Job — Chapter 25

Respondens autem Baldad Suhites Potestas

On Baldad's brief final speech — the majesty of God and the lowliness of man: "Power and dread are with him; he makes peace in his high places. Is there any number to his armies? And upon whom shall his light not arise? How then can man be justified before God, or how can he who is born of woman be clean?" Corderius notes this is Baldad's shortest speech — perhaps because, as Gregory suggests, his arguments are exhausted. On the celestial harmony (v. 2): "he makes concordiam in sublimibus suis" — Corderius develops a rich theology of cosmic order. The various celestial spheres, moving at different speeds in different directions, yet produce an incredible harmony and concert — this could only be achieved by an omnipotent hand. He then allegorizes (following the mystical theologians): the concordia of the celestial spheres represents the harmonious union of intellect, will, memory, and the lower powers in the perfectly ordered soul — which God alone can achieve. On vv. 5-6: even the moon is not bright, and the stars are not pure in his sight — how much more is man, who is corruption and a worm?

Respondens autem Baldad Suhites dixit

On the brevity of Baldad's third speech: Corderius notes that Baldad's final speech consists of only six verses, compared to his much longer first two speeches. This is interpreted as evidence that Job's arguments have effectively silenced him: he has nothing new to say. He repeats the theme of divine omnipotence and human creatureliness. On v. 2: "Dominion and awe belong to God; he makes peace in his high places" — the peace of God's celestial court, the perfect concord of the angelic choirs, is the model for the peace that God's governance ultimately produces in all creation, including in the souls of those who accept his providential will. Corderius draws the pastoral application: even when the world seems disordered and the innocent suffer, the divine "high places" maintain their perfect peace; and the soul united to God by faith and charity participates already in that peace.

Numquid justificari potest homo Deo

On human unworthiness before divine majesty: Corderius uses Baldad's theological proposition (vv. 4-6) to develop the full doctrine of human insufficiency before God: not merely because of original sin (though that is included) but because of the essential creature-Creator disproportion. Even sinless humanity would be infinitely beneath the divine holiness — how much more fallen humanity? On v. 5: "Behold, even the moon is not bright, and the stars are not pure in his sight" — Corderius notes that this comparative impurity of the stars refers to their creaturely being, not moral fault: even the most radiant creature is dimness itself when compared to the infinite brilliance of the divine being. He cites Dionysius the Areopagite on the divine light as incomparably exceeding all created luminosity. This teaches deep humility: the virtue that enables the creature to receive divine illumination proportional to its capacity, in contrast to the pride that claims equivalence with the divine and is thereby blinded.