約伯記註釋 第 1 章 第 4/15 段

For in truth such a thing would not be free from perplexity and inquiry — some not coming to life at all, others dying again immediately after birth — matters which the philosopher, searching them out, will come to know are not brought about by chance, since God is righteous and good, and since God, who governs the universe, orders all things by reason and arrangement and measure and weight.

The holy man himself also knows the judgment, and it is not out of carelessness that he says this, but praising the better condition and being persuaded that this is to be preferred.

There the ungodly kindled the heat of wrath; there the weary in body found rest, and with one accord did the eternal ones. The whole chain of what is said by Job, attempting a divine understanding, brings in an instruction concerning the differing generation of men.

For having discoursed on its being a thing to be prayed for by him that he should not draw near to the human way, nor be born, or, having been born, should straightway be released from this life, he brings in also a certain cause, teaching that, since this was a welcome thing to the opposing powers, it was pursued with no small zeal.

For since the discourse showed that through faults of generation the souls came to be different, and that the devil and those with him are lovers of sin, so as even to rouse to wickedness those given over to it, he interprets this very thing, saying:

There the ungodly kindled the heat of wrath — saying 'there' of the other world beside this one, as in:

Naked I came forth from my mother's womb, naked also shall I depart thither. Nevertheless, even if such a thing was welcome to the wicked powers, God foresaw it in His providence, and gave to each one laws forbidding sin, so that those passing their time in this body might set their minds on heavenly things and long for that sojourn there in like manner, in order that one wearied in body and worn out from wrestling against wickedness might have rest.

There the weary in body found rest. For the saints, having been well-pleasing through many things upon the earth, through many afflictions — from which they become weary in body and not in mind — have their rest with the angels, who are with one accord, being eternal.

But if those are eternal, and their rest is with one accord, it is clear that the souls too are eternal;

for they are immortal, and having despised the things of time, they possess the things eternal.

It should be noted that 'eternal' is spoken of in several senses:

It signifies also the beginningless and endless, as in:

The eternal God. For God is called eternal by reason of having neither beginning nor end of existence.

And 'eternal' is something else, according to which it is said:

The things not seen are eternal. For these are not eternal as God is, but because they do not pass away, abiding always in the same state.

And 'eternal' in yet another way, when it is measured against the present, according to which it is said:

The sons of this age are more prudent in their own generation. And the time that is coextensive with a man's life is also called an age.

Concerning the Hebrew who did not wish to be set free in the seventh year, at any rate, it is laid down that he shall be your servant forever.

a man's servant remains such even after death.

It is according to this meaning that Paul also writes:

'If meat causes my brother to stumble, I will never eat meat again' — that is to say:

'They heard not the voice of the tax-collector.' For this present age is filled with tribute-taking, and he who passes through it has come here for the sake of a dispensation.

For there are many who, having come under the yoke of sin, render tributes and taxes to the adversary.

Jerusalem, having become liable to such tributes, was lamented by the prophet Jeremiah, who said concerning her:

'She that was a princess among the provinces has become tributary.' She is the assembly of faithful souls, or [that which] ... [surrendered] its own freedom to the most savage tyrant ... subjected itself.

These are holy ones, and showing forth ...

the saying in the Gospel, when ... [it is said] ... 'It belongs to kings not to be subject to tribute.'

These, then, are those who have been set free from temporal things — whether because they have not been tried by them, or because, even after trial, they stand above them; and in either case they are outside the tribute owed to what is alien, no longer subject to the things that bring temptation ...

'The small and the great are there, and the servant that feared his lord' — and having attained to shade. The impartiality of the One who governs is shown forth in the matters set before us.

For neither does the master enter into life in one way and the servant, or the poor man, in another.

Does some king or tyrant, [called] Wisdom, proclaim any other origin of birth?

'For there is one entrance for all into life, and a like departure,' even if it came to pass differently in respect of one's course.

These men were not born in any different manner.

But even the servant who ministers to his lord — even if he is not a lord but a servant of the lord throughout the whole way — attains to shade, so that from this shade, which bears the character of a symbol, he may be led up from the laws that were given, and from here, to the heavenly commonwealth.

In this present and temporal life a distinction between small and great and servant is established, since covetousness has introduced this very diversity.

But in the age to come, Paul says, 'there is neither male nor female, there is neither servant nor free.'

And he might likewise say that there is neither rich nor poor, but rather the demonstration of works, according to which it will come to pass that he who in this life is small or a servant will there be reckoned great and free.

'For I have seen,' he says, 'servants upon horses' — and ... everything that is supposed to be great is there found to be in punishment.

Yet perhaps it is also possible in this way: that from here on, he who is great — being great in each respect according to virtue — will there likewise be found so; and the small man in like manner.

According to this same understanding, what is set forth in Ecclesiastes is also to be taken, which reads thus:

'Wherever the tree falls, there it shall remain' — calling man 'tree'; and if he has fallen in punishment, that is, if he came to the end of this life while being in sins, so shall he be there.

But if [he fell] also in virtue, likewise [so shall he be].

For 'all must appear before the judgment-seat of Christ, that each one may receive according to the things he did through the body.'

And the servant who serves God with understanding is there, attaining to shade and rest, having escaped the scorching heat of this life;

'A prudent son was preserved from the burning heat' — not consumed by the scorching, unlike those in the parable who did not receive the seed into depth and so fell prey to the flame of sin.

This same promise is spoken to David in the Psalms:

'By day the sun shall not burn you, nor the moon by night' — which, taken according to the literal sense, we do not find [to be so].

For he himself, being righteous, was worn down by the perceptible heat, while remaining unwearied by the heat of sin.

For it is common to both righteous and unrighteous to be subject to the things that befall from without; but it is proper to the earnest man to escape the scorching heat that comes from wickedness.

[He speaks] for the sake of the hearers, first that they may not be displeased with what befalls them, and then that, knowing it comes from God, they may reckon neither chance nor fate as the cause of what happens.

For since the misfortunes that follow upon men are manifold — so that one is poor, another falls from wealth into poverty, and these in various ways; one is amid diverse circumstances, and another in affliction, and it is not at all only base men who undergo such trials, but earnest men as well — he, examining the judgment, inquires, saying:

'Why is light given to those in bitterness?' For even though he knows, yet, wishing us also to be patient in endurance, he instructs us that it is fitting to await the teaching concerning these things from God.

And he might also be speaking concerning those who are embittered on account of the injustices of men:

'Why is light given to those in bitterness?' Jeremiah too, hinting at something of this sort, said:

'I sat alone, because I was filled with bitterness.' And he was filled with bitterness because of beholding the inequalities and injustices among men.

And these same men also feel pain.

Or did not the blessed Paul have pain when he said:

'I have great sorrow and unceasing pain in my heart.'

'For I could wish that I myself were accursed for the sake of my brethren, my kinsmen according to the flesh' — who, because they turned away from the truth, happened to be outside of it. Moreover, they also long for death, saying:

'It is far better to depart and be with Christ' — as though digging up a treasure, [namely] the longing directed to this end, so that one of the saints can say:

'Woe is me, that my sojourning is prolonged'; and Paul writes concerning the like:

'For they have no abiding city here, but they seek the one to come.' Therefore, not being lovers of this life, they are ready to die, so that the blessed Paul can say:

'I die daily.' For on account of his readiness he wrote this thus.

A lover of this life would not say this.

For the saints understand that, whenever they depart from this life, they will receive the divine recompenses.

They are therefore like men digging up a treasure — even though the digging comes with toil.

As therefore the saints themselves expect to enter the kingdom through many labours — but hope lightens the labour — so also those who contend in the contest toil greatly, looking to the crown.

To these same saints the following half-verse also fits, if he says:

'They rejoice exceedingly if they attain [it].' None of the base men — even if he is in distress and on account of it desires to depart from this life — becomes exceedingly joyful upon departing.

For even if he has departed from the afflictions here, yet the punishments due to the things he has done in his life succeed them.

And further, even as they depart, they carry off together with them the impulses of the soul — whether rages, or savageries, or other passions — which have been fixed fast in it, having been strengthened here.

On account of the punishments that follow, they are not exceedingly joyful.

It is consistent, then, to understand this also concerning the saints:

Are they not exceedingly joyful, being escorted by angels and arriving into the bosom of Abraham and into the kingdom, receiving this in exchange for the distresses which they suffered outwardly and for the labours which they endured for the sake of virtue? And the blessed David, looking to those things — although he was a king, yet reckoning this present life to be like a prison — sang psalms to God:

'Bring my soul out of prison.' For he was not being kept in any perceptible prison.

It is also possible to reckon from what follows that he longed for release from here:

'The righteous shall wait for me, until you recompense me.' For this is equivalent in force to:

'That they should not be made perfect apart from us' — those whose deeds of valour are true, and [true also are] the things of the promises.

But if this is so, how are the saints not exceedingly joyful upon attaining the end of this life, after which the kingdom of the heavens will succeed it? 'Death is rest for a man';

'God has shut in against him,' pronouncing the circumstantial [troubles].

But he who follows the first sense will have nothing to boast of, saying that not all who die come into rest, since punishments succeed the base.

Let one also note this: that he did not say

'death for a man [in general],' but 'for a [valiant] man';

for he who possesses manly courage and is in virtue is undismayed in the face of death, being most ready for it and singing:

'My heart is ready, O God, my heart is ready.' And this same man will also have rest, since promises succeed him.

And further, while still toiling he will have rest, because that which God shut in against him through the common sentence pronounced against Adam, when he said:

'You are earth, and to earth you shall return' — is henceforth loosed, once pain and sorrow and groaning have fled from him, on account of his hearing:

'Enter into the joy of your lord.' 'For before my food my groaning comes to me, and I weep, being gripped by fear.'

'For the fear which I dreaded has come upon me, and that which I feared has met me.' Fear does not always signify the passionate kind, nor yet the refined and perfect kind, but there is also a middle sort, concerning which neither the passionate nor the refined applies, but which, as one might say, is something of this order, arising for the benefit of others or on account of a fall.

For if the blessed Paul should say:

'I fear lest somehow, as the serpent deceived Eve,' he does not hold his fear in a passionate way, nor is the perfect and pure fear signified here—even though the wise Paul did possess that fear too—but rather it is the concern felt for the salvation of others.

Concerning the perfect fear it has been said:

'The fear of the Lord surpasses all things'; but concerning the passionate kind, that it should not be brought upon us, the oracle says:

'And be not afraid of their fear'; and:

'Fear not them that kill the body'; and:

'There they feared with a fear where no fear was.' And these things are said because of the words:

'But I weep, being seized with fear.' Let us look from the beginning at the things set forth together:

'For before my food a groaning comes to me.' This is instructive, that other men, who live a soft and luxurious life and are wholly given over to indulgence and pleasure and take thought for nothing else, cry aloud by their very deeds:

'For tomorrow we die'; but the holy man, who speaks according to the blessed Paul, saying:

'Who is weak, and I am not weak? Who is made to stumble, and I am not inflamed?'—he does not partake of perceptible food without a groaning over human weakness, and not for the sake of pleasure; but, calling to mind the pure and immaterial life and that table which the Saviour promised to His own disciples, saying:

'That you may eat and drink at my table in the kingdom of heaven,' he groans;

and while yet receiving this food, he sings in his mind:

'My soul longs and faints for the courts of the Lord.' Then, since the holy man, even though he be perfect, knows that it is possible for a man, as long as he is in this life, to fall into a downfall, he adds:

'But I weep, encompassed with fear.' Weeping amid toils belongs to a vigorous mind, according to what is said:

'Every night I will wash my bed; I will drench my couch with my tears.' The saints do these things not to enfeeble themselves, but to rouse themselves in spirit, that through them they may call upon God for help, just as the blessed David also, summoning an assembly of those like himself, says:

'Come, let us worship and fall down and weep before the Lord who made us.' For the concern felt on account of a falling away is a great good, which the Lord, wishing His disciples to possess, says:

'Watch, for you know not at what hour the thief comes.' And no less are the saints diligent on account of the trials that are brought upon them, not giving themselves over to negligence, but preparing themselves for these, fearing lest, having preached to others, they themselves should become disqualified;

and they do not excuse their faults;

but not being without forethought, having reason, they are ready for preparation;

having overthrown the uprisings that come from the devil.

He wished indeed not to be found in dire circumstances, since human weakness, insofar as it depends on its own measure, does not bear the immoderate excess of toils, unless a manly reasoning surpasses the weakness.

'For the fear which I dreaded has come upon me, and that which I feared has met me.' He said these things not as one cowering, but according to the sense already given.

For he had a fear lest, delaying in this life, he should experience afflictions and dire circumstances, from which it happens that the many collapse.

For even if they are invincible, they do not wish to draw trials upon themselves, so that neither may the adversary incur greater punishment because of them, nor may the conditions of human weakness, as we said, cause them to collapse; since even a helmsman, steering his vessel straight, does not wish to experience a storm, lest he too fall into some mishap.

That they decline dire circumstances not out of cowardice, one may hear from one of them speaking about what is common to them all:

'Our God is a refuge and strength, a help in the afflictions that have found us exceedingly.

Therefore we will not fear, though the earth be shaken and the mountains be moved into the hearts of the seas.' In harmony with these the apostle also says:

'Who shall separate us from the love which is in Christ Jesus? Shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine,' and what follows.

And that they undergo these things not without sweat, he adds:

'But in all these things we more than conquer through him who loved us'—which is a proof deriving from the agonizing combat, after which victory comes.

Well too is the phrase 'has met me';

for as with an athlete, the wrestling-bouts met him.

For it is not with ordinary men that the devil fights, as the Saviour also makes clear, saying to His disciples:

'Behold, Satan has demanded to have you, that he might sift you as wheat.' He met this man too, who was most ready for battle, as the event itself showed and as what follows makes clear.

'I was neither at peace, nor at quiet, nor at rest, but wrath came upon me.' His readiness against the adversary is made clear from these words.

For being watchful and having hope and the gift of the Spirit, he stood against the antagonist, since Paul too knew this, that the saints' wrestling is not against blood and flesh, but against principalities, against powers, against the world-rulers of this darkness, against the spiritual forces of wickedness, and against that arch-author of evil, the devil himself, who walks about like a lion seeking whom he may devour.

Nevertheless, even though he was thus vigilant, the devil did not neglect him, but so demanded to have him, that he might bring upon him what he did bring—things which he calls 'wrath' because of the toils, knowing that they were not brought on because of wickedness.

'I know that I shall be shown to be righteous.' And in another way too he knows to name toilsome things 'wrath.'

'For you sent forth,' he says, 'your wrath, and it consumed them like stubble.'

But if we hear of 'wrath' of God, let us not reckon this to be a passion of His after the manner of men.

For such a passion is not of a nature to be sent forth, lurking as it does within the soul.

But the so-called 'wrath' of God is sent forth:

'For you sent forth your wrath'—which is the toilsome things.

For these are also sent upon men.

And so this man too names 'wrath' these things which have befallen him.

Having thus extended his discourse, this holy man—in a narration such as this, in which there is teaching about the judgments of God and about divine mysteries, which we have expounded as far as was possible—is clearly shown not to have become overcome with passion because of what had befallen him, but even in the midst of them to have possessed a longing and love and heavenly desire for the divine contemplation.

Then Eliphaz the Temanite answered and said:

'Has a word not often been spoken to you in trouble? But who shall bear the force of your words? For if you have admonished many, and strengthened the hands of the weak, and raised up the ailing with words, and clothed with courage the failing knees, yet now that fear has come upon you and touched you, you are troubled.' Of every teaching and inquiry there are first principles, which, being sound, cause everything to proceed according to reason.

And let the illustration be drawn from the heresies:

for if some impious person should posit that the Father pre-exists the Son, from this principle, being rotten, many false things follow:

for he will suppose the Son to be a creature that came into being straightway, not eternal;

for it is not possible, if [the Father] pre-exists as eternal.

And if, according to their rotten hypothesis, the Father pre-exists, then the Son could not be eternal;

and it follows that he is a creature and a thing made, upon which follows that he is mutable and changeable.

This being so, he will not be God according to essence.

Wherefore, if ever you should chance upon rotten dogmas, seek out their first principle;

for once this is overturned, the whole thing collapses along with it.

Let there also be set forth a second illustration of the same kind.

There are certain persons who introduce docetism, thinking that the Saviour only appeared in semblance.

One must inquire for what reason He came to dwell among us; and it is clear that it was for the sake of the salvation of men.

But if He was seen in semblance, and if His teaching came about in semblance, and also the cross and the ascension, then it follows that in semblance too the salvation came about, and not in truth.

Which followed according to the absurd first principle.

And so, in the case of the words set forth by Eliphaz, there is something of this sort.

There are two incontestable first principles of the mournful things brought upon men: one is that which is for the correction of sins, the other is that which is for the demonstration of the courage and testing of those who are afflicted—which is what the oracle that runs thus signifies:

'Blessed is the man who endures trial, for having become approved he shall receive the crown of life, which He promised to those who love Him.' And again:

'Count it all joy, my brothers, whenever you fall into various trials, because the testing of tribulation works endurance, and endurance testedness, and testedness hope.' It is possible also to receive testimonies of the other kind from the holy Scriptures.

'I will bear the wrath of the Lord, because I have sinned against Him.' For he says that the visitation came about on account of sin.

Therefore toilsome things are common both to the earnest and to the base; but the manner of their cause is different.

At any rate, the scourges brought upon sinners on account of the evils they have committed are called such in the passage:

Many are the scourges of the sinner, but mercy shall encompass him who hopes in the Lord. And again:

If his sons forsake my law and walk not in my judgments, if they keep not my ordinances and observe not my commandments, I will visit their transgressions with a rod and their sins with scourges. Yet these same symptoms and the same grievous and distressing circumstances, when brought upon the righteous, are not called scourges but afflictions:

Many are the afflictions of the righteous, and:

In affliction I remembered the Lord. But also concerning the righteous man who is for the most part afflicted, according to what is said:

In everything afflicted, yet not distressed, it is said:

And no scourge shall come near your dwelling. The grievous things brought upon anyone, as has been said before, happen according to two incontrovertible principles: either for the sake of chastisement and correction, or so that, bearing them nobly, one may obtain crowns for endurance and manliness.

Being ignorant of this, the friends of Job, according to the second of these two modes, supposed that he was afflicted because he had been led astray on account of sins.

They therefore did not admit the other mode, even though they were not aware of any sin in Job.

For how was it possible, when it was testified of him that he attended steadfastly each day to his intercourse with God, offering up sacrifices on behalf of his sons in case they had ever conceived evil thoughts?

For none of their sin was manifest.

Therefore he made the offering even for their thought.

And what is greater than this, that he was testified to even by God, who said that he was a righteous man, blameless, and so forth.

Nevertheless the friends, supposing that the calamities were sent only according to the one mode, as has been said, did not dare to attribute these to a righteous man, wishing to vindicate Providence, that it brings afflictions in accordance with what has been done.

Therefore God also granted them pardon and caused a sacrifice to be offered on behalf of their ignorance.

That they did this not from an evil disposition but as vindicating Providence, this they said, even if they were ignorant of the exact truth.

From this conception, then, the first who began to speak brings forth also his words, saying:

Has it not often been spoken to you in trouble? which shows that:

You yourself have often employed words to those who had fallen into grievous things, so that we may understand 'has been spoken' in an active sense, like 'it has been done by you.'

It can also be said in a passive sense, so that the meaning is:

Is it truly now for the first time, having come into troubles, that you have had one speaking to you words of consolation? — the particle 'truly' being taken instead of 'not.'

For it was not then only that Job was in distress.

For it is likely that he was in grievous circumstances for a longer time.

Then, having taken the sense of what was said by Job in another way, and having heard his words as though from one who was disparaging, he adds:

But who can endure the force of your words? You yourself have brought consolation to many, but your words, being full of contempt, no one is able to bear.

But he said these things being ignorant of the greatness of what had been spoken by him.

And he accepts, as it were, the comparison from him, saying:

For if you have admonished many, and so forth, showing that:

The things which you brought forward to others for their comfort, rousing up in some measure those who had collapsed from grief, without being reminded you took pains — instead of 'you have been troubled' — and doing many things toward the succor and consolation of the afflicted, so as to stretch out a right hand to them, according to what is said in Isaiah to the rulers:

Comfort with the hand, the word signifying fellow-feeling and sympathy.

And you clothed with courage the knees that were feeble, supplying strength to people oppressed by weakness through your diligence toward them.

But according to an anagogical sense, he has knees that are enfeebled who bends them to Baal, who proclaims another god, who serves the sin which he commits.

But now pain has come upon you and has touched you — the word 'touched' signifying the fierce intensity of the calamity.

In addition to what has been said there, it is fitting to consider that the affliction brought by the friends through their words was harder than the calamity itself, being a hostile assault.

For in addition to the terror being without comfort, the words too, being burdensome, afforded no small grief.

Is not your fear founded on folly, and your hope, and the wickedness of your way? Whereas the authorial Spirit had testified concerning Job that he did not ascribe folly to God, this man, holding another conception concerning the things brought upon him and reckoning that he suffered on account of sins, and supposing too that he had spoken what he uttered out of contempt, says:

Is not your fear founded on folly — for you suppose yourself righteous — and your hope, and the wickedness of your way?

And it is folly, he says, even to hope that one will be seen to be righteous.

For such things are not brought upon a righteous man.

And this very way is called a way of wickedness throughout, since Eliphaz supposes that the blessed man suffers on account of sin.

Thus he also imputed folly to him.

Remember now, who being pure has perished, or when have the truly upright been utterly destroyed root and branch?

According as I have seen those who plow iniquities, and those who sow them shall reap pains for themselves.

They shall perish by the command of the Lord, and by the breath of his wrath they shall be brought to nothing. Still holding to the same conception, that Job had made trial of these calamitous things on account of sin, he says these things to him, supposing that no man being pure in his life had fallen into grievous things and perished root and branch — hinting at the loss of his children and money and possessions.

For the word 'they have perished' signifies this to him.

They shall perish by the command of the Lord, and by the breath of his wrath they shall be brought to nothing. To which something similar is said by the blessed Paul:

Who will render to each according to his works. The strength of the lion, the voice of the lioness, and the exultation of dragons has been quenched.

The ant-lion has perished for lack of prey, and the lions' whelps have forsaken one another.

But if any true word had been in your discourses, none of these evils would have befallen you. Even though the friends of Job — of whom this man too was one — went astray in being disposed toward him as one who had fallen into grievous things on account of sins, nevertheless they possess human understanding, which is not infallible.

Wherefore, applying ourselves to these very words, we are not displeased with those that are spoken from understanding, being disposed to consider that they were not strong enough to grasp the whole truth concerning the things that ought to be thought — as also from what has now been set forth at the end:

For if, he says, any true word had been in your discourses, none of these evils would have befallen you — which, as we have said, was spoken by him not fittingly nor with understanding.

For he supposed this to be the only cause of grievous things, namely that on account of sin.

But he goes through the changes concerning men, speaking not without understanding: