Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of Job 12:17
He leadeth counselors away spoiled, and maketh the judges fools.
17. away spoiled ] The word is rendered “stripped” Mic 1:8, the meaning being, deprived of their outer garments, and clothed as slaves and captives. The word might perhaps mean “barefooted” (so Sept. Mic 1:8), also a condition of those in destitution and mourning, 2Sa 15:30.
On second clause “maketh judges fools,” turns them into fools, and shews them as fools, cf. Isa 44:25; Isa 19:11 seq.
Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges
He leadeth counsellors away spoiled – Plundered or captive. That is, the counsels of wise and great men do not avail against God. Statesmen who promised themselves victory as the result of their plans he disappoints, and leads away into captivity. The object of this is to show that God is superior over all, and also that people are not dealt with in exact accordance with their character and rank. God is a sovereign, and he shows his sovereignty when defeating the counsels and purposes of the wisest of men, and overturning the plans of the mighty.
And maketh the judges fools – He leaves them to distracted and foolish plans. He leaves them to the adoption of measures which result in their own ruin. He is a sovereign, having control over the minds of the great, and power to defeat all their counsels, and to render them infatuated. Nothing can be clearer than this. Nothing has been more frequently illustrated in the history of nations. In accordance with this belief is the well-known expression:
Quem Deus vult perdere prius dementat.
Whom God purposes to destroy, he first infatuates.
Fuente: Albert Barnes’ Notes on the Bible
Verse 17. He leadeth counsellors away spoiled] The events of war are also in his hand. It is he who gives victory; through him even the counsellors – the great men and chief men, are often led into captivity, and found among the spoils.
And maketh the judges fools.] He infatuates the judges. Does this refer to the foolish conduct of some of the Israelitish judges, such as Samson?
Fuente: Adam Clarke’s Commentary and Critical Notes on the Bible
The wise counsellors or statesmen, by whom the affairs of kings and kingdoms are ordered, he leadeth away as captives in triumph, being spoiled either of that wisdom which they had, or seemed or pretended to have; or of that power and dignity which they had enjoyed.
Maketh the judges fools; partly by discovering their folly, and partly by infatuating their minds, and turning their own counsels to their ruin; of which see 2Sa 15:31; 17:14,23; Isa 19:11; 1Co 1:19.
Fuente: English Annotations on the Holy Bible by Matthew Poole
He leadeth counsellors away spoiled,…. Such who have the greatest share of knowledge and wisdom in civil things, and are capable of giving advice to others, and are very useful in commonwealths, in cities, towns, and neighbourhoods; wherefore it is a judgment on a people when such are removed, Isa 3:3; these God can spoil at once of all their wisdom and knowledge, and render them unfit to give advice and counsel to others; or he can confound their schemes, disappoint their devices, carry their counsel headlong, and make it of none effect, and so spoil them of their ends and views, and of their fame, credit, and reputation:
and maketh the judges fools; men of great parts, abilities, and capacities, whereby they are qualified to sit upon the bench, preside in courts of judicature, and judge in all matters of controversy that come before them; and it is a happiness to a country to have such persons, as it is a judgment to have them removed, see Isa 3:2; yet God can take away the wisdom of such men, deprive them of their natural abilities, and so infatuate them, that they shall not be able to understand a cause, but pass a foolish sentence, to their own shame and disgrace, as well as to the injury of others; see Isa 40:23.
Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible
17 He leadeth away counsellors stripped of their robes,
And maketh judges fools.
18 The authority of kings He looseth,
And bindeth their loins with bands.
19 He leadeth away priests stripped of their robes,
And overthroweth those who are firmly established.
20 He removeth the speech of the eloquent,
And taketh away the judgment of the aged.
21 He poureth contempt upon princes,
And maketh loose the girdle of the mighty.
In Job 12:17, Job 12:19, is added to as a conditional accusative; the old expositors vary in the rendering of this word; at any rate it does not mean: chained (Targ. on Job 12:17), from ( ), which is reduplicated in the word , a chain, a word used in later Hebrew than the language of the Old Testament ( is the Old Testament word); nor is it: taken as booty, made captive (lxx ; Targ. on Job 12:19, , in the quality of spoil) = ; but it is a neuter adjective closely allied to the idea of the verb, exutus , not however mente (deprived of sense), but vestibus; not merely barefooted (Hirz., Oehler, with lxx, Mic 1:8, ), which is the meaning of , but: stripped of their clothes with violence (vid., Isa 20:4), stripped in particular of the insignia of their power. He leads them half-naked into captivity, and takes away the judges as fools ( , vid., Psychol. S. 292), by destroying not only their power, but the prestige of their position also. We find echoes of this utterance respecting God’s paradoxical rule in the world in Isa 40:23; Isa 44:25; and Isaiah’s oracle on Egypt, Job 19:11-15, furnishes an illustration in the reality.
It is but too natural to translate Job 12:18: the bands of kings He looses (after Psa 116:16, , Thou hast loosed my bands); but the relation of the two parts of the verse can then not be this: He unchains and chains kings (Hirz., Ew., Heiligst. Schlottm.), for the fut. consec. requires a contrast that is intimately connected with the context, and not of mere outward form: fetters in which kings have bound others ( , gen. subjectivus ) He looses, and binds them in fetters (Raschi), – an explanation which much commends itself, if could only be justified as the construct of by the remark that “the o sinks into u ” (Ewald, 213, c). does not once occur in the signification vinculum ; but only the plur. and , vincula , accord with the usage of the language, so that even the pointing proposed by Hirzel is a venture. , however, as constr. of , correction, discipline, rule (i.e., as the domination of punishment, from , castigare ), is an equally suitable sense, and is probably connected by the poet with (a word very familiar to him, Job 30:11; Job 39:5; Job 41:6) on account of its relation both in sound and sense to (comp. Psa 105:22). The English translation is correct: He looseth the authority of kings. The antithesis is certainly lost, but the thoughts here moreover flow on in synonymous parallelism.
Job 12:19 It is unnecessary to understand , after 2Sa 8:18, of high officers of state, perhaps privy councillors; such priest-princes as Melchizedek of Salem and Jethro of Midian are meant. , which denotes inexhaustible, perennis , when used of waters, is descriptive of nations as invincible in might, Jer 5:15, and of persons as firmly-rooted and stedfast. , such as are tested, who are able to speak and counsel what is right at the fitting season, consequently the ready in speech and counsel. The derivation, proposed by Kimchi, from , in the sense of diserti , would require the pointing . is taste, judgment, tact, which knows what is right and appropriate under the different circumstances of life, 1Sa 25:33. is used exactly as in Hos 4:11. Job 12:21 is repeated verbatim, Psa 107:40; the trilogy, Ps 105-107, particularly Ps 107, is full of passages similar to the second part of Isaiah and the book of Job (vid., Psalter, ii. 117). (only here and Job 41:7) are the strong, from , to hold together, especially to concentrate strength on anything. (only here, instead of , not from , which is an imaginary root, but from , according to Frst equivalent to , to lace, bind) is the girdle with which the garments were fastened and girded up for any great exertion, especially for desperate conflict (Isa 5:27). To make him weak or relaxed, is the same as to deprive of the ability of vigorous, powerful action. Every word is here appropriately used. This tottering relaxed condition is the very opposite of the intensity and energy which belongs to “the strong.” All temporal and spiritual power is subject to God: He gives or takes it away according to His supreme will and pleasure.
Fuente: Keil & Delitzsch Commentary on the Old Testament
17. Spoiled Barefoot. Captives were often stripped of their covering.
Isa 20:4. Fools The counsels of Ahithophel, ( brother of folly,) the counsellor of Absalom, were “turned into foolishness,” in answer to the prayer of David. 2Sa 15:31.
Fuente: Whedon’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
“Handfuls of Purpose”
For All Gleaners
“He… maketh the judges fools.” Job 12:17
This is for their good. If they were not rebuked, they would go on from one presumption to another, until they utterly forgot themselves and idolised their own ability. It is good for the wise man to be made to know the measure of his wisdom, and for the judge to step down sometimes amongst the common people, and to own that there are questions too high for him. The word “judges” should not be limited to the merely judicial function, as exercised in courts of law. The principle covers a large area. It includes, for example, all theologians; they should not stand up as men who know everything, and to whom is given the treasure of heavenly mystery, to be expended as they please: they are most influential when they are least presumptuous: they should claim to be fellow-readers, and fellow-students, and fellow-worshippers; and out of this sympathy with the common heart, they will acquire all true spiritual influence. We are taught, by this divine visitation, not to put our confidence oven in men who occupy supreme positions: we may have come to them at a time, when their wits were bewildered, and their judgment had been turned upside down. God does not take away their title, but he depletes it of all meaning and force, so that they represent the most seductive and disastrous irony, being judges only in name, and not in faculty. It is clear that God will not give his glory unto another. The wise man is not to glory in his wisdom, nor the mighty man in his power. All flesh is to glory in the Lord. God recognises judges, leaders, princes, captains, men of pre-eminent power and influence; and he has never withheld from them the tribute which was due to all their greatness and utility: nay, he himself has been the author of that greatness, and has been pleased to confer the blessedness of utility upon the service of the chief in his household; yet he has never given his glory to another, in the sense of being unable to withdraw it; the greatest servant may be deposed in an hour; there is but a step between the strongest man and death. We are only judges in so far as we are docile students, reverential worshippers, patient waiters upon God. In all matters of Biblical judgment, the spiritual faculty is generally with those who are least in their own esteem; who, passing by all that is merely initial and instrumental, come at once upon the pith and reality of things: “The secret of the Lord is with them that fear him.” In all cases God has chosen the teachable spirit as his peculiar dwelling-place. What a lesson this is to all men in high position, in authority, children of fame, persons who suppose their castle to be founded upon rocks, and mighty men who scorn the idea of being brought down from their loftiness: “Let him that thinketh he standeth, take heed lest he fall.”
Fuente: The People’s Bible by Joseph Parker
Job 12:17 He leadeth counsellors away spoiled, and maketh the judges fools.
Ver. 17. He leadeth counsellors away spoiled ] viz. Of wit, wealth, and honour. This should be a warning to them, not to take ill causes in hand, not to call evil good and good evil, not to justify the wicked for a reward, and to take away the righteousness of the righteous from him; not to bolster out a bad cause, and to outface a good, lest if they improve their wits and parts to so evil an end, God make them as despicable as before they were honourable. They may see what the Lord did to Ahithophel, that oracle of his time; to Pharaoh’s counsellors, Isa 9:11-12 ; to Pharaoh himself, Exo 1:10 with Pro 28:15 .
And he maketh the judges fools
Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
2Sa 15:31, 2Sa 17:14, 2Sa 17:23, Isa 19:12-14, Isa 29:14, 1Co 1:19, 1Co 1:20
Reciprocal: 1Ki 20:32 – Thy servant Job 5:12 – disappointeth Isa 19:11 – the princes Dan 9:12 – our judges
Fuente: The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
Job 12:17. He leadeth counsellors away spoiled The wise counsellors, or statesmen, by whom the affairs of kings and kingdoms are ordered, he leadeth away as captives in triumph, being spoiled either of that wisdom which they had, or seemed to have; or of that power and dignity which they had enjoyed. And maketh the judges fools By discovering their folly, and by infatuating their minds, and turning their own counsels to their ruin.