Lecture 2 — Epilogue—Job's reward

^42:7^ After the Lord spoke three times to Job, he spoke to Eliphaz the Temanite: my fury is enkindled against you and your two friends, for you have not spoken correctly in my presence like my servant, Job.

^42:8^ Therefore, take seven bulls and seven rams. Go to my servant, Job, and offer holocausts for yourselves. Job, my servant, will pray for you. I will consider his face so that your foolishness will not be imputed to you. For you have not spoken rightly in my presence like my servant, Job.

^42:9^ Eliphaz the Temanite, Baldath the Shuite and Sophar the Naamathite went and did as the Lord had told them and the Lord supported the person of Job.

^42:10^ The Lord also was turned by the penance of Job when he prayed for his friends. And the Lord gave Job twice as much as before.

^42:11^ Then all his brothers and sisters and all who had known him before came to him, and they ate bread with him in his house, and they shook their heads over him. They consoled him about all the evil which the Lord had brought upon him and they each gave him one sheep and one gold ring.

^42:12^ But the Lord blessed the last days of Job more than his first days. He gave him fourteen thousand sheep, six thousand camels, one thousand yoke of oxen and one thousand asses.

^42:13^ He had seven sons and three daughters.

^42:14^ And he called the name of the first Day and the name of the second Cassia and the name of the third Horn of Rouge.

^42:15^ There was no one found among women as beautiful as the daughters of Job in the whole world, and their father gave them an inheritance among their brothers.

^42:16^ But Job lived after his trials one hundred and forty years, and he saw his sons and the sons of their sons up to the fourth generation, and he died an old man and full of days.

569. After the Lord spoke three times to Job. Since God had reproved both Eliud and Job in his discourse (Job 38:2,3), now in the third place he reproves his friends, and especially Eliphaz among them. It is clear that Eliphaz is the most important from the fact that he began to speak first. So the text says, after the Lord had spoken these words to Job, he spoke to Eliphaz the Temanite: my fury is enkindled against you and your two friends, Baldath and Sophar. Consider here that Eliud had sinned from inexperience, and Job from unbecoming flippancy, so neither had sinned gravely. Therefore, the Lord is not said to be angry with them, but he is exceedingly angry with Job’s three friends because they had sinned in asserting perverse doctrines, as we saw already (Job 13:4). So he says, for you have not spoken correctly in my presence, that is, with truths of faith, like my servant Job, who did not dissent from the truth of faith. To expiate grave sins, the ancients used to offer sacrifice, and so he says, therefore, take seven bulls and seven rams, because they were elders of the people. Seven is the universal number and so seven sacrifices can expiate for grave faults. But because those who lack faith ought to be reconciled to God by the faithful, he says, go to my servant Job, to reconcile you to me by his mediation, and offer holocausts for yourselves, so that you who have sinned may make satisfaction. But for satisfaction you need the patronage of a faithful man, and so he says, Job, my servant, will pray for you, for he is worthy to be heard because of his faith, and so he says, I will consider his face, his prayer which I will hear, and, your foolishness will not be imputed to you, your lack of faith in holding to correct teaching. He explains this, saying, for you have not spoken rightly in my presence like my servant Job.

570. After they had received the hope of pardon, they fulfilled what he had commanded them, and so the text goes on, Eliphaz the Temanite, Baldath of Shuhite, and Sophar the Naamathite went and did as the Lord had told them. So they were made worthy through their obedience and humility, and Job’s prayer for them was heard. Therefore, the text next says, and the Lord supported the person of Job, in what he asked for his friends. Not only the humility of the friends but also his own humility rendered his prayer efficacious, and so the text continues, the Lord also was turned, from fury to clemency, by the penance of Job, when he prayed for his friends. For it was fitting that one who had humbly done penance for such a light sin, should also obtain pardon for others who sinned gravely.

571. A person’s penance is more useful for himself than for others. Therefore, if the prayer and penance of Job merited the removal of divine indignation from the friends, it was even more fitting that he should be freed from adversity. Although Job did not put his hope in recovering earthly prosperity, but in capturing future happiness, the Lord still also restored him to temporal prosperity from his bounty, as Matthew says, seek first the kingdom of God and his justice, and all else will be given to you (Matt 6:33). This was fitting in time according to the state of the Old Testament, in which the promised goods were temporal goods, so that by the prosperity which he recovered, he would give an example to others of conversion to God. It was also fitting to the person of Job himself, whose reputation had been sullied among other people because of the many adversities which had come upon him. Therefore, to restore his good reputation, God led him back to a state of even greater prosperity. So the text continues, and the Lord gave Job twice as much as he had before.

The principal adversity of Job was being deserted by his friends (Job 19:13), and therefore he places the remedy for this adversity first, when he says, then all his brothers and sisters and all who had known him before came to him, which indicates the return of his past friendship, and they ate bread with him in his house, which describes the return to the old familiarity, and they shook their head over him, in compassion for his affliction. Since they should not only offer compassion but also a cure for his afflictions, they first provided a cure for his interior pain with the consolation of words, and so the text says, they consoled him about all the evil which the Lord had brought upon him.

Second, they showed him relief to cure his material poverty. Since he had lost his animals in the fields and household furniture in the destruction of his house, they helped him in both. For the text says next, and they each one gave him one sheep, as to animals, and one gold ring, as to furniture.

572. These were insufficient to restore him, but the Lord assisted him with his own hand that from these small things he produced greater ones, and so the text says, but the Lord blessed the last days of Job, by lengthening them, more than his first days, that is, more than his former prosperity. For he is powerful to do more than we can ask or understand (Eph 3:20), as Ephesians says. Job had already desired to return to his condition as in the months of old (Job 29:2), but the Lord restored him to greater things and double what he had before, as has been said already (Job 42:10), and so the text says, he gave him fourteen thousand sheep, because before he was said to have seven thousand sheep (Job 1:3); and six thousand camels, since before he had three thousand camels (Job 1:3). Since before he had also five hundred yoke of oxen, here he receives double and has one thousand yoke of oxen. Before he had five hundred asses (Job 1:13), so here he receives double, and one thousand asses.

573. Not only were his possessions which he had lost restored to him, but also his children were restored to him, but not double what he had before, for the text says, he had seven sons and three daughters. There are two reasons for this. One pertains to the future life, because the sons which he had were not completely lost to him, but were saved in the future life to live with him. The other reason concerns the present life, for if the number of sons was also doubled when the rest of the things were doubled, the fortune of his house would not seem to have increased, because each one of his children would have the same quantity of goods as before. Therefore, it was more just that his children should increase in value rather than number. This is insinuated in a hidden way in the daughters, whom we read were very beautiful. Their beauty is expressed in their name, and so the text continues, and he called the name of the first, Day, because of her brightness, and the name of the second, Cassia, which is a perfume, because of its sweet smell, and the name of the third, Horn of Rouge, which is a dye which women use to adorn their eyes. As the Book of Kings says, she painted her eyes with rouge and adorned her head (2 Kgs 9:30). Women keep rouge in a horn so that they have it ready when it is needed, and so he called her Horn of Rouge, to indicate the surpassing beauty of her eyes. So the text continues and discusses their beauty, there was no one found among women as beautiful as the daughters of Job in the whole world. By this we are also given to understand that his sons were preeminent in virtue, for the text continues, and their father gave them inheritance among their brothers, to indicate the fittingness of the virtue of both.

574. Since Job also had been scourged in body, he is given length of days to increase his prosperity, and so the text goes on, but Job lived after his trials one hundred and forty years. He lived the whole time in prosperity, for the text says, and he saw his sons and the sons of their sons up to the fourth generation. This prosperity of his endured until his death, so the text says, and he died an old man, which expresses his duration of life, and full of days, which expresses the prosperity of his life. He indicated his adversity already when he said, therefore, I had empty months (Job 7:3). So his long life indicates both the superabundance of the goods of fortune and the goods of grace, which led him to the future glory which endures for ever and ever. Amen.