Lecture 2 — The great infinity of God

^11:11^ For he knows the vanity of men. When he sees something wicked, should he not consider it?

^11:12^ The vain man puffs himself up with pride. He thinks he is born free as the young wild ass.

^11:13^ But you have hardened your heart and you have stretched out your hands to God.

^11:14^ If you take away the evil which is on your hands, and if you will not remain in the tent of injustice,

^11:15^ then you can lift up your head, free from shame and you will be stable. You will not fear.

^11:16^ The miseries also you will forget and you will not remember them, like floods which have passed.

^11:17^ The radiance of noon will come to you in the evening, and when you think you have been used up, you will arise like the Daystar.

^11:18^ You will have confidence when hope is proposed to you and you will sleep safe in the grave:

^11:19^ you will rest and there will be no one who will trouble you, and many intercede on you behalf.

^11:20^ The eyes of the wicked are deficient and they will lose every chance of flight, and their hope is the loathing of the soul.

198. For he knows the vanity of men. After Sophar shows that there is something hidden in divine wisdom which is incomprehensible to men, he proceeds to clarify something which he had only supposed so far; namely, that God exacts punishment for sin from man, and he concludes as a certainty that God knows the deeds of man. So he says: I am right in saying that you endure smaller punishments from God than your evil merits, for he knows the vanity of man, the vain deeds of men. Something is commonly called vain when it is unstable, because it has not been fixed in a due end. The vanity of man comes from the fact that his heart is not fixed in the truth, which alone can be the foundation of his security. From the fact that he withdraws from the truth, he does evil when he desires what is only the apparent good in place of the real good. So he then says, when he, God, sees something wicked, produced by the vanity of men, should he not consider it, as worthy of punishment? For a judge seems to pass over a sin without considering it when he keeps silence and chooses not to punish it. This cannot be said about God. When he sees the vanity of men, he exacts punishment for their evil.

199. Just as man turns to evil from vanity, so, from the same vanity, man does not think he is subject to divine judgment. He therefore continues, the vain man puffs himself up with pride, so that he does not believe he is subject to the measure of a higher law than himself. He continues, he thinks he is born as free as the young wild ass. The young of a wild ass are born outside the domestication of man. However, the young of the asses which are born in human domestication are born to serve the needs of man. Thus, men who do not think they are subject to divine judgment think they are like the asses born wild, even though they can see that other men are limited by divine judgment who are in the same condition as they are. This seems to be an insult to blessed Job, because he takes his words as an argument with God, as with an equal, when he said, may he withdraw his rod from me, let terror of him not frighten me. I will speak and not be afraid of him (Job 9:34). So he continues, but you have hardened your heart, so you defend your evil. Yet, you have stretched out your hands to God, in this condition of hardness of heart in prayer when you said, I will say to God: do not condemn me (Job 9:34). So your prayer is useless. For prayer is useful when man first puts evil aside and then asks God to stop punishing him.

He speaks to this theme, saying, if you take away the evil which is on your hands, and desist from the evil work which you still have on your hands, and if you will not remain in the tent of injustice, if you make restitution by giving back what you have unjustly taken away. Or you must correct the members of your household, because the masters are often punished because of their negligence in correcting the crimes of their own household. Then you can lift up your head, in prayer to God, free from stain, of fault. In this your condemnation will end, first for the future, and so he says, and you will be stable, which will guarantee you against being shaken from future trials. Also, you will not fear future dangers, because sometimes, although he does not fear the future, a man may still get discouraged about those things which he has lost or has suffered. He continues, the miseries also, which you have suffered till now, you will forget, because of the superabundance of the goods coming to you. He strengthens this with an example when he next says, and you will not remember them, like floods which have passed. He says this because, after the rainy season, when calm returns, a man forgets the floods which have happened, or because the waters of the flood rush swiftly away, and after they go, no memory of them remains.

200. But Job had proposed two arguments against the promise of prosperity in this life: the devastation of his own body, when he said, decay clothes my flesh (Job 7:5), and the passing of the days of his life, when he said, my days have passed more quickly (Job 7:9). So he answers both objections, saying, the radiance of noon will come to you in the evening, for although it seems to you that your days have passed away and your life is almost over like the twilight, such great prosperity will come to you that you will almost return to the joy of your youth. For as old age is understood as the evening of life, so the radiance of the noon means the clarity of earthly prosperity. He then says, against what Job had said about the consumption of his own body, when you think that you have been used up, because of the weakness which you have suffered, you will arise like the Daystar, because your body will return to its youthful beauty.

201. As Job had said that his days were used up, without any hope (Job 7:6), he then says, you will have confidence when hope is proposed to you. Because Job also had rejected the opinion of those who said that man returns again after death, passing many ages, to this same kind of life, he does not say that this hope is proposed to him, but hope of the kind in which men live after death in the memories of men. This happens in two ways: in one way in the graves in which the bodies of the dead are placed, so that the memory of the dead is kept. So they are called monuments, and to show this he says, you will sleep safe in the grave, because no one will violate your tomb, nor should you even be afraid that anyone will attack you, and so he then says, you will rest and there will be no one who will be trouble you. In another way, the dead live in the memories of men because of the goods which they did while they were alive, for which their life would be desirable. Addressing this he then says, many intercede on your behalf; that is, many will desire your presence, or they will show reverence at your tomb, remembering your good deeds.

202. Because he had promised this if Job would stop doing evil, he shows as a consequence that these things are not given to the evil man. So he continues, the eyes of the wicked are deficient, because they do not obtain the good which they desire. For the eyes of someone are said to be deficient when he aspires to obtain something which he is not strong enough to obtain. The wicked cannot obtain desired goods, so they cannot avoid evils which they suffer or fear. So he continues, they will lose every chance of flight, because they cannot flee evil things after death. After death, however, they will not be held in veneration, or desired, but they will be held in abomination because of the evils which they have done, and he addresses this theme, saying, and their hope is the loathing of the soul, which means that what they can hope for after death is to be in hatred.