Job 12:5

He that is ready to slip with [his] feet,.... Not into sin, though this is often the case of good men, but into calamities and afflictions; and Job means himself, and every just upright man in the

He that is ready to slip with his feet is as a lamp despised in the thought of him that is at ease. Lamp - a torch.

i.e. The just man last mentioned, who is upon the brink of the pit or grave, ready to fall into mischief, so as never to rise again in this world, which is my case, and the occasion of their scorn and contempt. As a lamp despised, i.e. like a lamp or torch, which whilst it shines clearly and in a dark night is very useful and comfortable; but when it draws towards an end, and is nigh extinct, and in the light, is neglected and despised, as that which is unnecessary, and troublesome, and offensive. So the same man, who, when his feet stand fast in a prosperous condition, is magnified and adored by all, when his feet slip or stumble, as the phrase is , when he is in misery, is commonly forsaken and despised. In the thought of him that is at ease, i.e. in the opinion of a man that lives in great ease and outward happiness, which generally makes persons to forget and despise those who are in affliction. But these words are a little otherwise rendered, and that agreeably to the order of the words in the Hebrew text, He (which is easily understood out of , the just and upright man) is as a torch despised in the opinion or thought (as this or the like words coming from the same Hebrew root are used, . Or, because of the splendour; for so this root and its derivatives elsewhere signify, as . And either of these significations agree well with the place. Or, compared with the splendour or greater lustre and glory) of him that lives in tranquillity; he (i.e. the just man) is (or, because he is; for this may be the reason of the contempt) ready to slip with his foot, i.e. ready to perish.

Job 12:5 He that is ready to slip with [his] feet [is as] a lamp despised in the thought of him that is at ease.Ver. 5. He that is ready to slip with his feet] He who is in a declining, tottering condition, ready to fall and perish under the burden of his afflictions, though formerly he was looked upon and made use of as a lamp or torch, yet when he is at an under, and brought low, is shamefully slighted by such as have the world at will; like as a torch when wasted and waxen short is cast out of the hands, and trodden on with the feet of him that held it. The holiest men, if afflicted, do but smother instead of shining. When Christ himself was a man of sorrows, he was therefore despised and rejected of men, who hid, as it were, their faces from him, and esteemed him not, Isaiah 53:3. The prodigal’ s elder brother speaks scornfully of him, because poor, Luke 15:30, "This thy son." He saith not, This my brother, &c. Gregory saith, that the poor just man is here compared to a lamp extinct, because he shineth inwardly by the virtue of an upright heart; but outwardly is as it were extinct, because there is nothing outward to commend him; no glorious apparel, no goodly houses, &c.; whence they are slighted by the rich wretches of this world. But such a lamp (saith he, following the Vulgate translation) is set for an appointed time; that is, the day of judgment, when he shall shine most brightly, even as the sun, &c., when the world’ s favourites shall be thrust into utter darkness.

(5) Is as a lamp despised in the thought of him that is at ease.—This rendering conveys no sense. The meaning is either that the lamp or torch prepared for feet tottering and uncertain in the darkness is disregarded and rejected by those who are at ease, and need no such aid; in which case one does not see very clearly why Job compares himself to such a torch: or, more probably, there is contempt for calamity in the thoughts of him that is at ease, it is ready at hand for them who are tottering with their feet.

5. There is contempt for misfortune in the thought of him that is at ease, It awaiteth them who are slipping with their foot. Zophar’s references for Job’s advantage to the Divine wisdom and might implied that Job was ignorant of all this, and took no account of Job’s past life spent in the fellowship of God and in meditation on His ways. It is to this last that Job refers when he says: I who called on God, &c. He feels keenly the pass he has come to when men inculcate such commonplaces upon him; this feeling he expresses by saying, I am to be, I must be, or have to be a laughing-stock. Job 12:5 means, But such is the treatment which those who fall into misfortune, even though they be righteous men, receive at the hands of those that are at ease and prosperous. The word rendered “misfortune” or calamity occurs again, ch. Job 30:24, Job 31:29, Proverbs 24:22. On the slipping of the foot, cf. Psalms 38:16; Psalms 73:2.

He that is ready to slip with his feet - The man whose feet waver or totter; that is, the man in adversity; see Proverbs 25:19.

5. A lamp despised — All interpreters acknowledge the obscurity of this verse to be exceedingly great. Schultens speaks of more than ten different opinions.