Lecture 1 — The prosperity of evildoers is not against divine providence

^27:1^ And again Job continued, taking up his allegory:

^27:2^ May God live who took away my judgment and the Almighty who made my soul bitter!

^27:3^ For while breath still exists in me and the spirit of God in my nostrils,

^27:4^ my lips will not speak evil nor my tongue meditate deceit.

^27:5^ Far be it from me to judge you just; until I fall, I will not desert my innocence.

^27:6^ My justification which I have begun to hold, I will not abandon; for my heart does not accuse me of anything my whole life long.

^27:7^ The wicked man is my enemy and my adversary is the evil man.

^27:8^ What is the hope of the hypocrite if he should steal greedily, for God will not free his soul?

^27:9^ Will God hear the cry of that man when anguish comes upon him?

^27:10^ Or can he find joy in the Almighty and can he invoke God every time?

^27:11^ I will teach you by the hand of God what the Almighty has, and I will not conceal anything.

^27:12^ Behold, all of you know; why do you say vain things without proof?

^27:13^ This is the lot of the impious man which he has received from the Almighty.

^27:14^ If his children are multiplied, the sword waits to kill them; and his grandchildren hunger for bread.

^27:15^ Those others who follow him are buried in rain and their widows make no lamentation.

^27:16^ If he heaps up silver like earth and has prepared clothing like dust,

^27:17^ if he truly has prepared it, but the just will wear those things and the innocent will divide the silver.

^27:18^ He has built his house like a moth; like a watchman makes a shelter.

^27:19^ He will go to bed rich and he will take nothing. He will open his eyes and find nothing.

^27:20^ Dearth will overtake him like the water. In the night, the tempest will oppress him.

^27:21^ The blustering wind takes him away and he is gone, and like a whirlwind he is snatched from where he stands.

^27:22^ He will send someone on him and he will lie without pity; and he will flee and escape his hand.

^27:23^ And a man will wring his hands over him and will sigh over him with compassion.

371. Job again took up his discourse and said. In what precedes, Job had successfully refuted the speech of Baldath, who had cited divine power against him, as though Job were ignorant of its greatness. When his response was finished, he understandably expected that the third of the friends, Sophar, would answer in the usual order. But since he remained silent as though he were convinced, Job takes up his speech a second time and shows through another argument that it is not against divine providence if the wicked prosper in this world and the good suffer adversities. So the text continues, and again Job continued, after no one had answered him, taking up again his allegory, because he had spoken through metaphors, in the manner of those using allegories.

372. Before he proves his proposition, he declares that he will never change to the opinion of his friends, and to establish this he begins with an oath. So the text continues, and he said: may God live who has taken away my judgment; of course, supposing your opinion by which you affirm that it is only from the justice of divine judgment that sinners suffer present adversities. So, to explain in what way his judgment has been taken away, he then says, and the Almighty who has made my soul bitter, who, without preceding fault on my part, afflicted me with exterior adversities which caused me to suffer bitterness in soul. Nevertheless, I have not fallen away from his reverence and love. The proof of this is that I swear by him.

373. He relates this oath with what the text adds, for while breath still exists in me, while I have life which is conserved by breathing. To show that he recognizes that the gift of life comes from God, he then says, and the spirit of God is in my nostrils. For one breathes especially through the nostrils, and breathing through the mouth is not very fitting, as Aristotle says in his book, The History of Animals. So man’s breathing, which is placed principally in the nostrils, is here said to be the spirit of God because man receives from God the ability to live by breathing. He does not want to show ingratitude for this gift by sinning, and so he says, my lips will not speak evil, in saying everyone who suffers adversity is evil, nor will my tongue meditate deceit, in saying that by divine justice the merits of the just are rewarded by the prosperity in this present life, and the sins of the evil are punished by temporal adversity.

Since the friends of Job have asserted opinions like this, he adds, far be it from me to judge you just: for he could not judge them just unless he approved of their unjust opinion, in which he would be deviating from his justice. So he says, until I fall, in death, I will not fall away, for I do not intend to fall away, from my innocence. I would fall away from my innocence if I, like you, would judge the saints suffering adversity in this world to be evil. As I do not propose to change from innocence to harm, so I do not propose to desert the way of justice, and so he says, my justification, which pertains to the execution of justice, which I have begun to hold, by not approving a man for the prosperity which he has nor condemning him for the adversity which he suffers in this life, I will not desert, in deviating my judgment to your opinion. Those who have sinned once are usually more prone to sin a second time, but those who do not know sin fall into sin with more difficulty, and so he then says, for my heart does not accuse me of anything my whole life long.

For that reason I am confident that I will not fall away from innocence nor desert justice, because I have learned from experience; for I do not have a remorseful conscience about anything which I have done throughout my whole life. Or one can continue in another way. Because he had said that he would not fall away from his innocence nor desert the justification which he had begun to hold, someone could object that he did not ever have innocence or justice before this. However, he disproves this when he says, my heart does not accuse me of anything, for I would fall away from innocence and I would desert justice if I would favor you who sustain injustice and impiety. So he says, the wicked man is my enemy, when he speaks against the truth of divine judgment, and my adversary is the evil man, when he sustains an evil opinion in opposing me, saying that I am evil because I am gravely afflicted.

374. After discussing these arguments to refute his friends and establish his own opinion, he goes on to his principal proposition, which is that it is not contrary to divine providence if the evil prosper temporally in this world and the just are afflicted. He has clearly shown this above (Job 19:25; 21:32), using future rewards and punishments which are reserved to the good and the evil after this life. Now he demonstrates this by the poverty accompanying the temporal goods which evildoers possess in this life, and the rich character of the spiritual goods which are granted to the good. He first maintains that it is useless for sinners if they attain temporal goods in this life without the goods of the soul, and so he says, what is the hope of the hypocrite if he should steal greedily, if he should collect riches unjustly, and God does not free his soul, from sin, through the gifts of grace? What good can he attain from this? He uses the hypocrite or simulator to stand for all sinners because equity pretended is evil twice over. Also, hypocrites, as falsely virtuous, are reprehensible in the eyes of God. As he later says, simulators and cunning men provoke the anger of God (Job 36:13).

375. He shows as a consequence that they are deprived of hope in two ways.

One of these is the hope the just have that God will hear their prayer in time of need, but he excludes this by saying, will God hear the cry of that man when anguish comes upon him? He implies the answer, “no.” The reason for this is found in the book of Proverbs, when the voice of Wisdom says, I have called and you refused (Prov 1:24), and continues a little later, then, when anguish comes upon them, they will invoke me and I will not hear (Prov 1:28). Further on in the same book, he says, the prayer of the man who turns his ear away so that he does not hear the law will be accursed (Prov 28:9).

The second hope of the just is that when they lack temporal consolation in time of trial, they enjoy delight in God and they rejoice in his praise, but he excludes this from the impious man, saying, or can he find joy in the Almighty, whom he did not love as his works prove, and can he invoke God in every time? For from great love of him, some men always praise God in speech.

376. After he has shown the small value of the temporal goods which the evil possess, without the hope of the just which the saints have, he shows as a consequence that the temporal goods which the impious sometimes possess are frail.

Before asserting what he will say, he begins with two things.

First, what he will say accords with divine wisdom, and so he says, I will teach you by the hand of God, by his strength, what the Almighty has, in his wisdom as certain, and I will not conceal anything, which I learned from God when God instructed me.

Second, he shows that what he will say is so clear that even they cannot be ignorant of it, and so he says, behold all of you know, what I will say is true, and so it is strange that you speak so irrationally against the plain truth. He expresses this theme, saying, and why do you say vain things without proof, that is, with no reasonable support? For men are usually stupid when they know the premises, but do not admit the conclusion which follows from them.

377. One must remark that since God is the Creator and Governor of all things, all receive something from him like an inheritance from a father. Evil men receive from God the temporal goods of this world as their share and their inheritance, and Wisdom speaks in their name, saying, this is our portion and our lot (Wis 17:16). Inversely, the good understand spiritual goods as their portion and inheritance, according to the Psalm, the lot marked out for me is my delight, for welcome indeed the heritage that falls to me (Ps 15:16). When, therefore, he describes how frail and perishable is the lot of the impious which they receive in temporal things, he says, this is the lot of the impious man in the presence of God, that is, such is what comes to them as a lot, when spiritual things are distributed to the good and temporal things to them, and the inheritance of violent men, that is, who unjustly acquire temporal goods, which they have received from the Almighty, that is, he is the one who permits and furnishes the power to get them: as Job has already said, when he fills their houses with good things (Job 22:18). For he shows that this share or inheritance is perishable; first, as to what happens for the most part to the children of evil men, which are held in great esteem among temporal goods. The sons of evil men who have prospered in this world are sometimes killed, and so he says, if his children are multiplied, which is held a sign of great prosperity, the sword waits to kill them.

Although it rarely happens that the sons of a rich man fall into great poverty, yet this happens frequently to their grandsons and descendants, and so he then says, and his grandchildren hunger for bread, because of want. As to those who are members of his household, he says, those others who follow him, his domestics and friends, are buried in ruin, without solemnity, like people murdered, and as to their wives he says, and their widows make no lamentation, which usually happens in solemn funerals.

378. The happiness of his sons and friends is frail and perishable, and the same is true of the man-made riches he possesses, like money, which is devised as the measure of the exchange of things, as Aristotle says. As to this he says, if he heaps up silver like dust, that is, if he should acquire a supply of money as great as earth. The same is also true for his natural riches, which provide for the natural necessity of men, like bread and wine, clothing and other things like this. As to these he says, and has prepared his clothing like dust, so that he should have as great a supply of clothes as the dust. Truly he has prepared it, that is, has expended care and labor in preparing it, yet another will have the fruit, and sometimes this is the good man who is not interested in this sort of thing. So he says, but the just will wear those things, clothing in his need, and the innocent will divide the silver, for he will distribute and give it to the poor, and will not keep it amassed in storage, which would be against simplicity.

379. Great spacious houses are also signs of earthly prosperity, but he shows these to be perishable for two reasons.

First, because sometimes he builds a house for himself by violence in the land of someone else after he has removed him, and so he says, he has built his house like a moth, which prepares a home for himself by gnawing another’s clothing, from which he is expelled when the clothing is shaken out.

In another way he perishes because, even if he builds a house on his own land, he still cannot care and possess that house for a long time, but only for a short time, and so he says, like a watchman, of a vineyard, makes a shelter, which he demolishes when his time as watchman is finished. He shows how he lost the goods he had acquired when he says, he will go to bed rich, when he dies, he will take nothing of his possessions with him to the other life. He will open his eyes, in the resurrection, and will find nothing, because he will not return to possess temporal goods. Sometimes even in this life he suddenly loses them from a sudden storm, and so he says, it overtakes him like the water, of the rain, unexpectedly, because it comes suddenly upon him. Although the rain can be anticipated in the daytime, yet at night it suddenly takes man completely by surprise, and so he says, in the night the tempest will oppress him, for this adversity will take him completely by surprise.

380. Finally, he shows the frailty of earthly prosperity as to the person himself of man, who may die from some fever or persecution. To express this he says, the blustering wind takes him away, that is, kills him with fevers, and he is gone, from the society of the living. This will happen suddenly and unexpectedly, and so the text continues, and like a whirlwind he will be snatched from where he stands, violently and without delay. Sometimes, however, he is not killed by interior weakness, but by exterior persecution, and so he says, and someone persecuting him will send forth someone over him, who is more powerful than him, and whom he cannot resist, and the prosecutor will be without pity. He, the evil man, will escape from his hand, that is, from his power, either by flight or by death because, after he has killed, he can do nothing more (Luke 12:4). Once he is dead, awe and mourning remain for his friends, and so he then says, and a man will wring his hands over him, as though struck with awe, and will sigh over him from compassion, when they consider his former dignity.