Let them curse it that curse the day, who are ready to arouse leviathan.
All Commentaries on Job 3:8 Go To Job 3
Gregory The Dialogist
AD 604
14. In the old translation it is not so written, but, Let him curse it that hath cursed the day, even him who shall take the great whale [so LXX]. By which words it is clearly shewn, that the destruction of Antichrist, to be at the end of the world, is foreseen by the holy man. For the evil spirit, who by rights is night, at the end of the world passes himself for the day, in that he shews himself to men as God, while he takes to himself deceitfully the brightness of the Deity, and exalteth himself above all that is called God, or that is worshipped. [2 Thess. 2, 4] The same therefore that curseth the day, curseth the night; in that He at this present time destroys his wickedness, Who will then by the light of His coming also extinguish the power of his strength. And hence it is well subjoined, Who will take the great whale. For the strength of this whale is taken as a prey in the water, in that the wiliness of our old enemy is overcome by the Sacrament of Baptism.
15. But that which in the Old Translation is spoken of the Author of all things, in this translation, which we get from the Hebrew and Arabian tongues, is related of His elect Angels. For it is of them that it is said, Let them curse it that curse the day. For that spirit in his pride desired to pass himself for day even with the Angelic Powers, at that time when as though in the power of the Deity he exalted himself above the rest, and drew after him such countless legions to destruction. But they, truly, who with humble spirits stood firm in the Author of their being, when they saw there was night in his perverse ways; trod under foot the day of his brightness by thinking humbly of themselves, who do now point out to us the darkness of his disguise, and shew us how we should contemn his false glare. So let it be said of the night of darkness, which blinds the eyes of human frailty; Let them curse it that curse the day; i.e. ‘Let those elect Spirits by condemning denounce the darkness of his erring ways, who see the grandeur of his shining already from the first a deceit.’ And it is well added, Who are ready to rouse up [Vulg. thus] Leviathan. For ‘Leviathan’ is interpreted to be ‘their addition.’ Whose ‘addition,’ then, but the ‘addition’ of men? And it is properly styled ‘their addition;’ for since by his evil suggestion he brought into the world the first sin, he never ceases to add to it day by day by prompting to worse things.
Or indeed it is in reproach that he is called Leviathan, i.e. styled ‘the addition of men.’ For he found them immortal in Paradise, but by promising the Divine nature to immortal beings, he as it were pledged himself to add somewhat to them beyond what they were. But whilst with flattering lips he declared that he would give what they had not, he robbed them cunningly even of what they had. And hence the [al. The Lord by the P.] Prophet describes this same Leviathan in these words, Leviathan, the bar-serpent [Vulg. serpentem vectem]: even Leviathan that crooked serpent. For this Leviathan in the thing, which he engaged to add to man, crept nigh to him with tortuous windings; for while he falsely promised things impossible, he really stole away even those which were possible, But we must enquire why he that had spoken of ‘a serpent,’ subjoining in that very place the epithet ‘crooked,’ inserted the word ‘bar,’ except perhaps that in the flexibility of the serpent we have a yielding softness, and in ‘the bar,’ the hardness of an obstinate nature. In order then to mark him to be both hard and soft, he both calls him ‘a bar’ and ‘a serpent.’ For by his malicious nature he is hard, and by his flatteries he is soft; so he is called ‘a bar [E.V. Piercing],’ in that he strikes even to death; and ‘a serpent,’ in that he insinuates himself softly by deceitful acts.
16. Now this Leviathan at this present time elect Spirits of the Angelic host imprison close in the bottomless pit. Whence it is written, And I saw an Angel come down from heaven, having the key of the bottomless pit, and a great chain in his hand; and he laid hold on the dragon, that old serpent, which is the Devil and Satan, and bound him a thousand years; [Rev. 20, 1-3] and cast him into the bottomless pit. Yet at the end of the world they call him back to more open conflicts, and let him loose against us in all his power. And hence it is written again in the same place; Till the thousand years should be fulfilled, and after that he must be loosed. For that apostate angel, whereas he was created so that he shone preeminent among all the other legions of the Angels, fell so low by setting himself up, that he is now prostrated beneath the rule of the orders of Angels that stand erect, whether that being put in chains by them, as they minister to our welfare, he should now lie buried from sight, or that they at that time setting him free for our probation, he should be let loose to put forth all his power against us. Therefore, because the proud apostate Spirit is restrained by those elect Spirits, who being humble would not follow him, and, they being the executioners, it is ordered, that he shall one day be recalled for the purpose of an open conflict, that he may be utterly destroyed, let it be well said, who are ready to rouse up Leviathan; but forasmuch as the artful adversary is not yet raised to wage open war, let him shew how that night now by hidden influences overshadows the minds of some men.
