Thomas Aquinas Commentary Job 35

After Eliud had rejected Job's words—because in his estimation Job attributed evil to divine judgment—he now intends to rebuke him for saying that he was righteous. So the text says, “So Eliud spoke again,” for he had paused his speech and waited to see if Job would answer. When Job did not, Eliud resumed his discourse, saying, “Does your reflection seem reasonable to you when you say: I am more just than God?” Job had never said this, and Eliud did not accuse him of using these exact words. Instead, Eliud claimed that the words Job did say originated from this reflection, and so he clearly mentions this thought.

Eliud distinctly says that Job had this intention: “For you said: Good does not please you, (or in another text, ‘what is right’) or what does it profit you if I sin?” These two sayings are not found in what Job has said. However, Eliud seems to derive the first of them—that good does not please God—from what Job had said in Chapter 10: “If I am wicked, woe is me! And if I am just, I will not raise my head” (Job 10:15). When Job said this, he meant that the righteous and the unrighteous are equally afflicted with temporal punishments, but Eliud interpreted him to have almost said that human righteousness does not please God.

Regarding the second saying, “what does it profit you if I sin?” one can find no text where Job said this. However, Eliud wanted to derive this from what Job had said in the same place: “If I have sinned and you spared me for a little, why do you not allow me to be cleansed from my evil?” (Job 10:14). Job had said this to show that temporal prosperity does not always accompany innocence, for he had been innocent in other respects during his time of prosperity, after he had renounced his sins. Therefore, there was no reason why, after the remission of his sins, he should need to be cleansed from them again by God. But Eliud twisted these words as if Job held the opinion that God brought about his sin and its punishment for His own benefit. From these two points—that God was not pleased with what is good and that He considered sin useful to Himself—it seems to follow that Job was more righteous than God, since Job had said about himself that evil displeased him and good pleased him.

He concludes from this that he is compelled to answer because of the absurdity of these claims, and so he says, “That is why I will answer your discourses and at the same time those of your friends,” who could not convince you when you said such things. He begins with the last point, showing that God cannot be helped or harmed by our good and evil works, and this is because of His high character. He proposes this first, saying, “Look up to heaven”—which is the throne of God ()—“and see,” with your sight, “and contemplate,” with your mind, “the upper air.” This refers to all the higher bodies, considering not only their height, but also their magnitude, motion, and beauty. He adds, “because it is higher than you,” meaning it is so high that your works cannot help or harm it.

So he asks, concerning sin against God or yourself, “If you sin, what harm will you do him?” As if to say: He will suffer no detriment from this. Regarding sins committed against a neighbor, he then asks, “and if your iniquities are multiplied, what will you do against him?” As if to say: In no way will He be injured by this. Concerning good deeds done for a neighbor, he continues, “Further, if you act justly, what will you give to him?” As if to say: What will He gain from this? As for works of divine worship, he asks, “Or what will he receive from your hand,” in sacrifices and offerings? He implies the answer is, “Nothing,” as the Psalm says, “I will not accept calves from your house” (Psalms 50:9).

One could object that this means God does not care whether a person acts justly or unjustly. To answer this, Eliud then adds that “Your impiety will harm a man”—that is, your fellow creature, because he can receive harm—and “your justice will help a son of man,” who needs the help of justice. This is why God prohibits impiety and commands justice: because He cares about the people who are helped or hurt by these actions. Because of this, oppressed people cry out to God against their oppressors. He speaks of those who crush others deceitfully with slander, saying, “They will cry out because of the great number of their calumniators”; that is, those who have been crushed will cry to God. He speaks of others who crush by violence, saying, “and they will wail because of the strong arm of the tyrants,” for they will weep to God because of the violent power of tyrants. From this, we are given to understand that not only does God not profit when someone sins, but that sin displeases Him and He punishes it; otherwise, the oppressed would cry out in vain.

Then Eliud turns to rejecting the other thing he accused Job of saying—“what is right does not please you” (Job 35:3)—which is repugnant to divine wisdom. This wisdom is demonstrated in several ways:

1. First, it appears in the creation of things. Eliud points out that Job did not say, “Where is the God who made me?” (Job 35:10), implying Job does not think that good things please God. For God made things only for the good, as we read in Genesis: “God saw that it was good” (Genesis 1:25). Therefore, it is clear that good pleases God.
2. Second, he brings in the benefit of divine revelation, by which people are instructed for good. So he says, “He who gave his poems in the night” (Job 35:10). The “poems” are the doctrines of human instruction (often understood by the ancients as epics), and “in the night” refers to revelation in dreams, in the quiet of contemplation, or in the obscurity of a vision. God would not have intimately instructed people for good unless good pleased Him.
3. Third, he brings in the infusion of natural light, by which we use reason to discern good from evil, setting us above the brute animals. So he says, “He who teaches us above the flocks of the earth,” which lack reason. And since the ancients consulted the chatter and movements of birds, which seem to be instructed by God, Eliud adds the next phrase to exclude this comparison: “he teaches more than the birds of heaven” (Job 35:11), which also lack reason.

Since God hates evil and good pleases Him, He hears the oppressed when they cry out but does not hear the oppressors. So he says that when “they”—that is, the slanderers and tyrants—cry out to God seeking the fulfillment of their desires, “he (God) will not hear” (Job 35:12). God does this “because of the pride of wickedness,” for as it says in the Psalms, “He regarded the prayer of the humble” (Psalms 102:17). So that no one believes God hears all people indiscriminately, Eliud says, “For not in vain will God hear” (Job 35:13), meaning He does not hear without reason, because He hears some and not others for a very just reason. He expresses this reason, saying, “and the Almighty will regard the causes of each man,” in that He hears the worthy but not the unworthy.

God may not seem to see the causes of individuals, since the wicked sometimes prosper. But to disprove this, Eliud addresses Job's inner reflection: “Even though you have said... He (God) does not consider” the deeds of men, Eliud's counsel is to “be judged in his presence”—that is, prepare yourself to submit to His judgment—“and await him” (Job 35:14). This refers to the future judgment, even if God does not punish you here. For God delays so that He might punish more harshly later. Eliud adds, “For now,” in the present life, “he does not unleash his fury,” meaning the full extent of His punishment, “nor does he take great vengeance on a crime” (Job 35:15). That is, He does not punish in the present according to what the gravity of the fault demands.

The punishments of the present life are for correction; therefore, He reserves for future damnation those whom He judges unworthy of correction. This provides another reason why the wicked prosper in this world, and on this point, Eliud actually agrees with Job's observation. But because Eliud took Job’s words in a negative sense, he rejected them. He concludes by rejecting Job's lengthy discourse, saying, “So Job in vain opens his mouth, and multiplies words without knowledge” (Job 35:16). In this, Eliud accuses him of ignorance and useless verbosity.