Thomas Aquinas Commentary Job 4:7-11

"Remember, I pray thee, who [ever] perished, being innocent? Or where were the upright cut off? According as I have seen, they that plow iniquity, And sow trouble, reap the same. By the breath of God they perish, And by the blast of his anger are they consumed. The roaring of the lion, and the voice of the fierce lion, And the teeth of the young lions, are broken. The old lion perisheth for lack of prey, And the whelps of the lioness are scattered abroad." — Job 4:7-11 (ASV)

After Eliphaz accused Job of impatience, taking his opportunity from what Job had said—Before I eat, I sigh (Job 3:24)—he now intends to accuse him of presumption because he claimed to be innocent.

To show him that he is not innocent, Eliphaz bases his argument on Job’s adversity, saying, Remember, I implore you, who that was innocent has ever perished, or when have the upright been destroyed? Consider here again that Eliphaz and his two friends held the opinion that the misfortunes of this world only happen as a punishment for sin. On the other hand, they believed prosperity comes as a reward for justice. Therefore, according to his opinion, it would not seem fitting for anyone innocent to perish temporally, or for anyone who was upright—that is, just according to virtue—to be destroyed by the loss of temporal glory, which he thought was a reward for justice. He believed this opinion to be so true that even Job could not disagree with it. Yet he thought that Job had, as if he had forgotten the truth that he once knew, because his spirit was troubled. This is why he says, “Remember.”

Therefore, since adversity does not happen to the innocent and the upright, he consequently identifies those who do experience it: No, rather, I have seen that those who do evil and sow pains, reap the same. By the blast of God they perish, and by the breath of his anger they are consumed. When he says, “I have seen,” he implies that he has proven these things by his own experience. By “those who do evil,” he means those who openly do injustice, especially by harming others. By “those who sow pains and reap the same,” he means those who harm others by deceit.

These people sow pains when they prepare false accusations by which they make others suffer. They reap pain when they continue their evildoing until it takes effect, considering it to be excellent fruit. He carries this metaphor further when speaking about punishment. Grain fields usually dry up and are destroyed by a scorching wind. As Malachi says, I will rebuke the devourer (that is, the wind), so that it may not devour the fruit of your land (Malachi 3:11). He refers to this when he says, “they will perish by the blast of God,” as if divine judgment itself, coming forth to punish evil, is similar to the blast of the wind. The very vengeance of God is called the “breath” (that is, the wind) of His anger. He says not only that they perish, but that they are consumed, because they are not only punished in their own persons, but their children and their whole family perish so that nothing seems to remain of them. This seemed to describe Job’s situation, both because he had been afflicted in his body and had lost his children, his family, and his wealth.

However, the fact that children and family should suffer for the sins of the parents seemed to contradict Eliphaz’s opinion, since he intends to defend the view that adversities in this world are punishments for sin. Eliphaz answers this objection, saying, The roar of the lion, the voice of the lioness, and the teeth of the whelp have been broken.

Here we must first consider that man is more noble than other animals because of reason. When he sets reason aside, he follows the passions of beasts, and so he bears their likeness, and the name “beast” befits him because he imitates their passions. For example, one who gives in to the passion of concupiscence is likened to a horse or a mule in the Psalms: Be not like horse and mule, unintelligent (Psalms 31:9). The one who gives in to anger or ferociousness is called a lion or a bear in Proverbs, A roaring lion or a hungry bear is the impious prince over a poor people (Proverbs 28:15), and in Ezekiel, He became a lion and he learned to catch prey and devour men (Ezekiel 19:3).

So now he compares a furious man to a lion, saying, “The roar of the lion,” for roaring is an indication of the lion’s ferociousness. Often, the prodding of a wife adds to the ferociousness of her husband, and so the ferocious act the husband commits is imputed to his wife’s fault. This is clear with Herod’s wife, who prodded him to behead John the Baptist . So he says, “The voice of the lioness.” Sometimes, what a tyrant acquired by cruelty, his sons use wantonly and so rejoice in their father’s plunder. Therefore, they are not immune from fault. So the text continues, “the teeth of the whelps are broken.” As Nahum says, The lion took enough for his whelps (Nahum 2:12). Thus, Eliphaz seems to have responded to the previous objection, because it is not unjust for the wife and children to be punished for the sins of the husband when they were participants with him in the fault. He said all this in trying to portray Job and his family as being guilty of robbery.

Yet it seemed that what he said did not pertain to Job, because his wife did not seem to be punished. To remove this difficulty, he says, The tigress perished with him for lack of prey. For those who steal as a practice think themselves punished if they are not permitted to steal. Consider that women are compared to a lioness because of the ferociousness of their anger and to a tigress because of the readiness and quickness of their anger. As Sirach says, There is no anger like the anger of a woman and All malice is brief compared to the malice of a woman . Because all of Job’s children had completely perished, he adds, and the whelps of the lioness have been scattered.