Moral Reflections on the Book of Job, Volume 5: Books 23-27

Gregory the Great was pope from 590 to 604, a time of great turmoil in Italy and in the western Roman Empire generally because of the barbarian invasions. Gregory’s experience as prefect of the city of Rome and as apocrisarius of Pope Pelagius fitted him admirably for the new challenges of the papacy. The Moral Reflections on the Book of Job were first given to the monks who accompanied Gregory to the embassy in Constantinople.

This fifth volume, containing books 23 through 27, provides commentary on six chapters of Job, from 32:1 through 37:24. The present volume covers the chapters of Job devoted to Elihu, the young man who derides the three friends who couldn’t find an answer to Job. For the most part Gregory confines himself, with a few exceptions, to the allegorical moral exegesis, making Elihu a symbol of the arrogant person (sometimes the heretic, and sometimes the unworthy member of the church), and Job a type either of the church herself or of the holy preachers of sound doctrine.