Job 3:4

“HISTORICAL INTERPRETATION. Let that day be turned into darkness. This day shines as it were in the hearts of men, when the persuasions of his wickedness are thought to be for our good, and what they are within is never seen; but when his wickedness is seen as it is, the day of false promises is as it were dimmed by a kind of darkness spread before the eyes of our judgment, in this respect, that such as he is in intrinsic worth, such he is perceived to be in his beguilement, and so 'the day becomes darkness,' when we take as adverse even the very things, which he holds out as advantageous whilst persuading them. 'The day becomes darkness,' when our old enemy, even when lurking under the cloak of his blandishments, is perceived by us to be such as he is when ravening after us, that he may never mock us with feigned prosperity, as though by the light of day, dragging us by real misery to the darkness of sin. Let not God regard it from above, neither let the light shine upon it. As Almighty God was able to create good things out of nothing, so, when He would, He also restored the good things that were lost, by the mystery of His Incarnation. Now he had made two creations to contemplate Himself, viz. the Angelic and the human, but Pride smote both, and dashed them from the erect station of native uprightness. But one had the clothing of the flesh, the other bore no infirmity derived from the flesh. For an angelical being is spirit alone, but man is both spirit and flesh. Therefore when the Creator took compassion to work redemption, it was meet that He should bring back to Himself that creature, which, in the commission of sin, plainly had something of infirmity; and it was also meet that the apostate Angel should be driven down to a farther depth, in proportion as he, when he fell from resoluteness in standing fast, carried about him no infirmity of the flesh. And hence the Psalmist, when he was telling of the Redeemer's compassionating mankind, at the same time justly set forth the cause itself of His mercy, in these words, And he remembered that they were but flesh. As if he said, 'Whereas He beheld their infirmities, so He would not punish their offences with severity.' There is yet another respect wherein it was both fitting that man when lost should be recovered, and impossible for the spirit that set himself up to be recovered, namely, in that the Angel fell by his own wickedness, but the wickedness of another brought man down. Forasmuch then as mankind is brought to the light of repentance by the coming of the Redeemer, but the apostate Angel is not recalled by any hope of pardon, or with any amendment of conversion, to the light of a restored estate, it may well be said, Let not God regard it from above, neither let the light shine upon it. As though it were plainly expressed, 'For that he hath himself brought on the darkness, let him bear without end what himself has made, nor let him ever recover the light of his former condition, since he parted with it even without being persuaded thereto.'”

“MORAL INTERPRETATION. Let that day be darkness. For 'the day becomes darkness,' when in the very commencement of the enjoyment, we see to what an end of ruin sin is hurrying us. We 'turn the day into darkness,' whenever by severely chastising ourselves, we turn to bitter the very sweets of evil enjoyment by the keen laments of penance, and, when we visit it with weeping, whereinsoever we sin in gratification in our secret hearts. For because no believer is ignorant that the thoughts of the heart will be minutely examined at the Judgment, as Paul testifieth, saying, Their thoughts the meanwhile accusing or else excusing one another; searching himself within, he examines his own conscience without sparing before the Judgment, that the strict Judge may come now the more placably disposed, in that He sees his guilt, which He is minded to examine, already chastised according to the sin. Let not God require it from above. God requires the things, which He searches out in executing judgment upon them. He does not require those, which He so pardons as to let them be unpunished henceforth in His own Judgment. And so 'this day,' i.e. this enjoyment of sin, will not be required by the Lord, if it be visited with self-punishment of our own accord, as Paul testifies, when he says, For if we would judge ourselves, we should not be judged of the Lord. 'God's requiring our day,' then, is His proceeding against our souls at the Judgment by a strict examination of every instance of taking pleasure in sin, in which same 'requiring' He then smites him the harder, whom He finds to have been most soft in sparing himself. Neither let the light shine upon it. For the Lord, appearing at the Judgment, illumines with His light all that He then convicts of sin. For what is not then brought to remembrance of the Judge, is as it were veiled under a kind of obscurity. So it is written, But all things that are reproved are made manifest by the light. It is as though a certain darkness hid the sins of penitents, of whom the Prophet saith, Blessed is he whose transgression is forgiven, whose sin is covered. Therefore, as every thing that is veiled is as it were hidden in darkness, that which is not searched out in vengeance, is not illumined with light at the Day of final account. For all those actions of ours, which He would not then visit with justice, the mercy of God in wotting of them still hideth in some sort from itself, but all is displayed in light, that is at that time manifest in the sight of all men. Let, then, this day be darkness, in this way, viz. that by penance we may smite the evil that we do. Let not the Lord require this day, neither let the light shine upon it, in this way, viz. that while we smite our own sin, He may not Himself fall thereupon with the visitations of the Final Judgment. But the Judge will come Himself to pierce all things, and strike all things to the core. And because He is every where present, there is no place to flee to, where He is not found. But forasmuch as He is appeased by the tears of self-correction, he alone obtains a hiding-place from His face, who after the commission of a sin hides himself from Him now in penance.”

“After cursing the day of his birth and the night of his conception, one by one the curse for each of these periods of time. First with the curse of the day of his birth, "Let that day be darkness!" Consider that, as Jerome says in his Prologue, "from the words in which Job says, 'Let the day perish on which I was born,' to the place where it is written near the end of the book, 'For that reason, I repent,' (42:6), the verses are hexameters in dactyl and spondee." Therefore it is clear after this that this book was written in poetic style. So he uses the figures and images which poets customarily use through this whole book. Since poets want to touch others deeply, they customarily use several different images to express the same idea. So here too Job uses things which often make a day hateful, to curse his own day in the manner of which we are speaking. The dignity of a day is its brightness, for it is by this that it is distinguished from night. He excludes this dignity saying, "Let that day be darkness," an idea which seems frivolous and vain according to a superficial reading of the text. For the day of his birth had passed and was not now present. What has passed cannot be changed. How then could a day which has passed be changed into night? One should know that some judgments one makes about things are expressed as desires. So now the text says, "Let that day be darkness," as if it were to be said: The day of my birth ought to be in darkness because it befits the darkness and misery which I am suffering. For the sight of the light is delightful, as Qoheleth says, "Light is pleasing and it is delightful for the eyes to see the sun." (11:7) It is customary in Holy Scripture to represent sorrow by darkness, as one sees in Qoheleth, "He spent all his days in darkness and grief, in much vexation and sickness and resentment." (5:16) A day is bright in many ways. First, of course, from the sanctification of God who instituted it to be celebrated, as Exodus teaches, "Remember, keep holy the Sabbath day." (20:8) Therefore, Job removes this sort of brightness from the day mentioned previously when he says, "May God not seek it," as if to say: May God not require men to celebrate it. In fact, God requires some days be celebrated because of some extraordinary favor conferred on that day on men. For example, the Sabbath in the Old Law was celebrated because of the gift of Creation and the Passover was celebrated because of the gift of liberation from Egypt. This is also true of the feast days which are celebrated in the New Testament. Thus Job wishes to show by this that his birth should not be reckoned among the extraordinary favors of God, since he seems to have been born more for sorrow than for joy. Second, a day is bright from the recollection of men. For men customarily celebrate certain days on which something great or joyous happened to them, like Herod and Pharaoh celebrated their birthdays. He excludes such brightness from this aforementioned day saying, "May it not be remembered," namely, by men because in truth nothing joyous happened on that day, but rather something sad happened on that day as is plain from the result. Third, a day is bright from physical light, which can be taken away in many ways. First, from the loss of the rays of the sun which illumine the earth, as appears in an eclipse of the sun. The text speaks about this saying, "nor let light shine on it."”

“According to Job's words, he desires that the moon or the stars might not illuminate his night but that it may be obscured by thick darkness, which Job calls the shadow of death. If one carefully examines the text's meaning, Job demands through his prayers that sin may appear as it actually is in its great depravity, so that sin may not simulate virtue. Rather, after sin has been recognized as dark and deadly, it may be avoided and rejected.”