The hedge around Job; the wife’s counsel and Eve’s pattern
Origen’s expositions on Job open at chapter 1: "Did you not fence what is outside him?" How do you know the fence is there? Our adversary the devil goes about like a roaring lion, seeking someone to swallow. He came round Job wanting the same work; later, once authority was given, he did it. From being blocked he learned that everything was fenced, and said, "You fenced what is inside him and what is outside him." Whatever is not handed to the devil, you have fenced.
While one messenger still spoke, another told Job that his sons and daughters were eating and drinking at their eldest brother’s house; "a great wind from the desert struck the four corners of the house; it fell on your children, and they diedI alone escaped to tell you." Camels fell to horsemen, donkeys and ox-teams to captors; the sheep he hated, so he brought fire on them. He also plotted against the sons and waited for a moment to destroy them. Had he found them reading, he would not have touched the house. Had he found them praying, he could do nothing. Opportunity came in drunkenness and a drinking-party. Note the spirit at the corners of the house: hypocrites pray in the broad places of the corners, and everyone off the straight road uses corners. A broad corner is much, loosened wickedness.
Chapter 2: "The Lord said to the devil, From where do you come?" God saw Satan ashamed and distressed; when questioning shows him ungrateful, God convicts the wrongdoer, as he convicted Cain. "After time had advanced, his wife said to him." See the craft: attack comes when long endurance has already weakened strength. Weakness is double — the bearer grows weaker by length of time, and hope is more nearly abandoned. Do not look first at the fact that she is a wife, but at what she advises. People now should weigh the manner of counsel, not the dignity of the person. A wife is to help, not to trip.
She asks, "Until when will you endure?" The devil saves the strongest device for last. "Would that you had taken her too! Would that you had buried her with the children!" Some say the words are not even hers, but the adversary speaking through her shape — unless calamity truly overturned her. Likely this was not the first counsel; she had heard harder things often. Diabolic deceit remembers Eve: what brought down the first human may prevail here too. Wretched fool — Eve found one weaker than the belly and sowed her venom; this man you see philosophizing and mastering nature itself. Loss of goods, untimely death of children, unconsolable bodily torment, and long time did not bend him. Will words master the one events could not catch? Why loosen the athlete’s hands? Say with the Apostle, "Yet a little, yet a little." "Say some word against the Lord, and die" — after the tragedy has been told exactly—
Greek
Enarrationes in Job ΩΡΙΓΕΝΟΥΣ ΕΞΗΓΗΤΙΚΑ ΕΙΣ ΤΟΝ ΙΩΒ. 17.57 ΚΕΦ. Αʹ. Στίχ. ιʹ. Οὐ σὺ περιέφραξας τὰ ἔξω αὐτοῦ; Πόθεν οἶδας, ὅτι πέφρακται; Οὗτος ὁ ἀντίδικος ἡμῶν ὁ διάβολος ὡς λέων ὠρυόμενος περιπορεύε 17.60 ται, ζητῶν καταπιεῖν τινα. Ἦλθεν οὖν καὶ περὶ τὸν Ἰὼβ, βουλόμενος τὰ αὐτὰ ποιῆσαι. Ὕστερον λαβὼν ἐξουσίαν, ταῦτα πεποίηκε. Καὶ ὅτι πάντα πε ριπεφραγμένα ἦν, καὶ ταῦτα νοήσας ἐκ τοῦ κεκωλύ σθαι· βουλόμενος ποιεῖν τὰ περὶ τοῦ Ἰὼβ, εἶπε· Σὺ περιέφραξας τὰ ἔσω αὐτοῦ καὶ τὰ ἔξω αὐτοῦ. Πάν τα οὖν ἐφ' ὅσον οὐ δίδοται τῷ διαβόλῳ, σὺ περιέ φραξας. Στ. ιηʹ. Ἔτι τούτου λαλοῦντος, ἄλλος ἄγγελος λέγων τῷ Ἰώβ· Τῶν υἱῶν σου καὶ τῶν θυγατέ ρων σου ἐσθιόντων καὶ πινόντων, παρὰ τῷ ἀδελ φῷ αὐτῶν τῷ πρεσβυτέρῳ, Στ. ιθʹ. Ἐξαίφνης πνεῦμα μέγα ἐπῆλθεν ἐκ τῆς ἐρήμου, καὶ ἥψατο τῶν τεσσάρων γωνιῶν τῆς οἰκίας, καὶ ἔπεσεν ἡ οἰκία ἐπὶ τὰ παιδία σου, καὶ ἐτελεύτησαν. Ἐσώθην δὲ ἐγὼ μόνος, καὶ ἦλθον τοῦ ἀπαγγεῖλαί σοι. Τὰς μὲν οὖν καμήλους πεποίηκε γενέσθαι ὑπὸ τοὺς ἱππεῖς, τοὺς ὄνους δὲ καὶ τὰ ζεύγη τῶν βοῶν ὑπὸ τοὺς αἰχμαλωτίζοντας· τὰ πρόβατα δὲ ἐμίσει. ∆ιὰ τοῦτο πῦρ ἐπ' αὐτὰ κατήγαγεν. Ἀλλὰ καὶ τοῖς υἱοῖς ἐπεβούλευσε, καιρὸν ἐζήτει τοῦ αὐτοὺς ἀπολέ σαι. Εἰ εὑρήκει ἀναγινώσκοντας, οὐκ ἂν ἥψατο τῆς οἰκίας, οὐδὲ τόπον εἶχε τοῦ αὐτοὺς ἀποκτεῖναι. Εἰ εὑρήκει προσευχομένους, οὐδὲν ἠδύνατο ποιῆσαι κατ' αὐτῶν. Ἀλλ' ὅτε εὗρεν εὐκαιρίαν, ἴσχυσε. Ποῖος οὖν ὁ καιρός; Μέθη ἦν, συμπόσιον ἦν. Τὸ, τῶν γω νιῶν τῆς οἰκίας ἅψασθαι τὸ πνεῦμα, ἐπίστησον, ὅτι ἐν ταῖς τῶν γωνιῶν πλατείαις οἱ ὑποκριταὶ ἑστῶτες προσεύχονται· πᾶς δὲ ὁ μὴ ἐπιβεβηκὼς εὐθείας ὁδοῦ, ταῖς γωνίαις κέχρηται. Πλατεῖα δὲ γωνία ἡ πολλὴ καὶ ἀνειμένη κακία. ΚΕΦ. Βʹ. Στίχ. βʹ. Καὶ εἶπεν ὁ Κύριος τῷ διαβόλῳ· Πό θεν σὺ ἔρχῃ; Ἑώρα ὁ Θεὸς, ὅπως αἰσχυνθεὶς διεπονεῖτο ὁ Σατα νᾶς. Ὅταν δὲ ἐπερωτῶν ἴδῃ ἀγνωμονοῦντα, τότε ἐλέγχει κακουργοῦντα, ὡς ἤλεγξε τὸν Κάϊν. Στ. θʹ. Χρόνου δὲ προβεβηκότος, εἶπεν αὐτῷ ἡ γυνὴ αὐτοῦ. Ὅρα τὸ κακοῦργον. Ὅτε πολὺς διῆλθε χρόνος, τότε ἐπιτίθεται· τότε γὰρ μάλιστα τῆς δυνάμεως ἐξασθε νεῖ. ∆ιπλᾶ τὰ τῆς ἀσθενείας ἦν, τῷ τε τὸν φέροντα ἀσθενέστερον γενέσθαι τῷ μήκει τοῦ χρόνου, καὶ τῷ τὴν ἐλπίδα ἀπογνωσθῆναι μᾶλλον. Καὶ μετ' ὀλίγα· Μὴ τοίνυν τοῦτο ἴδωμεν, ὅτι γυνὴ, ἀλλὰ τί συμβου λεύει. Τοῦτο καὶ τοῖς νῦν ἀνθρώποις παραινῶ, μὴ πρὸς τὰ τῶν προσώπων ἀξιώματα βλέπειν, ἀλλὰ πρὸς τὸν τρόπον τῆς συμβουλῆς. Γυνή ἐστιν ἵνα βοηθῇ, οὐχ ἵνα ὑποσκελίζῃ. Στ. θʹ. Εἶπεν αὐτῷ ἡ γυνὴ αὐτοῦ· Μέχρι τί νος καρτερήσεις; Τὸ πάντων μηχανημάτων τῶν προλαβόντων ἰσχυ ρότερον ὕστερον ὁ διάβολος προσάγει. Εἴθε καὶ ταύ την ἔλαβες! Εἴθε μετὰ τῶν παίδων κατέχωσας! Τινὲς δέ φασιν οὐδὲ τῆς γυναικὸς εἶναι τὰ ῥήματα, ἀλλ' αὐ 17.61 τὸν εἰς αὐτὴν τυπωθέντα ταῦτα φθέγγεσθαι· οὐδὲ γὰρ ἦν τὴν γυναῖκα τοῦ Ἰὼβ τοιαύτην εἶναι· πλὴν εἴ τις λέγοι, συμφορᾷ περιτραπεῖσαν, τοιαύτην αὐτὴν γενέ σθαι. Καὶ μετ' ὀλίγα· Εἰκὸς οὐ ταύτην πρώτην γε γενῆσθαι τὴν συμβουλὴν, ἀλλὰ πολλάκις πολλὰ τού των ἀκοῦσαι χαλεπώτερα παρὰ τῆς γυναικός. Ὅρα διαβολικὴν ἀπάτην. Ἐνενόησε τὴν Εὔαν. Τοῦτο, φησὶ, τὸν πρῶτον κατήνεγκεν ἄνθρωπον· τοῦτο καὶ τούτου περιγενέσθαι δυνήσεται. Ἀλλ', ὦ ἄθλιε καὶ ἀνόητε! ἐκεῖνον ἥττονα γαστρὸς εὑροῦσα, ἰὸν ἔσπειρε τὸν ἑαυ τῆς. Τοῦτον δὲ ὁρᾷς φιλοσοφοῦντα, καὶ αὐτῆς περι γενόμενον τῆς φύσεως. Οὐκ ἐπέκαμψεν αὐτὸν χρη μάτων ἀπώλεια, οὐδὲ παίδων θάνατος ἄωρος, οὐδὲ βάσανος σώματος ἀπαραμύθητος, οὐδὲ χρόνου μῆκος τοσοῦτον. Καὶ τὸν ὑπὸ πραγμάτων οὐχ ἁλόντα, τοῦ τον ὑπὸ λόγων προσδοκᾷς χειρώσασθαι; Τοῦ αὐτοῦ. Τί τὸν ἀθλητὴν ἐκλύεις; Τί καταστέλλεις τὰς χεῖ ρας; δέον εἰπεῖν κατὰ τὸν Ἀπόστολον· Ἔτι μικρὸν, ἔτι μικρόν. Στ. θʹ. Ἀλλ' εἶπόν τι ῥῆμα εἰς Κύριον, καὶ τελεύτα. Μετὰ τὸ τὴν τραγῳδίαν ἀκριβῶς
About this text
Origen of Alexandria, Enarrationes in Job (Greek).
Catalogue & scope
Khazarzar scan
Witnesses
- Copy-text PG 17 (Khazarzar) (Greek)
This is an AI-assisted study translation. Source fidelity and completeness have not been independently certified. Open Greek on each section for the source text. This is not a complete critical edition.