Job 12:1-6
Then Job answered and said: “No doubt you are the people, and wisdom will die with you. But I have understanding as well as you; I am not inferior to you. Who does not know such things as these? I am a laughingstock to my friends; I, who called to God and he answered me, a just and blameless man, am a laughingstock. In the thought of one who is at ease, there is contempt for misfortune; it is ready for those whose feet slip. The tents of robbers are at peace, and those who provoke God are secure, who bring their god in their hand.”
Sarcasm when talking to someone that has all the answers may be the best reply, that is the approach Job has taken, with his three friends. Verse one, “Then Job answered and said: “No doubt you are the people, and wisdom will die with you.” But in verse two we see Job following up with a large dose of truth for the three friends. “But I have understanding as well as you; I am not inferior to you. Who does not know such things as these?” Did you notice Job has moved from sarcasm to confrontation?
He reminds his friends that he also has been exposed to the same traditional wisdom as they have, that his body may be under attack, but his mind is still working. Unlike his three friends, he weighs the information before coming to a judgment.
Verses five and six, “In the thought of one who is at ease there is contempt for misfortune; it is ready for those whose feet slip. The tents of robbers are at peace, and those who provoke God are secure, who bring their god in their hand.” Job cannot wrap his mind around why a man of integrity is being tested as he is, and the wicked are living lives of comfort and peace.
I keep wondering if Job knew what was taking place in heaven between God and the devil, would it be easier to deal with? If you were the person God was talking about, when He said to the devil, “have you seen Job, no one on earth is like him.” How would you have acted, prideful, arrogant, or humble and meek?
From the Back Porch,
Bob Rice
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