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Job xxi.
Notes & Commentary:
Ver. 2.
Do. "Alter your opinion." (Menochius) --- Symmachus, "hear." Septuagint, "may this be for your consolation," (Hebrew)
which I shall receive from you, or which you may make use of, if you should be afflicted (Calmet) as I am. (Haydock) --- Job
undertakes to show that the wicked are sometimes suffered to enjoy a long prosperity.
Ver. 4.
Troubled. Hebrew, "Why is not my spirit shortened" by death, if your assertion be true? (Haydock) or why may I not
be "troubled," since I have to deal, not with an enlightened judge, but with men who are under the greatest prejudices? (Calmet)
--- I seem to you to dispute against God. Have I not then reason to tremble? ver. 6. (Haydock) --- Though he disputed with
men, it was concerning Providence and eternal things. (Worthington)
Ver. 5.
Hearken to. Literally, "look steadfastly on me." (Haydock) --- Compare my present with my former condition, and do
not pretend to fathom God's judgments; which fill me also with astonishment, when I consider why the virtuous are distressed,
and the wicked prosper, ver. 7. --- Mouth be silent. Harpocrates, the god of silence, was represented in this posture;
and Virgil says, Intentique ora tenebant. (Æneid ii.) --- Septuagint, "upon the cheek," like men in deep consideration.
(Calmet)
Ver. 7.
Riches. This is what fills me with great anxiety. Yet it quite destroys the force of your argument, (Calmet) since
you pretend that the prosperity of the wicked is never of long duration. We see them, however, live to an advanced old age,
(Haydock) continually offending God, and annoying their neighbours. (Calmet) --- Septuagint, "yea, they grow old in riches."
Ver. 8.
Sight. The Jews esteemed this as the greatest blessing and mark of God's favour. Yet it was also equivocal, as it was
often possessed by the wicked. (Calmet)
Ver. 9.
Rod. Divine judgments. (Menochius) (Psalm lxxii. 5.)
Ver. 10.
Cattle. Literally, "ox," bos. Protestants, "their bull gendereth, and faileth not." (Haydock) --- But Bochart
explains it of the cows' bringing forth every year. (Calmet) --- Ox is used in the same sense, both by sacred and profane
authors. (Haydock) --- A great part of the riches of these nations consisted in cattle, Psalm cxliii. 14., and Zacharias viii.
5.
Ver. 11.
Their. Septuagint, "They continue like eternal sheep, as if they and their flocks would never die. (Calmet) --- And
play, is to shew the nature of the dance. It is not in Hebrew. (Haydock) --- The children are healthy and sportive. (Menochius)
--- Septuagint, "they play before them." (Haydock)
Ver. 13.
Moment. Septuagint, "in the rest of the lower region, adou, they shall be laid," (Haydock) in the grave.
(Menochius) --- A sudden death, without agony or sickness, (Haydock) was the choice of Julius Cæsar, the night before he was
slain. Repentinum inopinatumque prætulerat. (Suetonius) --- But the enlightened servant of God would rather desire
time to do penance, and to prepare for death. For who shall presume that he has that charity which banisheth fear? (Calmet)
--- Hell. The same term is used for the place where the damned are tormented, as for that where the souls of the just
waited (chap. vii., and xvii.) for their Redeemer's coming. But here Job is speaking of the apparent happiness of the wicked;
(Haycock) and only alludes to the grave, (Calmet; Menochius) or comfortable death and burial of the reprobate: though, at
the same time, he may declare that their souls are buried in hell. (Haydock)
Ver. 14.
Ways. The too common effect of riches, Proverbs xxx. 8., and Ecclesiasticus v. 2.
Ver. 16.
Because, is not in Hebrew. "Lo, their good is not." They are not possessed of true riches, or of good sense. Alexandrian
Septuagint, "For good things were in their hands: but the works of the impious are not pure." No: the more they possess, the
greater is their perversity. Grabe substitutes oukathora, for kathara; God "does not behold" the
works, &c., which is more conformable to the other editions; and thus the blasphemies of the impious are continued. (Haydock)
--- When we are not sensible of our wants and dependance, we think less on God. (Calmet) --- Hand, or power, they are
only the gifts of God; far be then such sentiments from me. (Calmet)
Ver. 17.
How often. When do we witness the downfall of the wicked? (Mercer.) --- Or, in a contrary sense, how often are they
miserable as well as the just? Such things are, therefore, a very equivocal argument, to prove either side of the question.
Those who are afflicted, and cling closer to God, must be accounted virtuous and happy; while that prosperity is fatal which
is an occasion of our neglecting his service. (Calmet) --- Job answers his own questions, ver. 7. If the wicked be happy for
a time, their future state is deplorable, and often they forfeit even their temporal advantages. (Menochius)
Ver. 19.
The sorrow. Protestants, "his iniquity." Marginal note, "that is the punishment." (Haydock) --- The children
shall share in his punishment, (Calmet) when they have been partakers, or imitators of his injustice. (Haydock) --- Know
his offence, and whether there be a God (Calmet) and Providence. (Menochius)
Ver. 21.
And if. Hebrew, "when" he is cut off in the midst of his days: he does not regard the happiness or misery of those
whom he leaves behind. (Haydock) --- The children are rather taken away for his punishment, while he is living, as their misery
would not touch him in the grave. (Menochius)
Ver. 23.
Hale, or healthy. Hebrew, "in perfect strength." (Haydock) --- Septuagint, "simplicity, or folly." St. Augustine reads
with the old Vulgate, "in the strength of his simplicity, (Calmet) or innocence. (Haydock) --- These outward appearances prove
nothing for interior piety or wickedness. (Calmet)
Ver. 24.
Bowels. Protestants, "breasts" (Marginal note, "milk-pails") are full of milk. But the Septuagint, Bochart, &c.,
agree with the Vulgate. Job describes a corpulent man (Calmet) living in luxury, like the glutton. (Haydock)
Ver. 25.
Any. Hebrew, "ever having eaten with pleasure." (Haydock)
Ver. 27.
Me. I perceive you are not convinced; and what you say respecting the wicked, is pointed at me. (Menochius)
Ver. 28.
Prince. Job, (Menochius) or rather the tyrant, whose lot we know is miserable, as he falls a victim of God's justice,
chap. xx. 7.
Ver. 29.
Way. Travellers, who have seen foreign countries, (Vatable) or any one that may be passing, (Sanchez) will answer this
objection (Haydock) in my favour. (Menochius) --- They will all agree in testifying that the wicked prosper, even for a long
time. (Calmet)
Ver. 30.
To the. He will be requited indeed, at last; or rather, when others are in the utmost danger, he will be protected
as it were by God. Septuagint, (Calmet) or Theodotion, "the wicked is kept on high," chouthizetai. All
from ver. 28 to 33 inclusively, is marked as an addition to the Septuagint by Grabe, who has supplied many similar omissions,
of which Origen and St. Jerome complained. (Haydock)
Ver. 31.
Done. Man is afraid, and God defers to take cognizance. (Calmet)
Ver. 32.
Dead. Hebrew, "the sheaves," being quite ripe for harvest, and even in the tomb, the tyrant retains some sore of pre-eminence,
as he is buried with honour, an set like a more elevated sheaf, to inspect the rest. (Calmet) --- Godiss, is rendered
by Protestants, "tomb," (margin) "heap." But (chap. v. 26.) where only the word occurs again, we find "a shock of corn," and
this comparison seems very suitable here. The damned shall watch, alas, when it will be to no purpose, among the heap
of fellow-sufferers, who would not think while they had time to repent. After millions of night spent thus without sleep or
ease, we may imagine we hear their mournful lamentations from the depth of the abyss. Always misery! and never any hope of
ease! (Haydock) --- "Eternity," says Bridayne, (ser. in Maury's Eloq.) "is a pendulum, the vibration of which sounds continually,
Always! Never! In the mean while, a reprobate cries out: What o'clock is it? And the same voice answers, Eternity!" Thus at
last the wicked shal awake from the sleep in which they have spent their days; (Haydock) and their watching, restless, and
immortal souls (St. Thomas Aquinas) will bitterly lament their past folly. What profit will they derive from the honours paid
to their corpse by surviving friends, (Haydock) even though they be embalmed, and seem to live in marble statues? (Pineda)
Ver. 33.
Acceptable to the gravel of Cocytus. The Hebrew word, which St. Jerome has here rendered by the name Cocytus,
(which the poets represent as a river in hell) signifies a valley or a torrent: and in this place, is taken
for the low region of death, and hell: which willingly, as it were, receives the wicked at their death: who are ushered in
by innumerable others that have gone before them; and are followed by multitudes above number. (Challoner) --- Isaias (xiv.
9.) and Ezechiel (xxxii. 21.) describe the splendid reception in hell of the kings of Babylon and of Egypt, nearly in the
same manner as Job does that of any sinner who has lived in prosperity, chap. xxxviii. 17. He gives life to the whole creation,
in the true spirit of poetry. (Calmet) --- The rich man is represented as tenderly embraced by his mother earth; (chap. i.
21.; Haydock) the very stones and turf press lightly upon him; as the ancients prayed, Sit tibi terra levis. Hebrew,
"the stones or clods of the torrent (Calmet) shall be sweet to him, and he," &c. (Haydock) --- St. Jerome has chosen
to mention a particular river, instead of the general term nel, "a torrent or vale," to intimate that Job is speaking
of the state after death. --- Cocytus is a branch of the Styx, a river of Arcadia, of a noxious quality, which the
poets have place in hell. (Pineda) --- Septuagint, "The pebbles of the torrent became sweet to him, and in his train every
man shall come, and unnumbered men before him." Alexandrian manuscript has "men of number;" the two first letters of anarithmetoi
being omitted. (Haydock) --- The Church reads in her office for St. Stephen, Lapides torrentis illi dulces fuerunt: ipsum
sequuntur omnes animæ justæ. Many explain this passage of Job as a menace. The wicked have carried their insolence so
far as to (Calmet) give orders to (Haydock) be buried with the utmost pomp: but in the other world, they shall be thrown ignominiously
among the other dead. (St. Gregory, &c.) (Calmet) --- They were little moved with the thought of death, as it was common
to all. But what will they think of eternal misery? (Haydock)
Ver. 34.
Vain. These arguments shew that your assertions are destitute of proof, and afford me no comfort. (Calmet)
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Bible Text & Cross-references:
Job shews that the wicked often prosper in this world,
even to the end of their life: but that their judgment is in another world.
1 Then Job answered, and said:
2 Hear, I beseech you, my words, and do penance.
3 Suffer me, and I will speak; and after, if you please, laugh at my
words.
4 Is my debate against man, that I should not have just reason to be
troubled?
5 Hearken to me and be astonished, and lay your finger on your mouth.
6 As for me, when I remember, I am afraid, and trembling taketh hold
on my flesh.
7 *Why then do the wicked live, are they advanced, and strengthened with
riches?
8 Their seed continueth before them, a multitude of kinsmen, and of children's
children in their sight.
9 Their houses are secure and peaceable, and the rod of God is not upon
them.
10 Their cattle have conceived, and failed not: their cow hath calved,
and is not deprived of her fruit.
11 Their little ones go out like a flock, and their children dance and
play.
12 They take the timbrel and the harp, and rejoice at the sound of the
organ.
13 They spend their days in wealth, and in a moment they go down to hell.
14 Who have said to God: Depart from us, we desire not the knowledge
of thy ways.
15 *Who is the Almighty, that we should serve him? and what doth it profit
us if we pray to him?
16 Yet because their good things are not in their hand, may the counsel
of the wicked be far from me.
17 How often shall the lamp of the wicked be put out, and a deluge come
upon them, and he shall distribute the sorrows of his wrath?
18 They shall be as chaff before the face of the wind, and as ashes which
the whirlwind scattereth.
19 God shall lay up the sorrow of the father for his children: and when
he shall repay, then shall he know.
20 His eyes shall see his own destruction, and he shall drink of the
wrath of the Almighty.
21 For what is it to him what befalleth his house after him: and if the
number of his months be diminished by one half?
22 Shall any one teach God knowledge, who judgeth those that are high?
23 One man dieth strong and hale, rich and happy.
24 His bowels are full of fat, and his bones are moistened with marrow.
25 But another dieth in bitterness of soul, without any riches:
26 And yet they shall sleep together in the dust, and worms shall cover
them.
27 Surely I know your thoughts, and your unjust judgments against me.
28 For you say: Where is the house of the prince? and where are the dwelling-places
of the wicked?
29 Ask any one of them that go by the way, and you shall perceive that
he knoweth these same things.
30 Because the wicked man is reserved to the day of destruction, and
he shall be brought to the day of wrath.
31 Who shall reprove his way to his face? and who shall repay him what
he hath done?
32 He shall be brought to the graves, and shall watch in the heap of
the dead.
33 He hath been acceptable to the gravel of Cocytus, and he shall draw
every man after him, and there are innumerable before him.
34 How then do ye comfort me in vain, whereas your answer is shewn to
be repugnant to truth?
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*
7: Jeremias xii. 1.; Habacuc i. 13.
15: Malachias iii. 14.
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