But now they make sport of me, those who are younger than I. These words testify to the authority, power and grace that, as he has asserted, he used to own in his previous days. The more favorable his state of former happiness had been, the more bitter now it makes his feeling of pain after turning into misfortune.

Whose fathers I would have disdained to set with the dogs of my flock. He now refers to an evidence of extreme poverty, through which also the vileness of his condition appears, not only the fact that he lives on charity but also that he is appointed to take care of the food of dogs.

Without intelligence, strength is ruin rather than advantage. And death is over them, because they are useless; neither hunger nor their solicitude causes their soul to become sane again. They are so inept that, because of their foolishness, they cannot defend themselves but can only devour the result of their useless vanity and the reciprocal pains of their worthlessness. ^[1] THEIR ABSOLUTE INEPTITUDE. ISHO‘DAD OF MERV: The words under the rocks and the thorny bushes, that is, those, who are on the prowl in the mountains and the deserts, live on the fruits of thorny bushes because of their destitution. ^[1]

By these same words the time of holy church is set forth, when it is openly derided by the lost; when the wicked are gaining ground, faith becomes a reproach. Truth becomes a ground of accusation. So much the more contemptible shall each individual be in proportion to his righteousness. The worse object of abhorrence, the more worthy object of praise. Therefore the holy church of the elect in the time of calamity becomes a proverb to the wicked. . . . They abhor me, they flee away from me; they do not hesitate to spit at my face. All the wicked flee away from holy church, not by the paces of footsteps but by the characters of their practices. They fly far not in place but desert, whereas, pride gaining ground, they condemn the church with open upbraiding. For to spit at his face implies not only to speak evil of the good in their absence but also to openly defy the just in their presence. And these then while the wicked by openly deriding put them down, they let out insults upon them in loose words, like streams of spittle running down. . . .

He has opened his quiver and afflicted me. What is denoted by the quiver of God but secret counsel? Now the Lord casts the arrow from the quiver, when from his secret counsel he sends forth an open sentence. Any one can suffer, but the cause of the suffering is obscure. After the scourge, amendment of life follows and the actual power of counsel is itself disclosed as well. So the quiver shut is hidden counsel. But we are chastised by an open quiver when by that which follows after the scourge, we see with what counsel we are stricken. . . .

And he put a bridle into my mouth. Therefore because holy church, who ever gives forth its words in a spirit of charity, let it say, He has put a bridle into my mouth. It is as though he confessed openly, saying, Because in some I did not see any progress from preaching, I refrained assault that through the events of life they might be taught with patience. With words of preaching only they would never consent to receive counsel. But this grieves us especially in troubles that occur with kinfolk, where we have trusted them with love.

You see what especially afflicts him is to be mocked by those who reproach him for the evil actions that they commit. Some thieves, he says, some wicked, some criminals, some robbers have made us the subject of their proposals and conversations.

After those things that used to or could move my affections in themselves have dispersed, that is, after I have been deprived of both comforts and occupations, I know that no hope is left for me through which I may be supported. And my welfare has passed like clouds. He said that his welfare has passed—not his life—which was placed in the comforts of his home and in his body for his safety.

After I swiftly passed like a cloud, I became familiar to the evildoers, and for this reason they took courage and rebelled against me. Consequently I will unload all my reflections on myself and my days of affliction, and I will feel pain at night, not in one limb but everywhere, as when sinews are disjointed from their natural connections.

I have become like dust and ashes, that is, I have been rendered contemptible to them as if I were dust, and I appear to be similar to vile mud. Emmanuel too, even though he was God, was thoughtlessly considered to be unworthy when he was clothed with flesh, so that the impure Jews said, Even though you are a man, you make yourself God.

You attacked me without mercy. He attributes to God his affliction, as if he finally accepted that, and he says that his pains are beyond his human power. You have scourged me with a strong hand. And you have put me to grief, and have cast me away from safety. You tormented me with great power; as in nature you made everything according to humid and dry essence, so you made me according to your will, in order that I might suffer as much as possible.

It is said, I know that you will bring me to death, and to the house appointed for all living.. . . Before the grace of the Redeemer even the just were carried to the caverns of hell. For the mere entering of hell is itself called the house of all living, because no one came there who before the advent of the Mediator did not enter by the simple constitution of his own state of corruption. No one came there who did not go on to the death of the flesh, by the steps of that same corruption belonging to him. . . . The same judgment pertains to the accents of the holy church in which there are weak persons who hold the faith to the extent of the word of the lips but contrary to the precepts of faith act the slave to their desires. For [the church] says, I know that you will deliver me to death, where the house appointed for all living is. For because it sees multitudes in it devoted to pleasures and already foresees their destruction, [the church] reflects that in the course of the present life they serve their desires indeed, yet all are brought to the house of death who in the same way live carnally. But there are some who are brought down into the pit of their gratifications, yet by the tears of repentance quickly recover the foot from below. For them the strokes of smiting from above cut rather for instruction than destruction.

However you do not put forth your hand for their destruction; and if they are brought to the ground, you will save them. So, while speaking of himself in arguing, [Job] subjoins cases applying to others, and he shows how many he represents in the person of himself. Accordingly, the Lord does not put forth his hand for the destruction of those who sin if by striking he reforms from sins. He saves those that are falling to the ground when those falling into transgression are brought to health of the body through their wounds. Being brought low outwardly, they arise inwardly. Those who lie prostrate in body are brought back to inward standing, while those who are standing outwardly are brought low in soul.

With almighty God greater sometimes is the gift of the mind than of the [outward] benefit. For this reason the holy man says: One day I wept for him who was in trouble, and my soul had compassion on the poor man. For in bestowing outward things, he granted an object apart from himself. But one who bestows upon his neighbor weeping and compassion gives him something even from his very self. On this account we say that compassion is more than the gift. One who is compassionate gives something even to the one who does not give thought to compassion. One who feels true compassion never withholds that which he deems to be necessary for his neighbor. . . .

But when I looked for good, evil came; and when I waited for light, darkness came. For the faithful person who looks for good but receives evil, waits for light and meets with darkness, because by the grace of recompense one hopes to now already be admitted to the joys of the angels. Yet being delayed for a longer time here below, one is exposed to the hands of those that persecute. And he who expects to enjoy as quickly as possible the recompensing of the eternal light is still forced to suffer here the darkness of his persecutors. The same ills of those persecuting them would grieve them the less if they arose from unbelievers and adversaries. But they torture the mind of the elect the worse in equal proportion to those from which they proceed, upon whom they were promising good.

The excess of misfortunes that have befallen him force him to groan and to wail. Even if I wanted it, I could not stay silent, he says. I stand up in the assembly and cry for help without being ashamed before any of those present and without blushing before the multitude of the assembly. This attitude is due to the greatness of his misfortunes. I have fallen, he says, into the animal condition of birds. I have not recognized my real nature anymore; my situation is not better than theirs.