Musar sobre Jó 2:17

And a person is obligated to reflect and know that the troubles that find him and the afflictions that come upon him are not according to the greatness of his iniquity and the multitude of his sins. Rather God, may He be blessed - in His pity upon him - afflicts him in the way of the rebuke of a father upon his son, as it is stated (Deuteronomy 8:5), “And you shall know in your heart, that, as a man chastens his son, so the Lord, your God, chastens you.” And our Rabbis, may their memory be blessed, explained (Yalkut Shimoni on Torah 350), “Your heart knows the deeds you have done and the afflictions I have brought upon you; that it is not according to your deeds that I have afflicted you.” And it is stated (Job 11:6), “and know that God has overlooked for you some of your iniquity.” And it is stated (Ezra 9:13), “though You, our God, have been forbearing, [punishing us] less than our iniquity.”
But when reproof comes upon the enemies of the Lord, may He be blessed, they are finished with one iniquity - for the punishment comes all at once, as it is stated (Psalms 34:22), “One misfortune is the deathblow of the wicked.“ So the rest of their iniquities remain upon their souls, as it is stated (Ezekiel 32:27), “and their iniquities shall be upon their bones.” However when reproof comes to the righteous, it comes little by little, until the termination of their iniquities, as it is stated (Amos 3:2), “You alone have I known from all the families of the earth; that is why I will call you to account for all your iniquities.” And our Rabbis, may their memory be blessed, explained (Avodah Zarah 4a), “It is comparable to a person who lends money to two people, one of whom is his friend, and the other one is his enemy. [In the case of] his friend, he collects from him little by little; [whereas in the case of] his enemy, he collects from him all at once.” And it is stated (Proverbs 24:16), “Seven times the righteous man falls and gets up, while the wicked are tripped by one misfortune.” Its explanation is that they stumble upon one misfortune and are finished. And it is stated (Jeremiah 10:24), “Chastise me, O Lord, but only in judgement; not in Your wrath, lest You reduce me to naught.” Its explanation is, “but only in judgement”- with the trait of mercy and and the property of Your kindness. [This is] from the usage (in Numbers 29:18), “in their count according to [their] judgement,” [which means] according to [their] property; [and in] (Psalms 112:5), “who conducts his affairs in justice,” [means] with measure. And they compared it to another parable regarding this matter and said (Midrash Tehillim 18), “One who does not know [how] to hit will hit his son in his eyes and in his face; whereas one who knows [how] to hit will hit his son in such a way that it will not cause him damage.” And likewise is it written (Psalms 118:18), “The Lord surely chastised me, but He did not give me over to death.” And it is stated (Job 2:6), “but only spare his life.”
And He only brings vengeful afflictions upon the evildoers. But probing afflictions only come upon the righteous; for they accept them with love and they increase the refinement of their actions. So [these] afflictions are for their good and their benefit, and the increase of their reward - as it is stated (Psalms 11:5), “The Lord probes the righteous one.” And our Rabbis, may their memory be blessed, compared it to a parable regarding this and said (Bereishit Rabbah 58:32), “When the owner of the flax knows that the flax is strong, he hits it much in order to make it soft and good.”

He should consider whether many evil happenings came upon him, but he received them all with a pleasant countenance, as it is said (Job 2:10), “Shall we receive good at the hands of God, and shall we not receive evil?” Let him think about how many good virtues God has shown to us. Let him think whether or not there came upon him an evil or pain or exile or serious illness, or whether he fell from a high place, or was smitten by a stone or a sword, or fell into the fire, or an evil beast bit him, or there arose aaginst him false witnesses, or violent men plotted against him to slay him, and he was saved from all of them, and God gave him a good wife and children that are wise in all things.

Yalkut Shimoni item 386 at the beginning of our פרשה points out that the last paragraph in the previous פרשה mentions that Aaron used the corners קרנות of the altar to perform the rites of atonement on the Day of Atonement (30,10). The Hebrew word for corners is קרן, horn, the same as the "horn" of the ox. G–d told Moses to use this method of atonement because Israel had sinned with the golden calf. Moses queried that the Torah had stated that this method was effective only "once a year," i.e. on the Day of Atonement (ibid.) G–d replied that Moses should erect it (the altar) immediately, as soon as he had performed the counting of the Children of Israel. Rabbi Joshua son of Nachman said that G–d told Moses: "Go and count the Children of Israel!" Moses replied that we have two verses. In one of them the Israelites are compared to the dust of the earth, and in the other they are compared to the sand on the beaches of the sea. Both verses point out that one cannot count all the Israelites. In view of this, how could he be expected to carry out such a command? G–d told Moses that he was mistaken, that if he wanted to find out the number all he had to do was to use the first letters of each of the tribal heads' names etc., as we pointed out earlier. All G–d had intended was to find out how many of the Israelites had died as a result of the episode of the golden calf. Those who survived were to give a ransom for their souls (lives, 30,11). When Moses heard this he became afraid and said: עור בעד עור וכל אשר לאיש יתן בעד נפשו (Job 2,4), "Skin for skin; all that man has he will give up for his life." [Moses did not yet realise that G–d required only a half-shekel from each person as the ransom for his life. Ed.]