The tabernacles of robbers prosper, and they that provoke God are secure; into whose hand God bringeth abundantly.
Job 12 belongs to Job's debate with his three friends about his afflictions, a debate that runs through chapters 4 to 31. It is part of Job's argument with his friends about suffering. It states that the tabernacles or dwellings of robbers prosper, and that those who provoke God are secure and abundantly supplied into whose hand God brings abundantly.
The prosperity and security of evildoers, set beside the present affliction of the sufferer, show that present circumstances do not prove whether a person is righteous or wicked, approved by God or under His displeasure. Wealth and outward success do not prove that a person's ways are righteous or divinely approved, and they counter the claim that adversity proves God's displeasure while prosperity proves His favor. Financial and outward success must therefore be judged alongside obedience to God and His principles rather than taken by itself as proof of righteousness. Evil will ultimately be punished and good ultimately rewarded, so affliction by itself does not mean that God has rejected the sufferer.
Job 12 belongs to Job's debate with his three friends about his afflictions, a debate that runs through chapters 4 to 31. It is part of Job's argument with his friends about suffering. It states that the tabernacles or dwellings of robbers prosper, and that those who provoke God are secure and abundantly supplied into whose hand God brings abundantly.
The prosperity and security of evildoers, set beside the present affliction of the sufferer, show that present circumstances do not prove whether a person is righteous or wicked, approved by God or under His displeasure. Wealth and outward success do not prove that a person's ways are righteous or divinely approved, and they counter the claim that adversity proves God's displeasure while prosperity proves His favor. Financial and outward success must therefore be judged alongside obedience to God and His principles rather than taken by itself as proof of righteousness. Evil will ultimately be punished and good ultimately rewarded, so affliction by itself does not mean that God has rejected the sufferer.