For Job hath said, I am just, and God hath subverted my judgment. For in judging me there is falsehood: and mine arrow is violent without any sin.
He complains that Job had spoken these things, [See chap. 27, 2] which the words of the sacred history prove on examination that he had never said. But he, who had sought for a judgment on equal terms, proceeds to promulgate a sentence from a fault of his own invention.
Eliud interprets these words in the worst sense. For Job had said that his cause had been rejected not because he thought that punishments were inflicted on him not by a judgment of one who punishes a fault, but as justice according to providence with a view to proving his justice, and so he had said, "He will prove me like gold which passes through fire." (28:10) One who does not use a judgment does not take away right judgment, but only the one who pronounces judgment unjustly. So he interpreted what Job said, "God took away my judgment," (27:2) as if he said: God has ruined my cause by judging me unjustly, and so he adds, "In judging me there is a lie," a falsity of judgment, which Job had never maintained. But Eliud believed that his intention in the words he referred to was to say that he had been punished unjustly. Therefore, Eliud had conceived this opinion because he did not see how someone could be afflicted without sin unless this was done unjustly. Since Job had said that he was without sin, he thought Job was of the opinion that he was struck by God in violence against justice. So he says, "and my arrow is violent without sin," as if Job had said: Since I am without sin, the arrow with which God wounded me, the adversity he sent, was violent and unjust. This seems to allude to the words of Job spoken already, "The arrows of the Lord are in me." (6:4)
[AD 604] Gregory the Dialogist on Job 34:5-6
He complains that Job had spoken these things, [See chap. 27, 2] which the words of the sacred history prove on examination that he had never said. But he, who had sought for a judgment on equal terms, proceeds to promulgate a sentence from a fault of his own invention.