JOB CHAPTER 12 Job's answer: his friends self-conceit: the miserable
always despised, though upright; the wicked prosper, JOB 12:1. God's
power and providence is seen in his works, JOB 12:7. With the ancient
is wisdom, but especially in God, and power: judges are fools, princes
weak and mean, darkne... [ Continue Reading ]
YE ARE THE PEOPLE; you three, and you only, are _the people_, i.e.
people of all people for eminency of wisdom, the only company of
reasonable creatures; all others are but fools or beasts: you have
engrossed all the reason of mankind; and each of you have as much
wisdom as a whole people put togeth... [ Continue Reading ]
AN UNDERSTANDING, Heb. _a heart_; which is oft put for the
_understanding_, as JOB 34:34 JEREMIAH 5:21 ACTS 8:22; i.e. God hath
given me also the knowledge and ability to judge of these matters. I
AM NOT INFERIOR TO YOU in these things; which he speaketh, not in a
way of vain-glorious boasting, but... [ Continue Reading ]
AS ONE MOCKED OF HIS NEIGHBOUR, Heb. _I am a derision_ (the infinitive
being put for a noun, as is usual both in the Hebrew and other
languages) _to my neighbour_, i.e. to these three, who have pretended
and would be thought to be my friends and neighbours; whom therefore
such carriage doth very ill... [ Continue Reading ]
i.e. The just man last mentioned, who is upon the brink of the pit or
grave, ready to fall into mischief, so as never to rise again in this
world, which is my case, and the occasion of their scorn and contempt.
AS A LAMP DESPISED, i.e. like a lamp or torch, which whilst it shines
clearly and in a da... [ Continue Reading ]
THE TABERNACLES OF ROBBERS PROSPER: thy opinion, delivered JOB 11:14,
&c, is confuted by daily experience; which shows that the most wicked,
and injurious, and impudent oppressors, tyrants, and robbers, are so
far from meeting with those disappointments and miseries wherewith
thou didst threaten the... [ Continue Reading ]
THEY SHALL TEACH THEE, to wit, objectively, i.e. if thou observest the
beasts, and their properties, and actions, and events, from them thou
mayst learn this lesson. What lesson? I answer, either,
1. That which was last mentioned, JOB 12:5. God's providence doth
order things in the like manner amon... [ Continue Reading ]
No text from Poole on this verse.... [ Continue Reading ]
IN ALL THESE, or, _by all these_, brute creatures, that God by his
power and wisdom hath created and ordered all this which is in them,
or is done by and among them.... [ Continue Reading ]
IN WHOSE HAND, i.e. at whose absolute disposal, it is to give it, or
take it away, when and how it seemeth good to him. THE SOUL; the life,
or the soul the principle of life. OF EVERY LIVING THING, i.e. of all
unreasonable creatures, of which he spoke JOB 12:7, opposed to man in
the last words. THE... [ Continue Reading ]
As the mouth tasteth and thereby judgeth of meats, and as it liketh or
disliketh, so it receiveth or rejecteth, what is put into it; so it is
the office of the ear, or rather of the mind, which hears and receives
the opinions and discourses of others by the ear, not rashly to
approve or condemn ever... [ Continue Reading ]
These words contain a concession of what Bildad had said JOB 8:8,9,
and a joining with him in that appeal; but withal, an intimation that
this wisdom was but finite, and imperfect, and liable to many
mistakes; and indeed mere ignorance and folly, if compared with the
Divine wisdom, of which he speak... [ Continue Reading ]
WITH HIM, i.e. with God; the relative being put for the antecedent,
which is easily and necessarily understood out of the scope of the
place, and all the following verses. WISDOM; perfect wisdom is only in
him, and all wisdom in the world cometh from him, who giveth to old or
young as it pleaseth hi... [ Continue Reading ]
HE BREAKETH DOWN, to wit, houses, castles, cities, which God designeth
to destroy utterly. HE SHUTTETH UP; if he will shut up a man in
prison, or in any straits or troubles. THERE CAN BE NO OPENING,
without God's permission and providence.... [ Continue Reading ]
HE WITHHOLDETH THE WATERS; which are reserved in the clouds, that they
may not fall upon the earth. THEY DRY UP, i.e. the waters upon the
earth, ponds, and springs, and brooks, and rivers.... [ Continue Reading ]
He doth the things here mentioned in the foregoing and succeeding
verses, and that both powerfully, so as no creature can resist and
hinder him, and wisely, so as none can prevent and overreach him. The
same thing he had said before, JOB 12:13, but he repeats it here to
prepare the way for the follo... [ Continue Reading ]
The wise _counsellors_ or statesmen, by whom the affairs of kings and
kingdoms are ordered, _he leadeth_ away as captives in triumph, being
spoiled either of that wisdom which they had, or seemed or pretended
to have; or of that power and dignity which they had enjoyed. MAKETH
THE JUDGES FOOLS; part... [ Continue Reading ]
HE LOOSETH THE BOND OF KINGS; either,
1. Passively, whereby they are bound. He freeth them from prison or
restraint. Or rather,
2. Actively, that wherewith they bind their subjects to obedience, to
wit, their power and authority, and that majesty which God stamps upon
kings to keep their people in... [ Continue Reading ]
PRINCES; so this word, which usually signifies priests, is oft used,
as GENESIS 41:45, GENESIS 47:22,26 EXO 2:16 2 SAMUEL 8:18, compared
with 1 CHRONICLES 18:17.... [ Continue Reading ]
REMOVETH AWAY THE SPEECH; either,
1. By taking away or restraining the gift of utterance from them, that
they should not be able to express their thoughts with such clearness
and power as they used to do; which God oft doth to wise and eloquent
men. Or,
2. By bringing them into such straits and tr... [ Continue Reading ]
HE POURETH CONTEMPT UPON PRINCES, i.e. he makes them contemptible to
their subjects and others. WEAKENETH, Heb. _he looseth the girdle_;
which phrase signifies weakness, as ISAIAH 5:27; as the girding of the
girdle notes strength and power, as ISAIAH 22:21, ISAIAH 45:5; both
these phrases being take... [ Continue Reading ]
DEEP THINGS OUT OF DARKNESS, i.e. the most secret and crafty counsels
of princes, which are contrived and carried on in the dark.... [ Continue Reading ]
What hitherto he said of princes, he now applies to nations and
people, whom God doth either increase or diminish as he pleaseth. HE
ENLARGETH THE NATIONS; he multiplies them, so that they are forced to
send forth colonies into other lands. STRAITENETH THEM AGAIN; or,
_leadeth them in_, or _bringeth... [ Continue Reading ]
THE HEART; which signifies either,
1. Their courage, as PSALMS 76:12; or rather,
2. Their wisdom and counsel, as JOB 5:13 ISAIAH 3:4, as the following
words show. THE CHIEF; either for place and power, or for wisdom and
conduct. CAUSETH THEM TO WANDER IN A WILDERNESS, i.e. fills them with
confusio... [ Continue Reading ]
THEY GROPE, like men that cannot see their way. IN THE DARK WITHOUT
LIGHT; two phrases expressing the same thing, emphatically to express
their profound darkness. LIKE A DRUNKEN MAN, who reels hither and
thither without any certainty. So they sometimes take one course, and
sometimes another, as reso... [ Continue Reading ]