Job 12:5

_HE THAT IS READY TO SLIP WITH HIS FEET IS AS A LAMP DESPISED IN THE THOUGHT OF HIM THAT IS AT EASE._ Lamp - a torch. "Confidence in an unfaithful man in time of trouble is like a broken tooth, and a foot out of joint" (Proverbs 25:19). 'Thoughts and 'feet' are in contrast: also rests 'securely' and 'falterings.' The wanderer, arrived at his night quarters, contemptuously throws aside the torch which had guided his uncertain steps through the darkness. As the torch is to the wanderer, so Job to his friends. Once they gladly used his aid in their need, now they in prosperity mock him in his need. Maurer translates instead of "lamp despised," 'To calamity х_ PIYD_ (H6365)] (is due) contempt in the thought of him that is at ease:' and the first clause transposed, 'And it (contempt) is ready for them that slip with their fee

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....

HE THAT IS READY TO SLIP WITH HIS FEET - The man whose feet waver or totter; that is, the man in adversity; see Proverbs 25:19. A man in prosperity is represented as standing firm; one in adversity as wavering, or falling; see Psalms 73:2. But as for me, my feet were almost gone; My steps had well nigh slipped. There is much difficulty in this passage, and it has by no means been removed by the labor of critics. The reader may consult Rosenmuller, Good, and Schultens, on the verse, for a more full attempt to illustrate its meaning. Dr. Good, after Reiske and Parkhurst, has offered an explanation by rendering the whole passage

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 THAT IS READY TO SLIP WITH [HIS] FEET,.... Not into sin, though this is often the case of good men, but into calamities and afflictions; and Job means himself, and every just upright man in the like circumstances: or he that is "prepared" or "destined" to be among them, that "totter" and stagger in their "feet" i; that cannot stand upon their feet, but fall to the ground; which may describe man in declining and distressing circumstances; or that is appointed to be the laughing stock of such as are unstable in the word and ways of God; double minded men, hypocrites, and formal professors, that totter and stagger at everything they meet with disagreeable to the flesh: with such, a poor afflicted saint is laughed to scorn; he [IS AS] A LAMP DESPISED IN THE THOUGHT OF HIM THAT IS AT EASE; who are in affluent circumstances, enjoy great prosperity, live in plenty, and are not in trouble as...

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 laments how low he had fallen when men thought to instruct him, a man of God, with such primary truths regarding God's operation in the world. Yet it was but an illustration of the general truth righteousness when unfortunate was held in contempt. The verses read,...

DISCOURSE: 463 A WANT OF SYMPATHY CONDEMNED Job 12:5. _He that is ready to slip with his feet it as a lamp despised in the thought of him that it at ease_. THE friends of Job meant well: but, mistaking utterly his case, all that they spoke, though good in itself, was irrelevant, and tended only to aggravate his sorrows, which it was their professed intention to alleviate. The injustice of their remarks generated in him somewhat of tartness and asperity; though, considering how cruel and unjust their reflections were, we wonder not that his vindications of himself should assume somewhat of that character. But, passing by his ironical reprehension of them [Note: ver. 2.], I would call your attention to the complaint which he utters in the words which I have just read. It was a just complaint, as it respected _them:_ and it contains a truth, which is confirmed by universal exper

IS READY, &C.— This is much more beautiful in the original. It is a metaphor taken from the archer, whose arrow is fitted to the string, and ready to be discharged. The word שׁאנן _shaanan,_ here rendered _at ease,_ doth not make so complete a sense as could be wished: its root, שׁאן _shaan,_ particularly refers to such wicked persons as are so void of humanity, that the afflictions of their neighbours are a pleasure to them; and who are so far from endeavouring to alleviate them, that it is their delight to increase them by taunts and insults. I render the whole verse, _In calamity, contempt is ready in the thoughts of the insolent, for those whose feet are tottering._ Heath....