Job 12:24

“He taketh away the heart of the chief of the people of the earth, etc.] The people of the earth are the common people; the “chief” or “heads” f531 of them, as it may be rendered, are kings, princes and generals of armies; whose “hearts” may be said to be “taken away” when they are dispirited, and deprived both of courage and conduct; have neither valour nor wisdom, neither fortitude of mind, nor military skill to defend themselves and their people against their enemies. Sephorno interprets this of Sihon and Og, whose spirits the Lord hardened, and made their hearts obstinate to war with Israel, (<050230>Deuteronomy 2:30); but it may be better understood of the Israelites, and the heads of…”

“heart--intelligence. wander in a wilderness--figurative; not referring to any actual fact. This cannot be quoted to prove Job lived after Israel's wanderings in the desert. Psa 107:4, Psa 107:40 quotes this passage.”

“He taketh away the heart - The word heart here evidently means mind, intelligence, wisdom; see the notes at Job 12:3. Of the chief of the people - Hebrew “Heads of the people;” that is, of the rulers of the earth. The meaning is, that he leaves them to infatuated and distracted counsels. By withdrawing from them, he has power to frustrate their plans, and to leave them to an entire lack of wisdom; see the notes at Job 12:17. And causeth them to wander in a wilderness - They are like persons in a vast waste of pathless sands without a waymark, a guide, or a path. The perplexity and confusion of the great ones of the earth could not be more strikingly represented than by the condition of such…”

“He taketh: Job 12:20, Job 17:4; Isa 6:9, Isa 6:10, Isa 19:1; Dan 4:16, Dan 4:33; Hos 7:11 and causeth: Psa 107:4, Psa 107:40 in a wilderness: Bethohoo, "in chaos," i.e., in a state of utter confusion; it is the same word which is employed in Gen 1:2, to describe the chaotic state of the earth at the creation. Job 12:25”