Job 12:23

He increaseth the nations, and destroyeth them,.... As he did before the flood, when the earth was tilled, and all over peopled with them, but at the flood he destroyed them at once.

He increaseth the nations, and destroyeth them: he enlargeth the nations, and straiteneth them again. He increaseth the nations.

What hitherto he said of princes, he now applies to nations and people, whom God doth either increase or diminish as he pleaseth. He enlargeth the nations; he multiplies them, so that they are forced to send forth colonies into other lands. Straiteneth them again; or, leadeth them in, or bringeth them back, into their own land, and confineth them there.

Job 12:23 He increaseth the nations, and destroyeth them: he enlargeth the nations, and straiteneth them [again].Ver. 23. He increaseth the nations, and destroyeth them] It is all one with God whether against a single man or a whole nation, Job 34:29, when he once taketh them to do. "The wicked shall be turned into hell," and (that they may not hope to escape because a multitude) "all the nations that forget God," Psalms 9:17. Soon after the flood the Babel builders were scattered; Sodom and her sisters were not only consumed with fire from heaven, Genesis 19:23-29, but thrown forth for an example, suffering the vengeance of eternal fire, Judges 1:7. Some nations were ejected, and others substituted, Deuteronomy 2:10; Deuteronomy 2:12; Deuteronomy 2:20. Some utterly wasted and rooted out, such as the Edomites, Ammonites, Moabites, &c., that live by fame only; others not so much as by fame, their very names being blotted out from under heaven. "The cities be wasted without inhabitant, and the houses without man, and the land is utterly desolate," Isaiah 6:11. Now all this is the Lord’ s own doing, and should be marvellous in our eyes. He plants, and plucks up; he builds, and breaks down, Jeremiah 31:28. He enlargeth the nations, and straiteneth them again] Or, that he may straiten them again: so in the former clause, that he may destroy them. This if he may justly do to whole nations, why should it seem so strange that he suffereth particular persons, though wicked, to prosper for a season; and though righteous, for a while to suffer hardship?

(23) He increaseth the nations, and destroyeth them.—The latter part of this chapter teaches us a truth that is apt to be forgotten in the present day, which is, nevertheless, the key to much of the history of the world Why is it that nations are marked with such characteristic differences? as, for instance, the Greeks, the Romans, and the Jews in ancient times; the French, the English, and the Germans in our own. Why is it that the counsel of the wisest sometimes faileth, as with Ahitophel—the bravery of the boldest sometimes forsaketh them? but because there is One working underneath it all for His own ends and to His own glory, as seemeth Him good. Zophar, with all his common sense, had scarcely risen to the perception of this truth, for while Job maintained that there was always a deeper depth, he was prepared, at all events, to imply that the dealings of God were intelligible, and approved themselves to the conceptions of human equity. Job, on the other hand, declared that they were inscrutable, and, consequently, from their very darkness, suggested the necessity for faith His teaching here may seem to savour of fatalism, but that is simply because he deals only with one side of the problem. Had he found occasion, he would have stated with equal force the correlative truth of the absolute responsibility of man, even though but as clay in the hands of the potter; for, in fact, were it not so, how then should God judge the world? Into the mazes of this problem Job enters not, being concerned with other questions and mysteries. Job s conception, therefore, of the righteous government of God as far transcended that of his friends as their estimate of his righteousness fell short of the truth. Justly, therefore, he exclaims, “I am not inferior unto you.”

Verse 23. He increaseth the nations] Mr. Good translates, He letteth the nations grow licentious. Pride, fulness of bread, with extensive trade and commerce, produce luxury; and this is ever accompanied with profligacy of manners. When, then, the cup of this iniquity is full, God destroys the nation, by bringing or permitting to come against it a nation less pampered, more necessitous, and inured to toil. He enlargeth the nations] Often permits a nation to acquire an accession of territory, and afterwards shuts them up within their ancient boundaries, and often contracts even those. All these things seem to occur as natural events, and the consequences of state intrigues, and such like causes; but when Divine inspiration comes to pronounce upon them, they are shown to be the consequence of God's acting in his judgment and mercy; for it is by him that kings reign; it is he who putteth down one and raiseth up another.

23. God’s rule among the nations and direction of their fate. and straiteneth them again] Perhaps, and leadeth them away, cf. 2 Kings 18:17. The clause is obscure, it may not be a direct, but an inverse parallel to the first clause, and mean: he spreadeth abroad (or, scattereth, cf. Jeremiah 8:2; Numbers 11:32), and giveth them settlements again.

He increaseth the nations, and destroyeth them - He has entire control over them.

23. Straiteneth them — Leadeth them away (into captivity). Compare 2 Kings 18:11.