Job

THE TWOFOLD PROLOGUE OF BLESSED JEROME ON THE BOOK OF JOB

ARGUMENT

Job is reported to have dwelt indeed in the land of Husitis, on the borders of Idumaea and Arabia; and his name before was Jobab. And he took an Arabian wife, and begot a son, whom he called Ennon. Now he himself was indeed the son of Zara, a son from among the sons of Esau; but on his mother's side of Bosra, so that he is the fifth from Abraham. And these are the kings who reigned in Edom, in which he too reigned. But the first who reigned in it was Bela, the son of Beor; and the name of that same city was Denaba. And after Bela, Jobab, who is called Job. And after Job, Husan, who was a leader from the region of the Themanites. And after him reigned Adad, the son of Badad, who cut down Madian in the plain of Moab; and the name of his city was Avith.

PROTHEMATA ON JOB. [n: (Ex Greg. in Job, passim.)]

Some things here are said historically, and allegorically, and morally. Some cannot be taken according to the letter, because they would be erroneous or impossible, or at variance one with another: as that, namely: « *Under whom they are bowed down who bear up the world*, » as though giants carried the world; and that, namely: « My soul hath chosen hanging, » as though one so patient would wish to end his life by hanging; and that, namely: « Let the day perish on which I was born *(Ibid, III)*, » etc. Sometimes he who neglects the sense of the letter hides from himself the light of truth, while by seeking something else within he loses what lies without; as when, speaking of the works of mercy, he seeks an allegory in: « If I have denied what they wished, to the poor. » For the divine word, just as it prudently affords exercise in its mysteries, so by its surface it refreshes the simple: for it is like a river shallow and deep, in which a lamb may walk and an elephant swim. To erring man the law was given. He who is disobedient to the law is put to shame by the example, chiefly of a man without the law who lived lawfully. Whence: « Blush, Sidon, » that is, the stability of those set under the law, « saith the sea: » the Gentile world, which, while it keeps the law, refutes the hearers of the law. Moses is said to have written these things about Job as about one who went before, because in Genesis it is read that Jobab descended from Esau and succeeded Balach the son of Beor in the kingdom. But it is the custom of sacred speech to touch briefly, in the earlier parts, upon things that will follow long after, while it hastens on to other matters. Job therefore was not before the law, but in the time of the Judges, because he himself is more truly believed to have written the deeds of his own victory. Nor does it tell against this that it says: Job said, or did, these things; for it is the custom of the saints to speak of themselves as of others. For it is the Spirit who speaks in them as concerning others. Whence the angel of Moses is now called an angel, who serves outwardly, now the Lord, who presides inwardly; whence David also: « Attend, O my people, to my law. » For neither the people nor the law was David's, but his who speaks in him. And he willed to be prophesied of by a Gentile as by a Jew, he who had come for both peoples. Unfruitful talkativeness, like leaves of words, is pruned away from divine things, since a grove is forbidden to be planted in the temple of God. It is unworthy that the words of the heavenly oracle should be confined under the rules of Donatus. The virtue of Job was great even in quiet, known to himself and to God; but stirred by scourges, it breathes out its fragrance to us like spices. Whence the faithful too are compared to a grain of mustard, which unbruised is mild, but if it is bruised grows hot, and what lay hidden in it comes forth; whence in the Psalm: « In the day the Lord hath commanded his mercy, and in the night he hath declared it. » The gift of mercy, which is received in the quiet of the day, is said to be made manifest in the night of adversity. He is scourged also, that he might know how to give thanks amid evils, the one thing that was indeed lacking to him. What therefore the enemy sought for evil, God permitted for good. Nor let anyone think that any words of Job are to be reproved, one whom God so far commends, in whom, as in a middle ground, the devil contends against God. But that he recounts his own good things is not arrogance; rather by them he strengthens himself, lest he despair, since through so many evils and the reproaches of his friends he was being driven to despair of his life. Job is struck with every kind of temptation: with losses of goods, by which one powerful in the world was thought to be moved, but these he despises; with bereavement of offspring, but this he mourns with an even mind; with the smiting of the flesh, which he patiently endures; and these were as it were the outward assault of war, and as it were enemies fighting from the front. But within, through his wife as through a fellow citizen, his mind endures the poisons of counsel; yet her too he wisely instructs. His friends come for consolation, but leap forth to rebuke; and among them the last and younger, because he is unworthy, rebukes the more sharply, since sometimes words trouble more than wounds. Behold, as it were enemies on the flank. By wounds patience is proved, by words wisdom is exercised: the one he overcame by strength, the other by reason. Job's friends offended more by ignorance than by malice. For so great a man did not have wicked friends; but while they cannot discern the cause of the smitings, they slip into fault. For of smitings, one is that by which the wicked man is struck that he may be punished; another that he may be corrected; another that he may not commit things to come; another that, when salvation follows, the Saviour may be the more loved. If a good man is struck, his merits are heaped up: and not knowing how to distinguish this, they believe him struck for fault. Whence also they return the sooner to pardon, whom God here humbles, that not otherwise than through him whom they had despised should he receive them into grace. As all the just, so Job prefigured Christ, not only by words but by deeds, that by his passion he might show Christ who was to suffer: that is, the head together with the body, which is the Church. His wife signifies carnal men, who, the nearer they are within the Church by faith, the more harshly they press upon it by their life. Job's friends [signify] heretics, who under the appearance of giving counsel wish to deceive, and while they speak as it were on the Lord's behalf, set themselves against the truth. Job is called *grieving*, by which the passion of Christ or the labour of the Church is expressed. Eliphaz, *the contempt of the Lord,* that is, heretics, who, while they think false things of God, contemn him by their pride. Baldath, *oldness alone,* because they speak not with good intention but with appetite for glory, that is, not with the zeal of the new man, but with the depravity of the old life. Sophar, *the scattering of the watchtower,* or *scattering the watchman,* because heretics desire to strike with words the minds that contemplate things above. By contemning God, therefore, they hold themselves in oldness, and remaining in it they harm by evil discourses those who keep watch. But that they too sometimes return to the Church, the reconciliation of the friends shows, for whom Job prays, because the sacrifices of heretics are not accepted by God unless offered by the hands of the Church. Seven sacrifices are offered for them, because while they receive the sevenfold Spirit they are expiated as by seven oblations. Bulls and rams were offered for them: in the bull is signified the neck of pride, in the ram the leadership of the flock; because, springing back from the Church through pride, they drew weak flocks after them; and this is slain in them when they return to Job, that is, to the Church. By Elihu, who speaks with right understanding but is drawn aside into words of elation, is expressed the arrogant man who is nevertheless faithful, and who is also reproved; nor yet is he brought back by a sacrifice, because by the truth of faith he is overcome, but by the swelling of pride he displeases. Whence Elihu is interpreted *This is my God,* or *Our God*: for although proud, yet by believing truly he openly confesses, and declares him both God through his divinity and Lord through his incarnation. After all his evils, he received on account of double things, because the Church here also receives double for her labours, when, the Gentiles having been received, at the end she converts the Jews also; and in the world to come she will be endowed with a double robe, that is, with the beatitude of soul and of body. Whence the Prophet: « In their own land they shall possess double. » To Job afflicted it is said; but for how long a time it was, is passed over in silence, because the Church is known to be destined for affliction, but for how long is unknown; whence: « It is not for you to know the times or the moments which the Father hath put in his own power. »