And it was so, when the days of their feasting were finished, that Job sent and sanctified them, and rose up early in the morning, and offered burnt offerings according to the number of them all: for Job said, It may be that my sons have sinned, and cursed God in their hearts. Thus did Job continually.
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Didymus the Blind
AD 398
Here the text stresses the great purity of Job’s children. Since [Job] did not perceive any sin in them, he sacrificed because of [the sons’] disposition. Job was aware that the human weakness and sluggishness that mark young persons often escalates. This is also why St. Paul said, “I am not aware of anything against myself.” And the psalmist, “Forgive my hidden faults.” Therefore we have to believe that the sons of Job did not die because of their own sins. - "Commentary on Job 1.5"
47. For, when the round of the days of feasting is gone about, to send to his sons and to sanctify them, is after the perception [sensum] of the virtues to direct the inward intention, and to purify all that we do with the exact sifting of a reexamination, lest things be counted good which are evil, or at least such as are truly good be thought enough when they are imperfect. For thus it very often happens that the mind is taken in, so that it is deceived either in the quality of what is evil or the quantity of what is good. But these senses of the virtues are much better ascertained by prayers than by examinings. For the things which we endeavour to search out more completely in ourselves, we oftener obtain a true insight into by praying than by investigating. For when the mind is lifted up on high by the kind of machine of compunction, all that may have been presented to it concerning itself, it surveys the more surely by passing judgment upon it beneath its feet. Hence it is w...
30. ‘The days of feasting are gone,’ when the ministrations of preaching are brought to an end; and when the feasts were ended, Job offered an holocaust for his sons, in that our Redeemer besought the Father in behalf of the Apostles, when they returned from preaching. Now it is rightly said, that he ‘sent and sanctified,’ in that when He bestowed the Holy Spirit Which proceeds from Himself, upon the hearts of His disciples, He cleansed them from whatsoever might be in them of offence, and it is rightly delivered that he rose up early to offer sacrifices; forasmuch as through this His offering up the prayer of His Intercessions in our behalf, he dispelled the night of error, and illumined the darkness of man's mind; that the soul might not be polluted in secret by any defilements of sin contracted from the very grace of preaching; that it might never attribute to itself aught that it does; that it might not, by attributing them to itself, lose all the things it had done. Hence it is...
10. When it is said, sent and sanctified them, it is openly shewn what strictness he practised with those when present, for whom when absent he was not wanting in concern. But this circumstance demands our discreet consideration, that, when the days of feasting were past, he has recourse to the purification of a holocaust for each day severally; for the holy man knew that there can scarcely be feasting without offence; he knew that the revelry of feasts must be cleansed away by much purification of sacrifices, and whatever stains the sons had contracted in their own persons at their feasts, the father wiped out by the offering of a sacrifice; for there are certain evils which it is either scarcely possible, or it may be said wholly impossible, to banish from feasting. Thus almost always voluptuousness is the accompaniment of entertainments; for when the body is relaxed in the delight of refreshment, the heart yields itself to the admission of an empty joy. Whence it is written, The ...
Mutual understanding, the greatest good, was profound within Job’s family. They were accustomed to have meals together, to hold a common banquet—a custom, to be sure, that significantly contributes to establishing a profitable mutual understanding. Do you perceive, dear brothers, the joy of the banquet mixed with security? Do you observe this brotherly table? Do you see that harmoniously united group? Profound affection is the source of all this. - "Commentary on Job 1.4"
