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*H How long will you throw out words? understand first, and so let us speak.
Ver. 2. Understand ye. Teach this man to comprehend what we say. He deigns not to address Job in person: but repeats most of his former remarks respecting the wicked, as if they were unquestionably applicable to Job. C. viii. C. — Heb. "mark ye." Sept. "do thou attend." H. — Baldad speaks to many who might be of Job's opinion, as he was a figure of the Church, defending the common cause; while his friends, like heretics, speak both true and false things. S. Greg. xiv. 1. W.
*H Why are we reputed as beasts, and counted vile before you?
Ver. 3. Reputed. Sept. "silent as four-footed animals before thee? (H.) without discipline or understanding." C. xvii. 4. M.
*H Thou that destroyest thy soul in thy fury, shall the earth be forsaken for thee, and shall rocks be removed out of their place?
Ver. 4. Thou. Heb. "He teareth his soul in his fury!" H. — This is spoken with an air of contempt, as if Job were mad. C. xiii. 14. C. — Place. We should expect to see such effects, as soon as we would allow that God punishes thee, without thy being guilty. Hitherto he has treated the wicked only with such rigour. Still thou wouldst assert that thou art a singular example of an innocent man under oppression! C.
*H The light shall be dark in his tabernacle, and the lamp that is over him, shall be put out.
Ver. 6. Light; prosperity, (M.) offspring, &c. C.
*H The step of his strength shall be straitened, and his own counsel shall cast him down headlong.
Ver. 7. Step. He shall be greatly embarrassed, (M.) like a man in a narrow pass, (C.) beset with thorns. H. Prov. iv. 12. — Sept. "the weakest have made a prey of his possessions. H.
*H For he hath thrust his feet into a net, and walketh in its meshes.
Ver. 8. Meshes, (maculis) or holes of the net. M. — The more he strives to get out, the more he gets entangled. C.
*H The sole of his foot shall be held in a snare, and thirst shall burn against him.
Ver. 9. Thirst: the greedy hunter. C. — Heb. "the robber." H.
*H Fears shall terrify him on every side, and shall entangle his feet.
Ver. 11. Fears. Hunters used to place loose feathers round the wood, except where the gin was laid, in order to frighten the prey into it.
*H Let it devour the beauty of his skin, let the firstborn death consume his arms.
Ver. 13. First-born denotes the best, or the worst. H. — Death. Heb. "of death," the devil, or a premature death, and most cruel enemy. C. — Sept. "But death devours his most beautiful things." H.
*H Let his confidence be rooted out of his tabernacle, and let destruction tread upon him like a king.
Ver. 14. Confidence. Sept. "health." — Let. Prot. "and it shall bring him to the king of terrors;" (H.) or, "thou (O God) shalt," &c. Sept. "let him be in the greatest (C.) want, on account of a royal accusation," (H.) of high treason. C.
*H Let the companions of him that is not, dwell in his tabernacle, let brimstone be sprinkled in his tent.
Ver. 15. Tent, when he is gone to purify it.
*H Let his roots be dried up beneath, and his harvest destroyed above.
Ver. 16. Harvest. Heb. also, "branch;" (C.) his family, (M.) and all on which he trusted. C. — All must be destroyed, root and branch.
* Footnotes
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Proverbs
2:22
But the wicked shall be destroyed from the earth: and they that do unjustly, shall be taken away from it.
* Summa
*S Part 4, Ques 8, Article 7
[III, Q. 8, Art. 7]
Whether the Devil Is the Head of All the Wicked?
Objection 1: It would seem that the devil is not the head of the wicked. For it belongs to the head to diffuse sense and movement into the members, as a gloss says, on Eph. 1:22, "And made Him head," etc. But the devil has no power of spreading the evil of sin, which proceeds from the will of the sinner. Therefore the devil cannot be called the head of the wicked.
Obj. 2: Further, by every sin a man is made evil. But not every sin is from the devil; and this is plain as regards the demons, who did not sin through the persuasion of another; so likewise not every sin of man proceeds from the devil, for it is said (De Eccles. Dogm. lxxxii): "Not all our wicked thoughts are always raised up by the suggestion of the devil; but sometimes they spring from the movement of our will." Therefore the devil is not the head of all the wicked.
Obj. 3: Further, one head is placed on one body. But the whole multitude of the wicked do not seem to have anything in which they are united, for evil is contrary to evil and springs from divers defects, as Dionysius says (Div. Nom. iv). Therefore the devil cannot be called the head of all the wicked.
_On the contrary,_ A gloss [*St. Gregory, Moral. xiv] on Job 18:17, "Let the memory of him perish from the earth," says: "This is said of every evil one, yet so as to be referred to the head," i.e. the devil.
_I answer that,_ As was said above (A. 6), the head not only influences the members interiorly, but also governs them exteriorly, directing their actions to an end. Hence it may be said that anyone is the head of a multitude, either as regards both, i.e. by interior influence and exterior governance, and thus Christ is the Head of the Church, as was stated (A. 6); or as regards exterior governance, and thus every prince or prelate is head of the multitude subject to him. And in this way the devil is head of all the wicked. For, as is written (Job 41:25): "He is king over all the children of pride." Now it belongs to a governor to lead those whom he governs to their end. But the end of the devil is the aversion of the rational creature from God; hence from the beginning he has endeavored to lead man from obeying the Divine precept. But aversion from God has the nature of an end, inasmuch as it is sought for under the appearance of liberty, according to Jer. 2:20: "Of old time thou hast broken my yoke, thou hast burst my bands, and thou saidst, 'I will not serve.'" Hence, inasmuch as some are brought to this end by sinning, they fall under the rule and government of the devil, and therefore he is called their head.
Reply Obj. 1: Although the devil does not influence the rational mind interiorly, yet he beguiles it to evil by persuasion.
Reply Obj. 2: A governor does not always suggest to his subjects to obey his will; but proposes to all the sign of his will, in consequence of which some are incited by inducement, and some of their own free-will, as is plain in the leader of an army, whose standard all the soldiers follow, though no one persuades them. Therefore in the same way, the first sin of the devil, who "sinneth from the beginning" (1 John 3:8), is held out to all to be followed, and some imitate at his suggestion, and some of their own will without any suggestion. And hence the devil is the head of all the wicked, inasmuch as they imitate Him, according to Wis. 2:24, 25: "By the envy of the devil, death came into the world. And they follow him that are of his side."
Reply Obj. 3: All sins agree in aversion from God, although they differ by conversion to different changeable goods. _______________________
EIGHTH
*H They that come after him shall be astonished at his day, and horror shall fall upon them that went before.
Ver. 20. Them. Lit. "the first," who were witnesses of his misery. H.