Thomas Aquinas Commentary Job 12:1-10

"Then Job answered and said, No doubt but ye are the people, And wisdom shall die with you. But I have understanding as well as you; I am not inferior to you: Yea, who knoweth not such things as these? I am as one that is a laughing-stock to his neighbor, I who called upon God, and he answered: The just, the perfect man is a laughing-stock. In the thought of him that is at ease there is contempt for misfortune; It is ready for them whose foot slippeth. The tents of robbers prosper, And they that provoke God are secure; Into whose hand God bringeth [abundantly]. But ask now the beasts, and they shall teach thee; And the birds of the heavens, and they shall tell thee: Or speak to the earth, and it shall teach thee; And the fishes of the sea shall declare unto thee. Who knoweth not in all these, That the hand of Jehovah hath wrought this, In whose hand is the soul of every living thing, And the breath of all mankind?" — Job 12:1-10 (ASV)

In the previous chapter, Zophar had tried to show that a person cannot understand the secrets of God’s wisdom (Job 11:6) in order to insult Job, who seemed almost to demand a debate with God. From his words and those of the other friends, one can conclude that their entire intention was aimed at three things.

1. They were eager to speak about the wonderful things of God, extolling His wisdom, power, and justice, to make their own case appear more favorable.
2. They applied these wondrous truths about God, which are accepted by everyone, to certain false dogmas: specifically, that people prosper in this world because of justice and suffer hardships because of sin, and that one should hope for nothing after this life.
3. From these assertions, they denounced Job as evil because of the adversity he had suffered, and they promised him certain empty things if he would abandon his evil. Specifically, they promised that he would sleep in “safety” (Job 11:18) and that the radiance of noon would rise in the evening for him—promises which Job considered almost mockery.

Job’s entire response revolves around these points. First, he speaks against them for praising themselves by speaking of God’s wonders as though they alone knew them and Job was ignorant of them. So the text says, “But Job answered: So are you the only men alive?” This follows logically if you consider yourselves alone to know these things about God’s greatness, which all people know. Furthermore, since wisdom consists in the knowledge of God’s greatness, it follows that if you alone know these things, then wisdom is found only in you, and thus wisdom will die when you die. He continues, “and will wisdom die with you?” as if to say, “It is not right that you consider yourselves the only men or the only ones who are wise.”

Since they could object, “We are not the only ones who know, but you still do not,” he answers, saying, “I too have a heart,” to know these things, “as you do, and this heart is not less than yours” in this knowledge. So that this would not be attributed to arrogance, he continues, “For who is ignorant of these things which you know?” as if to say: It is no great thing if I say I know what you know, since it is no great claim to know them, as every person can. But by saying I am ignorant of these things, you seem to hold me in contempt, as if I am unaware of things that everyone knows.

Thus he says, “Someone who is derided by his friends, as I am”—as you do when you think me foolish—“will call upon God, and He will hear him,” because God especially helps those deprived of human help. As Psalm 27:10 says, Though my father and mother forsake me, the LORD will receive me. In this, he attempts to answer Zophar’s earlier argument, Then you would be able to lift up your face (Job 11:15), as if to say: I should not wait any longer to pray faithfully, because the very fact that I am mocked by my friends gives me hope in turning to God.

He shows why the one mocked by a friend is heard by God, saying, “For the simplicity of the just man is derided.” He then shows who these just men are, why they are mocked, and also by whom, when he continues, “his light is condemned by the thoughts of the rich.” To be mocked is the lot of someone lacking resources, but to mock is the lot of someone who has an abundance of possessions. However, those who abound greatly in virtue do not laugh at those who are lacking in it; rather, they have compassion on them and help them if they can.

But those who abound in temporal goods often mock those who lack them, especially when the latter show no zeal for acquiring them. The zeal of the just is not to acquire temporal goods, but to pursue righteousness eagerly. Therefore, they abstain from the fraud and evil intent by which riches are generally acquired. They are considered naive because of this, and so most people laugh at the just.

Moreover, their simplicity is the cause of their mockery. But simplicity is not mocked as a clear evil but as a hidden good, and so here simplicity is called “a light” because of the clarity of justice. This simplicity is “condemned by the thoughts of the rich”—by those who make riches their ultimate goal. Truly, those who place their highest good in riches must believe that other goods are greater only in proportion to their usefulness for acquiring wealth. They must have contempt for the simplicity of the just, since it is opposed to the growth of wealth.

But although the simplicity of the just is condemned in the thoughts of the wealthy, it is not prevented from reaching its true goal, and so he says, “prepared at the appointed time.” However, he does not say this as though at some moment in this present life some earthly prosperity must be given to the just as a reward for their simplicity. Rather, he leaves the appointed time and the ultimate goal for which the just person’s simplicity was prepared undetermined. The argument has not yet arrived at this point but will be clarified in what follows. So then, Job subtly suggests why he is mocked by his friends, whom he calls rich men: because they placed the prosperity of this world as the goal of humanity, as if it were the just man’s reward (Compare to chapter 2). He, however, does not seek this as a reward in his simplicity, but another reward at the appointed time. Thus, he has faith that if he called on the Lord, he would be heard by Him.

Since the rich who mock the simplicity of the just do not stop there but go as far as contempt for God, he adds, “the tents of robbers abound.” Because some make riches their ultimate end, it follows that they carefully search for any way to attain this end, whether by fraud or by some other manner. So they become robbers who abound in wealth when they steal. Contempt for God follows from this abundance, and so he adds, “and they audaciously provoke God.” For someone acts audaciously when he believes what he is doing is good. Since the conscience is troubled by evil, a person does not commit evil without fear, as Wisdom 17:11 says, For wickedness is a cowardly thing, condemned by its own testimony. Those who place their ultimate end in riches think, for this very reason, that everything useful for attaining this end is good. Now it is clear that when they acquire riches by robbery, they provoke God by acting against His justice, and so they consequently provoke God audaciously.

Alternatively, another interpretation is that from riches a person becomes so filled with pride that he thinks he is self-sufficient through them and so has audacious contempt for God, because he put his confidence in riches. As Deuteronomy 32:15 says, Jeshurun grew fat and kicked.

He had said that the tents of robbers who provoke God abounded. So that no one could object that this kind of abundance is not from God, he says, “since He has given everything into their hands”—that is, into their power. For the power to harm someone comes only from God, but the will to do evil comes only from oneself (Compare to chapter 1). Therefore, by the fact that they rob, they provoke God; but their resulting abundance comes to them from God.

He proves this as a consequence when he continues, But ask the beasts, and they will teach you; the birds of the heavens, and they will tell you; or speak to the earth, and it will teach you; and the fish of the sea will declare to you. He shows that all these things answer when asked, Who among all these does not know that the hand of the LORD has done this? So, then, all things confess that they have been made by God. A person asks creatures when he diligently considers them. They respond to the questioner when, in considering them, he perceives that there is such a great order in the arrangement of their parts and in their actions that they could exist only if governed by the design of some superior wisdom.

If, however, creatures of this sort were made by God, it is evident that they are in God’s power, as artifacts are in the power of the craftsman. And so he adds, In His hand is the life of every living thing, and the breath of all mankind. If, then, they are in His power, it is clear that no one can have them except from Him. As Daniel says, the Most High rules the kingdom of men and gives it to whomever He will (Daniel 4:17). So it is evident that no one can possess the earth and the animals spoken of above, which are a person’s wealth, unless God gives them into his hand. Therefore, if robbers prosper, God gave it into their hands. With this opinion, he refutes those who claimed that wealth is given by God as a reward for justice, since wealth is given even to thieves by God.