Albert Barnes Commentary Job 12

No doubt but you are the people – that is, the only wise people. You have engrossed all the wisdom of the world, and everyone else is to be regarded as fools. This is evidently the language of severe sarcasm, and it shows a spirit fretted and chafed by their reproaches. Job felt contempt for their reasoning and meant to imply that their maxims, on which they placed so much reliance, were commonplace and such as everyone was familiar with.

And wisdom shall die with you – This is ironic, but it is language such as is common perhaps everywhere. “The people of the East,” says Roberts, “take great pleasure in irony, and some of their satirical sayings are very cutting. When a sage implies that he has superior wisdom or when he is disposed to rally another for his meager attainments, he says, ‘Yes, yes, you are the man!’ ‘Your wisdom is like the sea.’ ‘When you die, where will wisdom go?’” In a serious sense, language like this is used by Classical writers to describe the death of eminently great or good men. They speak of wisdom, bravery, piety, or music as dying with them. Thus, Moschus, Idyll. iii. 12.

Ὅττι βίων τέθνηκεν ὁ βώκολος, ἔττι σὺν αὐτῷ

Καὶ τὸ μέλος τέθνακε, καὶ ὤλετο Δωρίς ἀειδός.

Hotti biōn tethnēken ho bōkolos, esti sun autō

Kai to melos tethnake, kai ōleto Dōris aeidos.

“Bion the shepherd is dead, and with him song

Has died, and the Doric muse has perished.”

Expressions like these are common. Thus, in the “Pleasures of Hope” it is said:

And Freedom shrieked when Kosciusko fell.

But I have understanding as well as you - Margin, as in the Hebrew, “a heart.” The word “heart” in the Scriptures is often used to denote the understanding or mind. It seems to have been regarded as the source of what was called life or soul. Indeed, I do not recollect a single instance in the Scriptures where the word “head” is used, as it is with us, as the seat of the intellect, or where the distinction so common with us between the head and the heart is referred to.

With us, the heart is the seat of the affections and emotions; with the Hebrews, it was the seat of understanding, and the σπλάγχνα (splangchna)—the viscera, the bowels—were the seat of the emotions (see the notes at Isaiah 16:11). A more correct physiology has taught us that the brain is the organ of the intellect, and we now speak of “the heart” as the seat of the affections. The Romans regarded the “breast” as the seat of the soul. Thus, Virgil, speaking of the death of Lucagus by the hand of Aeneas, says:

Tum latebras animae pectus mucrone recludit

Aeneid 10.601.

I am not inferior to you - Margin, “fall not lower than.” This is the literal translation: “I do not fall beneath you.” Job claims to be equal to them in the power of quoting the sayings of the ancients; to demonstrate this, he proceeds to adduce a number of proverbial sayings, occupying the remainder of this chapter, to show that he was familiar with that mode of reasoning and, in this respect, was fully their equal.

This may be regarded as a trial of skill and was quite common in the East. Wisdom consisted in storing up a large number of proverbs and maxims and in applying them readily and pertinently on all public occasions; in this controversy, Job was by no means disposed to yield to them.

Yea, who knoweth not such things as these? - Margin, “With whom” are “not such as these?” The meaning is that the sentiments they advanced, instead of being original, were the most commonplace imaginable. Job not only said that he knew them, but also that it would be strange if everyone did not know them.

I am as one mocked of his neighbour - There has been considerable variety in the interpretation of this verse. The general sense is that Job felt himself to be a mere laughing-stock to his neighbors. They treated him as if he were not worth regarding. They had no sympathy for him in his sorrows and showed no respect for his opinions. Dr. Good understands this and the following verses as part of the controversy in which Job proposes to show his skill in debate and to adduce proverbs in the manner of his friends. But it is more probably an allusion to himself and is designed to state that he felt that he was not treated with the respect that was due to him.

Much difficulty has been experienced in understanding the connection. Reiske contends that Job 12:2 has no connection with Job 12:3, and that Job 12:11-12 should be inserted between them. The connection seems to me to be this: Job complains that he was not treated with due deference.

They had shown no respect for his understanding and rank. They had urged the most commonplace topics; advanced stale and trite sayings, as if he had never heard them; dwelt on maxims familiar even to the lowliest people; and had treated him in this manner as if he were a mere child in knowledge. Thus, to be approached with vague commonplaces and with remarks such as would be used in addressing children, he regarded as insult and mockery.

Who calleth upon God, and he answereth him - This phrase has given rise to considerable variety in interpretation. Umbreit renders it, “I, who once called upon God, and He answered me”—that is, I, who once was a happy man and blessed by God. Schultens renders it, “I, who call upon God”—that is, for trial—“and am ready to answer Him.” Rosenmüller supposes that Job refers to the assurances of his friends that if he would call upon God, He would answer him, and that in view of that suggestion he exclaims, “Shall a man who is a laughing-stock to his neighbor call upon God, and will He answer him?” The probable meaning is that he had been a man who had constant communion with God. He had been a favorite of the Almighty, for He had lent a listening ear to his supplications.

It was now something about which he might reasonably complain: that a man who had enjoyed such manifest tokens of divine favor was treated with reproach and scorn.

He that is ready to slip with his feet — The man whose feet waver or totter; that is, the man in adversity . A man in prosperity is represented as standing firm; one in adversity as wavering, or falling .

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 thus:

The just, the perfect man is a laughing-stock to the proud,
A derision amidst the sunshine of the prosperous,
While ready to slip with his foot.

It does not appear to me, however, that this translation can be fairly derived from the Hebrew text, and I am disposed to accept the more common and obvious interpretation.

According to that interpretation, the idea is that a man in adversity, when failing from a high condition of honor, is regarded as an almost extinguished lamp, which is now held in contempt and cast away. When the torch was blazing, it was regarded as of value; when nearly extinguished, it would be regarded as worthless and cast away. So when a man was in prosperity, he would be looked up to as a guide and example. In adversity, his counsels would be rejected, and he would be looked upon with contempt.

Nothing can be more certain or more common than the fact here referred to. The rich and the great are looked up to with respect and veneration.

Their words and actions have an influence that those of no other people possess. When they begin to fall, others are willing to hasten their fall. Long-cherished but secret envy begins to show itself; those who wish to rise rejoice in their ruin, and they are looked upon with contempt in proportion to their former honor, rank, and power. They are regarded as an extinguished torch—of no value, and cast away.

In the thought — In the mind, or the view.

Of him that is at ease — In a state of comfort and prosperity. He finds no sympathy from them.

Job doubtless meant to apply this to his friends. They were then at ease and prosperous. Not suffering pain and not overwhelmed by poverty, they now looked with the utmost composure on him—as they would on a torch that was burned out, and for which there would be no hope of rekindling.

The tabernacles of robbers prosper – The tents or dwellings of robbers are safe and secure. This is Job’s original proposition, to which he consistently 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 have been unknown to Job’s friends. The Arabs lived 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 this proof. 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 not disturbed and broken in upon.

And they that provoke God – Or rather, “the tents are secure to those who provoke God.” Dr. Good renders it, “and are fortresses to those who provoke God;” but the true idea is that the tents of those who provoke God by their conduct are safe. God does not seem to notice them or to come out in judgment against them.

Into whose hand God bringeth abundantly – Dr. Noyes renders this, “who carry their God in their hand;” but with much less accuracy, as it seems to me, than commonly characterizes his version. Eichhorn renders it in a somewhat similar sense: "Die ihre Faust für ihre Gottheit achten" – "Who regard their fist as their God."

And Stuhlman renders it: "Und wem die Faust für Gottheit gilt" – "And to whom the fist avails for their God;" that is, he says, Job means that this is the course of the world.

Dr. Good renders it, “of him who has created all these things with his hand”—still less accurately. To do this, he is obliged to suppose an error in the text, but without the slightest authority. Jerome renders it as in our version.

The Septuagint translates: who provoke the Lord as if there would be no trial for them—ἔτασις αὐτῶν, etasis autōn—hereafter; which certainly makes sense, but it was never obtained from the Hebrew. Rosenmuller renders it, “who have their own hand, that is, power, for God;” a description, he says, of a wicked and violent man who thinks it right for him to do as he pleases.

It seems to me, however, that the common interpretation, which is the simplest, is most in accordance with the Hebrew and with the drift of the passage. According to this, it means that there is security for the man who lives to provoke God, who is constantly bringing him abundant tokens of kindness.

This is the fact on which Job is insisting—that God does not treat people in this world according to their real character, but that the wicked are prospered and the righteous are afflicted.