Thomas Aquinas Commentary Job 5:1-7

"Call now; is there any that will answer thee? And to which of the holy ones wilt thou turn? For vexation killeth the foolish man, And jealousy slayeth the silly one. I have seen the foolish taking root: But suddenly I cursed his habitation. His children are far from safety, And they are crushed in the gate, Neither is there any to deliver them: Whose harvest the hungry eateth up, And taketh it even out of the thorns; And the snare gapeth for their substance. For affliction cometh not forth from the dust, Neither doth trouble spring out of the ground; But man is born unto trouble, As the sparks fly upward." — Job 5:1-7 (ASV)

Recalling the revelation made to him—which included that men dwell in houses of clay whose foundation is in the dust and die eaten as by a moth (Job 4:19)—Eliphaz now wants to demonstrate this truth through the different conditions of humanity. For there is no human condition in which there is not a tendency to sin. Now, there are two conditions of man. Some are great and haughty in spirit and are easily provoked to anger, because anger is the desire for revenge originating from a previous injury. Thus, the more haughty a man is in his soul, the more he considers himself offended by a slight cause and is therefore more easily provoked to anger. Therefore, he says, Wrath kills the fool, because a man especially exceeds the boundaries of reason through his pride, whereas humility prepares the way for wisdom. As Proverbs says, Where there is humility, there is wisdom (Proverbs 11:2). The foolishness of anger also corresponds with this, because the angry man—as Aristotle teaches—uses reason in seeking revenge for an injury, but he uses it wrongly when he does not maintain the moderation of reason in his revenge. This perversion of reason is foolishness. Other men are timid, and these are prone to envy. So he continues, and jealousy slays the simple. He says this with good reason, for envy is nothing other than sadness over another's prosperity, based on the belief that the other's prosperity impedes one's own. When someone does not believe he can prosper alongside others who are also prospering, this comes from a smallness of soul. So it is clear that humanity, in whatever condition it exists, is prone to some sin. For it would be easy to present similar arguments concerning other sins.

By all he has said until now, Eliphaz intends to prove that adversities in this world do not happen to anyone except as a punishment for sin. Two objections seem to arise against this. The first is that many just men appear to be subject to adversities, but he seems to have answered this by showing that men sin easily. The second objection is that some wicked men prosper in this world. He intends to answer this objection next by showing the way in which their prosperity ultimately results in their own evil. So he says, I have seen the fool—that is, the man who takes pride in his riches—taking root, appearing to be firmly established in the prosperity of this world. But I did not approve of his prosperity. Rather, I suddenly cursed his beauty. Consider here that he speaks of a man using the metaphor of a tree, whose roots produce beauty in its branches and fruit when they are firm in the ground. He therefore compares the prosperity of a man rooted in riches to the beauty of a tree, which he curses by declaring it to be evil and harmful. As Qoheleth says, There is a grievous evil which I have seen under the sun, riches kept by their owner to his harm (Ecclesiastes 5:12). He adds the word suddenly to show that he in no way doubts this opinion.

He first demonstrates the evils that proceed from the fool's prosperity with respect to his sons. For it frequently happens that when a rich and powerful man—which is characteristic of the fool—raises his sons without discipline, his sons fall into many dangers. Sometimes, for example, they are destroyed without due process because of the hatreds stirred up against them. Or, when they are not careful but indulge in pleasures excessively, they even lose their lives. Regarding this, he says, His sons are far from health. Sometimes, when they inflict slander and injuries on others, they are brought to trial before judges and are condemned. Regarding this, he says, They will be crushed at the city gate, where judges used to pass sentence, for judges at one time sat at the city gates. Because foolish men do not hesitate to offend others when they prosper, they find no help in adversity. And so he continues, and there will be no one to deliver them.

But someone could object, "I do not care what happens to my sons as long as I enjoy prosperity in the world." As a second consideration, then, he discusses the bad things that befall the fool in both his property and his person, saying, The hungry will eat his harvest. For foolish men with a great deal of money frequently oppress the poor, who are usually not strong enough to endure many physical burdens and so are almost compelled by need to steal the goods of the rich. Such men live such an extravagant way of life that they usually lose their strength of soul through life's delights and become unfit for work. Thus, they are easily destroyed by the battle-hardened poor. He therefore says, Armed men will seize him, as though he offered no resistance. What he has said about the harvest can be understood universally, and so he continues, and the thirsty will pant after his wealth—that is, men who are desirous of wealth.

After answering these objections, he finally presents an argument to prove his main proposition: that adversities in this world do not happen to anyone except as a punishment for sin. His argument is this: Whatever happens on earth happens from proper and determined causes. Therefore, if adversities happen to someone in this world, this must have a determined cause, which can only be sin. So he says that nothing on earth happens without a cause, for we observe that all effects proceed from a determined cause. From this fact, he concludes, For affliction does not arise from the dust. This is a metaphor. For some plants are produced without seed; these are said to be produced by spontaneous generation from the soil itself. By a kind of likeness, anything that does not appear to have a proper cause—like a plant reproducing without seed—is metaphorically said to arise from the soil. Affliction (that is, adversity) does not arise from the soil (that is, without a cause). From his statement that nothing on earth happens without a cause, it is clear that everything has a natural disposition suited to its own proper operation. From this, it is apparent that the natural dispositions of things are not without a cause but exist for a determined end. So Eliphaz says, but man is born to toil and the bird to fly. For just as the proper motion required by a bird's nature is to fly, so the bird must have from its nature the instruments suitable for flying—namely, wings and feathers. Man, however, because he has reason that enables him to discover all the necessary aids for his life by his own effort, was naturally made without the aids that nature gives to other animals. These aids—such as coverings, weapons, and other such things—he can make for himself through the industry of his reason.