Job — Chapter 14

Homo natus de muliere brevi vivens

On the brevity and misery of human life: "Man born of woman, living for a short time, is filled with many miseries." Corderius develops the doctrine of original sin as the source of human misery. On "born of woman": woman here is the conduit of original sin — not as morally worse than man but as representing the weakness and susceptibility to sin introduced by Eve. He cites David (Ps. 51:7): "Behold, I was conceived in iniquity, and in sin did my mother conceive me." On v. 4: "Who can make him clean that is conceived of unclean seed? Is it not thou who alone art God?" — this is read as a clear prophecy of the need for supernatural redemption: no human effort can cleanse original sin; only God himself can do so, which he accomplishes through the sacraments of the New Law, especially Baptism. Corderius finds here a remarkable pre-figuration of the doctrine of original sin, the need for divine redemption, and the uniqueness of the Immaculate Conception.

Homo natus de muliere et fragilis

On the brevity of human life as the ground for divine mercy: "Man who is born of a woman is few of days and full of trouble. He comes out like a flower and withers; he flees like a shadow and continues not... Since his days are determined, and the number of his months is with you, and you have appointed his limits that he cannot pass, look away from him and leave him alone, that he may enjoy, like a hired hand, his day." Corderius develops the pathos of human brevity as an argument for divine compassion: God, who knows the limitations he has set on human life, should be moved by these very limitations to mercy rather than severity. This is not a legal argument but a filial one: a good father tempers his discipline to the child's capacity. On the image of the flower that withers and the shadow that does not continue: Corderius develops an extensive florilegia of classical and biblical laments for human transience — Homer, Pindar, Virgil on the generation of leaves; the Psalms on grass and shadow — and shows that this universal human experience of transience is the universal ground of the prayer for divine mercy.

Lignum habet spem si praecissum fuerit

On the hope of the tree that can sprout again (v. 7) contrasted with the apparent finality of human death (v. 10): "A tree has hope; if it is cut it will sprout again, and the tender bough thereof will not cease. Though the root thereof be old, and the stump die in the ground, at the scent of water it will bud and bring forth leaves as though it were first planted. But man when he shall be dead and stripped and consumed, where, I pray, is he?" Corderius treats this contrast as setting up the great hope expressed in the following verses. The tree's capacity to regenerate is used by Job to heighten the poignancy of human mortality — as if the mineral and vegetable kingdoms were more persistent than humanity, which above them all was made for eternity. But this apparent despair is immediately qualified: on v. 13: "O who will grant me this, that thou wouldst protect me in hell, that thou wouldst hide me until thy wrath pass, that thou wouldst appoint me a time when thou wilt remember me?" — Corderius reads this as a prayer for the intermediate state, awaiting divine visitation; and v. 14: "Dost thou think that a dead man shall live again?" (Putasne mortuus homo rursum vivat?) — despite the interrogative form, Corderius reads this as expressing hope in resurrection rather than doubt.

Putasne mortuus homo rursum vivat

On the hope of resurrection and the prophecy of the general resurrection: "All the days in which I now am in warfare I wait until my change comes. Thou shalt call me, and I will answer thee" (vv. 14-15). Corderius dwells especially on these verses as clear intimations of bodily resurrection, preceding by several chapters the more explicit declaration in ch. 19. The term "immutatio mea" (my change) is interpreted as the resurrection of the body: a change from corruptibility to incorruptibility, from mortality to immortality (cf. 1 Cor. 15:51-52). On v. 15: "Thou shalt call me, and I will answer thee; to the work of thy hands thou wilt stretch out thy right hand" — God will call his creature from the dust and extend his right hand to raise it: the classic image of divine initiative in resurrection. Corderius cites Tertullian (De Resurrectione Carnis), Chrysostom, and Gregory in confirmation. The promise that God will "number his steps" and "forgive his sin" (vv. 16-17) is interpreted as the divine judgment that will accompany resurrection — judgment, yes, but also pardon for the justified.