Job 12:23-25 - Joseph Benson’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments

He increaseth the nations, &c. What he had hitherto said of princes, he now applies to nations and people, whom God either increases or diminishes as he pleases. He enlargeth the nations He multiplies them so that they are forced to send forth colonies into other lands; and straiteneth them again Diminishes them by war, famine, or pestilence: or, as ינחם, janchem, more properly signifies, leadeth them in, or bringeth them back, namely, into their own land, and confineth them there. So that whole nations, as well as their princes, are perfectly under his power, and he enlarges their bounds, or reduces them into more narrow limits, as he pleaseth. He taketh away the heart of the chief of the people Deprives them both of courage and judgment, and causeth them to wander in a wilderness; that is, fills them with confusion, uncertainty, and perplexity of mind, so that they know not which way to turn themselves. They grope in the dark Like men that cannot see their way. And he maketh them to stagger like a drunken man Who reels hither and thither without any certainty. So they sometimes take one course, and sometimes another, as resolving to try all experiments, and indeed not knowing what to do. All their counsels and motions are as unsteady and fluctuating as those of a man intoxicated.