{Word Study} Understanding

WORD STUDY – UNDERSTANDING
Job 12:3: “But I have understanding as well as you, I am not inferior than you; yea who knoweth not such things as these?”
Understanding – Hebrew: Levav – heart, understanding, thought, reasoning, judgment.
Reading this verse would suggest that Job is really getting annoyed with his friends.  It appears he is saying to them: “Tell me something I don’t already know.”   I have no doubt that is what Job is saying, but I think he is saying much more than this.
What I find interesting is the word used for “understanding” which is “Levav” which means “heart.”   This would more literally be translated out as: “I have a heart just like yours.”  Yet, what is unique about this word heart or Levav is that is has two Beths after the Lamed.  In the majority of the cases where this word is used, it only has one Beth. The sages used to teach that when two Beths were used it would indicate man’s heart and God’s heart joined together.  Hence what Job is saying is that my heart is joined with the heart of God like yours and yet we disagree.
The word that is used for “inferior” is “naphal” which means to fall, but this is a falling in surrender, or just giving up.  A literal translation would be “My heart is joined with God’s heart like yours, yet I am not surrendering because of  what you are saying to me.”
“Who knoweth not such things as these” could be rendered another way.  The word for “these” is “Alah” which, with just the pure consonants, would have a wide variety of usages. It could be “these,” it could also mean to worship and adore.  It could also mean to swear or as my study partner pointed out to “curse as in to curse one’s soul.”  Another meaning is to be fat and stout.  So the question is asked?  Which one do you use?   The answer is that it depends upon the context of your translation.
To fit the context of my translation so far, I would have to use the words “curse one‘s soul” for “alah.”  Hence I would render this passage as:  “I have a heart just like yours, but it is not surrendering because of what you are saying to me.  My heart is not cursing my soul like you are.”
Job is not rejecting his friends advice because he doesn’t like it, he is rejecting it because he knows his own heart and he knows his heart is one with God and what his friends are telling him does not bear witness in his own heart.  I have had many people prophecy over me and many times it does not bear witness in my own heart.  At the time, if I believe my heart to be one with God, I could say like Job.  “Look, my heart is one with God just as you claim your heart is one with God when you are speaking to me, yet what you say does not bear witness with my own heart.  I am sorry, but I have made every effort to join my heart with God and what you say sounds really good (or bad) but in this case I must claim Colossians 3:17: “Let the peace of God rule (Greek – umpire) your own heart.”