1 Then Job answered,
2 "No doubt, but you are the people, And wisdom shall die with you.
3 But I have understanding as well as you; I am not inferior to you: Yes, who doesn't know such things as these?
4 I am like one who is a joke to his neighbor, I, who called on God, and he answered. The just, the blameless man is a joke.
5 In the thought of him who is at ease there is contempt for misfortune, It is ready for them whose foot slips.
6 The tents of robbers prosper, Those who provoke God are secure; Who carry their God in their hands.
7 "But ask the animals, now, and they shall teach you; The birds of the sky, and they shall tell you.
8 Or speak to the earth, and it shall teach you; The fish of the sea shall declare to you.
9 Who doesn't know that in all these, The hand of Yahweh has done this,
10 In whose hand is the life of every living thing, The breath of all mankind?
11 Doesn't the ear try words, Even as the palate tastes its food?
12 With aged men is wisdom, In length of days understanding.
13 "With God is wisdom and might. He has counsel and understanding.
14 Behold, he breaks down, and it can't be built again; He imprisons a man, and there can be no release.
15 Behold, he withholds the waters, and they dry up; Again, he sends them out, and they overturn the earth.
16 With him is strength and wisdom; The deceived and the deceiver are his.
17 He leads counselors away stripped. He makes judges fools.
18 He loosens the bond of kings, He binds their loins with a belt.
19 He leads priests away stripped, And overthrows the mighty.
20 He removes the speech of those who are trusted, And takes away the understanding of the elders.
21 He pours contempt on princes, And loosens the belt of the strong.
22 He uncovers deep things out of darkness, And brings out to light the shadow of death.
23 He increases the nations, and he destroys them. He enlarges the nations, and he leads them captive.
24 He takes away understanding from the chiefs of the people of the earth, And causes them to wander in a wilderness where there is no way.
25 They grope in the dark without light. He makes them stagger like a drunken man.
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.