[Job 5:12] He disappointeth the devices of the crafty, so that their hands cannot perform their enterprise.
[He disappointeth the devices of the crafty - All these sayings refer to G-d's particular providence, by which He is ever working for the good, and counterworking the plots of the wicked. And as various as are the dependent, impulsive, and malicious acts of men, so varied are His providential interferences; disappointing the devices, snares, and plots of the crafty, so that their plans being confounded, and their machinery broken in pieces, their hands cannot perform their enterprises.
Hand - Tongue, and sword, and all, are at work in order to this; but G-d takes under His special protection those who, being poor and unable to help themselves, being His poor and devoted to His praise, have committed themselves to Him. He saves them from the mouth that speaks hard things against them and the hand that does hard things against them; for He can, when He pleases, tie the tongue and wither the hand. The effect of this is (5:16), 1. That weak and timorous saints are comforted: So the poor, who began to despair, has hope. The experiences of some are encouragement to others to hope the best in the worst of times; for it is the glory of G-d to send help to the helpless and hope to the hopeless.
2. That daring threatening sinners are confounded: Iniquity stops her mouth, being surprised at the strangeness of the deliverance, ashamed of its enmity against those who appear to be the favorites of Heaven, mortified at the disappointment, and compelled to acknowledge the justice of G-d's proceedings, having nothing to object against them. Those that domineered over G-d's poor, that frightened them menaced them, and falsely accused them, will not have a word to say against them when G-d appears for them
Enterprise - literally, "realization." The Hebrew combines in the one word the two ideas, wisdom and happiness, "enduring existence" being the accepting root of the combined notion.
1. How He frustrates the counsels of the proud and politic, 5:12-14. There is a supreme power that manages and overrules men who think themselves free and complete, and fulfils its own purposes in spite of their projects.
A. The froward, (wrestlers) that walk contrary to G-d and the interests of His kingdom, are often very crafty; for they are the seed of the old serpent that was noted for his subtlety. They think themselves wise, but, at the end, will be fools.
B. The Froward enemies of G-d's kingdom have their devices, their enterprises, and their counsels, against it, and against the loyal faithful subjects of it. They are restless and unwearied in their designs, close in their discussion, high in their hopes, deep in their politics, and fast-linked in their confederacies, Psalms 2:1, 2.
C. G-d easily can, and as far as is for His glory certainly will, blast and defeat all the designs of His and His people's enemies. How were the plots of Ahithophel, Sanballat, and Haman baffled! How were the confederacies of Syria and Ephraim against Judah, of Gebal, and Ammon, and Amalek, against G-d's Israel, the kings of the earth and the princes against the L-rd and against His anointed, broken! The hands that have been stretched out against G-d and His church have not performed their enterprise, nor have the weapons formed against Zion prospered.
D. That which enemies have designed for the ruin of the church has often turned to their own ruin (5:13): He takes the wise in their own craftiness, and snares them in the work of their own hands, Psalms 7:15, 16, and 9:15, 16. This is quoted by the apostle 1 Cor. 3:19) to show how the learned men of the heathen were befooled by their own vain philosophy.
E. When G-d infatuates men they are perplexed, and at a loss, even in those things that seem most plain and easy (5:14): They meet with darkness even in the day-time. They run themselves into darkness by the violence and precipitation of their own counsels. See 12:20, 24, and 25.
2. How He favors the cause of the poor and humble, and espouses that.
A. He exalts the humble, 5:11. Those whom proud men contrive to crush he raises from under their feet, and sets them in safety, Ps. 12:5. The lowly in heart, and those that mourn, he advances, comforts, and makes to dwell on high, in the munitions of rocks, Isa. 33:16. Zion's mourners are the sealed ones, marked for safety, Ezekiel 9:4. Secondly, He delivers the oppressed, 5:15. The designs of the crafty are to ruin the poor.
Is tumbled down and broken, and that by their own precipitation. Their scheme is precipitated before it is ripe.
So counterworks them as to cause their feet to be taken in their own snares, and their evil dealings to fall on their own pate. Such frequent proofs has G-d given of His especial interference in behalf of the innocent, who have been the objects of the plots and evil designs of the wicked, by turning those evil devices against their framers, that he who digs a pit for his neighbor shall fall into it himself has become a universal adage, and has passed, either in so many words or in sense, into all the languages of all the people of the earth.]
Have you been through or going through some trials?
There is hope! Lay your burdens at His feet and He will devices of the crafty and their enterprise will be their own ruin.
Do not worry what to say for He will fill your mouth and fight for you.
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