Job · chapter 12 of 42
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In Job 12 Job answers the three friends with irony: he says that no doubt they are the people and wisdom will die with them, but that he also has understanding. He complains of being a laughingstock, points out that robbers live in peace, and sings a hymn to God's wisdom and might, who tears down and raises up rulers and nations.
With this chapter Job's second speech begins and the first cycle of dialogue closes. Job has now heard Eliphaz, Bildad and Zophar, and his reply is the most combative so far: he uses irony, cites what everyone knows about God and turns it against his friends. The power of God, which they used to accuse him, Job describes as a force that also destroys those who do not deserve it.
Job answers sarcastically: no doubt you are the people, and wisdom will die with you. But I also have understanding as well as you, and I am not inferior to you. Who does not know such things? I am a laughingstock to my friends, I who called to God and he answered me; the just and blameless man is a laughingstock. One at ease holds misfortune in contempt, ready for those whose feet slip. Meanwhile the tents of robbers are at peace, and those who provoke God are secure, those who bring their god in their hand.
Job invites his friends to ask the beasts, the birds, the earth and the fish: all know that the hand of the Lord has done this. In his hand is the life of every living thing and the breath of all mankind. With God are wisdom and might, counsel and understanding. If he tears down, none can rebuild; if he shuts a man in, none can open. If he withholds the waters, they dry up; if he sends them out, they overwhelm the land. With him are strength and sound wisdom; the deceived and the deceiver are his.
Then Job describes what God does to the powerful: he leads counselors away stripped, makes fools of judges, loosens the belts of kings and leads priests away stripped. He deprives trusted speakers of speech and elders of discernment. He pours contempt on nobles and loosens the belt of the strong. He uncovers the deeps out of darkness. He makes nations great and destroys them; he enlarges nations and leads them away. He takes away understanding from the chiefs of the people and makes them wander in a trackless waste. They grope in the dark without light, and he makes them stagger like a drunken man.
References follow ESV book names and verse numbers. Read each verse in your Bible before the explanation.
With irony Job tells his friends that no doubt they are the people and that wisdom will die with them. It is a biting reply to those who speak as though they held a monopoly on knowledge.
Job observes that the tents of robbers are at peace and that those who provoke God are secure. It is a direct blow to the friends' doctrine: experience shows that wickedness does not always meet immediate punishment.
Job asks who does not know that the hand of the Lord has done this, and says that in his hand is the life of every living thing. Job does not doubt God's sovereignty; what he does not understand is how God exercises it.
With God are wisdom and might, counsel and understanding. It is a sincere confession of faith: Job does not despise God but acknowledges him as the source of all wisdom, and that is precisely why he feels his friends' explanations fall short.
6 questions with answers and references, ready for Sunday school, small group or a Bible quiz night.
Answer: That no doubt they are the people and that wisdom will die with them. — Job 12:2
Answer: Understanding: he is not inferior to them. — Job 12:3
Answer: A laughingstock to his friends, though he is just and blameless and God used to answer him when he called. — Job 12:4
Answer: That they are at peace and that those who provoke God are secure. — Job 12:6
Answer: The life of every living thing and the breath of all mankind. — Job 12:10
Answer: He strips them of understanding and power; he makes nations great and destroys them. — Job 12:17-23
Job 12 reminds us that one can be a sincere believer and still disagree respectfully with those who think they know it all. Job does not let himself be steamrolled by his friends' arguments, yet he does not give up what he knows about God. In your group you can ask how to respond when someone tells you that your pain is your own fault.
The hymn to God's power also comforts and challenges us. God rules over kings, judges and nations, and nothing escapes his control. This truth can give peace when the world's news is unsettling, but it should also lead us to humility: if God is the owner of wisdom, none of us can boast of understanding everything.
Job 12 leaves Job's answer to the three friends unresolved. In Job 13 Job will continue his speech by turning to God: he will say that he wants to speak to the Almighty and present his case, and he will call his friends worthless physicians who cover the truth with lies.
Because the three friends have spoken with an air of superiority, as if they were the only wise ones. Job answers that he is no less wise than they are, and that they are no wiser than anyone. Irony is a common form of protest in wisdom poetry, and it shows Job's frustration with advice that does not understand his pain.
He points to a fact that contradicts the friends' doctrine: the wicked sometimes prosper. Job does not say this is just, but that the simple rule that good is rewarded and evil punished does not explain everything that happens in life.
In general yes: the Bible teaches that God rules over kings and nations. But Job's tone is that of a wounded man who sees that power as a force that destroys. Later God will show that his power is exercised with a wisdom and care that Job had not seen.