Jó 1:21 Comentário

The history of Job begins here with an account, I. Of his great piety in general (Job 1:1), and in a particular instance (Job 1:5). II. Of his great prosperity (Job 1:2-4). III. Of the malice of Satan against him, and the permission he obtained to try his constancy (Job 1:6-12). IV. Of the surprising troubles that befel him, the ruin of his estate (Job 1:13-17), and the death of his children (Job 1:18, Job 1:19). V. Of his exemplary patience and piety under these troubles (Job 1:20-22). In all this he is set forth for an example of suffering affliction, from which no prosperity can secure us, but through which integrity and uprightness will preserve us.

In this chapter, Job, the subject of the whole book, is described by his native country, by his name, by his religious character, and by his family and his substance, Job 1:1 a particular relation is given of his children feasting together, and of Job's conduct during that time, Job 1:4 of a discourse which passed between God and Satan concerning him, the issue of which was that Satan obtained leave of God to afflict Job in his outward affairs, Job 1:6 then follows an account of his several losses, of his oxen, sheep, camels, asses, and servants, by the Sabeans, Chaldeans, and fire from heaven, and of his sons and daughters by the fall of the house in which they were through a violent wind, Job 1:13, and the chapter is concluded with the agreeable behaviour of Job in the midst of all this, Job 1:20.

And said, naked came I out of my mother's womb,.... Either literally, where he was conceived and lay, and from whence he came into the world, though he afterwards wishes he never had, or had died as soon as he did, Job 3:10, and so it is expressive of his birth, and the circumstance of it; or figuratively, his mother earth, from whence the first man sprang, and so all his posterity with him, being as he of the earth, earthly, see Ecc 12:7, which sense is mentioned by Jarchi and Aben Ezra; but the first sense seems best: the nakedness referred to is not of the mind or soul, being destitute of righteousness and holiness, with which the following clause will by no means agree, but nakedness of body; and therefore as soon as a child is born, one of the first things done to it is to wrap it in clothes provided for it, see Eze 16:4 and also a being without the things of this life; the apostle's words are a proper comment on these, and explain them, and perhaps these are referred to by him, "we brought nothing into this world", Ti1 6:7, this shows the necessity of the early care of Providence over us, and what reason we have to be thankful for unknown mercies at the time of birth, and in the state of infancy, Psa 22:9 and what obligations children lie under to parents, and what benefits they receive from them at their first entrance into the world, and which they should religiously requite when through old age they stand in need of their assistance, Ti1 5:4, and this may also serve to abate the pride of man, who will have no reason to boast of his riches, nor of his fine clothes, when he considers his original nakedness; and more especially the use of it may be, and which seems to be the use Job made of it, to make the mind easy under the greatest losses. Job considered he did not bring his substance, his servants, and his children into the world with him; and now they were taken from him, he was but as he was when he came into the world, and not at all the worse; he knew how to be abased, and to abound, and in both was content: and naked shall I return thither; not into his mother's womb in a literal sense, which was impossible, Joh 3:4, but to the earth, and to the dust of it, Gen 3:19, pointing to it with his finger, on which he now lay; meaning that he should go to the place appointed for him, the grave, the house of all living, Job 30:23, and so the Targum here has it, to the house of the grave, where he should lie unseen, as in his mother's womb, till the resurrection morn; which would be a kind of a regeneration of him, when he should be delivered up from thence, and enjoy a state of happiness and glory: he should descend into the grave as naked as he was born, respecting not so much the nakedness of his body, as being stripped of all worldly enjoyments, see Ecc 5:15 and he says this in his present view of things; he thought once he should have died in his nest, Job 29:18, in the midst of all his prosperity, and left a large substance to his children; but now all was taken away, and for the present had no hope or expectation of a restoration, as afterwards was; but whereas he was now naked and bare of all, he expected he should continue and die so: or this is said with respect to the common case of men, who it is certain cannot carry anything out of the world with them, either riches or honour, but must leave all behind them, Ti1 6:7 which may serve to loosen the minds of men from worldly things, not to set their eyes and hearts upon them, nor to put their trust and confidence in them; and good men may part with them, especially at death with pleasure, since they will have no further use of them, and will have a better and a more enduring substance in their stead: the Lord gave, and the Lord hath taken away; all outward enjoyments, all the good things of this world, are the Lord's, and at his dispose; the earth, and the fulness of it; kingdoms, nations, countries, houses and lands, the beasts of the field, and cattle on a thousand hills; the gold and silver, and all the riches of the earth: and these are the gifts of his providence to the sons of men; nor have they anything but in a way of giving and receiving; and even what they enjoy, through diligence and industry, is owing to the blessing of God; and who gives not in such sort as that he loses his property in what is given; this he still retains, these are talents which he puts into the hands of men to use for themselves and others, and for which they are accountable to him; and they are but stewards, with whom he will hereafter reckon, and therefore has a right to take away when he pleases; and both Job ascribes to God, not only the giving, but the taking away: he does not attribute his losses to second causes, to the Sabeans and Chaldeans, to the fire from heaven, and the wind from the desert, but to God, whose sovereign will and overruling hand were in all; these were but the instruments of Satan, and he had no power but what was given from God; and therefore to the counsel of his will, who suffered it, Job refers it, and for that reason sits down satisfied and quiet. This is all to be understood of temporal things only; for of spiritual things it cannot be said that God gives and takes away; such gifts are without repentance, and are irreversible, Rom 11:29, the Targum is, "the Word of the Lord hath given, and the Word of the Lord and the house of his judgment hath taken away; the Septuagint and Vulgate Latin versions add, as it pleased the Lord, so it is done:'' blessed be the name of the Lord; for all his blessings and mercies; for all the gifts of nature and providence that had been bestowed, which could not be claimed, and of which he knew himself unworthy; and for the continuance of them so long with goodness and mercy had followed him all the days or his life hitherto, and still he had mercies to bless God for; his wife was still with him, he had some servants left, his own life was spared; he continued as yet in health of body, and therefore could sing of mercy as well as judgment; nor is there any state on earth a man can be in, but there is something to bless God for; wherefore the apostle's exhortation will always hold good, "in everything give thanks": Th1 5:18; besides the name, the nature, the perfections, of God are always the same, and therefore always to be celebrated, and blessing, honour, and glory, are to be ascribed to him continually, in every state and condition of life; wherefore the Arabic version adds, "from henceforth, and for ever"; which agrees with Psa 72:19; and thus Job, instead of cursing God, blesses him, and proves the devil to be a liar, as he was from the beginning; and shows his superiority over him through the power of divine grace; this evil one could not touch him, he was overcome by him, and his designs defeated.

Job’s words may be more elegantly understood of evil and sin in this way: Naked was I formed from the earth at the beginning, as if from a mother’s womb. Naked to the earth shall I also depart—naked not of possessions, for that would be a trivial and common thing; rather, naked of evil and sin and of the unsightly shape which follows those who have led bad lives. Obviously all of us human beings are born naked and again are buried naked, swathed only in grave clothes. For God has provided for us another life, and made the present life the way for the course which leads to it. He appoints the supplies derived from what we possess merely as provisions for the way. And when we come to the end of this way, the wealth, consisting of the things which we possessed, journeys no farther with us. For not a single thing that we possess is properly our own. We are properly owners of only one possession, that is, godliness. Death will not rob us of this when it overtakes us. It will, however, throw out everything else, although it will do so against our will. For it is for the support of life that we all have received what we possess; and after enjoying merely the use of it, each one departs, obtaining from life what amounts to a brief memento. For this is the end of all prosperity; this is the conclusion of the good things of this life. It is only right, then, that the infant upon opening its eyes after issuing from the womb, immediately begins with crying, not with laughter. For it weeps, as if bewailing life, at whose hands from the outset it tastes of deadly gifts. For immediately on being born its hands and feet are swaddled; and swathed in bonds, it begins nursing. O introduction to life, precursor to death! The child has but entered on life, and immediately there is put upon it the clothing of the dead; for nature reminds those that are born of their end. This is also why the child, on being born, wails, as if crying plaintively to its mother. Why, O mother, did you bring me out into this life in which prolongation of life is progress to death? Why have you brought me into this troubled world, in which, on being born, swaddled bands are my first experience? Why have you delivered me to such a life as this, in which both a pitiable youth wastes away before old age, and old age is shunned as under the doom of death? Dreadful, O mother, is the course of life, which has death as the goal of the runner. Bitter is the road of life we travel, with the grave as the wayfarer’s inn. Perilous the sea of life we sail, for it has Hades as a pirate to attack us. Humankind alone is born in all aspects naked, without a weapon or clothing born with it. This does not mean you are inferior to the other animals, but the nakedness and the fact you bring nothing with you are designed to produce thought. That thought, in turn, may bring out dexterity, expel sloth, introduce the arts for the supply of our needs, and beget a variety of ingenuity. For, naked, human beings are full of contrivances, being pricked on by their necessity, as by a goad, to figure out how to escape rains, how to elude cold, how to fence off blows, how to till the earth, how to terrify wild beasts; how to subdue the more powerful of them. Wetted with rain, they conceive of a roof; having suffered from cold, they invent clothing; being struck, they constructed a breastplate; their hands bleeding with the thorns in tilling the ground, they avail themselves of the help of tools; in their naked state liable to become a prey to wild beasts, they discovered from their fear an art which frightened the very thing that frightened them. Nakedness begat one accomplishment after another, so that even their nakedness was a gift and benevolence. Accordingly, Job also being made naked of wealth, possessions, of the blessing of children, of a numerous offspring, and having lost everything in a short time, uttered this grateful explanation: “Naked came I out of the womb, naked also I shall depart thither,” to God and to that blessed lot and rest.

The text means that Job was not covered with crimes and evil deeds and would have returned “naked,” that is, pure and innocent to “his mother’s womb.” He was so firm in his holy frankness that you may easily imagine he had never turned aside from righteousness nor would have ever passed from virtue to vice in the future.

Be perfectly assured of this, that though the reasons for what is ordained by God are beyond us, yet always what is arranged for us by him who is wise and who loves us is to be accepted, be it ever so grievous to endure. He himself knows how he is appointing what is best for each and why the terms of life that he fixes for us are unequal. There exists some reason incomprehensible to us why some are sooner carried far away from us, and some are left a longer while behind to bear the burdens of this painful life. So we should always adore his lovingkindness and not express discontent, remembering those great and famous words of the great athlete Job, when he had seen ten children at one table, in one short moment, crushed to death, “The Lord gave and the Lord has taken away.” As the Lord thought good so it came to pass. Let us adopt those marvelous words. At the hands of the righteous Judge, those who demonstrate similar good deeds shall receive a similar reward. We have not lost the boy; we have restored him to the Lender. His life is not destroyed; it is changed for the better. He whom we love is not hidden in the ground; he is received into heaven. Let us wait a little while, and we shall be once more with him. The time of our separation is not long, for in this life we are all like travelers on a journey, hurrying on to the same shelter. While one has reached his rest, another arrives, another hurries on, but one and the same end awaits them all. He has outstripped us on the way, but we shall all travel the same road, and the same hostel awaits us all.

Do not believe, dear brothers, that Job’s gesture indicates a defeat. It is, above all, a sign of victory. Indeed, if he had done nothing, he would have appeared to be insensitive. Job actually demonstrates himself to be altogether wise, fatherly and pious. What damage did he suffer? He grieves not only for the loss of his children and his cattle but also for the way they died. Who would have not been shattered by such events? Which man of steel would have not been affected? Paul himself often expressed his tearful reaction to events, “What are you doing weeping and breaking my heart?” We should admire Paul’s response. In the same way, Job also deserves to be admired because, in spite of the emotion that pushed him to make that moving gesture, he does not speak a single inappropriate word.

Those who lost all their worldly possessions in the sack of Rome, if they owned their possessions as they had been taught by the apostle who himself was poor without, but rich within—that is to say, if they used the world as though not using it—they could say in the words of Job, heavily tried but not overcome, "Naked I came out of my mother's womb, and naked shall I return. The Lord gave, and the Lord has taken away; as it pleased the Lord, so it has happened: Blessed be the name of the Lord." Like a good servant, Job counted the will of his Lord his greatest possession and through obedience to that will his soul was enriched. It didn't grieve him while he was still alive to lose those goods which he was shortly going to have to leave at his death. But as to those feebler spirits who, though they cannot be said to prefer earthly possessions to Christ, still hang on to them with a somewhat moderate attachment to them, they have discovered by the pain of losing these things how much they were sinning in loving them. For their grief is of their own making. In the words of the apostle quoted above, "They have pierced themselves through with many sorrows." For it was well that they who had so long despised these verbal admonitions should receive the teaching of experience. For when the apostle says "They that will be rich fall into temptation," and so on, what he blames in riches is not the possession of them but the desire for them. For elsewhere he says, "Charge those who are rich in this world not to be high-minded or trust in uncertain riches but in the living God, who gives us richly all things to enjoy; that they do good, that they be rich in good works, ready to distribute, willing to communicate; laying up in store for themselves a good foundation against the time to come, that they may lay hold on eternal life." They who were making such a use of their property have been consoled for light losses by great gains, and have had more pleasure in those possessions which they have securely laid past, by freely giving them away, than grief in which those they entirely lost by an anxious and selfish hoarding of them. For nothing could perish on earth except what they would be ashamed to carry away from the earth. Our Lord's injunction runs, "Do not lay up treasures for yourselves on earth, where moth and rust corrupt, and where thieves break through and steal; but lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust corrupt, and where thieves do not break through or steal: for where your treasure is, there will your heart be also." And they who have listened to this injunction have proved in the time of tribulation how well they were advised in not despising this most trustworthy teacher and most faithful and mighty guardian of their treasure. For if many were glad that their treasure was stored in places which the enemy chanced not to light upon, how much better founded was the joy of those who, by the counsel of their God, have fled with their treasure to a citadel which no enemy can possibly reach!

When Macarius was living in Egypt, one day he came across a man who had brought a donkey to his cell and was stealing his possessions. As though he was a passer-by who did not live there, he went up to the thief and helped him to load the beast, and sent him peaceably on his way, saying to himself, ‘We brought nothing into this world (1 Tim. 6:7) but the Lord gave; as He willed, so it is done: blessed be the Lord in all things.’

One of the hermits said, ‘Unless you first hate, you cannot love. Unless you hate sin, you cannot live sinlessly. As it is written, “Depart from evil and do good” (Ps. 37:27). But perseverance is needed for this. Adam, even though he was in Paradise, disobeyed God’s command while Job, who was living on a dung hill, kept it. It seems that God requires from us a good intention, that is, that we should fear him always.’

HISTORICAL INTERPRETATION Oh! upon how elevated a seat of the counsels of the heart does he sit enthroned, who now lies prostrate on the earth with his clothes rent! For because by the judgment of the Lord he had lost all that he had, for the preserving his patience he brought to mind that time, when he had not as yet those things which he had lost, that, whilst he considers that at one time he had them not, he may moderate his concern for having lost them; for it is a high consolation in the loss of what we have, to recall to mind those times, when it was not our fortune to possess the things which we have lost. But as the earth has produced all of us, we not unjustly call her our mother. As it is written, An heavy yoke is upon the sons of Adam, from the day that they go out of their mother's womb, till the day that they return to the mother of all things. Blessed Job then, that he might mourn with patience for what he had lost here, marks attentively in what condition he had come hither. But for the furtherance of preserving patience, with still more discretion he considers, how he will go hence, and exclaims, Naked came I out of my mother's womb, and naked shall I return thither. As though he said, 'Naked did the earth bear me, when I came upon this scene, naked it will receive me back, when I depart hence. I then who have lost what I had indeed given me, but what must yet have been abandoned, what have I parted with that was my own?' But because comfort is not only to be derived from the consideration of our creation, but also from the justice of the Creator, he rightly adds, The Lord gave, and the Lord hath taken away; as it hath pleased the Lord, so is it done. The holy man, under trial from the adversary, had lost every thing, yet knowing that Satan had no power against him to tempt him, saving by the Lord's permission, he does not say, 'the Lord hath given, the devil hath taken away,' but the Lord gave, the Lord hath taken away. For perchance it would have been a thing to grieve for, if what his Creator had given him, his enemy had taken from him: but when no other hath taken it away, saving He Who Himself gave it, He hath only recalled what was His own, and hath not taken away what was ours. For if we have from Him all that we make use of in our present life, what cause for grief that by His own decree we are made to surrender, of Whose bounty we have a loan? Nor is he at any time an unfair creditor, who while he is not bound to any set time of restitution, exacts, whenever he will, what he lends out. Whereupon it is well added, As it hath pleased the Lord, so is it done; for since in this life we undergo things which we would not, it is needful for us to turn the bias of our will to Him, Who can will nought that is unjust. For there is great comfort in what is disagreeable to us, in that it comes to us by His disposal, to Whom nought but justice is pleasing. If then we be assured that what is just is the Lord's pleasure, and if we can suffer nothing but what is the Lord's pleasure, then all is just that we undergo, and it is great injustice, if we murmur at a just suffering. But since we have heard how the intrepid speaker put forward the vindication of his cause against the adversary, now let us hear how in the end of his speech he extols the Judge with benedictions. It follows, Blessed be the Name of the Lord. See how he concluded all that he felt alight with a blessing on the Lord, that the adversary might both perceive hence, and for his punishment under defeat take shame to himself, that he himself even though created in bliss had proved a rebel to that Lord, to Whom a mortal even under His scourge utters the hymn of glory. But be it observed, that our enemy strikes us with as many darts as he afflicts us with temptations; for it is in a field of battle that we stand every day, every day we receive the weapons of his temptations. But we ourselves too send our javelins against him, if, when pierced with woes, we answer humbly. Thus blessed Job, when stricken with the loss of his substance and with the death of his children, forasmuch as he turned the force of his anguish into praise of his Creator, exclaiming, The Lord gave, and the Lord hath taken away; as it hath pleased the Lord, so is it done; blessed be the Name of the Lord: by his humility, struck down the enemy in his pride, and by his patience, laid low the cruel one. Let us never imagine that our combatant received wounds, and yet inflicted none. For whatever words of patience he gave forth to the praise of God, when he was stricken, he as it were hurled so many darts into the breast of his adversary, and inflicted much sorer wounds than he underwent; for by his affliction he lost the things of earth, but by bearing his affliction with humility, he multiplied his heavenly blessings.

ALLEGORICAL INTERPRETATION The mother of our Redeemer, after the flesh, was the Synagogue, from whom He came forth to us, made manifest by a Body. But she kept Him to herself veiled under the covering of the letter, seeing that she neglected to open the eyes of the understanding to the spiritual import thereof. Because in Him, thus veiling Himself with the flesh of an human Body, she would not see God, she as it were refused to behold Him naked in His Divinity. But He 'came naked out of His mother's womb,' because when He issued from the flesh of the Synagogue, He came openly manifest to the Gentiles; which is excellently represented by Joseph's leaving His cloak and fleeing. For when the adulterous woman would have used him to no good end, he, leaving his cloak, fled out of the house; because when the Synagogue, believing Him to be simply man, would have bound Him as it were in an adulterous embrace, He too left the covering of the letter to its eyes, and manifested Himself to the Gentiles without disguise for the acknowledgment of the Power of His Divinity. And hence Paul said, But even to this day, when Moses is read, the vail is upon their hearts; for this reason, that the adulteress kept the cloak in her own hands, but Him, Whom she wickedly laid hold of, she let go naked. He then Who coming from the Synagogue plainly disclosed Himself to the faith of the Gentiles, 'came naked out of His mother's womb,' But does He wholly give her up? Where then is that which the Prophet declares, For though thy people Israel be as the sand of the sea, yet a remnant of them shall return? where that which is written, Until the fulness of the Gentiles be come in; and so all Israel shall be saved? The time will be, then, when He will shew Himself clearly to the Synagogue also. Yes, the time will doubtless come in the end of the world, when He will make Himself known, even as He is God, to the remnant of His People. Whence it is likewise justly said in this place, and naked shall I return thither. For he 'returns naked to His mother's womb,' when, at the end of the world, He, Who being made Man in time is the object of scorn, is revealed to the eyes of His Synagogue as God before all worlds. Our Redeemer, in that He is God, gives all things with the Father; but in that He is Man, He receives at the hands of the Father, as one among all. Therefore let Him say of Judaea, so long as she believed in the mystery of His Incarnation to come, the Lord hath given. Let Him say of her, when she slighted the looked for coming of His Incarnation, the Lord hath taken away. For she was 'given,' when in the persons of a certain number she believed what was to be; but she was 'taken away,' as the just desert of her blindness, when she scorned to hold in veneration the truths believed by those. But let Him instruct all that believe in Him, that when under scourges they may know how to bless God, in the words that are added, As it hath pleased the Lord, so is it done; blessed be the Name of the Lord. Whence likewise, as the Gospel is witness, when He is described to be drawing near to His Passion, He is said to have taken bread and given thanks. And so He gives thanks Who is bearing the stripes of the sins of others. And He, Who did nothing worthy of strokes, blesses humbly under the infliction of them, doubtless that He might shew from hence what each man ought to do in the chastisement of his own transgressions, if He thus bears with patience the chastisement of the transgressions of others, that He might shew hence what the servant should do under correction, if He being equal gives thanks to the Father under the rod.

MORAL INTERPRETATION As if the mind when tempted and taken in the powerlessness of its weak condition were to say, 'Naked I was by grace first begotten in the faith, and naked I shall be saved by the same grace in being taken up into heaven.' For it is a great consolation to a troubled mind, when, smitten with the assaults of sin, it sees itself as it were stripped of all virtue, to fly to the hope of Mercy alone, and prevent itself being stripped naked in proportion as it humbly thinks itself to be naked and bare of virtue, and though it be perchance bereaved of some virtue in the hour of temptation, yet acknowledging its own weakness, it is the better clad with humility itself, and is stronger as it is laid low than as it was standing, in that it ceases to ascribe to itself without the aid of God whatever it has. And hence it also at once owns with humility the hand of Him Who is both Giver and Judge, saying, The Lord gave, and the Lord hath taken away. Observe how he grew great by the discipline of temptations, who both in the possession of the virtue acknowledges the bounty of the Giver, and in the disorderment of his fortitude, the power of the Withdrawer; which fortitude nevertheless is not withdrawn, but is confounded and loses heart, that the assaulted mind, while it dreads every instant to lose the quality as it seems, being alway made humble, may never lose it. As it hath pleased the Lord, so is it done; Blessed be the Name of the Lord. In this circumstance, viz. that we are assaulted with inward trouble, it is meet that we refer the thing to the judgment of our Creator, that our heart may resound the louder the praises of its Maker, from the very cause that makes it, on being smitten, the more thoroughly to consider the impotency of its frail condition.

Job revealed the state of his mind not only by deeds, but also by words. For he rationally demonstrated that although he suffered sadness, he did not have to yield to sadness. First, he demonstrated from the condition of nature so the text said, "He said: Naked I came forth from my mother's womb," namely, from the earth which is the common mother of everything, "and naked shall I return there," i.e., to the earth. Sirach speaks in the same vein saying, "Great hardship has been created for man, and a heavy yoke lies on the sons of Adam from the day they come forth from their mother's womb until the day they return to their burial in the mother of them all." (40:1) This can also be interpreted in another way. The expression, "from my mother's womb" can be literally taken as the womb of the mother who bore him. When he says next "naked I shall return there," the term "there" establishes a simple relation. For a man cannot return a second time to the womb of his own mother, but he can return to the state which he had in the womb of his mother in a certain respect, namely in that he is removed from the company of men. In saying this he reasonably shows that a man should not be absorbed with sadness because of the loss of exterior goods, since exterior goods are not connatural to him, but come to him accidentally. This is evident since a man comes into this world without them and leaves this world without them. So when these accidental goods are taken away if the substantial ones remain man ought not to be overcome by sadness although sadness may touch him. Second, he shows the same thing from divine action saying, "The Lord gave; the Lord has taken away." Here his true opinion about divine providence in relation to human affairs must first be considered. When he says, "The Lord gave," he confessed that earthly prosperity does not come to men accidentally either according to fate or the stars, or as a result of human exertion alone, but by divine direction. When he says, however, "The Lord has taken away," he confesses also that earthly adversities also arise among men by the judgment of divine providence. This leads to the conclusion that man does not have a just complaint with God if he should be despoiled of his temporal goods, because he who gave freely could bestow them either until the end of his life or temporarily. So when he takes temporal goods away from man before the end of life, man cannot complain. Third, he shows the same thing from the good pleasure of the divine will saying, "As God pleased, so it has been done." For friends will and do not will the same thing. Thus if it is the good pleasure of God that someone should be despoiled of temporal goods, if he loves God, he ought to conform his will to the divine will, so that he is not absorbed by sadness in this consideration. These three arguments are put in the proper order. For in the first argument it is posited that temporal goods are exterior to man. In the second, it is posited that they are a gift given to a man and taken away by God. In the third that this happens according to the good pleasure of the divine will. So one can conclude from the first argument that man should not be absorbed by sorrow because of the loss of temporal goods; from the second that he cannot even complain and from the third that he ought even to rejoice. For it would not please God that someone should suffer from adversity unless he wished some good to come to him from it. So though adversity is bitter in itself and generates sadness, nevertheless it should be the cause of rejoicing when one considers the use because of which it pleases God, as is said about the apostles, "The apostles went rejoicing because they had suffered contempt for Christ." (Acts 5:41) and so on. For when taking a bitter medicine, one can rejoice with reason because of the hope for health, although he suffers sensibly. So since joy is the matter of the action of thanksgiving, therefore Job concludes this third argument with an act of thanksgiving saying, "Blessed be the name of the Lord." The name of the Lord is truly blessed by men inasmuch as they have knowledge of his goodness, namely that he distributes all things well and does nothing unjustly.

The prophet shows that all human courses are vain, Ecc 1:1-4. The creatures are continually changing, Ecc 1:5-8. There is nothing new under the sun, Ecc 1:9-11. Who the prophet was, his estate and his studies, Ecc 1:12-18.

Naked came I out of my mother's womb - I had no earthly possessions when I came into the world; I cannot have less going out of it. What I have the Lord gave: as it was his free gift, he has a right to resume it when he pleases; and I owe him gratitude for the time he has permitted me to enjoy this gift. Naked shall I return thither - Whither? Not to his mother's womb surely; nor does he call the earth his mother in this place. In the first clause of the verse he speaks without a metaphor, and in the latter he speaks in reference to the ground on which he was about to fall. As I came out of my mother's womb destitute of the earthly possessions, so shall I return שמה shammah, There; i.e., to the earth on which he was now falling. That mother earth was a common expression in different nations, I allow; but I believe no such metaphor was now in the mind of Job. The Lord gave - The Chaldee has, "The Word of the Lord, מימרא דיי meymera dayai, gave; and the Word of the Lord and the house of his judgment, have taken away!" Word is used here personally, as in many other places of all the Targums. Blessed be the name of the Lord - The following is a fine paraphrase on the sentiment in this verse: - "Good when he gives, supremely good;Nor less when he denies; Afflictions from his sovereign hand,Are blessings in disguise." Seeing I have lost my temporal goods, and all my domestic comforts, may God alone be all my portion! The Vulgate, Septuagint, and Coverdale, add, The Lord hath done as he pleased.

THE HOLINESS OF JOB, HIS WEALTH, &c. (Job 1:1-5) Uz--north of Arabia-Deserta, lying towards the Euphrates. It was in this neighborhood, and not in that of Idumea, that the Chaldeans and Sabeans who plundered him dwell. The Arabs divide their country into the north, called Sham, or "the left"; and the south, called Yemen, or "the right"; for they faced east; and so the west was on their left, and the south on their right. Arabia-Deserta was on the east, Arabia-PetrÃ&brvbra on the west, and Arabia-Felix on the south. Job--The name comes from an Arabic word meaning "to return," namely, to God, "to repent," referring to his end [EICHORN]; or rather from a Hebrew word signifying one to whom enmity was shown, "greatly tried" [GESENIUS]. Significant names were often given among the Hebrews, from some event of later life (compare Gen 4:2, Abel--a "feeder" of sheep). So the emir of Uz was by general consent called Job, on account of his "trials." The only other person so called was a son of Issachar (Gen 46:13). perfect--not absolute or faultless perfection (compare Job 9:20; Ecc 7:20), but integrity, sincerity, and consistency on the whole, in all relations of life (Gen 6:9; Gen 17:1; Pro 10:9; Mat 5:48). It was the fear of God that kept Job from evil (Pro 8:13).

Naked-- (Ti1 6:7). "Mother's womb" is poetically the earth, the universal mother (Ecc 5:15; Ecc 12:7; Psa 139:15). Job herein realizes God's assertion (Job 1:8) against Satan's (Job 1:11). Instead of cursing, he blesses the name of JEHOVAH (Hebrew). The name of Jehovah, is Jehovah Himself, as manifested to us in His attributes (Isa 9:6).

Ἐπ ̓ αὐτῶν τῶν λέξεων [τοῦ βιβλίου] γενόμενοι σαφηνίσωμεν τὴν ἔννοιαν,αὐτοῦ ποδηγούντος ἡμᾶς πρὸς τὴν ἑρμηνείαν, τοῦ καὶ τὸν ἅγιονἸὼβ πρὸς τοὺς ἀγῶνας ἐνισχύσαντος. - Olympiodoros. The Opening - Job 1:1 Job's Piety in the Midst of the Greatest Prosperity - Job 1:1-5 The book begins in prose style: as Jerome says, Prosa incipit, versu labitur, pedestri sermone finitur. Prologue and epilogue are accordingly excepted from the poetical accentuation, and are accented according to the usual system, as the first word shows; for אישׁ has, in correct editions, Tebir, a smaller distinctive, which does not belong to the poetical accentuation. The writer does not begin with ויהי, as the writers of the historico-prophetical books, who are conscious that they are relating a portion of the connection of the collective Israelitish history, e.g., Sa1 1:1, אישׁ ויהי, but, as the writer of the book of Esther (Est 2:5) for similar reasons, with היה אישׁ, because he is beginning a detached extra-Israelitish history.