Lecture 1 — The true meaning of the sufferings of Job

^36:1^ And Eliud continued and said:

^36:2^ Bear with me a little while and I will show you, for I still have something to say on behalf of God.

^36:3^ I will take up my argument from the beginning and my Maker I will prove just.

^36:4^ For truly my discourses are without deceit, and I will show you perfect science.

^36:5^ God does not cast out the powerful, because he is powerful,

^36:6^ but he does not save the wicked and he grants right judgment to the poor.

^36:7^ He does not take his eyes away from the just. And he places kings of the throne for all time and those who are raised up.

^36:8^ And if they were in chains and were bound in poverty,

^36:9^ he will show then their works and their crimes because they were violent.

^36:10^ He will also open their ears to correct them, and he speaks to turn them from evil.

^36:11^ If they listen, and they observe it, they will complete their days in good and their years in glory;

^36:12^ but if they do not listen, they will pass away by the sword, and they will be consumed in their foolishness.

^36:13^ Pretenders and knaves provoke the anger of God, and they will not cry out when they are bound.

^36:14^ Their soul will die in torment and their life among effeminate men.

^36:15^ He will snatch the poor man from his anguish and he will open his ears in tribulation.

^36:16^ Thus he shall save from the narrow and gaping mouth which is without foundation beneath him. The rest of your table will be full of fat.

^36:17^ Your cause has been judged as evil; and you will receive the cause and authority to judge.

^36:18^ Do not let anger master you so that you oppress someone, nor let a great number of gifts make you waver.

^36:19^ Lay down your greatness without tribulation and all the strong with your courage.

^36:20^ Do not lengthen the night so that the people rise on your behalf.

^36:21^ Beware that you do not fall into evil: you began to pursue this after your misery began.

468. And Eliud continued and said. Eliud presented two things in the words of Job which he wanted to argue:

first, the fact that he said he was just and the fact that he accused God of injustice in his judgment, according to the interpretation Eliud had given the to words of Job. Eliud had disputed against these two ideas (Job 34 and 35).

Now for a second time he intended to argue against the same ideas using another argument, and so the text says, and Eliud continued, with arguments supporting the ones already used, and said, what follows.

First, he gets his attention, saying, bear with me a little while, because he intends to dispute briefly against the two ideas in one answer, and so he says, and I will show you, the truth of the thing about which we are treating. He does not want to seem redundant because he seems to have shown already what he wanted, so he then says, for I have something to say on behalf of God, as if to say, “because I still have other arguments at hand with which I can defend the justice of divine judgment.” Since he intends to introduce reasons a second time against both of these ideas, he says, I will take up my argument from the beginning, for against everything which has been said from the beginning, I will again adduce arguments which support my opinion. He shows this is his duty, saying, and my Maker, God who made me, I will prove just. I will show there is no evil in his judgment, with which you, Job, want to charge him so that you may assert that you are just. He precludes someone saying that what he was about to say did not proceed from true science, but false opinion, saying, for truly my discourses are without deceit, for I will not say anything but what is true and accords with true knowledge. So he says, and I will show you perfect science; the following proofs will convince you because they seem to come from perfect science.

469. After these introductory remarks, he begins to discuss the arguments already adduced by Job. First, he argues against the fact that Job had said that he was just. To disprove this he proceeds in this manner. Job had enjoyed great power in the time of his prosperity. Powerful men often menace others who, either from envy or from fear, are afraid that they will be crushed by their power. This is properly the lot of the weak, who both envy the powerful and fear their oppressions. But this cannot be said about God, who excels all in power, and so he says, God does not cast out the powerful because he is powerful. Therefore, one can understand that God hates nothing in man who is his likeness, because since God is the essence of good, there cannot be anything like him unless it is good. From this it is clear that God does not persecute certain men because they are powerful, but because he sometimes finds evil in them, and for this God punishes them. So he says, but he does not save the wicked, for he damns them. He shows the cause of this damnation, saying, and he grants right judgment to the poor, because he does justice to evil powerful men for the poor who are oppressed by them. He does not desist from the assistance of the just because of power, and so he says, he does not take away from the just, even the powerful man, his eyes, the gaze of his goodness and mercy, according to the Psalm, the eyes of the Lord are on the just (Ps 33:16).

470. Since he does not take his mercy away from the powerful if they are just, He shows the benefits which he confers on the powerful.

First, he confirms their power, and so he says, and he places kings on the throne for all time, if they are just.

Second, he promotes their dominion, and so he says, and those, placed on the throne, are raised up, for they are exalted to greater things when God increases their power and wealth.

Third, even if they were punished for their sins, he had mercy on them if they wished to do penance, and so he says, and if they, the kings, were in chains, placed in prison, and were bound with the bonds of poverty, if they suffered poverty when they were tied up in prison. This is like a chain which binds men so that they cannot work, and they are even more confined by many miseries. Yet to those who are so unhappy, God first confers the benefit of recognizing the past sins for which they are punished, and so he says, he will show them their works, for he will make them know their injustices. So he continues, and their crimes, because he will force them to recognize that the works which they did were criminal acts. He shows then what their sin was, saying, because they were violent. For the special sin of the powerful is to do violence to their subjects, using their power like the law of justice. Not only does he force them to recognize their past sins, but he also shows them that they are punished for these sins, and so he says, he will also open their ears, because he will make them understand that God speaks to them in punishing them.

Therefore they are punished because of their sins, and so he says, and he speaks, interiorly or by exterior admonition, to turn them back from evil, so that they can do penance for their past sins. He shows the fruit of this penance when he says, if they listen, taking it to heart, and they observe it; completing it with works, they will be brought back to their former state, and so they will complete their days in the good, of virtue and earthly prosperity, and their years in the glory of the earth. But if they do not listen, if they do not obey this interior inspiration to do penance, they will pass away by the sword, because they will be led to prison to be killed by the sword, and they will be consumed, destroyed in their foolishness, because of their foolishness. Here, consider that in this, Eliud agrees with the friends of Job that present adversities are punishments for sins, and that through repentance one returns to his former state. Although this sometimes happens, this is not always true according to Job.

471. Since men sometimes suffer adversities even though their sins are not apparent, he wants to preclude his opinion being dashed to pieces by this fact. So he interprets them to be pretenders, because they make a pretense of justice which they do not have, and proves that they use certain things to do injustice under the guise of justice. In this they sin gravely. So he says, pretenders and knaves provoke the anger of God, since God detests this even more. Such men do not do penance easily, even in time of persecution, because they think themselves just since they are praised by others, and so he says, they will not cry out, begging mercy from God, when they are bound, with the chains and bonds of poverty. In this he gives us to understand that he thought Job was a pretender and knave, and thus he should recognize his sin in the punishments he was experiencing. Because such men do not do penance in their punishments, they are not freed from adversity, and so he says, their soul will die in torment, since they suffer diverse agonies even to death, and their life will fail, among effeminate men, who do not have the strength to free themselves from the hand of their oppressors. He rightly compares pretenders to effeminate men because men make pretensions from meanness of soul.

People who are magnanimous do everything in the open, as Aristotle says. Since he had said that God helped the powerful in tribulation, he does not want to seem to say that God is an acceptor of persons, and so he shows that he confers the same benefit also on the poor. He expresses this, saying, he will snatch the poor man from his anguish, by freeing him from adversity. He shows the order of liberation, saying, and he will open his ears in tribulation, for he will make him understand that he is punished for his sins, and he leads him to do penance, as he has already said about the powerful.

472. He applies what he has said already in general to the person of Job (Job 9:5–12). First, since he has said that God brought salvation to both the poor and the powerful in tribulation (Job 36:8; 15), he concludes that even Job can hope for salvation from God when he says: thus he will save you from the narrow and gaping mouth, from the tribulation which is a narrow hole by which men enter into a wide range of different miseries. For one evil becomes for man the cause of many different evils, and the multiplication of evils of this kind can proceed to infinity, so that he never arrives at a state of rest. He expresses this, saying, which is without a foundation, on which a man can rest, beneath him, when he will descend to the depths of evil. This seems especially to express the punishments which occur after death, which last perpetually without any respite. He not only promises him freedom from evils if he recognizes his sin and wants to repent, but also a great quantity of goods, and so he says, the rest at your table will be full of fat, because you will be able to eat to your own satisfaction in safety and in peace from the abundant goods which are restored to you by God.

473. Since he has shown that God does not reject the powerful (Job 36:5), but the wicked, Job seemed to be rejected by God through many adversities, and so he says, your cause has been judged as evil, for since you were not punished because you were powerful, you were punished because you were wicked. Against this he promises him a reward if he will repent and so he says, you will receive the cause and authority to judge, for the cause and authority to judge will be restored to you so that you can discuss the cases of others and judge about them. As though this had already happened, he warns him how that he should bear himself in this situation. Judges sometimes lack justice because of anger, and as to this he says, do not let anger master you so that you oppress someone unjustly, when you then receive the cause and authority to judge.

Judges also fail in justice because they are sometimes greedy for gifts, and he expresses this, saying, do not let a great number of gifts make you waver, in this new situation of authority. Sometimes someone denies justice to others just from pride, and expressing this he says, lay down your greatness, the pride of your soul, without tribulation, before God sends you a trial to humiliate you. Judges also fail in justice at times when they defer to powerful men whom they fear, and expressing this he says, and all the strong with your courage, whom you should pull down. Or, this can mean you should not hesitate to pull down all the strong in any case, because of their power through your justice. Sometimes, judges lack justice because they do not want to be bothered, and so he says, do not lengthen the night; that is, do not permit the justice of a cause to be hidden for a long time, but immediately bring the truth to light, and he shows the reason for this when he says, so that the people rise up because of them, strong men; so do not defer your judgment against powerful men to the point that the whole populace is stirred up to come as suppliants to you in their defense, and so impede your justice.

Or, this can mean something else: do not prolong the night so that the people rise up for them; do not defer to exercise right judgment against the strong, lest perhaps they find in their power many partisans who rise to their defense and impede your right judgment. All these things encourage him to avoid injustice in the state of future prosperity, and so he says, beware that you do not fall into evil, in one of these ways or others. Job could say that this warning was superfluous because he was accustomed to diligently seek justice, as he had said (Job 29:14), and so Eliud adds, you began to pursue this iniquity after your misery began, because you reckoned yourself more just than God. Therefore, you must take care not to turn to injustice if you happen to return to the state of prosperity.