Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of Job 12:13
With him [is] wisdom and strength, he hath counsel and understanding.
13. With him is wisdom and strength ] i. e. with God, him being emphatic. There is no antithesis however between His wisdom and that of the aged referred to Job 12:12. The passage that follows to the end of the chapter describes God’s power and wisdom as their operations had been observed by men, though naturally the picture receives its colour from the state of Job’s mind. “Strength” is rather might or power to execute what wisdom devises. These attributes of God’s confound and bring to nought everything bearing the same name among men.
Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges
With him is wisdom – Margin, correctly, God. However much wisdom there may seem to be with aged men, yes the true wisdom – that which was supreme and worthy of the name – was to be found in God alone. The object of Job was to lead the thoughts up to God, and to bring his friends to a contemplation of the wisdom which he manifests in his works. Accordingly he goes on in the remainder of this chapter to state some of the illustrations of wisdom and power which God had exhibited, and particularly to show that he was a sovereign, and did his pleasure every where. He made all things; he sustains all things; he reverses the condition of people at his pleasure; he sets up whom he pleases, and when he chooses he casts them down. His works are contrary in many respects to what we should anticipate; and the sense of all is, that God was a holy and a righteous sovereign, and that such were the reverses under his administration that we could not argue that he treated all according to their character on earth.
Fuente: Albert Barnes’ Notes on the Bible
Job 12:13-25
Behold, He breaketh down.
Jobs maxims
Perhaps Job uses this lofty language concerning God for two reasons.
1. To show that he could speak as grandly of the Eternal as his friends had spoken.
2. To show that he had as correct and extensive a view of Gods agency as they had. He gives them here at least six different ideas of Gods agency.
I. That it is active both in the mental and the moral world.
II. That it is destructive as well as restorative. Behold, He breaketh down, and it cannot be built again.
III. That it extends to individuals as well as to communities. He shutteth up a man, and there can be no opening.
IV. That it is absolutely sovereign and resistless.
V. That it operates in the unseen, as well as in the visible. He discovereth deep things out of darkness, etc.
VI. That it in no case appears to recognise moral distinctions among men. Not a word does Job here say about the righteous and the wicked in relation to Gods agency. His object being to show that God did not treat man on the ground of moral character. (Homilist.)
Fuente: Biblical Illustrator Edited by Joseph S. Exell
Verse 13. With him is wisdom and strength] But all these things come from GOD; he is the Fountain of wisdom and the Source of power. He alone can give us unerring counsel, and understanding to comprehend and act profitably by it. See on Job 12:16.
Fuente: Adam Clarke’s Commentary and Critical Notes on the Bible
With him, i.e. with God; the relative being put for the antecedent, which is easily and necessarily understood out of the scope of the place, and all the following verses.
Wisdom; perfect wisdom is only in him, and all wisdom in the world cometh from him, who giveth to old or young as it pleaseth him. The ancient are not wise without his gift and grace, and with that a younger man may be wiser than the ancients, as David was, Psa 119:100.
Counsel and understanding; counsel, i.e. practical wisdom to guide all the affairs of the world; and understanding, or a speculative knowledge of all persons and things.
Fuente: English Annotations on the Holy Bible by Matthew Poole
13. In contrast to, “withthe ancient is wisdom” (Job12:12), Job quotes a saying of the ancients which suits hisargument, “with Him (God) is (the true) wisdom” (Pr8:14); and by that “wisdom and strength” “Hebreaketh down,” c., as an absolute Sovereign, not allowing manto penetrate His mysteries man’s part is to bow to His unchangeabledecrees (Job 1:21). TheMohammedan saying is, “if God will, and how God will.”
Fuente: Jamieson, Fausset and Brown’s Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible
With him [is] wisdom and strength,…. Not with the ancient and long lived man, but with God, who has made the whole universe, and in whose hand and at whose dispose all creatures are, Job 12:9; with him wisdom is originally, essentially, and inderivatively, as the fountain and fulness of it; he is the only and all wise God; his wisdom is displayed in making the world, and all things in it, in the beautiful manner they are set, and in their subserviency to each other; in all the dispensations of his providence, having all a “bathos”, a depth of wisdom and knowledge in them, being all according to the counsel of his will; and in the work of redemption and salvation by Christ, in which he has abounded in all wisdom and prudence; in finding out and appointing a Redeemer, mighty and strong, equal to the work; in contriving and bringing it about, in such a manner as to glorify all his perfections; hence the Gospel, which is the publication of this grace, is called the wisdom of God: and with him is wisdom to communicate to his people, to direct them how to behave under every providence, in every station of life, in the church, and in the world, see Jas 1:5; and he has “strength”, which he has shown in making the world out of nothing, in upholding it, and all things in it in being, in executing his designs, decrees, and purposes, in fulfilling his promises, and in supporting and strengthening his people, under all their trials and exercises, to withstand every enemy, and perform every duty; ancient men, though they may increase in wisdom, they decline in strength, but God has both, in infinite perfection:
he hath counsel and understanding; his decrees and purposes, wisely formed within himself, are his counsels of old, and which are truly and punctually performed in time; his plan of peace, reconciliation, and salvation by Christ, may, with propriety, be called the counsel of peace between them both; and the Gospel, and the various doctrines of it, are the whole counsel of God, and so are the ordinances of it; and besides these, by which he counsels and advises his people, he has counsel with him, and which he gives unto them by his spirit, for which they bless his name; and so even did Christ as man and Mediator,
Ps 16:7; he has counsel to give, and does give in things temporal, relating to the common affairs of life, and in things concerning the good and welfare of immortal souls; all which comes from him who is “wonderful in counsel, and excellent in working”, Isa 28:29; and he has an “understanding” that is infinite and unsearchable; he has an understanding of himself, his nature, perfections, and persons of all his creatures, and of all things past, present, and to come; the same things are said of Christ, the wisdom of God, Pr 8:14. Job, having observed these things of God, passes on to discourse most admirably and excellently of the power and wisdom of God in various instances, especially in the dispensations of his providence, by which he appears to have known the secrets of wisdom, and not so ignorant as represented by Zophar.
Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible
3. Arbitrarily he decrees what will be. (Job. 12:13-25)
TEXT 12:1325
13 With God is wisdom and might;
He hath counsel and understanding.
14 Behold, he breaketh down, and it cannot be built again;
He shutteth up a man, and there can be no opening.
15 Behold, he withholdeth the waters, and they dry up;
Again, he sendeth them oat, and they overturn the earth.
16 With him is strength and wisdom;
The deceived and the deceiver are his.
17 He leadeth counsellors away stripped,
And Judges maketh he fools.
18 He looseth the bond of kings,
And bindeth their loins with a girdle.
19 He leadeth priests away stripped,
And overthroweth the mighty.
20 He removeth the speech of the trusty,
And taketh away the understanding of the elders.
21 He poureth contempt upon princes,
And looseth the belt of the strong.
22 He uncovereth deep things out of darkness,
And bringeth out to light the shadow of death.
23 He increaseth the nations, and he destroyeth them:
He enlargeth the nations, and he leadeth them captive.
24 He taketh away understanding from the chiefs of the people of the earth,
And causeth them to wander in a wilderness where there Is no way.
25 They grope in the dark without light;
And he maketh them to stagger like a drunken man.
COMMENT 12:1325
Job. 12:13God only has power and wisdom (2Ki. 18:20). Though Jobs friends have not asserted that might and wisdom are possessions which only the old may receive, neither does Job assert that God keeps all of this wisdom and power to Himself. The universe reveals Gods absolute power, but does not expose His cosmic expression of justice. If God is the ultimate source of all things (Job. 12:13-21), then He is responsible for pain and suffering.[153]
[153] See G. R. Driver, Die Welt des Orients, I, 194752, pp. 410f for discussion of import of Gods counsel.
Job. 12:14Gods sovereignty is cosmic. And man, especially Job, cannot discern any moral dimension in His violence. The victims of Gods violence are from both the wicked and the righteousPsalms 107; Isaiah 54:2428. Compare the verbatim agreement of Psalms 107 and Job. 12:21 a and 24b. Though Gods might may be applied with loving kindness and beneficence, Job sees only destructive violence and human ruin. The imprisonment to which God shuts up the universe is to be taken both figuratively and literally.
Job. 12:15Job presents an example of Gods amoral behavior by the extremes of flood and drought. God has the power to dominate the water systems of His creation, but He does so with complete disregard for mans needs. Gods might is arbitrary and despotic.
Job. 12:16Gods wisdom is always efficient, i.e., it is always victorious. All of mankind falls into one of the two categoriesdeceived or deceiver. Thus far God has been scrutinized under three categories: (1) wisdom and power, (2) counsel and understanding, and (3) might and prudencecompare with Job. 11:7-10. But Job denies Zophars conclusion about evilJob. 11:11.
Job. 12:17God makes all human counselors go stripped or barefootMic. 1:8. Perhaps the meaning is that God leads all would-be counselors into confusion or error.
Job. 12:18Here we encounter imagery of the liberation of prisoners (Isa. 52:2; Psa. 116:16). In Job. 39:5, the words are applied to a wild asss release from restraint. This verse contrasts former glory with present humiliation. The binding of a kings loins is an image of being reduced to the status of a menial laborer. They are stripped of their royal robes and sandals and made to work with their hands and backs. Theirs have been troubled economic times, too.
Job. 12:19Even the established (etanim means perpetual, Jer. 5:14) authorities in the cultural are humiliated. Priests are mentioned only here in Job. Honored and influential persons are as nothing in the face of Gods power.
Job. 12:20The honored community leaders are baffled by a sudden turn from prosperity to ruin. Compare with persons who lost their fortunes in 1929 or since through bad investments. The spokesmen for the community are reduced to silence (deprived of speech, literally, removes the lip). Their discernment (taste-palate) is also removed.
Job. 12:21Psa. 107:40 is identical with the first line of this verse and the second line of Job. 12:24.[154] The beltPsa. 109:19 referred to here was used to strengthen the back, especially during hard labor. The word aphik normally means water-channels but here strong. Streams are called aphikim because they follow rapidly or strongly.
[154] See A. Cohen, Psalms, Soncino, on Psa. 107:40.
Job. 12:22God recovers plots and conspiracies out of the deepest darkness. Before Him, there is no hiding place. Nothing designed by men can be hidden from the sovereign Lord of creation. He exposes all secrets. Even Sheol cannot hide its prey from Him.
Job. 12:23Another example of the amoral nature of the universe is seen in the rise and fall of nations and civilizations. Gods arbitrary exercise of power is visible in the rise and fall of world powers.[155]
[155] A. Toynbees multiple volumed work, A Study of History (Oxford); and the indispensable Cambridge History series; and on this verse, see J. Reider, Yetus Testamentum, IV, 1954, pp. 290f.
Job. 12:24Where there is no intelligence (literally heart-rendered understanding in A. V.) no nation or civilization can long endure. When the organizing principle of any social group is either abandoned or forgotten, it does not have long to live. Compare the second part of this verse with Psa. 107:40 b, where the Hebrew is identical. The no way of A. V. is waste (Heb. tohuGen. 1:2; Deu. 32:10) or disordered. The formless of our translations makes no sense, as matter cannot be formless, but it can be disordered. Job is here setting forth a philosophy of history and culture.
Job. 12:25Men grope in unrelieved darkness. They grope as blind men and stagger or wanderJob. 12:24. When God removes understanding, men continue to move and function, but purposelessly (Psa. 107:27; Isa. 19:14; Isa. 24:20; Rom. 1:18 ff; Pro. 29:18; and Joh. 1:18; Col. 1:17; Eph. 1:10). Life is meaningless to millions in our present world because nothing and no one organizes their lives meaningfully. But if the universe is purposeless and thus amoral, then what else could either Job or contemporaries expect? H. Thielicke says of our worldthat it is the first generation which has absolutized nothingness.[156]
[156] See my article Nihilism in Bakers Dictionary of Christian Ethics, ed. by C.F.H. Henry, p. 46162.
Fuente: College Press Bible Study Textbook Series
Section Second THE WISDOM OF GOD, SUBORDINATED TO INFINITE AND IRRESISTIBLE POWER, INVOLVES THE DIVINE MORAL GOVERNMENT IN AN INEXPLICABLE MAZE, Job 12:13-25.
First double strophe. Job 12:13-18.
a. Admits the wisdom and power of God, as illustrated by the divine government in the natural world, Job 12:13-15.
13. Him God. The rest of this chapter is thought by some to be an old Idumaean poem, or else a collection of maxims handed down from antediluvian ancestors or sages. (Wemyss.) In the original, the first word, WISDOM, ( hhokmah,) is the general and most comprehensive word for wisdom; the second, STRENGTH, ( gebourah,) from the same root as geber, man, implies the ability to carry into execution the behest of the will; the third, COUNSEL, ( ‘ hetsah,) gives the idea of “strength,” the “making firm” practical wisdom; fourth, UNDERSTANDING, ( tebounah,) implies the intellectual perception, characterized by its power of penetrating into, and distinguishing between, the true and false.
Fuente: Whedon’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
Job 12:13. With him is wisdom and strength With him dwell, &c. Counsel and understanding are peculiar to him. Thus Houbigant; who supposes the expression of dwelling to be in immediate opposition to the foregoing verse, where wisdom is said to BE with old men, but here to DWELL with GOD, as in its proper and peculiar home, the fountain of all human wisdom. Job shews, in the following verses, that the affairs of the world, and the fortunes of men, are subject to such a variety of changes and chances, that all human reason and wisdom must be silent with respect to them; since the same misfortunes involve the good and the wicked, and seem rather to flow from the supreme dominion and unsearchable will of God, than to be distributed according to the rule of exact justice. See Schultens.
Fuente: Commentary on the Holy Bible by Thomas Coke
Job 12:13 With him [is] wisdom and strength, he hath counsel and understanding.
Ver. 13. With him is wisdom and strength, &c. ] Wisdom, strength, counsel, and understanding, are all concentred in the Ancient of days; complete he is in all excellence and perfection, all which meet in him, and continue always in the highest degree. The mighty God “fainteth not, neither is weary; there is no searching of his understanding,” Isa 40:28 . He is also no less good than great and wise; good, original, universal, all sufficient, and satisfactory, proportionate, and fitting for our soul; which, as it was made by him, and for him, so it is never at quiet till it resteth in him. See Job 9:4 .
He hath counsel and understanding
Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
Him: i.e. Jehovah (Job 12:9).
Fuente: Companion Bible Notes, Appendices and Graphics
Job 12:13-25
Job 12:13-25
GOD’S WISDOM AND POWER CONTRASTED WITH THAT OF MEN
“With God is wisdom and might;
He hath counsel and understanding.
Behold, he breaketh down, and it cannot be built again;
He shutteth up a man, and there can be no opening.
Behold, he withholdeth the waters, and they dry up;
Again he sendeth them out, and they overturn the earth.
With him is strength and wisdom;
The deceived and the deceiver are his.
He leadeth counselors away stripped,
And judges maketh he fools.
He looseth the bond of kings,
And bindeth their loins with a girdle.
He leadeth priests away stripped,
And overthroweth the mighty.
He removeth the speech of the trusty,
And taketh away the understanding of the elders.
He poureth contempt upon princes,
And looseth the belt of the strong.
He uncovereth the deep things of darkness,
And bringeth out to light the shadow of death.
He increaseth the nations, and he destroyeth them;
He enlargeth the nations, and he leadeth them captive.
He taketh away understanding from the chiefs of the people of the earth,
And causeth them to wander in a wilderness where there is no way.
They grope in the darkness without light;
And he maketh them to stagger like a drunken man.”
We understand every word of this paragraph as a refutation of the favorite error of his `comforters,’ namely, that “wisdom is with aged men and that length of days and understanding are synonymous” (Job 12:12). Notice how many times God’s wisdom is mentioned here, along with the corollary in each instance that, “Counselors and judges (Job 12:17), kings (Job 12:18), priests and the mighty (Job 12:19), the trusty and the elders (Job 12:20), the princes and the strong (Job 12:21), and the chiefs of the people of the earth (Job 12:24)” – indeed ALL of the men of the whole earth who might have been accounted wise, without exception, when their wisdom was considered along with God’s true wisdom, their true status is described here by Job as, “Stripped (naked), deceived, deceivers, fools, helpless (having their bonds or belts loosed), overthrown, held in contempt, with their speech removed, and their understanding taken away.” Such words as these should certainly have exploded the myth that old men were wise!
E.M. Zerr:
Job 12:12-13. The value of experience is the substance of this paragraph. These friends were not young (Job 32:4; Job 32:6; Job 32:9), and hence their age should have brought them the wisdom of experience; however, they did not show much indication of it.
Job 12:14. God is the one who is spoken of in this verse. It declares that when a man would oppose the works of God he will meet with defeat.
Job 12:15. God’s control of the elements that he has created is the leading thought in this verse.
Job 12:16-17. God knows all about man and can overrule the wisest of them.
Job 12:18-19. This is along the same line of thought as that in Dan 4:17.
Job 12:20-21. God’s wisdom and power are far above that of all earthly characters. The cases where this was proved are too numerous to mention, but Pharaoh is a noted example of His superiority over all others.
Job 12:22. Light and darkness are the terms in this verse that express the leading thought. God’s might is frequently illustrated by contrasting terms, such as heaven and earth, earth and sky, dry land and water, etc. In the present verse it is light as contrasted with darkness.
Job 12:23. Just one example will be cited in confirmation of this statement. God caused his own people to increase to over half a million of men (Num 1:46), then destroyed or reduced them to a mere remnant of 42,000 (Ezr 2:64).
Job 12:24-25. God caused his own people to wander through the wilderness 40 years, after they had given way to a spirit of despondency. (Num 14:1-4.)
Fuente: Old and New Testaments Restoration Commentary
him: that is, God, Job 32:6-9
wisdom: Job 12:16, Job 9:4, Job 28:20-28, Job 36:5, Psa 147:5, Pro 2:6, Pro 2:7, Jer 10:12, Dan 2:20, Luk 21:15, 1Co 1:24, Col 2:3, Jam 1:5
counsel: Pro 8:14, Isa 40:13, Isa 40:14, Isa 46:10, Rom 11:34, Eph 1:8, Eph 1:11
Reciprocal: 2Ch 10:6 – took counsel Job 36:24 – magnify Job 37:23 – excellent Act 4:28 – and
Fuente: The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
Job 12:13. With him is wisdom That is, with God. Perfect wisdom is only in him, and all wisdom in the world cometh from him, who giveth to young and old as it pleaseth him. The ancients were not wise without his gift and grace, and with that a younger man may be wiser than the ancients. He hath counsel Practical wisdom to guide and govern all the affairs of the world; and understanding A perfect knowledge of all persons and things. Job shows, in the following verses, that the affairs of the world, and the fortunes of men, are subject to such variety of changes, that all human reason and wisdom must be silent with respect to them; since the same calamities involve the good and the wicked, and seem rather to flow from the supreme dominion and unsearchable will of God, than to be distributed according to the rule of exact justice. Schultens and Dodd.