Lecture 4 — The prayer of Job

^7:16^ Spare me, O Lord, for my days are nothing.

^7:17^ What is man that you should make so much of him, or that you turn your heart towards him?

^7:18^ You visit him at dawn and immediately test him.

^7:19^ How long do you not spare me? Won’t you leave me in peace to swallow my spittle?

^7:20^ I have sinned. What will I do for you, O guardian of men? Why do you pit me against you and why have I become a burden to myself?

^7:21^ Why do you not take away my sin? Why do you not take away my iniquity? Look! Now I will sleep in the dust; if you will look for me in the morning, I will no longer exist.

134. Spare me, O Lord. After Job has shown that the consolation of Eliphaz, based on the promise of earthly happiness, was leading him to despair and the desire for death, he shows what remains for him to hope for from God: that the trial put on him should cease. He expresses this, saying, spare me, O Lord, as if to say, “I have abandoned the hope of earthly prosperity; it is sufficient that you spare me; cease to afflict me.” Since the unhappiness and weakness of man usually induces another to spare him, he continues, for my days are nothing, which seems to refer to the weakness of man and the brevity of life, both with respect to all men in general and to him in a special way, because his days were almost at an end.

135. Consequently he pursues both points.

First, he says of his weakness, what is man; that is, how small a thing and frail in body, that you lift him up, by honoring him among the other creatures, or that you turn your heart towards him, by guarding him and protecting him with special care? Here, note that although all things are subject to divine providence, and all things in their state receive their greatness from God; nevertheless, some receive it in one way, others in another. For since all particular goods which are in the universe seem ordered to the common good of the universe, as part is ordered to whole, and imperfect to perfect, they are disposed by divine providence as they are ordered to the universe. Note that according to the way some things participate in perpetuity, they pertain essentially to the order of the universe. However, as they are deficient with respect to perpetuity, they pertain accidentally to the perfection of the universe, and not in themselves.

Therefore, according as they are perpetual, they are ordered by God for their own sake, but according as they are corruptible, they are ordered for the sake of other things. Things which are perpetual, both in individual and in species, are governed for their own sakes by God. But things which are corruptible as individuals but perpetual only in species are ordered by God according to species for the sake of the species, but according to individuals only for the sake of the species. This is the good and evil which happens to irrational animals. For example, the fact that this lamb is killed by this wolf or some such thing is not arranged by God because of the merit or demerit of this wolf or of this lamb, but because of the good of the species, since its own food has been divinely ordained for the good of each species. He expresses this, saying, or because you turn your heart towards him, when you provide for him because of his own good. He does not turn his heart to the good of individual animals, but rather to the good of the species, which can exist perpetually.

136. He shows how God turns his heart towards him when he says, you visit him at dawn, that is, from the day of his birth you help him by your providence with things necessary for his life and glorification, whether they are corporeal or spiritual. And immediately test him, by adversities in which he shows clearly he is disposed to virtue. As Sirach says, the oven proves the pot of the potter and the trial of trouble proves the just man (Sir 27:6). God is said to test a man not so that he may learn what kind of man he is, but to inform others what sort of man he is, and also, so that he may know himself. These words of Job are not to be understood as expressing contempt for the divine concern for men, but as investigating and wondering. For if man is considered only as he appears exteriorly, he seems small, fragile, and perishable. So it would be astonishing for God to have such great care for man unless he should have something hidden which makes him capable of perpetual existence. Thus, by inquiry and wonder, the opinion of Eliphaz is refuted, because if there were no other life for man except life on earth, man would not seem worthy of such great care as God has for him. Therefore, the very care which God has especially for man demonstrates that there is another life of man after the death of the body.

137. Then he adds another reason that God should spare him, taken from the brevity of life. He puts it in question form, saying, how long do you not spare me? This is like saying, “The time of the life of man is short and the greater part of the time of my life is already past.” Therefore, what limit is expected so that you spare me if you do not spare me now so that at least I might have some brief time in which to rest. He shows the meaning when he says, won’t you leave me in peace to swallow my spittle? For one cannot swallow his saliva while he is speaking. It is necessary to pause briefly while speaking to spit out or to swallow spittle. He compares the time remaining in his life to this brief instant, as if he says: if you delay in sparing me, no rest will remain for me, even the rest during which someone speaking swallows his spittle. This way of arguing presupposes the opinion of Eliphaz, because if there is no other life for man except the one on this earth, there will not remain a time when God may spare Job if God does not spare him in this life.

138. Someone could object that Job was unworthy to be spared by God because his sins merit that he be afflicted even more. This follows also from the opinion of Eliphaz, who thought that he was scourged because of his sins. So he continues, I have sinned, as if to say, “Given that I have sinned, and because of this merited to be afflicted; still, there remains a reason why you should spare me.”

He adds to this three reasons why God should spare him which make reference to the frailty of man.

The first is taken from man’s powerlessness to make satisfaction. Man can do nothing from his own powers worthy to compensate for the offense which he committed against God. This is what he means when he says, what will I do for you, O guardian of men? as if to say, “If you have such great care for man as their watchman that you require an accounting of their individual acts, my powers are not sufficient to perform some act for which you will remit my sins. If, then, this is expected, you would never spare me, so please spare me despite this powerlessness.”

139. The second reason is taken from the powerlessness of man to persevere. For man cannot persevere after the corruption of human nature without the grace of God, and so it is customary even in Sacred Scripture to say that God hardens someone or blinds someone, in the sense that he does not bestow the grace on him by which he may be softened and see. Job speaks here in this way, saying, why do you pit me against you? that is, why did you not give me the grace of perseverance in this matter, so that I might not be opposed to you by sin? For whoever sins is opposed to God, since he spurns the divine commandments which are either handed down in the written Law or naturally inscribed in human reason. Note that reason is the strongest of all the powers of the soul. A sign of this strength is that reason commands the other powers and uses them for its own end. Yet it happens that reason is somewhat absorbed at times by concupiscence, anger, or the other passions of the lower part of the soul, and so a man sins. Nevertheless, the lower passions cannot hold reason bound, but rather, reason always returns to its nature, by which it tends to spiritual goods as its own proper end. Therefore, a kind of struggle goes on, even of man against himself, when reason resists him because he has sinned, absorbed either by concupiscence or anger. Since a tendency to similar acts has been added to the lower powers from past sins as a result of habit, reason cannot freely make use of the lower powers to order them to higher goods or withdraw them from lower ones. Thus, man becomes a burden even to himself in being opposed to God through sin. He shows this by saying, why have I become a burden to myself? One sees in this that sin has its own punishment immediately. So too, after this punishment, it seems man should be spared more easily.

140. The third reason is taken from the powerlessness of man to cleanse himself from sin. For man sinks into sin by himself, but it is only God’s part to remit sin. So Job asks: If my punishment should not cease for as long a time as my sin remains and you alone can take away my sin, why do you not take away my sin? which I have committed against God or against myself. Why do you not take away my iniquity? if any has been committed against my neighbor. Remember, Job does not ask questions of this kind like a rash questioner of divine judgments, but to destroy the falsity which his adversaries were eager to assert: that one should hope for good and evil things from God only in this life for human deeds. If this view is asserted, the whole reason for divine judgments, by which he punishes men for sin in this life and remits sins in foreordaining to either predestination or reprobation those men in the next life, is thrown into confusion. If there is no future life, but only the present one, there would be no reason why God should delay sparing those whom he intends to spare or justify or reward them. So Job shows his own intention clearly, continuing, look! Now I will sleep in the dust, as if the end of my life is almost here, when I will die and decay to dust. One cannot hope even to see tomorrow with certainty because of the uncertainty of death. So he says, if you will look for me in the morning, I will no longer exist, for I cannot promise myself even a life until morning, much less a long span of life in which I can hope you would spare me if there will be no other life.

141. Consider that Job proceeds according to the manner of a debater, for whom it suffices at the beginning to disprove false opinion, and afterwards to explain what he himself thinks is true.

Note, too, that in these opening words, Job touched three reasons why someone should be afflicted in this life by God.

The first is that his malice may be restrained so he cannot harm others. He touched on this reason in the text, am I the sea or a whale that you should surround me to lock me up (Job 7:14)?

The second is to try man in order to manifest his virtue, and he touched this in the text, you visit him at dawn and immediately test him (Job 7:18).

The third reason is to punish sinners, and he touched on this when he said, I have sinned, what will I do for you, you guardian of men.