Fathers

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What the Fathers say

Job 41:29

Western Saints

Gregory the Dialogist

He will esteem the hammer as stubble. And will laugh at Him that shaketh the spear. 23. As if he were saying, He despises even the weight of that reproof, which strikes him by a punishment coming from above. For in Holy Scripture by the name 'hammer' is sometimes designated the devil, by whom the faults of offenders are now smitten. …

Morals on the Book of Job, Book XXXIV ↗

Thomas Aquinas

As someone is bruised from a great distance by stones shot from a sling, so also something is bruised at close quarters by a hammer, but the whale cannot be harmed even in this way by man, and so he says, "He will treat the hammer as stubble." This also can mean the same thing as the other image he has already used, except that the hammer deals a heavier blow than stones from a sling. So this can be understood to mean that however much the strength and effort of man is extended, it is held in contempt by the devil. …

Commentary on Job ↗