No More Learning

[xxxii]
39. For it is one thing to be smitten, and another thing to be ‘compassed with scourges. ’ Thus, we are smitten with scourges, when even in our sorrows we have a consolation derived from other
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sources; for when affliction lies so heavy on us that the spirit can no longer take breath by consolation from anyone thing; we are now no longer smitten only, but even ‘compassed with scourges,’ in that we are every way surrounded by the rod of affliction. Thus Paul had been compassed with scourges, when he said, Without were fightings, within were fears. [2 Cor. 7, 5] He had been compassed with scourges, when he said, In perils by mine own countrymen, in perils by the heathen, in perils in the city, in perils in the wilderness [2 Cor. 11, 26], with the other particulars, which he so enumerates, as to shew that he no where had rest. But when Holy Church is ‘compassed with the scourges’ of her tribulation, all the weak in her are brought down in the fall of littleness of mind, so that they now suppose themselves disregarded, in proportion as they see that they are the more slowly heard with effect. And it is rightly added yet further likewise in a figure of them by the voice of the holy man,
Ver. 7. Behold, I cry out of wrong, but I am not heard; I cry aloud, but there is no one to Judge.
[xxxiii]
40. Almighty God, knowing what has in it efficacy to prove our good, shuts His ears to hear the voice of persons mourning, that He may add to their advantage, that their life may be purified by punishment, that the tranquillity of rest which can no where be found here, may be sought for elsewhere. But there are some of the faithful even that know nothing of this grace of Providential ordering, in whose person too it is now said; Behold, I cry out of wrong, but I am not heard; I cry aloud, but there is no one to judge; for it is said, ‘there is no one to judge,’ when He veils His eyes to judge, in that beside Him ‘there is not any to judge’ our cause against our adversary. Nor yet is this very thing void of judgment, viz. that judgment is delayed; seeing that at the very time that blessed Job said this, both the merits of the holy man and the punishment of his adversary were increased: so then this very deferring of judgment is the act of a judge. But what God settles justly within is one thing, and what the soul bruised by scourges without seeks after is another. Whence he still further adds of that sinking under scourges,
Ver. 8. He hath fenced up my way, that I cannot pass: and He hath set darkness in my paths. [xxxiv]
41. He saw his ‘way fenced up’ with strokes, when anxiously desiring to pass into a state of security, he was not able to escape the scourges, and whereas he saw himself smitten, and yet did not find in himself a life worthy of such smiting, as it were ‘in the paths’ of the heart he met with ‘the darkness’ of his own ignorance, in that he could not fathom the cause wherefore he was so scourged. And this is not unfitly applied to the weak members of Holy Church too, when from this which they remember to have done wickedly, they are made backward in good practice as well, and, frightened by their own weakness, do not venture to attempt strong acts of goodness to match them. For they fear to begin great acts of goodness, who call to mind that they are infirm in their ways; and whereas they very often do not know the very good, which they should choose, they, as it were, shrink from the ‘darkness placed in their paths. ’ For the mind often becomes so doubtful of its own doings, as not to know at all which is the virtue and which the fault. Thus he ‘finds darkness in his path,’ who in those things which he desires to do, is ignorant what he ought to choose. Therefore seeing that there is sin often from infirmity, and sometimes from ignorance, it is said in the person of the members that go weakly, He hath fenced up my way that I cannot pass. While in the person of those who see not clear as to the very good work itself which they should
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choose, it is added; and He hath set darkness in my paths. For it is punishment of sin, to see the good which we ought to do, and yet not to have the power to fulfil it; and again it is in still worse punishment of sin, not even to see what we ought to do; and hence against both of these it is said by the voice of the Psalmist, The Lord is my Light and my Salvation; whom then shall I fear? [Ps. 27, 1] For against the darkness of ignorance the Lord is a ‘Light;’ against weakness ‘Salvation,’ whilst He both shews what ought to be desired for the doing it, and supplies the powers, that what He shews may be fulfilled. It goes on;
Ver. 9. He hath stripped me of my glory, and taken the crown from my head.
[xxxv] [ALLEGORICAL INTERPRETATION]
42. That all this suits the person of the blessed man set in the midst of tribulation, there can be no doubt; but, since the words of the historical account are plain, they do not require explaining after the letter, therefore they have to be traced out in their mystical senses. Thus he says, He hath stripped me of my glory. For the glory of each individual is his righteousness. Now just as a garment protects from the cold, so does righteousness defend from death; hence righteousness is not improperly likened to a garment, where it is said by the Prophet; Let Thy priests be clothed with righteousness. [Ps. 132, 9] But seeing that in the season of her tribulation this garment of righteousness, which covers her in the sight of God, is lost to Holy Church in her members that go weakly, let it be rightly said; He hath stripped me of my glory, i. e. righteousness has been taken away from the weak, whereas it could never possibly have been taken away from them, if it had been infixed in them from the ground of the heart, but for this reason it was possible to be taken away from them, because it was attached to them outwardly, like a garment. Wherein the question offers itself, how they could be called members of Holy Church, who were capable of losing the righteousness which they seemed to maintain. But it is necessary for us to know, that very often righteousness is lost for a while by her weakly members, but when they are afterwards brought back to penitence in the acknowledgment of their fault, they attach themselves to that very righteousness which they had lost more strongly than was supposed credible. And it is yet further added thereby, and taken the crown from my head. As the head is the first part of the body, so the leading part of the interior man is the mind. Now the crown is the reward of victory, which is set from Above, in order that he that has contended should be rewarded; and so because many persons, under the pressure of adversities, do not hold out in the contest, in these Holy Church as it were ‘loses a crown from her head:’ for ‘a crown on the head’ is the reward from Above in the mind; there are a great many who whilst they are pressed with adversities, neglect to take thought of the rewards above, and cannot reach to the completion of victory; in such, then, ‘the crown is taken from the head,’ in that the heavenly and spiritual reward is taken away from the aim of the mind, that they should henceforth go after the externally peaceful, nor look out for the eternal rewards, which they used to have at heart.
43. Or otherwise, ‘the head’ of the faithful is not inappropriately taken to mean the priests, in that they are the first part of the Lord’s members; and hence it is expressed by the Prophet, that ‘the head and the tail’ are rooted out, in which same place both by the title of the ‘head’ we have the priests denoted, and by the designation of the ‘tail’ the reprobate prophet. Therefore ‘the crown is taken from the head,’ when even they abandon the heavenly rewards, who seemed to have the lead in this body of the Church; and it generally happens that, when the leaders fall, the army, that
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followed, is the wider worsted; and hence directly after the ills to the greater ones, going on about the manifold undoing of the Church, he added;
Ver. 10. He hath destroyed me on every side, and I am gone; and He hath removed mine hope like as with a tree torn away.
[xxxvi]
44. The Church is, as it were, ‘destroyed on every side,’ and undone in her weak members, when those very ones that seemed strong, are brought to ruin; when ‘the crown is taken away from the head,’ i. e. when the rewards of eternity are neglected even by those set at the head; and it is well added concerning weak ones falling, And mine hope hath He removed like as with a tree torn away; for a tree is pushed by the wind that it falls, and with him whom threats so terrify, as to make him go headlong into unrighteousness, what else is it, but that a tree met with a blast of the wind, and lost the standing of its uprightness? For he has, as it were, lost hope by the wind, who, subdued by the threats and persuasions of the wicked, has parted with those eternal rewards, which he looked forward to; and because it very often happens that a person, from fear of punishment, gives over righteousness, it is brought to pass by God’s decreeing it, that even in giving up righteousness he does not get quit of the punishments, which he was afraid of, and that he who did not fear at all the destruction of the soul, meets even with the ills of the flesh, which he apprehended. Hence it is yet further added;
Ver. 11. He hath also kindled His wrath against me, and He counteth me unto Him as one of His enemies.
[xxxvii]
45. For we have, been taught by the excellent Preacher attesting it, that ‘God is faithful, Who will not suffer us to be tempted above that we are able, but will with the temptation also make a way to escape, that we may be able to bear it. ’ [1 Cor. 10, 13] Moreover the Lord says by the Prophet, For I have wounded thee with the wound of an enemy, with a cruel chastisement. [Jer. 30, 14] He then that is so stricken that his powers are overcome by that striking, the Lord no longer now smites him as a son in the course of discipline, but as an enemy in indignation. Thus when the strokes exceed the power of our patience, it is very much to be feared, lest, our sins demanding it, we are now no longer stricken as sons by a Father, but as enemies by the Lord; and whereas it very often comes to pass that evil spirits too press home many things to the hearts of the afflicted, and amidst the scourges which strike them outwardly, infuse bad thoughts into their hearts, after the wrath of the Lord it is rightly added;
Ver. 12. His robbers come together, and make themselves a way through me.
[xxxviii]
46. For ‘his robbers’ are evil spirits, who busy themselves in hunting out the deaths of men; and these ‘make themselves a way’ in the hearts of the afflicted, when, amidst the adversities that are undergone outwardly, they do not cease to infuse bad thoughts likewise; of whom it is yet further added;
And encamp round about my tabernacle.
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[HISTORICAL INTERPRETATION]
For they ‘encamp round about our tabernacle,’ when they encircle the mind on every side with their temptings; which by most wicked prompting they persuade one while to mourn for things temporal, at another time to despair of things eternal, now to go headlong into impatience, and to cast words of blasphemy against God. Yet these words, as we have already said before, agree with blessed Job even taken historically; who, whilst he heaped before his eyes the ills he was enduring, judged himself to be not like a son that must be corrected, but as an enemy stricken with affliction. Through whom even ‘His robbers made themselves a way,’ in that the evil spirits obtained against him the leave to smite. ‘Round about whose tabernacle they encamped,’ in that after his substance and his children were taken away, they bruised his whole body too with wounds. But it is very extraordinary, why, when he spoke of the ‘robbers,’ he added His, clearly with a view to shew that these same robbers belonged to God; on which point, if we make a distinction between the power and the will of evil spirits, it is made evident, why they are called ‘God’s robbers;’ for evil spirits incessantly pant to do us mischief; but while they have a bad will derived from themselves, they have not the power of doing mischief, except the Supreme Will vouchsafes them permission; and while of themselves indeed they long to hurt us unjustly, yet by Almighty God they are not suffered to hurt anyone saving justly; and so whereas the will is unjust in them and the power just, they are at once called ‘robbers,’ and ‘God’s robbers,’ that it should come from themselves, that they aim to bring down evil things unjustly, and from God that the things so desired they do not consummate saving justly; but because, as we have often said already, the holy man set in the midst of the pain of punishment, one while speaks in his own accents, at another time in the accents of the Church, at another time of our Redeemer, and very frequently so describes his own circumstances, that in a figure he delivers those that belong to the Holy Church and to our Redeemer, concern for historical fact being for a little space put aside, let us shew in these things, which he subjoins, how he accords with the accents of our Redeemer, It goes on;
Ver. 13, 14. He hath put my brethren far from me; and mine acquaintance are verily estranged from me. My kinsfolk, have failed, and my familiar friends have forgotten me.
[xxxix] [ALLEGORICAL INTERPRETATION]
47. We shall shew this the better, if we bring forward the testimony of John, who says, He came unto His own, and His own received Him not [John 1, 11]; for His ‘brethren were put far from Him,’ and His ‘acquaintance were estranged’ from Him, Whom the Hebrews that held the Law were taught to prophesy, and never knew to acknowledge when present; whence it is rightly said: My kinsfolk have failed me, and my familiar friends have forgotten me. For the Jews; ‘kinsfolk’ in the flesh, ‘acquaintance’ by the teaching of the Law, as it were forgot Him, Whom they had foretold, in that Him they both sung of in the words of the Law, as destined to be made Incarnate, and when made Incarnate denied Him by the words of unbelief. It proceeds;
Ver. 15. They that dwell in my house, and my maids, count me for a stranger. [xl]
48. The inmates of God’s house were the Priests, whose race [origo] once set apart in the service of God, was henceforth by office continued in that state. But the ‘maids’ are not improperly taken for the souls of the Levites, servants to the hidden parts of the tabernacle as it were by a more
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familiar service to the interior of the bedchamber. Therefore let him say of the Priests, serving with sedulous care, let him say of the Levites attending on the interior of the house of God. They that dwell in my house, and my maids, have counted me for a stranger; in that the Incarnate Lord, Whom they had for long foretold in the words of the Law, they refused to acknowledge and to reverence. And he yet more plainly shews that He was not known by their wicked will, when he adds;
And I was as it were an alien in their sight.
[xli]
49. For our Redeemer whereas He was not recognised by the Synagogue, was rendered ‘as it were an alien’ in His own house, Which the Prophet plainly witnesses, saying, Wherefore shalt thou be as a settler in the land, and as a wayfaring man that turneth aside to tarry? [Jer. 14, 8] For whereas He was not heard as the Lord, He was taken not as the owner but for ‘a settler of the land;’ and He only ‘turned aside to tarry as a wayfaring man,’ in that He carried off but few out of Judaea, and going on to the calling of the Gentiles finished the journey He had begun; and so ‘He was an alien’ in their sight, in that while they thought only of the things they could see, they were unable to perceive in the Lord the things they could not see; for whilst they contemn the flesh that was to be seen, they never reached to the unseen Majesty; therefore let it be rightly said; And I was as it were an alien in their sight. Concerning which people it is yet further fitly added;
Ver. 16. I called my servant, and he gave me no answer.
[xlii]
50. For what was the Jewish people but a ‘servant,’ which never obeyed the Lord with the love of a son, but the fear of a slave? Contrariwise it is said to us by Paul, For ye have not received the spirit of bondage again; but ye have received the spirit of adoption, whereby we cry Abba, Father. [Rom. 8, 15] And so this ‘servant’ the Lord ‘called,’ in that by benefits vouchsafed, as by voices given out, He strove to bring it to Himself; but it ‘answered not,’ in that it was indifferent to render back deeds corresponding to His gifts. For God ‘calls’ us, when He presents us with His gifts; and we ‘answer’ to this calling, when we serve Him worthily according to the benefits we have been vouchsafed; therefore because He prevented the people with so many benefits, let him say, I called my servant, and because even after such numberless benefits, it contemned Him, let him add; and he gave me no answer. It goes on;
I entreated him with my own mouth.
[xliii]
51. As though he said more plainly; ‘I, the Same that before My Incarnation had given it in charge so many precepts to be practised, by the mouths of the Prophets, coming to it Incarnate, entreated it with my own mouth. ’ And hence Matthew, when he was telling of precepts being delivered by Him on the Mount, says, And He opened His mouth, and taught. [Matt. 5, 2] As if he said in plain speech; ‘Then He opened His own mouth, Who before had opened the mouths of the Prophets;’ it is hence too that it is said of Him by the Spouse longing for His presence, Let Him kiss me with the kisses of His mouth [Cant. 1, 2]; since for all the precepts which she learnt by His preaching, Holy Church, as it were, received so many ‘kisses of his mouth. ’ Now it is well said, I entreated; in that
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being exhibited in the flesh, whilst He spoke the precepts of life with humility, He, as it were, besought His servant filled with pride that he would come; and hence it is fitly added;
My wife shuddered at my breath.
[xliv]
52. What does the ‘wife’ of the Lord mean save the Synagogue, subject to Him in the Covenant of the Law with a carnal perception? Now the breath is from the flesh, and the unbelieving people understood the incarnation of the Lord in a carnal manner; in that it took Him for mere man; and so His ‘wife shuddered at His breath,’ in that the Synagogue was afraid to take Him for God, Whom it saw to be man; and when it heard the words from His mouth by bodily utterance, it refused to perceive in Him the mysteries of the Divine Nature, and would not believe Him to be Creator, Whom it saw to be created; and so the carnal ‘wife shuddered at the breath’ of the carnal body, in that being given over to carnal senses, it did not take knowledge of the mystery of the Incarnation. It goes on;
I entreated the children of mine own womb.
[xlv]
53. In God, Who is not circumscribed by the figure of a body, the members of the body, i. e. the hand, the eye, the womb, are named in such a way, that by the designation of the members, the effects of His Power are represented. As He is said to have eyes, in that He sees all things; He is described as having hands, in that He works all things. Now in the womb the offspring is conceived, which is brought forth in this life; what then are we to take the ‘womb’ of God for, but His counsel, wherein before time we were conceived by predestination, that being created in time we might be brought into the world? And so God, Who abides before time, ‘besought the children of His womb;’ in that those, whom He created with power by His Divine nature, coming Incarnate He besought with humility; but because in that same flesh, wherein He appeared, He was contemned in their estimation, it is subjoined;
Ver. 18. The foolish too despised me.
[xlvi]
54. The wise falling away from faith in the truth, there is an addition rightly made concerning ‘fools’ as well; in that when the Pharisees and the Lawyers despised the Lord, the rabble of the people too followed the example of their incredulousness, which herein, that it saw Him a man, slighted the announcements of the Redeemer of the world. For often by the title of fools, are denoted those who are poor among the common people; whence too it is said by Jeremiah, Therefore I said, perchance these are poor, and foolish ones, that know not the way of the Lord, nor the judgment of their God. [Jer. 5, 4] But leaving the rich and wise of the world, our Redeemer came to seek the poor and foolish, whence it is now said, as if for the heightening of grief, The foolish despised me. As if it were expressed in plain speech; ‘Even those very persons despised Me, for whose healing I took to Me the foolishness of preaching. ’ As it is written, For after that in the wisdom of God the world by wisdom knew not God, it pleased God by the foolishness of preaching to save them that believe. [1 Cor. 1, 21] For the ‘Word’ is ‘the Wisdom of God,’ but ‘the foolishness’ of this ‘Wisdom,’ the Flesh of the Word is called; that whereas the carnal severally
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could not by craft of the flesh attain to the wisdom of God, by the foolishness of preaching, i. e. by the incarnation of the Word, they might be healed. Therefore he says, The foolish too despised me. As if it were expressed in plain words; ‘Even by those very persons I was despised, for whose sake I was not afraid to be counted foolish. ’ And whereas the Jewish multitude, when it saw the miracles of our Redeemer, honoured Him for His miracles, saying, This is the Christ [John 7, 41. 12. ]; but when it beheld the infirmities of His human nature, it disdained to account Him the Creator, saying, Nay, but He deceiveth the people; it is rightly subjoined;
And when I departed from them, they spake against me.
[xlvii]
55. For the Lord as it were drew near to the hearts of people, when He displayed miracles to them; and He as it were ‘departed from them,’ when He shewed them no signs; but they spake against the Lord so ‘departing,’ when they refused to yield their faith to Him thus resting from miracles; but what wonder that He met with such treatment from the common folk, when those very persons, who appeared to be teachers of the Law, who gave it out that He was to be made Incarnate in the words of Prophecy, both beheld Him made Incarnate, and yet were parted from Him by the disjoining of unbelief? Concerning whom it is added;
Ver. 19. They that were once my counsellors abhorred me, and he whom I loved most turned away from me.
[xlviii]
56. It is plain to all people, that God does not stand in need of counsellors, Who to man’s very counsellors themselves too vouchsafes the counsel of wisdom. Of whom moreover it is written, Who hath known the mind of the Lord, or who hath been His counsellor? [Hom. xi. 34. from Is. 40, 13] but as when bread or clothing is bestowed on one that lacks them, the Lord bears witness that He Himself has received them; so when right counsel is given to one that is ignorant of it, He Himself receives it, of Whom that man is a member, who is so instructed; for all we, that are of the number of the faithful, are members of our Redeemer; and as He Himself is fed in our persons by the pitying of liberality, so He is Himself aided in our persons by the counselling of instruction; and so the scribes and doctors of the Law Who used to instruct the people with respect to life, what else were they but ‘counsellors’ of the Redeemer, Who was to come? Who, nevertheless, when they beheld the Lord become Incarnate, separated numbers from faith in Him by their counsels, though before they had seemed to teach numbers by the words of the Prophets to believe the mystery of His Incarnation; and because with God he is more in His love, who draws the greatest number to the love of Him, it is further added of that same order of the doctors of the Law and the Pharisees; and he whom I loved most, turned away from me. For that very order, through the prompting of unbelief was turned aside from faith in the truth, which before, while serving in the labours of preaching, was most beloved, which same not only to the extent of not believing the Lord, but even of persecuting Him as well, the rabble of the common people followed, and was kindled with the firebrands of cruelty to the very deed of His Passion; in which very Passion too the hearts of the disciples were troubled; whence also it is here added;
Ver. 20. My bone cleaveth to my skin, through my flesh being wasted.
[xlix]
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57. By ‘bone’ we have strength, and by flesh weakness of the body denoted; therefore, whereas Christ and the Church are one person, what is signified by the ‘bone’ but the Lord Himself? what by the ‘flesh’ save the disciples, who in the hour of His Passion were weakly disposed? but by the ‘skin,’ which in the body remains more outward than the flesh, what is represented but those holy women, who with the view to furnish the stays of the body, served the Lord by outward offices of ministration? for when His disciples, though not yet firm, were preaching faith to the people, the flesh kept close to its bone; and when the holy women prepared the outward things that were necessary, they as it were like ‘a skin’ remained on the body outwards; but when it came to the hour of the Cross, exceeding great fear, caused by the persecution of the Jews, took possession of His disciples: they severally fled, the women ‘stuck close,’ and so, the ‘flesh,’ as it were, ‘being consumed,’ ‘the bone of the Lord clave to its skin,’ in that His strength, when the disciples fled in the hour of the Passion, had the women close beside it. Peter indeed stood for some time, but yet afterwards being affrighted he denied Him. John too stood, to whom at the very time of the Cross it was said, Behold thy mother. [John 19, 27] But he could not persevere; since it is also written concerning him [a], And there followed Him a certain young man, having a linen cloth cast about his naked body, and the young men laid hold of him. And he left the linen cloth, and fled from them naked; [Mark 14, 51. 52. ] who although afterwards, to hear the words of his Redeemer, he returned at the hour of the Cross, yet first he was affrighted and fled; but the women are related not only not to have been afraid nor to have fled, but even to have stood fast even to the sepulchre; and so let him say, My bone cleaveth to my skin, through the flesh being wasted; i. e. ‘they that ought to have attached themselves closer to My strength, in the season of My Passion were consumed with dread; and those whom I set to external ministrations, in My Passion I found attached themselves faithfully to Me without fear. ’ And here it is plainly implied that these words are delivered in mystery, in that it follows;
And the lips only are left about my teeth.
[l]
58. For what do we have ‘about our teeth,’ but ‘lips,’ even if we suffer no scourges of affliction? but what is signified by ‘the lips’ but talk, what by ‘teeth’ but the holy Apostles? who are with this intention set in this body of the Church, that they may bite at the life of the carnal by correction, and break it in pieces from the hardness of its obstinacy; and hence it is said to that first of the Apostles, as being set, as a tooth in His Body, Kill, and eat. [Acts 10, 13] But because, at the time of His Passion, these ‘teeth’ from fear of death lost the biting of correction, lost the assurance of strength, lost the efficiency of practice of every sort, so that two of them as they walked, after His death and resurrection, talked by the way and said, But we trusted that it should have been he which should have redeemed Israel; [Luke 24, 21] it is rightly said here, And the lips only are left about my teeth. They were still conversing about Him, but now they no longer at all believed in Him; and so ‘the lips only remained about His teeth,’ in that they had parted with the efficiency of good practice, and only retained words of converse about Him. They had lost the bite of correction, and possessed the mooting of speech. Therefore, ‘the lips only were left about the teeth,’ in that to talk about Him indeed they knew still, but to preach Him now, or to bite the bad ways of unbelievers, they were afraid. Therefore these particulars being finished, which he spoke in the voice of the Head, blessed Job is brought back to his own words, saying;
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Ver. 21. Have pity upon me, have pity upon me, O ye my friends; for the hand of God hath touched
me.
[li] [HISTORICAL INTERPRETATION]
59. The mind of godly men is used to have this peculiar to itself, that when it suffers unjust treatment at the hands of enemies, it is not so much moved to wrath as to prayer; that if the wickedness of those persons could be made to subside to a calm, they would choose rather to beseech than to be wroth; whence it is rightly said in this place, Have pity upon me, have pity upon me, O ye my friends; for the hand of God hath touched me. Observe, those by whom he sees that he is ever being treated with insults, he calls ‘friends,’ in that to godly minds the very things that seem contrary are made favourable; for any that are wicked are either converted by the sweetness of the good so as to turn back, and by this alone they are friends, viz. that they are made good, or they persevere in their wickedness, and herein also even against their will they are ‘friends,’ in that, if there be any transgressions of the good, by their persecutions they purge them away even unknowingly. Observe too, that with these things which are done with God in secret, the words of the blessed man openly spoken are quite of a piece. Thus he had been smitten by Satan, yet he did not ascribe his being smitten to Satan, but he calls himself ‘touched by the hand of God,’ as Satan himself too had said; But put forth thine hand now and touch his bone and his flesh, and see if he bless Thee not to Thy face. [c. 2, 5] For the holy man knew that in that very thing which Satan had done towards him with an evil will, he derived his power not from himself, but from the Lord. It goes on;
Ver. 22. Why do ye persecute me as God; and are filled with my flesh?
[lii]
60. It is not at variance with the style of piety that he tells that he is persecuted by God. For there is a good persecutor; as when the Lord says of Himself by the lips of the Prophet, Him that privily slandereth his neighbour, him did I persecute. [Ps. 101, 5] But when any Saint is suffered to be stricken, he knows that he is undergoing persecution, sent against evil he has been guilty of, from the interior ordering.
Now the savage minds of the persecutors, when they desire the power to smite, are inflamed against the life of the good not with the ardour of purifying, but with the firebrands of envy; and they do that indeed, which Almighty God allows to be done; in that while there is one cause with God transacted too by their agency, yet there is not one will maintained in that cause, since whilst Almighty God, in loving, is enforcing purification, the wickedness of the unjust is exercising malice in raging. This then that is said, Why do ye persecute me as God? he spoke with reference to the external smiting, not to the interior intention, in that though they execute that externally which God ordained to be done, yet in their doing it they do not seek that which God does, viz. that good men should be purified by means of affliction. Which too may likewise be understood in another sense also. For Almighty God chastens the evil qualities of others so much the more justly in proportion as He has no whit of evil qualities in Himself; but men when they strike others in the course of discipline, ought so to chasten the frailty of another, that they should at the same time have learnt the habit to recall their eyes to their own frailty, so as to consider from themselves how they ought to spare in smiting others, seeing that they are not unaware that they themselves too are worthy of stripes. And so it is said in this case, Why do ye persecute me as God? As if it were expressed in plain words; ‘Ye do so afflict me on the grounds
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of my frailties, as if ye yourselves after the manner of God owned nought of infirmity:’ whence it is to be considered, that if perchance there be persons that need sharpness of correction, hard correction is then to be used to them by us, when the hand of God ceases from using the rod; but when strokes from above are upon them, from us there is now due no longer correction but consolation, lest, while in their grief we join our reproach, we put smiting to smiting.
61. Now it is well added, And are filled with my flesh? The mind which hungers for the punishing of a neighbour, surely seeks to be ‘filled with the flesh’ of another. Moreover it is necessary to be known, that those also who feed on the slander of another’s life, are as surely ‘filled with the flesh’ of another. Whence it is said by Solomon; Be not in the feastings of winebibbers; nor eat with those, who bring together flesh to eat. [Prov. 23, 20] For to ‘bring together flesh to eat,’ is, in the parlance of disparagement to tell by turns the bad qualities of neighbours; concerning whose punishment it is directly added there, they that are given to cups, and that give a contribution, shall be consumed, and drowsiness shall clothe a man with rags. They are ‘given to cups’ who make themselves drunk [se debriant] with slander of another’s life; but to ‘give a contribution [symbolum],’ is in the same way that each individual is used to contribute provisions for his share to be eaten, so in the parlance of slander to contribute words. But ‘they that are given to cups and that give a contribution shall be consumed,’ in that as it is written, Every slanderer shall be rooted out [Ben. Ed. refers to Prov. 15, 5 perhaps Ps. 101, 5]; but ‘drowsiness shall cover a man with rags,’ in that his death finds him an object of contempt and empty of all good works, whom the sickly habit [languor] of detraction took possession of here for the raking out the misdemeanours of another man’s life. But all those hardships which blessed Job undergoes it is not meet should be let pass in silence, and that the obscurity of ignorance should cover them from man’s knowledge; for so many may be edified for the preserving of patience, as they who, by grace from above replenishing them, may be made acquainted with the achievements of his patience. And hence the same blessed Job would have the strokes which he feels carried into an example, in that he immediately adds, saying;
Ver. 23, 24. O that my words were now written! O that they were graven in a book with an iron pen, and a plate of lead, or surely that they were hewed in the flint!
[liii] [ALLEGORICAL INTERPRETATION]
62. Whereas all that blessed Job underwent, that heavy Jewish people, being instructed by the strong declaration of the Fathers, was brought to know, they were written with ‘an iron pen’ and ‘a plate of lead;’ but whereas the hard hearts of the Gentiles also were made acquainted with them, what is this but that we see them ‘hewn in the flint? ’ And observe, that what is written on lead, by the mere softness of the metal, is quickly obliterated; but upon the flint letters may be more slowly stamped indeed, but more hardly obliterated. Therefore it is not unsuitably that by ‘the plate of lead’ Judaea is represented, which at once received the precepts of God without labour, and lost them with speed; and rightly by ‘the flint’ the Gentile world is represented, which could with difficulty receive the words of sacred revelation to keep, but kept them when received fixedly. Now by the ‘iron pen’ what else is denoted save the strong sentence of God? Whence too it is said by the Prophet, The sin of Judah is written with a pen of iron on a diamond nail [ungue]. [Jer. 17, 1] The end of the body is in the nail, and a diamond is so hard a stone, that it cannot be cut with iron. Now by ‘an iron pen’ there is denoted a strong sentence, but by a ‘diamond nail’ the eternal
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end; so the sin of Judah is said to be written with a ‘pen of iron upon a diamond nail,’ in that the guilt of the Jews is reserved by the strong sentence of God for an end that is endless.
63. Rightly too by ‘a plate of lead’ we understand those, whom the load of avarice weighs down, to whom it is said by the Prophet with upbraiding, O ye sons of men, how long heavy in heart! For by lead, the nature whereof is of a heavy weight, the sin of avarice is in a special manner denoted, which renders the mind it has infected so heavy, that it call never be raised to aim at things on high. Hence it is written in Zechariah, Lift up now thine eyes, and see what is this that goeth forth. And I said, What is it? And he said, This is an ephah [Lat. amphora] that goeth forth. He said moreover, This is their eye throughout all the earth. And behold there was lifted up a talent of lead, and, lo, one woman sitting in the midst of the ephah. And he said, This is wickedness; and he cast her into the midst of the ephah, and he cast the weight of lead on her face [or into the mouth thereof]. [Zech. 5, 5-8] And with reference to this vision of ‘the ephah,’ and ‘the woman,’ and ‘the lead,’ that he might shew more fully what he had been made to know, he yet further added going on, Then lifted I up mine eyes, and looked, and behold there came out two women, and a spirit was in their wings, for they had wings like the wings of a kite, and they lifted up the ephah between the earth and the heaven. Then said I to the angel that talked with me, Whither do these bear the ephah? And he said, To build it an house in the land of Shinar. [v. 9-11] Which testimony of the Prophet we have brought forward as a proof of the lead to no purpose, if we do not also explain it going over it again. Thus he says, Lift up now thine eyes, and see what is this that goeth forth; and I said, What is this? And he said, It is an ephah that goeth forth. God desiring to shew to the Prophet, by what sin above all others the human race fell away from Him, by the figure of an ephah as it were denoted the wide-opened mouth of avarice. For avarice is like an ephah, in that it keeps the mouth of the heart open and agape on the stretch [in ambitu]. And he said, This is their eye through all the world. We see many men of dull sense, and yet we see them sharp in bad practices, as the Prophet too testifies, who saith, They are wise to do evil; but to do good they have no knowledge. [Jer. 4, 22] And so these are dull in sense, but in those things which they desire, they are urged on by the goads of avarice; and they that are blind to see good, under the incitements of rewards are quick- eyed to the doing evil things. Hence it is rightly said of this same avarice, This is their eye in all the world. And behold there was lifted up a talent of lead. What is ‘a talent of lead’ but the weight of sin from that very avarice. And, lo, one woman sitting in the midst of the ephah. Which same woman, lest perchance we should doubt who she was, the Angel thereupon made known; for it follows there immediately, And he said, This is impiety; and he cast her into the midst of the ephah. Impietyis‘castintothemidstoftheephah,’inthatinavaricethereisalwaysimpietytakenin. And he cast the weight of lead on her face. The mass of lead is cast on the woman’s face, in that the impiety of avarice is borne down by the very weight of its own sin; for if it did not reach after things that are below, it would never prove impious towards God and our neighbour.
64. Then, lifted I up mine eyes, and looked, and behold there came out two women and a spirit was in their wings. What do we understand by these ‘two women’ but the two principal vices, i. e. pride and vain glory, which are without any doubt united to impiety? Which two are described as having ‘a spirit in their wings;’ in that they are subservient to the will of Satan in their actions; for the Prophet calls that one ‘a spirit,’ concerning whom Solomon saith, If the spirit if him that hath power rise above thee, leave not thy place; [Eccles. 10, 4] and of whom the Lord saith in the Gospel; When the unclean spirit is gone out of a man, he walketh through dry places. [Mat. 12, 43] ‘A spirit is in their wings,’ in that in whatsoever they do, pride and vain glory render obedience to
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the will of Satan. And they had wings like the wings of a kite. Now the kite is always busied in plotting against the chicken kind. So these women have ‘wings like the wings of a kite,’ in that surely their doings are like the devil, who is always plotting against the life of the little ones. And they lifted up the ephah between the earth and the heaven. Pride and vain glory have this peculiar to them, that whosoever is infected by them, they lift up in his own conceit above the rest of his fellow creatures: at one time by pursuit of the gifts of fortune, at another time by the desire of dignities, the man whom they have once gotten captive, they, as it were, lift up into the height of honour. And he that is between the earth and the heaven, at once leaves things below, and fails altogether to attain the things on high.
65. These women, then, ‘lift up the ephah between the earth and the heaven,’ in that pride and vain glory so exalt the mind taken captive through greediness of honour, that looking down upon all their neighbours, men do, as it were, leave things below, and in proud boasting seek high things. But all such persons, while they give themselves up to pride, at once in imagination mount above those, with whom they are placed, and are far from ever being united to the citizens above. Thus the ephah is said to be ‘lifted up between earth and heaven,’ in that all covetous persons through pride and vain glory at once despise their neighbours at their side, and never lay hold of the things above, which are beyond them; and so they are carried ‘between the earth and the heaven,’ in that they neither keep equality of brotherhood in this lower world by charity, nor yet are able to attain the world above by setting themselves up. And I said to the Angel that talked with me, Whither do these bear the ephah? and he said, To build it an house in the land of Shinar. That same ephah has a ‘house built it in the land of Shinar,’ for ‘Shinar’ is rendered ‘their ill savour;’ and as there is a sweet savour from virtue, as Paul bears witness, who saith; and maketh manifest the savour of His knowledge by us in every place; For we are unto God a sweet savour of Christ; [2 Cor. 2, 14] so reversely there is an ill savour from vice. For covetousness is the root of all evil. [1 Tim. 6, 10] And whereas every thing evil is engendered by avarice, it is meet that the house of avarice should be erected in ‘ill savour. ’ Moreover it is necessary to be known that ‘Shinar’ is a very wide valley, wherein the tower was begun to be built by men giving themselves to pride, which, when the diversity of tongues was brought to pass, came to destruction; which same tower was called Babylon, forsooth on account of that very confusion of minds and tongues: nor is it inappropriately that the ‘ephah’ of avarice is placed there, where ‘Babylon,’ i. e. ‘confusion,’ is building, in that whereas it is certain that from avarice and impiety all things bad have their origin, this same avarice and impiety are rightly described as dwelling in confusion.
66. We have said these things in few words out of course, that we might shew that the weight of sin is set forth by the ‘plate of lead. ’ Yet these very words of blessed Job are also applicable to Holy Church, who while keeping the two testaments of sacred revelation, as it were begs a second time that her words should be written, saying, Oh! that my words were now written! Oh! that they were printed in a book! Which same, in that she speaks with a strong sentence at one time to hearts heavy from the weight of avarice, at another time to hardened hearts, ‘writes with a pen of iron upon a plate of lead,’ or, surely, ‘upon the flint. ’ Now we say with justice that blessed Job uses the accents of our Redeemer and His Church, if we find any thing that he says explicitly of that same Redeemer of us men; for how is it to be believed that he teaches us any thing connected with Him in a figure, if he does not point Him out to us in express words? But now let him disclose to us what he is sensible of concerning Him, and let him take away from us all misgivings in our thoughts. It goes on;
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Ver. 25. For I know that my Redeemer liveth.
[LITERAL INTERPRETATION]
67. For he who does not say, ‘Creator,’ but ‘Redeemer,’ expressly tells of Him, Who after He created all things, appeared Incarnate amongst us, that He might redeem us from a state of bondage, and by His Passion set us free from death everlasting; and mark with what sure faith he makes himself secure in the power of His Divine Nature, of Whom it is said by Paul, For though He was crucified through weakness, yet He liveth by the power of God. [2 Cor. 13, 4] For he says, For I know that my Redeemer liveth. As if he said in express terms; ‘The unbelievers may know that He was scourged, mocked, struck with the palms of the hand, covered with a crown of thorns, besmeared with spittings, crucified, dead: I, with sure faith, believe Him to live after death; I confess with unreserved voice, ‘that my Redeemer liveth,’ Who died by the hands of wicked men. ’ And how, O blessed Job, through His Resurrection, thou trustest to the resurrection of thine own flesh, declare, I pray, in open speech. It goes on;
And that I shall rise at the last day from the earth.
[lv]
68. That is, because the resurrection which He manifested in His own Person, He will one day bring to pass in ourselves as well; for the resurrection, which He exhibited in Himself, He pledged to us; seeing that the members follow the glory of their Head. Thus our Redeemer underwent death, that we might not fear to die; He manifested the resurrection, that we might have a sure hope that we are capable of rising again. And hence He would not have that death to be of more than three days’ duration, lest if the resurrection were deferred in Him, it should be altogether despaired of in ourselves; and this is rightly said of Him by the Prophet; He shall drink of the brook in the way; therefore shall he lift up the head. [Ps. 110, 7] For He in a manner condescended to drink of that current as it were of our suffering, not in an abiding place, but ‘in the way,’ in that He met death in a transitory way, i. e. for three days, and in that death which He met He did not, like ourselves, remain unto the end of the world. And so, whereas He rose again on the third day, what then is to come after in His body, i. e. in the Church, He makes appear; for He shewed in example, what He promised in reward, that as believers knew and owned that He had Himself risen again, so they might hope for the rewards of the resurrection in themselves at the end of the world. Lo, we, through the death of the flesh, remain in the dust until the end of the world, but He on the third day budded into life from the dryness of death, that by the very renewal of His flesh by itself He might shew the power of His Divine Nature. Which is well shewn in Moses by the twelve rods placed in the Tabernacle: for when the priesthood of Aaron, who was of the tribe of Levi, was despised, ‘and the tribe was not accounted worthy to offer up burnt-offerings, twelve rods according to the twelve tribes were ordered to be put in the Tabernacle, and, lo, the rod of Levi budded, and shewed what efficacy Aaron had in the office. [Num. 17, 8] By which same sign what is conveyed, but that all we who lie in the arms of death until the very end of the world, remain like the rest of the rods in a state of barrenness? But when all the rods remained in a state of dryness, the rod of Levi returned to flowering, in that the body of our Lord, i. e. our true Priest, being set in the dryness of death, burst into the flower of the Resurrection. By which same flowering Aaron is rightly known to be the Priest, in that by this glory of the Resurrection our Redeemer, Who sprung from the tribe of Judah and Levi [Luke 1; 5, 36], is shewn to be an Intercessor in our behalf. And so, lo! the rod of
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Aaron buds now after dryness, but the rods of the twelve tribes remain in a dry state, in that already indeed the body of the Lord lives after death, but our bodies are kept back from the glory of the resurrection until the end of the world. Whence he carefully introduced this same delay, by saying, And that I shall rise at the last [novissimo] day from the earth.
69. Therefore we have a hope of our own resurrection, by considering the glory of our Head. But lest anyone say perhaps merely in the secret thought of his heart, that it was in this way that He rose again from the dead, viz. that being God and Man in one and the same Person, the death, which He underwent in His Human Nature, He overcame by His Divine Nature, while we, who are mere men, are not able to rise from the curse of death; it happened rightly that, in the season of His resurrection, the bodies of many of the Saints arose at the same time, that both in Himself He might shew us an example, and by the resurrection of others who were like to ourselves in respect of a mere human nature, He might give us a sure confirmation, that whereas man despaired of his obtaining what He that was God and Man had exhibited in His own Person, he might presume that that was capable of being brought to pass in his own case, which he knew to have been brought about in the case of those very persons, who he doubted not were but simple human beings.
70. But there are some who, observing that the spirit is parted from the flesh, that the flesh is turned into corruption, that its corruption is reduced to dust, that this dust is so dissolved into elementary parts that it is incapable of being seen by the eyes of man, despair of the possibility of the resurrection being brought to pass, and whilst they gaze on the dry bones, they distrust its being possible for these to be clothed with flesh, and again flushing into life; which persons, if they do not hold the resurrection of the body on the principle of obedience, ought certainly to hold it on the principle of reason. For what does the universe every day, but imitate in its elements our resurrection? Thus by the lapse of the minutes of the day the temporal light itself as it were dies, when, the shade of night coming on, that light which was beheld is withdrawn from sight, and it daily rises again as it were, when the light that was withdrawn from our eyes, upon the night being suppressed is renewed afresh. For the progress of the seasons too, we see the shrubs lose the greenness of their foliage, and cease from putting forth fruit; and on a sudden as if from dried up wood, by a kind of resurrection coming we see the leaves burst forth, the fruit grow big, and the whole tree clothed with renewed beauty; we unceasingly behold the small seeds of trees committed to the moistness of the ground, wherefrom not long afterwards we behold large trees arise, and bring forth leaves and fruit. Let us then consider the little seed of any tree whatever, which is thrown into the ground, for a tree to be produced therefrom; and let us take in, if we are capable of it, where in that exceeding littleness of the seed that most enormous tree was buried, which proceeded from it? where was the wood? where the bark? where the verdure of the foliage? where the abundance of the fruit? Was there any thing of the kind perceived in the seed, when it was thrown into the ground? [Comp. S. Chrys. on 1 Thess. 4, 15] And yet by the secret Artificer of all things ordering all in a wonderful manner, both in the softness of the seed there lay buried the roughness of the bark, and in its tenderness there was hidden the strength of its timber, and in its dryness fertility of productiveness. What ‘wonder, then, if that finest dust, which to our eyes is resolved into the elements, He, when He is minded, fashioneth again into the human being, Who from the finest seeds resuscitates the largest trees? And so, seeing that we have been created reasoning beings, we ought to collect the hope of our own resurrection from the mere aspect and contemplation of the objects of nature. But forasmuch as the faculty of reason was deadened in us, the grace of the Redeemer came in for an example. For our Creator came, He took death upon
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Him, He exhibited the Resurrection, in order that we, who would not hold the hope of the Resurrection by reason, might hold it by His succour and example; and so let blessed Job say; I know that my Redeemer liveth, and that I shall rise at the last day from the earth. And let any one that despairs of the possibility that the power of the Resurrection should be brought to pass in himself, blush at the words of a believing person set in the midst of the Gentile world, and let him reflect with what a weight of punishment he deserves to be stricken, if he still does not believe his own resurrection, who now knows the resurrection of the Lord which has taken place, if even he believed his own, who as yet expected the resurrection of the Lord Jesus to be brought to pass.
71. But see, I hear of the resurrection, but it is the effect of the resurrection that I am searching out. For I believe that I shall rise again, but I wish that I might hear what kind of person; since it is a thing I ought to know, whether I shall rise again perhaps in some other subtle or ethereal body, or in that body wherein I shall die. But if I shall rise again in an ethereal body, it will no longer be myself, who rise again. For how can that be a true resurrection, if there may not be true flesh? so that plain reason suggests, that if it shall not be true flesh, assuredly it will not be a true resurrection; for neither can it be rightly termed a resurrection, when it is not what fell that rises again. But in this too for us, O blessed Job, do thou remove these clouds of misgiving, and whereas through the grace of the Holy Spirit vouchsafed thee thou hast begun to speak to us of the hope of our resurrection, shew in plain words if our flesh shall really rise again. It follows,
Ver. 26. And I shall be again encompassed with my skin. [lvi]
72. Whereas the ‘skin’ is expressly named, all doubt of a true resurrection is removed; in that our body will not, as Eutychius the Bishop of Constantinople wrote, in that gloriousness of the resurrection be impalpable, and more subtle than the wind and air: for in that gloriousness of the resurrection our body will be subtle indeed by the efficacy of a spiritual power, but palpable by the reality of its nature; whence also our Redeemer, when the disciples doubted of His resurrection, shewed them His hands and feet, and offered His bones and flesh to be touched, saying, Handle Me and see; for a spirit hath not flesh and bones as ye see Me have. [Luke 24, 39] And when, being placed in the city of Constantinople, I brought before Eutychius this testimony of truth from the Gospel, he said, ‘For this reason the Lord did this, that He might take away all doubt of the resurrection from the hearts of the disciples. ’ To whom I said; ‘This is a very extraordinary thing that you assert, that doubting should arise to ourselves from the same quarter, whence the hearts of the disciples were cured of doubting. ’ For what can be said worse than that that is made doubtful to us relating to His true flesh, whereby His disciples were restored anew to faith from all doubting? For if He is declared not to have had that, which He manifested; from the same source, from whence the faith of His disciples is confirmed, ours is destroyed. And he further added, saying,
‘He had that body which He shewed a palpable body; but after the hearts of those that handled it were confirmed, all that in the Lord which was capable of being handled, was reduced into a certain subtle quality. ’ To which same I answered, saying; ‘It is written, Knowing that Christ being raised from the dead dieth no more, death hath no more dominion over Him. [Rom. 6, 9] If then there was aught in the Body which was capable of being altered after His resurrection, contrary to the truly spoken declaration of Paul, the Lord after His resurrection returned into death; and what fool even would venture to say this, save he that denies the true resurrection of His flesh? ’ Then he objected to me, saying, ‘Whereas it is written; Flesh and blood cannot inherit the Kingdom of God, [1 Cor.
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15, 50] by what means is it to be supposed that the flesh truly rises again? ’ To whom I say; ‘In Holy Writ flesh is named in one way according to nature, and in another way according to sin or corruption. ’ For there is flesh according to nature, as where it is written, This is now bone of my bones, and flesh of my flesh. [Gen. 2, 23] And, The Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us. [John 1, 14] But there is flesh according to sin, as where it is written, My Spirit shall not always abide in those men, for that they are flesh. [Gen. 6, 3] And as the Psalmist saith; For He remembered that they were but flesh, a wind that passeth away, and cometh not again. [Ps. 78, 39] Whence too Paul said to the disciples; But ye are not in the flesh, but in the spirit. [Rom. 8, 9] For it was not that these persons were not in the flesh, to whom he was sending letters, but for that they had subdued the motions of carnal passions, henceforth, free through the efficacy of the Spirit, they ‘were not in the flesh. ’ Therefore in respect to what Paul says, that flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God, he would have flesh to be understood as applied to sin, not flesh as applied to nature. Hence directly afterwards that he was speaking of flesh after sin he makes plain, by adding; Neither doth corruption inherit incorruption. Therefore in that glory of the heavenly kingdom there will be flesh according to nature, but not flesh according to the desire of the passions; in that the sting of death being overcome, it will reign in eternal incorruptibility. ’
73. To which words the same Eutychius directly answered that he assented, yet still he denied that the body could rise again a palpable body. Who in the treatise too which he had written concerning the resurrection, had put in the testimony of the Apostle Paul, when he says; That which thou sowest is not quickened except it die.