Job speaks in an admirable way. Instead of briefly saying, You would not be able to be men, he questions them, and what does he ask? So are you really men, and shall wisdom die with you? This means, Is the honor of rational beings really intact within you? Do you know the decisions that God forms with regard to sinners and righteous people? It is convenient, in fact, that people are aware of this. Know that God tests the righteous and shows tolerance with sinners. That is why the latter are wealthy and the former in the ordeal, because for sinners God’s long tolerance will be the reason for a return to repentance, while to the righteous the long battle will offer the occasion to be crowned. If you knew that, you would not condemn the righteous person who is in the ordeal, and you would not consider the sinner who is wealthy, as the righteous.

Job is saying, Do you consider yourselves the only one who is wise? And do you think that after you there will be no wise person?

Job wants to reveal their wrong perceptions with the words, But I have understanding as well as you, and still I do not think the same thoughts as you. Or do you think that your thinking is unsurpassed? I am reasonable too, and reason is not different from reason, but the difference is in the application. So it is said for example about the evil ones, Listen to me, you stubborn of heart,^[1] for not the creature but its evil activity he calls stubbornness of heart.

Did I lose my common sense, by any chance, Job says, because I fell into misery? Here he presents himself as a righteous man, not by testifying to his perfect virtue but to the fact that he did not do anything wrong to anyone and that nobody can blame him. And that my houses should be spoiled by transgressors,^[1] it was necessary that this happened, he says. It had been ordained from above. However, he says, do not believe that these misfortunes will stop for me. Indeed, if I, who have committed no act of injustice, suffer so, the wicked will suffer even more so.

Certainly the subtlety of your entire conjecture leans toward this, that is, to a reflection on the merits for prosperity and misfortune, so that you want to show that I am guilty, and you righteous, because not even a contrary breath blows against you. This is a plain accusation against the justice of God or a way to lay blame on his patience. The tents are abundant, those, whom above he had called rich, he now accuses of corruption by the name of robbers.

Why do you behave as if you had made a great and wonderful discovery? It was necessary, in fact, that such a man died, and nobody ignores it. At the same time, we all know that in his hand is the life of every human being. Do you see how not only creation but Providence also testifies to God? They both give witness that he controls everything and supports both the life and soul of human beings, so well that he can, when he wants, punish and correct them.

It is reason that discerns words, and the palate that recognizes the taste of foods. Job means, if animals know those things, we, who are endowed with reason, and not only with a palate to eat, know them even better. Or it means, since I am not devoid of reason, I know that. In fact, if God has granted us a palate to recognize the taste of foods, he has also given us reason to make our decisions and the time to acquire knowledge.

Consider if this does not refer to the following words, But ask the animals, and they will teach you.^[1] The sequence of these two thoughts makes it clear that it is not given to unreasonable animals or soulless things to understand the resolutions of Providence, but it is given to reason. There is an example, as the palate judges food, so reason judges what is said and what is in the nature of the cosmos. Consider also this yourselves, he says to his friends, and you will find out the nature of what happened to me.

In the length of time is wisdom, and in long life knowledge. In this passage it can be gathered that reason is natural to humanity as well as eating; or, at the beginning he said, Are you really the only men?^[1] Since I am a man, he means, I can understand what you also understand. In length of time, he says, is wisdom. It seems to me that he is criticizing them. Do you believe, he says, that you have found out all things? Even if we possess reason to discern, we need a long time to find out things. With him are wisdom and power, with him counsel and understanding. All wisdom indeed, he says, is in God, in his fullness, and it is in him without any need of time.. . . Therefore, is it possible that since we know that, we also know all things? I know that the wicked are punished; but I am punished despite my justice, so time is needed to understand this.

It is clear that after [God] has decreed to dissolve or destroy something, according to the judgment of his wisdom, nobody will ever be able to oppose his will. As he destroyed the tower and the kingdoms of many nations, so he announced beforehand that also Jerusalem, where the precepts of his law had been engraved as in stone, had to be torn down under the presence of his grace. And so, according to the prophecy of Job, Christ, who made a new peace in himself by establishing two men in a single new man, destroyed the wall of enmity, that is, the law of the commandments.^[1] The God, Christ, destroyed and opened the gates of hell and deposed from his reign the devil, who had the power of death. The God, Christ, destroyed death, when he took it by deigning to die in it. And while he destroyed the body of sin on the cross, he annihilated the old man in us by killing it, so that he might give eternal life back to us.

When almighty God in the mystery of his mercy was made man, he first gave the lesson of mildness, and afterwards at the judgment he will show his strength. It is correct to say that in the place above, wisdom is mentioned before strength, as the thing is spoken of the only begotten Son of the Father, With him is wisdom and strength.^[1] In view of the fact that as he comes to judge, he will appear in the terribleness of his power, and the damned being cast off, he will manifest to his elect in his everlasting kingdom. How he is the wisdom of the Father is rightly said in the subsequent sentence, that with him is first strength and then wisdom.. . . Whereas everyone who strives to deceive his neighbor is wicked, Truth says to the wicked, I never knew you; depart from me, you evildoers. In what sense is it said here that the Lord knows the deceiver? But God’s knowing sometimes means his taking notice or acknowledging, sometimes his approving; God at once knows a wicked person, in that in taking notice of him he judges him (for he would never judge any wicked person, if he did not take notice of him), and yet he does not know a wicked person in that he does not approve of his actions. So, God both knows him, in that he finds him out, and doesn’t know him, in that he does not acknowledge him in a likeness of his own wisdom. . . . The only begotten Son of the most high Father, because he was made man and preached eternal truths, is therefore called the Angel of great counsel. We rightly interpret the counselors as those preachers who furnish the counsel of life to their hearers. However, when any preacher preaches the truths of eternity that he may acquire temporal gains, he is assuredly brought to a foolish end; he is aiming to reach that point by laborious effort. Hence, he ought to have fled in uprightness of mind. And it is rightly added, And the judges to dullness. For all that are set over the examination of other people’s conduct are rightly called judges. But when he who has this oversight does not diligently examine the lives of those under his authority or acquaint himself with whom he should correct, the judge is brought to dullness, in that he, who should have judged things that were ill, never finds out those things that are to be judged.

These words must not refer to the sons of Aaron, who did not live anymore at that time, but to priests such as Job himself and Melchizedek. If the narrative is about real and holy priests, how is it said that they are led away in amazement? Evidently, [they are led away] in order that they may be astonished and admire the prodigies that are brought agains the impious through the decision of God and through the godhead. And so Job proceeds to relate here the admirable things that through the power and will of God happen in the sea, among the nations, among the kings and the leaders, and among all those, who prevail with force, deal with weapons and are called to war. Therefore, he submits.

By changing the speech of those who speak truly. He is not referring here to those who speak truly, so much as to those who believe they speak truly. He convinces them of their falsehood when he makes what they had predicted happen in a different way.

By taking away the doctrine of the elders, Job shows them that the frustration of their projects occurs without any consideration for their authority. He pours contempt on princes, both those who are entrusted with teaching and the leaders who take care of the administration of common goods. When God opposes them, they lose completely the high position they previously had where they stood. He lifts up those who were oppressed. After showing what God can do to these people, who are considered to be illustrious, he includes the wealth and protection he can grant to the humble, so that the divine power may be known by both these classes of people.

Revealing deep things out of darkness, and he has brought into light the shadow of death. The literal meaning is, He manifests the things which are hidden to all, and preserves those who are in danger and close to death. He calls danger the shadow of death, because, as shadow is very close to the body that produces it, so danger is very close to the death that causes it. However, the profound meaning of this sentence appears to announce prophetically the advent of the Lord, who said to the prisoners, Come out, and to those who are in the shadow, show yourselves,^[1] and appeared to those, who sit in darkness and in the shadow of death.^[2]

And after that Job said, He brought the shadow of death into light^[1] (that is, the fear of death. In fact, when such a thing is feared, understanding it redeems us from such fear) by mentioning the details of the many facts and by showing the providence deriving from them. Job did this so that no one may believe that simply from the details of the facts one is able to understand the providence of God, or that God exercises his control on people one by one [and not in a general way]. And, in the same way, Job finally produces the general truth on the nations. That is, that the nations that sinned were destroyed because of their thoughtlessness, like the Sodomites, the Canaanites and the Egyptians, who, for this reason, were wiped out in their catastrophe by the wrath of God. Also, the Israelites who, after being guided by God, settled down in the land of Palestine. Even though one may announce that these nations are now pacified in harmony with one another, nothing can be gained by them. In fact, their thoughtlessness misled them, and for this reason they were wiped out without understanding their ruin. The night took them instead of daylight, and they staggered like a drunkard, falling into shadow in their belching. Therefore, I can observe the whole of his providence, in detail and in general, and nothing remains hidden from me, as you think; indeed I do not ignore his power and his justice. Everything is shown according to his will and authority.