Thomas Aquinas Commentary Job 24

In the preceding chapter, Job argued that he had not been punished because of wickedness, as Eliphaz had asserted (Job 22:5). Now, he wants to show clearly that he is not suggesting that God has no concern for human affairs, as Eliphaz had also charged (Job 22:12). Consider that some people proposed that God lacks knowledge and concern for human affairs because of His distance from us. They believed that just as we are unable to know Him because of such a distance, so He does not have the power to know us.

But Job rejects this, first saying, The times have not been hidden from the Almighty. It is as if to say: Although the Almighty exists outside the changing nature of time, He still knows the course of time. However, those who live in time know Him in a way that still leaves them unable to grasp the nature of His eternity. Thus, he says, but those who know him—that is, people in time who have some knowledge of Him, whether by natural reason, faith, or the light of higher wisdom—are ignorant about his days. They are unable to comprehend Him in the manner of His eternity.

Since he had said that the course of temporal things was not unknown to God, he consequently shows how God judges temporal things. He begins by listing the various sins of men, some of whom deceitfully harm others. So he says, Some have changed boundaries, by secretly moving property lines. They have done similar things with animals that are pastured in flocks. So he says, they rob flocks of others and pastured them as their own.

He highlights the severity of their sin based on the condition of the people they injure. People are usually compassionate toward orphans because of their youthful vulnerability and lack of parents. Against this, he says, They have stolen the ass of the orphans, causing it to wander off so they might steal it with no compassion for the orphans. Similarly, people often have pity on widows because of their vulnerability and because they are deprived of the comfort of husbands. But against this, he says, and they take the widow’s ox as a deposit, burdening her under some pretense of justice. Men also usually pity the poor who lack the means to survive, but against this he says, They utterly ruined the road of the poor, for they took from them the ability to obtain necessities by harassing them in many ways. Also, men usually refrain from harming those who do no harm to anyone but live peaceably with others. Against this he says, and they oppressed the gentle of the earth at the same time, who did not know how to either provoke others or be provoked themselves.

However, there are some who do not harm others deceitfully like those already described, but through open violence. These men rush to do evil like people who are not restrained by the discipline of the law. He says about these men, Others like the wild asses in the desert—the wild donkeys of the wilderness who are not domesticated for human service—go forth to their work, to robbery, like one who is passionate about his trade. So he says, and they keep their eyes open for plunder to snatch it, and they prepare bread for their children from what they have stolen.

Then he specifies the type of plunder, saying, They reap a field which is not their own, for they reap another’s harvest by violence. And they glean the vine of someone whom they overcame by force, since they first oppress someone in order to steal his goods more freely. They take away not only external possessions by violence, but also those goods which have already been taken for keeping the body warm. So he then says, They send men away naked taking away their garments, because they leave them nothing. He adds the afflictions they suffer from nakedness to further emphasize the sin of their theft, saying, and they have no covering in the cold.

This might be somewhat tolerable if they could relieve their nakedness in some other way. But clothes are necessary not only to keep warm against the cold but also as a protection against the rain. Thus, those left naked by thieves must not only be afflicted by the cold but also get soaked by the rain. He expresses this, saying, they are soaked by the rain of the mountains. Men often flee to mountainous places, which are more fortified, from the fear of other thieves or enemies. There the rains are more frequent and severe because of the nature of the climate, and naked men especially suffer. Moreover, there is some protection for nakedness if the one who lacks the covering of clothes at least has the cover of a house. But against this he says, and without any cover, either of clothing or of a house, they cling to the rocks, because they hide in the stone caves one finds in mountainous regions.

He further highlights their sin based on the condition of the destitute people whom they burden, and so he adds, They show their power in robbing orphans, whom one should have supported instead, and despoiled the poor crowd, whom they should have assisted instead. This would be somewhat tolerable if they wanted to take things from people who at least had enough. Thus, he continues increasing their evils, saying, From the naked, those having no clothes, from those going about without any clothes—who from extreme need must even go out in public naked, which pertains to a great lack of clothing. To show that they also suffered a lack of food, he says, and from the hungry. They cannot take anything of great value from these men, but they are not ashamed to steal what little they have. So he then says, they have stolen the ears of wheat. It is as if to say: They have not taken from them a harvest, which they do not have, but some small ears of grain which they had collected for themselves.

If, perhaps, the poor seem to have a surplus in anything, the wicked take that away, not thinking what deep poverty they suffer in other things. So he says, Among these accumulations of produce, they have taken a siesta, for they have rested at noon as though gorged on the goods of others, and are thirsty even though they have tread the wine presses, who immediately after the gathering of the grapes have little wine. Not only do they plunder people’s external possessions, but they also harm them personally. So he says, In the cities they made men groan, since when some men have been injured, many of the citizens are disturbed. The very ones who have been injured wail, and so he says, and the souls of the wounded will cry out, and God—from whom nothing is hidden of what is done in time—does not allow them to escape unpunished. This would not be the case if He had no concern for human affairs.

He now shows the reason why God does not allow this to go unpunished: because they did not sin from ignorance, but from malice. As a result of this malice, they hate wisdom because it condemns their sins. So he says, These were those who rebelled against the light, by intentionally doing what is against what the light of reason teaches them. However, as wisdom takes possession of those who desire her , so she flees from those who resist her. And so he says, they did not know her ways; that is, because they have a sense corrupted by malice, they cannot recognize the actions of wisdom. Or, They did not know in that they have not approved and have not wanted to try the commandments of wisdom. He shows their lack of repentance when he then says, nor did they return along its paths. For certainly those who return along the paths of wisdom are those who, although they rebelled against wisdom by sinning, still come back to wisdom by repentance.

As a sign that they resist the spiritual light of wisdom, he says that, loving darkness, they even hate physical light, according to John: Everyone who does evil hates the light (John 3:20). So he continues here, At the first light of morning, the murderer rises and kills the poor and needy, since at that hour there is usually no one on the street. But some poor men, driven by necessity, start their work early, and thieves lie in ambush for them along the way. To show that to burgle houses they need more darkness, he says, and in the night he will be like a thief, robbing houses, for it would not be safe for him to do this in the early hours of the morning, because then men begin to wake up.

He shows the same thing to be true for the adulterer, saying, The eye of the adulterer, who spies on another’s bed, watches for the darkness so that he cannot be caught. And so he says, saying: No one will see me; that is, he watches in the dark so that he will not be seen by anyone. As if the cover of night were not enough for him, he employs still other methods of concealment, and so he says, and he will cover his face, by changing his clothes in some way. Just as he watches for darkness to begin his deed, so also he does the deed in darkness. And so he then says, They steal through houses in the dark, removing any obstacles by any kind of fraud and violence, as they have agreed the day before—the adulterer and the adulteress—and they are ignorant of the light, because they abandon themselves to the complete execution of the evil deed.

If suddenly, as if unprepared, because the time seems short to them when they are occupied in fleshly pleasure, the dawn should appear, which is the beginning of daylight, they think of it as the shadow of death. That is, they think it is as hateful as the shadow of death when they see that they can no longer continue their immoral activities. For men are usually hindered in their actions in two ways: one, when they do not foresee the outcome of a situation, and another, when they have a weakness in their resolve. But the adulterers, on the contrary, spurred on by lust, first throw themselves into dangers without consideration, even though they do not know what will follow. To make this clear he says, And so in the darkness, in doubtful and dark circumstances, as though in the light, in clear circumstances, they walk, or proceed.

Second, they put great faith in a small and frail thing, and so he says, he, the adulterer, is light on the surface of the waters. It is as if to say: He moves so lightly that it seems to him that he can pursue his own will as though he were sailing on calm seas. Or one can also explain the literal sense, they walk in darkness as in light, in that both the adulterer and the adulteress love to do their works in the dark. The phrase which he adds, he is light on the surface of the water, refers especially to the adulterer who believes that because of the drive of his lust he can pass lightly even over water—that is, over any difficulty or adversity whatsoever—to arrive at the enjoyment of the thing he seeks.

After describing the different kinds of sin in detail, he then speaks about their punishment. First, he speaks about the punishment in the present life when he says, Cursed be his lot on the earth. Each one’s lot seems to be what he desires as the highest good. The sinner sets up his ultimate end in earthly things as his lot, according to Wisdom, This is our portion and this is our lot . This lot has been cursed because the goods of this world, which he uses badly, turn to evil for him. He shows this clearly when he says, nor let him walk on the road of the vineyards.

Roads in vineyards are usually shady and consequently cool. Vines even require a moderately cool place, for they are destroyed by ice in places that are too cold, and in places that are exceedingly hot they are scorched by the heat. The evil man does not walk on the road of the vineyards because he does not use the things of this world moderately, but sometimes he goes aside to one extreme, sometimes to another. To express this he then says, let him pass over to great heat from freezing waters, as though changing from one vice to a contrary vice because he does not remain in the middle path of virtue. All wicked men suffer this punishment because, as Augustine says in the Confessions, “the inordinate soul is a punishment unto itself.”

He next places the punishment which will come after death when he then says, and his sin to hell. By this he means: His portion is not only cursed on earth when he uses the things of the world immoderately, but he will also suffer the punishments for this in hell. One can also refer these punishments to the text, he passes to great heat from freezing waters, because in hell there is no moderate temperature. Lest anyone believe that those punishments will end through the mercy of God, he adds, the mercy of God, let it forget him; the sinner condemned to hell will never be freed from there.

He shows what sort of punishment this is, saying, let his sweetness become a worm, for the pleasure of the sinner will be changed for him into a worm, which is the remorse of conscience about which the last chapter of Isaiah speaks: Their worm will not die (Isaiah 66:24). So he continues, addressing the endless character of this punishment, let him not be in remembrance. That is, let him be so totally abandoned by God without hope of being freed, as though God had forgotten him. He makes a comparison when he says, but let him be cut down like a tree which bears no fruit. For a tree which does not bear good fruit will be cut down and burned (Matthew 3:10), as we read in Matthew, whereas a fruitful tree is clipped so that it may be pruned, as John says, He will prune every tree which bears fruit, so that it may bear more (John 15:2). Evil men are therefore punished for their destruction, but just men for their perfection.

Job shows why the sinner is compared to a barren tree for two reasons. First, because he has consumed his goods on useless things. So he says, For he feeds the barren women who does not produce offspring and he has done no good to the widow. The one who consumes his goods on useless things is a metaphor for someone who uselessly supports a barren wife. Second, he is compared in this way because he does not aid those in need, which could have been fruitful for him. So he says, and he has done no good to the widow. By “the widow” he means all the needy.

Not only has he been unfruitful, but he has also been harmful, like a tree bearing poisonous fruit. So he says, he has thrown down the powerful man in his strength. That is, he did not use his power to aid the oppressed, but rather to oppress the powerful. The harm he has worked on others also returns to his own harm, because he cannot live in security since he fears being harmed by those he has harmed. So he says, and when he rises up, that is, when he suffers no adversity, he will not believe in his own life. For he will not be free from care about his own life, according to what Eliphaz said above: The sound of terror is always in his ears, and when he is at peace, he always expects treachery (Job 15:21).

He then gives the reason why the sinner must be punished without mercy: because he did not want to profit from the mercy of God when he could have. So he says, God gave him an occasion for repentance by deferring punishment, and this is the reason why he was permitted to live in prosperity for a long time. But what God offered to him as a good, he perverted to an evil. So he says, and he abuses it in his pride, by not attributing to divine mercy the fact that he is not immediately punished after sinning. But he profited from this remission, daring to sin even to the point of contempt for God.

Although the sinner seeks darkness in order to sin, he still cannot prevent being seen. So he says, For his eyes, of God, are on his ways, for they consider his paths even if he walks under the cover of darkness. Therefore, they have been raised up a little, to some earthly and perishable height, which God gives to them as an opportunity for repentance. And they will not stand firm to the very end, because they abuse the mercy of God to the point of pride. He uses an analogy for this. Everything which is generated in time grows for a determined time and afterwards begins to decay until it is totally destroyed. So it happens with the wicked. And so he says, They will be humbled like everything else which increases in time, and will be borne away completely when they have reached their peak.

He establishes the analogy, saying, and like the tops of the ears of wheat they will be ground down. For the fruits of the earth are not ground down while they are on the stalk and growing, but when they finally arrive at full maturity. In the same way, the wicked are not punished by God immediately, but when they reach their full stature, according to the measure foreseen by God. Job introduced this to show that if evil men are not punished in this life but lead a prosperous life, this does not happen from a defect in divine providence, but from the fact that God defers punishment until the right time.

So he shows clearly that what Eliphaz had slanderously accused him of—the denial of divine providence—is false. So he says, If this is not so, as I have said earlier about the punishment of evildoers, just as you were of the opinion that man is always punished in this life for sins, who can call me a liar, as though I am denying divine providence, and accuse me for putting my words before God, as if my words accused God by being said against His providence.