From: Job 42:1-3, 5-6, 12-17
Job accepts that God has acted rightly
God’s blessing on Job
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Commentary:
42:1-6. The last verses of the poetical section of the book are given to Job to
speak. In them he answers two challenges raised by the Lord. To the first (v. 3)
Job replies by confessing that he did speak without knowing all the facts, that is,
without appreciating the harmony with which creation is imbued, the awesome
fact that even seemingly useless and destructive things have their part to play.
This is a sort of “sapiential’ response. To God’s second appeal (v. 4), Job’s reply
is full of faith: he acknowledges that God has manifested himself in person: now
he has seen him with his eyes (v. 5), as Moses and the prophets saw him, Job
feels consoled, and he is moved to repentance now that he has actually met God.
This meeting, more than the words he has heard, is what brings about his conver-
sion: “It is one thing to hear your voice and another to see you before our eyes;
for just as all things are made clear in the light of the sun, and darkness and eve-
ry trace of shadow is banished, so the sight of your resplendent face, when it
dawns over the soul, dissipates all ignorance and error. When I see you before
me, I berate and reprove myself, and I suffer bitter pain for ever having offended
you” (Fray Luis de Leon, “Expositio libri lob”, 42, 6).
42:7-17. The prose epilogue describes Job’s remarkable rehabilitation. He is in-
deed appreciated as a wise man, for he spoke rightly, and as a good person,
who will successfully intercede on behalf of his opponents. This passage, almost
certainly, must (like the prologue) have been part of the original text; prologue and
epilogue are closely interconnected and have literary features in common. Some
commentators have suggested that this happy ending does not fit in well with the
message in the book, because it seems to confirm the idea that good people en-
joy success and wrongdoers do not. But that is not really the point. The epilogue
displays the mercy of God who, as supreme judge, desires that all should be
saved; Job, in his case, has found salvation through suffering.
A number of small details help us to see why the book is given this ending: it
contains no mention of Satan, perhaps because his presence was irrelevant to
the question posed in the book. Eliphaz and his friends, who thought that they
were speaking on God’s side, now have to admit they were wrong: they have not
“spoken what is right” (vs. 7-8); they must turn to the Lord; that is the only way
to discover the truth. Finally, Job is comforted and accepted by all his relatives
and friends (v. 10-11), and is blessed by God with children, wealth and a long
life (vv. 12-17). So, God does not conform to the way human beings see things;
they, rather, must respect what he does and conform to his wishes.
42:12-17. God’s blessing on Job brings with it many children and much wealth.
It is interesting to see the importance given to his daughters: they enjoy the
same inheritance as their brothers, they are the fairest in all the land (as their
names imply). Jemima (”Jamama”), according to Arabic etymology means Dove;
Keziah/Cassia is the name of a tree (which must he the acacia, which was con-
sidered in that region to be very beautiful); and Kerena-happuch or “Horn of Anti-
mony” referred to a container for very expensive perfume.
As we have pointed out a number of times, the Fathers see Job as prefiguring
Jesus; this applies also to the restoration of his fortunes: “Job recovered both
his health and his wealth. In the same way, the Lord, through his resurrection,
brings not only good health to those who believe in him, but immortality; and he
restores the whole kingdom of nature, as he himself assured us when he said:
Everything has been given to me by my Father. New children are born of Job to
replace those who died. Similarly, the holy apostles are sons of the Lord in the
same line as were the prophets of old. Job is filled with happiness and in the
end rests in peace. And the Lord is blessed forever, as he was in the beginning,
is now, and ever shall be” (St Zeno of Verona, “Tractatus”, 1, 15).
42:17. This is the same wording as is used in the accounts of the lives of the pa-
triarchs (Gen 25:8; 35:29). The Fathers of the Church usually interpreted these
words in a broad sense, as a sort of resume of the good things enjoyed by the
blessed in heaven. In line with this, St Thomas writes: “By ‘fullness of days’ is
meant not only the possession of many material goods but also an abundance
of spiritual graces, by whose power Job entered into the glory that lasts forever”
(”Expositio super Iob”, 42, 17).
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Source: “The Navarre Bible: Text and Commentaries”. Biblical text from the
Revised Standard Version and New Vulgate. Commentaries by members of
the Faculty of Theology, University of Navarre, Spain.
Published by Four Courts Press, Kill Lane, Blackrock, Co. Dublin, Ireland, and
by Scepter Publishers in the United States.
From: Luke 10:17-24
The Seventy Return From Their Mission
Jesus Gives Thanks
[23] Then turning to the disciples He said privately, “Blessed are the eyes which
see what you see! [24] For I tell you that many prophets and kings desired to
see what you see, and did not see it, and to hear what you hear, and did not
hear it.”
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Commentary:
20. Our Lord corrects His disciples, making them see that the right reason for re-
joicing lies in hope of reaching Heaven, not in the power to do miracles which He
gave them for their mission. As He said on another occasion, “On that day many
will say to Me, ‘Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in Your name, and cast our de-
mons in Your name, and do many mighty works in Your name?’ And then will I
declare to them, ‘I never knew you; depart from Me, you evildoers’” (Matthew 7:
22-23). In other words, in the eyes of God doing His holy will at all times is more
important than working miracles.
21. This passage of the Gospel is usually called our Lord’s “hymn of joy” and is
also found in St. Matthew (11:25-27). It is one of those moments when Jesus re-
joices to see humble people understanding and accepting the word of God.
Our Lord also reveals one of the effects of humility—spiritual childhood. For ex-
ample, in another passage He says: “Truly, I say to you, unless you turn and
become like children, you will never enter the Kingdom of Heaven” (Matthew 18:
3). But spiritual childhood does not involve weakness, softness or ignorance: “I
have often meditated on this life of spiritual childhood, which is not incompatible
with fortitude, because it demands a strong will, proven maturity, an open and
firm character [...]. To become children we must renounce our pride and self-suf-
ficiency, recognizing that we can do nothing by ourselves. We must realize that
we need grace, and the help of God our Father to find our way and keep it. To be
little, you have to abandon yourself as children do, believe as children, beg as
children beg” [St. J. Escriva, “Christ Is Passing By”, 10 and 143).
22. “This statement is a wonderful help to our faith,” St. Ambrose comments,
“because when you read ‘all’ you realize that Christ is all-powerful, that He is not
inferior to the Father, or less perfect than He; when you read ‘have been delivered
to me’, you confess that Christ is the Son, to whom everything belongs by right
of being one in substance [with the Father] and not by grace of gift” (”Expositio
Evangelii Sec. Lucam, in loc.”).
Here we see Christ as almighty Lord and God, consubstantial with the Father,
and the only one capable of revealing who the Father is. At the same time, we
can recognize the divine nature of Jesus only if the Father gives us the grace of
faith—as He did to St. Peter (cf. Matthew 16:17).
23-24. Obviously, seeing Jesus with one’s own eyes was a wonderful thing for
people who believed in him. However, our Lord will say to Thomas, “Blessed are
those who have not seen and yet believe” (John 20:29). St. Peter, for his part,
tells us: “Without having seen Him you love Him; though you do not see Him
you believe in Him and rejoice with unutterable and exalted joy. As the outcome
of your faith you obtain the salvation of your souls” (1 Peter 1:8-9).
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Source: “The Navarre Bible: Text and Commentaries”. Biblical text from the
Revised Standard Version and New Vulgate. Commentaries by members of
the Faculty of Theology, University of Navarre, Spain.
Published by Four Courts Press, Kill Lane, Blackrock, Co. Dublin, Ireland, and
by Scepter Publishers in the United States.