In the paper menioned above I also suggested an Old Egyptian parallel from
the Report of Wenamun 2:27-28 - a parallel both syntactic and theological.
The parallel suggested more that 50 years ago by A. Alt is to be abandoned.
As for the two passages from Job you find puzzling, they are poetry, and
poetry may not follow the same rules of prose. In any case, 12:4 can be
interpreted along the same line of prose. While 12:3 refers to the present,
12:4 refers to the future: "But I have understanding as well as you; I am
not inferior to you. Who does not know such things as these? (Still) I will
be (or: I am destined to be) a laughingstock to my friends, one who calls
upon God that he may answer him, a laughingstock of a just and blameless
man [i.e. a just and blameless man who is a laughingstock]".
In Job 17:6 *'ehyeh* parallels weqatal, which is OK, but the meaning of the
passage is obscure to me.
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