Lecture 3 — The trial

^1:12^ So Satan went forth from the face of the Lord.

^1:13^ Now on a certain day when his sons and daughters were eating and drinking wine, they were in their eldest brother’s house;

^1:14^ a messenger came to Job and said: The oxen were plowing and the asses feeding beside them,

^1:15^ and the Sabeans fell upon them and took everything. They slew the servants with the sword and I alone have escaped to tell you.

^1:16^ While he was still speaking, another messenger came and said: The fire of God fell from heaven and burned up the sheep and the servants consuming them. I alone escaped to tell you.

^1:17^ While he was still speaking, there another messenger came and said: The Chaldeans formed three companies and made a raid on the camels and took them and slew the servants with the sword; and I alone escaped to tell you.

^1:18^ While he was still speaking, another messenger entered and said: Your sons and daughters were eating and drinking wine in their eldest brother’s house,

^1:19^ and a violent wind suddenly rushed in from the desert and struck the four corners of the house. It fell on your children and they are dead, and I alone escaped to tell you.

26. Then Satan went from the face of the Lord. After the cause of the blessed Job’s adversity has been considered, the text shows as a consequence how such adversity came upon him. Because all the adversity was produced by Satan, the text therefore speaks about him first, saying, so Satan went forth from the face of the Lord, as if to use the power permitted to him. It is expressly stated, he went forth from the face of the Lord, for Satan is in the presence of the face of the Lord in that the power of harming someone is permitted him, because this happens according to the reasonable will of God, but when he uses this power permitted to him, he goes forth from the face of the Lord, because he turns away from the intention of the one giving him permission. This is apparent in the case in question: for he was permitted by God to harm Job to make Job’s virtue clearly known. However, Satan did not inflict him for this reason, but to provoke him to impatience and blasphemy.

At the same time, what we said above appears clearly true in this text. Satan came to present himself among the sons of God assisting in his presence in the sense that some are said to assist in the presence of God who are subject to divine judgment and examination, not in the sense that they assist in the presence of God who see God. So here the text does not say Satan cast God away from his face, but that he went forth from the presence of God, as though he turned away from the intention of his providence, although he was not strong enough to escape the order of providence.

27. Reflect that the order in which the adversities are about to be explained is just the opposite of the order in which the prosperity was explained. For the prosperity which was explained proceeded from the more important to the less important, beginning from the person of Job himself. After him came his offspring and then his animals, first the sheep and then the rest. This was done reasonably because the duration which cannot be preserved in the person is sought in the offspring, for whose sustenance one needs possessions. In the adversity, however, the opposite order is proposed. First, the loss of possessions is related, then the destruction of the children, and third the affliction of his own person. This is to increase the adversity. For one who has been oppressed by a greater adversity does not feel a lesser one. But after a lesser adversity, one feels a greater one. Therefore, so Job would feel his own individual affliction from each adversity, and so be disturbed to become more impatient, Satan began to afflict Job with a small adversity and gradually proceeded to greater ones.

28. Consider also that the soul of man is more disturbed by those things which come on the scene suddenly, for adversities which are foreseen are more easily tolerated. Therefore, to make Job more disturbed, Satan brought adversity on him at a time of the greatest rejoicing, when he could least think about adversity, so that the adversity might seem more severe from the very presence of the rejoicing. For when things which are contraries are placed beside each other, they become clearer in their contrast. Therefore, the text says, on a certain day when his sons and daughters were eating and drinking wine, which is especially put here to indicate rejoicing because, according to Sirach, wine was created from the beginning for rejoicing, not for drunkenness (Sir 31:35). They were in their eldest brother’s house, which is placed to show greater solemnity. For it is probable that a more solemn banquet would be celebrated in the home of the first born. A messenger came to Job and said: the oxen were plowing, which would remind him of profit, and so the damage would seem more unbearable. And the asses feeding beside them, which is also put in to increase pain when he considered that the enemy fell upon them at a time in which they could steal more things at once.

And the Sabeans fell upon them; namely, an enemy who came from far away, from whom the things which they stole could not easily be retrieved. And took everything; lest, if they left something it would at least be sufficient for necessary use or breeding. They slew the servants with the sword, which was more grave for the just man. I alone escaped to tell you, as if to say, “The fact that I alone escaped happened by divine disposition, so that you could have an account of such a great loss, as though God meant to afflict you with pain.”

29. Immediately after the announcement of this adversity, another one is announced, lest if some interval happened meanwhile, Job would recover his composure and prepare himself in patience to sustain what followed more easily. Because of this, the text adds, while he was still speaking, another messenger came and said: the fire of God, that is, sent by God, fell from heaven, as if to impress on his mind that he was suffering persecution not only from men, but also from God, and thus he might more easily be provoked against God. And burned up the sheep and the servants, consuming them, as if to say, “This was divinely caused, so that everything was immediately consumed at the touch of the fire.” This is beyond the natural power of fire. And I alone escaped to tell you. The text continues, while he was still speaking, another messenger came and said: the Chaldeans, who were fierce and powerful, formed three companies, to emphasize how strong they were, so that he cannot hope for revenge or recovery of his lost goods.

The next text shows what he lost, saying, and made a raid upon the camels and took them and slew the servants with the sword. I alone escaped to tell you. The destruction of his children follows. While he was still speaking, another messenger entered and said: Your sons and daughters were eating and drinking wine in their brother’s house, so that because of this, their death would be more sad for Job, since he would be uncertain whether they were in a state of sin preceding their death. For he used to sanctify them and offer holocausts for each one because he was afraid that they had incurred some sin during their banquets. Lest he could perhaps think that they had repented or provided for their souls, the text adds, a violent wind suddenly rushed in from the desert and struck the four corners of the house. This is said to show the force of the wind, which unusually destroyed the whole house at once, showing how the wind proceeded by divine will, so that Job would be moved more easily against God when he was afflicted by one whom he had served with a devout mind. To compound his sorrow more greatly, the damage of the destruction of his children is added, when the text says, it fell and crushed the young people and they are dead; namely, all of them, so that no hope of posterity would remain in the escape of even one of his children. This was believed to be more sorrowful, because although all the children were destroyed, one of the servants escaped to increase his pain, for there follows, and I alone escaped to tell you.

30. Consider that since all this aforementioned adversity comes from Satan, it is necessary to confess that with God’s permission, demons can bring about turbulence in the air, can stir up the winds, and can make fire fall from heaven. For although corporeal matter obeys only the nod of God the Creator for the reception of forms, and does not obey the nod of either the good or the wicked angels, corporeal nature is still born to obey spiritual nature, as far as local movement is concerned. Evidence of this appears in men, for the members of the body are moved at the mere command of the will to pursue the act desired by the will. Whatever then can be done only with local motion can be done by not only the good, but also the wicked angels from their natural power, unless prohibited by divine power. The winds, the rains, and other like disturbances in the atmosphere come about only from the motion of the vapors released from the earth and the water. Thus, the natural power of a demon is sufficient to procure these things. However, sometimes they are prohibited from this by divine power, so that they are not permitted to do everything which they can do naturally. Nor is this contrary to what is said in Jeremiah, are there any among the false gods of the nations which can give rain? (Jer 14:22). For it is one thing that the rain takes place by natural cause, and this is the office of God alone, who orders natural causes to this; it is another thing to use artificially those natural causes ordered by God to rain, to produce rain or wind sometimes in an almost extraordinary way.