Matthew Henry on Job 12:6-11
Job's friends all of them went upon this principle, that wicked people cannot prosper long in this world, but some remarkable judgment or other will suddenly light on them: Zophar had concluded with it, that the eyes of the wicked shall fail, Job 11:20. This principle Job here opposes, and maintains that God, in disposing men's outward affairs, acts as a sovereign, reserving the exact distribution of rewards and punishments for the future state.
I. He asserts it as an undoubted truth that wicked people may, and often do, prosper long in this world, Job 12:6. Even great sinners may enjoy great prosperity. Observe, 1. How he describes the sinners. They are robbers, and such as provoke God, the…
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speak to the earth--rather, "the shrubs of the earth" [UMBREIT].
John Gill on Job 12:8
Or speak to the earth, and it shall teach thee,.... Or ask "a sprig of the earth" (n), any shrub, or tree, or whatsoever grows out of it, and they will all unite in this doctrine, that they are raised and preserved by the power of God, and are so many instances of his wisdom, power, and goodness:
and the fishes of the sea shall declare unto thee; as mute as they are, they will proclaim this truth, that God is the mighty Maker and wise Disposer of them.
(n) "virgultum terrae", Pagninus, Schmidt; so Drusius and Michaelis.
Keil & Delitzsch on Job 12:7-10
7 But ask now even the beasts - they shall teach it thee;
And the birds of heaven - they shall declare it to thee:
8 Or look thoughtfully to the ground - it shall teach it thee;
And the fish of the sea shall tell it thee.
9 Who would not recognise in all this
That the hand of Jehovah hath wrought this,
10 In whose hand is the soul of every living thing,
And the breath of all mankind?!
The meaning of the whole strophe is perverted if זאת (Job 12:9), is, with Ewald, referred to "the destiny of severe suffering and pain," and if that which precedes is accordingly referred to the testimony of creation to God as its author. Since, as a glance at what follows shows, Job further on praises God as t…
