Job 12:1

_AND JOB ANSWERED AND SAID,_ No JFB commentary on this verse....

1-5 Job upbraids his friends with the good opinion they had of their own wisdom compared with his. We are apt to call reproofs reproaches, and to think ourselves mocked when advised and admonished; this is our folly; yet here was colour for this charge. He suspected the true cause of their conduct to be, that they despised him who was fallen into poverty. It is the way of the world. Even the just, upright man, if he comes under a cloud, is looked upon with contempt....

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 whether_ _animate or inanimate, and by the revolutions which take place_ _in states_, 6-25. NOTES ON CHAP. XII...

EXPOSITION The discourse of Job, here begun, continues through three chapters (Job 12:1; Job 13:1; Job 14:1.). It is thought to form the conclusion of the first day's colloquy. In it Job for the first time really pours scorn upon his friends, and makes a mock of them (see verses 2, 8, 20; Job 13:4). This, however, is a secondary matter; his main object is to justify his previous assertions, (1) that the whole course of mundane events, whether good or evil, must be attributed to God (verses 6-25); (2) that his sufferings entitle him to plead with God, and demand to know why he is so punished ...

AND JOB ANSWERED AND SAID. In reply to Zophar, and in defence of himself; what is recorded in this and the two following Chapter s....

CHAPTER S 12-14 JOB'S ANSWER TO ZOPHAR _ 1. His sarcasm (Job 12:1)_ 2. He describes God's power (Job 12:7) 3. He denounces his friends (Job 13:1) 4. He appeals to God (Job 13:14) 5. The brevity and trouble of life (Job 14:1) 6. The ray of light through hope of immortality (Job 14:7) Job 12:1. He answers not only Zophar but the others as well. Before this Job had expressed his

Eliphaz had appealed to revelation, Bildad to the wisdom of the ancients, Zophar assumes that he himself is the oracle of God's wisdom. Job answers this assumption. Firstly Zophar is not the only wise man in the world, and secondly, as to this wisdom of God, which explains everything, Job has himself studied the ways of God, and whatever wisdom there may be in them there is certainly also the most arbitrary exercise of Divine power. The friends take themselves to be the whole people (Job 12:2); in your own estimation, Job says, you-' re everybody (Peake). Job, however, is not behind them in wisdom: they are not its sole oracle (Job 12:3). JOB 12:4. According to Duhm an interpolation. They treat of the contrast between the fate of the

ANSWERED. See note on Job 4:1....

_JOB REPROVES THE BOASTING OF HIS FRIENDS: HE SHEWS THAT IN THIS LIFE IT IS FREQUENTLY WELL EVEN WITH THOSE MEN WHO OFFEND THE LORD; YET ALLOWS THAT NOBODY COULD DENY THEIR GENERAL DOCTRINE, THAT ALL THINGS WERE GOVERNED BY AN ALMIGHTY GOD._ _Before Christ 1645._ _JOB 12:1. AND JOB ANSWERED_— In this and the two following Chapter s Job replies to Zophar. Greatly vexed that his friends should entertain so firm an opinion of his being a wicked man; that they should press him so hard with their maxim, "That affliction was a demonstration of guilt," and should make a mock of his appeal to God, he can no longer refrain from being very sharp in his treatment of them. He taxes them with self-conceit; their maxims he treats as mean and poor, the contrary of which was evident to all observing persons; good men were frequently in distress, while robbers and public plunderers

G. COURAGEOUS CONFRONTATIONJOB'S RESPONSE (Job 12:1, Job 14:22) 1. He ridicules the wisdom and judgment of his friends. (Job 12:1-6) TEXT 12:1-6 12 THEN 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 THAT IS A LAUGHING-STOCK TO HIS NEIGHBOR, I who called upon God, and he answered: The just, the perfect man is a laughing-stock. 5 In the thought of him that is at ease there is contempt for misfortune; It is ready for them whose foot slippeth. 6 The tents of robbers prosper, And t