Fathers

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What the Fathers say

Job 41:27

Western Saints

Gregory the Dialogist

For he shall esteem iron as straw, and brass as rotten wood. 19. That which above He called a 'spear,' he mentioned again below under the appellation of 'iron:' and that which He spoke of as a 'breastplate,' He again designated by mentioning it as 'brass.' For iron is sharpened, that the adversary may be wounded; but brass is hardly destroyed by any rust. Whence also it is said by Moses of Holy Church under the character of Asher; His shoe is iron and brass. [Deut. …

Morals on the Book of Job, Book XXXIV ↗

Thomas Aquinas

He assigns the reason for this saying, "For he will treat iron like straw," for just as a man cannot be wounded by straws and easily breaks them, so Leviathan cannot be wounded by an iron sword or spear, but easily breaks things like that. Likewise, he will consider the "Bronze," of the breastplate, "like rotten wood," which cannot resist a blow. By this he indicates that no human power is capable of wounding the devil or resisting him, but every human power is reckoned by the devil as naught.

Commentary on Job ↗