13 With him is wisdom and might; he hath counsel and understanding.
He is wise in heart and mighty in strength: who hath hardened himself against him, and had peace?
Lo, ùGod is mighty, but despiseth not [any]; mighty in strength of understanding:
And that he would shew thee the secrets of wisdom, how that they are the double of what is realised; and know that +God passeth by [much] of thine iniquity!
for *I* will give you a mouth and wisdom which all your opposers shall not be able to reply to or resist.
in which are hid all the treasures of wisdom and of knowledge.
in whom we have also obtained an inheritance, being marked out beforehand according to the purpose of him who works all things according to the counsel of his own will,
but to those that [are] called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ God's power and God's wisdom.
For who has known [the] mind of [the] Lord, or who has been his counsellor?
Daniel answered and said, Blessed be the name of God for ever and ever; For wisdom and might are his.
He hath made the earth by his power, he hath established the world by his wisdom, and hath stretched out the heavens by his understanding.
Who hath directed the Spirit of Jehovah, and, [as] his counsellor, hath taught him? With whom took he counsel, and [who] gave him intelligence, and instructed him in the path of judgment, and taught him knowledge, and shewed him the way of understanding?
For Jehovah giveth wisdom; out of his mouth [come] knowledge and understanding. He layeth up sound wisdom for the upright; [he] is a shield to them that walk in integrity;
Who hath put wisdom in the inward parts? or who hath given understanding to the mind?
And Elihu the son of Barachel the Buzite answered and said, I am young, and ye are aged; wherefore I was timid, and feared to shew you what I know. I said, Let days speak, and multitude of years teach wisdom. But there is a spirit which is in man; and the breath of the Almighty giveth them understanding. It is not the great that are wise; neither do the aged understand judgment.
Whence then cometh wisdom? and where is the place of understanding? For it is hidden from the eyes of all living, and concealed from the fowl of the heavens. Destruction and death say, We have heard its report with our ears. God understandeth the way thereof, and he knoweth its place: For he looketh to the ends of the earth, he seeth under the whole heaven. In making a weight for the wind, and meting out the waters by measure, In appointing a statute for the rain, and a way for the thunder's flash: Then did he see it, and declare it; he established it, yea, and searched it out; And unto man he said, Lo, the fear of the Lord, that is wisdom; and to depart from evil is understanding.
Worthy.Bible » Commentaries » Matthew Henry Commentary » Commentary on Job 12
Commentary on Job 12 Matthew Henry Commentary
Chapter 12
In this and the two following chapters we have Job's answer to Zophar's discourse, in which, as before, he first reasons with his friends (see 13:19) and then turns to his God, and directs his expostulations to him, from thence to the end of his discourse. In this chapter he addresses himself to his friends, and,
Job 12:1-5
The reproofs Job here gives to his friends, whether they were just or no, were very sharp, and may serve for a rebuke to all that are proud and scornful, and an exposure of their folly.
Job 12:6-11
Job's friends all of them went upon this principle, that wicked people cannot prosper long in this world, but some remarkable judgment or other will suddenly light on them: Zophar had concluded with it, that the eyes of the wicked shall fail, ch. 11:20. This principle Job here opposes, and maintains that God, in disposing men's outward affairs, acts as a sovereign, reserving the exact distribution of rewards and punishments for the future state.
Job 12:12-25
This is a noble discourse of Job's concerning the wisdom, power, and sovereignty of God, in ordering and disposing of all the affairs of the children of men, according to the counsel of his own will, which none dares gainsay or can resist. Take both him and them out of the controversy in which they were so warmly engaged, and they all spoke admirably well; but, in that, we sometimes scarcely know what to make of them. It were well if wise and good men, that differ in their apprehensions about minor things, would see it to be for their honour and comfort, and the edification of others, to dwell most upon those great things in which they are agreed. On this subject Job speaks like himself. Here are no passionate complaints, no peevish reflections, but every thing masculine and great.
Thus are the revolutions of kingdoms wonderfully brought about by an overruling Providence. Heaven and earth are shaken, but the Lord sits King for ever, and with him we look for a kingdom that cannot be shaken.