Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of Job 12:23
He increaseth the nations, and destroyeth them: he enlargeth the nations, and straiteneth them [again].
23. God’s rule among the nations and direction of their fate.
and straiteneth them again] Perhaps, and leadeth them away, cf. 2Ki 18:17. The clause is obscure, it may not be a direct, but an inverse parallel to the first clause, and mean: he spreadeth abroad (or, scattereth, cf. Jer 8:2; Num 11:32), and giveth them settlements again.
Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges
He increaseth the nations, and destroyeth them – He has entire control over them. The sources of prosperity are in his hand, and at his pleasure he can visit them with famine, pestilence, or war, and diminish their numbers and arrest their prosperity. Dr. Good renders this very improperly, He letteth the nations grow licentious; but the word saga’ never has this sense. It means, to make great; to multiply; to increase.
And straiteneth them again – Margin, leadeth in. So the word nachah means. The idea is, that he increases a nation so that it spreads abroad beyond its usual limits, and then at his pleasure leads them back again, or confines them within the limits from where they had emigrated.
Fuente: Albert Barnes’ Notes on the Bible
Verse 23. He increaseth the nations] Mr. Good translates, He letteth the nations grow licentious. Pride, fulness of bread, with extensive trade and commerce, produce luxury; and this is ever accompanied with profligacy of manners. When, then, the cup of this iniquity is full, God destroys the nation, by bringing or permitting to come against it a nation less pampered, more necessitous, and inured to toil.
He enlargeth the nations] Often permits a nation to acquire an accession of territory, and afterwards shuts them up within their ancient boundaries, and often contracts even those. All these things seem to occur as natural events, and the consequences of state intrigues, and such like causes; but when Divine inspiration comes to pronounce upon them, they are shown to be the consequence of God’s acting in his judgment and mercy; for it is by him that kings reign; it is he who putteth down one and raiseth up another.
Fuente: Adam Clarke’s Commentary and Critical Notes on the Bible
What hitherto he said of princes, he now applies to nations and people, whom God doth either increase or diminish as he pleaseth.
He enlargeth the nations; he multiplies them, so that they are forced to send forth colonies into other lands.
Straiteneth them again; or, leadeth them in, or bringeth them back, into their own land, and confineth them there.
Fuente: English Annotations on the Holy Bible by Matthew Poole
23. Isa 9:3;Psa 107:38; Psa 107:39,which Psalm quotes this chapter elsewhere. (See on Job12:21).
straitenethliterally,”leadeth in,” that is, “reduces.”
Fuente: Jamieson, Fausset and Brown’s Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible
He increaseth the nations, and destroyeth them,…. As he did before the flood, when the earth was tilled, and all over peopled with them, but at the flood he destroyed them at once. Sephorno interprets it of the seven nations in the land of Canaan, which were increased in it, and destroyed, to make way for the Israelites to inhabit it; and this has since been verified in other kingdoms, large and populous, and brought to destruction, particularly in the four monarchies, Babylonian, Persian, Grecian, and Roman, and will be in the antichristian states and nations of the world:
he enlargeth the nations, and straiteneth them [again]; or “stretcheth” or “spreadeth out the nations” c, as he did all over the earth before the deluge, and then most remarkably straitened them, when they were reduced to so small a number as to be contained in a single ark: “or leads them” d; that is, “governs them”, as Mr. Broughton renders the word, rules and overrules them, as large as they are; or leads them into captivity, as some Jewish writers e, as the Israelites; though they have been enlarged, and became numerous, as it was promised they should, yet have been led into captivity, first the ten tribes by the Assyrians, and then the two tribes by the Chaldeans; the Targum is, “he spreadeth out a net for the nations, and leadeth them”, that is, into it, so that they are taken in it, see Eze 12:13.
c “extendit”, Tigurine version, Drusius, Mercerus; “expandit”, Beza, Junius Tremellus, Piscator, Schmidt “expandens”, Schultens. d “et ducit eas”, Pagninus, Montanus, Mercerus, Cocceius, Schmidt. e Kimchi, Ben Melech, Bar Tzemach.
Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible
(23) He increaseth the nations, and destroyeth them.The latter part of this chapter teaches us a truth that is apt to be forgotten in the present day, which is, nevertheless, the key to much of the history of the world Why is it that nations are marked with such characteristic differences? as, for instance, the Greeks, the Romans, and the Jews in ancient times; the French, the English, and the Germans in our own. Why is it that the counsel of the wisest sometimes faileth, as with Ahitophelthe bravery of the boldest sometimes forsaketh them? but because there is One working underneath it all for His own ends and to His own glory, as seemeth Him good. Zophar, with all his common sense, had scarcely risen to the perception of this truth, for while Job maintained that there was always a deeper depth, he was prepared, at all events, to imply that the dealings of God were intelligible, and approved themselves to the conceptions of human equity. Job, on the other hand, declared that they were inscrutable, and, consequently, from their very darkness, suggested the necessity for faith His teaching here may seem to savour of fatalism, but that is simply because he deals only with one side of the problem. Had he found occasion, he would have stated with equal force the correlative truth of the absolute responsibility of man, even though but as clay in the hands of the potter; for, in fact, were it not so, how then should God judge the world? Into the mazes of this problem Job enters not, being concerned with other questions and mysteries. Job s conception, therefore, of the righteous government of God as far transcended that of his friends as their estimate of his righteousness fell short of the truth. Justly, therefore, he exclaims, I am not inferior unto you.
Fuente: Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers (Old and New Testaments)
23. Straiteneth them Leadeth them away (into captivity). Compare 2Ki 18:11.
Fuente: Whedon’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
Job 12:23 He increaseth the nations, and destroyeth them: he enlargeth the nations, and straiteneth them [again].
Ver. 23. He increaseth the nations, and destroyeth them ] It is all one with God whether against a single man or a whole nation, Job 34:29 , when he once taketh them to do. “The wicked shall be turned into hell,” and (that they may not hope to escape because a multitude) “all the nations that forget God,” Psa 9:17 . Soon after the flood the Babel builders were scattered; Sodom and her sisters were not only consumed with fire from heaven, Gen 19:23-29 , but thrown forth for an example, suffering the vengeance of eternal fire, Jdg 1:7 . Some nations were ejected, and others substituted, Deu 2:10 ; Deu 2:12 ; Deu 2:20 . Some utterly wasted and rooted out, such as the Edomites, Ammonites, Moabites, &c., that live by fame only; others not so much as by fame, their very names being blotted out from under heaven. “The cities be wasted without inhabitant, and the houses without man, and the land is utterly desolate,” Isa 6:11 . Now all this is the Lord’s own doing, and should be marvellous in our eyes. He plants, and plucks up; he builds, and breaks down, Jer 31:28 .
He enlargeth the nations, and straiteneth them again
Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
increaseth = maketh them great. Occurs only here and Job 36:24.
Fuente: Companion Bible Notes, Appendices and Graphics
increaseth: Exo 1:7, Exo 1:20, Psa 107:38, Isa 9:3, Isa 26:15, Isa 27:6, Isa 51:2, Isa 60:22, Jer 30:19, Jer 33:22, Zec 10:8
straiteneth them again: Heb. leadeth in
Fuente: The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
Job 12:23-25. He increaseth the nations, &c. What he had hitherto said of princes, he now applies to nations and people, whom God either increases or diminishes as he pleases. He enlargeth the nations He multiplies them so that they are forced to send forth colonies into other lands; and straiteneth them again Diminishes them by war, famine, or pestilence: or, as , janchem, more properly signifies, leadeth them in, or bringeth them back, namely, into their own land, and confineth them there. So that whole nations, as well as their princes, are perfectly under his power, and he enlarges their bounds, or reduces them into more narrow limits, as he pleaseth. He taketh away the heart of the chief of the people Deprives them both of courage and judgment, and causeth them to wander in a wilderness; that is, fills them with confusion, uncertainty, and perplexity of mind, so that they know not which way to turn themselves. They grope in the dark Like men that cannot see their way. And he maketh them to stagger like a drunken man Who reels hither and thither without any certainty. So they sometimes take one course, and sometimes another, as resolving to try all experiments, and indeed not knowing what to do. All their counsels and motions are as unsteady and fluctuating as those of a man intoxicated.
Fuente: Joseph Bensons Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
12:23 He {m} increaseth the nations, and destroyeth them: he enlargeth the nations, and straiteneth them [again].
(m) In this discourse of God’s wonderful works, Job shows that whatever is done in this world both in the order and change of things, is by God’s will and appointment, in which he declares that he thinks well of God, and is able to set forth his power in words as they that reasoned against him were.