Job Replies to His Three Friends

Topic: Sarcasm

Passage: Job 12:1–25

May 24, 2021

Commentary

All three of Job’s friends have spoken, and now it is his turn to speak again (v. l). Though he was in pain, he could still think. He opens with a sarcastic reference to the comments of all three visitors and accuses them of talking as if all wisdom began and ended with them (v. 2). He states that they didn’t need to explain God to him, because what they said was nothing that he didn’t know (v. 3). By doing so they grieved him and made him the “laughing stock” (v. 4). After all, he had called on God in the past, and God had responded. Job was convinced that it is easy for those who are not suffering to lose sight of the possibility of a righteous man suffering (vv. 5-6).

Job continues to chide his accusers by arguing that their knowledge was not a superior knowledge, but a knowledge anyone could gain (vv. 7-25). This is a position many people take today, even many Christian people. His friends never brought him to the place where he said as Paul said, “ For by the grace of God I am what I am” (I Cor. 15:10). The whole creation knew that life was in the hands of God (vv. 7-11). Job raises the issue of whether “wisdom and understanding may be with him as well as with the aged” (v. 12). He declared that wisdom is also with God (vv. 13-15). Not only did Job acknowledge God’s control over the natural realm, but, he states His sovereignty over men (vv. 16-21). This reflects the fact that God controls the destiny of all men (v.16), strips “counselors” of their wisdom, and denies “judges” the ability to make just decisions (v. 17). The religious and national leaders are made weak by Him (vv. 18-19). The understanding of the elder leader is taken away (vv. 20-21), No one can resist His power; even the nations are subject to Him (vv. 22-25).

Application

I need to be careful about using sarcasm if it tears down the character of another person.

Job 12:1– 25 (NET)

¹ Then Job answered:

² “Without a doubt you are the people, and wisdom will die with you.

³ I also have understanding as well as you; I am not inferior to you. Who does not know such things as these?

⁴ I am a laughingstock to my friends, I, who called on God and whom he answered — a righteous and blameless man is a laughingstock!

⁵ For calamity, there is derision (according to the ideas of the fortunate)— a fate for those whose feet slip.

⁶ But the tents of robbers are peaceful, and those who provoke God are confident — who carry their god in their hands.

⁷ “But now, ask the animals and they will teach you, or the birds of the sky and they will tell you.

⁸ Or speak to the earth and it will teach you, or let the fish of the sea declare to you.

⁹ Which of all these does not know that the hand of the Lord has done this?

¹⁰ In his hand is the life of every creature and the breath of all the human race.

¹¹ Does not the ear test words, as the tongue tastes food?

¹² Is not wisdom found among the aged? Does not long life bring understanding?

¹³ “With God are wisdom and power; counsel and understanding are his.

¹⁴ If he tears down, it cannot be rebuilt; if he imprisons a person, there is no escape.

¹⁵ If he holds back the waters, then they dry up; if he releases them, they destroy the land.

¹⁶ With him are strength and prudence; both the one who goes astray and the one who misleads are his.

¹⁷ He leads counselors away stripped and makes judges into fools.

¹⁸ He loosens the bonds of kings and binds a loincloth around their waist.

¹⁹ He leads priests away stripped and overthrows the potentates.

²⁰ He deprives the trusted advisers of speech and takes away the discernment of elders.

²¹ He pours contempt on noblemen and disarms the powerful.

²² He reveals the deep things of darkness, and brings deep shadows into the light.

²³ He makes nations great, and destroys them; he extends the boundaries of nations and disperses them.

²⁴ He deprives the leaders of the earth of their understanding; he makes them wander in a trackless desert waste.

²⁵ They grope about in darkness without light; he makes them stagger like drunkards.