Job 12:10

Job 12:10 In whose hand [is] the soul of every living thing, and the breath of all mankind.

Ver. 10. In whose hand is the soul of every living thing] That is, the life of every beast, flowing from a sensitive soul, Lev 17:10-11. This, God both giveth to the creature and conserveth it; he suffereth it not to be taken away from little sparrows, or the like, without order from him; much less befalleth any such thing to man without his singular providence, since our very hairs also are numbered, Mat 9:30 Luk 12:7. The Jewish doctors do therefore offer manifest injury to Job when they say, that he held indeed that God created, and doth preserve, the several kinds of things, but permitteth the particulars and individuals to be hap hazard; whereas here he delivereth his judgment plainly to the contrary, when he saith,

And the breath of all mankind] Heb. The spirit of all man’s flesh (and so Broughton readeth it), that is, of every man’s body: hence God is called the God of the spirits of all flesh, Num 16:22, and the Father of spirits, Heb 12:9, and the former of the spirit of man within him, Zec 12:1. "My times are in thy hand," saith David, Psa 31:15. God preserves our lives as a light in a lantern, and we may be glad it is in so safe a hand; we should therefore honour him, as Daniel telleth Belshazzar, Dan 5:23; yea, "let everything that hath breath praise the Lord," Psa 150:6; or, as the Hebrew hath it, Let every breath praise the Lord: as oft as we breathe we are to breathe out the praise of God, and to make our breath like the smoke of the tabernacle; this we should do the rather because our breath is in our nostrils, Isa 2:22, every moment ready to puff out, and the grave cannot praise God, death cannot celebrate him, Isa 38:18.

John Trapp, A Commentary or Exposition upon All the Books of the Old and New Testament (1647–1656) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Job 12:10. In whose hand is the soul — That is, the life, or the principle of life; of every living thing — That is, of all irrational animals, of which he spake, Job 12:7, opposed to man in the last words of this verse. He means, in whose absolute power it is to give life or to take it away, when and how it seemeth good to him; and the breath of all mankind — Or, the spirit, as the word רוח, ruach, here used, commonly means; that is, the immortal soul, which is no less a creature, and in God’s power to dispose of it, than the animal soul or life of brutes.

Joseph Benson's Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1811–1818) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Or, flesh.

Geneva Bible (1599) marginal notes — public domain. Text via Bolls.life.

the soul--that is, the animal life. Man, reasons Job, is subjected to the same laws as the lower animals.

Jamieson, Fausset & Brown — Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

Verse 10. In whose hand is the soul of every living thing] נפש כל חי nephesh col chai, "the soul of all life."

And the breath of all mankind.] ורוח כל בשר veruach col besar, "and the spirit or breath of all flesh." Does not the first refer to the immortal soul, the principle of all intellectual life; and the latter to the breath, respiration, the grand means by which animal existence is continued? See Job 10:1.

Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible (1810–1826) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

10. This verse rounds off the statement in Job_12:7 seq. that God moves among the living creatures upon the earth, dispensing life and death, in a way absolute and uncontrolled.

The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges (gen. ed. J. J. S. Perowne; Cambridge University Press, 1878–1918) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Doth not the ear try words?.... Articulate sounds; and the mind by them judges whether what is expressed and designed by them is right or wrong, true or false, to be received or rejected; so such that have spiritual ears to hear, try the words of God and men, the wholesome words of Christ, and those of false teachers, which eat as a canker; and by their spiritual judgment can distinguish between the one and the other, discern those that differ, and approve those that are excellent, by bringing them to the standard of the word, the balance of the sanctuary, the Scriptures of truth:

and the mouth taste his meat? and judge of it, whether good or bad, or savoury or unsavoury, and so receive or reject it: thus such who have their taste changed, and relish spiritual things, can distinguish between the meat that perishes, and that which endures to everlasting life, even Christ, whose flesh is meat indeed; and those that have tasted that the Lord is gracious, and to whose taste the fruits of Christ and the doctrines of grace are sweet; these will desire the sincere milk of the word, and that strong meat in it, which belongs to discerning and experienced souls; and will feed by faith upon the pure word of the Gospel, and mix it with it, and reject all others. Job by this would signify, that the things his friends had been discoursing of, and which they thought were such deep and wonderful things, were as easy to be searched and found out, tried and judged of, as sounds by the ear, or food by the taste; and it may be also that hereby he suggests, that his doctrine, if it was impartially examined and tried by proper judges, it would appear as plain as anything tried by the ear, or tasted by the mouth. Some think that Job intends by this, that from the senses of hearing and tasting in men might be inferred the omniscience of God, his knowledge of all things, and his quick discernment of men, and their actions, since "he that planted the ear, shall he not hear? he that formed the eye, shall not he see?" Psa 94:9. Some versions read the whole, "doth not the ear try words, as the mouth tastes his meat" (q)? as in Job 34:3. Saadiah Gaon connects these words "as the ear tries words", &c. with Job 12:12, "so with the ancient is wisdom".

(q) Vatablus, Drusius, Junius et Tremellius, Piscator, Mercerus, Cocceius, Schultens; so Broughton.

John Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible (1746–1763) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

In whose hand is the soul of every living thing - Margin, “Life.” The margin is the more correct rendering. The idea is, that all are under the control of God. He gives life, and health, and happiness when he pleases, and when he chooses he takes them away. His sovereignty is manifested, says Job, in the inferior creation, or among the beasts of the field, the fishes of the sea, and the fowls of heaven.

And the breath of all mankind - Margin, “Flesh of man.” The margin is in accordance with the Hebrew. The meaning is, that man is subjected to the same laws as the rest of the creation. God is a sovereign, and the same great principles of administration may be seen in all his works.

Albert Barnes' Notes on the Bible (1834–1885) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

In whose hand, i.e. at whose absolute disposal, it is to give it, or take it away, when and how it seemeth good to him.

The soul; the life, or the soul the principle of life.

Of every living thing, i.e. of all unreasonable creatures, of which he spoke Job 12:7, opposed to man in the last words.

The breath, or, the spirit, as that word is commonly used, i.e. the immortal soul; which is no less a creature, and in God’s power to dispose of it, than the animal soul of unreasonable creatures.

Matthew Poole's English Annotations on the Holy Bible (1683–1685) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

10. The breath of all mankind — Literally, the spirit of all the flesh of man. The soul (nephesh) is the principle of natural life which man shares with the inferior creation; while the spirit (rouahh) is that higher endowment belonging, among animals, exclusively to man, by which he is allied to angels and to God.

Daniel D. Whedon (gen. ed.), Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1874–1909) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

In whose hand is the soul of every living thing. A brief summary of what had been said in vers. 7, 8, to which is now appended the further statement, that in God"s hand wholly dependent on him is the entire race of mankind also. And the breath of all mankind; literally, and the spirit of all flesh of man.

The Pulpit Commentary (1880–1919), ed. H.D.M. Spence-Jones & Joseph S. Exell — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.