13 With him there is wisdom and strength; power and knowledge are his.
He is wise in heart and great in strength: who ever made his face hard against him, and any good came of it?
Truly, God gives up the hard-hearted, and will not give life to the sinner.
And would make clear to you the secrets of wisdom, and the wonders of his purpose!
For I will give you words and wisdom, so that not one of those who are against you will be able to get the better of you, or to put you in the wrong.
In whom are all the secret stores of wisdom and knowledge.
In whom we have a heritage, being marked out from the first in his purpose who does all things in agreement with his designs;
But to those of God's selection, Jews and Greeks, Christ is the power and the wisdom of God.
Who has knowledge of the mind of the Lord? or who has taken part in his purposes?
And Daniel said in answer, May the name of God be praised for ever and ever: for wisdom and strength are his:
He has made the earth by his power, he has made the world strong in its place by his wisdom, and by his wise design the heavens have been stretched out.
By whom has the spirit of the Lord been guided, or who has been his teacher? Who gave him suggestions, and made clear to him the right way? who gave him knowledge, guiding him in the way of wisdom?
For the Lord gives wisdom; out of his mouth come knowledge and reason: He has salvation stored up for the upright, he is a breastplate to those in whom there is no evil;
Who has put wisdom in the high clouds, or given knowledge to the lights of the north?
And Elihu, the son of Barachel the Buzite, made answer and said, I am young, and you are very old, so I was in fear, and kept myself from putting my knowledge before you. I said to myself, It is right for the old to say what is in their minds, and for those who are far on in years to give out wisdom. But truly it is the spirit in man, even the breath of the Ruler of all, which gives them knowledge. It is not the old who are wise, and those who are full of years have not the knowledge of what is right.
From where then does wisdom come, and where is the resting-place of knowledge? For it is kept secret from the eyes of all living, unseen by the birds of the air. Destruction and Death say, We have only had word of it with our ears. God has knowledge of the way to it, and of its resting-place; For his eyes go to the ends of the earth, and he sees everything under heaven. When he made a weight for the wind, measuring out the waters; When he made a law for the rain, and a way for the thunder-flames; Then he saw it, and put it on record; he gave it its fixed form, searching it out completely. And he said to man, Truly the fear of the Lord is wisdom, and to keep from evil is the way to knowledge.
Worthy.Bible » Commentaries » Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible » Commentary on Job 12
Commentary on Job 12 Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible
CHAPTER 12
FIRST SERIES.
Job 12:1-14:22. Job's Reply to Zophar
2. wisdom shall die with you—Ironical, as if all the wisdom in the world was concentrated in them and would expire when they expired. Wisdom makes "a people:" a foolish nation is "not a people" (Ro 10:19).
3. not inferior—not vanquished in argument and "wisdom" (Job 13:2).
such things as these—such commonplace maxims as you so pompously adduce.
4. The unfounded accusations of Job's friends were a "mockery" of him. He alludes to Zophar's word, "mockest" (Job 11:3).
neighbour, who calleth, &c.—rather, "I who call upon God that he may answer me favorably" [Umbreit].
5. Rather, "a torch" (lamp) is an object of contempt in the thoughts of him who rests securely (is at ease), though it was prepared for the falterings of the feet [Umbreit] (Pr 25:19). "Thoughts" and "feet" are in contrast; also rests "securely," and "falterings." The wanderer, arrived at his night-quarters, contemptuously throws aside the torch which had guided his uncertain steps through the darkness. As the torch is to the wanderer, so Job to his friends. Once they gladly used his aid in their need; now they in prosperity mock him in his need.
6. Job shows that the matter of fact opposes Zophar's theory (Job 11:14, 19, 20) that wickedness causes insecurity in men's "tabernacles." On the contrary, they who rob the "tabernacles" ("dwellings") of others "prosper securely" in their own.
into whose hand, &c.—rather, "who make a god of their own hand," that is, who regard their might as their only ruling principle [Umbreit].
7, 8. Beasts, birds, fishes, and plants, reasons Job, teach that the violent live the most securely (Job 12:6). The vulture lives more securely than the dove, the lion than the ox, the shark than the dolphin, the rose than the thorn which tears it.
8. speak to the earth—rather, "the shrubs of the earth" [Umbreit].
9. In all these cases, says Job, the agency must be referred to Jehovah, though they may seem to man to imply imperfection (Job 12:6; 9:24). This is the only undisputed passage of the poetical part in which the name "Jehovah" occurs; in the historical parts it occurs frequently.
10. the soul—that is, the animal life. Man, reasons Job, is subjected to the same laws as the lower animals.
11. As the mouth by tasting meats selects what pleases it, so the ear tries the words of others and retains what is convincing. Each chooses according to his taste. The connection with Job 12:12 is in reference to Bildad's appeal to the "ancients" (Job 8:8). You are right in appealing to them, since "with them was wisdom," &c. But you select such proverbs of theirs as suit your views; so I may borrow from the same such as suit mine.
12. ancient—aged (Job 15:10).
13. In contrast to, "with the ancient is wisdom" (Job 12:12), Job quotes a saying of the ancients which suits his argument, "with Him (God) is (the true) wisdom" (Pr 8:14); and by that "wisdom and strength" "He breaketh down," &c., as an absolute Sovereign, not allowing man to penetrate His mysteries; man's part is to bow to His unchangeable decrees (Job 1:21). The Mohammedan saying is, "if God will, and how God will."
14. shutteth up—(Isa 22:22). Job refers to Zophar's "shut up" (Job 11:10).
15. Probably alluding to the flood.
16. (Eze 14:9).
18. He looseth the bond of kings—He looseth the authority of kings—the "bond" with which they bind their subjects (Isa 45:1; Ge 14:4; Da 2:21).
a girdle—the cord, with which they are bound as captives, instead of the royal "girdle" they once wore (Isa 22:21), and the bond they once bound others with. So "gird"—put on one the bonds of a prisoner instead of the ordinary girdle (Joh 21:18).
19. princes—rather, "priests," as the Hebrew is rendered (Ps 99:6). Even the sacred ministers of religion are not exempt from reverses and captivity.
the mighty—rather, "the firm-rooted in power"; the Arabic root expresses ever-flowing water [Umbreit].
20. the trusty—rather, "those secure in their eloquence"; for example, the speakers in the gate (Isa 3:3) [Beza].
understanding—literally, "taste," that is, insight or spiritual discernment, which experience gives the aged. The same Hebrew word is applied to Daniel's wisdom in interpretation (Da 2:14).
21. Ps 107:40 quotes, in its first clause, this verse and, in its second, Job 12:24.
weakeneth the strength—literally, "looseth the girdle"; Orientals wear flowing garments; when active strength is to be put forth, they gird up their garments with a girdle. Hence here—"He destroyeth their power" in the eyes of the people.
22. (Da 2:22).
23. Isa 9:3; Ps 107:38, 39, which Psalm quotes this chapter elsewhere. (See on Job 12:21).
straiteneth—literally, "leadeth in," that is, "reduces."
24. heart—intelligence.
wander in a wilderness—figurative; not referring to any actual fact. This cannot be quoted to prove Job lived after Israel's wanderings in the desert. Ps 107:4, 40 quotes this passage.
25. De 28:29; Ps 107:27 again quote Job, but in a different connection.