Job 12:18

_HE LOOSETH THE BOND OF KINGS, AND GIRDETH THEIR LOINS WITH A GIRDLE._ He looseth the bond of kings - He looseth the authority of kings-the "bond" with which they bind their subjects: "I will loose the loins of kings" (Isaiah 45:1); "He changeth the times and the seasons: he removeth kings, and setteth up kings" (Genesis 14:4; Daniel 2:21). AND GIRDETH THEIR LOINS WITH A GIRDLE - the cord with which they are, bound as captives, instead of the royal "girdle" they once wore (Isaiah 22:21), and the bond they once bound others with. So "gird" - put on one the bonds of a prisoner, instead of the ordinary girdle ...

12-25 This is a noble discourse of Job concerning the wisdom, power, and sovereignty of God, in ordering all the affairs of the children of men, according to the counsel of His own will, which none can resist. It were well if wise and good men, who differ about lesser things, would see how it is for their honour and comfort, and the good of others, to dwell most upon the great things in which they agree. Here are no complaints, or reflections. He gives many instances of God's powerful management of the children of men, overruling all their counsels, and overcoming all their oppositions. Having all strength and wisdom, God knows how to make use, even of those who are foolish and bad; otherwise there is so little wisdom and so little honesty in the world, that all had been in confusion and ruin long ago. These important truths were suited to convince the disputants that they were out of t...

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 proofs of this occur in the Israelitish history and in the history of the principal nations of the earth, and not a few in the history of Britain....

HE LOOSETH THE BOND OF KINGS - The bond of kings (מוּסר _mûsâr_) here means that by which they bind others. Their power over others he loosens or takes away. AND GIRDETH THEIR LOINS WITH A GIRDLE - That is, he girds them with a rope or cord, and leads them away as prisoners. The whole series of remarks here refers to the reverses and changes in the conditions of life. The meaning here is, that the bonds of authority which they imposed on others are unbound, and that their own loins are bound with a girdle, not a girdle of royal dignity and ornament, but such a one as they are bound with who are servants, or who travel. “Pict. Bib.”...

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 ...

HE LOOSETH THE BONDS OF KINGS,.... Not with which they themselves may be bound, being taken prisoners, or being so before made kings, and brought from thence to reign, as in Ecclesiastes 4:14; but that which they bind on their subjects, a yoke of bondage, tyranny, and oppression; so that to loose their bond is to loose their subjects from it, and free them from their arbitrary and despotic power, and from the burdens they lay upon them: unless rather it should be understood of loosing their waistbands, as an emblem of their government, ungirding them, or unkinging them, stripping them of their royal power and authority, called a "loosing of their loins", Isaiah 45:1; and this power God has over such great personages, as to set up kings, and remove them at his pleasure,...

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

Job 12:7-10 referred to what one could _see_of God's power and wisdom in the world, these verses refer to what one might learn of them by _hearing_ancient men discourse regarding them. In ch. Job 13:1, where Job looks back upon this chapter, he refers to both channels of knowledge, his eye and his ear. He does not despise knowledge learned from the observation of others when it is pertinent, cf. ch. Job 21:29. And it is obvious that the description in Job 12:13 contains many allusions to catastrophes, both in nature and in human society, which Job could not have seen himself, but must have learned from tradition....

3. ARBITRARILY HE DECREES WHAT WILL BE. (JOB 12:13-25) TEXT 12:13-25 13 With _God_ is wisdom and might; 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; Again, he sendeth them oat, and they overturn the earth. 16 With him is strength and wisdom; The deceived and the deceiver are his. 17 He leadeth counsellors away stripped, And Judges maketh he fools. 18 He looseth the bond of kings, And bindeth their loins with a girdle. 19 He leadeth priests away stripped, And overthroweth the mighty. 20 He removeth the speech of the trusty, And taketh away the understanding of the elders. 21 He poureth contempt upon princes, And looseth