In Iob sermo 3

On the Righteous and Blessed Job, Homily 3 Come, let us also touch upon the subject and you upon the hearing; and let us all become part of the evening sequence of Job, and with faith let us present ourselves to the word of endurance. For it is absurd that Job, sitting on a dunghill, did not grow numb toward piety, while we, dancing in church, are sluggish toward the truth; and that he, surrounded by countless lamentations over his own misfortune, did not have his soul broken, while we, surrounded by hymns and spiritual songs and divine scriptures, betray our zeal through laziness. Job, with his body being eaten away by worms, kept his soul invulnerable toward piety; worms did not conquer him, and will sweat overcome us? Let us also become human beings, human beings according to the definition previously given. For what characterizes a human being is blamelessness, righteousness, truthfulness, and piety. And just as in common custom, when someone sends his servant or his son on some task, he commands, saying, "As a human being, handle this task," and makes the common name a marvel of its own, so, even if all are called human beings, only that one is a true human being who preserves the image and does not obscure the original beauty. He called him a human being, so that from the common nature you might praise his purpose. He called him from the land of Ausitis, so that from a land luxuriant in impiety you might hymn the fruit. He mentioned his possessions, so that you might marvel at his advantages.

He spoke of his wealth, not that you might praise his abundance, but that you might admire him stripped bare. For he was divested of everything and did not divest himself of piety, but was like a city under siege, stripped of all external things, guarded only by its wall. He was stripped of children and did not lose the fruits of piety. For he had children—the ways of piety; he had daughters—the virtues. He had three daughters according to the flesh and three virtues according to the spirit, as Paul says: These three remain—faith, hope, love; and the greatest of these is love. He was stripped of everything and did not deny the creator of nature; for he knew that children are the comfort of succession, but God is the farmer of the root. He did not grow vexed seeing the fruits cast away; for he knew that the farmer of the root remains forever. He was stripped of his sheep and himself was a sheep guarded by God; he was stripped of his oxen, and while the yokes of oxen were taken away, the yoke of soul and body was not severed, but flesh and soul, having harmonized together, drew the plow toward piety. In the manner of endurance, he received the fruits of virtue, that he might increase the fruits of endurance. He had three thousand camels, five hundred grazing donkeys. I think that what he possessed was small. For if he supplied each beggar, as he himself says, I was an eye for the blind, a foot for the lame, his possessions would have been small relative to his intention; the provision of hospitality was greater than the abundance of his income.

Job was poor, not in proportion to his eagerness, and he was rich in possessions, but poor in relation to the capacity of his choice. And it says he also had great works upon the earth. What are these? Love of the poor and hospitality, extreme humility, unsurpassable charity, and everything that contributes to virtue. But he was thus flourishing, not so much in temporary wealth as in that of piety. Another wise man, taking the word commonly, thinks great works are vineyards and olive groves and acres of crops and all such things. But truly he had great works upon the earth, flourishing in heavenly wealth. And the devil, as I said before in the previous passage, the utterly vile one, suspecting that just as virtue had flourished with him when he was wealthy, so too when he became poor the things of virtue would also become poor with him, stripped him of his possessions, in order to strip him also of the advantages of virtue, and he asks from God the trial against the righteous man, so that you may take courage, because a demon has no authority over a Christian or over a man who fears God, unless permission comes from above either for discipline or for allowance. For when God brings corrective measures or exacts punishment for sins, he either exercises virtue for divine achievements. So the devil was not able to war against Job until he was permitted by God. And do not be surprised, beloved, if he had no authority over Job without receiving permission. For he has no authority even over pigs. Listen how the Legion begged, saying: If you drive us out, permit us to go into the pigs.

If he does not have authority over pigs, not being permitted, how does he have authority over those made in the image of God, not being commanded? It says, "It happened on this day, and the angels of God came to stand before the Lord, and the devil stood in their midst." So then, does the devil also stand with the angelic ministry, and does the unclean spirit stand in the midst of the holy spirits? But neither did the holy angels stand before God in a bodily manner, nor did Satan stand bodily; rather, every service is called a standing. For just as Elijah, living on earth, was said to stand before God, as he says, "As the Lord lives, before whom I stood today," not because he ascended and stood in the heavens, but because he served the divine command. So also the devil stood, not in the heavenly place nor among the supramundane powers, but as a creature of God he is commanded to do what is fitting; and hear how. Do not snatch my word and say, "Has God used the devil as a servant?" Just as among human authorities there are visible soldiers who serve for honors, and there are acknowledged soldiers who are appointed for punishments, so also here, for good services and for the economies concerning men, holy angels are sent, while for the punishments of lawless men, demons are sent; and hear how. When Paul mentions the holy angels, he says, "Are they not all ministering spirits, sent for service on behalf of those who are to inherit salvation?

Hence it is clear that the holy angels serve for the salvation of men, while the bitter demons serve for the punishments against sinners. For David says, "He sent forth wrath and anger and affliction into Egypt, a sending through evil angels." Therefore the evil and unclean demons, even if they have rebelled in intention, yet lie under the yoke of slavery and are commanded, like executioners, to do what is ordered. And do not be surprised if God commands demons. The apostles have used the devil as an executioner. Paul says: "Since some have erred concerning the faith, I have handed these over to Satan, that they may be taught not to blaspheme." And again, concerning someone who committed fornication and owed a penalty, what does the same Paul say? "When you are assembled and my spirit, with the power of the Lord Jesus, I judged the one who did this, to hand him over to Satan for the destruction of the flesh, that the spirit might be saved on the Lord's day." For lest the demons think that they have entirely usurped divine authority, they are commanded and unwillingly do what is ordered, not things contributing to prosperity, but things leading to punishment. Have you not seen also the rulers among us, how when they summon someone with honor, they send the runners, called *cursōrēs* in Latin, but when they drag someone with dishonor, they send out other harsh and cruel soldiers? So also God sends to the holy ones angelic servants for salvation, but when he wishes to punish, he entrusts it to the demons.

For this reason, when God pronounced judgment against Ahab, he says: "Who will go and deceive Ahab, and he will fall?" And an evil spirit answered: "Behold, I." For it knew that the devil is appointed for this purpose. Therefore the demons—forgive me, I beg you, for I am speaking about invisible and imperceptible matters; but I would not have undertaken to say anything about such things from the beginning if I had not borrowed my starting points from holy scripture, for it is not within human thought to separate the invisible from the perceptible; but since it is not possible to contradict what God has said, we therefore follow what is written, whether we wish to or not—therefore the most wicked demons are sent specifically to exact punishment from the wicked, and they are also sent against the righteous, not to punish them, but to test them. For a holy angel is not commanded to assist in a test, nor does God command anything unworthy of an angel; for this reason, demons are entrusted with this testing. And do not be surprised if demons are sent against the righteous; for the master of all was once led from the Jordan into the wilderness to be tempted by the devil. If, then, the devil tempted the Lord and savior of all, why would you be surprised if a demon is sent against a righteous person as an exercise in endurance? It is sent not by God's command, but by his permission. Scripture shapes the account as if in personification. For no voice proceeds from God to an evil demon, nor is that transgressive purpose deemed worthy of it. For the nature is good, but the purpose is evil.

It is not deemed worthy of the pure voice. But if you say, "The Lord spoke to the devil," I will answer you from David: "To the sinner God said, 'Why do you recount my ordinances?'" Did he utter a voice to the sinner? No; but through what he utters, he speaks to the unworthy through the things themselves. God commanded the whale. Did he send forth a voice or issue a command? God commanded the morning worm. Thus, if the argument posits that God spoke to the devil, do not, on the basis of equality of status, introduce this dishonorable and transgressive purpose as being brought into the person of the master. But the angels stand in their appointed order, and the devil came and stood in the midst of the angels, so that you may learn that he received the nature of an angel but displayed the purpose of a traitor. For "devil," brothers, is not a name of nature, but of choice. Why "devil"? For he did not become a devil from the beginning, but was created an angel; he was named "devil" as one who slanders, both God to men and man to God, and as one who sets master against servant and servant against master. For when the devil suggests to us and says, "How many evils are in the world? Where is God? Why does he not intervene?" he slanders the creator to us; for this has been the devil's work from the beginning. He slanders God to Adam, saying, "God knew that on whatever day you eat from the tree, you will be like gods. Envying you, he says, he prevented you from the food." There he slanders God to Adam; here he slanders Job to God: "Is Job not serving God for nothing?" that is, "He is a hireling, not virtuous.

He pays you the reward of your good conduct. Remove the wealth, and his intention is laid bare. So since God saw the righteous man being insulted by that one's suspicion, he removes the possessions, in order to remove the suspicion and show piety naked. And see the intention of the wicked demon: "Tell me," he says, "the Lord said to the devil, 'Where have you come from?'" Then the proud and boastful one, knowing neither his own rank nor the dignity of the questioner, says, "Having gone around the earth and walked the region under heaven, I am here," all but shouting and wanting to show that he rules the region under heaven, that all earthly things have been trodden by him, that he has all men under his feet. "Having gone around," he said, "the earth and walked the region under heaven, I am here." The devil's boastfulness is cut off. For since he thought he ruled the image of God, he is cast out of the earth, so that he no longer walks there, and the master of all exiles him. For he himself is the one who promised, "I will dwell among them and walk and be their god.

The devil used to walk about freely. For when idolatry was widespread, when impiety prevailed, when all the works of evil flourished, the devil walked about freely. But when holiness and righteousness and truth were present among those who guard the truth, God dwells and walks about. So, he says, "Did you set your mind against my servant Job, because there is none like him on earth, blameless, righteous, truthful, abstaining from every evil?" Since he said, "I have gone around the entire world under heaven," and boasted as though he ruled over all, the word of truth, in order to undo his boasting, says to him: "Did you see the man not trampled by you, since you rule over all, as you claimed? Did you see the one who has mastered all your evil? Did you see the one who has trampled you, who trample everyone? Did you see the one who has dissolved your tyranny, dissolving injustice with righteousness, and impiety with piety?" But he resists God and says: "He does not worship for nothing." He added possessions, in order to insult his character, in order to insult his conduct, in order to show his virtue as spurious through suspicions. "You have given him abundance," he says; "remove the abundance, and the hypocrisy is laid bare." God says to him: "Touch all that he has." For God knew that he has an insatiable intent for greed, and he says: "Behold, I give you authority over everything, but do not touch him alone." He confines the devil's evil within boundaries. See then what a bow he draws against the righteous man, what arrows he sends.

He went out, and first the very worker of evils disguises himself, presenting himself as a messenger of evils, and he himself struck the livestock and he himself announces the blow. For the devil said to Job, "Your yokes of oxen were plowing, and the female donkeys were grazing, and the captors came and slaughtered your servants, and I alone was left, and I came to report to you." This is the first trial of the devil, the first arrow against the noble combatant. But Job set against it the shield of faith, which is able to quench all the fiery arrows of the evil one. The yokes of oxen perished, but his soul was not divided. The donkeys perished, but the noble colt did not deny the bridle of piety. He received the bitter news of the destruction of his possessions and remained like a secure and unconquerable tower. The devil, being bitter in his malice and bitter in his intent, regretted having reported in this way. And pay close attention, I beg you, lest the thought of the evil one escape you, which the apostle, having accurately observed, says, "For we are not ignorant of his thoughts." So when he reported to him that the yokes of oxen were plowing and the female donkeys were grazing, and the captors came, and he saw Job bearing the news with a noble soul, he regretted that he had reported badly, and the devil all but said to himself, "I reported badly by telling him that men made war on him; he can reason that if men made war and wronged me, what is that to God?" He says, "I shot badly, I did not hit the target, I missed the mark, the arrows went astray. I said that men took them captive.

This man can say, "Why then should I ascribe the injustice of men to God? Others have done the wrong, and another will be the one blasphemed?" So, to divert his mind from men to God and to show him that it is not men harming him but God making war, he says to him, "Fire fell from heaven." Can you say that enemies threw it from above? Insult the one who wronged you, blaspheme the one who made war. Fire fell from heaven. Why do you serve the one who wronged you, why do you worship the one who consumes your livestock? Fire fell from heaven. Job heard and again bore it nobly. For his endurance was truly endurance stretched to the end, concerning which the Savior says, "But the one who endures to the end, this one will be saved." Fire fell from heaven. Daily he labored offering sacrifices for his children; what he daily labored to offer, God suddenly took as a sacrifice. Fire fell from heaven. If I alone were clothed, I would rightly grieve, but if the poor were clothed, can the master neglect the destitute? I know that what he took as a sacrifice he returns fivefold. For were the livestock gathered by injustice? Did I acquire the sheep by greed? From the shearing of my sheep the shoulders of the poor were warmed, and a widow's mouth blessed me. He knows what God does. Now he has taken my substance as a sacrifice, but he multiplies my property into an abundance of virtue. The external arrows do not shake me, fortified as I am within; rather, the arrows of God strengthen me from within. For the arrows of the mighty one are sharpened.

concerning which David said, "Your arrows have been fixed in me." What arrows? The arrow of piety, the arrow of righteousness, the arrow of longing for God, the arrow of zeal for virtue. By these divine arrows the soul is wounded. So, after the devil had applied every test and stripped him of his possessions, but did not strip him of virtue, he then proceeds against his nature and forces the cultivation of nature, tearing the branches from the root and crushing the children of the noble athlete; he removes the fruit, in order to grieve the one who begot it. And what does he do? Observe also the message of the evil one, how full it is of irony, tending toward sorcery, and capable of breaking the spirit of the noble man. So he says to him: "While your sons and your daughters were eating and drinking in the house of your eldest son, a great wind came from the desert and shook the house, and it fell upon your little children, and they died." And the diminutive expression is capable of arousing grief. He did not say "upon your children," but "upon your little children," so that hearing "little children" he might be moved to pity, so that he might be bent toward sympathy. "A great wind came from the desert." Again he slanders the judge. For wind does not obey men, but God. "It fell upon your little children, and they died." Then Job arose; for thus it is written. "Arose" is good. For he did not fall under the blow, but arose by the power of piety. He arose and prostrated himself in worship. The reward for calamities is prostration. While being struck, he blessed; while being assailed by misfortunes, he gave thanks. And he shaved his hair. Now among us who mourn, many grow their hair long; but he removed it.

Why? Because for the one in mourning, the state of affairs is turned into the opposite form of what is earnestly sought. Therefore, where hair is honored, the sign of mourning is not to be shorn. For everywhere the opposite form is sought from those who mourn. And he tore his garments: in form, being drawn toward the passion; in reality, stripping himself for virtue. He removes his garment, so that, as a naked athlete, he may grapple with the opponent and, from an indisputable struggle, win the prize of righteousness. The one clothed in righteousness stripped off his garment, and the great luminary of piety says: "The Lord gave, the Lord took away; as it seemed good to the Lord, so it happened; may the name of the Lord be blessed forever." O noble soul! This utterance became an arrow against the devil; this utterance sent arrows against the demons; it broke the phalanx of the enemies. "Naked I came from my mother's womb; naked I shall depart." An apostolic voice, showing courage before apostolic times: "Naked I came from my mother's womb; naked I shall depart," as the apostle says: "We brought nothing into the world; clearly, we can take nothing out." The Lord gave, the Lord took away.

All was taken away, to be brief, and only the wife was left, the ancient instrument of the devil. The wife was left not because the devil spared her, but because he kept the weapon for himself. For since he knew that through a woman he had conquered the first man, he preserves the woman, so that he might use the same weapon for his plot. But there he found Adam, while here he does not find Adam. There he found Adam and Eve, but here he found Eve, yet did not find Adam. The wife says to him: "How long will you hold out?" These words are truly of the devil. For the cry "How long?" was that of one being tormented. I am tormented, and you say: "How long?" I am beaten, and you are numb to the blows of the one being tormented? "How long do you sit waiting day after day for deliverance?" The devil, unawares, hymns the virtue of the righteous man, proclaims his endurance, that he struggled with hope. "How long?" Then observe the wisdom of the author. And having looked at her, it says, Job spoke. It did not say "having attended to her," but "having looked at her." Having looked. Why? Did he not know his own wife? Did he not live with her? Did he not beget children from her? Why then did he look? The word "having looked" shows that he does not see her, but the one in her. Job looked at the devil, saw the one who spoke in the serpent and now speaks in the woman, and says: "You have spoken like one of the foolish women." Why did he not say: "like one of the impious," "like one of the godless"? He knew she was not godless, but carried away by folly. Otherwise, brothers, properly to the one who denies God is given the voice of the fool. For it says: "The fool said in his heart, 'There is no God.'

Like one of the foolish women. As if someone said: You spoke like Eve. If we received the good things from the hand of the Lord, shall we not endure the bad things? O noble soul! Here, test his soul for me. Job did not know that he was contending for virtue; he did not know that he was being crowned for endurance; but he thought it was simply a divinely sent misfortune. He considered them evils, and having considered them evils, he did not blaspheme as if they were good things. If, considering them evils, he contended thus, would he not have contended much more if he had known about the crown? But why did God not tell him beforehand: See what you are doing? The devil is about to draw up against you, he is about to arm himself against you; contend, be strong, so that he may not pervert your mind, so that he may not plunder your reasonings, so that he may not besiege your soul; be strong. And do not think that it is unfitting for God to instruct the athlete about the struggle. For to Peter the Lord says: Peter, behold, Satan has asked for you, to sift you like wheat. He foretells the temptations to the apostles, but to Job he does not foretell the temptations or the contest. Is there injustice on God's part? Far from it. He encourages some, but abandons others. Why does he not speak to him as to the apostles? God knew the devil's malice, he knew his envy, he knew that foreknowledge could blunt virtue. If God had said to him: Watch yourself, and contend. If you endure to the end, I will give you back double what you had, you will inherit the kingdom of heaven, you will receive crowns of immortality, the whole world will be full of your praises and encomiums. If he had said these things, would the righteous man have contended?

The devil again took occasion. And if, having contended, he had thus conquered, he would say to God: "Did he not contend for nothing? You promised him immortality, you promised him a kingdom, you promised him crowns." If, then, having received the enjoyment of temporal things, he was suspected not as righteous, but as a hireling—if he received the promise of eternal things, would not the devil take much more occasion? But he hides the crowns, in order to lay bare the contests; he hides the prize, in order to display the athlete. Why then, he says, did he not hide them also from the apostles? For if for this reason he did not speak to Job, why did he not, in the same manner, keep silent about the contest in the case of the apostles? Job contended alone, he labored for himself, he struggled for himself; but the apostles were heralds of the earth and teachers of the world. For them, then, he could have hidden it, but for the world the matter would have been a loss. Paul could have contended without the promise of crowns, Peter could have shown courage without a promise, the apostles could have struggled for virtue without receiving a promise of good things; but Paul is not everywhere, Peter is not everywhere; the souls of many are weak, the minds of many falter. For if today, when a kingdom is proclaimed, when the enjoyment of future goods, angelic companionship, and the delights of paradise are promised, many who are attached to present things despise what is promised—if it had been completely kept silent, who would have run to piety?

Naturally, then, brothers, he does not show the future to Job, so that he might demonstrate his resolve more firmly, but he promises the future to the apostles, so that he might rouse the souls of their hearers, so that he might strengthen the mind of the world. Many now hear about the kingdom and despise it, many receive Christ and put on wickedness, many do not withdraw from evil, many honor the fasts today and say: "Today I say nothing to my adversary; let the day of Christ's passion pass, and then I will exercise my lawsuit, I will avenge the insult, I will do many things." So then, you are a brother of Esau, thinking these things; you say the same things that Esau said. For Esau wanted to kill his brother, but he was ashamed before his father. And what did he say? "Let the days of my father's mourning draw near, and then I will kill my brother. Let my father's death pass, and then I will slay him." And what do you say? "Let the passion of Christ pass, and then I will march against my enemy." See that you are not a brother of Esau. Listen to what Paul says: "Let no one be a fornicator, no one profane, like Esau; so that the many may not be defiled through him." These things have been said by me not for provocation, but for the support and salvation of the brothers. May it be that we, being instructed by word and guided by histories, succeeding through the struggles of the holy fathers and prophets, always send up glory to God, now and always and unto the ages of ages. Amen.