Komentarz do Hioba 1:1

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.