1

Commentarii in Job

INTRODUCTION

Many opinions have been held by earlier writers concerning the present work; for some, defending the man, say that, having been before grace and hoping for nothing after this life, since he was deprived of the happiness of things seen, of wealth and children, and being afflicted with an incurable disease, he was reasonably distressed. For, being conscious of no injustice in himself, he was troubled, thinking he was not suffering justly. And he blasphemed God in no way, which was the devil's chief object; however, he did not maintain the highest reverence toward God, by disputing at all concerning His providence, as to why God did not maintain justice for him, but allowed him to suffer beyond his due, and why he did not deem him worthy of loving-kindness, if indeed He saw wickedness in him. Therefore, those who say these things have not attributed perfect virtue to the righteous Job, but they said that Job became a good example for us, having contended thus before grace, so that we who have enjoyed grace may henceforth proceed to more perfect things, keeping in mind the saying of the most divine Paul, who said to those who dispute the divine judgments: O man, who are you to answer back to God? Will what is molded say to the one who molded it, ‘Why have you made me like this?’ And so much for them. But others have dared to say that while the contest of Job is true, the writing is not one of the divinely inspired books, but that some man of the learned among the Hebrews, making a display of divine instruction, having received by hearsay the things concerning the righteous man, wrote the book, and that whatever words of the righteous man are reported that seem rather harsh, are the errors of the writer; for Job did not utter these things. And they say that the writer also fabricated for himself the speech of God and the sea monster, and they simply ridiculed the whole writing as being fabricated and composed from human invention. Others, however, did not say these things, but have slandered the wonderful seventy men who translated the writings from the Hebrew tongue into Greek. For not understanding the Hebrew well, they say, but being deceived by the homonymy of words, in many places they have published one thing for another. But those who said these things, persuaded by some Hebrew who attempted to undermine and invalidate the interpretation of the seventy, inserted other words into the writing instead of those that were written. Still others accepted the writing as being divinely inspired, but strongly reviled the friends of Job, saying they were envious and that out of envy they attacked Job thus. And others, leaving aside the things written historically, turned almost all the sayings to allegories. And so much concerning the writing of the book. But concerning the man himself they disagreed no less, some saying that he existed before the law, others after the law, and still others say that he existed in the very times of the kings of both Judah and Israel. But I, persuaded by God, who ranked the man with righteous men and with prophets, and who said concerning him through the God-bearing mouth of Ezekiel the prophet: if Noah and Job and Daniel should stand, they will not deliver their sons and their daughters and also persuaded by the one who says: You have heard of the patience of Job and you have seen the end of the Lord, I am persuaded that the man is a certain wonderful and apostolic man, and deemed worthy of prophetic grace, whether even before his struggles or in the very midst of his contests; for indeed nothing of exactness has been omitted by him. Therefore he was perfect in virtue and worthy of the testimony of God. And again both to the sacred things

1

Commentarii in Job

ΥΠΟΘΕΣΙΣ

Πολλὰ τοῖς παλαιοτέροις ἔδοξε περὶ τῆς προκειμένης συγγραφῆς· οἱ μὲν γὰρ τοῦ ἀνδρὸς ὑπεραπολογούμενοι λέγουσιν, ὅτι πρὸ τῆς χάριτος γεγονὼς καὶ μηδὲν ἐλπίζων ἔσεσθαι μετὰ τόνδε τὸν βίον, ἐπειδὴ τῆς τῶν ὁρωμένων εὐδαιμονίας ἀφῃρέθη χρημάτων καὶ παίδων, καὶ τῇ ἀνηκέστῳ περιβεβλημένος νόσῳ εἰκότως ἐδυσχέραινεν. οὐδὲν γὰρ ἑαυτῷ συνειδὼς ἄδικον οὐ δίκαια πάσχειν νομίζων ἐταράττετο. καὶ οὐδὲν μὲν εἰς θεὸν ἐδυσφήμησεν, ὅπερ μάλιστα τῷ διαβόλῳ διὰ σπουδῆς ἦν· πλὴν οὐκ ἐφύλαξε τὸ πρὸς θεὸν ἀκρότατον σέβας τῷ ὅλως ἀμφισβητῆσαι περὶ τὴν αὐτοῦ πρόνοιαν, διὰ τί μὴ τὸ κριτικὸν αὐτῷ ἐφύλαξε ὁ θεός, ἀλλ' εἴασε παρὰ τὴν ἀξίαν κακοῦσθαι, καὶ διὰ τί μὴ φιλανθρωπίας κατηξίωσεν, εἴπερ ἄρα πονηρίαν εἶδεν ἐν αὐτῷ. οὐκ ἀποδεδώκασιν οὖν οἱ ταῦτα λέγοντες τῷ δικαίῳ Ἰὼβ τὴν τελείαν ἀρετήν, ἀλλ' ἔφασαν, ὅτι καλὸν ἡμῖν ὑπόδειγμα γέγονεν ὁ Ἰὼβ οὕτω πρὸ τῆς χάριτος ἀγωνισάμενος, ἵνα ἡμεῖς οἱ τῆς χάριτος ἀπολελαυκότες ἐπὶ τὰ τελειότερα λοιπὸν ὁδεύωμεν, τὸ τοῦ θειοτάτου Παύλου κατὰ νοῦν λαμβάνοντες ὃς πρὸς τοὺς ἀμφισβητοῦντας ταῖς θείαις κρίσεσιν ἔφησεν ὅτι· ὦ ἄνθρωπε, μενοῦν γε σὺ τίς εἶ ὁ ἀνταποκρινόμενος τῷ θεῷ; μὴ ἐρεῖ τὸ πλάσμα τῷ πλάσαντι· τί με ἐποίησας οὕτως; καὶ ταῦτα μὲν οὗτοι. ἕτεροι δὲ ἀπετόλμησαν εἰπεῖν, ὡς τὸ μὲν ἀγώνισμα τὸ κατὰ τὸν Ἰὼβ ἀληθὲς τυγχάνει, οὐκ ἔστι δὲ τῶν θεοπνεύστων βιβλίων ἡ συγγραφή, ἀλλά τις ἀνὴρ τῶν παρ' Ἑβραίοις λογίων τῆς θείας παιδεύσεως τὴν ἐπίδειξιν ποιούμενος ἀκοῇ τὰ κατὰ τὸν δίκαιον παρειληφὼς συνέγραψε τὸ βιβλίον, καὶ ὅσα τοῦ δικαίου φέρονται τραχύτερα δοκοῦντα ῥήματα, ἁμαρτήματα τοῦ συγγραφέως τυγχάνουσιν· οὐ γὰρ Ἰὼβ ἐφθέγξατο ταῦτα. φασὶ δὲ ὅτι καὶ τὴν τοῦ θεοῦ ῥῆσιν ὁ συγγραφεὺς ἀνέπλασεν ἑαυτῷ καὶ τὸ κῆτος, καὶ δι' ὅλων ἁπλῶς ἐκωμῴδησαν τὴν συγγραφὴν ὡς πεπλασμένην οὖσαν καὶ ἐξ ἀνθρωπίνης ἐπινοίας συντεθειμένην. ἕτεροι δὲ ταῦτα μὲν οὐκ εἶπον, τοὺς δὲ θαυμαστοὺς ἄνδρας τοὺς ἑβδομήκοντα διαβεβλήκασι τοὺς μεταβεβληκότας ἐκ τῆς Ἑβραίων φωνῆς εἰς τὴν Ἑλλάδα τὰ γεγραμμένα. οὐ γὰρ καλῶς, φασίν, νοήσαντες τὰ Ἑβραϊκά, ἀλλὰ τῇ ὁμωνυμίᾳ τῶν λέξεων πεπλανημέ 2 νοι εἰς πολλοὺς τόπους ἕτερα ἀνθ' ἑτέρων ἐκδεδώκασιν. οἱ δὲ ταῦτα φήσαντες Ἑβραίῳ τινὶ πεισθέντες ὑπορύττειν ἐπιχειρήσαντι καὶ παραλύειν τῶν ἑβδομήκοντα τὴν ἑρμηνείαν ἕτερα ἀντὶ τῶν γεγραμμένων παρενέβαλον ῥήματα τῷ συγγράμματι. ἄλλοι δὲ τὴν μὲν συγγραφὴν ἀπεδέξαντο ὡς θεόπνευστον οὖσαν, τοὺς δὲ φίλους τοῦ Ἰὼβ ἰσχυρῶς διέσυραν ὡς βασκάνους αὐτοὺς φήσοντες καὶ ὑπὸ βασκανίας οὕτως ἐπιθέσθαι τῷ Ἰώβ. ἕτεροι δὲ τὰ ἱστορικῶς ἐγγεγραμμένα ἀφέντες σχεδὸν ἅπαντα τὰ ῥητὰ πρὸς ἀλληγορίας ἔτρεψαν. καὶ ταῦτα μὲν περὶ τῆς τοῦ βιβλίου συγγραφῆς. περὶ δὲ αὐτοῦ τοῦ ἀνδρὸς οὐδὲν ἧττον διεφώνησαν οἱ μὲν πρὸ τοῦ νόμου τοῦτον γεγονέναι λέγοντες, οἱ δὲ μετὰ νόμον, ἕτεροι δὲ καὶ ἐπὶ τῶν χρόνων αὐτῶν τῶν βασιλέων τοῦ τε Ἰουδὰ καὶ τοῦ Ἰσραὴλ γεγονέναι φασίν. ἐγὼ δὲ θεῷ πειθόμενος τῷ καὶ μετὰ δικαίων καὶ μετὰ προφητῶν τὸν ἄνδρα συντάξαντι καὶ διὰ τοῦ θεοφόρου στόματος Ἰεζεκιὴλ τοῦ προφήτου φήσαντι περὶ αὐτοῦ· ἐὰν στῇ Νῶε καὶ Ἰὼβ καὶ ∆ανιήλ, υἱοὺς αὐτῶν καὶ θυγατέρας αὐτῶν οὐ μὴ ἐξέλωνται πειθόμενος δὲ καὶ τῷ λέγοντι· τὴν ὑπομονὴν Ἰὼβ ἠκούσατε καὶ τὸ τέλος κυρίου εἴδετε, τὸν μὲν ἄνδρα θαυμαστόν τινα καὶ ἀποστολικὸν εἶναι πείθομαι καὶ προφητικῆς ἀξιωθέντα χάριτος, εἴτε καὶ πρὸ τῶν παλαισμάτων εἴτε καὶ ἐν αὐτοῖς μέσοις τοῖς ἀγωνίσμασιν· καὶ γὰρ οὐδὲν αὐτῷ τῆς ἀκριβείας παραλέλειπται. τέλειος οὖν ἦν τὴν ἀρετὴν καὶ τῆς τοῦ θεοῦ μαρτυρίας ἄξιος. πάλιν τε τοῖς τε ἱεροῖς