the devil like a siege-engine for later use against some unshaken wall.

And the cunning devil, when he had for a sufficient time worked against the righteous man, then made use of the weakness of the wife and armed her against him, just as once he had armed Eve against our forefather Adam.

And she, having given up in the face of the calamities and having been filled with a diabolical spirit, was led forth into the words now before us; and first she tries to show him that his hopes in God are futile, confirming the future by the long time that had already passed:

'For behold, your memorial has vanished from the earth—sons and daughters, the birth-pangs and labors of my womb, for whom I toiled in vain with hardships.'

'And you yourself sit in the corruption of worms, passing the night in the open air;'

'and I, a wanderer and a hired servant, going about from place to place and from house to house, waiting for when the sun will set, so that I may rest from the toils and pains that now hold me fast.'

'But speak some word against the Lord, and die.'

The whole matter was God's permission and the devil's assault, acting with authority on account of God who had permitted it, to the end that Job, having contended through everything, should be proclaimed a crowned victor.

Therefore no one pitied the wife, nor, remembering her former prosperity, did anyone relieve her destitution; rather, she served for hire (for this is what 'hired servant' means), serving whoever at any time had need of her, so as to provide for herself and her husband enough to survive.

Therefore, worn down by the calamities and filled with diabolical energy, she suggests to the righteous man that the only remaining solution to his troubles left to him is release from the body;

and this could come to him if he should provoke God to anger through blasphemy and thereby incite God's own action against himself unto destruction.

And with malicious cunning and without compassion she introduces such a counsel, constructing her argument from both her husband's misfortunes and her own.

'I endured,' she says, 'the pains of childbirth, I toiled in rearing children, so that after your death you might leave your children as your memorial.'

'They all perished, males and females alike.'

'To whom, then, shall I look? To you, their father, full of worms, poor, cast off? To me, the wretched one, the wanderer, who from great prosperity now serves for hire, who until evening is tried in pains and toils? But if you will listen to me at all, utter some word against God, provoking him, so that he may destroy you;'

'for this alone remains to you as a solution to your troubles.'

But he, looking at her, said:

'You have spoken as one of the foolish women speaks.'

'If we have received good things from the hand of the Lord, shall we not bear the bad?' Do you see the mind and countenance of a teacher, even in the midst of sufferings? For since he was instructing his wife in the laws of piety, having heard what he did not expect, he frightens her with a startling look.

Then he also rebukes her with gentle words:

'For these things,' he says, 'O woman, were fit to be spoken by a foolish woman.'

'For is it not folly to suppose that death will follow immediately upon blasphemy, or in general to dare utter any blasphemous word against God?' Having instructed her with both this word and his look, he admonishes her to bear the visitation of hardships with gratitude.

'For many,' he says, 'have not even experienced any prosperity at all; but we, having enjoyed it from God, why should we be vexed at the opposite? And why should we not receive these things too with much thanksgiving, as from a true master?' Now she, having heard these things, grew calm and accepted the admonition, saying nothing in reply;

Therefore I think that she too became a partaker with Job of the later blessings.

But the noble contestant dealt the devil a threefold blow: he himself was not bent, he corrected by admonition the wife who had been led astray by him, and he uttered words of thanksgiving worthy of all praise and unforgettable memory.

'In all these things that happened to him, Job did not sin with his lips against God.'

Again Scripture makes us secure, bearing further witness both to the man's splendor and sinlessness and to his magnanimity in his trials, so that we might understand the words of the man throughout the whole book in a manner worthy of such a soul.

Since, therefore, his greatness of mind has been shown from every side, and how he was victorious throughout all his contests, let us not think anything base concerning him in the utterance of the words that follow.

'And his three friends, having heard of all the evils that had come upon him, came each from his own country to him.'

As to why the friends arrived after so much time, let one consider first that they dwelt in different countries, and perhaps it was only after a long while that they heard the news.

And the strangeness of the calamity also seemed incredible—that Job should sit on a dunghill without any aid—and they waited to confirm the report through several sources, or even to send someone and see whether the things said were true.

So, then, time was consumed in these matters:

And besides this, when they learned the truth, being kings and about to go abroad, they were under the necessity first of setting their subjects well in order, of arranging the affairs of their households, and of appointing over their subjects those who would rule in their place.

All these things occupied them and caused delay; and if they had not been exceedingly loving and just men, they would not have left their own countries and kingdoms to come for the visit, but would have fulfilled the duty through others.

But one may also consider that the delay of their arrival was itself a kind of divine dispensation:

for since God intended to crown him, it was a divine dispensation that the friends should be delayed, so that the contest might be prolonged, and the righteous man, having struggled the more greatly, might be more justly proclaimed victor by God.

'Eliphaz, king of the Temanites;'

'Baldad, ruler of the Sauchites;'

And they say that the city of Sauchi belongs to the Moabites.

Baldad, then, was king of the Moabites;

for here the word 'tyrannos' is used in place of 'king.'

'Sophar, king of the Minaeans;'

'and they came to him with one accord, to comfort and to visit him.'

Symmachus has rendered it thus:

'For they arranged together, having come, to sympathize with him and to comfort him.'

Observe from this too, how yet more time passed, until, having sent messages to one another, they made their joint assembly and arrival together.

'But seeing him from afar, they did not recognize him, since the disfigurement had obliterated his former features.'

'And crying out with a loud voice they wept, each tearing his own robe'—having seen the misfortune of their friend and having reflected on the sudden reversal of his affairs, they wept with wailing and tore their robes, mourning him as one dead, more pitiable than those of the dead who are cast aside.

'and they sprinkled dust upon their heads.'

'And looking up to heaven,' propitiating God and all but saying:

'Be merciful, O Master, and do not surround us with such evils'—which indeed is what we are accustomed to do, marveling and fearing at once, whenever we see certain persons who have fallen into unforeseen calamities.

'And they sat beside him seven days and seven nights, and none of them spoke;'

'for they saw that his affliction was very great and exceedingly grievous.'

Seven days from morning until evening—not

seven nights from evening until morning.

It is clear, then, that having sat beside him for the greater part of the day, they would withdraw after having attended to their necessary needs.

And returning again, they sat beside him far into the night, and departing once more, they again rose early to come to him—which indeed is characteristic of the truest and most compassionate friends.

But Scripture, following common usage, has spoken thus in an absolute, unqualified manner:

They sat beside him seven days and seven nights, since indeed when it says that Jacob served fourteen years and was scorched by the heat of the day and the frost of the night;

Did he then never once go under a roof? Did he obtain no rest at all in the whole of that time? To quibble over such things is indeed idle talk;

for as I have said, Scripture makes use of common, everyday manner of speech.

But since certain people, mocking Scripture, drag it down on this very account as false (for, they say, he could not have gone without food for so many days), we have been forced to be dragged along with them into their untimely quibbling.

Persevering, then, through the days and the nights in the manner I have described, and as the law of love required, they could find no word of consolation, the calamity utterly overcoming any comfort that words might give.

After this Job opened his mouth and cursed his day, saying:

Preliminary survey of the chapter: the righteous man does indeed suffer pain, and no one could deny it;

for virtue does not belong to those without feeling, but to those who exercise wisdom in the midst of sufferings.

On the visible level he is in anguish, being most sharply pierced by the affliction in his flesh; but on the level of understanding, as a righteous and God-loving man, he is in anguish because he sees certain people scandalized by his sufferings, on the ground that a righteous man was enduring such things.

He was therefore in pain and in anguish both because of his sufferings, and because God's glory was being disparaged on his account.

'Why have you set me up as one who contends with you?' It is not that he himself was bringing a complaint against God — far from it.

For to whom else could he have brought a complaint? Rather, this is what he means:

'Have I not perhaps suffered complete abandonment by God?'

for nothing so torments a rational and God-loving soul as the suspicion of having been abandoned by God.

and ten thousand times over he would have chosen death rather than to be numbered among the living together with such pains and such a suspicion.

Now as to the loss of his possessions and the sudden death of his children, what words of thanksgiving he uttered, we have heard; and how he instructed his wife when she had thought something unbecoming concerning the Master, and what he said after his poverty, his humiliation, and his sharp suffering, and how none of these human misfortunes threw him into confusion, we have heard as well.

But when his friends arrived — righteous and sympathetic men — seeing their patience and their love, he thought it a fitting occasion to speak in their presence and to make public the pains of his soul.

And, on the level of the historical narrative, what he utters is harmless;

for the devil's one endeavor was to bring the righteous man to blaspheme God.

But he is nowhere shown to have done any such thing; rather, all the more, he spoke well of God and sent up words of thanksgiving.

He curses the day of his birth and longs for death for the reasons stated above.

But according to the deeper sense he speaks of mysteries, discourses with wisdom about things already past, and is fully assured concerning what is to come;

for such are always the utterances of the holy prophets.

Coming now to the very words themselves, let us make clear their meaning, guided toward the interpretation by him who also strengthened the most holy Job for his struggles.

The words: 'After this Job opened his mouth and cursed his day, saying:'

When a righteous man opens his mouth, it is not fitting merely to pay casual attention to what is said, but to seek out the benefit that comes from his words.

For the words of the saints are always full of benefit; therefore Paul too, the vessel of election, says in his letter:

'Our mouth has been opened to you, Corinthians.'

And concerning the Lord too it is said in the sacred writings of the Gospels:

'And opening his mouth he taught them, saying...'

Let us see, then, what the great Job also utters when he opens his mouth.

'Let the day perish in which I was born, and the night in which they said—'

That Job was despondent for the reasons already stated is quite evident.

He gives voice to words of despondency and curses a thing that has no real existence, but a day-and-night that has already passed away.

That the righteous become despondent in adverse circumstances, you may also hear from Jeremiah, who says:

'Cursed be the day on which I was born'; and also the hierophant Moses says:

'Kill me, if you are going to deal with me in this way.'

And the Lord himself also says concerning Judas, who had fallen into irremediable evils:

'It would have been good for that man if he had not been born.'

They become despondent, then, as I have said, but they do not lose heart, nor do they collapse, nor do they utter anything blasphemous against God; rather they give voice to their words of despondency either against themselves or against things that suffer no harm from it.

And indeed the great David curses the mountains of Gilboa, saying:

'Let no dew come upon you' — because he had heard that his beloved Jonathan, together with his father, who was in fact his enemy, had been slain upon those very mountains.

So much, then, for the literal sense;

but in a hidden manner, as a prophet, he speaks of mysteries.

And since Scripture recognizes 'birth' not only as birth according to the flesh, but also as the change from one manner of life to another — as, for instance, from virtue to vice, or from vice to virtue — he prays that the day of sin may perish, the day on which Adam transgressed.

For he takes upon himself the persona of humanity and says:

'Let the day perish on which man was turned from virtue to wickedness.'

'Behold, a male' — because from the one man Adam we, the many, have become sinners.

He speaks of the day and the night as the same thing: according to the letter, because Scripture reckons a day-and-night together as a single day; according to the deeper sense, because the transgression, though holding out a promise of light through the hearing 'You shall be as gods,' brought forth works of darkness.

For disobedience, through which death entered, is darkness, so that henceforth the distinction between the male and the female must be seen more plainly.

'from above, nor let light come upon it;'

'but let darkness and the shadow of death claim it.'

According to the letter, he asks that the night not be lit up by the moon or the stars, but that it be seized by deep darkness, which indeed he also calls 'the shadow of death.'

But according to the deeper sense he prays that sin may appear in its own wickedness, so that it may not have the power to feign virtue, but rather, being recognized as gloomy and death-bearing, may become a thing to be shunned and abhorred.

'Let that day be cursed, and that night; let darkness carry it away.'

According to the letter, then, he prays that both the day of his birth and the night become without light.

But according to the deeper sense he asks that sin appear as it truly is, so that Satan, feigning himself an angel of light, may not display evil things as good, but that, once known to be evil and the cause of darkness, they may become things shunned by all.

'Let it not be reckoned among the days of the year, nor numbered among the days of the months.'

'Let the day of my birth,' he says, 'be blotted out, the yearly cycle being thereby contracted.'

But according to the deeper sense he prays that not even a memory of sin should remain; therefore he also says:

'But let that night be sorrow.'

Let it be known that it is wicked, and for this reason let it be hated as wicked and as a cause of sorrow.

'And let neither gladness nor joy come upon it.'

'But,' he says, 'let no gladness or joy whatsoever come upon the time of my birth.'

'Let no one,' he says, 'take delight in sin, let no one make it a cause of joy.'

He, then, as I have said, seems to hurl his words of despondency against a thing that has no real subsistence; but prophetically he curses the sin handed down from our forefather, asking that it be utterly blotted out.

Therefore his words also came to fulfillment in fact, since God our Savior blotted out this sin through the washing of regeneration.

'But let him curse it, who curses that day — he who is destined to subdue the great sea monster.'

Here he clearly disclosed the prophecy;

for he does not speak of a sea monster perceived by the senses, but of the intelligible dragon, the devil, whom, strong though he was and a great sea monster, the Stronger One bound, as we have heard in the Gospels, and plundered his goods, that is: