Matthew Henry's Concise Commentary on the Whole Bible
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Job
Book: Job
Chapter: 12
Overview:
Job reproves his friends.
(1-5) The wicked often
prosper.
(6-11) Job speaks of the
Wisdom and power of
God.
(12-25)
1-5 Job upbraids his friends with the good opinion they had of
their own
Wisdom compared with his. We are apt to
Call reproofs
reproaches, and to think ourselves mocked when advised and
admonished; this is our folly; yet here was
Colour for this
charge. He suspected the true cause of their conduct to be, that
they despised him who was fallen into poverty. It is the way of
the world. Even the just, upright
Man, if he comes under a
Cloud, is looked upon with contempt.
6-11 Job appeals to facts. The most audacious robbers,
oppressors, and impious wretches, often prosper. Yet this is not
By fortune or
Chance; the
Lord orders these things. Worldly
prosperity is of small value in his sight: he has better things
for his children.
Job resolves all into the absolute
proprietorship which
God has in all the creatures. He demands
from his friends liberty to
Judge of what they had said; he
appeals to any fair
Judgment.
12-25 This is a noble discourse of
Job concerning the
Wisdom,
power, and
Sovereignty of
God, in ordering all the affairs of
the children of men, according to the counsel of His own will,
which none can resist. It were
Well if
Wise and good men, who
differ about lesser things, would see how it is for their honour
and comfort, and the good of others, to
Dwell most upon the
great things in which they agree. Here are
No complaints, or
reflections. He gives many instances of
God's powerful
management of the children of men, overruling all their
counsels, and overcoming all their oppositions. Having all
strength and
Wisdom,
God knows how to make use, even of those
who are foolish and bad; otherwise there is
So little
Wisdom and
So little honesty in the world, that all had been in confusion
and ruin long ago. These important truths were suited to
convince the disputants that they were out of their depth in
attempting to assign the
Lord's reasons for afflicting
Job; his
ways are unsearchable, and his judgments past finding out. Let
us remark what beautiful illustrations there are in the
Word of
God, confirming his
Sovereignty, and
Wisdom in that
Sovereignty:
but the highest and infinitely the most important is, that the
Lord Jesus was crucified
By the malice of the Jews; and who but
the
Lord could have known that this one event was the
Salvation
of the world?