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Job 12:1 And Job answered and said,
Job 12:2 No doubt but ye are the people, and wisdom shall die with you.
Job 12:3 But I have understanding as well as you; I am not inferior to you: yea, who knoweth not such things as these?
Job 12:4 I am as one mocked of his neighbour, who calleth upon God, and he answereth him: the just upright man is laughed to scorn.
Job 12:5 He that is ready to slip with his feet is as a lamp despised in the thought of him that is at ease.
Job 12:6 The tabernacles of robbers prosper, and they that provoke God are secure; into whose hand God bringeth abundantly.
Job 12:7 But ask now the beasts, and they shall teach thee; and the fowls of the air, and they shall tell thee:
Job 12:8 Or speak to the earth, and it shall teach thee: and the fishes of the sea shall declare unto thee.
Job 12:9 Who knoweth not in all these that the hand of the LORD hath wrought this?
Job 12:10 In whose hand is the soul of every living thing, and the breath of all mankind.
Job 12:11 Doth not the ear try words? and the mouth taste his meat?
Job 12:12 With the ancient is wisdom; and in length of days understanding.
Job 12:13 With him is wisdom and strength, he hath counsel and understanding

Introduction

Job has now heard the assessment of why the Lord has afflicted him from his third “miserable comforter”, Zophar [Job 16:2]. Zophar is not being afflicted, so he is talking down to Job in complete accord with his two “friends”, Eliphaz and Bildad. These three men, who had been Job’s friends before Job’s destruction, had come to supposedly comfort their friend in the trials which had befallen him in one day’s time [Job 1].
But instead of commiserating with Job, his friends all conclude that Job’s problem, while it is hidden from their view, is apparently some very serious personal sin in which Job has been indulging. They reason that it must be thus to bring upon Job the depth of destruction he has endured at the Lord’s hand.
It is an incredible revelation that Job and all of his friends agree on that one point. They all agree that it is in fact the Lord who has taken from Job everything he has spent his whole life to secure.

Job 1:21 And [ Job] said, Naked came I out of my mother’s womb, and naked shall I return thither: the LORD gave, and the LORD hath taken away; blessed be the name of the LORD.

Job is said to have been the “greatest of all the men of the east.”

Job 1:3 His substance also was seven thousand sheep, and three thousand camels, and five hundred yoke of oxen, and five hundred she asses, and a very great household; so that this man was the greatest of all the men of the east.

But now, in one day Job has lost all his earthly possessions, including his seven sons and his three daughters. Immediately after losing all his earthly possessions and all his ten children, Job is then afflicted with boils “from the sole of his foot unto his crown”.

Job 2:7 So went Satan forth from the presence of the LORD, and smote Job with sore boils from the sole of his foot unto his crown.

But all of this is but “the beginning of sorrows” for Job. It is at this point in his suffering, in the depth of all of his physical and mental anguish, the very people who Job considered to be his “friends”, as well as everyone who had known him, all now despise him, and his supposed friends are now falsely accusing him of sins he simply has not physically committed.

Job 19:15 They that dwell in mine house, and my maids, count me for a stranger: I am an alien in their sight.
Job 19:16 I called my servant, and he gave me no answer; I intreated him with my mouth.
Job 19:17 My breath is strange to my wife, though I intreated for the children’s sake of mine own body.
Job 19:18 Yea, young children despised me; I arose, and they spake against me.
Job 19:19 All my inward friends abhorred me: and they whom I loved are turned against me.
Job 19:20 My bone cleaveth to my skin and to my flesh, and I am escaped with the skin of my teeth.
Job 19:21 Have pity upon me, have pity upon me, O ye my friends; for the hand of God hath touched me.
Job 19:22 Why do ye persecute me as God, and are not satisfied with my flesh?

All Job wants is just a little pity from his “inward” or his closest friends. Instead they begin to openly speculate to Job himself about what Job has done to cause God to deal with him in this manner. So both Job and his friends are in complete accord that it is in fact God who has stricken Job. That is not even in question. “For the hand of God has touched me.” What Job cannot understand is why his supposed ‘friends’ do not commiserate with his suffering, but instead add greatly to his anguish with all their false speculative accusations against him.
This is what we all naturally do to our own ‘inward friends’ when we witness their destruction at the hand of God. Job, even though he is the type and shadow of God’s predestined elect who one day will understand that all of this is of God who is ‘working all things after the counsel of His own will’, at this juncture Job’s election is no more evident than was the election of Saul of Tarsus while he was overseeing the stoning of Stephen (Act 7:58). So Job, like Saul of Tarsus who oversaw the stoning of Stephen for Stephen’s witness, lashes back at the accusations of his friends:

Job12:1 And Job answered and said,
Job 12:2 No doubt but ye are the people, and wisdom shall die with you.
Job 12:3 But I have understanding as well as you; I am not inferior to you: yea, who knoweth not such things as these?

So Job’s “inward friends” who are accusing him in his time of trial, are types of each of us, who like King David as an Old Testament type of Christ, was betrayed by his own counselor.

Psa 55:12 For it was not an enemy that reproached me; then I could have borne it: neither was it he that hated me that did magnify himself against me; then I would have hid myself from him:
Psa 55:13 But it was thou, a man mine equal, my guide, and mine acquaintance.
Psa 55:14 We took sweet counsel together, and walked unto the house of God in company.

Job’s self- righteousness is very much like King David’s own self- righteousness. King David wanted another man to die for His sin of stealing a man’s ‘lamb’. Both Job and his accusers want God to judge everyone but themselves. Job thinks so little of the opinions of his so- called comforters, that he tells them that they think of themselves as being the sole repositories of all present wisdom, and they are so conceited that when they die they assume that all future generations will be deprived of any wisdom.
Job is us while we are walking with Christ, but we are still so carnal that we are arguing among ourselves about who will be greatest in the kingdom of heaven:

Mar 9:33 And he came to Capernaum: and being in the house he asked them, What was it that ye disputed among yourselves by the way?
Mar 9:34 But they held their peace: for by the way they had disputed among themselves, who should be the greatest.
Mar 9:35 And he sat down, and called the twelve, and saith unto them, If any man desire to be first, the same shall be last of all, and servant of all.
Mar 9:36 And he took a child, and set him in the midst of them: and when he had taken him in his arms, he said unto them,
Mar 9:37 Whosoever shall receive one of such children in my name, receiveth me: and whosoever shall receive me, receiveth not me, but him that sent me.

If we adhere to our Lord’s admonition that we “live by every word which proceeds out of the mouth of God”, if we remember that ‘all things… the world, life, death, things present and things to come are ours’, if we truly believe that we are to “read… hear… and keep the things written” in God’s Word, then we will apply the admonitions of Job’s ‘comforters’ personally, and we will also apply Job’s words in response inwardly and personally. In other words we will see ourselves in Eliphaz, Bildad and Zophar as the types of us when we also are so self- righteous that we cannot resist the natural tendency to look down on those who are suffering as being deserving of their fate. We do this because we do not yet understand that God Himself is the cause of all things, the good and the evil, in ourselves and in others.

Isa 63:17 O LORD, why hast thou made us to err from thy ways, and hardened our heart from thy fear? Return for thy servants’ sake, the tribes of thine inheritance.
Rom 9:16 So then it is not of him that willeth, nor of him that runneth, but of God that sheweth mercy.
Rom 9:17 For the scripture saith unto Pharaoh, Even for this same purpose have I raised thee up, that I might shew my power in thee, and that my name might be declared throughout all the earth.
Rom 9:18 Therefore hath he mercy on whom he will have mercy, and whom he will he hardeneth.
Eph 1:11 In whom also we have obtained an inheritance, being predestinated according to the purpose of him who worketh all things after the counsel of his own will:

But if we are granted the eyes to see and the ears to hear that our lives have all been ‘predestined according to the purpose of God who is working all things after the counsel of His own will’, then we will also know that Job’s self- righteous defense of himself is our natural response to being falsely accused by others who are also ignorant of the predestined, sovereign work of God, which He had ‘written in His book while we were yet unborn’.

Psa 139:16 Thine eyes did see mine unformed substance; And in thy book they were all written, Even the days that were ordained for me, When as yet there was none of them. (ASV)

Here are just a couple of examples of how God knows all about us before we are even born:

Gen 25:23 And the LORD said unto her, Two nations are in thy womb, and two manner of people shall be separated from thy bowels; and the one people shall be stronger than the other people; and the elder shall serve the younger.
Jer 1:5 Before I formed thee in the belly I knew thee; and before thou camest forth out of the womb I sanctified thee, and I ordained thee a prophet unto the nations.
Rom 9:16 So then it is not of him that willeth, nor of him that runneth, but of God that sheweth mercy.
Rom 9:17 For the scripture saith unto Pharaoh, Even for this same purpose have I raised thee up, that I might shew my power in thee, and that my name might be declared throughout all the earth.
Rom 9:18 Therefore hath he mercy on whom he will have mercy, and whom he will he hardeneth.

Are we so blind that we think that a sovereign God knew the destinies of Jacob and Esau before they were even born… knew Pharaoh in advance, and raised him up for the purpose of destroying his kingdom… had David’s every day ‘written in His book, and knew Jeremiah before Jeremiah came out of the womb, but He does not know you and me before we are born? That is exactly what many of the great Christian leaders teach so they can cling to their heart’s idol, which teaches us that we have what they call “free moral agency”. It is a lie which will keep its adherents from ‘knowing God and His Son’, and will thereby rob them of life eonian.

Joh 17:3 And this is life eternal [ Greek – aion, eonian], that they might know thee the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom thou hast sent.

Luk 12:7 But even the very hairs of your head are all numbered. Fear not therefore: ye are of more value than many sparrows.

God does not know the number of the hairs of our head because He has taken the time to count them. He knows their number because He decided their number before we were born, and when one hair falls out, it does so because it was preordained to do so at that very moment. That is just how far the sovereignty of God over the affairs of mankind extends. Job asks his friends, “who knoweth not such things as these?” Nevertheless He still contends with God simply because, as He admits, he is “full of confusion” and is oblivious to his own insidious self- righteousness and the self- righteousness of his friends.

Job 10:15 If I be wicked, woe unto me; and if I be righteous, yet will I not lift up my head. I am full of confusion; therefore see thou mine affliction;

Like all “carnal… babes in Christ” (1Co 3:1-4) and like Adam and Eve, Job has had an active relationship with God. In the past he had prayed to God, and for years God had answered his prayers.

Job 1:4 And his sons went and feasted in their houses, every one his day; and sent and called for their three sisters to eat and to drink with them.
Job 1:5 And it was so, when the days of their feasting were gone about, that Job sent and sanctified them, and rose up early in the morning, and offered burnt offerings according to the number of them all: for Job said, It may be that my sons have sinned, and cursed God in their hearts. Thus did Job continually.

But Job’s “old man”, just like our own ‘old man’, is being set up for his destruction. He is led to believe that he is in the house of God, reigning on the throne of God, and it is in that state that his “old man” meets his end.

2Th 2:11 And for this cause God shall send them strong delusion, that they should believe a lie:

It is of His own people we are told:

Rom 11:7 What then? Israel [ God’s own people] hath not obtained that which he seeketh for; but the election hath obtained it, and the rest were blinded
Rom 11:8 (According as it is written, God hath given them [ His own people] the spirit of slumber, eyes that they should not see, and ears that they should not hear;) unto this day.
Rom 11:9 And David saith, Let their table be made a snare, and a trap, and a stumblingblock, and a recompence unto them:
Rom 11:10 Let their eyes be darkened, that they may not see, and bow down their back alway.

We are the subject of these verses as we are foreshadowed by Job. We are at this time “full of confusion”, because we do not yet see the need to “lose [ our] life…” in order to “find it”.

Job 12:4 I am as one mocked of his neighbour, who calleth upon God, and he answereth him: the just upright man is laughed to scorn.
Job 12:5 He that is ready to slip with his feet is as a lamp despised in the thought of him that is at ease.

Job is not unaware of how things appear to his friends. Christ Himself appeared to have a very bad relationship with His Father as He hung naked and condemned upon the cross. After all it is written:

Gal 3:13 Christ hath redeemed us from the curse of the law, being made a curse for us: for it is written, Cursed is every one that hangeth on a tree:

But self- righteousness places pride above even the pain of our boils. So Job continues his complaint to His Creator in the presence of his “miserable comforters”.

Job 12:6 The tabernacles of robbers prosper, and they that provoke God are secure; into whose hand God bringeth abundantly.

It tries our faith when we see ourselves being destroyed while “the tabernacles of robbers prosper” right before our eyes. We are just the first who must go through these trials which would have us to doubt that our heavenly Father loves us. It appears that he loves His enemies more than He loves us.

Job 21:7 Wherefore do the wicked live, become old, yea, are mighty in power?
Job 21:8 Their seed is established in their sight with them, and their offspring before their eyes.
Job 21:13 They spend their days in wealth, and in a moment go down to the grave.
Job 21:14 Therefore they say unto God, Depart from us; for we desire not the knowledge of thy ways.

‘Wherefore’ is just an old English way of asking ‘Why’. “Why do the wicked live, become old…[ and] mighty in power? Why is their seed established in their sight with them? Why do they spend their days in wealth, never desiring the knowledge of God’s ways?” It is for that very reason that they say “Depart from us; for we desire not the knowledge of your ways”. So Job has already seen the wicked prosper over the righteous. But He does not know why this must be so in this age. But he does see why the wicked show no interest in God’s ways, whose ‘ways’ now have even Job “full of confusion”.
But Job has not even the least doubt that all of what has happened to him is the work of “the hand of the Lord”. He even belittles his miserable comforter for pointing out nothing more than things which are completely obvious and extremely elementary to Job.

Job 12:7 But ask now the beasts, and they shall teach thee; and the fowls of the air, and they shall tell thee:
Job 12:8 Or speak to the earth, and it shall teach thee: and the fishes of the sea shall declare unto thee.
Job 12:9 Who knoweth not in all these that the hand of the LORD hath wrought this?
Job 12:10 In whose hand is the soul of every living thing, and the breath of all mankind.

The beasts, the fowl and the earth itself teaches those with even the least intelligence, that there is a God who is working in and through all of His creatures and His creation. Here is how King David makes this same statement:

Psa 14:1 To the chief Musician, A Psalm of David. The fool hath said in his heart, There is no God. They are corrupt, they have done abominable works, there is none that doeth good.

So Job informs his friends that God’s creatures all function as they are designed to function, and He points out that their Creator’s wisdom and strength is vastly superior to that of His creation.

Job 12:11 Doth not the ear try words? and the mouth taste his meat?
Job 12:12 With the ancient is wisdom; and in length of days understanding.
Job 12:13 With him is wisdom and strength, he hath counsel and understanding

Job knows that the Lord has “wisdom and strength… counsel and understanding”. But Job is truly confused about whyGod is dealing with him in this way:

Job 10:15 If I be wicked, woe unto me; and if I be righteous, yet will I not lift up my head. I am full of confusion; therefore see thou mine affliction;

In our next study Job, in his confusion, will tell us what he himself does not understand about his own lack of wisdom and understanding.

Job 12:14 Behold, he breaketh down, and it cannot be built again: he shutteth up a man, and there can be no opening.
Job 12:15 Behold, he withholdeth the waters, and they dry up: also he sendeth them out, and they overturn the earth.
Job 12:16 With him is strength and wisdom: the deceived and the deceiver are his.
Job 12:17 He leadeth counsellors away spoiled, and maketh the judges fools.
Job 12:18 He looseth the bond of kings, and girdeth their loins with a girdle.
Job 12:19 He leadeth princes away spoiled, and overthroweth the mighty.
Job 12:20 He removeth away the speech of the trusty, and taketh away the understanding of the aged.
Job 12:21 He poureth contempt upon princes, and weakeneth the strength of the mighty.
Job 12:22 He discovereth deep things out of darkness, and bringeth out to light the shadow of death.
Job 12:23 He increaseth the nations, and destroyeth them: he enlargeth the nations, and straiteneth them again.
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.
Job 12:25 They grope in the dark without light, and he maketh them to stagger like a drunken man.

Introduction:

In Mike’s introduction he points out that Job and all of his friends agree that it is the Lord who has taken everything from Job he has spent his whole life to secure.
But what Job cannot understand is why his supposed ‘friends’ do not commiserate with his suffering, but instead add greatly to his anguish with all their false speculative accusations against him.
Job, as a type of the predestined elect of God is at this juncture not close to showing any evidence of that special calling. This reminds us of Saul of Tarsus who was ‘a chosen vessel’ unto God even while he consented to the stoning of Stephen and making ‘havoc of the church’:

Act 9:15 But the Lord said unto him [ Ananias], Go thy way: for he [ Paul] is a chosen vessel unto me, to bear my name before the Gentiles, and kings, and the children of Israel:
Act 8:1 And Saul was consenting unto his death. And at that time there was a great persecution against the church which was at Jerusalem; and they were all scattered abroad throughout the regions of Judaea and Samaria, except the apostles.
Act 8:2 And devout men carried Stephen to his burial, and made great lamentation over him.
Act 8:3 As for Saul, he made havock of the church, entering into every house, and haling men and women committed them to prison.

But Job as a type of the elect must suffer mocking at the hand of the high- minded who seemingly enjoys outward favour and prosperity:

Luk 18:32 For he [ The Lord and His elect] shall be delivered unto the Gentiles, and shall be mocked, and spitefully entreated, and spitted on:

Verses 1-3:
Job 12:1 And Job answered and said,Job 12:2 No doubt but ye are the people, and wisdom shall die with you.Job 12:3 But I have understanding as well as you; I am not inferior to you: yea, who knoweth not such things as these?
Comparing spiritual with spiritual:
Pro 26:12 Seest thou a man wise in his own conceit? there is more hope of a fool than of him.
1Co 2:14 But the natural man receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God: for they are foolishness unto him: neither can he know them, because they are spiritually discerned.
Php 2:3 Let nothing be done throughstrife or vainglory; but in lowliness of mind let each esteem other better than themselves.
Jas 3:14 But if ye have bitter envying and strife in your hearts, glory not, and lie not against the truth.Jas 3:15 This wisdom descendeth not from above, but is earthly, sensual, devilish.Jas 3:16 For where envying and strife is, there is confusion and every evil work.
Eph 6:17 And take the helmet of salvation, and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God:
A short summary of the discussion on this section:
The natural man (of sin) in us is wise in his own conceit and receives not the things of the spirit of God for they are foolishness to him. Earthly wisdom is only removed by the true sword of the spirit (the Word of God).
Verses 4-5:
Job 12:4 I am as one mocked of his neighbour, who calleth upon God, and he answereth him: the just upright man is laughed to scorn.Job 12:5 He that is ready to slip with his feet is as a lamp despised in the thought of him that is at ease.
Comparing spiritual with spiritual:
1Pe 4:12 Beloved, think it not strange concerning the fiery trial which is to try you, as though some strange thing happened unto you:
Heb 11:36 And others had trial of cruel mockings and scourgings, yea, moreover of bonds and imprisonment:
Luk 18:32 For he shall be delivered unto the Gentiles, and shall be mocked, and spitefully entreated, and spitted on:
Luk 22:63 And the men that held Jesus mocked him, and smote him.
1Jn 4:17 Herein is our love made perfect, that we may have boldness in the day of judgment: because as he is, so are we in this world.
2Co 4:10 Always bearing about in the body the dying of the Lord Jesus, that the life also of Jesus might be made manifest in our body.
A short summary of the discussion on this section:
As Jesus is, so are those who belong to Him – this is not a strange thing to be mocked, scorned by thehigh- minded thoughts’of him that is at ease’. We are the tree that He is being crucified on, if we ‘bear about in the body the dying of the Lord Jesus’.
Verse 6:
Job 12:6 The tabernacles of robbers prosper, and they that provoke God are secure; into whose hand God bringeth abundantly.
Comparing spiritual with spiritual:
Psa 73:3 For I was envious at the foolish, when I saw the prosperity of the wicked.
Psa 52:1 To the chief Musician, Maschil, A Psalm of David, when Doeg the Edomite came and told Saul, and said unto him, David is come to the house of Ahimelech. Why boastest thou thyself in mischief, O mighty man? the goodness of God endureth continually.Psa 52:2 Thy tongue deviseth mischiefs; like a sharp razor, working deceitfully.Psa 52:3 Thou lovest evil more than good; and lying rather than to speak righteousness. Selah.Psa 52:4 Thou lovest all devouring words, O thou deceitful tongue.Psa 52:5 God shall likewise destroy thee for ever, he shall take thee away, and pluck thee out of thy dwelling place, and root thee out of the land of the living. Selah.Psa 52:6 The righteous also shall see, and fear, and shall laugh at him:Psa 52:7 Lo, this is the man that made not God his strength; but trusted in the abundance of his riches, and strengthened himself in his wickedness.
Psa 40:2 He brought me up also out of an horrible pit, out of the miry clay, and set my feet upon a rock, and established my goings.
A short summary of the discussion on this section:
Job at this stage of his life typifies theself- righteous man in us who is confused when he sees ‘the wicked’ out there enjoying earthly prosperity. But God will ‘pluck’/’root’ out all natural trees from the ‘horrible pit’ of miry clay and set our feet upon the Rock – the only true security.
Verses 7-10:
Job 12:7 But ask now the beasts, and they shall teach thee; and the fowls of the air, and they shall tell thee:Job 12:8 Or speak to the earth, and it shall teach thee: and the fishes of the sea shall declare unto thee.Job 12:9 Who knoweth not in all these that the hand of the LORD hath wrought this?Job 12:10 In whose hand is the soul of every living thing, and the breath of all mankind.
Comparing spiritual with spiritual:
Mat 6:26 Behold the fowls of the air: for they sow not, neither do they reap, nor gather into barns; yet your heavenly Father feedeth them. Are ye not much better than they?`
Rev 19:17 And I saw an angel standing in the sun; and he cried with a loud voice, saying to all the fowls that fly in the midst of heaven, Come and gather yourselves together unto the supper of the great God;
Psa 147:9 He giveth to the beast his food, and to the young ravens which cry.
Isa 1:3 The ox knoweth his owner, and the ass his master’s crib: but Israel doth not know, my people doth not consider.
Rev 3:18 I counsel thee to buy of me gold tried in the fire, that thou mayest be rich; and white raiment, that thou mayest be clothed, and that the shame of thy nakedness do not appear; and anoint thine eyes with eyesalve, that thou mayest see.
Jer 10:23 O LORD, I know that the way of man is not in himself: it is not in man that walketh to direct his steps.
A short summary of the discussion on this section:
Even dumb animals obey and know their Owner who feeds them and cares for them. Yet humanity cannot see their own nakedness and totaldependenceupon God. They speak shamelesslyagainst their Creator thinking their own wisdom is something to be admired, and that their ways aredependenton their own “free will” decisions.
Verses 11-13:
Job 12:11 Doth not the ear try words? and the mouth taste his meat?Job 12:12 With the ancient is wisdom; and in length of days understanding.Job 12:13 With him is wisdom and strength, he hath counsel and understanding.
Comparing spiritual with spiritual:
1Ki 12:6 And king Rehoboam consulted with the old men, that stood before Solomon his father while he yet lived, and said, How do ye advise that I may answer this people?
1Ki 12:13 And the king answered the people roughly, and forsook the old men’s counsel that they gave him;1Ki 12:14 And spake to them after the counsel of the young men, saying, My father made your yoke heavy, and I will add to your yoke: my father also chastised you with whips [ G3148mastix = plague, scourging] but I will chastise [ G3811: paideuo = to train up a child, educate, discipline (by punishment); instruct, learn, teach] you with scorpions [ H6137aqra b (ak- rawb) = a scourge or knotted whip; G4651: skorpios = meaning to pierce; a “scorpion” (from its sting)].
Dan 7:9 I beheld till the thrones were cast down, and the Ancient of days did sit, whose garment was white as snow, and the hair of his head like the pure wool: his throne was like the fiery flame, and his wheels as burning fire.
Luk 15:16 And he [ the so- called “prodigal son”] would fain have filled his belly with the husks that the swine did eat: and no man gave unto him.
Lev 11:7 And the swine, though he divide the hoof, and be clovenfooted, yet he cheweth not the cud; he is unclean to you.
Isa 3:1 For, behold, the Lord, the LORD of hosts, doth take away from Jerusalem and from Judah the stay and the staff, the whole stay of bread, and the whole stay of water,
Lam 1:11 All her people sigh, they seek bread; they have given their pleasant things for meat to relieve the soul: see, O LORD, and consider; for I am become vile.
Act 14:22 Confirming the souls of the disciples, and exhorting them to continue in the faith, and that we must through much tribulation enter into the kingdom of God.
A short summary of the discussion on this section:
Rehoboam’s ears could not ‘try words’ properly and he ‘forsook the old men’s counsel'(‘the ancient’). This caused the 12 tribes of the kingdom of Israel to split in two. They became a false witness (‘clovenfooted’) because they ‘cheweth not the cud’ of ‘the sum’ of t he words of The Ancient of days. It is only through patiently enduring much tribulation that anyone becomes ‘ancient’ in wisdom and understanding to enter into the kingdom of God.