Job 31 · The Lantern

I made couenaunt with myn iyen, that Y schulde not thenke of a virgyn.

Deep affect is tightly united with this verse. Not even at the time, he says, when the sweetness of the harp softened my ears did I allow any lustful feeling to dwell in my heart, even though the sounds tuned with art affected the senses.

I made a covenant with mine eyes that I should not even think upon a maid. Whereas the soul is invisible, it is in no degree affected by the delightfulness of things corporeal, except that, being closely attached to the body, it has the senses of that body as a kind of opening for going forth.

After Job had told of his former prosperity (c.29) and his subsequent adversity, (c. 30) he now shows his innocence so that one does not believe that he had fallen into adversities because of sins. He begins to show his innocence by his freedom from the sin of lust which involves most men.

For what part schulde God aboue haue in me, and eritage Almyyti God of hiye thingis?

Whether perdicioun is not to a wickid man, and alienacioun of God is to men worchynge wickidnesse?

Whether he biholdith not my weies, and noumbrith alle my goyngis?

If Y yede in vanyte, and my foot hastide in gile,

Nobody can say, Job says, either that I was hankering after pleasures, luxuries and that kind of lustful life, or, on the other hand, that by becoming too hard and austere in my heart I finally fell into those vices that are contrary to that sort of life, that is, the vices of malice and deceit. No! I kept away from both of those two vices!

If I have walked in vanity, or if my foot hath hasted to deceit, let Him weigh me in an even balance, and let God know mine integrity. 'God to know' is said for His making us to know by a customary mode of our speech, who speak of 'a happy day,' by which it happens that we are made happy. For hence it is the Lord saith to Abraham, Now I know that thou fearest God.

Second, he cleanses himself from the sin of deceit, using in this and in all the following discussion an execratory oath in which a man binds himself to a punishment, so that if what he says is not true, he obliges himself to punishment. So he says, "If I walked," if I acted "in vanity," in some falsehood. For things are called vain which lack solidity.

God weie me in a iust balaunce, and knowe my symplenesse.

If my step bowide fro the weie; if myn iye suede myn herte, and a spotte cleuede to myn hondis;

"The Lord," he says, "knows my innocence, if my foot has turned aside out of the way or if my heart has followed my eye." Is this a further detail? Yes, truly, it was important at that time as well as now. It is important, in fact, to overturn inordinate desires, and it is not less important, after receiving those desires, not to satisfy them.

If my step hath turned out of the way. So many times does 'the step go out of the way,' as our thought quits the way of the right, by the consenting of wandering. Now we as it were set as many 'steps out of the way,' as we are parted by bad desires from the delightfulness of the heavenly life.

Since he has excluded deceit from himself in general, he descends to certain special sins in which one deceitfully plots against the goods of another. This happens both in theft and in adultery.

sowe Y, and another ete, and my generacioun be drawun out bi the root.

If myn herte was disseyued on a womman, and if Y settide aspies at the dore of my frend; my wijf be the hoore of anothir man,

He did not say, my eyes, but, my heart; I never allowed, he says, my thoughts to become corrupted, or my body either. This is exactly what Christ says: "He who has cast his glance upon a woman to desire her has already committed adultery in his heart."

If mine heart has been deceived by a woman, or if I have laid wait at my neighbour's door. Though it sometimes happens that the sin of fornication is not at all different from the guilt of adultery, seeing that Truth saith; Whoso looketh on a woman to lust after her, hath already committed adultery with her in his heart.

In adultery, however, a man plots deceitfully against the wife of his neighbor, and this plot is preceded by a certain deception of heart, as long as reason is darkened by concupiscence, and so he says, "If my heart has been deceived by a woman," referring to the desire of the wife of another.

and othir men be bowid doun on hir.

For this is vnleueful, and the moost wickidnesse.

Fier is deourynge `til to wastyng, and drawynge vp bi the roote alle generaciouns.

If Y dispiside to take doom with my seruaunt and myn hand mayde, whanne thei stryueden ayens me.

After describing his virtues of justice, mercifulness and chastity, he adds now a new one, that is, the virtue of moderation. Indeed, he does not defend himself against the complaints of his servants with the authority of a landlord but by satisfying the reasons of righteousness.

If I despised to submit to judgment with my man-servant or with my maid-servant, when they contended with me. For he who did not refuse to be 'judged with menservants and maid-servants,' clearly shews that against no fellow-creature was he at any time swoln with pride in himself.

So after he has purged himself of injustice because he did not do injury to others, either in stealing things from them, or in abusing persons joined to them, he excuses himself, as a consequence, of the charge he has incurred injustice because of the defect of justice, and so he says, "If I despised subjecting myself to judgment with my servant and my handmaid when they wanted…

What sotheli schal Y do, whanne God schal rise to deme? and whanne he schal axe, what schal Y answere to hym?

Whether he, that wrouyte also hym, made not me in the wombe, and o God formede me in the wombe?

If Y denyede to pore men that, that thei wolden, and if Y made the iyen of a wydewe to abide;

"If I have withheld anything that the poor desired." In order that it might not appear that by humanely treating his servants, he did not practice a real liberality but only took care of his property, he says that he tended the hand of mercy and benevolence to strangers as well.

If I have denied what they wished for to the poor, or have caused the eyes of the widow to wait. By these words the holy man is shewn not only to have ministered to the need of the poor, but also to their desire of having. But what if the poor wished those very things, which perchance it might not be for their good to receive?

After he showed that he was not lustful (v.1) or unjust (v.5), he shows next that he was not without pity. He first shows this from the fact that he did not take benefits away from the poor. For some men deny alms to the poor man seeking them from the beginning.

if Y aloone eet my mussel, and a faderles child eet not therof;

for merciful doyng encreesside with me fro my yong childhed, and yede out of my modris wombe with me;

if Y dispiside a man passynge forth, for he hadde not a cloth, and a pore man with out hilyng;

if hise sidis blessiden not me, and was not maad hoot of the fleeces of my scheep;

if Y reiside myn hond on a fadirles child, yhe, whanne Y siy me the hiyere in the yate;

my schuldre falle fro his ioynt, and myn arm with hise boonys be al to-brokun.

Then let my shoulder fall from its joining, and mine arm be broken in pieces along with its bones. Because bodily action is carried on by the shoulder and the arm, if the good things which he put forth with the lips he did not fulfil in deed, he wishes to himself 'the shoulder to fall,' and 'the arm to be broken in pieces.' As though he said in plain words, 'If the things that…

It is just that a man should be deprived of the limbs which he uses for injustice, and so he speaks not only of the loss of his hand as a punishment, but also the arm to which the hand is attached, and of the shoulder to which the arm is connected, and so he says, "let my shoulder fall from its joint and let my arm be crushed with its bones," if I have abused my hand by using i…

For euere Y dredde God, as wawis wexynge gret on me; and `Y myyte not bere his birthun.

For I always feared God like waves swelling over me, and I could not endure the weight of Him. From the terror that belongs to such a likeness let us reflect what wonderful force of fear there was in the holy man.

Gather together, then, these three considerations, namely the consideration of the sublimity of divine power, the consideration of the perspicacity of divine wisdom, and the consideration of the severity of divine vengeance. And who will there be who will not fear?

He shows then why although he was in a higher place in society he did not raise his hand against orphans. Even though he did not deliver them because of men, yet he did deliver them because of God whose judgments he feared, and so he then says, "For I always feared God like the swelling of waves over me." He speaks using the comparison of those sailing on the sea, who, when the…

If Y gesside gold my strengthe, and if Y seide to purid gold, Thou art my trist;

if Y was glad on my many ritchessis, and for myn hond foond ful many thingis;

if Y siy the sunne, whanne it schynede, and the moone goynge clereli;

"If I had looked at the sun when it shone or the moon moving in splendor," that is, if I had seen the rising sun and worshiped it or had embraced the moon and kneeled down before it, I would have certainly erred in worshiping them.

If I saw the sun when it shined, or the moon walking in brightness, and my heart hath secretly rejoiced, and I have kissed my hand with my mouth; which is an exceeding iniquity, and denial against the Most High God.

Then he excuses himself from the sin of superstition, which is against God. In ancient times idol-worshipers worshipped the stars of heaven, especially the great lights because of their great brightness. He shows he does not saying, "If I looked at the sun when it shone and the moon moving in splendor," which caused the idolaters to worship them.

and if myn herte was glad in priuyte, and if Y kisside myn hond with my mouth;

which is the moost wickidnesse, and deniyng ayens hiyeste God;

if Y hadde ioye at the fallyng of hym, that hatide me, and if Y ioide fulli, that yuel hadde founde hym;

for Y yaf not my throte to do synne, that Y schulde asaile and curse his soule;

if the men of my tabernacle seiden not, Who yyueth, that we be fillid of hise fleischis? a pilgryme dwellide not with outforth;

my dore was opyn to a weiegoere;

if Y as man hidde my synne, and helide my wickidnesse in my bosum;

"Because I did not turn away," he says, "from the great multitude of my people," that is, away from my subjects, from those who were aware, who knew even the character itself of my fault. This is real wisdom.

If I covered my transgression as man, and did hide mine iniquity in my bosom. But who would not account himself to be a holy man in the midst of such heights of his virtues?

He further shows the perfection of his virtue by excluding undue anxiety. Men usually hide a crime because of the fear of embarrassment, and they sometimes do this against justice, either by denying it, which he excludes from himself saying, "If I hid like a man," as men often do, "my sin," by denying it unjustly; they may also excuse it, or even cover it over with some crafty…

if Y dredde at ful greet multitude, and if dispisyng of neyyboris made me aferd; and not more Y was stille, and yede not out of the dore;

Since he had been driven to the confession of his virtues both by the accusations of his friends and his pious devotion to God [and from the fear of God his virtues had proceeded], he now chooses to add the testimony of the sentence of the Judge in support of his words, so that, after God had declared that he had said the truth, no one among his opponents may deny it.

Did I fear a great multitude, or did the contempt of neighbours terrify me, and I did not rather keep silence, and went not out of the door? It is great assuredness of heart to have nought of worldly concupiscence.

He then excludes from himself the inordinate fear of bodily dangers, which especially proceed from a great mob rising up against a man as Sirach says, "My heart fears three things; the fanaticism of the city, the gathering of the people, etc." (26:5-6) So he says, "If I grew frightened at the great multitude." If man is despised by his kinsmen by whom he ought to be helped, thi…

who yyueth an helpere to me, that Almyyti God here my desire? that he that demeth,

write a book, that Y bere it in my schuldre, and cumpasse it as a coroun to me?

"I have torn all that was received unjustly." Without boasting, I have torn what I had received. And the expression "on my shoulders" suggests that some [of his friends] gloried in the afflictions of the others; and I did not content myself with giving it back simply, but I nullified it by tearing it. "I have torn all that was received unjustly."

That I might bear it upon my shoulder, and put it round me like a crown. To 'bear the book upon the shoulder,' is by practising to carry out Holy Scripture.

If in the testimony of this book, by the certain manifestation of the truth I am also shown to be guilty, I want to endure the punishment, and so he says, "Let me carry it on my shoulders." If, however, after the truth has been manifested I appear worthy of praise, then let me receive the crown of reward, and so he then says, "and let it encircle me like a crown." In this he sh…

Bi alle my degrees Y schal pronounce it, and Y schal as offre it to the prynce.

If my lond crieth ayens me, and hise forewis wepen with it;

"If my land has ever cried out against me, or if its furrows have wept together." Therefore, neither the land cries out nor weeps. What does he mean? Certainly the land does not really groan, but inanimate beings perceive injustices. As the prophet asserts, "The earth stood up and shuddered." Now the earth moans every time we make an unjust use of its fruits.

If my land cry against me, or that the furrows likewise thereof complain. [ALLEGORICAL INTERPRETATION] For what is it for the 'land to cry,' for 'the furrows to weep,' and to have 'eaten one's own fruits buying them?' To whom is it necessary to buy what is his own?

Then he excludes himself from the vice of extreme desire even in things he has acquired in his own possession. This is shown in two ways.

if Y eet fruytis therof with out money, and Y turmentide the soule of erthetileris of it;

a brere growe to me for wheete, and a thorn for barli.

Job31