Moralia in Job 982

62. We can say or think nothing worthy concerning God. — Far from this reading does the old translation differ, because what in this one is said of God, in that one is recounted of the adversaries and persecutors. But nevertheless, since this new translation is reported to have rendered all things more truly for us from the Hebrew and Arabic tongue, we must believe whatever is said in it, and it is fitting that our exposition should subtly probe its words. He says then: Thou art changed toward me into one cruel, and in the hardness of Thy hand Thou dost oppose me. In holy Scripture, when something unworthy is said of God, the mind of the reader is moved, as it would be if at some time something worthy were said of God.

For almost everything that is said of God is by that very fact already unworthy, in that it could be spoken. For to whose praise the astounded conscience is not sufficient, when shall the speaking tongue be sufficient? But the Holy Spirit, insinuating this very thing to men of understanding — how ineffable are the highest and divine things — uses sometimes even those words concerning God which among men are held to be a fault, so that from those things which seem unworthy to men, and yet are said of God, men may be admonished to know that those things are already worthy of God which, while they are held worthy among men, are thought worthy of God. 63. In what sense God is said to be zealous, to be angry, to repent, to have mercy, to foreknow. To God nothing is past or future.

Things are not seen by God because they are; rather, they are because they are seen. — For God is said to be zealous, as it is written: The Lord, Jealous is His name (Exod. XXXIV, 14). He is said to be angry, whence it is written: The Lord was angry against Israel (Num. XXXII, 13). God is said to repent, as it is written: It repenteth Me that I have made man upon the earth (Gen. VI, 7). And again: It repenteth Me that I have set up Saul to be king in Israel (1 Sam. XV, 11). He is said to be merciful, as it is written: The Lord is merciful and compassionate, long-suffering and very merciful (Ps. LXXXV, 15). He is said to be foreknowing, as the Apostle says of Him: Whom He foreknew, He also predestinated to be conformed to the image of His Son (Rom.

VIII, 29) — although neither zeal, nor anger, nor repentance, nor mercy properly, nor foreknowledge, can be in God. For all these are drawn into Him from human qualities, while there is a descending to the words of our infirmity, so that, as though certain steps had been made for us and set beside us, we may through those things which we behold near to us be able at some time to ascend to the heights of Him. For he is said to be zealous who, with a torment of mind, guards the chastity of his wife. He is said to be angry who is kindled with fervour of soul against the vice to be punished. He is said to repent to whom that which he has done is displeasing, and who, on the contrary, changes his purpose and does something else. He is said to be merciful who is moved by compassion toward his neighbour.

But mercy (misericordia) is so called from a wretched heart (miserum cor), in that each one, beholding some wretched person, and having compassion on him, while he is touched with grief of soul, himself makes his heart wretched, that he may deliver from misery the one to whom he attends. He is said to foreknow who sees each thing before it comes, and foresees that which is to be before it becomes present. How then is God zealous, who in guarding our chastity is touched by no torment of the one who feels it? How is He angry, who in avenging our vices is moved by no perturbation of soul? How is He one who repents, who in no way grieves at having done that which He once did? How does He have mercy, who never has a wretched heart?

How is He foreknowing, since nothing but things future are foreknown? And we know that to God nothing is future, before whose eyes nothing is past, present things do not pass away, future things do not come — since indeed everything that has been and will be for us is at hand in His sight; and everything that is present He can know rather than foreknow. And yet He is said to be zealous, said to be angry, said to repent, said to be merciful, said to be foreknowing — so that, because He guards the chastity of each soul, He is called zealous after the manner of men, although He is not touched by any torment of mind. And because He strikes faults, He is said to be angry, although He is moved by no perturbation of soul.

And because He, being unchangeable, changes that which He has willed, He is said to repent — although He changes the thing, He does not change His counsel. And when He succours our misery, He is called merciful — although He succours the wretched, and yet never has a wretched heart. And because He sees those things which are future to us, which nevertheless are always present to Himself, He is said to be foreknowing — although He in no way foresees as future that which He sees as present. For all things that are, are not seen in His eternity because they are, but rather are because they are seen.

While therefore there is a descending to the words of our mutability, let him who is able ascend by certain steps thereby made to the immutability of God, that he may behold Him zealous without zeal, angry without anger, repenting without grief and repentance, merciful without a wretched heart, foreknowing without foresight. For in Him neither past nor future things can be found, but all mutable things abide immutably; and things which cannot exist together in themselves are all present to Him at once; and nothing in Him passes away that passes, because in His eternity, in a manner in some way incomprehensible, all the passing volumes of the ages remain, and the things that run stand still. [Old Version XXV.] 64.

God seems cruel when, even in striking justly, He does not spare. — As therefore we take Him to be zealous without zeal, angry without anger, so also by the holy man He could be called cruel even without cruelty. For he is called cruel who, in striking strictly, does not spare — so that, namely, in this place the cruel one may be understood as one striking strictly, and not sparing the fault to be avenged. Whence Isaiah too, when he saw that the day of the last judgement would come not now with pardon, but with strictness, said: Behold, the day of the Lord shall come, cruel and full of indignation, and of wrath and fury, to lay the land desolate, and to destroy the sinners thereof out of it (Isai. XIII, 9).

The holy man therefore, that he might assert this same cruelty could rather fittingly belong to himself than to God, said: Thou art changed toward me into one cruel. As if he plainly said: Thou who in Thyself hast nothing of cruelty, seemest cruel to me whom Thou dost not suffer to breathe from Thy stroke. For God can no more be cruel than He can in any way be changed. But since neither cruelty nor mutability ever comes into God, in saying to me, he shows that in God Himself he perceives neither cruelty nor mutability. For while certain prosperous and adverse things are varied about us, in that we are changed, we suspect as it were that His mind is changed toward us.

But He Himself, remaining unchangeable in Himself, is perceived in the thought of men now in one way, now in another, according to the quality of their merits. For even of that same sun, when it is in no way unlike itself, to weak eyes it appears harsh, but to sound eyes gentle — by their change, that is, not by its own. Whence, as we said before, in saying, Thou art changed, he added, Toward me — so that this very cruelty and change should not be in the quality of the Judge, but in the mind of the sufferer. And this he unfolds also with other words, saying: And in the hardness of Thy hand Thou dost oppose me. For the hand of God is believed to be hard when, contrary to our will, it pursues with striking that which displeases Him in us, and doubles its scourges while the soul of the grieving one awaits clemency.

These things, nevertheless, according to the mystery of allegory, fittingly agree with the words of holy Church, drawn from the voices of the infirm — who for the most part reckon themselves struck more than they suppose they deserve, and, as it were, judge to be cruelty the most just strictness of the Judge's cutting; for even when the wound of the sick man is cut away with a healing instrument, the physician is called cruel — who nevertheless, through the hardness of the cutting hand, opposes the wound, but agrees with health. There follows: