Lecture 1 — His present distress

^30:1^ But now, men who are younger than me make sport of me. The fathers of those men were unworthy to guard the dogs of my flock,

^30:2^ whose strength of hand held nothing for me, and they were not accounted worthy of life itself.

^30:3^ In want and hunger they are sterile; they gnawed in desolate places, filthy with loss and misery,

^30:4^ and they chewed herbs and the bark of trees and the root of junipers was their food.

^30:5^ They uproot these things in mountain passes; when they find something they run to it shouting;

^30:6^ they live in desert stream beds and in the caverns of the earth or in gravel.

^30:7^ They are happy in places like this, and they live under briars they think voluptuous.

^30:8^ The sons of fools and of disreputable men are not known on earth at all.

^30:9^ Now I am a verse in their songs, and I have become a proverb for them.

^30:10^ They abhorred me and they fled from me. They were not afraid to spit in my face.

^30:11^ He opened up his quiver and struck me down, and he placed a bridle in my mouth.

^30:12^ At the right hand of the dawn, my misfortunes immediately arose. They have ruined my feet and they crushed them in their byways like waves.

^30:13^ They have demolished my ways; they lay in ambush for me and they prevailed, and there was no one who brought aid.

^30:14^ They rushed in upon me like a breached wall or an open gate, and they rushed in on my mishaps.

^30:15^ I have been reduced to nothing; like the wind he took away my desire, and like a cloud my health vanished.

^30:16^ Now my soul droops within me and days of pain take possession of me.

^30:17^ At night, pain tears my bones and those who consumed me do not sleep.

^30:18^ My clothing is consumed by their great numbers and they encircle me like a collar on my tunic.

^30:19^ I am compared to filth and I have become like dust and ashes.

^30:20^ I called to you and you did not hear me, I stand fast and you do not heed me.

^30:21^ You have changed into someone cruel in my opinion and you persecute me with a heavy hand.

^30:22^ You raised me up, placing me almost above the wind and you powerfully dashed me to pieces.

^30:23^ I know that you will hand me over to death where the house of every living thing has been built.

^30:24^ Yet not for their destruction do you send forth your hand, and if they are corrupted, you save them.

^30:25^ I once wept over him who was afflicted and my soul had compassion on the poor.

^30:26^ I expected good things and evil things came to me. I waited for the light and darkness rushed in.

^30:27^ My bones are inflamed without any rest, and days of affliction came upon me.

^30:28^ I went along grieving; standing up without fury, I cried in the crowd.

^30:29^ I was the brother to snakes and the companion of ostriches.

^30:30^ My skin turned black on me and my bones dried out with fever.

^30:31^ My lyre was turned to mourning and my song to the voice of those who weep.

402. But now, men who are younger than me make sport of me. After he had listed the many prosperous things which he had enjoyed in times past, he lists the adversities which he now was suffering.

First, as to his former glory and reverence, he shows that he is now held in contempt. Contempt is more difficult for a person to bear in proportion to the lack of worth of the one who holds him in contempt. So he shows that those who hold him in contempt are worthless in many ways.

First, as to their age, and so he says, but now men who are younger than me make sport of me, and this is the parallel contrary to what he said in the last chapter, young men saw me and hid themselves, and the aged rose and stood at attention (Job 29:8).

Second, from mean origin, and so he then says, the fathers of those men were not worthy to guard the dogs of my flock, for I did not consider them capable enough to assume the most ordinary services of my household, for example, taking care of the dogs. This the parallel contrary to what he said already, *the city elders refrained from talking *(Job 29:9).

Third, as to their magnificent influence. So he says, whose, either the detractors or their fathers, strength of hands held nothing, for I did not esteem their power at all. This is contrary to what he said already, *generals governed their tongues *(Job 29:10).

Fourth, as to their lack of honor, and so he says, and they were not accounted worthy of life itself, because of their numerous grave sins. This is the contrary to the parallel statement he made, *the ear which heard me blessed me *(Job 29:11).

Fifth, as to poverty he continues, in want, from lack of possessions, and hunger, as to the affliction which attends them, they are sterile, for they are not capable of producing fruit. This is the contrary to the statement he made already, *the rocks poured out rivers of oil for me *(Job 29:6).

Sixth, he shows the difficult life they led when he says, they gnawed in desolate places, for they consumed plain foods which they searched for in deserts, like acorns and other things of this sort, because they did not have the fruit of the fields from their want. The effect of this food is that they are, filthy, disfigured, with loss, from the affliction of their own body, and misery, from their exterior adversities. He explains, consequently, what they gnaw when he continues, and they chewed herbs, wild and raw, and the bark of trees and the root of the junipers was their food. Here he shows how crude and cheap their food was. He consequently shows that they do not have an abundance of even such vile food as this, and that they find it with great effort. He expresses this in the next verse; they uproot these things in mountain passes, for they gather them with great difficulty because of the uneven terrain. He shows they gather this in small quantity when he says, when they find something, they contend over this vile food. He expresses this, saying, they run to it shouting, so one can arrive before the other. All this answers by way of opposition what he had said above, I washed my feet in butter (Job 29:6).

Seventh, he shows the vile character of their dwellings, because they do not have houses to live in, saying, they live in desert stream beds, which are the dry stream beds caused by storms, where they protect themselves from the heat, and in the caverns of the earth, because of the dark, or in gravel, because of the coolness of the nearby water, or because of the softness of the sand. It seems pleasant to them when they can find such places to live, and so he says, they are happy in places like this, as though these sorts of places are scarce. If at times they find more comfortable places, they reckon this as almost voluptuous, and so he then says, and to live under briars, in the shade of small trees, they think voluptuous, because such a place was more comfortable to lie in than the one they had before. This seems to answer by opposition what he had said before, I will die in my little nest (Job 29:18). After enumerating all the miseries one by one, as an epilogue he summarizes what he has said, saying, the sons of fools, in mind, and of disreputable men, in birth, are not known on earth at all, for they are unknown, without any dignity or renown.

403. As a consequence he shows what Job had suffered from them,

and first he shows that he had been derided by them with their works and their jokes. So he says, now I am a verse in their songs, because they made up mocking twatter about him. They also derided him in serious things, and he continues expressing this, and I have become a proverb for them, because they recited the misfortunes of Job in a group like proverbs, giving him as an example of fault and unhappiness.

Second, he shows how they held him in contempt in their heart when he then says, they abhor me, as vile and unclean.

Third, he shows how they held him in contempt in deed,

first, insofar as they bristled in his presence, and so he continues, and they fled far from me. He says this in opposition to his previous statement, they awaited me like the rain (Job 29:23);

second, they proposed injuries against him; and they were not afraid to spit in my face, as a sin of insult and disrespect. So one does not think this disrespect was because of some fault he had committed, he shows the cause of this contempt from the part of God who struck him.

He shows first that he is afflicted by God when he says, he opened up his quiver and struck me down. An archer takes arrows out of a quiver when he wants to use them to wound someone. Arrows here mean affliction from God, because this is the way he uses them previously, the arrows of the Lord stick fast in me, and their displeasure drains my spirit (Job 6:4).

So the quiver of the Lord is the divine disposition from which adversities come to men, which he tells us is open because of the abundance of adversities by which he is tried, both exteriorly and interiorly.

Second, he asserts that God has hindered him from repelling his injuries, at least in word. So he then says, and he placed a bridle in my mouth, because God’s scourge took away his confidence in answering, since others took their arguments against him from the very fact of God’s scourges.

404. From the fact that these adversities came to him beyond the usual manner of human adversities, he concludes that they are sent to him by God.

He first demonstrates this from the place where the adversities came. For assaults usually arise, especially in these countries, from the North, where barbarous nations and men who were very ferocious and warlike lived, as we read in Jeremiah, all evil is made known from the north (Jer 1:14). But those who assaulted blessed Job came from the South, where men who are less warlike and ferocious usually live. For the text has already said that his adversity began when the Sabeans took his cattle and asses and killed his servants (Job 1:15), and so he says, at the right hand of the dawn, from the South, because if someone faces East, the South will be on his right. My misfortunes immediately arose, because they began when the Sabeans rushed in.

405. Second, he shows that his adversities are beyond the common expectation as to the magnitude of the assault. For one is assaulted when he loses the goods which give him the ability to work. This is represented by the feet, and so he says, they have ruined my feet, for they destroyed my faculties, and they did this easily and completely. So he says, and they crushed them, my feet, in their byways, like a passerby, without any difficulty. He adds another example when he says, like waves, for the waves of the sea suddenly overflow the land or a ship, and completely submerge it. Since his feet (his faculties) have been ruined, the consequence is that his progress is also impeded, and so here the text continues, they have demolished my ways, all the progress of my works. Further, they also crushed me in person with deceit, which he intimates when he continues, they lay in ambush for me, and with power, in what he adds, and they prevailed, without any opposition, because no one obstructed them in doing it. So he then says, and there was no one who brought aid to me when I was persecuted by them, nor even someone who obstructed them so that they would not approach me. So he continues, they rushed in upon me like a breached wall or an open gate, as though there were not an obstacle, either from the thing itself, which is implied by the breached wall, or from human concern, which is implied by the door. Moreover, those who rush on me so freely are not merciful, and so he says, and they rushed in on my mishaps, for the only thing they intended was to make me unhappy.

406. Third, he shows that adversities of this kind are permitted by God for their effect, because he was stripped of everything by them; and so he says, I have been reduced to nothing, because nothing remained for him from his former prosperity.

This consisted in two things.

First, in exterior goods, which he lost by violence, and so he says, like the wind he took away, through violence, my desire, everything which I found desirable in exterior things.

Second, his prosperity consisted in the health of his own person, and as to this he says, and like a cloud, suddenly and completely, my health, of my person, vanished. When these desirable goods had been taken away, his soul remained in sadness, and so he says, now my soul droops within me, through sadness. He truly could not have been anything but sad, when he had lost his children and his goods. Because he had lost the health of his body, he also felt corporeal pain, which gave him no rest in the day, and so he says, days of pain, that is, physical suffering, take possession of me. This pain gets even worse at night, and so he says, at night pains tear my bones, for my pains so increase at night that they seem to pierce through my bones.

He shows that the cause of the pain was from the rotting of his sores, saying, and they who consume me, the worms generated from the rotting of the wounds, do not sleep, since they give no rest to him. He shows their great number, saying, my clothing is consumed by their great numbers, because the number of the worms is so great that they not only eat my flesh, but also gnaw my garments to pieces. To show that they are diffused, not just in one part of the body, but almost in his whole body, even to his head, he then says, and they encircle me like a collar on my tunic, for because of their great number, they cannot be contained under the cover of his underclothing and outside garments, but break out into the open and go around his neck. From the punishment of this kind, he shows that he has become abominable to men, and so he says, I am compared to filth, so that no one wants to approach me because of the great corruption and the number of the worms, as one does with filth. And I have become like dust and ashes, totally dejected and held in contempt.

407. Those whom men reject often find help from God, but he was deserted by God in temporal adversity, and so he says, I called to you, seeking continually to be freed from this adversity, and you did not hear me, at least not very quickly. I stood fast, for I persevered in prayer, and you do not heed me, by freeing me from adversity. Thus if I consider only my temporal state, I would consider you a cruel and hard enemy, and so he then says, you have changed into someone cruel in my opinion, according to the appearance of the exterior trials, when you do not spare me, even when I entreat you. And you persecute me with a heavy hand, for you afflict me cruelly. Therefore, from all exterior appearances, it seems that you granted me prosperity in the past to afflict me all the more, and so he adds, you raised me up, in the time of prosperity, placing me almost above the wind, in a very exalted position, yet in the fickle way of the wind, you powerfully dashed me to pieces; you struck me heavily, as though you threw me on the ground from a great height. He proves that he did not say this in despair, saying, I know that you will hand me over to death, because I do not suffer these things as though they were not planned, for I know that I will go to a still further defect, death. He says that he knows this because of the mortal condition of life, where the house of every living thing has been built, for all men go to death as a man does to his house.

However, man is not totally destroyed in death, because the immortal soul remains, and so he says, yet not for the destruction, of all living men, do you send forth your hand, to reduce them to nothing by your power. And if they should be corrupted, by death, he will save them, and make their souls happy. I hope for this from your goodness, however hard and cruel you seem to me in these temporal adversities.

408. After he has explained his past prosperity (Job 29) and subsequent adversity (Job 30:1–24), he collects them in a kind of summary, saying, I once wept, in the time of my prosperity, over him who was afflicted, according to what Scripture says, weep with those who weep (Rom 12:15), and I also had compassion on the suffering of others, which he shows when he then says, and my soul had compassion on the poor, not only in interior affections, but also in exterior deeds, as he said already (Job 29:12). For these works of mercy, I expected good things, the prosperity of this world according to the opinion of his friends, and evil things came to me, adversities, which clearly demonstrate that their opinion was false. I waited for the light, the consolation and counsel by which I might escape from evil, and the darkness rushed in, bitterness and hesitation.

409. He explains then the evils coming upon him, and he begins with interior evils when he says, my bones are inflamed without rest. This can refer to the weakness of the interior powers producing too much heat, and also to the affliction of the heart, proceeding from the intensity of the feeling of pain. To show this kind of turmoil is very, very debilitating, he says, days of affliction came upon me. For all men suffer weariness in their old age from invalidity, but he is struck with this affliction in his youth. Then, as to exterior evils he says, I went along grieving, for when I walked among men, my exterior appearance was first unhappy and then sad. But although sadness is the cause of anger, Job still was not angry, and so he then says, standing up without fury, I cried in the crowd, explaining my miseries. These came partly from the lack of friends, about whom he continues, I was the brother of snakes, because those who should have loved me as a brother bit me like snakes, and the companion of ostriches, who usually forget even their own offspring (Job 39:15). So they were so forgetful of me that they did not help me.

His adversity was also partly from the weakness of the body, and so first, as to exterior evils he says, my skin turned black on me, from the interior corruption of the humors.

Then, as to the interior evils he continues, and my bones dried out from fever, for my fever was so high that it dried up the marrow of bones. This adversity partly consisted in the exterior signs of sadness, and so he uses images to show how his signs of joy had been changed. These are musical instruments, and he expresses this, saying, my lyre was turned to mourning, because the lyre which I used in joy is now used in mourning. He also uses songs sung by the human voice, and so he says, and my song, which I used to express my joy, has been changed to the voice of those who weep.