Job 12:12 ESV

Matthew Henry's Complete Commentary - 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... read more

John Gill

John Gills Exposition of the Bible Commentary - Job 12:12

With the ancient is wisdom ,.... Meaning not himself, who was not very ancient; though some think Eliphaz so understood him; hence those words of his, in Job 15:9 ; rather, as others, Job tacitly wishes that some ancient man, with whom wisdom was, would undertake to examine the affair between him and his friends, and judge of it, and decide the point; or, as others, he has respect to Bildad's advice to search the fathers, and learn their sentiments, and be determined by them; to which he... read more

Adam Clarke

Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible - Job 12:12

With the ancient is wisdom - Men who have lived in those primitive times, when the great facts of nature were recent, such as the creation, fall, flood, confusion of tongues, migration of families, and consequent settlement of nations, had much knowledge from those facts; and their length of days - the many hundreds of years to which they lived, gave them such an opportunity of accumulating wisdom by experience, that they are deservedly considered as oracles. read more

Spence, H. D. M., etc.

The Pulpit Commentary - Job 12:1-25

Spence, H. D. M., etc.

The Pulpit Commentary - Job 12:5-13

Job to Zophar: 2. The dogma of the friends demolished. I. BY THE FACTS OF EXPERIENCE . 1 . The adverse fortunes of the good. Exemplified in Job's own case, which showed 2 . The prosperous fortunes of the bad . Apt illustrations were at hand in the seemingly unchanging success which waited on the footsteps of those marauding caterans with which Arabia Deserta was overrun. (a) Robbers of men, violent and rapacious plunderers, who put might for right, "men of the... read more

Spence, H. D. M., etc.

The Pulpit Commentary - Job 12:7-12

The wisdom and tile power of God a truth universally known. It is not the peculiar possession of those fancied wise friends. It is a truth impressed on all nature and on the experience of man. I. APPEAL TO THE LIVING CREATURES . ( Job 12:7-10 .) The beasts, the birds of the air, the earth with all its living growths, the creatures of the sea,—all bear traces of his skill, all receive from him their life and sustenance, all are subject to his omnipresent power (comp. Psalms... read more

Spence, H. D. M., etc.

The Pulpit Commentary - Job 12:11-25

The Devine supremacy illustrated. Bildad appeals to "the ancients." Job replies, "I also know their teaching." But there is a wisdom higher than that of the ancients. Wisdom—unfailing wisdom—is a Divine attribute. From the earthly to the heavenly wisdom Job turns. He speaks of a higher and a mightier One—One "with whom is strength and wisdom," by which he rules. The supremacy of that Divine rule he illustrates from a very wide field of survey. He points to the evidences of the Divine... read more

Spence, H. D. M., etc.

The Pulpit Commentary - Job 12:12

With the ancient is wisdom; and in length of days understanding . Men get their wisdom gradually and painfully by much experience during a long stretch of time, so that it is not until they are" ancient" that we can call them wise or credit them with "understanding." But with God the case is wholly different. read more

Albert Barnes

Albert Barnes' Notes on the Whole Bible - Job 12:12

With the ancient is wisdom - With the aged. The word ישׁישׁ yâshı̂ysh used here, means an old man, one gray-headed. It is used chiefly in poetry, and is commonly employed in the sense of one who is decrepit by age. It is rendered “very aged” in Job 15:10; “him that stooped for age.” 2 Chronicles 36:17; “very old,” Job 32:6; and “the aged,” Job 29:8 The Septuagint renders it, Ἐν πολλῷ χρόνῳ En pollō chronō “in much time.” The sense is, that wisdom might be expected to be found with the... read more

Joseph Benson

Joseph Benson's Commentary of the Old and New Testaments - Job 12:12

Job 12:12. With the ancient is wisdom These words contain a concession of what Bildad had said (Job 8:8-9,) and a joining with him in that appeal; but withal, an intimation that this wisdom was but imperfect, and liable to many mistakes; and indeed mere ignorance and folly, if compared with the divine wisdom, of which he speaks in the following verses. And therefore that antiquity ought not to be received against the truths of the most wise God. read more

Matthew Henry's Complete Commentary - Job 12:12-25

John Gills Exposition of the Bible Commentary - Job 12:12

Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible - Job 12:12

The Pulpit Commentary - Job 12:1-25

The Pulpit Commentary - Job 12:5-13

The Pulpit Commentary - Job 12:7-12

The Pulpit Commentary - Job 12:11-25

The Pulpit Commentary - Job 12:12

Albert Barnes' Notes on the Whole Bible - Job 12:12

Joseph Benson's Commentary of the Old and New Testaments - Job 12:12

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