Job — Chapter 7

Militia est vita hominis super terram

On "The life of man upon earth is a warfare": Job declares that human life on earth is militia — military service, combat, toil. Corderius develops this richly, citing Aristotle (Ethics IX.9), Ambrose (In Genesim ad Horont.): "What is the world but a kind of agon full of conflicts?" Origen on Ps. 36 calls it agones, machtai, andres — contests for all ages — so that even children entering the light of reason immediately enter the arena against formidable enemies. The Greek sages (cited from Stobaeus, Serm. 119) called the birthday genethlia (nativity) archê athlôn (the beginning of contests). Corderius delineates the three enemies: devil, world, and flesh. On "Like the days of a hireling, his days" (v. 1) — a hireling's days are marked by labor, constraint, and the longing for evening; yet unlike the hireling who at least hopes for his wages, Job in his present condition sees no end to his suffering except death. This is the ground of his cry in vv. 2-3: as a servant yearns for shade, as a hireling looks for the end of his work, so Job awaits death.

Militia est vita hominis super terram

On the military metaphor for human life: "Is not man's life on earth a hard service, and are not his days like the days of a hired hand? Like a slave who longs for the shadow, and like a hired hand who looks for his wages — so I am allotted months of emptiness, and nights of misery are apportioned to me." Corderius treats the militia metaphor as one of the most theologically significant images in the wisdom literature. He develops the positive dimension: the soldier who fights bravely earns an eternal reward that no earthly wage can match. The slave who endures servitude for a just master is more free than the tyrant who rules without restraint. Job's "months of emptiness and nights of misery" are thus the wage-labor of spiritual merit: each suffering patiently borne is a coin deposited in the treasury of eternal life. He cites Paul (2 Cor. 4:17): "this slight momentary affliction is preparing for us an eternal weight of glory beyond all comparison." The contrast between the heaviness of present suffering and the incomparably greater weight of future glory is the central logic of Christian patience.

Si dormiero dicam Quando consurgam

On the sleepless nights of suffering: "When I lie down, I say: When shall I arise? and again I await the evening, and I am filled with pains till darkness." Corderius gives an extended medical and spiritual analysis. Physically, Job's disease produces sleeplessness: the skin covered with putrefying matter (v. 5), days passing swifter than a weaver's shuttle (v. 6), life as mere breath (v. 7). On v. 8: "The eye of him that seeth me shall behold me no more; thy eyes are upon me, and I shall be no more" — Corderius interprets this as Job addressing God: God's eyes are upon him even as he perishes, which is both terrifying and consoling. On v. 9: "As a cloud is consumed and vanishes away, so he that goes down to the grave shall come up no more" — Corderius carefully distinguishes between Job's expression of the common natural law (that the dead do not return in this life) and the future revelation of resurrection (which Job will affirm in ch. 19). The apparent pessimism of this verse belongs to the rhetoric of lamentation, not to theological despair.

Quapropter et ego non parcam ori meo

On Job's apostrophe to God — the sea monster comparison: "Am I the sea, or a sea monster, that you set a guard over me?" (v. 12). Corderius explains: just as the sea is contained within its divinely set boundaries (ch. 38:8-11), Job feels that God has similarly set a hedge of afflictions around him that he cannot pass. On vv. 13-14: "When I say 'My bed will comfort me, my couch will ease my complaint,' then you scare me with dreams and terrify me with visions" — even sleep brings no relief; divine providential action pursues Job into the realm of unconscious rest. On v. 17: "What is man, that you make so much of him, and that you set your heart on him, visit him every morning and test him every moment?" — Corderius reads this verse in combination with Psalm 8:4 and interprets the "testing every moment" not as harassment but as the continuous creative and providential attention of God to every instant of the creature's existence. God's infinite attention to finite creatures is both the source of man's dignity and, in the context of suffering, can feel like relentless pressure.

Quid est homo quia magnificas eum

On "What is man, that thou shouldest magnify him?" (v. 17): Corderius compares this with the Psalm (Ps. 8:4-5), noting that in their contexts the two passages have opposite tones — David's is one of wonder at divine condescension in glorifying man, while Job's is one of bewilderment that God should continue to afflict one so small. Corderius reconciles them through Chrysostom (De Statuis, Hom. 5): God both magnifies man by creating him for beatitude and proves him by afflictions, because the very greatness of the destiny requires a great purification. On v. 20: "I have sinned; what shall I do to thee, O watcher of men?" — Corderius insists this is not a genuine admission of guilt as the cause of his sufferings (which would contradict the entire book), but a general acknowledgment of human fallibility: even the just are not without sin in the broad sense. On v. 21: "And why dost thou not take away my iniquity, and pardon my sin?" — Corderius interprets this as a prayer for forgiveness of any human failings, accompanied by a renewal of trust in divine mercy.