Literal Commentary on Job (Expositio super Iob ad litteram)

But Job, answering, said: Whom hast thou helped, and so forth. In the words set forth above, Bildad wished to convict Job from a consideration of the divine power, which is dreadful to all, in respect of which no man can put forward justice or innocence so as to assert that he was punished without sin; hence Job appends a threefold response, the first of which is directed specifically against Bildad, who had tried to terrify Job by a consideration of the divine power. Now men who do not use reason against someone condemned, but allege the power and wisdom of the judge, are accustomed to do this in favor of the judge; and favor is shown to some person in two ways: in one way on account of a defect of power in him who is favored, in another way on account of a defect of wisdom. As to the first, then, he says: Whom hast thou helped? Is it the feeble? As if he were to say: these things which you have spoken, not according to the way of reason but as it were in favor of God, did you say them to this end, that you might bring aid to God as to one who is weak? Now he seems to help someone who defends his operation; hence he adds: and dost thou sustain the arm of him that is not strong? As if he were to say: do you wish, by these words, to defend the operation of God whereby I have been punished by him, as though he himself were not strong enough to defend himself? Then, as to the favor that is shown to someone on account of a defect of wisdom, it must be considered that this favor is twofold: one indeed from the fact that counsel is given to someone concerning things to be done, and as to this he says: To whom hast thou given counsel? Someone seems to give counsel to another when he defends his cause without reason; but God, who is perfect in wisdom, does not need counsel; hence he adds: perhaps to him that hath no wisdom? As if he were to say: do you doubt that God has wisdom, that you speak so foolishly on his behalf? Now he who gives counsel to one who is wise seems to do this in order to display wisdom; hence he adds: and hast thou shown thy abundant prudence? As if he were to say: did you wish, by this, to make ostentation of the abundance of your prudence? But the other manner of favor against a defect of wisdom is that someone should instruct the ignorant concerning things knowable; and as to this he adds: Whom hast thou desired to teach? For you seemed to be teaching God when you alleged his power against me; but he himself does not need to be taught, who is the cause of all human knowledge; hence he adds: was it not him that made the breath? that is, him who created the human soul, through which man both understands and breathes. For it is one and the same soul which perceives knowledge through the intellect and vivifies the body through its other powers.

Then, lest he should seem in any way to derogate from the power of God, he commends it far more diffusely than Bildad did, enumerating many effects of the divine power, and he begins with those things which he did powerfully in the human race at the time of the flood. For it is read in Genesis 6:4 that there were giants upon the earth in those days, and afterward it is added: and when God had seen that the earth was corrupted (for all flesh had corrupted its way upon the earth), he said to Noah: the end of all flesh is come before me; and afterward he adds: behold I will bring the waters of a flood upon the earth, and will destroy all flesh. This effect, then, of the divine power he shows when he adds: behold the giants, that is, the ancient ones, groan, that is, in the pains of Hell, under the waters, that is, they who were drowned by the waters of the flood; and because not they alone perished, but many others with them, both then and afterward, he adds: and they that dwell with them, that is, they likewise groan, namely by the power of his might. And lest anyone should believe that divine providence extends itself only to the judging of men in this life, and not after death, as the friends of Job seemed to think, in order to exclude this he adds: Hell is naked before him; as if he were to say: the things that are done in Hell are open to his eyes and are done according to his judgment; hence, for the exposition of this, he adds: and there is no covering for destruction, that is, for those who are lost in Hell, that they might be able to be hidden from the eyes of God as they are hidden from us.

Then he enumerates the effects of divine providence in natural things, and he begins from the extremes, namely from heaven and from earth, in each of which something appears established by divine power that exceeds human powers. Now according to what appears to the senses, heaven seems to be stretched out above the earth as a kind of tent, and the earth to be under heaven as the pavement of the tent; but whoever erects a tent supposes something by which the tent is held up, but this does not appear in the case of heaven: for nothing is seen holding up heaven except the divine power; hence he says: who stretcheth out the north over the empty space. By the north he understands the upper hemisphere with respect to us: for the north pole is raised above our horizon, while the south is depressed below the horizon; hence he says that the north is stretched out over the empty space, because beneath the upper hemisphere of the sky nothing appears to us except a space full of air, which common men reckon empty: for he speaks according to the estimation of common men, as is customary in Sacred Scripture. Likewise also, whoever lays a pavement upon something makes it firm; but the earth, which is as it were the foundation of heaven, does not appear to be made firm upon anything that could sustain it, but is sustained by the power of God alone; hence he adds: and hangeth the earth upon nothing. Now these things are not said as though heaven were heavy so as to need something to sustain it lest it fall, or as though the earth could descend, save only to the center; but he signifies that the very natural powers by which bodies are naturally kept in their places have proceeded from the divine power: for just as violent motion is from human power, so natural inclination is from the divine power, which is the principle of nature.

Then he enumerates the effects of the divine power in the space that is intermediate between heaven and earth, and first in the air, in which this is seen to be wonderful, that water is suspended in the air, raised up in the form of vapor, and does not all fall at once, but drop by drop, as appears in the rains; hence he says: who bindeth up the waters in his clouds, that is, in the clouds caused by his power, that they break not out, namely the waters of the rains, downward all at once, but drop by drop, according as is expedient for the tempering of the earth; as if that which remains in the clouds were bound by divine power so that it does not fall from the beginning: for it comes about by divine power that the vapors are not condensed all at once, so that, converted into water, they would have to fall together at once. But when the rains fall down from the clouds, certain remnants of the vapors remain, from which mists are generated, by which heaven, which is as it were the throne of God, is covered from us, according to that word of Isaiah, in the last chapter: heaven is my throne; and as to this he adds: who covereth the face of his throne, that is, who keeps hidden, as it were, the face of heaven, which is his throne, and this by the mists by which we are prevented from seeing heaven; hence he adds: and spreadeth his cloud over it, that is, the cloud produced by his power. Then he shows the effect of the divine power in the waters, when he adds: he hath set bounds about the waters: for the waters, according to the natural order of the elements, ought to cover the earth on every side; but that some part of the earth remains uncovered by the waters, this has been brought about by the divine power, which has made the earth to be covered by the waters up to a fixed limit; and this seems especially to pertain to the Ocean, which surrounds the earth on every side; and on account of this he adds: till light and darkness come to an end: for the light of day and the darkness of night come to an end for us as the sun approaches or departs from the upper hemisphere, which lies above our habitable region, which is enclosed, as it were, on every side by the Ocean; or it can be understood that the boundary of the waters will remain unchangeable, so long as this present state of the world endures, in which there is a succession of light and darkness.

Thus, then, having enumerated the effects of the divine power in bodily creatures, he shows its effect in spiritual creatures, which he calls the pillars of heaven, because indeed the motion of the heavens is administered by their office; hence he says: the pillars of heaven, namely the Angels, tremble, and are afraid at his beck, that is, they obey him at his beck; and he speaks according to the likeness of a servant who obeys his lord at his beck, out of fear and trembling of him, such that fear may be referred to the soul, and trembling to the body. But it is not to be thought that in the holy Angels there is a fear of punishment, but this fear is named from their reverence toward God; and thus dread is referred to the affection, while trembling is referred to the exterior effect. And because among the Angels there are some who have departed from the reverence due to God, of whom it was said above, in chapter 4:18, in his angels he found wickedness, therefore he consequently subjoins something concerning the distinction of good and evil Angels. Now it is believed that, together with the distinction of the corporeal creature, the distinction of the spiritual creature also came to be; and therefore, in order to intimate the distinction of the spiritual creature, he first sets forth something concerning the corporeal creature, saying: by his strength the seas were suddenly gathered together, according to that word of Genesis 1:9: let the waters that are under heaven be gathered together into one place, and let the dry land appear. And just as bodily creatures were distinguished by the divine power, so too were spiritual creatures; hence he adds: and his wisdom struck the proud one, that is, through the power of his providence the Devil, in his pride, was deprived of his own glory; and at the same time as he was struck down, spiritual gifts were increased for the good Angels; hence he adds: his spirit hath adorned the heavens, that is, the heavenly spirits, namely with the adornments of spiritual gifts. But it was not fitting that he who was struck down by the privation of glory should remain together with those who were adorned by the Holy Spirit; and therefore he adds: and his obstetric hand brought forth the winding serpent, that is, the Devil, who is compared to a serpent on account of the venom of his malice, and is called winding on account of his cunning; and he says pointedly that he was brought forth by the obstetric hand of God: for just as a midwife brings forth an infant, even a dead one at times, in such a way that the mother is not harmed, so God brought forth the Devil from the midst of the Angels in such a way that the fellowship of the good Angels suffered no detriment in anything. And lest anyone should believe that these effects, great though they are, equal the divine power, he adds: behold, these things are said in part concerning his ways, that is, his works, by which we too ascend to the knowledge of God, and God in some manner communicates himself to us. And lest these things should seem, even though they do not equal the whole of the divine power, nevertheless to come close to its equality in great part, he subjoins: and seeing we have scarcely heard a little drop of his word, who shall be able to behold the greatness of his thunder? As if he were to say: of all the things that have now been said concerning the effects of the divine power, the comparison to the divine power itself is less than that of one small word, as it were silently dripping, to the greatest sound of thunder.