Ver. 6. And the Lord said unto Satan, Behold, he is in thine hand; but save his li/'e.
6. Here again, the safeguard of protection goes along vri\h y the permission to smite, and the dispensation of God both while guarding, forsakes his elect servant, and while forsaking, guards him. A portion of him He gives over, a portion He protects. For if he had left Job wholly in the hand of so dire a foe, what could have become of a mere man? And so with the very justice of the permission there is mixed a certain measure of pity, that in one and the same contest, both His lowly sen^ant might rise by oppression, and the towering enemy be brought down by the permission. Thus the holy man is given over to the adversary's hand, but yet in his inmost soul he is held fast by the hand of his Helper. For he was of the number of those sheep, concerning whom Truth itself said in the Gospel, Neither shall any / man pluck them out of My hand. And yet it is said to the 28. enemy, when he demands him. Behold, he is in thine hand. The same man then is at the same time in the hand of God, and in the hand of the devil. For by saying, he is in thine hand, and straightway adding, but save his life, the pitiful Helper openly shewed that His hand was upon him whom He yielded up, and that in giving He did not give him.
134 Satan forced to save life. Strokes many and sore.
Job 2, whom, while He cast him forth, He at the same time hid from the darts of his adversary.
\ ani- 7. But how is that it is said to Satan, hut save his life'^?
mam For how does he keep safe, who is ever longing to break in upon things under safe keeping? But Satan's saving is spoken of his not daring to break in, just as, conversely, we Matt. 6, petition The Father in prayer, saying, Lead us not into temptation; for neither does The Lord lead us into temptation, Who is ever mercifully shielding His servants therefrom. Yet it is as it were for Him ' to lead us into temptation,' not to protect us from the allurements of temptation. And He then as it were * leads us not into the snare of temptation,' when He does not let us be tempted beyond what we are able to bear. In like manner then as God is said to ' lead us into temptation,' if He suffers our adversary to lead 2 ani- ug thereinto, so our adversary is said to ' save our souP,' above, when he is stayed irom overcommg it by his temptations.
Ver. 7. So Satan went forth from the presence of the Lord. How ' Satan goes forth from the presence of the Lord,' 3 some is shewn by the remarks which have been already ^ made Mss.add, f.
i often.' above. It goes on; A?id smote Job with sore boils, from the sole of his foot unto his crown. vi- 8. Strokes are to be estimated in two ways, viz. to consider either of what kind, or how great. For being many they are often made right by their quality, and being heavy by their quantity, i. e. when, if they be many, they be not heavy, and if they be heavy, they be not many; in order to shew, then, how by the sharpness of the stroke the adversary flamed against the holy man, not only in the badness of the kind, but also in the heaviness of the amount: to prove the quality, it is said. And sniote Job with sore boils; and to teach the quantity, from the sole of his foot unto his crown* Plainly, that nothing might be void of glory in his soul, in whose body there is no part void of pain. It goes on; Ver. 8. And he took him a potsherd to scrape himself withal; and he sat down among the ashes. vii- 9. What is a potsherd made from, excepting mud? and what is the humour of the body, but mud.'' Accordingly he Job humbles hiiftself by the dutighill and potsJierd. 135 is said ' to scrape the humour with a potsherd,' as if it were Book plainly said, ' he wiped away mud with mud.' For the holy man reflected, whence that which he earned about him had been taken, and with the broken piece of a vessel of clay he scraped his broken vessel of clay. By which act we have it openly shewn us, in what manner he subdued under him that body of his when sound, which even when stricken he tended with such slight regard; how softly he dealt with his flesh in its sound state, who applied neither clothing, nor fingers, but only a potsherd to its very wounds. And thus he scraped the humour with a potsherd, that seeing himself in the very broken piece, he might even by the cleansing of the wound be taking a remedy for his soul.
10. But because it often happens that the mind is swelled by the circumstances that suiTound the body, and by the way men behave toward us the frailty of the body is removed from before the eyes of the mind, (as there are some of those that are of the world, who while they are buoyed up with temporal honours, whilst they rule in elevated stations, whilst they see the obedience of multitudes yielded to them at will, neglect to consider their own frailt}', and altogether forget, nor ever take heed, how speedily that vessel of clay which they bear, is liable to be shattered,) so blessed Job, that he might take thought of his own frailty from the •things about him, and increase the intensity of his self-contempt in his own eyes, is described to have seated himself not any where on the earth, which at most in every place is found clean, but upon a dunghill. He set his body on a dunijhUl^ that the mind might to its great profit consider tiioroughly what was that substance of the flesh, which was taken from the Gea. 3, go ground. He set his body on a dunghill, that even from the * stench of the place he might apprehend how rapidly the body retunicth to stench.
11. But see, while blessed Job is undergoing such losses in his substance, and giieving over the death of so many children whereby he is smitten, while he is suffering such numberless wounds, while he scraj)es the running humour with a potsherd, whilst, running down in a state of corruption, he sat himself upon a dunghill, it is good to consider how it is that Almighty God, as though in unconcern, afllicts so 136 If Saints suffer thus, how shall the ungodly?
Job 2, grievously those, whom He looks upon as so dear to Him for —^' all eternity. But, now, while I view the wounds and the torments of blessed Job, I suddenly call back my mind's eye to John, and I reflect not without the greatest astonishment, that he, being filled with the spirit of prophecy within his mother's womb, and who, if 1 may say so, before Johns, ijig birtli, was born again, he that was the friend of the Matt. Bridegroom^ he than whom none hath arisen greater among ^^^ ^^' those born of women, he that was so great a Prophet, that he was even more than a Prophet, he is cast into prison by wicked men, and beheaded, for the dancing of a damsel, and a man of such severe virtue dies for the merriment of the vile! Do w^e imagine there was aught in his life which that most contemptible death was to wipe off? When, then, did he sin even in meat, whose food was but locusts and wild honey? How did he offend even by the quality of his clothing, the covering of whose body was of camel's hair.''
How could he transgress in his behaviour, who never went out from the desert? How did the guilt of a talkative tongue defile him, who was parted far from mankind? When did even a fault of silence attach to him, who so vehemently Matt. 3, charged those that came to him? O generation of vipers, who hath warned you to flee from the wrath to comef How is it then, that Job is distinguished above other men by the testimony of God, and yet by his plagues is brought down even to a dunghill? How is it that John is commended by the voice of God, and yet for the words of a drunkard suffers death as the prize of dancing? How is it, that ^ Almighty God so utterly disregards in this present state of being those whom He chose so exaltedly before the worlds, saving this, which is plain to the religious sense of the faithful, that it is for this reason He thus presses them below, because He sees how to recompense them on high? And He casts them down without to the level of things contemptible, because He leads them on within to the height of things incomprehensible. From hence then let every one collect what those will have to suffer There, that arc condgumed by Him, il here He thus torments those whom He loves, or how they shall be smitten, who are destined to be convicted at the Judgment, if their life is sunk so low, who Sataji useth to tempt hy tcom a n\s persuasion. 137 are commended bv witness of the Judge Himself. It pro- Book ceeds; Ver. 9. TJien said his wife unto him. Dost thou still retain thine integrity? curse God, and die.
12. The old adversary is wont to tempt mankind in two viii. ways; viz. so as either to break the hearts of the stedfast by tribulation, or to melt them by persuasion. Against blessed Job then he strenuously exerted himself in both; for first upon the householder he brought loss of substance; the father he bereaved by the death of his children; the man that was in health he smote with putrid sores. But forasmuch as him, that was outwardly corrupt, he saw still to hold on sound within, and because he grudged him, whom he had stripped naked outwardly, to be inwardly enriched by the setting forth of his Maker's praise, in his cunning he reflects and considers, that the champion of God is only raised up against him by the very means whereby he is pressed down, and being defeated he betakes himself to subtle appliances of temptations. For he has recourse again to his arts of ancient contrivance, and because he knows by what means Adam is prone to be deceived, he has recourse to Eve. For be saw that blessed Job amidst the repeated loss of his goods, the countless wounds of his strokes, stood unconquered, as it were, in a kind of fortress of virtues. For he had set his mind on high, and therefore the machinations of the enemy were unable to force an entrance on it. The adversary then seeks by what steps he may mount up to this well-fenced fortress. Now the woman is close to the man and joined to him. Therefore he fixed his hold on the heart of the woman, and as it were found in it a ladder whereby he might be able to mount up to the heart of the man. He seized the mind of the wife, which was the ladder to the husband. But he could do nothing by this artifice. For the holy man minded that the woman was set under and not over him, and by speaking aright, he instructed her, whom the serpent set on to speak wrongly. For it was meet that manly reproof should hold in that looser mind; since indeed he knew even by the first fall of man, that the woman was unskilled to teach aright. And hence it is well said by Paul, / permit not a iTim.2, 1?
i38 Joh teavheth Iter by ivhotn Saian tvotdd mislead.
Job 2, woman to teach. Doubtless for that, when she once taught, she cast us off from an eternity of wisdom. And so the old Hist. iperdi- enemy was beaten by' Adam on a dunghill, he that condit ab qQei'gci Adam in Paradise; and whereas he inflamed the wife, whom he took to his aid, to utter words of mispersuasion, he sent her to the school of holy instruction; and she that had been set on that she might destroy, was instructed that she should not ruin herself Yes, the enemy is so stricken by those resolute men of our part, that his very own weapons are seized out of his hand. For by the same means, whereby he reckons to increase the pain of the wound, he is helping them to arms of virtue to use against himself.
13. Now from the w^ords of his wife, thus persuading him amiss, we ought to mark with attention, that the old enemy goes about to bend the upright state of our mind, not only by means of himself, but by means of those that are attached to us. For when he cannot undermine our heart by his own persuading, then indeed he creeps to the thing by the tongues of those that belong to us. For hence it is written; Ecclus. Beware of thine own childre?i,and take heed to thy self frovfi Vulff ^^^y s^f'^f^^^^^' Hence it is said by the Prophet; Take ye Jer.9,4. Ji(.ed every one of his neiyhbour, and trust ye not in any Matt, brother. Hence it is again written; And a mail's foes shall 10, 36. j^ ^^^^y ^j' j^^g ^^^^^ household. For when the crafty adversary sees himself driven back from the hearts of the good, he seeks out those that they very much love, and he speaks sweetly to them by the words of such as are beloved by them above others, that whilst the force of love penetrates the heart, the sword of his persuading may easily force a way in to the defences of inward uprightness. Thus after the losses of his goods, after the death of his children, after the wounding and rending of his limbs, the old foe put in motion the tongue of his wife.
14. And observe the time when he aimed to corrupt the mind of the man with poisoned talk. For it was after the wounds that the words were brought in by him; doubtless that, as the force of the pain waxed greater, the fro ward dictates of his persuasions might easily prevail. But if we minutely consider the order itself of his temptation, we see with what craft he worketh his cruelty. For he first directed Earthen vessel broken, Treasure within safe. 139 against him the losses of his goods, which should be at oncCj Book as they were, out of the province of nature, and without the — body. He withdrew from him his children, a tiling now no longer indeed without the province of nature, but still in some degree beyond his own body. Lastly, he smote even his body. But because, by these wounds of the flesh, he could not attain to wound the soul, he sought out the tongue of the woman that was joined to him. For because it sorely grieved him to be overcome in open fight, he flung a javelin from the mouth of the wife, as if from a place of ambush: as she said, Dost thou still retain thine inte(/ritf/? Bless God and die. Mark how in trying him, he took away every thing, and again in trying him, left him his wife, and shewed craftiness in stripping him of every thing, but infinitely greater cunning, in keeping the woman as his abettor, to say, Dost thou still retain thine integrity? Eve repeats her own words. For what is it to say, * give over thine integrity,' but * disregard obedience by eating the forbidden thing?' And what is it to say. Bless ^ God and die, but ' live ' see p. by mounting above the commandment, above what thou wast created to be V But our Adam lay low upon a dunghill in strength, who once stood up in Paradise in weakness. For thereupon he replied to the words of his evil counsellor, saying, Ver. 10. Thou speakest as one of the foolish women speaketh. IVtiat? shall ice receive good at the hand of God, and shall ice not receive evil / 15. See the enemy is every where broken, every where ix. overcome, in all his a])pliances of temptation he has been brought to the ground, in that he has even lost that accustomed consolation which he derived from the woman. Amid these circumstances it is good to contemplate the holy man, without, void of goods, witliin, filled with God. When Paul viewed in himself the riches of internal wisdom, yet saw himself outwardly a corruptible body, he says, /f'(e2Cor. hare this treasure in earthen ressels. You see, the eartlien ' vessel in blessed Job felt those gaping sores without, but this treasure remained entire within. For without he cracked in his wounds, but the treasure of Avisdom unfailingly springing up within issued forth in words of holy instruction.
J 140 In what sense God sends us Evil.
Job 2, saying, If we have received good at the hand of the Lord, -r^ — shall we not receive evil? meaning by the good, either the temporal or the eternal gifts of God, and by the evil, denoting the strokes of the present time, of which the Lord saith by Is. 45, ^}jQ Prophet, / am the Lord, and there is none else. I form the light, and create darkness; I make peace, and create evil. Not that evil, which does not subsist by its own nature, is created by the Lord, but the Lord shews Himself as creating evil, when He turns into a scourge the things that have been created good for us, upon our doing evil, that the very same things should at the same time both by the pain which they inflict be to transgressors evil, and yet good by the nature whereby they have their being. And hence poison is to man indeed death, but life to the serpent.
For we by the love of things present have been led away from the love of our Creator; and whereas the froward mind submitted itself to fondness for the creature, it parted from the Creator's communion, and so it was to be smitten by its Maker by means of the things which it had erringly preferred to its Maker, that by the same means whereby man in his pride was not afraid to commit sin, he might find a punishment to his correction, and might the sooner recover himself to all that he had lost, the more he perceived that the things which he aimed at were full of pain. And hence it is rightly said, I form the light, and create darkness. For when the darkness of pain is created by strokes without, the light of the mind is kindled by instruction within. I make peace, and create evil. For peace with God is restored to us then, when the things which, though rightly created, are not rightly coveted, are turned into such sort of scourges as are evil to us. For we are become at variance with God by sin. Therefore it is meet that we should be brought back to peace with Him by the scourge, that whereas every being created good turns to pain for us, the mind of the chastened man may be renewed in a humbled state to peace with the Creator. These scourges, then, blessed Job names evil, because he considers with what violence they smite the good estate of health and tranquillity.
16. But this we ought especially to regard in his words, viz. with what a skilful turn of reflection he gathers himself His gifts a coii\fort in sorrow. WomaiCs?iature not eml. 141 up to meet the persuading of his wife, saying, If we have Book received good at the hand of the Lord, shall we not receive '— evil? For it is a mighty solace of our tribulation, if, when we suffer afflictions, we recall to remembrance our Maker's gifts to us. Nor does that break down our force, which falls upon us in the smart, if that quickly comes to mind, which lifts us up in the gift. For it is hence written, In the day qfY.cc\\x9, prosperity he not unmindful of affliction, and in the day of^^^ ^' affliction be not unmindful of prosperity. For whosoever receives God's gifts, but in the season of gifts has no fear of strokes, is brought to a fall by joy in his elation of mind. And whoever is bruised with scourges, yet, in the season of the scourges, neglects to take comfort to himself from the gifts, which it has been his lot to receive, is thrown down from the stedfastness of his mind by despair on every hand. Thus then both must be united, that each may always have the other's support, so that both remembrance of the gift may moderate the pain of the stroke, and misgiving and dread of the stroke may bite down the joyousness of the gift.
And thus the holy man, to soothe the depression of his mind amidst his wounds, in the pains of the strokes weighs the sweetness of the gifts, saying, If ue have received good at the hand of the Lord, shall we not receive evil? And he does well in saying first, Thou hast spoken like one of the foolish women. For because it is the sense of a bad woman, and not her sex, that is in fault, he never says, * Thou hast spoken like one of the women,' but * of the foolish women,' clearly that it might be shewn, that whatsoever is of ill sense cometh of superadded folly, and not of nature so formed. The account goes on; In all this did not Job sin with his lips.
17. We sin with our lips in two ways; either when we say x. unjust things, or withhold the just. For if it were not sometimes a sin also to be silent, the Prophet would never say, JVoe is me, that I held my peace. Blessed Job, then, in all Is. 6, 5. that he did, sinned no wise with his lips; in that he neither ^"'^* spake proudly against the smiter, nor withheld the right answer to the adviser. Neither by speech, therefore, nor by silence did he offend, who both gave thanks to the Father that smote him, and administered wisdom of instruction to 14*2 Satf/fi's last 7'esoiirce Jo b\<ijr tends, tJioiajh good me)}.
the ill-advising wife. For because he knew what he owed to God, what to his neighbour, viz. resignation to his Creator, wisdom to his wife, therefore he both instructed her by his uttering reproof, and magnified Him by giving thanks. But which is there of us, who, if he were to receive any single wound of such severe infliction, would not at once be laid low in the interior? See, that when outwardly prostrated by the wounds of the flesh, he abides inwardly erect in the fences of the mind, and beneath him he sees every dart fly past wherewith the raging enemy transfixes him outwardly with unsparing hand; watchfully he catches the javelins, now cast, in wounds, against him in front, and now, in words, as it were from the side. And our champion encompassed with the rage of the besetting fight, at all points presents his shield of patience, meets the darts coming in on every hand, and on all virtue's sides wheels round the guarded mind to front the assailing blows.
18. But the more valiantly our old enemy is overcome, the more hotly is he provoked to further arts of malice. For whereas the wife when chidden was silent, he forthwith set on others to rise up in insults till they must be chidden "*. For as he essayed to make his blows felt, by the often repeated tidings of the losses of his substance, so he now busies himself to penetrate that firm heart by dealing reiterated strokes with the insults of the lips. It proceeds; Ver. 1 1. Now when Job's three friends heard of all this evil that was come upon him, they came every one from his own place; Eliphaz the Temanite, and Bildad the Shuhite, and Zophar the Naamathite: for they had made an appointment together to come to mourn with him and to comfort him, xi. 19. We have it proved to us how great a love they entertained both for each other, and for the smitten man, in that they came by agreement to administer consolation to him when afilicted. Though even by this circumstance, viz. that Scripture bears witness they were the friends of so great a man, it is made appear that they were men of a good spirit and right intention; though this very intention of * Ben. increpandi. Some Mss. ' in- in their chiding should rise even to increpando,' which gives the sense, * who suits.'
They make themselves like hun in sympaihij. 14o mind, when they break forth into words, upon indiscretion Book arising, becomes clouded in the sight of the strict Judge. It '— goes on; Ver. 12. And when they lifted up their eyes afar off, and knew him not, they lifted up their voice, and wept; and they rent every one his mantle, and sprinkled dust upon their heads toward heaven.
20. Because the scourge had altered the appearance of xii. the stricken man, his friends * lift up their voice and weep,' * rend their garments,' * sprinkle dust upon their heads;' that seeing him altered to whom they had come, their voluntary grief might likewise alter the very appearance even of the comforters also. For the order in consolation is, that when we would stay one that is afflicted from his grief, we first essay to accord with his soriow by grieving. For he can never comfort the mourner who does not suit himself to his grief, since from the very circumstance that his own feelings are at variance with the mourner's distress, he is rendered the less welcome to him, from whom he is parted by the character of his feelings; the mind therefore must first be softened down, that it may accord with the distressed, and by according attach itself, and by attaching itself draw him. For iron is not joined to iron, if both be not melted by the burning efl'ect of fire, and a hard substance does not adhere to a soft, unless its hardness be first made soft by tempering, so as in a manner to become the very thing, to which our object is that it should hold. Thus we neither lift up the fallen, if we do not bend from the straightness of our standing posture. For, whereas the uprightness of him that standeth disagreeth with the posture of one lying, he nevet can lift him to whom he cares not to lower himself; and so the friends of blessed Job, that they might stay him under affliction from his grief, were of necessity solicitous to grieve with him, and when they beheld his wounded body, they set themselves to rend their own ganuents, and when they saw him altered, they betook themselves to defiling their heads with dust, that the afflicted man might the more readily give ear to their words, that he recognised in them somewhat of his own in the way of affliction.
21. lUit herein be it known, that lie who desires to comfort 144 Job' s friends even too much grieved for him.
Job 2, the afl9icted, must needs set a measure to the grief, to which ^^•^ he submits, lest he should not only fail of soothing the mourner, but, by the intemperance of his grief, should sink the mind of the afflicted to the heaviness of despair. For our grief ought to be so blended with the grief of the distressed, that by quaUfying it may lighten it, and not by increasing weigh it down. And hence perhaps we ought to gather, that the friends of blessed Job in administering consolation gave themselves up to grief more than was needed, in that while they mark the stroke, but are strangers to the mind of him that was smitten, they betake themselves to unmeasured lamentation, as if the smitten man who was of such high fortitude, under the scourge of his body, had fallen in mind too. It proceeds; Ver. 13. So Ihey mi down with him upon the ground seven days and seven flights, and none spake a word unto him; for they saw that his grief was very great.
xiii. 22. Whether they sat with the afflicted Job for seven days and seven nights together, or possibly for seven days and as many nights kept by him in assiduous and frequent visiting, we cannot teU. For we are often said to be doing any thing for so many days, though we may not be continually busied therein all those days. And often holy Scripture is wont to % put the whole for a part, in like manner as it does a part for i the whole. Thus it speaks of a part for the whole, as where, Gen.46, in describing Jacob's household, it says, All the souls of the ^'' house of Jacob which came into Egypt were threescore and ten. Where indeed, while it makes mention of souls, it clearly takes in the bodies also of the comers. Again it puts in the whole for a part, as where at the tomb Mary John 20 complains, saying, They have taken away my Lord, and I 2- know not where they have laid Him. For it was the Body of the Lord only that she had come to seek, and yet she bewails the Lord as though His whole Person had been » tultum altogether taken away'; and so in this place too it is doubtful whether the whole is put for a part.
23. Yet this circumstance, viz. that they were a long while silent, and yet in speaking after all were condemned, must not be passed over carelessly. For there are some men who both begin to speak with precipitation, and follow Job^s Jrie/ids sinned by dolmj a good work ill, 145 out that unchecked beginning with still less check. While Book there are some who are indeed backward to begin to speak, but having once begun know not how to set limits to their words. Accordingly the fiiends of blessed Job, upon seeing his grief, were for long silent, yet, whilst slow to begin, they spoke with indiscretion, because they would not spare him in his grief. They held their tongue that it might not begin over-hastily, but once begun they never ruled it, that it might not let itself out from imparting consolation so far as to offer insults. And they indeed had come with a good intention to give comfort; yet that which the pious mind offered to God pure, their hasty speech defded. For it is written, J/ thou Gen. 4, offerest righlbj, but dividest not rightly, thou hast sinned. For it is rightly offered, when the thing that is done is done with a right intention. But it is not * rightly divided,' unless that which is done with a pious mind be made out with exact discrimination. For to " divide the offering aright' is to weigh all our good aims, carefully discriminating them; and whoso puts by doing this, even when w^e offer aright, is guilty of sin.