Job 12:13-16
“With Him are wisdom and might;
To Him belong counsel and understanding.
“Behold, He tears down, and it cannot be rebuilt;
He imprisons a man, and there can be no release.
“Behold, He restrains the waters, and they dry up;
And He sends them out, and they inundate the earth.
“With Him are strength and sound wisdom,
The misled and the misleader belong to Him.
Chapter twelve is AWESOME!!! The last of Job's friends (accusers?) has just spoken and was the sharpest in his remarks. Zophar has simply stated what they all must truly believe and what we often believe of those in suffering ... God is punishing Job for some terrible sin no one knows about. Yet, that is the farthest thing from the truth. In response to Zophar (and his freinds) statements, Job begins the chapter with a sarcastic statement of his own, that we might translate today like this:
"Well, aren't you The Man!!! You are the wisest and smartest ever!! No one can hold a candle to you and your words!!!
That's not exactly what he said, but that is what he meant. These three friends are pouring out their version of wisdom and Job is about to give them his thoughts. Chapter twelve begins a change in Job, however, as he begins to deflect less of these three friends and, rather, engage more of God and interaction with God. In the above passage we have the foundation for that transition. In these verses Job tells us where wisdom comes from (God) and even how God controls who gets it and how it is heard. Note the last line in the above: With Him are strength and sound wisdom, the "misled" and the the "misleader" belong to Him. Wow!! Do you see that? Job is telling his friends that God is the One who has wisdom and God will allow wisdom to be distributed on this earth the way HE wants. He is telling his friends, "You may think you have wisdom, but God is the one who OWNS it and distributes it the way He wants." In fact, God even controls the "non-wisdom" and the "foolish" who speak. He also controls those who believe the foolish. God allows false wisdom to populate the earth because, in the end, it will be used to accomplish His plan. If you remember after Solomon's death, his son, Rehoboam became king. Instead of listening to his father's advisors about a labor dispute (lead by Jeraboam), he instead listened to his friends. That "false" wisdom lead to the split in the kingdom, with the tribes of Judah and Benjamin (Judah) splitting from the other ten tribes (Israel). We might want to say Rehoboam was wrong and should have listened to his father's friends. We would be right ... and, wrong! God used the false counsel of Rehoboam's friends (the "misleader") to lead Rehoboam (the misled) down the path God wanted to accomplish His plan for the Nation. The truth is, God is the controller of all speech and all truth and all false truth parading itself as truth. God is the one who allows false words to be spoken from the sinful deceit in man's heart and for that false wisdom to enter and connect with the evilness in the hearts of men to accomplish His will. If people are listening to "your" wisdom it is because God allows it. If people are listening to false wisdom it is because God allows it to accomplish His greater purpose. That't the truth!!
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