Job 12:13-25

3. Arbitrarily he decrees what will be. (Job 12:13-25)

TEXT 12:13-25

13 With God is wisdom and might;

He hath counsel and understanding.

14 Behold, he breaketh down, and it cannot be built again;

He shutteth up a man, and there can be no opening.

15 Behold, he withholdeth the waters, and they dry up;

Again, he sendeth them oat, and they overturn the earth.

16 With him is strength and wisdom;

The deceived and the deceiver are his.

17 He leadeth counsellors away stripped,

And Judges maketh he fools.

18 He looseth the bond of kings,

And bindeth their loins with a girdle.

19 He leadeth priests away stripped,

And overthroweth the mighty.

20 He removeth the speech of the trusty,

And taketh away the understanding of the elders.

21 He poureth contempt upon princes,

And looseth the belt of the strong.

22 He uncovereth deep things out of darkness,

And bringeth out to light the shadow of death.

23 He increaseth the nations, and he destroyeth them:

He enlargeth the nations, and he leadeth them captive.

24 He taketh away understanding from the chiefs of the people of the earth,

And causeth them to wander in a wilderness where there Is no way.

25 They grope in the dark without light;

And he maketh them to stagger like a drunken man.

COMMENT 12:13-25

Job 12:13God only has power and wisdom (2 Kings 18:20). Though Job's friends have not asserted that might and wisdom are possessions which only the old may receive, neither does Job assert that God keeps all of this wisdom and power to Himself. The universe reveals God's absolute power, but does not expose His cosmic expression of justice. If God is the ultimate source of all things (Job 12:13-21), then He is responsible for pain and suffering.[153]

[153] See G. R. Driver, Die Welt des Orients, I, 1947-52, pp. 410f for discussion of import of God's counsel.

Job 12:14God's sovereignty is cosmic. And man, especially Job, cannot discern any moral dimension in His violence. The victims of God's violence are from both the wicked and the righteousPsalms 107; Isaiah 54:24-28. Compare the verbatim agreement of Psalms 107 and Job 12:21 a and 24b. Though God's might may be applied with loving kindness and beneficence, Job sees only destructive violence and human ruin. The imprisonment to which God shuts up the universe is to be taken both figuratively and literally.

Job 12:15Job presents an example of God's amoral behavior by the extremes of flood and drought. God has the power to dominate the water systems of His creation, but He does so with complete disregard for man's needs. God's might is arbitrary and despotic.

Job 12:16God's wisdom is always efficient, i.e., it is always victorious. All of mankind falls into one of the two categoriesdeceived or deceiver. Thus far God has been scrutinized under three categories: (1) wisdom and power, (2) counsel and understanding, and (3) might and prudencecompare with Job 11:7-10. But Job denies Zophar's conclusion about evilJob 11:11.

Job 12:17God makes all human counselors go stripped or barefootMicah 1:8. Perhaps the meaning is that God leads all would-be counselors into confusion or error.

Job 12:18Here we encounter imagery of the liberation of prisoners (Isaiah 52:2; Psalms 116:16). In Job 39:5, the words are applied to a wild ass's release from restraint. This verse contrasts former glory with present humiliation. The binding of a king's loins is an image of being reduced to the status of a menial laborer. They are stripped of their royal robes and sandals and made to work with their hands and backs. Theirs have been troubled economic times, too.

Job 12:19Even the established (-etanim means perpetual, Jeremiah 5:14) authorities in the cultural are humiliated. Priests are mentioned only here in Job. Honored and influential persons are as nothing in the face of God's power.

Job 12:20The honored community leaders are baffled by a sudden turn from prosperity to ruin. Compare with persons who lost their fortunes in 1929 or since through bad investments. The spokesmen for the community are reduced to silence (deprived of speech, literally, removes the lip). Their discernment (taste-palate) is also removed.

Job 12:21Psalms 107:40 is identical with the first line of this verse and the second line of Job 12:24.[154] The beltPsalms 109:19 referred to here was used to strengthen the back, especially during hard labor. The word aphik normally means -water-channels-' but here -strong.-' Streams are called aphikim because they follow rapidly or strongly.

[154] See A. Cohen, Psalms, Soncino, on Psalms 107:40.

Job 12:22God recovers plots and conspiracies out of the deepest darkness. Before Him, there is no hiding place. Nothing designed by men can be hidden from the sovereign Lord of creation. He exposes all secrets. Even Sheol cannot hide its prey from Him.

Job 12:23Another example of the amoral nature of the universe is seen in the rise and fall of nations and civilizations. God's arbitrary exercise of power is visible in the rise and fall of world powers.[155]

[155] A. Toynbee's multiple volumed work, A Study of History (Oxford); and the indispensable Cambridge History series; and on this verse, see J. Reider, Yetus Testamentum, IV, 1954, pp. 290f.

Job 12:24Where there is no intelligence (literally heart-rendered understanding in A. V.) no nation or civilization can long endure. When the organizing principle of any social group is either abandoned or forgotten, it does not have long to live. Compare the second part of this verse with Psalms 107:40 b, where the Hebrew is identical. The no way of A. V. is waste (Heb. tohuGenesis 1:2; Deuteronomy 32:10) or disordered. The formless of our translations makes no sense, as matter cannot be formless, but it can be disordered. Job is here setting forth a philosophy of history and culture.

Job 12:25Men grope in unrelieved darkness. They grope as blind men and stagger or wanderJob 12:24. When God removes understanding, men continue to move and function, but purposelessly (Psalms 107:27; Isaiah 19:14; Isaiah 24:20; Romans 1:18 ff; Proverbs 29:18; and John 1:18; Colossians 1:17; Ephesians 1:10). Life is meaningless to millions in our present world because nothing and no one organizes their lives meaningfully. But if the universe is purposeless and thus amoral, then what else could either Job or contemporaries expect? H. Thielicke says of our worldthat it is the first generation which has absolutized nothingness.[156]

[156] See my article Nihilism in Baker's Dictionary of Christian Ethics, ed. by C.F.H. Henry, p. 461-62.