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*H Behold, these ten times you confound me, and are not ashamed to oppress me.
Ver. 3. Ten times; very often. — Oppress me. Heb. word occurs no where else, and is variously translated. It may signify, "to dig a pit for me." C. vi. 27. Ps. vi. 6. Job repeats nearly what he had said before, only with greater vehemence. He admits that Providence treats him in an unusual manner. Yet he still retains an assured hope, and arraigns his adversaries before the divine tribunal. C. — Yet he rather hesitates; (v. 4. 6.) and this species of ignorance is the folly of which he, at last, accuses himself. C. xlii. 3. It was no real fault, ib. v. 8. H.
*H For if I have been ignorant, my ignorance shall be with me.
Ver. 4. With me. I alone am answerable for it. But I am no wiser for your remarks. If I have sinned, have I not been sufficiently punished? C. — Sept. "Yea, truly, I was under a mistake; and the mistake still remains with me, to have spoken a word which was not becoming. But my speeches are erroneous and importunate." He talks thus ironically. H.
*H But you set yourselves up against me, and reprove me with my reproaches.
Ver. 5. Reproaches, which I endure, as if they were a sure proof of your assertion. H. — I must therefore refute you. C.
*H At least now understand, that God hath not afflicted me with an equal judgment, and compassed me with his scourges.
Ver. 6. With an equal judgment. S. Gregory explains these words thus: Job being a just man, and truly considering his own life, thought that his affliction was greater than his sins deserved; and in that respect, that the punishment was not equal, yet it was just, as coming from God, who gives a crown of justice to those who suffer for righteousness' sake, and proves the just with tribulations, as gold is tried by fire. Ch. — He knew that God would surely give a just reward. 2 Tim. iv. S. Greg. xiv. 16. W. — The friends of Job had too contracted a notion of Providence, supposing that the virtuous could not be afflicted. Job allowed that the ordinary rules were not here observed. Heb. "the Lord hath perverted or overthrown me." C. — This gave him no small uneasiness. If the thing had been as plain as it appears now to us, he might have refuted all with a bare denial. Houbigant.
*H Behold I shall cry suffering violence, and no one will hear: I shall cry aloud, and there is none to judge.
Ver. 7. Hear. Jeremias makes the same complaint, Lam. iii. 8. C.
*H His troops have come together, and have made themselves a way by me, and have besieged my tabernacle round about.
Ver. 12. Troops: (latrones) "free-booters," (H.) or "soldiers." Sanctius. — Those nations made a practice of plundering one another's territories, without any declaration of war. Mercury and Autolychus are praised for thefts of this description. Odys. xix. See Judg. xi. 3. Sept. "his temptations (C. or militia; πειρατηρια ) came rushing together upon me; lying down (H.) in ambush, (C.) they surrounded my paths." H.
*H My wife hath abhorred my breath, and I entreated the children of my womb.
Ver. 17. Entreated. Prot. add, "for the children's sake of mine own body." Sept. "I invited with flattering speeches the sons of my concubines. (18) But they cast me from them for ever. When I arise, they speak against me." H. — Interpreters generally suppose that Job speaks of the children by his inferior wives: though he might have some at home by the first wife, who were not old enough to be invited to the feast, with those who were destroyed. C.
*H Even fools despised me, and when I was gone from them, they spoke against me.
Ver. 18. Fools; wicked men, (M.) or the meanest of the people, (C.) whom (H.) these unnatural children (C.) resembled. Heb. "young children." Prot. H.
*H They that were sometime my counsellors, have abhorred me: and he whom I loved most is turned against me.
Ver. 19. Some. Heb. "men of my secret." Sept. "who knew me;" my most intimate friends. — And he. Heb. and Sept. "They whom I love are." H. — These ungratefully joined with the rest, in turning their backs on their benefactor. W.
*H The flesh being consumed, my bone hath cleaved to my skin, and nothing but lips are left about my teeth.
Ver. 20. Teeth. I am like a skeleton, so strangely emaciated, and my flesh corrupted: even my bones are not entire. H. — Heb. "I have escaped with the skin of my teeth." Only my gums are left. My bones cut the skin. Sym. "I tore my skin with my teeth."
*H Why do you persecute me as God, and glut yourselves with my flesh?
Ver. 22. Flesh? acting with the like inhumanity towards me. Am I not then sufficiently tormented in your opinion, that you insult over my distress? C.
*H With an iron pen and in a plate of lead, or else be graven with an instrument in flint stone?
Ver. 24. In a. Heb. "lead, in the rock for ever." Prot. Sept. have, "for ever," after book, (v. 23) and subjoins, "with a writing instrument of iron and (or) lead, or be engraven on the rocks for a memorial." Grabe insinuates that before there was only, "and on lead, or be engraven on the rocks." H. — Instrument, (celte) means "a chisel," (H.) like cœlum from cœlo: " I engrave." Pineda. — S. Jerom, (ad Pam.) and the late editor of his works, retain this word, as the older editions of S. Greg. did; (C.) though certè, "surely," has been inserted instead, from several MSS. by the Benedictines. H. — Ancient MSS. and Latin Bibles have more generally the latter word. But the received editions are supported by many MSS. (C.) and the Sept. εγγλυφηναι, εξπρεσσεσ ασ μυχη. Χελτισ εστ, γλυφειον. Amama. Casaub. in Athen. vii. 20. p. 556. — An inscription, in Dalmatia, has the same sense: Neque hic atramentum vel papyrus aut membrana ulla adhuc; sed malleolo et celte literatus silex. "Here as yet was neither ink, nor paper, nor any parchments; but a flint stone was lettered with a mallet and a chisel.." The former modes of writing were not, in effect, invented in the days of Job. C. — But it was long very usual to make use of lead. Pineda. — What he desired to have written in such durable characters, (H.) was the following sentence, in proof of his unshaken confidence in God, and as a refutation of his friends, who accused him of despair and blasphemy, (C.) as also the whole history of his conflict. His desire has been granted. T.
*H For I know that my Redeemer liveth, and in the last day I shall rise out of the earth.
Ver. 25. Redeemer may be understood of the Deity, without confining it to the second Person; (Isai. xli. 14. and xlix. 7. Piscator) though it may have a more peculiar reference to Christ: (Junius. H.) in whom he believed, as the Redeemer of all mankind. C. — Earth. Yea, ere long I shall be restored to health, (S. Chrys. Grot.) as an earnest and figure of the resurrection. Nothing is more common, in Scripture, than for the same prophecy to have a double accomplishment; one soon after it is made public, and another more sublime and remote. Job seemed to have no expectation of surviving his present misery, (v. 7, and C. vii. 7. and xxiv. 15.) unless God now revealed it to him, as a figure of his future resurrection, founded on the hope of our Saviour's, which he expresses in much clearer terms. Heb. "I know that my Redeemer is living, and that he will raise himself one day upon the earth," (C.) like a conqueror, (H.) or wrestler, having overthrown his antagonist: (Amama) or, "he will stand the last upon the earth, or dust," (Piscator) ascending his throne, to judge all. Deodat. — Yet Luther translates, "and one day he will raise me up from the earth;" which is not conformable to the Heb. Others explain, "he...will place (26) this, my skin, after they (worms) shall have ruined it." Pagnin. Mont. — But Amama suspects that the latter is not in earnest. Pineda defends the Vulg. and observes that yakum (H.) may signify, "will raise" himself, or "me;" the latter being at least a consequence of the former, if S. Jerom did not read it me in his copy. So S. Paul argues; If Christ be risen, we also shall rise again. Sept. "For I know that he is eternal, who will set me free," (H.) by death, (C. or redemption; εκλυειν ) "upon the earth."
* Summa
*S Part 3, Ques 2, Article 7
[II-II, Q. 2, Art. 7]
Whether It Is Necessary for the Salvation of All, That They Should Believe Explicitly in the Mystery of Christ?
Objection 1: It would seem that it is not necessary for the salvation of all that they should believe explicitly in the mystery of Christ. For man is not bound to believe explicitly what the angels are ignorant about: since the unfolding of faith is the result of Divine revelation, which reaches man by means of the angels, as stated above (A. 6; I, Q. 111, A. 1). Now even the angels were in ignorance of the mystery of the Incarnation: hence, according to the commentary of Dionysius (Coel. Hier. vii), it is they who ask (Ps. 23:8): "Who is this king of glory?" and (Isa. 63:1): "Who is this that cometh from Edom?" Therefore men were not bound to believe explicitly in the mystery of Christ's Incarnation.
Obj. 2: Further, it is evident that John the Baptist was one of the teachers, and most nigh to Christ, Who said of him (Matt. 11:11) that "there hath not risen among them that are born of women, a greater than" he. Now John the Baptist does not appear to have known the mystery of Christ explicitly, since he asked Christ (Matt. 11:3): "Art Thou He that art to come, or look we for another?" Therefore even the teachers were not bound to explicit faith in Christ.
Obj. 3: Further, many gentiles obtained salvation through the ministry of the angels, as Dionysius states (Coel. Hier. ix). Now it would seem that the gentiles had neither explicit nor implicit faith in Christ, since they received no revelation. Therefore it seems that it was not necessary for the salvation of all to believe explicitly in the mystery of Christ.
_On the contrary,_ Augustine says (De Corr. et Gratia vii; Ep. cxc): "Our faith is sound if we believe that no man, old or young is delivered from the contagion of death and the bonds of sin, except by the one Mediator of God and men, Jesus Christ."
_I answer that,_ As stated above (A. 5; Q. 1, A. 8), the object of faith includes, properly and directly, that thing through which man obtains beatitude. Now the mystery of Christ's Incarnation and Passion is the way by which men obtain beatitude; for it is written (Acts 4:12): "There is no other name under heaven given to men, whereby we must be saved." Therefore belief of some kind in the mystery of Christ's Incarnation was necessary at all times and for all persons, but this belief differed according to differences of times and persons. The reason of this is that before the state of sin, man believed, explicitly in Christ's Incarnation, in so far as it was intended for the consummation of glory, but not as it was intended to deliver man from sin by the Passion and Resurrection, since man had no foreknowledge of his future sin. He does, however, seem to have had foreknowledge of the Incarnation of Christ, from the fact that he said (Gen. 2:24): "Wherefore a man shall leave father and mother, and shall cleave to his wife," of which the Apostle says (Eph. 5:32) that "this is a great sacrament . . . in Christ and the Church," and it is incredible that the first man was ignorant about this sacrament.
But after sin, man believed explicitly in Christ, not only as to the Incarnation, but also as to the Passion and Resurrection, whereby the human race is delivered from sin and death: for they would not, else, have foreshadowed Christ's Passion by certain sacrifices both before and after the Law, the meaning of which sacrifices was known by the learned explicitly, while the simple folk, under the veil of those sacrifices, believed them to be ordained by God in reference to Christ's coming, and thus their knowledge was covered with a veil, so to speak. And, as stated above (Q. 1, A. 7), the nearer they were to Christ, the more distinct was their knowledge of Christ's mysteries.
After grace had been revealed, both learned and simple folk are bound to explicit faith in the mysteries of Christ, chiefly as regards those which are observed throughout the Church, and publicly proclaimed, such as the articles which refer to the Incarnation, of which we have spoken above (Q. 1, A. 8). As to other minute points in reference to the articles of the Incarnation, men have been bound to believe them more or less explicitly according to each one's state and office.
Reply Obj. 1: The mystery of the Kingdom of God was not entirely hidden from the angels, as Augustine observes (Gen. ad lit. v, 19), yet certain aspects thereof were better known to them when Christ revealed them to them.
Reply Obj. 2: It was not through ignorance that John the Baptist inquired of Christ's advent in the flesh, since he had clearly professed his belief therein, saying: "I saw, and I gave testimony, that this is the Son of God" (John 1:34). Hence he did not say: "Art Thou He that hast come?" but "Art Thou He that art to come?" thus saying about the future, not about the past. Likewise it is not to be believed that he was ignorant of Christ's future Passion, for he had already said (John 1:39): "Behold the Lamb of God, behold Him who taketh away the sins [Vulg.: 'sin'] of the world," thus foretelling His future immolation; and since other prophets had foretold it, as may be seen especially in Isaias 53. We may therefore say with Gregory (Hom. xxvi in Evang.) that he asked this question, being in ignorance as to whether Christ would descend into hell in His own Person. But he did not ignore the fact that the power of Christ's Passion would be extended to those who were detained in Limbo, according to Zech. 9:11: "Thou also, by the blood of Thy testament hast sent forth Thy prisoners out of the pit, wherein there is no water"; nor was he bound to believe explicitly, before its fulfilment, that Christ was to descend thither Himself.
It may also be replied that, as Ambrose observes in his commentary on Luke 7:19, he made this inquiry, not from doubt or ignorance but from devotion: or again, with Chrysostom (Hom. xxxvi in Matth.), that he inquired, not as though ignorant himself, but because he wished his disciples to be satisfied on that point, through Christ: hence the latter framed His answer so as to instruct the disciples, by pointing to the signs of His works.
Reply Obj. 3: Many of the gentiles received revelations of Christ, as is clear from their predictions. Thus we read (Job 19:25): "I know that my Redeemer liveth." The Sibyl too foretold certain things about Christ, as Augustine states (Contra Faust. xiii, 15). Moreover, we read in the history of the Romans, that at the time of Constantine Augustus and his mother Irene a tomb was discovered, wherein lay a man on whose breast was a golden plate with the inscription: "Christ shall be born of a virgin, and in Him, I believe. O sun, during the lifetime of Irene and Constantine, thou shalt see me again" [*Cf. Baron, Annal., A.D. 780]. If, however, some were saved without receiving any revelation, they were not saved without faith in a Mediator, for, though they did not believe in Him explicitly, they did, nevertheless, have implicit faith through believing in Divine providence, since they believed that God would deliver mankind in whatever way was pleasing to Him, and according to the revelation of the Spirit to those who knew the truth, as stated in Job 35:11: "Who teacheth us more than the beasts of the earth." _______________________
EIGHTH
*S Part 4, Ques 53, Article 1
[III, Q. 53, Art. 1]
Whether It Was Necessary for Christ to Rise Again?
Objection 1: It would seem that it was not necessary for Christ to rise again. For Damascene says (De Fide Orth. iv): "Resurrection is the rising again of an animate being, which was disintegrated and fallen." But Christ did not fall by sinning, nor was His body dissolved, as is manifest from what was stated above (Q. 51, A. 3). Therefore, it does not properly belong to Him to rise again.
Obj. 2: Further, whoever rises again is promoted to a higher state, since to rise is to be uplifted. But after death Christ's body continued to be united with the Godhead, hence it could not be uplifted to any higher condition. Therefore, it was not due to it to rise again.
Obj. 3: Further, all that befell Christ's humanity was ordained for our salvation. But Christ's Passion sufficed for our salvation, since by it we were loosed from guilt and punishment, as is clear from what was said above (Q. 49, A. 1, 3). Consequently, it was not necessary for Christ to rise again from the dead.
_On the contrary,_ It is written (Luke 24:46): "It behooved Christ to suffer and to rise again from the dead."
_I answer that,_ It behooved Christ to rise again, for five reasons. First of all; for the commendation of Divine Justice, to which it belongs to exalt them who humble themselves for God's sake, according to Luke 1:52: "He hath put down the mighty from their seat, and hath exalted the humble." Consequently, because Christ humbled Himself even to the death of the Cross, from love and obedience to God, it behooved Him to be uplifted by God to a glorious resurrection; hence it is said in His Person (Ps. 138:2): "Thou hast known," i.e. approved, "my sitting down," i.e. My humiliation and Passion, "and my rising up," i.e. My glorification in the resurrection; as the gloss expounds.
Secondly, for our instruction in the faith, since our belief in Christ's Godhead is confirmed by His rising again, because, according to 2 Cor. 13:4, "although He was crucified through weakness, yet He liveth by the power of God." And therefore it is written (1 Cor. 15:14): "If Christ be not risen again, then is our preaching vain, and our [Vulg.: 'your'] faith is also vain": and (Ps. 29:10): "What profit is there in my blood?" that is, in the shedding of My blood, "while I go down," as by various degrees of evils, "into corruption?" As though He were to answer: "None. 'For if I do not at once rise again but My body be corrupted, I shall preach to no one, I shall gain no one,'" as the gloss expounds.
Thirdly, for the raising of our hope, since through seeing Christ, who is our head, rise again, we hope that we likewise shall rise again. Hence it is written (1 Cor. 15:12): "Now if Christ be preached that He rose from the dead, how do some among you say, that there is no resurrection of the dead?" And (Job 19:25, 27): "I know," that is with certainty of faith, "that my Redeemer," i.e. Christ, "liveth," having risen from the dead; "and" therefore "in the last day I shall rise out of the earth . . . this my hope is laid up in my bosom."
Fourthly, to set in order the lives of the faithful: according to Rom. 6:4: "As Christ is risen from the dead by the glory of the Father, so we also may walk in newness of life": and further on; "Christ rising from the dead dieth now no more; so do you also reckon that you are dead to sin, but alive to God."
Fifthly, in order to complete the work of our salvation: because, just as for this reason did He endure evil things in dying that He might deliver us from evil, so was He glorified in rising again in order to advance us towards good things; according to Rom. 4:25: "He was delivered up for our sins, and rose again for our justification."
Reply Obj. 1: Although Christ did not fall by sin, yet He fell by death, because as sin is a fall from righteousness, so death is a fall from life: hence the words of Mic. 7:8 can be taken as though spoken by Christ: "Rejoice not thou, my enemy, over me, because I am fallen: I shall rise again." Likewise, although Christ's body was not disintegrated by returning to dust, yet the separation of His soul and body was a kind of disintegration.
Reply Obj. 2: The Godhead was united with Christ's flesh after death by personal union, but not by natural union; thus the soul is united with the body as its form, so as to constitute human nature. Consequently, by the union of the body and soul, the body was uplifted to a higher condition of nature, but not to a higher personal state.
Reply Obj. 3: Christ's Passion wrought our salvation, properly speaking, by removing evils; but the Resurrection did so as the beginning and exemplar of all good things. _______________________
SECOND
*H And I shall be clothed again with my skin, and in my flesh I shall see my God.
Ver. 26. And I. Sept. "But he will raise up my body or skin, which has sustained these things. This now has been accomplished for me by the Lord; (27) which I know within myself, which my eyes have seen, and not another. For all things are accomplished in my bosom." I am as fully convinced of this glorious event, (H.) as if it were past. C. — Heb. "and though, after my skin, worms destroy this body, yet in my flesh shall I see God." Prot. or in the margin, "After I shall awake, though this body be destroyed, yet out of," &c. Various other interpretations are given. H. — But we had as well adhere to the Sept. Vulg. &c. D. — God. Sixtus V. and some other editions, add "Saviour." C. — Job would see the Messias by the eyes of his posterity. S. Aug. or Faustus, ser. 234. t. v. App. Sanctius. — He hoped also to see God face to face in glory (C.) though not by means of his corporeal eyes, (H.) and to be restored to favour, so that God would no longer turn his back on him. , C. xlii. 5. S. Gregory, when legate at Constantinople, convinced the patriarch Eutychius, by this text, that after the resurrection, our bodies would still be palpable, and not aerial only. C. — It contains an express profession of Job's faith, on this head. We shall rise the same in substance. W.
* Summa
*S Part 1, Ques 12, Article 3
[I, Q. 12, Art. 3]
Whether the Essence of God Can Be Seen with the Bodily Eye?
Objection 1: It seems that the essence of God can be seen by the corporeal eye. For it is written (Job 19:26): "In my flesh I shall see . . . God," and (Job 42:5), "With the hearing of the ear I have heard Thee, but now my eye seeth Thee."
Obj. 2: Further, Augustine says (De Civ. Dei xxix, 29): "Those eyes" (namely the glorified) "will therefore have a greater power of sight, not so much to see more keenly, as some report of the sight of serpents or of eagles (for whatever acuteness of vision is possessed by these creatures, they can see only corporeal things) but to see even incorporeal things." Now whoever can see incorporeal things, can be raised up to see God. Therefore the glorified eye can see God.
Obj. 3: Further, God can be seen by man through a vision of the imagination. For it is written: "I saw the Lord sitting upon a throne," etc. (Isa. 6:1). But an imaginary vision originates from sense; for the imagination is moved by sense to act. Therefore God can be seen by a vision of sense.
_On the contrary,_ Augustine says (De Vid. Deum, Ep. cxlvii): "No one has ever seen God either in this life, as He is, nor in the angelic life, as visible things are seen by corporeal vision."
_I answer that,_ It is impossible for God to be seen by the sense of sight, or by any other sense, or faculty of the sensitive power. For every such kind of power is the act of a corporeal organ, as will be shown later (Q. 78). Now act is proportional to the nature which possesses it. Hence no power of that kind can go beyond corporeal things. For God is incorporeal, as was shown above (Q. 3, A. 1). Hence He cannot be seen by the sense or the imagination, but only by the intellect.
Reply Obj. 1: The words, "In my flesh I shall see God my Saviour," do not mean that God will be seen with the eye of the flesh, but that man existing in the flesh after the resurrection will see God. Likewise the words, "Now my eye seeth Thee," are to be understood of the mind's eye, as the Apostle says: "May He give unto you the spirit of wisdom . . . in the knowledge of Him, that the eyes of your heart" may be "enlightened" (Eph. 1:17, 18).
Reply Obj. 2: Augustine speaks as one inquiring, and conditionally. This appears from what he says previously: "Therefore they will have an altogether different power (viz. the glorified eyes), if they shall see that incorporeal nature;" and afterwards he explains this, saying: "It is very credible, that we shall so see the mundane bodies of the new heaven and the new earth, as to see most clearly God everywhere present, governing all corporeal things, not as we now see the invisible things of God as understood by what is made; but as when we see men among whom we live, living and exercising the functions of human life, we do not believe they live, but see it." Hence it is evident how the glorified eyes will see God, as now our eyes see the life of another. But life is not seen with the corporeal eye, as a thing in itself visible, but as the indirect object of the sense; which indeed is not known by sense, but at once, together with sense, by some other cognitive power. But that the divine presence is known by the intellect immediately on the sight of, and through, corporeal things, happens from two causes--viz. from the perspicuity of the intellect, and from the refulgence of the divine glory infused into the body after its renovation.
Reply Obj. 3: The essence of God is not seen in a vision of the imagination; but the imagination receives some form representing God according to some mode of similitude; as in the divine Scripture divine things are metaphorically described by means of sensible things. _______________________
FOURTH
*H Whom I myself shall see, and my eyes shall behold, and not another: this my hope is laid up in my bosom.
Ver. 27. Myself. Heb. "for myself," and for my comfort; not like the reprobate, who shall see their judge to their eternal confusion. Job insists so much on this point, that he shews he is not speaking merely of the divine favour being restored to him, in the re-establishment of his health and affairs, but that he raises his mind to something more solid and desirable, of which the former was only a faint representation. C. — "No one since Christ has spoken so plainly of the resurrection, as this man did before the coming of the Messias." S. Jer. ad Pam. — This. Heb. "though my reins be consumed within me;" (Prot. H.) or, "my reins (desires and tender affections) are completed in my bosom." C.
*H Why then do you say now: Let us persecute him, and let us find occasion of word against him?
Ver. 28. Let us. Sept. "Why do we contend against him? and the root of the word (reason) we shall find in him." He provokes us to speak thus. H. — Heb. reads, "in me." But the Chal. &c. "have him," as the sequel requires; unless Job speak this in his own person. I am ready to answer you; or, have you really discovered in me any grounds for your virulent attack? C.
*H Flee then from the face of the sword, for the sword is the revenger of iniquities: and know ye that there is a judgment.
Ver. 29. Know. Sept. "And then they shall know that their power is nowhere;" or, "where is their substance?" Grabe. H. — Job menaces his friends with God's judgments, as they had done him. C.