Lecture 5 — One cannot return from Sheol

^14:18^ A falling mountain is leveled, and the rock is displaced.

^14:19^ Water wears away stones and the earth is gradually consumed by flood. Do you destroy man in the same way?

^14:20^ Have you strengthened him a little to allow him to disappear forever? Will you change his face and let him go to waste?

^14:21^ Whether his sons are noble or base, he does not understand.

^14:22^ Yet his flesh will grieve while he lives, his soul will mourn over itself.

246. A falling mountain is leveled, and the rock is displaced. After Job has posited his idea about the future resurrection, he here strengthens it with probable arguments. The first argument is taken from a comparison of men to lower creatures, which are totally consumed without hope of renewal. For all things which are generated are subject to corruption, and so the mountains will be dissolved, although they seem very solid. He speaks to this theme, saying, a falling mountain is leveled. Rocks also are dashed to pieces, either by violence or nature, even though they seem very powerful. He next speaks to this, and the rock is displaced. Even stones are worn away by water, although they seem very hard. He expresses this, saying, water wears away stones. The earth too is gradually changed in its disposition, although it seems most stable, and so he says, the earth is gradually consumed by flood. But it would not be fitting to apply the same reasoning to the corruption of man and the corruption of these other things. So he concludes as though leading the argument to an unfitting conclusion, do you then destroy man in the same way? He seems to say here, “It is not fitting that men experience corruption like other corporeal creatures. For all the other creatures mentioned are completely corrupted, and therefore they are not renewed in the same number. However, although man is corrupted in body, he still remains incorrupt in soul, which transcends the whole genus of corporeal things, and so the hope of renewal remains.”

247. He then deduces the same things using reasons drawn from the properties of man. Man excels all lower creatures in two ways. One of these is operative power. For he truly is the lord of his own actions by free will, which is proper to no other corporeal creature. Because of this, man is more powerful than every other corporeal creature. Therefore, he uses the other for his own sake. He also excels them in intellectual knowledge. Since he has a mind, this is somewhat indicated in his body, especially in the face which man has, and which is very different from the other animals. From these two facts, it is apparent that man is not corrupted like other things which do not exist perpetually. He expresses the operation of man, saying, have you strengthened him a little to allow him to disappear forever? He means, “It is not fitting for you to strengthen man so much for a short time and then not have him exist perpetually afterwards.” It seems really foolish for someone to make a very strong tool to use it for only a short time and then throw it away for good. The power of every corporeal creature is determined by finite effects, while the power of free will is for undetermined actions. This in itself bears witness to the power of the soul to make it endure indefinitely. As to man’s intelligence, he says, will you change his face and let him go to waste? He means here, “It is not fitting that you should make his face so different from the rest of the animals, and yet still allow him to perish from this state of life without hope of returning to life like the other animals.” Intellectual knowledge is commonly perceived from the facial expression because it is proper to the rational creature. Intellectual knowledge can only fittingly belong to an incorruptible substance, as the philosophers prove.

248. But someone could object that, although man does not return after death to life, he does not still pass away perpetually, because he still lives on in his sons. The words of Baldath seem to have spoken to this theme when he said, this is the joy of its life, that others may be brought forth from the earth again (Job 8:19). But Job rejects this answer, saying, whether his sons are noble or base, he does not understand. He means here that man seizes eternal good by the intellect, and so he naturally desires it. The good, however, which is in the succession of sons cannot satisfy the intellectual appetite if man is totally consumed by death so that he does not exist any more. A man does not comprehend the good in the succession of his sons either while he lives or after he dies if he completely disappears after death. The intellectual appetite of man does not tend to the eternity of this good then, but to the good or evil which it has in itself, and so he adds, yet his flesh will grieve while he lives, his soul will mourn over itself. Here he distinguishes two sorrows. One is of the flesh in the apprehension of sense. The other is of the soul from the apprehension of the intellect or imagination, which is properly called sadness, and here is termed mourning.