(Verse 13, 14.) Your eyes are the world's eyes, so that you may not see evil, and you cannot look upon injustice. Why do you not look upon those who commit wickedness and remain silent as the wicked devour the righteous? And you make men like the fish of the sea, and like the reptile that has no ruler? LXX: The world's eye, so that it may not see evil, and it cannot look upon grief. Why do you look upon those who despise, will you be silent when the wicked devours the righteous? And he will make men like the fish of the sea, like creeping things that have no ruler. Such is what Jeremiah speaks to God: You are just, Lord, I confess; yet I will speak judgments to you: Why does the way of the wicked prosper; why do all who are treacherous thrive? You planted them, and they have taken root; they grow, they bring forth fruit; you are near in their mouths and far from their heart. (Jeremiah 12:1-2). Therefore, Abacuc is also in the same opinion: Lord, you are the eyes of the world, he says; and I know that you do not willingly look upon evil and injustice, nor can anyone doubt your justice. However, why do you allow the Babylonians to boast with such cruelty, and the just Israel to be oppressed by the impious Nebuchadnezzar: not because the one who is oppressed is perfectly just, but because he is more just than the one who oppresses him. And just as fish, who do not have a ruler, and irrational animals, and a multitude of reptiles without providence, submit to the stronger, and whoever is stronger in strength, dominates the other: so among men, the rational animal, created in Your likeness, reason and merit will not prevail; but the strength of the body and irrational strength will. But if we want to understand in a general way, regarding providence, when the prophet asks: Why does the devil have so much power in the world, and exercise tyranny while God rules? This will be the meaning, and with the previous explanations, this interpretation will be connected: I know, O Lord my God, my holy one, that because of your providence and defense, we do not die; and I know that you have allowed an adversary, so that, like an executioner himself, he may seize and not kill sinners. I wonder why it seems unjust to you that nothing pleases you, and your eyes are free from all wickedness, and you cannot see the sufferings of those who are subjected to injustice. However, I cannot find a reason why the righteous Abel is killed by the unjust Cain (Genesis IV), and you remain silent? Why does the raging whale devour not only smaller fish but also Jonah himself (Jonah II)? Why does the wicked prevail and the righteous suffer? I do not say this because I know anyone to be justified in your sight and to be without sin, and that I am unaware of human frailty; but just as Sodom and Gomorrah are compared with Jerusalem, so also the tax collector in the Gospel is made more righteous in comparison with the Pharisee (Luke 18): likewise, he who is oppressed by the devil is indeed a sinner, but he is more righteous when he submits to being oppressed. Therefore, why is there no standard or measure, so that if a just person is once oppressed and subjected, they do not submit to an impious person, but to someone more righteous? Is it possible for anything to be done without you, and you not willing, that is not impious? To think this is blasphemous. Therefore, since you are the ruler and Lord of the universe, it is necessary for you to do what cannot be done without you. And he says this not because he himself as a prophet believes it, as I have attested above, but because he expresses human impatience in his own person: just as we frequently see the apostle receiving various opinions from people, and now saying: 'But I see another law in my members, fighting against the law of my mind, and leading me captive to the law of sin, which is in my members.' (Rom. VII, 23). And, as if he were beginning: Brethren, I do not think that I have apprehended, but we know in part, and we prophesy in part (Philippians 3:13). And again, as if he were perfect: So, therefore, let us have this knowledge, that however perfect we may be, we may still say that we know in part and are not perfect (1 Corinthians 13:9). And lest you should perhaps think that this is not the custom of the Apostles, but rather an argument of our own, he himself speaks to the Corinthians: But these things, brethren, I have transfigured myself and Apollo for your sake, so that you may learn in us (1 Corinthians 4:6). Otherwise how can God have men like fish of the sea, and like reptiles that have no ruler: whereas the angels daily behold the face of the Father who is in heaven (Matthew 18); and the angel of the Lord encamps around those who fear Him, and delivers them (Psalm 34). Therefore, just as in humans we can see the providence of God running through each individual, so in other animals we can understand a general arrangement, order, and course of things. For example, how a multitude of fish is born and lives in the waters, how reptiles and quadrupeds arise on land, and what food they are nourished by. Moreover, it is absurd to ascribe to the majesty of God the knowledge of how many mosquitoes are born and die in every moment, how many bugs and fleas and flies exist in the world, how many fish swim in the water, and which of the smaller creatures should yield to the prey of the larger ones. Let us not be such foolish flatterers of God that, while detracting from His power even to the lowest things, we become injurious to ourselves, saying that there is the same providence of rational and irrational things. From this, that apocryphal book of folly is to be condemned, in which it is written that a certain angel named Tyri presided over reptiles, and in the same way, angels assigned to fish, trees, and all beasts for their protection.
You see, even if it is the wicked who perish, nevertheless the souls of good people are likely to show compassion when they see people being punished. And you will find each of the good people and the inspired writers making earnest supplication for them, as for example the patriarch did for the Sodomites and the inspired writers all continued to do. One, for instance, said, “Woe is me, Lord; are you wiping out the remnant of Israel?” Another said, “Will you make people like the fish of the sea, deprived of a leader?” So since without even this the good man was troubled in mind and sick at heart, the Lord, in case the sight of these things should cast Noah into deeper depression, locked him in the ark as though in a prison, lest he have a sight of these events and be terror-struck. In his care for him, therefore, the loving God does not allow him to view the torrent of water or see the disaster occurring that involved the destruction of the world.
[AD 420] Jerome on Habakkuk 1:13-14