The Crown of Blamelessness

To celebrate his courage. The traits of nature were displayed, and the excellences of virtue were displayed. He heard the affliction of the children and tore his garments, in order to show the compassion of nature. For if he had not suffered, he would not have been admired as a lover of mankind, but would have been known as unfeeling. But he suffered as a man, yet he endured as a lover of God; he rebuked the weakness of nature, but did not surrender the manner of piety. He tore his garments, yet he worshiped.

The devil was not so struck as he was wounded; he was not so injured as he was smitten. But having let Job compete well in the first struggle, God gives him into another struggle, so that he may weave for him a more brilliant crown of endurance. For again the angels appear for the second time, and the devil is questioned in the midst by the One who knows all. From where do you come? See the wisdom of God; see the cunning of the devil. God knew where he had come, that having been defeated by the righteous, he had come; but God wills to see whether he confesses the defeat with a good mind.

From where have you come? The devil, hiding the defeat because he was ashamed, uses the same first voice: 'Having gone around the earth and walking under the heaven, I am present.' Is this why you went out? Is this what you asked for? Did you not say, 'Deliver to me the possessions of Job'? Why do you hide the struggle, so that you might destroy the crown of victory? Speak the struggle, cursed one; speak also the wrestling, so that you may proclaim the victory. But what the devil hid out of envy, the Master of all celebrates with virtuous philosophy. 'Do you pay attention with your mind against my servant?' What you hide, I know.

For God asks many times, not so that he might learn, but so that he might exercise the intention of those being questioned, to see if they confess with a good mind. Thus he asked Cain: 'Where is Abel your brother?' He was foolish, he who did the evil, even if he stood as an accuser of himself, so that his own accusation might blunt the greatness of the crime. For everyone accusing himself provokes the indignation of the judge. Just as then he asked Cain: 'Where is Abel your brother?' And he, supposing the question to be from ignorance, says, 'I do not know; am I the guardian of my brother?' And when he tested the intention, then he rebuked the impiety, saying, 'The voice of the blood of your...'

He cries to me from the earth of a thousand sufferings; thus, if he asks and sees one wandering alone, he reproves one doing evil. And now, since he asks the devil and does not learn from him the defeat which he has suffered, he himself mocks his defeat and recalls the victory of the righteous.

Pay attention with your mind to my servant Job, that there is no one like him on the earth. Pay attention precisely there, I beg you, and do not pass over the words of the divine Scriptures. In the first testimony, 'blameless' was nowhere said, but in the second. In the first, God says: 'Pay attention with your mind to my servant Job, that there is no one like him on the earth, a man blameless, righteous, true, turning away from every evil thing?' The word 'blameless' was not added there; but after the struggle and the contest, he adds it to him like a crown, the good report accompanying his agonies. Because, since he endured the affliction blamelessly through a thousand sufferings, he did not blaspheme against the Lord, but judged all things with goodness and in peace, saying: 'If we received the good things from the hand of the Lord, shall we not endure the bad?' Since the word was 'blamelessness,' he weaves the crown of blamelessness, because 'There is no man like him, a blameless man.'

And you, why did you say you would destroy his possessions for nothing? Instead of saying, 'Did you envy his wealth?' you said, as a pretext, that the man serves God piously; he was stripped of his possessions, but he was not stripped of the truth. You, therefore, devil, said you would destroy his possessions for nothing. Evil does not lack its own evil intention. It finds again another suspicion capable of extinguishing the courage of the upright. He says therefore to God: 'Skin for skin, and all that a man has, he will give for his soul.' Nothing, he says, is great, if he lost possessions; he contemptuously disregarded all things in order that he might save himself. But if you wish to test him, touch his flesh; he will surely bless you to your face. The 'He will bless' is instead of 'He will curse.' For the Scripture covered the bad report with a good report.

Why are these things written? So that you, the faithful, may learn, when you recount the shameful things of others, to cover them with the dignity of words. Do not act shamefully with dignity, but act with dignity when you avoid the speech of shameful things. Because of this the Apostle says: