By what counsel of God, and by what means, Job was tested. — I repeat the preface of this work as often as is necessary, as often as I break off in the distinction of the volumes by a pause of my discourse, so that when a beginning of reading is taken up, first the very ground of the reading may be renewed to memory, and the more sturdily may the edifice of doctrine rise, the more studiously the foundation is laid in the mind from a considered origin of its cause. Blessed Job, known to God alone and to himself, was gladly stricken by the scourge that he might be brought to our knowledge in tranquillity, so that he might spread abroad the odor of his powers the more widely, as it better exhales its fragrance from being burned, after the manner of aromatic spices. He knew how to govern his subjects devoutly in prosperity, and to guard himself strictly from evils.
He knew how to use well the goods he possessed, but we did not know whether he would remain patient if they were taken away. He knew how to render daily sacrifices to God for his sound offspring, but it was uncertain whether, being bereaved, he would offer to Him a sacrifice of thanksgiving. Lest therefore prosperity conceal any fault, it was fitting that grief should disclose it. And so, against the holy man was breathed forth upon the crafty enemy the license of tempting. He, while he sought to destroy Job's goods known to many, also displayed the good of patience that lay hidden; and him whom he thought to straiten by persecuting, he enlarged, increased by scourges and set as an example. Nor did he exercise without grievous art the license he had received.
For he burned the flocks, wiped out the households, overwhelmed the heirs, struck the health of the body, and — to hurl the javelin of a heavier temptation — reserved the tongue of the wife (Job 1, 2, etc.), so that he might both lay low the strong and solid breast of the holy man through the loss of possessions by grief, and pierce it through the words of his wife by cursing. But as many wounds as he savagely inflicted, so many victories he unwittingly furnished to the holy man. For God's faithful servant, caught at one and the same time between wounds and words, both bore his grieving flesh with equanimity, and prudently rebuked his foolish wife. And so the ancient enemy, because he grieved to be conquered in domestic matters, at once sought out things external.
For he stirred up his friends from their several places, as if for the exercise of charity, and opened their mouths under the appearance of consolation; but through these he hurled the javelins of rebuke, which the more harshly pierced the heart of the man who listened in security, in that amid the darkness of a charity displayed yet not preserved they wounded him unawares. After these too, the younger Elihu is roused to insults, that a disdainful levity of age might at least disturb the tranquillity of so great a gentleness. But against so many machines of the ancient enemy stood an unconquered constancy, stood an unbroken equanimity. For at one and the same time he opposed prudence to adversarial words, and life to circumstances. Let no one therefore, although of him it is written openly, after the scourges:
In all these things Job did not sin with his lips (Job 2:10) — let no one at least suppose that afterwards, in the contention with his friends, he offended amid his words. For Satan indeed sought the temptation of him; but God, who had praised him, received in Himself Job's intention for the contest. Whoever therefore complains that blessed Job offended in his speeches, what else does he confess than that God, who had staked Himself for him, had lost? — The ancient Fathers are like fruitful trees. It was of their fruit to signify Christ and the Church.
— But because the ancient Fathers are like fruitful trees, being not only beautiful in appearance but also useful in their abundance, so their life is to be weighed, that when we admire what verdure there is in the history, we may also find how great is the fruitfulness in the allegory; so that when what is fragrant in the leaves is pleasant, we may recognize also how sweet is what has savor in the fruits. For no one had the grace of heavenly adoption except one who received this through the knowledge of the Only-begotten. It is fitting therefore that He Himself shine forth in their life and tongue, who by illumining makes them worthy to shine forth. For when in darkness the light of a lamp is kindled, first that same lamp, which makes the rest to be seen, is itself seen.
Whence it is necessary that, if we truly intend to discern the things illumined, we should strive to open the eyes of the mind to that illumining light itself. This too shines forth intermittently in these very discourses of blessed Job — even when the shadows of the allegories are removed, as though the darkness of deep night were pressed down — after the manner of a flashing light passing by, when it is said: I know that my Redeemer lives, and in my flesh I shall see God (Job 19:25). This light indeed Paul had found in the night of the history, when he said: All were baptized unto Moses in the cloud and in the sea, and all ate the same spiritual food, and all drank the same spiritual drink. And they drank of the spiritual rock that followed them, and the rock was Christ (1 Cor. 10:2-4).
If therefore the rock held the likeness of the Redeemer, why should not blessed Job suggest His figure — he who by his suffering also signified Him whom he brought forth in word? Whence too, not undeservedly, Job is called 'grieving,' because he expresses in himself the image of Him concerning whom it was announced long before through Isaiah, that He Himself bore our griefs (Isa. 53:4). It must also be known that our Redeemer showed Himself to be one person with the holy Church which He assumed. For of Him it is said: Who is the head, Christ (Eph. 4:15). And again, of His Church it is written: And the body of Christ, which is the Church (Col. 1:24).
Blessed Job therefore, who held the type of the Mediator the more truly in that he prophesied His passion not only by speaking but also by suffering, when in his sayings and deeds he leans upon the expression of the Redeemer, is sometimes suddenly transferred to the signification of the body, so that what we believe of Christ and the Church as one person, we may see this also signified by the acts of one person. 3. Job's wife shadows forth the carnal within the Church; his friends, the heretics. — But his wife, who provokes him to cursing, what else does she signify than the depravity of the carnal?
These, placed within the holy Church with uncorrected morals, the more harshly wear down the life of the faithful the more closely they press upon them; because, while they cannot be shunned by the faithful as though they were faithful, they are tolerated the more grievously the more inwardly. But his friends, who as it were inveigh while they counsel, express the figure of the heretics, who under the appearance of counseling carry on the business of seducing. Whence too, while they make speeches on the Lord's behalf to blessed Job, they are reproved by the Lord; because plainly all heretics, while they strive to defend God, offend Him. Whence it is aptly said to them by that same holy man: I desire to dispute with God, first showing you to be forgers of lies and cultivators of perverse dogmas (Job 13:3-4).
It is established therefore that those bear the type of heretics whom the holy man reproves as being in bondage to the cultivation of perverse dogmas. Because therefore Job is interpreted 'grieving,' by which grief is expressed either the passion of the Mediator or the labor of the holy Church, which is tortured by the manifold weariness of the present life, his friends too indicate by the meaning of their names the desert of their action. For Eliphaz in the Latin tongue is called 'the contempt of God.' And what else do heretics do, than that, while they think false things of God, they contemn Him by being proud? Bildad is interpreted 'oldness alone.'
But well are all heretics named 'oldness alone' in the things they speak concerning the Lord, since they seek to be seen as preachers not with right intention but from a craving for temporal glory. For they are stirred to speak not by the zeal of the new man, but by the depravity of the old life. Zophar too is called in the Latin tongue 'the scattering of the watchtower,' or 'scattering contemplation.' For the minds of the faithful raise themselves to contemplate heavenly things; but while heretics seek to pervert the words of those who rightly contemplate, they endeavor to scatter their watchtower. In the three names of Job's friends, therefore, are expressed the three cases of perdition in heretics. For unless
they contemned God, they would by no means think perverse things of Him; and unless they contracted oldness, they would not err in the understanding of the new life; and unless they destroyed the contemplation of the good, the heavenly judgments would by no means reprove them with so strict an examination for the fault of their words. By contemning God, therefore, they retain themselves in oldness; but by retaining themselves in oldness, by their depraved speeches they harm the contemplation of the upright. 4. Elihu is a figure of the faithful but proud teachers. — After these too, the younger Elihu is joined in the reproach of blessed Job, from whose person plainly is designated the kind of certain faithful yet arrogant teachers.
His words we do not easily understand, unless we weigh them from the ensuing correction of the Lord. For the Lord says concerning him: Who is this that involves sentences in unskilled words (Job 38:2)? But when He says 'sentences,' yet does not at once add of what sort, He undoubtedly wills them to be understood as good. For when 'sentences' are named, unless they are also called evil, they cannot be perceived as evil. For we always take in a good sense those sentences that are set down without the addition of reproof, as it is written: The sluggard seems wiser to himself than seven men that speak sentences (Prov. 26:16).
But that which is said — that his sentences are involved in unskilled words — is chiefly shown by this, that they are uttered by him with the fatuity of pride. For there is great unskillfulness in him: to be unwilling humbly to say that he does not know what he says, and to mingle words of pride with the meanings of truth. 5. Sometimes evil things are said well, and good things said ill. — For everything that is said can be distinguished by a fourfold quality: whether evil things are said ill, or good things well, or evil things well, or good things ill. For evil is said ill when a perverse thing is urged, as it is written: Bless God, and die (Job 2:9). Good is said well when right things are rightly preached, as John says: Do penance, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand (Matt.
3:2). Evil is said well when through the mouth of the speaker a vice is expressed for the very purpose that it may be reproved, as Paul says: Their women changed the natural use into that which is against nature (Rom. 1:26). In which place he added also the execrable crimes of men; but he narrated the dishonorable things honorably, so that by narrating the dishonorable he might recall many to the form of honor. But good is said ill when something right is not brought forth with right zeal, as the Pharisees are reported to have said to the man born blind whom Jesus had enlightened: You are His disciple (John 9:28). Which they said assuredly with the zeal of cursing, not with the desire of prayer. Or as Caiaphas said: It is expedient that one man die for the people, that the whole nation perish not (John 11:50).
For he spoke a good thing, but not well, because while he craved the cruelty of the killing, he prophesied the grace of redemption. In this manner therefore Elihu too is reproved for saying good things not well, because in those things which he truly speaks he is arrogantly puffed up. He signifies in himself the kind of the arrogant, in that through a sense of rectitude he raises himself into words of swelling. 6. In the reconciliation of Job's friends, the conversion of heretics is to be recognized. Their sacrifices do not please God, but those which are offered by the Church. — But what is it that the divine voice commands the three friends to be reconciled through seven sacrifices;
but Elihu He leaves behind under the reproach of but a single sentence — except that sometimes heretics, being poured over by the bounty of divine grace, return to the unity of the holy Church? This is well signified by that very reconciliation of the friends, for whom nevertheless blessed Job is commanded to pray, because indeed the sacrifices of heretics cannot be accepted by God unless they are offered for them by the hands of the universal Church, so that by her merits they may find the remedy of salvation — the Church which they smote by assailing it with the javelins of their words. Whence too seven sacrifices are recorded as offered for them, because while confessing they receive the Spirit of sevenfold grace, they are as it were expiated by seven oblations.
Hence in the Apocalypse of John, by the sevenfold number of Churches, the universal Church is designated (Rev. 1:11). Hence by Solomon it is said of wisdom: Wisdom has built herself a house, she has hewn out seven pillars (Prov. 9:1). By that very number of the sacrifices, therefore, the reconciled heretics express what they were before, who are joined to the perfection of sevenfold grace only by returning. And well are they described as having offered bulls and rams for themselves. For in the bull is designated the neck of pride, but in the ram the leadership of following flocks. What then is it to slay bulls and rams for them, except to kill their proud leadership, so that they may think humble things of themselves, and no longer seduce after them the hearts of the innocent?
For with swollen neck they had recoiled from the universality of the Church, and drew after themselves the weak peoples like following flocks. Let them come therefore to blessed Job, that is, let them return to the Church, and offer bulls and rams to be slain by the sevenfold sacrifice — they who, that they may be joined to the universal Church, with humility intervening, slay whatever proud thing they before savored of their haughty leadership. 7. Those are not reconciled who, by rightly preaching, serve vainglory, but are very often reproved.
— But Elihu, by whom the lovers of vainglory are signified, being constituted within the holy Church, who disdain to bring forth humbly the things they rightly think — he is by no means commanded to be reconciled through sacrifice, because the arrogant, who are nevertheless faithful, since they are already within, cannot be recalled through seven sacrifices. Yet the divine sentence reproves them under the appearance of Elihu, and reproves in them not the sentences of truth, but the mind and words of pride. Which reproof, indeed, what else does it signify, than that the rebuke of heavenly strictness either corrects those placed within, through the scourge, or leaves them to their very selves through a just examination?
For such men within the holy Church indeed preach right things, but nevertheless, with God as judge, they deserve to hear adverse things, because through those good things which they bring forth as not their own, they seek not the glory of their author, but their own praise. Whence this too must be cautiously weighed, that is said by the divine voice concerning Elihu: Who is this (Job 38:2)? For such an interrogation is the first reproach. For we do not say 'Who is this' except assuredly of him whom we do not know. But for God not to know is to reprove; whence to certain ones whom He reproves He will say at the end: I know not whence you are, depart from me all you workers of iniquity (Luke 13:27). What then is it to inquire concerning this arrogant one, 'Who is this?' except openly to say:
I do not know the arrogant, that is, I do not approve their life in the virtue of my wisdom, because while they are puffed up by human praises, they empty themselves of the true glory of eternal recompense? While He by no means rejects his sentences, but nevertheless reproves the very one who brought them forth, He as it were openly intimates, saying: I know what he says, but I am ignorant of who says it, because I approve the things truly brought forth, but I do not acknowledge him who is exalted over the good things he brings forth. 8. An excellent image of the best preacher. Good things scarcely become known without danger. Let him who is wise strive to be wise, not to seem so.
— But that we may more openly show how basely Elihu melts away in the boastfulness of exaltation, we ought first to show the form of the good preacher, so that from the state of this rectitude may be clearly demonstrated how depraved is the crookedness of that distortion. Every spiritual preacher of the holy universal Church inspects himself with skillful care in all that he says, lest in that he preaches right things he exalt himself with the vice of elation; lest his life discord from his tongue; lest the peace which he announces in the Church he lose in himself, while he speaks well and lives ill. But he strives above all, against the slanderous rumors of adversaries, both to defend by speaking what he lives, and to adorn by living what he says. Nor in all these does he seek his own glory, but his author's;
and all the grace of wisdom which he received in order to speak, he esteems that he has received not by his own merits, but by the intercessions of those for whom he speaks. And so, while he casts himself down beneath, he rises above, because indeed it profits more to his own reward that he renders to the merits of others the good things which he prevails to exercise. He judges himself unworthy of all, even when he lives more worthily than all. For he knows that the good things which become known to men can scarcely be without danger. And although he feels himself to be wise, yet he would rather be wise and not seem so, and he utterly dreads for himself this very thing that is betrayed by his speaking;
and if it be permitted, he seeks to be silent, since he perceives that silence is safer than many things, and he thinks those more blessed whom an inner place within the holy Church conceals through silence; and yet, that he may defend the holy Church, because he is impelled to speak by the force of charity, he undertakes indeed of necessity this office of speaking, but with great desire he seeks the leisure of silence. This he keeps by vow, that he exercises by ministry. But this rule of speaking the arrogant do not know. For they do not speak because occasions arise, but they crave that occasions arise so that they may speak. Of whom Elihu now signifies the kind, who in his own utterance exalts himself with the immense vice of elation. Therefore, blessed Job's discourses being finished, it is added: Chapter 32, verse 7.
— But these three men ceased to answer Job, because he seemed just to himself. This that is said of him — 'because he seemed just to himself' — the sacred writer of this history referred to the judgment of the friends, but did not reprove blessed Job for the swelling of elation. There follows: