Thomas Aquinas Commentary Job 21:1-21

"Then Job answered and said, Hear diligently my speech; And let this be your consolations. Suffer me, and I also will speak; And after that I have spoken, mock on. As for me, is my complaint to man? And why should I not be impatient? Mark me, and be astonished, And lay your hand upon your mouth. Even when I remember I am troubled, And horror taketh hold on my flesh. Wherefore do the wicked live, Become old, yea, wax mighty in power? Their seed is established with them in their sight, And their offspring before their eyes. Their houses are safe from fear, Neither is the rod of God upon them. Their bull gendereth, and faileth not; Their cow calveth, and casteth not her calf. They send forth their little ones like a flock, And their children dance. They sing to the timbrel and harp, And rejoice at the sound of the pipe. They spend their days in prosperity, And in a moment they go down to Sheol. And they say unto God, Depart from us; For we desire not the knowledge of thy ways. What is the Almighty, that we should serve him? And what profit should we have, if we pray unto him? Lo, their prosperity is not in their hand: The counsel of the wicked is far from me. How oft is it that the lamp of the wicked is put out? That their calamity cometh upon them? That [God] distributeth sorrows in his anger? That they are as stubble before the wind, And as chaff that the storm carrieth away? [Ye say], God layeth up his iniquity for his children. Let him recompense it unto himself, that he may know it: Let his own eyes see his destruction, And let him drink of the wrath of the Almighty. For what careth he for his house after him, When the number of his months is cut off?" — Job 21:1-21 (ASV)

In the previous chapter, Zophar had already conceded, at least in part, to Job's opinion. He had affirmed that sins were punished after death, although he still held to his own view that sins were also punished temporally in this life. For this reason, Job has some hope of converting them completely to the true opinion. He therefore humbly invites his friends to pay attention, saying, “Listen, I beg you, to my words.”

Since until now they had heard his words with some mockery, he then says, “and repent,” for having mocked his words or contradicted the truth. Since they have all now spoken twice, he says, “Bear with me so that I may speak,” in order to answer the points that were last presented. To prevent them from condemning him before they have heard him, he says, “and after my words, if you think it is right, laugh.” He means: If you judge my opinion to be laughable, first listen to my answer. If that does not satisfy you, you will be able to laugh at me afterward with more justification.

So that his words would not be automatically condemned, he shows that he is about to speak on the great matters of divine judgment, not human ones. Thus he asks, “Is my dispute against a man, that I should not be rightly distressed?” He means: If the intention of my argument were to question whether a man afflicted me justly or unjustly, I would have no reason to be sad, however it happened. But my intention is to inquire how this has happened by the just judgment of God.

p>

Since this discussion is about a great matter, one should listen attentively, and so he says, “Pay attention to me.” It should not be listened to lightly or with scorn, but with dignity and amazement, so he says, “Be astonished.” It should also be heard in silence and without murmuring, so he says, “and put your finger over your mouth.”

Lest he seem to be speaking boastfully, as if honoring his own authority, he shows that he too is awestruck by the profound nature of the question. He says, “When I call this to mind, even I am amazed,” fearing that he might be unfaithful to the truth in any respect on such a great question, or speak irreverently of divine judgments. That fear does not stop in the mind but extends even to the flesh, and so he says, “and trembling invades my flesh,” for even the flesh is affected by a violent passion of the soul.

Since these preliminary remarks were sufficient to call the others to attention, he proceeds to the question. Since Zophar had said (Job 20:5) that the prosperity of evil men, if it happens, ends in a brief time and is changed into evil for them, Job therefore immediately refutes this, saying, “Why, then, do the wicked live” a long time? As if to say: If the evil man flies away like a bird or passes quickly like a vision in the night (Job 20:8), why do many evil men have a very long life? In the same way, if “the joy of the hypocrite is like a speck” (Job 20:5) and his ascent is quickly thrown down, why “are they lifted up”—that is, promoted to honors? Likewise, if he vomits the riches which he devoured (Job 20:15), why are they “secure in their riches,” and why are their riches maintained for them? Also, against Zophar’s statement, “His sons will be reduced to poverty” (Job 20:10), Job says, “Their offspring endure in their presence,” meaning their sons endure while they are watching. He then says the same thing about other relatives: “the company of their relatives and descendants endure in their sight.” By this he shows a double prosperity: those closest to them are not taken away in death (which is what he means by “endures”), nor are they removed far from him by exile or something similar (which is what he means by “in their presence” and “in their sight”).

He then elaborates on the prosperity of the evil men already discussed. First, concerning the men themselves, he begins with their immunity from harm, saying, “Their homes”—their families and the necessities of life—“are safe” from enemy assault “and peaceful,” without internal dissension. They are also immune from the divine scourge, and with respect to this he adds, the rod of God is not on them, because they are not corrected for their sins in this life.

He then speaks about the increase of their goods, since their possessions are not barren, nor are they deprived of their fruit. He clearly shows this with the example of the “ox,” for the ancients highly valued oxen for use in agriculture. Thus he says, “Their ox” (that is, their oxen) “breeds,” because there is no sterility. Conception comes first in the fertilization of animals. Second is the formation of the conceived fetus in the womb and its gestation to term, which is hindered by miscarriage; regarding this, he says, “and has not miscarried.” Third is birth, and on this he says, “the cow has calved.” (The names ox and cow here mean the same thing, and he uses both, either for harmonious phrasing or for the sake of the poetic meter.) Fourth is the raising of the offspring, and on this he says, “and she has not been deprived of her young” by some premature death.

Consequently, he speaks about the prosperity of their children. First, he notes the great number of their offspring, saying, “They have come forth”—that is, walking in the streets and not cut off by death—“Their little ones like flocks,” in their great number and mutual harmony. Second, he notes their well-being, saying, “and their young dance in play,” as though they were not suffering from any illnesses. Third, he discusses their education, which for the ancients included musical instruction. So he says, “They play the tambourine and harp and they enjoy the sound of the organ,” for they are taught both to play music well and to judge competently how others play.

To answer the objection that their prosperity lasts only for a little while, or is as brief as a spoken word (Job 20:5), he then says, “They spend their days in prosperity.” As if to say: All the days of their lives are passed in prosperity. In the end, they must experience death, as is the common condition of humanity, but they still suffer this without undue anguish beforehand. So he says, “and they go down to Sheol in a moment” in death. For all the ancients before the coming of the Redeemer, about whom he had spoken above (Job 19:25), descended to the underworld. However, some who were weighed down by adversities in life did not descend to Sheol immediately, but only after suffering many bitter things, as Jacob says in Genesis, Moaning will descend to my son in hell (Genesis 37:35). But those who flourished in prosperity until death descend to Sheol as if in a moment.

One could counter that, besides the many evil things they do, wicked men merit earthly prosperity from God either by loving, knowing, or serving Him in some of their works, or at least by seeking temporal goods from Him. But Job rejects this, explaining that they sin from the intention of the heart, as if from a certain malice. They say to God, Depart from us, which shows a defect in love, and, we do not want a knowledge of your ways, which shows a defect in knowledge through willful ignorance. The ways of God are His precepts and His judgments by which we are directed by Him. They ask, Who is the Almighty that we should serve him? which shows a defect in good works, originating from contempt for God. And they ask, and what profit is it to us if we pray to him? which shows a contempt for prayer because of a defect in hope.

Thus, Job most clearly refuted their opinion, showing that temporal prosperity is not always the reward of virtue, nor is temporal adversity always the punishment of sin. Evil men frequently prosper in this life even though they merit nothing good from God, and they suffer no grave adversities. But someone could counter: If prosperity comes to evil men and they lack adversity, then there is no reason to avoid evil. As Ecclesiastes says, The same things happen to everyone, and so the hearts of the sons of men are filled with evil (Ecclesiastes 9:13). Job, however, answers this objection, saying, “Nevertheless, since their own goods are not in their hands, let their counsel be far from me.”

To understand this, one must know that certain goods are in a man’s hand—that is, in his power—namely, the voluntary works of virtue, of which he is master through his free will, aided by the grace of God. Thus, the virtuous can always retain goods of this kind for as long as they wish, and for this reason, the advice to pursue such goods should be heeded. But the goods of temporal prosperity are not in the power of those who possess them, to acquire or keep them as they will. Therefore, the counsel of those men who hold God and justice in contempt in order to live prosperously should be rejected, for by this means they cannot obtain what they intend and are sometimes instead pressed by adversities.

Consider further that the adversity of an evil man is worse than that of a just man. When the just man suffers temporal adversity, the support of virtue and the consolation of God remain for him, so he is not totally overthrown. But no support remains for evil men once they have lost the temporal goods they sought exclusively. So Job then says that when the lamp of evil men goes out and the deluge comes on them by divine judgment, God apportions the pains of his wrath. That is, God distributes afflictions in a determined measure, caused by His fury. Then, evil men will be like chaff before the wind, which cannot resist the wind because of its lightness, and like ash which the whirlwind drives away, which remains when wood is burned and has no moisture to hold itself together. So also, when adversity comes, wicked men cannot resist it because they lack the support of divine hope and are driven by different thoughts, lacking the moisture of virtue.

After this, Job speaks about adversity in relation to one's sons, saying, God will save the pain of the father for the sons, because the father’s punishment extends to the sons who imitate his evil. This punishment will not be deferred until after the father’s death but will happen while the father is alive and knows it. So Job says, “and when he (God) repays”—that is, when God inflicts the punishment on the sons—“then he (the father) will know.” Thus he says, His eyes will see their destruction, whether in the destruction of his sons or in other kinds of adversity. In this, he will drink of the fury of the Almighty.

For the father’s punishment is that his sons are punished while he lives, not if they are punished after his death. So Job then asks, What difference does it make to him what happens to his house after him? That is, he will not be afflicted by the future misfortunes of his posterity, especially since the sinner is ignorant of this after his death, as Job has already said: Whether his sons will be noble or base, he is ignorant of the fact (Job 14:21). “Or,” he adds, what difference does it make to him if the number of his months is cut in half? He cannot grieve about this in life because he does not know it will happen.