Lecture 1 — Job is chaste, just and good

^31:1^ I made a covenant with my eyes to not think about a young virgin.

^31:2^ What part does God above have in me, and what inheritance does the Almighty have on high?

^31:3^ Is it not damnation for the wicked and aversion for those doing evil?

^31:4^ Does he not consider my ways and does he not number all my steps?

^31:5^ If I have walked in vanity, and my foot hastened to deception,

^31:6^ let him weigh me in a just balance and God knows my simplicity.

^31:7^ If my step has turned aside from the way, if my eye has followed my heart, and if any spot cleaves to my hands,

^31:8^ let another reap the goods I have sown and his sons will be rooted up.

^31:9^ If my heart has gone astray over a woman and if I have lain in wait at my neighbor’s door,

^31:10^ let my wife be the prostitute of another and others bend over her.

^31:11^ This is indeed a wicked thing and the greatest evil,

^31:12^ it is a fire which devours even to consuming all he has, and eradicates his whole progeny.

^31:13^ If I despised subjecting myself to judgment with my servant and my handmaid when they wanted to settle some complaint against me,

^31:14^ when the Lord God will rise up to judge me and when he questions, what will I answer him?

^31:15^ Did not he make both other men and myself in the womb? And did he form me the same in the womb?

^31:16^ If I denied the poor what they sought and if I have made the eyes of the widow wait,

^31:17^ if I ate my mouthful alone and the orphan did not share it,

^31:18^ since mercy has increased in me from my infancy and came forth with me from the womb of my mother.

^31:19^ If I despised the man passing by and the poor without covering;

^31:20^ If his loins have not blessed me, and if he was not warmed with the fleece of my sheep;

^31:21^ If I have raised my hand against the orphan, even when they saw me at the gate, elevated above the crowd,

^31:22^ let my shoulder fall from its joint and my bones be broken.

^31:23^ For I always feared God like the swelling of the wave over me, and his weight I could not bear.

410. I made a covenant. After Job had told of his former prosperity (Job 29) and his subsequent adversity (Job 30), he now shows his innocence, so that one does not think that he had fallen into adversities because of sin. He begins to show his innocence by his freedom from the sin of lust, which involves many things. One easily slips into this sin, because unless someone avoids the beginnings he cannot withdraw at all from the things which come after.

The glance of the eyes, in which one looks at a beautiful woman, especially a virgin, is the first motion in this sin.

Second, is the thought,

third, the pleasure,

fourth, the consent,

and fifth, the deed.

Job wanted to exclude the beginnings of this sin so that he would not get entangled in the rest, and so he says, I made a covenant, in my heart. I signed it like one signs a treaty, with my eyes, from whose sight the desire of women comes, to so abstain from looking at women as to not think about a virgin, that is, to not arrive at the first interior stage of these thoughts. For he saw that it was difficult, if he fell into the first stage of thought, to not totter into the others, namely, desire and consent.

411. Then he shows why he is so solicitous to avoid this sin.

First, because man seems to go furthest away from God in the sin of lust. For man approaches God by spiritual actions, which are especially impeded by venereal pleasures, and so he then says, what part does God above have in me? For God has a part in me in proportion to the elevation of my mind to higher things; but if my mind is cast down by lust to carnal pleasure, God has no part in me from on high. Even the lustful at some time think about God spiritually, but soon, the desire of pleasure calls them back down below, and so God’s portion cannot be steadfast in them like an inheritance. So he then says, and the inheritance, the firm hold on me, for I fell back down below (the Almighty cannot have on high because he lives on high). So it is necessary that his inheritance be with those who seek higher, spiritual things, not in those who descend towards carnal things.

Second, the reason why he shuns the sin of lust is the damage which it brings upon men, which is twofold. One is corporeal, when a man, because of the sin of lust, incurs danger to his person and his things, and so he says, is it not damnation for the wicked? because the evil man who is involved in this sin goes to damnation. Another damage is the impediment to doing good works, and so he says, and aversion for those doing evil, for violent pleasure drags the soul to itself. So men given to pleasure abandon good works, and even good talk.

Third, he considers the cause from the point of view of divine providence, which provides for all the deeds of men. From this perspective, no one can be immune from punishment, and so he says, does he not consider my ways, the progress of my works to reward them? Not only does he know the entire process, but also the stages of that process, and so he says, and does he not number all my steps? because he examines everything with his judgment, even the smallest detail which seem reprehensible in my acts, and so I do not remain unpunished.

412. Second, he cleanses himself from the sin of deceit, using in this and in all the following an excretory oath in which he binds himself to punishment, so that if he does not tell the truth, he obliges himself to punishment. So he says, if I walked, if I acted in vanity, in some falsehood. For things are called vain which lack stability. Stability consists especially in truth. He shows how one goes about in vanity when he then says, and my foot hastened to deception; this refers to my affection and all the other powers of the soul which are the principles of motion. He says clearly, my foot hastened to deception, because man intends by deceitful means to obtain quickly what he would have obtained with great difficulty by means of the truth. One can consider walking without deceit by inspecting the righteousness of justice from which the deceitful man turns aside, and so he says, let him, God, weigh me in a just balance, to discern from his justice if I have gone afar in evil doing. Since deceit consists especially in the intention of the heart, He alone can judge deceit who reads the intentions of hearts like an open book. This can only be God. So he then says, and let God know my simplicity, which is the contrary of the duplicity of deceit. He says, let God know, not as though God learns it for the first time as something new, but in that he makes it known to others as something new, or because he knew this from eternity by the reason of his justice.

413. Since he has excluded deceit from himself in general, he descends to some special sins in which one deceitfully plots to obtain the goods of another. This happens both in theft and in adultery. For in theft, one plots by deceit to obtain the possessions of his neighbor, and he excludes this from himself, saying, if my step has turned aside from the way, by disdaining justice, which has as its effect that man looks with a covetous eye at the goods of his neighbor to steal them. So he says, if my eye, my desire, had followed my heart, so that my eye intended to have what my heart desired.

Third, from contempt of justice and direct intention to acquire what his heart desires, a man may use his hand to rob the goods of another, and so the text continues, and if any spot has cleaved to my hands, by taking the things of another. Now it is just that if one takes the goods of another, he should also have his goods despoiled by others, and so he says, let another reap the goods I have sown, for if I have stolen another’s goods, let others take my goods away. This is an excretory oath obliging himself to punishment. Men often steal the riches of another so that they can amass wealth for their children, as the prophet Nahum said, the lion seized what was sufficient for his cubs (Nah 2:13). Therefore, it is just that the man who steals the things of another not only should have his own goods taken from him, but also that his sons should die, and so he says, and his sons will be rooted up, for these are the ones who seem to be especially supported by the stolen goods.

414. In adultery, however, a man plots deceitfully to take the wife of his neighbor, and this plot is preceded by a certain deception of heart, as long as reason is darkened by concupiscence, and so he says, if my heart has gone astray over a woman, referring to the desire of the wife of another. From the fact that the heart is conquered in the desire of a woman, one tries to possess the woman desired by any deceitful means possible, and so he says, and if I have lain in wait at my neighbor’s door, to commit adultery with his wife. He is justly punished who soils the wife of another by adultery, when his wife is soiled by others, and so he says, let my wife be the prostitute of another, let her make her body an object for sale to others. From this it follows that others abuse her, and so he then says, and others bend down over her, to commit adultery. He shows why he avoids this sin, saying, this is indeed a wicked thing, because it is against the law of God, which binds a man and a woman in matrimony (cf. Matt 19:6). And, if one considers human justice, it is the greatest evil, because the greater the good taken away, the greater the injustice.

If someone should steal a cow, it is a greater injustice than if he should steal a sheep, and so he is punished more, as Exodus says. The man who commits adultery takes away the greatest thing another can have, his wife, who is one flesh with him (Gen 2:24). He also takes away the certainty of offspring and consequently, the whole succession of his patrimony, which because of adultery, sometimes accrues to strangers. So the text says that adultery is a fire, which devours even to consuming all he has, because it cheats a man of his whole patrimony, as has been said, and eradicates his whole progeny, when it makes the succession of his sons uncertain, and so Sirach says, every woman leaving her husband will sin, and give him an heir by another man (Sir 23:32).

415. So after he excuses himself from injustice because he did not do injury to others, either in stealing things from them, or in abusing persons joined to them, he excuses himself, as a consequence, from those incurring injustice because of the defect of justice, and so he says, if I despised subjecting myself to judgment with my servant and my handmaid when they wanted to settle some complaint against me, for if I despised rendering justice to those beneath me, let these and other hard things happen to me. He shows why he did not despise submitting to judgment with his servants, saying, when the Lord God will rise up to judge me, that is, when he himself will come to judge, if I now despise his judgment, I would have no one to whom I could go for refuge or aid. Nor would I even be able to rationally answer God in judgment, and so he says, and when he questions, when he examines my deeds, what will I answer him, what reason will I be able to give for not being willing to submit to judgment with my servants? He implies the answer, “none.” He proves as a consequence that all men naturally share the same condition, and so he says, did he not make both other men and myself in the womb? He means, “I have the same soul created by God as my servants.” My body is formed also by the same divine power, and so he continues, and did he, God, not form me the same in the womb? who formed the other. So it is clear that it matters to God how I treat the other.

416. After he showed that he was not lustful (Job 30:1) or unjust (Job 30:5), he shows that he was not without pity. He first shows this from the fact that he did not take benefits away from the poor. For some men deny alms to the poor man seeking them as soon as they ask. He excluded this from himself, saying, if I denied the poor what they sought. Some do not refuse them but put off giving the gift once promised. He excludes this from himself, saying, and if I made the eyes of the widow wait. Others do not refuse nor defer giving what is asked, but they give nothing from a right intention. He excludes this from himself, showing that he did not wish to use the smallest things in an exclusive way, but rather to share them with others, and so he continues, if I ate my mouthful alone and the orphan did not share it. Here he implies: let these things and worse happen to me. Notice that he speaks here with great precision. For the poor do not usually just beg, but they entreat earnestly, and therefore one cannot refuse them the kindness of pity without completely rejecting them. Widows beg, but they are afraid to entreat earnestly, and so, unless one aids them quickly, they are deprived of the benefit of mercy.

Orphans dare not to beg, and thus it is necessary that one bestow mercy on them even without begging. He shows why he was merciful in two ways:

first, because from his childhood he developed the habit, and so he says, since mercy has increased in me from my infancy. As he grew in years, so he practiced the works of mercy more.

Second, because he had a natural inclination to mercy, like other men commonly have certain inclinations to various virtues, and so he says, it came forth with me from the womb of my mother, because from the first days of my birth, I was disposed to give mercy to the poor promptly.

417. There are usually two obstructions to mercy. One is the contempt of the poor, whom one judges not worthy of mercy. One usually despises those who dress in poor clothes and honors those who dress in rich clothes, as Sirach says, the clothes of the body reveals the man (Sir 19:27). But he excludes this obstacle to mercy from himself, saying, if I despised the man passing by, any passerby not known to me, and the poor, someone I know, because he was without covering, he implies here too, let these and other things happen to me. Not only did I not despise those who were poorly clothed, but I even provided them with clothes, and so he then says, if his loins have not blessed me, because I covered them when they were naked, and this was the occasion when he blessed me. He shows the reason for this, saying, and if he was not warmed with the fleece of my sheep, by the clothing offered to him, let the same punishment happen to me.

Another impediment to pity is the confidence one has in one’s own power. This makes a man think he can harm others, and especially people beneath him with impunity, and he excludes this from himself, saying, if I have raised my hand against the orphan, to cause him to suffer, even when they saw me at the gate, the place of judgment, elevated above the crowd, as one more powerful. It is just that a man should be deprived of the members which he uses for injustice, and so he speaks not only of the loss of his hand as a punishment, but also the arm to which the hand is attached, and of the shoulder to which the arm is connected, and so he says, let my shoulder fall from its joint and let my arm and my bones be broken, if I have abused my hand by using it to oppress the poor. He shows then why, although he was in a higher place in society, he did not raise his hand against orphans. Even though he did not deliver them because of men, yet he would deliver them because of God whose judgments he feared, and so he then says, for I always feared God like the swelling of a wave over me. He speaks using the comparison of those sailing in the sea, who, when the swelling waves rise over the height of the ship, fear that the ship will sink. In the same way, he feared divine threats, like waves swelling up. Also, he submitted to divine authority, which forbids the oppression of orphans, and so he says, and weight, the authority of God, who protects the orphans, I could not bear, without bending my will to him.