Then Job arose, and tore his mantle, and shaved his head, and fell down upon the ground, and worshiped,
All Commentaries on Job 1:20 Go To Job 1
Gregory The Dialogist
AD 604
55. When his sons were destroyed in the ruin of the house, Job arose, because when Judaea was lost in unbelief, and when the Preachers were fallen in the death of fear, the Redeemer of mankind raised Himself from the death of His carnal nature; He shewed in what judgment He abandoned His persecutors to themselves. For His rising is the shewing with what severity He forsakes sinners, just as His lying down is the patient endurance of ills inflicted. He rises then, when He executes the decrees of justice against the reprobate. And hence He is rightly described to have rent his mantle. For what stood as the mantle of the Lord, but the Synagogue, which by the preaching of the Prophets clung to the expectation of His Incarnation? For in the same way that He is now clothed with those by whom He is loved, as Paul is witness, who says, That He might present it to Himself a glorious church, not having spot nor wrinkle [Eph. 5, 27]; (for that which is described as having neither spot or wrinkle is surely made appear as a spiritual robe [vestis rationalis]; and at once clean in practice, and stretched in hope;) so when Judaea believed Him as yet to be made Incarnate, it was no less a garment through its clinging to Him.
56. But because He was looked for before He came, and coming, taught new truths, and teaching, wrought wonders, and working wonders, underwent wrongs, He rent His mantle, which He had put on Him, seeing that in Judaea some he withdrew from unbelief, whilst some He left therein. What then is the rent mantle but Judaea divided in contrary opinions? For, if His mantle had not been rent, the Evangelist would not have said that, at the preaching of our Lord, there arose strife among the people; For some said, He is a good man; others said, Nay, but He deceiveth the people. [John 7, 12] For that mantle of His was rent, in that being divided in opinions it lost the unity of concord. It proceeds; And shaved his head, and fell down upon the ground, and worshipped.
57. What is signified by the hair that was shorn but the minuteness [sublilitas] of Sacraments? what by the head but the High Priesthood? Hence too it is said to the prophet Ezekiel, And thou, son of man, take thee a sharp knife, take thee a barber's razor, and cause it to pass upon thine head, and upon thy beard; [Ezek. 5, 1] clearly that by the Prophet's act the judgment of the Redeemer might be set out, Who when He came in the flesh ‘shaved the head,’ in that he took clean away from the Jewish Priesthood the Sacraments of His commandments; ‘and shaved the beard,’ in that in forsaking the kingdom of Israel, He cut off the glory of its excellency. And what is here expressed by the earth, but sinful man? For to the first man that sinned the words were spoken; Dust thou art, and unto dust shalt thou return. [Gen. 3, 19] By the name of the earth then is signified the sinful Gentile world; for whilst Judaea thought herself righteous, it appears how damnable she thought the Gentile world, as Paul is witness, who saith, We who are Jews by nature, and not sinners of the Gentiles. [Gal. 2, 15] Therefore our Mediator, as it were, shaved His head, and fell down upon the earth, seeing that in forsaking Judaea, whilst He took away His Sacraments from her Priesthood, He came to the knowledge of the Gentiles. For He ‘shaved the hair from His Head,’ because He took away from that His first Priesthood the Sacraments of the Law. And He fell upon the earth, because He gave Himself to sinners for their salvation; and while He gave up those who appeared to themselves righteous, He took to Himself those, who both knew and confessed that they were unrighteous. And hence He Himself declares in the Gospel, For judgment I am come into this world, that they that see not might see, and that they which see might be made blind. [John 9, 39] And hence the pillar of the cloud, which went before the people in the wilderness, shone with a radiant flame of fire not in the day but in the night; for this reason, that our Redeemer, in giving guidance to those that followed Him by the example of life and conduct, yielded no light to such as trusted in their own righteousness, but all those who acknowledged the darkness of their sins, He shone with the fire of His love. Nor, because Job is said to fall on the earth, let us account this to be an unworthy representation of our Redeemer. For it is written, The Lord sent a Word into Jacob, and it hath fallen [E.V. lighted] upon Israel. [Is. 9, 8] For Jacob means one that overthrows another, and Israel, one that sees God. And what is signified by Jacob but the Jewish people, and by Israel but the Gentile world? For in that very One Whom Jacob aimed to overthrow by the death of the flesh, the Gentile world, by the eyes of faith, beheld God. And thus the Word, that was sent to Jacob, lighted upon Israel; for Him whom the Jewish people rejected when He came to them, the Gentile world at once owned and found. For concerning the Holy Spirit it is written, The Spirit of God fell upon them. [Acts 11, 15]
58. And for this reason either the Word of God or the Holy Spirit is said to fall in Holy Scripture, to describe the suddenness of His coming. For whatever rushes down or falls, comes to the bottom directly. And therefore it is as if the Mediator had fallen upon the earth, that without any previous signs He unexpectedly came to the Gentiles. And it is well said, that He fell down upon the earth and worshipped, in that whilst He Himself undertook the low estate of the flesh, He poured into the hearts of believers the breathings of humility. For He did this, in that He taught the doing of it, in the same way that it is said of His Holy Spirit, But the Spirit itself maketh request [Vulg. postulat] for us with groanings which cannot be uttered. [Rom. 8, 26] Not that He petitions, Who is of perfect equality, but He is said to make request for no other reason than that He causes those to make request whose hearts He has filled: though our Redeemer, moreover, manifested this in His own Person, Who even besought the Father when He was drawing nigh to His Passion. For what wonder if, in the form of a servant, He submitted Himself to the Father by pouring out His supplications to Him, when in the same He even underwent the violence of sinners, to the very extremity of death.
