Lecture 1 — The reconciliation of evil with the power and the wisdom of God

^24:1^ The times are not hidden from the Almighty, but those who knew him are ignorant about his day.

^24:2^ Some have changed boundaries; they rob flocks and lead them to pasture.

^24:3^ They have stolen the ass of the little orphans and they take the widow’s ox as a deposit.

^24:4^ They utterly ruined the road of the poor and they oppressed the gentle of the earth at the same time.

^24:5^ Others, like the wild asses in the desert, go forth to their work; they seek prey and they prepare bread for their children.

^24:6^ They reap a field which is not their own, and they glean the vine of one whom they have overcome by force.

^24:7^ They send men away naked with nothing to their names and they have no covering in the cold.

^24:8^ They are soaked by the rain of the mountains and without any cover they cling to rocks.

^24:9^ They show their power in robbing orphans, and despoil the poor crowd.

^24:10^ From the naked, from those going about without clothes, and from the hungry, they steal ears of corn.

^24:11^ Among these accumulations, they take a siesta like those who thirst after they have tread the winepresses.

^24:12^ In the cities they make men groan; the souls of the wounded cry out, and God will not allow them to escape unpunished.

^24:13^ These are those who rebelled against the light; they did not know nor did they return to his paths.

^24:14^ At the first light of morning, when it is still dark, the murderer rises and kills the poor and the needy; and in the night he prowls like a thief.

^24:15^ The eye of the adulterer waits for darkness, saying: No one will see me. He covers his face.

^24:16^ They steal through houses in the dark, as they have agreed during the day, and they are ignorant of the light.

^24:17^ If suddenly the dawn should appear, they think of it as the shadow of death; and they walk in the darkness as though they were in the light.

^24:18^ He is light on the surface of the waters; cursed be his lot on earth, nor does he walk on the road of the vineyards.

^24:19^ He passes to great heat from freezing waters, and the sin of that man goes as far as hell.

^24:20^ Mercy will forget him and the worm is sweet to him; let no one remember him, but let him be cut down like a tree which bears no fruit.

^24:21^ For he feeds the sterile which does not bear fruit; and he does no good to the widow.

^24:22^ He throws down the powerful man from his strength, and even if he rises up, he will not believe in his own life.

^24:23^ God gave him an opportunity to repent and he abused it in his pride. For his eyes are on his ways.

^24:24^ They are raised up a little and they do not stand firm. They will be humbled like everything else and will be borne away, and like the tops of plants, they will be ground down.

^24:25^ If this is not so, who can call me a liar and accuse me of putting my words before God?

345. The times are not hidden from the Almighty. In the preceding chapter, Job proved that he was not punished because of malice as Eliphaz had asserted (Job 22:5). Now he wants to clearly show that he does not propose that God does not have care of human affairs, as Eliphaz had charged (Job 22:12). It is necessary to remark here that some people proposed that God does not have knowledge and care of human things because of his distance from us. For they believed that just as we are not mighty enough to know him because of such a distance, so he does not have the power to know us. But he rejects this first, saying, the times are not hidden from the Almighty, for although the Almighty is outside the mutability of time, yet he knows the course of the times. Those, however, who are in time know him in such a way that they are still not mighty enough to comprehend him in the manner of eternity, and so he says, but those who knew him, that is, men in time having some kind of knowledge of him, either by natural knowledge or by faith or by the light of some higher wisdom, are ignorant about his day, they are not mighty enough to comprehend him in the manner of his eternity.

346. Since he had said that the course of time was not unknown to God, he consequently shows in what way he judges temporal things, making first a list of the various faults of man, some of whom fraudulently inflict harmful things on others. So he says, some, among men, have changed boundaries, by stealthily changing property limits. They have done the same things with animals which are pastured in flocks. So he says, they rob, stealthily, flocks, of others, and lead them to pasture, as though they belonged to them. He enlarges their fault from the condition of the persons on whom they inflict those injuries. People are often compassionate to orphans and look after them because of their lack of age and lack of parents. Against this he says, they have stolen the ass of the little orphans, because they make him wander off so that they might steal him with no compassion for the orphans at all. Similarly, people often have pity on widows because of the frailty of their sex and because they are deprived of the comfort of a husband, but against this he says, and they take the widow’s ox as a deposit, causing her grief under some pretense of justice. Men also usually pity the poor who lack the means of economic survival, and against this he says, they utterly ruined the road of the poor, for they took from them the ability to procure necessities for themselves by causing them trouble in many ways. Also, men usually do not harm those who do no harm to anyone, but live agreeably with others, and against this he says, and they oppressed the gentle of the earth at the same time, who did not know either how to resist the evil of others or to do evil to others.

347. However, there are some who do not harm others fraudulently like those already described, but through open violence. These men rush into evil like people who are not restrained by the discipline of the law. He says about these men, others, like the wild asses in the desert, the wild asses of the forests who are not domesticated, go forth to their work, to steal, like one who is enthusiastic for his profession. So he says, and they seek prey, to rob, and they prepare bread for their children, that is, for their own children, from what they have stolen. Then he determines the genus of the prey, saying, they reap a field which is not their own, for they reap the harvest of another by violence. And they glean the vine of someone whom they overcame by force, since they first overcame their victim in order to steal his goods freely. Not only do they take away exterior goods by violence, but also those goods which have already been taken for warming the body, and so he then says, they send men away naked with nothing remaining to their name, because they take their clothes away. He adds the afflictions which they suffer from nakedness to increase the fault of theft more, and so he says, and they have no covering in the cold.

This might be tolerable if they could relieve their nakedness in some other way. Clothes are not only necessary to keep warm against the cold, but also to keep dry against the rain. Thus those left naked by thieves must not only feel the piercing cold, but also get soaked by the rain. He expresses this, saying, they are soaked by the rain of the mountains. Thieves often flee to mountainous hideouts, which are like fortresses, from the fear of other thieves or an enemy. There, the rains are more frequent and severe because of the cold character of the climate, and naked men especially suffer. Moreover, there is some protection for nakedness if the one who does not have the covering of clothes at least does not lack a roof over his head, but against this he says, and without any cover, either of clothing or of a house, they cling to the rocks, because they take refuge in caves of stone which one finds in mountainous regions.

348. He further increases their fault from the unhappy condition of the people who are afflicted, and so he adds, they show their power in robbing orphans, whom one should rather help, and despoil the poor crowd, whom they should rather have assisted. This would be more tolerable if they wanted to take things from people who at least had enough to live. Thus he continues increasing their evil, saying, from the naked, those not having any clothes, from those going about without any clothes, who from extreme need must even go out in public naked, without clothes, because they do not have any clothes at all. To show that they suffered want even in food he says, and from the hungry. They cannot take away anything important from the poor, but they are not afraid to steal what little they have, and so he then says, they steal the ears of corn, since they do not take from them a harvest which they do not have, but some small ears of grain which they had collected for themselves.

If, perhaps, they seem to have some small surplus, they take that away, not thinking what great poverty they suffer in other things, and so he says, among these accumulations, of the fruits of the earth, they take a siesta, for they have a rest at noon as though bloated on the goods of others, like those who thirst when they have tread the wine presses, who immediately after the gathering of the grapes taste the wine. Not only do they despoil men in exterior things, but they also injure them in their persons, and so he says, in the cities they make men groan, since they torture many from cities with injuries. Many who have been injured wail, and so he says, and the souls of the wounded cry out, and God, from whom nothing is hidden of what is done in time, will not allow them to escape unpunished. This would not be the case if he did not have care over human affairs.

349. He now shows the reason why God does not suffer this to go unpunished, from the fact that they did not sin from ignorance, but from malice. As a result of this they hate wisdom, because it makes clear their sins, and so he says, these are those who rebel against the light, in doing intentionally what is against what the light of reason teaches them. However, as wisdom takes possession of those who desire her, so she flees from those who resist her, and so he says, they did not know her ways, for because they have emotions depraved by malice, they cannot recognize the action of wisdom. Or, they did not know, in that they have not approved, nor have they wanted to try the commandments of wisdom. He shows their lack of penitence when he then says, nor did they return to her paths. For certainly those who return to the paths of wisdom, although they rebelled against wisdom by sin, still come back to wisdom by repentance.

350. As a sign that they resist the spiritual light of wisdom, he says that they even hate exterior light and love darkness, according to John, everyone who does evil hates the light (John 3:20). So he continues here, at the first light of morning, when it is still dark, the murderer rises and kills the poor and needy, since at that hour there is usually no one about on the street, but some of the poor, driven by necessity, anticipate the time for work, and thieves lie in ambush for them along the way. To show that they burglarize houses and need more darkness for this, he says, and in the night he prowls like a thief, stripping houses bare, for it would not be safe for him to do this in the early hours of the morning, because then men begin to wake up. He shows the same thing to be true for the adulterer, saying, the eye of the adulterer, who spies on the bed of another, waits for the darkness, so that he cannot be detected, and so he says, saying: no one will see me, that is, he will not be seen by anyone. As if the cover of darkness were not enough for him, he employs still other methods of hiding himself, and so he says, and he covers his face, by changing his clothes in some way. Just as he waits for twilight to begin his deed, so also he does the deed in darkness, and so he then says, they steal through houses in the dark, taking out any obstacles to their intention by fraud and violence, as they have agreed the day before, the adulterer and the adulteress, and they are ignorant of the light, because they abandon themselves entirely to the execution of the evil deed.

If suddenly, as though unprepared, because the time seems short to them when they are occupied in carnal pleasure, the dawn should appear, which is the beginning of daylight, they think of it as the shadow of death, for they think it is as hateful as the shadow of death when they see that they cannot continue their wanton activities anymore.

For men are usually impeded in their acts in two ways.

In one way, when they do not exercise foresight in the unexpected by-products of a deed. In another way, when they find weak means for accomplishing their resolve. But the adulterers, goaded by concupiscence, on the contrary first throw themselves into dangers without consideration, even though they do not know what will follow, and to make this clear he says, and so in the darkness, in doubt and obscurity, as though in the light, with clarity, they walk, when they do their works.

Second, they put great faith in a small and frail thing, and so he says, he is light, the adulterer, on the surface of the waters, because he moves so lightly that it seems to him that he can pursue his own will as though he were sailing on calm seas. Or one can also explain the literal sense, they walk in darkness as in light, in that both the adulterer and the adulteress love to do their works in the dark. The phrase which he adds, he is light on the surface of the water, refers especially to the adulterer who believes that because of the drive of concupiscence he can lightly go by as on water, for example, over any difficulty or adversity whatsoever, to arrive at the enjoyment of the thing sought.

351. After describing the different kinds of sin, he speaks then about their punishments. First, he speaks about the punishments in the present life when he says, cursed be his lot on the earth. Each one’s lot seems to be what he describes as the highest good. The sinner sets up his ultimate end in earthly things as his lot, according to Wisdom, this is our part and this is our lot (Wis 2:9). This lot is cursed because the goods of this world which he uses badly are turned to evil for him. He shows this clearly when he says, nor does he walk on the road of the vineyards. Roads in vineyards are usually shady and consequently cool. Vines even require a moderately cool place, for they are destroyed by the snow in places which are too cold, and in places which are exceedingly hot they are scorched by the heat. The evil man does not walk on the road of the vineyards because he does not use the things of this world moderately, but sometimes he goes aside to one extreme, sometimes to another, and to express this he then says, he passes to great heat from freezing waters, changing in the same way from contrary vice to contrary vice, because he does not remain in the mean of virtue. All wicked men suffer this punishment because the inordinate soul is a punishment unto itself, as Augustine says in the Confessions.

352. He places next the punishment which comes after death when he then says, the sin of that man goes as far as hell, by which he means, “His lot is not only cursed on earth when he uses the things of the world inordinately, but he will also suffer the punishment for this in hell.” One can also infer this from the text, he passes to great heat from freezing waters, because in hell there is no mitigation. Lest one believe that those punishments end through the mercy of God, he adds, the mercy, of God, will forget him, the sinner condemned to hell will never be freed from there. He shows what sort of punishment this is, saying, the worm is sweet to him, for the pleasure of the sinner is changed for him into a worm, which is the remorse of conscience about which the last chapter of Isaiah speaks: their worm will not die (Isa 66:24). So he continues addressing the endless character of this punishment, let no one remember him, that is, he is so totally abandoned by God, without hope of being freed, it is as though he were forgotten. He makes a comparison when he says, but he is cut down like a tree which bears no fruit. For as we read in Matthew, a tree which does not bear good fruit is cut down and burned (Matt 3:10). A fruitful tree is pruned so that it may bear more, as John says, he will prune every tree which bears fruit, so that it may bear more (John 15:2). Evil men are therefore punished to their extermination, just men for their perfection.

353. He shows why he is compared to the tree which is barren from two things.

First, because he has consumed his goods in useless things, and so he says, for he feeds the sterile which does not bear fruit. The one who consumes his goods in useless things is like to someone who uselessly supports a sterile wife.

Second, because he does not aid those in need, which could have been fruitful for him, and so he says, and he does not do good to the widow. By the widow he means all the needy. Not only was he barren, but he was also harmful, like a tree bearing poisonous fruit, and so he says, he throws down the powerful man from his strength; that is, he did not use his power to aid the oppressed, but more to oppress the powerful. The harm he has worked on others also returns to harm him, because he cannot live in security, since he fears harm from those he has harmed, and so he says, and even if he rises up, even if he has suffered no adversity, he will not believe in his own life, for he will not be secure about his own life according to what Eliphaz said above, the sound of terror is always in his ears, and when he is at peace, he always expects treachery (Job 15:21).

354. He then gives the reason why he must be punished without mercy, because he did not want to profit from the mercy of God when he could have, and so he says, God gave him an occasion for penance, in deferring punishment, and this is the reason why he was permitted to live in prosperity for a long time. But what God has presented to him as a good he perverted to an evil, and so he says, and he abused it in his pride, by not attributing to the divine mercy the fact that he was not immediately punished after sin. But he profited from this, daring to sin even to contempt of God. Although the sinner seeks darkness in order to sin, he still cannot act without being seen, and so he says, for the eyes, of God, are on his ways, for they consider his course even if he walks under the cover of darkness.

Therefore, they are raised up a little, to some earthly and perishable height, which God gives to them as an occasion of repentance. And they do not stand firm, in the end, because they abuse the mercy of God in their pride. He uses an analogy for this. Everything which is really generated in time grows for a determined time and afterwards begins to decay until it is totally destroyed. So it happens with the wicked, and so he says, they will be humbled like everything else, which increases in time, and will be borne away, completely, when they arrive at their highest point. He establishes the analogy, saying, and as the tops of the tufts of plants are ground down. For fruits of the earth are not ground down while they are in seed and growing, but after they have arrived at full maturity. In the same way, the wicked are not punished by God immediately, but after they have arrived at their full stature, according to the measure foreseen by God. He introduced this to show that if evil men are not punished in time, but enjoy a prosperous life, this does not happen from a defect of divine providence, but from the fact that God defers punishment until the right time. So he shows clearly that what Eliphaz has calumniously accused him of is false, for he did not deny divine providence, and so he says, if this is not so, what I have said about the punishment of evildoers, just as you were of the opinion that man is always punished in this life for sins, who can call me a liar, as though I have denied divine providence, and accuse me for putting my words before God, that my words accused God to his face of not exercising his providence.