Lecture 1 — Man cannot understand the power of God

^26:1^ Job answered and said:

^26:2^ Whose helper are you? Who is then so feeble? Do you sustain the arm of anyone who is not strong?

^26:3^ To whom have you given counsel? Perhaps to someone who is not without wisdom? And have you shown your great prudence?

^26:4^ Whom do you want to teach? Is he not the one who made the spirit?

^26:5^ Behold, giants moan under the waters, and those who live with them.

^26:6^ Hell is naked before him, and there is no hiding place for their perdition.

^26:7^ He stretches out the North over the void and he hangs the earth on nothing.

^26:8^ He builds up the waters in his thick clouds so that the cloud does not break and fall out at the same time.

^26:9^ He contains the face of his throne and he expands his clouds over it.

^26:10^ He has circumscribed a limit on the face of the waters at the boundary between light and darkness.

^26:11^ The pillars of heaven tremble and faint at his nod.

^26:12^ In his power the seas are suddenly assembled and in his prudence he smote the proud.

^26:13^ His spirit adorns the heavens, and by his hand he has played midwife, and he led away from the society of the good angels his torturous serpent.

^26:14^ Lo, I have only mentioned a part of his ways, and when we have scarcely heard a small whisper of his speech, who can understand the great power of his thunder?

360. Job answered and said: Whose helper are you. Baldath wanted in his last speech to convince Job by the consideration of divine power, terrible to all, in respect of which no man can make a pretense of justice or innocence, or assert that he is punished without sin. So Job gives three answers, the first of which is specifically against Baldath, who had tried to frighten Job by the consideration of divine power.

Men often do not use reason against someone condemned, but cite the power and wisdom of the judge. They do this in favor of the judge.

Men act in favor of someone else for two reasons:

either because of his insufficient power,

or because of his lack of wisdom.

As to the first, he says, whose helper are you? who is then so feeble? have you said these things to favor God and not accord with reason, and did you say this to bring help to God as though he were weak? One seems to help someone when he defends his actions, and so he says, and do you sustain the arm of someone who is not strong? He means by these words, “Do you want to justify the action of God with which he punishes me, as though he were not strong enough to justify himself?”

361. Then, as for the favor which is shown to someone because of the defect of wisdom, we should consider that this favor is twofold. On the one hand, he speaks to this theme, in that one gives counsel to someone about things to be done, saying, to whom have you given counsel? Someone seems to give counsel to another when he defends him without reason. God, who is perfect in wisdom, does not stand in need of counsel, and so he says, perhaps to someone who is without reason? for do you doubt that God has wisdom, to speak so stupidly for him? One who gives counsel to a wise man seems to do this to show his own wisdom, and so he then says, and have you shown your great prudence? saying in effect, “Do you want to show by this the abundance of your prudence?”

362. On the other hand, one gives counsel against the lack of wisdom, to instruct the ignorant man concerning what he must know, and as to this he says, whom do you want to teach? for you seemed to teach God when you brought his power against me, but he who is the cause of all human science does not need to be taught, and so he says, is he not the one who made the spirit, who created the human soul, by which man both understands and wills? This is the one and the same soul which perceives science by intellect and gives life to the body by the other powers.

363. Then, so as not to detract from the power of God in anything, he commends it as much more all encompassing than did Baldath, enumerating the many effects of divine power. He begins from those effects which God powerfully worked in the human race in the time of the flood. For in Genesis we read that there were giants on the earth in those days (Gen 6:4), and because God saw that the earth was corrupt, for in fact all flesh had made worse their way on the earth, he said to Noah, “the end of the all flesh has come before me” (Gen 6:12). Later he says, behold, I will bring the waters of the flood upon the earth and I will kill all flesh (Gen 6:17). He shows this effect of the divine power when he says, behold giants, the ancient ones, moan, in the punishments of hell, under the waters, who were drowned in the waters of the flood. Because not only they perished, but many others with them then and later; he continues, and those who live with them, moan in the same way by virtue of his power.

364. One should not believe that divine providence extends itself only to judging men in this life, and not after death, as the friends of Job seemed to think. To disprove this, he then says, hell is naked before him, by which he means, “Those things which happen in hell are clearly seen by him and happen according to his judgment.” To explain this, he then says, and there is no hiding place for their perdition, because those who have perished in hell cannot be hidden from the eyes of God as they are hidden from our eyes.

365. Then he lists the effects of divine providence in natural things, and he begins from the two extremes, earth and heaven. In both of these, something appears instituted from divine power which goes beyond the powers of men. As far as what appears to the senses, heaven seems to be extended above the earth like a kind of tent, earth to be under heaven like the floor of the tent. Whoever sets up a tent uses something to support it. This is not the case with heaven. For there is nothing sustaining heaven but divine power, and so he says, he stretches out the North over the void. By North he means the upper hemisphere from our point of view. For from our point of view, the North Pole is raised above the horizon, but the south pole is draped below the horizon, and so he says that the north is extended over the void, because nothing appears to us under the upper hemisphere of the sky except space full of air, which unlettered men deem a void. He speaks according to the thinking of the common man, as is the custom in Sacred Scripture. Likewise, one who lays a floor puts it on something which is firm. However, the earth, which is like the floor of heaven, does not appear to have anything firm which can sustain it, but is only sustained by the power of God, and so he says, and he hangs the earth upon nothing. These things do not mean that heaven is of great weight and needs to be held up so that it does not fall, or that earth needs to be sustained so that it cannot go down to its center, but he means that the natural powers themselves by which bodies are naturally maintained in their places proceed from divine power. For as violent motion is from human force, so natural inclination of things proceeds from divine power, which is the principle of nature.

366. Then he enumerates the effects of divine power in the middle space between heaven and earth. First, in the air, where one finds the wondrous fact that water is suspended in the atmosphere, transformed in water vapor, and does not fall all at once, but drop by drop. One sees this in the rain, and so he says, he binds up the waters in his thick clouds, in clouds caused by his power, so that the cloud does not break, from the rainwater, falling out at the same time, but drop by drop to keep the earth at a moderate temperature. It is as though what remains in the clouds has been bound together by God's power to not fall immediately. For by divine power gases are not condensed at the same time, so that they all fall together when they are converted into water. After rain falls from the clouds, some of the vapors remain behind, from which the clouds are formed. These conceal heaven, which is like the throne of God, according to the last chapter of Isaiah: heaven is my throne (Isa 66:1). Expressing, this he continues, he keeps hidden the face of his throne, for he holds back the face of heaven, which is his throne. He does this by the clouds, which prohibit us from seeing heaven, and so he says, and he expands his clouds over it, which he has produced by his power.

367. Then he shows the effect of divine power in the waters when he says, he has circumscribed a limit on the face of the waters; for the waters, according to the natural order of the elements, should cover every place on the earth, but that some part of the earth remains uncovered by the waters is due to divine power, which has set out a boundary for the covering of the earth by water. This pertains particularly to the ocean, which surrounds the land everywhere, and because of this he continues, at the boundary between light and darkness. For the light of day and the darkness of night are bounded for us by the sun rising and setting from the upper hemisphere, which is placed over the habitable land, which is enclosed everywhere by the ocean. Or, this can be understood to mean that the boundaries of the waters will remain impassible, as long as the actual state of the world remains in which there is a succession of light and darkness.

368. After listing the effects of the divine power in corporeal creatures, he shows its effect in spiritual creatures, which he calls the pillars of heaven, because their duty, in effect, is to preside over the movements of the heaven. So he says, the pillars of heaven, the angels, tremble and faint at his nod; that is, they obey the least expression of his will, and he speaks using the metaphor of a slave obeying the nod of his master in fear and trembling, with fear referring to the soul and trembling to the body. Do not think that there is fear of punishment in the good angels, for their fear here is a reverential fear for God, and so their fear refers to the interior affection, while trembling refers to the exterior effect.

369. Since among the angels there are some who fell away from a due reverence of God, about whom he had already spoken, in his angels he found revolt (Job 4:18), as a consequence he makes the distinction between the good and evil angels. Now one must suppose that the distinction of spiritual creatures is made at the same time as the distinction of corporeal creatures, and so to suggest the distinction of spiritual creatures he begins with corporeal creation, saying, in his power the seas are suddenly assembled, according to Genesis, the waters which are on the earth were collected in one place and there appeared dry land (Gen 1:9). Spiritual creatures are distinguished by divine power just like corporeal creatures, and so he then says, and in his prudence he smote the proud; that is, by the power of his providence, the devil, who is proud, is deprived of his glory. Therefore, the spiritual gifts for the good angels are increased by his fall, and so he says, his spirit adorns the heavens, that is, he has adorned the heavenly spirits with the adornment of spiritual gifts. It was not fitting that he who had fallen from the privation of his glory should remain with those adorned through the Holy Spirit, and so he says, and by his hand he has played midwife and he led away, from the society of the good angels, the torturous serpent, the devil, who is compared to a serpent because of the poison of evil, and is said to be torturous because he is clever. He clearly says by the hand of God he has led the devil away like a midwife, for as a midwife sometimes takes a child away who is dead so that the mother is not injured, so God leads the devil out of the midst of the angels so that the society of the good angels may not suffer detriment in anything.

370. To show that these effects, although they are great, are not equal to divine power, he says, lo, these only represent part of his ways, of the works by which we ascend to the knowledge of God, and God communicates himself in some ways to us. Lest these should seem, though not equaling the whole divine power, even to come close to equaling it for the most part, he says, and when we have scarcely heard a small whisper of his speech, who can understand the great power of his thunder? He means that all those things which have been said about the effects of divine power are less compared to the divine power than one small word whispered quietly compared to the loudest clap of thunder.