Job 12:16 - Exposition

With him is strength and wisdom ; rather (as in the Revised Version), with him is strength and effectual working. God has not only the wisdom to design the course of events ( Job 12:13 ), but the power and ability to carry out all that he designs. The deceived and the deceiver are his . Not only does God rule the course of external nature, but also the doings of men. "Shall there be evil in a city, and shall not he have done it?" ( Amos 3:6 ) He allows some to deceive, and others to be deceived. Moral evil is thus under his control, and, in a certain sense, may be celled his doing. But it behoves men, when they approach such great mysteries, to be very cautious and wary in their speech. Job touches with somewhat too bold a hand the deepest problems of the universe.