Fathers

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What the Fathers say

Job 36:8

Western Saints

Gregory the Dialogist

And if they shall be in chains, and bound with the cords of poverty, He will shew them their works, and their wickednesses, because they have been violent. The chains of bondage, are the very detention of their present pilgrimage. Paul had seen, that he was bound by these chains, when he was saying, I have a desire to be dissolved, and to be with Christ. [Phil. 1, 23] He perceived that he was bound with the cords of poverty, when, beholding the true riches, he entreated them also for his disciples. …

Morals on the Book of Job, Book XXVI ↗

Thomas Aquinas

Third, he manifests it because even if they are punished for their sins, he has mercy on them if they wish to do penance, and so he says, "and if the kings were in chains," placed in prison, "and were bound with the bonds of poverty," if they suffered poverty when they were tied up in prison. This is like a chain which binds men so that they cannot fulfill their work and they are more confined by many miseries besides.

Commentary on Job ↗