CHAPTER XII _Job reproves the boasting of his friends, and shows their_ _uncharitableness towards himself_, 1-5; _asserts that even the tabernacles of robbers prosper; and that,_ _notwithstanding, God is the Governor of the world; a truth_ _which is proclaimed by all parts of the creation wheth... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Job 12:2. _NO DOUBT BUT YE_ ARE _THE PEOPLE_] Doubtless ye are the wisest men in the world; all wisdom is concentrated in you; and when ye die, there will no more be found on the face of the earth! This is a strong irony.... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Job 12:3. _I_ AM _NOT INFERIOR TO YOU_] I do not fall short of any of you in understanding, wisdom, learning, and experience. _WHO KNOWETH NOT SUCH THINGS AS THESE?_] All your boasted wisdom consists only in _strings of proverbs_ which are in every person's mouth, and are no proof of wisdom a... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Job 12:4. _I AM_ AS _ONE MOCKED OF HIS NEIGHBOUR_] Though I am invoking God for help and salvation, yet my friends mock me in this most solemn and sacred work. But God answereth me. _THE JUST UPRIGHT_ MAN IS _LAUGHED TO SCORN_] This is a very difficult verse, on which no two critics seem to b... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Job 12:6. _THE TABERNACLES OF ROBBERS PROSPER._] Those who live by the plunder of their neighbours are often found in great secular prosperity; and they that provoke God by impiety and blasphemy live in a state of security and affluence. These are administrations of Providence which cannot be... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Job 12:7. _BUT ASK NOW THE BEASTS, AND THEY SHALL TEACH THEE_] Mr. Good's paraphrase here is very just: "Why tell ye me that the Almighty hath brought this calamity upon me? Every thing in nature, the beasts of the field, the fowls of the heaven, every inhabitant of earth and sea, and every th... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Job 12:10. _IN WHOSE HAND_ IS _THE SOUL OF EVERY LIVING THING_] נפש כל חי _nephesh col chai_, "the soul of all life." _AND THE BREATH OF ALL MANKIND._] ורוח כל בשר _veruach col besar_, "and the spirit or breath of all flesh." Does not the _first_ refer to the _immortal soul_, the principle of... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Job 12:11. _DOTH NOT THE EAR TRY WORDS?_] All these are common-place sayings. Ye have advanced nothing new; ye have cast no light upon the dispensations of Providence.... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Job 12:12. _WITH THE ANCIENT_ IS _WISDOM_] Men who have lived in those primitive times, when the great facts of nature were recent, such as the creation, fall, flood, confusion of tongues, migration of families, and consequent settlement of nations, had much knowledge from those facts; and the... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Job 12:13. _WITH HIM_ IS _WISDOM AND STRENGTH_] But all these things come from GOD; he is the Fountain of wisdom and the Source of power. He alone can give us unerring counsel, and understanding to comprehend and act profitably by it. See on Job 12:16.... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Job 12:14. _HE BREAKETH DOWN_] He alone can _create_, and he alone can _destroy_. Nothing can be annihilated but by the same Power that created it. This is a most remarkable fact. No power, skill, or cunning of man can annihilate the smallest particle of matter. Man, by chemical agency, may ch... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Job 12:15. _HE WITHHOLDETH THE WATERS_] This is, I think, an allusion to the _third_ day's work of the creation, Genesis 1:9: _And God said, Let the waters be gathered together unto one_ _place, and let the dry land appear_. Thus the earth was drained, and the waters collected into seas, and b... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Job 12:16. _WITH HIM_ IS _STRENGTH AND WISDOM_] עז ותושיה _oz_ _vethushiyah, strength and sufficiency_. Strength or power, springing from an exhaustless and infinite source of potency. In the _thirteenth_ verse it is said, _With him_ is _wisdom and strength_; but the expressions are not the s... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Job 12:17. _HE LEADETH COUNSELLORS AWAY SPOILED_] The events of _war_ are also in his hand. It is he who gives _victory_; through him even the _counsellors _- the great men and chief men, are often led into captivity, and found among the spoils. _AND MAKETH THE JUDGES FOOLS._] He infatuates t... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Job 12:18. _HE LOOSETH THE BOND OF KINGS_] He takes away their splendid robes, and clothes them with sackcloth; or, he dissolves their authority, permits their subjects to rebel and overthrow the state, to bind them as captives, and despoil them of all power, authority, and liberty. Many proof... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Job 12:19. _HE LEADETH PRINCES AWAY SPOILED, AND OVERTHROWETH THE_ _MIGHTY._] What multitudes of proofs of this does the history of the world present! Even the late disastrous war with the French republic and empire, which began in 1793, and continued without intermission till 1814, was after... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Job 12:20. _HE REMOVETH AWAY THE SPEECH OF THE TRUSTY_] The faithful counsellor and the eloquent orator avail nothing: _Quos_ _Deus vult perdere, prius dementat_; "God infatuates those whom he is determined to destroy." The writer might have had his eyes on Isaiah 3:1, which the reader will do... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Job 12:21. _HE POURETH CONTEMPT UPON PRINCES_] נדיבים _nedibim_, "those of royal extraction;" widely different from the כהנים _cohanim_ mentioned Job 12:19. _WEAKENETH THE STRENGTH OF THE MIGHTY._] אפיקים _aphikim_, the _compact_; the _well-strung together_; the _nervous_ and _sinewy_. Perha... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Job 12:22. _HE DISCOVERETH DEEP THINGS OUT OF DARKNESS_] This may refer either to God's works in the great deep, or to the plots and stratagems of wicked men, conspiracies that were deeply laid, well digested, and about to be produced into existence, when _death_, whose _shadow_ had hitherto c... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Job 12:23. _HE INCREASETH THE NATIONS_] Mr. _Good_ translates, _He_ _letteth the nations grow licentious_. Pride, fulness of bread, with extensive trade and commerce, produce luxury; and this is ever accompanied with profligacy of manners. When, then, the cup of this iniquity is full, God dest... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Job 12:24. _HE TAKETH AWAY THE HEART OF THE CHIEF_] Suddenly deprives the leaders of great counsels, or mighty armies of courage; so that, panic-struck, they flee when none pursueth, or are confounded when about to enter on the accomplishment of important designs. _AND CAUSETH THEM TO WANDER... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Job 12:25. _THEY GROPE IN THE DARK_] The writer seems to have had his eye on those words of Moses, Deuteronomy 28:28-5: _The Lord shall smite thee with madness, and blindness, and_ _astonishment of heart; and thou shalt GROPE AT NOONDAY, as the_ _BLIND GROPETH IN DARKNESS_. And this also may... [ Continue Reading ]