Lecture 2 — God punishes the people

^34:24^ He will destroy many without number and others take their place.

^34:25^ For he knows their works and for that reason he brings about the night and they are destroyed.

^34:26^ He strikes them as evil men in the place of those who see,

^34:27^ who are distanced from him almost on purpose and do not wish to understand all his ways,

^34:28^ so that they cause the cry of the poor to come to him and he hears the voice of the poor.

^34:29^ For if he grants peace, who is able to condemn it? If he hides his face, who will contemplate him?

^34:30^ And over the people and all men, he makes a hypocrite reign because of the sins of the people.

^34:31^ Since then I have spoken about God, I also will not prohibit you.

^34:32^ If I have erred, you teach me. If I have spoken evil, I will not add anything further.

^34:33^ Does God seek it from you, because you were unhappy? For you began to speak and not I. If you know something better, speak.

^34:34^ Let intelligent men speak to me, and let a wise man hear me.

^34:35^ Job has spoken stupidly and his words did not show discipline.

^34:36^ My Father, let Job be tried even to the end; do not desist, for he is an evil man,

^34:37^ who, in addition to all his sins, adds blasphemy. Let him be bound among us meanwhile and let him provoke God by his speech to judgment.

456. He will destroy many without number. There are two reasons why men usually deviate from justice.

The first is because they defer to important persons.

The second is because they defer to the majority against justice.

He had shown already (Job 34:18–23) the perfection of divine justice in that God did not defer to important people, and so now as a consequence, he commends divine justice and he also does not defer to the majority of people who are sinners. So he says, he will destroy many, sinners, by killing or punishing them in other ways. To preclude one from believing that divine justice is averted by some determined quantity of the multitude and does not go further, he then says, without number, because those whom the justice of God destroys because of sin cannot be contained in a determined number. Against the opinion that the human race will perish utterly from this, he says, and others take their place, since others take the place of those who have died, and others are raised up to replace those losing prosperity, to preserve a certain stability in the human race. When many must be punished, the judges often cannot examine the cases of each one with great care. But one must not believe this about God, and so he says, for he knows their works, what each one deserves. Therefore, he gives to each one according to his works, and so he says, for that reason he brings about the night, that is, sudden and unexpected adversity, and they are destroyed, unexpectedly.

457. He shows why they are destroyed in the night from the fact that although they can see what they must do, they despise it, and therefore, it is just that they are not given the ability of foresight, to provide against the evil threatening them. He expresses this, saying, as evil men, who reject the knowledge of piety, he strikes them, who live in the place of those who see, which is the state in which they can see, both by natural reason and by sacred doctrine, what must be done and what must be avoided. But they themselves have rejected this, and so he says, who are distanced from him almost on purpose, from God, in sinning from real malice. He therefore posits that there is affected ignorance in them when he then says, and they do not wish to understand all of his ways; the commandments of God, and so it is clear that they are not excused because of ignorance but because they are more worthy of condemnation. He shows the effect of affected ignorance of this kind, saying, or cause the cry of the poor to come to him, for since they show themselves to be ignorant of the ways of God, they oppress the poor whom God hears. So, just as they do not shudder in horror at the oppression of the poor, in the same way they do not fear the anger of God, and so he says, and he hears the voice of the poor, because they trivialize the fact that God shows his will is to hear the poor.

458. He had attributed the destruction of many men to divine judgment. Someone, however, could think that the fact that a great number is destroyed and others prosper was not a result of divine judgment, but a result of some powerful prince who governs or attacks them. So to exclude this he says, for if he grants peace, who is able to condemn it? Therefore I say he is the one who destroys many without number (Job 34:24). For if he wills to grant them temporal peace and prosperity, there is no one who can condemn the multitude, and visa versa, if he intends to condemn, there is no one who can grant peace. So he says, if he hides his face, by taking away the presence of his consolation, who will contemplate him, who can find consolation in him and appreciate his beauty in some way?

459. Besides destruction, there is another punishment of the multitude, in which the dominion of a tyrant afflicts them. He expresses this punishment, saying, and over people and all men, for he exercises his judgments through destruction or oppression of tyrants not only in one nation, but also in everyone. He then says about the oppression of tyrants, he makes a hypocrite reign because of the sins of the people, who suffer under his regime. In this he seems to answer the question which Job had proposed, why do the wicked live? Why are they comforted and raised up with riches? (Job 21:7). For he asserted that this was not because of their own merits, as Job had proved in the same place, but because of lack of merit of others, who are punished as a result of their prosperity.

460. Therefore, after he shows there cannot be injustice in God, and that his justice is especially manifested by the judgments which he exercises on princes and the multitude, he gives Job a chance to answer. So he says, since, then, I have spoken about God, in honor of God, I also will not prohibit you, and give you a chance to respond. He shows in what direction his answer should go, saying, if I have erred, as you imputed to your other friends, when you said that they were cultivators of false dogmas (Job 13:4), you teach me, the truth that I can be free from error. One can be mistaken in speech not only by erring against the truth of doctrine, but also in a particular judgment against the truth of justice, and so he says, if I have spoken evil, I will not add anything further, showing myself ready for correction. Since he thinks that Job was gravely disturbed against him, he shows as a consequence that his disturbance is unjust, continuing, does God seek it from you? for even if I have spoken evil, you are not bound by God to answer for it, and so you should not be gravely disturbed by this. He says, because you were unhappy? through a disordered disturbance of soul.

Second, he shows why he should not be gravely disturbed, since Job himself had begun his speech with *let the day perish *(Job 3:3). This was the beginning of the whole argument, and so he says, for you began to speak and not I.

Third, he shows that he should not be gravely disturbed, because he also has ability to say what he likes, and so he says, if you know something better than what I have to say, speak, to show my error and evil.

461. But he did not say this because he doubted his own justice and the truth of his words; he consequently intends to assert that Job lacks both wisdom and understanding, and because of this he judges him unworthy to discuss with him. The opponent in a disputation must have the sharpness of understanding required especially to find reasonable ways to prove the proposition. So he says, let intelligent men speak to me, and make objections against me. The one answering must especially have the wisdom required to judge well about the things which he hears, and so he says, and let a wise man hear me, for I am an opponent ready to discuss. He had inferred a defect in these two things in the words Job himself spoke, and so he says, Job stupidly, against wisdom, has spoken, insofar as he reckoned him to have said something against the righteousness of divine judgment, and his words do not show discipline, which is a characteristic of an ordered intelligence. He seems to relate this to the fact that Job asserted that he was just.

462. Since Job did not recognize these defects in himself, Eliud turns his words to God, claiming that Job was tried in order to recognize his defects, and so he says, my Father, my God, whom I think of like a father, because of the reverence which I have for you, and I defend your justice in all things, let Job be tried, let his defect be shown to him through scourges, even to the end, until death. He shows the justice of this petition, saying, do not desist, for he is an evil man, for his evil merits that your scourges never cease. He says with greater exaggeration, who in addition to all his sins, to the past sins for which he has been scourged, adds blasphemy, in saying he is just, but God is unjust. For this he eagerly desires pain for him in the present, and so he says, let him be bound among us meanwhile, with adversities.

Second, he consents to future punishments, and so he says, and then, after he has already suffered temporally, to judgment, of future revenge, let him provoke God by his speech, by which he blasphemes against him.