His scales are his pride, shut up together as with a close seal.
All Commentaries on Job 41:15 Go To Job 41
Gregory The Dialogist
AD 604
49. Holy Scripture is wont to use the word ‘shield,’ sometimes in a favourable, sometimes in an unfavourable way. For the defence of a shield is often put for Divine protection, but it is sometimes used for the opposition of man. For it is put for Divine protection, as is said by the Psalmist, Thou hast crowned us with the shield of Thy good will. [Ps. 5, 12] The Lord is said to crown as with a shield, because those whom He assists by protecting, He crowns by rewarding. Again, a ‘shield’ is put by the same prophet for the opposition of man, as he says elsewhere, There brake He the horns, the bow, the shield, the sword, and the battle. [Ps. 76, 3] For by ‘horns’ is designated the haughtiness of the proud, by the ‘bow’ the snares of those who strike from far; but by a ‘shield’ obstinate hardness in defence, by a ‘sword’ a blow near at hand; but in ‘battle’ the movement of the mind itself against God. And the whole of this is doubtless crushed in Holy Church, when the minds of those who resist God are tamed by the yoke of humility placed upon them. Hence it is again said by the same Psalmist, He will break the bow, and snap the arms, and burn the shields in the fire. [Ps. 46, 9] For the Lord breaks the bow, when He scatters the secret machinations of those who lie in wait. He snaps the arms, when He crushes the patronage of man, which had been raised up against Him. He burns the shields in the fire, when by the heat of the Holy Spirit He kindles into the warmth of penitence and confession the minds of sinners which defend themselves with stubborn hardness. But because the body of this Leviathan is in this place compared to ‘molten’ shields, it is suggested to us to enquire, that every vessel which is molten is indeed hard, but yet when it falls it is usually fragile. If shields then are molten, they are strong in bearing the blows of arrows, but are fragile when they fall. They are not indeed penetrated by the blow of those that strike them, but shiver into fragments by their own fall. The body therefore of this Leviathan, that is, all the wicked, because they are hardened by obstinacy, but fragile in their life, are compared to molten shields. For when they hear the words of preaching, they permit not any shafts of reproof to penetrate them; because in every sin which they commit they oppose the shield of proud defence. For when any one of such persons is reproved for the guilt of his iniquity, he does not think at once how to correct his fault, but what to oppose in aid of his defence. He is therefore not penetrated by any arrow of truth; because he receives the words of holy reproof on the shield of proud defence. Whence it is well said by Jeremiah concerning the Jews who were guarding themselves against the precepts of the Lord by a proud defence, Thou wilt render unto them a recompense, O Lord, according to the work of their hands. [Lam. 3, 64] And he immediately mentioned this same recompense more expressly, saying, Thou wilt give them a shield of heart, Thy labour. [ib. 65] For the labour of the Lord which appeared among men was His passible Humanity, which the Jews despised, when they beheld it, with their proud thoughts; and they scorned to believe Him to be immortal, Whom in His passible nature they saw to be mortal. And when they beheld His humility, being hardened with the haughtiness of pride, they laboured with the greatest care that the holy words of preachers should not penetrate their minds. Whilst the Lord then was rendering them a recompense for their evil deeds, He ‘gave them as a shield of heart His labour:’ because by a righteous judgment He proved them to be obstinately proud against Him, by His very labouring in infirmity for our sakes. For they rejected in truth the words of preachers, because they disdained in the Lord the weaknesses of His sufferings. They had therefore the labour of the Lord as a shield of heart against the Lord Himself, because He appeared despicable to men of haughty thoughts, even in that He became humble for their sake.
50. This shield, as we have already said above, that first sinner held up; who, when the Lord asked him, why he had touched the forbidden tree, referred not the fault to himself, but answered that he had received it from the woman whom the Lord had given him; in order indirectly to throw back his guilt on his Maker, Who had given him a woman to offer such advice. The woman also when questioned held up this shield, when she also referred not the blame to herself, but replied that it was by the persuasions of the serpent, saying, The serpent beguiled me, and I did eat; [Gen. 3, 13] in order that she also might indirectly refer her guilt to her Maker, for having permitted the serpent to enter in thither to persuade them thus. But the serpent is not questioned at this time, because his repentance was not sought for. But they, whose repentance was sought for, held up the shield of most sinful defence against the words of most righteous reproof. Whence it is now become even a habit with sinners, for a fault to be defended, when it is reproved, and for guilt to be increased by the very means by which it ought to be terminated. It is therefore well said, His body as molten shields; because all the wicked prepare shields of defence as if against the shafts of enemies, that the words of their reprovers may not reach them. But He lays open to us still more expressly this very body of his, when He subjoins;
Compacted with scales pressing each other.
51. It is said that the body of the dragon is covered with scales, to keep it from being quickly penetrated with shafts. In like manner the whole body of the devil, that is, the multitude of the reprobates, when reproved for its iniquity, endeavours to excuse itself with whatever evasions it can, and opposes, as it were, some scales of defence, that it may not be transfixed with the arrow of truth. For whoever, when reproved, seeks to excuse rather than to lament his sin, is covered, as it were, with scales, when assailed by holy preachers with the sword of the word. He has scales, and therefore the sword of the word has no way of reaching his heart. For the spiritual sword is kept by the hardness of the flesh from being plunged into him.
52. Saul had become hardened against the Lord with carnal wisdom, when no arrow of Gospel preaching penetrated his heart. But after he had been smitten by severe reproof from heaven, and blinded by the heavenly vision, (for he had lost light in order to receive it,) on coming to Ananias he is illuminated. And because in this illumination he lost the stubbornness of his defence, it is well written of him; There fell from his eyes as it had been scales. [Acts 9, 18] The hardness of a carnal integument had in truth pressed upon him, and therefore he saw not the rays of the true Light. But after his haughty resistances were overcome, the scales of his defences fell off. They fell indeed under the hands of Ananias from the eyes of his body, but they had already fallen before, at the reproof of the Lord, from the eyes of his heart. For when he was lying wounded with the shaft of deep reproof, he asked with heart already humble and penetrated, saying, Lord, what Wilt thou have me to do? [Acts 9, 6] The arrow of truth had already reached the inmost parts of the heart, on the removal, namely, of the scales, when he had laid aside the haughtiness of pride, confessing that Lord Whom he had assailed, and not knowing what to do, was thus enquiring. Let us behold, where is that cruel persecutor, where the ravenous wolf. Behold, he is already turned into a sheep, which asks for the path of the shepherd in order to follow it. And it is to be observed, that when he said, Who art Thou, Lord? [ib. 5] the Lord does not reply to him; I am the Only-Begotten of the Father, I am the Beginning, I am the Word before all ages. For because Saul scorned to believe in the Incarnate Lord, and had despised the weaknesses of His Humanity, he heard from heaven that which he had despised; I am Jesus of Nazareth, Whom thou persecutest. [ib.] As if He were saying, Hear from Me this from above, which thou despisest in Me below. Thou hadst scorned the coming of the Maker of heaven on earth, therefore learn from heaven of the Man from earth, in order that thou mayest more greatly fear in Me the mysteries of My infirmity, the more thou beholdest even them exalted in heavenly places to excellence of power. In humbling thee, therefore, I teach thee not that I am God before all worlds; but thou hearest from Me that which thou disdainest to believe of Me. For after He had said, Jesus, He added, still farther to express His earthly abode, of Nazareth. As if it were openly said, Bear with the infirmities of My humility, and lose the scales of thy pride.
53. But it should yet be known, that though these scales of defences cover nearly the whole of mankind, yet that they specially weigh upon the minds of hypocrites, and crafty men. For they shrink the more vehemently from confessing their own faults, the more they are foolishly ashamed of appearing as sinners before men. When their pretended sanctity is therefore reproved, and their hidden wickedness is detected, it opposes the scales of defence, and repels the sword of truth. Whence it is well said by the Prophet against Judaea, There the lamia hath lain down, and hath found rest for herself, there the hedgehog had its hole. [Is. 34, 14. 15.] For by the ‘lamia’ are designated hypocrites, but by the ‘hedgehog’ all the wicked who protect themselves by divers defences. For the ‘lamia’ is said to have the face of a man, but the body of a beast. Thus also in the first appearance which all hypocrites present, there is a kind of fashion of sanctity; but that which follows is the body of a beast, because the deeds which they attempt under the show of goodness, are very wicked. But under the name of ‘hedgehog’ is designated the defence of wicked minds; because, namely, when a hedgehog is being seized, his head is seen, and his feet appear, and all his body is beheld; but presently, as soon as he has been seized, he gathers himself up into a ball, draws his feet inward, hides his head; and the whole which was before seen at once, is lost at once in the hands of him that holds it. Thus, doubtless, thus are wicked minds, when they are caught in their own excesses. For the head of the hedgehog is seen, because it is seen with what beginnings the sinner made his approach to sin. The feet of the hedgehog are seen, because it is seen with what footsteps his wickedness has been perpetrated; and yet the wicked mind, by suddenly adducing its excuses, draws its feet inward, because it conceals all the footsteps of its iniquity. It withdraws its head, because, by its extraordinary defences, it shews that it has never even begun any thing wicked; and it remains as a ball in the hand of him that holds it, because he who reproves a sinner, suddenly losing all which he had before known, holds the sinner involved within his conscience, and he who had before seen the whole, by detecting it, being deceived by the evasion of a wicked defence, is equally ignorant of the whole. The hedgehog therefore has a hole in the reprobate, because the wicked mind, gathering itself within itself, hides in the darkness of its defence. But the Divine discourse shews us also how the sinner, in thus excusing himself, and in thus clouding over, by his defences which serve to obscure [‘caliginosis’], the eye of his reprover which is fastened upon him, is supported by those who are like him.
