Lecture 1 — Man is not pure in God's sight

^25:1^ Then Baldath the Shuite said:

^25:2^ Power and terror are with him who makes peace in his higher works.

^25:3^ Can one number his soldiers? And over whom does his light not rise?

^25:4^ Can a man be justified in comparison with God? Or who born of woman would appear pure?

^25:5^ Behold, even the moon does not shine, and the stars are not pure in his sight.

^25:6^ How much more is man corruption, and the son of man a worm.

355. Then Baldath the Shuite said: power and terror. Job in his answer had now refuted the two calumnies which Eliphaz had thrown at him in his previous response (Job 22:5,12). He had shown that he was punished neither for sin nor for denying divine providence. He had shown very clearly that it was not repugnant to divine providence if evil men prospered in this world, because their punishment is reserved to another time. So they could not resist this argument further. But he had not demonstrated the argument so clearly that he was not punished because of his sins, for his exposition was weak when he said, no one can know his thoughts (Job 27:13). Baldath, therefore, opposed this argument now, accusing Job of claiming that he was not punished because of his sins.

356. Seeming to ignore the words in which Job had said that it was not sufficient to argue against him based on the power of God (Job 23:13), he takes the beginning of his argument from divine power and proposes the greatness of divine power in two ways.

First, as to the fact that God exercises his power in higher creatures, preserving them in the greatest peace, and so he says, power and terror, by which he ought to be feared, are with him, God, who makes peace in his higher works. In lesser creatures more discord is found, both in rational creatures, which is clear from the contrary motions of human wills, and in corporeal creatures, which appears in the contrariety through which they are subject to generation and corruption. But one finds no contrariety in superior bodies, and so they are incorruptible. In like manner, the superior intellectual substances also live in the highest peace, and so they are without unhappiness. This highest concord of superior creatures proceeds from divine power, which places the higher creatures in a more perfect participation of his unity, as they are nearer to him; and so he clearly says, in his higher works, those more conformed to him.

357. Second, he shows the divine power from those things he does in inferior creatures, in which he acts through the ministry of higher creatures, whose great number is unknown to men. So he then says, can one number his soldiers? The soldiers of God are all of the heavenly powers which follow the good divine will just as soldiers obey the command of their leader. The number in these heavenly armies is unknown to man, as Isaiah says, he who draws out his host without number (Isa 40:26). He wants to deny the opinion that the heavenly powers exist like soldiers, not submitted to the command of another, but as leaders and princes who do everything from their own will, as those thought who believed in the cults of many gods. So he then says, and over whom does his light not rise? He means here all the heavenly powers are directed by divine illumination as men for whom the light of the sun rises.

358. Using the premise of the divine power, he proceeds to his proposition, saying, can a man be justified in comparison to God? for since God is so great and so excellent in justice that he even makes concord in the highest things, which is an effect of his justice, according to Isaiah, the work of justice shall be peace (Isa 32:17), all justice of man is reckoned as nothing compared to divine justice. Not only can man not seem to be just compared to God, but what is more, he appears unjust compared to him. Analogously, things which have a moderate beauty seem ugly compared to the most beautiful things, and so he then says, or who born of a woman would appear pure? He emphasizes this because from the very fact that man is born of woman through the concupiscence of the flesh, he contracts some stain.

359. He strengthens what he had said with a comparison when he then says, behold, even the moon does not shine, and the stars are not pure in his sight. Here, note that he does not mention the sun, because it is not evident to the senses that its light is obscured in the presence of a greater light. But the moon and the stars are darkened in the presence of the corporeal light of the sun, and so their brightness seems even more like darkness, compared to the immensity of divine light. From this he concludes his proposition, how much more is man corruption, and the son of man a worm, for he cannot be reckoned splendid with the splendor of justice compared to the divine justice, nor clean in innocence if compared to divine purity. He emphasizes that man is like corruption because he takes his existence from matter, which is close to corruption, and the son of man like a worm, which is generated from putrefaction. He wants to show in this that man cannot display his justice or innocence in any way, as it is reckoned as nothing in comparison to God when divine justice is in question.