Job 11:12

For vain man would be wise,.... Or "hollow" (r), empty man; empty of all that is good, though full of all unrighteousness; without God, the knowledge, love, and fear of him; without Christ, the

For vain man would be wise, though man be born like a wild ass's colt. Vain man - hollow or empty [ naabuwb (H5014)].

Or, Yet, or But, vain or empty man (that foolish creature, that since the fall is void of all true wisdom and solid knowledge and judgment of the things of God) would be wise, i.e. pretends to be, and would be thought, wise, and able to pass a censure upon all God’ s ways and works. Or thus, But vain man is foolish, or without heart, i.e. without understanding, unable to judge aright of the ways and things of God. For a verb very like this and coming from the same root, signifies to have one’ s heart taken away, . Though man be born; and man is born, i. e. he is by his birth such: this evil is now natural and hereditary, and therefore common to all men; and therefore it is not strange if Job partake of the common distemper. Like a wild ass’ s colt, i.e. ignorant, and dull, and stupid, as to the knowledge of Divine things, and withal heady and untractable; and therefore very incompetent to judge of these high affairs.

Job 11:12 For vain man would be wise, though man be born [like] a wild ass’ s colt.Ver. 12. For vain man would be wise] Heb. Hollow man, that is, as void of grace as a hollow tree is of heart of oak. Would be wise] Heb. Would be hearty, egregie cordatus homo, there is an elegance in the original that cannot be translated into English. "Wilt thou know, O vain man," saith St James, James 2:20. The Greek is, thou empty man, κενε, thou that hast nothing in thee, and yet art highly conceited; thou that art (Ephraim like) a silly dove without a heart, Hosea 7:11, and yet in superbiam erectus (as the Vulgate here hath it), raised up to pride: that little knowledge he hath puffeth him up, 1 Corinthians 8:1. So bellows like is the natural soul, or rather so bladder like, that, filled with earthly vanities, it grows great, and swelleth in pride; but pricked with the least pin of piercing grief, it shrivelleth to nothing. The prophet Isaiah fitly compareth it to a bulrush, Isaiah 58:5, the colour whereof is fresh, the skin smooth; but if you peel it, what is under but a kind of spongeous, unsubstantial substance, of no use in the world worth the speaking of? Formalists and pretenders to holiness are flat nothing, worse than nothing, iniquity, Matthew 23:28. Though man be born as a wild ass’ s colt] Take him in his pure naturals, he is no wiser; created he was in God’ s image, which consisted in knowledge, righteousness, and holiness; knowledge in his understanding, rightness or straightness in his will, and holiness in his affections, Ephesians 4:24. But since the fall all this is lost and gone quite; he hath principium laesum, neither can he know the things of God, no, though he be φυχικος, a souly man, one that doth excolere animam, develops the soul, such as Cicero and Aristotle; yet is he in spirituals as blind as a beetle, a mere ass’ s colt. A colt is not among the wisest of creatures, much less an ass’ s colt, least of all a wild ass’ s colt; and yet such is man, sensual man, Judges 19:22, sapless man, Psalms 14:1, he is as an ass’ s foal for rudeness, a wild ass for unruliness, untamed, and untractable. Surely as a wild ass’ s colt (saith Gregory upon this text), not used to the yoke, runneth up and down the large fields and woods at his pleasure, and when he is weary lieth down, and thus doth from day to day: so man by nature is licentious, running as his lusts carry him, to all manner of sin, and giveth not overrunning till he is weary; he will not be held in by any reins, or kept to do the work he should by any yoke which the Lord by teaching seeks to put upon him.

(12) For vain man would be wise, &c., is extremely difficult, because it is hard to distinguish subject and predicate. Literally, it runs, And hollow man is instructed, and the wild ass’s colt is born a man. Whether it means that if God did not thus conceal His observation of human actions, the very fool and the most obstinate would become instructed and disciplined, whereas now they are allowed to go on in their folly and obstinacy; or whether it is meant that, notwithstanding the dealings of Providence, hollow-hearted man is still devoid of heart, and every son of Adam at his birth is a very wild ass colt; or whether, again, it is meant that by reason of the Divine discipline the hollow-hearted man is disciplined, and the very wild ass colt is born a man and humanised, it is hard to decide. The uncertainty in part arises from our not knowing the exact meaning of the first verb: whether it is to get understanding or to be deprived of it—for either is possible. Another way of taking the context is to refer the last clause of Job 11:11, not to God, but to man. Man sees not that God sees him, for an empty man will get understanding when a wild ass’s colt is born a man—that is, the latter is as likely as the former. One point is pretty clear, that by the wild ass’s colt Zophar means Job. However, he suggests that if he will become something better and wiser, and will put away his secret sin, which he is convinced must cling to him, then he shall again know prosperity and be established in it.

Verse 12. For vain man would be wise] The original is difficult and uncertain, ואיש נבוב ילבב veish nabub yillabeb, "And shall the hollow man assume courage," or "pride himself?" Or, as Mr. Good rather paraphrases it, Will he then accept the hollow-hearted person? The Chaldee gives two renderings: An eloquent man shall become wiser in his heart, and the colt of the wild ass is born as the son of man. Or, The wise man shall ponder it; and the refractory youth, who at last becomes prudent, shall make a great man. Coverdale.-A vayne body exalteth him self; and the son of man is like a wylde asse's foale. Houbigant translates thus: - A man who hath understanding will become prudent; but he who is as the wild ass hath no heart, i.e., sense. According to this critic, the meaning is this: - A man of sense, should he at any time transgress, will learn wisdom from it; but a man of a brutish mind, uncultivated and unreflecting, will plunge yet deeper into iniquity. Though man be born like a wild ass's colt] Is translated by Mr. Good, Or shall the wild ass colt assume the man? This is making a sense, but such as I fear the original will never allow. There is no end to the translations of this verse, and conjectures relative to its meaning. I shall conclude with the Vulgate. - Vir vanus in superbiam erigitur, et tanquam pullum onagri se liberum natum putat, "Vain man is puffed up with pride; and he supposes himself to be born free like the wild ass's colt." Man is full of self-conceit; and imagines himself born to act as he pleases, to roam at large, to be under no control, and to be accountable to none for his actions.

12. Having finished his brilliant picture of God’s omniscient wisdom, Zophar adds further brilliancy to it by contrasting it with the brutishness of man. The verse perhaps should read, But an empty man will become wise When a wild ass colt is born a man, the one thing will happen when the other happens. The verse seems to be in the shape of a proverb, and is full of alliterations which cannot be reproduced in translation. The word “empty” is properly “hollow;” and “to become wise” is literally “to get heart,” i. e. understanding or mind (ch. Job 9:4, Job 12:3). The last phrase was understood by Gesenius to mean “to be without heart” or understanding. Following this view, many translate: But empty man is void of understanding, yea, man is born (like) a wild ass colt. Gesenius objects to the other that it offends against dignity. The verse has been interpreted in a great variety of ways.

For vain man - Margin, “empty.” נבוב nâbûb, according to Gesenius, from the root נבב nâbab, to bore through, and then to be hollow; metaphorical, “empty,” “foolish.” The Septuagint, strangely

12. For — And or so. The transition of thought is, according to Hirtzel, “Over against this infinite knowledge of God man appears as a born fool.” Its drift, rather, is to show the effect of the