Fathers

Job 35

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Moreover Elihu answered, “Do you think this to be your right, or do you say, ‘My righteousness is more than God’s,’ that you ask, ‘What advantage will it be to you? What profit will I have, more than if I had sinned?’ I will answer you, and your companions with you. Look to the skies, and see. See the skies, which are higher than you. If you have sinned, what effect do you have against him? If your transgressions are multiplied, what do you do to him? If you are righteous, what do you give him? Or what does he receive from your hand? Your wickedness may hurt a man as you are, and your righteousness may profit a son of man. “By reason of the multitude of oppressions they cry out. They cry for help by reason of the arm of the mighty. But no one says, ‘Where is God my Maker, who gives songs in the night, who teaches us more than the animals of the earth, and makes us wiser than the birds of the sky?’ There they cry, but no one answers, because of the pride of evil men. Surely God will not hear an empty cry, neither will the Almighty regard it. How much less when you say you don’t see him. The cause is before him, and you wait for him! But now, because he has not visited in his anger, neither does he greatly regard arrogance. Therefore Job opens his mouth with empty talk, and he multiplies words without knowledge.”

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What the Fathers say

Job 35:11

Western Saints

Gregory the Dialogist

Who teacheth us more than the beasts of the earth, and instructeth us more than the fowls of heaven. The beasts of the earth are they, who seek the lowest things, from the habit of a carnal life. But the fowls of the heaven are they, who search into lofty things, with the eagerness of a proud curiosity. These degrade themselves, by their conduct, below what they are in themselves; these exalt themselves, by their enquiries, beyond what they are able. …

Morals on the Book of Job, Book XXVI ↗

Thomas Aquinas

Third, he brings in the infusion of natural light by which we discern good from evil by reason, in which we are higher than brute animals, and so he says, "He who teaches us above the flocks of the earth," which lack reason. Since the ancients consulted the chatter and motions of the birds who seem to almost be instructed by God and act like reasoning beings, he excludes this saying, "he teaches more than the birds of heaven," which also do not have reason.

Commentary on Job ↗