Commentary: On Job

Introduction

Abraham Farissol, son of the late Mordechai (may he rest in Eden!) of Avignon, dwelling in Ferrara, declares: In response to the request of some distinguished individuals, I have agreed to comment on the marvelous book of Job according to the Torah. It was their request to provide an expansive commentary of each verse by itself, with an explanation of all its words together, and finally for each speech, to write a single principle that would embrace the words of that speech. Also to articulate at the outset the views of the five men on which the book is based—and they are Job, Eliphaz, Zophar, Bildad, and Elihu—the view of each separately, and what each adds to the other, so that the reader will grasp it easily. And as this is among the matters that one should enter into with fear and trembling, and as I have been preceded by the great pillars of the world who have delved deeply into its words, and how shall I enter among the cedars of Lebanon, under which the Lord has sworn to dwell, and His spirit terrifies me—nevertheless, to be responsive to their request, and perhaps to improvise a new way that the earlier scholars and masters had not conceived; let me speak, then, and may it profit; may I glean and pluck from their radiant words.

I have especially transplanted a shoot from the great tamarisk of Maimonides (may he rest in peace!) who enlightened all Israel with his books, and who planted a tamarisk in his exposition in Part Three of the Guide [of the Perplexed III.22–23], as well as from other commentators who will be with me if the Lord will place a small new word in my mouth. Whoever finds in this commentary what is right and just, he should attribute it to my accomplished predecessors; and if it be lacking, ascribe it to my deficient understanding. Let not astute readers be astonished if I will sometimes interpret a word in a novel and irregular fashion, as in the case of ve-sha’af tsamim (and the robber swalloweth; Job 5:5) and the like; my predecessors have proceeded similarly; as the sense did not seem improbable to me, I exercised discretion, with God’s help, for the utterance of the tongue is from Him.

A word to the inquirer: It is known from the words of the abovementioned sages, and Maimonides, that the subject of Job is very awesome, revolving around fearful inquiries that are hidden from the masses, and even from the sages and the prophets, who were in doubt concerning supreme providence, how and what it is, for they did not know what it was. Even Moses our master and the circle of the prophets cried out and were troubled to understand its matter: why does a righteous person fare badly and a wicked person fare well? Moses our master said: Let me know Your ways! (Exodus 33:13) And David, king of Israel, said: I envied the wanton; I saw the wicked at ease (Psalms 73:3). The prophet Isaiah said: Why, Lord, do You make us stray from Your ways? (Isaiah 63:17) The prophet Jeremiah said: Why does the way of the wicked prosper? Why are the workers of treachery at ease? (Jeremiah 12:1) Habakkuk said: Why do You countenance treachery, and stand by idle while the one in the wrong devours the one in the right? (Habakkuk 1:13) The conclusion to be understood from this is that the true answer was hidden from all of them. For God said to Moses: I will be gracious to whom I will be gracious (Exodus 33:19). David said: I applied myself to understand this, but it seemed a hopeless task (Psalms 73:16). God said to Jeremiah: If you race with the foot-runners and they exhaust you, how then can you compete with horses? (Jeremiah 12:5).

However, if the debate of these sages recorded in this book—namely, Job, his three friends, and Elihu, and the Lord at their head—be understood, it will yield broad awakening to understand that the ways and judgments of the Lord are altogether just, in this world and in the world to come. Although many have thought that Job never existed and that all this is only a parable [b. Bava Batra 15a], he is nevertheless explicitly mentioned by the prophet Ezekiel, who mentions him together with Noah and Daniel, the servants of the Lord, who are recorded in the holy scriptures [see Ezekiel 14:14]. And so his actual existence is affirmed on the part of the whole congregation of Israel, the same as Noah and Daniel who truly existed. The sages said that Moses wrote his book and the book of Job [b. Bava Batra 14b], confirming this interpretation.

The book is valuable for affirming the views of the Torah concerning providence, reward, and punishment. The book discusses how evil occurrences come about, whether on account of the nature of the recipient through his choice, or from external causes, either from accidents of the terrestrial world or from the celestial, from the heavenly bodies. For sometimes evil comes about from a person’s negligence concerning himself in his pursuit of luxuries, which cause damage to himself, whether by causing him to suffer illness or other damage, or exposing himself to dangers. Sometimes evils occur from causes external to himself, whether from the celestial spheres of the stars, or from the elements, or from accidents of war and altercations. All these can be understood from the words of the parties to the dialogue in the book of Job. However, it is my purpose to expound the difference of their views as I have understood from their words and from the words of Maimonides.

The view of Job as expressed in his utterances is that the Lord is the Primordial Existent who created the universe, but that He arranged what should occur through governance by way of accident; and in this respect He allowed evils to befall the righteous and the wicked without providential supervision and examination, so that the righteous and wicked suffer the same fate. This is what he says: He destroys the blameless and the guilty (Job 9:22). And he continues: When suddenly a scourge brings death [i.e., to destroy the wicked quickly] he mocks as the innocent fail (Job 9:23)—that is, the wicked mocks at the failing and plight of the innocent and righteous who suffers his pains at great length. And he says further about the righteous and the wicked: This one dies in his very innocence . . . and that one dies with a bitter soul (Job 21:23–25). Furthermore, from the fact that Job was pained on account of being afflicted and having everything taken from him, it appears that it was his view that human prosperity indeed consists in enjoying children, wealth, and health. This view tends somewhat to that of Aristotle, and that is the view that Maimonides attributes to Job in The Guide, Part Three.

As for Eliphaz’s view, it is that whatever happens to man is just, and what happened to Job was right and just, for surely, in his view, Job sinned. Thus he said to him: You know that your wickedness is great (Job 22:5). As for your thinking that you are righteous, if you consider your few good deeds, Eliphaz says of them that they do not come up to what they ought to be, because of the shortness of our days and our strength and understanding. For He does not trust His servants, and to His angels also He does not ascribe praise (Job 4:18)¹—that is, light and perfection, for they are created and finite, all the more so the terrestrial creatures, deficient and lustful, who sin and fall short of perfection. As he says: How much less those who dwell in houses of clay, whose element is dust (Job 4:19).² It can be inferred from this by one who pursues the truth that we have somewhat proved the deficiency of Eliphaz that on the question of “the wicked who fares well” he did not suffice to silence Job from his outcry, that one sees wicked people who live and are not shattered. Yet Eliphaz said to Job: From morning to evening they are shattered (Job 4:20). Eliphaz’s words do not ring true.

Bildad’s view illuminates an addition to the doctrine of providence. He says that although the Lord exercises providence and does so justly, we nonetheless see a righteous person who fares badly. This happens in order to convert this evil for him to good in two ways. The first will benefit him in the world to come. Thus he says: If you are blameless and upright, He will protect you, and repay you in your righteous home (Job 8:6)³—meaning the world to come. Alternatively, in this world God can exchange evil for a greater good, as he says: Though your beginning be small, in the end you will grow very great (Job 8:7). The converse applies to the good enjoyed by the wicked. This view tends somewhat to the view of the Mu’tazilites [a rationalist school of Islamic speculative theology (8th–10th centuries)]. It, too, is open to various doubts.

The view of Zophar tends to a different dialectical proposition. This holds that providence follows the will of God and we can find no reason for that will, as our intellect is insufficient to understand it. Thus he says: Would you discover the thought of God? Would you discover the purpose of the Almighty? (Job 11:7).⁴ This tends to what was said to Moses our master: I will be gracious to whom I will be gracious, etc. (Exodus 33:19). The Ash’arites [a school of Islamic speculative theology, founded in the 10th century] believed in this view; however, they held that perfection and divine salvation was visited even on irrational animals, and said that God bestows good and evil on them for some essential reason unknown to us.

However, the divine Elihu added two views of his own that are worthy of acceptance and verified by experience on the essence of individual providence, in two awesome ways that occur daily to those worthy: Sometimes dreams and visions occur to one or more worthy individuals, admonishing and frightening such a one to turn back in repentance and save his soul from destruction, or chastising him through pain and illness to give his heart to the word of the Lord, to pray and supplicate Him for healing. Thus he says: If he has a representative [angel], one advocate against a thousand (Job 33:23)—that is to say, if among the imaginings of a person’s heart there is one to arouse him to repentance and prayer, that is the true representative, advocate, and emissary to ascend before God to save him from his evil. He says similarly: He redeemed his soul from passing into the pit, etc. (Job 33:28). These things will happen by divine providence two or three times to a person to chastise sinners and guide them. Thus he says: Truly, God does all these things two or three times to a man (Job 33:29).

According to this interpretation, the words of Eliphaz in the first answer to Job are somewhat repugnant. But in the second answer of Elihu, he added other divine thoughts devoted to providence. Indeed, what we read in the Lord’s words to Job—that he spoke more truly than his friends, and that God commanded to bring sacrifices so that Job should pray on their behalf [see Job 42:7–8]—that will be expounded in the proper place. And also whether Elihu’s words on the matter of dreams and visions, against the natural philosophers who consider them otherwise as proceeding from the imagination or an excess of moisture, will suffice for those who believe in the creation of the world. With God’s help, all these words will be examined in the proper place.