^21:22 Will anyone teach God knowledge, he who judges the exalted?
^21:23 This man dies robust and healthy, rich and happy:
^21:24 his inward parts are full of fat, and his bones are moistened with marrow.
^21:25 But another dies in the bitterness of his soul, without any resources.
^21:26 And yet together they will sleep in the dust, and worms will cover them.
^21:27 Certainly I know your thoughts and your iniquitous judgments against me.
^21:28 For you say: Where is the house of the prince? And where are the tabernacles of the impious?
^21:29 Ask anyone of the travelers, and you will know that he understands these same things:
^21:30 that the wicked man will be kept for the day of destruction and is led to the day of fury.
^21:31 Who will accuse his way before him? And who will repay him for the things he has done?
^21:32 He himself will be led to the sepulchres and will keep watch in the heap of the dead.
^21:33 He was sweet to the gravel of Cocytus, and he draws every man after him, and before him innumerable men.
^21:34 How then do you console me in vain, when your answer has been shown to oppose the truth?

320. Will anyone teach God, etc. Because Job had proposed above that sometimes prosperous things and sometimes adverse things come upon the impious in this life, which causes doubt among men, therefore, approaching the solution of this doubt, he first states that this does not arise from a defect of divine knowledge, as though the malice of those for whom things go prosperously were hidden from him; and therefore he says: Will anyone teach God knowledge? As if to say: he does not need to be instructed by anyone concerning the merits of men, so that he may know to whom he should render prosperous things and to whom adverse things. But what he adds, he who judges the exalted, can be joined in two ways: in one way, so that the sense is that God does not need anyone’s instruction in order to be able to judge the exalted, that is, those who prosper in this world, just as in human affairs judges need to be instructed by witnesses concerning the merits of those to be judged;

in another way, it can be understood as introduced like a proof of what preceded: for that God knows all things and does not need to be instructed by others is clear from the fact that he has judgment over persons however exalted; but no one judges things he does not know. Hence it cannot be that the knowledge of anyone, however exalted, should be hidden from him.

321. Therefore, after setting forth the sufficiency of divine knowledge, he adds the matter of doubt that can arise concerning the diverse disposition of human affairs, in which some prosper even unto death, while others die in misery.

Now temporal prosperity consists first indeed in power, and with regard to this he says: This man dies robust,

second, in bodily health, and with regard to this he adds: and healthy,

third, in the opulence of exterior things, and with regard to this he adds: rich,

fourth, in the prosperous outcome of counsels and works, and with regard to this he adds: and happy; for among some, a man is called happy when all things succeed according to his desire.

But to signify not only sufficient riches but even superabundant ones, he adds: his inward parts are full of fat; for fat is generated because of a superabundance of nourishment. And again, to show that his power is supported by manifold helps, he adds: and his bones are moistened with marrow; for strength is designated by bones, whose robustness is sustained by the nourishment of marrow. But he adds concerning the adversity of others, saying: But another dies in the bitterness of his soul, which, namely, pertains to the interior sorrows that men conceive either from bodily harms or from unfortunate events; and he adds: without any resources, to designate the lack of exterior things. Yet although they are thus diversified in life, with equality of merits, it cannot be said that at least in those things after death that pertain to the body their lot is changed in different ways: for their bodies are disposed equally after death, whence he adds: And yet together they will sleep in the dust, that is, they will be buried equally in the earth, and worms will cover them, that is, their bodies will equally decay. Hence it is clear that the reason for the difference that exists among men according to prosperity and adversity, in those who are of equal merit or demerit, cannot be assigned from a diverse disposition of bodies after death.

322. Now the opinion of Job’s friends was that the reason for the aforesaid diversity was from a diversity of merits, which is contrary to what appears by experience, namely, that some of the impious prosper and some suffer adversities. Hence, as though recalling their opinion already disproved, he reproves it when he adds: Certainly I know your thoughts, by which, namely, they rashly condemned Job, and your judgments, namely, uttered in outward words, iniquitous against me, because, namely, from the adversities that I suffer you accuse me of iniquitous impiety. Hence he adds: For you say: Where is the house of the prince? And where are the tabernacles of the impious? As if they were saying: you, together with your family, have fallen from the height of so great a princely rank, just as the tabernacles of the impious are accustomed to fail.

323. Thus, therefore, by the things he had said above, the iniquity of their judgment having been shown, he proceeds to determine the truth. And he first states that what he is about to say is not new but widely known among many, for he adds: Ask anyone of the travelers, as if to say: I do not need to seek testimony with great effort, because it can be had from anyone passing along the way; or he calls travelers those who use this life not as an end but as a way; and you will know that he understands these same things, namely, the things that I am about to say to you. Hence you are without excuse, since you withdraw from the truth that all commonly hold. And he explains this truth, adding: that the wicked man will be kept for the day of destruction, as if to say: that he is not punished in this life but prospers is for this reason, that his punishment is reserved for another time, when he will be punished more gravely; whence he adds: and is led to the day of fury, for since fury is anger set ablaze, a sharper vengeance is signified by the name of fury. But why he is kept for the day of destruction and fury, he shows, adding: Who will accuse his way before him? And who will repay him for the things he has done?

Here he seems to assign two reasons, the first of which is that he is of such imperceptible wisdom that he would not be instructed even by punishments so as to acknowledge his own fault, but amid the scourges he would murmur as though punished unjustly; and this is what he says: Who will accuse before him, that is, so that he himself may acknowledge his way, namely, as iniquitous?

The other reason is that the punishments of this life are not sufficient for the punishment of such great faults, because if they are bitter, they quickly kill; and this is what he says: And who will repay him for the things he has done?, namely, in this life? And therefore, as though concluding that the aforesaid day of destruction and fury is not in this life but after death, he adds: He himself will be led to the sepulchre, namely, dead, and yet he will live according to the soul; and this is what he adds: and will keep watch in the heap of the dead, because, namely, although he seems to sleep through the death of the body, nevertheless he will keep watch through the life of the soul. And lest he seem after death to pass into joy, he adds: He was sweet to the gravel of Cocytus. For because he had invoked even the testimony of travelers, he sets forth the truth about the punishments of the wicked after death under a fable that was commonly reported: that in Hell, among others, there was a certain river by the name of Cocytus, which is interpreted mourning, to which the souls of the wicked are led; and just as other rivers draw along gravel, so that river in some way enfolded the souls of the impious. Therefore the impious man is said to have been sweet to the gravel of Cocytus because his way of life was acceptable to the wicked, and therefore he will have a place among the wicked who are in mourning. But he adds the effect of this river with regard to men: and he draws every man after him, because, namely, all men die with a certain mourning; for what is after death is, as it were, the last part of this river, whose prior part is what is done in this life, and therefore he adds: and before him innumerable men, because, namely, mourning overtakes very many even in this life.

324. Thus, therefore, Job explained his judgment in order: first indeed, above in 19:25, showing that the hope of the just tends toward the reward of the future life, but here expressing that punishment is reserved for the wicked after death. And therefore, the judgment of his adversaries having been refuted on both sides, he adds: How then do you console me in vain, namely, by promising temporal prosperity, when your answer has been shown to oppose the truth? That is, in what you say, that rewards and punishments are allotted to men in this life, which above has been disproved in many ways.