Job — Chapter 42

Respondens autem Job Domino dixit

On Job's final submission and repentance: "Then Job answered the Lord and said: I know that you can do all things, and that no purpose of yours can be thwarted. Who is this that hides counsel without knowledge? Therefore I have uttered what I did not understand, things too wonderful for me, which I did not know." Corderius reads this as the ultimate fruit of Job's ordeal: perfect self-knowledge leading to perfect submission. He contrasts Job's intellectual submission with false submission: Job does not abandon the truth of his innocence, does not concede the false accusations of the friends; he submits to the incomprehensibility of divine wisdom, acknowledging that some of his own words went beyond what he could justify. On v. 5: "I had heard of thee by the hearing of the ear, but now my eye sees thee" — Corderius develops this as the central mystical statement of the book: before the trial, Job's faith was mediate (hearing, tradition, second-hand); after the theophany, it is immediate (vision, direct contact). This is the purpose of the entire suffering: to bring Job from fides ex auditu to a participation in direct divine vision, anticipating the beatific vision. On v. 6: "Therefore I despise myself, and repent in dust and ashes" — not repentance for the sins alleged by the friends, but the profound humility of the creature in the presence of the Creator.

Respondens autem Job Domino Scio

On Job's double submission — intellectual and existential: Corderius divides Job's final response into two movements: (1) intellectual submission: "I know that you can do all things" — the acknowledgment of divine omnipotence; (2) existential submission: "I repent in dust and ashes" — the embodied expression of humility. He notes that these two movements correspond to the two dimensions of the theological life: knowledge (knowing God truly) and love (surrendering self to God). Neither is sufficient without the other: mere intellectual knowledge of divine omnipotence can produce terror but not beatitude; mere emotional surrender without truth can become sentimentality. Together they constitute what Augustine calls the "whole man" (totus homo) surrendered to God. On v. 5: the transition from "hearing of the ear" to "seeing of the eye" as the fruit of the entire book: Job's faith has been deepened by the ordeal from second-hand knowledge to something approaching direct experience. This is the purpose of all spiritual trial.

Postquam autem locutus est Dominus

On God's rebuke of the three friends and Job's intercessory prayer: "After the Lord had spoken these words to Job, the Lord said to Eliphaz the Temanite: My anger burns against you and against your two friends, for you have not spoken of me what is right, as my servant Job has." Corderius develops the remarkable reversal: the friends who spoke conventionally correct theology (that God punishes sinners) are rebuked because they misapplied it; Job who spoke apparently presumptuous language (challenging God directly) is vindicated because he always spoke in truth about his own experience. On v. 8: the friends must offer sacrifice and have Job pray for them — the very man they accused and tortured is appointed their intercessor. Corderius sees here a figure of Christ, who prays for his persecutors from the cross (Luke 23:34). On v. 10: "And the Lord restored the fortunes of Job, when he had prayed for his enemies" — the act of intercession for enemies precedes and causes Job's own restoration; charity toward adversaries is the key to divine favor.

Dixit ad Eliphaz Themanitem Iratus est furor

On God's rebuke of the three friends and Job's priestly intercession: "After the Lord had spoken these words to Job, the Lord said to Eliphaz the Temanite: My anger burns against you and against your two friends, for you have not spoken of me what is right, as my servant Job has. Now therefore take seven bulls and seven rams and go to my servant Job and offer up a burnt offering for yourselves. And my servant Job shall pray for you, for I will accept his prayer not to deal with you according to your folly." Corderius dwells on the remarkable reversal in these verses. The three friends who attacked Job as a sinner are now directed by God to seek Job's priestly intercession. Corderius develops several themes: (1) the priesthood of the just: Job's intercession for his enemies is a figure of the New Testament priesthood and ultimately of Christ's intercession from the cross; (2) the efficacy of intercessory prayer: God "accepts the face of Job" — the face of the just before God carries a special power of intercession; (3) the condition of forgiveness: the friends must first offer sacrifice (recognizing their sin) and then seek the prayer of the one they wronged — a pattern analogous to sacramental confession and satisfaction. Gregory (Moral. XXXV.14): Job praying for his friends is a figure of Christ praying for those who crucified him.

Dominus quoque conversus est ad poenitentiam

On the restoration of Job's fortunes through intercession: "And the Lord restored the fortunes of Job, when he had prayed for his friends. And the Lord gave Job twice as much as he had before." Corderius notes the logical order: Job's restoration follows his intercession for his enemies. This is the divine economy of intercession: the act of love toward those who wronged us releases us from the bondage of resentment and opens the soul to receive divine blessing. He draws on Luke 6:28 (pray for those who persecute you) and Matt. 5:44. On "twice as much as before" (duplicia): Corderius discusses the doubling. Fourteen thousand sheep, six thousand camels, two thousand oxen, one thousand female donkeys — exactly double the original. The seven sons and three daughters remain the same number — because the first ten are not lost but await in the blessed dead, so together Job has twenty children (ten departed, ten living). This reading was traditional from Chrysostom and Gregory. On Job's final 140 years and four generations of descendants: Corderius reads this as a figure of the abundant life of those who, having passed through the furnace of affliction, emerge purified and enriched by divine grace.

Venerunt autem ad eum omnes fratres

On the restoration of Job and his death in peace: "And all his brothers and sisters and all who had known him before came to him and ate bread with him in his house. And they showed him sympathy and comforted him for all the evil that the Lord had brought upon him... And the Lord gave Job twice as much as he had before." Corderius notes the doubling: God gave Job twice as many animals as before, and the same number of children (seven sons and three daughters) — he notes the children are not doubled because the first ten are not lost but await resurrection in glory. The three daughters receive names — Dies (Day), Cassia, and Cornustibii (Horn of Antimony) — and are made heirs with their brothers. Job lived one hundred and forty years more after his trials and saw four generations of descendants, dying "old and full of days." Corderius concludes with an extensive allegorical application: Job's restoration is a figure of the resurrection, when all that was lost in the trials of this life will be restored doubled and more by divine generosity; the name of the first daughter, Dies, points to the eternal Day of the beatific vision; his death in peace anticipates the blessed death of the saints who have conquered all their enemies through patient faith.