Thomas Aquinas Commentary Job 15

After hearing Job’s response, Eliphaz does not address the depth of his reasoning. Instead, he tries to slanderously misrepresent certain words Job has spoken, interpreting them according to their surface meaning rather than their deeper intent.

He first reproaches Job for his statement at the beginning of his speech: I too have a heart as you do, and this heart is not less than yours (Job 12:3). In this, Eliphaz accuses him of two things. First, he says Job is guilty of empty boasting because he commends himself, addressing this theme by saying, Will the wise man answer as though he were speaking to the wind? This is because a person seems to speak to the wind when they compose a speech merely to gain glory. Second, he accuses him of anger, because Job had begun by reproaching them, saying, So you think only you are men (Job 12:2). Therefore, Eliphaz says, and will he fill his stomach with passion?—that is, his spirit with anger.

Next, Eliphaz reproves Job for saying, I want to dispute with God (Job 13:3), and again, Spare me in only two things, and then I will not hide myself from your face... (Job 13:20). In this reproach, he accuses him of many things. First, he accuses him of pride because he contends against someone who is greater than he is, addressing this by saying, You blame with words one who is not equal to you. Second, he accuses him of foolishness because Eliphaz thought such a dispute was harmful, and so he says, You say what is not profitable for you by arguing with God.

Eliphaz shows why it is not advantageous to debate with God: because this kind of dispute excludes two essential things. The first is the fear of God, for someone who fears another does not presume to argue contentiously with him. Job had already expressed this same idea, saying, And let your power not terrify me (Job 13:21). Therefore, Eliphaz says here, As much as you can, you have rejected fear, because you tried to exclude the fear of God from yourself.

The second thing excluded is prayer to God, for arguing with someone and pleading with him are two different things. So Eliphaz then says, You have borne away—that is, taken away—prayer from the presence of God. This goes against what Eliphaz himself had said: This is why I entreat the Lord (Job 5:8). Job had not disputed with God out of pride, but out of confidence in the truth. Eliphaz, however, rashly judged this to flow from wickedness. And so he says, For your wickedness has taught your tongue, as if to say that the effect—Job's blasphemy—is apparent. He then adds, and you imitate the tongue of blasphemers.

In reality, the person who blasphemes denies the justice of God. But one who disputes with God about His justice seems to imitate the language of blasphemers. To argue about something seems characteristic of someone who doubts it, and one who doubts it is close to denying it.

So Eliphaz wishes to condemn Job for arguing. He first says that Job had spoken such manifest evil that no other reproof is necessary; his own words reveal his evil intent. He expresses this by saying, Your mouth will condemn you, and not I; and your lips will answer for you, as if to say, "Your words need no other answer, for they destroy themselves."

Still, he shows that the argument Job used was unfitting in many ways:

1. By comparison of Job to all creatures. If any creature could argue with God, this would be fitting only for the first and most excellent of creatures—a condition that does not apply to Job. And so Eliphaz asks, Were you born the first man and formed before all the hills? implying, "Do you for this reason have the competence to argue with God on behalf of the whole human race and every creature?"
2. By comparison with God. One can fittingly dispute with someone about their deeds only when one knows the reason for their actions. This knowledge can be gained in two ways: by learning it from the person directly, or by judging their deeds from a higher wisdom. Neither of these applies to Job in his comparison to God. So Eliphaz asks, Have you been a party to the counsel of God? to address the first way (learning from Him), and, and will his wisdom be beneath you? to address the second.
3. In comparison to other men. Job does not seem to be any wiser than others, possessing no higher knowledge that would give him the confidence to presume to dispute with God. So Eliphaz asks, What do you know that we do not know? What do you understand that we do not know? The first question refers to knowledge from faith or revelation, the second to natural knowledge. Since Job could boast of knowledge received from others, Eliphaz then says, Both old men—referring to dignity of knowledge and life—and the elders—referring to age—are among us, much older than your fathers. "Fathers" here could mean Job's teachers from whom he received knowledge or, in the literal sense, his ancestors. Eliphaz wants to claim greater knowledge from greater age, because a person is made wiser by long experience.
4. On the part of Job himself, he shows his dispute with God has not been fitting for several reasons:
   1. Because it was harmful to him, expanding on what he had already said: You say what is not profitable for you (Job 15:3). So, he asks, Is it a great thing for God to console you? (Job 15:11). He means: It is easy for God to lead you back to a state of prosperity, for he both wounds, and he binds up, as was already said (Job 5:18). But your evil words prohibit this, by which you provoke God's anger even more against you.
   2. Because the debate was vain and proud, expanding on his earlier statement: Will the wise man answer as though he were speaking to the wind? (Job 15:2). So he then asks, Why does your heart lift you up (Job 15:12) in pride, to make you presume so much about your wisdom? He tries to demonstrate a sign of this pride, saying, and as if you were thinking great things, why do you open your eyes wide in astonishment? (Job 15:12). For when someone thinks about great, wonderful things, he is entranced and opens his eyes wide in astonishment.
   3. Because the dispute was presumptuous and impious, also explaining his previous statement: You blame with words someone who is not equal to you (Job 15:3). Here he says, What causes your spirit to swell against God, so that you speak words like this from your mouth? (Job 15:13)—words with which you start an argument with God.

After Eliphaz had censured Job for provoking God to an argument, which he thought amounted to a presumption of wisdom, he now censures him for a presumption of justice. This is because Job had said, “If I am judged, I know I would be found just” (Job 13:18). Eliphaz attacks this statement in three ways.

1. First, he attacks it based on the frailty of the human condition, in which a person avoids sin only with difficulty. Thus, he says, “What is man that he should be without stain?” A person also does good only with difficulty, so he continues, “and be born just from his mother’s womb?” For, as Proverbs says, “Justice in abundance is the greatest virtue” (Proverbs 15:5). This does not seem to suit one who has his origin from the lowliest of things.

2. Second, he attacks the same statement by comparing man to more noble creatures. He says, “Look! Among his holy ones,” the angels, “not one is unchangeable” by his own nature; they can only be turned away from sin by the gift of divine grace. “And the heavens,” which hold the supreme place of purity among physical bodies, “are not pure in his presence”—that is, in comparison to God—since they are material, corporeal, and changeable.

3. Third, he attacks the statement based on the personal condition of Job himself, as a conclusion to the major premise above . “How much more abominable,” through sin, “and useless,” by the failure of justice, “is the man who drinks evil like water.” This means a man who commits evil as if it were nothing and without any consideration. For someone who drinks wine must do so with careful attention so that he does not become drunk, but this is not the case for someone who drinks water. In this, Eliphaz notes that Job would easily fall into evil, just as a man drinks water easily and readily.

After Eliphaz had censured Job for provoking God to an argument and presuming his own justice, he now censures him for the words he used. He especially focuses on Job’s statements, “Do you think of me as your enemy? Do you show your power against the leaf which is driven by the wind?” (Job 13:24–25) and “You have placed my feet in fetters” (Job 13:27).

First, he gets his attention, saying, “I will show you,” what you were asking from God, “listen to me” carefully. He explains how he can do this, saying next, “what I have seen,” in the discovery of his own intellect, “I will tell you.” He adds that he will not be embarrassed to share what he has heard from others, putting them forward as his authority, because “Wise men confess and do not hide their fathers,” from whom they learned wisdom. It is truly the mark of the ignorant and the proud to attribute to themselves what they have learned from others.

He then shows why these fathers should not be hidden, because of their dignity, saying, “The earth has been given to men alone.” This statement can be related interchangeably and in the same sense either to the wise men or to their fathers, whom he also wishes to be understood as wise. The earth is said to have been given only to wise men because they are lords of earthly goods, in that they use them only for their own good. Foolish men, however, use them to their own harm, as Wisdom says, “Creatures were made as a snare to the feet of the foolish” . To show the dignity of these men, he says, “and the stranger will not tread their ground,” because those who are strangers to wisdom cannot be numbered among the fellowship of the wise. Or, it could mean that the wise are not conquered by foreigners, for a stranger is said to tread on those who are defeated and made subject to a foreigner's power.

After getting his listener’s attention, he then tries to answer the arguments Job had used. He understood Job to have said two things: first, that Job was living in anguish and fear, as though God pursued him and laid traps for him, because he said, “Why do you think of me as your enemy?” (Job 13:24) and “Have you observed all my paths?” (Job 13:27). Second, he believed that Job doubted his own ruin when he said, “Do you write bitter things against me and want to consume me for the sins of my youth?” (Job 13:26).

First, then, he argues against the first point, and then against the second in the words, “He will live in desolate cities” (Job 15:28). Therefore, he first reveals the root from which this suspicion arises in Job’s heart: his impiety and his will to do harm. So he says, “For all his days, the evil man is proud,” because he exalts himself against God to harm others. He uses the term “days” to mean not the days of his life, but the days when he has power and prosperity.

But since the will to harm someone comes from the man himself, while the power to harm comes from God, he cannot know how long he will be given the power to carry out his evil will. So he continues, “The number of years of his tyranny is uncertain.” From this uncertainty, suspicion and fear arise. He describes this, saying, “The sound of terror is always in the ear of that man,” since he is threatened by every rumor, thinking some attack is being prepared against him. It is as though he trusts no one. To express this, he adds, “when there is peace, that man suspects plots,” for although no one is plotting against him, he is still terrified of everyone because of his own evil will, by which he is prepared to harm anyone.

Now, when someone fears some of his enemies, he can hope to escape with the help of his friends, even if he is defeated for a time. But one who trusts no one and fears everyone cannot hope for deliverance after he is oppressed. So he next says, “He does not believe that he can return from darkness to light,” from a state of adversity to prosperity, “when he sees the sword everywhere around him,” when he sees enemies threatening him on all sides. He says this especially to answer what Job had said: “I, who am consumed by rot and like a garment eaten by a moth” (Job 13:28). Eliphaz understood by this that Job was in despair of being delivered.

Although a tyrant fears all strangers, he can still sometimes trust his family or household members with whom he lives securely. But when his evil is beyond all measure, he fears even them. So the text continues, “When he goes to look for bread, he knows that the day of darkness is at hand,” that is, the day of death. This is as if to say: Not only is he suspicious of plots in his dealings with outsiders, but he is also suspicious in his dealings with his household in eating, drinking, and the like. He believes that death is being prepared for him by them. Since he has such fears of everyone, he does not rest but is always plotting against those whom he fears. Therefore, the occasion for fear is ever multiplied for him, and so he says, “Tribulation will terrify him,” threatening him through the actions of others, “and anguish wall him in,” because he fears danger from every quarter, “like a king who is prepared for battle.” A king prepared for battle is so anguished by the fear that he will lose that he still tries to destroy his enemies.

He next shows why the tyrannical, evil man suffers such great misery caused by fear, saying, “For truly he extended his hand against God,” by acting against God, “and he strengthened himself against the Almighty,” because he used the power given to him against God. He shows how Job has acted against God, saying, “He ran against him with his head erect,” that is, proudly. For a man resists God, whom he ought to serve in humility, most of all through pride. Sirach agrees with this: “The proud man begins by falling away from God” . Just as one who loves God is said to run in His ways because of his willingness to serve Him, so the proud man is said to run against God because of his arrogant spirit.

Pride usually arises from an abundance of temporal goods, and so the text continues, “he has a fat neck,” by acting proudly against God. For fat is caused by an abundance of humors and so is an image for an abundance of temporal goods. Just as humility is the first stage of wisdom, so pride is an obstacle to it, and so the text continues, “Thick darkness covered his face,” because the covering of his face is an image for an impediment to knowledge. Not only does Job have the opulence which causes pride, but this extends even to his companions, and so the text continues, “lard hangs from his sides.” By all these expressions, he intends to show that opulence made Job fall into the pride that makes him stand against God and act tyrannically against other men. Therefore, he came to the suspicion that he sees God as his adversary and a conspirator.

After Eliphaz shows the anxieties and fear the wicked man suffers even in a state of prosperity, he now speaks about the bitter things that consume him when he is cast down into adversity. This is to answer Job’s statement, “Do you write bitter things against me and make me inherit the iniquities of my youth?” (Job 13:26).

Eliphaz presents these bitter things in order:

1. Becoming a fugitive. Fugitives normally seek hidden and uninhabited places, so Eliphaz says, “He will live in desolate cities and in deserted houses which have been turned into mounds of earth.” These are the kinds of places where fugitives usually take refuge.
2. Being despoiled of his riches. Thus, he says, “He will not become wealthy” by acquiring new riches, “nor will he preserve his substance” by retaining the riches he has already acquired.
3. The impossibility of recovering his wealth. So Eliphaz says, “nor will he put down his roots in the earth.” If a tree is uprooted and replanted, it recovers its strength if it can put down its root into the earth. But if it cannot, it cannot grow strong again. To explain this, he says, “He will not emerge from the darkness,” that is, from the state of adversity. He gives the reason for not returning to the light when he says, “a flame will dry his branches.” There is still hope of reviving an uprooted tree as long as its branches remain green, because they can be grafted and replanted. But if the branches are burned up, no hope of reviving it remains. A man’s branches are his sons and other relatives, through whom a man sometimes rises again from adversity. But Job’s sons had been killed and his household had perished. He himself had even been afflicted with illness, which Eliphaz addresses, continuing, “and will be carried away by the breath of his mouth”—that is, by his proud words. He cannot hope for any renewal, not even from God, whom pride of words offends. So he says, “Let him not trust in vain, deceived that he is to be redeemed by some price,” for he must be freed from tribulation by some help.
4. The shortness of his life. So he then says, “He will perish before his days are complete,” since he will die before his time is finished, “and his hands will wither,” for his sons and his relations will fail. Then he gives an example: “His grapes will be blighted just like the vineyard in first flower.” This blighting usually results from frost, by which he means external persecution. “And as the olive lets its flowers fall,” which usually happens from some internal cause, here meaning that the one who suffers deserves the adversity.

Regarding this merit, he says, “what the hypocrite collects is sterile,” because what is gathered by the hypocrite bears no fruit, “and fire will devour the tents of those who freely accept gifts.” For things acquired wickedly are sometimes easily destroyed according to divine judgment. Eliphaz says this to highlight Job’s supposed theft and hypocrisy, as though adversity had befallen him because of his sins.

He adds a third sin: deceit. The text continues, “He conceived pain,” because he premeditated in his heart the kind of pain he would inflict on others. The conception of this pain has brought forth unjustly inflicted harm, and so the text continues, “and given birth to evil.” As a consequence, Eliphaz adds the manner in which he accomplished this, saying, “and his womb prepares evil intent.” Truly, it is a hypocrite’s nature to plot harm against others by deceit, not openly. By the term “womb,” he means the heart, where spiritual conceptions take place in the same way that physical conceptions take place in the womb.