Thomas Aquinas Commentary Job 17:10-16

"But as for you all, come on now again; And I shall not find a wise man among you. My days are past, my purposes are broken off, Even the thoughts of my heart. They change the night into day: The light, [say they], is near unto the darkness. If I look for Sheol as my house; If I have spread my couch in the darkness; If I have said to corruption, Thou art my father; To the worm, [Thou art] my mother, and my sister; Where then is my hope? And as for my hope, who shall see it? It shall go down to the bars of Sheol, When once there is rest in the dust." — Job 17:10-16 (ASV)

After refuting Eliphaz's opinion, Job now gathers his previous points to demonstrate his thesis. First, he gets their attention by saying, "Therefore," meaning, "since what I have said is true." He then commands, "all of you"—that is, you and your fathers who have arrayed yourselves against me—"turn" from your errors "and come" to consider the truth. Once you have ascertained the truth, it will be clear how far you are from true wisdom. Therefore, he says, "and I will not find one wise man among you." He says this to curb Eliphaz's earlier boast, when he said, "what do you know that we do not" (Job 15:9 and following) and "Wise men know what they have learned from their father" (Job 15:18 and following).

Here, Job intends to show the foolishness of his friends for promising him the consolation of temporal prosperity (Job 5:15; Job 8:6; Job 11:17). Against their promises, he first argues that his life has already largely passed, saying, "my days have passed away." He then shows the evils he suffers, continuing, "my thoughts have been utterly scattered," because they are prevented from the quiet contemplation of wisdom by the bitterness of his bodily pain. He adds, "they torture my heart," because his thoughts are drawn away from the sweet contemplation of truth toward the bitterness that torments his heart.

This torment of the heart was not even interrupted by the night, which is the time set aside for rest. Therefore, he says, "They have turned night into day," because his painful reflections caused him to spend the night in sleeplessness, as if it were day. It is more painful to lose sleep at night than during the day, because during the day a person's soul is lightened by human company and the sight of daylight. Thus, as long as the night was sleepless for him, he longed for it to end quickly. He explains this by saying, "I again hope for the light after the darkness," meaning that he hopes for the light of day to return after the darkness of night.

Since Eliphaz had invited him to patiently endure all his adversities in expectation of a future reward, Job, in response, shows what seems to be left for him in the future regarding temporal things. He says, "If I am patient"—that is, if I patiently bear all these pains—nothing remains for me but the dwelling of the grave. He expresses this by saying, "my home is in the lower regions." He calls the grave "the lower regions" (Latin: infernus) according to the opinion of those he is arguing against. They did not believe that a person's soul survives after death, but that only the body remains in the grave, which they called the lower regions because it was located in the depths of the earth.

A person lying in the grave experiences darkness, both from the lack of sensation and the absence of external light, and so Job says, "In darkness I have arranged my couch." Just as a person is related to their parents at birth, so after death, lying in the grave, they are dissolved into corruption and maggots born from their body. Therefore, he says, "I have said to corruption: You are my father; and to the maggots, you are my mother, and my sister." It is as if to say: In the grave, I will have a relationship with no temporal thing other than corruption and maggots.

From this, he draws an absurd conclusion, asking, "Where then now is my hope?" It is as if to say: If I were to find my consolation in the expectation of temporal prosperity, my hope would be in vain. He then draws an even more absurd conclusion, asking, "and who appreciates my suffering?" He means that even though he endures patiently, nothing remains for him but the grave and its darkness, corruption, and maggots. If, then, his patience was meant to earn temporal goods from God, it would imply that God does not regard his patience—which is a denial of His providence.

To counter the potential objection that God might grant him temporal prosperity even in the grave, he says, almost jeeringly, "Into the last depths of hell will all of my possessions descend." This means that everything he has will be lowered into the grave, which is all that is left for him. He then asks, "Do you think that at least there I will have rest?" In other words: Should I expect earthly prosperity even in the grave? This is clearly ridiculous.