“No doubt you are the people, and wisdom will die with you.
Zophar has just spoken to Job with great certainty, as if he held wisdom Job lacked. Job answers with sarcasm so sharp that his words have outlasted the argument. Two questions follow: what made him speak this way, and was he right to?
Sarcasm answering dogmatism
Job's tone answers Zophar's tone. One writer traces the sarcasm back to Zophar's certainty:
F. B. HoleZophar'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.
The claim Job is answering
Zophar had not simply disagreed with Job. He had claimed insight that Job did not have. The sarcasm aims straight at that claim:
Leslie M. GrantJob'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.
The restraint inside the retort
After the mockery of verse 2 comes a careful claim in verse 3. Job does not answer superiority with superiority:
William KellyJob 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."
Truisms that gave no light
The friends' speeches were not false. They were useless. They repeated the obvious to a man in agony:
H. L. RossierIt 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.
Kelly says the same. The friends were "only talking platitudes, moral platitudes, that every person of the slightest acquaintance with God already knew." They "did not contribute one atom" to the real question: why a God-fearing man fell under such sorrow.
Weighing the sarcasm
Commentators differ on how to weigh the words. Kelly holds that the friends deserved the rebuke, though Job paid them back too much. Another writer looks at what the pain had done to Job:
Samuel RidoutStung 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).
The verse turned on us
Writers have long turned the verse back on the reader. The danger is self-importance, and it shows in how we speak about other believers:
W. W. FeredayLet 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)?
The answer is not to claim we know nothing. What light we have is a gift:
James BoydNone 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.
Summary
- Cause. Zophar's dogmatism provoked the sarcasm. He implied he held wisdom Job lacked, yet he said only what everyone knew.
- Claim. Job answers superiority with restraint. He says "not inferior," never "superior." The friends deserved the rebuke, though he paid them back too much.
- Emptiness. True platitudes brought the sufferer no comfort and no light. They added nothing to the real question of his suffering.
- Mirror. The words are now a proverb against self-conceit. Self-inflation breeds a critical spirit and stops us praying for the people we judge.
- Cure. No one owns wisdom. Receive every ray of light as grace, use it well, and then ask for more.