John Trapp on Job 12:20

Verſe 20. He removeth away the ſpeech of the truſty] Or, of the eloquent, as Demosthenes the moſt eloquent of the Greeks, being by them frequently ſent as an Ambaſſadour to Philip King of Macedony, thrice ſtood ſpeechleſſe before him, and thirty ſeveral times forgat thoſe things which he had thought to have ſpoken, as Tz[illegible: 1 letter]tzes teſtifieth,Chiliad. 7. So Latomus of Lovain, that Apoſtate and Perſecutor of the truth, having prepared an elegant Oration to make to Charls the fifth Emperour, was ſo confounded, that he could hardly ſpeak a word of ſenſe; the grief whereof broke his heart. The Counſellor, and the Eloquent Orator, the Prudent, and the Ancient are reckoned up as the ſtay, and the ſtaffe, the beauty, and bulwark of a Nation, Iſa. 3.2, 3 Theſe God removeth at his pleaſure, and for a general judgment, cauſing either them to dye, or their abilities to die and decay, or croſſing their attempts that they ſhall ſpeak perſwaſively, but not perſwade people, but be ſlighted and exploded of all.Veracium. Yea, though they be Truth-ſpeakers (ſo the Vulgar hath it;) or Truſty (as our tranſlation) Confiding men, as they are called, worthy to be truſted; ſuch faithful counſellors as Polybius was to Scipio, who never miſcarried in any thing wherein he followed his advice, as the Hiſtorian teſtifieth: yet God can remove or change the ſpeech of ſuch, by leaving them to their own unfaithfulneſſe and inconſtancy, as we have plentifully experimented in theſe late diſcriminating and ſhedding times.

And taketh away the underſtanding of the aged] Heb. And taketh the ſenſe, or ſavour, or raſte of the Elders or Senators, that they ſhall be no more able to diſcern and determine what is true or falſe, right or wrong, then old Barzilla[illegible: 1 letter] could skill of the Court-meates and muſick. See this threatned, Iſai. 29.14. Such old men as either were bred Scholars, or have had much experience in the management of great affairs, are preſumed to be of great underſtanding: but God can either take ſuch away, as he threateneth to do, Iſa. 3.3, 4. or take away their wiſedome, to render them uſeleſſe to the publick: as it is reported of Theodorus Gaza, and of Albertus Magnus, thoſe great Scholars, that for certain years before they died, they did ſo dote, and were ſo childiſh, that they could not write their own names, or read a letter on the book. Let therefore the Eloquent, and the aged take heed they abuſe not their abilities, leſt they forget and loſe them.