Job 12:6

_THE TABERNACLES OF ROBBERS PROSPER, AND THEY THAT PROVOKE GOD ARE SECURE; INTO WHOSE HAND GOD BRINGETH ABUNDANTLY._ The tabernacles of robbers prosper, and they that provoke God are secure. Job shows that the matter of fact opposes Zophar's theory (Job 11:14; Job 11:19), that wickedness causes 'insecurity' in men's "tabernacles." On the contrary, they who 'rob the tabernacles' (dwellings) of others 'prosper securely' in their own. INTO WHOSE HAND GOD BRINGETH ABUNDANTLY - rather, 'who make a god of their own hand;' literally, 'carry God in their own hand' (Habakkuk 1:11, Hebrew, cf. my remark; Psalms 12:4) - i:e., who

6-11 Job appeals to facts. The most audacious robbers, oppressors, and impious wretches, often prosper. Yet this is not by fortune or chance; the Lord orders these things. Worldly prosperity is of small value in his sight: he has better things for his children. Job resolves all into the absolute proprietorship which God has in all the creatures. He demands from his friends liberty to judge of what they had said; he appeals to any fair judgment....

Verse Job 12:6. _THE TABERNACLES OF ROBBERS PROSPER._] Those who live by the plunder of their neighbours are often found in great secular prosperity; and they that provoke God by impiety and blasphemy live in a state of security and affluence. These are administrations of Providence which cannot be accounted for; yet the Judge of all the earth does right. Therefore prosperity and adversity are no evidences of a man's spiritual state, nor of the place he holds in the approbation or disapprobation of God....

THE TABERNACLES OF ROBBERS PROSPER - The tents or dwellings of robbers are safe and secure. This is Job’s original proposition, to which he all along adheres. It is, that God does not deal with people in this life according to their character; and in support of this he now appeals to the fact that the tents or dwellings of robbers are safe. Arabia would furnish many illustrations of this, which could not be unknown to the friends of Job. The Arabs dwelt in tents, and they were then, as now, wandering, predatory tribes. They lived, to a great extent, by plunder, and doubtless Job could appeal to the observation of his friends for the proof of this. He affirms that so far from dealing with people according to their character, God often seemed to protect the public robber, and the blasphemer of his name. PROSPER - They are secure, tranquil, at rest - for so the Hebrew word means. They are n...

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 ...

THE TABERNACLES OF ROBBERS PROSPER,.... Such as the Chaldeans and Sabeans, who had robbed Job of his substance, and filled their houses with the spoils of others, and lived in the greatest fulness and prosperity, and whom he might have in his view; and the like is what has been since observed by good men, and has been a trial and temptation to them, not knowing well how to reconcile this to the justice and wisdom of God in providence, yet so it is, a fact that cannot be denied, see Psalms 73:2; AND THEY THAT PROVOKE GOD ARE SECURE; all sin is abominable to God, contrary to his nature, will, and law, and so provoking; yet there are some sins that are more provoking than others, as idolatry, blasphemy, murder, theft, robbery, rapine, and oppression, and the like, as well as attended with more aggravating circumstances; and yet many who are guilty of such enormous crimes, and G

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

GOD Hebrew El. App-4....

The other side of the picture, the peace of the wicked. _into whose hand God bringeth abundantly_ The words might also mean: _they who carry_(_their) god in their hand_, the idea being that their god is their own strong hand or the weapon in it; cf. what the prophet says of the Chaldeans, This their power is their god, Habakkuk 1:11 with Job 12:16. The commentators quote from Vergil the words of the contemptor deorum, _dextra mihi deus_, and Hitzig refers to Ammianus, 17. 12, who says of some Scythian tribes, _mucrones pro numinibus colunt_. In Job 12:5 Job said that the afflicted righteous were despised; the strict antithesis would have been that the prosperous wicked received respect; but Job, with the keen eye