Job 12:1–6

Zophar's speech was full of extreme dogmatism, and that no doubt prompted Job to begin his reply on a very sarcastic note. His words, "No doubt you are the people, and wisdom will die with you," have almost passed into a proverb, used against the dogmatism of self-conceit.

Job's reply to Zophar was understandably sarcastic, "No doubt you are the people, and wisdom will die with you!" (v.2). Zophar had implied that he had an inborn wisdom that Job lacked. Job rightly reproved him: "But I have understanding as well as you; I am not inferior to you" (v.3). In fact, Zophar had said only what was common knowledge: everyone knew these things.

Job answers in the next chapters (12-14) and no doubt he repays them too much in their own coin. Well, they deserved that rebuke. "But I have understanding as well as you." Here he was far more considerate than they were, because he did not take the place of being superior. "I have understanding as well as you" — "I am not inferior" — he does not say, "I am superior" — "I am not inferior to you."

It is astonishing to see how little discernment Job's friends showed at that time. But are we today more intelligent than they were? Do we not often judge before the time? Do God's children not often judge by appearances, despite the solemn warning, "Judge not, that you be not judged"? No wonder Job answers with biting irony, "No doubt you are the people, and wisdom will die with you!" What was the use of reciting truisms in flowery language? Such speeches brought neither comfort nor light to the sufferer.

Stung by the charges and platitudes of the friends, Job meets them with bitter sarcasm, followed quickly by the charge of their mocking him. They are at ease, while cherishing their unjust suspicions of him. He almost compares them to robbers, who hold their booty undisturbed (verses 1-6).

Let us note this principle well, for it is greatly needed in this day. Self-inflation — being taken up with our own faithfulness in testimony — breeds critical feelings in our hearts toward the people of God around us. It also puts us right out of the place of intercession with God for them. Need we be surprised, also, if our improper airs draw out from others the sarcastic remark, "No doubt you are the people, and wisdom will die with you" (Job 12:2)?

None of us can boast of being the people with whom wisdom shall die. Still, God in His grace was pleased to give us a little light. We should thank Him for every ray He has been willing to send into our souls. We should seek His grace to make good use of the light we have received. Only then will we be able to ask for more with confidence.

Job's reply to Zophar was sarcastic, and you can see why: "No doubt you are the people, and wisdom will die with you!" Zophar had implied that he had a natural wisdom Job lacked. Job was right to correct him: "But I have understanding as well as you; I am not inferior to you." In fact, Zophar had said only what was common knowledge: everyone knew these things.

"But I have understanding as well as you." Here he was far more considerate than they were. He did not put himself in the higher place. "I have understanding as well as you" — "I am not inferior." He does not say, "I am superior." He says, "I am not inferior to you." "Who does not know such things as these?" They were only talking platitudes, moral platitudes, that anyone with the slightest knowledge of God already knew. They gave no light on the very difficult question. How could a devout, God-fearing man fall into such terrible sorrow and suffering? They did not add one atom to that question.

What was the use of reciting truisms in flowery language? Such speeches brought neither comfort nor light to the sufferer. "Who does not know the same?" asks Job. He then shows that he had thought their questions over carefully long ago. He can develop them in all their variety — not in a one-sided way, as Zophar did.

The charges and platitudes of the friends sting Job. He meets them with bitter sarcasm, and then charges them with mocking him. They are at ease, while holding on to their unjust suspicions of him.

He too can speak well about the majesty of God in all His ways. But this cannot settle the question: how can a man who is a sinner be just before God? A man may speak well about the stars and the stones. He may have all the learning of this world. Yet he may still be unable to say clearly how God justifies the sinner.

They could not understand why such a perfect and upright man as Job should be tried so hard. So, after seven days of silence, their hints and false charges drove that patient man to cry out in bitterness of soul, "Miserable comforters are you all." They might have helped in an ordinary case. But here an outstandingly righteous man had lost every earthly possession in a way never seen before, and their tongues were dumb. They did not understand God's ways with His own at all. So they made Job feel how completely unable they were to help him, and threw him back on God Himself.

Stung by the charges and platitudes of the friends, Job meets them with bitter sarcasm, followed quickly by the charge of their mocking him. They are at ease, while holding on to their unjust suspicions of him. He almost compares them to robbers who keep their stolen goods undisturbed.

You mock me; I am nothing but a laughingstock. You as my neighbours come to me and say, "He calls on God, that He should answer him." Yet I am the just, the perfect man; you make sport of me. You are at ease and treat the one who is down, overwhelmed by misfortune, with contempt.

A mockery to his neighbours am I, / One calling on God, and He heard him: / The just, upright, one a mockery!

Job felt the sadness of his friends mocking him and ridiculing him, though he was just and blameless (v.4). He had been a lamp, giving light. Now these friends despised him in their thoughts. They were comfortable and at ease, and ready to put down those whose feet slip. He even suggests that his friends were acting like robbers who were prospering, since they were stealing away his integrity and provoking God while pretending to speak on God's behalf.

That phrase exactly described the situation. These three men were all at ease. Nothing was wrong with them. God had not taken them up, as He had Job, and allowed the devil to do all the evil he could... "The man ready to slip with his feet" — that is what Job felt he was — "is like a lamp despised in the thoughts of a man at ease." If he gives way, what good is the lamp? A lamp needs to be held steady, and a slipping man cannot hold it. It waves and waves down into the mud. But they were all at ease, sitting in judgment on him.

They were only talking platitudes — moral platitudes that anyone with the slightest knowledge of God already knew. They gave no light at all on this very difficult question: how could a devout, God-fearing man fall under such crushing sorrow and affliction? They did not contribute one bit to that question.

Zophar spoke with such extreme certainty that it no doubt prompted Job to begin his reply on a very sarcastic note. His words, "No doubt you are the people, and wisdom will die with you," have almost become a proverb, used against the man whose self-conceit makes him sure he is right. He claimed to have understanding equal to his friends. In verse 5 he reminded them that he stood in this slippery place, shining like a warning lamp, while men in easy and comfortable circumstances — his friends — despised him.

Job felt the sadness of it. His friends mocked and ridiculed him, though he was just and blameless (v.4). He had been a lamp, giving light. Now these friends, comfortably at ease, despised him in their thoughts. They were ready to put down those whose feet slip.

They were all at ease, these three men. Nothing was the matter with them. They had not, like Job, been taken up by God, who then let the devil do all the evil he could. "He who is ready to slip with his feet" — that is what Job felt he was — "is like a lamp despised in the thought of the man who is at ease." Why? A lamp needs to be held steady. If a man is slipping with his feet, what good is his lamp? It waves about and sinks down into the mud. But they were all at ease, sitting in judgment on him.

You mock me; I am nothing but a laughingstock. You as my neighbours come to me and say, "He calls on God, that He should answer him." Yet I am the just, the perfect man; you make sport of me. You are at ease and treat the one who is down, overwhelmed by misfortune, with contempt.

They are at ease, while nursing unjust suspicions of him. He almost compares them to robbers, who keep their loot undisturbed.

Friends should show pity to a sufferer. That is a basic principle. Otherwise, under the stress of trial — as some have translated it — "he should forsake the fear of the Almighty." … But the hard principle these friends were applying knew no mercy and felt no sympathy. In his hour of desperate need they proved completely unfit to be friends. They are not the "brother born for adversity." … Yet he had asked nothing unreasonable of them — no money, no rescue from the enemy, only a little sympathy.

We deceive ourselves if we think we must be right when we grieve those whom God is disciplining. This is often very far from being the case. The Lord said in Zechariah, "I am very angry with the nations that are at ease; I was only a little angry, and they made the affliction worse." … We are more often, perhaps, in God's mind, and acting as living vessels of the Spirit, when we comfort such people. And I am sure it was so in Job's case. Had his former friends known God's way, they would have dealt very differently with him.

In verse 6 Job challenged the main position that his friends had taken. They said that God always rewards good people with prosperity in this life, and always brings disaster on the wicked. Job said it was not so. There were cases where robbers prospered and where those who provoked God were secure.

The charges and empty sayings of the friends sting Job. He answers with bitter sarcasm, and then charges them with mocking him. They are at ease, while they hold on to their unfair suspicions of him. He almost compares them to robbers, who keep their loot undisturbed (verses 1-6).

There had been that great robber Nimrod. He first began to hunt beasts, and then to subdue men for his own purposes. God gave him no authority to do it. And yet God allowed it. Nimrod built great cities and became a great man. "The tents of robbers prosper, and those who provoke God are secure; into whose hand God brings abundantly." That is the present state of the earth. Any state of the earth since man fell is no adequate proof of what God thinks of people. It is not bringing out His judgment of men yet. God may deal with a particular case now and then. But that is an exception. His ordinary way is to leave things, to all appearance, to run their own course. And that is just why a judgment must come. Things have not been judged according to God, but they will be.

Job meets the theory that God repays everyone in this life with a direct denial and disproof. And this was not limited to man. Every form of living nature declares the same fact. The beasts of the earth, the birds of the air and the fish of the sea all show that the violent get the better of the weak. God is sovereign. For that very reason their law of government is a false argument, and to apply it to him is unjust.

Faith finds the answer to the painful riddle of human affairs in the secret of God. That answer does not come from studying facts. It does not come from long experience of God's apparent dealings as the Governor of the world. Power is His alone, and He is the only and the righteous God. Yet weigh events and the actual state of human society by the light of divine truth. Nothing is more constantly obvious than this: everywhere the world appears to reverse the known and eternal principles of divine government. "The tents of robbers prosper, and those who provoke God are secure" (Job 12:6). Evildoers go unpunished now. Truth is continually crushed, and its servants are often persecuted. In every age this has tested the faith and patience of God's saints (Jeremiah 12:1; Habakkuk 1:1-4).

Job knew that the tents of robbers prosper and that those who provoke God are secure (Job 12:6). But Eliphaz thought that "in prosperity the destroyer shall come upon" the wicked (Job 15:21). What Eliphaz thought was sometimes right, but not always. The writer of Psalm 73 knew that, and we know it from what is all around us. God has allowed Satan to become the god and prince of this world. Satan has authority to dispose in some way of the kingdoms of this world (Luke 4:6). Once we realise this, we will not be perplexed at the prosperity of the wicked.