Moralia in Job 107

Verse 21. — 'Naked came I out of my mother's womb, and naked shall I return thither.' 30. Temporal things are to be little esteemed, because we sometimes did not have them, nor shall have them. — How he presides over the lofty throne of inner counsel, who lies prostrate on the ground with rent garments! For because, by the Lord's judgment, he had lost all things, for the sake of preserving patience he recalled to memory that time when he did not yet have these things which he lost; so that, while he considers that at one time he did not have them, he might temper the grief of what he has lost. For great is the consolation in the loss of goods, to bring back to mind those times in which it befell us not to have had the things which we have lost. And because the earth has begotten us all, not without cause do we call her mother.

Whence it is written: 'A heavy yoke is upon the sons of Adam, from the day of their coming out of their mother's womb, until the day of their burial into the mother of all' (Ecclus. 40:1). Blessed Job, therefore, that he might patiently mourn what he here lost, watchfully attended to what manner of man he came hither. And for the increase of preserving patience, he yet more shrewdly inspects in what manner he departs hence, and says: 'Naked came I out of my mother's womb, and naked shall I return thither.' As if he said: The earth brought me forth naked as I entered here; the earth shall receive me naked as I go out hence. I, then, who have lost things received but destined to be relinquished — what of my own have I lost?

But because consolation is to be applied not only from the consideration of our condition, but also from the justice of the Creator, he rightly subjoins: The same. — 'The Lord gave, the Lord has taken away; as it has pleased the Lord, so is it done.' 31. When God despoils us of good things, He takes not what is ours, but what is His own. — The holy man, at the tempting of the adversary, had lost all things; but nevertheless, knowing that Satan had no power of tempting against him except by the Lord's permission, he did not say, 'The Lord gave, the devil has taken away,' but, 'The Lord gave, the Lord has taken away.' For perhaps there would have been cause to grieve, if the enemy had taken away what the Creator had given: but since He alone has taken away who gave, He has received back His own, He has not taken away what is ours.

For if we receive from Him the things which we use in this life, why should one grieve that we are required to render them at His judgment, from whose bounty we hold them as on loan? Nor is a creditor ever unjust who, while he is not bound to a fixed time of repayment, exacts what he has lent when he wills. Where it is also well subjoined: 'As it has pleased the Lord, so is it done.' For when in this life we suffer the things we do not wish, it is necessary that we bend the endeavors of our own will toward Him who can will nothing unjust. For great indeed is the consolation, in that which displeases, that it is done concerning us by His ordering to whom nothing but the just is pleasing. If, therefore, we know that just things are pleasing to the Lord, and we can suffer nothing except what has pleased the Lord;

then all things which we suffer are just, and it is very unjust if we murmur about a just suffering. 32. When the devil assails us, he is stabbed through by our humility and patience. — But since we have heard how the brave orator alleged the assertion of his own side against the adversary, let us now hear how, at the close of his oration, he praises the Judge by blessing Him. There follows: 'Blessed be the name of the Lord.' Behold, everything he rightly perceived he concluded with the blessing of the Lord; so that hence the adversary might look on, and, vanquished, blush for his own punishment, because he himself, created contumacious toward the Lord even in blessedness, appeared such, while a man, even when smitten, speaks a hymn of glory to the Lord.

It is to be observed, however, that our enemy strikes us through with as many darts as the temptations with which he afflicts us. For daily we stand in the battle-line, daily we receive the missiles of his temptations. But we too hurl darts against him, if, pierced through with tribulations, we make humble answers. Blessed Job, therefore, struck by the loss of his goods, struck by the death of his children, because he turned the force of grief into praise of the Creator, saying: 'The Lord gave, the Lord has taken away; as it has pleased the Lord, so is it done; blessed be the name of the Lord' — struck the proud enemy with humility, laid low the cruel one with patience. Nor let us believe that our warrior received wounds and did not inflict them.

For as many voices of patience as he rendered in praise of God when smitten, so many darts, as it were, he hurled into the breast of the adversary, and inflicted them far sharper indeed than those he endured. For afflicted, he lost earthly things, but, humbly enduring the affliction, he multiplied heavenly things. There follows: Verse 22. — 'In all these things Job did not sin, neither did he speak any foolish thing against God.' 33. Job abstained from murmuring of mouth and of heart. — Because, when caught in the tribulations of temptations, we can sin without speaking, even by the silent movement of our thoughts, testimony is borne to blessed Job both of mouth and of heart. For first it is said, 'He did not sin'; and then at last it is subjoined, 'Neither did he speak any foolish thing against God.'

For he who did not speak foolishly restrained the fault of his tongue; but when it is premised, 'He did not sin,' it is established that he restrained the vice of murmuring even from thought. Therefore he neither sinned nor spoke foolishly, because he neither silently swelled up through conscience, nor loosened his tongue to contumacy. For he speaks foolishly against God who, placed amid the scourges of divine chastisement, strives to justify himself. For if he should proudly dare to assert himself innocent, what else does he do than accuse the justice of the One who smites? Let it suffice that we have hitherto run through the words of the history: now let the discourse of exposition turn itself to investigating the mysteries of the allegory. But in this that is written: