1 Hath not man a life of labour upon earth? and are not his days like the days of a hireling?
Gregory the Dialogist · AD 604 The life of man upon earth is a warfare. In this passage in the old Translation the life of man is not called 'a warfare' at all, but 'a trial,' yet if the meaning of either word be regarded, the sound that meets the ear outwardly is different, yet they make one and the same concordant meaning.
Thomas Aquinas · AD 1274 Since Eliphaz spoke before (5:17-27) to move Blessed Job from despair, he promised him earthly happiness if he would not reject the rebuke of the Lord. Here then, after Blessed Job demonstrated the rational causes of his sorrow, wants to further demonstrate that this aforementioned consolation of Eliphaz based on promising him the recovery of earthly happiness is unfitting.
2 As a bondman earnestly desireth the shadow, and a hireling expecteth his wages,
Hesychius of Jerusalem · AD 450 Not only is this life painful, but it is also frightful, because, after being wounded, I am now in the condition to fear the blows of the Lord. This is why I jump from one place to another in fright, like those slaves who are threatened by their master.
Gregory the Dialogist · AD 604 As a servant earnestly desireth the shadow, and as an hireling looketh for the end of his work, so am I made to possess months of vanity, and I have numbered me wearisome nights.
Thomas Aquinas · AD 1274 Therefore, since the whole position of Eliphaz is undermined by these arguments, Job intends to strengthen them and demonstrates them efficaciously from reason. For clearly, each thing rests when it attains its ultimate end. So once the human will has attained its ultimate end, it must rest in that and must not be moved to desire anything else.
3 So am I made to possess months of vanity, and wearisome nights are appointed to me.
Gregory the Dialogist · AD 604 So am I made to possess months of vanity, and I have numbered me wearisome nights. Yet, if this sentence be referred to the voice of Holy Church, the meaning thereof is traced out with a little more particularity. For she herself has 'months of vanity,' who in her weak members has to bear earthly actions running on to nought without the meed of life.
Bonaventure · AD 1257 Likewise, Gregory, in the Moralia, on that passage of Job: I have numbered for myself laborious nights: "The elect serve the Creator of all things and are often straitened by want of things; they cling to God through love, and yet they lack the supports of the present life." To lack the supports of the present life, therefore, is fitting to the perfection of the Saints.
Thomas Aquinas · AD 1274 "So I have passed empty months," for I considered the past months passed empty for me, because I did not obtain final perfection in them. "And nights," i.e. when I should have been resting from my afflictions. "I have counted sleepless," i.e. I considered them sleepless because I was delayed in them from the attainment of my end.
4 If I lie down, I say, When shall I rise up, and the darkness be gone? and I am full of tossings until the dawn.
Gregory the Dialogist · AD 604 When I lie down, I say, When shall I arise? and again I look for the evening. For in the night, day is desired, in the day, evening is longed for; in that grief will not let the things that are before us give satisfaction, and while it saddens the heart in the experience of the present, it is ever stretching it to something beyond in expectation, as it were by a consolatory lon…
Thomas Aquinas · AD 1274 He next explains how his months have been empty and his nights sleepless adding, "If I sleep," when it was time for sleeping at night, "I say, 'When will I arise,'" longing for day. "And again," when day has come, "I wait for the evening," as he is always tending to the future in his desire.
5 My flesh is clothed with worms and clods of dust; my skin is broken, and suppurates.
Gregory the Dialogist · AD 604 My flesh is clothed with worms and clods of dust: my skin is dried up and shrunken. But we shall make out these words more exactly and more applicably, if we go back to the order of the foregoing interpretation. For by sleep the torpor of inaction, and by rising the exercising of action, is represented.
Thomas Aquinas · AD 1274 Blessed Job had demonstrated above that the consolation in which Eliphaz offered the promise of happiness in this earthly existence was unfitting. He first demonstrated this from the general condition of the life of man on the earth. Now he intends to demonstrate that the same consolation is unfitting considering his own individual condition.
6 My days are swifter than a weaver's shuttle, and are spent without hope.
Gregory the Dialogist · AD 604 My days are past more swiftly than a web is cut off by the weaver. By a very suitable image the time of the flesh is compared to a web. For as the web advances by threads, so this mortal life by the several days; but in proportion as it grows to its bigness, it is advancing to its cutting off.
Thomas Aquinas · AD 1274 The second is because the greater part of his life was already past and therefore very little time remained so he could not hope for a great deal of happiness during that time. Because of this he says, "My days have passed swifter than warp is cut off by a weaver." The life of man is in a certain sense like something woven.
7 Remember thou that my life is wind; mine eye shall no more see good.
Gregory the Dialogist · AD 604 O remember that my life is wind. For those men love the life of the flesh as enduring, who do not consider how infinite is the eternity of the life to come; and whereas they take no thought of the sure stedfastness of the everlasting state, they take their exile for their home, darkness for light, going for standing.
Ishodad of Merv · AD 850 "My eye will begin to see good again." Here the author refers to the hope that is reserved for people in the new world.
Thomas Aquinas · AD 1274 He had already seemed to address God in the text saying, "The life of man on earth is combat." (v.1) Now to prove his point he adds, "Remember that my life is but a breath," like the wind. For as the wind passes by and does not return afterwards, so the life of man does not return when it has passed away.
8 The eye of him that hath seen me shall behold me no [more]: thine eyes are upon me, and I am not.
Gregory the Dialogist · AD 604 The eye of man shall not see me. For 'the eye of Man' is the pity of the Redeemer, which softens the hardness of our insensibility, when it looks upon us. Hence, as the Gospel witnesses, it is said, And the Lord turned, and looked upon Peter. And Peter remembered the word of the Lord. And he went out, and wept bitterly.
Thomas Aquinas · AD 1274 In the same way that when my life has passed I will return to see earthly goods, so I will not be seen by any eyes on earth. So he goes on, "Nor will the eye of man look on me." He posits these two things to show that he will not return to human association which consists chiefly in seeing and being seen.
9 The cloud consumeth and vanisheth away; so he that goeth down to Sheol shall not come up.
Gregory the Dialogist · AD 604 As the cloud is consumed and vanisheth away; so he that goeth down to hell shall come up no more. For a cloud is suspended in the higher regions, but it is condensed and driven by the wind that it flies, and it is scattered by the heat of the sun that it vanishes.
Thomas Aquinas · AD 1274 He proves this by a comparison when he adds, "As a cloud dissolves and is gone, so he who goes down below, will not ascend." The dead are said to go down to the underworld either because they all descended to Sheol according to the soul there before the death of Christ, or because according to the flesh, they are buried under the earth.
10 He shall return no more to his house, neither shall his place know him again.
Gregory the Dialogist · AD 604 He shall return no more to his own house, neither shall his place know him any more. For 'the place' of man, but not a local place, the Creator Himself became, Who created him to have his being in Himself, which same place man did then forsake, when on hearing the words of the deceiver, he forsook the love of the Creator.
Thomas Aquinas · AD 1274 Those men thought that a dead man, after a certain span of time not only returned to life, but also had the same possessions and houses he formerly possessed. To disprove this he says, "He will never return home again." They also held that he would do the same works he had done before and hold the same offices and dignities.
11 Therefore I will not restrain my mouth: I will speak in the anguish of my spirit; I will complain in the bitterness of my soul.
Gregory the Dialogist · AD 604 Therefore also I will not refrain my mouth. For that man 'refrains his mouth,' that is ashamed to confess the evil he has done. For to put the mouth to labour is to employ it in the confession of sin done, but the righteous man doth 'not refrain his mouth,' in that forestalling the wrath of the searching Judge, he falls wroth upon himself in words of self-confession.
Ishodad of Merv · AD 850 "Am I the sea, or the dragon?" That is, you have imposed a limit that the sea must not trespass, so that it might not submerge the earth. You did the same with the dragon, that it might not go out and destroy all that it met. But why do you continue to punish me so harshly, for I am a feeble man with a short life?
Thomas Aquinas · AD 1274 After Job showed that the consolation of Eliphaz promising earthly prosperity was inconsistent by arguments, he now shows the same thing by deducing arguments of unfittingness, because if he should rely on that consolation which had been given to him from the hope of earthly prosperity by Eliphaz, as has been shown, it would follow that it would be necessary for him to still re…
12 Am I a sea, or a sea-monster, that thou settest a watch over me?
Gregory the Dialogist · AD 604 Am I a sea or a whale, that thou hast compassed me about with a prison? Man is 'compassed about with a prison,' in that he very often both strives to mount on high by the strides of virtuous attainments, and yet is impeded by the corruption of his fleshly part.
Thomas Aquinas · AD 1274 Among other things, which embittered men usually discuss together, they are accustomed especially to search for the causes of their bitterness because there is hardly an embittered man who does not seem in his own mind to have been afflicted either very unjustly or more than is just.
13 When I say, My bed shall comfort me, my couch shall ease my complaint;
Gregory the Dialogist · AD 604 When I say my bed shall comfort me, I shall be eased in speaking with myself on my couch, then Thou scarest me with dreams, and terrifiest me through visions. For in Holy Writ a 'bed,' a 'couch,' or 'litter,' is usually taken for the secret depth of the heart.
Thomas Aquinas · AD 1274 Consequently he proves next that he is deprived of those remedies which ordinarily console the afflicted. One is sleep, for sorrow is mitigated after sleep. To note this he says, "If I say: 'My bed will comfort me'," in the time of sleep. Another remedy is consolation wise men give themselves by the deliberation of reason.
14 Then thou scarest me with dreams, and terrifiest me through visions;
Gregory the Dialogist · AD 604 Then Thou scarest me with dreams, and terrifiest me through visions. But lest anyone should be at pains to make out these words after the literal sense, it is of great importance to find out in how many ways the mind is affected by images from dreams.
Thomas Aquinas · AD 1274 These cures too could not help him, because at the time when he should have used these remedies, other impediments like terrible dreams and horrible visions were present in him which disturbed him.
15 So that my soul chooseth strangling, death, rather than my bones.
Olympiodorus of Alexandria · AD 600 "I beg of you. Take away my life. Deliver me from my pains through death. In fact, you did not create me immortal. So … may [I] enjoy quiet and tranquility in the future. I do not demand, O Lord, anything contrary to your decree. You made me mortal, not immortal.
Bonaventure · AD 1257 But if you ask how these things come about, ask grace, not doctrine; desire, not understanding; the groaning of prayer, not the study of reading; the Bridegroom, not the master; God, not man; darkness, not clarity; not light, but the fire that wholly inflames and carries into God through ecstatic anointings and most ardent affections.
Thomas Aquinas · AD 1274 So, then, when consolation is refused me from every side and no way remains for me to escape so many anguishes but death, I therefore prefer death however abject to such a painful life.
16 I loathe it; I shall not live always: let me alone, for my days are a breath.
Gregory the Dialogist · AD 604 I have given over hope, I will not live any longer. There be some of the righteous, who so entertain the desire of heavenly things, that, notwithstanding this, they are not broken off from the hope of things earthly.
Thomas Aquinas · AD 1274 He shows why he chooses this saying, "I have despaired," i.e. I have lost the hope which you gave me that I might enjoy earthly prosperity. He shows why he despaired adding, "I will not live longer to any purpose." Two things can be understood which he had posited above in this statement.
17 What is man, that thou makest much of him? and that thou settest thy heart upon him?
Hesychius of Jerusalem · AD 450 It is necessary, actually, to call that time "morning," because it is entirely light and drives the night away from this life. "You judge them for the time of rest," that is, not for the torments but for the delights and the reward.
Gregory the Dialogist · AD 604 What is man, that Thou shouldest magnify him? and that Thou shouldest set Thine heart upon him? God magnifieth man, in that He enriches him with the bountiful gift of reason, visits him with the inspiration of grace, exalts him with the greatness of imparted virtue; and whereas he is nothing in himself, yet through the bounty of His lovingkindness He vouchsafes to him to be a p…
Thomas Aquinas · AD 1274 Consequently he pursues both points. First he says of his weakness, "What is man," that is, how small a thing and frail in body, "that you lift him up," by honoring him among the other creatures or "that you turn your heart towards him," by guarding him and protecting him with special care?
18 And that thou visitest him every morning, triest him every moment?
Gregory the Dialogist · AD 604 And that Thou shouldest visit him in the dawn, and try him suddenly? Which is there of us that does not know that it is called the 'dawn,' when the night season is now changing into the brightness of light?
Thomas Aquinas · AD 1274 He shows how God turns his heart towards him when he says, "You visit him at dawn," i.e. from the day of his birth you help him by your providence with things necessary for his life and glorification, whether they are corporeal or spiritual. "And immediately test him," by adversities in which he shows clearly he is disposed to virtue.
19 How long wilt thou not look away from me, nor let me alone till I swallow down my spittle?
Gregory the Dialogist · AD 604 How long wilt Thou not depart from me, nor let me alone until I swallow down my spittle. The spittle runs into the mouth from the head, but from the mouth it is carried into the belly by being swallowed.
Thomas Aquinas · AD 1274 Then he adds another reason that God should spare him taken from the brevity of life. He puts it in question form saying, "How long do you not spare me?" This is like saying: The time of the life of man is short and the greater part of the time of my life is already past.
20 Have I sinned, what do I unto thee, thou Observer of men? Why hast thou set me as an object of assault for thee, so that I am become a burden to myself?
John Chrysostom · AD 407 What does Job mean when he says, "What shall I be able to do for you?" What should I do in order to expiate my fault, in order to be reconciled with you? "O you who understand the human mind, why did you make me to be your accuser?" Job speaks this way not because he accuses God—God forbid!—but because what has happened to him raises a serious accusation against God.
Gregory the Dialogist · AD 604 I have sinned; what shall I do unto Thee, O Thou Preserver of men? Observe how he confesses the ill that he has done, but the good that he should present to God in compensation, he no where can find, in that all virtue whatever of human practice is without power to wash out the guilt of sin, except His mercifulness in sparing foster it, and not His justice in judging press hard…
Thomas Aquinas · AD 1274 Someone could object that Job was unworthy to be spared by God because his sins merit that he be afflicted even more. This follows also from the opinion of Eliphaz who thought that he was scourged because of his sins.
21 And why dost not thou forgive my transgression and take away mine iniquity? for now shall I lie down in the dust, and thou shalt seek me early, and I shall not be.
Gregory the Dialogist · AD 604 And why dost Thou not take away my transgression, and remove mine iniquity? By which same words, what else is intimated but the desire of the expected Mediator, concerning Whom John saith, Behold the Lamb of God, Which taketh away the sin of the world. Or rather sin is then completely taken away from mankind, when our corruption is changed in the glory of incorruption.
Thomas Aquinas · AD 1274 The third reason is taken from the powerlessness of man to cleanse himself from sin. For man sinks into sin by himself, but it is only God's part to remit sin. So Job asks: If my punishment should not cease for as long a time as my sin remains and you alone can take away my sin. "Why do you not take away my sin?" which I have committed against God or against myself.