Chapter Twelve

The first half of Job’s reply to Zophar’s speech. 1–10. The wisdom of the friends is unsound; their main proposition — that strict retribution rules on earth — is unjust. 11–25. Divine wisdom, which according to the friends’ words supposedly follows the principles of justice, in reality manifests itself in destructive phenomena — catastrophes.

Job 12:1. And Job answered and said: Job 12:2. “No doubt you are the people, and wisdom will die with you! Zophar’s speech began with blaming Job for empty talk — foolishness. Accordingly, Job first replies to this reproach. The ironic remark: “No doubt you are the people” — only you are worthy of bearing the title of people (Hebrew ‘am’ — “people”; cf. Isa 40:7), and since you, the sole representatives of them, will die, then wisdom will also disappear from the face of the earth, testifies how little Job agrees with Zophar’s accusation.

Job 12:3. But I have understanding as well as you; I am not inferior to you. And who does not know such things as these? It is entirely a misunderstanding. Job is a human being like the friends; one cannot take from him “a heart” — the capacity for intellectual and theoretical activity, including wisdom (Gen 27:41; Deut 7:17; Prov 16:9; Sir 3:9 and so on). In intelligence he is in no way inferior to them: what is known to them is known to him.

Job 12:4. I have become a mockery to my friend, I who called upon God and whom He answered. A righteous and blameless man has become a mockery. Having no right to deny intelligence and wisdom to Job, Zophar unjustly appropriates these qualities for himself and his friends. And indeed, what sort of wisdom is this when they are unable to distinguish a sinner from a righteous person and have made the pious Job an object of mockery? The truly wise person treats the sorrow and misfortune of his neighbor not with contempt and mockery, but with full compassion. Laughter at misfortune is a sign of foolishness (Eccl 5:2-4).

Job 12:5. The lamp held cheap in the thought of one at ease is despised — a torch prepared for those whose feet slip. The friends’ wisdom is as unsound as the judgments of those who have never been in darkness and nonetheless reject the need for a lamp. This is the meaning of the Synodal translation, which renders the Hebrew word “lapid” as “lamp,” with which meaning it is used in Gen 15:17; Judg 15:4 and in other places (13 in total), and which is given to it by the Targum, the Vulgate, and Luther. Modern exegetes, however — Fürstenau, Delitzsch — consider “lapid” composed of “le” and “pia,” and suppose that in this verse it has an abstract sense, the meaning of “misfortune” (cf. Job 30:24; Prov 24:22), and accordingly translate the whole passage thus: “misfortune awakens contempt in the thoughts of the prosperous; it meets those whose feet slip.” Translated in this way, the fifth verse will be in the closest connection with the fourth. Job asserts that the contempt with which his friends treat him is a common phenomenon, a well-known lot of the righteous, despised and rejected by the world.

Job 12:6. The tents of robbers are at peace, and those who provoke God are secure, who carry their god in their hands. After general arguments about the unsoundness of the friends’ wisdom, particularly Zophar’s, Job points out the error of their main proposition, in the establishment and substantiation of which all their wisdom is displayed. The theory of the friends, that tranquility and security are the lot of the pious alone (Job 5:19-21), is refuted by life. Life irresistibly testifies that these blessings are enjoyed by those who trample upon divine and human laws (“robbers,” “those who provoke the Lord”), by those who recognize no divinity except the power of their own hands (Hab 1:11).

Job 12:7. “But ask the beasts, and they will teach you; and the birds of the heavens, and they will tell you; Job 12:8. or speak to the earth, and it will teach you; and the fish of the sea will declare to you. Job 12:9. Who among all these does not know that the hand of the Lord has done this? Job 12:10. In His hand is the life of every living thing and the breath of all mankind. And such a phenomenon — the flourishing of the wicked — is not a matter of chance but the work of God’s hands. Animate and inanimate nature clearly testifies that everything in the world is done by the will of the Lord (v. 9). In His hand, His power, is the life (“nephesh”) of every living creature — the lower, elementary side of psychic life — and the spirit (“ruach”) of “all mankind” — that which distinguishes them from animals — reason and higher ideal strivings and needs. If everything depends on God, then clearly He allows and permits even the flourishing of the wicked.

Job 12:11. Does not the ear test words as the palate tastes food? Job 12:12. Is not wisdom with the aged? And does not length of days bring understanding? Job 12:13. “With Him are wisdom and strength; His are counsel and understanding. To justify their theory, the friends appeal to the authority of their ancestors (Job 8:8). And no one, certainly, will deny that a long life is a school of wisdom (v. 12). But, first, one cannot accept on faith everything they say. This is contrary to the capacity inherent in man to personally know the truth, to distinguish right from wrong (“does not the ear test words?” cf. Heb 5:14), just as personally by means of the tongue to distinguish taste in food (v. 11). On the other hand, although the aged do possess wisdom, the question still remains whether they are capable of understanding the governance of an absolute being (cf. v. 12 with Job 21:22), who possesses all necessary qualities for ruling the world: wisdom — the ability to know things and phenomena in their essence; might — the ability to carry out his plans without any difficulty; counsel — the ability to find the best paths and means to achieve given goals, and understanding — the ability to distinguish between truth and falsehood, beneficial and harmful (1 Sam 3:9). Job 12:14-25. The indications of personal experience and the testimony of tradition (Job 13:1) confirm the justice of the doubt Job has just expressed. According to the opinion of the elders and friends, divine wisdom, even when exposing masked evil (Job 11:11), does not leave it without punishment (Job 8:11-20) and always rewards good. It follows only the principles of justice and thereby maintains the moral world order. But according to Job’s own observation and the experience of others known to him, divine wisdom not only does not bring order into world life, but manifests itself in destructive actions, from which both the good and the evil suffer equally. Its manifestations do not comply with, as the friends assert, the principles of justice and are not determined by them.

Job 12:14. “If He tears down, no one can rebuild; if He shuts a man in, no one can open. A general remark on the inevitability of the destructive actions of divine power and wisdom: Instead of “if He shuts a man in, no one can open,” the literal translation from the Hebrew should read: “a restraint (presumably a prison) against a man, and it does not open.” The image of speech is borrowed from the Eastern custom of using pits and cisterns as prisons, the opening of which was closed by something from above (Gen 37:20; Jer 38:6; Lam 3:53; Dan 6:16).

Job 12:15. “If He withholds the waters, they dry up; if He sends them out, they overwhelm the land. One manifestation of destructive divine power is droughts and floods. Striking equally the righteous and the guilty (1 Sam 18:2-5; cf. Ps 106:33-34), they present an example of the fact that in the matter of world governance divine wisdom is not guided by the principles of strict, absolute justice (cf. Bildad’s proposition that external nature causes no harm to the righteous. Job 5:22-23).

Job 12:16. “With Him are strength and sound wisdom; the deceived and the deceiver are His. Similar phenomena in meaning are observed in human life as well. And, first of all, God not only does not restrain the deeds of the evil (cf. Job 5:12-14), but also uses them for purposes of world governance known only to Him: “the deceived and the deceiver” — more precisely: “His deceiver and one who is deceived.” They live and act by the will of God Himself, for so long, of course, as this is permitted by divine wisdom.

Job 12:17. “He leads counselors away stripped, and judges He makes fools. Job 12:18. “He looses the bonds of kings and binds a waistcloth on their loins; Job 12:19. “He leads princes away stripped and overthrows the mighty; Job 12:20. “He deprives the trusted advisors of speech and takes away the discernment of the elders; Job 12:21. “He pours contempt on princes and loosens the belt of the strong; Job 12:22. “He uncovers the depths out of darkness and brings utter darkness to light; Job 12:23. “He makes nations great, and He destroys them; He enlarges nations, and He leads them away. Job 12:24. “He deprives of intelligence the chiefs of the peoples of the earth and makes them wander in a pathless waste; Job 12:25. “They grope in the dark without light, and He makes them stagger like a drunkard. God — further — is the sole cause of those calamities and disorders which arise from the absence or disruption of governmental power and, striking the whole nation, cause all to suffer without distinction. Thus, “He leads counselors away stripped” (v. 17), or in the literal translation from the Hebrew: “He leads away captive the counselors of peoples,” to which corresponds also the reading of the LXX: “leading counselors captive,” and judges He makes fools (v. 17; cf. Isa 19:11-15). He deprives kings of power (his bonds) — they are led away into captivity bound with ropes (v. 18), and with them priests also go there (instead of “princes He deprives of honor” — v. 19, literally from the Hebrew: “He leads priests into captivity,” to which the LXX follows: “leading priests as prisoners”), and all the stalwart, those strong in spirit perish. God also deprives those who are dependable (Neemanim) of speech, of the gift of persuasiveness in speech — the strength and mainstay of the nation — and the “elders” (v. 20) — those made wise by life — of discretion (“taam”) — the ability to follow the truth and persuade others to do so (cf. 1 Sam 25:33); He covers with shame the renowned (v. 21; cf. Ps 106:40), “weakens the strength of the mighty” (v. 21; literally “loosens the belt of the strong”; cf. Ps 108:19), takes from them the ability for such or such activity, in particular, for struggle (Isa 5:27), depriving the rulers of mind (v. 24; cf. Ps 106:40), brings them into a state of complete spiritual disruption, paralysis — “stagger like a drunkard” (v. 25, cf. Isa 19:14; Jer 23:9; Ezek 23:32). In short, the Lord brings peoples into such a state that within the state there is no one to uphold and restore order (“judges become fools”), no one even to give good counsel: counselors are led away captive, those made wise by life experience are forced to be silent. In the state weakened by internal dissolution there are no forces to resist enemies, to organize defense to repel them: kings are led away captive, the stalwart perish, and so forth. (Cf. Isa 3:1-3). And the state, created by God Himself (Prov 8:15-16), is destroyed by Him as well (v. 23). If divine wisdom and power are not guided in their manifestations by the distinction between the good and the evil — strike both equally — then for Job there is nothing comforting in the friends’ advice to commit himself and his fate to God. It is very possible that He struck him just as violently and unjustly as He has struck many others.