Lecture 1 — God is just

^8:1^ Baldath of Shuah spoke next:

^8:2^ How long will you go on talking like that, and prolong the high spirit of the speech of your mouth?

^8:3^ Can God deceive judgment, or the Almighty falsify justice?

^8:4^ Even if your sons sinned against him, and he delivered them into the hands of their iniquity,

^8:5^ yet if at dawn, you will rise to God, and you will plead with the Almighty,

^8:6^ if you will proceed pure and honest, at once he will awake to you; he will give you back the peaceful dwelling of your justice.

^8:7^ As your prosperity was small, so your future prosperity will be greater.

142. Baldath of Shuah spoke next. In the discourse which Job just finished, he had responded to the speech of Eliphaz. He showed Eliphaz was mistaken in a deep and efficacious way. But Baldath of Shuah, who agreed with the same opinion of Eliphaz, did not understand the profundity of blessed Job, and so he speaks against the answer of blessed Job like men usually speak against the opinions they do not understand. For men who do not understand the minds of others speaking are usually deficient in two ways. One of these is because they do not know when the speaker arrives at the conclusion he proposes. Another is because they are not able to understand the order of the discourse of the speaker. This is clearly shown in the speech of Baldath when the text says, Baldath spoke next: how long will you go on talking like that? For Job seemed to him to talk too long, because he did not consider or understand the conclusion Job wished to draw in his discourse. Similarly, he did not grasp the order of the things which Job had said, namely, how they had been connected to one another. So he continues, and prolong the high spirit of the speech of your mouth? For he concluded that because Job had explained many things whose order he did not understand, therefore his words were haphazard, like a man who has no ability to reason, and he was saying various things without rational order, spurred on by the impulse of his spirit.

143. Also, since, as was said, Baldath did not understand the intention of Job, he takes his words in an entirely different way than intended and tries to deduce that they were not fitting. For in what he said, Job wanted to disprove the proposition of Eliphaz, who thought that adversities in this world happened because of the sins of men, and that if the sinners afflicted by God were converted, they would return to their former state of prosperity. So he spoke against both these ideas.

Against the first he said, would that my sins and the calamity which I suffer were weighed in a balance! (Job 6:2)

Against the second he said, I have despaired; I will not live longer to any purpose (Job 7:16), and many other things like this, as is clear in the verses above. When Job said these things, he intended to prove that punishment for sinners and rewards for justice should not be hoped for from God in this life. But Baldath did not know about the other life. So he took these words as though Job meant that God does not punish sins or reward good deeds, which seems contrary to divine justice. So Baldath makes his first proposition when he says, can God deceive judgment, or the Almighty falsify justice? as if to say, “This follows from your words if God punishes man in this world, though sinless, or beyond the desert of his sins, or if he does not repay with good things those turning back to him.” Note that justice is corrupted in two ways: by the cunning of an astute man, and by the violence of a powerful man. There are, however, both perfect wisdom and omnipotence in God. Yet the name wisdom in God does not mean he overturns judgment like an astute man, nor does omnipotence in God mean that he subverts what is just, like a violent man.

144. There were two things which seemed to keep Job from being restored to his former prosperity even if he were converted to God as Eliphaz advised.

One of these was the fact that the children which he lost were dead and he could not expect them to be brought back to life by his conversion. So Baldath says, even if your sons sinned* *against him, and he delivered them into the hands of their iniquity, as if to say, “When you have converted to God, you will regain those things which you lost by your sins.” Your sons, however, were not punished by death because of your sins, but because of their own sins. So the fact that your sons will not be restored to life after you have converted is not against the argument of Eliphaz, who said that you will be restored to your prosperity by conversion. Note here that because he believed the punishments of this present life are a recompense for sins, and the foremost of these present punishments is death, man will be perfectly punished for sin when he is brought to death because of sin. He clearly says this, and he delivered them up to the hands of their iniquity, as if into the power of their own sins so that they might be led to the ultimate punishment for their sins without any lifeline.

145. The other thing which seemed to keep Job from returning to his former prosperity was the fact that he had already finished the greater part of his life, and little remained for him, as Job said before. So it did not seem that his former prosperity could be restored sufficiently in that little time, even if he were converted back to God. Thus Baldath promises him that after his conversion a compensation will be made of the quantity of time, so that he would obtain goods which were greater than he had before, because he was going to have them for such a short time.

So Baldath first describes the manner of conversion to him, for which three things are required.

The first is that the sinner rise from his sin without delay. So he says, yet if at dawn, that is, at the right time, you will rise to God, leaving your sins, as Sirach says: do not delay in turning back to the Lord (Sir 5:8).

The second is that man make satisfaction for his sins. For this he says, and you will plead with the Almighty. Prayer seems like the first among the works of satisfaction.

The third is that man persevere in taking care that he does not relapse into sin. So he says, if you proceed pure and honest, avoiding uncleanness of the flesh in yourself, and the injustices by which your neighbor is injured. After he has described the perfect conversion, he adds the promise of prosperity, saying, at once, God will awake to you. For God seems to sleep when he permits the just to be afflicted, but he seems to awaken when he defends them, according to the text, awake, why are you sleeping, O Lord? (Ps 43:23). He expresses the effect of this awakening, saying, he will give you back the peaceful dwelling of your justice, as if to say, “Your house and your family were disturbed at the time of your sin, but in the time of your justice, they will have peace.” He promises again an excess of prosperity, so that Job could not complain about the shortness of the time, saying, as your past prosperity was small, in comparison with the goods which will follow, so your future prosperity will be greater, such that the great prosperity will repay you for the time which you spent in adversity.