Bible Commentary - Job 12

In this chapter, Job replies to Zophar.

This is an interesting chapter.  It’s only the first part of Job’s response so it comes across as being somewhat incomplete for that reason.

If I could summarize this chapter in one sentence, it’s basically Job trying to say that he is not ignorant of what his friends have been trying to tell him.

In the beginning of the chapter, Job mocks his friends as being the people who “with you wisdom will die!” (v. 1).  He basically thinks his friends are condescending to him, because “he who is at ease holds calamity in contempt” (v. 5).  That’s a pretty fair criticism; his friends are blaming him for his suffering because they think only the wicked suffer.  Job thinks they are being condescending to him and minimizing his situation only because they are not themselves suffering, and therefore they feel free to criticize him in this way.  For Job, this leaves him feeling that “the just and blameless man is a joke” (v. 4).

Almost the entire rest of the chapter (verses 7-25) is a long tribute to the wisdom and power of God, with a particular emphasis on how God is greater than human wisdom and power (v. 17-25).  What makes this strange is that it’s so similar to the descriptions of God that Job’s friends made in the previous several chapters.  All three of Job’s friends have at least one section where they extol the wisdom and strength of God, and now Job is saying the same thing.

This, I think, clearly shows how much Job has in common with his friends, in terms of their overall theological framework.  What Job is trying to say is that he is not lesser than his friends in knowing God’s power and greatness.  Job knows that God is supreme in wisdom and judgment, and he says that his friends and mocking him by treating him as a simpleton who does not know these things.  The rest of the chapter is basically an explanation of Job’s knowledge of God, how Job also acknowledges God’s greatness and wisdom, and this is not what he is trying to dispute.

Like I described before, Job is trying to understand a contradiction in his life, how he believes in the greatness and wisdom of God, but believes that he is being treated unfairly by God, that he is being punished by God while remaining innocent.  Job’s friends resolve the contradiction by claiming that Job is simply not innocent.  What we know from chapters 1-2 is that Job is indeed innocent, and Job’s friends are mistaken.

In the next chapter, Job continues arguing with his friends but also makes an appeal to God to reason with him.