Job 12
McGeeCHAPTERS 1214THEME: Job replies to his three friendsThis lengthy reply that Job makes in this section concludes the first round of discourses. Remember that in Job’s day folk enjoyed intellectual competitionmen pitting their minds against each other. Today it is not brain but brawn in athletic contests.
Job 12:1
Now there is a sarcastic statement and a pretty good one. Job says, “You fellows think you have all the answers. You are the people, and wisdom will die with you!” They were talking as if Job were a simpleton and they had all the answers.
Job 12:3
Job knows as much as they know. The problem is that they have not spoken to the situation as it really is. There is something important in these discourses that I want to call to your attention so you can be watching for it. Instead of leading Job to self-judgment, the three friends only minister to a spirit of self-vindication in Job. In other words, they make an attack on Job which forces him to come back with a defense of himself. They did not introduce God into the scene. They did not speak of a God of mercy and a God of grace, but a God of law. Although He is a God of law, He is also a God of grace and mercy. They brought in experience and tradition and legality, but they didn’t bring in the truth. When they brought their incriminations against Job, it caused him to defend himself and to declare that he was right. The minute Job started justifying himself he was not justifying God. Up to this point it looks as if Job is saying that God is wrong and that God is the One to be criticized. This is a position which many people take today, even many Christian people. The friends should have led Job to condemn himself and to vindicate God. God has recorded all these discourses in His Word to reveal this truth. The utterances of Job will prove how far he was from that true brokenness of spirit and humility of mind which flows from being in the divine Presence. His friends never brought him to the place where he said as Paul said, “For I know that in me (that is, in my flesh) dwelleth no good thing,” (Rom_7:18) or, “…by the grace of God I am what I am” (1Co_15:10). There are too many Christians today who boast of who they are and what they have done and how much they give. It looks as if God is on the receiving side and they are on the giving side. It looks as if they, rather than God, are superior. My friend, we are not witnessing correctly for Godno matter how many people we buttonhole and tell about Jesusunless you and I take the place where we are condemned and God is vindicated, and God is to be praised and honored. This is a tremendous lesson in this book.
Job 12:4
Job is a very sick man, but he is standing up to these three men. He tells them, “You fellows are in a comfortable position and you are able to give advice to me, but I am slipping. I am falling, and you have no word for me at all.” For years I served as a pastor, and I realize now how a professional attitude enters into our lives. I would go the hospital to visit a sick person, perhaps a dying person. I would pat him on the hand and say, “God will be with you,” and I would pray for him and say, “God will lead you.” Then I’d walk out. Well, the day came when I went to the hospital, not to visit someone, but to lie on that bed myself. When someone came to pray with me and walked out, I didn’t walk out. I stayed there. My friend, I want to say to you, that is quite a different position to be in. Now I was in the other fellow’s shoes. Now I was in bed and I was facing surgery. That is the time you need someone to help you and to comfort you. That is what Job is needing. For the rest of the chapter, Job goes on to say that his friends do not have such superior wisdom. They are not the only ones who know about God. Job also knows about the power of God in the affairs of men. Job now is bitter and sarcastic. His friends are not helping him at all, and he longs to appeal to God directly.