_A.M. 2484. B.C. 1520._ Job blames his friends for their self-conceit and unkind behaviour, Job 12:1. Shows that the wicked often prosper, Job 12:6. Confirms and enlarges upon what had been said of the wisdom, power, and providence of God, Job 12:12.... [ Continue Reading ]
_And Job answered_ Greatly vexed that his friends should entertain so firm an opinion of his being a wicked man, and that they should press him so hard with their maxim, “that affliction was a demonstration of guilt,” he can no longer refrain from answering them with great sharpness. He taxes them w... [ Continue Reading ]
_No doubt but ye are the people_ You, of all people, are the most eminent for wisdom; the only men living of distinguished knowledge and prudence. You have engrossed all the reason of mankind, and each of you has as much wisdom as a whole people put together. _And wisdom shall die with you_ All the... [ Continue Reading ]
_But I have_ an _understanding_ Hebrew, _a heart_, which is often put for the _understanding:_ 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 speaks, not in a way of boasting, but for the just vindication both of himse... [ Continue Reading ]
_I am as one mocked of his neighbour_ שׂחק לרעהו אהיה, _sechok leregnehu ehjeh_, literally, _a jest to his friend, I am._ Thus Jeremiah complains, _I was a derision to all my people, Lamentations 3:14_. _Who calleth upon God, and he answereth him_ This is applied by Sol. Jarchi, and the commentators... [ Continue Reading ]
_He that is ready to slip with his feet_ The just man, last mentioned, who is ready to fall, or has already fallen into trouble; _is as a lamp despised_ That is, like a lamp or torch, which, while it shines clearly in a dark night, is very useful and comfortable; but when it is almost extinct, or wh... [ Continue Reading ]
_The tabernacles of robbers prosper_ Job's friends had all supposed that wicked men cannot prosper long in the world. This Job opposes, and maintains that God herein acts as sovereign, and reserves that exact distribution of rewards and punishments for the other world. As if he had said, Thy opinion... [ Continue Reading ]
_Ask now the beasts, and they shall teach thee_ If thou observest the beasts, and their properties, actions, and events, from them thou mayest learn this lesson: namely, that which Zophar had uttered with so much pomp and gravity, (Job 11:7,) concerning God's unsearchable wisdom, almighty power, and... [ Continue Reading ]
_Who knoweth not in all these_ Or, _by all these_ brute creatures; _that the hand of the Lord hath wrought this_ That God, by his power and wisdom, hath created and ordered all that is in them, or that is done by and among them. Job meant in these verses to express his firm opinion that all animate... [ Continue Reading ]
_In whose hand is the soul_ That is, the life, or the principle of life; _of every living thing_ That is, of all irrational animals, of which he spake, Job 12:7, opposed to man in the last words of this verse. He means, in whose absolute power it is to give life or to take it away, when and how it s... [ Continue Reading ]
_Doth not the ear try words?_ &c. Doth not the mind distinguish truth from falsehood, and wisdom from folly, as exactly as the palate distinguishes a sweet from a bitter taste? These words may either be considered as the conclusion of the foregoing discourse, or as a preface to the following. And he... [ Continue Reading ]
_With the ancient is wisdom_ These words contain a concession of what Bildad had said (Job 8:8,) and a joining with him in that appeal; but withal, an intimation that this wisdom was but imperfect, and liable to many mistakes; and indeed mere ignorance and folly, if compared with the divine wisdom,... [ Continue Reading ]
_With him is wisdom_ That is, with God. Perfect wisdom is only in him, and all wisdom in the world cometh from him, who giveth to young and old as it pleaseth him. The ancients were not wise without his gift and grace, and with that a younger man may be wiser than the ancients. _He hath counsel_ Pra... [ Continue Reading ]
_Behold, he breaketh down_ Houses, castles, cities; _and it cannot be built again_ It is not in the power of any creature to repair what he designs utterly to destroy. _He shutteth up a man_ In prison, or in straits and troubles; _and there can be no opening_ Without his permission and providence. Y... [ Continue Reading ]
_He withholdeth the waters_ Which are reserved in the clouds, that they may not fall upon the earth; _and they dry up_ Namely, the waters upon the earth, springs, brooks, and rivers dry up, as after the general deluge, to which here is a manifest allusion.... [ Continue Reading ]
_With him is strength_, &c. He doth the things mentioned in the foregoing and following verses so _powerfully_, that no creature can resist him and hinder his operations; and so wisely, that none can prevent him or frustrate his counsels. He had said the same thing before, (Job 12:13,) but he repea... [ Continue Reading ]
_He leadeth counsellors away spoiled_ 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 to have; or of that power and dignity which they had enjoyed. _And ma... [ Continue Reading ]
_He looseth the bond of kings_ He takes from them the power and authority wherewith they ruled their subjects; ruled them with rigour, perhaps tyrannised over and enslaved them: and he divests them of that majesty which he had stamped upon them, and by which they kept their people in awe. These God... [ Continue Reading ]
_He removeth away the speech of the trusty_ Of those wise and experienced counsellors that were trusted by the greatest princes. He either, 1st, Takes away from them the gift of utterance, or restrains them in the use of it; so that they are not able to express their thoughts with such clearness and... [ Continue Reading ]
_He poureth contempt upon princes_ That is, he makes them contemptible to their subjects and others; _and weakeneth the strength of the mighty_ The word מזיח, _meziach_, here rendered strength, occurs also Psalms 109:19, where it is translated _girdle._ The clause might here have been rendered, _He... [ Continue Reading ]
_He increaseth the nations_, &c. What he had hitherto said of princes, he now applies to nations and people, whom God either increases or diminishes as he pleases. _He enlargeth the nations_ He multiplies them so that they are forced to send forth colonies into other lands; _and straiteneth them aga... [ Continue Reading ]