Commentary on Job 1 part 8/19

But concerning the devil and the demons, the great David also said these very words, saying:

'They gnashed their teeth at me; O Lord, when will you look upon it?' For since he goes about like a lion seeking whom he may devour, he is fittingly said also to gnash his teeth like a lion.

'The arrows of his marauders have fallen upon me.'

If what is said refers to God, it shows the suddenness of the evils that came upon him, as if to say:

'The punishments have fallen upon me unexpectedly, like marauders.'

But if it refers to the devil, he calls his marauders the demons who serve him.

'Arrowheads' are the iron points of arrows.

'As with arrows, then,' he says, 'God has wounded me against my eyes,' meaning:

But if the discourse concerns the devil, he says: 'With the fearful glances of his own eyes, as if with darts, he shot me down.'

Swiftly he struck me upon my knees.

'Violently,' he says, 'he struck me, so that my knees gave way and I fell' — whether it was God or the devil.

And with one accord they ran upon me.

Either the punishments of God, or the temptations of the devil.

For the Lord delivered me into the hands of the unjust, and cast me among the impious.

By 'the unjust and impious' he means the men who plundered his goods, but more precisely the devil and his demons.

He shattered me while I was at peace; taking hold of me by the hair, he tore it out.

By 'hair' he means his worldly adornment and prosperity, as if to say:

He scattered me, and, as it were, plucked away from me my prosperity and my peace.

He set me up as a target.

They surrounded me, hurling spears at my kidneys without mercy; they poured out my gall upon the ground.

They cast me down, blow upon blow; mighty men ran upon me.

Since God, he says, set him up as a kind of target, to receive the shots of all, they pierced him at the kidneys as with spears — as if to say:

at the hidden and vital parts.

Continuing the metaphor, as one struck in the bowels, he said: 'They poured out my gall upon the ground.'

By 'blow upon blow' he means the successive, unrelenting punishments.

And 'mighty men ran upon me' he says because, by God's permission, those demons had the power to do these things against him — clearly meaning the accursed demons.

I have sewn sackcloth upon my skin.

My skin has turned black through the intensity of my sufferings, like a sackcloth made of hair; or because, just as those who wear sackcloth waste their bodies away, I am utterly wasted; or because:

instead of splendid, royal apparel, through extreme poverty I am now clothed in sackcloth.

'And my strength was quenched in the earth.'

All my power and my prosperity have been utterly extinguished.

'My belly is burned up with weeping, and upon my eyelids is a shadow.'

'Yet there was no injustice in my hands, and my prayer was pure.'

He says this either because it is hidden and unseen, or as that which distributes the nourishment derived from reason.

'My soul is consumed with burning, and I weep unceasingly, so that even the power of sight in my eyes has been damaged.'

But other copies read 'the shadow of death,' as if to say:

'And I have death before my eyes.'

'But this too,' he says, 'grieves me the more: that I always offer a pure prayer to God, yet am not conscious in myself of any unjust deed, and am astonished at what I am now enduring.'

Note that the prayer of the righteous man is pure and unmixed with any passion, undergoing no distraction and not dragged down by cares.

This is also what the Apostle, praying in the Spirit, said: that one ought to pray in every place, lifting up holy hands, without wrath and disputing.

'O earth, do not cover over the blood of my flesh, nor let there be a resting place for my cry.'

Being at a loss, he speaks to the earth, and his words summon it to compassion.

'Do not be silent, O earth, about my case, nor conceal my blood, which is unjustly poured out from my flesh;'

'nor let it remain fixed in one place and be hidden away, and let the record of my lamentations fall into oblivion.'

These words you spoke both as a prayer and as a prophecy —

for your case was not hidden, O thrice-blessed one, but all we men have upon our lips your struggles and your courage and your endurance, and the prizes won through these, and the crowns, and the acclamation.

'And now, behold, my witness is in the heavens, and he who knows my case with me is in the highest.'

Well done — the eye of a pure soul, of unsurpassable love, and of a truthful conscience, calling upon the all-seeing eye of God as a witness!

'May my supplication reach the Lord;'

'and may my eye drop tears before him.'

But this too was fulfilled for you in deed:

for the great judge of the contest was watching your struggles, he heard your supplication, he beheld your most precious tears;

therefore he also made fully known the cause of your contests.

'And let there be a proof for a man before the Lord, and for a son of man before his neighbor.'

What he means by this is the following:

'May it be granted me, with God as judge, to be vindicated against those who speak against me' — whom indeed he calls his 'neighbor,' meaning his friends.

By 'man' and 'son of man' he meant the same person, speaking of himself.

And this too he said prophetically:

for God, having heard what was said on both sides, justified him but condemned his friends.

'And numbered years have come, and I shall go on the way by which I shall not return.'

Again he puts forward the brevity of life as a plea, and at the same time teaches that those who have once died cannot return again to this present life.

'I am perishing, driven by my spirit; I ask for burial and do not obtain it; I plead, worn out — and what shall I do?' I am therefore perishing everywhere, carried about by the reasonings of my soul, and gazing upon all that has befallen me.

Therefore I also long for death, and am seized with helplessness, being unable to attain it.

You see, then, what we said from the beginning: that although he longs for death, and though it was possible for him to become his own slayer, he does not put an end to himself, out of reverence for the One who bound the soul to the body. 'And strangers have stolen my possessions.'

By 'strangers' he means the horsemen and enemies, or also the demons who made war against him.

'Who is this? Let him be bound to my hand, for they have hidden their heart from understanding.'

As to the literal sense, he means this:

'Who is it that wishes to bring a case against me? Let him be bound to my hand, that we may together be brought before the divine tribunal;'

for I wish to be justified in the presence of God.

But as concerning his friends, he says that, though seeming to be prudent, they conceal their own intent — being aware, on the one hand, that they have nothing to charge against him, yet, as if they were God's advocates, bearing false witness against him.

But as to the deeper sense, he perceives the opposing power warring against him invisibly, and says:

'Who is this that attempts to turn me aside? Let him not withdraw far from me' — that is:

let him show himself, who he is.

'And let him be bound to my hand' — that is:

let him be made equal to me, as if to say:

I need no one's advocacy in this, and I contend with him on equal terms.

But since the wickedness of the demons is difficult for human understanding to grasp, he therefore said:

'They have hidden their heart' — instead of meaning:

They come deceitfully and stealthily, so that their villainy may go unnoticed and be hidden from human perception.

But some of the copies have it that:

'You have hidden their heart,' that is:

You have made them invisible to men.

Then he also prays that they may not lift up their head, but be humbled by almighty God:

'Therefore you shall by no means exalt them:'

'to the portion he shall proclaim evil'

'Do not exalt them,' he says, meaning both the unjust men and the demons together, since 'to the portion' — that is, the lot they have received from God — is instead of saying:

'by the free will of their own choice, they willingly announced their wickedness:'

For the portion and lot particularly assigned by God to rational beings is free will.

Since all, having been made good by God and being free, cast themselves into wickedness, 'do not exalt them.'

'And my eyes have wasted away because of my sons.'

'And you have made me a byword to the nations, and I have become a laughingstock to them.'

By 'nations' he means also the men from far off, so as to say that:

everywhere my affairs have become a byword, and I have become an object of ridicule.

But more truly, he means the nations of the demons, who indeed mocked the righteous man, trampling upon his misfortunes.

Note that he did not say:

'My eyes have wasted away over the loss of my possessions' — for he took little account of those — but rather over the sudden death of his children all at once:

for over these, as one full of compassion, he was greatly grieved.

'For my eyes have grown dim from wrath, and I have been greatly besieged by all.'

'My eyes have grown dim,' he says — according to the literal sense, by the evils brought upon me through divine wrath; but according to the deeper meaning, the visual power of the soul was dimmed through continual resistance against the demons, by whom he also says he has been besieged.

'Amazement seized the truthful/upright at these things.'

so that, he says, even those who long for the truth are astounded at what has happened to me.

But perhaps he says this also hinting at his friends, as men not truly laying claim to the truth, but simply wishing to gratify God.

'and the righteous would rise up against the transgressor:'

'and the faithful would hold to his own way, and the pure in hands would take courage.'

As if speaking of another, but he speaks about himself.

'Do not exalt the unjust' — rather, he says, let the opposite come to pass: that the righteous prevail over the transgressor, and that the faithful and true man hold to his own way, that is:

to prosper and not be defeated by the transgressors, so that from my example the pure may take courage, as prevailing over their adversaries.

These things holy Job again prays on behalf of all:

Therefore he made his prayer not concerning himself, but indefinitely concerning every person.

At the same time he also teaches that wickedness never prevails over virtue unto the end.

'But nevertheless, all of you press on, and come now, for I do not find truth among you.'

'Strengthen one another, then,' he says:

for even if you all agree with one voice, I will convict you of not speaking the truth.

Then again, defending himself, since he had said:

'I desire burial and do not obtain it' — he states the reasons for which he longs for death.

'My days have passed away in groaning, and the joints of my heart have been torn asunder.'

Much time, he says, has already passed for me, and I am driving toward the end, wearing away my days in weariness, and the sinews of my soul have been relaxed and dissolved.

'I have turned night into day; light is near, in the face of darkness.'

The whole night, he says, staying awake as though it were day, I continued always expecting the light after the passing of the night.

This is what those who lie awake in sickness naturally experience, praying to see the day.

I have not neglected, he says, to separate myself from darkness and to draw near to the intelligible light.

'For if I wait, Hades is my house, and in gloom my bed is spread.'

'For where then is my hope? Or shall I see my good things? Or will it go down with me into Hades? Or shall we go down together upon the dust?' But what need is there, he says, to endure nobly, that something more might be gained? Is not death common to all? Is not Hades a house for all? Do not all men there come to the end of the troubles of this life? For this is what 'in gloom is my bed' means: in the unlit place is the rest from the troubles of this present life.

Is it possible for anyone to bring down with himself into Hades his wealth, or the glory of this life? And 'shall we go down together upon the dust' means instead:

Can I go down to the regions below together with the good things of this present life? With what hope, then, should I endure, seeing that it is appointed for me in any case to die a little while hence, having left all things here behind? Since this is so, I rightly long that death come quickly upon me as a father, and the decay and dissolution of the body as a mother and sister, and I embrace them with every name of affection.

So then, at the same time he also taught us not to cling to the good things of this life:

for none of them departs with us out of this life.

And he has sufficiently defended himself for not longing for death in vain, being overwhelmed by so many griefs.

'And Bildad the Shuhite answered and said:'

'How long will you not cease? Wait, that we too may speak.'

Overview of the chapter: Bildad is vexed at Job's lengthy speech:

for it is not fitting, he says, to sit by in silence like irrational animals.

Then, since Job had often said that he longed to be released from the body, 'why,' he says, 'do you put on such airs, and repeatedly say:'

'I gladly depart from the body' — and you exalt your own affairs as though you were not a single man, but the whole world.

For if you die, does the universal end of all things come to pass? Then, having said these things, he turns his speech to what will befall the impious, speaking as though of general matters, yet mocking the righteous man under the guise of impiety.

The words: 'How long will you not cease? Wait, that we too may speak.'

'And why have we been silent before you like four-footed beasts?' Do not suppose, he says, that you are addressing your words to irrational animals, nor converse so unrestrainedly; rather, give room for us also to speak, by cutting short your own words.

O you who are angry against yourself and your own soul, wrath has used you as its instrument.

For your being angry against God is nothing other than venting your wrath against your own soul.

'For what? If you die, shall the world under heaven be left uninhabited, or shall the mountains be overturned from their foundations?' What do you suppose — that the world is held together by your own constitution? Yet you magnify your own affairs, and, as though you had wrapped the whole universe in your own ruin, you likewise pray for death? ... 'And the light of the impious shall be extinguished, and their flame shall not go forth.'

But know that even if the impious should shine brightly, even if they should be raised to a height of glory — for this is what he hints at through the 'flame' — their affairs will certainly undergo the opposite reversal.

'His light shall be darkness in his dwelling, and the lamp upon him shall be put out.'

And the light of the impious man, he says, will be turned into darkness throughout his whole manner of life, instead of meaning:

misfortune will hold sway over all his affairs.

And the lamp upon him, that is, the prosperity resting upon him from above and illuminating all his affairs, will be extinguished.

He used the term 'light' by way of comparison, since those who walk in the light do not stumble.

'May the very least hunt down his possessions, and may his counsel fail.'

'And may his foot be cast into a snare, and may he be entangled in a net:'

May snares come upon him.

He says this by way of metaphor drawn from birds or animals that are hunted.

For just as those creatures, he says, once caught beneath the snare or the nets can no longer slip away, so also the impious have inescapable the calamities that overtake them.

And what is indeed more grievous is that often it is not by any powerful men, but by the very least of their possessions, that they suffer deprivation, all their planning being turned to the opposite.

The thirsty shall prevail against him.

But God will also make those who desire to find some charge against him more powerful than he.

His cord is hidden in the earth, and his capture is upon the paths.

This too he said by way of metaphor from hunters.

For just as hunters hide the cord of the net in the ground and sit far off watching to see whether the prey has fallen upon the net, and then, pulling the cord, catch the game as it unexpectedly falls into the snares, so also misfortune shall overtake the impious man unexpectedly.

And this also signifies that the cord of the impious man, that is, his portion, has been buried.

And 'his capture is upon the paths' means the following:

Ambushes take place in deserted places, but the impious man, he says, is caught not in the desert, but right in the midst of the roads, that is:

while still in prosperity he undergoes the sudden change.

May pains destroy him all around.

But painful things will also befall him from every side.

And many shall come about his feet in dire famine.

Other copies have it thus:

'And of many, may it come about his feet in dire famine' — instead of:

may he be driven into the utmost extremity of want.

Many, he says, shall be about his feet, that is, tripping him up, in dire famine, so as to say:

in the calamity that overtakes him.

And an extraordinary fall has been prepared for him.

May the branches of his feet be devoured; death shall consume his fair parts; and may healing be torn away from his dwelling.

By 'branches of the feet' he means the offshoots of his goings, so as to say that the impious man will not prosper, but will fall with an extraordinary fall.

But death will also insatiably consume his fair ones, that is, his children.

And from all his dwelling may all healing be separated — instead of:

the things that shall befall him will be incurable and untreatable.

It is also possible to understand 'branches of the feet' as perhaps his grandchildren or descendants: 'and may necessity seize him on a royal charge.'

It shall dwell in his tent, in his night.

Other copies have, instead of 'in his night,' 'in his body.'

According to 'in his night,' therefore, instead of:

his whole manner of life shall be in gloom and a lightless night.

'In his body,' so as to say that:

he shall enter into a place where he dwells in extreme poverty, having nothing else but his own body.

And Theodotion agrees with this sense, having said thus:

'Non-existence shall dwell in his tent.'

His comely things shall be scattered with brimstone.

David also said something similar concerning sinners:

Fire and brimstone and a scorching wind shall be the portion of their cup.

And God, having sent brimstone and fire upon the land of Sodom, reduced their land to ashes.

He means to say that all their affairs shall also be fruitless, as though sown over with brimstone.

Beneath, his roots shall be dried up.

By metaphor from plants that, having taken root, then wither.

And from above his harvest shall fall.

And if any suggestion of sprouting should arise, {his memorial} will quickly be cut off.

May his memorial perish from the earth, and let his name exist upon the face of the outer world.

But also, he says, the children of the impious man shall perish — they who indeed are the memorial of those who begot them.

And his name shall become so ill-omened and abhorrent that everyone hearing that name turns his own face away from the one who utters it, loathing even the very naming of him.

May he thrust him out of light into darkness.

He shall not be known among his people, nor shall his house be preserved under heaven, but others shall dwell in his possessions.

All these things happened to Job, apart from the royal necessity.

But Baldad perhaps said this so as not to seem to be speaking about him directly.

Over him the last groaned, and amazement seized the first.

These are the houses of the unrighteous, and this is the place of those who do not know the Lord.

By 'the first' he means those of his own generation, and by 'the last' those who come after him.

Those, therefore, who see the fall of the impious will marvel, he says, and those who later receive an account of their fate by hearsay will groan.

And 'these are the houses of the unrighteous' means, instead of:

'the impious' — evidently referring to the things he had foretold.

But this man too, having spoken assertively that these things shall altogether happen to the impious, erred in not adding the distinction:

for the recompense is not entirely in this life, but also in the age to come.

How long will you vex my soul and break me down with words? A Prefatory Survey of the Chapter.

Job's friends rebuke him as one who boasts needlessly, but he in turn accuses them of being harsh in their reproaches, and says:

This alone I want you to know: that it is God who has brought upon me these incurable blows, so that, knowing this, you may fear lest he also surround you with equal evils.

And he blames them for speaking ill of him to his face.

For let us grant, he says, that I do not speak as I ought; still, you, being friends, ought not to aggravate my misfortunes.

Having said these things to his friends, he again recounts in detail the terrible things that beset him, persuading both himself and them that these punishments exceed human sin, and that such blows are rather the work of an enemy.

For truly the one who treated him thus was an enemy, even though he himself did not know the reason for the permission.

Then he entreats that, even if they are not ashamed to treat him thus as a righteous man, they might at least show him mercy as a friend.

And he prays that his words be committed to writing, so that they might also be handed down to the generations to come — which indeed has happened, and the righteous man did not fail to obtain his prayer.

And he blames his friends for seeking how to strike him with their words, and exhorts them to cease from their reproaches, being wary of God's judgment.

The words are: 'How long will you vex my soul and crush me with words?' The heaviness of the words, like some burden laid upon the soul, makes it grow weary.

And 'you crush me with words' means:

you are eager to overthrow my just defenses with your counter-arguments.

'Know only that God has done this to me.'

so that you too may fear to trample thus upon the afflicted, lest he surround you with the same evils.

'You slander me without shame; you press hard upon me.'

'Grievous indeed,' he says, 'is it even to slander those who are absent;'

but you, without blushing, revile me even to my face.

'Yes, indeed, in truth I have erred, and error lodges with me, to speak words that ought not to be spoken;'

'and my words wander, and are not spoken in due season.'

'But suppose that you exalt yourselves against me, and leap upon me with reproaches.'

'Let us grant,' he says, 'that in truth I am in error, and that some erring spirit dwelling within me causes me not to speak as I ought, nor to utter my words in due season;'

but you ought not thus to rise up against me, and display yourselves as great and righteous against a man in misfortune, leaping upon me and springing at me and trampling me with insults.

'Know then, that it is the Lord who has troubled me, and has raised his fortification against me.'

He who has brought my affairs into such confusion, and has enclosed me on every side with calamities as with a fortification and a wall.

He has raised up, as it were, a dividing wall between himself and me, meaning to say that:

He has withdrawn from me his own help.

'Behold, I am laughed to scorn, and I will not speak; I will cry out, but there is nowhere any judgment.'

It is better, I think, only to laugh at your reproaches and not to answer them.

For why indeed should I cry out, when the verdict is not yet shown (for by 'judgment' he means the verdict, whether I speak the truth or you who falsely accuse me in vain), 'I am walled about on every side, and I cannot pass through.'

'He has set darkness upon my face.'

'He has stripped my glory from me, and taken the crown from my head.'

'He has torn me apart on every side, and I am gone; he has cut off my hope like a tree.'

'He has dealt terribly with me in wrath, and has regarded me as an enemy.'

'My troubles,' he says, 'are inescapable;'

and just as those hemmed in on every side by a wall, or whose sight is hindered by blindness, cannot go any further, so I am at a loss to escape from my calamities.

He says that his crown was taken away, either because he himself happened to be a king, or because

he tore me apart, and cut off, like a tree, all my good hope.

and as some enemy acting in wrath, so he has ordered my affairs.

For God does not punish out of passion, nor as an enemy.

He said this in order to persuade both his friends and himself that the punishment exceeded the measure of human sins;

for indeed, in truth, the righteous man was suffering not on account of sin, but for the sake of training.

'His troops came upon me with one accord; ambushers surrounded me all about my ways.'

He said this by way of a metaphor from enemies, who, setting ambushes and traps on every side, all fall upon their victim together, cutting off in their midst the one they lie in wait for, meaning to say that:

evils have surrounded me on every side.

The 'ambushers' are the demons, who are treacherous and intent upon evil.

For the righteous man quietly perceives that it is by God's permission that they invisibly bring these afflictions upon him, even though he does not know the reason for that permission.

'My brothers stood aloof from me; they acknowledged strangers rather than me, and my friends have become without mercy.'

'Those nearest to me did not acknowledge me, and those who knew my name forgot me.'

'Neighbors of my house, and my menservants and maidservants -- I became a stranger before them.'

Such things also the great David said, lamenting:

'I am forgotten as a dead man out of mind; I have become like a broken vessel.'

By 'those nearest' he means those close in kinship.

'I called my servants, and they did not obey me; my mouth kept pleading.'

'And I begged my wife, and I called flattering upon the sons of my concubines, but they utterly renounced me forever.'

And this is one of the most painful things, for one lying in sickness to call for the one who ought to serve him, and not be obeyed.

We too, then, attending to the example of the great Job, must not be angry with our servants, whether it be a wife, a household servant, or a son who disobeys.

There is nothing unseemly in the fact that the righteous man had concubines.

For indeed his ancestors also, those around the great Abraham, took concubines for the sake of increasing their offspring.

Observe, moreover, that the devil did not judge the killing of the sons of the concubines to be a great grief, but rather the killing of the sons of the free woman;

for he knows that nature itself is bound to hold the children of the free woman in greater honor.

'They renounced me forever' means completely, as though they were not even from me.

'Whenever I rise up, they speak against me.'

'The vile man, the accursed, the unclean, the one being so punished on account of the multitude of his sins;'

or, if not this, then that which happens to many in the case of long illnesses:

'How long will he not die? Why does he lie upon the earth, a heavy and useless burden?' And 'whenever I rise up' means whenever I am separated from them.

Whenever I rise up after the night, they say among themselves:

'Has he not yet died? Is this dead man still alive?' 'And those who saw me abhorred me;'

'and those whom I had loved rose up against me.'

'against me' -- similar to what David says:

'They repaid me evil for good, and hatred for my love.'

'Under my skin my flesh has rotted, and my bones are held fast in my teeth.'

'For while I was still alive,' he says, 'my flesh rotted, and my bones are being devoured as though by the teeth of wild beasts.'

'Have mercy on me, have mercy on me, O friends, I beg you;'

'for it is the hand of the Lord that has touched me.'

Even if you feel no shame before one speaking justly, yet as men who love mankind, have mercy on me and take pity, being cautious with fear at what has befallen me from God, lest you too experience the like from God.

'Why do you persecute me even as the Lord does, and are not satisfied with my flesh?' And why do you join in adding to the divine wrath -- not altogether acting in accordance with God's intention in doing so;

for even though he himself inflicts the punishment, yet he wishes us to be humane. 'And why do you insatiably use the weight of words against me?' For reproachful words are able even to consume flesh.

Let us too, then, fear insults, knowing how greatly we wound our brothers by them.

'For I know that he who is about to redeem me is everlasting upon the earth.'

He prays that the things concerning himself be committed to writing that cannot be erased.

He said this by way of comparison, drawing on the practice of those who wish what has been written to endure for as long as possible, inscribing the letters upon lead with an iron stylus, or engraving them on stelae or tablets.