He shall flee from the iron weapon, and the bow of bronze shall strike him through.
All Commentaries on Job 20:24 Go To Job 20
Gregory The Dialogist
AD 604
30. We ought to know, that avarice sometimes steals upon men from pride, and sometimes from apprehension. Thus there are some who whilst they aim to appear with greater power, are kindled to the going after the things of others; and there are some, who while they are afraid lest the necessaries of the aids of life should be wanting to them, freely give their minds to covetousness, and go after the things of others when they fancy that their own may not be enough for them. Now all necessity is not unaptly termed ‘iron,’ in that it pains the life of him that wants with the wound of grief, as it is likewise expressed concerning the necessities of him, who, being sold by his brethren, led an afflicted life; The iron entered into his soul. [Ps. 105, 18] What then are ‘the iron weapons’ but necessities of the present life, which press hard upon, and push to extremity, the life of the needy? Since iron is consumed by rust, but brass is naturally more difficult to be consumed by it. Therefore by ‘iron’ there is represented present necessity which is transient, but by ‘brass’ the eternal doom. And whereas the judgment Above is not heeded by the mind of the wicked man, it is justly likened to a ‘bow,’ since it strikes as it were out of ambush, whilst the person that is struck does not observe it. And thus, He shall flee from the iron weapons, and rush upon the bow of brass; in that whilst from dreading present necessities, he seizes things without number, through maliciousness he is exposing himself before the severe strokes of the final judgment; and, while he ‘fleeth the weapons of iron,’ he is encountered by the arrows from the bow of brass, in that, while foolishly providing against the ills of time, he is struck by eternal doom. For whosoever with guilt fleeth the hardness of need here, meets there an everlasting duration of just retribution. But before the time that he is hurried off to judgment, what are the things which this wicked man is busied in here, he yet further informs us.
