Thomas Aquinas Commentary Job 7:14-21

"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. What is man, that thou shouldest magnify him, And that thou shouldest set thy mind upon him, And that thou shouldest visit him every morning, And try him every moment? How long wilt thou not look away from me, Nor let me alone till I swallow down my spittle? If I have sinned, what do I unto thee, O thou watcher of men? Why hast thou set me as a mark for thee, So that I am a burden to myself? And why dost thou not pardon my transgression, and take away mine iniquity? For now shall I lie down in the dust; And thou wilt seek me diligently, but I shall not be." — Job 7:14-21 (ASV)

After Job has shown that the consolation of Eliphaz, which was based on the promise of earthly happiness, was leading him to despair and the desire for death, he then shows what hope remains for him from God: namely, that the trial placed upon him would cease.

He expresses this by saying, “Spare me, O Lord,” as if to say: I have abandoned the hope of earthly prosperity; it is enough for You to spare me and cease to afflict me. Since a person’s unhappiness and weakness usually lead others to spare them, he continues, “for my days are nothing.” This seems to refer to both human weakness and the brevity of life, applying to all people in general and to him in a special way, because his days were almost at an end.

Consequently, he pursues both points. First, regarding his weakness, he asks, “What is man”—that is, how small and frail a thing in body—“that you lift him up” by honoring him above other creatures, or “that you turn your heart toward him” by guarding and protecting him with special care?

Here, note that although all things are subject to divine providence and receive their greatness from God, some receive it in one way and others in another. For since all particular goods in the universe seem ordered toward the common good of the universe—just as a part is ordered to the whole and the imperfect to the perfect—they are arranged by divine providence according to this order. Note that insofar as some things share in perpetuity, they pertain essentially to the order of the universe. However, insofar as they lack perpetuity, they pertain only accidentally to the perfection of the universe, and not for their own sakes.

Therefore, things that are perpetual are ordered by God for their own sake, but things that are corruptible are ordered for the sake of other things. Things that are perpetual, either as individuals or as a species, are governed by God for their own sakes. But things that are corruptible as individuals and perpetual only as a species are ordered by God for the sake of the species, not the individual. This explains the good and evil that happens to irrational animals. For example, the fact that a lamb is killed by a wolf is not arranged by God because of the merit or demerit of that wolf or lamb, but for the good of the species, since food has been divinely ordained for the good of each species.

He expresses this by saying, “or because you turn your heart toward him,” when you provide for him for his own good. God does not turn His heart to the good of individual animals, but rather to the good of the species, which can exist perpetually.

He shows how God turns His heart toward humanity when he says, “You visit him at dawn”—that is, from the day of his birth, You help him by Your providence with things necessary for his life and glorification, whether they are physical or spiritual. “And immediately test him” through adversities, in which a person’s virtuous disposition is clearly revealed. As Sirach says, The oven proves the pot of the potter and the trial of trouble proves the just man . God is said to test a person not so that He may learn what kind of person he is, but to inform others and so that the person may know himself.

These words of Job are not to be understood as expressing contempt for God’s concern for humanity, but as investigating and wondering. For if a person is considered only outwardly, he seems small, fragile, and perishable. It would therefore be astonishing for God to have such great care for humanity unless there were something hidden within that makes us capable of perpetual existence. Thus, through inquiry and wonder, the opinion of Eliphaz is refuted. If there were no other life for humanity besides life on earth, we would not seem worth the great care God has for us. Therefore, the very care that God has especially for humanity demonstrates that there is another life after the death of the body.

Then he adds another reason God should spare him, taken from the brevity of life. He puts it in the form of a question, saying, “How long do you not spare me?” This is like saying: A person’s lifespan is short, and the greater part of my life is already past. Therefore, what end can be expected before You spare me? If You do not spare me now, I will not have even a brief time in which to rest. He shows his meaning when he says, “Won’t you leave me in peace to swallow my spittle?” For one cannot swallow saliva while speaking; it is necessary to pause briefly. He compares the time remaining in his life to this brief instant, as if to say: If You delay in sparing me, no rest will remain for me—not even the time it takes to swallow. This line of reasoning refutes Eliphaz's opinion, because if there is no other life for humanity besides this one on earth, there will be no time left for God to spare Job if He does not do so in this life.

Someone could object that Job was unworthy to be spared by God because his sins merited even greater affliction. This also follows from the opinion of Eliphaz, who thought that Job was being scourged because of his sins. So Job continues, “I have sinned,” as if to say: Granted that I have sinned and therefore deserved to be afflicted, there is still a reason why You should spare me. He adds three reasons for this, all related to human frailty. The first is taken from our powerlessness to make satisfaction. A person can do nothing by his own power worthy of compensating for the offense he has committed against God. This is what he means when he says, “What will I do for you, O guardian of men?” It is as if to say: If You have such great care for humanity, like a watchman requiring an account of our individual acts, my own powers are not sufficient to perform some act for which You will remit my sins. If this is what is expected, You would never spare me; therefore, please spare me despite this powerlessness.

The second reason is taken from humanity’s powerlessness to persevere. A person cannot persevere after the corruption of human nature without the grace of God. Thus, it is customary even in Sacred Scripture to say that God hardens or blinds someone, in the sense that He does not bestow on him the grace by which he might be softened and might see. Job speaks in this way, saying, “Why do you pit me against you?” That is, why did You not give me the grace of perseverance in this matter, so that I might not be opposed to You through sin? For whoever sins is opposed to God, since he spurns the divine commandments, which are either handed down in the written Law or naturally inscribed in human reason.

Note that reason is the strongest of all the powers of the soul. A sign of this strength is that reason commands the other powers and uses them for its own end. Yet it happens that reason is sometimes absorbed by concupiscence, anger, or the other passions of the lower part of the soul, and so a person sins. Nevertheless, the lower passions cannot hold reason bound; rather, reason always returns to its nature, by which it tends toward spiritual goods as its own proper end. Therefore, a kind of internal struggle occurs when reason resists the person who has sinned, having been absorbed by concupiscence or anger. Since a tendency toward similar acts has been added to the lower powers from past sins as a result of habit, reason cannot freely use the lower powers to order them to higher goods or withdraw them from lower ones.

Thus, a person becomes a burden even to himself in being opposed to God through sin. He shows this by saying, “Why have I become a burden to myself?” One sees in this that sin brings its own immediate punishment. Therefore, after this punishment, it seems a person should be spared more easily.

The third reason is taken from a person’s powerlessness to cleanse himself from sin. For a person sinks into sin by himself, but it is God’s role alone to remit sin. So Job asks, if his punishment will not cease as long as his sin remains, and since God alone can take away sin: “Why do you not take away my sin,” which I have committed against God or against myself? “Why do you not take away my iniquity,” if any has been committed against my neighbor?

Remember, Job does not ask these kinds of questions as a rash questioner of divine judgments, but to destroy the falsehood his adversaries were eager to assert—namely, that one should hope for good and evil from God based on human deeds in this life alone. If this view is asserted, the entire basis for divine judgments—by which He punishes people in this life for sin and remits sins in the next, foreordaining them to either predestination or reprobation—is thrown into confusion. If there is no future life, but only the present one, there would be no reason for God to delay sparing, justifying, or rewarding those whom He intends to.

So Job shows his own intention clearly, continuing, “Look! Now I will sleep in the dust,” as if to say, “The end of my life is almost here, when I will die and decay to dust.” One cannot hope to see tomorrow with certainty because of the uncertainty of death. So he says, “If you will look for me in the morning, I will no longer exist.” This means: I cannot promise myself life even until morning, much less a long span of life in which I could hope for You to spare me, if there is no other life.

Consider that Job proceeds in the manner of a debater, for whom it is sufficient at the beginning to disprove a false opinion and afterward to explain what he himself thinks is true. Note, too, that in these opening words, Job touched on three reasons why someone might be afflicted by God in this life:

1. That his malice may be restrained so he cannot harm others. He touched on this reason in the text, Am I the sea or a whale that you should surround me to lock me up? (Job 7:14).
2. To test a person in order to manifest his virtue. He touched on this in the text, You visit him at dawn and immediately test him (Job 7:18).
3. To punish sinners. He touched on this when he said, I have sinned, what will I do for you, you guardian of men.