4 It seems that I am to be as one who is a cause of laughing to his neighbour, one who makes his prayer to God and is answered! the upright man who has done no wrong is to be made sport of!
When his cry comes up to me, I will give him an answer: I will be with him in trouble; I will make him free from danger and give him honour.
But now those who are younger than I make sport of me; those whose fathers I would not have put with the dogs of my flocks.
He has made me a word of shame to the peoples; I have become a mark for their sport.
Truly, those who make sport of me are round about me, and my eyes become dark because of their bitter laughing.
And they were laughing at him. But he, having sent them all out, took the father of the child and her mother and those who were with him, and went in where the child was.
And others were tested by being laughed at or by blows, and even with chains and prisons:
And the Pharisees, who had a great love of money, hearing these things, were making sport of him.
Let your minds be changed, and do not have an evil opinion of me; yes, be changed, for my righteousness is still in me.
But as for me, I am looking to the Lord; I am waiting for the God of my salvation: the ears of my God will be open to me.
Let your cry come to me, and I will give you an answer, and let you see great things and secret things of which you had no knowledge.
Like men of deceit they put me to shame; the voice of their wrath was loud against me.
I am laughed at by all those who see me: pushing out their lips and shaking their heads they say, He put his faith in the Lord; let the Lord be his saviour now: let the Lord be his saviour, because he had delight in him.
Worthy.Bible » Commentaries » Matthew Henry Commentary » Commentary on Job 12
Commentary on Job 12 Matthew Henry Commentary
Chapter 12
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 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,
Job 12:1-5
The reproofs Job here gives to his friends, whether they were just or no, were very sharp, and may serve for a rebuke to all that are proud and scornful, and an exposure of their folly.
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, ch. 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.
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 minor things, would see it to be for their honour and comfort, and the edification of others, to dwell most upon those great things in which they are agreed. On this subject Job speaks like himself. Here are no passionate complaints, no peevish reflections, but every thing masculine and great.
Thus are the revolutions of kingdoms wonderfully brought about by an overruling Providence. Heaven and earth are shaken, but the Lord sits King for ever, and with him we look for a kingdom that cannot be shaken.