Thomas Aquinas Commentary Job 7:11-16

"Therefore I will not refrain my mouth; I will speak in the anguish of my spirit; I will complain in the bitterness of my soul. Am I a sea, or a sea-monster, That thou settest a watch over me? When I say, My bed shall comfort me, My couch shall ease my complaint; Then thou scarest me with dreams, And terrifiest me through visions: So that my soul chooseth strangling, And death rather than [these] my bones. I loathe [my life]; I would not live alway: Let me alone; for my days are vanity." — Job 7:11-16 (ASV)

After demonstrating through arguments that Eliphaz's consolation of earthly prosperity was inconsistent, Job now shows the same thing by arguing for its unsuitability. He argues that if he were to rely on the hope of earthly prosperity offered by Eliphaz, he would necessarily remain in sadness, speak words of sorrow, and fall into complete despair. This is because Eliphaz’s hope is worthless.

Job therefore concludes, as if arguing against Eliphaz’s proposition, that because the hope of earthly prosperity is vain and his friends have nothing else to console him with, he, as if lacking any true consolation, declares, I will not refrain from speaking. Instead, he will speak the words of lament that his mind suggests.

He continues, in the anguish of my spirit, I will speak, meaning that the trouble he suffers compels his spirit to speak. He suffers not only outward trouble but also the inward sadness born from it. So he adds, I will talk in the bitterness of my soul, for he will speak the desperate and almost unbelievable words that the bitterness of his soul provides.

Among other things, embittered people are especially accustomed to search for the causes of their bitterness, for there is hardly an embittered person who does not feel they have been afflicted either unjustly or more than is just. So Job, taking on the role of an embittered man, inquires about the cause of his affliction, saying, Am I the sea, or a whale that you surround me to lock me up?

Note here that God's providence works in one way for rational creatures and in another way for irrational creatures. Because of free will, rational creatures can merit or demerit, and because of this, rewards and punishments are due to them.

Irrational creatures, however, neither merit rewards nor incur punishments, since they do not have free will. Instead, God acts concerning them to increase or restrict them based on what is necessary for the good of the universe. According to this divine arrangement, God restrains the sea so that it does not cover the whole surface of the earth, making the earth a place for animals and land-based life. In a similar way, He confines the whale to the oceans, because if it were in other seas, it could harm someone. Job, therefore, seeks to know if there is a similar explanation for his affliction as there is for the confining of the sea and the whale—namely, whether he is afflicted not because of some fault, but for the benefit of others.

Job says he has been "surrounded to be locked up" in the sense that he is so burdened by his trial that no liberation or consolation is available to him. Consequently, he next proves that he is deprived of the remedies that ordinarily console the afflicted. One is sleep, for sorrow is lessened after sleep. To show this, he says, If I say: ‘My bed will comfort me,’ during the time of sleep.

Another remedy is the consolation wise people find for themselves through reasoned thought. He alludes to this cure when he says he hoped to be relieved from the oppression of sadness by talking to myself—that is, through rational deliberation—on my couch. For when wise people are alone, removed from the distractions of others and their interactions, they can better commune with themselves, thinking things through rationally.

But these cures could not help him, because when he should have used these remedies, other obstacles were present: terrible dreams and horrible visions that disturbed him. To express this, he continues, Then you will frighten me with dreams, which appear to someone sleeping, and with visions... will terrify me, which appear to someone who is awake but has lost the use of their outward senses.

Images at night are usually formed by thoughts experienced during the day. Because Job thought about sad things during the day, he was disturbed at night by similar images. The weakness of the body also contributes to people experiencing disturbing images while sleeping.

So then, when consolation is refused from every side and no way remains to escape so much anguish but death, Job therefore prefers even a miserable death to such a painful life. He expresses this by saying, This is why my soul has chosen hanging. So that no one would think this decision comes from a thought opposed by stronger ones, he insists that nothing in him is so strong that it does not desire death. So he says, My bones have chosen death. In Scripture, bones usually signify a person's strength.

He shows why he chooses this, saying, I have despaired, meaning, "I have lost the hope you gave me that I might enjoy earthly prosperity." He shows why he despaired, adding, I will not live longer to any purpose. Two things can be understood from this statement, which he had stated earlier (Job 7:6): that the greater part of his life had already passed, and that he will not return after this life to the same life he lived on earth.

This unsuitable conclusion—that Job would be led to despair, choose death, and have no way to restrain his sorrow—is the direct result of Eliphaz's consolation.