Baldad represents the justice of God, before whom no man can be justified.
Baldad endeuoreth againe to terrifie Iob, with Gods iudgement, from appealing therto, and from auouching his owne innocencie.
1Then Baldad the Suhite answered, and I said:Ma Baldad di Sueh rispose, e disse:BVT Baldad the Suhite answering, sayd:Respondens autem Baldad Suhites, dixit: 2Power and terror are with him, who maketh peace in his high places.Potente, e terribile è quegli, che mantien la concordia nell'alte sue spere.Power and terrour is with him, that maketh concord in his high ones.Potestas et terror apud eum est, / qui facit concordiam in sublimibus suis. 3Is there any numbering of his soldiers? and upon whom shall not his light arise?Si può forse contare il numero di sue milizie? e chi è che non partecipi della sua luce?Is there anie number of his souldiars? and vpon whom shal not his light arise,Numquid est numerus militum ejus ? / et super quem non surget lumen illius ? 4Can man be justified compared with God, or he that is born of a woman appear clean?Può egli forse un uomo esser giustificato, ove si paragoni con Dio, o apparir mondo uno che è nato di donna?can man be iustified compared with God, or the borne of a woman appeare cleane?Numquid justificari potest homo comparatus Deo ? / aut apparere mundus natus de muliere ? 5Behold even the moon doth not shine, and the stars are not pure in his sight.Certamente la luna stessa non ha splendore, e le stelle non sono pure dinanzi a lui:Behold the moone also doth not shine, and the starres are not cleane in his sight.Ecce luna etiam non splendet, / et stellæ non sunt mundæ in conspectu ejus: 6How much less man that is rottenness and the son of man who is a worm?Quanto men l'uomo che è putredine, e il figliuolo dell'uomo che è un verme?How much more man rottennes, & the some of man a worme?quanto magis homo putredo, / et filius hominis vermis ?
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Calmet
Answered. He directs his attack against Job's desiring to plead before God, and gives a wrong statement of his request, which he also attempts to refute, by urging the same inconclusive arguments as before. (Calmet)
Haydock
Blind and obstinate disputers still repeat the same objections; (Worthington) as Protestants do against the Catholic doctrines, which have been so often and so ably defended. (Haydock)
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Calmet
Places. Directing all the heavenly bodies with perfect harmony. (Calmet)
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Menochius
Soldiers. The works of the whole creation, particularly the stars and angels. (Menochius)
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Calmet
Clean. Job had used a similar expression, as well as Eliphaz, Job 4:17., and 14:4., and 15:15. The holy man did not assert that he was free from sin, but only that God did not punish him (Calmet) so dreadfully (Haydock) on that account, and that he has just reasons for afflicting his servants, if it were only to manifest his own power and glory. (Calmet)
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Calmet
Sight, compared with him. The most beautiful things in nature are nothing; and of course, the most just are all imperfection, when left to themselves. (Calmet)
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The eight conflict.
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Iob answered before. ch. 9. yet blind and obstinate disputers stil repete the same obiections.
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St Augustine of Hippo † AD 430 Of Holy Virginity 48
48. What now shall I say concerning the very carefulness and watchfulness against sin? “Who shall boast that he hath a chaste heart? or who shall boast that he is clean from sin?” Holy virginity is indeed inviolate from the mother’s womb; but “no one,” saith he, “is clean in Thy sight, not even the infant whose life is of one day upon the earth.”
St Augustine of Hippo † AD 430 A Treatise on the Merits and Forgiveness of Sins, and on the Baptism of Infants 3.12
… “The greatest age comes first, and then all the rest is pervaded down to the least. For there is no man without sin, whether the span of his age be but that of a single day, or he reckon many years to his life. For if the very stars are unclean in the sight of God,
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Origen † AD 254 Origen De Principiis 1.7.2
… For Job appears to assert that not only may the stars be subject to sin, but even that they are actually not clean from the contagion of it. The following are his words: “The stars also are not clean in Thy sight.”
Origen † AD 254 Origen's Commentary on the Gospel of John 1.40
… It would surely be absurd to say that He tasted death for human sins and not for any other being besides man which had fallen into sin, as for example for the stars. For not even the stars are clean in the eyes of God, as we read in Job,
Rufinus of Aquileia † AD 411 The Apology of Rufinus. Addressed to Apronianus, in Reply to Jerome's Letter to Pammachius 1.38
“It may be observed that no one is without sin, that Even the stars are not clean in his sight,
St Jerome † AD 420 The Letters of St. Jerome 122.3
“There is no man clean from sin; even though he has lived but for one day.” And the years of man’s life are many in number. “The stars are not pure in his sight,
St Jerome † AD 420 The Letters of St. Jerome 125.7
… To spare your soul spare nothing else. The Lord says: “whosoever looketh on a woman to lust after her hath committed adultery with her already in his heart.” “Who can say,” writes the wise man, “I have made my heart clean?” The stars are not pure in the Lord’s sight; how much less men whose whole life is one long temptation.
St Jerome † AD 420 Against the Pelagians 2
Job xxv. 5, 6 . The stars are not pure in his sight.
John Cassian † AD 435 The Conferences of John Cassian 23.8
… as Scripture says: “Even the stars are not clean in His sight,” and again: “If He puts no trust in His saints, and findeth iniquity in His angels,” or as the more correct translation has it: “Behold among His saints none is unchangeable, and the heavens are not pure in His sight.”
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St Augustine of Hippo † AD 430 Lectures or Tractates on the Gospel According to St. John 1.13
… and yet God almost does this, and He is not to be found fault with. For all men born of flesh, what are they but worms? and of these worms God makes angels. For if the Lord Himself says, “But I am a worm and no man,” who will hesitate to say what is written also in Job, “How much more is man rottenness, and the son of man a worm?”
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Job in sua responsione duas calumnias quas in Eliphaz injecerat, in praecedenti sua responsione jam repulit, ostendens se neque pro peccatis puni-tum, neque divinae providentiae negatorem. Ostend-erat autem valde expresse, quod divinae providentiae non repugnabat, si impii in hoc mundo prosperantur, quia servatur eorum poena in alium tempus: et ideo contra hoc ulterius resistere non potuerunt; sed alterum, scilicet quod non fuerit pro peccatis punitus, non tam evidenter ostende-rat, quin potius debilitabat suae ostensionis signifi-cavit, cum dixit Nemo advertere potest cogitationes ejus; et ideo contra hoc ulterius Baldad resistere nititur redarguens Job, quod se asserebat non pro peccatis suis punitor: et quasi immermor verborum Job, quibus dixerat, non sibi sufficere si contra eum ex Dei fortitudine contendatur, a divina potestate disputationis suae sumit exordium, et proponit magnitudinem divinae potestatis dupliciter: primo quantum ad hoc quod potentiam exercet in superiores creaturas, in summa pace eas conservans; unde dicit: Potestas et terror, idest ex qua timeri debet, Apud eum est, scilicet Deum; Qui facit concordiam in sublimioribus suis: in inferioribus enim creaturis discordia multiplex invenitur, tam in creaturis rationalibus, ut patet per contrarios motus humanarum voluntatum, quam in creaturis corporalibus, ut ex earum contrarietate apparet, per quarum generationi et corruptioni sub-duntur; sed in superioribus corporibus nulla con-trarietas reperitur, unde et incorruptibilia sunt: sic et superiores intellectuales substantiae etiam in summa concordia vivunt. Haec autem summa concordia superiorum creaturarum ex potestate divina procedit, quae superiores creaturas in perfecta suae unitatis participatione constituit, quasi sibi propinquiore; et ideo signanter dicit, In sublimioribus suis, idest sibi magis conformibus.
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Secundo commendat divinam potestatem ex iis quae operatur in inferioribus creaturis, in quibus operatur per ministerium superiorum creaturarum, quarum multitudo homini est ignota; unde subdit, Nunquid est numerus militum ejus? milites quidem Dei vocat omnes caelestes virtutes, quae divinum nutum sequuntur, sicut milites obediant duci. Harum autem caelestium virtutum numerus ignotus est homini: et simile est, quod habetur Isaiæ 40: «Qui educit in numero militem eorum.» Et ne aliquis crederet quod caelestes virtutes non se haberent sicut milites parentes alieno imperio, sed sicut duces et principes ex suo arbitrio cuncta agentes, sicut aestimaverunt multorum deorum cultores, subjungit, Et super quem non surgit lumen ejus; quasi dicat: Omnes caelestes virtutes per illuminationem divinam diriguntur, sicut homines per hoc quod super eos surgit lux solis.
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Proposita ergo potestate divina, accedit ad propositionem dicens: Nunquid justificari potest homo comparatus Deo? quasi dicat: Ex quo Deus tam magnus est et in justitia praecllens, ut etiam in sublimibus concordiam faciat, quae est justitiae effectus, secundum il-lud Isa. 32: «Opus justitiae pax,» omnis justitia hominis divinae justitiae comparata quasi nihil reputabitur: nec solum Deo homo comparatus non potest justus videri, sed quod plus est, ei comparatus, apparet injustus: sicut in comparatione ad res pulcherrimas, quae quamvis pulchritudinem habeant, videntur immundae; unde subdit, Aut apparere mundus nanis de muliere? quod signanter dicit, quia ex hoc ipso quod homo de muliere per concupiscentiam carnis nascitur, maculam contrahit.
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Hoc autem quod dixerat, consequenter per simile confirmat, cum subdit, Ecce etiam luna non splendet, et stellae non sunt mundae in conspectu ejus.
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Ubi considerandum est, quod de sole mentionem non facit, quia non apparet sensibiliter quod ad praesentiam majoris luminis lumen ejus obtenebretur; sed luna et stellae etiam ad praesentiam corporalis solis obfuscantur: unde multo magis earum claritas quasi obscuritas quaedam est immensitati divini luminis comparata; et ex hoc concludit propositionem, subdens, Quanto magis homo putredo, et filius hominis vermis? scilicet non potest reputari splendens splendore justitiae, si divinae justitiae comparetur: neque mundus per innocentiam, si comparetur puritati divinae. Signanter autem hominem putredini comparat quasi ex materia existentem putrefactioni vicina: et filium hominis vermis, quia vermis ex putredine generatur. Hoc autem inducit ad ostendendum, quod homo non potest, quantumcumque justus et innocens, justitiam et innocentiam suam proponere, quasi nihil reputatum in comparatione ad Deum, cum agitur de divino judicio.
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v. 2 « Potestas et terror apud eum est, qui facit concordiam in sublimibus suis »; — i. e. omnia quae sunt in coelis ad consiliorum suorum effectus componit (Men.), ita ut illa ne minimum quidem ei obsistere et repugnare audeant, sed omnia se ei promptissime submittant ; sublimes spiritus (4, 18; 15, 15) ei obsecundant, stellae ad eius nutum summa concordia motus et revolutiones coelestes exsequuntur (cf. Pin. Est.) — et lobus cum tali Deo contendere audet, non se afflictioni divinitus immissae humillime subdit, ius suum sibi negari asserit! Quare ulterius Dei maiestatem describit :
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v. 3 « numquid est numerus militum eius et super quem non surget lumen illius » ? — turmae Dei certe quam latissime sumantur oportet : omnia scil. quibus Deus ad sua consilia exsequenda vel ad sedem suam exornandam atque cingendam utitur: proin angeli, stellae, fulgura, tempestates (cf. Ps. 103, 4). Bene enim Malv. : « plerique restringunt ad: turmas exercitus angelorum; sed satius est universe de omnibus rebus creatis accipere, quae in ordines et classes distributae Deo militant et velut in statione sunt » (sim. Pin. W. Zsch. P.). Et haec omnia provida et benefica cura a Deo reguntur, eiusque bonorum et beneficiorum fruilione donantur; cf. Matth. 5, 45 qui solem suum oriri facit... ita Malv. lam si omnibus lumen i. e. favor eius et bonum, quo sunt, illucescit, qualis erit ipse Deus horum omnium fons inexhaustus? In hebr. faciens pacem ; censet Zsch. respici h. 1. illam angelorum apostatarum rebellionem devictam ac superatam ; alium in finem haec dici Pin. putat: Deum summa pace et tranquillitate frui, quod tam terrificam maiestatem nemo audeat interpellare, nemo tam beatam quietem interturbare, nemo Deo iubenti reclamare; vel ut Baldad dicat: non opus esse, ut Iobus tentet venire usque ad excelsum Dei solium ; nam sublimem illum locum non esse strepitu forensi complendum ; vel cum Deus sit pacis auctor, si quando inimicitias agat (uti nunc cum Iobo), eum iure ac merito id facere. Coram tali autem Deo quis mundus ae purus esse potest?
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v. 4 « numquid iustificari potest homo comparatus Deo. aut apparere mundus natus de muliere » ? — cf. 4, 41; 45,44 ; reprehendit Iobum, quod tali Deo, qui lumine suo omnia lustret, suam velit demonstrare innocentiam (cf. Pzn.). Confirmat rem a simili, vel potius argumento ducto a maiori,
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v. 5. « ecce, luna etiam non splendet et stellae non sunt mundae in conspectu eius ;
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v. 6 quanto magis homo, putredo, et filius hominis, vermis » ! — i. e. luna et stellae ad maioris luminis exor tum, ad solis praesentiam obscurantur, deficiunt; unde multo mag’ earum claritas quasi obscuritas quaedam est immensitati divini luminis comparata (S. Thom. Cord.) ; et si nihil quod effectum est, neque illa quae pulcherrima censentur, coram suo auctore puritatem suam possunt gloriose ostentare, quanto minus homo putredini et vermibus coniunctus atque cognatus (ita Pzn.). Hominis statum mortalem, corruptionem haud incongrue affert, ut eum in innocentia deficere concludat; aptissime ex Gen. 3, 19. 312 - (26, 2-4), longiorem sermonem et sententiam amicorum denuo defensam supponere forte quis cum B. existimaverit. Coniectura haec aliquo modo suaderi potest ; nam revera ab admiratione quadam non abest et ab interpretibus non satis explicatur, cur Iobus cap. 27 amicorum sententiam de impiorum ruina terrestri ambabus manibus subito amplectatur. Quae difficultas utique facillime diluitur, si cum B. versus illos huie sermoni Baldad adnectamus casu quodam a sua sede avulsos et perperam locis alienis adseriptos. At coniectura est; tentandum infra suo loco erit, utrum versus illi ex mente Iobi dicti sint' necne; vel an saltem a Jobo dicti suum ibi locum rite occupent. Interea vero versus illos eo relinquimus loco, quem textus traditi summa concordia illis assignant; idque eo libentius, quia responsio Iobi, quae sequitur, solum hanc brevem orationem respicere nobis videtur. Quare ex hociam capite impedimur, quominus coniecturam illam amplectamur. Arg. — Acri cum ironia Baldad orationem brevem ridet, quasi pauculis verbis et nova plane sapientia egregium se praestitisset consolatorem et doctorem (26, 2-4). Dein Iobus ostendit, se minime institutione Baldad indigere, ut recte ac magnifice sentiat de Dei potentia et maiestate eamque revereatur. Quare ipse multo sublimius de Dei magnificentia disserit, per totam rerum creatarum seriem percurrens et Dei potentiam miris modis ubique cerni docens ; illam scil. inferi, mundi machina, nubes, firmamentum, maria, coelumque sidereum praedicant — tantae sublimitatis obscura quaedam lineamenta (26, 5-14). Disceptaüionis progressus in eo potissimum cernitur, quod Iobus quid de Deo sentiat uberius quam antea disserens, et impietatis accusationem sibi impactam feliciter refellit, et simul declarat, se ad Deum tam fidenter provocasse, non quasi de Dei maiestate non sublimissima quaeque sentiret, sed quia suae integritatis sibi conscius sit. Unde haec quoque oratio nos reddit certiores, qua religione, qua animi sensuumque celsitudine Iobus fuerit, quanta igitur admiratione et veneratione dignus sit. Exagitat interlocutorem Baldad, quam praeclare adiuvandi et consolandi partes obierit et quid tandem illa oratio sibi velit :
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BALDAD (Hebrew: Bildadh). - One of the three figures (with Eliphaz and Zophar) who went to their common friend Job (v.) to comfort him in his misfortunes (Job 2:11; 8:1; 18:1; 25:1; 42:9).
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… discussion, B. brilliantly depicts the happiness of the wicked man who finally falls under harsh calamities, remains isolated and deprived of posterity (Job 18). In the 3rd, with a few phrases he contrasts the power of God with the nothingness of man (Job 25:2-6).
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«SON OF MAN». — A Semitic expression normally meaning "man." In Hebrew ben 'ādhām ("s. of m.") is found in parallelism with 'ādhām or 'ēnās ("man"): Job 25:6; Ps. (Heb.) 144:3; Is. 51:12; Ez. 2:1, etc. In Aramaic and Syriac bar 'ēnās ("s. of m.") or bar nāsā ("the s. of m.") is commonly used to indicate "man."
Douay-Rheims (Challoner) · Vulgata Clementina · original Douay-Rheims (Douay 1609-10), transcription by EEBO-TCP (CC0) · La Sacra Bibbia, tradotta dalla Volgata da Antonio Martini (1769-1781) (LaParola (laparola.net), Martini OSIS text, Public domain (LaParola's electronic edition marks it 'Dominio pubblico')). Public domain.