Notes on Job

1Now when Scripture says, “And there were born to him seven sons” (Job 1:2), this will also help us against the Arians. They cling to what the Apostle says about the Only-begotten—“being faithful to him who made him” (Hebrews 3:2)—as a great support for their heresy, and they insist that the Son of God is a creature. But this support of theirs is a bruised reed. For when a substance is a creature and a created thing, then “he made” and “he created” are properly said of it, and they signify a creature. But when a substance is an offspring and a son, then “he made,” “he became,” and “he created” are no longer properly applied to it, nor do they signify a creature; rather, a person uses “he made” without distinction in place of “he begot.” So the Arians will condemn themselves if they learn Scripture’s idiom. For even if parents speak of the children born from them as being made, becoming, and created, they do not thereby deny their nature. Hezekiah, for example, as it is written in Isaiah, prayed and said, “For from today I will make children” (Isaiah 38:19)—using “I will make” in place of “I will beget,” and speaking of the children born from him. And there is no difference. Here too it is said of Job, “And there were born to him seven sons” (Job 1:2), just as Moses also says in the law, “If they become” (Deuteronomy 25:5). One must first ask whether he is a son. For once this is demonstrated, the suspicion about creature and created thing ceases, and it becomes clear to all that the phrase “to him who made him” is of no benefit to their heresy, but rather leads to its condemnation. For it has been shown that the word “he made” is used in divine Scripture even of true and natural children. Therefore, since the Lord is demonstrated to be a true and natural Son, even if “he made” or “he became” is said of him, it is not said because he is a creature; rather, the saints use the word without distinction.

And God said to the devil, “Where have you come from?” (Job 1:7). At the same time, in these words it is shown that all created things are in divided places—the lights in the firmament, the clouds in the air. And for human beings he fixed the boundaries of the nations; the angels are sent out for ministries, and they ascend and descend on the ladder. And here it says, “They came to stand before the Lord” (Job 1:6). And a question is put to the devil: “Where have you come from?” (Job 1:7). So they are in a place, and wherever they are sent, there they are present. But God alone is unbounded. They seek the one who is present everywhere, in order to find the unbounded one shut up in some region. But “to stand before” means to be conformed to his will and to stretch oneself wholly toward him. For all creation is before God—even even that apostate and most wicked one—according to the unbounded nature of his being. But the angels are present to God in a special way, according to the insatiable longing of divine love.

So Job was contending, and the temptation was great; but the athlete appeared greater than the temptation.

2The tempter was pouring forth abundantly, and the one fighting was harsh; but the one being tempted appeared more courageous, conquering the assaults and attacks of the evil one by the greatness of his mind. The mark of courage is endurance. For by this each of the saints, bearing the painful and grievous things that happen in life, prevailed against the devil. The Spirit, wanting us to possess both, commands in the psalm: “Be strong, and let your heart be strengthened, and wait for the Lord” (Psalm 26:14 (Hebrew 27:14)). For the one who endures is courageous, and the courageous one would be enduring. Therefore blessed Job was strengthened through enduring, and through bearing his pains courageously he endured. He pushed away his wife, who had been deceived by the serpent and corrupted in her thoughts.

For since the inventor of evil is altogether a hater, and appearing only as one seeking whom he may seize and swallow, for this reason he hides and covers what he himself is. But by illusion he counterfeits the truth that all desire, and casts his own poison upon those who follow him. So he deceived Eve, not speaking his own words, but counterfeiting the words of God and corrupting their minds. So he subverted Job’s wife, persuading her to disguise herself in wifely love, but teaching her to blaspheme against God. So the deceiver plays with human beings through illusions, stealing and dragging each one into his own pit of evil.

“If he does not trust his own servants, and against his angels he has devised something crooked.” Athanasius. The nature of begotten and created things is changeable, since it is outside the being of God and came into existence from nothing. Therefore “every human being is a liar” (Psalm 116:11 (LXX 115:2)), and “all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God” (Romans 3:23). The devil, being in the midst of the cherubim and having become a seal of likeness, fell from heaven like lightning (Luke 10:18). And we will judge angels (1 Corinthians 6:3)—those, clearly, who did not keep their own domain (Jude 6). And here, “if he does not trust his own servants,” simply shows that created things have such a nature and are changeable. Only the divine nature is unchangeable.

“By papyrus, and reed, and bulrush.” Perhaps through the reed and the papyrus Scripture hints at the worthlessness and poverty of the devil. “His inward parts are bronze shields.” Athanasius. Long ago the enemy was great in his scheming against human beings, and by his illusions he deceived many, and the detection of his deceit was difficult—so that the Spirit says about him: “Who will uncover the face of his garment?” (Job 41:13) and so on. For he did not appear as what he was, but he produced an illusion of himself corresponding to whatever he was scheming. Therefore many were deceived by him. But when the Savior came, then all his illusion was exposed. For the things he did of old that went unrecognized are now known by the grace of Christ, and the things by which he once deceived human beings are now trampled underfoot by them. For faith is stronger than every assault of the devil and madness of demons.

3And the Lord said to the devil: “Where have you come from?” (Job 1:7). At the same time, this also establishes that all created things are in divided places—the lights in the firmament, the clouds in the air. And for human beings he fixed the boundaries of nations, while the angels are sent out for ministries, and they go up and down on the ladder. And here they came, it says, to stand before the Lord, and a question is put to the devil: “Where have you come from?” So they are in a place, and wherever they are sent, there they are present. But God alone is unbounded. Therefore they do not seek the one who is present everywhere as if he were in a place, so as to find the unbounded one enclosed in a region. Rather, to stand before him is this: to be formed by his will and to be stretched up wholly toward him. For every creature is before God, even the rebellious and most wicked one, in respect of the unbounded nature of that essence. But the angels are present to God in a special way, according to the insatiable longing of divine love.

“If we have received good things from the Lord’s hand, shall we not endure the bad things?” (Job 2:10). So Job was contending, and the trial was great, but the athlete appeared greater than the trial. The tempter was flowing in heavily, and the one fighting against him was harsh, but the one being tempted appeared more courageous, conquering the attacks and assaults of the evil one by the greatness of his mind. The mark of courage is endurance. For by this each of the saints, bearing the painful and grievous things that happen in life, prevailed against the devil. And the Spirit, wanting us to possess both of these, commands in the psalm: “Be strong, and let your heart be strengthened, and wait for the Lord” (Psalm 31:24). For the one who endures is courageous, and the courageous one would be enduring. Therefore blessed Job was strengthened through enduring, and through bearing his pains courageously he endured. He pushed away his wife, who had been deceived by the serpent and corrupted in her thoughts. For there the inventor of evil is entirely hateful, and only appearing to seek someone to seize and swallow, he hides and covers what he himself is, and by counterfeiting through illusion the truth that all desire, he casts his own poison upon those who follow him. So he deceived Eve, not speaking his own words but counterfeiting the words of God and distorting their meaning. So also he undermined Job’s wife, persuading her to counterfeit love for her husband while teaching her to blaspheme against God. So the deceiver plays with human beings through illusions, stealing and dragging each one into his own pit of evil.

“He who makes the mountains old, and they do not know it, who overturns them in wrath” (Job 9:5). The mountains are the prophets—Moses and those after him. And the Scripture makes this clear: “I lifted up my eyes to the mountains, from where my help will come” (Psalm 121:1). The one who gives his reasoning mind to the words of the prophets lifts up his eyes to the mountains, seeing that his help will come from the words understood in the prophets, from the Lord who made heaven and earth and filled the pure heart of the prophets with mysteries.

4So as long as the new covenant had not come, the prophets were not old, for nothing had been said outside of a covenant before this. But Christ is the one making old the mountains—Moses and the prophets. “And they do not know it” (Job 9:5). Who does not know it? Those to whom he said, “If you believed Moses, you would believe me, for he wrote about me” (John 5:46). If the Jews had known that the mountains were being made old, they would have abandoned them—that is, the oldness of the letter—and would have passed over and come to the new covenant, and they would have worshiped God in newness of Spirit and not in oldness of letter (Romans 7:6). So he adds: the Jews do not know either the one who made them old or the things that have been made old. Therefore, he says, he is the one overturning them in wrath—that is, the Jerusalem according to the letter [or: of the letter]. Where is the perceptible altar? My Jesus has done something marvelous When he came, his own prophets he has both made old and renewed. He made them old—how? “The ministry of death was engraved in letters,” it says (2 Corinthians 3:7). He renewed them—how? “The law is holy, and its commandment is holy and just and good” (Romans 7:12). But those who did not learn the spiritual name did not know these things.

“He who shakes what is under heaven from its foundations” (Job 9:6). Christ is the one who shook what is under heaven. Many earthquakes happen in part: an earthquake happens here, but those in the neighboring city do not know it. But with Christ it did not happen partially. Therefore he is the one shaking what is under heaven from its foundations. And its pillars are shaken—clearly the apostles were shaken at the time of the passion. “All of you,” he says, “will be scandalized because of me this night” (Matthew 26:31).

“He who speaks to the sun, and it does not rise, and seals up the stars” (Job 9:7). This also happened at the cross. “And seals up the stars”: it is reported that during the three hours when the sun failed, stars appeared in the sky as at night.

“He who makes the Pleiad, and Hesperus, and Arcturus, and the chambers of the south” (Job 9:9). These matters are beyond me. For since there are many stars—Pleiads, planets and fixed stars—listed by those who do not know, as they suppose (there is Hesperus, and Phaethon, and Phainon, and Stilbon, and Phosphorus), why then did Job, speaking in the Spirit, name only the Pleiad out of so many stars in the fixed sphere? And out of so many planets spoken of, why did he mention only Hesperus? And one other, Arcturus, the one in the bear, called by some the bear-keeper?