Didymus the Blind, Commentaries on Job

are in my body, whose wrath drinks up my blood. When I begin to speak, they pierce me." Since Eliphaz's first words were credible, and it seemed to Eliphaz that everything Job said was out of despair, he said to Job, being so disposed, that he suffered on account of sins, he says: As it seems, my words are worthless, not believed at all. And he adds consequently why he disbelieves him, saying: "For the arrows of the Lord are in my body," so that what he indicates is such as this: for this reason my words are worthless, because the arrows of the Lord are in my body. For the majority of men are accustomed to despise the words spoken by those oppressed by circumstances and poverty, even if they are wise. This very thing is shown in the saying that states: "A poor man spoke and they said: Who is this?". And that things sent circumstantially by providence are called arrows, 162 can be testified from many sources: In Deuteronomy, Moses in the great song says from the person of God: "I will make my arrows drunk with blood, and my sword shall devour the blood of the wounded," calling punishments arrows and a sword. And again in the same book he says: "and my arrows will bring them to an end," with "bring to an end" meaning: will fulfill the punishments. And this is done for their benefit. But here he speaks of the wrath of arrows not as inanimate things, but as the painful, vehement, and bitter infliction of sorrows, which he says drinks up the blood, showing how the punishments take away his vital power. And the phrase: "when I begin to speak, they pierce me" as in apo...s would suggest such a thought: whenever the mind is directed to the God of all things and the contemplation of him, in a way a forgetfulness of human affairs occurs. From such a state the blessed David also sang that: "I forgot to eat my bread," and Paul says he was "caught up to the third heaven, whether in the body I do not know, or out of the body 163 I do not know". But whenever, as humans do, they give no small amount of attention to their pains, then indeed it lays hold of them not moderately. Therefore, declining this himself, he in a way teaches his friends also to keep their minds on high and to think little of pains while being occupied with contemplation. Consequently, the power that guards the saints also yields a little, allowing them to have a sensation of their pains, so that in this way the bestowal of the crown may be reasonable. "For what? Will a wild donkey cry out in vain, unless it is seeking food? And will an ox utter a sound at the manger when it has its fodder? Will bread be eaten without salt? And is there taste in empty words? For my soul cannot cease. For I see my food as a stench, like the smell of a lion." In response to the rebuke, as it were, made to him by the other regarding the words spoken by Job, he himself speaks, proposing a question, so that from the answers he gives, he may no longer blame him for crying out on account of his pains, although Job had said nothing 164 out of despair. He asks: "What then? Will a wild donkey not cry out in vain unless it is seeking food?", which is: does a wild donkey, lacking food, make a sound in vain? But neither does the ox cry out at the manger when its fodder is lying there. So do not blame me either, if I cry out in your opinion on account of the sorrows of a weak nature, so that he might lead him to sympathy, not to blame the one who is in pain if he cries out: for the saint ought not to be unfeeling, even if he bears his afflictions with endurance; for this is virtue, when someone, while having a sensation of his pains, looks down on his sufferings for God's sake. And the next phrase: "Will bread be eaten without salt," inserted by the blessed one and for this reason creating obscurity, would be, according to our ability, something like this: benefit for the soul and its nourishment cannot exist unless pain and affliction have occurred. Similar to this is: "through many tribulations we must enter the kingdom of heaven," so that the one

τῶι σώματί μού ἐστιν, ὧν ὁ θυμὸς αὐτῶν ἐκπίνει μου τὸ αἷμα. ὅταν ἄρξωμαι λαλεῖν, κεντοῦσί με." ἐπεὶ ὁ Ἐλιφὰζ π̣ι̣στοὺς λόγους τοὺς πρώτους, τοῦ Ἰὼβ δόξαντος αὐτῷ τῷ Ἐλιφὰζ ··· ἐξ ἀποδυσπετήσεως εἰρῆσθαι τὰ πάντα, εἶπεν πρὸς τὸν Ἰὼβ διακείμενος, ὅτι ἁμαρτιῶν ἕνεκεν πέπονθεν, φησίν· ὡς ἔοικεν, τὰ ῥήματά μου εὐτελῆ ἐστιν οὐδὲν πιστευόμενα. ἐπάγει δὲ ἀκολούθως, διὸ αὐτῷ ἀπιστεῖ, λέγων· "βέλη γὰρ κυρίου ἐν τῶι σώματί μου ἐστιν", ἵνα ᾖ ὃ δηλοῖ τοιοῦτον· διὰ τοῦτο τὰ ῥήματά μου φαῦλά ἐστιν, ὅτι βέλη κυρίου ἐπὶ τῷ σώματί μου ὑπάρχει. εἰώθασιν γὰρ οἱ πολλοὶ τῶν ἀνθρώπων ὑπερορᾶν τὰ παρὰ τῶν ἐν περιστάσεσιν καὶ πενίᾳ πιεσθέντων λεγόμενα ῥήματα, κἂν συνετὰ ᾖν. τοῦτο αὐτὸ δηλοῦται ἐν τῷ λογίῳ τῷ φάσκοντι· "πτωχὸς ἐλάλησεν καὶ εἶπαν· τίς οὗτος;". ὅτι δὲ βέλη τὰ περιστατικῶς ἐκ προνοίας πεμπόμενα λέγεται, 162 ἔστιν ἐκ πλειόνων μαρτυρεῖσθαι· ἐν ∆ευτερονομίῳ Μωσῆς ἐν τῇ μεγάλῃ ᾠδῇ λέγει ἐκ προσώπου τοῦ θεοῦ· "μεθύσω τὰ βέλη μου ἀφ' αἵματος καὶ ἡ μάχαιρά μου καταφάγεται αἷμα τραυματιῶν", βέλη καὶ μάχαιρα τὰς κολάσεις λέγων. καὶ πάλιν ἐν αὐτῇ τῇ βίβλωι λέγει· "καὶ τὰ βέλη μου συντελέσει αὐτούς", τοῦ συντελέσει δηλοῦντος· πληρώσει τὰ τῆς κολάσεως. καὶ τοῦτο δὲ ἐπὶ συμφέροντι γίνεται. θυμὸν δὲ βελῶν ἐνταῦθα οὐ τῶν ἀψύχων, ἀλλὰ τὴν ἐπίπονον καὶ σφοδράν τε καὶ πικρὰν ἐπιφορὰν τῶν ἀνιαρῶν φησιν, ἣν ἐκπίνειν τὸ αἷμα λέγει δηλῶν, ὡς τὴν ζωτικὴν αὐτοῦ δύναμιν προσαφαιρεῖται τὰ τῆς κολάσεως. τὸ δ'· "ὅταν ἄρξωμαι λαλεῖν, κεντοῦσί με" ὡς ἐν ἀπο···ς εἴη ἂν ὑποβάλλον διάνοιαν τοιαύτην· ὅτε ὁ νοῦς πρὸς τὸν τῶν ὅλων τέταται θεὸν καὶ τὴν ἐκείνου θεωρίαν, τρόπον τινὰ λήθη τῶν ἀνθρωπίνων γίνεται. ἀπὸ τῆς τοιαύτης καταστάσεως καὶ ὁ μακάριος ∆αυὶδ ἔψαλλεν ὅτι· "ἐπελαθόμην τοῦ φαγεῖν τὸν ἄρτον μου", καὶ Παῦλος "ἕως τρίτου οὐρανοῦ" φησιν "ἁρπαγῆναι εἴτε ἐν σώματι οὐκ οἶδα εἴτε ἐκτὸς τοῦ σώματος 163 οὐκ οἶδα". ἐπειδὰν δὲ ὡς ἄνθρωποι περὶ τὰ ἐπίπονα σχολὴν οὐ βραχείαν παρασχῶσιν, τότε δὴ αὐτῶν οὐ μετρίως καθάπτεται. τοῦτ' οὖν αὐτὸς παραιτούμενος τρόπον τινὰ παιδεύει καὶ τοὺς φίλους ἄνω ἔχειν τὸ φρόνημα καὶ μικρὰ φροντίζειν τῶν ἐπιπόνων τῇ θεωρίᾳ σχολάζοντας. ἀκολούθως δὲ καὶ ἡ φρουροῦσα τοὺς ἁγίους δύναμις ὀλίγον ἐνδίδωσιν αὐτοῖς αἴσθησιν γενέσθαι πόνων, ἵνα οὕτως εὔλογος ἡ δόσις τοῦ στεφάνου γένηται. "τί γάρ; μὴ διὰ κενῆς κεκράξεται ὄνος ἄγριος ἀλλ' ἢ τὰ σῖτα ζητῶν; εἰ δὲ καὶ ῥήξει φωνὴν βοῦς ἐπὶ πάτνης ἔχων τὰ βρώματα; εἰ βρωθήσεται ἄρτος ἄνευ ἁλός; εἰ δὲ καὶ ἔστιν γεῦσις ἐν ῥήμασι κενοῖς; οὐ δύναται γὰρ παύσασθαί μου ἡ ψυχή. βρόμον γὰρ ὁρῶ τὰ σῖτά μου ὥσπερ ὀσμὴν λέοντος." πρὸς τὴν παρ' ἐκείνου γεγενημένην αὐτῷ οἷον ἐπίπληξιν ἐπὶ τῶν λόγων τῶν εἰρημένων ὑπὸ τοῦ Ἰὼβ αὐτὸς λέγει ὡς ἐρώτησιν προσάγων, ἵνα ἐξ ὧν ἀποκρίνεται μηκέτι μέμφηται τὸν διὰ τὰ ἐπίπονα βοῶντα καίτοι τοῦ Ἰὼβ οὐδὲν ἀποδυσπετήσεως 164 εἰπόντος. ἐρωτᾷ· "τί οὖν; μηδὲ διὰ κενῆς κεκράξεται ὄνος ἄγριος ἀλλ' ἢ τὰ σῖτα ζητῶν;", ὅ ἐστιν· μὴ ματαίως φωνὴν ἀφίησιν ἐνδεόμενος τροφῆς ὄνος ἄγριος; ἀλλ' οὐδὲ ὁ βοῦς κράζει ἐπὶ τῆς φάτνης τῶν βρωμάτων κειμένων. ὥστε μηδ' ἐμὲ αἰτιῶ, εἰ κράζω κατὰ τὴν σὴν ὑπόλημψιν διὰ τὰ ἀνιαρὰ φύσεως ἀσθενοῦς ὑπαρχούσης, ἵνα ᾖ ἄγων αὐτὸν εἰς συμπάθειαν πρὸς τὸ μὴ μέμφεσθαι τὸν ὀδυνώμενον εἰ κράζει· οὐ γὰρ ἀναίσθητον εἶναι δεῖ τὸν ἅγιον, κἂν καρτερῶς φέρῃ τὰ θλίβοντα· αὕτη γὰρ ἀρετή ἐστιν, ὅταν αἴσθησιν τῶν ἐπιπόνων δεχόμενός τις ὑπερφρονῇ τῶν ἀλγηδόνων διὰ θεόν. τὸ δ' ἑξῆς· "εἰ βρωθήσεται ἄρτος ἄνευ ἁλός" παρεμβεβλημένον ὑπὸ τοῦ μακαρίου καὶ διὰ τοῦτο ἀσαφίαν ἐργασάμενον εἴη ἂν κατ' ἡμετέραν δύναμιν τοιοῦτο· οὐ δύναται ὠφελία ψυχῆς καὶ τροφὴ ταύτης ὑπάρξαι μὴ πόνου καὶ θλίψεως γεγενημένου. τούτῳ ὅμοιον τό· "διὰ πολλῶν θλίψεων δεῖ ἡμᾶς εἰσελθεῖν εἰς τὴν βασιλείαν τῶν οὐρανῶν", ἵν' ᾖ ὁ μὲν