Meditation Monday, July 8, 2013 Revived by His Word - chapter of the Job 12 Job Answers His Critics 12 Then Job answered and said: 2 “No doubt you are the people, And wisdom will die with you! 3 But I have 1understanding as well as you; I am not ainferior to you. Indeed, who does not know such things as these? 4 “I bam one mocked by his friends, Who ccalled on God, and He answered him, The just and blameless who is ridiculed. 5 A 2lamp is despised in the thought of one who is at ease; It is made ready for dthose whose feet slip. 6 eThe tents of robbers prosper, And those who provoke God are secure— In what God provides by His hand. 7 “But now ask the beasts, and they will teach you; And the birds of the air, and they will tell you; 8 Or speak to the earth, and it will teach you; And the fish of the sea will explain to you. 9 Who among all these does not know That the hand of the Lord has done this, 10 fIn whose hand is the 3life of every living thing, And the gbreath of 4all mankind? 11 Does not the ear test words And the 5mouth taste its food? 12 Wisdom is with aged men, And with 6length of days, understanding. 13 “With Him are hwisdom and strength, He has counsel and understanding. 14 If iHe breaks a thing down, it cannot be rebuilt; If He imprisons a man, there can be no release. 15 If He jwithholds the waters, they dry up; If He ksends them out, they overwhelm the earth. 16 With Him are strength and prudence. The deceived and the deceiver are His. 17 He leads counselors away plundered, And makes fools of the judges. 18 He loosens the bonds of kings, And binds their waist with a belt. 19 He leads 7princes away plundered, And overthrows the mighty. 20 lHe deprives the trusted ones of speech, And takes away the discernment of the elders. 21 mHe pours contempt on princes, And 8disarms the mighty. 22 He nuncovers deep things out of darkness, And brings the shadow of death to light. 23 oHe makes nations great, and destroys them; He 9enlarges nations, and guides them. 24 He takes away the 1understanding of the chiefs of the people of the earth, And pmakes them wander in a pathless wilderness. 25 qThey grope in the dark without light, And He makes them rstagger like a drunken man. Comments Job answered Zophar by saying that he knows what his friend is saying. Indeed there are true people of this generation representing human wisdom but when they die, their so-called wisdom will die with them (v. 2). Job says that human understanding is all the same and what his friends are saying is common knowledge that all humans share (v. 3). Job says that even advanced human knowledge is to go to “revelation” knowledge. (See Ellen White in the book of Education pp. 154-156) where she emphasized the same as Job here. Job is ridiculed by his friends because their frame of reference stops at human existence but Job is “the one who called on God and He answered him” (v. 4). The mystery of salvation is foolishness to the world. Even though God is above nature—a fact that Job’s friends emphasized with their stress on God’s sovereignty—Job reveals a personal God who answers the one who calls on Him (v. 4). The evil prosper and are secure because sometimes God permits them to be so” (v. 6). Job calls on his friends to carefully study all the animal sciences “the birds” (v. 7); “the earth” (v. 8); the oceans “fish of the sea” (v. 8). All these sciences point to the Creator as we see in Genesis Chapter 1. And Job confirms this by saying, “In Whose hand is the soul of all living things” (v. 10), which Moses had in mind in Genesis 2:7. Job’s friends should really do a study of the senses, the acoustical abilities of the ear to understand words and the ability of the mouth to taste food (v. 11). Moses was educated in the palace of Pharaoh by the best professors of the University of Egypt of that time, so these were subjects that he may have studied as well. Experiential knowledge is gained through age and long life (v. 12). Job points out that this kind of knowledge continues only as long as man lives; it is not enduring. “With God there is knowledge that endures; with Him there is counsel and understanding” (v. 13). Human knowledge may have insights but God’s knowledge is beyond human wisdom. One person’s knowledge can help another, but no man’s wisdom can replace the understanding of this universe with a deeper insight than the revelatory wisdom of God can do. Job then presents God as the all-knowing One who is totally involved with this world (vv. 14-25). He leads counselors away empty (v. 17); He makes fools of judges (v. 17); He loosens kings (v. 18); He leads away priests (v. 19). In essence, God has the power to give and take away: speech (v. 20); discernment (v. 20); revelation (v. 22); nations (v. 23); intelligence (v. 24); and influence and power of the strong (v. 21). In the next chapter, Job continues with his thoughts. Dear God Give us the perspective of Your revelation to put all our insights in proper order to share Your knowledge and salvation with this world. Amen Koot van Wyk Kyungpook National University Sangju, South Korea
Posted on: Mon, 08 Jul 2013 14:27:23 +0000
Trending Topics
Recently Viewed Topics
© 2015