Kommentar zu Ijow 1:23

There was a man in the land of Uz This means in the land of Aram, as it is written (Gen. 22: 21): “Uz, his firstborn,” of the sons of Nahor.

From the portrait of the man Job with which the story opens, it is clear that no rational explanation can be given for his afflictions; no interpretation by which their occurrence was a normal event. For when poverty and suffering befall a person, it is normally for one of six reasons:

and that man was Although that is a future expression, that is the style of the Hebrew language, and the proper expression for it is “Now that man was greater than all the children of the land of the East”; the children of the land of the East, for Aram is in the east of the world, as it is stated (Num. 23:7): “From Aram has Balak, king of Moab, brought me, from the mountains of the East.” Another explanation: Uz is Job. Buz is Elihu the son of Barachel the Buzite. This is what Job said (31:34): “and the most contemptible of families shatters me.” This one (the Buzite) who shatters my words is of my family. This is what people say: “From the very forest, the ax handle is formed.” Another explanation: in the land of Uz In the land whence they take evil counsels against the Holy One, blessed be He. As it is stated (Gen. 10:11): “Out of that land Asshur went forth.” Now what counsel did they take? “He has no right to take the upper worlds and to give us the lower world.” Instead, come to the land of Shinar, where there are many gods, concerning which it is stated: “for it is a land of graven images” (Jer. 50:38): “And let us make a tower whose top shall reach to the heavens, and let us make a name for ourselves” (Gen. 11:4). The word “name” stated here refers only to idolatry, as it is stated (Exod. 23:13): “You shall not make mention of the name of other gods.” What did the Holy One, blessed be He, do? He sat in judgment over them and stood up witnesses against them, as it is stated (Gen. 11:5): “And the Lord came down to see the city and the tower.” Now does the Omnipresent have to come down to see? Is it not written: “The eyes of the Lord are roving to and fro throughout the entire earth”? Rather, it is to teach a ruling to future generations, that judges may not pass judgment except with eyewitnesses, as it is stated (Lev.5:1): “Having seen or known.”

1. By reason of the nature of his body and its constitution. These causes can be divided into two sub-groups:
a. Natural causes: If a person is a glutton, he weakens his body and wastes his money as a result of his bad traits. But Job was both sincere and upright. The term 'upright' implies that he was virtuous in both thought and action, for such was his nature. But even an upright person may falter such as when he sees that as a consequence of his virtue he may be harmed or may have to forgo some benefit or other. However, a sincere person is one who, by definition, performs his deeds with sincerity, i.e., without regard for his own advantage, and who always stands as firm as a rock, never faltering.
b. Providential causes: Even though someone is by nature a sincere and upright person, he may incur suffering and poverty if he is not also God-fearing, keeping His statutes, commandments and laws (Exodus 16:28); or if he does not vigilantly eschew the evils proscribed by God, even though under the legal ordinances dictated by civilized ethics they may not be considered as such. However, we are told, in advance, that Job was both God-fearing and one who shunned wrongdoing.

was Heb. והיה. According to its simple meaning, it is like ויהי, and its meaning is both past and future.

2. A person may waste away if he is childless, having neither family nor home: without help or support; strangers swallowing him up (Hosea 8:7); and those looking to inherit him ruining him. But —

sincere and upright But [I could think] that as regards matters between him and his Maker, he was not righteous. Therefore, it is stated: God- fearing and shunning evil.

Job had seven sons and three daughters; his children were like olive saplings around his table (Psalms 128:3), a shield and a fence (Jeremiah 46:3; Ezekiel 39:9; Psalms 35:2).

3. Impoverished persons may crumble: poverty is the undoing of the feeble (Proverbs 10:15) and a poor man's brothers all spurn him (Proverbs 19:7). But — [Job owned seven thousand sheep...]

seven thousand sheep He counted the largest number first.

greater than all the children of the East Than the generation of the division, as it is written (Gen. 11:2): “And it came to pass as they migrated from the east.” But concerning Abraham, it is not so, for concerning Abraham, it is written הגדול, the greatest, as it is stated (Josh. 14:15): “And the name of Hebron before was Kirjath-Arba; he was the greatest man among the “Anakim.” It should have said אדם גדול, a great man. Why did he write האדם הגדול, the greatest man? By this, Scripture hinted that he was a great man who passed ten tests. Therefore, his title is written with two “heys”, the numerical value of which is ten. Job, however, described by the word גדול, greater, passed only one [test], as it is stated: sincere and upright, etc., that out of that entire generation, he was not apprehended for that iniquity.

4. If a man is humiliated and disgraced in the eyes of the public he may break down; crushed in the gate, with none to save him (Job 5:4). But Job was a famous and respected man, the greatest man in all the East.

5. A man can be destroyed by family dissension, as when brothers bear malice towards one another and fabricate hatred (Proverbs 12:20) in his house. This is what the enmity between Joseph and his brothers did to the patriarch Jacob. But Job's family lived in harmony and affection: [His sons held regular feasts etc.]

Now his sons would go and make a feast in each one’s house on his day In the house of each one on his day.

and they would send and invite Heb. ושלחו וקראו, like ושולחים וקוראים, that they would do so constantly.

6. Lest it be said that Job was punished for the sins of any of his household or because he did not censure them, we are told how punctiliously he supervised them, and sanctified and purified them from any sin: [He would rise early in the morning and offer burnt-offerings, one for each of them, for Job said: 'Perhaps my sons sinned'...]

Now it would come about when the cycle of the feasting days would be over When the days of the feasting would be over, Job would act in this manner; upon every termination of the seven days on which the days of feasting rotated, he would send and summon them (ויקדשם) ; i.e., he would prepare them and summon them, as in (Num. 11:18). “Prepare yourselves for tommorow.”

Having eliminated or dismissed all the normal explanations that might possibly be offered for Job's afflictions, the Prologue now goes on to relate the real reason why these great afflictions befell him.

and offer up... early in the morning The meaning is that he would offer up burnt-offerings early. Therefore, Scripture wrote in the future tense, that he was wont to do so always at the end of every seven days.

the number of all of them The sons and the daughters.

and blasphemed Heb. וברכו, lit. will do. A euphemism [used in] referring to the Most High.

So would Job do Heb. יעשה, lit. will do. He would always do in this manner. When Scripture writes about a constant occurrence, sometimes it writes in the past tense, and sometimes in the future tense.

Now the day came about That day which was Rosh Hashanah, (known as a day of sounding the shofar, and the Holy One, blessed be He, commanded the Adversary to bring the merit and the guilt of all creatures. This is the meaning of “from going to and fro on the earth.”)

Maimonides has explained that all that is bad, whether it be personal or general, is associated with 'matter'. All objects or bodies that exist and decay, are only subject to this decay by reason of their matter; for as regards their form, or the essence of their form, they are indestructible.²According to Maimonides the destruction of physical objects results from their matter and not their form. The body of man is matter and his soul is form. The body alone dies; the soul is immortal. The essential nature of matter is its property of always being able to assume a new form. And so form can only be destroyed coincidentally, i.e., on account of its intimate association with matter, such as when a physical object assumes a new form. Maimonides continues:
It is therefore clear that all corruption, destruction or defect comes from matter. Take, for example, man; his deformities and unnatural shape of limbs; all weakness, interruption, or disorder of his actions, whether innate or not, originate in the transient matter, not in the form. All other living beings likewise die or become ill through the matter of the body and not through its form. Man's shortcomings and sins are all due to the matter of the body and not to its form; while all his merits are exclusively due to his form. Thus the knowledge of God, the formation of ideas, the mastery of desire and passion, the distinction between that which is to be chosen and that which is to be rejected, all these man owes to his form; but eating, drinking, sexual intercourse, excessive lust, passion, and all vices, have their origin in the matter of his body.³Guide for the Perplexed Part 3, Chapter 8
Accordingly, we are told how the 'sons of God', who are the forces found throughout creation, His sons and His handiwork, were in attendance before the Lord. All of them, since He is the Lord who sustains and who is the source of all existence; for maintaining existence is continual creation. They are joined by Satan, who is the force of extinction and the source of evil, decay, sin and everything else that obliterates and damages. As Maimonides explained:
It does not say: 'And the Sons of God and Satan came to present themselves before the Lord'; for this sentence would have implied that the existence of both was of the same kind and rank...it only states that he joined them. Satan does not attend God of necessity and a priori, for he has no role in existence, only in extinction and decay. He only joins them because he is needed by the sublunar 'Sons of God', viz., the material forces; for the existence of a material object requires a prior extinction that changed form.⁴Guide for the Perplexed Part 3, Chapter 22. In the sublunar world, an object must first undergo some degree of extinction or destruction before it can assume a new form. Change, therefore, cannot occur in the sublunar world without Satan, the agent of extinction and destruction. On the other hand, he has no role in the immutable celestial world.
Behold, we have a tradition that each of the natural forces of creation is governed by a superior agency that is also its source. These are the 'sons of God' who were in attendance before the Lord; angels that are controlled by and receive their power from God and who are in turn appointed over each of the forces of existence. As the Talmudic Sages said: There is no plant that does not have an angel appointed over it telling it to grow.⁵Bereshit Rabbah 10:6. The Midrashic source actually speaks of 'a destiny in the firmament that acts upon the plant' rather than 'an angel that is appointed over it.' This notion appears in the Zohar (II,171a) too:
Acting as guardians over this world are all the stars of the firmaments, with each individual object of the world having a specially designated star to care for it. The herbs and the trees, the grass and the wild plants, to bloom and increase must have the power of the stars that stand over them and look directly at them, each in its particular mode. Likewise, an ethereal agent has also been appointed over the force of extinction and destruction: Satan, the adversary, the killer and the destroyer. As the Talmudic Sages said: He is Satan, he is the evil inclination, he is the Angel of Death (Baba Batra 16a), He is the accuser, the one permitted to corrupt and destroy.

and the angels of God came to stand beside the Lord to contend with Him, because the expression of standing refers only to judgment, as it is stated (Isa. 3:13): “The Lord stands to plead.”

and the Adversary, too, came among them to accuse the people.

“Where are you coming from?” Scripture speaks of etiquette, that the greater one speaks first and permits the smaller one to reply.

And so when God asks Satan from where he has come, he replies that he has been roving the earth, traveling its length and breadth. For Satan's role as the agent of extinction restricts him to the sublunar world of 'matter'.

“From going to and fro on the earth” As is explained above, and it is in the homiletic section of the chapter [that begins], “The partners.”

“From going to and fro on the earth and from walking in it.” So is my wont to go to and fro, to see the evil ones and the good ones. Now I went to and fro throughout the entire earth and I did not find anyone like Abraham, about whom it is said (Gen. 13:17): “Rise, go to and fro in the land.” The Sages of blessed memory (Baba Bathra 16a) said that the Adversary meant this for the sake of Heaven, in order that Abraham’s merit not be forgotten by our God.

Have you paid attention to My servant Job that you should desire to denounce him?

When, in His wisdom, God united 'form' and 'matter' in man, He endowed the 'form' with power and dominion over the 'matter' so that it can suppress the latter's appetites, satisfying them only to the extent that morality and ethics allow. Consequently, a godly person who subjugates his 'matter' and conquers his cravings, and whose soul has absolute rule over all his instincts, will be beyond the rule of the force of extinction.⁶The soul and Satan struggle for dominion over the body - matter. If the soul is strong enough it can deny Satan power over the body. Such a perfect man would be protected by God's Providence from any physical harm. This is the background to the dialogue between God and Satan. God presents Job as being such a paragon, beyond Satan's reach.

“Have you paid, etc.” An expression of a wonder.

sincere and upright Perfect in his deeds.

“Does Job fear God for nothing?” This is a question.

Satan scorns this and asserts that Job is in fact motivated only by material self-interest. From philosophical considerations it is clear that worship of God that is motivated by hope of reward or fear of punishment is not a spiritual but a material act. The same can be said of foregoing bodily pleasures. The self-denial of a person who fasts in order to be rewarded is not a product of his 'form' but of his love of 'matter'. Such a person afflicts himself out of love for his body, in the expectation of gain and in order to acquire the means to satisfy his desires.⁷Spinoza's comments are apt here:
I see in what mud this man sticks...He is one of those who would follow after his own lusts, if he were not restrained by fear of hell. He abstains from evil actions and fulfills God's commands like a slave against his will, and for his bondage he expects to be rewarded God with gifts far more to his taste than Divine love, and great in proportion to his original dislike of virtue.
Again, at the close of the Ethics, he draws an ironic picture of the pious coming before God at the Judgment, and looking to be endowed with incalculable blessings in recompense for the grievous burden of their piety (R.H.M.Elwes, p.XXX).
Satan contends that Job's fear of God and his vigilance are not pure-minded. On the contrary, they are based on his expectation of physical reward and his fear of physical injury. And so Satan asks: Does Job fear God for nothing? Do You not protect him, his household and all that is around him? You have blessed everything he does and his possessions have spread far and wide.

Haven’t You made a hedge around him Because he knows that You visit him frequently to perform miracles for him, and he is fruitful and multiplies; therefore he performs all these righteous deeds—but You have not tested him.

...

made a hedge around him You protected him like a wall, as in (Isa. 5:5) “I will remove its hedge (משוכתו),” its wall. Every expression of בעד stated in the Hebrew language is only an expression of “opposite and before him,” as in (Lev.16:6), “and he shall effect atonement for himself (וכפר בעדו),” he shall wipe away the sin from opposite you and before you (sic), so that the atonement shall be a shield about you. Similarly (Ps. 3:4), “[But You,] O Lord, are a shield about me (בעדי) .”

spread out in the land Heb. פרץ, gained strength, as in (Exod. 1:12), “So would they gain strength (יפרץ), which the Targum renders: And so would they become strong. This is its simple meaning, but our Sages of blessed memory stated in the Aggadah (Baba Bathra 15b, 16a) that they broke the fence of the world, for the goats would slay the wolves.

Satan suggests putting Job to a test to determine just what his true motives are.

But were you to touch all that he has, would he not blaspheme You to Your face immediately? This is a question. And then, the Lord said to the Adversary, “Behold, all that he has is in your hands.”

If he is really sincere, then even were he denied all his Providential blessings, he would still continue in his righteous ways. If, on the other hand, his righteousness was in fact only instrumental, motivated by expectation of reward or avoidance of injury, then, were the blessings removed, not only would he stop acting righteously, there being no good reason to do so any longer, but he would also curse God. For having previously believed his blessings to be deserved, i.e., that he had merited his wealth and possessions by virtue of his righteous ways, he would now blame their removal on the capriciousness of Governance, declaring that God is not a just judge This would clearly prove that his worship had not been out of love. For had it been so, he would not now complain but would balance his good times against the bad.⁸Satan does not question God's description of Job's behavior, viz., that Job is 'a sincere and upright man, God-fearing and vigilant'. Rather he questions Job's motives for this behavior. Job's trials are therefore an attempt to determine what makes him 'tick'. The Talmudic Sages declared:
Everything is in the hands of Heaven, except for the fear of Heaven. (TB Berachot 33b)
The stone God created, so heavy even He cannot lift it, is man.

“Behold, all that he has etc. Another explanation: Now the day came about That day when they recommenced the cycle [and were] to eat at the house of their eldest brother.

To summarize: It is clear that Job's suffering had nothing to do with any sin or punishment; he was guiltless. As God Himself had testified: ...there is no-one like him on earth; such a sincere and upright man; God-fearing; one who shuns wrongdoing. It was in fact a trial designed to determine the truth about his piety; to see whether he would remain righteous even in poverty. Neither Job nor his three friends were aware of this until it was revealed to them by Elihu. God agrees to the test. All of Job's possessions are handed over to Satan; only Job himself was to remain untouched. As Maimonides explains (Guide for the Perplexed, Part 3, Chapter 22):
There are people who though unshaken by the loss of their money, would be horrified by the death of their children, driven to death worrying about it; there are others who would not be broken even by the loss of their children, but who are unable to face personal physical pain.

the angels of God The heavenly hosts, which are near the Divine Presence, to be the members of His household, and were therefore called His children.

to stand beside the Lord Heb. Around Him, as (Gen. 45:1) “all who stood around him (עליו).”

beside them Heb. על ידיהם lit. on their hands. This is an expression of a place only because it is prepared and available at his hand. Our Sages of blessed memory said in the Aggadah (Baba Bathra 15b, 16a), that the Holy One, blessed be He, gave them a taste of the world to come; for after the plowing by the she-donkeys, they would sow with the plowing, and the she-donkeys would immediately graze on the young greens from the furrow.

Maimonides has also categorized the types of harm that can befall man: The evils that befall man are of three kinds:

The first kind of evil is that which befalls a man because he is subject to genesis and destruction or because he possesses a body...in consequence of changes in the elements e.g. through bad air or thunderstorms or land-slips.

The second class of evils comprises such evils as people cause to one another e.g. when some of them use their strength against others.

The third class comprises those which a person causes to himself by his own action...diseases and afflictions upon body and soul alike.
The first two types of harm are now inflicted on Job. He loses all his possessions: his oxen and asses and herdsmen, his sheep and shepherds, his camels and their drivers, and finally his children. All in one calamitous day, disaster following disaster, each worse than the one before. The loss of the oxen, asses and camels, together with their minders, was caused by rustlers and bandits - evils of the second class; the sheep and shepherds and his children were lost as a result of elemental disasters - lightning and whirlwind - which are evils of the first class.

And Sheba The kingdom of Sheba fell upon them and encamped beside them, as in (Gen. 25: 18), “before all his brethren he settled.”

the youths Your servants who were guarding them.

and I... escaped Heb. ואמלטה. The word מליטה is only an expression of withdrawal, that one withdrew from trouble.

and the youths Scripture speaks of the guards of the flocks.

spread out on the camels This is an expression of plundering plunder according to their custom that as long as they are walking, they stick together and walk stealthily lest people recognize them and drive the cattle away. When they reach the place of the cattle, they spread out in the width of the herd, one on each side, in order to gather the cattle. Now these messengers were messengers of the Adversary, and in order to provoke him [Job] and cause him to sin, they first informed him of a small loss and later of a larger one. So is the sequence of all of them.

from the other side of the desert From the other side of the desert, for the house was on this side. This is the meaning of עֵבֶר, as it is found in Scriptures.

upon the youths The sons, but it is unnecessary to mention the daughters.

(to tell you He was permitted only to tell, and at that moment, he died. Not found in certain editions.)

tore Heb. ויגז, tore out, as in (Jer. 7:29), “Tear out (גזי) your hair for your great men,” which Jonathan renders: תלישה tear out, and like (Ps. 71:6) “From my mother’s womb You pull me (גוזי),” pull me.

From my mother’s womb the earth, “whence I was taken,” or actually, “my mother.”

But Job stands the test. He neither denies that God governs the world, nor does he criticize this Governance.

and I will return there naked He is not referring to the womb. What then is the meaning of “there”? To the place of his return, for which he is destined, and he will not change the law, to return anywhere but to the earth. Therefore, it was not necessary to mention it.

His possessions were not his own outright property; he had not been born with them. They were a gift or a loan from God, who had created them. They had been entrusted to him and had now been taken back. And taking them back was not an evil thing but was just a denial of bountiful good. God must have a good reason for doing this.

unseemliness Heb. תפלה. He did not ascribe any blemish or unseemliness to the Holy One, Blessed be He. Similarly (Jer. 23:13), “And in the prophets of Samaria I saw unseemliness (תפלה).”

neither did he ascribe Heb. נתן lit. gave, to ascribe unseemliness and injustice to the Holy One, blessed be He, like (I Sam. 18:8) “They ascribed (נתנו) to David ten thousands, and to me they ascribed (נתנו) the thousands.”