Chapter XXVI.
But Job, responding, said: Whose helper are you? Are you helping the weak and sustaining the arm of one who is not strong? To whom have you given counsel? Perhaps to one who lacks wisdom, and you have shown your abundant prudence. Whom did you intend to teach? Was it not the one who made the spirit? Seeing injustice done to God, moved by righteous indignation, in the very beginning of his speech Job harshly rebukes Baldad the Shuhite with strong words, because he was speaking as if God were weak and in need of any arm strength. Therefore, be aware that the participation in the whole is lesser: a drop compared to a perennial spring; a hidden spark in ashes, compared to divine fire in which all things blaze; a lamp for the body, compared to the sun for justice; a clay jar for the potter, compared to the soul for God. Thus, pondering this, Job wonders why he dared to teach the one from whom he comes into existence.
Behold, the giants groan under the waters, and those who dwell with them. However, the divine Scripture also calls the proud, rebellious, and stubborn people giants. Likewise, the devil and his followers, due to their pride, are called giants. But when it says that the giants groan under the waters, it is as if it had said under the earth, that is, in the depths of the earth, where the underworld is said to be, from which they are also named the underworld. For the nature of water is such that it cannot exist without land. Behold, the giants groan beneath the waters. Surely these groans arise from their pains and the filth of the Tartarean dwelling.
Hell is naked before him, and there is no covering for destruction. This means that the knowledge of God cannot be hidden. And that destruction, which is not unreasonably perceived as the devil, cannot prevail to hide itself from his omnipotence.
He stretches out the north wind over the void, and hangs the earth upon nothing. This is to be understood thus: either that the earth was made out of nothing, or that there is nothing beneath the earth upon which it is supported, since it itself supports all things and is itself upheld by the boundless power of God, because all things are in him and all things are contained by him. Of this the Apostle says: Upholding all things by the word of his power. And because sometimes in the Scriptures the north wind, by way of symbolism, signifies the devil, for Solomon says that the north wind is a harsh wind, but it is called by the name of the right hand. For indeed he is said to be the right hand, but he is the author of the entire work of the left. Therefore, he is expanded over the empty, that is, over the cold in faith and unbelieving, which is over the empty true religion and the empty. And in order to rule over them like a king, he is extended over them. Again, those same unbelievers, whom the holy Job called by the name of the earth: they are hung over the devil, who was made out of nothing by God, so that they may always be uncertain, and may imitate their head with its members, so that they may be hung over the empty and nothingness, as if they were the head, which has said nothing.
He binds the waters in his clouds, so they do not burst forth all together downwards. Through these clouds, the spacious waters of the air are gathered in the heights, just as in another place we read of God: He sifts the waters from his clouds. Therefore, they are said to be bound in this manner, because they are not poured out all at once upon the earth, as we read happened in the flood. But this is a spiritual understanding, that the holy teachers of the Church are interpreted as clouds, who carry the waters of the Gospel to be poured out to the people and are led by the Holy Spirit to govern them, so that the lands of the peoples may be irrigated and the fruits of virtues may multiply through spiritual operation from this heavenly rain. The waters flowing from the abundance above, God binds in his clouds: so that he may pour out as much doctrine as the capacity of each person's heart allows, like water, as much as the ability of the recipient permits: lest, if poured out all at once, they may hinder the hearts that are less able to receive a more abundant doctrine.
He who holds the countenance of his throne. He reserves the judgment of his own for the future. God, shining with the glory of truth, is said to hold the seat of his justice and piety in all his creatures, in order to obscure and hide the manifestation of his secret judgments, so that the Gospel of Christ may be veiled to those who perish.
And He spread His cloud over it. According to what the Lord said to His disciples in the Gospel: To you it has been given to know the mystery of the kingdom of heaven. In the protection of His divine custody, He also spread over it the good news of the Gospel, in the cloud of His defense, so that no adversary, however fierce, could prevail against it: of which the Apostle said: Our fathers were all under the cloud.
He surrounded the boundary with waters: until light and darkness cease. Under the name of waters according to association, which is from part to whole, the end of the world seemed to me to have been expressed, because the succession of night and day will pass away. Whether it be about the wicked people, or about the tribulations of the saints, which are often called by the name of waters in the Scriptures. Therefore, these waters have received a boundary from God, whether so that they may always be unjust and sinners, or so that the faithful God may not allow his holy ones to suffer tribulations beyond what they can endure. These things will therefore happen until prosperity, and the wickedness of the impious, which are signified by the names of light and darkness in this place, pass away.
The columns of the heavens tremble and fear at His nod. Therefore, let us understand the stability that is solely permanent in the nature of angels, by the name of columns, because they are not only persevering immovably in holiness, but also splendid in the glory of eternal beatitude. For concerning the future immovability of humans, the Son of God says: 'To the one who conquers, I will make him a pillar in the temple of my God.' But even the Church herself, which is the congregation of all the saints, is called a pillar and foundation of truth for her eternal stability in the Lord. The holy angels can also be understood in this way: they are called pillars because of their love and affection, as they care for the salvation of humanity. They are concerned with piety and seem to be burdened with the weight of thoughts. And according to a figurative understanding, the term 'heaven' signifies the Church, in which the mysteries of the heavens are celebrated. Therefore, the apostles and others who are similar in grace are the pillars of this heaven, that is, the Church. They carry and endure diverse persecutions and dangers that come upon them. And sometimes the souls of humans are understood as the heavens. These souls, which we have called heavens by way of metaphor, are the pillars of their thoughts. For it is on these pillars that the soul is supported and governed, and in order that it may not sway or waver from the rust of sin, it is strengthened by the stability of counsel. Because this often happens to human frailty, that where there is less caution on the part of onlookers, the pillars, that is, good thoughts, are fixed on the other side. And for this reason they tremble and fear at the nod of the threatening God: the dreadful judgment of the one preaching. For these thoughts of the soul are not its own, as if they naturally belonged to it, which certainly exist in the existing nature, and they are the ministry of the existing nature, without which rational nature does not exist: because, as I said, they are not themselves per se, but they are the unseen movements of the existing nature.
In his fortitude, the seas suddenly gathered. We read about this in the beginning of Genesis.
And his prudence struck the proud. To whom is it doubtful that the devil is primarily proud here: who was first struck by God when He deposed him from that blessed and sublime seat of the heavens, of which the prophet says: You have brought low like a wounded proud one. Spiritually, rightly do we perceive these seas to be the Jewish people and the nations, over whom the true Solomon, the prophet David, declares that he will rule, saying: And he shall rule from sea to sea. For from the sea, that is, from the Jewish people, the Gospel of Christ began, because the law came forth from Zion and reached the sea of the Gentiles. Thus far, these seas of peoples, by the strength and power of the resurrection of Christ, by the ministry of the Apostles and Evangelists, and by the preaching of the others mentioned, suddenly gathered into one body of the Church, and are united in one bond of faith by the love of Christ.
His Spirit adorned the heavens. We read in the beginning of Genesis, on the fourth day God placed the stars in the sky, or in the firmament. By the Holy Spirit, He also adorned the rational heavens: which we understand to be the apostles and the apostolic men: who in many places of the Scriptures follow the naming of the heavens, according to this of the prophet: His power covered the heavens, and his prudence struck the proud. Christ, the power of God, and the wisdom of God, struck the proud devil. Here the saints, distinguished by the Holy Spirit, are like heavenly stars with their gifts of grace.
And, with her helping hand, a twisted serpent was brought forth. Therefore, adorned with the word of God, they scatter like seeds among the people. From the fear of the Lord, they conceive the Spirit of salvation in the womb, and thus Jesus Christ, the hand and wisdom of the Father, is testified to stand with great power beside Saint Job, so that he may offer a kind of obedient service of his own piety to those who are giving birth to children of the coming age and console them in the midst of the pain of persecution: invisibly operating within them, he aids those in labor through his ministry. Because without Him, none of those good works, which we mentioned before in the name of the Son, will have any effect. Therefore, by the charity of His mercy, through this ministry being observed and His piety aiding, in order for souls to give birth to such offspring of holiness, they are brought forth by them and that serpent, in whom there is nothing straight, is expelled from their hearts.
Behold, these things have been said in part of His ways. These are the ways of the Lord, of which the Savior Himself says through Solomon, when He foretold His own birth: The Lord created me at the beginning of His ways, in His works. Therefore, the Lord Jesus Christ Himself was created by God the Father, from the Virgin Mary, to show and make known the ways of His commandments, from which the work of God, that is, humanity, had strayed.
And when we barely hear a small drop of his speech. Let us understand the small drop to be the assumed man, who in the psalm is called Mount Hermon. And in Daniel, the carved stone, and a bundle of drops in the Song of Songs.
Who will be able to behold the magnitude of that thunder? This is what it means: if the assumption of the form of a servant is contained in nearly ineffable mysteries, and to the comparison of the one assuming, the drop of God is very small: how much more will each person not be able to behold the magnitude of the thunder itself, that is, divinity itself, which is called by the name of thunder because when the fame of His name sounded from on high in Christ Jesus His Son on earth, and was made known to men by this terrible noise. However, none of them will be able to behold the full magnitude of His divinity with their understanding, that is, that, In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.