Thomas Aquinas Commentary Job 9:22-35

"It is all one; therefore I say, He destroyeth the perfect and the wicked. If the scourge slay suddenly, He will mock at the trial of the innocent. The earth is given into the hand of the wicked; He covereth the faces of the judges thereof: If [it be] not [he], who then is it? Now my days are swifter than a post: They flee away, they see no good, They are passed away as the swift ships; As the eagle that swoopeth on the prey. If I say, I will forget my complaint, I will put off my [sad] countenance, and be of good cheer; I am afraid of all my sorrows, I know that thou wilt not hold me innocent. I shall be condemned; Why then do I labor in vain? If I wash myself with snow water, And make my hands never so clean; Yet wilt thou plunge me in the ditch, And mine own clothes shall abhor me. For he is not a man, as I am, that I should answer him, That we should come together in judgment. There is no umpire betwixt us, That might lay his hand upon us both. Let him take his rod away from me, And let not his terror make me afraid: Then would I speak, and not fear him; For I am not so in myself." — Job 9:22-35 (ASV)

After blessed Job has shown that it is not his intention to argue with God, he proposes the principal issue in dispute between him and his adversaries. For Eliphaz had said that punishments from God are sent only for sins. Job had spoken against this in his first response. Since Bildad had tried to support the opinion of Eliphaz, Job repeats his opinion a second time, saying, I have said one thing: He destroys both the innocent and the wicked.

By this he seems to mean that death, the greatest of present punishments, is inflicted by God not only on sinners but also on the innocent. Therefore, what you say is not true—namely, that a person is punished by God only for their own sins. Deuteronomy teaches that death comes from God: I give death and I will give life (Deuteronomy 32:39). But although death is commonly inflicted by God on everyone, what seems most severe is that the innocent experience many adversities in this life besides the death that is common to all. He now intends to investigate the cause of this.

So he then says, If he scourges, let him kill at the same time. In effect, he is saying: Granted that the scourge of death is common to all, it still seems reasonable that the innocent, who are not guilty of personal sins, should not be inflicted with any other punishment besides the death due to original sin. For if, as you (his friends) say, the only reason someone can be justly punished is sin, and yet the innocent clearly suffer punishment in this world, it seems to follow that they are punished without reason, as though the punishments themselves pleased God. So he says, and let him not laugh at the punishments of the innocent, for we ordinarily laugh about those things that please us in themselves.

If it is unfitting for the punishments of the innocent to please God in themselves, and yet the innocent are frequently punished on earth, then another, equally unfitting conclusion seems to follow: that such punishments do not proceed from divine judgment, but from the malice of some evil ruler who has power over the earth and punishes the innocent. So he continues, The earth is given into the hands of the wicked, as if to say: If the punishments of the innocent on earth are not pleasing to God in themselves, then we must conclude that God has committed the rule of the earth to some evil person, by whose iniquity judgment is perverted so that the innocent are punished. He expresses this when he says, He covers the face of his judges—that is, he obscures their reason with sinful desire, hate, or love, so that they do not follow the truth of justice in their judgments. If it is not he—that is, the wicked man to whom the earth has been committed—who causes the punishment of the innocent, then who is it? In other words, who is the cause of this punishment? For, assuming your position that sin alone is the cause of present punishments, God cannot be the cause of this suffering, as Job has already demonstrated.

Job expresses this when he says, The earth is given into the hands of the wicked. This is certainly true in a sense, inasmuch as materialistic people remain under the power of the devil, as one text says, He who commits sin is the slave of sin (John 8:34). However, it is, strictly speaking (simpliciter), false. For the dominion of the earth is not absolutely given over to the devil, allowing him to do whatever he likes freely on it. Whatever he is permitted to do proceeds from divine disposition, which arranges everything for a reasonable cause. Therefore, the very fact that the innocent are punished does not depend absolutely on the evil intention of the devil, but also on the wisdom of God who permits it. Therefore, if sin is not the cause of the punishment of the innocent, it is insufficient to attribute it solely to the malice of the devil; one must also find a reasonable explanation for why God permits it. Job clearly shows this by saying, If it is not he, then who is it? as if to say: If the evil will of the devil is not a sufficient cause for the punishment of the innocent, one must investigate another cause.

To investigate the reason why the innocent are punished in this world, Job first describes the harm he has experienced in the loss of his goods. He shows the fickleness of present prosperity by using similes of the most fleeting things in this world. First, note that different people have different relationships to the prosperity of this world. Some people hold it as their ultimate end because they hope for nothing beyond this life. This seems to be the opinion of those who declare that all rewards and punishments are found in this life. Such people do not look beyond the prosperity of this world; rather, the prosperity of this world escapes from them when they lose it. Others, however, among whom Job was included, do not place their ultimate end in the prosperity of this world but aim for another. They pass by the prosperity of this world more than it passes them by.

Three things are required for someone aiming at an end:

1. First, they must not fix their heart on anything else that might delay them from their goal, but instead hasten to attain it. So Job gives as his first example a runner who aims for the end of his course and does not linger along the way. He says, My days pass swifter than a runner. In this, he shows both the frailty of present fortune and his intention to pursue something else. They have fled away, as if to say that rest for the heart is not found in the things of this world. The text continues, they have not seen the good—namely, the true good toward which my intention was directed. Therefore, I do not consider myself rewarded for my righteousness, for if you (his friends) think present prosperity is a reward, then I, an innocent man, have been punished, because this has been taken away from me.
2. Second, when one pursues a goal, one must acquire the means capable of attaining it, just as someone who desires to be healed must acquire medicines to be cured. In the same way, whoever wishes to reach the true good must seek the virtues by which that end can be acquired. So he then says, They move on like ships laden with fruit. Two things are demonstrated in this verse: the frailty of present fortune (because ships laden with fruit hasten to sell it to keep the fruit from spoiling) and the enthusiasm in pursuing a goal. This is as if to say: My days have not gone by empty, but I have collected virtues with which I am aiming to attain my final end.
3. Third, there remains the actual attainment of the end, and so he says, Like an eagle swooping down on its prey, which he uses as an explanation for the first two points. For the eagle is a bird of swift flight and is especially fast when it is driven by hunger and has its prey—by which it sustains its life—as its goal.

Because his adversaries thought he was being presumptuous, since in these words he had implied that he was just and innocent, he begins to confer with God about his innocence, for God alone can judge the conscience. So he continues: If I say in my heart, "I will speak this way to no avail" (by claiming I am just and innocent), I alter my countenance entirely—from the assurance I began to feel about my innocence to an anxiety in searching for my sins—and I writhe with pain, reflecting as I examine my conscience that perhaps I am being punished for some sin. He then expresses the cause of his pain, saying, I was anxious about everything I did. For the cause of pain is great for someone who has great anxiety about a particular thing and yet falls into the very thing he tries to avoid. He, however, experiences great anxiety about everything he does, fearing lest he fall away from righteousness in some way. This is what he means when he says, anxious about everything I did. The reason he was so anxious about everything he did was his fear of the severity of divine judgment. So he says next, knowing that you do not spare anyone who is delinquent, unless he repents, because as Psalm 7 says, Unless you will be converted, he will brandish his sword (Psalms 7:13). If however, after such great zeal for innocence, I am so wicked that I deserve to be punished so severely by God, why have I labored in vain?—that is, with such great anxiety to maintain my innocence? For one labors in vain who strives for a goal that he does not attain.

But since human purity, however great, is found wanting under divine scrutiny, Job consequently shows that when he says he is pure and innocent, he means he is pure and innocent as a human being, not as though he were lacking nothing from the standpoint of God's perfect righteousness. Know that there are two kinds of purity: one is of the innocent person, and the other is of the repentant person. Both of these are imperfect in a person when compared to the perfect righteousness of the divine standard. He speaks about the purity of the repentant, saying, If I were washed... as with the waters of snow, which are said to be very cleansing, meaning, "if I were zealous to cleanse myself from my sins." He speaks about the purity of the innocent when he says, and my hands shine as though very clean. This means that if in his works (which are designated by the term "hands") no uncleanness could be found, but the bright clarity of righteousness would shine from them. However, he uses the expression as though very clean to suggest that perfect cleansing cannot exist in a human. He says that even if he were cleansed, yet you will dip me in filth, because he would be shown to be filthy and convicted by God's wisdom when compared to His righteousness.

For there is always some defect found in human works. This defect sometimes results from ignorance due to the weakness of the intellect; sometimes from negligence due to the weakness of the flesh; and sometimes from the contamination of an attachment to earthly things, which can be mingled even with good works because of the mutability of the human heart, which does not always persevere in the same fixed state. Therefore, there is always something in human works that is deficient when measured against the purity of divine justice. When someone is unclean, yet has shown some outward manifestation of righteousness, the external signs of righteousness do not suit him. So he then says, and so my clothing will deprecate me. For external works are designated as garments because they wrap around a person, as Matthew says, They will come to you in sheep’s clothing (Matthew 7:15). Clothing, then, "deprecates" someone when the external works of a person who pretends to be just are not in accord with their internal desires.

Next, he shows why, no matter how pure he is, he cannot defend himself from being convicted as impure by God. This is because of two things in which God excels humanity: the purity of His justice and the authority of His majesty. Regarding the first, he says, For he is not a man like myself that I should answer him, as if to say: If any person wanted to convict me of impurity, I would be able to resist them if they charged me with failing to preserve a perfect purity of justice, which they themselves know cannot be maintained by a human. But I cannot respond this way to God, for no defect is found in Him. Regarding the second, he says, and he cannot gain a hearing with him as an equal. For when two people contend with each other, they can have a judge who examines both arguments. But there can be no arbiter between God and humanity for two reasons. First, a judge must have a higher wisdom, which serves as the standard by which the arguments of both parties are examined. It is clear, however, that divine wisdom is the first standard bywhich the truth of all things is examined. Because of this, he then says, Nor is there anyone who can evaluate both our arguments. He means here that there is no one superior to God from whose greater wisdom divine wisdom could be corrected. Second, a judge must have a greater power by which he can compel both parties. Job excludes this quality, saying, Who could lay hands on both of us, meaning, who could coerce us both? This is excluded by the immensity of divine power, which he has already demonstrated .

Since, as has been said, Job intends to investigate why the innocent are punished in the world, he shows in conclusion what could impede this investigation and the intention with which he wishes to undertake it. He could be impeded from this investigation by two things. First, by the affliction from which he was suffering, for people whose minds are occupied with sorrow are not able to investigate accurately. He refers to this, saying, May he withdraw his rod from me. Second, by the reverence he had for God, for people sometimes omit investigating things pertaining to God out of the reverence they have for Him. Regarding this, he says, Let terror of him not frighten me. He means: May God grant my spirit rest from the affliction I suffer and not charge me with irreverence for debating divine things. Then I will be able to investigate, and so he continues, I will speak and not be afraid of him—that is, not being frightened by Him. Nor can I answer when I am afraid of him, meaning, when I hold myself back from investigating something because of reverence for Him.

Note that the fear of God sometimes does not restrain those who fear God from investigating divine things. This is the case when one investigates divine matters from a desire to know the truth—not to comprehend the incomprehensible, but always guided by the principle of submitting one's intellect to the truth of divine things. However, they are restrained by the fear of God from investigating divine things if they are willing to comprehend them fully and do not regulate their intellect by divine truth. Therefore, by these words, Job intends to show that he is investigating matters of divine providence guided by this principle: to subject his intellect to divine truth, not to oppose it, which would be against the reverence due to the fear of God.