Thomas Aquinas Commentary Job 11:11-20

"For he knoweth false men: He seeth iniquity also, even though he consider it not. But vain man is void of understanding, Yea, man is born [as] a wild ass`s colt. If thou set thy heart aright, And stretch out thy hands toward him; If iniquity be in thy hand, put it far away, And let not unrighteousness dwell in thy tents. Surely then shalt thou lift up thy face without spot; Yea, thou shalt be stedfast, and shalt not fear: For thou shalt forget thy misery; Thou shalt remember it as waters that are passed away, And [thy] life shall be clearer than the noonday; Though there be darkness, it shall be as the morning. And thou shalt be secure, because there is hope; Yea, thou shalt search [about thee], and shalt take thy rest in safety. Also thou shalt lie down, and none shall make thee afraid; Yea, many shall make suit unto thee. But the eyes of the wicked shall fail, And they shall have no way to flee; And their hope shall be the giving up of the ghost." — Job 11:11-20 (ASV)

After Zophar has shown that there is something hidden in divine wisdom that is incomprehensible to people, he proceeds to clarify something he had only supposed before: namely, that God exacts punishment for sin. He concludes with certainty that God knows the deeds of humanity.

So he says, "I am right in saying that God is exacting smaller penalties from you than your evil deserves," because "He knows the vanity of man"—that is, the vain deeds of men. Things are commonly called "vain" when they are unstable because they have not been fixed on their proper ends. The vanity of man, then, comes from the fact that his heart is not fixed on the truth, by which alone it can be securely founded. Because he withdraws from the truth, he does evil when he desires what is an apparent good in place of what is truly good.

So he then asks, "When God sees something wicked"—produced by the vanity of men—"should He not consider it" as worthy of punishment? For a judge who sees a sin seems to pass over it without consideration when he keeps it secret and chooses not to punish it. This cannot be said about God. When He sees the vanity of men, He exacts punishment for their evil.

Just as a man turns to evil from vanity, so from that same vanity he does not think he is subject to divine judgment. He therefore continues, "The vain man puffs himself up with pride," so that he does not believe he is subject to a superior. So he continues, "He thinks he is born as free as the foal of a wild ass." The foal of a wild ass is born free from human domestication. However, the foals of donkeys born in human possession are born to serve human needs. Thus, people who do not think they are subject to divine judgment think they are like the foals of wild donkeys, even though they see other people in the same condition being compelled by divine judgment.

He seemed to say this to insult blessed Job, taking Job’s words as an argument with God as if with an equal, when Job said, May he withdraw his rod from me, let terror of him not frighten me. I will speak and not be afraid of him (Job 9:34). So Zophar continues, "But you have hardened your heart," and so you defend your evil. "Yet, you have stretched out your hands to God" in prayer in this state of hard-heartedness, when you said, I will say to God: Do not condemn me (Job 9:34). Therefore, your prayer is useless. For prayer is useful only when a person first puts evil aside and then asks God to stop the punishment.

He speaks to this theme, saying, "If you will take away the evil which is on your hands"—that is, if you desist from the evil work you still have on your hands—"and if wickedness will not remain in your tent"—that is, if you make restitution for what you have unjustly taken and stored away. This also means you must correct the members of your household, for masters are sometimes punished for the delinquencies of their household because of their negligence in correcting them.

"Then you will lift up your head" in prayer to God, "free from stain"—that is, free from fault. In this way, your condemnation will end. First, regarding the future, he says, "and you will be stable," so that you are not shaken by later trials. Also, "you will not fear" future dangers. For sometimes, although a person does not fear the future, he is still afflicted by what he has lost or suffered. He continues, "Your misery also," which you have suffered until now, "you will forget" because of the superabundance of goods that will come to you. He strengthens this with an example, saying, "and you will not remember them, like floods that have passed." He says this either because a person forgets the floods that happened during the rainy season once calm returns, or because the floodwaters rush swiftly away, and after they are gone, no memory of them remains.

But since Job had proposed two arguments against the promise of prosperity in this life—the devastation of his own body, when he said, Decay clothes my flesh (Job 7:5), and the passing of his days, when he said, My days have passed more quickly... (Job 7:6)—Zophar now answers both objections. He says, "The radiance of noon will come to you in the evening." This is to say: Although it seems to you that your days have passed and your life is almost over, like the twilight, such great prosperity can still come to you that it will nearly lead you back to the joy of your youth. For just as old age is understood by "twilight," so youth is understood by "noon." He calls the clarity of earthly prosperity "radiance."

Then, against what Job had said about the wasting away of his body, Zophar says, "although you thought that you have been consumed" by the weakness you have suffered, "you will arise like the morning star," because your body will return to its youthful beauty.

Since Job had also said above that his days were used up without any hope (Job 7:6), Zophar then says, "You will have confidence when hope has been offered to you." Because Job had also rejected the opinion of those who said that a person returns to this same kind of life after death, after many centuries have passed (see Job 7:16 and following), Zophar does not propose that kind of hope to him. Instead, he proposes the kind of hope in which people live on after death in the memories of others.

This happens in two ways:

• First, in the graves where the bodies of the dead are placed, so that their memory is preserved. This is why they are even called monuments. To show this, Zophar says, "When you have been buried, you will sleep safe in the grave," as if to say: No one will violate your tomb, nor should you fear that anyone might try. He then adds, "You will rest, and there will be no one to frighten you."
• Second, the dead live on in the memories of people because of the good deeds they did while alive, which made their lives desirable. Addressing this, he says, "many will intercede in longing for your face"—that is, many will earnestly desire your presence or show reverence for your tomb, remembering your good deeds.

Having promised these rewards if Job is willing to depart from evil, Zophar consequently shows that these rewards are not given to the wicked. So he continues, "The eyes of the wicked will fail," because they will not obtain the good they desire. For someone's eyes are said to fail when he looks to obtain something but is not strong enough to get it. Just as the wicked cannot obtain the goods they desire, so too they cannot avoid the evils they suffer or fear. So he continues, "they will lose every means of flight," because they will not be able to flee from evil.

After death, however, they will not be held in veneration or missed. Instead, they will be held in abomination because of the evils they have done. He addresses this theme by saying, "and their hope is the loathing of the soul," which means that what they can hope for after death is to be an object of abomination.