Job Replies: The Lord Has Done This
1 Job maintained himself against his friends that reprove him. 7 He acknowledged the general doctrine of God’s omnipotence.
Job 12:1 Then Job replied: In the present discourse, which includes chs. 12–14, Job for the first time really pours scorn upon his friends. Invective, however, appears as a secondary purpose. His main object is to justify his previous assertions: (1) that the whole course of earthly events, whether good or evil, must be attributed to God, and (2) that his sufferings entitle him to plead with God and demand to know why he is so punished.
Job 12:2 “Doubtless you are the only people who matter, and wisdom will die with you!
This is the language of biting sarcasm. Job seems to say, “Ye are the only people who count for anything, the only people to whom attention is due and who alone ought to be allowed to speak.”
Die with you. At their death wisdom would disappear from the earth.
Job 12:3 But I have a mind as well as you; I am not inferior to you. Who does not know all these things?
We use the expression “heart” to denote the seat of the affections and emotions. But the Hebrews thought of the heart as the seat of the understanding. Job is probably making a retort to Zophar’s thrust in ch. 11:12, if that statement is to be construed as meaning “a stupid man will get understanding when a wild ass’s colt is born a man” (see on ch. 11:12).
Inferior. Job claims to be equal to his friends in his ability to quote the sayings of the ancients; and to show this, he quotes a number of proverbial sayings in the verses that follow.
These things. Job considered the sentiments of his friends as commonplace. He not only said that he knew those sentiments but declared that it would be strange if anyone did not know them.
Job 12:4 “I have become a laughingstock to my friends, though I called on God and he answered— a mere laughingstock, though righteous and blameless!
It is not entirely clear to whom this statement applies. If it alludes to Job, it will refer to his past, when he was accustomed to receive answers to his prayers; if to Zophar, it would be an ironical thrust at him.
Job is lamenting the fact that he, a man of upright character, who knows God, should find himself an object of ridicule.
Job 12:5 Those who are at ease have contempt for misfortune as the fate of those whose feet are slipping.
Job calls attention to the human weakness that causes men to overwhelm the unfortunate with contempt and to give to the tottering another push. So, when a man is prosperous, he is looked to as a guide and example; but in adversity his counsel is rejected, and he is looked upon with contempt.
Job 12:6 The tents of marauders are undisturbed, and those who provoke God are secure— those God has in his hand.
Verse 5 laments the troubles of the unfortunate. This verse contrasts the apparent prosperity of the wicked. Job is insisting that God does not treat men in this world according to their real character, but that the wicked are prospered and the righteous are afflicted.
Job 12:7 “But ask the animals, and they will teach you, or the birds in the sky, and they will tell you;
Job seems to be pointing out that even among the lower animals the violent are prospered and the innocent are the victims. God does not give security to the gentle, the tame, and the innocent, and punish the ferocious, the bloodthirsty, and the cruel.
Job 12:8 or speak to the earth, and it will teach you, or let the fish in the sea inform you.
Job 12:9 Which of all these does not know that the hand of the LORD has done this?
Job maintains his thesis of the arbitrary sovereignty of God. He is endeavoring to show that his misfortune is not conclusive evidence that he is wicked. Even nature, he avers, disproves such a philosophy.
The term Yahweh, Lord, in this phrase occurs only here in the poetical portions of Job. The general designation of the Divine Being is ’Eloah, or ’el (see vs. 4, 6). There is no obvious explanation for this interesting variation. Several manuscripts retain ’Eloah here.
Job 12:10 In his hand is the life of every creature and the breath of all mankind.
Job 12:11 Does not the ear test words as the tongue tastes food?
Ear try words. Job seems to be making an appeal for discrimination between that which is true and false and that which is right and wrong.
Job 12:12 Is not wisdom found among the aged? Does not long life bring understanding? The probable connection of this verse with the preceding statement is that as the ear determines the value of words, or the palate the taste of food, so aged men have been able to acquire for themselves, during a long life, a true insight into values.
Job 12:13 “To God belong wisdom and power; counsel and understanding are his.
Verse 12 has mentioned the wisdom of old men. Yet the true wisdom is to be found in God alone. In the remainder of this chapter Job presents illustrations of God’s wisdom and sovereignty. His argument is: God made all things; He sustains all things; He reverses the conditions of men at His pleasure; He sets up whom He pleases, and when He chooses, He casts them down. God’s actions are contrary in many respects to what we would anticipate.
Job 12:14 What he tears down cannot be rebuilt; those he imprisons cannot be released.
Job maintains that none can repair what God pulls down. Men may build cities and towns, but God can destroy them by fire, pestilence, or earthquake. Job doubtless stresses this phase of his understanding of God’s sovereignty because in his own experiences he considered himself the object of God’s destructive activity. God has power to deprive man of his freedom.
Job 12:15 If he holds back the waters, there is drought; if he lets them loose, they devastate the land. Droughts and floods, are, in Job’s thinking, both evidence of the sovereignty of God. These disasters of nature were probably common to the inhabitants of Job’s country.
Job 12:16 To him belong strength and insight; both deceived and deceiver are his.
All classes of men are under God’s control. He who abuses his wisdom by leading others astray, and he who uses it for their good, are in God’s hand and serve His purposes. God sets bounds beyond which man cannot go.
Job 12:17 He leads rulers away stripped and makes fools of judges.
The counsels of wise and great men do not prevail against God. The figure is probably an allusion to the practice of removing the outer garments of captives of war (see Micah 1:8).
God has power to defeat the counsels of men who seem most competent to give counsel. Job makes vivid the contrast between the wisdom of God and the wisdom of the greatest of men.
Job 12:18 He takes off the shackles put on by kings and ties a loincloth around their waist.
That by which they bind others. The last part of the verse pictures the kings, who once imprisoned others, now bound and led away as prisoners. The whole series of remarks here refers to the reverses and changes in the conditions of life.
Job 12:19 He leads priests away stripped and overthrows officials long established.
Even the ministers of religion were subject to the reverses that afflicted other men.
Job 12:20 He silences the lips of trusted advisers and takes away the discernment of elders.
God takes away the eloquence and leadership ability of those who have won reputations as counselors.
Job 12:21 He pours contempt on nobles and disarms the mighty.
The Orientals wore loose flowing robes, which were secured by a girdle, or belt, about the loins. When they worked, ran, or traveled, their robes were girded up. To loosen the belt means to impede such activity.
Job 12:22 He reveals the deep things of darkness and brings utter darkness into the light.
Obscuration is no problem for God. He can bring light even out of darkness. This text may refer to (1) God’s ability to detect plots, intrigues, and conspiracies; (2) God’s power to predict the future; or (3) God’s ability to understand man’s inmost thoughts (see Matt. 10:26).
Job 12:23 He makes nations great, and destroys them; he enlarges nations, and disperses them.
He frustrates the plans of the great and makes their wisdom of no significance. They become like lost travelers (see Ps. 107:4).
Job 12:24 He deprives the leaders of the earth of their reason; he makes them wander in a trackless waste.
Job 12:25 They grope in darkness with no light; he makes them stagger like drunkards.
This closes the chapter, and with it the controversy in regard to Job’s command of pertinent and striking proverbial expressions. Job demonstrated that he was as familiar with proverbs respecting God as were his friends, and that he entertained as exalted ideas of the control and government of the Most High as they. The friends interpret God as rewarding men in this life according to their deeds. Job views God as governing the affairs of men from the standpoint of other criteria than their deeds. His life, he feels, has been beyond reproach.