Job 12 - ESV - Bible Reading / Study Notes

Job 12

Job Replies: The Lord Has Done This

12:1 Then Job answered and said:

2   “No doubt you are the people,
    and wisdom will die with you.
3   But I have understanding as well as you;
    I am not inferior to you.
    Who does not know such things as these?
4   I am a laughingstock to my friends;
    I, who called to God and he answered me,
    a just and blameless man, am a laughingstock.
5   In the thought of one who is at ease there is contempt for misfortune;
    it is ready for those whose feet slip.
6   The tents of robbers are at peace,
    and those who provoke God are secure,
    who bring their god in their hand.¹
7   “But ask the beasts, and they will teach you;
    the birds of the heavens, and they will tell you;
8   or the bushes of the earth, and they will teach you;²
    and the fish of the sea will declare to you.
9   Who among all these does not know
    that the hand of the LORD has done this?
10   In his hand is the life of every living thing
    and the breath of all mankind.
11   Does not the ear test words
    as the palate tastes food?
12   Wisdom is with the aged,
    and understanding in length of days.
13   “With God³ are wisdom and might;
    he has counsel and understanding.
14   If he tears down, none can rebuild;
    if he shuts a man in, none can open.
15   If he withholds the waters, they dry up;
    if he sends them out, they overwhelm the land.
16   With him are strength and sound wisdom;
    the deceived and the deceiver are his.
17   He leads counselors away stripped,
    and judges he makes fools.
18   He looses the bonds of kings
    and binds a waistcloth on their hips.
19   He leads priests away stripped
    and overthrows the mighty.
20   He deprives of speech those who are trusted
    and takes away the discernment of the elders.
21   He pours contempt on princes
    and loosens the belt of the strong.
22   He uncovers the deeps out of darkness
    and brings deep darkness to light.
23   He makes nations great, and he destroys them;
    he enlarges nations, and leads them away.
24   He takes away understanding from the chiefs of the people of the earth
    and makes them wander in a trackless waste.
25   They grope in the dark without light,
    and he makes them stagger like a drunken man.

Footnotes

[1] 12:6 The meaning of the Hebrew is uncertain
[2] 12:8 Or or speak to the earth, and it will teach you
[3] 12:13 Hebrew him

Commentary

v1-2: Job is not impressed, even mocking in return, "wisdom will die with you!"

v3: The three friends were not dealing with a novice, "I have a mind as well as you; I am not inferior to you." Job is not ignorant of the ways of God.

v4: Job testifies of his continued suffering, being mocked by his friends. His response to them is clear, see 13.4,12.

v5-6: Job's concern, that the godly suffer, and the wicked prosper. He blatantly contradicts the words of all three friends. They must explain all such aberrations that are observed.

v7-10: God reveals Himself through nature; the beasts, birds, fish, even the earth itself, all declare something of God. God's ways are perhaps better understood by the animals then by some people.

v11-12: In contrast, man needs many days to attain wisdom.

Job's friends had put God into a box of their own making, limiting His actions to the rewarding of good, and the punishment of evil. There forced all of God's actions into their own doctrine and understanding.

v13: God has "wisdom and power"; the strength to do anything He desires, and the wisdom to do it right. His purposes are always right and always fulfilled.

v14-15: When God speaks or acts, no man can reverse it, see Is 14.27.

v16: God has "strength and victory", power to influence and change human lives. All things are subject to Him (v17-25), and nothing happens without Him.

v17-21: Human honour and position count for nothing before God. Counsellors, kings, priests, trusted advisers, elders, nobles, the mighty, all lose their influence at the word of God.

v22-25: The nations, as well as individuals, are subject to God.