Lecture 1 — What Job should confess

^33:1^ Listen then, Job, to my words and hear my speeches.

^33:2^ Behold, I will open my mouth, my tongue will speak in my mouth.

^33:3^ My words are in a simple heart and my lips speak a pure opinion.

^33:4^ The spirit of God made me and the breath of the Most High gave me life.

^33:5^ If you can, answer me and hold your ground before me.

^33:6^ Behold, God made both you and me and I too was formed from the same clay.

^33:7^ But let the miracle of mine not terrify you and let my eloquence not prove a burden for you.

^33:8^ Therefore, you have spoken in my hearing and I heard the sound of words:

^33:9^ I am clean and without fault, without stain and there is no evil in me.

^33:10^ Since he finds grievances against me, therefore he thought that I am his enemy.

^33:11^ He put my feet in the stocks, and he watched all my movements.

^33:12a^ It is in this then that you are not justified.

435. Listen then, Job, to my words. The text has said already that Eliud was angry against Job and his friends (Job 32:2‑3). After he has denounced the laziness of the friends of Job, now he begins to speak against Job himself, and therefore, he first gets his attention, saying, listen, then, Job, to my words, because I now intend to answer you. He shows that he will weigh each word very carefully, saying, and hear all of my speeches, for he will not say anything in vain. So that Job does not ask the reason why he did not speak before, he says, behold, I open my mouth, for before when I was silent, I had kept my mouth closed out of reverence for my elders, since now they have tried, necessity compels me to speak. So he says, my tongue in my mouth will speak, for I will not follow what others say, but I will speak my own ideas. Since Job, in what has gone before, has accused his friends of afflicting him and confounding him with words (Job 19:2), he shows this is not true with him, saying, my words are in a simple heart. For I do not speak to falsely condemn or to ridicule, but to show the truth with a simple heart. Since Job had accused the other three men of being fabricators of lies and cultivators of false doctrines (Job 13:4), he excludes this from himself, saying, and my lips speak a pure opinion, without the mixture of any falsity or error.

He shows the source of his confidence in clearly explaining the truth, saying, the Spirit of God made me, and therefore, it is no wonder that he moves his creature and perfects him, and he explains this, continuing, and the breath of the Most High gave me life, for he moves and perfects me to the works of life, and the principal one of these is the understanding of the truth. He does not want to have said this and prejudice the opportunity which Job might have to answer something spoken from divine inspiration, and so he says, if you can, answer me, what I will say against you, and hold your ground before me, so that you also can raise objections against my position if you do not agree. Lest Job does not scorn to dispute with him because of his own reputation for wisdom, and the youth of Eliud, he excludes this, saying, behold, God made both you and me, so from the Creator’s point of view both of us have the same hope of inquiring into truth. On the part of matter, the same impediment applies to each one, and so he says, and I too was formed from the same clay, whose coarseness darkens the light of truth. But Eliud could answer for himself that it is because of a miracle that such great wisdom and eloquence is given to a young man, and this is sufficient reason to dispute against a very wise old man. Therefore he sustains the fact that this was given to him miraculously, saying, let this miracle of mine not terrify you, so that you do not dare answer one who has obtained wisdom miraculously, and let my eloquence not prove a burden for you, so that you are astonished because of it.

436. After he has said these things as an introduction, he strengthens the arguments which he intends to use against Job, and so he says, therefore you have spoken in my hearing, so you cannot excuse yourself by saying that you did not say this, and I heard the sound of words, for I listened attentively.

First, he had noted in the words of Job that he had said that he was immune from sin (Job 13:18; 16:18), and so he says, I am clean, from the impurity of the flesh, and without fault, caused by the sin of omission; without stain, from grave sins which are against God, like idolatry and other sins of this sort; and there is no evil in me, which would cause me to wound my neighbors unjustly.

Second, he notes in his words that he accused God of evil judgment. Evil judgment usually proceeds from the hatred of the one judging, and as to this he recalls that Job had said, since he finds grievances against me, therefore he thought that I am his enemy.

In Chapter Thirteen, Job asked, why do you hide your face and think of me as your enemy? (Job 13:24). But he did not say, he finds grievances against me, and so these things are an addition of Eliud, to give a bad interpretation to the words of Job.

Indeed, the hatred of a judge seems to be just if, sure of the malice of another, he has hatred in punishing his fault. But if from light grievances the judge is provoked to evil at another, his hatred will be unjust. So he interpreted Job to have said that God thought of him as an enemy.

Second, a judge is evil if he takes away from someone the ability to mount a just defense. Expressing this he says, he put my feet in the stocks, for he bound me and impeded me in my works.

Third, a judge is evil when he gathers certain small faults together to condemn someone, and expressing this he says, he watched all of my movements, spying on him in each of his works. Job did not say these things to show the evil of the divine judge, but he was speaking metaphorically as he explained, understand my riddles with your ears (Job 13:17). Because this second point excludes the first, he then says, it is in this then that you are not justified, because the very fact that you impute injustice to God shows your injustice.