Adnotationes in Iob

For it is not of a just judgment to mingle the penitent suppliants with those who refuse humility and the satisfaction of penance. Therefore men will fear him: if they remember that they are men by confessing their sins, because they are still men. To whom it is said: Are you not men? The wise in heart will also fear him: lest by attributing to themselves what they have received and by saying that they are wise, they become foolish. For what is given to the humble can be taken away from the proud. Wherefore, even the wise, though they are wise by illumination of the heart, not by boastfulness of tongue, and kings, judging the earth spiritually, while they themselves are judged by no one, yet serve the Lord in fear and exult with trembling, lest they perish from the right path; for it is God who works in them both the will and the action for good will. And after Eliu ceased speaking, the Lord spoke to Job through a whirlwind of cloud: even if this voice was made in the same way as to Moses, or as when the Lord showed himself to the three disciples on the mountain, yet because it is not said simply "through a cloud," but "through a whirlwind of cloud," I think this signifies that Job was not questioned through sound flesh, that is, tempted, but through the tribulation and perturbation of the flesh. Who is it that hides counsel from me, keeping words in his heart, and thinks that I am unaware?

Therefore no one can say that he undeservedly suffers something harsh; because if not by deeds, at least by words one sins; and if not by words, at least by rash presumption within the heart or by the discourses of thoughts. And since these are not hidden from God, no one who is scourged should say that he receives discipline undeservedly, as if there were no further point through which he might advance by means of it. For it must be understood that in the beginning of this book Job was praised by the testimony of God against the devil, and at the end by his three friends, yet God knew how much he still lacked for perfection—to which paternal chastisements also lead men who are praiseworthy according to this life and already pleasing to God; which chastisements the Apostle did not wish to remove from him, saying: "My grace is sufficient for you; for virtue is perfected in infirmity." "Gird your loins like a man" signifies that the servants of God endure hard and bitter things in this world for this purpose: that they may gather and restrain all their affections from the flux of earthly pleasures. "I will ask you; but you answer me: where were you when I founded the earth?" From this point he begins to commend the preeminence of our Lord Jesus Christ, because in him lies the salvation of all those struck by the venomous persuasion of the serpent, lest anyone think that salvation lies in himself. For he is God—not as it is said: "You are gods and sons of the Most High"—but he to whom it is not robbery to be equal to the Father; and he is Son of Man—not as the sons of men, in whom there is no salvation, but beyond his fellows: for he is not merely just.

as Job, as Paul, as the Church, but also justifying, like the only-begotten from the Father, full of grace and truth. Therefore, to suggest the difference of his divine humanity, in which the prince of this world finds nothing, because in the passion, which he did not seize. Then he was paying off, and the justification of the saints through the remission of sins, by which saints, gathered into one, becomes his body the Church, of which Job is also a part according to history, because he was justified, and a figure of the whole, through prophecy he begins to say what he is about to say. Where were you when I founded the earth? Whether because it did not yet exist, or because it was not founded through him, as through the only Son? And that earth, or the Church itself? For she received the cornerstone, about which he is about to speak. Tell me, if you know the knowledge: for these things which were done temporally by the Lord for us pertain to knowledge. Who placed its measures, if you know? According to the distribution of spiritual gifts. For to each of us grace is given according to the measure of Christ’s gift. On account of which he says: ascending into the height, he captured captivity, he gave gifts to men, because if the whole body were an eye, where would hearing be? Indeed, according to the measure of each part, the growth of the body makes for its building up in charity. Or who is it that brought a rope over it? To make it his inheritance, distinguishing it from those to whom he says: I do not know you.

The Lord knows who are his. Or upon what are his circles fixed? Because they bind it, lest it be dissolved, the divine books are fixed upon the Lord; for whoever wishes to interpret them without him must necessarily waver and err. But who is it that placed the cornerstone upon it? Whom the builders rejected. When the stars were made together: thousands baptized together by the word of life, shining among sinners as in darkness. All my angels praised me with a loud voice: the evangelists. I shut up the sea with gates: peoples embittered by love of earthly things. But why with gates? Perhaps so that not only would there be a limit to their exercising the righteous through persecutions, but also so that it would be permitted for the righteous to depart from there? When it roared from the womb of its mother, wanting to come forth: when it raged in the council of Babylon, the fornicating city, out of love for this world, wanting to extend its persecutions to destroy from the earth those of whom it is said: I do not ask that you take them out of the world, but that you take them away from evil. I placed around it a cloud as a covering: for not only the good, but also many evil and lovers of this world are subject to the sacrament of the body of Christ, by whose authority they are restrained from persecuting the saints. And I wrapped it in a mist: ignorance, by which they expect earthly happiness from it and fear earthly unhappiness; and therefore they fear those whom, were it not so, they would persecute.

For it is not only said: The poor will eat and be filled, and they who seek the Lord will praise him, but it is also said: All the rich of the earth ate and worshipped. And I set boundaries for it, imposing bars and gates: boundaries, by which savagery is restrained, not so that it afflicts nothing, but to the point where it may exercise itself; bars, so that the unjust may not advance; gates, so that the just may go out from them. And I said: Thus far you will come and you will not pass: just as the devil himself received a limit up to which he might afflict Job, so that sea up to which it might persecute the Church. But in yourself your waves will be shattered: by the alternate devastation of discords and wars. Or did I not establish the morning light with you? That is: Did I not predestine the time of the resurrection by your counsel? Or did Lucifer know his order? "Did I not" is to be understood with "with you"? But he calls the Lord "Lucifer" on account of that very morning rising of the resurrection. For it could not be said of another: And Lucifer arises in your hearts. He himself knew his order, that he might be the firstfruits of the sleeping, the firstborn from the dead, the head of the Church, with the body also to follow in the future resurrection of the saints. To seize the wings of the earth? It is said: If I take up my wings straightway, the spiritual powers, of course, of the faithful, by which they are suspended from worldly allurements. To shake off the impious from it?

For this reason the one who rose again so long before did so recognizing his order, so as to instill faith in the resurrection, and through the very feathers of the church, preached everywhere by the ministry of flying messengers, he justly seizes them for the work of judging the twelve tribes of Israel, when he comes to shake out the impious from the church, who now before the judgment are tolerated mixed in. And you, taking the mud of the earth, shaped an animal? Whether it recalls Adam himself or that now in the sixth age of the world, as then on the sixth day, from sinners, as if from the mud of the earth, man was made according to the image of him who created him. Certainly the church did not do this, but rather was made in this through the word incarnate at the opportune time, through which all things were made. And you placed him famous upon the earth? Rather this famous man placed upon the earth, who was made in the sixth age of the world, than that one who on the sixth day, before other men existed through whom he would be made famous, unless perhaps because now he has become so known. And you took away light from the impious? Like the one who came, so that those who do not see may see, and those who see may become blind. Or you broke the arm of the proud? Their power, like the one who chose the weak of the world, so as to confound the strong. Or you came to the source of the sea? Like the one at whose coming whatever was hidden in the hearts of the impious lay open by confessing, who by believing in him were justified.

For what fountain of the sea do we better understand than the secret place from which all this most bitter impiety bursts forth, which stirs up huge waves of already manifest evil works, which men see in open deeds, but cannot see the fountain itself? Or do you walk in the footprints of the abyss? The abyss here is rightly understood as the secular life, whatever is in the depth of evils, where, as it is written, when the sinner comes he will despise, because even the most desperate, subjected to grace through the remission of sins, have emerged saved and have received Christ not into the abyss by which they were pressed down, but into his place, so that where he walked trampling them, Christ walks dwelling in them in the footprints of the abyss, with the memory of their sins remaining, so that while they recall where they were, they love more the one they have received, by whom so much was forgiven them. Or are the gates of death opened for you in fear? For to all who die the gates of death are opened, but not in fear, as to that one who died for the sake of destroying death. Or certainly they are opened for rising again. Or did the gatekeepers of hell see you and fear? As that one, in whom the prince of the world found nothing worthy of death, whom they so quickly released, whom they admitted unwillingly. The gatekeepers of hell, moreover, are to be understood as some lower powers set over death. Or did you recognize the breadth under the sky? As did the one who spread the church through it.

Tell me then, how great each thing is: for who knows this, unless he whom He has taught? Or in what land does the light dwell? For He teaches, because the revelation of His words illuminates and makes infants understand. Or what place of darkness is there? This too He teaches, who says: "Draw near to Him and be illuminated." For by this He shows that those who withdraw become darkened, while they are unwilling to be infants. For the beginning of man's pride is to apostatize from God. Hence those who have not glorified God or given thanks have vanished in their own thoughts, and their foolish heart has been darkened, and they have become a place of darkness. Unless perhaps that is the place of darkness which receives those who persist in sins, so that they themselves are the darkness, of which that is the place, which truly no man knows. Similarly, the land in which the light dwells can be understood as that land of the living, that is, the blessedness that will receive those who persist in faith and hope and charity, who were once darkness, but now are light in the Lord. If you lead me into their boundaries? To where do those who are such reach? For what is there, where the wisdom of God is not, which reaches from end to end mightily and arranges all things gently? To which, of course, no man is comparable. But if you also know their paths, do you know that you were then born and the number of your years is great?

But if you also know the paths of the impious, which are either darkness or the place of darkness, because all who have already been converted to God also walked on those same paths before they received from God the grace that justifies the impious, do you nevertheless know that the cause of your being born mortal in this age arose for you at that time when the first human parents entered those same paths, who by their impious transgression summoned death with their hands and words, so that all would die in Adam? For the number of each person’s years is not to be counted as so small from the time he appeared in this life, but from the time the first mortal birth was made. For when, for example, Abraham was born, then all Hebrews were born in him. Therefore, the number of years for each person is great according to the origin of mortality, which arose on the paths of the impious. But who remembers having been, or, when he was, could have known that he was in his father’s loins? Since no one recalls even that time when he was born not in his parents but in himself; at which time certainly no one doubts that he already existed and lived and had sensation. But that wisdom which forms all things knows everything, not only those supercelestial things but also these mortal ones. And because Christ is the power of God and the wisdom of God, He knows these things, He who was also born mortally not by mortal condition, because He is free among the dead, but by compassion for mortals, so that He might make them free from death. Or have you come into the treasures of snow?

That is: have you attained to that knowledge, as he also knew the secret and hidden opportune causes of impending scandals? For from that he calls them "treasures" for testing and exercising the hearts of spiritual men, when he cried out: "Woe to the world from scandals! For scandals must come; but woe to that man through whom the scandal comes!" For those who are puffed up with pride freeze in the heights like snow and fall; from their abundant iniquity the charity of many grows cold; but those who endure the Lord, acting manfully and fervent in spirit, persevere to the end and will be saved. Or have you seen the treasures of hail? Those wicked men are hail, when not only are they torpid, having no fervor of spirit, but also with obstinate hardness they crush by persecuting and rushing in. "What things are stored up for you for the time of enemies and for the day of battle and war?" Or from this who does not see whose person Job bears in the prophecy? For these things are not stored up for this one man for the time of enemies and for the day of battle and war, but certainly for the unique people of God. For the time of enemies is until iniquity passes away, and the more it abounds, the more sharply one must fight and wage war against the devil, lest the charity of those who persevere grow cold. But whence does the hoarfrost come? Who knows this? Except that these are like the beginnings of parturitions; for hoarfrost is very fine hail. And is the south wind scattered under the sky?

the south wind, although it is felt as oppressive by mortal flesh, yet I do not recall it ever signifying anything evil in the sacred books. Just as the north wind never signifies anything good: the former, because it blows from the part where light shines; the latter, because it blows from the part where light is more remote. Therefore the south wind is scattered under the sky, so that against all those iniquities some help from God is understood, as long as we are not yet in heaven, but under heaven. "Who prepared the river of the mighty rain and the path for the voices of the storm?" See how those three things are briefly encompassed, which the Lord sets forth in temptations as things to be despised by those who build upon rock, and as pernicious to those who build upon sand. He mentioned rain, and a river, and the voices of the storm, where we understand winds. Therefore, one is tempted by rain who, from the very height of the divine scriptures, takes occasion for sinning by understanding them perversely, as if hearing: "He who forgives little, loves little," he says to himself: let us do evil, so that good may come, and let him remain in sin, so that grace may abound, and many things of this sort, by which men, interpreting divine speech badly, subvert themselves, promising themselves impunity when mercy is commended in the divine books; but by the river, when one is tempted by men who have understood and accepted these things in this way—for he now calls "river" that which is gathered from the rain and is called a torrent, when he says: "Who prepared the river of the mighty rain?

that it fills and where it runs, just as there are vessels of wrath perfected for destruction. Those who receive the scriptures in that way, as I said, are such vessels; for through them that pernicious interpretation has a freer course, which fruitful fields do not receive, and it strikes, casts down, and drags along whatever unstable thing it finds with all the greater force, inasmuch as it seems to have been taken up from divine authority—but it is truly tested by the wind, which the empty persuasions of proud men inflate, that is, men who from their own authority toss about empty words. Therefore, whoever is prepared by the judgment of God for destruction by not obeying his words—which is building on sand—does not resist such winds and, by falling, becomes a path for the voices of the storm. But I think "difficult to catch" is said of the strong rain, that is, difficult to understand. "So that it rains upon a land where there is no husband." "Who prepared it?" is to be understood. But by "husband" the law seems to be signified, which was given to the Jews. Therefore, we understand the rain of the gospel as falling upon the Gentiles. "In a desert where there is no man": among the Gentiles themselves, where there was no authority of one who knows God. "So that it saturates the pathless and uninhabitable place and so that it makes the greenness of the grass sprout": many children of the deserted one rather than of the one who has a husband. But in all these four verses, "Who prepared it?" is to be understood. Who is the father of the rain? Like a bridegroom, who sent his sons to water the earth with the preaching of the kingdom of heaven. And who is it that bore the clods of dew?

those who receive that preaching well. For it says "clods of dew" in the same way that vessels for wine are said to be made for the purpose of receiving wine. From whose womb does ice proceed? Is ice to be taken in a good sense, on account of stability and restraint from flux, so that it is said: from whose womb does ice proceed, in the same way as that: who is the father of rain? Or is "womb" placed for a secret place, so that ice proceeds from his womb, just as God gave them over to a reprobate mind? Or rather, does ice proceed from the womb of him who, by persuading impiety, with which he is inwardly full, makes them grow cold and harden, having lost the warmth of charity? For who knows this one, like the one who said to those hard and resistant to the gospel: "You are a voice from the father of the devil"? Or: who begot the frost in the sky? Which descends like a river of waters: what we understood last about ice, I think is also to be understood about frost. Yet it is not added "in the sky" in vain, so that it is understood from those who are in charge, imitating, of course, the good messengers of truth, who transform themselves like ministers of justice. To this pertains what is added: which descends like a river of waters. Or: who melted the face of the impious? That is, confounded it. Who? If not the one who justified them, also glorified them. Or: did you understand the bonds of the Pleiades and the barrier of Orion? Or will you open Mazuroth in its time and bring the Evening Star over its building?

Must astrology also be examined to understand the properties of these stars, so that we can understand this passage? I wonder if this is consistent with our discourse, and certainly it is too lengthy; therefore we move on to other matters. Or, with certain stars named, is the figure of speech by which the whole is understood from the part to be applied, so that all stars are to be understood? — if, however, Mazuroth is a star, which we have not found interpreted even in the Greek language: for it appears sufficiently that the name is Hebrew — for in this way the whole is understood from the part, as it is written: "I begot you before the morning star." For the morning star was not created first among all creatures, so that "before the morning star" might seem to be said as "before every creature"; but through the morning star all stars are understood — which is the part for the whole — and through all stars all times are understood — for it is written concerning the stars: "and let them be for signs and for seasons" — so that the Lord, born before all times, not born in time, and for this reason coeternal with the Father, might be intimated. Therefore the mention of the Pleiades, Orion, Mazuroth, and the Evening Star persuades us, by way of brevity, that all stars are to be understood. For if by one morning star, how much more, when so many are named, may the rest also be understood through this kind of figure of speech! Why, then, is it said elsewhere "you understood the bonds," elsewhere "you opened," elsewhere "opening in its time," and elsewhere "you will bring in upon its building"? These are proper to each of the things mentioned in order.

whether it could also be rightly said: "you have opened the enclosure of the Pleiades" and "you have understood the bonds of Orion?" and thus the other two can be interchanged, just as in the psalm: "he who dwells in the heavens will mock them, and the Lord will deride them." Nothing would be lost from the meaning, even if it were said thus: "he who dwells in the heavens will deride them, and the Lord will mock them." For just as he who dwells in the heavens is the Lord himself, so whether the name of the Pleiades or of Orion is used, it is the same meaning, if by either all the stars are understood. Therefore, by the name of all the stars, all those in the Church who have their conversation in the heavens are to be understood. Their bonds are understood, by which they are connected both to one another and to God, so that they do not fall. But love never falls. Who, however, would know this, unless he had shown it who said: "I give you a new commandment, that you love one another," and: "he who loves me will be loved by my Father"? Their enclosure is that by which they are fenced in by divine Scripture, which they do not transgress. Who, however, opens this, except the one to whom one passes over, so that the veil is removed? The time of their opening is, that is, of demonstration and manifestation, when the Lord will come and illuminate the hidden things of darkness and reveal the thoughts of the heart; and then there will be praise for each one from God. For he alone will do this in his own time, because when he himself appears, our life, then we also will appear with him in glory.

He will also bring them up over their building, he who will cause them to possess what they have built here. For if anyone's work remains, what he has built upon, he will receive a reward. Do you know the changes of the heaven? Whether for the worse, like those who, a hundred times, did not glorify God as God? For they did not wish to be seats of God; and by this they were changed, when they vanished in their own thoughts. Or for the better? Because we will all rise again, yet not all will be changed. But who will be changed is clear, when he says: "and we will be changed." For when the just are changed, the heaven will be changed, because the throne of God is heaven, and wisdom is the word of God, and God was the word, and the throne of wisdom is the soul of the just. Or rather both? For he did not say "the change of the heaven," but "the changes." Or all things that happen equally under heaven? For just as its changes affect those things that are under heaven, so also when the just are changed, whether for the worse or for the better, they affect the carnal toward either. Will you call a cloud with a voice? Either an inner one, or that one by which it was said: "follow me," or that one by which it was said: "Saul, Saul, why do you persecute me?" And in the trembling of strong water will they obey you? Mighty peoples, when they hear: "in fear and trembling work out your own salvation; for it is God who works in you both the will and the working for good will." Will you send rivers and will they go? "Rivers," he says, "from his belly will flow waters of life.

But he who says "confidence," by which the persecutors were not afraid, because even those who commit violence snatch away the kingdom of heaven. Or they will say to you: "What is it?" That is: "Will they seek from you either the will of your command," as Saul says: "What do you order me to do?" "Or the hope of their reward," as they said: "Behold, we have left everything and followed you; what then will be for us?" Who gave to women the wisdom of weaving and the knowledge of varieties? And in Solomon a woman weaves garments for her husband. Therefore, the works are to be understood as those of the churches, by which God is honored. For even that weaving itself—that is, to bind weak brothers, like a downy woof, with the interweaving of firm and upright spiritual ones as if with warp threads—is the greatest and singular work of the churches. And the knowledge of varieties serves this purpose: that, just as in a polychrome fabric there is a variety of colors by which the beauty of unity is not disturbed, so among brothers the gifts are diverse, so that they cohere to one another with no discord of envy, bearing with one another in love, striving to preserve the unity of the spirit in the bond of peace. Or who is it that counts the clouds with wisdom? For the Lord knows who are his; but who among men, he says, knows this? And did he incline the organs of heaven to the earth? The celestial angels, through whom divine voices are customarily uttered. For they did not fall like that one alone, but were inclined to the earth by a bend of obedience, especially since the Lord himself was on earth.

For the evangelist says, "and the angels," he says, "were ministering to him." But the ash was spread out like earth, and it glued him like food to stones. The humility of penance was spread far and wide and abundantly, so that the Lord, who resists the proud but gives grace to the humble, would cleave to them as if with the glue of charity—a man among men, so that he might be the mediator of God and men, giving himself to them as food through the sacrament of his body and blood, choosing the fools of the world like stones, to confound the wise. For to the angels he is food insofar as he is the Word of God with God, but to be food for stones, the Word became flesh and dwelt among us. Therefore, he will be glued to men when penance precedes, as if ash were spread out making a way for him. Hence also that man who said: "Therefore produce fruits worthy of penance, and do not say to yourselves: we have Abraham as our father; for God is able to raise up sons of Abraham from stones"—with which stones he was announcing that he was to be glued as food. But if the humility of repenting does not precede, he will not be glued, because the high one recognizes from afar. "Or will you catch food for lions or fill the souls of dragons?" It was said of the devil: "And you will trample the lion and the dragon," because of treachery and wrath. Therefore, all his angels are compared to lions and dragons. But he catches food for them and fills their souls who, having been convicted of impiety, delivers them into his power.

They wish to conceal their impiety, but when they are brought forth, they are certainly caught, so that they are in the power of the devil and his angels, to whom they have consented. For they are fearful in their lairs: in the hiding places of their snares. For if they were not fearful, who could withstand them? But they fear the authority of him under whom they cried out: "Why have you come before the time to destroy us?" And just as it is clear concerning the pigs, that they would not have entered into them unless they had been permitted, so it is to be understood that they can do nothing against anyone unless they are permitted; but they are permitted by the justice by which all things are governed, whether for the sake of testing or for the sake of vengeance inflicted for condemnation or for correction. And they lie in wait in the woods: for the will to harm does not rest in them, even when power is not given. But they watch in ambush in such a wooded density of carnal occasions for whoever is caught by divine laws, that is, is convicted of his sin, so that he may be deemed worthy to be counted as their food. But who prepared food for the raven? For its chicks, crying out to the Lord and wandering and seeking food, as it is in the psalm: "and the chicks of the ravens calling upon him." To which sentence this passage is very similar. Nor can they be understood in a bad sense, because they call upon him. Therefore, the black ones are signified, that is, sinners not yet whitened by the remission of sins. But they are chicks because they are already humble, therefore wandering because they have not yet known the truth, which they nevertheless piously seek when they cry out to the Lord.

Food can be prepared for the raven because of its foreknowledge, which knows that even one not yet humble will be converted; but still the chicks, that is, the humble, cry out to the Lord. Have you known the time of parturition of the tragelaphs on the rocks? τράγος is a goat, ἔλαφος a deer; tragelaphus is therefore a composite animal from goat and deer. It signifies the mind serving the law of God according to the inner man; but it sees, insofar as it is still partly a goat, another law in its members resisting the law of its mind and taking it captive in the law of sin. But he who has placed the solid foundations of examples in the Scriptures has given birth to such rocks at the opportune time, in which even those resting do not despair of themselves, whose flesh lusts against the spirit and the spirit against the flesh, until, by the liveliness of the deer, having overcome serpentine seductions, they live by the spirit and follow the spirit, so that sin—whence the likeness of the goat is drawn—does not reign in their mortal body to obey its desires. Or have you watched the birth of hinds? Of churches in the number of spiritual ones, persuading by maternal affection their own imitation, to whom serpentine opinions can no longer harm; yet even such are guarded not presuming from themselves, but from God. And have you counted the months of their parturition? For they do not give birth except through the Gospel, which the Lord from his baptism up to his passion and ascension preached with the authority of his teaching in certain months.

and have you loosed their pains? For it was not without pain that it was said: "My sons, whom I am bringing forth again, until Christ is formed in you." But these pains are loosed when the birth has been delivered, that is, the truth has been persuaded to those for whom such groaning is made, the word of God acting in the inner conscience. And have you nourished their fawns without fear? In the milk of the sacraments, not timid; for they have not received the spirit of servitude again in fear. Will you send forth their offspring? Into the freedom of richer spiritual pasture. Will their young break away? The bonds of worldly desires. Will they multiply in wheat? In the more solid food of wisdom after the nourishment of milk. Will they go out and not return to them? They will go out as if from the narrow confines of teaching, which is handed down through men to beginners; and they will not return to their mothers, no longer having need of milk nor needing human teachers. Indeed, these three verses are to be pronounced not as a question. But who is it that let the wild ass go free? It is a wonder if he does not signify by the wild ass those few who, free from all business, serve God. And who loosed its bonds? Of carnal and popular affections. For I have set a deserted dwelling and its tents as salt-lick. From which it cries out: "My soul thirsted for you." Mocking the multitude of the city: which Scripture calls Babylon, walking along the broad way that leads to perdition. And not hearing the complaint of the tax collector: owing nothing to anyone.

He considered the mountains of his pasture: the greatness of revelations. And after every green thing he seeks: everything eternal. But will the unicorn serve you? The proud one, by the dignity of this world. For Christ also subdued such men and made them ministers of the church; for the unicorn is a beast, which signifies pride. Or will he sleep upon your manger? As upon the humility of that one who, as an infant placed even in a manger, rest is taken in the security of the forgiveness of sins and the forgetfulness of the cares of a bad conscience. And will he bind his yoke with thongs? Bearing a light yoke bound with thongs, that is, in the authorities of those who have mortified and tamed the flesh. Whence also John was girded with a leather belt, not with the rough ropes of sinners. Or will he draw furrows for you in the field? He will open the breasts of an obedient people for obtaining the kingdom of God. Do you, however, trust in him, because his power has been changed? So that he does not seek the vanity of human praise and honor even in the ministry of the church, as he sought it in the world. Or will you entrust your works to him? As that one, on whose behalf the apostle says he performs a legation, exhorting for Christ to be reconciled to God. And will you believe him, that he will return your seed to you? He will claim nothing from it for his own mastery; for "seed" means the work of sowing. And will he bring it into your threshing floor? So that he may be among those to whom the Lord himself commands that the Lord of the harvest be asked.

to send workers into his harvest, not to want to make a threshing floor for himself, as does the prince of heresies and schisms and anyone who seeks not God’s glory but his own. For it is very difficult for this unicorn to will it, yet even this he grants and accomplishes in the human soul, he who alone works wonders, destroying plans and every height that raises itself against the knowledge of God, and capturing every intellect into his obedience. The feather of ostriches is mixed with the wings of the heron and the hawk: those slow of intellect, whom ostriches signify because they cannot fly, have been given, through his grace who chose the foolish things of the world, to be equaled to the swiftness of the equally believing ingenious ones, who are signified by these birds he mentioned, is to be understood through this verse. And he left his eggs on the ground: now he begins to speak of the ostrich, that is, of those whom he signifies by this animal. For their slow feathers would not be mixed with the wings of swift birds for flying together, unless they left behind their prior hope on the ground, which he signifies by the eggs. And they are warmed in the dust: because even if he did not attend to what he hoped for in the world, it often comes about through the favor of worldly lovers, who are compared to dust.

and has forgotten that the foot will destroy them and the beast of the field will trample them: but if the unjust desire of anyone and the wicked of this world disturb and trample such a hope of his, like his eggs which he leaves on the ground, he cares so little that, as if forgetful, he does not feel it. He has grown hard against his children, that they may not be his: even if it is no longer hope, like eggs, but the thing itself, like children already born, that is, temporal happiness, he strongly despises it, unwilling that it be his happiness, because he desires the true one. He has labored in vain without any fear: this before he is converted; for he labors in the hope of the world without fruit and, what is more foolish, without any fear, while he presumes in uncertain things. Because God has despised him in wisdom and has not distributed understanding to him: for what is more foolish than to trust in vanity and to labor to acquire perishable things without any fear of losing them? For many conceive this disposition, to whom long worldly happiness comes, especially if it is derived from grandfather and great-grandfather in an unbroken succession, so that they do not believe they can suddenly become unhappy. And because they are accustomed to appear great on earth, yet do not enjoy heavenly converse by the wings of virtues, they are rightly compared to ostriches. But note what follows: when the time comes, he will fly high and will mock the rider and the horseman.

After the fullness of time came, so that the rich of this world were commanded not to be proud nor to hope in the uncertainty of riches, but in the living God, they began to have their heart raised up to the Lord and to mock the proud persecutors, whom the Lord cast into the sea; for then the feather of the ostrich, mingled with swift birds, seeks the sky, and the other things that were said above about this animal come to pass. Or have you girded the horse with virtue? He seems to describe the martyr, intrepid and eager witness of the saving faith, yet not by his own virtue, but by that with which the Lord has girded him. And have you inserted a neigh into his neck? Clothe yourselves with the armor of God, so that you may be able to resist on the evil day. And the boldness of his breast’s glory? This is the boldness with which Isaiah dares and speaks. The glory of the breast, however, is the conscience proving the work of a man, so that each one may have glory in himself and not in another. Going forth into the field, he revels: going out into the light of freedom, he exults in the breadth of charity by the ease of good work. And he advances into battle with virtue: against the temptations of adversities. And encountering the javelin, he scorns it: because arms are placed around him, among which is that shield of faith, in which the fiery javelins of the enemy are extinguished. Nor does he turn away from the sword: either from visible death, or because there are also those who are hard in not consenting to the truth and sharp in persecuting, from whom he does not turn away, because he is commanded to love even them.

For upon him rejoices the bow and the sword: for through his confession both the threat of God is asserted, which foretells invisible punishments from afar, and the testimony of the word, by which it vanquishes all errors as if hand to hand. For it is one thing to threaten, that the punishments of sinners are far in the future, which is like drawing the bow with arrows; another thing, as if hand to hand with the sword of the word, to vanquish present lusts. The trembling of lances and spears: what is it that the trembling of lances and spears rejoices upon him, the bow and the sword? Or is it because he himself, unless he trembles, that is, fears the future death which divine justice hurls, cannot despise the present death which the persecutor threatens, so that he may have an intrepid confession and preach the truth with confidence, to which enemies cannot resist; and thus "rejoices upon him," that is, through him the doctrine of God is freely asserted, by which he threatens the impious with future destruction and destroys present iniquity? For unless the joy of our hope were accompanied by the trembling of damnation, that very security would be negligent in us, and a proud presumption, nor would it be said to us in the psalm: rejoice with trembling. And anger overturns the earth: being angry within himself for overturning in himself earthly lusts and carnal fears, by which anyone is turned away from enduring suffering.

In this sentence it was perhaps said: "Be angry and do not sin"; for with a most salutary anger one ought to rebuke oneself, saying: "Why are you sad, my soul? and why do you disturb me? Hope in God, because I will confess to him." For since confession is made by the mouth for salvation, it immediately follows: "The saving grace of my face is my God." Nor will he believe, until the trumpet has sounded: for before the time of temptation, even if earthly trepidation has been overturned, it does not appear, nor is it easily believed, unless the time of temptation itself has taught it. But when the trumpet has sounded, he will say: "Well done": when the time of temptation has come, then truly his soul will please him, if he glories in tribulations, because tribulation produces patience, patience produces testing, testing produces hope, so that he no longer says angrily to his soul: "Why do you disturb me?" but, glorying, says: "Praise the Lord, my soul." And from afar he scents the battle: not as among persecuting men who are seen, but from afar, that is, far from the eyes, knowing that his struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the princes and powers and rulers of this world of darkness, against the spiritual forces of wickedness in the heavens, that is, from afar. And "he scents" is aptly said on account of the prince of the power of this air. For odors are perceived by the sense of smell, whether good or bad.

Therefore, one who understands that the prince of the power of this air works in the children of unbelief scents the battle; these children suffer the angers or plots of their persecutors, so that they may fight against spiritual wickedness with spiritual arms, not with bodily ones against flesh and blood, that is, against evil and lost men whom they see with their bodily eyes. "The thunder of the leaders and the shouting": "scents" is to be understood. I think "thunder" is said because of the air itself in which these same spiritual wickednesses move; for these spirits are not called rulers of the world because they rule heaven and earth, but as the apostle himself explains. Lest it be understood that way, he immediately added what he meant by "rulers of the world": "of these shadows," he says, that is, of the impious, to whom he says when they are converted to the Lord: "For you were once shadows; but now you are light in the Lord." For it is in each one's will whether he is shadow or light; but when he is shadow, it is in himself, that is, in the sins that are his own; when, however, he is light, it is not in himself but in the Lord, by whom he is illuminated, so that, as Isaiah says, his shadows are like noon; and it is said in the Psalms: "You will illuminate my shadows." Therefore, those whom the apostle calls rulers of the shadows are the same ones who in this verse are called leaders.

For they are also led by these shadows, that is, the impious, so that they may persecute the pious, that is, those who suffer persecution on account of justice, not those who suffer on account of their own impieties and iniquities. The martyr is said to scent the clamor of such leaders, not because any sound is heard by the ears of the body, but because they cry out through the ears of the heart by faith, how much the devil and his angels plot against the servants of God. Whence the apostle says: "For we are not ignorant of his designs." Against which clamor of the leaders, the ears of the unbelievers are of course deaf. Does the hawk not grow feathers in your wisdom? As in the wisdom of God, which is Christ, the new man is gradually renewed, about to have his dwelling in the heavens. With wings spread, motionless, looking toward the south? With the twin virtues of love unfolded from every worldly impediment, remaining unshaken in faith; yet not in this very thing presuming about himself, but hoping in God and recalling his intention to Him, by whom the ardor of charity itself is inspired, so that he may keep his strength directed toward Him, saying: "Will not my soul be subject to God?" For from Him is my salvation; indeed, He is my God and my Savior, my supporter; I will be moved no more. And by your command is the eagle raised up? As by His command, who says: "When I have been raised up, I will draw all things to myself.

For He who was to die for us and to raise His body in the resurrection into heaven—where the corpse will be, He says, there the eagles will gather. For He has sated His desire in heavenly goods, whose youth will be renewed like the eagle’s. And the exaltation of the eagle can pertain to what the apostle says: “For whether we have been out of our minds, for God,” so that the verse that follows about the vulture pertains to what also follows there: “or whether we are temperate, for you.” For it follows: “Or will the vulture linger sitting over its nest on the rock?” Because it seems to be said from affection, not by the mind’s excess contemplating sublime things, but by temperance consulting lower things, through which one accommodates human affairs, so that the impious, who are considered as dead, when justified through the Word—that is, as if devoured by the mouth—are converted into the body of the Church. For the vulture feeds on the dead; and therefore: “over its nest,” where it places, as it were, its young, the works necessary for this life. And it is on the rock because, when the apostle had said: “or whether we are temperate, for you,” he immediately added: “for the charity of Christ compels us”; and the rock was Christ. And “will linger sitting” is well said according to what is stated: “But I am compelled from two sides, having the desire to be dissolved and to be with Christ”; for it is much more excellent that this pertains to the exaltation of the eagle; but to the vulture sitting in the nest and lingering, it is necessary to remain in the flesh for your sake.

And because "rock" is also well understood as the whole Church—on account of Simon, who was called Peter by the Lord for this reason—the summit of the rock is the head of the Church. To this is added the verse that follows: "on the summit of the rock and in the cave?" For "summit" refers to that which is the head, while "cave" refers to that which is our life hidden with Christ in God. And when he has been there, he seeks foods: concerning which it was said to Peter, "Kill and eat," so that he might incorporate into the Church those who would believe from among the Gentiles. "His eyes look far ahead, and his young ones wallow in blood": he extends his intention far in hope of future immortality in eternal life, although his works wallow in the weakness of the flesh—that is, they are tossed about by uncertain motions, while human ignorance holds it uncertain from those things which he does mercifully what benefits whom toward God, yet he dispenses with sincere charity, looking far ahead with his eyes because of eternal salvation. But when such a worker and dispenser finds those who, through the affection by which they renounce the devil, are already dead to this world, he without any hesitation offers them the ministry of the mouth in the work of speech, by which he transfers them, already most ready, into the body of the Church; and therefore it follows: "Wherever the corpses are, they are immediately found.

The Lord answered Job and said—now the Lord, as it were, repeats the speech, since when He Himself was speaking, Job is understood to have been struck silent and to have kept quiet, so that he dared say nothing more. Therefore, in the two verses that follow, the Lord urges him to respond. "Does he who disputes with the Almighty rest?" That is: Why do you rest while disputing with the Almighty? "Will he who argues with God answer thus?" The phrase "does he" is to be supplied, so that the sense is: Does he who argues with God answer while disputing? For in questioning, one disputes with the Almighty, not in convicting or refuting. Therefore, it is not because He is Almighty that one should rest from disputing with Him. For it is not as if something is sought from Him by way of argument, as from Truth itself, in order to accuse Him. It can also be understood thus: "Does he who disputes with the Lord rest?" That is: Because he who disputes with the Almighty does not rest, one should not dispute with Him in order to rest. For one who disputes is accustomed to contradict; but he who contradicts God cannot rest—that is, he finds no rest unless he consents to His will without any contradiction. "For he who argues with God will answer thus," that is: When he answers God in disputing, he argues with God and therefore does not attain rest. Whence it is said: O man, who are you, that you answer God? But what had Job done of such a kind?

For God does not receive him as contradicting him, as his friends do who do not understand, when he bears such testimony to him both at the beginning and at the end of the book. Or was it said on account of the person whom Job represented, that is, the body of the Lord, which is the Church, in which there is a large part of the weak—not indeed the despairing, but still those who are in danger in their progress, whose feet are almost moved and whose steps are a little less than scattered, while they are zealous among sinners, looking at the peace of sinners? They say: How did God know? And if there is knowledge in the Most High? Behold, these very sinners, abounding in the world, have obtained riches. Have I in vain justified my heart and washed my hands among the innocent, and been scourged all day, and my reproof in the morning? For from this point Job himself seems rather to respond in the following verses. But Job answered and said: Why then am I judged, being admonished and rebuked by the Lord, hearing such things, when I am nothing? That is: Why then do I compare a judgment for myself, when the Lord admonishes and rebukes me, if I contradict him? Hearing such things, that is, understanding such things—how much justice and mercy are dealt with me in this way, when through myself I am certainly nothing. What answer shall I give? That is: What will I be able to contradict to the truth? I will put my hand to my mouth, that is: I will restrain and check my loquacity.

I have spoken once; I will not add again: unless it is understood in a mystery, how has Job, who spoke so many times, spoken once? Or how will he not add again, when he is about to speak shortly after? But here "speech" is to be understood as the progress of the soul into these external things, by which it abandons God and resists him. Hence this greater progress is also called a "cry" in Scripture, when God says that the cry of the Sodomites reached him. To which speech and cry is contrary that most blessed silence of which it is said: "and he will be silent without fear from all malice." Well, then, does he say that he has spoken once, in a certain continuous speech throughout the whole life of the old man, when he was a wandering spirit not returning. But now, placing his hand on his mouth, lest he proceed further, he promises that he will not add again, lest he depart from God. Amen.