Thomas Aquinas Commentary Job 16

Eliphaz had spoken harshly against Job in his answer, so Job begins his speech by accusing him of providing unfitting consolation. First, because he and his friends frequently repeat the same things, Job says, “I have often heard such things,” as if to say: Your speech is always about the same subject. Although they used different words, they intended to prove the same thing: that Job had fallen into these hardships because of his sins. So he then says, “You are all burdensome counselors.”

The duty of a counselor is to say something that will ease suffering. Therefore, a burdensome counselor is someone who says things that further distress the soul. One could excuse these things if the irritating words were useful and true, or even if they were spoken only briefly. However, someone who uses language calculated to sadden another—falsely, uselessly, and at great length—truly is a burdensome counselor. So Job asks, “When then will these hollow words end?” By this, he shows that they have spent a long time on irritating words. When he says “hollow words,” he shows that they were useless and false because they were without foundation.

He then shows that the dispute is not on equal terms, because Job’s friends spoke without being troubled themselves. Thus, he says, “What trouble is it for you if you speak?” as if to say: You speak for so long in condemning me because you are not troubled by this situation. Job, however, was in agony. To prevent anyone from thinking that their ease in arguing was due to superior knowledge, Job shows that if hardship had not afflicted him, he could speak with the same confidence as his friends. So he says, “I myself could also speak like you,” if I were not weighed down by hardship.

He wishes they could experience what he is feeling, saying, “if only your souls were in my place,” meaning, “if only you suffered the hardship I do.” He does not say this out of hatred or ill will seeking revenge, but to dissuade them from the cruel approach they were using. By exasperating Job with their words, they failed to realize that similar words would be harsh if spoken to them. So he then says, “I too would console you with words,” like those you used to console me, “and I would shake my head over you,” as a sign of compassion or disapproval, just as you censure me. Also, “I would encourage you with my mouth,” so that you would not despair in your impatience, “and I would move my lips” to speak, “and appear to console you,” by pretending to speak from a pity I had for you, just as you are doing to me.

It would be easy for me to speak like this, just as you did, if I were in your condition. But now I am hindered by a pain that neither speech nor silence can take away. So he continues, “But what am I to do? If I speak, my pain will not be stilled, and if I keep silence, it will not go away from me.” There are two kinds of pain. One is interior and is called sadness, which proceeds from the experience of a present evil. The other is external, physical pain, which comes from the separation of something joined together or something similar. The first kind of pain can be taken away by conversation, but not the second.

He then shows that he is speaking of this second pain, which cannot be taken away by words, when he says, “now my pain has oppressed me,” meaning it has hindered me so that I cannot reason as easily or freely as I did before. For when physical pain is violent, the soul’s attention is distracted and hindered from considering intellectual matters. He clarifies that he means bodily pain by adding, “and all my limbs have been reduced to nothing.” This is because all his limbs were infected with sores, as the text says above: Satan afflicted Job with sores which were most repulsive from the sole of his feet to the top of his head (Job 2:7).

The wasting away of my limbs not only causes me physical pain but also bears witness against me. For when Job’s friends saw that he was so covered with ulcers, they charged that he had sinned gravely, because they thought this had happened to him as a punishment for sin. The text continues along these lines: “my wrinkles give testimony against me,” for his body is wrinkled from dehydration as a result of weakness, as also happens in old age. He shows how his wrinkles testify against him when he says, “and the slanderer is raised up against my face, contradicting me.” Eliphaz had slandered him when he said that he had fallen into this weakness because of sin (Job 4:7).

This could also be explained by saying that Job knew through the Holy Spirit that his adversity was brought on by the devil, though God had permitted it. Therefore, whatever he suffered—the loss of goods and children, the sores on his body, or the annoyance caused by his wife and friends—he attributed it all to the devil as the instigator. So he calls him a slanderer who has been raised up against his face, because he understood that his friends were speaking against him at the devil’s instigation. According to this second interpretation, the following verse is clearer: “He has collected his anger against me.” For the devil seems to have collected his complete anger against Job when he attacked him with every kind of harm. He afflicted me not only in the past, but he also threatens me in the future. The text speaks about this, saying, “and he gnashed his teeth against me threateningly.” He uses the imagery of an animal that threatens a person by baring its teeth. He says this because Eliphaz had foretold that evil things would threaten him with death, speaking of the wicked man (Job 15:32). Job, however, understood that the threats pronounced by Eliphaz were directed by the devil, and so he said that the devil had growled at him with his teeth.

But Eliphaz not only used threatening words against him by foretelling evil things, but he also rashly judged his deeds, claiming that he was an evil man (Job 15:20) and a hypocrite (Job 15:34). So Job then says, “My enemy fixed me with frightening eyes.” For one looks at another with kindly eyes when he interprets his deeds in a charitable way, but when he interprets good deeds as evil, then he fixes him with frightening eyes. So he continues, “They spread their jaws about me,” that is, my friends, instigated by my enemy. He interprets this by saying, “they struck my jaw with their reproaches.” For one is said to strike another in the face when he utters a reproach to his face. Job’s friends had uttered many reproaches against him as they rebuked him for many sins. Because the just rejoice in justice when they see sins punished, as Psalm 57:11 says, The just will rejoice at the sight of vengeance, Job’s friends thought themselves just and Job a sinner. So they rejoiced at seeing his punishments, almost as though applauding divine justice. Thus the text continues, “they have contented themselves with my punishments.”

So that no one would think Job believed these punishments were inflicted directly by God—since he had said he was afflicted by an enemy—he continues, “God has confined me with the wicked,” that is, the devil, by handing me over to his power. “He has surrendered me into the hands of evil men,” who afflicted me with words and deeds at the devil’s instigation. Job understood that his trials had been inflicted on him by the devil, but with God’s permission. He explains this with four clear signs.

First, he fell from the greatest prosperity not little by little, as is usual in human affairs, but suddenly. This does not seem to have happened by sudden chance, but only by divine decree. He speaks about this, saying, “I, who was the rich man, suddenly have been ruined.” By saying “rich,” he shows the abundance of his wealth, but by saying “I, the,” he shows the glory of his reputation, for which he was known by everyone.

The second sign is that he was utterly struck down. He refers to this when he says, “he seized the nape of my neck and he broke me in pieces.” He uses the image of a very strong man who seizes a weak man by the back of the neck, breaks it, and so completely takes his life away. For in just this way, it seemed Job had completely lost his prosperity.

The third sign is that he was not oppressed with one hardship, but with many all at once, as was recounted above (Compare to chapters 1 and 2). He expresses this by saying, “He has set me up as his target,” which is set up to be hit by different arrows. Here he describes the great number of his trials using three images. First, he shows that he was wounded externally in his possessions, saying, “He encompassed me about with his spears.” For external things encircle us as something outside of us. Thus, a man is encompassed with the spears of adversity when he loses external goods. Second, he says that he is persecuted internally in the affliction of his own person. He expresses this by saying, “He wounded my loins,” as if to say: I have not only been wounded all around me, but my wounds penetrate even to my inner parts, where I find enjoyment, which are signified by the loins. “The loins” may refer to the place we experience pleasure or the origin of generation, so this reference can also mean his crushed children. Moreover, he expresses the great number of blows by the intensity of the wound when he says, “he did not spare me,” by taking away the hand that struck the blow so that I would not be wounded more deeply. Rather, he wounded me very deeply. He expresses this by saying, “and he poured forth my bowels on the earth,” because he crushed to death all my sons and daughters in one blow. Third, he shows the great number of blows he has suffered in his own person, and so he then says, “he cut me down,” in my own person, “with wound,” that is, with a very grave ulcer, “upon wound,” coupled with the deaths of his children.

The fourth sign is that he can apply no cure to or resistance against his tribulation because it proceeded from divine providence, reflecting what he said already: The God whose anger none can resist... (Job 9:13). He expresses this by saying, “he has seized me like a giant,” whom a weak man cannot resist because of his great strength. All these signs can be understood as referring either to God who confined him or, in a better sense, to the evil one, the devil, with whom he was confined.

Job recalls all these things about the greatness of his hardship to show that he cannot be the equal of his friends with whom he is arguing, because they were free from such adversities. However, Eliphaz had accused him of pride, saying, “Why do you puff up your heart? and so on” (Job 15:12 and following). This pride would be even more detestable given the severe hardships by which it could have been corrected, as Psalm 34:16 says of some, They were dissipated and not filled with remorse.

Consequently, after describing his hardships, he now shows his humiliation. First, regarding external dress, he says, “I stitched a sack over my skin,” for such a garment is a sign of humility, as we read about the Ninevites (Jonah 3:5). One wears ashes for the same reason: to show one’s frailty, as Abraham said in Genesis 18:27, I will speak to my God, since I am dust and ashes. And so he continues, “I have covered my flesh with ashes.” For the text said above that he sat “in a dung heap” (Job 2:8) as a sign of humility. Second, he shows his humility by his great weeping. He uses two signs. First, the swelling of his face, when he says, “My face was puffed up from weeping,” because the great volume of tears ascends to the head and swells the face of the weeper. Second, he speaks of his vision being obscured, saying, “My eyelids are misty” from weeping, for the flow of moisture literally impedes one's sight.

From what he has said about the severity of his hardship and the depth of his humiliation, one might assume that he had, in fact, recognized the gravity of his sins and was humbling himself in repentance, thinking he had been afflicted for them. Eliphaz wanted to make this clear, saying, Look among his holy ones; no one is unchangeable (Job 15:15). To remove this suspicion, Job says, “I suffered these things without iniquity in my hand.” By this, he excludes from himself sins of commission. He then adds, “because I wanted my prayers to God to be pure,” to exclude from himself the sins of lukewarmness and omission. In this, he seems to answer what Zophar said before: If you take away the evil which is on your hand, then you will be able to raise your hands without stain (Job 11:14).

However, to disprove Job’s innocence, Eliphaz had already twice used the argument based on the frailty of earthly nature. He had said, Even those who serve him are not firm, how much more those who dwell in houses of clay (Job 4:18–19). He later repeated the same thing, saying, The heavens are not clean in his sight, how much more abominable and useless is man (Job 15:15). To reject this, Job says, “Earth, do not cover over my blood,” understanding by “blood” the affliction of his body. Here, blood would be covered over if it were shed for a crime, for then it would have no glory. It would be covered over by the earth if, by the accusation of earthly frailty, one could assume a prior fault.

If his blood was shed without fault, he had a just complaint against the one who shed it, as Genesis 4:10 says, Behold the voice of your brother’s blood cries to me from the earth. This cry would go unnoticed if his complaint seemed unjust, like that of one who had been punished for some fault. So he says, “Nor let my cry find a hiding place in you,” so that I would not seem, from the frailty of the earthly condition, to complain unjustly, as though I were punished for faults. It is true that it is difficult for a person, in his earthly condition, to act without the evil of mortal sin, yet it is not impossible with the help of God’s grace. God is also a witness to our interior purity. Thus, Job then says, “For behold my witness is in heaven.” The earth cannot cover over his blood because the witness of heaven is greater than any presumption based on the frailty of earth. This witness of heaven is appropriate because it investigates even the secret intention of the conscience. And so he then says, “my conscience is above,” as if to say: My cry cannot find a place to hide on the earth below, because my conscience is known in heaven.

After Job described the greatness of his adversity (Job 16:14), his humility (Job 16:16), and his innocence (Job 16:18), he proceeds to rebuke the empty comfort his friends repeatedly offered him regarding the hope of recovering temporal prosperity. As Eliphaz said previously, Is it a great thing for God to console you? (Job 15:11 and following).

Job intends to show the worthless nature of this comfort, beginning with the words, “My wordy friends,” as if to say, “They promise me empty words.” His comfort is not in recovering temporal goods but in attaining the enjoyment of God. Expressing this, he says, my eye pours out for God; that is, it weeps because of a desire for God, according to the sentiment in Psalm 41:4: My tears have been for me my bread by night by day, when I hear it said daily, where is your God?

To explain what he had said, he continues, and would that man were so judged by God as the son of a man is judged by his colleague. For a man is judged by his colleague when they are actually present to one another and can express their arguments to each other. Therefore, Job desired to be in God's presence to understand the reasons for the divine works and judgments, in which human happiness consists.

His comfort was in this hope, not in the empty words of his friends who promised the recovery of temporal prosperity. To show the futility of this promise, he adds, Behold! The short years pass away, because, as he had said before, man lives for a short time (Job 14:1). A great part of Job’s life had already passed, and so few years remained for him. Even if he were to experience prosperity, it would not bring him much comfort because of its short duration.

Some people believed that after death, a person returned to the course of this present life. It might therefore seem possible for Job to be comforted by the hope of recovering earthly prosperity, at least in that future life. To reject this idea, he then says, and I walk a path by which I will not return. For in this mortal life, a person moves toward death through the process of aging, and there can be no repetition in this process, such that a person would become a boy once again and walk through all the stages of life anew.