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Joseph Sutcliffe

Sutcliffe's Commentary on the Old and New Testaments - Job 12:1-25

Job 12:6 . The tabernacles of robbers prosper. Or as it might be rendered, a placid tranquility gladdens the tabernacles of robbers; referring to the Arabs, who plunder the merchants. This and the following are invincible arguments. Job 12:12 . With the ancient is wisdom. The Hebrews have three words which they use to express degrees of age in old men. Zaken, a man above sixty years of age; Sheb, a man above seventy; Ishish, a man upwards of eighty. Ishish being used here, we may... read more

Joseph Exell

The Biblical Illustrator - Job 12:13-25

Job 12:13-25Behold, He breaketh down.Job’s maximsPerhaps Job uses this lofty language concerning God for two reasons.1. To show that he could speak as grandly of the Eternal as his friends had spoken.2. To show that he had as correct and extensive a view of God’s agency as they had. He gives them here at least six different ideas of God’s agency.I. That it is active both in the mental and the moral world.II. That it is destructive as well as restorative. “Behold, He breaketh down, and it cannot... read more

Joseph Exell

The Biblical Illustrator - Job 12:20

Job 12:20Taketh away the understanding of the aged. InsanityThe text is part of an address in which Job enumerates a variety of events in which, more or less prominently, the interference of Divine providence was to be traced.I. The peculiar dispensation which the text brings before us. Job is not stating here a general rule of the Divine procedure, but only alluding to an event of occasional occurrence.1. The nature of the calamity referred to. It deals with the mind. The operations of the... read more

John Trapp

John Trapp Complete Commentary - Job 12:13

Job 12:13 With him [is] wisdom and strength, he hath counsel and understanding. Ver. 13. With him is wisdom and strength, &c. ] Wisdom, strength, counsel, and understanding, are all concentred in the Ancient of days; complete he is in all excellence and perfection, all which meet in him, and continue always in the highest degree. The mighty God "fainteth not, neither is weary; there is no searching of his understanding," Isaiah 40:28 . He is also no less good than great and wise; good,... read more

John Trapp

John Trapp Complete Commentary - Job 12:14

Job 12:14 Behold, he breaketh down, and it cannot be built again: he shutteth up a man, and there can be no opening. Ver. 14. Behold, he breaketh down, and it cannot be built again ] As he did the old world, Sodom and Gomorrah, many monarchies and empires, the tower of Babel, and other castles and houses which now live by fame only, if at all. If God have a mind to ruin these, who shall raise or repair them? Julian, the apostate, in spite of the Christians, set the Jews to work to rebuild the... read more

John Trapp

John Trapp Complete Commentary - Job 12:15

Job 12:15 Behold, he withholdeth the waters, and they dry up: also he sendeth them out, and they overturn the earth. Ver. 15. Behold, he withholdeth the waters, and they dry up ] He not only, when he pleaseth, imprisoneth men, but waters also, that they cannot get out of the clouds, those bottles of rain, those airy sponges, vessels as thin as the liquor that is contained in them; it is from the power of God that they dissolve not upon us at once, and overwhelm us. Bartholinus reports that in... read more

John Trapp

John Trapp Complete Commentary - Job 12:16

Job 12:16 With him [is] strength and wisdom: the deceived and the deceiver [are] his. Ver. 16. With him is strength and wisdom ] i.e. Such strength as he exerciseth most wisely, mightily, and righteously. Sic volo, sic iubeo, I wish so, so I command, saith the tyrant, Right or wrong, thus it shall be. Volumus et iubemus, saith that man of sin, We will and command, &c., neither must any one mute or say so much as What dost thou? upon pain of damnation. When Constantius would have... read more

John Trapp

John Trapp Complete Commentary - Job 12:17

Job 12:17 He leadeth counsellors away spoiled, and maketh the judges fools. Ver. 17. He leadeth counsellors away spoiled ] viz. Of wit, wealth, and honour. This should be a warning to them, not to take ill causes in hand, not to call evil good and good evil, not to justify the wicked for a reward, and to take away the righteousness of the righteous from him; not to bolster out a bad cause, and to outface a good, lest if they improve their wits and parts to so evil an end, God make them as... read more

John Trapp

John Trapp Complete Commentary - Job 12:18

Job 12:18 He looseth the bond of kings, and girdeth their loins with a girdle. Ver. 18. He looseth the bonds of kings ] He degradeth them, taking away all command and authority from them, which is the bond that bindeth the people to obedience and subjection, Job 30:11 Isaiah 45:1 ; Isaiah 45:5 ; as our Henry III, who was called Regni dilapidator, unloved by his people, and far a less king, saith Daniel, by striving to be more than he was; the just reward of violations. And girdeth their... read more

John Trapp

John Trapp Complete Commentary - Job 12:19

Job 12:19 He leadeth princes away spoiled, and overthroweth the mighty. Ver. 19. He leadeth away princes spoiled ] Or priests. Ducit sacerdotes inglorios, so the Vulgate translateth, He leadeth away the priests without glory, dishonoured. Priests were generally much esteemed and privileged in all ages. Alexander the Great gave greatest respect to Jaddus, the Jewish high priest. When the Gauls had burnt Rome, and were besieging the capitol, Gaius Fabius Dorso, attired as a priest, with his... read more

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