Job 12:12-14

Matthew Henry's Complete Commentary - Job 12:12-25

This is a noble discourse of Job's concerning the wisdom, power, and sovereignty of God, in ordering and disposing of all the affairs of the children of men, according to the counsel of his own will, which none dares gainsay or can resist. Take both him and them out of the controversy in which they were so warmly engaged, and they all spoke admirably well; but, in that, we sometimes scarcely know what to make of them. It were well if wise and good men, that differ in their apprehensions about... read more

John Gill

John Gills Exposition of the Bible Commentary - Job 12:12

With the ancient is wisdom ,.... Meaning not himself, who was not very ancient; though some think Eliphaz so understood him; hence those words of his, in Job 15:9 ; rather, as others, Job tacitly wishes that some ancient man, with whom wisdom was, would undertake to examine the affair between him and his friends, and judge of it, and decide the point; or, as others, he has respect to Bildad's advice to search the fathers, and learn their sentiments, and be determined by them; to which he... read more

John Gill

John Gills Exposition of the Bible Commentary - Job 12:13

With him is wisdom and strength ,.... Not with the ancient and long lived man, but with God, who has made the whole universe, and in whose hand and at whose dispose all creatures are, Job 12:9 ; with him wisdom is originally, essentially, and inderivatively, as the fountain and fulness of it; he is the only and all wise God; his wisdom is displayed in making the world, and all things in it, in the beautiful manner they are set, and in their subserviency to each other; in all the... read more

John Gill

John Gills Exposition of the Bible Commentary - Job 12:14

Behold, he breaketh down, and it cannot be built again ,.... Which some restrain to the tower of Babel; but though the builders of it were obliged to desist from building, it does not appear that it was broken down, but seems to have continued many ages after: others more probably refer it to the destruction of Sodom, as Sephorno, which was an utter destruction, a perpetual desolation, and that city never was rebuilt to this day; and the same may be observed of many other cities that have... read more

Adam Clarke

Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible - Job 12:12

With the ancient is wisdom - Men who have lived in those primitive times, when the great facts of nature were recent, such as the creation, fall, flood, confusion of tongues, migration of families, and consequent settlement of nations, had much knowledge from those facts; and their length of days - the many hundreds of years to which they lived, gave them such an opportunity of accumulating wisdom by experience, that they are deservedly considered as oracles. read more

Adam Clarke

Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible - Job 12:13

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). read more

Adam Clarke

Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible - Job 12:14

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,... read more

Spence, H. D. M., etc.

The Pulpit Commentary - Job 12:1-25

Spence, H. D. M., etc.

The Pulpit Commentary - Job 12:5-13

Job to Zophar: 2. The dogma of the friends demolished. I. BY THE FACTS OF EXPERIENCE . 1 . The adverse fortunes of the good. Exemplified in Job's own case, which showed 2 . The prosperous fortunes of the bad . Apt illustrations were at hand in the seemingly unchanging success which waited on the footsteps of those marauding caterans with which Arabia Deserta was overrun. (a) Robbers of men, violent and rapacious plunderers, who put might for right, "men of the... read more

Spence, H. D. M., etc.

The Pulpit Commentary - Job 12:7-12

The wisdom and tile power of God a truth universally known. It is not the peculiar possession of those fancied wise friends. It is a truth impressed on all nature and on the experience of man. I. APPEAL TO THE LIVING CREATURES . ( Job 12:7-10 .) The beasts, the birds of the air, the earth with all its living growths, the creatures of the sea,—all bear traces of his skill, all receive from him their life and sustenance, all are subject to his omnipresent power (comp. Psalms... read more

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