Fathers

Loading…

What the Fathers say

Job 32:18

Western Saints

Gregory the Dialogist

I am full of words, the spirit of my womb constraineth me. Behold, my belly is as new wine without a vent, which bursts in sunder new vessels. I will speak, and will take breath awhile; I will open my lips and answer. When boastful men observe that holy preachers speak eloquently, and are reverenced for their eloquence, they frequently imitate the loftiness of their language, and not their useful intention. They are far from loving what the others desire, but are especially anxious to gain great renown amongst men. …

Morals on the Book of Job, Book XXIII ↗

Thomas Aquinas

In fact, someone who desires vainglory wants to show off his excellence clearly if he has it and therefore he shows that he has the greatest ability to answer when he says, "For I am full of words," as if to say: Abundant answers occur to me. Since the faculty does not suffice for a man to act unless he is aroused by something he says, "and the spirit of my womb confirms me." The womb is the place of conception, and so here the womb metaphorically means the intellect conceiving various intelligible objects. …

Commentary on Job ↗