Fathers

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What the Fathers say

Job 16:21

Western Saints

Gregory the Dialogist

Ver.21. Oh! that a man were so judged with God, as a son of man is judged with his fellow! We acknowledge indeed always that we are sinners, yet often, when laid under the rod, we do not know for what sin in particular we are stricken, and we sift ourselves with minute examining, that if we might in any way be able we might trace out the cause of our being struck; and whereas this is for the most part hidden from us, our blindness becomes a load upon us, and we are the more pained at what we are suffering. …

Morals on the Book of Job, Book XIII ↗

Thomas Aquinas

To explain what he had said, he continues, "and would that man were so judged by God as the son of a man is judged by his colleague." For a man is judged by his own colleague when one is actually present to the other and they express their arguments to each other. He desired therefore to be in the presence to God and to know the reasons for the divine works and judgments, by which human happiness consists. His consolation was in this hope, not in the vain words of his friends by which they promised the recovery of temporal prosperity.

Commentary on Job ↗