Ishodad of Merv

In his own words on Job

• Job 1:4-5

  "Job would sanctify them," that is, Job purified them through the waters of cleansing and through the sacrifices that he offered for them. And since the righteous man had full confidence in the fact that his children were free from manifest sins, thanks to the education and instruction which he had given them, he offered sacrifices for their secret sins and thoughts by saying, "It may be that my children have sinned and cursed God in their hearts."

  COMMENTARY ON JOB 1:5

• Job 1:6

  There was never a special meeting where Satan dared to speak, to formulate questions and receive answers—nothing of the sort—but these facts are reported in a narrative style for the edification of the listeners.… They never took place in reality, and here the devil did not address God or pose questions; Satan never had the faculty to speak to God or to see him who is the one that "the creatures of fire and spirit" cannot see, but [the devil] meditated in his heart, and God, "who searches the hearts and examines the mind," knew the devil's malice.

  COMMENTARY ON JOB 1:6

• Job 3:1-2

  Human beings are apt to curse and grumble against the misfortunes that befall them. God, in fact, does not expect insensitivity on our part. But when we are in tribulations and suffer those afflictions that strike us, God expects that we not abandon ourselves to blasphemous words but use those that demonstrate our grief and express the seriousness of our misery.

  COMMENTARY ON JOB 3:1

• Job 3:22

  A person's actions are veiled and hidden by his death. God covers his way. The word covers means that God spares some afflictions through death, because the action of covering on God's part is an aid.

  COMMENTARY ON JOB 3:22

• Job 4:10-11

  The author signifies by "the lion" those powerful men who inspire people with fear, as lions do. By "lioness" he means their wives, who were evil and inspired fear simply by speaking. In the same manner, their children were arrogant and quite cruel. All these have perished. They were extinguished instantly.

  COMMENTARY ON JOB 4:10

• Job 4:16

  Eliphaz employs "murmur" and "voice" as words to express his ideas about God. As … the murmur and the voice strike our ears, they have no form or aspect. We only receive their sensation. Just as it is not possible to see a "murmur" or "voice," so we must realize the same is true of our thoughts about the divine nature. We receive our perception and knowledge of the divine nature as God gives us these thoughts, but this is not something that we can perceive through forms.

  COMMENTARY ON JOB 4:16

• Job 5:6-7

  The author signifies all the silent and inanimate beings, and all those who are mute and without speech, through the two figures of the earth and the bird. His point is that neither the earth nor a bird can commit any act of iniquity. Because they cannot sin they are beyond afflictions and punishment. But the human being, since he is endowed with reason and sins by using his freedom, is born and grows up among pains and tribulation to match his nature.

  COMMENTARY ON JOB 5:6-7

• Job 5:19

  We must not think that the author intends to limit divine providence by fixing a precise number of troubles. He means that God will completely save you from the afflictions that surround you.

  COMMENTARY ON JOB 5:19

• Job 6:5

  By mentioning the wild ass, the author speaks about all wild animals, and by referring to the ox, about all cattle. His point is that neither wild animals nor cattle complain when they have food to eat. Nor do humans complain when they can have at their disposal the necessary things they need and what is seasoned with salt.

  COMMENTARY ON JOB 6:5

• Job 6:9

  "He would let loose his hand and finish me!" That is, may he put an end to my life by his intervention. Again Job speaks, "I would be finished again with violence and no mercy." In a word, "I desire that God inflict death on me violently and mercilessly.

  COMMENTARY ON JOB 6:9

• Job 7:7

  "My eye will begin to see good again." Here the author refers to the hope that is reserved for people in the new world.

  COMMENTARY ON JOB 7:7

• Job 7:11-12

  "Am I the sea, or the dragon?" That is, you have imposed a limit that the sea must not trespass, so that it might not submerge the earth. You did the same with the dragon, that it might not go out and destroy all that it met. But why do you continue to punish me so harshly, for I am a feeble man with a short life?

  COMMENTARY ON JOB 7:12

• Job 8:19

  "Out of the earth still others will spring." In other words, God inflicts these punishments on the impious as their just reward, but with regard to the righteous, regardless of the state of abasement in which he finds them, God will make them spring up again, rendering them glorious.

  COMMENTARY ON JOB 8:19

• Job 9:7

  Here the author is probably speaking about what happened in Egypt for three days, or about what happens sometimes to the stars that become hidden. Perhaps he is alluding to what occurred at the beginning: God kept the light close to him, as though it was in a bag. The interpreter says the author does not maintain that the things he mentions actually happened but that, if God desires it, they will certainly occur.

  COMMENTARY ON JOB 9:7

• Job 11:16

  The words "You will be led like passing waters" mean that your tribulations will leave you at once, like the waters of rain which, when it stops raining, disappear as well.

  COMMENTARY ON JOB 11:16

• Job 13:11-12

  The author seems to say that Job's friends will abstain from pronouncing reproaches, because of the fear of God and the terror that he inspires.

  COMMENTARY ON JOB 13:11

• Job 13:27-28

  "You observe the strength of my feet." The words "you observe" signify God's consideration, because we keep our eye on what we care for. And the words "my feet" refer to the firmness, because feet are supports. But these words are also analogous to the roots of the plants. That is, you have sent me tribulations and imposed them on me with force and care.

  COMMENTARY ON JOB 13:27

• Job 15:16

  "He will drink iniquity like water." The author says these words in order to show that [human beings] enjoy uttering blasphemies.

  COMMENTARY ON JOB 15:16

• Job 16:11

  "God has given me up to an iniquitous angel." These words are said because it is believed that an angel accompanies each human being. Job calls his angel iniquitous because of the effects of Job's misfortunes that he observes, just as David calls the angel evil who kills the firstborn of the Egyptians.

  COMMENTARY ON JOB 16:11

• Job 17:6-7

  "I will rise in authority among peoples," because of the stupefaction for all that has happened to me. And the words, "I will be a veil on their faces," that is, whoever hears about my horrible misfortunes will veil his face. This is said as an analogy of the fact that when one hears a horrible thing, he brings his hand to his forehead and veils his eyes.

  COMMENTARY ON JOB 17:6

• Job 19:18

  "When I rise, they speak against me." Like a target, Job says, I rise before them, and they will spit upon me all the words of abuse that they want to say.

  COMMENTARY ON JOB 19:18

• Job 20:11

  "Their bones are full of marrow and will lie down in the dust with them." By the "marrow" that is inside the bones, the author signifies prosperity. That is, from his former prosperity he will pass to a profound abasement, so that he will not be inferior to the dead.

  COMMENTARY ON JOB 20:11

• Job 21:34

  "There is nothing left of your answers but emptiness," that is, you, he says, have brought me suffering and torments instead of consolation; and what I gain from speaking a great deal is only emptiness. Your answers, he says, are vanity to me.

  COMMENTARY ON JOB 21:34

• Job 22:15

  These words mean, "You imitate the actions of the ancestors." [The author] is alluding to the Cainites, those who lived at the time of the deluge, to the Sodomites, etc.; these are those whom he calls "the way of the world."

  COMMENTARY ON JOB 22:15

• Job 24:6

  "They reap in a field not their own" … as wild asses tread underfoot the fields of others and browse on their grass, so the impious, with their impudent violence, reap in fields that are not theirs and steal them from their owners. "They glean in the vineyard of the wicked." This means it is not enough for the wicked to steal from the poor, who have worked without a wage in the fields from the beginning to the end, [but also from the rich].

  COMMENTARY ON JOB 24:6

• Job 26:10

  So God has gathered the waters that were spread on earth at the beginning and has imposed a limit on them. His command has surrounded them like a circle, so that they might not exceed it. He has set a "boundary between light and darkness." This means that he has ordered the light and the darkness to occupy their given times in good harmony and not to prevail on one another.

  COMMENTARY ON JOB 26:10

• Job 27:6

  "My heart does not reproach me for any of my days." Job has no resentment in himself, and his conscience does not reproach him for any shameful act that he might have committed.

  COMMENTARY ON JOB 27:6

• Job 28:5

  "They have uncovered the earth, from which nourishment comes," through the art of agriculture, [the author] says; [humans] produce what is necessary for nourishment which the earth offers according to the divine precept by which it received. Therefore, as the fire takes hold of the wood, so the earth acts in the same manner when the seeds are scattered on it; they drive their roots in it, and thanks to the power that they receive from it, they spring up. This is the meaning of the words "underneath it is turned up as by fire."

  COMMENTARY ON JOB 28:5

• Job 29:18-19

  The words "I shall be perfected like the reeds," that is, I will end my days [by becoming full] of riches, by germinating and growing like the palm tree and the reeds and the [vegetables] planted along the edge of water. Henana says, "As the reeds spring up and reach a great height in a short time, so I shall be completed and perfected."

  COMMENTARY ON JOB 29:18

• Job 30:6-7

  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.

  COMMENTARY ON JOB 30:6-7

• Job 31:27-28

  "My mouth has kissed my hand" … is said in analogy with those who have the habit to bring their hands [to their mouth] and to kiss [them] when they meet people who are dear to them.

  COMMENTARY ON JOB 31:27

• Job 32:8

  The words "but truly it is the spirit in mortals," [indicate] a rational soul. The words "the breath of the Almighty that makes them intelligent," [indicate] that if we need to find a superior wisdom in human beings, we will recognize it in those who have received the virtue from God.

  COMMENTARY ON JOB 32:8

• Job 33:17-18

  The words "that he may turn them aside from their deeds" means this: by way of those [dreams and visions] God keeps people from shameful actions. The words "he covers the body of man" [mean] sometimes he brings on righteous diseases and pains as well, in order to preserve him in this manner from the punishment of perdition.

  COMMENTARY ON JOB 33:17

• Job 34:23

  "For he has not appointed a time for anyone to go before God in judgment," that is, recognize the power of God and do not consider him as a man, and do not desire to be with him in judgment, as he brings afflictions to many criminals as their punishment but makes the righteous prosper and increase instead of them.

  COMMENTARY ON JOB 34:23

• Job 35:8

  "Your wickedness affects others like you." If one asks, "Why does God judge [the wicked] if their sin does not harm him personally?" [the author] brings forward the reason and says, "Because of the multitude of oppressions people cry out; they call for help." It is not for him, he says, that the [impious] are punished, but because of those who are oppressed and robbed and cry out to him, so that he may take revenge on those who compel them to suffer afflictions.

  COMMENTARY ON JOB 35:8

• Job 36:32-33

  The words, "He will cover the light with his hands" [mean] that when he wants to make the rain fall for the sake of earth, he condenses the air as if with his hands and covers the sun with clouds. And the words "he will go toward them so that they may come to meet him" [mean] that in the same instant in which his command goes to his works, they promptly come to meet him, that is, the performance instantly follows the command.

  COMMENTARY ON JOB 36:32

• Job 37:2-3

  [By] the words "the judgment that comes from his mouth; under the whole heaven he will be praised," [the author] speaks about the thunder that is produced in the instant itself, in which punishment is inflicted on sinners; it is heard everywhere and everyone who hears it praises God.

  COMMENTARY ON JOB 37:2

• Job 38:8-9

  The sea is like a baby who gets out after being fashioned in the womb and is wrapped in clothes of wool. After bringing it into existence from nothing, God gathers the sea together from the place where it was and delimits, shuts and encircles it in the womb of the earth.

  COMMENTARY ON JOB 38:8

• Job 38:36

  The words "Who has put wisdom in the inwards parts?" means who else [but God] has secretly put the wisdom of reason in the souls of mortals?

  COMMENTARY ON JOB 38:36

• Job 40:15

  The Behemoth is a dragon without equal. The Interpreter calls it "an imaginary dragon" that the author [of the book of Job] has poetically invented by himself. He has reported many statements in the name of Job, of his friends and in the name of God himself that are not appropriate to them, that appear to be unlikely. In the whole creation, he says, there is no animal that is unique and not male or female, because all animals have been created in pairs. On the other hand, those who assert that this book was written by the divine Moses maintain the reality of the Behemoth. It is a figure of Satan, they say, and as this animal destroys everything it sees, so Satan does the same thing secretly, and therefore it has been made Satan's accomplice in crime. Both in its name and in its action it is the figure of Satan, because, according to the sense of the word, Behemoth means "through it death," that is, death has entered among people through it. But the Jews assert that it is an ox, and, some day they will eat it and the Leviathan as well when they come back.

  COMMENTARY ON JOB 40:10(15)

• Job 40:16

  The words "its strength is in its cover" [mean] its strength and vigor are precisely in the animal itself. Animals usually take shelter in different places, but [the author] says this animal does not need a shelter at all.

  COMMENTARY ON JOB 40:16

• Job 40:22

  The words "the shadows surround it." Because of the size of the animal, [the author says], anywhere it goes, it casts shadows around it. The words "the crows like a torrent surround it." [This is said] because the habit of these birds is to approach and croak anytime they see something terrifying.

  COMMENTARY ON JOB 40:22

• Job 42:16-17

  If it is true that Moses knew Job, why did he never mention him in any of his works? It is evident that [Job] lived before the law, because we know that in every time, in every place and in every person, the knowledge of God exists without the need of a human instruction, as is attested by [Job's] friends, who composed a high doctrine on God. Evagrius says, … There is no time in which virtue did not exist, nor a time in which it will not exist.

  COMMENTARY ON JOB 42:16