Thomas Aquinas Commentary Job 33

The text has already stated that Elihu was angry with Job and his friends (Job 32:2–3). After denouncing the laziness of Job’s friends, he now begins to speak against Job himself. Therefore, he first gets his attention, saying, “Hear, then, Job, my words,” because he now intends to answer him. He shows that he will weigh each word very carefully, saying, “and listen to all that I say,” for he will not say anything without purpose.

So that Job does not ask why he did not speak before, Elihu says, Look, I have opened my mouth. This is as if to say: Before, when I was silent, I had kept my mouth closed out of reverence for my elders. But now that they have failed, necessity compels me to speak. He continues, my tongue will speak from my mouth, as if to say: I will not simply repeat what others say, but I will speak my own thoughts.

Since Job had previously accused his friends of afflicting him and confusing him with words (Job 19:2), Elihu shows this is not true of him, saying, “My words are from a sincere heart.” This is as if to say: I do not speak to falsely condemn or to ridicule, but to reveal the truth with a sincere heart. Since Job had accused the other three men of being “fabricators of a lie and worshippers of false dogmas” (Job 13:4), Elihu distances himself from this, saying, “and my lips will speak a pure judgment,” without any mixture of falsehood or error.

Elihu reveals the source of his confidence in explaining the truth, saying, The Spirit of God made me. Therefore, it is no wonder that God moves His creature and perfects His creation. He explains this further, continuing, and the breath of the Almighty gave me life, for God moved and perfected me for the works of life, the most important of which is understanding the truth.

So that he would not seem to have said this to prejudice Job or discourage him from answering someone speaking from divine inspiration, Elihu says, If you can, answer me to what I will say against you, and hold your ground before my face. This means that Job can also raise objections if Elihu says anything that displeases him. So that Job would not scorn to debate with him—because of Job’s reputation for wisdom and Elihu’s youth—he counters this by saying, Look, God made both you and me.

From the Creator’s perspective, then, both of them have the same hope of seeking the truth. Regarding their physical nature, the same obstacle applies to each, and so he says, and I too was formed from the same clay, whose coarseness obscures the light of truth.

However, Elihu understood that one thing might provoke Job. It was a miracle that such great wisdom and eloquence was given to a young man, which in itself was sufficient reason for him to challenge a very wise old man. Therefore, Elihu upholds this point, implying his wisdom was given miraculously, saying, Yet let my miracle not terrify you, so that you do not dare to refuse to answer one who has obtained wisdom miraculously. He adds, and let my eloquence not prove a burden for you, so that you are not astonished by it.

After this introduction, Elihu reinforces the arguments he intends to use against Job. He says, Therefore you have spoken in my hearing, as if to say: You cannot excuse yourself by claiming you did not say this. He adds, and I heard the sound of your words, for he listened attentively.

First, Elihu noted that in Job’s words, he had claimed to be immune from sin (Job 13:6 and Job 16:18). And so he quotes Job as saying, I am clean, meaning from the impurity of the flesh; and without fault, meaning from the sin of omission; without stain, meaning from grave sins against God, like idolatry and similar sins; and there is no evil in me, which would cause him to wound his neighbors unjustly.

Second, Elihu notes that Job’s words accused God of unfair judgment. Unfair judgment usually proceeds from the judge’s hatred, and regarding this, he recalls Job having said, Since he has found grievances in me, therefore he thought that I am his enemy. The commentator notes that in Job 13:24, Job had only asked, Why do you hide your face and think of me as your enemy? He did not say, “He has found grievances in me.” Therefore, this is an addition by Elihu to put a negative interpretation on Job’s words.

Indeed, a judge’s hatred seems just if, being certain of another’s malice, he acts on that hatred in punishing the fault. But if a judge is provoked to hatred by minor grievances, his hatred will be unjust. This is precisely how Elihu interpreted Job’s claim that God considered him an enemy.

Elihu continues by listing other ways Job supposedly accused God of injustice. A judge is unfair if he denies someone the ability to make a just defense, and expressing this, Elihu says Job claimed God put my feet in the stocks, meaning He bound him to hinder his work. A judge is also unfair when he gathers small faults to condemn someone, and expressing this, Elihu says Job claimed God watched all of my movements, as if spying on his every action.

The commentator clarifies that Job did not say these things to prove the divine Judge was unfair, but was speaking metaphorically, as he explained in Job 13:17: Understand my riddles with your ears. Because Job’s claim of innocence contradicts his accusation against God, Elihu then concludes, It is in this, then, that you are not justified. This is as if to say: You cannot claim to be just, because the very act of accusing God of injustice reveals your own injustice.

Elihu has already proposed the things he intended to debate with Job. Since Job, before he spoke the words Elihu cited (Job 33:10–11), had said, “I desire to dispute with God,” it seems unfitting to call someone who is eager to dispute with a superior back to a dispute with an inferior. Before Elihu begins to argue with Job about these matters, he first reproaches him for the very fact that he desired to argue with God.

First, it is a mark of great presumption to challenge a superior to a debate. So he says, “I will answer you”—that is, your desire to dispute with God—by saying “that God is greater than man.” Therefore, it is presumptuous for a man to wish to debate with God. In this, he would be justly accusing Job if Job wanted to dispute with God to contradict Him as an equal. However, Job wished to dispute with God to learn, as a student does from a master. So he said in Chapter 23, I will fill my mouth with rebukes to learn how he answers me (Job 23:4).

Yet Elihu interpreted this as though Job spoke contentiously against God, complaining that God was not answering him. And so he then says, “You contend against him because he will not answer all your arguments.” He seems to have taken this from Job's preceding words, and from what he said in Chapter 19: Behold, I will shout out violently in my suffering and no one will hear. I will cry out and there was no one to judge (Job 19:7). Job did not say these words and others like them in a contentious manner, but because he desired to know the reasoning of divine wisdom.

To refute Job's preceding words, which Elihu interpreted as having been spoken contentiously, Elihu shows that God does not have to answer every single word posed to Him by man. Instead, He speaks sufficiently to each person for their instruction. And so he then says, “God speaks once,” meaning, sufficiently for a person's instruction. Therefore, God does not have to answer each of a person's questions in turn. For this reason, Elihu says, “and he does not repeat the same thing a second time,” since to repeat what was already done sufficiently would be superfluous. He then shows how God speaks to man, saying, “in a dream, in a vision of the night.”

There can also be another meaning. When he says, “God speaks only once” to man, it could refer to the instruction of the mind by the light of natural reason, as in Psalm 4:6-7: Many say: ‘Who shows good things to us?’ and the response, The light of your face shines upon us, O Lord. In this light, one discerns good from evil. Since natural reason remains unchangeable in humanity, it is not necessary to renew it. Therefore, he says, “and he does not repeat the same thing a second time.” Then he shows another way by which God speaks to man: the imaginary vision in the apparitions of dreams. And so he says, “in a dream, in the visions of the night.” This can refer to prophetic revelation, according to Numbers 12:6: If anyone will be a prophet of the Lord among you, I will speak to him either in a dream or in a vision. Or, it can refer to ordinary dreams, which Elihu believed come from God.

He then explains the manner and order of these dreams.

1. He touches on the natural cause when he says, “when sleep rushes on men,” which happens when the external senses are immobilized by vapors ascending to the source of sensation.
2. He notes the disposition of the human will when he continues, “and they sleep in bed,” because people experience dreams that are especially ordered and meaningful when they sleep restfully. For the sick, dreams appear distorted due to a lack of rest. Thus, Daniel says, Your dream and the visions in your head, which you had on your bed mean this: You, O king, began to think on your bed and so on (Daniel 2:28–29).
3. He describes the divine action in the one sleeping. This is characterized first by the fact that when the external senses are immobilized in deep sleep and a person is resting quietly in bed, a certain ability is divinely given to perceive divine instruction, because his spirit is not preoccupied with external things. And so he says, “then he opens the ears of men.”

By “ears,” he fittingly expresses the ability to perceive divine instruction in dreams. He speaks of this instruction as a kind of language because it does not result from the experience of things themselves, but from signs, as is also true of language. Once the ability to hear Him has been given, it is fitting that He can teach, and so he continues, “and he educates them and instructs them in discipline.” Discipline here is taken to mean the instruction that tells a person what must be done and what must be avoided, not the knowledge of speculative sciences, which are usually not revealed in dreams. So he says, “to turn a man aside from what he has done.” For a person is frequently corrected in dreams for sins he has committed. Since pride is the root of sin—because by it one holds the commandments of God in contempt—he then says, “and to free him from pride.”

Once a person is free from fault, he fittingly escapes punishment. Elihu shows that he escapes two kinds of punishment. First, with respect to the spiritual punishment of the soul, “He rescues his soul from corruption,” which is caused by the disorders of the soul's powers. Second, concerning physical punishment, he says, “and his life”—the physical one—“so that he does not perish by the sword,” when he is punished for his sin. Alternatively, both can refer to bodily death, which is sometimes produced by internal corruption (as when someone dies from a sickness God sends for sin) and sometimes happens from the violence of the sword.

Next, he discusses how God can also speak to and correct a person through bodily sickness. He notes several aspects:

1. He notes sensible pain, saying, “He also chides” a person for past sins “by pain,” which is the physical pain that comes from sickness. So he says, “on his bed,” according to the Psalm: Upon his bed of pain (Psalms 41:3).
2. He notes the weakness of the sick when he says, “and he makes all of his bones grow feeble,” meaning God destroys the strength that consists in his bones.
3. He points to the loss of appetite when he says, “Bread”—which is common food—“becomes abominable to him during his life” (while he still lived) because of sickness, “and the food of his soul, which he desired before, becomes abominable.” This refers to other foods that are desired in different ways by different people.
4. He describes leanness when he says, “His flesh will waste away” (that is, will fail), and consequently, “the bones which were hidden” by flesh, “will be laid bare,” because they will appear to be covered only by skin.
5. He notes the danger and fear of death, saying, “His soul will approach corruption”—which refers to his life, which is lived because of his soul. So he adds, “and the life of that man will approach to the dangers of death,” meaning the causes that bring death.

Note that Elihu has proposed these things to answer Job's lament that God does not answer each of his questions in detail. For he wanted to prove by the preceding points that God had spoken to him in three ways: first, by natural reason, as He does to all people; second, by accusing him in dreams, for Job had already said, You will terrify me with dreams and you will strike me with horror in visions (Job 7:14); and third, by illness, as he had already said, Now my soul droops within me (Job 30:16). In the same way, one must consider that Elihu, like the other three friends, believed that afflictions come to people from sin. Yet he saw them not principally as punishment, as the other three did, but more as a means of correction.

Job seemed to lament not only that God had not spoken to him, but also that he could not approach God to have a discussion and plead his case before Him . Elihu, therefore, wants to provide a satisfactory answer to this. Although the way to approach God is not clearly open to a person, angels are still mediators between God and humanity. They propose a person's justice to God, not to teach Him, but to help people in their desires. Therefore, a person is not at a disadvantage if he is unable to approach the divine throne by his own power, without aid, to propose the justice of his cause to God.

To prove this, he says, “If there should be for him”—for the afflicted man—“an angel who speaks,” that is, who intercedes. And lest it be feared that one angel would not suffice to intercede for all, he then says, “one of the thousands” (according to what the text already said, can one number his hosts? (Job 25:3)) “to announce the justice of the man.” This means to propose in God's presence whatever is just on the person's behalf. “He (God) will have mercy on him”—on the afflicted man—“and he will say” (that is, He will order the angel), “Deliver him.” For just as the angel is the one who brings forward the man's justice into God's presence, so also is he the executor of divine mercy in the presence of men.

He then explains what the man must be freed from, saying, “from going down into corruption,” meaning death. He then shows that this freedom pleases God when he adds, speaking in the person of God, “I have found how I am propitiated to him.” This is because something of the justice God was seeking appears in the man, and because of this, God can have mercy on him. Since Job had said, My flesh is clothed with corruption (Job 7:5), as if he could not be restored, Elihu excludes this possibility, saying, “His flesh has been consumed by punishments.” It is as if to say: This is not an obstacle to my power, and so, “let him return to the days of his youth”—that is, let him recover his strength like a young man.

Therefore, after suggesting the words of God that free the man, Elihu uses his own words to describe the manner of human liberation, saying, “He will invoke God in prayer.” For it is not enough for an angel to speak for him; to be freed, he must also pray for it himself. Alternatively, this argument can be connected in another way. Because he had shown above that a person cannot lament that he is unable to present his case before God—since an angel effectively proposes it for him (Job 33:23)—he now shows that the person can also present it himself in prayer.

To show that this is as effective as the first way, he says, “and he (God) will be pleased by him (man),” according to the words of the prophet Joel: He is kind and merciful and placated about evil (Joel 2:13). From this, a confidence follows in the person when thinking about God, accompanied by a certain spiritual joy. And so he says, “and he (man) will see his face”—that is, he will consider God's goodness, imperfectly in the present life and perfectly in the future life—“in a shout of joy,” meaning a joy that is in some way inexplicable. And so, “he (God) will render his justice to men,” because He will reward him for his merits after He has removed the impediment of sin.

But this is not possible unless the person humbly recognizes and confesses his sin. And so he says, “He will consider man,” as if spontaneously offering himself for the confession of sin, and so he continues, “and he will say, ‘I have sinned.’” So that one does not think he has said this merely out of humility, he adds, “and I have truly perverted what is right.” He says this against Job, because Job had said, I have not sinned and my eye lingers on bitter things (Job 17:2). In his confession, he will not lament the severity of the punishment, and so he says, “and I did not receive the punishment I merited.” This is as if to say, “I merited a graver punishment.” He says this against what Job had said: If only my sins were weighed in which I merited anger and so on (Job 6:2).

He shows the fruit of this humility, saying, “For he freed my soul”—by confessing his sin—“from going to destruction,” which refers to physical or spiritual death. He also wants to attain further goods, and so he says, “but in living my soul will see the light,” which is either the physical light or the spiritual light of wisdom.

Because God does not immediately and finally damn a person, but warns him many times, Elihu adds, “Behold, all these things”—the instruction through dreams, the rebuke through pains, and the subsequent healing—“God works in three ways.” This means He works many times, for as long as He thinks it useful. He uses the number three to conform to human custom, in which people are usually warned or summoned three times. God does this not only for one person, but for all who need it, and so he says, “for each one” whom He sees must be instructed and chided. He assigns the purpose of this, saying, “to call their souls back from corruption,” which expresses freedom from evil, “and to enlighten them with the light of the living,” which expresses the attainment of good things. Each of these can be applied to physical or spiritual goods.

When he says “three ways” here, this should refer to the latter two modes of God's speaking. For concerning the first mode (natural reason), he has already said that, “he will not repeat it a second time” (Job 33:14). He introduces this to show why sinners are sometimes sustained in prosperity and are not immediately damned.

Since it seemed to him that he had spoken effectively, he invites Job to listen quietly to what remains to be said. He says, “Listen, Job” (in your heart), “and hear me” (with your ears), “be silent while I speak,” and do not interrupt me. Lest he seem to be inhibiting Job's ability to answer, he says, “If, however, you have something to say, answer me.” And as though he desires his answer, he adds, “speak.” Then, he shows the cause of his desire, saying, “I want you to be known as just.” He says this to show that he does not intend to humiliate Job. Since he did not believe that Job was just, he then says, “But if you do not have” something to say on behalf of your justice, “hear me, be silent, and I will teach you wisdom”—a wisdom of which you are ignorant.