Lecture 2 — Job and his family justly punished

^4:7^ Remember, I implore you, who that was innocent has ever perished? Or when have the upright been destroyed?

^4:8^ No, rather I have seen that those who do evil and sow pains, reap the same;

^4:9^ By the blast of God they perish, and by the breath of his anger they are consumed.

^4:10^ The roar of the lion, the voice of the lioness and the teeth of the whelp have been broken.

^4:11^ The tigress perished with him for lack of prey, and the whelps of the lioness have been scattered.

77. Remember, I implore you. After Eliphaz accused Job of impatience, taking his opportunity from what Job had said, before I eat, I sigh (Job 3:24), he intends now to accuse him of presumption, from the fact that he said he was innocent. To show him that he is not innocent, he takes his argument from the premise of his adversity, saying, remember, I implore you, who that was innocent has ever perished; or when have the upright been destroyed? Consider here again that Eliphaz and the other two friends were of the opinion that the misfortunes of this world do not happen to someone except as a punishment for sin and, on the other hand, prosperity comes as a reward for justice. So according to his opinion, it would not seem fitting that anyone innocent should perish temporally, or that anyone who was upright, that is, just according to virtue, should be destroyed by the loss of temporal glory, which he thought was a reward for justice. He believed this opinion to be so true that even Job could not disagree with it. Yet he thought that Job had, as it were, forgotten the truth which he knew at one time, because his spirit was troubled. So he says, remember.

78. Given, therefore, that adversity does not happen to the innocent and the upright, he consequently identifies those who experience adversity, no, rather, I have seen that those who do evil and sow pains, reap the same. By the blast of God they perish, and by the breath of his anger they are consumed. When he says, I have seen, he makes allusion to the fact that he himself has proven these things by experience. For those who do evil, he understands those who openly do injustice, especially by harming others. For those who sow pains and reap the same, he understands those who harm others by deceit. These sow pains when they prepare calumnies by which they make others suffer. Those men reap pain when they continue their evildoing until it takes effect, and they take this to be excellent fruit. He carries this metaphor further in speaking about punishment. Corn fields usually dry up and are destroyed by a scorching wind. As Malachi says, I will rebuke the devourer, that is, the wind, so that it may not devour the fruit of your land (Mal 3:11). He refers to this when he says they will perish by the blast of God, as though divine judgment itself coming forth to punish evil is similar to the blast of the wind. The very revenge of God is called the breath, that is, the wind, of his anger. He says not only that they perish, but that they are consumed, because they are not only punished in their own persons, but their children and their whole family perish, so that nothing seems to remain of them. This seemed to express Job, both because he had been afflicted in his body, and had lost his children, his family, and his wealth.

79. But the fact that the children and family should suffer for the sins of the parents seems to go contrary to the opinion of Eliphaz, since he intends to defend the opinion that adversities in this world are punishments for sin. Eliphaz answers this objection, saying, the roar of the lion, the voice of the lioness, and the teeth of the whelp have been broken. Here first occurs the consideration that man is more noble than other animals because of reason. When then he sets reason aside, he follows the passions of beasts, and so he bears the likeness of beasts, and the name of beast befits him because he imitates their passions. For example, one who gives in to the passion of concupiscence is likened to a horse or a mule in the Psalms, be not like horse and mule, unintelligent (Ps 31:9).

The one who gives into anger or ferociousness is called a lion or a bear in Proverbs, a roaring lion or a hungry bear is the impious prince over a poor people (Prov 28:15), and Ezechiel, he became a lion and he learned to catch prey and devour men (Ezek 19:3). So now he compares a furious man to a lion, saying, the roar of the lion, for roaring is an indication of the ferociousness of the lion. Often the prodding of a wife adds to the ferociousness of her husband, and so the ferocious thing the husband does is imputed to the fault of his wife. This is clear with Herod’s wife, who prodded him to behead John the Baptist (cf. Matt 14:8). So he says, the voice of the lioness. Sometimes what a tyrant acquired by cruelty, his sons use wantonly, and so they rejoice in the father’s plunder. Therefore they are not immune from fault. So the text continues, the teeth of the whelps are broken. Nahum says, the lion took enough for his whelps (Nah 2:12). Thus he seems to have responded to the premised objection, because it is not unjust for the wife and the children to be punished for the sins of the husband, when they were participants with him in the fault. He said all this in trying to render Job and his family infamous for robbery.

80. Yet it seemed that what he said did not pertain to Job, because his wife did not seem to be punished. To remove this difficulty, he says, the tigress perished with him for lack of prey. For those who steal as a practice, think themselves punished if they are not permitted to steal. Consider that women are compared to a lioness because of the ferociousness of their anger, and to a tigress because of the readiness and quickness of their anger. As Sirach says, there is no anger like the anger of a woman (Sir 25:23), and all malice is brief compared to the malice of a woman (Sir 25:26). Because all of Job’s children had completely perished, he adds, and the whelps of the lioness have been scattered.