Lange Commentary - Job 12:1

Lange Commentary - Job 12:1 - 14:22

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Lange Commentary - Job 12:1 - 14:22

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This Chapter Verse Commentaries:

12:1 - 14:22

B.—Job’s Reply: Attack upon his friends, whose wisdom and justice he earnestly questions:

Job 12-14

1. Ridicule of the assumed wisdom of the friends, who can give only a very unsatisfactory de scription of the exalted power and wisdom of the Divine activity:

Job 12

¹          And Job answered and said,

²     No doubt but ye are the people,

and wisdom shall die with you.

³     But I have understanding as well as you;

I am not inferior to you;

yea, who knoweth not such things as these?

⁴     I am as one mocked of his neighbor,

who calleth upon God, and He answereth him;

the just, upright man is laughed to scorn!

⁵     He that is ready to slip with his feet

is as a lamp despised in the thought of him that is at ease.

⁶     The tabernacle of robbers prosper,

and they that provoke God are secure;

into whose hand God bringeth abundantly.

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

and the fowls of the air, 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 the Lord 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,

and the mouth taste his meat?

¹²     With the ancient is wisdom;

and in length of days understanding.

¹³     With Him is wisdom and strength,

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;

also He sendeth them out, and they overturn the earth,

¹⁶     With Him is strength and wisdom;

the deceived and the deceiver are His.

¹⁷     He leadeth counsellors away spoiled,

and maketh the judges fools.

¹⁸     He looseth the bond of kings,

and girdeth their loins with a girdle.

¹⁹      He leadeth princes away spoiled,

and overthroweth the mighty.

²⁰      He removeth away the speech of the trusty,

and taketh away the understanding of the aged.

²¹     He poureth contempt upon princes,

and weakeneth the strength of the mighty.

²²     He discovereth deep things out of darkness,

and bringeth out to light the shadow of death.

²³     He increaseth the nations and destroyeth them;

He enlargeth the nations, and straighteneth them again.

²⁴     He taketh away the heart of the chief 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.

2. The resolution to betake himself to God, who, in contrast with the harshness and injustice of the friends will assuredly do him justice:

Job_13:1-22

¹     Lo, mine eye hath seen all this,

mine ear hath heard and understood it.

²     What ye know, the same do I know also;

I am not inferior unto you.

³     Surely I would speak to the Almighty,

and I desire to reason with God.

⁴     But ye are forgers of lies,

ye are all physicians of no value.

⁵     O that ye would altogether hold your peace,

and it should be your wisdom.

⁶     Hear now my reasoning,

and hearken to the pleadings of my lips.

⁷     Will ye speak wickedly for God,

and talk deceitfully for Him?

⁸     Will ye accept His person?

will ye contend for God?

⁹     Is it good that He should search you out?

or as one man mocketh another, do ye so mock Him?

¹⁰     He will surely reprove you,

if ye do secretly accept persons.

¹¹     Shall not His excellency make you afraid?

and His dread fall upon you?

¹²     Your remembrances are like unto ashes,

your bodies to bodies of clay.

¹³     Hold your peace, let me alone that I may speak,

and let come on me what will.

¹⁴     Wherefore do I take my flesh in my teeth,

and put my life in mine hand?

¹⁵     Though He slay me, yet will I trust in Him:

but I will maintain mine own ways before Him.

¹⁶     He also shall be my salvation:

for a hypocrite shall not come before Him.

¹⁷     Hear diligently my speech,

and my declaration with your ears.

¹⁸     Behold now, I have ordered my cause;

I know that I shall be justified.

¹⁹     Who is he that will plead with me?

for now, if I hold my tongue, I shall give up the ghost.

²⁰     Only do not two things unto me;

then will I not hide myself from Thee.

²¹     Withdraw Thine hand far from me;

and let not Thy dread make me afraid.

²²     Then call Thou, and I will answer:

or let me speak, and answer Thou me!

3. A vindication of himself, addressed to God, beginning with the haughty asseveration of his own innocence, but relapsing into a despondent cheerless description of the brevity, helplessness, and hopelessness of man’s life:

Job_13:23 to Job_14:22

²³     How many are mine iniquities and sins?

make me to know my transgression and my sin.

²⁴     Wherefore hidest Thou Thy face,

and holdest me for Thine enemy?

²⁵     Wilt Thou break a leaf driven to and fro?

and wilt Thou pursue the dry stubble?

²⁶     For Thou writest bitter things against me,

and makest me to possess the iniquities of my youth.

²⁷     Thou puttest my feet also in the stocks,

and lookest narrowly unto all my paths;

Thou settest a print upon the heels of my feet.

²⁸     And he, as a rotten thing, consumeth,

as a garment that is moth-eaten.

Job 14

¹     Man that is born of a woman,

is of few days, and full of trouble.

²     He cometh forth like a flower, and is cut down;

he fleeth also as a shadow, and continueth not.

³     And dost Thou open Thine eyes upon such an one,

and bringest me into judgment with Thee?

⁴     Who can bring a clean thing out of an unclean?

not one!

⁵     Seeing his days are determined,

the number of his months are with Thee,

Thou hast appointed his bounds that he cannot pass;

⁶     turn from him that he may rest,

till he shall accomplish, as an hireling, his day.

⁷     For there is hope of a tree,

if it be cut down, that it will sprout again,

and that the tender branch thereof will not cease.

⁸     Though the root thereof wax old in the earth,

and the stock thereof die in the ground;

⁹     yet through the scent of water it will bud,

and bring forth boughs like a plant.

¹⁰     But man dieth, and wasteth away!

yea, man giveth up the ghost, and where is he?

¹¹     As the waters fail from the sea,

and the flood decayeth and drieth up:

¹²     so man lieth down and riseth not:

till the heavens be no more, they shall not awake,

nor be raised out of their sleep.

¹³     O that Thou wouldest hide me in the grave,

that thou wouldest keep me secret until Thy wrath be past,

that Thou wouldest appoint me a set time, and remember me!

¹⁴     If a man die, shall he live again?

all the days of my appointed time will I wait,

till my change come.

¹⁵     Thou shalt call, and I will answer Thee;

Thou wilt have a desire to the work of Thine hands.

¹⁶     For now Thou numberest my steps;

dost Thou not watch over my sin?

¹⁷     My transgression is sealed up in a bag,

and Thou sewest up mine iniquity.

¹⁸     And surely the mountain falling cometh to nought,

and the rock is removed out of his place.

¹⁹     The waters wear the stones;

Thou washest away the things which grow out of the dust of the earth;

and Thou destroyest the hope of man.

²⁰     Thou prevailest forever against him, and he passeth;

Thou changest his countenance, and sendest him away.

²¹     His sons come to honor, and he knoweth it not;

and they are brought low, but he perceiveth it not of them.

²²     But his flesh upon him shall have pain,

and his soul within him shall mourn.

EXEGETICAL AND CRITICAL

Zophar in Job 11 had specially arrayed against Job the wisdom and omniscience of God, in order to convict him partly of ignorance in Divine things, partly of his sinfulness and need of repentance. Job now meets this attack by strongly doubting the wisdom of his friends, or by representing it as being at least exceedingly ordinary and commonplace, being capable neither of worthily comprehending or describing the Divine wisdom and greatness, nor of demonstrating actual sin and guilt on his part. This demonstration of their incompetency, delivered in an ironical tone, accompanied by a description of the wisdom and strength of God far transcending that of Zophar in energy and inspired elevation of thought, forms the first part of his discourse (Job 12.) This is followed by an emphatic asseveration of his innocence, clothed in the declaration of his purpose to appeal to God, the righteous Judge, and from Him, by means of a formal trial, to which he purposes summoning Him, to obtain testimony in favor of his innocence, which shall effectually dispose of the suspicions of the friends (Job_13:1-22). As though such a trial had already been instituted, he then turns to God with a solemn assertion of his innocence, but failing to meet with a favorable declaration from God in answer to his appeal, he immediately sinks back into his former discouragement and despair, to which he gives characteristic expression in a long description of the shortness of life, the impotence and helplessness of man as opposed to the Divine omnipotence (Job_13:23 to Job_14:22). [Davidson characterizes this discourse as “this last and greatest effort of Job”]. Each of these three parts is subdivided into sections which are distinctly separated, Parts I. and II. into two sections each of about equal length; Part III. into five strophes of 5 to 6 verses each.

2. First Division.—First Section: Sarcasm on the wisdom of Zophar, and the two other speakers, as being quite ordinary and commonplace: Job_12:2-12.

First Strophe: Job_12:2-6. [Sarcasm on the friends (Job_12:2) changing into angry invective (Job_12:3), then into bitter complaint of his own lot (Job_12:4), of the way of the world (Job_12:5), and of the security of the wicked (Job_12:6)].

Job_12:2. Of a truth ye are the people.— àַúֶּí òָí , with the logical accent on the first word, signifies not: “ye are people, the right sort of people,” but: “ye are the people, the totality of all people, the race of men;” òָí , therefore as in Isa_40:7; Isa_42:5. The Cod. Alex. of the LXX. expresses correctly the sense; ìὴ ὑìåῖò ἐóôÝ ἄíèñùðïé ìüíïé . As to àָîְðָí ëִּé , comp. the simple àָîְðָí , Job_9:2.

Job_12:3. I also have a heart as well as you, i.e., I lack understanding no more than you.— ìֵáָá therefore as above in Job_8:10; Job_9:4; comp. Job_11:12 [“he also has a heart like them, he is therefore not empty, ðáåá ,” Del.], and as below in Job_12:24.—I do not stand behind you: lit., “I do not sink down beneath you,” or: “I do not fall away before you;” the îִï in îִëֶּí relates to the stand-point of the friends, from which Job might seem to be a ðֹôֵì , one falling below them, meaner than themselves. [Ewald takes îִï in the comparative sense, which however would give an unsuitable rendering, “to fall more than another”].—And to whom are such things not known? Lit., “and with whom is not the like of these things?” viz., the like of your knowledge of Divine things. àֵú , lit. “with,” is used here in the sense of an inward indwelling, as also in Job_14:5 b, and as elsewhere òִí is used: Job_9:35; Job_10:13, etc.

Job_12:4. A mockery ( ùְׂç÷ , lit., “a laughing,” laughter, Inf. subst., like îְùֹׁì , Job_17:6) to my own friend must I be.—[Lit., “a mockery to his neighbor, etc.]. Instead of ìְøֵòֵäåּ one might expect to find ìְøֵòִé ; an exchange of persons, however, takes place, that the expression may be made as general as possible: “one who is a mockery to his own friend must I be.” Comp. similar examples of the exchange of persons in Psa_91:1 seq.; Isa_2:8. [“Must I become, àֶֽäְéֶä best as exclamation, expressing Job’s sense of indignity: (1) At such treatment from friends; (2) such treatment to such as he,” (Dav.) see remainder of verse].—I who called to Eloah and found a hearing: lit., “one calling [still in 3d person] to Eloah, and He heard him,” in apposition to the subject—I—in àֶֽäְéֶä : which is the case also with öַãִּé÷ úָּîִéí , one who is just, godly (pure, blameless), comp. Pro_11:5 a, these words being placed with emphasis at the end of the whole exclamation. [Zöckler’s rendering of this clause being: “a mockery (am I);—the just, the godly man!” Noyes and Wemyss render the second member: “I who call upon God that He would answer me” (or “to listen to me”). Noyes objects to the other rendering the use of the present participle. This form, however, is used to denote a continuous fact in Job’s life, and a permanent quality grounded thereon, the Vav. consec. then indicating the Divine result consequent on Job’s conduct and character.—E.].

Job_12:5. For misfortune scorn—according to the opinion of the prosperous: i.e., the prosperous (lit. “the secure,” who lives free from care, comp. Isa_33:20) thinks, that contempt is due to the unfortunate. [“It is the ordinary way of the great multitude to over-whelm the unfortunate with contempt, and to give to the tottering still another push.” Dillm.] áּåּæ thus = contemptus, as in Job_12:21, and Job_31:34; ôִּéã = destruction, ruin, misfortune, as in Job_30:24; Job_31:29; Pro_24:22; and òַùְׁúּåֹú (plur. fem. st. constr. from òֶùֶׁú ), or, after a form which is better authorized, òַùְׁúּåּú , signifies an opinion, fancy, thought (from òùú , to fashion, used of the mind’s fashioning its thoughts). This is the interpretation adopted by most of the moderns, since the time of Aben Ezra. The rendering of the Targ., Vulg., [E. V.], Levi b. Gerson, and other Rabbis, preferred also by Luther, De Wette, Rosenm. [Noyes, Carey, Rod.], etc., which takes ìַôִּéã in the sense of a torch, yields no tolerable sense, at least no such sense as suits the second member (“a torch of contempt” [Luther: “a despised taper”] in the opinion of the prosperous is he who is ready to totter,” or “to whom it is appointed that his feet slip,” etc.) [Against this rendering, found in E. V., may be urged (1) The expression “a despised torch” is meaningless. As Con. suggests “a consumed or expiring torch would be pertinent, but a torch despised is like anything else that is despised.” (2) ðָëåֹï is superfluous and insipid. Why “ready to waver?” (3) This rendering presupposes a noun îåֹòֵã , with the meaning vacillatio, wavering, lit. ready for waverings, for which however there is no authority, and which would require here rather the vowel pointing: îָòֳãֵé .—(4) It destroys the rhythm of the verse. See Con., Dillm., Dav. and Delitzsch. E.]. The rendering of Hitzig (Geschichte des Volkes Israel I., 112) is peculiar; ìַôִּéã he takes to mean: “a soothing bandage, a cure” (from the root ìôã , “to wind, or bind around,” here the sing. corresponding to the plur. found in Jdg_4:4, which is not a proper name [Lapidoth], but taken in connection with the preceding àֵùֶׁú signifies: “a mistress of healing bandages”), so that the sense would then be: “Healing is a scorn [is scorned] in the opinion of the prosperous” (?).—Ready (is it, the contempt) for those whose foot wavers.— ðָëåֹï , Part. Niph. from ëּåּï , hence ἕôïéìïò , ready, as in Exo_34:2. Comp. below Job_15:23, where may also be found “the wavering of the foot” as a figurative expression of falling into misfortune; Psa_38:17 (16) Ewald (Bibl. Jahrb. IX. p. 38) would instead of ðָëåֹï read ðִëָּéåֹï , “a stroke,” and Schultens and Dillmann would assign this same meaning of plaga, percussio to this same form ðָëåֹï (from äִëָּä , ðָëָä ): “a stroke, is due to those whose foot wavers.” As if a new parallelism of thought must of necessity be found between a and b!

Job_12:6. Secure are the tents of the spoilers, lit. to the spoilers; i.e., to powerful tyrants, savage conquerors, and the like. On “tents” comp. Job_5:24; Job_11:14.— éִùְׁìָéåּ is the aramaizing third plur. form of a verb which has for its perf. ùָׁìֵå (see Job_3:26), but which derives its imperf. forms from ùָׁìָä . Moreover éִùְׁìָéåּ is not merely a pausal form, but stands here removed from the place of the tone: comp. the similar pathetic verbal forms in Psa_36:9; Psa_57:2; Psa_73:2; also Ewald, § 194, a.—And security áַּèֻּçåֹú , plur. et abstr. from áָּèåּçַ (secure, free from care), have they who defy God [“ ùåøãéí denotes the sin of these undeservedly prosperous ones against men, îøâæé àì (lit. those who provoke God, who insolently assail Him) their wickedness against God.” Schlott.] they who carry Eloah in their hand: lit., “he who carries,” ( ìַàֲùֶׁø ..... äֵáִéà ); from among those who rage against God and defy Him, one is selected as an example, such an one, viz., as “bears God in his hand,” i.e., recognizes no other God than the one he carries in his hand or fist, to whom therefore his fighting weapon is to be his God; comp. Hab_1:11; Hab_1:16; also the “dextra mihi Deus” of Virg. Aen. 16, 773. [Delitzsch renders äֵáִéà a little more precisely perhaps: “he who causes Eloah to enter into his hand; from which translation it is clear that not the deification of the hand, but of that which is taken into the hand is meant. That which is taken into the hand is not, however, an idol (Abenezra), but the sword; therefore he who thinks after the manner of Lamech, as he takes the iron weapon of attack and defense into his hand, that he needs no other God.” The deification of the weapon which a man wields with the power of his own right hand, and the deification of the power which wields the weapon, as in Hab. l. c. and Mic_2:1, are, however, so nearly identical as descriptive of the character here referred to, that either resolves itself into the other. Conant, who adopts the rendering of E. V.: “he into whose hand God bringeth” (E. V. adds “abundantly”) i.e. whom God prospers, objects that by the other rendering “the thought is expressed very coarsely, as to form, when it might be done in the Hebrew with great felicity.” It is difficult to see, however, how the sentence: “he who takes God in his hand” could be expressed more idiomatically or forcibly than in the words of the passage before us. Wordsworth somewhat differently: “who grasps God in his hand. The wicked, in his impious presumption, imagines that he can take God prisoner and lead Him as a captive by his power.” But this is less natural than the above.—E.]

Second Strophe: Job_12:7-12. [“Return to the thought of Job_12:3—the shallowness of the friends’ wisdom on the Divine. Such knowledge and deeper every one possessed who had eyes and ears. For (1) every creature in earth and sea and air proclaimed it (7–10); and (2) every man of thought and age uttered it in the general ear (11, 12).” Dav.]

Job_12:7. But ask now even the beasts—they can teach thee.—[“ åְàåּìָí , recovery from the crushing thought of Job_12:4-6, and strong antithesis to the assumption of the friends.” Dav.] úֹּøֶêָּ , as also éַâֵּã in the second member, voluntative [or, jussive], hence not literally future—“they will teach it to thee”—as commonly rendered. Here the form of address is different from that adopted heretofore in this discourse, being now directed to one only of the friends, viz. to Zophar, to whose eulogy of the absolute wisdom of God (Job_11:7-9) reference is here made, with the accompanying purpose of presenting a still more copious and elaborate description of the same.

Job_12:8. Or think thoughtfully on the earth: lit. “think on the earth,” i.e. direct thoughtfully thy observation to the earth (which comes under consideration here, as is evident from what follows, as the place where the lower order of animals is found, the øֶîֶùׂ , Gen_9:2; 1Ki_5:13), and acquire the instruction which may be derived from her. The rendering of ùִׂéçַ as a substantive, in the sense of “shrub” (comp. Job_30:4; Gen_2:5), is on several grounds untenable; for ùִׂéçַ , “shrub” is, according to those passages, masculine; the use of the preposition ìְ instead of the genit., or instead of òì or á before äàøõ , would be singular; and the mention of plants in the midst of the animals (beasts, birds, fishes), would be out of place (against Berleb. Bib., Böttcher, Umbreit, etc.).

Job_12:9. Who would not know in all this, etc.—So is áְּëָìÎàֵìֶּä to be rendered, giving to áְּ the instrumental sense, not with Hahn—“who knows not concerning all this,” which would yield too flat a sense, and lead us to over look the retrospective reference which is to be looked for to the various kinds of animals already cited. Neither with Ewald [Hengst., Noyes] is it to be taken in the sense of “among all these,” as if the passage contained a reference to a knowledge possessed by all the creatures of God as their Creator, or possibly to the groaning of the creature after the Godhead, as described in Rom_8:18 sq. This partitive rendering of áְּ (which Renan as well as Ewald adopts: “qui ne saît parmi tous ces étres,” etc.) is at variance with the context, as well as the position of the words ( ìֹà éָãַò before áְּëָìÎàֵìֶּä ).—That the hand of Jehovah hath made this.— æֹàú refers essentially to the same object with ëָּìÎàֵìֶּä , only that it embraces a still wider circle of contemplation than the latter expression, which refers only to the classes of animals afore-mentioned. It denotes “the totality of that which surrounds us,” the visible universe, the whole world ( ôὰ âëåðüìåíá , Heb_11:3); comp. Isa_66:2; Jer_14:22; where ëָּìÎàֵìֶּä is used in this comprehensive signification; so also above in Job_11:8 seq., to which description of the all-embracing greatness of God there is here a manifest reference. Ewald, Dillmann [Conant, Davidson] translate: “that the hand of Jehovah hath done this.” By æֹàú , “this,” Ewald understands “the decreeing of suffering and pain” (of which also the groaning creation would testify); Dillmann refers it to the mighty and wise administration of God among His creatures; both of which explanations are manifestly more remote than the one given above. [“The meaning of the whole strophe is perverted if æֹàú is, with Ewald, referred to the ‘destiny of severe suffering and pain.’… Since as a glance at what follows shows, Job further on praises God as the governor of the universe, it may be expected that the reference is here to God as the creator and preserver of the world.… Bildad had appealed to the sayings of the ancients, which have the long experience of the past in their favor, to support the justice of the Divine government; Job here appeals to the absoluteness of the Divine rule over creation.” Delitzsch.]—Apart from the Prologue (Job_1:21), the name éְäåָä occurs only here in the mouth of Job, for the reason doubtless that the whole expression here used, which recurs again word for word in Isa_41:20 (Isa_66:2) was one that was everywhere much used, not unfrequently also among the extra-Israelitish monotheists (and the same is true of the expression éִøְàַú àֲãֹðַé , Job_28:28).

Job_12:10. In whose hand is the soul of every living thing, and the breath of all the bodies of men.—[“Evidently these words are more naturally referred to the act of preservation than to that of creation.” Schlottm.] Observe the distinction between ðֶôֶùׁ , the lower principle of life, which fills all animals, and øåּçַ , the godlike personal spirit of man. Otherwise in Ecc_3:19; Ecc_3:21, where øåּçַ , in a wider sense, is ascribed even to the beasts.

Job_12:11-12. To the knowledge of God which rests on the observation of the external cosmos (notitia Dei naturalis externa s. acquisita), is here added the human wisdom and insight which springs from experience, especially that of the aged, as a second source from which Job might draw (which may be regarded as the equivalent of that which is sometimes called notitia Dei naturalis interna).

Job_12:11. Does not the ear prove sayings, even as [ åְ adæquationis, as in Job_5:7] the palate tastes food for itself ( ìֹå Dat. commodi). Both comparisons illustrate the power of judicious discrimination possessed by the human spirit, by which it discerns the inner worth of things, especially as it exists in aged persons of large experience. So again later in Elihu’s discourse, Job_34:3. The opinion of Umbreit, Delitzsch, etc., that Job in this verse utters an admonition not to receive without proof the sayings of the ancients, to wit, those of which Bildad had previously spoken, Job_8:10 (“should not the ear prove the sayings?”), lacks proper support. A reference to that remote passage in the discourse of Bildad should have been more clearly indicated than by the accidental circumstance that there as here the word îִìִּéï , “sayings, utterances,” is used. Moreover the “aged” who are here mentioned ( éְùִׂéùִׂéí , as in Job_15:10; Job_29:8) are by no means identical with the fathers of former generations, whom Bildad had mentioned there.

Job_12:12. Among the aged is wisdom, and a long life (works, gives) understanding [or lit. “length of days is understanding”]. The verse is related to the preceding as logical consequent to its antecedent: 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 in the course of a long life a true insight into the nature of things, and a truly rational knowledge of the same,—and I have been to school with such men, I have also ventured to draw from this source! This is the meaning of the passage as clearly appears from the context, and it makes it unnecessary to assume: a. with Starke, etc., that Job reckons himself among the aged, and as such sets himself in the fullness of his self-consciousness against, the three friends as being younger than himself (which is distinctly refuted by what we find in Job_5:26; Job_29:8; Job_29:18; Job_15:10); b. with Ewald, to conjecture the loss of a passage after Job_12:12, which would furnish the transition from that verse to Job_12:23; c. with Dillmann, that originally Job_12:12 stood before Job_12:9-10, thus immediately following Job_12:8; d. with Delitzsch, Hengstenberg. etc., that Job_12:23 is to be connected closely and immediately with Job_12:12, so that thus the following order of thought would be expressed: assuredly wisdom is to be found among the aged, but in reality and in full measure it is to be found only with God, etc. [i.e. with Conant, that the verse is to be rendered interrogatively, on the ground that Job would not appeal to tradition in support of his positions; to which Davidson replies that “Job assails tradition only where he has found it false; and here, where he is exposing the vulgarity of the friends’ much-boasted insight, it is quite in place to refer to the facility any one had for coming in contact with such information; and in Job_13:2, where Job recapitulates Job_12:13-25, these two sources of information, sight and hearsay are directly alluded to.”—Besides Delitzsch and Hengstenberg, Schlottmann and Merx connect the verse with the preceding. On the contrary Con., Dav., Dillm., Ren., Good, Wemyss, etc., connect it with the following, and correctly so on account of the strict connection in thought, and especially the resumption of the thought in varying language in Job_12:16.—In answer to the objection of abruptness in the transition if Job_12:13 be detached from the preceding, Davidson says well that “it is quite in place; the whole chapter and speech is abrupt and passionate.”—E.].

First Division: Second Section: An animated description of the exercise of God’s wisdom and power, by way of actual proof that he is by no means wanting in the knowledge of God, which Zophar had denied to him: Job_12:13-25. [It is possible perhaps to exaggerate this idea that Job in the passage following is consciously emulating his opponents. Something there is of this no doubt, but it must not be forgotten that the description here given of the Divine wisdom and omnipotence is an important part of Job’s argument, as tending to show that these attributes so far from being employed by the ends which they had described, are exercised to produce hopeless confusion and ruin in human affairs.—E.].

First double strophe: Job_12:13-18 (consisting of two strophes of 3 verses each).

a. Job_12:13-15. [The theme in its most general statement].

Job_12:13. With Him are wisdom and might, His are counsel and discernment.—The suffixes in òִîּåֹ and ìֹå point back to Jehovah, Job_12:9-10, to whom the whole following description to Job_12:25 in general relates. [“With Him, òִîּåֹ , him, doubly, emphatic (a) in opposition to the just mentioned wisdom of men, Job_12:12; (b) with awe-ful omission of Divine name, and significant allusion and intonation in the pronoun.” Dav.]. The verse before us forms as it were the theme of this description, which presents Job’s own personal confession of faith in respect to the nature and wisdom of God. It is therefore neither an expression of the doctrinal views of a “hoary antiquity,” or of the aged sages of Job_12:12 (Umbreit) [Ewald, Schlottm.], nor a statement of that which is alone to be esteemed as genuine Divine wisdom, in antithesis to the more imperfect “wisdom of the aged” (Delitzsch, Hengstenberg). There is to be sure a certain progression of thought from Job_12:11 on: the adaptation to their uses of the organs of hearing and of taste, the wisdom of men of age and experience, and the wisdom of God, transcending all else, and united with the highest power, are related to each other as positive, comparative, and superlative. But there is not the slightest intimation of the thought that the absolute wisdom of God casts into the shade those rudiments of itself which are to be found in the sphere of the creature, or would hold them up as utterly worthless. Rather is what is said of the same in our verse in some measure the fruit, or a specimen of the wisdom of the aged, which Job also claims to possess, as a pupil of such aged men. Comp. below Cocceius, in the Homiletical Remarks on Job_12:10-13. Of the four designations of the absolute Divine intelligence here given, which accord with the language of Isa_11:2, and the accumulation of which intensifies the expression to the utmost, çָëְîָä denotes that side of God’s intelligence which “perceives things in the ground of their being, and in the reality of their existence” [“the general word and idea comprehensive of all others,” Dav.]. âְּáåּøָä that “which is able to carry out the plans, purposes, and decisions of this universal wisdom against all hindrance and opposition” [“virtus, âֶּáֶø , vir.” Dav.]; òֵöָä , that “which is never perplexed as to the best way of reaching its purpose;” úְּáåּðָä , that “which can penetrate to the bottom of what is true and false, sound and corrupt, and distinguish between them:” Delitzsch; [ òֹæ “actively force, passively strength, firmness:” Dav.].

Job_12:14. Lo, He tears down, and it is not built up (again). This is the first example of the irresistible exercise of this absolute might and wisdom of God. Job describes it as directed above all else to the work of tearing down and destroying, because in his recent mournful experiences he had been led to know it on this side of its activity; comp. Job_9:5 seq., where in like manner the mention of the destructive activities of the Divine omnipotence precedes that of its creative and constructive operation. Whether there is a reference to Zophar’s expression (Job_11:10; so Dillmann) is doubtful. He shuts up a man (lit. “He shuts over a man”), and it cannot be opened. The expression ñָâַø òַì , “to shut over any one,” is to be explained from the fact that use was frequently made of pits, perhaps of cisterns, as prisons, or dungeons: comp. Gen_37:24; Jer_38:6; Lam_3:53. Where this species of incarceration is not intended, ñָâַø is used either with the accus. or with áְּòַã (comp. Job_3:10; and 1Sa_1:6).

Job_12:15. Lo, He restrains the waters, and they dry up (Is. 50:38); He letteth them forth (again), and they overturn the earth. A remarkable parallel in thought to this description of the operation of the Divine omnipotence in the visible creation, now withdrawing and now giving life, but ever mighty in its agency, may be found in Psa_104:29-30. A reference to Zophar’s comparison of past calamity with vanished waters (Job_11:16) is scarcely to be recognized.

b. Job_12:16-18. [Resumption of the theme—specially of the Divine wisdom bringing confusion and humiliation on earth’s mightiest].

Job_12:16. With Him are strength and true knowledge ( úּåּùִׁéָä , precisely as in Job_11:6). His are the deceived and the deceiver [the erring one, and the one who causes to err]: i.e., His intelligence is so far superior to that of man that alike he who abuses his wisdom in leading others astray, and he who uses it for their good, are in His hand, and constrained to serve His purposes. He thus makes evil, moral and intellectual, subservient to the good: Gen_50:20; Psa_18:27. [“ ùָׁâַâ and ùâä here are to be understood not so much in the ethical as in the intellectual sense: if a man thinks himself wise because he is superior to another, and can lead him astray, in comparison with God’s wisdom the deceiver is not greater (in understanding) than the deceived; He has them both in his hand, etc.” Dillm.]

Job_12:17. He leads counsellors away stripped: or “who leads counsellors, etc.”—for from this point on to the end of the description (Job_12:24) Job speaking of God uses the present participle. The circumstantial accus. ùׁåֹìָì , which here and in Job_12:19 is used in connection with îåֹìִéêְ , (and that in the singular, like òָøåֹí , Job_24:7; Job_24:10), is rendered by the ancient versions “captive,” or “chained” (LXX., Targ. on Job_12:19 : áἰ÷ìáëþôïõò ; Targ. on Job_12:17 : catenis vinctos), whereas etymologically the signification “made naked (exutus), violently stripped” is the only one that is authenticated. The word therefore is equivalent to the expression òָøåֹí åְéָçֵó “naked and barefoot,” Isa_20:4, not to “barefoot” alone, as Oehler, Hitzig, Dillmann, etc., suppose from comparison with the LXX. in Mic_1:8. Naturally we are to understand the description here to be of counsellors led away stripped as captives taken in war: comp. Is. l. c. and 2Ch_28:15, as also what pertains to éֹòֲöִéí , “counsellors” in Job_3:14.—And judges He makes fools. éְäåֹìֵì , as in Isa_44:25, to infatuate, to show to be fools. Such an infatuation of judges as would cause the military and political ruin of their country to proceed directly from them (as in the breaking out of great catastrophes over certain kingdoms, e.g. over Egypt, Isa_19:17 seq.; over Israel and Judah, 2Ki_19:26; etc.), is not necessarily to be assumed here (comp. Job_5:20), although catastrophes of that character are here especially prominent in the thought of the speaker.

Job_12:18. He looses the bond of kings; i.e., He looses the bond, or the fetters, with which kings bind their subjects, He breaks the tyrannical yoke of kings, and brings them rather into bondage and captivity, or as the second member expresses this thought more in the concrete: He “binds a girdle on their loins.” It seems that àֵæåֹø lit. “girdle,” in this second member should accord with îåֹñַø in the first. So much the more should the latter be pointed îåֹñַø , and be construed as stat. constr. Comp. îåֹñֵø ( = îֹàñֵø , from àָñַø , to bind). Of less authority, etymologically, is the interpretation required by the Masoretic punctuation regarded as st. constr. of îåֹñָø , “discipline, castigatio,” although it gives a sense quite nearly related to the preceding, it being presupposed that “discipline” is to be understood in the sense of “rule, authority” (so among the moderns, Rosenm., Arnh., Vaih., Hahn, Delitzsch [Ges., Carey], etc.). But “discipline” is a different conception from “authority,” and “ ôַּúֵּçַ can very well take for its object îåֹñְøִéí , fetters, Job_39:5; Psa_116:16, but not castigationem.” So Dillmann correctly, who also however rightly rejects the interpretation of Ewald, Hirzel, Heiligst., Welte, etc., according to which îéñø î× denotes “the fetters, with which kings are bound,” so that the relation between a and b would be not that of a logical progression, but of direct antithesis, as in Job_12:15. [Hengstenberg calls attention to the paronomasia of éֶàְñֹø îåֹñַø , and àֵæåֹø ].

Second Double Strophe: Job_12:19-25 (divided into one strophe of three, and one of four verses): [The description continued: the agency of the Divine wisdom in confounding the great of earth].

a. Job_12:19-21. [Special classes of leaders brought to shame described].

Job_12:19. He leads priests away spoiled (see on Job_12:17), and those firmly established He overthrows. [ ëֹּäֲðִéí “priests,” not “princes” (E. V.) “In many of the States of antiquity the priests were personages no less important, were indeed even more important and honored than the secular authorities.” Dillm. “The juxtaposition of priests and kings here points to the ancient form of priestly rule, as we encounter the same in the person of Jethro and in part also in Melchizedek.” Schlott.].—All objects are called àֵéúָðִéí , “firmly-enduring” [perpetual], which survive the changes of time. Hence the term is applied, e.g., to water which does not become dry (aquæ perennes), or firmly founded rocks (Jer_49:19; Jer_50:44), or mighty, invincible nations (Jer_5:15), or, as here, distinguished and influential persons (Vulg., optimates). [ ñìó , “slip, in Piel, overthrow, aptly antithetic [to àéúï .” Dav.].

Job_12:20. He takes away the speech of the most eloquent: lit. of “the trusted,” of those who have been tried as a people’s orators and counsellors; for they are the ðֶàֱîָðִéí (from àîï , to make firm, trustworthy, not from ðָàַí , to speak, as D. Kimchi thinks, who would explain the word diserti, as though it were punctuated ðַàֲîָðִéí ). On b comp. Hos_4:11; and as regards èòí , “taste, judgment, tact,” see 1Sa_25:33.

Job_12:21. He pours contempt on nobles (exactly the same expression as in Psa_107:40), and looses the girdle of the strong, ( àֲôִé÷ִéí lit. “containing of great capacity” [Delitzsch: “to hold together, especially to concentrate strength on anything”] only here and Job_41:7; i.e., He disables them for the contest (by causing the under-garments to hang down loosely, thus proving a hindrance for conflict; comp. Isa_5:27; also below Job_38:3; Job_40:7). The translation of Delitzsch is altogether too forced, and by consequence insipid: “He pours contempt on the rulers of the state, and makes loose the belt of the mighty.”

b. Job_12:22-25. [The Divine energy as especially operative among nations].

Job_12:22. [This verse must naturally form the prelude to the deeper exercise of power and insight among nations, and its highest generalization, comp. 16b.” Dav.].—He discovereth deep things out of the darkness, and brings forth to light the shadow of death;i.e., not: “He puts into execution His hidden purposes in the destiny of nations” (Schlottm.), [“for who would call the hidden ground of all appearances in God, öìîåֹú !” Dilllm.], but: “He brings forth into the light all the dark plans and wickedness of men which are hidden in darkness;” comp. 1Co_4:5 : ( öùôßóåé ôὰ êñõðôὰ ôïῠ óêüôïõò ê . ô . ë ., and the proverb: “There is nothing spun so fine but all comes to the light;” see also Job_24:13 seq.; Isa_29:15; Rom_13:12; 1Th_5:5, etc. [“Deep things out of the darkness, òֲîֻ÷ּåֹú , must mean hidden tendencies and principles, e.g., those running under national life, Job_12:23, naturally more subtle and multiplex than those governing individual manifestation on however elevated a scale) and darkness, and shadow of death, figures (Job_11:8) descriptive of the profoundest secresy. These secret tendencies in national life and thought—never suspected by men who are silently carried on by them—He detects and overmasters either to check or to fulfil.” David. A truth “which brings joy to the good, but terror to all the children of darkness (Job_24:13 seq.), and not without threatening significance even to the friends of Job.” Dillmann].

Job_12:23. He makes nations great, and—destroys them; He spreads nations abroad and—causes them to be carried away (or: “carries them away captive,” comp. äִðְçָä , synonymous with äִâְìָä , abducere in servitutem; also 2Ki_18:11). [Rodwell: “then straitens them: leads them, i.e., back into their former borders”]. Instead of îַùְׂâִּéà the LXX. ( ðëáíῶí ) as well as some of the Rabbis read îַùְׁâִּéà , “who infatuates, makes fools.” But the first member of the verse corresponds strictly in sense to the second, on which account the Masoretic reading is to be retained, and to be interpreted of increase in height, even as the parallel ùֹׁèֵçַ in b of increase in breadth, or territorial enlargement (not as though it meant a dispersion among other nations, as the Vulg. and Aben Ezra incorrectly interpret this ùׁèç ). [The ìְ in both members, says Schlottmann, is not used Aramaice with the accus., but as sign of the Dat. commodi.]

Job_12:24. He takes away the understanding ( ìֵá as in Job_12:3) of the chief of the people of the land ( òַñÎäָàָøֶõ , can certainly signify “the people of the earth, mankind,” [Hirzel], after Isa_42:5; for its use in the more limited sense of the people of a land, comp. below Job_15:19). [“We have intentionally translated âåéí “nations,” òí people, for âåé is the mass held together by the ties of a common origin, language, and country; òַí , the people bound together by unity of government.” Delitzsch].—And makes them wander in a pathless waste: ( ìֹà ãֶøֶêְ , synonymous with áְּìֹàÎã× , or with àֵéïÎø× , comp. ìֹà àִֹéùׁ Job_38:26; and Ewald, § 286, 8). The whole verse, the second member of which recurs verbatim in Psa_107:40 presents an exact Hebrew equivalent for the Latin proverb: quem Deus perdere vult, prius dementat, a proverb on which the history of many a people and kingdom, from the earliest antiquity down to the present, furnishes an actual com