Job — Chapter 35

Igitur Eliu haec rursum locutus

On Elihu's false accusation that Job claimed to be more just than God: "Elihu again spoke and said: Do you think this to be just? Do you say: It is more than God that I should be righteous?" Corderius defends Job: he never said he was more righteous than God, but only that he was righteous and yet suffering, without knowing why. Elihu misrepresents Job's position in order to score a theological point. On vv. 5-8: "Look at the heavens, and see; and behold the clouds, which are higher than you. If you have sinned, what do you accomplish against him? And if your transgressions are multiplied, what do you do to him? If you are righteous, what do you give to him? Or what does he receive from your hand? Your wickedness concerns a man like yourself, and your righteousness a son of man." Corderius treats vv. 6-8 as theologically true and important: human sin does not diminish God nor does human virtue add to him; the consequences of both accrue to the human being, not to the divine being. This is the basis of moral responsibility rooted not in divine need but in human dignity and eternal destiny.

Propter multitudinem calumniantium clamabunt

On the ineffectiveness of prayer not rooted in true conversion: "Because of the multitude of oppressions people cry out; they call for help because of the arm of the mighty. But none says: 'Where is God my Maker, who gives songs in the night?'" Corderius develops the theology of right intention in prayer: mere fear-driven cries are not genuinely directed to God; the soul in crisis that asks "where can I find help?" without asking "where is God my Maker?" is seeking relief, not God himself. Gregory (Moral. XXVII.46): prayer is efficacious when it proceeds from genuine faith and love, not from mere self-interest. On v. 12: "There they cry out, but he does not answer, because of the pride of evil men" — pride is the fundamental obstacle to prayer; the proud man cannot genuinely pray because genuine prayer requires humility, the acknowledgment of dependence on God. On v. 16: "So Job opens his mouth in vain; he multiplies words without knowledge" — Elihu here overreaches in criticizing Job, as God will subsequently vindicate.

Et non dixit Ubi est Deus qui fecit me

On the failure to seek God in affliction: "But none says: 'Where is God my Maker, who gives songs in the night, who teaches us more than the beasts of the earth and makes us wiser than the birds of the heavens?'" Corderius finds in v. 10 ("who gives songs in the night") a beautiful image for divine consolation in affliction. The "songs in the night" are the graces of interior consolation, the spiritual joy that God grants to souls suffering patiently — not the removal of suffering but the gift of joy within suffering. He cites the Psalms (Ps. 77:6: "I commune with my heart in the night; I meditate and search my spirit"), Paul and Silas singing hymns in prison at midnight (Acts 16:25), and the mystical tradition on spiritual consolation. On v. 11: "who teaches us more than the beasts of the earth and makes us wiser than the birds of the heavens" — the capacity for theological wisdom, for learning from affliction, is uniquely human; it is God's special gift to rational creatures that they can extract spiritual fruit from suffering.