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For there is none like him on the earth, simple and upright, who fears God and draws back from all evil-doing.' (Jb 1,8)
Because we have gone over carefully before what God says of Job, that he is innocent and upright, fearing God and drawing back from all evil-doing, we will not repeat ourselves, lest by going over the same thing a second time we should be retarded in getting to what remains. We must note carefully how it says that the Lord spoke to Satan and Satan answered to the Lord: we must consider what sort of speech this is. It is certainly not true either that the Lord, who is the highest and most boundless spirit, or that Satan, who is clothed with no fleshly nature, brings forth the sound of a voice in the human manner, by expanding the belly's sack with a blast of wind and forcing the air through the throat's pipes. But when an incomprehensible being speaks to an invisible being, our mind should lift itself up from the ways of corporeal speech to consider the lofty and unknown modes of inner speech. When we want to express outwardly what we think inwardly, we press our thoughts out through the throat's pipes with the sound of our voice. In the eyes of others we stand here, inside the hidden places of the mind, as though behind a wall of flesh. When we want to reveal ourselves, we use our speech to go out and show what we are like within.
But spiritual natures are not like us, not made in our double fashion of body and spirit. Thus we must note that when that incorporeal nature is said to speak, its speech is not always of one and the same sort. God speaks to the angels in one way, the angels to God another way; God speaks one way to the souls of the blessed, and the souls of the blessed to God another way; God speaks to the devil one way, the devil another way to God.
209 Because bodies pose no obstacles between spiritual natures,
God speaks to the holy angels by the very fact that he shows his unseen secrets to their hearts, so that in the contemplation of truth they might read what they ought to do. The true joys of contemplation are like commands of the Lord's voice. What they see and what they hear are the same. So when God pours out into their hearts angry revenge against human pride, he says, "Come, let us go down and confound their tongues." It is said to those who cling to him, "Come," for never to weaken in contemplation of God is itself to grow in contemplation constantly, and never to draw back in the heart is itself to be always coming to him, but by a stable kind of motion. He says to them, "Let us go down and confound their tongues." Angels go up when they see their creator; they go down when they repress with discipline and judgment the struggle of creatures for illicit things. When God says, therefore, "Let us go down and confound their tongues," he is showing them in himself what is right for them to do and through the power of inner vision he inspires in their minds by hidden means judgments worthy to be declared.
210 Angels speak to God in another way,
as in the Apocalypse of John: "Worthy is the Lamb, who is slain, to receive virtue and divinity and wisdom." The voice of the angels in praise of their creator is nothing more than the wonderment of inner contemplation. Merely to have been astonished at the miracles of divine strength is to have spoken. When the heart is stirred with reverence, great is the clamor of the voice that rises to the ears of the boundless spirit. That voice reveals itself as if by distinct words when it shapes itself in the countless forms of wonderment. God therefore speaks to the angels when he manifests his inmost will to their vision, but the angels speak to the Lord when they rise up in wonderment at that which they see to be above themselves.
211 God speaks in one way to the souls of the blessed,
and in another way the souls of the blessed speak to God. In another place in the Apocalypse of John it is said, "I saw under the altar the souls of people slain on account of the word of God, and on account of the witness they bore. And they cried out with a great voice saying, 'How long, Lord, holy and true, do you abstain from judgment and when do you take vengeance for our blood from those who live on the earth?'" And it is immediately added, "There are given to each of them white stoles and it is said to them that they should repose yet a little while until the number of their fellow servants and brothers should be filled." What can it mean for the souls to make a prayer for vengeance except that they long for the day of last judgment and the resurrection of the bodies that have passed away? Great is their clamor, great is their desire. Each one cries out the less, the less he desires. Each one sends up so much greater a roar to the ears of the boundless spirit the more fully he pours himself into that desire. The souls' desires are their words, for if desire did not become word, the prophet would not say, "Your ear has heard the desire of their hearts."
But since there is one kind of motion in the soul that seeks, another in the soul that is sought, and since the souls of the blessed cleave to the inner bosom of God to find peace: how can it be said that they ask something, when they are in no way separate from God's will? How can they ask something, when it is certain that they know the will of God and the things to come? But they are said to ask something of him while placed in God's lap, not because they want something that differs from the will of Him whom they contemplate, but because insofar as they cling to him ardently they are given by him the more to ask from him that which they know he wants to give. They drink from him to answer their inner thirst; and in a way so far incomprehensible to us they are satisfied by the foreknowledge of that which their hunger seeks. They would be in conflict with the will of the creator if they did not want the things they see him want; and they would cling to him the less if they asked with feebler desire for the things he is willing to give.
And so to them the divine response is given: "Rest yet a little while until the number of your fellow servants and brethren should be filled." To say to the souls that ask, "Rest yet a little while," is for foreknowledge itself to breathe the solace of consolation on the ardor of desire. Thus the voice of the souls of the blessed is the very thing they desire in their love, and the word of God in answer is precisely the confirmation he makes to their desire for certain vengeance. His answer, that they should await the gathering of their brethren, fills up the long delays of expectation in their hearts, so that while they seek the resurrection of the flesh they should be thankful for the increase of their numbers by the accession of their brethren.
212 God speaks one way to the devil
and the devil speaks another way to God. God speaks to the devil by assailing his ways and deeds with implicitly severe criticism, as when he says here, "Whence do you come?" The devil's answer to God is his inability to hide anything from omnipotent majesty. So here he says, "I have gone all around the earth, passing through it to and fro." For him to say what he has done acknowledges that he cannot hide his deeds from the eyes of God. Note that in this passage we learn that God speaks to the devil in four different ways, while the devil has three ways of addressing God. The four ways in which God speaks to the devil are: by condemning his unjust ways; by throwing in the devil's face the righteousness of the chosen ones; by letting the devil try his hand against their innocence; and sometimes by forbidding him from daring to tempt them. He condemns the devil's unjust ways (as we have already said) when he says, "Whence do you come?" He throws in the devil's face the righteousness of the elect by saying, "Have you considered my servant Job? There is none like him on all the earth." He lets the devil try his hand against innocence when he says, "So: all that he has is in your hand." And again he prohibits him from tempting when he says, "but only do not harm the man himself."
The devil speaks to God in three different ways: when he tells of his own deeds; when he attacks the innocence of the elect with trumped-up charges; and when he demands a chance to tempt their innocence. He tells of his own deeds when he says, "I have gone all around the earth, passing through it to and fro." He attacks the innocence of the elect with trumped-up charges when he says, "Has Job feared God for nothing? Haven't you built walls around him, and his house, and all around his possessions?" He demands a chance to tempt their innocence when he says, "But reach out your hand and touch his wealth, and see if he does not curse you to your face." But it is for God to say, "Whence do you come," (as we said above) assailing the ways of his wickedness by the force of divine justice. It is for God to say, "Have you considered my servant Job? For there is none like him on the earth." By justifying his elect he makes them objects of envy for the renegade angel. It is for God to say, "So: all that he has is in your hand." To test the faithful he lets loose against them in hidden ways the onslaught of the devil's malice. It is for God to say, "But only do not harm the man himself," limiting his permission to restrain the rush of unbounded temptation. The devil can say, "I have gone all around the earth, passing through it to and fro," for he is incapable of hiding the cunning of his malice from the invisible eyes of God. It is for the devil to say, "Has Job feared God for nothing?" complaining against goodness in the thickets of his own thoughts, envying their success, and seeking pretext for criticism with his envy. It is for the devil to say: "But reach out your hand and touch his wealth," panting for the affliction of the just with
the breath of malice. In his envy he seeks the chance to tempt them, so he speaks as if to ask the chance to prove them faithful.
Now that we have briefly discussed the forms of inner speech, let us now return to our place in the commentary from which we have briefly digressed.
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For there is none like him on the earth, simple and upright, who fears God and draws back from all evil-doing.' (Jb 1,8)
In our earlier discussion we showed that the devil was proposing a contest, not against Job, but against God. Blessed Job lay between as the arena of their combat. If we say that Job sinned by his words in the midst of his tribulations, we say that God (and this is blasphemy) failed in his part of the contest. Notice how in this passage, the devil does not seek power over Job from God before the Lord praised Job in the sight of the devil. If God had not known that he would persevere in justice, he would not have brought him up at all. Nor would he hand over to the devil someone who would perish in the trial of temptation, much less fan the flames of the devil's envy in advance of the trial with his praises.
214 But when the ancient enemy could not find wickedness in Job to accuse,
he tried to twist good things around to make them evil. When he is vanquished by deeds, he examines our words to find matter for reproach. When he cannot find that matter in our words, he attempts to besmirch the heart's intent; as though good deeds do not come from a good spirit and therefore ought not to be considered just by a judge. When he sees a tree bearing fruit and flourishing in the summer's heat, he tries to plant the worm at its root, for he says:
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Haven't you built walls around him and his house and all around his possessions? Haven't you blessed the work of his hands? His wealth has grown and grown. (Jb 1,9-10)
This is as if to say openly, 'What wonder is it if the one who has received the good things of the world should conduct himself innocently in return? He would really be innocent if he persisted in goodness in the midst of adversity. Why is he called great, if every single good deed is accompanied by an abundant material reward?' The guileful adversary sees that the saintly man had acted well in prosperity, so he hastens to find fault with him before the judge in adversity. Thus it is said by the angel's voice in the Apocalypse: "The accuser of our brethren is overthrown; day and night he stood accusing them in God's presence." Holy scripture often uses day as a symbol of prosperity, night as a symbol of adversity. To accuse by day and by night is to try to render us guilty, now in prosperity, now in adversity. The devil accuses us by day when he shows that we have used our property badly; he
accuses by night when he shows that we lacked patience in adversity. Because the whips of tribulation had not yet touched blessed Job, he had found nothing at all by which to accuse him at night. Because he flourished with great vigor in prosperity, the devil pretended that he had done good things in order to gain that prosperity. The lie was in his clever claim that Job held his wealth not for the Lord's service, but that he worshipped the Lord to gain the use of great wealth.
Indeed there are some who use this world prudently to enjoy God; and there are those who try to use God casually in order to enjoy this world. When the devil recounts God's good gifts, he thinks that he can reduce to dust the deeds of the hardy workman. Even while failing to attack him for his works, he hopes still to condemn the thoughts of the mind with the lie that all his innocent life served not his love of the Lord but a yen for earthly prosperity. Ignorant of the strength of blessed Job, but still knowing that adversity is a truer test of strength for everyone, he sought the chance to tempt this man, so that the one who had walked with sure step through the day of prosperity might perhaps stumble in the night of adversity, to lie prostrate under the sin of impatience in the eyes of the God who praised him.
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(Jb1,11)
It is clearly to be noted that when Satan seeks to tempt the saintly man and says again to God that he should reach out his hand, this devil, though he swells with pride, all by himself, against the author of all things, still does not claim for himself the power to strike at Job. He knows that he cannot do anything of himself, for even his existence as a spirit is not of his own doing. This why the legion of demons about to be driven out of a man in the gospel says, "If you cast us out, send us into that flock of pigs." If they could not go into a flock of pigs by themselves, what wonder is it if the devil could not touch the house of the holy man if not through the hand of the creator?
217 You must observe that the will of Satan is always wicked
but his power to act is never unjust, for his will is of himself, but his power to act comes from the Lord. His wicked endeavors God only permits in a spirit of justice. So it is well put in the book of Kings: "The evil spirit of the Lord had come upon Saul." See how one and the same spirit is said to be 'of the Lord' and 'evil'; 'of the Lord' through the just power he permits, but 'evil' by the desire of the unjust will. This one who then can do nothing without permission is not to be feared. The only power to be feared is the one which allows the enemy to rage, and which the devil's unjust will serves in the cause of a just judgment. Satan asked for him to reach out his hand a little, because the things he wants attacked are external. Satan does not think very much accomplished unless he wounds Job in the soul so that, smiting him, he might call him back from that homeland from which the devil himself has fallen far, brought low by the weapon of his own pride.
218 But what is this text: "See if he does not curse you to your face"?
We look upon that which we love, but we turn our face away from that which we want to avoid. What does the face of God stand for if not the respectful gaze of his grace? He says therefore, "But reach out your hand and touch his wealth and see if he does not curse you to your face." This is as if to say, 'Take away the things you have given, for if he loses the things he has gotten from you, he will not seek the gaze of your grace when the earthly things are taken away. If he does not have the things in which he has taken pleasure, he will despise your favor with curses.' Truth is not teased by this clever request but still grants it, in order to deceive the enemy and to benefit the faithful servant by increasing his gift in the end. Whence it is immediately added:
219 (Jb 1,12)
In the words of the Lord we must see how well-moderated is his holy pity, how he both looses and checks our enemy, lets him go and reins him in. Some things he gives him to test but others he keeps back. "All that he has is in your hand--but only do not harm the man himself": he hands over the wealth but still protects Job's body (which, to be sure, he is going to hand over to the tempter later). Still he does not let the enemy loose all at once lest Job should break under attack from all sides. When many terrible things befall the elect, they are arranged sequentially by the wonderful grace of the creator so that the things that would, if they came all heaped up at once, destroy us can nevertheless be borne if taken one at a time. So Paul says: "Faithful is God, who will not allow you to be tempted beyond your strength. With the temptation itself, he will ordain the issue of it, so that you can hold your own." Thus David says, "Prove me, Lord, and tempt me"--as if he said openly, 'First measure my strength and then let me be tempted insofar as I can bear it.'
The given text: "So: all that he has is in your hand--but only do not harm the man himself," can be taken in another way, for God knew his champion was staunch but still willed that his contests against the enemy be split up so that even though victory would come to the rugged warrior in all the contests, the enemy would first have to come back to the Lord beaten in one contest. Then the Lord would concede Satan another contest, so that the faithful servant would appear the more wonderfully as a victor the more the beaten enemy kept mounting over and over again new attacks against him.
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(Jb 1,12)
What does it mean that Satan went out of the Lord's presence? How can he go away from the one who is everywhere? Indeed it says, "I fill heaven and earth." And his wisdom says, "I have gone all around the orb of heaven alone." And thus it is said of his spirit, "The spirit of the Lord fills the earth." And thus the Lord says again, "Heaven is my seat, but the earth is my footstool." And again: "He measures the heaven with his palm and he holds the whole earth in his fist." He is within the seat over which he presides, and above it. He 'measures heaven with his palm and holds the earth in his fist' to show that he is all outside and all around all the things he has created (for whatever is held must be held by someone outside). By the term 'seat' we understand that he is within and above all things; by the term 'fist' we understand that he is outside and below. He abides within and without, above and below all things. He rises above in power and goes below, supporting all things. He surrounds in his grandeur and penetrates within by his subtlety. Ruling from above, he holds all things from below, embracing and penetrating. He is not partly above and partly below, or partly outside and partly within, but he is one and the same, everywhere entire, supporting and governing, governing and supporting, embracing and penetrating, penetrating and embracing, ruling from above and supporting from below, surrounding and filling, calmly ruling from above and effortlessly supporting from below, penetrating without attenuation, surrounding without distension. He is below and above without place, he is broad without breadth, and he is rarefied without dissipation of strength.
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How then does Satan go away from one who is nowhere
(in presence of body) but everywhere (in unbounded substance)? But as long as Satan is checked by the power of divine majesty, he cannot exercise his eager malice--it is as though he were standing in God's presence. He goes out from the Lord's presence because he is freed by God from inner checks and accomplishes what he desires. He goes out from the presence of the Lord whenever his befouled will, long bound by the chains of discipline, goes out in freedom to do its deeds. As we said, when he cannot accomplish what he wills, it is as if he stands before the face of the Lord; by divine management he is kept from the doing of evil. But he goes out from the Lord's presence when he takes the opportunity to tempt and his malice finds what it has sought.
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and drinking wine at the house of the first-born son, a messenger came to Job who said, 'Your cattle were plowing and the she-asses were grazing nearby; and the Sabaeans swept down and drove them all away and put the shepherd boys to the sword. I alone got away to tell you.' (Jb 1,13-15)
Note which times are appropriate for trials. The devil chose that time for temptation when he found the sons of blessed Job were at their feasting. The enemy considers not only what he does, but when he does it. After he had the power, he sought out an apt time for overcoming his prey. This is reported so that we will learn by God's providence that the forerunner of tribulation is seen in the pleasure of contentment. Note how cleverly the depredations that have been suffered are reported. It is not said: "cattle have been taken by the Sabaeans," but that the cattle that were taken away were plowing--so that the sorrow would be increased by mentioning the fruits of their labor. Whence in the Greek texts they mention not only she-asses but pregnant she-asses as stolen, so that the least of animals should cause the mind of the hearer more grief, not so much from their innate value as from the mention of their fruitfulness. Adversity affects the mind the more when things are suddenly reported, so the scope of his groans is increased by the rhythm of the messengers, for it follows:
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from heaven and laid waste sheep and shepherds. I alone have escaped to tell you.' (Jb 1,16)
Lest Job be stirred to inadequate grief by learning of his losses, the very words of the messengers goad him to distraction. Note how craftily it is put, "The fire of God," as if to say, 'You suffer the hostility of him whom you have tried to placate with so many sacrificial victims; you bear the wrath of the one you daily sweat and strain to serve. When he hints that the God whom Job had served had sent this adversity, he reminds the victim of the wound for which he might go astray: he might bring his past obsequies back to mind and think himself to have served in vain and thus grow haughty towards his creator. When the faithful soul sees itself suffering adversity at the hands of men, it takes comfort in the consolation of divine grace; but when it sees the gusts of temptation building around it, it takes shelter inside the harbor of the conscience, taking refuge in hope in the Lord. But the cunning enemy, trying to smite the broad shoulders of the holy man at one and the same time with human adversity and divine despair, first mentions that the Sabaeans attacked and then reports that the fire of God had fallen from heaven. Thus he tries to shut off every avenue of consolation by showing that the one who could have consoled the soul in adversity was among the adversaries; then the tempted saint might see himself abandoned on all siders, attacked on all sides, and the more boldly burst forth with blasphemy, the more despair he felt.
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there came another who said, 'The Chaldaeans formed up three robber bands and attacked the camels, drove them away and put those herdsmen to the sword: and I alone have escaped to tell you.' (Jb 1,17)
See how he mentions the assault of the Chaldaean bands, so that no human hostility might be lacking. To keep the onrushing adversity from hurting him any the less, he shows reiterated wrath from the skies--for he adds,
225 This one was still speaking when (lo!) another came in and said, 'While your sons and daughters were feasting and drinking wine at the house of your first-born son, suddenly a violent wind blew up from the desert and smashed into the four corners of the house, which collapsed and crushed your children, and they were killed. I alone have escaped to tell you.' (Jb 1,18-19)
The man who was not laid low by a single wound is thus smitten here twice and thrice, so that he might be struck even to his heart. Misfortune is reported coming from the Sabaeans, divine hostility reported through the fire from heaven, the camels reported stolen, the shepherds slaughtered, and the anger of divine unhappiness appeared again when the wind sprang up to smash into the corners of the house and kill the children. Since it is known that the elements cannot be stirred without heavenly assent, it is implied that the God who allowed the elements to be moved had moved them deliberately against Job. (But Satan, once he had received the power from God, could compel the elements to serve his own wickedness. It ought not trouble us if a spirit come down from above could stir the air up into winds; for we see that water and fire continue to serve even those who have been sent as prisoners to the mines.) The devil sought then that bad news would come, much bad news, sudden bad news. The first time he reported bad news, he inflicted a wound on the tranquil heart as on a healthy body; but when he sought to strike that heart again, to drive Job to words of impatience, he was adding one wound to another.
226 See how cleverly the ancient enemy took care to try to break the holy man's patience not so much by the loss of all he cared about as by the sequence and manner in which the reports came. He was careful to mention the lesser things first, then add the worse things later, and reported the deaths of his children last. (The father might have thought the loss of his property trivial if he heard it when he was already bereaved. The loss of his property would hit him less hard if he already knew of the death of his sons, for an estate is nothing if first you take away the heirs for which it is maintained.) But beginning with the lesser things, he reported the graver matters last so that Job might know the worse things little by little and each wound might find a place of grief in his heart. Note how cleverly such weighty and separate and sudden evils are reported, so that growing by leaps and bounds, grief should be unable to restrain itself in the heart of Job. Grief would the more fan the fires of blasphemy the more he felt himself inflamed and trapped on all sides by sudden and various reports of disaster.
227 I do not think we should pass over casually the information that the sons were feasting in the home of the first-born when they perished. We said before that feasts can scarcely be held without some fault accruing. To speak of ourselves rather than Job's sons, we know that the pleasures of the young are kept in check by the discipline of their elders; but when the elders themselves give themselves up to their pleasures, the reins on frivolous self-indulgence are unloosed for the young as well. Who would keep himself under the rule of discipline when even those who have the power to restrain have given themselves up to pleasure. The sons perished while they were feasting in the house of the eldest brother because it is just then that the enemy is strongest against us, when he sees that those who are in charge of our discipline are given over to enjoyment. He has more room to attack us the more those who could intercede for us are diverted by self-indulgence. Far be it from us to suspect that the sons of such a man should have devoted themselves to their feasting in order to gorge their bellies; but still we do know that even if someone does not go beyond the limits of need when he eats, the vigilant mind grows lax at the table and pays less attention to its battles with temptation while letting itself go in carefree enjoyment. The enemy overpowered the sons on the day when it was the first brother's turn because he looked to find an opportunity to destroy the younger through the negligence of the elder. But we know how many arrows of ill-report struck our brave subject; now let us see how he bore up under the wounds.
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He shaved his head, then fell to the ground in adoration. (Jb 1,20)
Some people think it a philosophy of great endurance for those who are snatched up by the harsh discipline not to feel the force of blows and sorrow at all. But some are too much affected by the stings of their sufferings and, stirred by immoderate grief, fall to speaking thoughtlessly. But whoever struggles to hold to true philosophy must walk a middle path. There is no power of true virtue in an insensible heart, for the body's limbs are far from well if they are numbed and cannot even feel pain when cut. He also abandons the path of virtue by feeling too severely the pain of wounds, for when the heart is touched by too much suffering it is stirred to the rash words of impatience and, though it ought to correct its misdeeds in the face of adversity, instead iniquity increases in adversity. The prophet speaks against the insensibility of the beleaguered: "You smote them and they did not grieve; you wore them down and they refused to accept your discipline." Against the pusillanimity of the beleaguered the psalmist speaks: "In their misery they shall not stand." They would have stood under their miseries if they had born adversity with equanimity. But after their mind gives way under the lash, they lose their ability to stand up under the miseries they suffer.
229 Because blessed Job held to the rule of true philosophy,
he held out against both extreme positions with wonderful balance. It was not that he did not sense the pain (and thus turn his back on the correcting lash), nor did he feel it too strongly (and thus rage madly against the judgment of the one who tested him). When he had lost all his property and all his children, he rose up, tore his vestments, shaved his head, fell to earth, and worshipped God. Tearing his vestments, shaving his head, and falling to earth shows how he felt the pain of his loss. But that it is added, "he worshipped," shows clearly that in the midst of grief he did not sin against the judgment of the one who tested him. He was not entirely unmoved (lest he despise God in his insensibility) nor was he too much moved (lest he sin by grieving too much). But because there are two commandments of charity, love of God and love of neighbor, he poured out his grief for his sons to pay the debt of his love for his neighbor, but he performed his worship amid his groans, lest he stray from the love of God. Some love God in times of prosperity, but love the God that tests them less in times of adversity. But blessed Job by his actions showed that he recognized the father's lash, but by his worship he remained humble and showed that he did not abandon his love for the father even in grief. He fell under the blows, to show he was not proud and senseless, but lest he make himself a stranger to the one who sent the blows, he fell in order to worship. It was the custom of the ancients that whoever kept up his appearance by growing his hair long, cut it short in time of trouble; and on the other hand those who cut their hair short in time of peace, let it grow long in affliction. Blessed Job in time of peace kept his hair long and shaved it in time of trouble, so that when the hand from above despoiled him of all that he had a voluntary change of appearance would mark him with repentance. But stripped of his wealth, bereaved of his children, he tore his garments, shaved his head, and fell to the ground; let us hear what he said:
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