Job 12:13-22

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 (note). Verse 14

He breaketh down - He alone can create, and he alone can destroy. Nothing can be annihilated but by the same Power that created it. This is a most remarkable fact. No power, skill, or cunning of man can annihilate the smallest particle of matter. Man, by chemical agency, may change its form; but to reduce it to nothing belongs to God alone. In the course of his providence God breaks down, so that it cannot be built up again. See proofs of this in the total political destruction of Nineveh, Babylon, Persepolis, Tyre, and other cities, which have broken down never to be rebuilt; as well as the Assyrian, Babylonian, Grecian, and Roman empires, which have been dismembered and almost annihilated, never more to be regenerated.

He shutteth up a man - He often frustrates the best laid purposes, so that they can never be brought to good effect. Verse 15

He withholdeth the waters - This is, I think, an allusion to the third day's work of the creation, Gen 1:9 : And God said, Let the waters be gathered together unto one place, and let the dry land appear. Thus the earth was drained, and the waters collected into seas, and bound to their particular places.

Also he sendeth them out - Here is also an allusion to the flood, for when he broke up the fountains of the great deep, then the earth was overturned. Verse 16

With him is strength and wisdom - עז ותושיה oz vethushiyah, strength and sufficiency. Strength or power, springing from an exhaustless and infinite source of potency. In the thirteenth verse it is said, With him is wisdom and strength; but the expressions are not the same, חכמה וגבורה chochmah ugeburah, intelligence and fortitude, or strength in action, the wisdom ever guiding the exertions of power; but here is strength or power in essence, and an eternal potentiality. With him is every excellence, in potentia and in esse. He borrows nothing, he derives nothing. As he is self-existent, so is he self-sufficient. We have had the word tushiyah before. See the note on Job 11:6.

The deceived and the deceiver are his - Some think this refers to the fall; even Satan the deceiver or beguiler, and Adam and Eve, the deceived or beguiled, are his. Satan, as this book shows, cannot act without especial permission; and man, whom the seducer thought to make his own property for ever, is claimed as the peculium or especial property of God, for the seed of the woman was then appointed to bruise the head of the serpent; and Jesus Christ has assumed the nature of man, and thus brought human nature into a state of fellowship with himself. Thus he who sanctifieth and they who are sanctified are all of one, for which cause he is not ashamed to call them brethren; Heb 2:11. Verse 17

He leadeth counsellors away spoiled - The events of war are also in his hand. It is he who gives victory; through him even the counsellors - the great men and chief men, are often led into captivity, and found among the spoils.

And maketh the judges fools - He infatuates the judges. Does this refer to the foolish conduct of some of the Israelitish judges, such as Samson? 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. Verse 19

He leadeth princes away spoiled, and overthroweth the mighty - What multitudes of proofs of this does the history of the world present! Even the late disastrous war with the French republic and empire, which began in 1793, and continued without intermission till 1814, was afterwards renewed, and had a catastrophe that went nearly to ruin Europe. How many princes, or rather priests, כהנים cohanim, have been spoiled of their power, influence, and authority; and how many mighty men - captains, generals, admirals, etc., have been overthrown! But supposing that the writer of the Book of Job lived, as some think, after the captivity, how many priests were led away spoiled, both from Israel and Judah; and how many kings and mighty men were overthrown in the disastrous wars between the Assyrians, Babylonians, and Jews! Verse 20

He removeth away the speech of the trusty - The faithful counsellor and the eloquent orator avail nothing: Quos Deus vult perdere, prius dementat; "God infatuates those whom he is determined to destroy." The writer might have had his eyes on Isa 3:1-3, which the reader will do well to consult.

The understanding of the aged - זקנים zekenim signifies the same here as our word elders or elder-men; which includes in itself the two ideas of seniority, or considerably advanced age, and official authority. These can do no more to save a state which God designs to destroy, notwithstanding their great political wisdom and knowledge, than the child who can neither reason nor speak. Verse 21

He poureth contempt upon princes - נדיבים nedibim, "those of royal extraction;" widely different from the כהנים cohanim mentioned Job 12:19.

Weakeneth the strength of the mighty - אפיקים aphikim, the compact; the well-strung together; the nervous and sinewy. Perhaps there is a reference here to the crocodile, as the same term is applied, Job 40:13, to the compactness of his bones: and as רפה מזיח rippah meziach, which we translate weakeneth the strength, signifies more properly looseth the girdle, as the margin has properly rendered it, the reference seems still more pointed; for it is known that "the crocodile, from the shoulders to the extremity of the tail, is covered with large square scales, disposed like parallel girdles, fifty-two in number. In the middle of each girdle are four protuberances, which become higher as they approach the end of the tail, and compose four rows." See the quotation in Parkhurst, under the word אפק drow eh aphak. What is human strength against this? We may say as the Lord said, Job 40:19 : He that made him can make his sword to approach unto him. He alone can loose the girdles of this mighty one. Verse 22

He discovereth deep things out of darkness - This may refer either to God's works in the great deep, or to the plots and stratagems of wicked men, conspiracies that were deeply laid, well digested, and about to be produced into existence, when death, whose shadow had hitherto concealed them, is to glut himself with carnage.