Moralia in Job 584

Verses 25, 26.—For he stretched out his hand against God, and strengthened himself against the Almighty. He ran against Him with neck upraised, and armed himself with a fat neck. 48. Sometimes God in His mercy resists the will of the depraved, which at other times, in His wrath, He allows to be fulfilled.—These things are more openly perceived concerning the very head of the wicked, namely Antichrist, who, raising his hand against God, is said to be strengthened, because he is permitted to be exalted for a short time, so that, being allowed to glory for a little while, he may be punished the more terribly forever. But since all the wicked are his members, let us now see in what manner that which he alone shall singularly do at the end of the world is even now enacted by the wicked one by one.

For there are some who, even if they at times strive to do something against the judgment of Almighty God, are broken by the very impossibility of accomplishing their will, and look back upon themselves, and turn to Him whom they had wished to despise; and they who might have departed far off, had they been able to fulfil what they willed, are through this sometimes saved, because they could not accomplish what they wickedly willed. Whence, brought back to themselves, they behold of what condition they are, and lament that they had willed things contrary to the truth. And there are some who, by the just judgment of God, are permitted the more wickedly to fulfil that which they perversely desire against God.

And when malice inflames them and power strengthens them, they are the less able to recognize themselves in their error, the more they are ever drawn outside themselves through their power amid abundant things. Concerning whose intention it is now said: For he stretched out his hand against God, and strengthened himself against the Almighty. To stretch out the hand against God is to persevere in depraved action, God's judgments being despised. And because God is then the more angered, when He permits to be fulfilled that which ought not even to have been conceived in thought, this wicked man is strengthened against the Almighty, because he is permitted to prosper in his evil action, so that he both does perverse deeds and yet lives in happiness. Concerning whom it is still further added: He ran against Him with neck upraised.

49. How great is the boldness of the wealthy and proud in their depraved works.—To run against God with upraised neck is to perpetrate with boldness those things which displease the Creator. Of whom it is rightly said: He ran—that is, in his evil work he met no obstacle from adversity. Of whom it is still further added: And he armed himself with a fat neck. A fat neck is opulent pride, propped up, as it were, by much flesh, that is, by abundant things. Therefore the powerful wicked man is armed against God with a fat neck, who, swelling with temporal things against the precepts of truth, is lifted up as if by the greatness of his flesh. For what is poverty but a certain leanness, and what is abundance of things but the fatness of the present life?

With a fat neck, therefore, he lifts himself up against God, who takes temporal abundance into pride. For the powerful and the wicked have this as their own peculiar mark, that, occupied with deceitful riches, they neglect the true wealth of God; and the less they seek after that which is true, the more they are exalted by false riches. For since the manifold abundance of earthly things occupies them, it blinds them. Whence it is still fittingly subjoined: