Job 12:1-3 Falling Down With Eyes Open

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Transcript

 Welcome to the InAllWisdom Podcast,
A Daily Podcast dedicated to wisdom for life.
I am Jim Donnelly, your host.
 
 
I have completed a commentary on
The book of Ecclesiastes, all 222 verses.
My book title is:
Ecclesiastes Amplified: A Collection of Wise Words 
It is in the proofreading stage.
 
In the meantime, I am working on 
the book of Job, 
all forty-two chapters, all 1070 verses.
My book title prompts 
a different approach to understanding
the book of Job: 
My book title is: 

Job True Story – Well Spoken Well Written:

Subtitled: A Story About a Mighty God Who Does Not Distance Himself from Human Suffering 
 
Today’s Podcast is from Job Chapter 12:1-3

The title: Falling Down Flat on the Ground with Eyes Open

The background of “Falling Down” involves two significant Events. 

The first is the Lord’s visit to the building site of the Tower of Babel, a time prior to the Patriarchs of 2100 BC. 

The second is the Lord’s presence and activity during the Prophetic Events that took place on the Plains of Moab in 1400 BC. 
 
Allow me first to read Job chapter 12:1-3 
1 Then Job responded, 
2 “Truly then you are the people, 
And with you wisdom will die! 
3 “But I have intelligence as well as you; 
I am not inferior to you. 
And who does not know such things as these? (Job 12:1-3, NASB). 


“Truly then you are the people, and with you wisdom will die! (Job 12:2, NASB).

The first half of verse two is a shout out to Genesis 11; 

and in combination with the second half, prompts a reflection upon Psalm 82. 

The connection to a Psalm is an indication that the readers of the book of Job lived in a time well after the time of Moses. D.A. Garrett in his 2024 Commentary on Job, wrote this: “While it possible that one might have found such a learned poet among postexilic Jews, I think it more likely that he lived in Israel’s golden age, the reign of Solomon, when learning flourished and international contacts were well established.[ Garrett, D. A. (2024). Job (D. Lamb & T. Longman III, Eds.; pp. 14–15). Lexham Academic.]” Circa 940 BC

A literal translation of Job 12:2a, yields: “Truly, you are a people! 

“A People” a translation representing a single Hebrew word is not an easy translation.

 
These words “a people” transported the minds of the original readers and hearers to a city construction site. 
It was the Lord’s visit to the building site of the Tower of Babel, and it is recorded in the book of Genesis as follows: The Lord said, “Behold, a people, one, and there is one lip [speech, language] to them. And this is what they began to do, and now nothing which they purpose to do will be impossible for them. ‘Come, let Us go down and there confuse their lip [speech, language], so that they will not understand the lip [speech, language] of their neighbor. 
So, the Lord scattered them abroad from there over the face of the whole earth; and they stopped building the city. Therefore, its name was called Babel, because there the Lord confused the lip [speech, language] of the whole earth; and from there the Lord scattered them abroad over the face of the whole earth.” (see, Genesis 11:6-9, NASB). That confusing of the lip of a people, then scattering them took place at a time prior to the Patriarchs of 2100 BC. Notwithstanding the occasional exception, evangelical scholarship has abandoned a pre-Israelite date for the book’s composition. Garrett, D. A. (2024). Job (D. Lamb & T. Longman III, Eds.; p. 4). Lexham Academic.
 
 
Next, when we join Job 12:2a with 12:2b. There we read and hear the usage of the 2nd person, masculine plural pronoun, “you” as follows: “You are a people “and “with you wisdom will die! (Job 12:2b, NASB). 

The early audience of the book of Job, was familiar with Psalm 82, whose key lyrics are in the song that the Lord gave to Moses, promising that the words of “this song” would be in the mouth of His people, on their lips as a witness, (see, Deuteronomy 31:21).  
The original readers and hearers of the written story of Job would have read and heard words they sang from the song of Moses and Psalm 82, which both mentioned “gods”. 
Here is the section of Psalm 82 which helps us to understand who Job’s words were targeting.  
“They do not know, nor do they understand; They Walk about in darkness; all the foundations of the earth are shaken. I said, ‘You are gods, and all of you are sons of the Most High. Nevertheless, you will die like men and fall like any one of the princes.’  Arise, O God, judge the earth! For it is You who possesses all the nations.’ (Psalm 82:5-8, NASB),

Moving on to Job 12:3 we read: 

“But I have intelligence as well as you, 
I am not inferior to you. (Job 12:3, NASB). 
Again, “you” is masculine plural.
 
“Falling from you” is normally explained as a statement between peers. One peer says to another: “I am not inferior to you”.

That translation works. What’s more, the Hebrew can be literally translated “I am not falling from you”[i] Which is the idea: “I too am falling”. And the Hebrew behind that translation takes the reader or listener back to a time and place within Job’s lifetime.

That setting includes the Lord’s presence and activity during the Prophetic Events that took place on the Plains of Moab around 1400 BC.

The early readers and hearers of the written book of Job would have been transported in their minds to this first scene:

        “When Balaam saw that it pleased the Lord to bless Israel, he did not go as at other times to seek omens, but he set his face toward the wilderness. And Balaam lifted up his eyes and saw Israel camping tribe by tribe; and the Spirit of God came upon him. He took up his discourse and said, ‘The oracle of Balaam the son of Beor, And the oracle of the man whose eye is opened; the oracle of him who hears the words of God, who sees the vision of the Almighty, falling down [flat on the ground, see Endnote], yet having his eyes uncovered,’” (see Numbers 24:1-4).  

The second scene is this one:

            Then Balak’s anger burned against Balaam, and he struck his hands together; and Balak said to Balaam, ‘I called you to curse my enemies, but behold, you have persisted in blessing them these three times!  Therefore, flee to your place now. I said I would honor you greatly, but behold, the Lord has held you back from honor.’ Balaam said to Balak, ‘Did I not tell your messengers whom you had sent to me, saying, Though Balak were to give me his house full of silver and gold, I could not do anything contrary to the command of the Lord, either good or bad, of my own accord. What the Lord speaks, that I will speak? And now, behold, I am going to my people; come, and I will advise you what this people will do to your people in the days to come.’ He took up his discourse and said, 
‘The oracle of Balaam the son of Beor, And the oracle of the man whose eye is opened, the oracle of him who hears the words of God, and knows the knowledge of the Most High, Who sees the vision of the Almighty, Falling down, yet having his eyes uncovered. I see him, but not now; I behold him, but not near; A star shall come forth from Jacob, A scepter shall rise from Israel, and shall crush through the forehead of Moab, and tear down all the sons of Sheth. Edom shall be a possession, Seir, its enemies, also will be a possession, While Israel performs valiantly. One from Jacob shall have dominion, and will destroy the remnant from the city.’” (Numbers 24:10-19, NASB). 
 
I will leave you now so you can ponder these things on your own. There is much more to follow. And as we take this trek through all forty-two chapters of Job, you can already see that it is deeper and wider than you ever imagined. We are at the 28% marker. Please press on. It is like a marathon. You haven’t hit the wall yet. 
 
For some of you, one verse at a time is enough. Training for a marathon takes a long time. In Job sometimes one verse is quite a workout.

For others who know the book better, for sure you can take on sections of a chapter. That for you is a good workout.

To take an entire chapter on, now that is an intense workout.

Without the work, one word at a time, one verse at a time, one chapter at time; you cannot come to a knowledge and understanding of the book of Job.
 Isn’t that what Wisdom says: 

“I, wisdom, dwell with prudence, And I find knowledge and discretion. 
The fear of the Lord is to hate evil; pride and arrogance and the evil way 
And the perverted mouth, I hate. Counsel is mine and sound wisdom; 
I am understanding, power is mine. By me kings reign, and rulers decree justice. 
By me princes rule, and nobles, all who judge rightly.  love those who love me; 
And those who diligently seek me will find me. Riches and honor are with me, 
Enduring wealth and righteousness. My fruit is better than gold, even pure gold, 
And my yield better than choicest silver. I walk in the way of righteousness, 
In the midst of the paths of justice, To endow those who love me with wealth, 
That I may fill their treasuries.” (Proverbs 8:12-21, NASB). 
 
We have come to the end of today’s InAllWisdom Podcast. 

A Daily Podcast dedicated 
to wisdom for life. 

Thank you for listening!
 
Please join with me again for another interesting episode about Wisdom for Life as He works in us for His good pleasure. 
 
Until He COMES ON THE CLOUDS OF THE SKY with power and great glory, 

The Lord bless you, and keep you; 
The Lord make His face shine on you, And be gracious to you; 
The Lord lift up His countenance on you, And give you peace.  

 (Numbers 6:24–26).

[ The traditional translation of אָמְנָם כִּי אַתֶּם־עָם (ʾāmǝnām kî ʾattem-ʿām), “No doubt you are the people” (NRSV, following the KJV), has a certain dramatic impact, but it achieves that only by adding a definite article. Even so, it has no clear meaning. Because “You truly are a people” is a pointless statement, scholars have devoted a good deal of attention to trying to explain the line. For example, the proposed translation “gentry” is unpersuasive, against Pope (90), as is “a company,” against Seow (629–30). The NIV rendering, “Doubtless you are the only people who matter,” is forced, as is the Tanakh translation, “You are the voice of the people.” John A. Davies, “Note on Job 12:2,” VT 25.3 (1975), 670–71, takes line b as a relative clause and so translates the verse, “No doubt you are the people with whom wisdom will die,” but this rendering is impossible (there is no relative clause) notwithstanding the support of Habel (213), Konkel and Longman (92), and Clines (1989, 279). As Seow (630) observes, “The attractiveness of Davies’s solution is due more to the sense it makes of the text than the evidence he gives.”
Garrett, D. A. (2024). Job (D. Lamb & T. Longman III, Eds.). Lexham Academic.] See endnote.

 [i] “Literally ‘I am not falling from you’ (lōʾ-nōpēl ʾānōkî mikkem), that is, fallen under them in terms of his intelligence.” Longman, T., III, ed. (2012). Baker Commentary on the Old Testament: Job (p. 193). Baker Academic.

Endnote added: “The prophecy of Balaam, Beor’s son, the prophecy of the man whose eye is opened, who sees a vision from the Almighty, falling flat on the ground with eyes uncovered,”

Awabdy, M. A. (2023). Numbers (B. T. Arnold, Ed.; p. 380). Baker Academic: A Division of Baker Publishing Group.