Literal Commentary on Job (Expositio super Iob ad litteram)

And Job answering said: indeed I know it is so. Blessed Job in the preceding response, by which he had answered the words of Eliphaz, seemed to have passed over one thing that Eliphaz had proposed concerning the justice of God, when he had said: shall a man be justified in comparison with God? Rather, by a kind of contentious disputation he seemed to speak to God when he said, am I a sea, or a whale, etc., and again, how long wilt thou not spare me, etc. And therefore Baldad the Suhite, replying against blessed Job's response, began from a defense of the divine justice, saying, does God pervert judgment, etc., and he ended his speech with the same point when he said, God will not cast away the simple, etc. Therefore blessed Job in this response first shows that he does not wish to contradict the divine justice nor to wish to contend against God, as they suspected; and this is what is said: and Job answering said: indeed I know it is so, namely that God does not pervert judgment and that he will not cast away the simple, which Baldad had proposed; and I also know that man compared to God is not justified, that is, compared with him, and he says this in answer to what Eliphaz had said above: shall a man be justified in comparison with God? And whence he knows this, he consequently shows from a certain sign. For when someone is just in comparison with another, he can freely and safely contend with him, because through mutual dispute justice and truth are made manifest; but it is safe for no man to contend with God, and therefore he adds: if he will contend with him, namely man with God, he shall not be able to answer him, namely man to God, one for a thousand. It should be known that the greatest of the numbers which have a proper name among us is the thousand, for all greater numbers are named by the repetition of lesser numbers, as for instance ten thousand, a hundred thousand; and this happens reasonably, for according to certain of the ancients the species of numbers extend up to ten, and afterward the earlier numbers are repeated — which indeed is evident as to their naming, whatever may be the case as to the truth of the thing; but the cube arising from ten is the thousand: for ten times ten times ten make a thousand. He therefore took the number "thousand," as it were the greatest of the numbers named among us, for however great a determinate number one likes: it is therefore the same as if he said that man cannot answer God one for a thousand, as if he were to say that no determinate measure of number can measure how much the divine justice exceeds the human, since the latter is finite, but the former infinite. That man, moreover, in contending can approach God by no proportion, he shows next when he says: he is wise in heart, and mighty in strength, namely God. For contention is twofold: one by which one contends in disputing, and this is through wisdom; the other by which one contends in fighting, and this is through strength; but in both God exceeds, because both in strength and in wisdom he exceeds all strength and all wisdom. And he shows each of these excesses in turn: first the excess of strength, which indeed he begins to show with regard to men when he says: who hath resisted him, and hath had peace? As if he were to say: no one. For it should be known that a man obtains peace from a more powerful one in one way, and from a less powerful one or an equally powerful one in another way: for it is clear that the more powerful obtains peace from the less powerful by fighting against him, as when a powerful king wages war against some rebel in his kingdom and, obtaining the victory, restores peace to the kingdom; likewise also from an equally powerful one someone sometimes obtains peace by fighting: for though he cannot overcome him, yet by the persistence of the fight he wears him down so that he is brought back to peace; but from one more powerful, no one ever obtains peace by resisting or fighting, but only by humbly submitting himself to him. This, then, is an evident sign that the strength of God exceeds all human strength, because no one can have peace with him by resisting, but only by humbly obeying, whence it is said in Isaiah 26:3: thou shalt keep peace, peace, because we have hoped in thee; but the wicked who resist God cannot have peace, according to what is said in Isaiah 57:21: there is no peace to the wicked, saith the Lord; and this is what is said here: who hath resisted him, and hath had peace?

Then he shows that the strength of God exceeds all the strength of natural things, and this indeed he shows both in the higher bodies and in the lower. In the lower bodies he shows this from the fact that those things which seem most stable and firm among lower bodies he moves according to his will. Among mixed bodies, then, to which he passes after men, mountains seem to be most firm and stable, to whose stability the stability of the saints is compared in the Scriptures, according to that word of the Psalm: they that trust in the Lord shall be as mount Sion; and yet God by his power moves the mountains, and this is what is added: who removeth mountains — which, although it can happen miraculously by divine power (since this seems to be promised to the firmness of faith, according to Matthew 21:21: if you have faith and stagger not, if you shall say to this mountain, take up and cast thyself into the sea, it shall be done, and 1 Corinthians 13:2: if I should have all faith, so that I could remove mountains), yet it seems more fitting that this be referred to the natural course of things. For this is the order of nature, that everything which is naturally generated should also, at a determinate time, be corrupted: hence, since the generation of mountains is natural, it is necessary that at some time mountains be naturally destroyed; and this natural corruption of mountains he calls a removal, because the dissolution of mountains and their ruin happens with a kind of transferring of their parts. Nor is it unreasonable that he attributes to the divine power things that happen naturally: for since nature acts for an end, and everything that is ordered to a certain end either directs itself to the end or is ordered to the end by another directing it, it is necessary that a natural thing, which does not have knowledge of the end so that it could direct itself to it, be ordered to the end by some higher intelligence. The whole operation of nature, then, is compared to the intellect directing natural things to their end, which we call God, as the motion of an arrow is compared to the archer: hence, just as the motion of the arrow is fittingly attributed to the archer, so the whole operation of nature is fittingly attributed to the divine power; hence if, through the operation of nature, mountains are cast down, it is clear that the stability of mountains is overcome by the divine power. Now it happens sometimes among men that some king by his power takes some strong city by storm, and the more quickly and imperceptibly this happens, the more the power of the king is shown; this, then, that mountains are removed testifies most greatly to the divine power, since it happens as it were suddenly and imperceptibly, so that it cannot even be foreknown by those who dwell around the mountains and perish by the overthrow of the mountains, and this is what is added: and they have not known when he overturneth them in his fury, as if he were to say: God works so great a thing so suddenly that even those who dwell around the mountains cannot foreknow it, which becomes evident from this, that if they foreknew it, they would take precaution for themselves so as not to be overthrown. He adds, moreover, in his fury, to show that God sometimes moderates natural operations according to the order of his providence, as is necessary for punishing the sins of men, toward whom he is said metaphorically to be angry when he exercises vengeance upon them, which among us is usually the effect of anger. From mixed bodies he passes to the elements, among which the firmest and most stable seems to be the earth, which is immobile as the center of the whole motion, and yet at times it is moved naturally according to some of its parts by an enclosed vapor, as the philosophers teach, and this is what he adds: who shaketh the earth out of her place — not indeed wholly according to itself as a whole, but when some parts of it are agitated, as happens in an earthquake; in which motion the mountains too are shaken, which are as it were columns founded upon the earth, whence it follows: and the pillars thereof shall be shaken. The pillars can also be understood literally as columns and whatever other buildings seem to be attached to the earth, which are shaken in an earthquake; or by the pillars can be understood the lower and inmost parts of the earth, because just as the stability of a house is made firm upon columns, so the stability of the earth proceeds from the center, toward which all parts of the earth naturally tend, and consequently all the lower parts of the earth are the sustainers, as it were, of the upper parts, and as it were columns: and thus, since an earthquake proceeds from the deep parts of the earth, it seems to be caused, as it were, by a shaking of the columns of the earth. Lastly he proceeds to the heavenly bodies, which also yield to the divine power. Now it must be considered that just as immobility and rest belong to the nature of earth, so it belongs to the nature of the heavens that they be always in motion; therefore, just as the power of the earth is shown to be overcome by the divine power through the motion that appears in it, so the power of the heavenly body is shown to be overcome by the divine power in that its motion is impeded, by which the rising and setting of the sun and of the other stars comes about, and therefore he adds: who commandeth the sun, and it riseth not. This indeed is not said because the rising of the sun is actually impeded in reality, since the motion of the heavens is continuous, but because according to appearance it sometimes seems not to rise, as when the air has been so clouded that the rising of the sun cannot appear to those dwelling upon the earth in its usual brightness; and such cloudiness, since it comes about through the operation of nature, is fittingly attributed to the divine command, by which the whole of nature is ruled in its operation, as has been said. And that he means the sun not to rise in the sense that its rising is hidden, appears clearly from what is added: and shutteth up the stars as it were under a seal: for the stars seem, as it were, to be shut up when the sky is covered with clouds so that the stars cannot be seen.

Who alone spreadeth out the heavens, etc. After blessed Job has shown the vigor of the divine strength, he here begins to show the depth of the divine wisdom. He proceeds now, however, in the reverse order from before: for at first he began from the showing of the divine strength in human affairs and proceeded up to the heavenly bodies, but here he begins from the heavenly bodies and proceeds down to human affairs; and this reasonably, for the wisdom of the maker is shown in this, that he makes stable works, and therefore in showing the divine wisdom he begins from the more stable creatures, as being those in which the token of divine wisdom appears more evidently; but the vigor of some strength is shown from this, that it can change some things from their state — hence men are accustomed to be tested by the lifting or throwing of stones, the throwing down of men, and things of this sort — and therefore, when he was showing the vigor of the divine strength, he began from those things in which change appears more manifestly. So then, to show the divine wisdom, he begins from the heavenly bodies, saying: who alone spreadeth out the heavens. It should be known that the wisdom of God appears especially commendable in three respects: first indeed in this, that he can measure certain great things by his intellect and wisdom, and as to this he says: who alone spreadeth out the heavens: for in the spreading out of the heavens the greatness of their quantity is expressed; thus, then, God alone is said to have spread out the heavens inasmuch as he alone was able to give to the heavens so great a quantity, measured by his wisdom. Second, the wisdom of God appears commendable in this, that he reduces to a fixed order things that are changeable and, as it were, fluctuating into uncertainty, and makes them subject to his governance, and as to this he adds: and walketh upon the waves of the sea: for the waves of the sea seem to be most disordered, inasmuch as they are carried now this way now that by various winds, and yet God walks upon them inasmuch as God subjects them to his governance. Third, the wisdom of God appears commendable from this, that God has established many things according to the plan of his wisdom which appear marvelous to men, and men cannot investigate their rationale, and these are especially the things that appear in the position and arrangement of the stars, which nevertheless have been established by God most wisely and reasonably. And these indeed he enumerates, beginning from the north pole and proceeding as far as the south pole, whence he says: who maketh Arcturus: Arcturus indeed is a certain constellation in the sky which is called the Great Bear and has seven bright stars which never set for us but always circle round the north pole. There follows: and Orion: Orion is a certain constellation very conspicuous in the sky on account of its size and the brightness of the stars, which are said to be in Taurus and Gemini. There follows: and Hyades, which are certain stars existing, as it is said, in the breast of Taurus, and are also very notable to the sight. There follows: and the inner chambers of the south, where it must be considered that for those who dwell under the equinoctial line — if indeed anyone dwells there — both poles are visible, since their horizon cuts the equinoctial at right angles, and thus it must pass through both poles of the equinoctial, whence both poles are rendered visible to those dwelling under the equinoctial, as has been said; but as one withdraws from the equinoctial and approaches toward the north pole, the north pole is raised above the horizon and the south pole is depressed, according to the degree of distance from the equinoctial: hence to us who are in the northern region the south pole can never be visible, and likewise the stars near it are hidden from us according to the extent to which we are distant from the equinoctial, and these are here called the inner chambers of the south because they are hidden from us, as it were concealed and pressed down beneath the horizon. And lest anyone believe that divine wisdom has manifested itself only in the aforesaid things, he shows next that God has made for us many other similar things beyond counting, saying: who maketh great things, in which, namely, the wisdom of God appears commendable from the commensuration of magnitude: and this corresponds to what he had said, who alone spreadeth out the heavens; and unsearchable things, namely which men cannot search out on account of their instability, which are nevertheless ordered by the divine governance: and this corresponds to what he had said, and walketh upon the waves of the sea; and marvelous things, whose rationale, namely, men cannot consider, although they were made by God according to a rationale: and this corresponds to what he had said, who maketh Arcturus, etc. What he adds, moreover, of which there is no number, must be referred to each of the particulars, in such a way, however, that the divine works are understood to be innumerable to men, but numerable to God, who makes all things in number, weight, and measure.

If he come to me, I shall not see him. Blessed Job, wishing to show that it is not his intention to contend with God, has shown through many indications the depth of the divine wisdom in natural things; now, however, he wishes to show the depth of the divine wisdom in human affairs. Now it must be considered that three things seem to pertain to the ruler of human affairs: the first is that he dispense to his subjects the precepts of justice and other benefits; the second is that he examine the acts of his subjects; the third is that he subject to punishments those whom he finds culpable. In these three, then, he shows the immense depth of the divine wisdom: first indeed because he provides for his subjects his benefits so deeply and subtly that it is even incomprehensible to those who receive them, and this is what he says: if he come to me, I shall not see him; if he depart, I shall not understand him. Here it must be considered that in the Scriptures God is said to come to a man when he bestows his benefits upon him, whether by illuminating his intellect or by inflaming his affection or by benefiting him in whatever way, whence it is said in Isaiah 35:4: our God himself will come and will save us; but conversely God is said to withdraw from a man when he takes away from him his benefits or his protection, according to that word of the Psalm: why, O Lord, hast thou retired afar off, why dost thou slight us in our wants, in the tribulation? Now it happens sometimes that God permits certain tribulations or even certain spiritual defects to befall some in order to procure their salvation, as it is said in Romans 8:28: to them that love God, all things work together unto good; thus, then, God comes to a man in procuring his salvation, and yet the man does not see him because he does not perceive his benefit; conversely, however, God does not withdraw from many manifest benefits which nevertheless tend to their ruin, and therefore it is said that God so withdraws from a man that the man does not understand him as withdrawing. Thus, then, the depth of the divine wisdom appears in the dispensing of his benefits.

The depth of the divine wisdom is shown, second, in the examination of human acts, because, namely, he examines so subtly and effectively that no one can escape his examination by any sophistry, and this is what he says: if he should come suddenly to examine, who shall answer him? Now God examines a man when he brings him back to consider his own conscience, either by inspiring him inwardly or by provoking him outwardly with benefits or with scourges, according to that word of the Psalm: the Lord trieth the just and the wicked; but then a man would answer God sufficiently when nothing could be found in him that could justly be reproved by God, which happens to no man in this life, according to Proverbs 20:9: who can say: my heart is clean, I am pure from sin? He says pointedly, if he should come suddenly to examine, because if space to answer were given to a man, he could wash away his offenses through penance. Now it happens at times that someone, in examining the excesses of others, is found lax, fearing lest his own excesses in turn be examined by others; but this need not be feared of God, that he should grow soft in his examination, because he has no superior who could judge of his deeds, and therefore it is added: or who can say to him: why dost thou so? as though chastising him.

Third, the depth of the divine wisdom is shown in the punishment of offenses, because wherever a man turns, no cunning, no power can turn aside the vengeance of God, according to that word of the Psalm: whither shall I go from thy spirit? Or whither shall I flee from thy face? And this is what he says: God, whose wrath no man can resist: for wrath, as it is attributed to God in the Scriptures, does not import a disturbance of mind but vengeance. He then adduces the proof of this: and they that bear up the world stoop under him. The heavenly spirits are to be understood as bearing up the world, by whose ministry the whole bodily creation is divinely administered, as Augustine says in Book III of On the Trinity. These heavenly spirits stoop under God because they obey him in all things, according to that word of the Psalm: bless the Lord, all ye his angels, ye ministers of his that do his will; thus, then, since the angels obey God, it is manifest that the whole course of bodily things, which is administered through the angels, is subject to the divine will, and thus man can have no help from any creature to escape the vengeance of God, according to that word of the Psalm: if I ascend into heaven, thou art there; if I descend into hell, thou art present; nay rather, as it is said in Wisdom 5:21, the whole world shall fight with him against the unwise. It could also be understood that kings and princes of the world, who stoop beneath God, bear up the world, according to Proverbs 8:15: by me kings reign, or because not even kings themselves can resist the wrath of God, so that from this an argument a fortiori could be drawn to the same conclusion regarding others.

So then, the immensity of the divine power and the depth of the divine wisdom having been shown in many ways, he concludes his proposition, namely that it is not his intention to contend with God, and this is what he says: how great then am I, that is, how powerful, how wise, that I should answer him, namely God who examines, most powerful and most wise, and should speak with him in my own words, examining his deeds and saying, why dost thou so? As if he were to say: I am not sufficient to contend with God; for contention consists in answering and objecting. Now it happens at times that someone, even though he is not very powerful or wise, does not fear to contend with any judge whatsoever, on account of the security of his own conscience; but this cause too of contending with God he excludes from himself, saying: although I should have some just thing, I will not answer, namely God as he examines, as though defending my own justice, but I will make supplication to my judge, as one seeking not judgment but mercy. He says pointedly, if I should have some just thing, to designate the uncertainty of human justice by saying if I should have, according to that word of the Apostle in 1 Corinthians 4:4: I am not conscious to myself of anything, but yet I am not hereby justified; and to show that the justice of man is small and imperfect when referred to the divine examination, on account of which he says some, according to Isaiah 64:6: all our justices are as the rag of a menstruous woman before him. What follows from his supplication, moreover, he shows when he adds: and when he shall hear me invoking him, I do not believe that he hath heard my voice. For it happens at times that God hears a man not according to his wish but according to his profit: just as a physician does not hear according to his wish a sick man asking that a bitter medicine be removed, if the physician does not remove it because he knows it to be healthful — yet he hears him according to his profit, because through this he brings about the health which the sick man most greatly desires — so God, when a man is placed in tribulations, does not take away the tribulations, although the man prays for it, because he knows they are expedient for his final salvation; and thus, although God truly hears, yet the man placed in miseries does not believe himself heard. And why he does not believe it, he shows by adding: for he shall crush me in a whirlwind; and, as is his manner, he explains what was said metaphorically by adding: and multiply my wounds, even without cause: for this is what it is to be crushed, to have one's wounds, that is, tribulations, multiplied, and this is in a whirlwind, that is, in a horrible darkness, of which he says without cause, namely a manifest cause, one perceptible to the afflicted man; for if the afflicted man perceived the cause why God afflicts him and that the afflictions are useful to him for salvation, it is clear that he would believe himself heard, but because he does not understand this he believes himself not heard. And therefore he is afflicted not only outwardly but also inwardly, like a sick man who did not know that he would attain health through the bitter medicine — he would be afflicted not only in taste but also in mind — and therefore he adds: he alloweth not my spirit to rest: for the spirit rests, even though the flesh is afflicted, on account of the hope of the end, as the Lord teaches in Matthew 5:11: blessed shall you be when men shall revile you, and afterward he adds: be glad and rejoice, for your reward is very great in heaven; and thus, while I am afflicted outwardly and do not rest inwardly, he filleth me with bitterness, namely within and without. And it must be considered that from that place, and when he shall hear me invoking him, etc., he has evidently expounded what he had said above obscurely, if he come to me I shall not see him: for this must be observed almost everywhere in the sayings of Job, that things said obscurely are expounded by certain following passages. And because he had said above briefly and summarily, how great am I that I should answer him? he now explains this more diffusely, where he also assigns the reason why he does not answer but instead supplicates the judge. For that someone should boldly answer a judge can happen from two causes: first indeed if the judge is weak and cannot coerce his subject, but he excludes this, saying: if strength be sought, namely in God for coercing his subjects, he is most strong, exceeding all vigor; second, someone answers a judge boldly because he trusts in his own case, which sometimes happens because he has many who excuse him, but he excludes this too, saying: if equity of judgment be sought, according to which someone having many witnesses for him is acquitted, no man dare bear witness for me: for the understanding of man does not grasp this, that the justice of man could be greater than the truth of God as he convicts. Sometimes, moreover, though a man has no other witnesses for himself, he yet trusts in his case, relying on the testimony of his own conscience; but the testimony of conscience cannot avail a man against the divine conviction, and this he shows through each of its degrees. For the testimony of conscience has three degrees, the highest of which is when someone's conscience bears witness to him that he is just, according to Romans 8:16: the Spirit himself giveth testimony to our spirit, that we are the sons of God; but this testimony does not avail against the divine reproof, whence he says: if I would justify myself, that is, if I should wish to say that I am just, God objecting to me that I am wicked, my own mouth shall condemn me, that is, shall render me condemnable on account of blasphemy. The second degree is when someone, even though he does not presume himself to be just, is nevertheless not reproved by his conscience of any sin, according to 1 Corinthians 4:4: I am not conscious to myself of anything; but not even this testimony avails against God, whence he says: if I would show myself innocent, that is, if I should wish to show myself to be without sin, he shall prove me wicked, inasmuch as he will manifest to me or to others sins of which I am not conscious, because, as it is said in the Psalm, who can understand sins? The third degree is when someone, even though he is conscious to himself of sin, nevertheless presumes either that he did not have an evil intention, or that he did not act out of malice and deceit but out of ignorance and weakness; but not even this testimony avails a man against God, and therefore he says: even if I should be simple, that is, without deceit or duplicity of a wicked intention, this very thing my soul shall be ignorant of: for a man cannot clearly grasp the movement of his own affection, both on account of its variability and on account of the mixture and impulse of many passions, on account of which it is said in Jeremiah 17:9: the heart of man is perverse and unsearchable, who can know it? And on account of this ignorance, that a man does not know himself nor his own state, life becomes wearisome even to the just, and on account of this he adds: and I shall be weary of my life.

One thing there is that I have spoken. After blessed Job has shown that it is not his intention to contend with God, he proposes that point about which there was dispute between him and his adversaries. For Eliphaz had said that punishments are sent by God only for sins, against which Job had spoken in his preceding response; and because Baldad had tried to assert the opinion of Eliphaz, Job repeats his own opinion again, saying: this is one thing that I have spoken: both the innocent and the wicked he consumeth, as if he were to say: not only upon sinners but also upon the innocent is death sent by God, which nevertheless is the greatest of present punishments, and thus it is not true what you say, that man is punished by God only for his own sins. That death, moreover, is from God, is said in Deuteronomy 32:39: I will kill and I will make to live; but since death is sent commonly by God upon all, one thing seems hard, namely that the innocent, besides the common death, sustain many adversities in this life, the cause of which he intends to investigate, and therefore he adds: if he scourge, let him kill also at once, as if he were to say: granted that the scourge of death is common to all, it would nevertheless seem reasonable that upon the innocent, who are not guilty by their own sins, he should not inflict, besides the death which is owed to common sin, another punishment. For if, as you say, there is no other cause why a punishment can justly be inflicted on someone except sin, and yet it is manifest that the innocent suffer punishment in this world, it seems to follow that they are punished without cause, as though the punishments themselves pleased God for their own sake, and therefore he adds: and he laugheth at the pains of the innocent: for we are accustomed to laugh at those things which please us in themselves. But if it is unfitting that the pains of the innocent should please God in themselves, and yet the innocent are frequently found to be punished on earth, another unfitting thing seems to follow, namely that these punishments do not proceed from the divine judgment but from the malice of some wicked lord who has power on earth and punishes the innocent, whence it follows: the earth is given into the hand of the wicked, as if he were to say: if the pains of the innocent, who are nevertheless punished on earth, do not please God in themselves, it will be necessary to say that God has entrusted the rule of the earth to some wicked one, by whose iniquity judgment on earth is perverted so that the innocent are punished; and this is what he adds: he covereth the face of the judges thereof, that is, he beclouds their reason, either by cupidity or by hatred or by love, lest they follow the truth of judgment in judging. But if it be not he, namely the wicked one to whom the earth has been handed over, from whom, namely, the punishment of the innocent is caused, who then is it, namely the cause of this punishment? For it cannot be said, as has been shown, that this is from God, on the supposition of your position that sin alone is the cause of present punishments. Now this that he said, the earth is given into the hand of the wicked, is indeed true in a certain respect, inasmuch as earthly men are left by God under the power of the devil, according to that word: he that committeth sin is the servant of sin; but taken absolutely it is false: for the dominion of the earth is not conceded to the devil absolutely, such that he could freely do in it whatever he wished, but whatever he is permitted to do proceeds from the divine disposition, which dispenses all things from a reasonable cause; hence this very fact, that the innocent are punished, does not depend absolutely on the malice of the devil but on the wisdom of God who permits it. Hence if sin is not the cause of the punishment of the innocent, it does not suffice to reduce this to the malice of the devil, but it is necessary further that there be some reasonable cause on account of which God permits it, and therefore he says pointedly, if it be not he, who then is it? As if he were to say: if the malice of the devil is not a sufficient cause for the punishment of the innocent, another cause must be investigated.

In order, then, to investigate the reason why the innocent are punished in this world, he first sets forth the loss that he had sustained in the loss of goods, showing the mutability of present prosperity from a comparison with those things that seem to be the swiftest in this world. But it must be considered that people relate diversely to the prosperity of this world: some indeed hold it as their end, hoping for nothing beyond it — toward which the opinion of those inclined who placed all rewards and punishments in this life — such men do not pass through the prosperity of this world, but the prosperity of this world flees from them when they lose it; others, however, of whose number Job was, do not place their end in the prosperity of this world but tend toward another end, and such men pass through the prosperity of this world rather than are passed through by it. Now for those tending toward some end, three things are necessary: the first is that they fix their heart on nothing else by which they could be delayed from the end, but hasten to attain the end, and therefore he first sets forth the example of a runner, who so tends toward the goal of his course that he contracts no delay along the way, whence he says: my days have been swifter than a runner, in which words he shows both the fleetingness of present fortune and his own intention tending toward something else; they have fled away, as though rest of heart were not to be found in the things of this world, whence follows: and have not seen good, namely that toward which my intention was carried, which is the true good: hence I do not reckon myself rewarded for justice; but if you think present prosperity is a reward, once it is withdrawn I am punished though innocent. Second, it is required that one tending toward some end acquire for himself those things by which he can arrive at the end, just as one who wishes to be healed must acquire the medicines by which he may be healed; likewise one who wishes to arrive at the true good must acquire the virtues by which he can attain it, whence he adds: they have passed by as ships carrying fruits, in which he also shows two things: both the fleetingness of present fortune, because ships carrying fruits for sale hasten lest they rot through delay, and his zeal in tending toward the end, as if he were to say: my days have not passed by empty, but I have gathered virtues with which I tend toward attaining the end. The third remains, the attainment of the end, whence he says: as an eagle flying to the prey, in which the two aforesaid things are also designated: for the eagle's flight is swift especially when it is driven by hunger, and it has the prey as the end by which it is refreshed. Because, then, in these words he had, as it were, hinted that he was just and innocent, which was reckoned presumptuous by his adversaries, he begins to compare his innocence with God, who alone is the judge of conscience, whence he adds: when I shall say, namely in my heart: I will not speak so, namely that I am just and innocent, I change my countenance, namely from the confidence I had conceived about my innocence to a certain anxious searching out of sins, and am tormented with sorrow, in the discussion of my own conscience, thinking over lest perhaps I be so punished for some sin. And he adds the cause of his sorrow, saying: I feared all my works: for it is a great cause of sorrow to someone when he has great anxiety about some matter and yet falls into that which he was striving to avoid; now he applied great anxiety concerning all his works, fearing lest in something he depart from justice, and this is what he says, I feared all my works. And the reason why he feared thus in every work of his was the fear of the severity of the divine judgment, whence it is added: knowing that thou didst not spare the offender, unless, namely, he be converted, because, as it is said in the Psalm, except you be converted, he will brandish his sword. But if, after so great a striving after innocence, I am nevertheless so wicked that I have deserved to be punished by God with such grievous pains, why have I labored in vain in so great a striving to preserve innocence? For he is said to labor in vain who by his labor tends toward an end which he does not reach. But because the purity of man, however great it be, when referred to the divine examination is found deficient, he therefore shows next that when he calls himself pure and innocent, he understands himself to be pure and innocent as a man, not as one who in no respect at all departs from the rectitude of the divine justice. Now it must be known that purity is twofold: one of the innocent, the other of the penitent; and each is imperfect in man if compared to the perfect rectitude of the divine rule. He says, then, as to the purity of the penitent: if I be washed, that is, if I strive to purge myself of my sins, as it were with snow waters, which are said to be well cleansing; but as to the purity of the innocent he adds: and my hands shall shine ever so clean, that is, and in my works, which are designated by the hands, no uncleanness be found, but the brightness of justice shine in them — he says, ever so clean, however, to suggest that perfect cleanness cannot exist in man — if, he says, I be thus clean, yet thou shalt plunge me in filth, that is, I shall be shown to be filthy when compared to thy justice and convicted through thy wisdom. For in human works some defect is always found: sometimes indeed from ignorance, on account of the weakness of reason, sometimes from negligence, on account of the infirmity of the flesh; and sometimes some taint of some earthly affection is mixed in even in good works, on account of the fickleness of the human heart, which does not persevere fixed in the same state: hence something is always found in human works that falls short of the purity of the divine justice. Now when someone is unclean who nevertheless has some outward show of justice, the signs of justice that outwardly appear concerning him do not fit him, and therefore he adds: and my own garments shall abhor me: for by garments are designated the outward works by which a man is, as it were, covered, according to Matthew 7:15: they come to you in the clothing of sheep; then, therefore, someone's garments abhor him when the outward things of the man, which pretend to justice, do not accord with what is within. Now the reason why, however pure he may be, he cannot defend himself from being convicted by God as impure, he shows next from two respects in which God excels men, namely from purity of justice and from authority of majesty. As to the first, then, he says: neither shall I answer a man that is like myself, as if he were to say: if some man wished to convict me of being impure, I could resist him, if he objected to me things that he himself felt could not be preserved in a man as to perfect purity of justice; but I cannot answer thus to God, in whom no defect is found. As to the second he says: nor one that may be heard with me alike in judgment: for when two men contend with one another, they can have a judge who examines the words of both; but this cannot be between God and man, for two reasons: one reason is that it is necessary that in the judge there be a higher wisdom which is, as it were, the rule by which the words of both parties are examined; but it is clear that the divine wisdom is the first rule by which the truth of all things is examined, and on account of this he adds: there is none that may be able to convict both, as if he were to say: there is no one else higher than God by whose greater wisdom the divine wisdom could be corrected. The other reason is that it is necessary that in the judge there be a greater power by which he could restrain both parties, and this he excludes, saying: and to lay his hand between both, that is, to coerce each of the two: for this is excluded by the immensity of the divine power, which he showed above.

And because, as has been said, he intends to search out the reason why the innocent are punished in this world, he shows next what could impede him from this searching, and with what intention he wishes to search this out. Now he could be impeded from this searching by two things: first indeed by the affliction which he was suffering: for men whose mind is occupied by sorrow cannot search out subtle matters, and as to this he says: let him take his rod away from me; second by the reverence which he had toward God: for men sometimes, out of a certain reverence which they have toward God, refrain from searching out the things that are God's, and as to this he says: and let not the fear of him terrify me, as if he were to say: let him grant my spirit to rest from the affliction that I suffer, and let it not be imputed to me as irreverence that I dispute about divine things; and thus I shall be able to search these things out, whence follows: I will speak, and will not fear him, that is, as if I did not fear him; for I cannot answer while fearing him, that is, while I am held back from the search by reverence of him. Now it must be known that the fear of God does not always hold back those who fear God from the search into divine things, namely when they search into divine things out of a desire to know the truth, not so as to comprehend the incomprehensible, but always with that moderation whereby they subject their intellect to the divine truth; but they are held back by the fear of God from searching divine things in that manner in which they would seek, as it were, to comprehend them and not regulate their intellect by the divine truth. Thus, then, through these words Job intends to show that he searches into those things that pertain to the divine providence with that moderation whereby he subjects his intellect to the divine truth, not so as to attack the divine truth, which would be contrary to the reverence of the divine fear.