Thomas Aquinas Commentary Job 8:8-22

"For inquire, I pray thee, of the former age, And apply thyself to that which their fathers have searched out: (For we are but of yesterday, and know nothing, Because our days upon earth are a shadow); Shall not they teach thee, and tell thee, And utter words out of their heart? Can the rush grow up without mire? Can the flag grow without water? Whilst it is yet in its greenness, [and] not cut down, It withereth before any [other] herb. So are the paths of all that forget God; And the hope of the godless man shall perish: Whose confidence shall break in sunder, And whose trust is a spider`s web. He shall lean upon his house, but it shall not stand: He shall hold fast thereby, but it shall not endure. He is green before the sun, And his shoots go forth over his garden. His roots are wrapped about the [stone] -heap, He beholdeth the place of stones. If he be destroyed from his place, Then it shall deny him, [saying], I have not seen thee. Behold, this is the joy of his way; And out of the earth shall others spring. Behold, God will not cast away a perfect man, Neither will he uphold the evil-doers. He will yet fill thy mouth with laughter, And thy lips with shouting. They that hate thee shall be clothed with shame; And the tent of the wicked shall be no more." — Job 8:8-22 (ASV)

In the preceding verses, Bildad of Shuah defended the same opinion that Eliphaz the Temanite had proposed: that those who are divinely punished for sin in this present life will return to a state of prosperity after their conversion. He now intends to prove this in two ways: first, from experience, and second, from analogy.

Learning through experience is an especially effective proof for particular things, and it becomes much more so the longer it has been observed and found to be without error. Things that require long observation are best verified by the memories of the ancients. Therefore, to prove his proposition, he turns to what the ancients remembered. Regarding the ancients, he says, “Question the generation that has passed.” Regarding those who immediately preceded him, he says, “carefully investigate the memory of your fathers”—that is, those things which your fathers remember.

Questioning an earlier generation is done by considering what is written about the deeds of the ancients and what is passed down about them in tradition. Since many things written and told about ancient deeds are legends, he refers Job to the fathers, who can speak about things they have actually seen, so that no one can think him deceived. He shows the necessity of this investigation when he continues, “We are men of yesterday”—born almost yesterday—“and we know nothing” of ancient deeds because of this. He says this to show the shortness of our life, and so he continues, because our days on earth are like a shadow. A shadow passes swiftly, disappearing as soon as the obstacle to the light is removed. When the body that casts the shadow moves, the former shadow passes and another takes its place. In the same way, a person's days are continually passing, as one day takes the place of another.

He shows the purpose of this investigation, continuing, “They, themselves”—those who went before and the fathers who are consulted—“will teach you” the truth about these questions. Your fathers will teach you with their words, or the ancients will teach you through writing and tradition. “And these are the words they will speak from the heart.” He adds this to show the truth of this teaching about earthly restitution, as if to say: They will teach you nothing other than what they know in their hearts, since they have no reason to deceive you.

He then introduces an analogy from the material world to prove his point, giving the example of two plants. One of them, the bulrush or rush, requires moisture from the earth to survive. About this, he asks, Do rushes flourish without moisture? The other plant, the sedge, requires a watery environment. Sedges are broad grasses, pointed at the top, that grow in wet places. So he continues, Can sedge grow without water? The place where this kind of grass grows is called a sedge bed.

He shows that the rush needs moisture and the sedge needs water because they dry out easily from the mere removal of the marsh or water, even when there is no other cause for their dehydration. In contrast, there are two causes of dehydration for plants that grow on land: one is natural, from old age; the other is violent, when they are forcefully uprooted. Yet even when neither of these causes is present, the rush and sedge dry up from the mere removal of the marsh or water. This is the meaning of the verse: Even at their freshest—that is, while still in their youth and vigor, which excludes old age—and not destroyed by a hand—which excludes violence—they wither fastest of all the plants.

He now adapts this example to his purpose. Bildad understood that clinging to God is the cause of earthly prosperity, just as water is the cause of the grass's greenness. This is because he thought that humanity's good consisted in earthly prosperity. It is clear, however, that our true good consists in clinging to God. Thus, he believed that Job's earthly prosperity was failing because he was not clinging to God. This principle is certainly true regarding spiritual happiness, which is our true good, but it is not true of earthly prosperity, which is counted among the least important goods, as it merely serves as an instrument for achieving true happiness.

So he adds, Such are the paths of all who forget God; and the hope of the hypocrite will perish. Here, consider that he adds two points that correspond to the two examples mentioned above. The sedge requires clear, visible water to stay green and dries out when it is gone. The rush, however, requires water hidden in moist earth and dries up when this moisture is absent. Likewise, in his opinion, some people perish because they openly stop clinging to God in visible ways. These are the ones who openly do deeds against God, whom he describes as those “who forget God.” For people who are not afraid to do evil openly seem to have completely cast off their reverence for God and no longer remember Him. In contrast, there are others who, in his opinion, perish because they do not cling to God in a hidden way. These are the hypocrites, who pretend outwardly to cling to God, but whose hearts cling to the earth. When speaking of the hypocrite, he mentions “hope,” but when speaking of those who forget God, he mentions “paths” (that is, deeds). This is because the works of those who forget God are turned away from Him, while the hope of the hypocrite is turned away from Him.

He shows how the hypocrite's hope perishes, continuing, His folly will not please him. Here we should consider that a hypocrite has a vain heart, for he neglects spiritual things and is interested only in temporal matters. He is satisfied as long as he succeeds in worldly things according to his expectations. But if these temporal things are taken from him, he will inevitably be displeased, because he does not have a true and stable heart toward God. Therefore, he says, “His folly does not please him,” meaning the hypocrite will be displeased when adversity comes, because he does not have a right heart toward God.

The care he had for temporal things will prove completely worthless. To show this, he continues, His assurance is like a spider’s web, which means that the things in which he trusted will be as easily broken as a spider's web. For he did not trust in God's help, but in the strength of his house—that is, his great wealth, his many relatives, and things like these. But these supports easily fail him. So he continues, He will put his trust in the stability of his own house, and he will not stand firm, because when divine help is withdrawn, these goods will also fail. When someone anticipates that tragedy may happen in the future, he prepares something for himself and his house to fall back on against adversity. But even this will not help him, because as the text continues, he will prop it up—with remedies against adversity, just as supports are placed under a house in danger of falling—and he will not rise up. Neither he nor his house will be restored to a state of prosperity.

He now applies the previous comparison of the rushes to the idea he has just related about the frailty of the hypocrite's confidence. The hypocrite's trust is like the rush in two ways. First, it is like the greenness of the rush, which fades quickly when the sun comes out and dries the moist earth. He expresses this idea by saying of the rush, it seems moist before the sun rises, and at its rising, its buds blossom. This plant appears to grow quickly and produce its fruit. In the same way, the hypocrite seems to prosper because fortune smiles on him at first, but when the sun of tribulation comes out, his prosperity quickly fails.

Second, the rush's apparent stability can come from other sources: either from its roots being bunched together with many others, or from the firmness of the rocky place where it grows. Consequently, he says, its roots were crowded together on a heap of stones, just as the roots of many papyrus plants are intertwined. With this, he expresses the first idea. He expresses the second idea by saying, and it will dwell among stones. In the same way, a hypocrite can trust in his own stability, founding it not only on his own prosperity but also on his large number of relatives and servants, or even on the strength of the state or city where he lives.

But this trust proves as vain for him as it is for the rush. For the text continues, if someone will pull it from its place, the place will deny it and say, ‘I do not know you.’ This means that the rush is so completely uprooted that no trace of it remains. Nor is the place prepared to receive the same rushes a second time. He next explains the reason for this: For this is the joy of his path, that others may be brought forth from the earth again. As if to say: The progress and life of the rush are not directed toward remaining in one place, nor is it preserved so that the same rushes that were uprooted might be replaced. Instead, its “joy” is that others of the same species spring up again.

So it is also when someone, by death or in some other way, is separated from the company of powerful people. He passes almost immediately into oblivion, as it says in Psalm 31:12, I was given over to forgetfulness, as though I were dead in their hearts. But society rejoices in those who replace him, as Ecclesiastes says, Let another born in the kingdom be consumed by want. I have seen that all the living who walk under the sun hasten to the young man who takes his place (Ecclesiastes 4:14–15). These two passages are introduced into the argument to show that although the wicked may prosper for a time, their prosperity is not firm. It is not something in which they can trust, but rather it quickly passes away and should be considered as nothing.

Consequently, he shows the conclusion he intends to draw from all he has already said, stating, God does not spurn a simple man; for He will not cast away someone who clings to Him with a simple heart, but will sustain him. Nor does he lend his hand to the wicked; that is, He will not help them in a way that confirms their prosperity. Yet Job could reply, “Whatever you may say, and whatever you try to prove with analogies, I have experienced the contrary. For when I was simple, I suffered adversity, and my evil adversaries prevailed against me.”

Bildad wishes to disprove this by saying, Until your mouth is filled with laughter and your lips with a cry of joy. As if to say: What I have told you is so true that you will experience it yourself, but only if you become simple. Then, the happiness that follows from your prosperity will be characterized by outbursts of laughter and joyful shouts. These things usually accompany great rejoicing. The contrary is also true: Those who hate you will be covered with shame, for they will be openly confounded in various ways, so that they will wear confusion like a garment. So that this would not seem impossible to someone, given the present prosperity in which the wicked seem to flourish, he continues, and the tent of the wicked will not endure.

The tent, in which most people of the East customarily live and keep their goods and possessions, can be understood to mean all those things that pertain to the prosperity of this present life. Consider that Bildad mentions both the hypocrite and the simple man because he thought that Job was not truly holy, but a hypocrite. But if Job will begin to be simple, Bildad promises him prosperity in the future.