Purple and Fine Linen: The Rich Man Who Found Nothing and the Bride Clothed in Justice
Old Testament: Job 27:16-17, 19
If he shall heap together silver as earth, and prepare raiment as clay, He shall prepare indeed, but the just man shall be clothed with it: and the innocent shall divide the silver. ... The rich man when he shall sleep shall take away nothing with him: he shall open his eyes and find nothing.
Old Testament, also: Psalms 75:6
All the foolish of heart were troubled. They have slept their sleep; and all the men of riches have found nothing in their hands.
New Testament: Luke 16:19, 23; 1 Peter 3:3-4; Apocalypse 18:16-17; Apocalypse 19:8
There was a certain rich man, who was clothed in purple and fine linen; and feasted sumptuously every day. ... And lifting up his eyes when he was in torments, he saw Abraham afar off, and Lazarus in his bosom. ... Whose adorning let it not be the outward plaiting of the hair, or the wearing of gold, or the putting on of apparel: But the hidden man of the heart in the incorruptibility of a quiet and a meek spirit, which is rich in the sight of God. ... Alas! alas! that great city, which was clothed with fine linen, and purple, and scarlet, and was gilt with gold, and precious stones, and pearls. For in one hour are so great riches come to nought. ... And it is granted to her that she should clothe herself with fine linen, glittering and white. For the fine linen are the justifications of saints.
The connection
Job sets out the portion of the wicked rich man, who may heap up silver "as earth, and prepare raiment as clay", but "the just man shall be clothed with it" (Job 27:16-17). Then comes the night: "he shall open his eyes and find nothing" (27:19). The psalm says it again: the men of riches "have slept their sleep" and found nothing in their hands (Psalms 75:6). Christ tells the same death as a parable. The rich man "clothed in purple and fine linen" dies, and in hell cries "I am tormented in this flame" (Luke 16:19, 24). Job's rich man opens his eyes and finds nothing; Christ's lifts up his eyes and finds torments. And the good things pass, as Job said they would, to the one who had none: "thou didst receive good things in thy lifetime, and likewise Lazarus evil things, but now he is comforted" (Luke 16:25). The Apocalypse widens the rich man into a city, Babylon, dressed as he was (Apocalypse 18:16). She "lived in delicacies", and her sentence is the parable's own measure: "As much as she hath glorified herself, and lived in delicacies, so much torment and sorrow give ye to her" (18:7). "She shall be burnt with the fire" (18:8), and the kings stand "afar off for fear of her torments" (18:10), as the rich man saw Abraham afar off from his. Yet fine linen is not condemned; it is given. The Bride of the Lamb wears it too, and "the fine linen are the justifications of saints" (19:8). That is Job's word kept, the just man clothed. St Peter names the adornment that goes through death with its owner, "the hidden man of the heart" (1 Peter 3:4). St Cyprian sets the harlot's purple and gold beside the apostolic rule against outward adornment (Testimonies III.36). St Augustine says the Christians of sacked Rome kept "the possessions of the hidden man of the heart", for "we can carry nothing out" (City of God I.10). The Catechism reads the parable of Lazarus as a witness that each soul's destiny is settled at death (CCC 1021).
Moral sense
The rich man is not accused of theft. His sin lay at his gate: Lazarus was there, "desiring to be filled with the crumbs that fell from the rich man's table, and no one did give him" (Luke 16:21). St Ambrose guards against the easy reading: "not all poverty is holy, or all riches criminal, but as luxury disgraces riches, so does holiness commend poverty." St Paul gives the rich their way through the door: "Charge the rich of this world ... To do good, to be rich in good works, to give easily" (1 Timothy 6:17-18). What is given away at the gate is the only wealth still in the hand when the eyes open.
Anagogical sense
At the end there are two women, and both wear fine linen. One bought hers from the merchants, and it burns in one hour (Apocalypse 18:12, 17). The other is given hers for the marriage of the Lamb, woven from the good the saints have done (19:7-8). The rich man opened his eyes and found nothing; the saints will open theirs and find God, who "shall wipe away all tears from their eyes" (21:4), as Lazarus was comforted in Abraham's bosom.
The Fathers
St Augustine, City of God I.10: "They lost all they had. Their faith? Their godliness? The possessions of the hidden man of the heart, which in the sight of God are of great price? Did they lose these? For these are the wealth of Christians, to whom the wealthy apostle said, 'Godliness with contentment is great gain. For we brought nothing into this world, and it is certain we can carry nothing out.'" St Ambrose, on Luke 16:19 (Catena Aurea): "But not all poverty is holy, or all riches criminal, but as luxury disgraces riches, so does holiness commend poverty."
Warrant
Interpretive. No New Testament text cites Job 27, and no Father in the site's corpora sets Job's rich man beside the parable, or the parable beside Babylon; the pairing of the three is Dunk's, found from the words themselves. Each leg has its own support: St Cyprian joins the harlot's purple and gold to the apostolic teaching on adornment (Testimonies III.36), St Augustine joins the hidden man of the heart to carrying nothing out (City of God I.10), and St Clement of Alexandria counts the man "luxuriously clothed in purple and fine linen" among the rich who "shall not live" (The Instructor III.6). St Gregory the Great's Moralia on Job 27 is not in the corpora and has not been checked. Checked in the Greek: the Septuagint of Job 27:19 calls him plousios, the rich man, and says ophthalmous autou dienoixen, he opened his eyes; Luke 16 calls him plousios and he lifts his eyes, eparas tous ophthalmous. Apo makrothen, afar off, stands with basanos, torment, at Luke 16:23, and with basanismos at Apocalypse 18:10. The rich man wore porphyra and byssos, purple and fine linen (Luke 16:19), Babylon byssinon and porphyroun (Apocalypse 18:16), and the Bride byssinon lampron (19:8); the rich man feasted lampros, splendidly, the adverb of the word for the Bride's glittering linen. The clothing in Job is Hebrew and Latin rather than Greek: the Septuagint of 27:16-17 has gold, which the just gain, where the Hebrew has malbush, raiment, and tsaddiq yilbash, the just shall put it on, and the Vulgate justus vestietur, which the Douay follows. Babylon and the woman in fine linen are also read in the entry on the garment given and the garment bought, which rests on Zacharias 3.
Catechism of the Catholic Church, paragraph 1021.
The verses
Job 27:16 · Job 27:17 · Job 27:19 · Psalms 75:6 · Luke 16:19 · Luke 16:23 · 1 Peter 3:3 · 1 Peter 3:4 · Apocalypse 18:16 · Apocalypse 18:17 · Apocalypse 19:8
