^23:1 But Job, answering, said:
^23:2 Now also my speech is in bitterness, and the hand of my wound has been made heavy upon my groaning.
^23:3 Who will grant me that I may know and find him and come even to his throne?
^23:4 I will set judgment before him and fill my mouth with rebukes,
^23:5 so that I may know the words that he would answer me and understand what he would speak to me.
^23:6 I do not want him to contend with me with great strength, nor to press me down with the weight of his greatness.
^23:7 Let him set equity against me, and let my judgment come to victory.
^23:8 If I go to the east, he does not appear; if to the west, I shall not understand him:
^23:9 if to the left, what shall I do? I shall not apprehend him; if I turn to the right, I shall not see him.
^23:10 But he himself knows my way and has tested me like gold that passes through fire.
^23:11 My foot has followed his footsteps; I have kept his way and have not declined from it.
^23:12 I have not withdrawn from the commandments of his lips, and in my bosom I have hidden the words of his mouth.
^23:13 For he alone is, and no one can turn away his thoughts, and whatever his soul has willed, this he has done.
^23:14 When he has fulfilled his will in me, many other similar things are also at hand to him,
^23:15 and for this reason I have been troubled, and considering him I am made anxious with fear.
^23:16 God has softened my heart, and the Almighty has troubled me.
^23:17 For I have not perished because of the darknesses threatening me, nor has fog covered my face.

337. But Job, answering, said: Now also it is in bitterness, etc. Eliphaz, in the preceding words, seems to have proposed two things against Job:

first indeed, that he had been punished because of his very great malice,

second, that he had doubted or denied God’s providence;

but when certain crimes are falsely laid upon men, they are accustomed to be saddened by this; hence, because Job did not recognize these things in himself, he says: Now also my speech is in bitterness, as if to say: just as above you have saddened me with your reproaches, so also now, so that I am compelled to speak with bitterness. But when a new affliction is added to someone already afflicted, former afflictions are called back to memory, and from them the present groaning is made heavier, whence he adds: and the hand, that is, the power, of my wound, that is, of the adversity that I once suffered, has been made heavy upon my groaning, that is, it makes my present groaning heavier.

338. But he begins first to respond to what he had said, that he was punished because of his malice. Now Job recognized that he had been punished by divine judgment—whence above in 16:12 he had said that God enclosed me with the iniquitous—and therefore to inquire the cause why he had been punished is to inquire the reason for the divine judgment, which indeed no one can know except God himself. From this it is clear that Eliphaz had presumptuously asserted that he had been punished because of malice; hence he does not wish to contend with Eliphaz about this, but turns his disputation to God, who alone knows the reason for his own judgment.

Now he would consider himself burdened by divine judgment if he had been punished because of very great malice; but those who have been burdened by some judge are accustomed first to approach the judge, which they cannot do unless they find his place, and this they cannot do unless they first know him: for no one who seeks can find what he utterly does not know. Hence he says: Who will grant me that I may know and find him and come even to his throne? For he knew that God exceeded his knowledge, and therefore he could not perfectly find of himself the way by which he might come even to his throne, that is, even to the full knowledge of his judgments. But one burdened by a judge, when he has come to him, is accustomed to demonstrate the justice of his case, whence he adds: I will set judgment before him, as if to say: I will propose to him what the just judgment of my case ought to be; and I will fill my mouth with rebukes, that is, complaints, not indeed because I believe the divine judgment to be unjust, but in the manner of one asking, just as those who dispute are accustomed to object against the sayings of others in order to understand the truth more fully. Hence he adds: so that I may know the words that he would answer me, which pertains to knowing the truth of the response, and understand what he would speak to me, which pertains to grasping the meaning of the words; for a man cannot know whether what is said to him is true unless he understands what is said to him.

339. But frequently above, as though to uphold divine judgment, they had proposed divine strength and greatness, as Zophar did above in 11:8: He is higher than heaven, and what will you do? And the other things that follow there. And therefore, excluding this response, he adds: I do not want him to contend with me with great strength, nor to press me down with the weight of his greatness, as if to say: that response does not suffice me, that only God’s power and greatness be alleged against me, because just as he is strongest and greatest, so also he is most just and a lover of equity; whence he adds: Let him set equity against me, that is, let a reason pertaining to equity be assigned, and thus it will appear that I was not punished because of malice, whence he adds: and my judgment will come to victory, namely, that by which I contend against you, asserting that I have not been punished for sins.

340. And lest anyone believe, from what he said, Who will grant me that I may know and find him and come even to his throne?, that he believed God to be enclosed in a bodily place or able to be sufficiently known through creatures, he adds: If I go to the east, he does not appear. Here it must be considered that, according to Aristotle in On the Heavens, six differences of position are distinguished in heaven, namely, up and down, right and left, before and behind.

For the principle of the motion of the whole firmament manifestly appears in the east; but in every animal the principle of motion is from the right. Therefore, if we imagine the motion of the firmament as the motion of one animal, it will be necessary to place the right of heaven in the east, but the left in the west, up in the south, but down in the north, the front in the upper hemisphere, but the back in the lower hemisphere; as if we were to imagine one man who moved heaven from the east toward the upper hemisphere with his right hand, it would follow that he would hold his head toward the south and his feet toward the north, and the front part of the man would be toward the upper hemisphere, but the rear of the man, that is, his back, toward the lower. Yet some, not looking to the disposition of the human body but rather to the order of the motion of heaven, held the upper part of heaven to be the eastern part because motion begins there, but the right of heaven in the southern part, toward which part, as regards us, the motions of the planets proceed; whence, by opposition, the lower part of heaven is understood as the west, but the left of heaven is understood as the northern part.

And in this way Job’s words seem to proceed here, for he divides right and left over against east and west. Therefore it can be understood simply that God is not locally enclosed in any part of heaven, so that the sense is: If I go to the east, he does not appear, as though existing nearer there, as if he existed there locally; if to the west, I shall not understand him, as though he were nearer and enclosed there; if to the left, that is, toward the northern part, what shall I do? I shall not apprehend him, because, namely, he is not bodily situated there; if I turn to the right, that is, toward the southern part, I shall not see him, as though existing there.

341. Or these words can be introduced not to exclude local position from God, but to show that he cannot be sufficiently found through lower effects. But among all effects apparent in bodily things, the most universal and greatest is the motion of the firmament; and although the principle of this motion appears manifestly in the east, nevertheless the principle of this motion does not sufficiently demonstrate the infinity of divine power, whence he says: If I go to the east, namely, by the progress of my consideration, as though considering the principle of the motion of the firmament, he does not appear, namely, sufficiently through this consideration. But the second effect of divine power in bodily things is the motion of the planets, which is opposite to the motion of the firmament; hence its principle is in the west, from which also the divine power cannot be considered sufficiently, whence he adds: if to the west, namely, if I go, considering the principle of the motion of the planets, I shall not understand him;

and he speaks very pointedly: for this motion is understood more from the diversity of the position of the planets than it appears to the eyes. But from the northern side there seems to be no principle for us except of darkness, because the sun never approaches toward that part; but darkness impedes action, according to John 9:4: The night is coming, when no one is able to work, whence he adds: if to the left, namely, I have proceeded by consideration, what shall I do? That is, I find there nothing except the defect of action, whence no trace will be given for knowing him, and so he adds: I shall not apprehend him, even in any way whatever. But from the southern side there is for us a principle of light, because of the bodies of the luminaries that appear to us from that part, whence he adds: if I turn, namely, by consideration, to the right, that is, to the southern part of heaven, I shall not see him, as if to say: I shall find bodily light there, yet through it he himself cannot be seen. And although he is thus hidden from me, nevertheless the things done concerning me are not hidden from him, whence he adds: But he himself knows my way, that is, the whole course of my life; and Job seems to say this against what Eliphaz had introduced above in the person of the impious, as though imputing it to Job: The clouds are his hiding place, and he does not consider our affairs.

342. And because someone could say, if he knows your way, then he has punished you because of your sins, he himself responds: and he will test me like gold that passes through fire. Here he first plainly explains the cause of his adversity, which was brought upon him so that, from it, he might appear proven to men, just as gold is proven, which can endure fire. And just as gold does not become true gold from fire, but its truth is manifested to men, so Job was tested through adversity, not so that his virtue would appear before God, but so that it might be manifested to men. But he says he will test in the future, as though offering himself through patience even for future examination. But that he was not punished for preceding sin he proves through the rectitude of his life.

Here it must be considered that each thing is shown to be right by the fact that it is conformed to its rule. Now the rule of human life is twofold;

the first indeed is the natural law impressed by God upon the minds of men, through which man naturally understands what is good from the likeness of divine goodness.

In this, first it must be attended to that man, according to his ability, should imitate in his affections and works the operation of divine goodness, according to Matthew 5:48: Be perfect, as your heavenly Father is perfect, and Ephesians 5:1: Be imitators of God, like most beloved sons; whence he says: His footsteps, that is, some likeness, albeit in a small part, of divine goodness at work, my foot has followed, namely, by imitation, my foot, that is, my affection, by which we proceed to act.

Second, it is required that someone apply solicitude with his whole mind to imitating God, whence he adds: I have kept his way, as one solicitous not to withdraw from it.

Third, it is required that man persevere in it and remain in it totally, not in part, whence he adds: and I have not declined from it, that is, I have withdrawn from no part of it.

But the second rule of human life is the exterior law handed down by God, against which man sins in two ways:

in one way indeed through contempt, and against this he says: I have not withdrawn from the commandments of his lips; for certain precepts had been divinely given to Noah, and perhaps to some other holy men on whose lips God was speaking. Second, someone sins against the law of God through ignorance or forgetfulness, and against this he adds: and in my bosom, that is, in the hidden place of the heart, I have hidden the words of his mouth, according to that of the Psalm: In my heart I have hidden your eloquence, so that I may not sin against you.

343. And lest someone say that this proof that he brought forward from the rectitude of his life is not fitting, he consequently shows that a most certain and demonstrative proof cannot be brought forward concerning divine judgments because of the incomprehensibility of the divine will, whence he adds: For he alone is, as if to say: he has no creature like or equal to him that can comprehend him, and consequently neither can it comprehend his will. Hence he adds: and no one can turn away, that is, know with certainty, his thoughts, that is, the dispositions of his judgments. And just as his disposition cannot be comprehended, so neither can it be resisted by any creature, whence there follows: and his soul, that is, his will, whatever it willed, this it has done, as though with no one able to resist. Now it sometimes happens, especially in some wise man who moderates his will according to his power, that beyond what he does he cannot do more; but he excludes this from God when he adds: When he has fulfilled his will in me, many other similar things are also at hand to him, as if to say: that he does not bring further adversity upon me is not because he cannot do more, but because he does not will to do more; and for this reason, namely, because I consider that he can do more and I cannot discern whether he wills to do more, I have been troubled, namely, with the trouble of fear; whence he adds: and considering him, that is, his power, I am made anxious with fear, lest he should still test me with a more grievous adversity.

344. But he assigns the cause of this fearful anxiety through what he has experienced in himself, the divine blow, whence he adds: God has softened my heart, as though melting it, the firmness of security having been taken away, and the Almighty has troubled me, that is, by his omnipotence he has brought upon me the trouble of sadness over present evils and of fear concerning future ones. But why he should fear for the future when he is not conscious of fault, he shows, adding: For I have not perished, that is, suffered adversity, because of the darknesses threatening me, that is, errors or sins, which indeed are said to threaten when they are confirmed in the mind of man, for example, when someone sins from malice. But sometimes it happens that malice is not fixed in a man, but that he is impelled to sin by some sudden passion, for example, of concupiscence or anger; and he excludes this from himself, adding: nor has fog covered my face; for the eye of reason is, as it were, darkened when, because of passion, its judgment is deceived in a particular act.