Job 12:7 Commentary and Bible Study

Having stated the chief point of his disagreement with the comforters, he now proceeds to show what he knows about the majesty and sovereignty of God, but in a way that is far more true to life than their view. These things are well known to all creatures so that the truths which the three have emphasised are known even to the dumb beasts. Job is set to expound these truths himself from 12:6 to 13:2, but he does so in a way that shows he understands the realities of life far better than they do. As Barnes says, ‘This part of the discourse may be regarded somewhat as a trial of skill.’ He prepares for what he has to say on the subject in 12:7-12 and then expounds the matter in 12:13-13:2.Some interpret the verse as Job saying that the lower order creatures know more than the three friends and therefore the three should go to them to learn. In this case the point is that they have knowledge which the comforters do not have. Others understand him to say that these creatures are themselves an example of unfairness in the operation of this world. Among the brute beasts there is no special reward to the gentle or useful. The law of the jungle cuts across all that, and rewards the cruel and the strong at the expense of the weak and the mild. They are then an object lesson in the harshness and unevenness of the created order that God allows to existObviously Job does not mean that these lower creatures can teach man verbally; the language is of course figurative and so these two interpretations amount to the same thing. The beasts teach lessons through the natures that God has given them, and by the experiences that they go through as a result of the providence of God acting also on them. If they were able to explain themselves, they would agree with Job. Christ used just this sort of reasoning when he said, ‘Consider the ravens: for they neither sow nor reap; which neither have storehouse nor barn; and God feedeth them: how much more are ye better than the fowls?’ (Luke 12:24). The three friends will learn by observing what happens in the lower order and drawing conclusions from what they see. God teaches the comforters through the simple creatures he has made. Job is also taught in this fashion at the end of the book. By sending the three friends to the beasts for their instruction, he shames them at their woeful ignorance. Do they know so little that they need to be taught even by dumb creatures? The beasts and the birds know this much and the three need to come and sit at their feet. This humiliation is something that they deserve because they have not thought more carefully about God’s providence.The lesson which Job wants them to learn is that God does not run the world in the way that Eliphaz and his friends imagine. They have formed in their minds a make-believe world in which the good are fully rewarded and the wicked are punished and full justice is administered in this life. Nothing ever happens to disturb this order and it is possible at any time to assess the character of people by the way providence treats them. Who among these lower forms of life does not know that God acts sovereignly, that all things obey him and carry out his will? The beasts, the birds and the fish know – not consciously but in their own experience – that the Lord holds their lives in his hand. They have no continued existence if he does not grant it, for it is he that sustains them day by day. He provides air for them to breathe and food to give them strength. He provides a place for them to lie down and he enables them to give birth and rear their young. He puts instincts in them that guide them through the complex series of steps that their lives must follow.