Lecture 1 — Job curses his life

^3:1^ After this, Job opened his mouth and cursed his day.

^3:2^ And he said:

^3:3^ Let the day perish on which I was born; the night in which it was said, “a man child is conceived.”

^3:4^ Let that day be darkness; may God not seek it, let it not be in recollection, nor let light shine on it;

^3:5^ Let gloom claim it; let clouds dwell upon it and let it be enveloped in bitterness.

^3:6^ Let a tempest envelop that night with a whirlwind; let it not be reckoned among the days of the year, let it not be numbered among the months.

^3:7^ Let that night be lonely, let it not be worthy of praise.

^3:8^ Let those curse it who curse the day, those who are skilled to rouse up Leviathan.

^3:9^ Let the stars be blotted out in its darkness; let it hope for light, but not see it, nor the rising dawn of the morning,

^3:10^ because it did not shut the doors of my mother’s womb, or hide trouble from my eyes.

50. After this, Job opened his mouth. In Chapter II, I explained that there were two opinions held by ancient philosophers about the passions. The Stoics said that there was no place in the wise man for sorrow. The Peripatetics said that the wise man is indeed sad, but in sad things he conducts himself with a moderation in accord with reason. This opinion accords with the truth. For reason does not take away the condition of nature. It is natural to sensible nature to rejoice and be pleased about fitting things, and grieve and feel pain about harmful things. So reason does not take away this natural disposition, but so moderates it, that reason is not deflected from its right course because of sorrow. This opinion also accords with Holy Scripture which places sorrow in Christ, in whom there is every fullness of virtue and wisdom.

51. So, Job then indeed feels sad as a result of those adversities which he suffered, described above; otherwise, the virtue of patience would have no place in him. But his reason did not desert the right path because of sorrow, but rather, ruled the sorrow. This is proved when the text says, after this, Job opened his mouth. After this means after he had passed seven days in silence. This clearly shows that what he is going to say is said in accord with a reason which is not confused by sorrow. In fact, if they had been spoken from a mind confused by sorrow, he would have said them sooner, when the force of sorrow was more acute. For every sorrow is mitigated with the passage of time, and one feels it more in the beginning. He seems to have kept silent for a long time for this reason, so that he would not be judged to have spoken from a confused mind. This is shown by the text, he opened his mouth. In fact, when someone speaks because of a fit of passion, he does not open his mouth himself, but he is compelled to speak by the passion. For we are not the masters of our acts done through passion, but only of those done through reason. In speaking, he showed the sorrow which he suffered, and he showed patience. Wise men usually express the motion of the passions which they feel in a reasonable way. So Christ said, my soul is sorrowful unto death (Matt 26:38), and St. Paul, I do not do the good I want, but the very evil that I hate, I do (Rom 7:15). Also, Boethius at the beginning of the Consolation of Philosophy, opens with the expression of his sadness, but he shows how to mitigate it by reason. So Job expresses his sorrow verbally.

52. The text continues, and he cursed his day. This seems to contradict what St. Paul says in Romans, bless and do not curse (Rom 12:14). Note that cursing can mean several things. For since to curse is to speak evil, every time one speaks evil, he is said to curse. One speaks evil of someone by speech which causes evil, as God causes evil to something in his very speech and the judge causes the punishment on another in speaking the sentence of condemnation. This is the way the Lord spoke evil or cursed in Genesis, cursed is the ground because of you (Gen 3:17), and cursed be Canaan, a slave of slaves shall he be to his brothers (Gen 9:25). Joshua also cursed Achor, who suffered from the condemnation (Josh 7:25). In another way, one may understand cursing another as invoking or desiring evil to him. For example, the Philistine cursed David in his ways (1 Sam 17:43).

In a third way, one may simply speak evil by disclosing it either in the present, the past, the future; truly or falsely. Paul prohibits cursing in this way when someone deprecates someone or defames his character falsely. However, he does not prohibit it when a judge condemns a defendant who is guilty, or when someone expresses in an ordered way the real evil of someone, either by demonstrating an act to occur in the present, or by relating something past, or by predicting something in the future. So, one should understand that Job cursed his day because he denounced it as evil, not because of its nature, which was created by God, but according to the common usage of Holy Scripture, where time is called good or evil because of what happens in that time. The Apostle Paul speaks in this way when he says, making the most of the time, because the days are evil (Eph 5:16). So Job cursed his day in remembering the evils which had happened to him on that day.

53. The next verse explains the manner of his cursing and continues, ***and Job said: Let the day perish on which I was born, and the night which said, *A man child is conceived. Note that although to exist and to live are desirable in themselves, yet to exist and to live in misery like this should be avoided, although one may freely sustain being miserable for some purpose. So a wretched life which is not ordered to some good end should not be chosen for any reason. The Lord speaks in this way in Matthew, it would have been better for that man if he had never been born (Matt 26:24).

Reason alone apprehends what good can be expected in some misery. The sensitive power does not perceive it. For example, the sense of taste perceives the bitterness of the medicine, but reason alone enjoys the purpose of health. If someone wanted to express the feeling of his sense of taste, then he would denounce the medicine as evil, although reason would judge it to be good because of its purpose. So the blessed Job was able, by his reason, to perceive the misery which he suffered as certainly useful for some end. But the lower part of the soul, influenced by sorrow, would completely repudiate this adversity. Thus, life itself under such adversity was hateful to him. When something is hateful to us, we abhor everything by which we come to that thing. So, in the inferior part of his soul, whose passion Job now intended to express, he hated both the birth and the conception by which he came into life, and consequently both the day of his birth and the night of his conception, according to the usage of attributing to time the good or evil which happens in that time. So, therefore, because Job repudiated life in adversity from the point of view of the senses, he wished that he had never been born or conceived.

He expresses this, saying, let the day perish on which I was born, saying in effect, “Would that I had never been born!” and the night on which it was said, that is, it could truly be said, “a man child is conceived,” that is, “Would that I had never been conceived!” He uses a fitting order here, for if birth does not take place, this does not preclude conception, but lack of conception precludes birth. He also fittingly ascribes the conception to night and birth to day, because, according to the astrologers, a birth during the day is more praiseworthy since the principal star, the sun, shines over the land at that time; but a conception at night is more frequent. Jeremiah uses a similar way of speaking, saying, cursed be the day I was born, may the night on which my mother bore me not be blessed (Jer 20:14).

54. After cursing the day of his birth and the night of his conception, one by one he curses each of these periods of time. First, with the curse of the day of his birth, let that day be darkness! Consider that, as Jerome says in his Prologue, from the words in which Job says, let the day perish on which I was born (Job 1:3), to the place where it is written near the end of the book, for that reason, I repent (Job 42:6), the verses are hexameters in dactyl and spondee. Therefore, it is clear after this that this book was written in poetic style. So he uses the figures and images which poets customarily use through this whole book. Since poets want to touch others deeply, they customarily use several different images to express the same idea. So here too Job uses things which often make a day hateful, to curse his own day in the manner of which we are speaking.

55. The dignity of a day is its brightness, for it is by this that it is distinguished from night. He excludes this dignity, saying, let that day be darkness, an idea which seems frivolous and vain according to a superficial reading of the text. For the day of his birth had passed and was not now present. What has passed cannot be changed. How then could a day which has passed be changed into night? One should know that some judgments one makes about things are expressed as desires. So now the text says, let that day be darkness, as if it were to be said: the day of my birth ought to be in darkness because it befits the darkness and misery which I am suffering. For the sight of the light is delightful, as Qoheleth says, light is pleasing and it is delightful for the eyes to see the sun (Eccl 11:7). It is customary in Holy Scripture to represent sorrow by darkness, as one sees in Qoheleth, he spent all his days in darkness and grief, in much vexation and sickness and resentment (Eccl 5:16).

56. A day is bright in many ways.

First, of course, from the sanctification of God, who instituted it to be celebrated, as Exodus teaches, remember, keep holy the Sabbath day (Exod 20:8). Therefore, Job removes this sort of brightness from the day mentioned previously when he says, may God not seek it, as if to say, “May God not require men to celebrate it.” In fact, God requires some days be celebrated because of some extraordinary favor conferred on that day on men. For example, the Sabbath in the Old Law was celebrated because of the gift of Creation, and the Passover was celebrated because of the gift of liberation from Egypt. This is also true of the feast days which are celebrated in the New Testament. Thus, Job wishes to show by this that his birth should not be reckoned among the extraordinary favors of God, since he seems to have been born more for sorrow than for joy.

Second, a day is bright from the recollection of men. For men customarily celebrate certain days on which something great or joyous happened to them, like Herod and Pharaoh celebrated their birthdays. He excludes such brightness from this aforementioned day, saying, may it not be remembered; namely, by men, because in truth nothing joyous happened on that day, but rather something sad happened on that day, as is plain from the result.

Third, a day is bright from physical light, which can be taken away in many ways.

First, from the loss of the rays of the sun, which illumine the earth, as appears in an eclipse of the sun. The text speaks about this, saying, nor let light shine on it.

Second, from the interposition of clouds, or things like this, which hide the rays of the sun. The text means this when it says, let gloom claim it.

Third, when the subject himself lacks the power of sight, since when someone is dead or deprived of sight, the clarity of the sun is taken away from him. The next verse expresses this, and the shadow of death.

57. Job explains two ways which can produce the aforementioned darkness.

First, as to the order, when he says, let clouds dwell on it. For clouds dwell on a day when a day which dawned clear and beautiful is suddenly and unexpectedly overcast by clouds. Job’s own life seems to be like this.

Second, as to the kind of darkness. So he says, let it be enveloped in bitterness. In this verse he shows that everything which has been said about darkening should refer to the darkness of sorrow. In fact, his style seems to explain an allegory using another allegory. In all these expressions, he only means to say that the day of his birth should not be judged as one of joy but as one of mourning, since he entered by his birth into a life of such great adversity.

58. After he curses the day of his birth, he next curses the night of his conception using a similar style. First, he attributes to it the reason why the night is rendered very horrible. Since night is frightful in itself because of darkness, the deeper the darkness of the night, the more frightful it is. This happens when a great storm arises during the night. So the text continues, let a tempest envelop that night with a whirlwind, as if he were to say: it would have been fitting for that night to be seized by some dark whirlwind, to correspond to my life, which is enveloped by such a great whirlwind of misfortune.

59. Then he takes away from the night what seems to pertain to the good of the night, first as to the opinion of men. For since men divide up the times by what happens during those times, things which happen at night seem small and hardly worth remembering. So night is not accounted anything in itself in the memories of men, but in connection with the day. He removes this good from the night about which he is speaking, saying, let it not be reckoned among the days of the year; let it not be numbered among the months. Here he says, in effect, “That night is not worth remembering, since nothing important happened on it; but rather, something which causes sorrow.” Among the nights which find a place in the memories of men, some are not only remembered, but are also celebrated and festive, on which people gather together to make merry. He takes this good away from this night, saying, let that night be lonely. When men come together for things like this on a given night, they do so in praise and celebration of that night, because of some important deed which is remembered on that night, as is the case with the faithful when they celebrate the night of the Lord’s Resurrection. So he adds, let it not be worthy of praise. For certain nights are worthy of praise because of some great deed which happened on that night.

60. From this he only intends to show that his conception was not something great, nor ordered to something good, but rather to the evil of adversity which he was feeling. So he says, let those curse it who curse the day, those who are capable of rousing up Leviathan. According to the literal sense, this can be understood in two ways. In one way, Leviathan means some great fish, which seems to conform things said about him at the end of the book, can you draw out, he says, Leviathan with a fishhook? (Job 40:20). This must mean that those who fish for fish of this size, attack them at night in the darkness. So when day begins to dawn, they curse the day because their work and intention are interrupted by its coming.

There is a second interpretation. Leviathan means the ancient serpent who is the devil, in the sense of Isaiah, on that day the Lord will punish Leviathan the twisting serpent with his hard, great and strong sword (Isa 27:1). Those men then are prepared to haul out Leviathan who are eager to carry out the suggestions of the devil, by devoting themselves to the works of iniquity. These curse the day because, as John says, everyone who does evil hates the light (John 3:20) and Job says later the eye of the adulterer sees darkness (Job 24:15) and if immediately the dawn should appear, he will judge it the shadow of death (Job 24:15). In this way then, when he speaks as before, let it not be worthy of praise, he wants this night to be hateful to the good men. So, according to what he adds, let those curse it, he also wants it to be hateful to the wicked, for both the good and the wicked shrink from adversity.

61. Next, he excludes from this night those qualities which belong to the good of the night according to nature. One of these is that night is adorned by the view of the stars. He takes this away when he says, let the stars be blotted out in the darkness. Another quality is that it is bedecked with the hope of day, which he removes, saying, let it hope for light, but not see it, as if to say, “Although it is natural to hope for the light of day during the night, yet this night should have a darkness so great that it never ends with the coming of the light of day.” The darkness of night is completely broken in the full light of day, but it is diminished at the break of dawn. He calls down on this night not only that its darkness may not be ended by day, but also that it not be diminished by the dawn when he says, nor see the rising dawn of the morning.

62. But since what he had said seemed impossible, namely, for day and dawn not to succeed night, he shows how his words should be interpreted, saying, because it did not shut the door of my mother’s womb. For the life of man is a hidden life in the womb of his mother, and so is compared to the darkness of night. However, when one appears in the open in birth, then it is like bright day. For this reason, he said that night should not be followed by either dawn or by day, to show that he wanted his conception to come never to birth or to childhood, which is understood by dawn or youth (which is designated by “the full light of day”). He says, because it did not shut the doors of my mother`s womb, not because this night should close the womb, that is, prevent his birth, but because this is done at night. For from conception itself, an impediment can stand out which does not allow conception to issue into birth. But since it also seems irrational for someone to detest life, when being and living are desirable for all, he shows the reason why he has said this, Nor hide trouble from my eyes, as if to say, “I do not detest living because of life itself, but from the evil which I suffer.” For although life itself is desirable, yet a life subject to misery is not. Here, note that everything which he has said in metaphor above, he clarifies plainly in the final clause, a principle which will be observed in his other discourses.