Chapter XXXIII.
Listen, therefore, Job, to my words, and hear all my speeches. Behold, I have opened my mouth; my tongue shall speak in my throat. My words shall be sincere from my heart, and my lips shall utter a pure sentiment. It is so detestable to the Lord when Elihu says of him, who is this? For it was unworthy and absurd that a great man, pleasing to God, even if he had erred as a man in some way, should be rebuked by him who was far from true religion. But if perhaps someone is moved, because Elias predicted many things about the times of the Savior, which we accept as prophecy: let whoever is moved by this know that those things which were predicted by the Spirit of God are to be accepted and believed by us. But those things which are spoken by him out of pride of heart, are to be rejected, since they are his own, as the devil spoke, and not from God.
The Spirit of God made me, and the breath of the Almighty gives me life. He has spoken to establish his authority, for when he speaks, he cannot help but speak what is right and true, being created by the Spirit of God and animated by the breath of the Almighty. This is where we must understand the God of the Trinity. For in God, he is called Father; in the Almighty, he is called Son; and in the Spirit, he is called Holy Spirit. The God of the Trinity created all things, but when he created man, he wanted to show himself through the different names with a particular and special significance of his works. As the lawgiver says: And God created man, he created him in the image of God, male and female he created them. Moreover, God made man from the clay of the earth. And He breathed into his face the breath of life, and man became a living soul. In this act of making, breathing, and even blessing, without any distinction or discord of will, we should perceive the Trinity at work. For it matters not whether one understands the word ‘created’, ‘breathed’, or 'blessed' as something different; according to the unity of nature, there is only one will and one common action.
If you are able, answer me, and confront my face. Behold, God made us both, and I too was formed from the same clay. However, let not my miracle frighten you, and let not my eloquence be burdensome to you. He who is about to speak demands a response, in order to strike fear with a certain flattery and feigned consolation, by which Job, troubled, would easily yield to his excessive verbosity.
So you said in my ears, and I heard the sound of your words: I am innocent and without sin, and there is no injustice in me. Therefore, as Elihu said to Job: This is the reason why you are not justified, that is, you should have accused yourself, not praised yourself: not say: I am innocent, without sin and without blemish: nor is there any injustice in me. This, I say, is the reason why you are not justified, because justification is acquired through humility. But the praise of exaltation deserves condemnation. Indeed, a just man, aware of his holy works, could courageously speak the truth to God: however, he could not speak as a sacrilegious person the false accusations that Elihu made against him. In the end, what Job says he said, saying:
Because he found complaints against me, therefore he considered me an enemy to himself. He has put my feet in the stocks; he has kept watch over all my paths. This is therefore the reason for which you are not justified. We do not read that Job said these things, which certainly, from his understanding, he composed here in his own words, as if they were spoken by the holy Job. Therefore, we should rather know that he does not say these words correctly, than believe that the same holy Job said them.
I will answer you, because God is greater than man. You argue against Him, because He did not respond to all your words. God speaks once and does not repeat the same thing a second time. Through a dream in the night vision, when deep sleep falls upon men and they are asleep in bed, then He opens the ears of men and instructs them with discipline, turning man away from his deeds and delivering him from pride, preserving his soul from corruption and his life from the sword. From the very beginning of the world, God has always spoken to men, and He still speaks, but when God is said to speak frequently, it indicates either His manifold law or the diversity of His prophets and commandments. But when it is signified that He speaks only once, it demonstrates His established and defined opinion. For God speaking is understood as being integral to His nature. God speaks once, and He does not repeat Himself again, that is, God does not change unless the change of our lives requires it. In this passage, Helius carefully explains certain degrees of corrections, and he says that divine instruction or discipline happens around man, and in night visions: also in bed. Hence he says: It causes man to waste away until he reaches the end of this life. And when someone holy has intervened for him, as Isaiah did for King Hezekiah, let his former health be restored. And he says in the following that these things should operate three times around man, that is, clearly, probably, and in a confirming manner, either because of the perfection of the number three, or because of the truth of three witnesses. By this kind, it also signifies the patience of God and his mercy, which punishes and convicts the wrongdoer not immediately, but in parts and in turns, where neither the judgment of truth, nor useless forgiveness, nor the imputation of injustice is attributed to him.
He is also reproached with pain in bed, and causes all his bones to wither away. Bread becomes abominable to him in his life, and the food of his soul is no longer desired. His flesh will waste away, and the bones that were covered will be laid bare. His soul will approach corruption, and his life will be deadly. If there is an angel speaking on his behalf, one out of a thousand, to declare the uprightness of a man: he will have mercy on him, and will say: Deliver him, that he may not go down to corruption. I have found the means by which he may be appeased. Or, as others have said: His soul has reached even to death, and all that he possesses decays. When, by these means, a man has been corrected and consumed, and has approached death and the ministers of Hell, if there is anyone among the saints who is worthy to bear the name of the holy angel: he, for such a one who is thus rebuked by God for his sins, may obtain forgiveness, if, however, he is able to find at least one good work of his, of the many good works which he ought to have done, which he may offer to God as a pleasing sacrifice on his behalf. He will hear, he says, and command, so that the aforementioned does not descend into the correction of infernal tortures because there has been a certain great man, whose prayers God cannot help but hear. And each angel from heaven assisting before the face of God can intercede for any sinner placed in the scourges of punishments: for it is their duty appointed by God, especially to provide help for different men or nations for their defense or protection. About whom the Apostle says: Are they not all administrators of the Spirit sent into ministry for the sake of those who will inherit salvation? Moreover, we have examples from current events, of which we now speak, in the Lord's Scriptures, where we read that men were taken in dreams, such as the most proud king Nebuchadnezzar, and Laban, who plotted the death of his brother Jacob, and King Abimelech, who attempted to defile the house of holy Abraham, and the wife of Pilate, who said to him about our Lord Jesus Christ: Have nothing to do with that righteous man; for I have suffered many things in a dream because of him. And the magi, warned in a dream in the Gospel, depart by another way. Faithful men are also instructed by God in dreams, like Jacob the patriarch, and we read that others were made infirm because of sins, from which we learn about the paralytic, to whom the Lord said: Your sins are forgiven you. We also read that the saints were sick, like Trophimus and Epaphroditus: whom we must believe were examined by such chastisement as just ones, not as sinners beaten by the whip of weakness. Sequitur:
His flesh has been consumed by sufferings: let him return to the days of his youth. He has received, he says, evils for his merits, and the measure of punishments and penalties: let these scourges of chastisement suffice for him, by which he was called back to amendment: now let him return to the indulgence of divine mercy, that is, let him be again healthy and unharmed.
He will pray to God, and He will be propitiated by Him, and he will see His face with joy, and He will give his righteousness to man. This is done in the heart in the presence of God's good conscience. He will see the face of God, feeling His propitious countenance, and will give Him fitting satisfaction of justice.
He will look at people and say: I have sinned, and I have truly transgressed, and I did not receive what I deserved. It is a great thing, and very pleasing to God, that a man does not hesitate to confess his errors, especially if he understands that he is being chastised for them, and thus humbles himself, declaring that whatever punishment he has endured is too little for his merits.
He freed his soul so that it would not continue into destruction, but would see the light while living. Behold, God works all these things three times through each one, in order to recall their souls from corruption and to enlighten them with the light of the living. That is, he would recognize the light of knowledge of God and his immense benefits.
Wait, Job, and listen to me, and be silent while I speak. But if you have something to say, respond to me. Speak, for I want to see you justified. But if you have nothing to say, listen to me: be silent, and I will teach you wisdom. Just as Elihu convinced holy Job in this way, he said to him: Listen to me, that is, be obedient to the one teaching you, and give consent. But what he says, to be silent: he commands the eloquent one, and as if one less educated or impatient, to be silent.