Job 9:25

The swift runner does not appear to touch the ground; he appears as though he has wings. [Job says], " 'My life is swifter than a runner.' I look at what is above. 'I do not run aimlessly.' I do not touch the ground." Because they want to reach the finish line, the righteous keep on running, even when they run into obstacles. For example, when they encounter a distressful situation they continue to run. Even David ran, for he said, "I have run without unrighteousness, always running straight ahead." And, "I ran the way of your commandments, for you enlarge my understanding." Job also hints at this twofold interpretation: First, "judges," whose faces are completely covered, is a reference to the people's leaders who run away in fear of the righteous because they saw no successful outcome of the [righteous person's] race. [Their faces are covered] because they are unworthy [to be judges or leaders.] Secondly, however, consider whether Job may not also be speaking about the righteous as well. They fled from the [corrupt] judges according to the passage "but run away, do not stay in one place." And they [the judges] did not perceive the poignancy of virtue [anymore]. And so they stopped running. Maybe it is also appropriate to compare this with the passage, "I have not known an evil person, seeing that he turns away from me."

He means, "My memories themselves are dead, and I don't even know what I am talking about, as my pain is so great! In the moment itself, in which I speak, I forget, as the storm around me is so strong!"

Now my days are swifter than a post: they are fled away, they have seen no good.

For the business of a post is to tell what is coming after; and so all of the Elect that were born before the coming of the Redeemer, in that either by mode of life only, or by word of mouth likewise, they bore tidings of Him, were like a kind of post in the world. But whereas they foresee themselves withdrawn before the wished for season of Redemption, they mourn that they pass away 'swifter than a post,' and they lament that their days are short, because they are never extended so far as to see the light of the Redeemer; whence it is justly said, They flee away, they see no good. All things that have been created are good, as Moses bears record, who says, And God saw every thing that He had made, and, behold, it was very good. But that good alone is primarily good, whereby all those are good, which are not primarily good, and of this good, 'Truth' saith in the Gospel, None is good save one, that is, God. Therefore because the days of the former fathers were ended before ever God was manifested to the world in the flesh, it is rightly said of those days, that they fled away, and saw no good. As if it were in plain words, 'They have passed away before the looked-for season, because they might not attain to the present appearing of the Redeemer.'

MORAL INTERPRETATION

For as we have already said, the first man was so created that by the accessions of time his life could only be extended, but not spun to an end; but because by his own act and deed he fell into sin, in that he touched that which was forbidden, he was made subject to a transitory career, which man now, oppressed by fondness for the present life, both undergoes and longs for without ceasing. For, that he may not come to an end, he longs to live on, yet by the accessions to life, he is daily advancing to his end, nor does he well discover the added portions of time, what nothings they are, when those things are done and over in a moment which seemed to be long in coming. Let the holy man then view the grounds of his position, and in the voice of mankind bewail the woes of a transitory career, saying, Now my days have been swifter than a post; they are fled away, they have seen no good. As if it were in plain words, 'Man was created for this end, that he might see good,' which is God; but because he would not stand in the light, in flying therefrom he lost his eyes; for in the same degree that by sin he began to let himself run out to things below, he subjected himself to blindness, that he should not see the interior light.' And of those days it is further added with fitness, They are passed away as the ships carrying fruits. For ships, when they 'carry fruits,' convey the produce of the land through the waves. Now the land of man was Paradise, which might have kept him unshaken, if by force of innocency he could have stood fast, but, because by sin he fell into the waves of a changeful state, after the land he came into the seas of the present life. Furthermore the fruits of the land were the word of commandment, the power of good works vouchsafed him, the perception of his Creator implanted in his nature. But these fruits, which we refused to eat on the land, we carry through the seas, in that we would not keep unmoved in Paradise the blessings of so many benefits vouchsafed to us, and now we endeavour to preserve them in the midst of temptations. Hasting to our bourn, we are driven forward by the breath of the present life, we are worn out with the tossing of our mutable condition. But whereas by the mystery of the Cross we are made fast to the good gifts implanted in our nature, it is as if we carried fruits by means of wood. And yet this may also be understood in another sense. For ships that carry fruits have sweetness of smell, but have no gravity of weight; and man, when he became an outcast from the joys of Paradise, lost the power of contemplation, and parted with the vigour of his native strength; and when he lifts up himself to seek anew the things above, he is sweetened indeed by the perfume of the memory, but yields no weight of life in meet proportion. Thus he is filled with the odours of fruits, and yet the vessel of our soul is lightly driven hither and thither without steadiness, in that we both call to mind the high state of Paradise with a remembrance of a sweet smell, and are subject to the troublesome waves of temptation arising from the flesh.

To investigate the reason why the innocent are punished in this world, he first proposes the harm which he has experienced in the loss of his goods, and shows the fickleness of the present prosperity using a simile with those things which appear most fleeting in this world. Note first that different people have different relationships to the prosperity of this world. Some men have it as an end because they hope for nothing beyond this. This seems to be the opinion of those who declare that all rewards and punishments are in this life. Such men do not go beyond the prosperity of this world but the prosperity of this world escapes from them when they lose it. Some, however, among whom Job was included, do not place their end in the prosperity of this world, but aim at another end. They pass up the prosperity of this world more than they are passed up by it.

Three things are required for someone aiming at an end. The first is that they fix their heart in nothing else which might delay them from the end, but hasten to attain the end. So he gives as his first example a runner who aims at the end of his course so that he does not tarry along the way. So he says, "My days pass swifter than a runner." In this he shows both the frailty of the present fortune and his intention to pursue something else. "They have fled away," as if repose for the heart is not found in the things of this world. The text then continues, "they have not seen the good," namely, to which my intention was born which is the true good. Therefore, I do not count myself rewarded for justice, because if you (the friends) think the present prosperity is a reward, I have been punished, as an innocent man, because this has been taken away.