Chapter XXXIV.
Therefore, pronouncing these words, Eliu also spoke. It is said that he is proclaiming Heliu's advice, and he encourages his friends who are present to listen.
Listen, wise ones, to my words, and you learned ones, heed me. For the ear tests words, and the throat tastes food. Therefore, just as the taste of a dish is discerned from the flavors, so too, says Elihu:
Let us pass judgment among ourselves and see what is better. That is, let us discuss first before we condemn a man.
Because Job said: I am just. He did not say these words, but while he made known the virtues of his righteousness, he undoubtedly showed himself to be just, whom the Lord had already declared to be just. What is said here:
And God subverts my judgment. In judging me, it is a lie, and my arrow is violent without any sin. Similarly, we do not read this ourselves, but we hold it written: God lives, who took away my judgment. However, to subvert judgment regards the injustice of the judge; but to take away judgment, that is, to postpone for a time, pertains to the discretion of a just judge. And he has multiplied my wounds even without cause. Therefore, in this place, with Elihu asserting that here is the meaning, when Job said this, he deceived by my judgment, he did not judge rightly and truly, and therefore he is acting towards me with falsehood. However, what Job spoke, he should be believed to have said it more rashly and presumptuously about the righteousness of God. Therefore, rightly and deservedly God says to him: Surely he who accuses God must answer him, in which surely words he reproaches God. This echoes that blessed Job did not speak something rightly, but as one who knew very well that he had many good things in him, from which it had also pleased him, he admits that those excessive words were compelled to be spoken by him in the greatest distress of pain.
Who is the man like Job, who drinks contempt like water, who walks with the workers of iniquity, and walks with wicked men? Whose belly is filled with the abundance of water and the poison of this passion.
For he has said: 'A man will not please God, even if he runs with him.' It is a false claim to say that the holy Job spoke enviously of him, because we do not believe that the blessed Job was so foolishly wise, nor do we remember him saying this anywhere.
Therefore, wise men, listen to me: may impiety be far from God, and injustice from the Almighty. For He will repay man according to his work, and restore to each one according to his ways. Truly, God will not condemn in vain, nor will the Almighty overturn judgment. Like the impious words spoken against holy Job, and brought forth among the listeners to incite jealousy against Job, as if he spoke wickedly.
Who has appointed another over the earth, or who has set over the world the one whom he has made? That is, has he appointed another ruler who would differ from the justice of the creator? Therefore, as powerful as the creator is, so pious is the ruler, because he recognizes and loves his own work.
If he directs his heart to him, his spirit and breath will be drawn to him. All flesh will fail together, and man will return to ashes. That is, of the world: for if he wished to contemplate all the things that happen in it daily according to the rule of his justice, it will fail and perish; but instead, he governs and sustains with piety. For if he were to observe iniquity, who could endure it? He spoke of the spirit as the soul that gives life to man, and of the breath as the present life itself, which is supplied to our bodies by breathing in this air. Therefore, Samuel says that God draws Himself when He takes away the life that He had given to humans by creating them. These passages can be seen as figurative through the spirit of prophecy, so that they are now fulfilled in Christ, when through the incarnation, the Father sent His Son, through whom He made all things, into this world from His own heart, so that He might draw His spirit and breath to Himself, that is, to take away from Him, through the humility of the cross, the spirit, that is, the pride of the world's spirit, as well as the swelling of His boasting in His words. Likewise, when a person would be brought low by suppressed swelling, and returning to himself, would recognize that he is earth and ashes, in accordance with moral understanding, we understand that saying from the psalm: And you shall take away their spirit, and they shall fail, and shall return to their earth.
If you have understanding, listen to what is said and give heed to the voice of my eloquence. Can someone who does not love judgment be healed? And why do you condemn someone who is just so severely? Whoever says to the king, apostate: whoever calls the leaders wicked. It is clear, he says, that someone who does not love to judge justly and rightly: neither can he heal the soul from vices, nor correct anyone: and how are you the healer of our sicknesses, if you presume to point out our iniquities?
Who does not show partiality to the persons of princes, nor know the tyrannical, while strategizing against the poor. For they are all the work of his hands. According to the mystical understanding, these princes of the Jews, scribes and Pharisees, and priests can be understood: whom he condemns in the Gospel. But we should not deny that the same people of the Jews were the tyrant, who today disputes against the assembly of the holy Church, rejecting the poor in spirit, contrite in heart: which he did not cease to do even in the time of the apostles, when he fought and caused riots against them through all the cities. Therefore, as the Lord will not acknowledge those who are unbelievers and wicked, to whom He will also declare: 'I never knew you: depart from me, all you workers of iniquity.' It follows, with Elisha saying about those of whom he spoke before:
They will die suddenly, even in the middle of the night. According to the sense of the Apostle, who said this about the children of darkness. For when they shall say peace and security, then sudden destruction shall come upon them. I think that the middle of the night is so called because they will die spiritually, being placed in the depths of the blindness of their hearts.
The people will be stirred up, and they will pass through and take away the violent without hand. For his eyes behold the ways of men: and he considereth all their steps. According to the Psalmist: When he shall see, he saith, the just taking vengeance on the wicked, namely, fearing the example of sinful men, he shall wash his hands in the blood of the sinner. In this manner, therefore, the people will be stirred up, by the disturbance which we read about in the earth being disturbed: as the prophet says to God: Thou hast moved the earth, and hast troubled it: heal the breaches thereof, for it has been moved. For thus, like good travelers, they will pass into the future age, where there will be no place for the impious: otherwise the violent will have no aid, by which he can be defended or rescued from those dragging him to the punishment of death.
There is no darkness, and there is no shadow of death, that those who work iniquity may be hidden. Or as others have said at the end of this verse, that those who commit iniquity may hide. Both of these have the same meaning according to the Psalmist, who says: Where can I go from your Spirit? Where can I flee from your presence?
For indeed, it is not within man's power to come before God in judgment. That is to say, if he has the power to come, he also has the power not to come.
He will crush many, and countless, and he will cause others to stand in their place. Just as with the priest Heli and Samuel, Saul and David, the people of the Jews and the nations.
For God knows their works, and therefore He will bring darkness upon them, and they shall be crushed. He has struck them down like the wicked in the presence of onlookers. Under these words, Eli could also have meant that the Jews, due to their unfaithfulness, were to be blinded in the night of infidelity, so that they may be crushed and humbled, as the prophet and Apostle said: God has given them the spirit of compunction.
Those who have deliberately distanced themselves from Him, and have refused to understand all His ways, in order to create a cry of the needy to reach Him, and to hear the voice of the poor. For all sinners and evildoers act against the inherent good of nature: as the Apostle says, although they knew God, they did not glorify Him as God. But where did they know God except by inspiration and judgment of the mind? Therefore, where did they hold their glory before God in contempt? Where did they deliberately turn away from it, against their own conscience, and reject the knowledge and understanding of all the ways of God's commandments that are inherent in their hearts? And they acted so impiously and unjustly towards other people that the cry of the oppressed and poor reached God. Whether God struck the impious and unbelieving Jews in the place of those who see, that is, in the Mosaic law: where the prophets, who are called seers, dwell. Therefore, in this hope of the law and in the composition of the promises, as if in a certain place of those who see, they were justly struck by God, to the extent that the prayer of him who, being rich, became poor for us, ascended to God: Scatter them in your power. Whether they are all alive, those who live in Christ by faith: for in this hope, they contemplate with their minds the future blessedness. In this place, therefore, where they are seemingly standing in faith, some under the name of this faith have the appearance of piety, but they deny its power. These very ones, who are understood to be heretics, are standing in a bad place before God and are struck by God, by the apostles and doctors of the churches, that is, by the poor of Christ who resist against them and cry out to God.
For when peace is granted by Him, who is there to condemn? The prophet said to the people: Pray for the life of Nebuchadnezzar, so that his peace may be your peace. Whether it is the peace of the Church, and He Himself grants tranquility, when there are no battles of persecutions against her, or when disputes and scandals of heretics cease. Moreover, He Himself grants silence of peace against the wars of vices: when they have been conquered and as fierce enemies have been overcome, peace becomes the highest virtue in man. Quod autem ait:
From where he has hidden his face, who is there to contemplate him? And above the nations, and above all men. This is, unless he himself deigned to reveal himself to man: who is there who can behold him with his own strength, or by investigating approach his majesty?
He who makes man a hypocrite because of the sins of the people. This was clearly seen in King Saul, and as the Lord said: I will remove from Jerusalem the judge, the prophet, the wise man, and the counselor: and I will give boys as their princes, and the effeminate shall rule over them. And Nebuchadnezzar, by the just judgment of God, received many kingdoms and numerous nations. It is also possible to understand this man as the devil, who, having lost his angelic dignity, assumed the name of man: of whom the Lord said in the Gospel: An enemy has done this. But he is called a hypocrite and a dissembler, because he transforms himself into an angel of light: when in fact he is the author of darkness, that is, the inventor of all crimes and sins.
Therefore, since I have spoken to God, I will not hinder you. As if in a court, He allows him to speak, so that if there is anything he needs to say, he does not remain silent.
If I have erred, teach me. If I have spoken iniquity, I will not add any more. That is, I will not speak.
Does God desire it from you, because it displeased you? For you began to speak, and not I. But if you know anything better, speak. You said that God would be unjust: because he would demand from you injustice and unrighteousness in life, and would require unjust correction, to which it would be necessary for you to speak unjustly against him, and for this reason, God displeased you when his justice, by which he punished you innocent, you do not want to be true justice.
Let intelligent men speak to me, and let a wise man hear me. Elihu, despising holy Job, turned to those who were standing nearby and, pronouncing definitively about blessed Job, said to them:
But Job has spoken foolishly, and his words do not show wisdom. It is evident.
My father. Because man was created and fashioned by him. Let Job be tested, says Elihu: let what is accustomed to be referred to as a test of learning not be examined.
Let Job be tested. That is, let it be made manifest: let it be proven to all and let it be known what kind of a man Job is: let Job be tested before you, I say.
To the end. Do not stop from the man of wickedness. That is, let the scourge of this whip be constantly in him: nor do you cease to inflict punishment on those who practice wickedness.
Who adds blasphemy over his sins. That is, on top of being a sinner, he adds to the heap of sins, so that he bursts forth into the crime of blasphemy, for which he endures these torments.
Let us bind ourselves in the meantime among ourselves and then appeal to God in our conversations. Let us be condemned among ourselves in the meantime, so that it may not be considered unjust to us: it will be without our fault if he tries to appeal to God afterwards.