Lecture 2 — Satan’s request

^1:6^ Now on a certain day the sons of God came to assist in the presence of the Lord and Satan also was with them.

^1:7^ The Lord said to Satan: Where do you come from? Satan answered the Lord: I have prowled about the earth and I have run through it.

^1:8^ And the Lord said to him: Have you considered my servant Job, there is none like him on earth? He is a blameless and upright man who fears God and turns away from evil.

^1:9^ Then Satan answered the Lord: Does Job fear God in vain?

^1:10^ Have you not fortified him with a wall and his house and all that he has in a circle? You have blessed the work of his hands and his possessions have increased on earth.

^1:11^ But put forth your hand just a little and touch all that he has, if he does not bless you to your face.

^1:12^ And the Lord said to Satan: Behold, all that he has is in your power; only do not extend your hand to him.

10. Now on a certain day the sons of God. After Blessed Job’s prosperity has been enumerated, his adversity is placed. First, their cause is introduced. Lest anyone think that the adversities of just men happen apart from divine providence, and that because of this might think human affairs are not subject to divine providence, he first explains how God has care of human affairs and governs them. This is set forth in symbol and allegory according to the usual practice of Holy Scripture, which describes spiritual things using the images of corporeal things, as is clear in Isaiah, I saw the Lord sitting upon a high and lofty throne (Isa 6:1), in the beginning of Ezekiel and in many other places. Now, even though spiritual things are conceived using the images of corporeal things, nevertheless, what the author intends to reveal about spiritual things through sensible images do not pertain to the mystical sense, but to the literal sense, because the literal sense is what is first intended by the words, whether properly speaking or figuratively.

11. But one should know that divine providence governs things with such an order that lower things are ordered through higher things. For bodies which are generated and corrupted are subject to the motion of the heavenly bodies, and in the same way, lower reasoning spirits united to mortal bodies, namely, souls, are directed through higher incorporeal spirits. The tradition of the church teaches that among incorporeal spirits, some are good ones, who, guarding the purity in which they were created, enjoy divine glory, and never turn from the will of God. These spirits are sometimes called angels, that is, messengers, in the Scriptures because they announce divine things to men. Sometimes they are called sons of God in as much as they are made like to God by participation in his glory. But there are also some spirits which are evil, not by nature or creation, because God is the author of the nature of each, and the supreme good cannot be the cause of anything but good things, but these spirits are evil through their own fault. Spirits of this kind are called demons in the Scriptures, and their leader is called the devil, as though he fell from on high.

He is also called Satan, which means adversary. Therefore, both kinds of spirits move men to do things: the good to good deeds, the evil to wicked deeds. Just as men are moved by God through these spirits mentioned above, so too those things which are done by men are said in the Scriptures to be referred to divine consideration by the mediation of the same spirits. Thus, to show that both the good and evil things which men do are subject to divine judgment, the text continues, now on a certain day when the sons of God came to assist in the presence of the Lord, Satan also was among them.

12. One should know that the angels who are called here sons of God are said to assist in the presence of the Lord in two ways:

In the first way, in as much as God is seen by them; as Daniel says, a thousand thousands ministered before him and ten thousand thousands assisted in his presence (Dan 7:10); in another way, inasmuch as the angels themselves and their acts are seen by God, for those who assist in the presence of a lord both see him and are seen by him. Therefore, in the first way it only befits those angels to assist in God’s presence who are the blessed ones enjoying the divine vision. Nor is this fitting for all of these but only for those who exist among the higher angels, who enjoy the divine vision more intimately and do not go forth according to the opinion of Dionysius to perform exterior ministries. For this reason, the angels assisting in the presence of God are distinguished from the ministering angels in the text of Daniel already cited.

In the second way, however, it is fitting not only for the good angels, but also the wicked ones and even men to assist in the presence of God, because whatever is done by them is subject to the divine gaze and examination. Because of this, the text says next, when the sons of God came to assist in the presence of the Lord, and Satan also was among them.

Although those things which are in the care of the good and the bad angels are continually subject to the divine sight and examination, and so the sons of God always come to assist in the presence of God, and Satan is among them, nevertheless the text says, **on a certain day **according to the usage of Scripture which sometimes designates things above time, through things which are in time. For example, at the beginning of the book of Genesis, God is said to have spoken some things on the first or the second day even though his act of speaking is eternal, because what is said by him happened in time. So now, since the deed about which the author now treats took place in a determined time, those who do this deed are said to assist in the presence of God on a certain day even though they never cease assisting in the presence of God.

13. One should also consider that those things which are done through good angels are referred to the judgment of God in a different way than those things which are done by the wicked angels. For the good angels intend that the things which they do be referred to God. So the text says that the sons of God came to assist in the presence of the Lord, as if by their own movement and intention they subjected everything to the divine judgment. The wicked angels, however, do not intend that the things which they do are referred to God, but the fact that whatever they do is subject to divine judgment happens against their will. Therefore, the text does not say that Satan came to assist in the presence of the Lord, but only that Satan was among them. He is said to be among them both because of the equality of their nature and also to convey indirectly that evil things are not done from a principal intention [of God’s] but comes upon good men almost by accident.

14. There is a difference, then, between the things which are done through the good angels and through the wicked angels. For the good angels do nothing unless they are moved to do it by the divine command and will, for in all things they follow the divine will. But the wicked angels dissent from God in their will, and so the things which they do are hostile to God as far as their intention is concerned. Because we do not usually ask about the things which we do, but only those things which happen without us, the text therefore does not say that the Lord asked anything of the sons of God, but only that he questioned Satan. So the text continues, The Lord said to Satan: where do you come from? Note here that the Lord does not say to him, what are you doing? or where are you? but where do you come from? This is because those deeds themselves which are administered by the demons sometimes arise from divine will when he punishes the wicked and tries the good through them. But the intention of the demons is always evil and hostile to God, and so Satan is asked, where do you come from? because his intention from which the totality of his act proceeds is hostile to God’s.

15. One should note that to speak can be taken in two ways, for sometimes it refers to the interior concept of the heart, and sometimes to the term by which this kind of concept is expressed to another.

In the first way, God’s act of speaking is eternal and it is nothing other than to generate the Son who is his own Word.

In the second way, God speaks some things in time, yet in diverse ways, according to what corresponds to those with whom he speaks. For God spoke at times with men who have corporeal senses with a corporeal sound formed in some created subject, like the voice which said at the baptism and transfiguration of Christ, this is my beloved Son (Matt 3:17; 17:5). Sometimes he has spoken through an imaginary vision as one reads so often in the Prophets. Sometimes he speaks through intellectual expression, and God should be understood to have spoken in this way with Satan insofar as he made him understand that the things which he did are seen by God.

16. Therefore, just as in God’s act of speaking to Satan he informs Satan of something, so Satan answering God certainly does not inform God of anything, but makes Satan understand that everything which is his is open to divine scrutiny. According to this way of speaking, the text says, Satan answered the Lord: I have prowled about the earth and I have run through it. By the fact that the Lord says to Satan, where have you come from? God examines the devil’s intention and actions. By the fact that Satan answers, I have prowled about the earth and I have run through it, as though giving an account of his actions to God, both statements serve the purpose of showing that everything which Satan does is subject to divine providence. In prowling over the earth, Satan shows his craftiness in seeking out those he can deceive. With this in mind, Peter says, your adversary the devil prowls about like a roaring lion seeking someone to devour (1 Pet 5:8). This prowling about fittingly shows his craftiness as the straight way shows simple justice. For the straight line is that whose mean does not exceed the extremes.

Therefore, because the action of the just does not diverge from its principle (which is the will) and from its intended end, straightness is fittingly ascribed to the just. The work of the crafty, however, is to pretend one thing and to intend another. Thus what they show in their deed has its source in extremes when it agrees neither with the will nor the end. So the crafty are rightly said to prowl about, and because of this the Psalm says, the impious are prowling about (Ps 11:9). One should know, however, that although the devil uses the study of his craftiness against everyone, good and wicked alike, the effect of his cunning takes place only in the wicked, who are rightly called the earth. For since man is composed of spiritual nature and earthly flesh, man’s evil consists in the fact that after he has abandoned the spiritual goods to which he is ordered according to a mind endowed with reason, he clings to earthly goods which befit him according to his earthly flesh. Therefore, wicked men are correctly called earth inasmuch as they follow earthly nature. Satan, then, not only prowls about but also runs through earth of this kind because he completes in them the effect of his malice. For the completion of his progress is designated in his running through them, just as God on the contrary is said to run through just men. So St. Paul says, I will live in them and walk along with them (2 Cor 6:16).

17. There can also be another interpretation of this passage. There are three states of the living. Some are above the earth; that is, in heaven, like the angels and all the blessed. Still others are on the earth, like all the men living in mortal flesh. Some are under the earth, like the demons and all the damned. Satan neither prowls about nor runs through the first group because there can be no malice in the citizens of heaven, as there can be no evil of nature in the heavenly bodies. He prowls about with those who are in hell, but does not run through them because he has them totally subject to his malice, so it is not necessary that he use craftiness to deceive them. However, he prowls about and runs through those who are on earth because he strives to deceive them by his craftiness and to draw some of them to his malice, who are especially designated by the term earth, as I have already explained.

18. The fact that worldly men are designated by earth is shown clearly enough by the fact that the Lord seems to separate Job from the earth, although he is living on earth. For when Satan had said, I have prowled about the earth and I have run through it, the text adds, and the Lord said to him: Have you considered my servant Job, there is none like him on the earth? For it would seem groundless to ask whether he who asserted he had prowled about and run through the earth had considered Job, unless he understood Job his servant to be outside the earth. God clearly shows in what respect Job is separated from the earth, saying, my servant Job. Man has been created, as it were, like a mean between God and earthly things, for with the mind he clings to God but with the flesh he is joined to earthly things. Besides, as every mean recedes more from one extreme, the closer it approaches to the other one. So, the more man clings to God, the more removed he is from earth. To be a servant of God means to cling to God with the mind, for it is characteristic of a servant to not be his own cause. The one who clings to God in his mind orders himself to God as a servant of love and not of fear.

19. Note that earthly affections in some remote sense imitate spiritual affections by which the mind is joined to God, but they can in no way complete their similarity. This is because earthly love and consequently all affection falls short of the love of God, because love is the principle of every affection. So after God fittingly said, have you considered my servant Job, he continues, there is none like him on earth, because nothing among earthly things can equal spiritual things. However, this passage can be understood also in another way, for in each saint there is some preeminent virtue for some special use. This is why we sing in Church for each one of the Confessors that there is found none like him who kept the law of the Most High, except for Christ, because everything existed in him in the most perfect and excellent way. In this way the text can be understood to mean that no one of those living on earth was like Job in that he excelled in some special use of virtue. In the next verse, the text shows in what Job was a servant of God and that there was no one like him on earth when it adds, he is a blameless and upright man, who fears God and turns away from evil, which will not be dealt with here because it has been already commented on.

20. Consider that God not only orders the lives of the just for their own good, but he represents it for others to see. Still, those who see this example are not all influenced by it in the same way. For the good who consider the life of the just as an example profit from the experience; whereas the wicked, if they are not corrected so that they become good by his example, revolt against the life of the just which they have observed; either when they are tortured by envy, or when they try to ruin that life with false judgments, as the Apostle Paul shows, for we are the good odor of Christ to God among those who are being saved and among those who are perishing. To the one the stench of death to death; to the other the smell of life to life (2 Cor 2:15). Thus God wants the life of the saints to be considered not only by the elect, for the progress of their salvation, but also by the iniquitous for the increase of their damnation, for from the life of the saints the perversity of the impious is shown to be blameworthy; as Wisdom says, the just man who has died condemns the impious who are alive (Wis 4:16). Therefore the Lord says to Satan, have you considered my servant Job, as if to say, “You prowl about and run through the earth, but you can consider my servant Job and wonder at his virtue.”

21. Perverse men, whose prince is Satan (here acting in their place) usually accuse holy men unjustly of not acting for a right intention because they cannot find fault with the life of the saints. Scripture expresses this, saying, turning good to evil, he lies in ambush and he will put the blame on the elect (Sir 11:33). This appears in what follows in the text, then Satan answered the Lord: Does Job fear God in vain? as if to say, “I cannot deny that he does good things, but he does not do them for a right intention because of love of you and the good for its own sake.” Rather, he does them because of the temporal goods which he has attained from you. So he says, does Job fear God in vain? for we are said to do something in vain when we cannot hope to attain what we intend. Job serves you because of the temporal goods he has gained from you, so it is not in vain that he fears you in serving you.

22. Satan shows that Job has attained temporal prosperity in two ways.

First, as to his immunity from evils, because he has been preserved by God from all adversity, and this is what he says, have you not fortified him with a wall? that is, have you not protected him like a hedge or wall protects? He says him as to his person, his house as to his family and children, and all that he has as to all his possessions. Satan adds, in a circle, to show a perfect immunity because what is entirely surrounded by a wall in a circle cannot suffer an attack from any direction.

Second, he shows his prosperity regarding the multiplication of goods, and this is what he says, you have blessed the work of his hands. Because God makes all things by his speaking, the blessing of God gives goodness to things. Thus God blesses someone’s works when he brings them to good to attain a fitting end. Because some goods come to a man without his effort and intention, he adds, and his possessions have increased on the earth. So Satan unjustly deprecates the deeds of blessed Job as though he did them from the intention of earthly goodness. So it is clear that the good things which we do are not referred to earthly prosperity as a reward; otherwise, it would not be a perverse intention if someone were to serve God because of temporal prosperity. The contrary is likewise true. Temporal adversity is not the proper punishment of sins, and this question will be the theme dealt with in the entire book.

23. Satan wants to show that Job had served God because of the earthly prosperity he had attained, using an argument based on opposition. For if after earthly prosperity came to an end Job ceased fearing God, it would become clear that he feared God because of the earthly prosperity he was enjoying. So he adds, put forth your hand just a little and touch all that he has, by taking it away, if he does not bless you to your face, that is, curse you openly; literally, may misfortune come upon me. Note that even the hearts of truly just men are sometimes badly shaken by great adversity, but the deceitfully just are disturbed by a slight adversity, like men having no root in their virtue. So Satan wants to insinuate that Job was not truly just but only pretending to be. Thus he says that if he should be touched by even a very small adversity, he would murmur against God; that is, blaspheme him. He distinctly says, if he does not bless you to your face, to indicate that even in prosperity he was blaspheming God in a certain sense in his heart when he preferred temporal things to love of him. But when his prosperity is taken away, he would blaspheme God even to his face, that is, openly. The expression, if he does not bless you to your face, can be understood in another way, so that may be taken as a blessing properly speaking, and the sense would be this: If you should touch him even a little by taking away his earthly prosperity, may these things befall me if it does not become clear that before he blessed you not in his true heart, but to your face, that is, keeping up appearances before men.

24. Because, as I have said, God wills the virtue of the saints to be known to all, both the just and the wicked, it pleased him that as all saw Job’s good deeds, his right intention should also be clearly shown to all. So he willed to deprive Job of his earthly prosperity, so that when he persevered in the fear of God, it would become clear that he feared God from a right intention, and not on account of temporal things. Note that God punishes wicked men through both the good and the wicked angels, but he never sends adversity on good men except through wicked angels. So he did not will that adversity be brought on blessed Job except through Satan, and because of this the text continues, and the Lord said to Satan: Behold, all that he has is in your power, that is, I surrender it to your power, only do not extend your hand to him. From this text we are clearly given to understand that Satan cannot harm just men as much as he wants, but only as much as he is permitted to do so. Consider also that the Lord did not command Satan to strike Job, but only gave him the power to do so, because the will to do harm is in each wicked person from himself, but the power of harming comes from God.

25. From what has been said already it is clear that the cause of the adversity of blessed Job was that his virtue should be made clear to all. So Scripture says of Tobias, thus the Lord permitted him to be tempted so that an example might be given to posterity of his patience, like blessed Job (Tob 2:12). Be careful not to believe that the Lord had been persuaded by the words of Satan to permit Job to be afflicted, but he ordered this from his eternal disposition to make clear Job’s virtue against the false accusations of the impious. Therefore, false accusations are placed first and the divine permission follows.