Commentary - Job 12:7-12

Bird's-eye view

In this section of Job's reply to his friends, he essentially tells them to stop talking and start looking. Their theology was tidy, predictable, and utterly disconnected from the raw sovereignty of God that Job was experiencing firsthand. To correct their sterile platitudes, Job points them to the created order. He tells them that if they would but ask the beasts of the field or the birds of the air, they would receive a better theology lesson than the one they had been trying to give him. The whole of creation, from the dirt to the fish, testifies to one central, undeniable fact: the hand of Yahweh is sovereign over all things. This is not a hidden truth; it is blazingly obvious. Job then pivots from the testimony of creation to the faculty of discernment, comparing the ear's ability to test words with the tongue's ability to taste food. He is calling out his friends for their lack of spiritual taste buds. They are serving up theological poison, and he can taste it. The passage concludes with a sharp piece of irony about wisdom belonging to the aged, a direct jab at these older friends who were speaking foolishly.

Outline

Commentary

7 “But now ask the beasts, and let them instruct you; And the birds of the sky, and let them tell you.

Job is fed up with the counsel of his friends. Their words are empty because their theology is a closed system, one where God is tamed and predictable. So Job tells them where to go for a real education: the zoo. Go ask the animals. The beasts will instruct you, and the birds will tell you. This is a reference to what theologians call general revelation. The created order is not silent; it is shouting truths about its Creator. Paul tells us in Romans that God's eternal power and divine nature are clearly perceived in the things that have been made, leaving men without excuse (Rom. 1:20). Job is making the same point. The lion in its strength, the eagle in its flight, the ant in its industry, they all preach a sermon about the God who made them. Job's friends had Bibles full of words, but they were deaf to the sermon being preached by every creature under heaven.

8 Or muse to the earth, and let it instruct you; And let the fish of the sea recount it to you.

The classroom is expanded. It's not just the fauna; it's the whole frame of the world. Talk to the dirt. The word muse here means to speak or meditate. Ponder the earth, and it will teach you. The mountains declare His majesty, the rivers His provision, the soil His faithfulness in the seasons. Then go to the sea. The fish will recount, or declare, the same story. From the heights of the air to the depths of the sea, the testimony is consistent. The universe is not a random collection of matter and energy. It is a gallery of God's glory, and every piece of art tells you something about the Artist. The modern materialist looks at a fish and sees a product of blind evolutionary processes. Job looks at a fish and sees a storyteller, a witness to the power and wisdom of God.

9 Who among all these does not know That the hand of Yahweh has done this,

This is the climax of Job's appeal to creation, and it is a rhetorical question dripping with sarcasm. Who among all these creatures doesn't know this? The implication is that the beasts, birds, earth, and fish all know who is in charge. The only ones confused about the matter are Job's highly educated, deeply religious friends. The knowledge of God's sovereignty is elementary. It is Creation 101. And notice the name Job uses: Yahweh. This is the covenant name of God. This is not some generic "first cause" or "intelligent designer." The God who holds the universe together is the same God who makes promises and keeps them. The hand of Yahweh has done this. His personal, powerful, and purposeful agency is behind everything.

10 In whose hand is the life of every living thing, And the breath of all the flesh of man?

Here Job defines the extent of that sovereign hand. It is not a deistic hand that wound up the clock and let it go. It is a hand that actively, presently, and absolutely sustains the life, or soul, of every living thing. Your next breath is a gift from this hand. The breath of all mankind is on loan from the Creator. There is no square inch in the entire cosmos where God is not king. This is the doctrine of God's absolute sovereignty. It is a terrifying doctrine for those who want to be their own god, but it is the greatest comfort for the child of God. For Job, sitting on an ash heap, this truth was both crushing and comforting. The same hand that had allowed his suffering was the hand that was still holding his very breath. There is no escape from this God, which means for the believer, there is no place where His grace cannot reach.

11 Does not the ear test words, As the palate tastes its food?

Having established the clear testimony of creation, Job now turns to the faculty of human discernment. He uses a common-sense analogy. Your tongue knows the difference between a crisp apple and a rotten one. You don't need a manual to tell you that something tastes bad; you just know. In the same way, the ear is designed to test words. It is meant to discern truth from error, wisdom from folly. Job is telling his friends, "I have heard what you are saying, and my spiritual palate is telling me that it is rotten. It tastes of man-made religion, not the fear of the Lord." This is a crucial skill for every believer. We are to be Bereans, testing everything we hear against the standard of Scripture (Acts 17:11). We must cultivate a taste for the truth, so that when error is served up, we immediately recognize the foul taste.

12 Wisdom is with aged men, With long life is discernment.

This verse has to be read with the context firmly in mind. Job is not offering a sincere compliment. He is wielding the sharp blade of irony. His friends, Eliphaz, Bildad, and Zophar, were all older than him. They had appealed to their age and the wisdom of tradition as the basis for their authority. Job is now turning their own premise back on them. "Oh, yes," he says, "wisdom is with the aged. That's what they say, isn't it? So why is it that you gray-haired counselors are speaking such tasteless foolishness, words that even the donkeys would know better than to bray?" He is contrasting the reputation for wisdom that comes with age against the reality of the foolishness he is hearing. True wisdom is not a necessary byproduct of having many birthdays. True wisdom is the fear of Yahweh (Prov. 9:10). Age ought to bring wisdom, but if a man's years are not spent in submission to God, he simply becomes an old fool.

Application

First, we must learn to see the world as Job saw it. Creation is a preacher, and it preaches every day. We are surrounded by a cacophony of voices telling us that the world is a cosmic accident. We must intentionally tune our ears to the sermon of the stars, the testimony of the trees, and the witness of the whales. All of it points to the sovereign hand of Yahweh. This practice cultivates a constant awareness of God's glory and power, which is the antidote to both pride and despair.

Second, we must develop our spiritual taste buds. We live in an age of theological junk food. Slickly produced sermons and best-selling books often serve up a diet of sentimentalism, moralism, and self-help, all with a thin Christian veneer. We must train our ears to test words as the palate tastes food. This requires a steady diet of the strong meat of God's Word. The more you taste the goodness of the Lord in Scripture, the quicker you will be to spit out the synthetic flavors of false teaching.

Finally, we must distinguish between the appearance of wisdom and the real thing. Our culture idolizes youth, but the church can sometimes make the opposite mistake, assuming that age automatically equals godliness or wisdom. Job reminds us that it is possible to be old and foolish. True wisdom is found in fearing God and keeping His commandments, regardless of one's age. And this wisdom, ultimately, is found in a person: Jesus Christ, "in whom are hidden all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge" (Col. 2:3).