^4:12 Moreover, a hidden word was spoken to me, and my ear received, as though furtively, the veins of its whisper.
^4:13 In the horror of a nocturnal vision, when sleep is accustomed to overtake men,
^4:14 fear and trembling took hold of me, and all my bones were terrified.
^4:15 And when a spirit passed in my presence, the hairs of my flesh stood on end.
^4:16 Someone stood there whose face I did not recognize, an image before my eyes, and I heard a voice as of a gentle breeze:
^4:17 Will man be justified in comparison with God? Or will a man be purer than his Maker?
^4:18 Behold, those who serve him are not steadfast, and in his angels he found depravity.
^4:19 How much more those who dwell in houses of clay, who have an earthly foundation: they will be consumed as by a moth,
^4:20 from morning to evening they will be cut down. And because no one understands, they will perish forever;
^4:21 but those who remain will be taken away from among them; they will die, and not in wisdom.
^5:1 Call, then, if there is anyone who may answer you, and turn to one of the Saints.

81. Moreover, a hidden word was spoken to me, etc. Because Eliphaz had asserted that adversities in this world do not come upon anyone except because of his sin, wishing from this to argue that Job and his household had been subject to sins, the contrary of which seemed to be the case from those things that had manifestly appeared in Job and in his household, he wishes to show that neither Job nor his household was immune from sin. And because, on account of Job’s authority and his reputation, his own word seemed weak, he has recourse to a greater authority, showing that the things he is about to propose he learned by revelation. And to show the loftiness of the revelation, he proposes its obscurity: for the loftier things are, the less perceptible they are by human regard. Hence also the Apostle says in 2 Corinthians 12:4 that he was caught up into the Paradise of God and heard secret words, which it is not permitted for man to speak. In this manner also Eliphaz speaks here, whether truly or fictitiously, saying: Moreover, a hidden word was spoken to me.

82. Now it must be considered that some truth, although because of its loftiness it is hidden from man, is nevertheless revealed to some manifestly, but to others in a hidden way. Therefore, to escape the mark of boasting, he says that this hidden truth was revealed to him in a hidden way; hence he adds: and my ear received, as though furtively, the veins of its whisper,

where a threefold mode of concealment is suggested, which is accustomed to occur in revelations.

The first of these is when an intelligible truth is revealed to someone through an imaginary vision, according to what is said in Numbers 12:6: If there is a prophet of the Lord among you, through a dream or in a vision I will speak to him; but not so is my servant Moses: mouth to mouth I will speak to him, who sees God plainly and not through riddles. Therefore Moses heard this hidden word in the manner of a clear voice, but others in the manner of a whisper.

The second mode of concealment is that in the imaginary vision itself, sometimes certain words are uttered that expressly contain the truth, such as this in Isaiah 7:14: Behold, a virgin shall conceive; but sometimes under certain figurative expressions, such as this in Isaiah 11:1: A rod shall go forth from the root of Jesse, and a flower, etc. Therefore, in that Isaiah heard Behold, a virgin shall conceive, he perceived the whisper itself; but in that he heard A rod shall go forth from the root of Jesse, he perceived the veins of the whisper: for figurative expressions are like certain veins derived from the truth itself through likeness.

The third mode is that sometimes someone has a frequent and lasting divine revelation, as is said of Moses in Exodus 33:11, that the Lord spoke to Moses face to face, as a man is accustomed to speak to his friend; but sometimes someone has a sudden and passing revelation. Therefore he signifies this sudden mode of revelation in that he says: as though furtively; for we hear as though furtively those things that come to us rapidly and as if in passing.

83. Thus, therefore, having shown the loftiness of the vision, he proceeds concerning the circumstances of the revelation,

and first concerning the time, saying: In the horror of a nocturnal vision, when sleep is accustomed to overtake men. For nighttime, because of quiet, is more fitting for receiving revelations: for by day, from the tumults of men and the occupations of the senses, the mind suffers a certain noise, so that it cannot perceive the whisper of the hidden word.

84. Second, from the disposition of the one receiving it, whence he adds: fear took hold of me. For men are accustomed to fear unusual things; hence, when unusual revelations are made to someone, at the beginning they suffer fear. And to show the greatness of this fear, he adds: and trembling; for trembling of the body is an indication of the greatness of fear. And to magnify this trembling he adds: and all my bones were terrified, as if to say: the trembling was not superficial but vehement, such as would even shake the bones. Similar is what is found in Daniel 10:8: I saw this great vision, and no strength remained in me; even my appearance was changed in me, and I withered away, and I had no strength at all in me. Then he shows the cause of this fear, saying: And when a spirit passed in my presence, the hairs of my flesh stood on end. For it is reasonable that at the presence of a greater power, a lesser should be struck with wonder;

but it is manifest that the power of spirit is greater than that of flesh; hence it is not strange if, at the presence of a spirit, the hairs of the flesh stand on end, which proceeds from sudden fear, and especially when the presence of the spirit is sensed by some unusual bodily sign: for unusual things are accustomed to induce wonder and fear. And so that the disposition of the time might correspond to this terror which he recalls himself having suffered, he said above: In the horror of a nocturnal vision; for because in the time of night things cannot be discerned by sight, any slight movement is accustomed to induce disturbance in those who suppose it to be something greater. And this is what is said in Wisdom 17:17: whether a whistling spirit or the sweet sound of birds among the thick branches, made them faint from fear.

85. Third, the person revealing is set down when it is said: Someone stood there whose face I did not recognize, an image before my eyes. Here he sets down three things pertaining to the certainty of the vision. For it must be known that sometimes, because of an excessive disturbance of vapors and humors, either dreams do not appear at all, the phantasms being totally suffocated, or disturbed and unstable dreams appear, as is accustomed to happen in those with fevers; and dreams of this kind, since they have little or nothing spiritual about them, exist altogether without signification. But when the humors and vapors have settled, quiet and ordered dreams appear; and because these are more spiritual, with the intellective part breaking forth into a certain vigor, dreams of this kind are accustomed to be more true,

and therefore he says: Someone stood there, by which he shows the stability of the vision. Likewise it must be considered that dreams, even when they are quiet, are for the most part remnants of preceding thoughts, whence a man more frequently sees in sleep those with whom he has been accustomed to associate; and because such dreams have their cause from ourselves and not from some higher nature, they are of no great signification. Therefore, to remove this, he says: whose face I did not recognize, by which he shows that a vision of this kind did not draw its origin from things seen before, but from some more hidden cause.

Third, it must be considered that appearances of this kind, which arise from some higher cause, sometimes appear to those sleeping and sometimes to those awake, and they are accustomed to be truer and more certain when they appear to the awake than when to the sleeping, because in wakefulness reason is freer, and because in sleep spiritual revelations can be less distinguished from frivolous and customary dreams. Therefore, to show that this revelation was made not to one sleeping but to one awake, he adds: an image before my eyes, by which he signifies that he saw this with his eyes opened in wakefulness; this he also signified above when he said: when sleep is accustomed to overtake men, where he suggests that he himself was not overtaken by sleep.

86. Then he recounts the manner of the announcement made to him, saying: and I heard a voice as of a gentle breeze. Here it must be considered that appearances of this kind sometimes come from a good spirit and sometimes from an evil spirit; but in both ways, at the beginning, a man suffers fear because of the unusual vision. Yet when the appearance proceeds from a good spirit, the fear ends in consolation, as is clear concerning the Angel comforting Daniel in Daniel 10:18, and concerning Gabriel comforting Zechariah and Mary in Luke 1; but an evil spirit leaves a man disturbed. Therefore, by saying I heard a voice as of a gentle breeze, he shows a certain consolation calming the preceding fear, so that through this the vision may be shown to be from a good spirit, not from an evil spirit, by whom deceptive visions are frequently shown, according to that saying at the end of 1 Kings: I will go forth and be a lying spirit in the mouth of all his prophets;

in this manner also, in 1 Kings, it is read concerning the appearance made to Elijah that after the commotion there was the whistling of a gentle breeze, and there was the Lord. Nevertheless, it must be known that even in visions that proceed from a good spirit, sometimes great commotions and horrible voices are heard, as is clear in Ezekiel 1:4, where it is said: And I saw, and behold, a whirling wind was coming from the north, and after many things it is added: And I heard the sound of the wings like the sound of many waters; and in Revelation 1:10 it is said: I heard behind me a great voice as of a trumpet. But this is to designate threats or certain grave dangers that are contained in revelations of this kind; but because here something consoling was to be said, therefore the voice of the one speaking is introduced as like a gentle breeze.

87. Finally, the words that he asserts were revealed to him are set down when he says: Will man be justified in comparison with God? He introduces these words to confirm his opinion which he had touched upon above, namely, that adversities in this world do not come upon anyone except for sin.

Therefore, so that no one could excuse himself, because he suffers adversities, by asserting that he is immune from sin, he introduces three reasons,

the first of which is taken from comparison with God, and leads to an impossibility. For if a man is punished by God without fault, it follows that man is more just than God. For since the work of justice is to render to each one what is his, if God inflicts punishment on an innocent man, to whom punishment is not owed, while the man who suffers from God has inflicted punishment on no man without fault—which must be said if he is posited as innocent—it follows that the man punished by God is more just than God; and this is for man to be justified in comparison with God, namely, that he be justified in the comparison of justice with God. And because perhaps this would not seem unfitting to someone, he leads to another more evident unfitting conclusion, saying: Or will a man be purer than his Maker? For each thing has purity according as it is preserved in its nature, which it has from its proper causes; therefore the purity of each effect depends on its cause, whence it cannot surpass its cause in purity. Hence neither can a man be purer than his Maker, namely, God.

88. He sets down the second reason from comparison with the Angels, and it is from the greater, when he says: Behold, those who serve him are not steadfast, and in his angels he found depravity. This statement, indeed, is clear according to the doctrine of the Catholic faith: for the Catholic faith holds that all Angels were created good, of whom some by their own fault fell from the state of rectitude, while others attained to greater glory. Now that Angels fell from the state of rectitude seems wondrous because of two things, one of which pertains to their contemplative power, the other to their active power. For from their contemplative power it seemed that there ought to be stability in the Angels. For it is manifest that the cause of mutability is potency, while the cause of immutability is act: for it belongs to the nature of potency that it be related to being and non-being; but according as it is more perfected by act, it stands more firmly in one thing, whereas what is act in itself is altogether immovable.

Now it must be known that, just as matter is compared to form as potency to act, so the will is compared to the good. Therefore that which is the Good itself, namely God, is altogether immutable; but the wills of other natures, which are not the Good itself, are compared to him as potency to act. Hence, the more they adhere to him, the more they are made stable in the good. And therefore, since the Angels, among the other creatures, seem to adhere more and more closely to God, as those who contemplate him more subtly, they seem more stable among the other creatures, and yet they were not stable. Hence much less can lower creatures, namely men, however much they may seem to adhere to God by worshiping him, which is to serve him, be judged stable. But from the active power it seems that in the Angels there could be either nothing or very little of depravity: for the nearer a rule is to the first rectitude, the less it has of obliquity. But God, in whom there is the first rectitude, directing all things by his providence, disposes lower creatures through higher ones;

hence in the higher creatures, who are called Angels, as though sent by God to direct other things, there seems to be the least or nothing of depravity. Therefore, since depravity was found in them, it must be believed that depravity can be found in any of men, however great he may appear. But one must beware lest from these words someone fall into the error of Origen, who asserts that even now any created spirits whatsoever are unstable and able to be led into depravity; for some have attained this by grace, that they adhere immovably to God, seeing him through his essence. And according to this, even to some men, although they are of a lower nature than the Angels, it is granted by grace even in this life that they be immune from the depravity of mortal sin.

89. He sets down the third reason, taken from the human condition, to which the conclusion of the preceding reason is joined; hence one reason could also be formed from the two. And this is when he says: How much more those who dwell in houses of clay. Now the human condition is such that his body is composed of earthly matter, which he designates when he says: How much more those who dwell in houses of clay. For the human body is called clay because it consists more abundantly of earth and water, the heavier elements, as its movement shows; hence in Genesis 2 it is said that God formed man from the clay of the earth. Therefore this clay body is called the house of the soul because the human soul, in some respect, is in the body as a man in a house or as a sailor in a ship, namely, insofar as it is the mover of the body. Now there were some who for this reason said that the soul is united to the body only accidentally, as a man to clothing or a sailor to a ship; but to exclude this opinion he adds: who have an earthly foundation,

through which it is given to be understood that the human soul is united to the body also as form to matter: for matter is called the foundation of form, because it is the first part in generation, as a foundation is in the construction of a house. But he uses such a manner of speaking that he attributes to the man what belongs to the soul, not because the soul is the man, as some have posited, saying that man is nothing other than a soul clothed with a body, but because the soul is the more principal part of man; and each thing is accustomed to be called by what is more principal in it. Now these two things that he says about the weakness of man seem to be set against those things that he said above about the excellence of the Angels: for what he says, those who dwell in houses of clay, seems to be set against what he had said, those who serve him, which is to adhere to him and to dwell spiritually in him; but what he says, who have an earthly foundation, against what he had said, in his Angels: for Angels are incorporeal by nature, according to that saying of the Psalm: who makes his Angels spirits.

90. From the aforesaid condition of man, however, he concludes his miserable outcome, saying: they will be consumed as by a moth. And indeed, according to the surface of the letter, this can be understood of bodily death, which man necessarily suffers from the fact that he has an earthly foundation; and according to this, a twofold death can be designated: namely, natural death, in that he says: they will be consumed as by a moth; for a moth eats away a garment in such a way that it is born from the garment, and so too natural death arises from the interior causes of the body; and violent death, in what is added: from morning to evening they will be cut down; for the cutting down of a tree proceeds from an exterior cause. And he says quite significantly, from morning to evening, because natural death can indeed be foreknown through certain natural signs, but violent death is altogether uncertain, as being subject to diverse chances,

whence it cannot be known whether a man may come from morning even to evening. Nevertheless, it must be known that this is not the intention of the letter: for above he had proposed concerning the defect of sin when he said, in his Angels he found depravity; hence, in order that the conclusion may correspond to the premises, this must also be referred to sin, through which the life of justice in man is consumed in two ways: in one way, from interior corruption, which he signifies when he says: they will be consumed as by a moth; for just as a garment is consumed by the moth that is born from it, so the justice of man is consumed by those things that are in man, such as the corruption of the tinder of sin, evil thoughts, and other things of this kind; in another way, from exterior temptation, which is noted in that he says: from morning to evening they will be cut down. But it must be considered that interior temptation does not suddenly cast a man down, but little by little, when through negligence someone does not take care to repress within himself the beginnings of sin, according to that saying of Sirach: He who neglects little things will fall away little by little, just as also a garment that is not shaken out is consumed by a moth; but exterior temptation for the most part casts a man down suddenly, just as David, at the sight of a woman, broke forth into adultery, and many also in torments denied the faith.

91. But in whatever way a man falls through sin, if he recognizes his sin and repents, he will obtain mercy; but because there is no one who can know all sins, according to that saying, Who understands offenses?, it follows that very many men, not knowing their sins, do not apply to them the remedies by which they might be freed, and this is what he adds: And because no one understands, namely, the falls of sins, they will perish forever, namely, very many, as though never freed from sin. But because there are some who apply remedies against sins although they do not fully understand them, like David, who said: From my hidden faults cleanse me, O Lord, he adds: but those who remain, namely, from the number of those who perish forever, will be taken away from among them, that is, they will be separated from their company; they will die indeed, because although a man repents of sin, nevertheless he is not freed from the necessity of death, but wisdom does not die in them,

and this is what he says: and not in wisdom. Or what he says, they will die, and not in wisdom, does not correspond to what was said immediately before, but to what he had said above, they will perish forever, so that the sense is that they will die without wisdom. Or what he says, those who remain, can be understood of the children who are left behind by perishing parents, who, because of the sins of their parents which they imitate, are themselves also taken away, dying without wisdom. Therefore Eliphaz wishes from all these things to have this: that since the condition of man is so fragile, he easily falls into sin, and, when man does not know it, he and his children go to perdition; and thus, although Job did not recognize himself as a sinner, it had to be believed that because of some sins he and his children had perished.

92. Thus, therefore, after he had set forth the revelation made to him, because Job could refuse to believe this revelation, he therefore adds: Call, then, if there is anyone who may answer you, as if to say: if you do not believe that this has been revealed to me, invoke God yourself, if perhaps he should wish to answer you concerning this doubt; and if you do not think that you can obtain this from God by your own merits, turn to one of the Saints, so that by his mediation you may be able to know the truth of this matter from God. And it should be noted that he says to one of the Saints, because it is not permitted to inquire in any way or by any hidden art through unclean spirits, but only through God or through the Saints of God, according to that saying of Isaiah 8:19: And though they say to you: Seek from seers and diviners, who hiss in their incantations, should not the people seek a vision from their God, for the living and the dead?