Job 28

Job 28:9

9-11. He putteth forth &c.] These verses appear to describe the prodigious labour of working a mine: for the effect of the operations here specified is, man’s bringing forth to light the thing that is hid; that is, the hidden treasure of the earth. Scott. — he overturneth the mountains &c.] The operation, described here, seems to be the breaking in pieces and dislodging, in order to come at the ore, the hardest flint or marble; which are the roots, that is, the foundation of the mountain. Or perhaps the poet means a still greater work; such as Pliny, quoted by Schultens, strongly paints: “Yet the labour of hewing the rock is comparatively easy. For there is an earth compounded of a kind of clay and grit that is almost impenetrable. This the miners assail with iron wedges and mallets. Nothing is imagined to be harder, except the insatiable hunger after gold, which of all things is the hardest to subdue. Having finished this labour, they cut the props of their arch-work, the prelude and signal of the fall of the mountain. The semitest on the top of the mountain perceiving the ground under his feet to sink immediately gives notice of it to the workmen below by his voice and repeated thumps. Away he flies. The mountain splits, and falls with a continued thundering sound, and an incredible blast of wind. The victorious miners gaze upon the overthrow of nature.” Scott.

Job 28:10

10. He cutteth out rivers &c.] The next operation is to clear away the stones and rubbish, that “his eye may see every precious thing;” that is, lay bare the precious gems and the gold. The means by which this is accomplished, is turning a large body of water upon the ruins. But so wonderful is man’s invention, and so indofatigable his avarice, that he cuts a passage even through rocks to collect and convey a strong stream down to the mine for that purpose. “To wash the ruins,” says Pliny, “they bring rivers from the tops of mountains a hundred miles off. They carry aqueducts over the valleys, and sometimes hew a way for those pipes through the rocks: they gather the waters into large reservoirs, make sluice-gates to those reservoirs; then let out such a torrent as bears down the largest stones with the violence of its course.” Scott.

Job 28:11

11. He bindeth the floods &c.] There remaineth still a third operation to exercise the art of man. The subterraneous waters sometimes burst into the mine in great abundance. These he must thoroughly drain off by machines, before “be can bring forth into light the hidden treasures.” Scott.

Job 28:13

13-20. Man knoweth not the price thereof; &c.] In the intermediate verses betwixt the first and last proposal of this great question, there is made a beautiful repetition of several of the particulars which had been mentioned before, and a fine turn given to each; “The depth saith, It is not in me: and the sea saith, It is not with me:” as if Job had said, Men may dig into the bowels of the earth, and find gold and treasures there; but they will be as far from finding wisdom as ever: and could they traverse the great sea itself, as they run across a river or a strait, yet they would learn that wisdom is not to be acquired in the way of commerce or exchange. One thing we cannot but remark from this passage, how early the race of men had learned to set a value on those precious trinkets which are here so lavishly exposed to view. Peters. 15. — neither shall silver be weighed for the price thereof.] Compare Gen. xliii. 21. The practice of weighing money, says Mons. Volney, is customary and general in Syria, in Egypt, and in all Turkey. No piece, however light, is refused: the tradesman takes out his moneyweights, and values it. It is the same as in the time of Abraham, when he bought his burying-ground. Parkhurst.

Job 28:16

16. It cannot be valued with the gold of Ophir.] That is, estimated, or compared with it. The word strictly signifies, to be strewed, or laid on the ground, as the ancient merchants laid their commodities to be bartered or exchanged for others: a method of traffick still practised by some nations to this day; as, for instance, by the Moors and Negroes of Africa, in bartering salt and various trinkets for gold. Parkhurst. — the precious onyx.] It was observed on ver. 1, that Arabia Felix, now called Yaman, had formerly its golden mines. It still boasteth its gems. We are assured by an eye-witness, that precious stones for rings and bracelets are brought thence in great quantities, to the annual fair held at Mecca during the last ten or twelve days of the stay of the pilgrims there. It is doubtful what gem is meant by that which we translate the onyx: the epithet precious, as Schultens remarks, gives a distinction to it; which the onyx, a sort of agate, does not merit. The Chaldee interpreter renders it beryls. The beryl of the ancients was a transparent gem of a sea-green colour. Scott. — the sapphire.] The sapphire is of a beautiful sky blue. Some will have the Hebrew word to signify the ruby; others the carbuncle, which is a stone of the ruby kind, very rare, and of a rich glowing blood colour. Scott.

Job 28:17

17. — the crystal] Or glass, according to the Greek, Latin, and Syriack versions: no wonder that it is here mentioned with gold, and other things of great value, since however common and cheap glass now is among us, yet it is very conceivable, that in the age and country of Job, this beautiful artificial crystal was Wisdom is an excellent gift of God. Before CHRIST about 1820. Or, vessels of fine gold. Or, Ramesh. o Ver. 12. Or, hebreu. very scarce, and of consequence highly precious. Parkhurst.

—[jewels of fine gold.] Some ornaments or vessels of gold that were of high value for the workmanship as well as for the materials. Scott.

Job 28:18

18. No mention shall be made of coral.] According to Pliny, coral was highly esteemed among the ancients. “The Indians value coral as highly as we value pearls, which come from India. The men esteem these gems, as our women do Indian pearls. Their priests and predictors attribute to it something sacred, and affirm that it has the virtue of protecting from dangers those who carry it. So that two things contribute to render it valuable, superstition and beauty.” Experience confirms the relation of Pliny: for often in that country a collar of coral sells for a price equal to one of pearls. Script. illustr. Expos. Ind.

Job 28:22

22. Destruction and death say, &c.] By “destruction and death” must be meant the dead: this interpretation gives a clear and natural sense to the passage. Job had before told us that wisdom and her place were “hid from the eyes of all living,” ver. 21, and therefore whither should we go to look for it, but among the dead? “Death and destruction,” two synonymous words, are used probably, after the Hebrew manner, to increase the signification, and to denote a long race of their dead ancestors from the beginning of the world downward.

We have here then an answer to the great inquiry, “Where shall wisdom be found, and where is the place of understanding?” “Destruction and death say,” that is, the generations of the dead have told us, “we have heard the fame thereof with our ears.” We have had something relating to this question about wisdom delivered down to us by tradition from our forefathers: amongst others, these important particulars, that “God understandeth the way thereof,” ver. 23; for His knowledge reaches to all things and places: “He looketh to the ends of the earth, and seeth under the whole heaven,” ver. 24; and that with a wisdom so infallible, and a power so uncontrollable, as to give a certain weight and measure to things the most uncertain and inconstant with respect to us, the winds and waters; “to make the weight for the winds; and He weigheth the waters by measure,” ver. 25. We have had it moreover delivered down to us, says Job, in the same traditional way, that this infinitely wise and glorious Being, when He made the world, not only displayed His own wisdom in the