Job 12:7-12

2. God is responsible for all that is. (Job 12:7-12)

TEXT 12:7-12

7 But ask now the beasts, and they shall teach thee;

And the birds of the heavens, and they shall tell thee:

8 Or speak to the earth, and it shall teach thee;

And the fishes of the sea shall declare unto thee.

9 Who knoweth not in all these,

That the hand of Jehovah hath wrought this,

10 In whose hand is the soul of every living thing,

And the breath of all mankind?

11 Doth not the ear try words,

Even as the palate tasteth its food?

12 With aged men is wisdom,

And in length of days understanding.

COMMENT 12:7-12

Job 12:7Job begins by addressing all three Mends. Here the pronoun is in the singular, so he is focusing on one, presumably the last speaker, Zophar.[152] The wisdom which is being exemplified by Job's friends is common wisdom even to the lowest animals in God's creation (Job 9:22-24). Job's irony is resumed and concurs with the judgment of Oscar Wilde, that there is enough misery in one narrow London lane to disprove the notion that God is love.

[152] See the discussion by S. Terrien, Interpreters Bible, Job, Volume 3, pp. 999-1000.

Job 12:8Why should Job's friends emphasize God's sovereignty over the universe, even the birds of the air and beasts of the field know it. Nature is red in tooth and claw, and only by brute predatory power do they prevail within nature.

Job 12:9This is the only verse in the discourse which contains the sacred tetragrammaton (Yahweh). This is strange in that Job's friends are Arabs, and not children of the covenant. But the root significance of Yahweh is probably at the heart of the discussion; i.e., the cause of everything is God. The phrase is a direct quotation of Isaiah 41:20 (or vice versa). See the quotation in Job 1:21 also. The pronoun this is obscure. To what does it refer? Perhaps to all that Zophar has said, or rather, all that Job has asserted in Job 12:4 ff concerning the amoral nature of the universe.

Job 12:10God is Lord of every human individualJeremiah 32:27; Numbers 16:22; and Num. 17:16. The words translated life and breath are the same ones rendered soul and spirit in Job 7:11.

Job 12:11As the palate tastes food, so the intelligence of man evaluates available ideas. Job suggests that the ideas of his friends are not palatableJonah 3:7; Daniel 3:10; Ezekiel 4:21; Proverbs 26:16; 1 Samuel 21:14.

Job 12:12Taken as an assertion the content does not seem to accord with Job's other words. But taken as a question with a negative implication, it accords with his previous evaluation. The discourse clearly reveals the futility of dialogue between persons whose ultimate presuppositions are mutually exclusive. Fruitful discussion requires a clear definition and the public awareness of the assumptions on which the discussion stands. Job and his friends have different views of God and His transcendence and immanence within nature and history.