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The first half of Job's response to Zophar's speech. 1–10. The wisdom of friends is untenable, and their main position is that strict bribery reigns on earth. 11–25. Divine wisdom, which, according to friends, supposedly follows the principles of justice, actually manifests itself in destructive phenomena - catastrophes. Job 12:1. And Job answered and said: Job 12:2. truly, only you are people, and wisdom will die with you! Zophar's speech began by accusing Job of idle talk - stupidity. Accordingly, he responds first of all to this reproach. An ironic remark: “truly only you are a people” - only you are worthy to bear the name of people (Heb. “am” - “people”; cf. Is 40.7, 42.5) and once you, their only representatives, die, then wisdom will disappear from the face of the earth, testifying to how much Job disagrees with the accusation of Zophar. Job 12:3. And I have a heart like yours; I am not inferior to you; and who does not know the same? It is completely misleading. Job is a man just like his friends; one cannot take away his “heart,” the ability for mental and theoretical activity, including wisdom (Gen. 27.41; Deut. 7.17; Proverbs 16.9; Sir 3.9, etc.). In intelligence he is not at all inferior to them: what they know is known to him. Job 12:4. I became a laughing stock for my friend, I, who cried out to God and to whom He answered, a laughing stock - a righteous, blameless man. Having no right to deny Job’s intelligence and wisdom, Zophar completely in vain adopts these qualities for himself and his friends. And really, what kind of wisdom is this when they are unable to distinguish a sinner from a righteous one and make the pious Job the subject of ridicule? A truly wise person treats the grief and misfortune of his neighbor not with contempt and ridicule, but with full participation. Laughing at misfortune is a sign of stupidity (Eccl. 5.2–4). Job 12:5. So despised in the thoughts of one who sits at rest is the torch prepared for those who stumble with their feet. The wisdom of friends is untenable, just as the judgments of those persons who have never been in darkness and yet reject the need for a torch are untenable. This is the meaning of the synodal reading, translating the Hebrew word "lappid" with the expression "torch", with which meaning it is used in Gen. 15.17; Court. 15.4 and in other places (13 in total), and which the Targum, Vulgate and Luther assimilate to him. The newest exegetes, Fürst, Delitzsch, consider “lappid” to be composed of “le” “pia”, they believe that in this verse it has an abstract meaning, the meaning: “misfortune” (cf. Job 30:24, 31:29; Proverbs 24.22), and in accordance with this the whole passage is translated as follows: “misfortune causes contempt in the thoughts of the happy; it (contempt) meets the one who stumbles with his feet.” The fifth verse thus translated will be in the closest connection with the fourth. Job argues that the contempt with which his friends treat him is a common occurrence, the well-known fate of the righteous, despised and rejected by the world. Job 12:6. The tents of robbers are quiet and those who irritate God are safe, who seem to carry God in their hands. After general discussions about the inconsistency of the wisdom of his friends, in particular Zophar, Job points out the fallacy of their main position, in the establishment and justification of which all their wisdom is reflected. The theory of friends that peace and security are the lot of only the pious (Job 5:19–21, 24, 8:6, 11:18–19) is refuted by life. It irresistibly testifies that these benefits are used by persons who trample upon divine and human laws (“robbers” who irritate the Lord), persons who do not recognize any other deity than the strength of their hands (Hab 1.11). Job 12:7. And truly: ask the cattle, and they will teach you, and the birds of the air, and they will tell you; Job 12:8. or talk to the earth, and he will instruct you, and the fish of the sea will tell you. Job 12:9. Who in all this does not recognize that the hand of the Lord did this? Job 12:10. In His hand is the soul of all living things and the spirit of all human flesh. And such a phenomenon, that is, the prosperity of the wicked, is not a matter of chance, but of the hands of God. Animate and inanimate nature clearly testifies that everything in the world is done according to the will of the Lord (v. 9). In His hand, the power of the soul (“nefesh”) of all living things, the lowest, elementary side of mental life, and the spirit (“ruach”) of “all human flesh”—that which distinguishes it from animals—the mind and the highest ideal aspirations and needs. If everything depends on God, then He obviously allows the prosperity of the wicked. Job 12:11. Is it not the ear that understands words, and is it not the tongue that recognizes the taste of food? Job 12:12. In the old is wisdom, and in the long-lived is understanding. Job 12:13. With Him is wisdom and power; His advice and wisdom. To justify their theory, friends refer to the authority of their ancestors (Job 8.8, 10). And no one, of course, will deny that a long life is a school of wisdom (v. 12). But, firstly, you cannot take everything they say on faith. This is contrary to man’s inherent ability to personally know the truth, to distinguish truth from untruth (“does not the ear discern words?” cf. Heb. 5.14), as to personally discern the taste of food with the help of the tongue (v. 11). On the other hand, although the elders have wisdom, the question still remains whether they are able to understand the rule of the world by an absolute being (cf. v. 12 with Job 21.22), who has all the necessary properties to rule the world: wisdom - the ability to cognize things and phenomena in their being; strength - the ability to carry out your plans without any difficulty; advice, the ability to find the best ways and means to achieve known goals, and reason, the ability to distinguish between truth and falsehood, useful and harmful (1 Kings 3.9, 11). Job. 12:14–25. The indications of personal experience and the testimony of tradition (Job 13.1) confirm the validity of the doubt that Job has just expressed. According to the elders and friends, divine wisdom, exposing even disguised evil (Job 11.11), does not leave it unpunished (Job 8.11–20, 11.20) and always rewards good. She follows only the principles of justice and thereby supports the moral world order. According to Job’s personal 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 good and evil suffer equally. Its manifestations do not, as friends claim, obey the principles of justice and are not determined by them. Job 12:14. What He destroys will not be built; whomever He imprisons will not be released. A general note about the inevitability of the destructive actions of divine power and wisdom: Instead of “whomever He shuts up, he will not be released,” the literal Hebrew should be translated: “the ban (presumably, “prison”) is over a person, and will not be opened.” The image of the expression is borrowed from the Eastern custom of using pits and cisterns as prisons, the opening of which was closed with something from above (Gen 37.20, 22; Jer 38.6; Lamentations 3.53; Dan 6:16, 14:31). Job 12:15. The water will stop and everything will dry up; He will let them in, and they will transform the earth. One of the manifestations of destructive divine power is droughts and floods. Striking equally the right and the guilty (1 Kings 18.2–5; cf. Ps 107.33–34), they provide an example of the fact that in the matter of ruling the world, divine wisdom is not guided by the principles of strict, absolute justice (cf. Bildad’s position that external nature does not harm the righteous. Job 5.22–23). Job 12:16. With Him is power and wisdom; before Him he who errs and misleads. Phenomena similar in meaning are observed in people’s lives. And, first of all, God not only does not stop the actions of the evil (cf. Job 5.12-14), but also uses them for the purposes of ruling the world known to Him alone: ​​“he who errs before Him,” more precisely: “He who errs and misleads.” They live and act according to the will of God himself, until, of course, as long as this is permissible by divine wisdom. Job 12:17. He makes counselors rash and judges foolish. Job 12:18. He strips the belts of kings and ties a belt around their loins; Job 12:19. deprives princes of their dignity and overthrows the brave; Job 12:20. takes away the tongue of the eloquent and deprives the elders of meaning; Job 12:21. covers the famous with shame and weakens the strength of the mighty; Job 12:22. reveals the deep from the midst of darkness and brings the shadow of death to light; Job 12:23. multiplies nations and destroys them; scatters nations and gathers them together; Job 12:24. takes away the minds of the heads of the people of the earth and leaves them to wander in the wilderness where there is no way: Job 12:25. They grope around in the darkness without light and stagger like drunken people. God, further, is the only culprit of those disasters and disorders that arise from the absence or disorder of government power and, affecting the entire nation, make everyone suffer without distinction. Thus, “He makes the advisers foolish” (v. 17), or in a literal translation from the Hebrew: “he leads captive the advisers of the nations,” which corresponds to the reading of LXX: “lead the advisers captive,” and makes the judges foolish (v. 17; cf. Is 19.11–15, 29.14, 40.23, 44.25). He deprives the kings of power (belt) - they are taken into captivity tied with ropes (v. 18), and the priests go there with them (instead of “he deprives the princes of their dignity” - v. 19, literally from the Hebrew: “he takes the priests into captivity,” which is also followed by the LXX: “release the captives of the priests”), and all the steadfast, strong in spirit perish. God deprives the word, the gift of persuasiveness in the speeches of reliable people (Naamanim), who constitute the strength, the stronghold of the nation and those wise in life - the “elders” (v. 20) and deprives them of tact (“taam”), the ability to follow the truth and encourage others to do so (cf. 1 Samuel 25.33); covers the famous with shame (v. 21; cf. Ps. 107.40), “weakens the strength of the mighty” (v. 21; literally “unties the belt of the strong”; Wed Ps 108.19), takes away their ability for one or another activity, in particular, to fight (Isa. 5.27), depriving the rulers of their minds (v. 24; cf. Ps. 106.40), leads them into a state of complete spiritual disorder, relaxation, “staggering like drunken people” (v. 25, cf. Isa 19:14, 24:20, 29:9-10; Jer. 23.9, 25.15, 49.12; Ezekiel 23.32). In a word, the Lord brings the peoples into such a state that within the state there is no one to maintain and restore order (“judges become stupid”), there is no one even to give good advice: advisers are taken into captivity, elders wise by life experience are forced to remain silent. In a kingdom weakened by internal decay, there is no strength to resist enemies, to organize defense to repel them: kings are taken into captivity, the steadfast perish, etc. (cf. Isa 3.1–3). And the state, created by God himself (Proverbs 8.15–16), is destroyed by Him (v. 23). If divine wisdom and power are not guided in their manifestations by the distinction between good and evil, and equally affects both, then for Job there is nothing comforting in the advice of his friends to entrust himself and his destiny to God. It is very possible that He struck him as violently and unjustly as He struck many others. You might be interested in: