Thomas Aquinas Commentary Job 21:22-34

"Shall any teach God knowledge, Seeing he judgeth those that are high? One dieth in his full strength, Being wholly at ease and quiet: His pails are full of milk, And the marrow of his bones is moistened. And another dieth in bitterness of soul, And never tasteth of good. They lie down alike in the dust, And the worm covereth them. Behold, I know your thoughts, And the devices wherewith ye would wrong me. For ye say, Where is the house of the prince? And where is the tent wherein the wicked dwelt? Have ye not asked wayfaring men? And do ye not know their evidences, That the evil man is reserved to the day of calamity? That they are led forth to the day of wrath? Who shall declare his way to his face? And who shall repay him what he hath done? Yet shall he be borne to the grave, And men shall keep watch over the tomb. The clods of the valley shall be sweet unto him, And all men shall draw after him, As there were innumerable before him. How then comfort ye me in vain, Seeing in your answers there remaineth [only] falsehood?" — Job 21:22-34 (ASV)

Since Job had previously established that evil men sometimes experience prosperity and at other times adversity in this life, which causes doubt, he now seeks to resolve this uncertainty. First, he shows that this situation does not arise from a defect in divine knowledge, as if the evil of those to whom God gives prosperity escapes His notice. So he says, “Will anyone teach God knowledge?” as if to say: God does not need anyone's instruction about the merits of people to know to whom He should give prosperity and to whom He should give adversity.

His next statement, “Who judges the eminent,” can be interpreted in two ways. One interpretation is that God does not need anyone's instruction to be able to judge the great—that is, those who prosper in this world—just as human judges need to be instructed by witnesses about the merits of those they are judging. Alternatively, this text can be understood as a confirmation of the preceding idea. The fact that God knows all things and does not need anyone's instruction is clear because He judges people, no matter how great they are. No one judges things of which he is ignorant, so it is impossible that knowledge of anyone, no matter how great, could escape His notice.

Therefore, after establishing the sufficiency of divine knowledge, Job introduces a point of doubt that might arise concerning how God governs human beings differently, since some are prosperous until their death while others die in misery. Temporal prosperity consists of several things:

1. In power, about which he says, One man will die strong.
2. In physical health, about which he says, healthy.
3. In a wealth of external things, about which he says, rich.
4. In the successful outcome of one's plans and works, about which he says, and fortunate.

For someone is considered truly fortunate in the eyes of others when everything succeeds according to his desire. To show that this man’s riches are not merely sufficient but superabundant, Job says, His bowels are full of fat, for fat is produced by an overabundance of food. Again, he shows this man's power is based on strong supports, saying, and his bones are nourished with marrow, for bones signify strength, and their strength is supported by the nourishment of the marrow.

Job then speaks about the adversity of other men, saying, Another dies in the bitterness of his soul. This refers to the internal pains that people experience either from physical harm or from unfortunate events. He adds, without any riches, to show a lack of external things. Yet even though people with equal merits are treated so differently in life, their final state is the same after death. For their bodies are treated equally after death, so Job says, And yet they will sleep in the dust in the same way, because they will be buried in the earth equally, and worms will cover them, for their bodies will decay in the same way. Therefore, it is clear that no reason for the difference between people—based on prosperity or adversity—can be proven from the different states of their bodies after death.

Job's friends held the opinion that the reason for this difference was based on a diversity of merits. This contradicts the evidence of experience, which shows that some evil people prosper while others suffer adversity. So, Job quotes their opinion with scorn, as if it were already disproven, saying, Certainly I know your thoughts—by which they rashly condemned him—and opinions, spoken in outward words, which are evil against me. He means, “You accuse me of unjust impiety based on the adversities I suffer.” He continues, For you say: Where is the house of the leader? Where are the tents of the wicked? as if to say: “You and your family have fallen from such great prominence, just as the tents of evil men usually fall.”

After demonstrating the error of their opinion, Job proceeds to establish the truth. He prefaces this by stating that what he is about to say is not new but is commonly held by most people. He says, therefore, Ask every passerby, as if to say: “I do not have to search diligently for a witness, since one can be found in anyone passing on the street.” Alternatively, the “passersby” could refer to those who treat this life not as an end but as a means to an end. He continues, and you will know that he thinks the same thing that I am about to tell you. Therefore, you are without excuse for separating yourselves from the truth that is commonly held by all.

He then explains this truth, saying, that the wicked man is spared for the day of perdition. This means that the reason the wicked man is not punished but prospers in this life is that his punishment is reserved for another time, when he will be punished more severely. So he says, and he is brought to the day of fury. Since fury is aroused anger, the word “fury” here denotes a harsher vengeance.

Job shows why the wicked man is saved for the day of perdition and fury, asking, Who will blame him for his conduct in his presence? And who can repay him for what he did? Here, two reasons are given. The first is that the wicked man has so little wisdom that he does not even learn from punishments to recognize his own fault; instead, he complains in the midst of his afflictions as if he were punished unjustly. This is the meaning of the question, Who will blame him in his presence? so that he recognizes his conduct—his evil way. The second reason is that the punishments of this life are not sufficient for such great guilt, because if they are harsh, they kill the sinner too quickly. This is what Job means by asking, and who can repay him for what he did in this life?

So, Job concludes that this “day of perdition” and “fury” is not in this life but after death. For he then says, He himself will be led to the grave, after he has died. Yet he will live on in his soul, which Job expresses by saying, and he will keep vigil in the gathering of the dead. Although he seems to sleep in the death of his body, he will still be awake through the life of his soul. Lest it seem that he passes into joy after death, Job says, He was pleasant to the gravel of Cocytus (of the lower world).

Since Job had invoked the common person (“passerby”) as his witness, he presents the truth about the punishment of the wicked after death under the guise of a commonly told myth. This myth holds that in hell, among other things, there was a river called the Cocytus (a word translated as “lamentation”), to which the souls of evil men are led. Just as other rivers drag gravel along, so that river, in a sense, carries along the souls of evil men. Thus, the evil man is said to be pleasant to the gravel of Cocytus because his companionship was welcome to other evil men, and so he will have a place among the wicked who are in lamentation. Job then describes what this river brings to people, saying it is one which drags all men after it, because all people die in some kind of mourning. What comes after death is like the end of that river, whose beginning is what is done in this life. He then says, and those before it are without number, because grief seizes most people even in this life.

So, Job has explained his idea in a gradual order. First, as shown in Chapter 19:25, he demonstrated that the hope of the just is directed toward the reward of the future life. Here, he expresses the view that punishment is reserved for the wicked after death. Therefore, having addressed both sides and refuted the opinion of his adversaries, he says, How can you then console me in vain by promising temporal prosperity, when your answer has been shown to be contrary to the truth? He means that their answer—that rewards and punishments are assigned to people in this life—has been disproven in many ways.