Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of Job 12:18

He looseth the bond of kings, and girdeth their loins with a girdle.

18. he looseth the bond of kings ] The verse probably means, he relaxes, removes the authority of kings, destroys their bond or power over men; and as a consequence their own loins are girt with a girdle, i. e. either the common girdle of the labourer, or the cord of the captive.

Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges

He looseth the bond of kings – The bond of kings ( musar) 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.

Fuente: Albert Barnes’ Notes on the Bible

Verse 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.

Fuente: Adam Clarke’s Commentary and Critical Notes on the Bible

He looseth the bond of kings; either,

1. Passively, whereby they are bound. He freeth them from prison or restraint. Or rather,

2. Actively, that wherewith they bind their subjects to obedience, to wit, their power and authority, and that majesty which God stamps upon kings to keep their people in awe; all which God can, and oft doth, take away from them, and freeth the people from their bonds, when it pleaseth him; of which all histories give instances. See Dan 2:21.

With a girdle; either,

1. With a girdle of dignity and glory, which was put upon the loins of men in great honour and authority, as Isa 11:5; 22:21; Jer 13:1,2. So this member of the verse is opposite to the; former, and the sense of the whole is, he either casteth down kings or raiseth them up, as he pleaseth. But the Scripture no where mentions this girdle as one of the ornaments of kings. Or rather,

2. With a servile girdle; for seeing all, both the foregoing and succeeding passages, do evidently note acts of judgment or punishments inflicted upon them, it seems improper to understand this alone of an act of Gods favour to them. So the sense is, he reduceth them into a mean and servile condition; which is thus expressed, because servants did use to gird up their garments, (which after the manner of those parts and time were loose and long,) that they might be fitter for attendance upon their masters; of which see Luk 12:37; 17:8. And so this is an amplification of the former sentence. He not only deposeth them from their thrones, but brings them into bondage and slavery.

Fuente: English Annotations on the Holy Bible by Matthew Poole

18. He looseth the bond of kingsHelooseth the authority of kingsthe “bond” with which theybind their subjects (Isa 45:1;Gen 14:4; Dan 2:21).

a girdlethe cord,with which they are bound as captives, instead of the royal “girdle”they once wore (Isa 22:21),and the bond they once bound others with. So “gird”puton one the bonds of a prisoner instead of the ordinary girdle (Joh21:18).

Fuente: Jamieson, Fausset and Brown’s Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible

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 Ec 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”, Isa 45:1; and this power God has over such great personages, as to set up kings, and remove them at his pleasure, Da 2:21; which shows that strength and power, as well as wisdom, are with him; this may respect Chedorlaomer casting off the yoke of Nimrod, and the kings of Canaan casting off the yoke of Chedorlaomer, and being loosed from it, Ge 14:1;

and girdeth their loins with a girdle; not with a royal waistband, as an ensign of government; see Isa 11:5; which he looses, and strips them of, but another instead of that; he girds them with the girdle of a servant or traveller; the allusion being to the custom in those eastern countries, where they wore long garments, for servants to gird them up, when they waited on their masters, or when men went long journeys, see Lu 17:7; and so may signify that kings sometimes become servants, or go into captivity, and there be used as such, as they sometimes are; the Vulgate Latin version is, “he girds their reins with a rope”.

Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible

(18) He looseth the bond of kings.He looseth the confederacy of kings, by which they bind themselves together, and girdeth them to fight against each other. Some understand it of the girdle of servitude in contrast to the girdle of state.

Fuente: Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers (Old and New Testaments)

18. Bond of kings The bond or fetter with which they bound their subjects.

Girdeth their loins Literally, Binds a (girdle) fetter upon their loins. An instance of like retribution. The tyrannical binder of his subjects is himself bound with a captive’s cord. History is full of instances of such sad vicissitudes of fate. With no class of society has fortune been a more “fickle goddess” (so called) than with monarchs. The wreck of thrones, on the other hand, is an unceasing proclamation that “God reigns.” Lucretius (12:1232) had remarked the instability of all human glory, but failed to perceive in its oft-repeated overthrow the providence and power of God:

So from his awful shades, some POWER UNSEEN

O’erthrows all human greatness! treads to dust

Rods, ensigns, crowns the proudest pomps of state,

And laughs at all the mockery of man.

Fuente: Whedon’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments

Job 12:18 He looseth the bond of kings, and girdeth their loins with a girdle.

Ver. 18. He looseth the bonds of kings ] He degradeth them, taking away all command and authority from them, which is the bond that bindeth the people to obedience and subjection, Job 30:11 Isa 45:1 ; Isa 45:5 ; as our Henry III, who was called Regni dilapidator, unloved by his people, and far a less king, saith Daniel, by striving to be more than he was; the just reward of violations.

And girdeth their loins with a girdle ] With a rope, say the Vulgate; he brings them from the throne to the prison (Val. Max. Christ.); he layeth affliction upon their loins, as Psa 66:11 . An instance hereof (beside the late king, and Corradinus, king of Germany, likewise beheaded at Naples) we had here in Richard II, brought forth in a royal robe to be deposed, and then hunger starved in prison; as also in Henry VI, who having been the most potent monarch for dominions that ever England had, was afterwards (when deposed) not the master of a mole hill, nor owner of his own liberty, but baffled and beaten by every base fellow. Some interpreters make the sense this way: God sometimes looseth the bonds into which princes are brought, and advanceth them again to kingly dignity, the ensign whereof was of old a precious girdle. So it befell Manasseh, Nebuchadnezzar, Jehoiakim, restored and honoured again as a king, by Evilmerodaeh, 2Ki 25:28 . Historians write, that Nebuchadnezzar was so offended with his son and successor, Evilmerodach, as he cast him into prison, and that in prison he and Jehoiakim became acquainted together, which resulted in his advancement afterwards.

Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)

2Ch 33:11-14, Jer 52:31-34, Dan 2:21, Rev 19:16

Reciprocal: 1Ki 20:32 – Thy servant Job 30:11 – loosed Isa 5:27 – neither Isa 45:5 – I girded thee Dan 4:32 – until

Fuente: The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge

Job 12:18. He looseth the bond of kings He takes from them the power and authority wherewith they ruled their subjects; ruled them with rigour, perhaps tyrannised over and enslaved them: and he divests them of that majesty which he had stamped upon them, and by which they kept their people in awe. These God can, and often does, take away from them, and thereby free the people from their bonds, of which we have abundance of instances in the history of different nations; and girdeth their loins with a girdle He reduces them to a mean and servile condition; which is thus expressed, because servants used to gird up their garments, (which, after the manner of those parts of the world, were loose and long,) that they might be fitter for attendance upon their masters: he not only deposes them from their thrones, but brings them into slavery.

Fuente: Joseph Bensons Commentary on the Old and New Testaments

12:18 {i} He looseth {k} the bond of kings, and girdeth their loins with a girdle.

(i) He takes wisdom from them.

(k) He abates the humour of princes, and brings them into the subjection of others.

Fuente: Geneva Bible Notes