John Chrysostom, Commentary on Job

for what reason did he sit on a dung heap? so that he might cover with the heap what was falling off. and for what reason in the open air? so that there might be some comfort for him; for if he had shut himself up in a little house, he would have corrupted the very air of the house, it being small, and would have suffocated himself with the stench. Therefore, he thought it better to bear the hardship of the open air than, being covered by a roof, to endure the hardships from the corrupted air. But otherwise it seems to me, that he was suffering nothing humanly, as if one recognized the matter to be God's discipline; he was not ashamed nor did he blush, but he made a public spectacle of himself to all. 2,9a And when a long time had passed, his wife said to Job: 9b How long will you endure, saying: 9aα behold, 41 I wait yet a little while, 9aβ expecting the hope of my salvation? The devil later brings forward the strongest of all the previous devices. Would that you had taken this one also, would that you had buried her with the children. But some say that the words are not even the wife's, but that he himself, having taken her form, utters these things. For it was not possible for Job's wife to be such a person, unless one were to say that she had become such by being turned about by the disaster. And when a long time, it says, had passed. See how she declaims, having many plausible things with which to persuade, the time along with all the other things. For it was not one and two and three days, but many months passed. How long, she says, will you endure, saying. What he ought to have heard from others, she herself did not cease to advise him. For from these words, it is likely that this was not the first counsel, but that many times he had heard many things harsher than these from his wife. See the devil's deceit; he thought of Eve; "This," he says, "brought down the first man, this will also be able to overcome this one." But, O wretched and foolish one, finding that man weaker than his belly, she sowed her poison; but you see this one philosophizing and having overcome nature itself. The loss of possessions did not bend him, nor the untimely death of children, nor the inconsolable torment of his body, nor such a length of time. And him who was not captured by deeds, do you expect to subdue him by words? "Yes," he says, "for many have often stood the test of deeds, but have been defeated by words, and especially when what is said is from a woman." It cannot be said that she says these things out of envy and malice; 42 for she is his wife. She reasons with you from the facts themselves. The counsel is unsuspected, she is a helper, for this was she given to the man. "Yes, but the first one was also such. But to a woman, he says, I do not permit to teach, nor to have authority over a man." Job did not allow this to happen. And see the evil-doer; when much time had passed, then he attacks; for then especially is hope tested, then especially does strength grow weak. The weakness was twofold, both in that the one bearing it had become weaker by the length of time and in that hope was more despaired of. Do you see that before this she did not even have such boldness? Thus had Job instructed her. Her face was that of one sympathizing, the words raw and inhuman, her intention and disposition that of one sharing the pain, but her counsel that of one wishing to drive him over a cliff. Let us not see for what purpose she says these things, but what she wants to bring about. For not even if someone offered me a sword and a poisonous drug, would I examine their intention when the harm is obvious. Let us not, therefore, look at the fact that she is a woman, but at what she advises.-This I also advise men of today, not to look at the rank of people, but at the nature of the counsel.- She is a wife in order to help, not in order to trip up. How long will you endure, she says, saying? Why do you unnerve the athlete? Why do you cause his hands to droop when it is necessary to say, according to the apostle: Yet a little while? Job said these things, perhaps to those who accused him, making a defense for God and knowing that the torments had an end. And he expected a change, which was a matter of great faith and noble hope; he knew God's love for mankind. But this one

ἕνεκεν ἐπὶ κοπρίας ἐκάθητο; ὥστε τὰ καταπίπτοντα συγκαλύψαι τῇ θημωνίᾳ. τίνος δὲ ἕνεκεν αἴθριος; ὥστε εἶναί τινα παραμυθίαν αὐτῷ· εἰ γὰρ ἐν οἰκίσκῳ κατέκλεισεν ἑαυτόν, καὶ αὐτὸν τὸν ἀέρα τοῦ οἴκου βραχὺν ὄντα διέφθειρε καὶ ἀπέπνιξεν ἂν ἑαυτὸν τῇ δυσωδίᾳ. βέλτιον οὖν ἐνόμισεν εἶναι τὴν ἀπὸ τῆς αἰθρίας ταλαιπωρίαν φέρειν ἢ στέγῃ καλυπτόμενος τὰς ταλαιπωρίας ὑπομένειν τὰς ἀπὸ τοῦ διαφθειρομένου ἀέρος. ἄλλως δὲ ἐμοὶ δοκεῖ, ὅτι οὐδὲν ἔπασχεν ἀνθρώπινον, οἷον ἂν εἰ τις ἔγνω θεοῦ παιδείαν τὸ πρᾶγμα οὖσαν· οὐκ ἐπῃσχύνετο οὐδὲ ἠρυθρία, ἀλλὰ πᾶσιν ἑαυτὸν ἐξεπόμπευεν. 2,9a χρόνου δὲ πολλοῦ προβεβηκότος εἶπε τῷ ˉ̓Ιὼβ ἡ γυνὴ αὐτοῦ· 9b μέχρι τίνος καρτερήσεις λέγων· 9aα ἰδοὺ 41 ἀναμένω χρόνον ἔτι μικρὸν 9aβ προσδεχόμενος τὴν ἐλπίδα τῆς σωτηρίας μου; τὸ πάντων μηχανημάτων τῶν προλαβόντων ἰσχυρότερον ὕστερον ὁ διάβολος προσάγει. εἴθε καὶ ταύτην ἔλαβες, εἴθε μετὰ τῶν παίδων κατέχωσας. τινὲς δέ φασιν οὐδὲ τῆς γυναικὸς εἶναι τὰ ῥήματα, ἀλλ' αὐτὸν εἰς αὐτὴν τυπωθέντα ταυτὶ φθέγγεσθαι. οὐδὲ γὰρ ἦν τὴν γυναῖκα τοῦ Ἰὼβ τοιαύτην εἶναι, πλὴν εἴ τις λέγοι τῇ συμφορᾷ περιτραπεῖσαν τοιαύτην αὐτὴν γεγενῆσθαι. χρόνου δέ, φησίν, πολλοῦ προβεβηκότος. ὅρα, πῶς καταρρητορεύει πολλὰ ἔχουσα πιθανὰ πρὸς τὸ πεῖσαι τὸν χρόνον μετὰ τῶν ἄλλων ἁπάντων. οὐ γὰρ μία καὶ δύο καὶ τρεῖς ἡμέραι, ἀλλὰ πολλοὶ διῆλθον μῆνες. μέχρι τίνος, φησίν, καρτερήσεις λέγων. ἃ παρὰ τῶν ἄλλων αὐτὸν ἀκούειν ἐχρῆν, ταῦτα αὐτὴ αὐτῷ παραινοῦσα οὐκ ἐπαύετο. ἀπὸ γὰρ τούτων τῶν ῥημάτων εἰκὸς οὐ ταύτην πρώτην γεγενῆσθαι τὴν συμβουλήν, ἀλλὰ πολλάκις πολλὰ τούτων ἀκοῦσαι χαλεπώτερα παρὰ τῆς γυναικός. ὅρα διαβολικὴν ἀπάτην· ἐνενόησε τὴν Εὕαν· «τοῦτο», φησίν, «τὸν πρῶτον κατήνεγκεν ἄνθρωπον, τοῦτο καὶ τούτου περιγενέσθαι δυνήσεται.» ἀλλ', ὦ ἄθλιε καὶ ἀνόητε, ἐκεῖνον ἥττονα γαστρὸς εὑροῦσα τὸν ἰὸν ἐνέσπειρε τὸν ἑαυτῆς· τοῦτον δὲ ὁρᾷς φιλοσοφοῦντα καὶ αὐτῆς περιγενόμενον τῆς φύσεως. οὐκ ἐπέκαμψεν αὐτὸν χρημάτων ἀπώλεια οὐδὲ παίδων θάνατος ἄωρος οὐδὲ βάσανος σώματος ἀπαραμύθητος οὐδὲ χρόνου μῆκος τοσοῦτον. καὶ τὸν ὑπὸ πραγμάτων οὐχ ἁλόντα, τοῦτον ὑπὸ λόγων προσδοκᾷς χειρώσασθαι; «ναί», φησίν, «πολλοὶ γὰρ πολλάκις πρὸς μὲν πραγμάτων ἔστησαν πεῖραν, ὑπὸ δὲ τῶν λόγων ἡττήθησαν, καὶ μάλιστα ὅταν παρὰ γυναικὸς ᾖ τὰ λεγόμενα.» οὐκ ἔστιν εἰπεῖν, ὅτι φθονοῦσα καὶ βασκαίνουσα ταῦτα λέγει· 42 γυνὴ γάρ ἐστιν. ἀπ' αὐτῶν σοι διαλέγεται τῶν πραγμάτων. ἀνύποπτος ἡ συμβουλή, βοηθός ἐστιν, εἰς τοῦτο ἐδόθη τῷ ἀνδρί. «ναί, ἀλλὰ καὶ ἡ προτέρα τοιαύτη ἦν. γυναικὶ δὲ διδάσκειν, φησίν, οὐκ ἐπιτρέπω οὐδὲ αὐθεντεῖν τοῦ ἀνδρός.» τοῦτο οὐκ εἴασε γενέσθαι ὁ Ἰώβ. καὶ ὅρα τὸ κακοῦργον· ὅτε πολὺς διῆλθε χρόνος, τότε ἐπιτίθεται· τότε γὰρ μάλιστα τὰ τῆς ἐλπίδος ἐλέγχεται, τότε μάλιστα τὰ τῆς δυνάμεως ἐξασθενεῖ. διπλᾶ τὰ τῆς ἀσθενείας ἦν τῷ τε τὸν φέροντα ἀσθενέστερον γενέσθαι τῷ μήκει τοῦ χρόνου καὶ τῷ τὴν ἐλπίδα ἀπογνωσθῆναι μᾶλλον. ὁρᾷς, ὅτι πρὸ τούτου οὐδὲ παρρησίαν εἶχε τοσαύτην; οὕτως αὐτὴν ἐπαίδευσεν ὁ Ἰώβ. τὸ πρόσωπον συμπαθούσης ἦν, τὰ ῥήματα ὠμὰ καὶ ἀπάνθρωπα, ἡ προαίρεσις καὶ ἡ διάθεσις συναλγούσης, ἀλλ' ἡ συμβουλὴ κατὰ κρημνῶν ἐνεγκεῖν βουλομένης. μὴ τοῦτο ἴδωμεν, ποίῳ ταῦτα λέγει σκοπῷ, ἀλλὰ τί κατασκευάσαι βούλεται. οὐδὲ γὰρ εἴ τις ξίφος μοι καὶ δηλητήριον ἐπεδίδου φάρμακον, τὴν προαίρεσιν ἂν ἐξήτασα φανερᾶς οὔσης τῆς βλάβης. μὴ τοῦτο τοίνυν ἴδωμεν, ὅτι γυνή, ἀλλὰ τί συμβουλεύει.-τοῦτο καὶ τοῖς νῦν ἀνθρώποις παραινῶ, μὴ πρὸς τὸ τῶν ἀνθρώπων ἀξίωμα βλέπειν, ἀλλὰ πρὸς τὸν τρόπον τῆς συμβουλῆς.- γυνή ἐστιν, ἵνα βοηθῇ, οὐχ ἵνα ὑποσκελίζῃ. μέχρι τίνος καρτερήσεις, φησίν, λέγων; τί τὸν ἀθλητὴν ἐκλύεις; τί καταστέλλεις τὰς χεῖρας δέον εἰπεῖν κατὰ τὸν ἀπόστολον· ἔτι μικρόν; ταῦτα ἔλεγεν ὁ Ἰὼβ ἴσως πρὸς ἐγκαλοῦντας ἀπολογούμενος ὑπὲρ τοῦ θεοῦ καὶ εἰδὼς τὰς βασάνους τέλος ἐχούσας. καὶ προσεδόκα μεταβολήν, ὃ πολλῆς πίστεως ἦν καὶ γενναίας ἐλπίδος· ᾔδει τοῦ θεοῦ τὸ φιλάνθρωπον. ἀλλὰ ταύτην