Didymus the Blind

From this, Job’s preparation against the adversary emerges. Even Paul, who possessed the hope and grace of the Spirit, was vigilant and fought the adversary, since he knew that for the holy the struggle “was not against enemies of blood and flesh but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the cosmic powers of this present darkness, against the spiritual forces of evil.” Our struggle is also against the archvillain himself, the devil, who prowls around “like a roaring lion … looking for someone to devour.” Even though Job was vigilant, the devil did not refrain from asking for permission to test him and to impose on him the burden he proceeds to place on him. Job’s difficult experience seems like God’s wrath, yet he knows that his sufferings are not the result of his sinfulness. For Job states, “I know that I shall be vindicated.” Even in other passages Scripture describes hardship as “wrath.” It is said, “You sent out your fury; it consumed them like stubble.” When we hear about God’s wrath, we do not consider it a condition of the soul similar to human emotions. Such an emotion cannot be sent, since it lives in the soul. The wrath of God, however, is sent, for “you sent out your fury,” that is, hardship. Hardship is imposed. Job calls that which has affected him as “wrath.”

Eliphaz acknowledges that God is the ruler and creator of all things. It is likely that he has these convictions. He is a man who possesses wisdom in human things. Eliphaz also has an understanding of the invisible and visible, since he speaks of the inexplorable, the great, the honorable, and of water and rain. If he distinguishes that water from rain, he must have in mind water from wells, from creeks and from cracks in stone. One can find very wise thoughts of this kind in many places in Scripture, not least of all in Paul, who writes, “In him all things in heaven and on earth were created, things visible and invisible.” One has to imagine that Eliphaz became afraid in a human way because of the things that had happened to holy Job. He therefore admired the works of providence. Regarding the “things without number,” one has to think that Eliphaz speaks from a human perspective. For God knows everything. That is no miracle. Doesn’t Solomon say, “For it is he who gave me unerring knowledge of what exists, to know the structure of the world and the activity of the elements; the beginning and end and middle of times; the alternations of the solstices” and so on? For even what can’t be counted due to its character is not uncountable for God, of whom it is said, “He determines the number of the stars,” and “even the hairs of your head are all counted.” That knowledge is also given to those who are worthy of this benefit, as it is said about Solomon.

Again Eliphaz says this about the one who has been rebuked by the Lord, whereby he follows his own principle. Not even what Eliphaz says is stringent. Too often many righteous people have been vilified. Among them are Joseph, whom the Egyptian woman charged with excess in spite of his modesty, and Susanna, who suffered as a hostage the humiliations from the “lawless elders.” Consequently, if he understands by “hidden from the scourge of the tongue” that one is neither humiliated nor vilified, this word is unfounded. It is more accurate to say that the one who lives after the will of God cannot be harmed by humiliation or vilification, called “scourge of the tongue.” Virtue protects him from being found guilty of the false allegations. Nor does such a person fear expected destruction, since he says with Saint Paul, “Who will separate us from the love of Christ? Will hardship, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril or sword?” Over all this he prevails through virtue’s abundance. Likewise, he is protected from the intrigues of false wisdom, since God “takes the wise in their own craftiness.” … The same meaning as “you shall not fear destruction when it comes” has the following word from the prophet: “The calamity will come from far away.” This must be understood like this: The good comes from us. For it is said, “The kingdom of God is within you.” Thus we have an inclination toward virtue that Christ called “kingdom.” But the punishment and damage and dishonor of sin come from the outside. For the human, who is created “after God’s image,” carries the seed of the good within. But if he deviates from the right path, he encounters evil, without having received such an inclination from God.

He who asks to be wounded does not pray out of exhaustion that his prayer might be granted but in order to fulfill his task. This task was to fulfill the right deeds or to make visible to the friends for their benefit the reason for the hardships, [namely,] that they had been imposed as a test. Then they would not make mistakes against the righteous. Instead, with divine zeal they would be committed to emulate the endurance and steadfastness that the holy one exhibited and that led him to say, “O that I might have my request,” rather than … “that God would grant my desire.” Job prays for two reasons. On the one hand, he prays that he himself may win the crown in the competition. On the other hand, Job prays that his friends may not consider his endurance in hardship as meaningless. His steadfastness even in such great hardships can be seen and admired in the fact that Job did not deny his friend an answer, even though preoccupation with his hardships could have served as an excuse. But even now Job speaks like a brave athlete who warlike meets his opponent, and with the consciousness that the imposed suffering did not occur without God’s compliance. “That it would please God to crush me,” yet “may he not extinguish me entirely,” instead of, “May God mercifully allow me to endure the affliction until the end.” Similar to this is the expression “and lead us not into temptation,” which often has been interpreted in this way: “May it not come so far that we fall prey to the temptations.”

Previously Bildad said that the teaching is passed on from the ancestors and fathers to the following generations. Now he supports this with an example. He says, “As papyrus does not prosper without water and reeds do not grow if they are not watered … likewise someone cannot produce useful fruit whose spirit has not received nourishment from higher authorities.” But one can also say that human affairs are watered by providence as with water; if water is not added, they easily decrease and vanish. If, therefore, someone is hit by hardships but recovers from them, this happens with thanks to Providence. Even if what humans do seems to have a human root, it still does not last if Providence does not preside over it. Similarly the psalmist says beautifully, “Unless the Lord builds the house, those who build it labor in vain.” [Bildad then comments], “They wither before any other plant.” This means the same as Bildad’s earlier comment but is said about every plant. He seems to mean that, big or small, everything in life is subjected to Providence and withers if it does not pay attention to it.

The swift runner does not appear to touch the ground; he appears as though he has wings. [Job says], “ ‘My life is swifter than a runner.’ I look at what is above. ‘I do not run aimlessly.’ I do not touch the ground.” Because they want to reach the finish line, the righteous keep on running, even when they run into obstacles. For example, when they encounter a distressful situation they continue to run. Even David ran, for he said, “I have run without unrighteousness, always running straight ahead.” And, “I ran the way of your commandments, for you enlarge my understanding.” Job also hints at this twofold interpretation: First, “judges,” whose faces are completely covered, is a reference to the people’s leaders who run away in fear of the righteous because they saw no successful outcome of the [righteous person’s] race. [Their faces are covered] because they are unworthy [to be judges or leaders.] Secondly, however, consider whether Job may not also be speaking about the righteous as well. They fled from the [corrupt] judges according to the passage “but run away, do not stay in one place.” And they [the judges] did not perceive the poignancy of virtue [anymore]. And so they stopped running. Maybe it is also appropriate to compare this with the passage, “I have not known an evil person, seeing that he turns away from me.”

The seed from which life emerges he calls “milked milk,” for as milk curdles and becomes cheese, so the seed becomes “nature” when it curdles. This is a condition before the embryo. For the seed that sinks into the channels of the vagina becomes “nature” when it curdles like cheese. This formation is further developed or, as Scripture says, “formed out of an image” and takes on shapes … when the limbs are formed and every part emerges and finally moves. Just as the hand or foot of a living being, the delivery of the embryo brings the creature to the light of day. It is clear that “skin and flesh” here signify the body, for he adds in what follows with what holds it together and says, “knit me together with bones and sinews.” The whole procedure and the harmony of the formation of the body he proclaims in the previous [section] and in what is quoted here. It is remarkable that these seem to be words from his soul; for it is [the soul] that is “clothed with skin and flesh” and “knit together with bones and sinews.” That makes it clear that [the soul] is before the clothing and dressing, for it is clothed (already) as that which is the basis. Since skin and flesh, bones and sinews do not live by themselves but move due to the presence of the soul—if it leaves, they do not have life anymore—he says, “You have not only formed me, made flesh, skin, bones and sinews for me and clothed me with them, but you have also given me life and love.”

Someone could think that Job’s statement comes from desperation, but that is proven wrong by what God has said: “Do you believe I treated you like this for any other reason than to reveal your righteousness?” Job, who previously had said, “If I am wicked, woe to me,” does not contradict this assumption but reveals the bitterness of life. An evil person would not do that, for he rejoices in this [life]. Above all, Job wants to reveal to his friends the reason why he did not die at the moment of his birth, namely, because he was to be an example of energy and strength. According to a different interpretation, even the life in the flesh is indicated, about which Paul writes, “If for this life only we have hoped in Christ, we are of all people most to be pitied.” Job experiences the pleasant as well as the bitter sides of life; no one who has rid himself of the flesh rejoices in wealth or excess, nor is he plagued by hardship. Job has tasted this life and its pleasures, for he was blessed with many good children and was rich and healthy. But since his situation turned into its opposite, he also experienced the reverse of his previous life and acknowledged in real life the vanity of these things. This is why Job teaches us not to long for them by saying, “Why did you bring me forth from the womb? Would that I had died before any eye had seen me, and were as though I had not been.”Job expresses this in the form of a prayer, for his burdens were not light and he endured the pains not without feeling them. For it would not have been manful had he not felt his sufferings. But he teaches that he endured the pain with the help of God’s power, by praying in gratefulness. Paul also expresses this: “It was not I, but the grace of God that is with me.”
Job wants to find relief before he has to go from where he cannot return. Therefore, he does not pray for himself, but to teach the friends who think that those who suffer hardship are evil but those who are free from hardship are righteous. He desired that they should gain certainty regarding the divine resolutions about him. One should not assume that Job denies the resurrection of the dead. Rather, Job says, “From where I will not return to lead a mortal life.” Job knows that he will rise as immortal.
Although the brave one was in pain, he talked about the coming age. So he says—not to deny the resurrection—“Before I go from where I will not return.” Job calls the land “a land of gloom and deep darkness, where light is like darkness,” since the holy one ascribes only little to himself. For it would not have been suitable to say, “Before I am in the kingdom of the heavens and in the land of our promises, my God.” Job wants his listener to be instructed about the divine judgment. There has not yet been restitution for deeds done.

A worthless physician is literally one who applies curing strategies that are not useful for the suffering. This happens in two ways: either it is due to lack of experience in the physician or to his wickedness. The friends who are contradicted here speak out of a lack of knowledge rather than wickedness in saying, “You suffer due to your sins.” They think they are bringing words of comfort. They were worthless physicians since they did not discover the true reason. “Whitewash with lies,” Job says against them, who think highly of themselves as if they could cure the affliction that occurs in others. He wishes that they had knowledge of the right times, to speak when it is appropriate and to be silent when it is appropriate, since they have realized their mistake. For that would be the beginning and commencement of wisdom for them. For once they learn that one can also be suffering for a different reason, namely, for inherent virtue to become visible, then Job’s friends will possess wisdom. Even for those who long for insight, it is beneficial to restrain their speech. In Proverbs it is said, “Even fools who keep silent are considered wise.” For if someone realizes that he needs the illuminating teaching of a teacher, this will make him wise. As someone who can talk and teach about wisdom is wise and a teacher, likewise is the one partially wise, who is able to ask what needs to be asked. He did not call him “fool” because he lacked insight altogether but because he had deficiency of insight. The word “If you would only keep silent” is similar to “There is a time, when one has to be silent.” However, since one has to talk, when one has become wise, he adds, “But there is a time to speak.”