Job 12:24

He taketh away the heart of the chief of the people of the earth,.... The people of the earth are the common people; the "chief" or "heads" (f) of them, as it may be rendered, are kings, princes and

He taketh away the heart of the chief of the people of the earth, and causeth them to wander in a wilderness where there is no way. He taketh away the heart - intelligence.

The heart; which signifies either, 1. Their courage, as ; or rather, 2. Their wisdom and counsel, as , as the following words show. The chief; either for place and power, or for wisdom and conduct. Causeth them to wander in a wilderness, i.e. fills them with confusion, and uncertainty, and perplexity of mind, so that they know not how to govern themselves or their people.

Job 12:24 He taketh away the heart of the chief of the people of the earth, and causeth them to wander in a wilderness [where there is] no way.Ver. 24. He taketh away the heart of the chief of the people] That is, of the greatest part of the people of the world (say some). These God suffereth to walk in their own ways, Acts 14:16; to become vain in their imaginations, and their foolish heart is darkened; professing themselves to be wise, they become fools, Romans 1:21-22. As the philosophers of old, and the Chinese at this day, who are known to be ingenious, and used to say of themselves, that all other nations of the world see but with one eye, they only with two (Description of the World, of China and Cataia), yet continue they gross idolaters, mere heathens, having no less than a hundred thousand gods, which they worship one while and whip another, if they come not at a call. But the most interpreters, by chief or heads of the people, here understand their governors, of whom, though Job had said as much in effect before, viz. that God dispiriteth and besotteth them for a plague to the people who follow their rulers (and fall with them), as the body of a beast followeth the head; yet because few observe and improve this truth, therefore he repeateth and illustrateth it by three elegant similes. And first, He causeth them to wander in a wilderness, &c.] Not knowing which way to extricate themselves. They beat their brains about it, but to no purpose; they are so bewildered and puzzled, as if they were treading a maze; and this God causeth, he is active in it, while he withdraws his light, and delivereth them up to their own foolish hearts, and to the prince of darkness, to be further benighted, 2 Corinthians 4:4.

Verse 24. He taketh away the heart of the chief] Suddenly deprives the leaders of great counsels, or mighty armies of courage; so that, panic-struck, they flee when none pursueth, or are confounded when about to enter on the accomplishment of important designs. And causeth them to wander in a wilderness] A plain allusion to the journeyings of the Israelites in the deserts of Arabia, on their way to the promised land. Their chief, Aaron, had his courage all taken away by the clamours of the people; and so made them a molten calf to be the object of their worship, which defection from God was the cause of their wandering nearly forty years in the trackless wilderness. The reference is so marked, that it scarcely admits of a doubt; yet Houbigant and some others have called it in question, and suppose that those chiefs or heads of families which led out colonies into distant parts are principally intended. It answers too well to the case of the Israelites in the wilderness to admit of any other interpretation.

24. he taketh away the heart] i. e. the understanding; cf. on ch. Job 11:12. in a wilderness] Same word as in ch. Job 6:18. The word is that rendered “without form,” Genesis 1:2; Jeremiah 4:23, i. e. chaos. The reference is to the confusion and perplexity into which the chiefs are thrown. The word is finely used Isaiah 45:19, I said not to the seed of Jacob seek ye me in the waste, i. e. in uncertain conditions (A. V., in vain).

He taketh away the heart - The word heart here evidently means mind, intelligence, wisdom; see the notes at Job 12:3. Of the chief of the people - Hebrew “Heads of the people;” that is, of the rulers of the earth.

24. The heart — The same word, and perhaps the same allusion, as in Job 12:3. The first clause of the 21st verse, and the last clause of this, are literally reproduced in Psalms 107:40. “A plain allusion,” says Dr.