Chapter V.
To end life in prosperity is to be wicked, but to afterwards lack heavenly rest; on the other hand, it is desirable for us that temptation from vices and presumption of impunity reside in prosperity. This folly is overcome by the holy man, declaring that punishment is both present and prepared for eternity. Then, after listing their crimes, he shows that they cannot escape the notice of God: he describes what their portion will be, and he exhorts us to pursue the wisdom that they have abandoned.
Therefore, these people have finished their lives in the goods of this world (Job 21:13), certainly this life that they were living, not that whose reward they hoped for; and therefore they slept in the rest of hell, not in the rest of heaven. But we should rather undergo labor here, so that in the kingdom of heaven we may deserve to obtain the consolation of eternal rest. For the abundance of worldly goods is a great enticement to sin: it lifts a person up in pride and instills forgetfulness of the Creator. Consider him, a rich man in the Gospel (Luke XVI, 19 et seq.), reclining on purple and fine linen, from whose table that righteous poor man Lazarus collected crumbs. Does it not seem to you that the rich man says to God: Depart from me; I do not want to know your ways (Job XXI, 14). And truly they do not want to know such ways of the Lord; for if they did, they would understand. But because they are full of labor, they flee and turn away from the lost. Therefore, like a drunkard, he does not recognize the author of salvation (Isaiah XXII, 13). Finally, turning to his companions, he said: Let us eat and drink: what use is it if we serve him? Or what benefit if we obey him? (Job 21:15) Therefore, the abundance of worldly things makes him drunk; because the rewards for the wicked deeds are not immediately paid in this world. He was arrogant because everything was available to him for pleasure: and being aware of his impiety, from which he was separated by punishment, he thought that God did not see the wicked deeds of the impious.
18. So to this opinion of his, the holy Job responded: do not be secure and dissolute, thinking that in this very age of the Lord no punishment will come to you. Nevertheless, even the lamp of the wicked is extinguished (Job 21:17 et seq.): it shines for a time, it does not have eternal light; and even though the world may favor them, because those who have power in this world do the will of him who has dominion in this world, the turning of events often comes, and pains from heavenly anger and indignation come, to be scattered, like chaff by the wind. The unjust are scattered like chaff, while the just are like wheat. Finally, listen to the words of the Lord to Peter: Behold, Satan has desired to sift you like wheat; but I have prayed for you, that your faith may not fail (Luke XXII, 31 and 32). Those who are scattered like chaff will fail; but not the one who is like that grain which fell and rose again, enriched by the abundant yield of many fruits. Therefore the Prophet says: Woe is me, for I have become like one gathering straw in the harvest (Micah VII, 1)! Therefore, straw that is quickly burned is compared to impiety and to dust. Therefore, after he said: They will be like chaff carried away by the wind, he added the verse immediately saying: Or like the dust that the wind snatches away (Job. XXI, 18). Finally, so that you may know that the wicked person quickly grows weak and vanishes like dust, you have the following statement in the first Psalm: Not so the wicked, not so, that is, not like the righteous: but like the dust that the wind scatters away from the face of the earth.
And he makes a distinction between the righteous and the wicked. Here, he says, he dies in the power of his simplicity, wholly in abundance and grace: but his inner parts are full of fat: and the marrow of his bones is moistened. But he finishes his course in the bitterness of his soul, and the feast of this life receives no good things. (Job XXI, 23 et seq.) To whom according to his merits, can anything worthy be assigned? He is laid in the tomb, and watches in his own sepulcher. Not indeed this punishment middling; to not have the rest of death, to be transferred not to the land of the living, but to the tombs of the dead. For he who lives is sought not among the dead, but in the bosom of Abraham he enjoys eternal life. Therefore, those two men in bright clothing said to the women: Why do you seek the living among the dead? He is not here (Luke 24:6).
Then (Job XXIV, 2 et seq.) he enumerates the wicked deeds of the impious, who would trespass boundaries and plunder the flock from the shepherd, take away the support of the orphan, pledge the widow's ox, harvest a field that is not theirs, have the feeble work in their vineyards without pay or food, leave the naked to sleep without clothes. Many of those whose souls they have taken cover themselves with the dew of the mountains; and because they lack covering, they hide themselves behind rocks. The orphans were being snatched away from their mothers' breasts, those who should have been raised were being oppressed. The hungry were deprived of food, and the souls of the infants were grieved deeply.
21. Could she have been ignorant of this, she who nothing escapes? Naked hell is in sight of her, and she is not clothed in the most wicked (Job XXVI, 6 et seq.); for they cannot hide. She stretches out the north wind as nothing: she suspends the earth in nothing, binding the waters in her clouds, and the clouds are not broken under her feet: the pillars of heaven have burst, and they tremble at her rebuke. She restrains the sea with power, and with her discipline she constructs the assembly of the sea. The gates of heaven fear him: he has put to death the rebellious dragon according to his command. Who can understand the power of his thunder? In such great wickedness, what hope is there for the impious? Can he be confident that he will be saved by the Lord? I will tell you, he says, what is in the hand of the Lord; and cease to add vain things to emptiness (Job 27:8, 11).
And he describes how miserable is the portion of the wicked. For although they may have many children, they are without descendants, to whom the succession of good merits is lacking (Ibid. 14 et seq.). For true posterity is not on earth, but in heaven. Therefore, for men of this kind, inheritance is poverty, and death is succession. When they have accumulated wealth, they will beg; because when they are dead, they will be in need, unable to find rest. No one will have mercy on their widows: they will remain deserted, and deprived of all consolation. Although money is gathered as plentiful as the earth, and gold is prepared like clay, their substance will be empty like a spider's web, and their entire heritage will be consumed like moths. The wealthy will gain nothing while sleeping, when they open their eyes, they will no longer exist. (Job 28:1 et seq.) They remain in sorrow. Therefore, everything that is in this world is nothing. Gold in metals, silver in metals: it is extracted from the ore, and returns to the ore. For what else is the mind of the greedy person but a metal? It holds onto whatever it has received as if buried, and hides it in the veins of the earth and its secret places; because it does not know how to use it. Every day gold is brought forth from the metals: who could bring it forth from the greedy person?
23. Therefore, since the empty craving for gold is useless, because whatever is accumulated, slips away: truly pitiable are those who have forsaken the right path, and have forgotten it to which precious stones are by no means comparable, difficult to investigate, impassable to the proud, blocked to the boastful: flat for the humble, open for the wise. And therefore we must seek wisdom, so that we may walk in the right path, through which that adversary, like a roaring and ravenous lion, who has run through this world, could not pass. But the one who wants to investigate wisdom should not search for it in the abyss (like the philosophers, who believe that they can know its depths on their own, by their own genius), nor should they seek it in the sea. For where there is a storm, where there is roaring wind, wisdom cannot be found there. But they should seek it where there is tranquility of mind and a peace that surpasses all understanding.
Book Four. On the Interrogation of David.