Job — Chapter 18

Usque ad quem finem verba jactabitis

On Baldad's second speech: Baldad rebukes Job for continuing to speak and for thinking the world will be rearranged for his sake (v. 4). Corderius notes Baldad's rhetorical bluntness: unlike Eliphaz's affected courtesy, Baldad simply expresses impatience. He attacks both Job and Eliphaz (who had just spoken) for excessive words. On vv. 5-21: the extended description of the fate of the wicked — his light is extinguished, his lamp goes out, his steps narrowed, his feet caught in a net, his confidence cut off, his dwelling places under sulfur — is taken by Corderius as in itself a theologically correct account of divine retribution, but misapplied by Baldad to Job. Gregory (Moral. XV.8-9) allegorizes many of these images as applying to the spiritual death of sin: the "lamp of the wicked" is the false light of self-righteousness; the "snare set for his heels" is the occasion of habitual sin; "firstborn death devours his members" is death of the soul by mortal sin.

Respondens Baldad Jobum accusat iterum

On Baldad's renewed attack: "How long will you hunt for words? Consider, and then we will speak. Why are we counted as cattle? Why are we stupid in your sight?" Corderius notes Baldad's wounded pride: he and his companions feel insulted by Job's irony (ch. 12) and his implication that their supposed wisdom is no better than common knowledge. On v. 4: "You who tear yourself in anger — shall the earth be forsaken for you, or the rock be removed out of its place?" — a deeply ironic rhetorical question: Job's personal suffering has not rearranged the moral order of the universe; the laws of divine justice remain in place regardless of his complaints. Corderius notes that this is technically true as a proposition but callously applied: Baldad's insensitivity to Job's genuine anguish shows how correct theological principles can be weapons of cruelty when wielded without pastoral charity. He cites Gregory: truth divorced from charity is no longer fully truth; even correct doctrine can wound rather than heal if the messenger lacks love.

Nonne lux impii exstinguetur

On Baldad's portrait of the wicked man's doom: "Surely the light of the wicked is put out, and the flame of his fire does not shine. The light is dark in his tent, and his lamp above him is put out." Corderius treats this section allegorically after the literal, following Gregory (Moral. XV.8-21): the "lamp" of the wicked is the false light of prosperity without God; the "snare set for his heels" is the habit of sin that entraps insensibly; the "firstborn of death" that devours his strength is the chief sin (usually pride) from which all other vices generate. On v. 17: "His memory perishes from the earth, and he has no name in the street" — the wicked seek earthly fame but are consigned to oblivion; the just seek not earthly fame but eternal remembrance in God. On v. 21: "Such are the dwellings of the unrighteous, such is the place of him who knows not God" — the theological root of all wickedness is practical atheism: acting as if God does not see or care.