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| On the Opposing Powers.
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Chapter
II.—On the Opposing Powers.
1. We have now to notice, agreeably to the
statements of Scripture, how the opposing powers, or the devil himself,
contends with the human race, inciting and instigating men to
sin. And in the first place, in the book of Genesis,2523
the serpent is described as having seduced
Eve; regarding whom, in the work entitled The Ascension of
Moses2524
| 2524 This apocryphal work,
entitled in Hebrew השמִ
תריטפ, and in Greek ᾽Ανάληψις, or
᾽Ανάβασις
Μωυσέως, is mentioned by
several ancient writers; e.g., by Athanasius, in his Synopsis
Sacræ Scripturæ; Nicephorus Constantinopolitanus in his
Stichometria, appended to the Chronicon of Eusebius
(where he says the ᾽Ανάληψις contained 1400
verses), in the Acts of the Council of Nice, etc., etc.
(Ruæus). | (a little treatise,
of which the Apostle Jude makes mention in his Epistle), the archangel
Michael, when disputing with the devil regarding the body of Moses,
says that the serpent, being inspired by the devil, was the cause of
Adam and Eve’s transgression. This also is made a subject
of inquiry by some, viz., who the angel was that, speaking from heaven
to Abraham, said, “Now I know that thou fearest God, and on my
account hast not spared thy beloved son, whom thou
lovedst.”2525
| 2525 Gen. xxii. 12. The reading in the text is
according to the Septuagint and Vulgate, with the exception of the
words “quem dilexisti,” which are an insertion. | For he is
manifestly described as an angel who said that he knew then that
Abraham feared God, and had not spared his beloved son, as the
Scripture declares, although he did not say that it was on account of
God that Abraham had done this, but on his, that is, the
speaker’s account. We must also ascertain who
that is of whom it is stated
in the book of Exodus that he wished to slay Moses, because he was
taking his departure for Egypt;2526
and
afterwards, also, who he is that is called the destroying2527
| 2527 Ex. xii. 23, exterminator. Percussor,
Vulgate; ὀλοθρεύων,
Sept. | angel, as well as he who in the book of
Leviticus is called Apopompæus, i.e., Averter, regarding whom
Scripture says, “One lot for the Lord, and one lot for
Apopompæus, i.e., the Averter.”2528
| 2528 Lev. xvi. 8. ᾽Αποπομπαῖος
is the reading of the Sept., “Caper emissarius” of the
Vulgate, לז”אזָעְַ
of the Masoretic text. Cf. Fürst and Gesenius s.v.
Rufinus translates Apopompæus by “transmissor.” | In the first book of Kings, also, an
evil spirit is said to strangle2529
| 2529 1 Sam. xviii. 10, effocare. Septuagint has
ἔπεσε: Vulgate,
“invasit;” the Masoretic text חלַצְתִּ. | Saul; and in
the third book, Micaiah the prophet says, “I saw the Lord of
Israel sitting on His throne, and all the host of heaven standing by
Him, on His right hand and on His left. And the Lord said, Who
will deceive Achab king of Israel, that he may go up and fall at
Ramoth-gilead? And one said on this manner, and another said on
that manner. And there came forth a spirit, and stood before the
Lord, and said, I will deceive him. And the Lord said to him,
Wherewith? And he said, I will go forth, and I will be a lying
spirit in the mouth of all his prophets. And He said, Thou shalt
deceive him, and prevail also: go forth, and do so quickly.
And now therefore the Lord hath put a lying spirit in the mouth of all
thy prophets: the Lord hath spoken evil concerning
thee.”2530
Now by this
last quotation it is clearly shown that a certain spirit, from his own
(free) will and choice, elected to deceive (Achab), and to work a lie,
in order that the Lord might mislead the king to his death, for he
deserved to suffer. In the first book of Chronicles also it is
said, “The devil, Satan, stood up against Israel, and provoked
David to number the people.”2531
In the
Psalms, moreover, an evil angel is said to harass2532
certain persons. In the book of
Ecclesiastes, too, Solomon says, “If the spirit of the ruler rise
up against thee, leave not thy place; for soundness will restrain many
transgressions.”2533
| 2533 Eccles. x. 4, “For yielding pacifieth great
offences.” The words in the text are, “Quoniam
sanitas compescet multa peccata.” The Vulgate has,
“Curatio faciet cessare peccata maxima.” The
Septuagint reads, Ιαμα
καταπαύσει
ἁμαρτιας
μεγάλας: while the
Masoretic text has אפ”רְמ”
(curatio). | In
Zechariah2534
we read that the
devil stood on the right hand of Joshua, and resisted him. Isaiah
says that the sword of the Lord arises against the dragon, the
crooked2535
serpent.2536
And what shall I say of Ezekiel, who
in his second vision prophesies most unmistakeably to the prince of
Tyre regarding an opposing power, and who says also that the dragon
dwells in the rivers of Egypt?2537
Nay, with
what else are the contents of the whole work which is written regarding
Job occupied, save with the (doings) of the devil, who asks that power
may be given him over all that Job possesses, and over his sons, and
even over his person? And yet the devil is defeated through the
patience of Job. In that book the Lord has by His answers
imparted much information regarding the power of that dragon which
opposes us. Such, meanwhile, are the statements made in the Old
Testament, so far as we can at present recall them, on the subject of
hostile powers being either named in Scripture, or being said to oppose
the human race, and to be afterwards subjected to
punishment.
Let us now look also to the New Testament, where
Satan approaches the Saviour, and tempts Him: wherein also it is
stated that evil spirits and unclean demons, which had taken possession
of very many, were expelled by the Saviour from the bodies of the
sufferers, who are said also to be made free by Him. Even Judas,
too, when the devil had already put it in his heart to betray Christ,
afterwards received Satan wholly into him; for it is written, that
after the sop “Satan entered into him.”2538
And the Apostle Paul teaches us that
we ought not to give place to the devil; but “put on,” he
says, “the armour of God, that ye may be able to resist the wiles
of the devil:”2539
pointing out
that the saints have to “wrestle not against flesh and
blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers
of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high
places.”2540
Nay, he says
that the Saviour even was crucified by the princes of this world, who
shall come to nought,2541
whose wisdom also,
he says, he does not speak. By all this, therefore, holy
Scripture teaches us that there are certain invisible enemies that
fight against us, and against whom it commands us to arm
ourselves. Whence, also, the more simple among the believers in
the Lord Christ are of opinion, that all the sins which men have
committed are caused by the persistent efforts of these opposing powers
exerted upon the minds of sinners, because in that invisible struggle
these powers are found to be superior (to man). For if, for
example, there were no devil, no single human being2542
| 2542 Nemo hominum
omnino. | would go astray.
2. We, however, who see the reason (of the thing)
more clearly, do not hold this opinion, taking into account those
(sins) which manifestly
originate as a necessary consequence of our bodily
constitution.2543
| 2543 Ex corporali
necessitate descendunt. | Must we
indeed suppose that the devil is the cause of our feeling hunger or
thirst? Nobody, I think, will venture to maintain that. If,
then, he is not the cause of our feeling hunger and thirst, wherein
lies the difference when each individual has attained the age of
puberty, and that period has called forth the incentives of the natural
heat? It will undoubtedly follow, that as the devil is not the
cause of our feeling hunger and thirst, so neither is he the cause of
that appetency which naturally arises at the time of maturity, viz.,
the desire of sexual intercourse. Now it is certain that this
cause is not always so set in motion by the devil that we should be
obliged to suppose that bodies would nor possess a desire for
intercourse of that kind if the devil did not exist. Let us
consider, in the next place, if, as we have already shown, food is
desired by human beings, not from a suggestion of the devil, but by a
kind of natural instinct, whether, if there were no devil, it were
possible for human experience to exhibit such restraint in partaking of
food as never to exceed the proper limits; i.e., that no one would
either take otherwise than the case required, or more than reason would
allow; and so it would result that men, observing due measure and
moderation in the matter of eating, would never go wrong. I do
not think, indeed, that so great moderation could be observed by men
(even if there were no instigation by the devil inciting thereto), as
that no individual, in partaking of food, would go beyond due limits
and restraint, until he had learned to do so from long usage and
experience. What, then, is the state of the case? In the
matter of eating and drinking it was possible for us to go wrong, even
without any incitement from the devil, if we should happen to be either
less temperate or less careful (than we ought); and are we to suppose,
then, in our appetite for sexual intercourse, or in the restraint of
our natural desires, our condition is not something similar?2544
| 2544 Quod non simile
aliquid pateremur? | I am of opinion, indeed, that the same
course of reasoning must be understood to apply to other natural
movements as those of covetousness, or of anger, or of sorrow, or of
all those generally which through the vice of intemperance exceed the
natural bounds of moderation. There are therefore manifest
reasons for holding the opinion, that as in good things the human
will2545
is of itself weak to accomplish any good
(for it is by divine help that it is brought to perfection in
everything); so also, in things of an opposite nature we receive
certain initial elements, and, as it were, seeds of sins, from those
things which we use agreeably to nature;2546
| 2546 Quæ in usu
naturaliter habentur. |
but when we have indulged them beyond what is proper, and have not
resisted the first movements to intemperance, then the hostile power,
seizing the occasion of this first transgression, incites and presses
us hard in every way, seeking to extend our sins over a wider field,
and furnishing us human beings with occasions and beginnings of sins,
which these hostile powers spread far and wide, and, if possible,
beyond all limits. Thus, when men at first for a little desire
money, covetousness begins to grow as the passion increases, and
finally the fall into avarice takes place. And after this, when
blindness of mind has succeeded passion, and the hostile powers, by
their suggestions, hurry on the mind, money is now no longer desired,
but stolen, and acquired by force, or even by shedding human
blood. Finally, a confirmatory evidence of the fact that vices of
such enormity proceed from demons, may be easily seen in this, that
those individuals who are oppressed either by immoderate love, or
incontrollable anger, or excessive sorrow, do not suffer less than
those who are bodily vexed by devils. For it is recorded in
certain histories, that some have fallen into madness from a state of
love, others from a state of anger, not a few from a state of sorrow,
and even from one of excessive joy; which results, I think, from this,
that those opposing powers, i.e., those demons, having gained a
lodgment in their minds which has been already laid open to them by
intemperance, have taken complete possession of their sensitive
nature,2547
| 2547 Sensum eorum penitus
possederint. | especially when no
feeling of the glory of virtue has aroused them to
resistance.
3. That there are certain sins, however,
which do not proceed from the opposing powers, but take their
beginnings from the natural movements of the body, is manifestly
declared by the Apostle Paul in the passage: “The flesh
lusteth against the Spirit, and the Spirit against the flesh: and
these are contrary the one to the other; so that ye cannot do the
things that ye would.”2548
If, then, the
flesh lust against the Spirit, and the Spirit against the flesh, we
have occasionally to wrestle against flesh and blood, i.e., as being
men, and walking according to the flesh, and not capable of being
tempted by greater than human temptations; since it is said of us,
“There hath no temptation taken you, but such as is common to
man: but God is faithful, who will not suffer you to be tempted
above that ye are able.”2549
For as the
presidents of the public games do not allow the competitors to enter
the lists indiscriminately or fortuitously, but after a careful
examination, pairing in a most impartial consideration either of size or age, this
individual with that—boys, e.g., with boys, men with men, who are
nearly related to each other either in age or strength; so also must we
understand the procedure of divine providence, which arranges on most
impartial principles all who descend into the struggles of this human
life, according to the nature of each individual’s power, which
is known only to Him who alone beholds the hearts of men: so that
one individual fights against one temptation of the flesh,2550
another against a second; one is exposed to
its influence for so long a period of time, another only for so long;
one is tempted by the flesh to this or that indulgence, another to one
of a different kind; one has to resist this or that hostile power,
another has to combat two or three at the same time; or at one time
this hostile influence, at another that; at some particular date having
to resist one enemy, and at another a different one; being, after the
performance of certain acts, exposed to one set of enemies, after
others to a second. And observe whether some such state of things
be not indicated by the language of the apostle: “God is
faithful, who will not suffer you to be tempted above what ye are
able,”2551
i.e., each one is
tempted in proportion to the amount of his strength or power of
resistance.2552
| 2552 Pro virtutis suæ
quantitate, vel possibilitate. | Now, although
we have said that it is by the just judgment of God that every one is
tempted according to the amount of his strength, we are not therefore
to suppose that he who is tempted ought by all means to prove
victorious in the struggle; in like manner as he who contends in the
lists, although paired with his adversary on a just principle of
arrangement, will nevertheless not necessarily prove conqueror.
But unless the powers of the combatants are equal, the prize of the
victor will not be justly won; nor will blame justly attach to the
vanquished, because He allows us indeed to be tempted, but not
“beyond what we are able:” for it is in proportion to
our strength that we are tempted; and it is not written that, in
temptation, He will make also a way to escape so as that we should bear
it, but a way to escape so as that we should be able to bear
it.2553
| 2553 Nec tamen scriptum
est, quia faciet in tentatione etiam exitum sustinendi, sed exitum ut
sustinere possimus. | But it depends upon ourselves to use
either with energy or feebleness this power which He has given
us. For there is no doubt that under every temptation we have a
power of endurance, if we employ properly the strength that is granted
us. But it is not the same thing to possess the power of
conquering and to be victorious, as the apostle himself has shown in
very cautious language, saying, “God will make a way to escape,
that you may be able to bear it,”2554
not that you will bear it. For many do not sustain
temptation, but are overcome by it. Now God enables us not to
sustain (temptation), (otherwise there would appear to be no struggle),
but to have the power of sustaining it.2555
| 2555 Ut sustinere
possimus. | But this power which is given us to
enable us to conquer may be used, according to our faculty of
free-will, either in a diligent manner, and then we prove victorious,
or in a slothful manner, and then we are defeated. For if such a
power were wholly given us as that we must by all means prove
victorious, and never be defeated, what further reason for a struggle
could remain to him who cannot be overcome? Or what merit is
there in a victory, where the power of successful resistance2556
| 2556 Repugnandi
vincendique. | is taken away? But if the possibility
of conquering be equally conferred on us all, and if it be in our own
power how to use this possibility, i.e., either diligently or
slothfully, then will the vanquished be justly censured, and the victor
be deservedly lauded. Now from these points which we have
discussed to the best of our power, it is, I think, clearly evident
that there are certain transgressions which we by no means commit under
the pressure of malignant powers; while there are others, again, to
which we are incited by instigation on their part to excessive and
immoderate indulgence. Whence it follows that we have to inquire
how those opposing powers produce these incitements within
us.
4. With respect to the thoughts which
proceed from our heart, or the recollection of things which we have
done, or the contemplation of any things or causes whatever, we find
that they sometimes proceed from ourselves, and sometimes are
originated by the opposing powers; not seldom also are they suggested
by God, or by the holy angels. Now such a statement will perhaps
appear incredible,2557
unless it be
confirmed by the testimony of holy Scripture. That, then,
thoughts arise within ourselves, David testifies in the Psalms, saying,
“The thought of a man will make confession to Thee, and the rest
of the thought shall observe to Thee a festival day.”2558
| 2558 Ps. lxxvi. 10. Such is the reading of the
Vulgate and of the Septuagint. The authorized version follows the
Masoretic text. | That this, however, is also brought
about by the opposing powers, is shown by Solomon in the book of
Ecclesiastes in the following manner: “If the spirit of the
ruler rise up against thee, leave not thy place; for soundness
restrains great offences.”2559
The
Apostle Paul also will bear testimony to the same point in the
words: “Casting down imaginations, and every high thing
that exalted itself against the knowledge of Christ.”2560
That it is an effect due to God,
nevertheless, is declared by David, when he says in the Psalms,
“Blessed is the man whose help is in Thee, O Lord, Thy ascents
(are) in his heart.”2561
| 2561 Ps. lxxxiv. 5. The words in the text are:
Beatus vir, cujus est susceptio apud te, Domine, adscensus in corde
ejus. The Vulgate reads: Beatus vir, cujus est auxilium abs
te: ascensiones in corde suo disposuit. The Septuagint the
same. The Masoretic text has תוֹלּסִמְ
(“festival march or procession:” Furst).
Probably the Septuagint and Vulgate had תוֹלעְַמַ
before them, the similarity between Samech and Ayin accounting for the
error in transcription. | And the
apostle says that “God put it into the heart of
Titus.”2562
That certain
thoughts are suggested to men’s hearts either by good or evil
angels, is shown both by the angel that accompanied Tobias,2563
| 2563 [See book of Tobit,
chaps. v. vi. S.] | and by the language of the prophet, where he
says, “And the angel who spoke in me answered.”2564
| 2564 Zech. i. 14. The Vulgate, Septuagint, and
Masoretic text all have “in me,” although the Authorized
Version reads “with me.” | The book of the Shepherd2565
| 2565 Shepherd of
Hermas, Command. vi. 2. See vol. ii. p. 24. | declares the same, saying that each
individual is attended by two angels; that whenever good thoughts arise
in our hearts, they are suggested by the good angel; but when of a
contrary kind, they are the instigation of the evil angel. The
same is declared by Barnabas in his Epistle,2566
where he says there are two ways, one of light and one of darkness,
over which he asserts that certain angels are placed;—the angels
of God over the way of light, the angels of Satan over the way of
darkness. We are not, however, to imagine that any other result
follows from what is suggested to our heart, whether good or bad, save
a (mental) commotion only, and an incitement instigating us either to
good or evil. For it is quite within our reach, when a malignant
power has begun to incite us to evil, to cast away from us the wicked
suggestions, and to resist the vile inducements, and to do nothing that
is at all deserving of blame. And, on the other hand, it is
possible, when a divine power calls us to better things, not to obey
the call; our freedom of will being preserved to us in either
case. We said, indeed, in the foregoing pages, that certain
recollections of good or evil actions were suggested to us either by
the act of divine providence or by the opposing powers, as is shown in
the book of Esther, when Artaxerxes had not remembered the services of
that just man Mordecai, but, when wearied out with his nightly vigils,
had it put into his mind by God to require that the annals of his great
deeds should be read to him; whereon, being reminded of the benefits
received from Mordecai, he ordered his enemy Haman to be hanged, but
splendid honours to be conferred on him, and impunity from the
threatened danger to be granted to the whole of the holy nation.
On the other hand, however, we must suppose that it was through the
hostile influence of the devil that the suggestion was introduced into
the minds of the high priests and the scribes which they made to
Pilate, when they came and said, “Sir, we remember that that
deceiver said, while he was yet alive, After three days I will rise
again.”2567
The design of
Judas, also, respecting the betrayal of our Lord and Saviour, did not
originate in the wickedness of his mind alone. For Scripture
testifies that the “devil had already put it into his heart to
betray Him.”2568
And therefore
Solomon rightly commanded, saying, “Keep thy heart with all
diligence.”2569
And the
Apostle Paul warns us: “Therefore we ought to give the more
earnest heed to the things which we have heard, lest perhaps we should
let them slip.”2570
And when he
says, “Neither give place to the devil,”2571
he shows by that injunction that it is
through certain acts, or a kind of mental slothfulness, that room is
made for the devil, so that, if he once enter our heart, he will either
gain possession of us, or at least will pollute the soul, if he has not
obtained the entire mastery over it, by casting on us his fiery darts;
and by these we are sometimes deeply wounded, and sometimes only set on
fire. Seldom indeed, and only in a few instances, are these fiery
darts quenched, so as not to find a place where they may wound, i.e.,
when one is covered by the strong and mighty shield of faith. The
declaration, indeed, in the Epistle to the Ephesians, “We wrestle
not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against
powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against
spiritual wickedness in high places,”2572
must be so understood as if “we” meant, “I Paul, and
you Ephesians, and all who have not to wrestle against flesh and
blood:” for such have to struggle against principalities
and powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, not like
the Corinthians, whose struggle was as yet against flesh and blood, and
who had been overtaken by no temptation but such as is common to
man.
5. We are not, however, to suppose that each
individual has to contend against all these (adversaries). For it
is impossible for any man, although he were a saint, to carry on a
contest against all of them at the same time. If that indeed were
by any means to be the case, as it is certainly impossible it should be
so, human nature could not possibly bear it without undergoing entire
destruction.2573
| 2573 Sine maxima
subversione sui. | But as, for
example, if fifty
soldiers were to say that they were about to engage with fifty others,
they would not be understood to mean that one of them had to contend
against the whole fifty, but each one would rightly say that “our
battle was against fifty,” all against all; so also this is to be
understood as the apostle’s meaning, that all the athletes and
soldiers of Christ have to wrestle and struggle against all the
adversaries enumerated,—the struggle having, indeed, to be
maintained against all, but by single individuals either with
individual powers, or at least in such manner as shall be determined by
God, who is the just president of the struggle. For I am of
opinion that there is a certain limit to the powers of human nature,
although there may be a Paul, of whom it is said, “He is a chosen
vessel unto Me;”2574
or a Peter, against
whom the gates of hell do not prevail; or a Moses, the friend of
God: yet not one of them could sustain, without destruction to
himself,2575
| 2575 Sine aliquâ
pernicie sui. | the whole
simultaneous assault of these opposing powers, unless indeed the might
of Him alone were to work in him, who said, “Be of good cheer, I
have overcome the world.”2576
And
therefore Paul exclaims with confidence, “I can do all things
through Christ, who strengtheneth me;”2577
and again, “I laboured more abundantly than they all; yet not I,
but the grace of God which was with me.”2578
On account, then, of this power, which
certainly is not of human origin operating and speaking in him, Paul
could say, “For I am persuaded that neither death, nor life, nor
angels, nor principalities, nor powers, nor things present, nor things
to come, nor height, nor depth, nor power, nor any other creature,
shall be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ
Jesus our Lord.”2579
| 2579 Rom. viii. 38, 39. The word “virtus,”
δύναμις, occurring in
the text, is not found in the text. recept. Tischendorf
reads Δύναμεις in
loco (edit. 7). So also Codex Siniaticus. | For I do not
think that human nature can alone of itself maintain a contest with
angels, and with the powers of the height and of the abyss,2580
| 2580 Excelsa et
profunda. | and with any other creature; but when it
feels the presence of the Lord dwelling within it, confidence in the
divine help will lead it to say, “The Lord is my light, and my
salvation; whom shall I fear? The Lord is the protector of my
life; of whom shall I be afraid? When the enemies draw near to
me, to eat my flesh, my enemies who trouble me, they stumbled and
fell. Though an host encamp against me, my heart shall not fear;
though war should rise against me, in Him shall I be
confident.”2581
From which I
infer that a man perhaps would never be able of himself to vanquish an
opposing power, unless he had the benefit of divine assistance.
Hence, also, the angel is said to have wrestled with Jacob. Here,
however, I understand the writer to mean, that it was not the same
thing for the angel to have wrestled with Jacob, and to have
wrestled against him; but the angel that wrestles with him is he
who was present with him in order to secure his safety, who, after
knowing also his moral progress, gave him in addition the name of
Israel, i.e., he is with him in the struggle, and assists him in
the contest; seeing there was undoubtedly another angel against whom he
contended, and against whom he had to carry on a contest.
Finally, Paul has not said that we wrestle with princes, or
with powers, but against principalities and powers.
And hence, although Jacob wrestled, it was unquestionably
against some one of those powers which, Paul declares, resist
and contend with the human race, and especially with the saints.
And therefore at last the Scripture says of him that “he wrestled
with the angel, and had power with God,” so that the struggle is
supported by help of the angel, but the prize of success conducts the
conqueror to God.
6. Nor are we, indeed, to suppose that
struggles of this kind are carried on by the exercise of bodily
strength, and of the arts of the wrestling school;2582
| 2582 Palæstricæ
artis exercitiis. | but spirit contends with spirit, according
to the declaration of Paul, that our struggle is against
principalities, and powers, and the rulers of the darkness of this
world. Nay, the following is to be understood as the nature of
the struggles; when, e.g., losses and dangers befall us, or calumnies
and false accusations are brought against us, it not being the object
of the hostile powers that we should suffer these (trials) only, but
that by means of them we should be driven either to excess of anger or
sorrow, or to the last pitch of despair; or at least, which is a
greater sin, should be forced, when fatigued and overcome by any
annoyances, to make complaints against God, as one who does not
administer human life justly and equitably; the consequence of which
is, that our faith may be weakened, or our hopes disappointed, or we
may be compelled to give up the truth of our opinions, or be led to
entertain irreligious sentiments regarding God. For some such
things are written regarding Job, after the devil had requested God
that power should be given him over his goods. By which also we
are taught, that it is not by any accidental attacks that we are
assailed, whenever we are visited with any such loss of property, nor
that it is owing to chance when one of us is taken prisoner, or when
the dwellings in which those who are dear to us are crushed to death,
fall in ruins; for,
with respect to all these occurrences, every believer ought to say,
“Thou couldst have no power at all against Me, except it were
given thee from above.”2583
For observe
that the house of Job did not fall upon his sons until the devil had
first received power against them; nor would the horsemen have made an
irruption in three bands,2584
to carry away his
camels or his oxen, and other cattle, unless they had been instigated
by that spirit to whom they had delivered themselves up as the servants
of his will. Nor would that fire, as it seemed to be, or
thunderbolt, as it has been considered, have fallen upon the sheep of
the patriarch, until the devil had said to God, “Hast Thou not
made a hedge about all that is without and within his house and around
all the rest of his property? But now put forth Thy hand, and
touch all that he hath, (and see) if he do not renounce Thee to Thy
face.”2585
| 2585 Cf. Job i. 10, 11. “Nisi in faciem benedixerit
tibi.” The Hebrew verb ןְרַבָּ
has the double signification of “blessing” and
“cursing.” Cf. Davidson’s Commentary on
Job, p. 7. Septuag. εὐλογήσει. |
7. The result of all the foregoing remarks
is to show, that all the occurrences in the world which are considered
to be of an intermediate kind, whether they be mournful or otherwise
are brought about, not indeed by God, and yet not without Him; while He
not only does not prevent those wicked and opposing powers that are
desirous to bring about these things (from accomplishing their
purpose), but even permits them to do so, although only on certain
occasions and to certain individuals, as is said with respect to Job
himself, that for a certain time he was made to fall under the power of
others, and to have his house plundered by unjust persons. And
therefore holy Scripture teaches us to receive all that happens as sent
by God, knowing that without Him no event occurs. For how can we
doubt that such is the case, viz., that nothing comes to man without
(the will of) God, when our Lord and Saviour declares, “Are not
two sparrows sold for a farthing? and one of them shall not fall on the
ground without your Father who is in heaven.”2586
But the necessity of the case has
drawn us away in a lengthened digression on the subject of the struggle
waged by the hostile powers against men, and of those sadder events
which happen to human life, i.e., its temptations—according to
the declaration of Job, “Is not the whole life of man upon the
earth a temptation?”2587
| 2587 Cf. Job vii. 1. The Septuagint reads, πότερον
οὐχὶ
πειρατήριον,
etc.; the Vulgate, “militia,” the Masoretic text has
אבָצָ. Cf.
Davidson’s Commentary on Job, in loc. | —in order that
the manner of their occurrence, and the spirit in which we should
regard them, might be clearly shown. Let us notice next, how men
fall away into the sin of false knowledge, or with what object the
opposing powers are wont to stir up conflict with us regarding such
things.E.C.F. INDEX & SEARCH
|
