Job 12:4 Komentář

In this and the two following chapters we have Job's answer to Zophar's discourse, in which, as before, he first reasons with his friends (see Job 13:19) and then turns to his God, and directs his expostulations to him, from thence to the end of his discourse. In this chapter he addresses himself to his friends, and, I. He condemns what they had said of him, and the judgment they had given of his character (Job 12:1-5). II. He contradicts and confronts what they had said of the destruction of wicked people in this world, showing that they often prosper (Job 12:6-11). III. He consents to what they had said of the wisdom, power, and sovereignty of God, and the dominion of his providence over the children of men and all their affairs; he confirms this, and enlarges upon it (Job 12:12-25).

INTRODUCTION TO JOB 12 In this and the two following chapter Job makes answer to Zophar's discourse in the former; who having represented him as an ignorant man, he resents it, and begins his defence with a biting sarcasm on him and his friends, as being self-conceited, and having an high opinion of their own wisdom, as if none had any but themselves, Job 12:1; and puts in his claim for a share with them, as being not at all inferior to them, Job 12:3; and then refutes their notions, that it always goes well with good men, and ill with bad men; whereas the reverse is the truth, Job 12:4; and which they might learn from the brute creatures; or he sends them to them, to observe to them, that the best things they had knowledge of concerning God and his providence, and of his wisdom therein, were common notions that everyone had, and might be learned from beasts, birds, and fishes; particularly, that all things in the whole universe are made by God, and sustained by him, and are under his direction, and at his disposal, Job 12:7; and such things might as easily be searched, examined, and judged of, as sounds are tried by the ear, and food by the mouth, Job 12:11; and seeing it is usual among men, at least it may be expected that men in years should have a considerable share of wisdom and knowledge, it might be strongly inferred from thence, without any difficulty, that the most perfect and consummate wisdom was in God, Job 12:12; whence he passes on to discourse most admirably and excellently of the wisdom and power of God in the dispensations of his providence, in a variety of instances; which shows his knowledge of his perfections, ways, and works, was not inferior to that of his friends, Job 12:14.

He that is ready to slip with his feet,.... Not into sin, though this is often the case of good men, but into calamities and afflictions; and Job means himself, and every just upright man in the like circumstances: or he that is "prepared" or "destined" to be among them, that "totter" and stagger in their "feet" (i); that cannot stand upon their feet, but fall to the ground; which may describe man in declining and distressing circumstances; or that is appointed to be the laughing stock of such as are unstable in the word and ways of God; double minded men, hypocrites, and formal professors, that totter and stagger at everything they meet with disagreeable to the flesh: with such, a poor afflicted saint is laughed to scorn; he is as a lamp despised in the thought of him that is at ease; who are in affluent circumstances, enjoy great prosperity, live in plenty, and are not in trouble as others; their hearts are at ease: now with such, poor good men are had in great contempt; they are despised at heart, in the thoughts of such persons, if they do not in words express it; they are like a lamp just going out, which is neglected, and looked upon as useless; or like a torch burnt to the end, when it is thrown away; and thus it is with men, while the lamp of prosperity burns clear and bright, they are valued and had in esteem, but when their lamp becomes dim, and is almost, or quite extinguished, they are despised, see Psa 123:3; some apply this to Christ, who was a lamp or light, a great one, but despised of men, and even as a light; they loved darkness rather than light; and especially by the Pharisees, who were at ease, settled on their lees, that trusted in themselves that they were righteous, and despised others; and this is true of Gospel ministers, though bright and burning lights, and even of every good man, in whom the true light of grace, and of the Gospel, shines, and especially when under afflictive circumstances. Some, instead of a "lamp despised", read, "for" or "because of calamity despised" (k); so Aben Ezra, which conveys the same sense, that an afflicted man is despised for his affliction; and this being the case of good men confutes the notion of Job's friends, that it always goes well with such; and their other notion of its going ill with bad men is refuted in Job 12:6. (i) "destinatus vacillantibus pede", Schmidt; so Michaelis. (k) "ad calamitatem contumelia", Cocceius; "ad infortunium vilis habetur", Gussetius, p. 674.

“Did I lose my common sense, by any chance,” Job says, “because I fell into misery?” Here he presents himself as a righteous man, not by testifying to his perfect virtue but to the fact that he did not do anything wrong to anyone and that nobody can blame him. “And that my houses should be spoiled by transgressors,” it was necessary that this happened, he says. It had been ordained from above. “However,” he says, “do not believe that these misfortunes will stop for me. Indeed, if I, who have committed no act of injustice, suffer so, the wicked will suffer even more so.”

He that is mocked of his neighbour as I am, calleth upon God, and He answereth him. Oftentimes the frail mind, when it is welcomed by the breath of human regard on the score of good actions, runs out into outward delights, so that it lays aside what it inwardly desires, and willingly lies all loosely in that which it gives ear to without. So that it does not so much delight to become as to be called blessed; and whereas it gapes after the words of applause, it gives over what it had begun to be; and so it is severed from God by the same means by which it appeared to be commendable in God. But sometimes it presses forward in good practice with a constant heart, and yet is pushed hard by the scoffs of men; it does admirable deeds, and gets only abuse; and he that might have been made to go forth without by commendations, being repulsed by insults, returns back again into himself; and stablishes himself the more firmly in God, that he findeth no place without when he may rest in peace: for all his hope is fixed in his Creator. And amidst scoffs and revilings, the interior Witness is alone implored. And his soul in his distress becomes God's neighbour, in proportion as he is a stranger to the favour of man's esteem. He forthwith pours himself out in prayer, and being pressed without, he is refined with a more perfect purity to penetrate into all within. Therefore it is well said at this time, He that is mocked of his neighbour as I am, will call upon God, and He will hear him. For whilst the wicked reproach the soul of the good, they are shewing them Whom to seek as the Witness of their actions. And while their soul in compunction braces itself in prayer, it is united within itself to the hearing of the Most High, by the same act whereby it is severed from the applause of man without itself. But we ought to note how thoughtfully the words are inserted, as I am. For there be some men whom both the scoffings of their fellow-creatures sink to the ground, and yet they are not such as to be heard by the ears of God. For when mocking issues against sin, surely no virtuous merit is begotten in that mocking. For the priests of Baal, when they called upon him with clamorous voices, were mocked by Elijah, when he said, Cry aloud; for he is a god either he is talking, or he is staying on a journey. But this mocking was conducive to the service of virtue, in that it came by the deserts of sin. So that it is advisedly said now, He that is mocked of his friend, as I am, calleth upon God, and He heareth him. For the mockery of his fellow-creatures makes Him God's neighbour, whom innocency of life keeps a stranger to his fellow-creatures' wickednesses.

But by the fact that you say that I am ignorant of these things, you seem to hold me in contempt as though I am ignorant of things which everyone knows. Thus he says, "Someone who is derided by his friends like I am," as you do when you think me foolish, "will call upon God and he will hear him," because God especially helps those bereft of human aid. As Psalm 26 says, "Though my mother and father abandoned me, yet the Lord raised me." (v.10) In this he attempts to answer Sophar's argument above, "Then you will be able to lift up your head," (11:15) as if to say: I should not wait any longer to pray faithfully because by the very fact that I am derided by my friends, hope is given to me of having recourse to God. He shows why the one derided by a friend is heard by God saying, "For the simplicity of the just man is derided," when he shows who these just men are, who are derided and why, and also by whom when he continues, "his light is condemned by the thoughts of riches." To be derided is the lot of someone deficient in resources, but to deride is the lot of someone who has a superabundance of possessions. But those who super-abound in virtue do not laugh at those who are deficient in virtues. Rather they have compassion on them and help them if they can. But those who abound in temporal goods often especially deride those who lack temporal goods and especially when they do not show enthusiasm for acquiring temporal goods. But the enthusiasm of just men is not to acquire temporal goods, but to pursue righteousness eagerly, and so they abstain from fraud and the evil intent by which more riches are generally acquired. They are accounted naive because of this. So most people laugh at the just.

Youth should remember their Creator, Ecc 12:1. A description of old age and its infirmities, with the causes of death and dissolution, Ecc 12:2-9. How the Preacher taught the people knowledge, Ecc 12:9-11. General directions, and conclusion of the work, Ecc 12:12-14.

I am as one mocked of his neighbor - Though I am invoking God for help and salvation, yet my friends mock me in this most solemn and sacred work. But God answereth me. The just upright man is laughed to scorn - This is a very difficult verse, on which no two critics seem to be agreed. Mr. Good translates the fourth and fifth verses thus: - "Thus brother is become a laughing-stock to his companions, While calling upon God that he would succor him. The just, the perfect man, is a laughing-stock to the proud, A derision amidst the sunshine of the prosperous, While ready to slip with his foot. For a vindication of this version, I must refer to his notes. Coverdale gives at least a good sense. Thus he that calleth upon God, and whom God heareth, is mocked of his neighboure: the godly and innocent man is laughed to scorne. Godlynesse is a light despysed in the hertes of the rich; and is set for them to stomble upon. The fifth verse is thus rendered by Mr. Parkhurst: "A torch of contempt, or contemptible link, (see Isa 7:4; Isa 40:2, Isa 40:3), לעשתות leashtoth, to the splendours of the prosperous (is he who is) ready (נכון nachon, Job 15:23; Job 18:12; Psa 38:17) to slip with his foot." The general sense is tolerably plain; but to emendations and conjectures there is no end.

JOB'S REPLY TO ZOPHAR (Job 12:1-14:22) wisdom shall die with you--Ironical, as if all the wisdom in the world was concentrated in them and would expire when they expired. Wisdom makes "a people:" a foolish nation is "not a people" (Rom 10:19).

The unfounded accusations of Job's friends were a "mockery" of him. He alludes to Zophar's word, "mockest" (Job 11:3). neighbour, who calleth, &c.--rather, "I who call upon God that he may answer me favorably" [UMBREIT].

4 I must be a mockery to my own friend, I who called on Eloah and He heard me; A mockery - the just, the godly man. 5 Contempt belongs to misfortune, according to the ideas of the prosperous; It awaits those who are ready to slip. 6 Tents of the destroyer remain in peace, And those that defy God are prosperous, Who taketh Eloah into his hand. The synallage of לרעהוּ for לרעי is not nearly so difficult as many others: a laughing-stock to his own friend; comp. Isa 2:8, they worship the work of their (his) own hands (ידיו). "One who called on Eloah (לאלוהּ, for which לאלוהּ is found in lxx at Job 36:2) and He heard him" is in apposition to the subject; likewise תמים צדיק, which is to be explained according to Pro 11:5, צדיק (from צדק, Arab. ṣdq, to be hard, firm, stiff, straight), is one who in his conduct rules himself strictly according to the will of God; תמים, one whose thoughts are in all respects and without disguise what they should be-in one word: pure. Most old translators (Targ., Vulg., Luther) give לפּיד the signification, a torch. Thus e.g., Levi v. Gerson explains: "According to the view of the prosperous and carnally secure, he who is ready for falterings of the feet, i.e., likely to fall, is like a lighted torch which burns away and destroys whatever comes in contact with it, and therefore one keeps aloof from him; but it is also more than this: he is an object of contempt in their eyes." Job might not inappropriately say, that in the eyes of the prosperous he is like a despised, cast-away torch (comp. the similar figure, Isa 14:19, like a branch that is rejected with contempt); and Job 12:5 would be suitably connected with this if למועדי could be derived from a substantive מעד, vacillatio, but neither the usage of the language nor the scriptio plena (after which Jerome translates tempus statutum, and consequently has in mind the מועדים, times of festal pilgrimages, which are also called ררלים in later times), nor the vowel pointing (instead of which מעדי would be expected), is favourable to this. רגל מועדי signifies vacillantes pede, those whose prosperity is shaken, and who are in danger of destruction that is near at hand. We therefore, like Abenezra and modern expositors, who are here happily agreed, take לפיד as composed of ל and פּיד, a word common to the books of Job (Job 30:24; Job 31:29) and Proverbs (ch. Pro 24:22), which is compared by the Jewish lexicographers, according both to form and meaning, to כּיד (Job 21:20) and איד, and perhaps signifies originally dissolution (comp. פדה), decease (Syr. f'jodo, escape; Arab. faid, dying), fall, then generally calamity, misfortune: contempt (befits) misfortune, according to the thoughts (or thinking), idea of the prosperous. The pointing wavers between לעשׁתּות and the more authorized לעשׁתּוּת, with which Parchon compares the nouns עבדוּת and מרדּוּת; the ת, like ד in the latter word, has Dag. lene, since the punctuation is in this respect not quite consistent, or follows laws at present unknown (comp. Ges. 21, rem. 2). Job 12:5 is now suitably connected: ready (with reference to בוז) for those who stumble, i.e., contempt certainly awaits such, it is ready and waiting for them, נכון, ἕτοιμος, like Exo 34:2. While the unfortunate, in spite of his innocence, has thus only to expect contempt, the tents, i.e., dwellings and possessions, of the oppressor and the marauder remain in prosperity; ישׁליוּ for ישׁלוּ, an intensive form used not only in pause (Psa 36:8; comp. Deu 32:37) and with greater distinctives (Num 34:6; Psa 122:6), but also in passages where it receives no such accent (Psa 36:9; Psa 57:2; Psa 73:2). On אהלים, instead of אהלים, vid., Ges. 93, 6, 3. The verbal clause (Job 12:6) is followed by a substantival clause (Job 12:6). בּטּחות is an abstract plural from בּטּוּח, perfectly secure; therefore: the most care-less security is the portion of those who provoke God (lxx περοργίζουσι); (Note: Luther takes בטחות as the adverb to מרגיזי: und toben wider Gott thrstiglich (vid., Vilmar, Pastoraltheolog. Bltter, 1861, S. 110-112); according to the Vulg., et audacter provocant Deum.) and this is continued in an individualizing form: him who causes Eloah to go into his hand. Seb. Schmid explains this passage in the main correctly: qui Deum in manu fert h.e. qui manum aut potentiam suam pro Deo habet et licitum sibi putat quodlibet; comp. Hab 1:11 : "this his strength becomes God to him," i.e., he deifies his own power, and puts it in the place of God. But הביא signifies, in this connection with לידו (not בידו), neither to carry, nor to lead (Gesenius, who compares Psa 74:5, where, however, it signifies to cause to go into = to strike into); it must be translated: he who causes Eloah to enter into his hand; from which translation it is clear that not the deification of the hand, but of that which is taken into the hand, is meant. This which is taken into the hand is not, however, an idol (Abenezra), but the sword; therefore: him who thinks after the manner of Lamech, (Note: [Comp Pentateuch, at Gen 4:25, Clark's Foreign Theological Library. - Tr.]) as he takes the iron weapon of attack and defence into his hand, that he needs no other God.