Excerpts from a Commentary on Job

Let those curse it who curse the day. Morally. In the old translation: Let him curse it who curses the day, who is about to catch the great whale. The devil, who is now night, will at the end be seen as day, when he exalts himself above all that is called God, or that is worshipped. But now he destroys his malice, who at the end by his coming will destroy his power: who in the waters of holy baptism extinguishes the great whale, that is, his strength. Or let them curse it, that is, night, the elect angels announcing it, condemning the darkness. Who curse the day, that is, who show that his feigned brightness, by which he presumed to become equal to God, is to be despised. Who are ready to arouse, that is, to release, that he may act with all his strength against the Church.

Now he is held bound in the abyss and pressed down, and he who in his pride exalted himself above others has fallen prostrate under their dominion, so that now, bound, he lies hidden under these ministers, even though at the end, released, he will openly wage war.

After he has warned gently, he now rebukes openly. The roaring of the lion: that is, the severity and terror of Job himself. The voice of the lioness, the talkativeness of the wife: the teeth of the whelps, the greediness of the sons, have been destroyed. With these the harsh man taunts, as though over something condemned. He also compares Job to a tiger, on account of the stains of pretense. For the hypocrite, who appears upright, has hidden vices, which sometimes, bursting forth, vary his color. The glory of the just, which he seizes for himself, is prey. Thinking then that holy Job had held the goods which he knew were in him through hypocrisy, he says: The tiger has perished, that is, the variegation of your pretense is extinguished, because the flattery of praise has been taken away.

In place of "tiger" here in the LXX is read "mirmicoleon," which in Latin is called "the lion of the ants," or more precisely, "ant and lion." It is a small animal, which, hiding in the dust, lies in wait for ants and devours them; but to birds and other animals it is itself an ant, by which it is devoured. By this he notes that Job was timid against the exalted, bold against the subject, but now his loftiness has no prey, because, struck by another's injury, it is held in check. The same things typically concerning heretics. The lion is the devil, for his savagery. The lioness is the city of the world. Babylon, joined to the lion, is the whelps. Because the reprobate are begotten from these, the saints beware of them.

But the heretics, secure, think they have overcome all things, as if to say: we are not scourged for this reason, because we conquer the power of the devil, and his voice, that is, the glory of the world, and his teeth, that is, the persuasion of the reprobate. The tiger again is the devil for his manifold cunning, or the mirmicoleon, which is weak against those who resist, strong against those who consent. Whom they say has perished, because it has no prey among them. This they repeat with joy, because what is said with joy is often repeated.

What is written in lead is more quickly erased. On flint it is written with difficulty, but it remains. So Judea receives the words of God quickly and abandons them: the gentile world receives them with difficulty, but keeps them firmly.

For I know that my Redeemer lives. He does not say Creator, but Redeemer, plainly announcing him who, after he had created all things, redeemed us from captivity by his own passion. He lives, moreover, though he died at the hands of the impious. Whom I myself shall see, that is, our flesh after the resurrection will be the same, and different. The same by nature, different by glory. And it will be spiritual, because incorruptible, and palpable, because the essence of true nature is not lost. This my hope is laid up in my bosom. We believe we hold nothing more certain than what we hold in our bosom. In the bosom, then, he held his hope laid up, because with true certainty he presumed upon the hope of resurrection. He expressly indicates the truth of the resurrection. It is not that one dies and another rises again: as those say who claim the body will be invisible: but the same self.

My Redeemer lives, and through the resurrection I hope to be like him: just as the other rods remained dry, but the rod of Aaron, that is, the body of our priest, burst forth into the flower of resurrection, by which flower that priest is shown who intercedes for us.

And that you would not be overwhelmed by the onrush of flooding waters. Tribulations are compared to flooding waters, because one rushes upon another, as wave upon wave. Therefore you did not think you would be overwhelmed, because you thought God did not see these lower things. And do you still think so? Heretics think themselves wise, and mock the catholics, because they do not fear God, since they do not see him bodily; nor do they think he sees earthly things from afar. Rather, that he is higher than the sky, and, as if hidden in a cloud, judges through darkness. Therefore, because between us and the sky there are airy regions, and being intent on higher things, he sees the depths less, or, encircling the poles of heaven, does not look upon the lower things.

Do you desire to keep the path of the ages? As the path of the Redeemer is humility, so the path of the ages is pride. And so unjust men tread the path of the ages, because through the desires of this life they walk in loftiness. Who were taken up before their time: those who love the present life promise themselves longer spans of that same life. But when death, coming upon them, snatches them away, it cuts short the spans of life which they had stretched out in thought. And a river overturned their foundation. The unjust, since they do not perceive that present things are fleeting, fix their mind in the love of the present life, and build for themselves, as it were, the foundation of a long habitation in it. But a river overturns their foundation: because the very course of mutability undermines the standing of their ill-conceived construction.

Who were taken up before their time. It should be known that God ordains years according to the merits of each, and disposes the term, so that the wicked may live briefly, lest he harm many, or the good may live longer, that he may benefit many: or again the wicked may live longer, that he may increase evils by which the good are proved, and the good is taken away sooner, lest, if he live longer, he be corrupted by wickedness. And the sentence of God is changed, but not his eternal counsel.

Others go forth to their work like wild asses in the desert. For there are heretics who flee mingling with the people, but seek withdrawal into a more secluded life, and infect all the more with the plague of their persuasion, the more, as it were from the merits of their life, they seem more worthy of reverence. They are compared to wild asses, because, given over to their own wills, they are estranged from the bond of faith and reason. They go forth to their work. For they carry out not God's work, but their own work, since they follow not right doctrines, but their own desires. And watching for prey, they prepare bread for their children. They watch for prey, who always strive to twist the words of the just to their own meaning, so that through these they may prepare for their perverse children the bread of error. They reap a field not their own.

Under the name of a field or vineyard the Church is signified, which perverse preachers reap, and, by oppressing its members, harvest its Author: who, persecuting the grace of the Creator, while they snatch away certain ones from it who seemed upright, what else do they take away but the ears of grain, or the clusters, of souls? They send men away naked, taking away the garments, so that they have no covering in the cold. As clothing protects the body, so good works protect the soul. Heretics, therefore, when they destroy the good works of certain persons, take away garments. To whom there is no covering in the cold. Covering pertains to righteousness, cold to guilt. He, then, is cold and covered who by one work grows warm unto righteousness, by another grows cold unto guilt. But when heretics take away good works from such persons, they act so that they have nothing in the cold with which to be clothed. Whom the showers of the mountains water, that is, the streams of the preachers sanctify.

And having no covering, they embrace the rocks. He speaks of strong men in the Church, such as the martyrs. Those, then, who trust in none of their own work, but run in prayer to the protection of the holy martyrs, what else do they do but, lacking the covering of good action, embrace the rocks? They did violence, plundering orphans, and despoiled the common people of the poor. Heretics in plundering do violence, because they rage with the violence of words and deeds against the weak minds of the faithful. They despoil the common people of the poor, because, while they do not prevail against the learned, they strip the unlearned of the covering of faith. To the naked and those walking without clothing and to the hungry they took away the ears of grain. He who does neither good nor evil is naked and idle: he who does evil walks naked, because he proceeds along the path of wickedness without the covering of good work.

From the hungry, and from those who desire through repentance the food of the word, heretics take away the ears of grain, because in their mind they destroy the sayings of the Fathers, which are signified by the ears of grain. Because while the sayings are brought forth through figure, we remove from them the covering of the letter, as it were the chaff of the ears, so that we may be refreshed by the marrow of the spirit. Among their heaps they took their midday rest, who, the winepresses having been trodden, are thirsty. Those who persecute the Church tread the winepress. For while the unjust oppress the just, they cast the clusters underfoot, which, stripped of flesh, run to heavenly things as if into a storehouse. Moreover, they tread and are thirsty who, by doing cruel things, become thereby more cruel, and strive to do heavier things: whom, when the heretics see acting cruelly against the catholics, they take their midday rest among their heaps.

Who, the winepresses having been trodden, are thirsty, because they join themselves to the multitude of those whom they see doing heavy things, and thirsting for still heavier things, and, when they themselves cannot stir up persecution, they incite the powerful of the world to this, whose fervor, while it satisfies their desires, causes them to rest in their acts, as if at midday.

Whose helper are you? Is it not the weak one? To help the weak belongs to charity: to wish to help the powerful belongs to arrogance. And the sense is this: while you intend to help him under whose greatness you yourself succumb, the comfort you offer comes from ostentation, not from piety. To whom have you given counsel? To give counsel to a fool belongs to charity: to give counsel to a wise man belongs to ostentation: to give counsel to Wisdom itself belongs to perversity. Whence follows, and prudence. Everyone who has prudence is upright. It is not abundant, because he does not seek to know more. Is it not he who made the breath? Baldad, because he believed that Job had been scourged for guilt, strove with proud rashness to penetrate the hidden judgment of God, which he ought rather to have venerated humbly. He therefore preferred himself in prudence to him whose judgment, by not understanding, he judged.

But because Job, bearing the type of the Church, said little in the correction of the proud, he suddenly expands into teaching through sentences, saying: Behold the giants groan beneath the waters. The giants are the proud: the waters are the peoples. The lofty, while in this world they desire to attain the honor of loftiness, groan under the weights of the peoples. He who is subject in mind is placed under those peoples to whom he is subject in dignity. And by these words it is indicated that all pride lies in the depths by that very fact by which it raises itself on high.

My root is open beside the waters. By the name of root, hidden thought is signified. The root is opened beside the waters, since, for perceiving the streams of truth, the thought of the mind is secretly opened. And the dew shall remain in my harvest. Understand: I was saying. The harvest is taken as the Church, when perfect souls, withdrawn from bodies like ripe crops cut off from the earth, migrate to the heavenly granaries. The dew shall remain in the harvest, because grace coming from above acts, so that we may be worthy to be gathered from the lower things. My glory shall be ever renewed: because he laments his lost glory: because he recognizes that those whom he had believed to be soldiering for the new life are serving old desires.

Understanding either grows sluggish through idleness, or vanishes through pride, and therefore he says: if I have rejoiced. When someone acts on what he understands, he often falls through what is shown outwardly. But blessed Job, just as he did not exalt the gold of understanding, so neither the light of action. And this is: if I have seen the sun. Well do good men not see their own good things, which they offer for others to see, nor the moon, that is, the fame of good work, which shines for those walking in darkness. For Job did not exalt these things, which are the more to be feared. For then, like a tall tree, it is shaken all the more by the winds; yet in understanding it was, as it were, dead in the seed of its works. Indeed, praise made him arrogant neither in his words nor even in so great a thought. And this is: my heart rejoiced in secret.

And because an inconsiderate mind, lifted up by favors, sometimes praises what it has done, he adds: and my mouth kissed my hand. Which is the greatest iniquity. Every sin that arises from infirmity does not destroy the spirit, because it seeks pardon from God. But presumption, the further it is from humility, the graver it is in despair, and, while it attributes strength to itself, it does not seek it from God.—While the wicked marvel at good things, the lamp burns in the night. If the good also marvel at the very best things, the sun shines. In the day, while good shines by bodily action, it is a lamp, that is, a light in an earthen vessel: while by contemplation of the mind, it is the sun from heaven.

When the morning stars praised me together. The elect angels also marveled at the mystery of Christ's Incarnation, because they were created first in time, not in the beginning. They are called morning stars, either because, being often sent to exhort men, while they announce the morning that is to come, they put to flight from human hearts the darkness of the present life. These morning stars also, together with the evening ones, praise the power of the Redeemer: because, when men have been redeemed at the end of the world, they glorify the bounty of heavenly grace. And all the sons of God rejoiced with jubilation. Jubilation is spoken of when the joy of the heart is not fulfilled by the effectiveness of the mouth. The angels therefore praise, who already see in the heights the breadth of so great a splendor: but men jubilate, who still in the lower places endure the narrowness of their mouth; which things, because the Lord knew they were to come, he relates as having been done.

But because, when the good jubilate, envy inflames the wicked, whom nevertheless the Lord tempers, concerning these he immediately adds.

Shalt thou be able to join together the shining stars. It is agreed that no man can do this; but when Job is questioned about these things, it is shown so that he, being humble, may take refuge in him who alone could do this.

Ibexes are called small quadrupeds, which dwell among the rocks, and bring forth young: and when falling, they receive themselves unharmed upon their horns. In these is signified the person of spiritual masters, who, like ibexes, bring forth on the rocks, because in the teaching of the Fathers, who are called rocks for their solidity, they beget souls unto conversion. They themselves, like ibexes, feel no harm from any fall, while they are caught upon their own horns: because, whatever ruin of temporal adversity may befall them, they receive themselves in the testaments of sacred Scripture, and are saved as it were by the reception of horns. They themselves are called stags, who, having slain their vices, as though serpents had been destroyed, live, and from that very destruction of vices are kindled the more ardently toward the fountain of life.

And their father gave them an inheritance among their brothers. Therefore they are recorded as beautiful, from among the number of those set in charge. They themselves also, from the type of the imperfect, as weak minds, receive an inheritance. The sisters therefore come to the inheritance together with the brothers: because the weak are admitted to the heavenly things together with the strong. And Job lived after this. He is empty of days who, however long he may have lived, has consumed the seasons of his age in vanity: but on the contrary, he is said to be full of days for whom his days do not pass away by perishing, but from the daily wages of good work are reserved with the just Judge, both after they have passed and after they shall have been. In the type of the Church, if we multiply 14 by ten, we arrive at the number one hundred and forty.

And rightly is it reckoned for the Church, the 10 and the 4 multiplied together: because, keeping both testaments, and living both according to the decalogue of the Law and according to the four books of the Gospel, she is extended even to the summit of perfection. And rightly is Job said to live after the scourges, because the Church is first struck with the scourge of discipline, and afterward is strengthened by the perfection of life. She also beholds her sons, and the sons of her sons, even to the fourth generation: because in this age, which revolves through four yearly seasons even to the end of the world, she contemplates offspring being born to her through the mouths of preachers. She sees the sons of sons, when she recognizes that others also are begotten by them even unto the end. She dies old and full of days: because, with the subsequent light coming from the wages of daily works, having laid aside the weight of corruption, she is changed into the incorruption of the spiritual homeland.

She dies full of days, for whom the passing years do not pass away, but are made solid by the reward of steadfast deeds. She dies full of days, because through these passing times she works that which does not pass away.—By the custom of the old life, women do not have an inheritance among the males: because the severity of the law, choosing the strong and despising the weak, sought rather to decree with strictness than with kindness. But with the coming of the merciful Redeemer, the weak too is taken up together with the perfect unto the kingdom.