Genesis 24; Job 13–14; Proverbs 2:16-19;
Commentary on Genesis 24
Abraham sends a servant to his old nation to find a wife for Isaac. During the trip, the servant is pious and prays to God for aid and thanksgiving. The servant finds Rebekah in a well of water and, guided by Divine Providence and the servant’s prayers, she is identified as the woman the servant should take back. The servant gives gifts to Rebekah and meets her family. Finally, Rebekah consents to going back with the servant and marrying Isaac.
Allegorical sense:
- If in Genesis 22 Isaac in the context of the Sacrifice was identified as a prefiguration of Christ, Rebekah could be seen as a prefiguration of the Church, the bride of Christ, who leaves everything behind to join Christ (Isaac), who, in turn, takes and loves her.
Moral sense:
- Even though we are guided by Divine Providence, we are called to keep praying to God to illuminate our paths. We should also pray to thanks God when we collect the fruits we were asking for.
Commentary on Job 13–14
Job continues his speech to his friends, pressing on the point that he knows about wisdom as much as they do, and with their speeches, they are being “worthless physicians” (Job 13:4). Job accuses his friends of “partiality”, because they are not examining fairly the facts. Instead, they have this pre-conceived notion that God rewards and punishes good and evil acts in this life. To hold this notion, Job’s friends have to lie, by accusing fair men that suffer with impiety or iniquity. Job believes God reproves of his friends’ behavior because they are not treating him fairly.
Job then prays to God for him to reveal what are his sins. He does believe that he sinned in his youth, but he maintains a clear conscience and doesn’t know what his transgressions are.
Job questions God why He judges humans so harshly, as they live so little, and are poisoned by original sin (Job 14:4 “Who can bring a clean thing out of an unclean?”). In Job 14:7-17, he considers the possibility of life after death, just as a cut-down tree can sprout again. He is pessimistic about this possibility in the following verses.
Moral sense:
- In this life, as a consequence of original sin, we can never be totally pure or clean. We should take that into account so we can recognize our own iniquity and improve and at the same time recognize God’s mercy that accepts us even in our broken state.
Anagogical sense:
- Job ponders at the question of an after-life and bodily resurrection. Things that, by divine revelation, we know to be true today.
- He also defines a characteristic of heaven (Job 14:17): “my transgression would be sealed up in a bag, and you would cover over my iniquity.”. Being united with God in heaven, we will have had all of our transgressions forgiven and iniquities forgotten.
Commentary on Proverbs 2:16-19
Wisdom saves you from the “loose woman” (v. 16), an adulteress that engages in sexual sin with young men. Adultery is seen as forgetting God (v. 17) as marriage is a covenant made before God (marriage). A commitment to chastity and not engaging in lustful passions is important to not lead astray from the paths of life.
Oh Lord, how many have lost the path of life and denied you because of their lust?