Thomas Aquinas Commentary Job 14:13-17

"Oh that thou wouldest hide me in Sheol, That thou wouldest keep me secret, until thy wrath be past, That thou wouldest appoint me a set time, and remember me! If a man die, shall he live [again]? All the days of my warfare would I wait, Till my release should come. Thou wouldest call, and I would answer thee: Thou wouldest have a desire to the work of thy hands. But now thou numberest my steps: Dost thou not watch over my sin? My transgression is sealed up in a bag, And thou fastenest up mine iniquity." — Job 14:13-17 (ASV)

After showing what can be concluded about human resurrection from things apparent to the senses, Job now presents his own opinion on the matter. It would be a horrible and unhappy thing if a person were to depart in death, never to be brought back to life, because everything naturally desires its own existence. So Job shows his desire for the future resurrection, saying, "Oh, that you would protect me in Sheol," that is, that you would preserve me with the special care with which you protect a person, "until your anger passes" at the time of death.

Human death is caused by the removal of the divine action that preserves life, which is why he said before, Go away from him for a little while (Job 14:6). God seems angry with a person when He takes away the gift of life, especially for us who believe that death came from the sin of the first man. Job explains how he wishes to be protected even in Sheol when he says, "and will you determine a time for me when you may remember me?" For God seems to have forgotten a person when He takes the gift of life away from them. He then remembers them when He brings them back to life. Therefore, to determine the time in which God remembers the dead is nothing other than to determine the time of the resurrection.

He fittingly calls this "protection" (Job 14:13). For when an artist has dismantled his work, such as a house, and does not intend to rebuild it with the same materials, he appears to have no concern for those materials as they fall into ruin. But when he intends to repair the building from this same material, he guards it carefully so that it does not perish. He calls this guarding "protection."

After expressing his desire to rise again, he then asks if his desire could ever be realized in the future, since desires are sometimes for impossible things. He then says, Do you think a dead man can live again? He shows what he himself thinks about this, saying, For all the days during which I now struggle, I await the time when my transformation will come. We should note here that he had compared the life of man on earth to a soldier's life (Job 7:1) and to the days of a hired worker (Job 7:6), because both soldiers and hired workers await something after their present state. Therefore, just as he expressed that the state of the resurrection is like payday for the hired worker, he now shows the same concept using the metaphor of the soldier.

Note that he does not await the desired end in any part of the present life, because he likens all the days of this life to the state of military service, saying, For all the days during which I now struggle. One should also note that a person does not await another life like this one, because then that life would also be like warfare. Instead, he awaits a life in which he will not struggle like a soldier, but will triumph and reign. So he says, I await the time when my transformation will come. He means: For my whole life I struggle like a soldier, changeable and subject to labors and sorrows. But I wait to be transformed into the state of the other life, which is without labors and sorrows. The Apostle Paul expresses the same theme of transformation in 1 Corinthians when he says, We shall all arise, but we shall not all be changed (1 Corinthians 15:51).

He rules out that a person is transformed into the state of the next life by natural power, saying, You will call me, and I will answer you. This is as if to say: The future transformation will proceed from the power of your voice or your command, as John says, All those who are in the tombs will hear the voice of the Son of God, and those who hear it will live (John 5:28). Calling is characteristic of commanding, while answering is the obedience by which the creature obeys the Creator. Since the dead will not only rise to life according to God's command, but will also be changed to a higher state by divine power, he then says, You will stretch forth your right hand to the work of your hands.

This is as if to say: The person who rises again will not be the work of nature, but of your power, and you stretch forth your helping right hand to this work when he is raised to the glory of the new state by the help of your grace. Alternatively, his statement, You will call, and I will answer you, can refer to the renewal of the body. This is because he adds the phrase, you will stretch forth your right hand to the work of your hands, in reference to the soul. The soul naturally desires to be united with the body, and God will extend His right hand as a helper to it, so that the soul will attain by divine power what it cannot attain by its own.

Now that he has presented his opinion about the resurrection of the dead, Job returns to the subject he previously wondered about: how much careful attention God pays to human works. He expressed this when he said, You observed all my paths and considered the traces of my footsteps (Job 13:27). Here he says, You have numbered my steps, as if to say: It is no wonder that you so diligently examine a person's deeds, since you reserve them for another life. Note, however, that divine providence considers human acts in two ways. First, in that He examines and evaluates them. Job clarifies this when he says, you have numbered my steps. One numbers things one cares about. Lest anyone object that it is a mark of great severity for God to examine the deeds of frail humanity with such care, Job then emphasizes God's tendency to pardon us when he says, but spare my sins. He means: Although you number these things, I am still filled with hope that you may spare me.

Second, divine providence is attentive to human acts in that He preserves the good and wicked deeds of people in His memory to repay them with good or evil. And so he continues, You have sealed my faults in a sack. For what one seals in a sack is carefully kept. Lest anyone say this sealing excludes divine mercy, he then says, But you cured my iniquity. This is as if to say: You store up punishments for sins in such a way that you nevertheless cure my faults through penance.