約伯倫理 第 39 章

In what order he explains the individual senses. That the allegorical sense must sometimes of necessity be adhered to. — But it must be known that some passages we run through by a historical exposition, and some we search out by allegory in a typical investigation; some we discuss by the instruments of allegory-and-morality alone; while some, more carefully examining through all these at once, we track down in a threefold way. For first indeed we lay down the foundations of the history; then through the typical signification we raise up the fabric of the mind into a citadel of faith; at the last also, through the grace of morality, we clothe the edifice as it were with a color laid over it. Or surely, what else are the words of truth to be believed but nourishment for the refreshing of the mind?

Discoursing on these in manifold ways by alternating methods, we offer a dish to the mouth; so that we may repel the fastidiousness of the invited reader, as of our guest, who, while he considers the many things set before him, may take up whatever he judges more choice. But sometimes we neglect to expound the plain words of the history, lest we come too slowly to the obscure ones; while sometimes they cannot be understood according to the letter, because, taken merely at surface level, they beget for the readers by no means instruction but error. For behold, it is said: Under whom they stoop who bear up the world (Job ix, 13). And who does not know, concerning so great a man, that he by no means follows the empty fables of the poets, so as to suppose that the mass of the world is borne up by giant toil?

Who again, pressed by blows, says: My soul has chosen hanging, and my bones death (Job vii, 15). And what rightly wise man would believe that a man of such great renown — who, it is plain, receives rewards from the inner Judge for the virtue of his patience — resolved to end his life by hanging amid the scourges? Sometimes also, lest perhaps they ought to be understood according to the letter, the very words of the letter oppose themselves. For he says: Let the day perish in which I was born, and the night in which it was said: A man is conceived (Job iii, 2). And a little after he subjoins: Let darkness seize it, and let it be wrapped in bitterness (ibid., 5). And in the cursing of the same night he adds: Let that night be solitary (ibid., 7).

That day of his birth, unrolled by the very impulse of time, could not stand still. By what pact, then, did he wish it to be wrapped in darkness? For, having slipped away, it now no longer existed; and yet, if it subsisted in the nature of things, it could by no means feel bitterness. It is agreed, therefore, that this is in no way said of an insensible day, which is wished to be smitten with the sense of bitterness. And if the night of his conception, joined to the other nights, had departed, by what pact does he desire it to become solitary? Which, as it could not be fixed from the lapse of time, so also could not be separated from the conjunction of the other nights. Who again says: How long do You not spare me, nor let me go, that I may swallow down my spittle (Job vii, 19)?

And yet a little above he had said: The things which my soul before refused to touch, now for anguish are my food (Job vi, 7). But who does not know that spittle can be swallowed more easily than food? He, then, who declares that he takes food, it is exceedingly incredible in what order he denies that he is able to swallow his spittle. And again he says: I have sinned; what shall I do to You, O keeper of men (Job vii, 20)? or surely: Do You wish to consume me for the sins of my youth (Job xiii, 26)? And yet with another response he subjoins: For my heart does not reproach me in all my life (Job xxvii, 6). By what pact, then, is he not in the least reproached by his heart in all his life, who testifies with public voice that he has sinned?

For never do the guilt of a deed and the irreproachableness of the heart come together at once. But without doubt the words of the letter, when, brought together, they cannot agree among themselves, show that there is something else within them to be sought after, as if by certain voices they were saying: While you behold us being destroyed on our surface, seek in us that which, ordered and congruous with itself, you may be able to find within us.