Literal Commentary on Job (Expositio super Iob ad litteram)

Then Elihu spoke these words again, etc. After Elihu had reproved Job's words insofar as, as he himself judged, Job had imputed iniquity to the divine judgment, here he intends to reprove his words insofar as he had said that he was righteous; hence it is said, "Then Elihu spoke these words again."

Namely, having interrupted his discourse, waiting to see if Job would respond, and Job not responding, he took up his discourse again, saying: "Does your thought seem equitable to you, that you should say: I am more righteous than God?" Job indeed had never said this, nor does Elihu impute to him that he had uttered these words, but rather that the words he did utter proceeded from this thought; hence he pointedly made mention of "thought." Now from which words Elihu shows that Job had held this thought, he adds: "For you have said: what is good does not please you" — another reading has "what is right" — "or what does it profit you if I have sinned?" These two statements are never found in Job's preceding words, but the first of these — namely, that what is good does not please God — he seems to take from what Job had said above, Job 10:15: "If I be wicked, woe to me; and if righteous, I will not lift up my head," which Job had said to signify that the righteous and the unrighteous alike are afflicted with temporal punishments; but Elihu interpreted this as though it had been said as if man's righteousness were not pleasing to God. But as for the second thing he proposes, "what does it profit you if I have sinned?" — it is nowhere read that Job said this, but he wished to take it from the fact that in the same place Job had said: "If I have sinned, and you have spared me for a time, why do you not allow me to be clean from my iniquity?" Job had said this to show that temporal prosperity does not always accompany innocence — otherwise he himself had been innocent in the time of his prosperity, his sins having been forgiven him, nor was there any reason why, after the remission of his sins, he should again be cleansed by God from sins; but Elihu twisted these words to this meaning, as though Job had thought that God had brought upon him his sin, or the punishment of sin, for God's own advantage. Now from these two things — namely, that what is good would not please God, and that he would reckon sin useful to himself — it would seem to follow that Job was more righteous than God, since he had said of himself above that evils displeased him and goods pleased him. He concludes, then, from what has been said, that on account of their absurdity he is compelled to respond; hence he says: "Therefore I will answer your words, and your friends with you" — namely, who were not able to refute you when you were saying such things.

And he begins from what was said last, showing that God cannot be helped or harmed by our works, whether good or evil, and this on account of his loftiness, which he first sets forth, saying: "Look up" — that is, look upward — "at the heaven," which is the seat of God, "and behold" — namely with sight — "and contemplate" — namely with the mind — "the ether," that is, the whole upper body of the heavens, from whose not only height but also magnitude, motion, and adornment you can conjecture this: that he is higher than you, to such an extent, namely, that your works can neither profit nor harm him; hence he adds: "If you have sinned" — namely against yourself or against God — "what harm will you do him?" As if he were to say: he will suffer no detriment from this in any way. But as to the sins that are committed against one's neighbor, he adds: "And if your iniquities be multiplied" — namely, those by which you unjustly harm your neighbors — "what will you do against him?" As if he were to say: he will not be harmed by this in any way. But as to the good things that are done toward one's neighbor, he adds further: "If you have acted justly" — namely, rendering to your neighbors their due — "what will you give him?" As if he were to say: what will he himself gain from this? But as to the works of divine worship, he adds: "Or what will he receive from your hand?" — namely, in sacrifices and oblations. As if to say, nothing — according to that word of the Psalm: "I will not take calves out of your house."

And because someone might believe that it would not pertain to God whether a man acted justly or unjustly, to exclude this he adds: "Your impiety will harm a man who is like yourself" — namely, one who is capable of being harmed — "and your righteousness will help a son of man" — namely, one who needs the help of righteousness. On this account, therefore, impiety is forbidden by God and righteousness is commanded, because God has care for men, who are either helped or harmed by this. And from this conviction it happens that men who are oppressed cry out to God against their oppressors, of whom some oppress deceitfully through calumny; hence, as to these, he adds: "because of the multitude of the calumniators, they will cry out" — namely, those who are oppressed by them will cry out to God; but some oppress openly through violence, and as to these he adds: "and they will wail because of the force of the arm of tyrants" — that is, they will weep to God because of the violent power of tyrants. From which it is given to understand that it is not only that it does not profit God that someone sins, but rather that it displeases him and he punishes it — otherwise the oppressed would cry out in vain.

Then he turns to reproving the other statement he had put forward, "what is right does not please you," which would be repugnant to divine wisdom, which indeed first appears in the creation of things; hence he says: "And he has not said" — namely, Job, thinking that good things do not please God — "Where is God who made me?" For God did not make things except for the sake of good; hence it is said in Genesis 1:25, "God saw that it was good," etc.; hence it is manifest that good is pleasing to God. Secondly he adduces the benefit of human instruction, by which some are instructed unto good through divine revelation; hence he adds: "who has given" — namely through revelation — "songs," that is, the teachings of human instruction, which by the ancients were often comprised in songs, "in the night" — that is, literally in a nocturnal dream, or in the quiet of contemplation or the obscurity of a vision; for he would not instruct men so familiarly unto good unless good were pleasing to him. Thirdly he adduces the infusion of natural light, by which we discern good from evil through reason, in which we surpass the brutes; hence he adds: "who teaches us above the beasts of the earth" — namely, which lack reason; and because the ancients used to observe the chattering and movements of birds as though they were divinely instructed, as if they had reason, therefore, to exclude this, he adds: "and instructs us above the birds of the heaven" — which likewise do not have reason.

And because he hates evil and good is pleasing to him, therefore he hears the oppressed crying out, but does not hear the oppressors; hence he adds: "they will cry out" — namely, the calumniators and tyrants — as though asking of God the fulfillment of their desires — "and he will not hear" — namely, God — and this on account of the pride of the wicked, namely of men, according to that word of the Psalm: "he has had regard to the prayer of the humble." And lest anyone should believe that God hears all indifferently, he adds: "for God will not hear in vain" — that is, without reason — because indeed he hears these and not those for a most just reason; hence he adds: "and the Almighty will look upon the causes of each one" — namely, so that he may hear the worthy, not the unworthy.

But it especially seems that God does not see the causes of each one from the fact that sometimes the wicked prosper; but to exclude this he adds: "even when you have said" — that is, when you have thought in your heart — "he does not consider" — namely, God — "the deeds of men" — "plead your case before him" — that is, prepare yourself to receive his judgment — "and wait for him" — namely, as one who will judge in the future, even if he does not punish here; for he delays so that in the future he may condemn more severely; hence he adds: "for now" — that is, in the present life — "he does not bring forth his fury" — that is, the magnitude of the punishment — "nor does he avenge wickedness exceedingly" — that is, he does not punish in the present according to what the gravity of the fault demands, because the punishments of the present life are for correction, and therefore he reserves for future damnation those whom he judges unworthy of correction. And this is another reason why the wicked prosper in this world, in which he agrees with Job's opinion.

But because he had wrongly understood Job's words, he therefore reproves them, concluding from what has been said: "therefore Job opens his mouth in vain" — that is, without reason — as though reproving in him the prolixity of speech — "and multiplies words without knowledge" — in which he charges him with ignorance and useless loquacity.