Job 28 commentary

Job maintained that the dispensations of Providence were regulated by the highest wisdom. To confirm this, he showed of what a great deal of knowledge and wealth men may make themselves masters. The caverns of the earth may be discovered, but not the counsels of Heaven. Go to the miners, thou sluggard in religion, consider their ways, and be wise. Let their courage and diligence in seeking the wealth that perishes, shame us out of slothfulness and faint-heartedness in labouring for the true riches. How much better is it to get wisdom than gold! How much easier, and safer! Yet gold is sought for, but grace neglected. Will the hopes of precious things out of the earth, so men call them, though really they are paltry and perishing, be such a spur to industry, and shall not the certain prospect of truly precious things in heaven be much more so?

Job here speaks of wisdom and understanding, the knowing and enjoying of God and ourselves. Its worth is infinitely more than all the riches in this world. It is a gift of the Holy Ghost which cannot be bought with money. Let that which is most precious in God's account, be so in ours. Job asks after it as one that truly desired to find it, and despaired of finding it any where but in God; any way but by Divine revelation. (Job 28:20-28)

There is a two-fold wisdom; one hid in God, which is secret, and belongs not to us; the other made known by him, and revealed to man. One day's events, and one man's affairs, have such reference to, and so hang one upon another, that He only, to whom all is open, and who sees the whole at one view, can rightly judge of every part. But the knowledge of God's revealed will is within our reach, and will do us good. Let man look upon this as his wisdom, To fear the Lord, and to depart from evil. Let him learn that, and he is learned enough. Where is this wisdom to be found? The treasures of it are hid in Christ, revealed by the word, received by faith, through the Holy Ghost. It will not feed pride or vanity, or amuse our vain curiosity. It teaches and encourages sinners to fear the Lord, and to depart from evil, in the exercise of repentance and faith, without desiring to solve all difficulties about the events of this life.

CHAPTER 28

Job 28:1-28. Job's Speech Continued.

In the twenty-seventh chapter Job had tacitly admitted that the statement of the friends was often true, that God vindicated His justice by punishing the wicked here; but still the affliction of the godly remained unexplained. Man has, by skill, brought the precious metals from their concealment. But the Divine Wisdom, which governs human affairs, he cannot similarly discover (Job 28:12, &c.). However, the image from the same metals (Job 23:10) implies Job has made some way towards solving the riddle of his life; namely, that affliction is to him as the refining fire is to gold.

1. vein--a mine, from which it goes forth, Hebrew, "is dug."

place for gold--a place where gold may be found, which men refine. Not as English Version, "A place--where," (Mal 3:3). Contrasted with gold found in the bed and sand of rivers, which does not need refining; as the gold dug from a mine does. Golden ornaments have been found in Egypt, of the times of Joseph.

2. brass--that is, copper; for brass is a mixed metal of copper and zinc, of modern invention. Iron is less easily discovered, and wrought, than copper; therefore copper was in common use long before iron. Copper-stone is called "cadmium" by Pliny [Natural History, 34:1; 36:21]. Iron is fitly said to be taken out of the "earth" (dust), for ore looks like mere earth.

3. "Man makes an end of darkness," by exploring the darkest depths (with torches).

all perfection--rather, carries out his search to the utmost perfection; most thoroughly searches the stones of darkness and of the shadow of death (thickest gloom); that is, the stones, whatever they be, embedded in the darkest bowels of the earth [Umbreit] (Job 26:10).

4. Three hardships in mining: 1. "A stream (flood) breaks out at the side of the stranger"; namely, the miner, a strange newcomer into places heretofore unexplored; his surprise at the sudden stream breaking out beside him is expressed (English Version, "from the inhabitant"). 2. "Forgotten (unsupported) by the foot they hang," namely, by ropes, in descending. In the Hebrew, "Lo there" precedes this clause, graphically placing it as if before the eyes. "The waters" is inserted by English Version. "Are dried up," ought to be, "hang," "are suspended." English Version perhaps understood, waters of whose existence man was previously unconscious, and near which he never trod; and yet man's energy is such, that by pumps, &c., he soon causes them to "dry up and go away" [So Herder]. 3. "Far away from men, they move with uncertain step"; they stagger; not "they are gone" [Umbreit].

5. Its fertile surface yields food; and yet "beneath it is turned up as it were with fire." So Pliny [Natural History, 33] observes on the ingratitude of man who repays the debt he owes the earth for food, by digging out its bowels. "Fire" was used in mining [Umbreit]. English Version is simpler, which means precious stones which glow like fire; and so Job 28:6 follows naturally (Eze 28:14).

6. Sapphires are found in alluvial soil near rocks and embedded in gneiss. The ancients distinguished two kinds: 1. The real, of transparent blue: 2. That improperly so called, opaque, with gold spots; that is, lapis lazuli. To the latter, looking like gold dust, Umbreit refers "dust of gold." English Version better, "The stones of the earth are, &c., and the clods of it (Vulgate) are gold"; the parallel clauses are thus neater.

7. fowl--rather, "ravenous bird," or "eagle," which is the most sharp-sighted of birds (Is 46:11). A vulture will spy a carcass at an amazing distance. The miner penetrates the earth by a way unseen by birds of keenest sight.

8. lion's whelps--literally, "the sons of pride," that is, the fiercest beasts.

passed--The Hebrew implies the proud gait of the lion. The miner ventures where not even the fierce lion dares to go in pursuit of his prey.

9. rock--flint. He puts forth his hand to cleave the hardest rock.

by the roots--from their foundations, by undermining them.

10. He cuts channels to drain off the waters, which hinder his mining; and when the waters are gone, he he is able to see the precious things in the earth.

11. floods--"He restrains the streams from weeping"; a poetical expression for the trickling subterranean rills, which impede him; answering to the first clause of Job 28:10; so also the two latter clauses in each verse correspond.

12. Can man discover the Divine Wisdom by which the world is governed, as he can the treasures hidden in the earth? Certainly not. Divine Wisdom is conceived as a person (Job 28:12-27) distinct from God (Job 28:23; also in Pr 8:23, 27). The Almighty Word, Jesus Christ, we know now, is that Wisdom. The order of the world was originated and is maintained by the breathing forth (Spirit) of Wisdom, unfathomable and unpurchasable by man. In Job 28:28, the only aspect of it, which relates to, and may be understood by, man, is stated.

understanding--insight into the plan of the divine government.

13. Man can fix no price upon it, as it is nowhere to be found in man's abode (Is 38:11). Job implies both its valuable worth, and the impossibility of buying it at any price.

15. Not the usual word for "gold"; from a Hebrew root, "to shut up" with care; that is, purest gold (1Ki 6:20, Margin).

weighed--The precious metals were weighed out before coining was known (Ge 23:16).

16. gold of Ophir--the most precious (See on Job 22:24 and Psa 45:9).

onyx--(Ge 2:12). More valued formerly than now. The term is Greek, meaning "thumb nail," from some resemblance in color. The Arabic denotes, of two colors, white preponderating.

17. crystal--Or else glass, if then known, very costly. From a root, "to be transparent."

jewels--rather, "vessels."

18. Red coral (Eze 27:16).

pearls--literally, "what is frozen." Probably crystal; and Job 28:17 will then be glass.

rubies--Umbreit translates "pearls" (see La 4:1; Pr 3:15). The Urim and Thummim, the means of consulting God by the twelve stones on the high priest's breastplate, "the stones of the sanctuary" (La 4:1), have their counterpart in this chapter; the precious stones symbolizing the "light" and "perfection" of the divine wisdom.

19. Ethiopia--Cush in the Hebrew. Either Ethiopia, or the south of Arabia, near the Tigris.

20. Job 28:12 repeated with great force.

21. None can tell whence or where, seeing it, &c.

fowls--The gift of divination was assigned by the heathen especially to birds. Their rapid flight heavenwards and keen sight originated the superstition. Job may allude to it. Not even the boasted divination of birds has an insight into it (Ec 10:20). But it may merely mean, as in Job 28:7, It escapes the eye of the most keen-sighted bird.

22. That is, the abodes of destruction and of the dead. "Death" put for Sheol (Job 30:23; 26:6; Psa 9:13).

We have [only] heard--the report of her. We have not seen her. In the land of the living (Job 28:13) the workings of Wisdom are seen, though not herself. In the regions of the dead she is only heard of, her actings on nature not being seen (Ec 9:10).

23. God hath, and is Himself, wisdom.

24. "Seeth (all that is) under," &c.

25. God has adjusted the weight of the winds, so seemingly imponderable, lest, if too weighty, or too light, injury should be caused. He measureth out the waters, fixing their bounds, with wisdom as His counsellor (Pr 8:27-31; Is 40:12).

26. The decree regulating at what time and place, and in what quantity, the rain should fall.

a way--through the parted clouds (Job 38:25; Zec 10:1).

27. declare--manifest her, namely, in His works (Psa 19:1, 2). So the approval bestowed by the Creator on His works (Ge 1:10, 31); compare the "rejoicing" of wisdom at the same (Pr 8:30; which Umbreit translates; "I was the skilful artificer by His side").

prepared--not created, for wisdom is from everlasting (Pr 8:22-31); but "established" her as Governor of the world.

searched ... out--examined her works to see whether she was adequate to the task of governing the world [Maurer].

28. Rather, "But unto man," &c. My wisdom is that whereby all things are governed; Thy wisdom is in fearing God and shunning evil, and in feeling assured that My wisdom always acts aright, though thou dost not understand the principle which regulates it; for example, in afflicting the godly (Joh 7:17). The friends, therefore, as not comprehending the Divine Wisdom, should not infer Job's guilt from his sufferings. Here alone in Job the name of God, Adonai, occurs; "Lord" or "master," often applied to Messiah in Old Testament. Appropriately here, in speaking of the Word or Wisdom, by whom the world was made (Pr 8:22-31; Joh 1:3; Ecclesiasticus 24:1-34).

Surely there is a vein for the silver - This chapter is the oldest and finest piece of natural history in the world, and gives us very important information on several curious subjects; and could we ascertain the precise meaning of all the original words, we might, most probably, find out allusions to several useful arts which we are apt to think are of modern, or comparatively modern, invention. The word מוצא motsa, which we here translate vein, signifies literally, a going out; i.e., a mine, or place dug in the earth, whence the silver ore is extracted. And this ore lies generally in veins or loads, running in certain directions.

A place for gold where they fine it - This should rather be translated, A place for gold which they refine. Gold ore has also its peculiar mine, and requires to be refined from earthy impurities.

Iron is taken out of the earth - This most useful metal is hidden under the earth, and men have found out the method of separating it from its ore.

Brass is molten out of the stone - As brass is a factitious metal, copper must be the meaning of the Hebrew word נחושה nechusah: literally, the stone is poured out for brass. If we retain the common translation, perhaps the process of making brass may be that to which Job refers; for this metal is formed from copper melted with the stone calamine; and thus the stone is poured out to make brass.

He setteth an end to darkness - As it is likely Job still refers to mining, the words above may be understood as pointing out the persevering industry of man in penetrating into the bowels of the earth, in order to seek for metals and precious stones. Even the stones that lay hidden in the bowels of the earth he has digged for and brought to light, and has penetrated in directions in which the solar light could not be transmitted; so that he appears to have gone to the regions of the shadow of death. Mr. Good translates: "Man delveth into the region of darkness; and examineth, to the uttermost limit, the stones of darkness and death-shade."

The flood breaketh out from the inhabitant - This passage is very difficult. Some think it refers to mining; others to navigation. If it refer to the former, it may be intended to point out the waters that spring up when the miners have sunk down to a considerable depth, so that the mine is drowned, and they are obliged to give it up. Previously to the invention of the steam-engine this was generally the case: hence ancient mines may be reopened and worked to great advantage, because we have the means now to take off the water which the ancient workers had not. When, therefore, floods break out in those shafts, they are abandoned; and thus they are,

Forgotten of the foot - No man treads there any more. The waters increase דלו dallu, they are elevated, they rise up to a level with the spring, or till they meet with some fissure by which they can escape; and thence מאנוש נעו meenosh nau, they are moved or carried away from men; the stream is lost in the bowels of the earth.

Mr. Peters thinks that both this verse, and Job 9:26, refer to navigation, then in a state of infancy; for the sea is not so much as mentioned; but נחל nachal, a torrent or flood, some river or arm of the sea perhaps of a few leagues over, which, dividing the several nations, must interrupt their hospitality and commerce with each other, unless by the help of navigation. According to this opinion the verse may be translated and paraphrased thus: The flood-rivers and arms of the sea - separateth from the stranger, מעם ג meim gar, divides different nations and peoples: they are forgotten of the foot - they cannot walk over these waters, they must embark in vessels; then they dwindle away, דלו dallu, from the size of men, that is, in proportion to their departure from the land they lessen on the sight; נעו nau, they are tossed up and down, namely, by the action of the waves. This receives some countenance from the psalmist's fine description, Psa 107:26, Psa 107:27, of a ship in a rough sea: They mount up to heaven; they go down again to the depths: their soul is melted because of trouble. They reel to and fro, ינועו yanuu, (the same word as above), they stagger like a drunken man. Mr. Good's translation is singular: -

He breaketh up the veins from the matrice,

Which, though thought nothing of under the foot,

Are drawn forth, are brandished among mankind.

This learned man thinks that it applies solely to mining, of which I cannot doubt; and therefore I adopt the first interpretation: but as to agreement among translators, it will be sought in vain. I shall just add Coverdale: With the ryver of water parteth he a sunder the straunge people, that knoweth no good neighbourheade; such as are rude, unmannerly, and boysterous.

The earth, out of it cometh bread - Or the earth, ממנה mimmennah, from itself, by its own vegetative power, it sends out bread, or the corn of which bread is made.

And under it is turned up as it were fire - It seems as if this referred to some combustible fossil, similar to our stone coal, which was dug up out of the earth in some places of Arabia. The Chaldee gives a translation, conformable to a very ancient opinion, which supposed the center of the earth to be a vast fire, and the place called hell. "The earth from which food proceeds, and under which is gehenna, whose cold snow is converted into the likeness of fire; and the garden of Eden, which is the place whose stones are sapphires," etc. The Vulgate has, "The land from which bread has been produced has been destroyed by fire." If this be the meaning of the original, there is probably an allusion to the destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah; and the seventh and eighth verses may be supposed to refer to that catastrophe, there being no place left tangible or visible where those cities once stood: neither fowl nor beast could discern a path there, the whole land being covered with the lake Asphaltites.

The stones - the place of sapphires - In the language of mineralogists, the gangue, matrix, or bed in which the sapphire is found. For a description of this stone, see on Job 28:16 (note).

Dust of gold - Or rather, gold dust.

There is a path which no fowl knoweth - The instinct of birds is most surprising. They traverse vast forests, etc., in search of food, at a great distance from the place which they have chosen for their general residence; and return in all weathers, never missing their track: they also find their own nest without ever mistaking another of the same kind for it. Birds of passage, also, after tarrying in a foreign clime for six or seven months, return to their original abode over kingdoms and oceans, without missing their way, or deviating in the least from the proper direction; not having a single object of sight to direct their peregrinations. In such cases even the keen scent of the vulture, and the quick, piercing sight of the eagle, would be of no use. It is possible that Job may here refer to undiscovered mines and minerals; that notwithstanding man had already discovered much, yet much remained undiscovered, especially in the internal structure and contents of the earth. Since his time innumerable discoveries have been made; and yet how little do we know! Our various conflicting and contradictory theories of the earth are full proofs of our ignorance, and strong evidences of our folly. The present dogmatical systems of geology itself are almost the ne plus ultra of brain-sick visionaries, and system-mad mortals. They talk as confidently of the structure of the globe, and the manner and time in which all was formed, as if they had examined every part from the center to the circumference; though not a soul of man has ever penetrated two miles in perpendicular depth into the bowels of the earth. And with this scanty, defective knowledge, they pretend to build systems of the universe, and blaspheme the revelation of God! Poor souls! All these things are to them a path which no fowl knoweth, which the vulture's eye hath not seen, on which the lion's whelps have not trodden, and by which the fierce lion have not passed. The wisdom necessary to such investigations is out of their reach; and they have not simplicity of heart to seek it where it may be found. One of the Chaldee Targums gives a strange turn to this verse: - "The path of the tree of life Sammael, (Satan), though flying like a bird, hath not known; nor hath the eye of Eve beheld it. The children of men have not walked in it; nor hath the serpent turned towards it."

He putteth forth his hand upon the rock, - Still there appears to be a reference to mining. Man puts his hand upon the rock, he breaks that to pieces, in order to extract the metals which it contains.

He overturneth the mountains - He excavates, undermines, or digs them away, when in search of the metals contained in them: this is not only poetically, but literally, the case in many instances.

He cutteth out rivers among the rocks - He cuts canals, adits, etc., in the rocks, and drives levels under ground, in order to discover loads or veins of ore. These are often continued a great way under ground; and may be poetically compared to rivers, channels, or canals.

His eye seeth every precious thing - He sinks those shafts, and drives those levels, in order to discover where the precious minerals lie, of which he is in pursuit.

He bindeth the floods - Prevents the risings of springs from drowning the mines; and conducts rivers and streams from their wonted course, in order to bring forth to light what was hidden under their beds. The binding or restraining the water, which, at different depths, annoys the miner, is both difficult and expensive: in some cases it may be drawn off by pipes or canals into neighboring water courses; in others, it is conducted to one receptacle or reservoir, and thence drawn off. In Europe it is generally done by means of steam-engines. What method the ancients had in mining countries, we cannot tell; but they dug deep in order to find out the riches of the earth. Pliny says, nervously, Imus in viscera terrae; et in sede manium opes quaerimus. "We descend into the bowels of the earth; and seek for wealth even in the abodes of departed spirits." The manes or ghosts of the dead, or spirits presiding over the dead, were supposed to have their habitation in the center of the earth; or in the deepest pits and caves. Ovid, speaking of the degeneracy of men in the iron age, Met. lib. i., ver. 137, says: -

Nec tantum segetes alimentaque debita dives

Poscebatur humus; sed itum est in viscera terrae:

Quasque recondiderat, Stygiisque admoverat umbris,

Effodiuntur opes, irritaenenta malorum.

Jamque nocens ferrum, ferroque nocentius aurum

Prodierat: prodit bellum, quod pugnat utroque;

Sanguineaque manu crepitantia concutit arma. "Nor was the ground alone required to bear

Her annual income to the crooked share:

But greedy mortals, rummaging her store,

Digg'd from her entrails first the precious ore;

And that alluring ill to sight display'd,

Which, next to hell, the prudent gods had laid.

Thus cursed steel, and more accursed gold,

Gave mischief birth, and made that mischief bold;

And double death did wretched man invade,

By steel assaulted, and by gold betray'd."

Dryden.

By binding the floods from overflowing, some have supposed that there is an allusion to the flux and reflux of the sea. In its flowing it is so bound, has its bounds assigned by the Most High, that it does not drown the adjacent country; and in its ebbing the parts which are ordinarily covered with the water are brought to view.

But where shall wisdom be found? - It is most evident that the terms wisdom and understanding are used here in a widely different sense from all those arts and sciences which have their relation to man in his animal and social state, and from all that reason and intellect by which man is distinguished from all other animals. Now as these terms חכמה chochmah, wisdom, and בינה binah, understanding or discernment, are often applied in the sacred writings in their common acceptations, we must have recourse to what Job says of them, to know their meaning in this place. In Job 28:28, he says, The fear of the Lord is Wisdom, and to depart from evil is Understanding. We know that the fear of the Lord is often taken for the whole of that religious reverence and holy obedience which God prescribes to man in his word, and which man owes to his Maker. Hence the Septuagint render חכמה chochmah, wisdom, by θεοσεβια, Divine worship; and as to a departure from evil, that is necessarily implied in a religious life, but it is here properly distinguished, that no man might suppose that a right faith, and a proper performance of the rites of religious worship, is the whole of religion. No. They must not only worship God in the letter, but also in the spirit; they must not only have the form, but also the power of godliness: and this will lead them to worship God in spirit and truth, to walk in his testimonies, and abstain from every appearance of evil; hence they will be truly happy: so that wisdom is another word for happiness. Now these are things which man by study and searching could never find out; they are not of an earthly origin. The spirit of a man, human understanding, may know the things of a man - those which concern him in his animal and social state: but the Spirit of God alone knows the things of God; and therefore Wisdom - all true religion - must come by Divine revelation, which is the mode of its attainment. Wisdom finds out the thing, and understanding uses and applies the means; and then the great end is obtained.

Man knoweth not the price thereof - It is of infinite value; and is the only science which concerns both worlds. Without it, the wisest man is but a beast; with it, the simplest man is next to an angel.

Neither is it found in the land of the living - The world by wisdom, its wisdom, never knew God. True religion came by Divine revelation: that alone gives the true notion of God, his attributes, ways, designs, judgments, providences, etc., whence man came, what is his duty, his nature, and his end. Literature, science, arts, etc., etc., can only avail man for the present life, nor can they contribute to his true happiness, unless tempered and directed by genuine religion.

The depth saith, It is not in me - Men may dig into the bowels of the earth, and there find gold, silver, and precious stones; but these will not give them true happiness.

The sea saith, It is not with me - Men may explore foreign countries, and by navigation connect as it were the most distant parts of the earth, and multiply the comforts and luxuries of life; but every voyage and every enjoyment proclaim, True happiness is not here.

It cannot be gotten for gold - Genuine religion and true happiness are not to be acquired by earthly property. Solomon made gold and silver as plentiful as the stones in Jerusalem, and had all the delights of the sons of men, and yet he was not happy; yea, he had wisdom, was the wisest of men, but he had not the wisdom of which Job speaks here, and therefore, to him, all was vanity and vexation of spirit. If Solomon, as some suppose, was the author of this book, the sentiments expressed here are such as we might expect from this deeply experienced and wise man.

The gold of Ophir - Gold is five times mentioned in this and Job 28:17 and Job 28:19, and four of the times in different words. I shall consider them all at once.

1. סגור Segor, from סגר sagar, to shut up. Gold. in the mine, or shut up in the ore; native gold washed by the streams out of the mountains, etc.; unwrought gold. Job 28:16

2. כתם Kethem, from כתם catham, to sign or stamp: gold made current by being coined, or stamped with its weight or value; what we would call standard or sterling gold. Job 28:17

3. זהב Zahab, from זהב zahab, to be Lear, bright, or resplendent: the untarnishing metal; the only metal that always keeps its lustre. But probably here it means gold chased, or that in which precious stones are set; burnished gold.

4. פז Paz, from פז paz, to consolidate, joined here with כלי keley, vessels, ornaments, instruments, etc.: hammered or wrought gold; gold in the finest forms, and most elegant utensils. This metal is at once the brightest, most solid, and most precious, of all the metals yet discovered, of which we have no less than forty in our catalogues. In these verses there are also seven kinds of precious stones, etc., mentioned: onyx, sapphire, crystal, coral, pearls, rubies, and topaz.

These I shall also consider in the order of their occurrence. Job 28:16

1. שהם shoham, the Onyx, from ονυξ, a man's nail, hoof of a horse, because in color it resembles both. This stone is a species of chalcedony; and consists of alternate layers of white and brown chalcedony, under which it generally ranges. In the Vulgate it is called sardonyx, compounded of sard and onyx. Sard is also a variety of chalcedony, of a deep reddish-brown color, of which, and alternate layers of milk-white chalcedony, the sardonyx consists. A most beautiful block of this mineral sardonyx, from Iceland, now lies before me.

2. ספיר sappir, the Sapphire stone, From ספר saphar, to count, number; probably from the number of golden spots with which it is said the sapphire of the ancients abounded. Pliny says, Hist. Nat. lib. xxxvii., cap. 8: Sapphirus aureis punctis collucet: coeruleae et sapphiri, raraque cum purpura: optimae apud Medos, nusquam tame perlucidae. "The sapphire glitters with golden spots. Sapphires are sometimes of an azure, never of a purple color. Those of Media are the best, but there are none transparent." This may mean the blood stones; but see below. What we call the sapphire is a variety of the perfect corundum; it is in hardness inferior only to the diamond. It is of several colors, and from them it has obtained several names.

1. The transparent or translucent is called the white sapphire.

2. The blue is called the oriental sapphire.

3. The violet blue, the oriental amethyst.

4. The yellow, the oriental topaz.

5. The green, the oriental emerald.

6. That with pearly reflections, the opalescent sapphire.

7. When transparent, with a pale, reddish, or bluish reflection, it is called the girasol sapphire.

8. A variety which, when polished, shows a silvered star of six rays in a direction perpendicular to the axis, is called asteria.

When the meaning of the Hebrew word is collated with the description given by Pliny, it must be evident that a spotted opaque stone is meant, and consequently not what is now known by the name sapphire. I conjecture, therefore, that lapis lazuli, which is of a blue color, with golden-like spots, formed by pyrites of iron, must be intended.

The lapis lazuli is that from which the beautiful and unfading color called ultramarine is obtained. Job 28:17

3. זכוכית zechuchith, Crystal, or glass, from זכה zachah, to be pure, clear, transparent. Crystal or crystal of quartz is a six-sided prism, terminated by six-sided pyramids. It belongs to the siliceous class of minerals: it is exceedingly clear and brilliant, insomuch that this property of it has become proverbial, as clear as crystal. Job 28:18

4. ראמות ramoth, Coral, from ראם raam, to be exalted or elevated; probably from this remarkable property of coral, "it always grows from the tops of marine rocky caverns with the head downwards." Red coral is found in the Mediterranean, about the isles of Majorca and Minorca, on the African coast, and in the Ethiopic ocean.

5. גביש gabish, Pearls, from גבש gabash, in Arabic, to be smooth, to shave off the hair; and hence גביש gabish, the pearl, the smooth round substance; and also hail or hailstones, because of their resemblance to pearls. The pearl is the production of a shell-fish of the oyster kind, found chiefly in the East Indies, and called berberi; but pearls are occasionally found in the common oyster, as I have myself observed, and in the muscle also. They are of a brilliant sparkling white, perfectly round in general, and formed of coats in the manner of an onion. Out of one oyster I once took six pearls. When large, fine, and without spots, they are valuable. I have seen one that formed the whole body of a Hindoo idol, Creeshna, more than an inch in length, and valued at 300 guineas.

6. פנינים peninim, Rubies, from פנה panah, he turned, looked, beheld. The oriental ruby is blood-red, rose-red, or with a tinge of violet. It has occasionally a mixture of blue, and is generally in the form of six-sided prisms. It is a species of the sapphire, and is sometimes chatoyant in its appearance, i.e., has a curious kind of reflection, similar to the cat's eye: and as this is particularly striking, and changes as you turn the stone, hence probably the name peninim, which you derive from פנה panah, to turn, look, behold, etc. But some learned men are of opinion that the magnet or loadstone is meant, and it is thus called because of the remarkable property it has of turning north and south. And this notion is rendered the more likely, because it agrees with another word in this verse, expressive of a different property of the magnet, viz., its attractive influence: for the Hebrew words משך חכמה מפנינים meshech chochmah mippeninim, which we render, The price of wisdom is above rubies, is literally, The Attraction of wisdom is beyond the peninim, the loadstone; for all the gold, silver, and precious stones, have strong influence on the human heart, attracting all its passions strongly; yet the attraction of wisdom - that which insures a man's happiness in both worlds - is more powerful and influential, when understood, than all of these, and even than the loadstone, for that can only attract iron; but, through desire of the other, a man, having separated himself from all those earthly entanglements, seeketh and intermeddleth with All Wisdom. The attractive property of the loadstone must have been observed from its first discovery; and there is every reason to believe that the magnet and its virtues were known in the East long before they were discovered in Europe.

7. פטדה pitdah, the Topaz. This word occurs only in Exo 28:17; Exo 39:10; Eze 28:13, and in the present place; in all of which, except that of Ezekiel, where the Septuagint is all confusion, the Septuagint and Vulgate render the word always τοπαζιον, topazius, the Topaz. This stone is generally found in a prismatic form, sometimes limpid and nearly transparent, or of various shades of yellow, green, blue, lilac, and red. I have thus given the best account I can of the stones here mentioned, allowing that they answer to the names by which we translate them. But on this point there is great uncertainty, as I have already had occasion to observe in other parts of this work. Beasts, birds, plants, metals, precious stones, unguents, different kinds of grain, etc., are certainly mentioned in the sacred writings; but whether we know what the different Hebrew terms signify, is more than we can certainly affirm. Of some there is little room to doubt; of others conjecture must in the present state of our knowledge, supply the place of certainty. See Philip's Elementary Introduction to Mineralogy; an accurate work, which I feel pleasure in recommending to all students in the science.

The topaz of Ethiopia - The country called Cush, which we call Ethiopia, is supposed to be that which extends from the eastern coast of the Red Sea, and stretches towards Lower Egypt. Diodorus Siculus says that the topaz was found in great abundance, as his description intimates, in an island in the Red Sea called Ophiodes, or the isle of serpents, Hist. lib. iii., p. 121. His account is curious, but I greatly doubt its correctness; it seems too much in the form of a legend: yet the reader may consult the place. See also Clarke on Job 28:16 (note).

Whence then cometh wisdom? - Nearly the same words as in Job 28:12 (note), where see the note.

Destruction and death say, We have heard the fame thereof - אבדון ומות Abaddon vamaveth, the destroyer, and his offspring death. This is the very name that is given to the devil in Greek letters Αβαδδων, Rev 9:11, and is rendered by the Greek word Απολλυων, Apollyon, a word exactly of the same meaning. No wonder death and the devil are brought in here as saying they had heard the fame of wisdom, seeing Job 28:28 defines it to be the fear of the Lord, and a departure from evil; things point blank contrary to the interests of Satan, and the extension of the empire of death.

God understandeth the way thereof - It can only be taught by a revelation from himself. Instead of הבין hebin, understandeth, six MSS. have הכין hechin, disposed or established. This reading is also supported by the Septuagint; Ὁ Θεος ευ συνεστησεν αυτης ὁδον, "God hath well established her way:" falsely rendered bene cognovit, hath well known, in the Latin version of the Septuagint in the London Polyglot; but bene constituit, hath well established, in the Complutensian, Antwerp, and Paris Polyglots.

For he looketh to the ends of the earth - His knowledge is unlimited, and his power infinite.

To make the weight for the winds - God has given an atmosphere to the earth, which, possessing a certain degree of gravity perfectly suited to the necessities of all animals, plants, vegetables, and fluids, is the cause in his hand of preserving animal and vegetative life through the creation; for by it the blood circulates in the veins of animals, and the juices in the tubes of vegetables. Without this pressure of the atmosphere, there could be no respiration; and the elasticity of the particles of air included in animal and vegetable bodies, without this superincumbent pressure, would rupture the vessels in which they are contained, and destroy both kinds of life. So exactly is this weight of the winds or atmospheric air proportioned to the necessities of the globe, that we find it in the mean neither too light to prevent the undue expansion of animal and vegetable tubes, nor too heavy to compress them so as to prevent due circulation. See at the end of the chapter, Job 28:28 (note).

And he weigheth the waters by measure - He has exactly proportioned the aqueous surface of the earth to the terrene parts, so that there shall be an adequate surface to produce, by evaporation, moisture sufficient to be treasured up in the atmosphere for the irrigation of the earth, so that it may produce grass for cattle, and corn for the service of man. It has been found, by a pretty exact calculation, that the aqueous surface of the globe is to the terrene parts as three to one; or, that three-fourths of the surface of the globe is water, and about one-fourth earth. And other experiments on evaporation, or the quantity of vapours which arise from a given space in a given time, show that it requires such a proportion of aqueous surface to afford moisture sufficient for the other proportion of dry land. Thus God has given the waters by measure, as he has given the due proportion of weight to the winds.

When he made a decree for the rain - When he determined how that should be generated, viz., By the heat of the sun evaporation is produced: the particles of vapor being lighter than the air on the surface, ascend into the atmosphere, till they come to a region where the air is of their own density; there they are formed into thin clouds, and become suspended. When, by the sudden passages of lightning, or by winds strongly agitating these clouds, the particles are driven together and condensed so as to be weightier than the air in which they float, then they fall down in the form of rain; the drops being greater or less according to the force or momentum, or suddenness, of the agitation by which they are driven together as well as to the degree of rarity in the lower regions of the atmosphere through which they fall.

A way for the lightning of the thunder - ודרך לחזיז קולות vederech lachaziz koloth. קול kol signifies voice of any kind; and koloth is the plural and is taken for the frequent claps or rattlings of thunder. חז chaz signifies to notch, indentate, or serrate, as in the edges of the leaves of trees; חזיז chaziz must refer to the zigzag form which lightning assumes in passing from one cloud into another. We are informed that "this is a frequent occurrence in hot countries." Undoubtedly it is; for it is frequent in cold countries also. I have seen this phenomenon in England in the most distinct manner for hours together, with a few seconds of interval between each flash. Nothing can better express this appearance than the original word.

Then did he see it, and declare it - When he had finished all his creative operations, and tried and proved his work, חקרה chakarah, investigated and found it to be very good; then he gave the needful revelation to man; for,

Unto man he said - לאדם laadam, unto man, he said: This probably refers to the revelation of his will which God gave to Adam after his fall. He had before sought for wisdom in a forbidden way. When he and Eve saw that the tree was pleasant to the eyes, and a tree to be desired to make one wise, they took and did eat, Gen 3:6. Thus they lost all the wisdom that they had, by not setting the fear of the Lord before their eyes; and became foolish, wicked, and miserable. Hear, then, what God prescribes as a proper remedy for this dire disease: The fear of the Lord, that is wisdom; it is thy only wisdom now to set God always before thy eyes, that thou mayest not again transgress.

Depart from evil is understanding - Depart from the evil within thee, and the evil without thee; for thy own evil, and the evil that is now, through thee, brought into the world, will conspire together to sink thee into ruin and destruction. Therefore, let it be thy constant employment to shun and avoid that evil which is everywhere diffused through the whole moral world by thy offense; and labor to be reconciled to him by the righteousness and true holiness, that thou mayest escape the bitter pains of an eternal death. See the note on Job 28:12. From what has been observed on Job 28:25, Job 28:26, and from the doctrine of the atmosphere in general, I can safely draw the following conclusions: -

1. From the gravity and elasticity of the air, we learn that it closely invests the earth, and all bodies upon it, and binds them down with a force equal to 2160 pounds on every square foot. Hence it may properly be termed the belt or girdle of the globe.

2. It prevents the arterial system of animals and plants from being too much distended by the impetus of the circulating juices, or by the elastic power of the air so plenteously contained in the blood, and in the different vessels both of plants and animals.

3. By its gravity it prevents the blood and juices from oozing through the pores of the vessels in which they are contained; which, were it not for this circumstance, would infallibly take place. Persons who ascend high mountains, through want of a sufficiency of pressure in the atmosphere, become relaxed, and spit blood. Animals, under an exhausted receiver, swell, vomit, and discharge their faeces.

4. It promotes the mixture of contiguous fluids; for when the air is extracted from certain mixtures, a separation takes place, by which their properties, when in combination, are essentially changed.

5. To this principle we owe winds in general, so essential to navigation, and so necessary to the purification of the atmosphere. The air is put into motion by any alteration of its equilibrium.

6. Vegetation depends entirely gravity and elasticity of the air. Various experiments amply prove that plants in vacuo never grow.

7. Without air there could be no evaporation from the sea and rivers; and, consequently, no rain; nor could the clouds be suspended, so necessary to accumulate and preserve, and afterwards to distil, these vapours, in the form of dew, rain, snow, and hail, upon the earth.

8. Without air, all the charms of vocal and instrumental sounds would become extinct; and even language itself would cease.

9. Without it heat could not be evolved, nor could fire exist; hence a universal rigour would invest the whole compass of created nature.

10. Without air, animal life could never have had a being; hence God created the firmament or atmosphere before any animal was produced. And without its continual influence animal life cannot be preserved; for it would require only a few moments of a total privation of the benefits of the atmosphere to destroy every living creature under the whole heaven.

11. It has been found, by repeated experiments, that a column or rod of quicksilver, about twenty-nine inches and a half high, and one inch in diameter, weighs about fifteen pounds; and such a column is suspended in an exhausted tube by the weight of the atmosphere; hence it necessarily follows, that a column of air, one square inch in diameter, and as high as the atmosphere, weighs about fifteen pounds at a medium. Thus it is evident that the atmosphere presses with the weight of fifteen pounds on every square inch; and, as a square foot contains one hundred and forty-four square inches, every such foot must sustain a weight of incumbent atmospheric air equal to two thousand one hundred and sixty pounds, as has been before stated. And from this it will follow, that a middle-sized man, whose surface is about fifteen square feet, constantly sustains a load of air equal to thirty-two thousand four hundred pounds! But this is so completely counterbalanced by the air pressing equally in all directions, and by the elasticity of the air included in the various cavities of the body, that no person in a pure and healthy state of the atmosphere feels any inconvenience from it; so accurately has God fitted the weight to the winds. It has been suggested that my computation of 15 square feet for the surface of a middle-sized man, is too much; I will, therefore, take it at 14 square feet. From this computation, which is within the measure, it is evident that every such person sustains a weight of air equal, at a medium, to about 30,240 lbs. troy, or 24,882 1/2 lbs. avoirdupois, which make 1,777 stone, 4 lbs. equal to eleven Tons, two Hundred and eighteen pounds and a half.

12. Though it may appear more curious than useful, yet from the simple fact which I have completely demonstrated myself by experiment, that the atmosphere presses with the weight or fifteen pounds on every square inch, we can tell the quantum of pressure on the whole globe, and weigh the whole atmosphere to a pound! The polar and equatorial circumference of the earth is well known. Without, therefore, entering too much into detail, I may state that the surface of the terraqueous globe is known to contain about five thousand, five hundred, and seventy-five Billions of square Feet; hence, allowing fifteen pounds to each square inch, and two thousand one hundred and sixty pounds to each square foot, the whole surface must sustain a pressure from the atmosphere equal to twelve Trillions and forty-two thousand billions of Pounds! or six thousand and twenty-one Billions of Tons! And this weight is the weight of the whole atmosphere from its contact with every part of the earth's surface to its utmost highest extent! Experiments also prove that the air presses equally in all directions, whether upwards, downwards, or laterally; hence the earth is not incommoded with this enormous weight, because its zenith and nadir, north and south pressure, being perfectly equal, counterbalance each other! This is also the case with respect to the human body, and to all bodies on the earth's surface. To make the foregoing calculations more satisfactory, it may be necessary to add the following observations: - A bulk of atmospheric air, equal to one quart, when taken near the level of the sea, at a temperature of 50 Fahrenheit, weighs about 16 grains, and the same bulk of rain water, taken at the same temperature, weighs about 14,621 grains: hence rain water is about 914 times specifically heavier than air. I have already shown that the pressure of the atmosphere is equal to about 15 lbs. troy on every square inch; and that this pressure is the same in all directions; and thence shown that on this datum the whole weight of the atmosphere may be computed. I shall re-state this from a computation of the earth's surface in square miles, which is recommended to me as peculiarly accurate. A square mile contains 27,878,400 square feet. The earth's surface, in round numbers, is 200,000,000, or two hundred millions, of square miles. Now, as from the preceding data it appears that there is a pressure of 19,440 lbs. troy on every square yard, the pressure or weight of the whole atmosphere, circumfused round the whole surface of the earth, amounts to 12,043,468,800,000,000,000, or, twelve Trillions forty-three thousand four hundred and sixty-eight Billions, eight hundred thousand Millions of pounds. Though we cannot tell to what height the atmosphere extends, the air growing more and more rare as we ascend in it; yet we can ascertain, as above, the quantum of weight in the whole of this atmosphere, which the terraqueous globe sustains equally diffused over its surface, as well as over the surfaces of all bodies existing on it. At first view, however, it is difficult for minds not exercised in matters of philosophy to conceive how such an immense pressure can be borne by animal beings. Though this has been already explained, let the reader farther consider that, as fishes are surrounded by water, and live and move in it, which is a much denser medium than our atmosphere; so all human beings and all other animals are surrounded by air, and live and move in it. A fish taken out of the water will die in a very short time: a human being, or any other animal, taken out of the air, or put in a place whence the air is extracted, will die in a much shorter time. Water gravitates towards the center of the earth, and so does air. Hence, as a fish is pressed on every side by that fluid, so are all animals on the earth's surface by atmospheric air. And the pressure in both cases, on a given surface, is as has been stated above; the air contained in the vessels and cells of animal bodies being a sufficient counterpoise to the air without. Having said thus much on the pressure of the atmosphere, as intimated by Job, the reader will permit me to make the following general reflections on the subject, of which he may make what use he may judge best. It is generally supposed that former times were full of barbaric ignorance; and that the system of philosophy which is at present in repute, and is established by experiments, is quite a modern discovery. But nothing can be more false than this; as the Bible plainly discovers to an attentive reader that the doctrine of statics, the circulation of the blood, the rotundity of the earth, the motions of the celestial bodies, the process of generation, etc., were all known long before Pythagoras, Archimedes, Copernicus, or Newton were born. It is very reasonable to suppose that God implanted the first principles of every science in the mind of his first creature; that Adam taught them to his posterity, and that tradition continued them for many generations with their proper improvements. But many of them were lost in consequence of wars, captivities, etc. Latter ages have re-discovered many of them, principally by the direct or indirect aid of the Holy Scriptures; and others of them continue hidden, notwithstanding the accurate and persevering researches of the moderns.

Surely - Job having in the last chapter discoursed of God's various providences toward wicked men, and shewed that God doth sometimes, for a season, give them prosperity, but afterwards calls them to a sad account, and having shewed that God doth sometimes prosper the wicked all their days, so they live and die without any visible token of God's displeasure, when on the contrary, good men are exercised with many calamities; and perceiving that his friends were, scandalized at these methods of Divine providence, and denied the thing, because they could not understand the reason of such dispensations: in this chapter he declares that this is one of the depths of Divine wisdom, not discoverable by any mortal man, and that although men had some degree of wisdom whereby they could search out many hidden things, as the veins of silver, and gold, yet this was a wisdom of an higher nature, and out of man's reach. The caverns of the earth he may discover, but not the counsels of heaven.

Perfection - Whatever is deeply wrought in the deepest caverns. Stones of darkness - The precious stones which lie hid in the dark bowels of the earth, where no living thing can dwell.

Breaketh out - While men are searching, water breaks in upon them. Inhabitants - Out of that part of the earth which the miners inhabit. Forgotten - Untrodden by the foot of man. Dried up - They are dried up, (or, drawn up, by engines made for that purpose) from men, from the miners, that they may not be hindered in their work.

Fire - Coals, and brimstone, and other materials of fire. Unless this refer, as some suppose, to a central fire.

Sapphires - Of precious stones; the sapphire, is one of the most eminent, being put for all the rest. In some parts of the earth, the sapphires are mixed with stones, and cut out of them and polished. Hath - The earth continueth. Dust - Distinct from that gold which is found in the mass, both sorts of gold being found in the earth.

A path - In the bowels of the earth. Vulture's eye - Whose eye is very quick, and strong, and searcheth all places for its prey.

Lion - Which rangeth all places for prey. The birds and beasts have often led men to such places as otherwise they should never have found out; but they could not lead them to these mines, the finding out of them is a special gift of God.

He, &c. - This and the two next verses mention other eminent works of God, who overturneth rocks, and produceth new rivers.

Seeth - Even those which no human art or industry was ever able to discover.

That wisdom - Man hath one kind of wisdom, to discover the works of nature, and to perform the operations of art; but as for that sublime wisdom which consists in the knowledge of God and ourselves, no man can discover this, but by the special gift of Cod.

Found - Among men upon earth, but only among those blessed spirits that dwell above.

The depth - This is not to he found in any part of the sea, though a man may dig or dive ever so deep to find it, nor to be learned from any creature.

Whence, &c. - By a diligent inquiry, we find at length, that there is a twofold wisdom; one hid in God, which belongs not to us, the other revealed to man, which belongs to us and to our children.

Hid - The line and plummet of human reason, can never fathom the abyss of the Divine counsels. Who can account for the maxims, measures and methods of God's government? Let us then be content, not to know the future events of providence, 'till time discover them: and not to know the secret reasons of providence, 'till eternity brings them to light.

Death - The grave, the place of the dead, to 'which these things are here ascribed, as they are to the depths, and to the sea, by a common figure. Though they cannot give an account of it themselves yet there is a world, on which these dark regions border, where we shall see it clearly. Have patience, says death: I will fetch thee shortly to a place where even this wisdom shall be found. When the veil of flesh is rent, and the interposing clouds are scattered, we shall know what God doth, though we know not now.

God - God alone. The way - The methods which he takes in the management of all affairs, together with its grounds and ends in them. The place - Where it dwells, which is only in his own mind.

For - He, and he only knows it, because his providence, is infinite and universal, reaching to all places, and times, past, present, and to come; whereas the most knowing men have narrow understandings, and the wisdom, and justice, and beauty of God's works are not fully seen 'till all the parts of them be laid together.

Winds - God manageth them all by weight, appointing to every wind that blows, its season, its proportion, its bounds, when, and where, and how much, and how long each shall blow. He only doth all these things, and he only knows why he doth them. He instanceth in some few of God's works, and those which seem to be most trivial, and uncertain, that thereby he might more strongly imply that God doth the same in other things which are more considerable, that he doth all things in the most exact order, and weight, and measure. The waters - Namely, the rain - waters, which God layeth up in his store - houses, the clouds, and thence draws them forth, and sends them down upon the earth in such times and proportions as he thinks fit. Measure - For liquid things are examined by measure, as other things are by weight: and here is both weight and measure to signify with what perfect wisdom God governs the world.

When - At the first creation, when he settled that course and order which should he continued. A decree - An appointment and as it were a statute law, that it should fall upon the earth, in such times, and places, and proportions.

It - Wisdom, which is the subject of the present discourse. This God saw within himself; he looked upon it in his own mind, as the rule by which he would proceed in the creation and government of all things. Declare - Or reveal it. Prepared - He had it in readiness for doing all his works, as if he had been for a long time preparing materials for them. So it is a speech of God after the manner of men. Searched - Not properly; for so searching implies ignorance, and requires time and industry, all which is repugnant to the Divine perfections; but figuratively, he did, and doth, all things with that absolute and perfect wisdom, so exactly, and perfectly, as if he had bestowed a long time in searching, to find them out.

Man - Unto Adam in the day in which he was created. And in him, to all his posterity. Said - God spake it, at first to the mind of man, in which he wrote this with his own finger, and afterwards by the holy patriarchs, and prophets, and other teachers, whom he sent into the world to teach men true wisdom. Behold - Which expression denotes the great importance of this doctrine, and withal man's backwardness to apprehend it. The fear of the Lord - True religion. Wisdom - In man's wisdom, because that, and that only, is his duty, and safety, and happiness, both for this life and for the next. Evil - From sin, which is called evil eminently, as being the chief evil, and the cause of all other evils. Religion consists of two branches, doing good, and forsaking evil; the former is expressed in the former clause of this verse, and the latter in these words; and this is the best kind of knowledge or wisdom to which man can attain in this life. The design of Job in this close of his discourse, is not to reprove the boldness of his friends, in prying into God's secrets, and passing such a rash censure upon him, and upon God's carriage towards him; but also to vindicate himself from the imputation of hypocrisy, which they fastened upon him, by shewing that he had ever esteemed it to be his best wisdom, to fear God, and to depart from evil.

1. SUrely there is a Vein for the Silver , and a place for Gold, where they fine it .

Where it is hid by God, and found, and fetched out by the art and industry of man. The connexion of this Chapter with the former is difficult, and diversly apprehended; but this may seem to be the fairest account of it, Iob having in the last Chapter discoursed of Gods various Providences and carriages towards wicked men, and shewed that God doth sometimes, for a season, give them Wealth and Prosperity, but afterwards calls them to a sad account, and punisheth them severely for their abuse of his Mercies; and having formerly shewed that God doth sometimes prosper the wicked all their days, so as they live and die without any visible token of Gods displeasure against them, when on the contrary good men are exercised with many and grievous Calamities, and perceiving that his Friends were, as men in all ages have been, scandalized at these methods of divine Providence, and denied the thing, because they could not understand the reason of such unequal Dispensations: In this Chapter he declares that this is one of the depths and secrets of divine Wisdom, not discoverable by any mortal man in this World, and that although men had some degree of Wisdom whereby they could dig deep, and search out many hidden things, as the Veins of Silver, Gold, &c. yet this was a Wisdom of an higher nature, and out of mans reach. And hereby he secretly checks the arrogance and confidence of his Friends, who, because they had some parts of Wisdom, the knowledge of natural things, such as are here contained, and of humane Affairs, and of some divine matters, therefore presumed to fathom the depths of Gods Wisdom and Providence, and to judge of all Gods ways and works by the scantling of their own narrow understandings. Possibly it may be connected thus, Iob having been discoursing of the wonderful ways of God both in the works of Nature, Ch. 26. from v. 5. to the end, and in his providential Dispensations towards wicked men, Ch. 27. from v. 13. to the end, he here returns to the first Branch of his Discourse, and discovers more of Gods Wisdom and Power in natural things. And this he doth partly that by this manifestation of his singular skill in the ways and actions of God, he might vindicate himself from that contempt which they seemed to have for him, and oblige them to hear what he had further to say with more attention and consideration, and partly that by this representation of the manifold Wisdom and power of God they might be wrought to a greater Reverence for God and for his works, and not presume to judge so rashly and boldly of them, and to condemn what they did not understand in them.

Or rather, as it is in the margen[illegible: 1+ letters] of our Bibles, which they, to wit, the Refiners, do sine. For he speaks not here of the works of men and of art, but of God and of Nature, as is manifest from the foregoing and following words.

Marginal references: Or, a Mine.; Or, which they fine.

2. Iron is taken out of the Earth , and brass is molten out of the Stone .

Being made of Earth con[illegible: 1+ letters]cted by the heat of the Sun into that hardness, and by Miners digged out of the Earth.

Or, Copper.

Wherewith it is mixed and incorporated in the Earth, and by fire and the art of the metallist it is separated from it, and taken out of it, as Pliny observes 34. 1, 10. & 36. 27.

Marginal references: Or, [illegible: 1 word].

3. He setteth an end to darkness, and searcheth out all perfection : the stones of darkness, and the shadow of Death .

Either 1. Man the Miner, or 2. God, of whose works of Nature he here speaks, or 3. God as the chief Author and Directer, and man as Gods Instrument in the work.

Or, a bound, how far the darkness shall reach, and how far the dark and hidden parts and Treasures of the Earth shall be searched, and discovered, and brought to light.

i. e. Metals and Minerals, which are nothing else but Earth concocted, and hardened, and brought to maturity and perfection. Or, unto all perfection, i. e. he perfectly and exactly searcheth them out, although the Hebrew Lamed may be here only a Note of the Accusative Case, as our translation takes it.

Either Gems and precious Stones, which are called by this word Prov. 26. 8. or those stones out of which the metals forementioned are taken.

Which lie hid in the dark and deadly shades and bowels of the Earth.

Marginal references: Ch. 1[illegible: 1+ letters]. [illegible: 1+ letters]2.

4. The flood breaketh out from the Inhabitant , even the Waters forgotten of the foot : they are dried up, they are gone away from men .

This Verse speaks either 1. Of another great and remarkable work of God, whereby in some places either new Rivers break forth, or old Rivers break in upon the Inhabitants, and drive them away; and in other places Rivers, or other Waters, are dried up, or derived into other channels or grounds, by which means these Lands are rendred more useful and fruitful. Or rather 2. Of an accident which commonly happens in Mines, where, whilest men are digging, a flood of Waters breaks in suddenly and violently upon them, and disturbs them in their work.

Heb. from with the Inhabitant, i. e. out of that part of the Earth which the Miners in a manner inhabit, or where they have their fixed abode, and for the most part dwell. Or, so that there is no Inhabitant or abide[illegible: 1+ letters], i. e. so that the Miners dare continue there no longer, but are forced to come away.

Which word is easily and fitly understood out of the foregoing word flood. Or, without this supplement, the flood may be said to be forgotten, &c. that singular word being collectively taken, and so conveniently joined with this word of the plural number.

i. e. Untrodden by the foot of man, such Waters as men either never did pass over, or, by reason of their depth, cannot pass over, or, such as though the Miners at first for a while did pass over, yet now cannot, or dare not, do so any more. Forgetfulness is here ascribed to the foot, as it is to the hand, Psalm 137. 5. and it is put for ignorance or unacquaintedness, as all sinners are said to forget God, though many of them never remembred nor minded him.

Heb. they are dried up (or, drawn up, to wit, by Engines made for that purpose) from men, (i. e. from the Miners, that they may not be hindred in their work. Or, with, or by men, the prefix Mem being oft put for Beth, i. e. by the labour of men) they remove, or vanish, or pass away, and so the Miners return to their work.

5. As for the Earth, out of it cometh bread : and under it is turned up as it were fire .

Out of the upper parts of the Earth.

Bread-corn, or other food for mans use.

Either 1. under the same Earth, which either at the same time yields bread out of its upper, and fire out of its lower parts; or at several times; that Earth which once was fruitful, becoming, by the disposition of divine Providence, barren and sulphureous, &c. Or 2. Under other parts of the Earth.

i. e. Is digged out and setched up.

Either Gold and pretious Stones, which glitter and sparkle like fire: or Coals, and Brimstone, and other materials of Fire.

Marginal references: Ezek. [illegible: 1 word]. [illegible: 1 word]

6. The stones of it are the place of Saphirs : and it hath dust of Gold .

i. e. Of pretious Stones, the Saphire, as one of the most eminent, being put for all the rest. In some parts of the Earth the Saphires are mixed with stones, and cut out of them and polished. Of this stone see Exod. 24. 10. Ezek. 1. 26. Cant. 5. 14. La[illegible: 1+ letters]. 4. 7.

i. e. The Earth containeth in or under it.

Which is a distinct thing from that Gold which is found in the mass or lump, of which v. 2. both sorts of Gold being found in the Earth.

Marginal references: Or, [illegible: 1 word]. [illegible: 1 word].

7. There is a path which no fowl knoweth, and which the Vultures Eye hath not seen.

To wit, in the dark depths and Bowels of the Earth.

Whose Eye is very quick, and strong, and which searcheth all places for its Prey, but cannot reach to these places, which yet the Wisdom of man by the direction of Gods Providence find eth out.

8. The Lions Whelps have not trodden it, no[illegible: 1+ letters] the fierce Lion passed by it.

Heb. the sons of Pride, a fit name for Lions, which are lofty and stately Creatures, despising both men and all other Beasts that oppose them.

Which rangeth all places for Prey, and findeth out the deepest Dens and Caves of the Earth. The Birds and Beasts have oft times led men to such places as otherwise they should [illegible: 1+ letters]ver have found out; but they could not lead men to these Mines, but the finding out of them is a special gift of God, and an act of that Wisdom which he hath put into man.

9. He putteth forth his hand upon the Rock ; he overturneth the mountains by the roots .

This and the now next Verses are meant either 1. Of other eminent and considerable works of God, who sometimes overturneth Rocks, and produceth new Rivers in unlikely places. Or rather 2. Of the same work of mining and digging for Gold, or other pretious things of the Earth, and of other effects of Mans Art and Wisdom in that work. The Miners resolve to break through all opposition, and by Iron tools, or Fire, or other ways, dig through the hardest Rocks.

He undermineth the very Mountains to find out the Metals lying at the bottom of them.

Marginal references: [illegible: 1 word]. 5.; [illegible: 1 word]. [illegible: 1 word].

10. He cutteth out Rivers among the Rocks , and his Eye seeth every precious thing .

He maketh channels there to convey away that water which was breaking in upon him, and if not thus diverted would have spoiled his work: of which see on v 4.

Having with great art and inde[illegible: 1+ letters]atigable Industry broke through all difficulties, he at last arriveth at his end, and finds out those precious Treasures which he sought for.

11. He bindeth the floods from overflowing , and the thing that is hid, bringeth he forth to light .

He restraineth them, and as it were bindeth them to their good behaviour, that they may not overflow the Mine.

Those Metals which did lie hid in the secret parts of the Earth he discovers to himself and others.

Marginal references: [illegible: 1 word] [illegible: 1 word].

12. But where shall Wisdom be found? and where is the place of Understanding ?

Heb. that Wisdom, for here is an article which seems to be emphatical. The sense is, I confess that man hath one kind of Wisdom in a great Measure, to wit, to discover the works of Nature, and to perform the operations of art; but as for that sublime and eminent Wisdom, which consists in the exact knowledge of all Gods Counsels, and Ways, and of the several manners and reasons of his governing the world, and dealing with good and bad men, this is far above m[illegible: 1+ letters]ns reach, and is the Prerogative of God alone.

There is no vein for that upon Earth, as there is for Gold or Silver.

13. Man knoweth not the price thereof , neither is it found in the Land of the Living .

Man knoweth neither where to purchase it, nor how much it is worth, nor what to offer in exchange for it.

Amongst mortal men that live upon Earth, but only amongst those blessed Spirits that dwell above.

14. The depth saith, It is not in me: and the Sea saith, It is not with me.

To wit, of the Earth, because the Sea here follows as a differing place. This is a very common figure, whereby Speech is ascribed to dumb and senseless Creatures: The meaning is, this is not to be found in any part of the Land or Sea, yea though a man should dig or dive never so deep to find it, nor to be learned from any Creatures: For though these discover the Being, and Power, and in part, the Wisdom of God, yet they do not instruct us in the methods and grounds of Gods providential dispensations to good and evil men: these are secrets of Wisdom reserved for God himself.

Marginal references: [illegible: 1 word]. 2[illegible: 1+ letters] ▪ [illegible: 1 word]. 11. 33, 3[illegible: 1+ letters] ▪

15. It cannot be gotten for Gold , neither shall Silver be weighed for the price thereof.

The choicest Gold laid up in Treasures, as the word signifies.

To wit, in the ballance: for in those times Money was paid by weight, no[illegible: 1+ letters] by tale. See Gen. 23. 16. Ier. 32. 9, 10.

Marginal references: Heb. [illegible: 1 word] gold [illegible: 1 word] not be gi [illegible: 1+ letters] [illegible: 1 word] it.; [illegible: 1+ letters]rov. 3. 13, 1[illegible: 1+ letters] ▪ & 8. 11, 19. & 16. 16.

16. It cannot be valued with the gold of Ophir , with the pretious Onyx , or the Saphire.

Which was the best sort of gold. See on 1 King. 9. 28. Iob 22. 24.

Or, Sardonyx, See on Exod. 28. 20.

17. The gold and the crystal cannot equal it: and the exchange of it shall not be for jewels of fine gold.

Or Amber, which in those parts was of very great price. Or, the Diamond. The Hebrew word is not elsewhere used, and it hath in it the signification of purity, or clearness, or brightness.

Or, vessels, wherein there is not only the excellency of the materials, but the curiosity of art, which renders the other much more valuable.

Marginal references: Or, vessels of [illegible: 1 word] gold.

18. No mention shall be made of coral, or of pearls: for the price of Wisdom is above rubies.

They are of no value, nor worthy to be named the same day with this, nor fit to be mentioned as a price or recompence, wherewith to purchase this.

Or, the attraction or acquisition: or rather, the Extraction, or drawing forth. For Iob useth the word of art which was proper in the taking of Pearls, as the following word, rendred by our Translators Rubies, is understood by divers, both Hebrew and Christian Interpreters, and amongst others by the late eminently learned Bochart, who proveth it by divers Arguments. Now these Pearls are and were taken by men that dived to the bottom of the Sea, and drew them out thence, which is the very word which both Arabick and Latine Authors use in the case, as indeed the same word is used of all Fisher-men, who are said to draw forth with their Hook, or Net▪ or otherwise, Fishes, or any other thing for which they are fishing. Moreover this diving, as it produced great profit, so it was not without some danger and difficulty; for if they heedlesly put their fingers into the gaping shell, within which the Pearl was, it speedily closed upon them, and put them to exquisite pain, to the loss of their finger, and sometimes of their Life. Which is a fit representation of the state of those persons who search after the knowledge of Gods Counsels, and ways, and the grounds of them, who as when they modestly enquire into them, and truly discover them, they have infinite advantage and satisfaction therein, so if they prie into them too boldly, searching into those things which God hath concealed, and rashly judging of them above what they know, which Iob judged to be his Friends case, they expose themselves to manifold snares and dangers. And this extraction, or drawing forth, is aptly used concerning this Wisdom, which lying very deep and remote from the reach of ordinary men, is not be obtained without diligent search and consideration. And so the place may be thus translated, the extraction or drawing forth of Wisdom is above that (to wit, the extraction) of Pearls.

Marginal references: Or, [illegible: 1 word]

19. The topaz of Ethiopia shall not equal it, neither shall it be valued with pure gold.

Of which see Exod. 28. 17. & 39. 10.

Or, of Arabia: for Cush signifies both Ethiopia and Arabia; and the Topaz was found in the Red-Sea, which lay between both, and so might be ascribed to either.

20. Whence then cometh wisdom? and where is the place of understanding ?

Where this pretious Treasure lies, and whence a man may fetch it.

Marginal references: Ver. 1[illegible: 1+ letters].

21. Seeing it is hid from the Eyes of all living , and kept close from the fowls of the air .

Of all men that live upon the Earth.

Though they flie high, and can see far and well, yet they cannot discern this: Men of the most raised understandings cannot discover it. It is to be found no where in this visible World, neither in the upper nor lower parts of it.

Marginal references: Or, heaven.

22. Destruction and death say, we have heard the fame thereof with our ears.

Either 1. Men that are dead, and thereby freed from the encumbrance of their bodies, which depress their minds, and have more raised thoughts than men that live here. Or 2. The Grave, the place of the dead, to which these things are here ascribed, as they are to the depths, and to the Sea, v. 14. by a Figure called Prosopopaeia. If a man should search for this Wisdom, either amongst living men, or amongst the dead, he could not find it; yea, though he should and might enquire of all men that formerly lived in the World, some of whom were persons of prodigious Wit, and Learning, and of vast Experience, as having lived nigh a Thousand Years, and made it their great business in that time to search out the depths of this divine Wisdom in the administration of the World.

We know it only by slight and uncertain rumours, but not fully and perfectly.

Marginal references: Ver. 1[illegible: 1+ letters] ▪

23. God understandeth the way thereof ▪ and he knoweth the place thereof .

i. e. God alone; as appears by the denial of it to all other things.

Either the way how it is to be obtained: Or rather, the methods or courses which it takes in the management of all affairs in the World, together with its grounds and end▪ [illegible: 1 word] them.

Where it dwells, which is only in his own Breast and Mind, and in the best of men but in part, and only as far as it pleaseth him to afford it.

24. For he looketh to the ends of the Earth, and seeth under the whole heaven .

He, and he only knows it, because his Providence, and that only, is infinite and universal, reaching to all places, and times, and things, past, present, and to come; whereas the most acute and knowing men have narrow understandings, and see but very few things, and small parcels of the works of God, and therefore are very unfit to pass a judgment upon them, because the Wisdom, and Justice, and Beauty of Gods works is not clearly nor fully seen till all the parts of them be laid together.

25. To make the weight for the winds , and he weigheth the waters by measure .

Which of themselves are most light, and without any weight, and inconstant, and such as no Creature can order or govern them: But God manageth them all by weight, appointing to every Wind that blows, its season, its proportion, its bounds and limits, when, and where, and how much, and how long each Wind shall blow, and for what ends, whether for Mercy, as to refresh men in hot seasons with its gentle gales, to cherish the fruits of the Earth, to waft Ships on the Sea to their desired Havens, &c. or whether for Judgment, as to corrupt the air, and thereby the Bodies of men, and Fruits of the Earth, to blow down Houses upon their Inhabitants, as he was pleased to deal with my poor unhappy Children. He only doth all these things, and he only knows why he doth them. He instanceth but in some few of Gods works, and those which seem to be most trivial, and casual, and uncertain, that thereby he might more strongly imply and prove that God doth the same in other things which are more considerable, and are managed by more constant causes, and certain methods, that he doth all things in the most exact order, and weight, and measure.

But it seems a very improper speech, to weigh things by measure, and therefore this word may more fitly be otherwise rendred, he examineth, or disposeth, or fitteth, or directeth, for so this verb is elsewhere used, as 1 Sam. 2. 3. Psal 75. 3. Prov. 16. 2. & 21. 2.

To wit, the Rain-waters, as appears from the next Verse, which God layeth up in his Store-houses, or bottles, the Clouds, and thence draws them forth, and sends them down upon the Earth in such times and proportions as he thinks fit, and as may serve his several designs and ends.

For liquid things are examined by measure, as other things are by weight: and here is both weight and measure to signifie with what exact and perfect Wisdom God doth govern the World.

26. When he made a decree for the rain , and a way for the lightning of the thunder.

Which was either from eternity, or at the first Creation, when he settled that course and order which should afterwards be continued. Or, when he maketh: But our Translation seems best to suit with the then in the next Verse, where the sense is compleated.

An appointment, and as it were a Statute Law, that it should fall upon the Earth, and that in such times, and places, and proportions, and manner, as he should think fit, either for correction, or for mercy, as Elihu speaks, Iob 37. 13.

Or path, how it should get out of the thick Cloud in which it was shut up, and as it were imprisoned: or, a course, which should for the future be observed, as to the time, and measure, and ends, and other circumstances belonging to it.

27. Then did he see it , and declare it , he prepared it , yea, and searched it out .

Either from eternity, when he decreed what he would do, or when he first created them.

i. e. Wisdom, which is the subject matter of the present discourse. This God saw not abroad, but within himself, he looked or reflected upon it in his own mind, as the rule by which he would proceed in the Creation and Government of all things, managing them in such ways and methods as were most agreeable to his own most wise and unsearchable Counsels, which no humane or created Wit can reach or pierce into. Or, he saw it so as to declare it, as it follows, so as to make it visible and manifest in some measure to his Creatures. Or, he saw it, i. e. he enjoyed it, seeing being oft put for enjoying, as Psal. 27. 13. & 34. 12. Eccles. 3. 13. & 2. 1. Compare Prov. 8. 22.

i. e. He made it evident, he discovered his deep Wisdom which lay hid before in his own breast; or he laid the foundation of that discovery of it, which then was, or afterward should be made to Angels and Men, as the Heavens did in themselves declare the glory of God, Psal. 19. 1. before there was such a Creature as man to take notice of it, because the object was visible in itself, and not made so by the Eye which afterwards beheld it. Or, did number it, i. e. shewed it as it were by number, not only in gross, but as it were by retail, in all the several works which he made.

i. e. He had it in readiness for the doing of all his works, as if he had been for a long time preparing materials for them. So it is a speech of God after the manner of men. Or, he disposed it, i. e. used or employed it in his works. Or, he settled, or established it, i. e. he firmly purposed to do such and such things in such manner as he thought meet, and he established the order which he first made in the World, that it should continue in after ages. Or, he directed it, and directed and ordered all things by it.

Not properly; for so searching implies Ignorance, and that a man is at a loss, and requires time and industry, all which is repugnant to the Divine Perfections; but figuratively, as such expressions are oft used concerning God▪ i▪ e. He did, and doth, all things with that absolute and perfect Wisdom, and he knoweth all his own Counsels and Action[illegible: 1+ letters], and the reasons of them, so exactly, and perfectly, as if he had bestowed a long time in searching, and judging, to find them out. And this, and the other Acts mentioned in this Verse, are to be understood of God solely and exclusively, it being here, as it is oft elsewhere in this Book, sufficiently implied, that this kind of divine Wisdom, which consists in the accurate knowledge of all Gods Counsels and works, is far above, out of man's reach: Man doth not see this Wisdom, but only so far as God is pleased to reveal it to him, and therefore he cannot declare it to others; man did not prepare, nor order, nor contri[illegible: 1+ letters] it, and therefore no wonder if he cannot search it out. And so this is most fitly connected with the following Verse: For as here he tells us what Wisdom is denied to man, so there he informeth us what is granted to him.

Marginal references: Or, number it.

28. And unto man he said , behold , the fear of the LORD , that is wisdom , and to depart from evil is understanding .

Or rather, But: For this is added by way of opposition, to shew that mans Wisdom doth not lie in a curious enquiry into, or an exact knowledge of the secret paths of Gods Counsel and Providence, but in things of another, and of a lower nature.

Unto Adam at first, and in, and with him, to all his Race and Poster[illegible: 1+ letters] ty.

i. e. God spake it, partly and at first inwardly to the mind of Man, in which God wrote this with his own Finger, and engraved it as a first Principle for his direction, and partly afterwards by the Holy Patriarchs, and Prophets, and other Teachers of his Church, whom God sent into the World to teach men true Wisdom; which accordingly they did, not by acquainting the People with the secrets and intricacies of Gods Counsel and Providence, but by declaring the revealed Will of God, and instructing them in their duty towards God and Men, making this their great if not only business, to make men wise unto Salvation. See Deut. 4. 6. & 29. 29.

Which expression notes the great importance of this Doctrine, and withal man's dulness and backwardness to apprehend and consider it, and man's proneness to place his Wisdom in vain and curious speculations.

i. e. True Religion, and the right Worship of God, both inward and outward, all which cometh under this name.

In that only consists mans true Wisdom, because that, and that only, is his duty, and his safety, and happiness, both for this Life and for the next, and withal this is attainable, whereas the depths of Gods ways are unknown, and unsearchable to humane or created Capacities.

i. e. From [illegible: 1 word], which is called evil eminently, as being the chief if not the only Evil, and the cause of all other evils, and that which is constantly and immutably evil, whereas afflictions are frequently made good and highly beneficial. Religion consists of two Branches, doing good, and forsaking evil; the former is expressed in the former clause of this Verse, and the latter in these words.

Is the best kind of Knowledge or Wisdom to which man can attain in this Life. The same thing is here twice expressed in several Phrases. And the design of Iob in this close of his Discourse, is not only to shew the mistake, and reprove the Arrogance and boldness of his Friends, in prying into Gods secrets, and passing such a rash censure upon him, and upon Gods ways and carriage towards him; but also to v[illegible: 1+ letters]ndicate himself from the imputation of Hypocrifie and Profaneness, which they fastened upon him, by shewing that he had ever esteemed it to be his best Wisdom, and true Interest, to fear God, and to depart from evil.

Marginal references: [illegible: 1 word] [illegible: 1 word] ▪ & [illegible: 1+ letters]. [illegible: 1 word]. Ecc[illegible: 1+ letters] ▪ 1[illegible: 1+ letters]. [illegible: 1 word] ▪

Job 28:1-4   1  For there is a mine for the silver,

And a place for gold which they fine.   2  Iron is taken out of the dust,

And he poureth forth stone as copper.   3  He hath made an end of darkness,

And he searcheth all extremities

For the stone of darkness and of the shadow of death.   4  He breaketh away a shaft from those who tarry above:

There, forgotten by every foot,

They hang and swing far from men.Among the expositors of this and the two following strophes, are two acquainted with mining: The director of mines, von Veltheim, whose observations J. D. Michaelis has contributed in the Orient. u. exeg. Bibliothek, xxiii. 7-17; and the inspector of mines, Rudolf Nasse, in Studien und Krit. 1863, 105-111. Umbreit’s Commentary contains some observations by von Leonhard; he understands Job 28:4 as referring to the descent upon a cross bar attached to a rope, Job 28:5 of the lighting up by burning poles, Job 28:6 of the lapis lazuli, and Job 28:10 of the earliest mode of “letting off the water.”

According to the most natural connection demonstrated by us, Job desires to show that the final lot of the rich man is well merited, because the treasures which he made the object of his avarice and pride, though ever so costly, are still earthy in their nature and origin. Therefore he begins with the most precious metals, with silver, which has the precedence in reference to Job 27:16, and with gold. מוצא without any secondary notion of fulness (Schultens) signifies the issuing place, i.e., the place fro which anything naturally comes forth (Job 38:27), or whence it is obtained (1Ki 10:28); here in the latter sense of the place where a mineral is found, or the mine, as the parall. מקום, the place where the gold comes forth, therefore a gold mine. According to the accentuation (Rebia mugrasch, Mercha, Silluk), it is not to be translated: and a place for the gold where they refine it; but: a place for the gold which they refine. זקק, to strain, filter, is the technical expression for purifying the precious metals from the rock that is mingled with them (Mal 3:3) by washing. The pure gold or silver thus obtained is called מזקּק (Psa 12:7; 1Ch 28:18; 1Ch 29:4). Diodorus, in his description of mining in Upper Egypt (Job 3:11), after having described the operation of crushing the stone to small fragments,Vid., the whole account skilfully translated in Klemm’s Allgem. Cultur-Geschichte, v. 503f. proceeds: “Then artificers take the crushed stone and lay it on a broad table, which is slightly inclined, and pour water over it; this washes away the earthy parts, and the gold remains on the slab. This operation is repeated several times, the mass being at first gently rubbed with the hand; then they press it lightly with thin sponges, and thus draw off all that is earthy and light, so that the gold dust is left quite clean. And, finally, other artificers take it up in a mass, shake it in an earthen crucible, and add a proportionate quantity of lead, grains of salt, and a little tin and barley bran; they then place a close-fitting cover over the crucible, and cement it with clay, and leave it five days and nights to seethe constantly in the furnace. After this they allow it to cool, and then finding nothing of the flux in the crucible, they take the pure gold out with only slight diminution.” The expression for the first of these operations, the separation of the gold from the quartz by washing, or indeed sifting (straining, Seihen), is זקק; and for the other, the separation by exposure to heat, or smelting, is צרף.

Job 28:5-8   5  The earth-from it cometh forth bread,

And beneath it is turned up like fire.   6  The place of the sapphire are its stones,

And it containeth gold ore.   7  The way, that no bird of prey knoweth,

And the eye of the hawk hath not gazed at,   8  Which the proud beast of prey hath not trodden,

Over which the lion hath not walked.

Job 28:5 is not to be construed as Rosenm.: ad terram quod attinet, ex qua egreditur panis, quod subtus est subvertitur quasi igne; nor with Schlottm.: (they swing) in the earth, out of which comes bread, which beneath one turns about with fire; for Job 28:5 is not formed so that the Waw of ותחתּיה could be Waw apod., and ארץ cannot signify ”in the interior of the earth” as locativus; on the contrary, it stands in opposition to תחתיה, that which is beneath the earth, as denoting the surface of the earth (the proper name of which is אדמה, from the root דם, with the primary notion of a flat covering). They are two grammatically independent predicates, the first of which is only the foil of the other: the earth, out of it cometh forth bread (לחם as Psa 104:14), and beneath it (the surface of the earth) = that which lies beneath it (ותחתיה only virtually a subj. in the sense of ותחתּיּותיה, since תּחתּי occurs only as a preposition), is turned about (comp. the construction of the sing. of the verb with the plur. subj. Job 30:15) as (by) fire Instar ignis, scil. subvertentis); i.e., the earth above furnishes nourishment to man, but that not satisfying him, he also digs out its inward parts (comp. Pliny, h. n. xxxiii. proaem.: in sede Manium opes quaerimus, tanquam parum benigna fertilique quaqua calcatur), since this is turned or tossed about (comp. מהפּכה, the special word for the overthrow of Sodom by fire) by mining work, as when fire breaks out in a house, or even as when a volcanic fire rumbles within a mountain (Castalio: agunt per magna spatia cuniculos et terram subeunt non secus ac ignis facet ut in Aetna et Vesuvio). The reading במו (Schlottm.) instead of כמו is natural, since fire is really used to blast the rock, and to separate the ore from the stone; but, with the exception of Jerome, who has arbitrarily altered the text (terra, de qua oriebatur panis in loco suo, igni subversa est), all the old translations reproduce כמו, which even Nasse, in opposition to von Veltheim, thinks suitable: Man’s restless search, which rummages everything through, is compared to the unrestrainable ravaging fire.

Job 28:6 also consists of two grammatically independent assertions: the place (bed) of the sapphire is its rock. Must we refer לו to ספּיר, and translate: “and it contains fine dust of gold” (Hirz., Umbr., Stick., Nasse)? It is possible, for Theophrastus (p. 692, ed. Schneider) says of the sapphire it is ὥσπερ χρυσόπαστος, as it were covered with gold dust or grains of gold; and Pliny, h. n. xxxvii. 9, 38f.: Inest ei (cyano) aliquando et aureus pulvis qualis in sapphiris, in iis enim aurum punctis conlucet, which nevertheless does not hold good of the proper sapphire, but of the azure stone (lapis lazuli) which is confounded with it, a variegated species of which, with gold, or rather with iron pyrites glittering like gold, is specially valued.Comp. Quenstedt, Handbuch der Mineralogie (1863), S. 355 and 302.

But Schultens rightly observes: vix cerdiderim, illum auratilem pulvisculum sapphiri peculiari mentione dignum; and Schlottm.: such a collateral definition to ספיר, expressed in a special clause (not a relative one), has something awkward about it. On the other hand, עפרת זהב is a perfectly suitable appellation of gold ore. “The earth, which is in itself black,” says Diodorus in the passage quoted before, “is interspersed with veins of marble, which is of such pre-eminent whiteness, that its brilliance surpasses everything that glitters, and from it the overseers of the mine prepare gold with a large number of workmen.” And further on, of the heating of this gold ore he says: “the hardest auriferous earth they burn thoroughly in a large fire; thus they make it soft, so that it can be worked by the hand.” עפרת זהב is a still more suitable expression for such auriferous earth and ore than for the nuggets of ἄπυρος χρυσός (i.e., unsmelted) of the size of a chestnut, which, according to Diodorus, ii. 50, are obtained in mines in Arabia (μεταλλεύεται). But it is inadmissible to refer לו to man, for the clause would then require to be translated: and gold ore is to him = he has, while it is the rather intended to be said that the interior of the earth has gold ore. לו is therefore, with Hahn and Schlottm., to be referred to מקום: and this place of the sapphire, it contains gold. The poet might have written להּ but לו implies that where the sapphire is found, gold is also found. The following נתיב (with Dechî), together with the following relative clause, is connected with אבניה, or even with מקום, which through Job 28:6 is become the chief subj.: the place of the sapphire and of the gold is the rock of the bowels of the earth, - a way, which, etc., i.e., such a place is the interior of the earth, accessible to no living being of the earth’s surface except to man alone. The sight of the bird of prey, the עיט, ἀετός, and of the איּה, i.e., the hawk or kite, reaches from above far and wide beneath;The איה - says the Talmud b. Chullin, 63 b - is in Babylon, and seeth a carcase in the land of Israel. the sons of pride, שׁחץ (also Talmud. arrogance, ferocia, from שׁחץ = Arab. šachaṣa, to raise one’s self, not: fatness, as Meier, after Arab. šachuṣa, to be fat, thick), i.e., the beasts of prey, especially the lion, שׁחל (vid., on Job 4:10, from שׁחל, Arab. sḥl, to roar, Arab. of the ass, comp. the Lat. rudere used both of the lion and of the ass), seek the most secret retreat, and shun no danger; but the way by which man presses forward to the treasures of the earth is imperceptible and inaccessible to them.

Job 28:9-12   9  He layeth his hand upon the pebbles;

He turneth up the mountains from the root. 10  He cutteth canals through the rocks;

And his eye seeth all kinds of precious things. 11  That they may not leak, he dammeth up rivers;

And that which is hidden he bringeth to light. 12  But wisdom, whence is it obtained?

And where is the place of understanding?

Beneath, whither no other being of the upper world penetrates, man puts his hand upon the quartz or rock. חלּמישׁ (perhaps from חלם, to be strong, firm: Arabic, with the reduplication resolved, chalnubûs, like עכּבישׁ, Arab. ‛ancabûth, vid., Jesurun, p. 229) signifies here the quartz, and in general the hard stone; שׁלח יד בּ something like our “to take in hand” of an undertaking requiring strong determination and courage, which here consists in blasting and clearing away the rock that contains no ore, as Pliny, h. n. xxxiii. 4, 21, describes it: Occursant ... silices; hos igne et aceto rumpunt, saepius vero, quoniam id cuniculos vapore et fumo strangulat, caedunt fractariis CL libras ferri habentibus egeruntque umeris noctibus ac diebus per tenebras proxumis tradentes; lucem novissimi cernunt. Further: he (man, devoted to mining) overturns (subvertit according to the primary signification of הפך, Arab. 'fk , 'ft, to turn, twist) mountains from the roots. The accentuation הפך with Rebia mugrasch, משׁרשׁ with Mercha, is false; it is, according to Codd. and old editions, to be accented הפך with Tarcha, משׁרשׁ with Munach, and to be translated accordingly: subvertit a radice montes (for Munach is the transformation of a Rebia mugrasch), not a radice montium. Blasting in mining which lays bare the roots (the lowest parts) of the mountains is intended, the conclusion of which - the signal for the flight of the workmen, and the effective crash - is so graphically described by Pliny in the passage cited above: Peracto opere cervices fornicum ab ultumo cadunt; dat signum ruina eamque solus intellegit in cacumine ejus montis vigil. Hic voce, nutu evocari jubet operas pariterque ipse devolat. Mons fractus cadit ab sese longe fragore qui concipi humana mente non possit eque efflatu incredibili spectant victores ruinam naturae.

The meaning of Job 28:10 depends upon the signification of the יארים. It is certainly the most natural that it should signify canals. The word is Egyptian; aur in the language of the hieroglyphs signifies a river, and especially the Nile; wherefore at the close of the Laterculus of Eratosthenes the name of the king, Φρουορῶ (Φουορῶ), is explained by ἤτοι Νεῖλος. If water-canals are intended, they may be either such as go in or come away. In the first case it may mean water let in like a cataract over the ruins of the blasted auriferous rock, the corrugi of Pliny: Alius par labor ac vel majoris impendi: flumina ad lavandam hanc ruinam jugis montium obiter duxere a centesimo plerumque lapide; corrugos vocant, a corrivatione credo; mille et hic labores. But בּקּע is not a suitable word for such an extensive and powerful flooding with water for the purpose of washing the gold. It suits far better to understand the expression of galleries or ways cut horizontally in the rock to carry the water away. Thus von Veltheim explains it: “The miner makes ways through the hard rock into his section in which the perpendicular shaft terminates, guides the water which is found in abundance at that depth through it [i.e., the water as the bottom of the pit that hinders the progress of the work], and is able [thus Job 28:10 naturally is connected with what precedes] to judge of the ore and fragments that are at the bottom, and bring them to the light. This mode of mining by constantly forming one gallery under the other [so that a new gallery is made under the pit that is worked out by extending the shaft, and also freeing this from water by making another outlet below the previous one] is the oldest of all, of which anything certain is known in the history of mining, and the most natural in the days when they had no notion of hydraulics.” This explanation is far more satisfactory than that of Herm. Sam. Reimarus, of the “Wolfenbütteler Fragmente” (in his edition of the Neue Erkl. des B. Hiob, by John Ad. Hoffmann, 1734, iv. S. 772): “He breaks open watercourses in the rocks. What the miners call coming upon water, is when they break into a fissure from which strong streams of water gush forth. The miner not only knows how to turn such water to good account, but it is also a sign that there are rich veins of ore near at hand, as there is the most water by these courses and fissures. Hence follows: and then his eye sees all kinds of precious things.” But there is no ground for saying that water indicates rich veins of ore, and בקע is much more appropriate to describe the designed formation of courses to carry off the water than an accidental discovery of water in course of the work; moreover, יארים is as appropriate to the former as it is inappropriate to the latter explanation, for it signifies elsewhere the arms of the Nile, into which the Nile is artificially divided; and therefore it may easily be transferred to the horizontal canals of the mine cut through the hard rock (or through the upper earth). Nevertheless, although the water plays an important part in mining operations, by giving rise to the greatest difficulties, as it frequently happens that a pit is deluged with water, and must be abandoned because no one can get down to it: it is improbable that Job 28:10 as well as Job 28:11 refers to this; we therefore prefer to understand יארים as meaning the (horizontal) courses (galleries or drifts) in which the ore is dug, - a rendering which is all the more possible, since, on the one hand, in Coptic jaro (Sahidic jero) signifies the Nile of Egypt (phiaro ente chêmi); on the other, ior (eioor) signifies a ditch, διώρυξ (comp. Isa 33:21, יארים, lxx διώρυχες), vid., Ges. Thes. Thus also Job 28:10 is consistently connected with what precedes, since by cutting these cuniculi the courses of the ore (veins), and any precious stones that may also be embedded there, are laid bare.

Job 28:13-16 13  A mortal knoweth not its price,

And it is not found in the land of the living. 14  The abyss saith: It is not in me,

And the sea saith: It is not with me. 15  Pure gold cannot be given for it,

And silver cannot be weighed as its price; 16  And it is not outweighed with fine gold of Ophir,

With the precious onyx and the sapphire.

It is self-evident that wisdom is found nowhere directly present and within a limited space, as at the bottom of the sea, and cannot be obtained by a direct exchange by means of earthly treasures. It is, moreover, not this self-evident fact that is denied here; but the meaning is, that even if a man should search in every direction through the land of the living, i.e., (as e.g., Psa 52:7) the world - if he should search through the תּהום, i.e., the subterranean waters that feed the visible waters (vid., Gen. 39:25) - if he should search through the sea, the largest bounded expanse of this water that wells up from beneath - yea, even if he would offer all riches and precious things to put himself in possession of the means and instruments for the acquirement of wisdom, - wisdom, i.e., the profoundest perception of the nature of things, would still be beyond him, and unattainable. ערך, Job 28:13, an equivalent (from ערך, to range beside, to place at the side of), interchanges with מחיר (from מחר, cogn. מהר, מכר, mercari). סגור is זהב סגוּר, 1Ki 6:20 and freq., which hardly signifies gold shut up = carefully preserved, rather: closed = compressed, unmixed; Targ. דּהב סנין, aurum colatum (purgatum). Ewald compares Arab. sajara, to seethe, heat; therefore: heated, gained by smelting. On the other hand, כּתם from כתם, Arab. ktm , occulere, seems originally to denote that which is precious, then precious gold in particular, lxx χρυσίῳ Ωφείρ, Cod. Vat. and Cod. Sinaiticus, Σωφίρ (Egyptized by prefixing the Egyptian sa, part, district, side, whence e.g., sa - rees , the upper country, and sa - heet , the lower country, therefore = sa - ofir , land of Ophir). שׁהם is translated here by the lxx ὄνυξ (elsewhere σαρδόνυξ or σάρδιος), of which Pliny, h. n. xxxvii. 6, 24, appealing to Sudeines, says, in gemma esse candorem unguis humanii similitudinem; wherefore Knobel, Rödiger, and others, compare the Arab. sâhim, which, however, does not signify pale, but lean, and parched by the heat, with which, in hot countries at least, not pallor, but, on the contrary, a dark brown-black colour, is identified (Fl.). Arab. musahham, striped (Mich.), would be more appropriate, since the onyx is marked through by white veins; but this is a denom. from sahm, a dart, prop. darted, and is therefore wide of the mark. On the etymology of ספּיר, vid., Jesurun, p. 61. Nevertheless both שׁהם and ספּיר are perhaps foreign names, as the name of the emerald (vid., ib. p. 108), which is Indian (Sanskr. marakata, or even marakta); and, on the other hand, it is called in hieroglyph (determined by the stone) uot, the green stone (in Coptic p. auannēse , the green colour) (Lauth).

The transcendent excellence of wisdom above the most precious earthly treasures, which the author of the introduction to the book of Proverbs briefly describes, Job 3:14, is now drawn out in detail.

Job 28:17-20 17  Gold and glass are not equal to it,

Nor is it exchanged for jewels of gold. 18  Pearls and crystal are not to be mentioned,

And the acquisition of wisdom is beyond corals. 19  The topaz of Ethiopia is not equal to it,

It is not outweighed by pure fine gold. 20  Whence, then, cometh wisdom,

And which is the place of understanding?

Among the separate חפצים, Pro 3:15, which are here detailed, apart from זהב, glass has the transparent name זכוּכית, or, as it is pointed in Codd., in old editions, and by Kimchi, זכוכית, with Cholem (in the dialects with ג instead of )כ. Symm. indeed translates crystal, and in fact the ancient languages have common names for glass and crystal; but the crystal is here called זכוּבישׁ, which signifies prop., like the Arab. 'gibs, ice; κρύσταλλος also signifies prop. ice, and this only in Homer, then crystal, exactly as the cognate קרח unites both significations in itself. The reason of this homonymy lies deeper than in the outward similarity, - the ancients really thought the crystal was a product of the cold; Pliny, xxxvii. 2, 9, says: non alibi certe reperitur quam ubi maxume hibernae nives rigent, glaciemque esse certum est, unde nomen Graeci dedere. The Targ. translates גבישׁ by פּנינים, certainly in the sense of the Arabico-Persic bullûr (bulûr), which signifies crystal, or even glass, and moreover is the primary word for βήρυλλος, although the identical Sanskrit word, according to the laws of sound, vaidurja (Pali, velurija), is, according to the lexicons, a name of the lapis lazuli (Persic, lagurd). Of the two words ראמות and פּננים, the one appears to mean pearls and the other corals; the ancient appellations of these precious things which belong to the sea are also blended; the Persic mergân (Sanskr. mangara) unites the signification pearl and coral in itself. The root פן, Arab. f n, which has the primary notion of pushing, especially of vegetation (whence Arab. fann, a branch, shoot, prop. motion; French, jet), and Lam 4:7, where snow and milk, as figures of whiteness (purity), are placed in contrast with פנינים as a figure of redness, favour the signification corals for פנינים. The Coptic be nôni, which signifies gemma, favours (so far as it may be compared) corals rather than pearls. And the fact that ראמות, Eze 27:16, appears as an Aramaean article of commerce in the market of Tyre, is more favourable to the signification pearls than corals; for the Babylonians sailed far into the Indian Ocean, and brought pearls from the fisheries of Bahrein, perhaps even from Ceylon, into the home markets (vid., Layard, New Discoveries, 536). The name is perhaps, from the Western Asiatic name of the pearl,Vid., Zeitschr. für d. Kunde des Morgenlandes, iv. 40f. The recently attempted explanation of κοράλλιον from גּורל (to which κλῆρος the rather belongs), in the primary signification lappillus (Arab. ‛garal), is without support. mutilated and Hebraized.Two reasons for פנינים = pearls (in favour of which Bochart compares the name of the pearl-oyster, πίννα) and ראמות = corals, which are maintained by Carey, are worthy of remark. (1.) That פנינים does not signify corals, he infers from Lam 4:7, for the redness of corals cannot be a mark of bodily beauty; “but when I find that there are some pearls of a slightly reddish tinge, then I can understand and appreciate the comparison.” (2.) That ראמות signifies corals, is shown by the origin of the word, which properly signifies reêm-(wild oxen) horns, which is favoured by a mention of Pliny, h. n. xiii. 51: (Tradidere) juncos quoque lapideos perquam similes veris per litora, et in alto quasdam arbusculas colore bubuli cornus ramosas et cacuminibus rubentes. Although Pliny there speaks of marine petrified plants of the Indian Ocean (not, at least in his sense, of corals), this hint of a possible derivation of ראמות is certainly surprising. But as to Lam 4:7, this passage is to be understood according to Sol 5:10 (my friend is צח ואדום). The white and red are intended to be conceived of as mixed and overlapping one another, as our Germ. popular poetry speaks of cheeks which “shine with milk and purple;” and as in Homer, Il. iv. 141-146, the colour of the beautifully formed limbs of Menelaus is represented by the figure (which appears hideous to us): ὡς δ ̓ ὅτε τίς τ ̓ ἐλέφαντα γυνὴ φοίνικι μιήνͅ (ebony stained with purple).

The name of the פּטדּה of Ethiopia appears to be derived from to'paz by transposition; Pliny says of the topaz, xxxvii. 8, 32, among other passages; Juba Topazum insulam in rubro mari a continenti stadiis CCC abesse dicit, nebulosam et ideo quaesitam saepius navigantibus; ex ea causa nomen accepisse: topazin enim Troglodytarum lingua significationem habere quaerendi. This topaz, however, which is said to be named after an island of the same name, the Isle of Serpents in Agatharchides and Diodorus, is, according to Pliny, yellowish green, and therefore distinct from the otherwise so-called topaz. To make a candid confession, we grope about everywhere in the dark here, and the ancient versions are not able to help us out of our difficulty.The Targ. translates שׁהם by פּנינים, βήρυλλος; ספיר by שׁבזיזא (Arab. sbz, vid., Pott in the Zeitschr.f. K. d. M. iv. 275); פז by אובריזין, ὄβρυζον; ראמות by סנדלכין, σανδαράχη, red gold-pigment (vid., Rödiger-Pott, as just quoted, S. 267); גבישׁ again by בּירוּלין in the sense of the Arabico-Persic bullûr, Kurd. bellûr, crystal; פנינים by מרגלין, μαργαρῖται; פטדה by מרגּלא ירקא (the green pearl); כתם by פטלון (perhaps פּטלון, πέταλον, in the sense of lamina auri).

The poet lays everything under contribution to illustrate the thought, that the worth of wisdom exceeds the worth of the most valuable earthly thing; besides which, in משׁך חכמה מפנינים, “the acquisition or possession (from  משׁך, Arab. msk, to draw to one’s self, to take hold of) of wisdom is above corals,” there is an indication that, although not by the precious things of the earth, still in some way or other, wisdom can be possessed, so that consequently the question repeated at the end of the strophe will not remain unanswered. This is its meaning: now if wisdom is not to be found in any of the places named, and is not to be attained by any of the means mentioned, whence can man hope to attain it, and whither must he turn to find it? for its existence is certain, and it is an indisputable need of man that he should partake of it.

Job 28:21-24 21  It is veiled from the eyes of all living,

And concealed from the fowls of heaven. 22  Destruction and death say:

With our ears we heard a report of it. - 23  Elohim understandeth the way to it,

And He - He knoweth its place. 24  For He looketh to the ends of the earth,

Under the whole heaven He seeth.

No living created being (כּל־חי, as Job 12:10; Job 30:23) is able to answer the question; even the birds that fly aloft, that have keener and farther-seeing eyes than man, can give us no information concerning wisdom; and the world at least proclaims its existence in a rich variety of its operations, but in the realm of Abaddon and of death below (comp. the combination שׁאול ואבדון, Pro 15:11, ᾅδου καὶ τοῦ θανάτου, Rev 1:18) it is known only by an indistinct hearsay, and from confused impressions. Therefore: no creature, whether in the realm of the living or the dead, can help us to get wisdom. There is but One who possesses a perfect knowledge concerning wisdom, namely Elohim, whose gave extends to the ends of the earth, and who sees under the whole heaven, i.e., is everywhere present (תּחת, definition of place, not equivalent to אשׁר תּחת; comp. on Job 24:9), who therefore, after the removal of everything earthly (sub-celestial), alone remains. And why should He with His knowledge, which embraces everything, not also know the way and place of wisdom? Wisdom is indeed the ideal, according to which He has created the world.

Job 28:25-28 25  When He appointed to the wind its weight,

And weighed the water according to a measure, 26  When He appointed to the rain its law,

And the course to the lightning of the thunder: 27  Then He saw it and declared it,

Took it as a pattern and tested it also, 28  And said to man: Behold, the fear of the Lord is wisdom,

And to depart from evil is understanding.

It is impracticable to attach the inf. לעשׂות to Job 28:24 as the purpose, because it is contrary to the meaning; but it is impossible, according to the syntax, to refer it to Job 28:27 as the purpose placed in advance, or to take it in the sense of perfecturus, because in both instances it ought to have been יתכּן instead of תּכּן, or at least ותכּן with the verb placed first (vid., Job 37:15). But even the temporal use of ל in לפנות at the turn (of morning, of evening, e.g., Gen 24:63) cannot be compared, but לעשׂות signifies perficiendo = quum perficeret (as e.g., 2Sa 18:29, mittendo = quum mitteret), it is a gerundival inf. Nägelsb. S. 197f., 2nd edition); and because it is the past that is spoken of, the modal inf. can be continued in the perf., Ges. §132, rem. 2. The thought that God, when He created the world, appointed fixed laws of equable and salutary duration, he particularizes by examples: He appointed to the wind its weight, i.e., the measure of its force or feebleness; distributed the masses of water by measure; appointed to the rain its law, i.e., the conditions of its development and of its beginning; appointed the way, i.e., origin and course, to the lightning (חזיז from חזז, Arab. ḥzz, secare). When He thus created the world, and regulated what was created by laws, then He perceived (ראהּ with He Mappic. according to the testimony of the Masora) it, wisdom, viz., as the ideal of all things; then He declared it, enarravit, viz., by creating the world, which is the development and realization of its substance; then He gave it a place הכינהּ (for which Döderl. and Ewald unnecessarily read הבינהּ), viz., to create the world after its pattern, and to commit the arrangement of the world as a whole to its supreme protection and guidance; then He also searched it out or tested it, viz., its demiurgic powers, by setting them in motion to realize itself.

If we compare Pro 8:22-31 with this passage, we may say: the חכמה is the divine ideal-world, the divine imagination of all things before their creation, the complex unity of all the ideas, which are the essence of created things and the end of their development. “Wisdom,” says one of the old theologians,Vid., Jul. Hamberger, Lehre Jak. Böhme's, S. 55. “is a divine imagination, in which the ideas of the angels and souls and all things were seen from eternity, not as already actual creatures, but as a man beholds himself in a mirror.” It is not directly one with the Logos, but the Logos is the demiurg by which God has called the world into existence according to that ideal which was in the divine mind. Wisdom is the impersonal model, the Logos the personal master-builder according to that model. Nevertheless the notions, here or in the alter cognate portion of Scripture, Pro 8:22-31, are not as yet so distinct as the New Testament revelation of God has first of all rendered possible. In those days, when God realized the substance of the חכמה, this eternal mirror of the world, in the creation of the world, He also gave man the law, corresponding to which he corresponds to His idea and participates in wisdom. Fearing the supreme Lord (אדני) only here in the book of Job, one of the 134 ודאין, i.e., passages, where אדני is not merely to be read instead of יהוה, but is actually written),Vid., Buxtorf’s Tiberias, p. 245; comp. Bär’s Psalterium, p. 133. and renouncing evil (סוּר מרע, according to another less authorized mode of writing מרע), - this is man’s share of wisdom, this is his relative wisdom, by which he remains in connection with the absolute. This is true human φιλοσοφία, in contrast to all high-flown and profound speculations; comp. Pro 3:7, where, in like manner, “fear Jehovah” is placed side by side with “depart from evil,” and Pro 16:6, according to which it is rendered possible סור מרע, to escape the evil of sin and its punishment by fearing God. “The fear of God is the beginning of wisdom” (Pro 1:7; comp. Psa 111:10) is the symbolum, the motto and uppermost principle, of that Israelitish Chokma, whose greatest achievement is the book of Job. The whole of Job 28:1 is a minute panegyric of this principle, the materials of which are taken from the far-distant past; and it is very characteristic, that, in the structure of the book, this twenty-eighth chapter is the clasp which unites the half of the δέσις with the half of the λύσις, and that the poet has inscribed upon this clasp that sentence, “The fear of God is the beginning of wisdom.” But, moreover, Job’s closing speech, which ends in this celebration of the praise of the חכמה, also occupies an important position, which must not be determined, in the structure of the whole.

After Job has refuted Bildad, and, continuing his description, has celebrated in such lofty strains the majesty of God, it can hardly be expected that the poet will allow Zophar to speak fore the third time. Bildad is unable to advance anything new, and Zophar has already tried his utmost to terrify Job for the second time; besides, Job’s speech furnishes no material for a reply (a motive which is generally overlooked), unless the controversy were designed to ramble on into mere personalities. Accordingly the poet allows Job to address the friends once more, but no longer in the extreme and excited tone of the previous dialogue, but, since the silence of the friends must produce a soothing impression on Job, tempering him to gentleness and forbearance, in a tone of confession conscious of victory, yet altogether devoid of haughty triumph, - a confession in which only one single word of reproach (Job 27:12) escapes him. Job 27:1 contain this confession - Job’s final address to his friends.

Job once again most solemnly asserts his innocence before the friends; all attempts on the part of the friends to entice or to extort from him a confession which is against his conscience, have therefore been in vain: joyous and victorious he raises his head, invincible, even to death, in the conviction of that which is a fact of his consciousness that cannot be got rid of by denial. He is not an evil-doer; accordingly he must stand convicted as an evil-doer who treats him as such. For although he is not far from death, and is in sore vexation, he has not manifested the hopelessness and defection from God in which the evil-doer passes away. Job has indeed even expressed himself despondingly, and complained of God’s wrath; but the true essence of his relation to God came to light in such words as Job 16:19-21; Job 17:9; Job 19:25-27. If the friends had not been blind to such brilliant aspirations of his life in God, how could they regard him as a godless man, and his affliction as the punishment of such an one! His affliction has, indeed, no connection with the terrible end of the evil-doer. Job here comes before the friends with the very doctrine they have so frequently advanced, but infatuated with the foolish notion that it is suited to his case. He here gives it back to them, to show them that it is not suited to him. He also does not deny, that in the rule the evil-doer meets a terrible end, although he has hitherto disputed the assertion of the friends, because of the exclusiveness with which it was maintained by them. His counter-assertion respecting the prosperity of the evil-doer, which from the beginning was not meant by him so exclusively as the friends meant theirs respecting the misfortune of the evil-doer, is here indirectly freed from the extreme appearance of exclusiveness by Job himself, and receives the necessary modification. Job does not deny, yea, he here brings it under the notice of the friends, that the sword, famine, and pestilence carry off the descendants of the evil-doer, and even himself; that his possessions at length fall into the hands of the righteous, and contain within themselves the germ of destruction from the very first; that God’s curse pursues, and suddenly destroys, the godless rich man himself. Thus it comes to pass; for while silver and other precious things come from the depths of the earth, wisdom, whose worth far transcends all earthly treasures, is to be found with no created being, but is with God alone; and the fear of God, to avoid evil, is the share of wisdom to which man is directed according to God’s primeval decree.

The object of the section, Job 28:1, is primarily to confirm the assertion concerning the judgment that befalls the evil-doer, Job 27:13-23; the confirmation is, however, at the same time, according to the delicately laid plan of the poet, a glorious general confession, in which Job’s dialogue with the friends comes to a close. This panegyric of wisdom (similar to Paul’s panegyric of charity, 1Co 13:1-13) is the presentation of Job’s predominant principle, and as such, is like a song of triumph, with which, without vain-glory, he closes the dialogue in the most appropriate manner. If God’s life has such a basis, it is not possible that his affliction should be the punishment of an ungodly man. And if the fear of God is the wisdom appointed to man, he also teaches himself that, though unable to see through the mystery of his affliction, he must still hold on to the fear of God, and teaches the friends that they must do the same, and not lay themselves open to the charge of injustice and uncharitableness towards him, the suffering one, in order to solve the mystery. Job’s conclusion, which is first intended to show that he who does not fear God is overtaken by the merited fate of a fool who rebels against God’s moral government, shows at the same time that the afflictive lot of those who fear God must be judged of in an essentially different manner from that of the ungodly.

We may imagine what impression these last words of Job to the friends must have made upon them. Since they were obliged to be silent, they will not have admitted that they are vanquished, although the drying up of their thoughts, and their involuntary silence, is an actual proof of it. But does Job make them feel this oppressively? Now that they are become so insignificant, does he read them a severe lecture? does he in general act towards them as vanquished? No indeed, but solemnly, and without vaunting himself over his accusers, he affirms his innocence; earnestly, but in a winning manner, he admonishes them, by tempering and modifying what was vehement and extreme in his previous replies. He humbly submits himself to the divine wisdom, by setting the fear of God, as man’s true wisdom, before himself and the friends as their common aim. Thus he utters “the loftiest words, which must surprise the opponents as they exhibit him as the not merely mighty, but also wonderfully calm and modest conqueror, who here for the first time wears the crown of true victory, when, in outward victory conquering himself, he struggles on towards a more exalted clearness of perception.”

Extent of Human Discoveries. (b. c. 1520.)

1 Surely there is a vein for the silver, and a place for gold where they fine it. 2 Iron is taken out of the earth, and brass is molten out of the stone. 3 He setteth an end to darkness, and searcheth out all perfection: the stones of darkness, and the shadow of death. 4 The flood breaketh out from the inhabitant; even the waters forgotten of the foot: they are dried up, they are gone away from men. 5 As for the earth, out of it cometh bread: and under it is turned up as it were fire. 6 The stones of it are the place of sapphires: and it hath dust of gold. 7 There is a path which no fowl knoweth, and which the vulture's eye hath not seen: 8 The lion's whelps have not trodden it, nor the fierce lion passed by it. 9 He putteth forth his hand upon the rock; he overturneth the mountains by the roots. 10 He cutteth out rivers among the rocks; and his eye seeth every precious thing. 11 He bindeth the floods from overflowing; and the thing that is hid bringeth he forth to light. 12 But where shall wisdom be found? and where is the place of understanding? 13 Man knoweth not the price thereof; neither is it found in the land of the living.

Here Job shows, 1. What a great way the wit of man may go in diving into the depths of nature and seizing the riches of it, what a great deal of knowledge and wealth men may, by their ingenious and industrious searches, make themselves masters of. But does it therefore follow that men may, by their wit, comprehend the reasons why some wicked people prosper and others are punished, why some good people prosper and others are afflicted? No, by no means. The caverns of the earth may be discovered, but not the counsels of heaven. 2. What a great deal of care and pains worldly men take to get riches. He had observed concerning the wicked man (ch. xxvii. 16) that he heaped up silver as the dust; now here he shows whence that silver came which he was so fond of and how it was obtained, to show what little reason wicked rich men have to be proud of their wealth and pomp. Observe here,

I. The wealth of this world is hidden in the earth. Thence the silver and the gold, which afterwards they refine, are fetched, v. 1. There they lay mixed with a great deal of dirt and dross, like a worthless thing, of no more account than common earth; and abundance of them will so lie neglected, till the earth and all the works therein shall be burnt up. Holy Mr. Herbert, in his poem called Avarice, takes notice of this, to shame men out of the love of money:— Money, thou bane of bliss, thou source of woe, Whence com'st thou, that thou art so fresh and fine? I know thy parentage is base and low; Man found thee poor and dirty in a mine. Surely thou didst so little contribute To this great kingdom which thou now hast got That he was fain, when thou wast destitute, To dig thee out of thy dark cave and grot. Man calleth thee his wealth, who made thee rich, And while he digs out thee falls in the ditch. Iron and brass, less costly but more serviceable metals, are taken out of the earth (v. 2), and are there found in great abundance, which abates their price indeed, but is a great kindness to man, who could much better be without gold than without iron. Nay, out of the earth comes bread, that is, bread-corn, the necessary support of life, v. 5. Thence man's maintenance is fetched, to remind him of his own original; he is of the earth, and is hastening to the earth. Under it is turned up as it were fire, precious stones, that sparkle as fire—brimstone, that is apt to take fire—coal, that is proper to feed fire. As we have our food, so we have our fuel, out of the earth. There the sapphires and other gems are, and thence gold-dust is digged up;, v. 6. The wisdom of the Creator has placed these things, 1. Out of our sight, to teach us not to set our eyes upon them, Prov. xxiii. 5. 2. Under our feet, to teach us not to lay them in our bosoms, nor to set our hearts upon them, but to trample upon them with a holy contempt. See how full the earth is of God's riches (Ps. civ. 24) and infer thence, not only how great a God he is whose the earth is and the fulness thereof (Ps. xxiv. 1), but how full heaven must needs be of God's riches, which is the city of the great King, in comparison with which this earth is a poor country.

II. The wealth that is hidden in the earth cannot be obtained but with a great deal of difficulty. 1. It is hard to be found out: there is but here and there a vein for the silver, v. 1. The precious stones, though bright themselves, yet, because buried in obscurity and out of sight, are called stones of darkness and the shadow of death. Men may search long before they light on them. 2. When found out it is hard to be fetched out. Men's wits must be set on work to contrive ways and means to get this hidden treasure into their hands. They must with their lamps set an end to darkness; and if one expedient miscarry, one method fail, they must try another, till they have searched out all perfection, and turned every stone to effect it, v. 3. They must grapple with subterraneous waters (v. 4, 10, 11), and force their way through rocks which are, as it were, the roots of the mountains, v. 9. Now God has made the getting of gold, and silver, and precious stones, so difficult, (1.) For the exciting and engaging of industry. Dii laboribus omnia vendunt—Labour is the price which the gods affix to all things. If valuable things were too easily obtained men would never learn to take pains. But the difficulty of gaining the riches of this earth may suggest to us what violence the kingdom of heaven suffers. (2.) For the checking and restraining of pomp and luxury. What is for necessity is had with a little labour from the surface of the earth; but what is for ornament must be dug with a great deal of pains out of the bowels of it. To be fed is cheap, but to be fine is chargeable.

III. Though the subterraneous wealth is thus hard to obtain, yet men will have it. He that loves silver is not satisfied with silver, and yet is not satisfied without it; but those that have much must needs have more. See here, 1. What inventions men have to get this wealth. They search out all perfection, v. 3. They have arts and engines to dry up the waters, and carry them off, when they break in upon them in their mines and threaten to drown the work, v. 4. They have pumps, and pipes, and canals, to clear their way, and, obstacles being removed, they tread the path which no fowl knoweth (v. 7, 8), unseen by the vulture's eye, which is piercing and quick-sighted, and untrodden by the lion's whelps, which traverse all the paths of the wilderness. 2. What pains men take, and what vast charge they are at, to get this wealth. They work their way through the rocks and undermine the mountains, v. 10. 3. What hazards they run. Those that dig in the mines have their lives in their hands; for they are obliged to bind the floods from overflowing (v. 11), and are continually in danger of being suffocated by damps or crushed or buried alive by the fall of the earth upon them. See how foolish man adds to his own burden. He is sentenced to eat bread in the sweat of his face; but, as if that were not enough, he will get gold and silver at the peril of his life, though the more is gotten the less valuable it is. In Solomon's time silver was as stones. But, 4. Observe what it is that carries men through all this toil and peril: Their eye sees every precious thing, v. 10. Silver and gold are precious things with them, and they have them in their eye in all these pursuits. They fancy they see them glittering before their faces, and, in the prospect of laying hold of them, they make nothing of all these difficulties; for they make something of their toil at last: That which is hidden bringeth he forth to light, v. 11. What was hidden under ground is laid upon the bank; the metal that was hidden in the ore is refined from its dross and brought forth pure out of the furnace; and then he thinks his pains well bestowed. Go to the miners then, thou sluggard in religion; consider their ways, and be wise. Let their courage, diligence, and constancy in seeking the wealth that perisheth shame us out of slothfulness and faint-heartedness in labouring for the true riches. How much better is it to get wisdom than gold! How much easier and safer! Yet gold is sought for, but grace neglected. Will the hopes of precious things out of the earth (so they call them, though really they are paltry and perishing) be such a spur to industry, and shall not the certain prospect of truly precious things in heaven be much more so?

The Excellency of Wisdom. (b. c. 1520.)

14 The depth saith, It is not in me: and the sea saith, It is not with me. 15 It cannot be gotten for gold, neither shall silver be weighed for the price thereof. 16 It cannot be valued with the gold of Ophir, with the precious onyx, or the sapphire. 17 The gold and the crystal cannot equal it: and the exchange of it shall not be for jewels of fine gold. 18 No mention shall be made of coral, or of pearls: for the price of wisdom is above rubies. 19 The topaz of Ethiopia shall not equal it, neither shall it be valued with pure gold.

Job, having spoken of the wealth of the world, which men put such a value upon and take so much pains for, here comes to speak of another more valuable jewel, and that is, wisdom and understanding, the knowing and enjoying of God and ourselves. Those that found out all those ways and means to enrich themselves thought themselves very wise; but Job will not own theirs to be wisdom. He supposes them to gain their point, and to bring to light what they sought for (v. 11), and yet asks, "Where is wisdom? for it is not here." This their way is their folly. We must therefore seek it somewhere else, and it will be found nowhere but in the principles and practices of religion. There is more true knowledge, satisfaction, and happiness, in sound divinity, which shows us the way to the joys of heaven, than in natural philosophy or mathematics, which help us to find a way into the bowels of the earth. Two things cannot be found out concerning this wisdom:—

I. The price of it, for that is inestimable; its worth is infinitely more than all the riches in this world: Man knows not the price thereof (v. 13), that is, 1. Few put a due value upon it. Men know not the worth of it, its innate excellency, their need of it, and of what unspeakable advantage it will be to them; and therefore, though they have many a price in their hand to get this wisdom, yet they have no heart to it, Prov. xvii. 16. The cock in the fable knew not the value of the precious stone he found in the dunghill, and therefore would rather have lighted on a barley-corn. Men know not the worth of grace, and therefore will take no pains to get it. 2. None can possibly give a valuable consideration for it, with all the wealth this world can furnish them with. This Job enlarges upon v. 15, &c., where he makes an inventory of the bona notabilia—the most valuable treasures of this world. Gold is five times mentioned; silver comes in also; and then several precious stones, the onyx and sapphire, pearls and rubies, and the topaz of Ethiopia. These are the things that are highest prized in the world's markets: but if a man would give, not only these, heaps of these, but all the substance of his house, all he is worth in the world, for wisdom, it would utterly be contemned. These may give a man some advantage in seeking wisdom, as they did to Solomon, but there is no purchasing wisdom with these. It is a gift of the Holy Ghost, which cannot be bought with money, Acts viii. 20. As it does not run in the blood, and so come to us by descent, so it cannot be got for money, nor does it come to us by purchase. Spiritual gifts are conferred without money and without price, because no money can be a price for them. Wisdom is likewise a more valuable gift to him that has it, makes him richer and happier, than gold or precious stones. It is better to get wisdom than gold. Gold is another's, wisdom our own; gold is for the body and time, wisdom for the soul and eternity. Let that which is most precious in God's account be so in ours. See Prov. iii. 14, &c.

II. The place of it, for that is undiscoverable. Where shall wisdom be found? v. 12. He asks this, 1. As one that truly desired to find it. This is a question we should all put. While the most of men are asking, "Where shall money be found?" we should ask, Where may wisdom be found? that we may seek it and find it, not vain philosophy, or carnal policy, but true religion; for that is the only true wisdom, that is it which best improves our faculties and best secures our spiritual and eternal welfare. This is that which we should cry after and dig for, Prov. ii. 3, 4. 2. As one that utterly despaired of finding it any where but in God, and any way but by divine revelation: It is not found in this land of the living, v. 13. We cannot attain to a right understanding of God and his will, of ourselves and our duty and interest, by reading any books or men, but by reading God's book and the men of God. Such is the degeneracy of human nature that there is no true wisdom to be found with any but those who are born again, and who, through grace, partake of the divine nature. As for others, even the most ingenious and industrious, they can tell us no tidings of this lost wisdom. (1.) Ask the miners, and by them the depth will say, It is not in me, v. 14. Those who dig into the bowels of the earth, to rifle the treasures there, cannot in these dark recesses find this rare jewel, nor with all their art make themselves masters of it. (2.) Ask the mariners, and by them the sea will say, It is not in me. It can never be got either by trading on the waters or diving into them, can never be sucked from the abundance of the seas or the treasures hidden in the sand. Where there is a vein for the silver there is no vein for wisdom, none for grace. Men can more easily break through the difficulties they meet with in getting worldly wealth than through those they meet with in getting heavenly wisdom, and they will take more pains to learn how to live in this world than how to live for ever in a better world. So blind and foolish has man become that it is in vain to ask him, Where is the place of wisdom, and which is the road that leads to it?

The Wisdom Hidden from Man; The Wisdom Revealed to Man. (b. c. 1520.)

20 Whence then cometh wisdom? and where is the place of understanding? 21 Seeing it is hid from the eyes of all living, and kept close from the fowls of the air. 22 Destruction and death say, We have heard the fame thereof with our ears. 23 God understandeth the way thereof, and he knoweth the place thereof. 24 For he looketh to the ends of the earth, and seeth under the whole heaven; 25 To make the weight for the winds; and he weigheth the waters by measure. 26 When he made a decree for the rain, and a way for the lightning of the thunder: 27 Then did he see it, and declare it; he prepared it, yea, and searched it out. 28 And unto man he said, Behold, the fear of the Lord, that is wisdom; and to depart from evil is understanding.

The question which Job had asked (v. 12) he asks again here; for it is too worthy, too weighty, to be let fall, until we speed in the enquiry. Concerning this we must seek till we find, till we get some satisfactory account of it. By a diligent prosecution of this enquiry he brings it, at length, to this issue, that there is a twofold wisdom, one hidden in God, which is secret and belongs not to us, the other made known by him and revealed to man, which belongs to us and to our children.

I. The knowledge of God's secret will, the will of his providence, is out of our reach, and what God has reserved to himself. It belongs to the Lord our God. To know the particulars of what God will do hereafter, and the reasons of what he is doing now, is the knowledge Job first speaks of.

1. This knowledge is hidden from us. It is high, we cannot attain unto it (v. 21, 22): It is hid from the eyes of all living, even of philosophers, politicians, and saints; it is kept close from the fowls of the air; though they fly high and in the open firmament of heaven, though they seem somewhat nearer that upper world where the source of this wisdom is, though their eyes behold afar off (ch. xxxix. 29), yet they cannot penetrate into the counsels of God. No, man is wiser than the fowls of heaven, and yet comes short of this wisdom. Even those who, in their speculations, soar highest, and think themselves, like the fowls of the air, above the heads of other people, yet cannot pretend to this knowledge. Job and his friends had been arguing about the methods and reasons of the dispensations of Providence in the government of the world. "What fools are we" (says Job) "to fight in the dark thus, to dispute about that which we do not understand!" The line and plummet of human reason can never fathom the abyss of the divine counsels. Who can undertake to give the rationale of Providence, or account for the maxims, measure, and methods of God's government, those arcana imperii—cabinet counsels of divine wisdom? Let us then be content not to know the future events of the Providence until time discover them (Acts i. 7) and not to know the secret reasons of Providence until eternity discover them. God is now a God that hideth himself (Isa. xlv. 15); clouds and darkness are round about him. Though this wisdom be hidden from all living, yet destruction and death say, We have heard the fame of it. Though they cannot give an account of themselves (for there is no wisdom, nor device, nor knowledge at all in the grave, much less this), yet there is a world on the other side death and the grave, on which those dark regions border, and to which we must pass through them, and there we shall see clearly what we are now in the dark about. "Have a little patience," says Death to the inquisitive soul: "I will fetch thee shortly to a place where even this wisdom will be found." When the mystery of God shall be finished it will be laid open, and we shall know as we are known; when the veil of flesh is rent, and the interposing clouds are scattered, we shall know what God does, though we know not now, John xiii. 7.

2. This knowledge is hidden in God, as the apostle speaks, Eph. iii. 9. Known unto God are all his works, though they are not known to us, Acts xv. 18. There are good reasons for what he does, though we cannot assign them (v. 23): God understands the way thereof. Men sometimes do they know not what, but God never does. Men do what they did not design to do; new occurrences put them upon new counsels, and oblige them to take new measures. But God does all according to the purpose which he purposed in himself, and which he never alters. Men sometimes do that which they cannot give a good reason for, but in every will of God there is a counsel: he knows both what he does and why he does it, the whole series of events and the order and place of every occurrence. This knowledge he has in perfection, but keeps to himself. Two reasons are here given why God must needs understand his own way, and he only:—

(1.) Because all events are now directed by an all-seeing and almighty Providence, v. 24, 25. He that governs the world is, [1.] Omniscient; for he looks to the ends of the earth, both in place and time; distant ages, distant regions, are under his view. We do not understand our own way, much less can we understand God's way, because we are short-sighted. How little do we know of what is doing in the world, much less of what will be done? But the eyes of the Lord are in every place; nay, they run to and fro through the earth. Nothing is, or can be, hidden from him; and therefore the reasons why some wicked people prosper remarkably and others are remarkably punished in this world, which are secret to us, are known to him. One day's events, and one man's affairs, have such a reference to, and such a dependence upon, another's, that he only to whom all events and all affairs are naked and open, and who sees the whole at one entire and certain view, is a competent Judge of every part. [2.] He is omnipotent. He can do every thing, and is very exact in all he does. For proof of this Job mentions the winds and waters, v. 25. What is lighter than the wind? Yet God hath ways of poising it. He knows how to make the weight for the winds, which he brings out of his treasuries (Ps. cxxxv. 7), keeping a very particular account of what he draws out, as men do of what they pay out of their treasuries, not at random, as men bring out their trash. Nothing sensible is to us more unaccountable than the wind. We hear the sound of it, yet cannot tell whence it comes, nor whither it goes; but God gives it out by weight, wisely ordering both from what point it shall blow and with what strength. The waters of the sea, and the rain-waters, he both weighs and measures, allotting the proportion of every tide and every shower. A great and constant communication there is between clouds and seas, the waters above the firmament and those under it. Vapours go up, rains come down, air is condensed into water, water rarefied into air; but the great God keeps an exact account of all the stock with which this trade is carried on for the public benefit and sees that none of it be lost. Now if, in these things, Providence be so exact, much more in dispensing frowns and favours, rewards and punishments, to the children of men, according to the rules of equity.

(2.) Because all events were from eternity designed and determined by an infallible prescience and immutable decree, v. 26, 27. When he settled the course of nature he foreordained all the operations of his government. [1.] He settled the course of nature. Job mentions particularly a decree for the rain and a way for the thunder and lightning. The general manner and method, and the particular uses and tendencies, of these strange performances, both their causes and their effects, were appointed by the divine purpose; hence God is said to prepare lightnings for the rain, Ps. cxxxv. 7; Jer. x. 13. [2.] When he did that he laid all the measures of his providence, and drew an exact scheme of the whole work from first to last. Then, from eternity, did he see in himself, and declare to himself, the plan of his proceedings. Then he prepared it, fixed it, and established it, set every thing in readiness for all his works, so that, when any thing was to be done, nothing was to seek, nor could any thing unforeseen occur, to put it either out of its method or out of its time; for all was ordered as exactly as if he had studied it and searched it out, so that, whatever he does, nothing can be put to it nor taken from it, and therefore it shall be for ever, Eccl. iii. 14. Some make Job to speak of wisdom here as a person, and translate it, Then he saw her and showed her, &c., and then it is parallel with that of Solomon concerning the essential wisdom of the Father, the eternal Word, Prov. viii. 22, &c. Before the earth was, then was I by him, John i. 1, 2.

II. The knowledge of God's revealed will, the will of his precept, and this is within our reach; it is level to our capacity, and will do us good (v. 28): Unto man he said, Behold, the fear of the Lord that is wisdom. Let it not be said that when God concealed his counsels from man, and forbade him that tree of knowledge, it was because he grudged him any thing that would contribute to his real bliss and satisfaction; no, he let him know as much as he was concerned to know in order to his duty and happiness; he shall be entrusted with as much of his sovereign mind as is needful and fit for a subject, but he must not think himself fit to be a privy-counsellor. He said to Adam (so some), to the first man, in the day in which he was created; he told him plainly it was not for him to amuse himself with over-curious searches into the mysteries of creation, nor to pretend to solve all the phenomena of nature; he would find it neither possible nor profitable to do so. No less wisdom (says archbishop Tillotson) than that which made the world can thoroughly understand the philosophy of it. But let him look upon this as his wisdom, to fear the Lord and to depart from evil; let him learn that, and he is learned enough; let this knowledge serve his turn. When God forbade man the tree of knowledge he allowed him the tree of life, and this is that tree, Prov. iii. 18. We cannot attain true wisdom but by divine revelation. The Lord giveth wisdom, Prov. ii. 6. Now the matter of that is not found in the secrets of nature or providence, but in the rules for our own practice. Unto man he said, not, "Go up to heaven, to fetch happiness thence;" or, "Go down to the deep, to draw it up thence." No, the word is nigh thee, Deut. xxx. 14. He hath shown thee, O man! not what is great, but what is good, not what the Lord thy God designs to do with thee, but what he requires of thee, Mic. vi. 8. Unto you, O men! I call, Prov. viii. 4. Lord, what is man that he should be thus minded, thus visited! Behold, mark, take notice of this; he that has ears let him hear what the God of heaven says to the children of men: The fear of the Lord, that is the wisdom. Here is, 1. The description of true religion, pure religion, and undefiled; it is to fear the Lord and depart from evil, which agrees with God's character of Job, ch. i. 1. The fear of the Lord is the spring and summary of all religion. There is a slavish fear of God, springing from hard thoughts of him, which is contrary to religion, Matt. xxv. 24. There is a selfish fear of God springing from dreadful thoughts of him, which may be a good step towards religion, Acts ix. 5. But there is a filial fear of God, springing from great and high thoughts of him, which is the life and soul of all religion. And, wherever this reigns in the heart, it will appear by a constant care to depart from evil, Prov. xvi. 6. This is essential to religion. We must first cease to do evil, or we shall never learn to do well. Virtus est vitium fugere—Even in our flight from vice some virtue lies. 2. The commendation of religion: it is wisdom and understanding. To be truly religious is to be truly wise. As the wisdom of God appears in the institution of religion, so the wisdom of man appears in the practice and observance of it. It is understanding, for it is the best knowledge of truth; it is wisdom, for it is the best management of our affairs. Nothing more surely guides our way and gains our end than being religious.

CHAP. XXVIII. Verſe 1. Surely there is a vein for the ſilver.]

FOr there is a vein, &c. ſo Tremellius readeth it. But here is no reaſon rendered of Gods heavy judgements on the wicked, laſt diſcourſed of: but the unſearchableneſs of Gods wiſdom, and the righteouſneſs of his proceedings aſſerted, whileſt ſome bad men proſper, and ſome good men ſuffer. The reaſon whereof lieth hid (as a River that runneth under ground) from the natural man (and in part, from the ſpiritual alſo) be he never ſo perſpicacious or induſtrious in prying into Natures ſecrets. The ſilver vein lyeth very low, and far out of ſight; yet is found out and known: as alſo is the art of fining it. This art was ſoon learned in the world: and mortals were quickly become metallaries.Ovid, Effodiuntur opes, &c. A great part of this their skill they might have from Adam, according to that of the Divine Chronologer, Ex Adami ſapientiſſimi Doctoris ore promanavit, tanquam ex foule, quicquid in mundo eſt utilium doctrinarum, diſciplinarum, ſcientiae & ſapientiae. He that knew ſo much before his Fall (far more than ever Solomon did) of natures hiddeneſt Myſteries, who can doubt but that afterwards alſo he reteined and imparted to his Nephews a great deal of abſtruſe and rich skill? ſuch as was this here inſtanced, and afterwards by Cicero (amongſt others) celebrated in his ſecond Book, De nat. deor. where diſcourſing of mens witty inventions, he ſaith among other things, Nos aeris, argenti, auri venas penitus abdit as invenimus, &c. We have found out the veins of Braſs Silver, Gold, and other Metals, though deep hid in the bowels of the Earth. Some of the Ancients have wiſhed that we had never found out theſe Metals, becauſe of the great abuſe of them. Joſephus ſaith, that Cain heaped up great ſtore of them. Strabo ſaith, that Phaletius feared,Geog. l. 5. leſt in digging for Gold and Silver, men would dig themſelves a new way to Hell; Et Plutonem brevi ad ſuperos adducturos, and bring up the Devil amongſt them. Some ſay that he haunteth the richeſt Mines, and will not ſuffer them to be ſearched.Auri ſacra fames, &c. Sure it is, that by the inordinate love of theſe metals, he drowneth many a foul in perdition and deſtruction, 1 Tim. 6. So ſubject they are to ſin, as that God made a Law to have them purified before he would have them uſed by his people, Numb. 31.22, 23, &c. who ſhould herein have the minde of thoſe Perſians, Iſa. 13.12.17. which regarded not ſilver, nor were deſirous of gold. If Satan offer them theſe outward things in a temptation, they ſhould anſwer him as Abraham did the King of Sodom, with a God forbid that I ſhould, &c. Gen. 14.23. and ſend them away from whence they came; as Pellican ſent back the ſilver Boul ſent him by the Biſhop for a token,Melch. Adam. with this anſwer, Aſtricti ſunt quotquot Tiguricives, &c. All the inhabitants of our City are ſworn not to take any Gift from a forreine Prince. Or, as that noble Marqueſs Caracciolus anſwered the Jeſuit, who tempted him with money to revolt from the reformed Religion, and to return to Italy. Let their money periſh with them, who eſteem all the gold in the world worth one dayes ſociety with Jeſus Chriſt, &c. Let it be remembred, that gold is that which the baſeſt element yields, the moſt ſavage Indians get, ſervile apprentices work, Midianitiſh Camels carry, miſerable muck-worms admire, covetous Jews ſwallow, unthrifty Ruffians ſpend. Gold makes many men run quick to the Devil on an errand, yea, ſell their ſouls to him, as Pope Sixtus the fifth did, for ſeven years enjoyment of the Popedom. But thou, O man of God, flie theſe things, &c. 1 Tim. 6.11. and while others lay faſt hold on theſe baſe and boot-leſs buſineſſes, lay thou hold an eternal life, verſ. 12. But this obiter only.

And a place for the Gold where they fine it] Or From whence they fine it; Or,Heyl Geo p.77[illegible: 1 letter] Which they fine. The Spaniards are ſaid to have found in the Mines of America more Gold then earth. It is accounted of Metals the moſt precious: but it is Opinion that ſets the price upon it. The only material of money amongſt us, is Gold and Silver; but among the Roman Provinces, it was moſt times braſſe,Corium forma publica impreſſum. Seneca. ſometimes leather. The like is ſaid to have been uſed here in England in the time of the Barons wars: And why not? ſince Anno 1574. the Hollanders then being in their extremities, made money of Paſte-board. Who the firſt man was that made money of Gold, Pliny ſaith is uncertain. But Herodotus writeth,Plin lib. 33 Herodot. lib. 1 Plin lib. 7 that the Lydians were the firſt Coyners of Gold and Silver for that uſe. And Pliny, that Caamus the Phoenician was the firſt that found Gold; viz. at the Hill Pangaeus in Thracia; a place that aboundeth with Gold and Silver, as Herodotus teſtifieth.Herod. lib. 7 But ſo did Havilah (afterwards called Suſiana, in Eaſt-India) long before Cadmus was born, Gen. 2.11 Near unto this Land of Havilah, Solinus ſaith, were two Ilands called,Solin. cap. 65 Chryſe and Argyre, that is, the golden and ſilver Ilands, becauſe they were ſo full of thoſe richeſt Metals, Ʋt plerique eas auria ſola prodiderint & argentea habere; that many have affirmed the ſoile thereof to be of gold, and ſilver. Junius thinketh that Solinus and Pliny called this Land of Havilah, (by miſtake of Letters) Babypace, Plin. lib 6. c. 27 Solin. cap. 68 Ibid. the Inhabitants whereof, ſaith Solinus (through hatred of gold, for the hurt it doth mankind) buy up and bury very deep in the earth all the gold they can get. Like as Crates the Theban Philoſopher, is ſaid to have caſt his gold into the ſea for like reaſon (as he pretended when he ſaid, at the ſame time, Abite malae cupiditates: ego vos mergam, ne ipſe mergar à vobis) but indeed, for a name, as Hierome rightly judgeth:Hier. ep ad. Julian conſolat. calling him therefore, Gloriae animal, popularis aurae vile mancipium, a vain glorious fool. There is no hurt in having theſe Metals, ſo we love them not; Divites magis aurum ſuſpiciunt quam coelum Minut. Octav. ſo they do not get within us, as Luke 11.41. ſo we make not our gold our God, nor ſay to the fine gold, Thou art my confidence, Job 31.24.

Verſe 2. Iron is taken out of the earth;] that is, out of the Irony vein, which is ſaid to be a droſſie kind of earth, not ſufficiently diſgeſted and hardned to make a ſtone. Of the generation of theſe inferiour Metals,Plin. l. 33. & 34 ſee Pliny and the Chymicks; who yet are not to be hearkned unto, when they tell us; that by their Art they can turn theſe meaner Metals into gold, ſith they are here diſtinguiſhed by their place, matter, form, &c. Neither is gold the end of other Metals (every of which is perfect in its kind;) and beſides, the eſſence of every thing is indiviſible, and the uſe diverſe. Iron can do that which gold and ſilver cannot. Hiſtorians tell us, that Alexanders old ſouldiers, armed with Shields of Iron, conquered a great part of the world: But when as growing rich, they made them ſhields of Silver, and were therehence called Argyraſpides, they were baſely beaten by thoſe whom they had formerly ſubdued. The firſt Inventers of iron and braſſe, Pliny will have to be the Chalybes or Cyclopes. Diodorus, the Idaei, Dactyli, or Vulcan. Vulcanum, inquit, ferri, aris, argenti, auri, omniumque quae igne fabricantur, artem inveniſſe, ferunt. Diod. Sic. 16. And ſurely if Vulcan were the ſame with Tubal-Cain (as ſundry Commentators will have it) Diodorus was not far from the Truth: for he taught men to work in braſſe and iron, Gen. 4.22. Iron they had before, and the Art of uſing it, how elſe could they have plowed the accurſed earth? But this man added to their skil by his invention, he ſharply and wittily taught Smiths-craft, and is therefore by the heathens fained to be the God of Smiths.

And braſſe is molten out of the ſtone.] That is, out of the oare, which is like a ſtone, and is called Cadmia, (as Junius here noteth) perhaps from Cadmus, whom Pliny maketh the firſt that invented the uſe of theſe Metals, which Ariſtotle aſcribeth to Lydus the Scythian, Theophraſtus to Delas the Phrygian. It is probable that theſe were the firſt that ſhewed their Country-men the uſe of theſe Metals, and ſo were by them accounted the firſt Authours of what was elſewhere found out long before.Aes in medii[illegible: 1 letter] lapidibus latet [illegible: 1 word] ſed ignis vehementia lapides aris uſque ade[illegible: 1 letter] torquentur ut veluti flumen ae[illegible: 2 letters] effundant. Bren Some render the Text thus, And the ſtone is melted into braſſe; that is, by melting is turned into braſſe. Many are of opinion that there was anciently an Art of melting ſtones, which is now loſt. Braſſe is as it were incorporated into ſtone or harder matter; but forced forth by the heat of fire. Hence the Vulgar Latine thus rendreth this Hemiſtich, Lapis ſolutus calore, in as vertitur, The ſtone diſſolved by heat, is turned into braſſe. So excellently doth Job here ſet forth the nature of theſe chief metals, as Mercer would have us to take notice.

Verſe 3. He ſetteth an end to darkneſſe] i.e. He (viz. the Miner) brings light down into the dark entrailes of the earth, and fetches out thoſe metals that had long lain hid there, and that elſe would never have been beheld. Though Nature hath taken pleaſure (as One ſpeaketh) to hide all theſe Metals, yet induſtry provideth man of certain marks for to diſcover them, and infallible conjectures to know the time when they muſt be drawn out of their darkneſſe. Habent Metallici ſuas virgas metallicas, Metallaries have their Metal-rods, whereby they ſearch into and diſtinguiſh of metals and minerals.

Quaſque recondi derat,Ovid. Metam. Stygiiſque admoverat undis, Effodiuntur opes irritamenta malorum.

And ſearcheth out all perfections] ſcil. That is to be found in thoſe ſubterraneous Cells, in that boſom and bottom of the earth: the utmoſt that is there to be had he throughly eviſcerateth, digging many fathomes under ground, where nothing is to be ſeen, but a deadly ſhade; Ex cujus horrore mori quis poſſet; enough to fright one to death; beſide the deadly damps, which ſuddenly breaking out of the veins of the earth, do ſometimes choak the workmen.

The ſtones of darkneſs, &c.] That is, the darkeſt ſtones that lye loweſt of all in the earths bowels, whither one would wonder how any man ſhould ever come; and eſpecially how the Sun and Stars ſhould come by their influences to make thoſe Metals, and the precious Stones, that are ingendred and bred in the darkſom and deadly vaults of the earth.

Verſe 4 The floud breaketh out from the Inhabitant] Broughton rendreth it, from the ſpring. Illa ergo utribus prae grandibus ex multis bonum coriis conſutis indefeſſo labore exhauriuntur, adhibitis ad cam rem rotis & machinis idoneis. Merl. Others, Erumpit fluvius juxta accolam; A River breaketh out neer to the Inhabitant; that is, to the Miner, who is forced to leave the place, till by buckets, wheels, and other fit devices the pits be cleared, ſo that they may fall to work again.

Even the waters forgotten of the foot] Broughton, Ʋnkenned of any foot: Brentius, Quas nemo pedibus vadare poſſit. Unfordable waters, deep and dangerous. To which purpoſe alſo the Tigurines tranſlate the following words; [They are dryed up, &c.] thus, Superant etiam hominis ſtaturam, & quì poterant vadari? They are above the height of a man, and how could they be waded through? But better

They are dryed up, &c.] Heb. They are drawn up, or diminiſhed.

They are gone away from men] Mortalis operâ; by ſuch meanes as men uſe, and are unweariable.Trem. [non-Latin text not transcribed], ſaith a Greek Father, What paines will not men take for gain and emolument?

Per mare pauperiem fugiunt,Horat. per ſaxa, per ignes.

Verſe 5. As for the earth, out of it cometh bread;] That is, Bread-corn: Alma Tellus, Fertilis & ferax. Vatab. plentifully yeeldeth thoſe precious fruits of hers, as they are called, James 5.11. Theſe fruits lye hid in the ſeed for a ſeaſon; and ſo doth likewiſe fire in the flint (whereof ſome underſtand the following words) yet are they brought at length into the light.

And under it is turned up, as it were fire] That is, materials of fire, as coales of &c. or brimſtone which hath fire in it, and doth ſometimes take fire in the Mines. Or gold, which is to be tryed in the furnace, and diverſe ſparkling ſtones created of a ſulphureous matter, ſuch as is that which Pliny and Iſidore call Pyrites Perſicus, and tell us,In vit. Apol. lib 3. cap. 14. that if it be held hard in a mans hand, it burneth. As alſo that which Hiarchas in Philoſtratus calleth Pantarbe, which burneth with a kind of ſweet brightneſſe (ſaith that Authour) that dazleth the eyes of the Beholder, and hath a ſtrange attractive vertue. Thus it ſometimes falleth out, that the upper part of a ground is fruitful, and brings forth graine and graſſe, and underneath are precious ſtones and metals. But commonly where there is gold below, there is the barrenneſt ſoyl above. God and Nature thereby teaching us, that where the love of money (that root of all evil) groweth, there is no good to be found. A harveſt may as well be look'd for in an hedg, as true grace in a gold thirſty-heart.

Verſe 6. The Stones of it are the place of Saphires] Which are excellent Stones, and therefore here joyned with Gold; Quod punctis aureis colluceant, Plin. Vide Boet. Hiſtlapid. lib. 2. c. 42 becauſe they ſhine with golden ſparklings, Exod. 24.10. The Sanhedrin ſaw the God of Iſrael, and there was under his feet as it were, a paved work of a Saphire ſtone, &c. To ſhew, ſaith One, that God had now changed their condition, their Bricks made in their Bondage to Saphire. So Iſai. 54.11. God graciouſly promiſeth unto his afflicted Church, that had been toſſed with tempeſts, and not comforted, to lay her ſtones with faire colours, and her foundation with Saphires; to make her windowes of Agates, and her gates of Carbuncles, and all her border of pleaſant ſtones: To render her all glorious within, by the curious Enamel and Embroidery of holy graces, and to beautifie alſo and beſpangle her with outward plenty and proſperity, that ſhe might glitter in the eyes of God and men.

And it hath duſt of Gold] Or, Oar of gold; better then that which our Forbiſher in his Voyage to diſcover the Strait, brought back with him, from which, when there could be drawn neither Gold nor Silver, nor any other Metal,Camb. Eliz. fol. 189 we have ſeen it caſt forth to mend the high-wayes, ſaith Mr.Cambden.

Verſe 7. There is a path which no fowle knoweth] That is, ſay ſome, thoſe places where this Gold lyeth are ſo barren, as they bring forth nothing elſe but gold,Albert. Dionyſ. Aquin. nothing for fowles to feed upon, no not diſcernable by the eye of the Vulture, which ex[illegible: 1 letter] celleth in ſeeing afar off, and ſmelleth out his prey at a very great diſtance. But men make their wayes even here, to dig and find out gold, being herein more perſpicacious and ſagacious, then the very Vultures. The covetous would do well to conſider (ſaith a good Authour) that for the moſt part thoſe Countries that are furniſhed with gold, are deſtitute of better proviſion, both temporal and ſpiritual; that it lyeth furtheſt from heaven, and the beſt of it in India, furtheſt from the Church; that though Adam had it in the firſt Paradiſe, Gen. 2. yet in the ſecond we ſhall not need it; but God ſhall be our Gold, and we ſhall have plenty of that which is better then ſilver, Job 22.25. That wiſe men have eſteemed it as the ſtones of the ſtreets, 1 Chron. 1.15. And that the children of wiſdome might not poſſeſs it in their girdles. Matth. 10.19. That wicked men have the moſt of it as their portion, Pſalm 17.14. and that the divel danceth in rich and pleaſant palaces, Iſai. 13.21, 22. &c.

And which the Vultures eye hath not ſeen] Or, the Kites eye, or the Pies, or the Choughs, which yet is ſaid to be ſitiens aur[illegible: 1 letter], deſirous of gold, and to hide it when ſhe hath gotten it, though ſhe can make no uſe of it. Some good Interpreters by this path in the Text, underſtand the Mines themſelves, thoſe under-ground places, as far under ground as the fowles flye above ground; and that are by them and the moſt prey-ſeeking beaſts unkend and untrod; yet thither goeth the Metallary by his Skil and induſtry, letting in both light and vital Aire, Quem follibus arte mirificâ; è ſublims deducit, ut reſpirent artifices, & alantur lucern[illegible: 1 letter]: which with wonderful Art he by bellows bringeth from above into thoſe low holes, that the workmen may breath, and the lights may be kept burning.

Verſe 8. The Lions Whelps have not trodden it] Heb. The children of pride (ſee chap 41.34) that is, ſaith Vatablus, belluae truces & immanes; fierce and cruel creatures, which yet paſſe through Mountaines and Vallies and vaſt forreſts, but come not under ground where theſe Metals are; that's no part of their walk. Where the Vulgar had his filii inſtitorum here, Sons of the huckſters, Mercer cannot imagine, and his beſt patrons are hard put to it to defend him.

Not the fierce Lion paſſed by it] Heb. The huge Lion. There are ſeven names of Lions obſerved in Scripture, whereof here are two in this verſe, of like ſound the one to the other. The Tigurines render it here, the Leopard; the Vulgar Latine, the Lioneſſe: And his Paraphraſt hath the whole verſe thus, Thoſe wild beaſts, whoſe ſavage humour ſearcheth out the moſt ſolitary places, could never yet find them; and the Lioneſſes, which run every where when they have loſt their little ones, have never approached them.

Verſe 9. He putteth forth his hand upon the Rock] He, that is, Mortal man, the Miner, ver. 4. (not God, as Mercer would have it) putteth forth his hand: ſcil. to dig down theſe rocks, that he may come at that Treaſure, and make himſelf Maſter of that ſpoil, that is hidden in their entrailes.

Nil tam difficile eſt, quod non ſollertia vincit.

Alexander the Great being asked, How he ſo ſoon over-ran the Univerſe? Anſwered, I never held any thing impoſſible to be atchieved. When he had heard of any thing dangerous to be done, or unlikely, he would the rather ſet upon it, and ſay, Jam periculum par animo Alexandri, This is an Enterpriſe fit for an Alexander. So of Julius Caeſar, (who had in his time taken a thouſand Townes, conquered three hundred Nations, taken priſoner a million of men, and ſlaine as many) ſings the poet Lucan.—Caeſar in omnia Praecep[illegible: 1 letter] Nil actum credens, dùm quid ſupereſſet agendum Fertur atrox.— Difficulty doth but whet on Heroick ſpirits; it wakeneth, but not any way weakneth the couragious and induſtrious. Hannibal made his way through the Alps, by breaking down a huge Rock putrified with fire, and vinegar powred thereon. Hence Juvenal, Juvenal. Sat. 10 Liv [illegible: 2 letters]c. 3. Silyus.—Oppoſuit natura Alpemque nivemque Deduxit ſcopulos, & montem rupit aceto.

He overturneth the Mountains by the roots] Or, He turneth it up at the roots of the mountains; ſcil. which he mineth, by the obſtinacy of his labour. —Labor improbus omnia vincit.Iſid. Peluſ. lib. 3 epiſt. 24 [non-Latin text not transcribed], ſaith Iſidore, the love of mony is daring and deſperate.

Verſe 10. He cutteth out Rivers among the Rocks] i.e. By cleaving hardeſt Rocks he drawes in ſtore of water to waſh the inward parts of the earth, that he may ſee what Gold lyeth hid there: as alſo, to waſh and purge his metals, which require much waſhing This is the work of his hands. And then for his eye, and as a reward of his labour (for the diligent hand maketh rick, Prov. 10.4. and in all labour there is profit, Prov. 14.23.)

His eye ſeeth every precious thing] Heb. Every price; or, All preciouſneſs: Whatſoever is rare. ſo Tremellius rendreth it. His houſe is filled with all precious and pleaſant riches, Prov. 24.4. Dii [illegible: 1 letter]aboribus omnia vendunt, ſaid the Heathens. God ſells all good things to men for their pains taking.

Verſe 1[illegible: 1 letter]. He bindeth the floods from overflowing] Heb. From weeping; that is, (by an elegant Metaphor) from diſtilling and dropping, as thoſe under-ground waters uſe to do: but the Miner bindeth them; that is, he dammeth them up, and diverteth them, that they may not fall into his pit and mar his work. Thus he removes all lets, and devoures all difficulties, and all for a little pelfe which periſheth in the uſe, and will rather hinder from, then help men to heaven. How much more ſhould we labour for the true Treaſure,Tertul. the Pearl of price, the one thing neceſſary, &c? Si tanti vitreum, quanti veram margaritum? All thoſe outward things are nec vera, nec veſtra, as Auſtin elegantly: They are neither true riches, nor ours, but anothers, as our Saviour telleth us, Luke 16.12. Ariſtotle alſo teacheth us, That wiſe men may get riches, [non-Latin text not transcribed] Polit. lib 1. but not make it their buſineſſe. Brentius reads this Text, Perplexa fluminum gyrat; He turneth about the crooked Rivers, putting them into a new channel, that he may get the gold and precious Stones that lye in the bottom; for there are ſome gold-flowing Rivers: ſuch as are Ganges in India, Pactolus in Aſia, Tagu[illegible: 1 letter] in Spain, the Rhine in Germany, &c.

And [illegible: 1 word] that is hid he bringeth to light] Contrary to the Deſign of Nature, he revealeth her ſecrets, and diſcovereth all that ſhe hideth by this raking out of her riches, and making thoſe things that lye couchant in her bowels as common as if they grew above-ground.

Verſe 12. But where ſhall wiſdom be found?] Here is now the other part of the Antitheſis, and the ſecond part of the Chapter; which is nothing ſo hard as the former was. Wiſdom is either natural or ſpiritual, 1 Cor. 2. earthly, or heavenly; Jam. 3 the wiſdom here enquired after is ſupernal and ſupernatural: ſuch as can neither be found upon the earth, or digg'd out of it: ſuch as cannot be fathomed or found out by humane abilities, or by natural reaſon. But God revealeth it unto his by his Spirit: for the Spirit ſearcheth all things, yea, the deep things of God, 1 Cor. 2.10. And with this Heifer muſt all thoſe plow, that will finde out his riddles.Lud. viv. in Aug [illegible: 1 letter]e C. D. l. 22. c. 6. Lucioſi & qui hebeti ſunt viſu. ſaith Vives, Thoſe that are weak-ſighted and ſand-blind, if at any time they look wiſhly upon any thing with deſire to ſee it the better, they ſee it ſo much the worſe, and nothing ſo well as they did before. Think the ſame of the moſt accute and perſpicacious Naturaliſt: when he comes to look into the things of God, he is not only ſand-blind, but ſtark-blind, 1 Cor. 2.14. he will not ſee (and therefore who ſo blind?) he hath an Antipathy to divine truths: he loveth the Law better than the Goſpel, and any Truth better than the Law. And as for this high point of heavenly wiſdom (called here illa ſapientia, with an emphaſis) whereby is underſtood, that Gods judgements are all juſt, even then when he afflicteth the godly, and proſpereth the wicked, he cannot comprehend it, or yield to it; but is ready to turn flat Atheiſt upon it, as Averrces did: denying the divine Providence, and conceiting that all things were carried on by Fate and Fortune. Jobs enemy-freinds herein were no wiſer than they ſhould be, when they thus raſhly cenſured him for wicked, becauſe afflicted: and preſumptuouſly took upon them to give a reaſon of Gods proceedings in his various diſpenſations with as much confidence as if they had been of Gods privy counſel, whereas they ſhould have conſidered, that Gods judgements are unſearchable, and his wayes paſt finding out: and that he who herein is ſcholar to his own reaſon, is ſure to have a Fool to his Maſter.

And where is the place of underſtanding?] As there is no vein to be found of the divine wiſdom, ſo neither any known place (as there is for gold, ſilver, precious ſtones) where it ought to be ſought, ſave only of God by Prayer, Jan. 1.5 Man, whatſoever good ſucceſs he hath in the forementioned ſearches, he is nothing ſo happy nor dextrous in that of divine underſtanding. Epiphanius reſembleth him to the Mole, which doth all his work under ground: but if once he be brought above ground, as he is ſtark-blind, ſo is he every way a weak and contemptible creature. The beſt that are, ſee but in part, and are ſometimes at a loſs, about the reaſon of Gods moſt righteous proceedings, which men muſt mirari, & non rimari, ſilently adore, and not over-curiouſly ſearch into: There is a learned ignorance, ſaith Calvi[illegible: 1 letter], of thoſe things, quae ſcire nec datur, nec fas eſt, which it is neither granted us, nor fit for us to know: and in this, the very deſire of knowledge is a kind of madneſs. Let that ſaying of Xenophanes be remembred; There is no great difference whether a man ſet his feet or his eyes in another mans houſe without his leave.Plut. de curioſitat. Arca[illegible: 1 letter] Dei ſunt arca Dei, Gods ſecrets are Gods Ark; pry not, leſt ye come halting home, for ſo doing.

Verſe 13. Man knoweth not the price thereof] Or, the order thereof, in what manner and method God proceedeth: no, though in other things he knew as much as Homer did, of whom one ſaith that he, was [non-Latin text not transcribed], a man that knew all humane affaires: Or as Ariſtotle did, whom ſome have called an Eagle faln from the clouds: or as Hierom, quem nullum ſcibile lat[illegible: 1 letter]it, who knew all that was knowable: or as Biſhop Andrew, whom one calleth (but how truly I enquire not) a gulf of learning. Sure it is, that man (ſorry man) knoweth neither the price of divine wiſdom, for it is invaluable: nor the place of it, for it is inveſtigable: nor the order of it, for that is unattainable till we come to heaven: there being a wheel within a wheel, Ezek. 1. and Providence ſhall one day be unriddled.

Neither is it found in the land of the living] That is, here upon earth, by any humane wit or induſtry: In other texts of Scripture, the time while we live in this world, is called, the day, Joh. 9.4. and the light of the living, Pſal. 56.13. in oppoſition to death, which is called, a land of darkneſs, as darkneſs it ſelf, Job 10.22. where they that inhahite are ſaid to be free among the dead, Pſal. 88.5 free of that company, ſee Eſay 38.11. None but thoſe that live ſpiritually, and have ſenſes habitually exerciſed to diſcern good and evil, Heb. 5. ult. can ſee any thing of the worth of this wiſdom, ſo as to ſeek after it as ſilver, and prize it above gold: for ignoti nulla cupido, men covet not what they value not. Now the Cock on the dunghil knows not the price or place of this ineſtimable jewel, and therefore ſlights it. Thoſe Epicures eſpecially, qui ſnaviter vivunt, (as the vulgar here tranſlateth) who live in pleaſure upon earth, and are wanton, Jam. 5.5.

Verſe 14. The depth ſaith, It is not in me] It is not to be had above ground, may ſome ſay; but what, under-ground? Not there neither, faith Job: for the Abyſſe ſaith, that is, if it could ſpeak it would ſurely ſay, It is not in me; and the Sea gives us in the ſame verdict: dig to the centre of the earth, dive to the bottom of the ſea, you ſhall hear no tale or tydings of her: ſhe neither groweth with gold and precious ſtones in the earth, nor with Pearls and Coral in the ſea: we muſt be taught of God; and the holy Spirit muſt joyn himſelf to our chariot (as Philip did to the Eunuches, Act. 8.29.) he muſt teach us this wiſdom from above, or we can never learn it, Iſa. 54.13. A man may read the figure on the Dial, but he cannot tell how the day goes, unleſs the Sun ſhine upon the Dial: We may read over the book of the Creature, and the book of the Scripture, but we cannot learn to purpoſe, till the Spirit of God ſhine into our hearts, 2 Cor. 4.6. The Goſpel is full of jewels; but they are lockt up from ſenſe and reaſon, 1 Cor. 2.10. The Angels in heaven are ſearching into theſe ſacred depths, 1 Pet. 1.12. and know not ſo much, but they would fain know more of this manifold wiſdom of God, [non-Latin text not transcribed] Eph. 3.10. that hath ſuch an abundance of curious variety in it, (as the word there ſignifieth) even ſuch as is ſeen in the beſt pictures or textures.

Verſe 15. It cannot be gotten for gold] Non emitur, nec aeſtimatur, it is not purchaſed or procured with money, as other learning may, (en precium & praeſtantiam ſapientiae) with a great ſum obtained I this freedom, ſaid that Colonel, Act. 22.28. So may many ſay of their learning, they have ſufficiently paid for it. Cleanthes parted with all he had for learning. Plato gave thirty thouſand Florens for three Books. Reuchlin gave the Jew that taught him Hebrew, a Crown for every hours pains. Hierome got his skill in that language with the hazard of his life, and held it a good bargain.Hen Beaeuford. in Hen. 6. time. Act. and Mon. But here's no ſuch trading; ſee Act. 8.18, 19, 20. Fie (quoth that rich and wretched Cardinal, when he ſaw he muſt die) will money do nothing? will not death be hired? may not heaven be purchaſed? No, no, God is no Money-merchant: his Kingdom is not partum, but paratum. Mat. 25.34. his grace is gratuitous, Mat. 13.11. To you it is given (and what more free than gift?) to know the myſteries of the Kingdom of God. And to you it is given (freely given) on the behalf of Chriſt, not only to believe on him,Vega. &c. Phil. 1.29. That proud merit-monger, that ſaid, Gratis non accipiam; I will not have Grace or Grace or Glory of free-coſt, could not but go without both.

Verſe 16. It cannot be valued] Heb. Thrown on the ground, as Wares were wont to be, and are yet, when they are ſet to ſale, and to be prized or valued.

With the gold of Ophir] The word here rendred gold, is not the ſame with that in the former, or thoſe in the following verſes. Five ſeveral times gold is here mentioned (becauſe ſo highly prized among men) and in four ſeveral words. Jerom on Jer. 10. obſerveth, that the Hebrew have ſeven ſeveral words for gold; and five ſeveral ſorts are here inſtanced. That here mentioned, is a ſpecial name for the moſt ſplendent and gliſtering gold, Pſal 45.10. Dan. 10.5. Cant. 5.11. Of it comes Michtam of David, or Davids golden Pſalm, Pſal. 16.1. his ingot of gold: Broughton thinks it to be no Hebrew word, but the name of gold in Ophir; Obrizium dictum volunt, quaſi Ophirizium: Ophir is Peru, ſay ſome: Others, an Iland in the Indies, where the moſt precious gold was to be had, called alſo gold of Parvaim, 2 Chron. 3.6. This is ſuppoſed to be in Havilah, Gen. 2.11. It is called perfections of gold, 2. Chron. 4.21.

With the precious Onyx, or the Saphir] The Onyx is a ſtone ſaid to be found in the River Ganges, and to be of a white colour, like the white of a mans nail, whence it hath its name. See of it, Plin. lib. 37. cap. 6. Boet. Hiſt. Gem. lib. 2. cap. 90. The Saphir is a ſtone of a sky-coloured blue, or of a light-coloured purple.

Verſe 17. The gold, and the chryſtal cannot equal it] For Chryſtal ſome reade Diamond; others, Adamant. It hath its name from its purity and tranſparency. Junius rendreth it therefore nitidiſſima gemma. It ſeems to be, ſaith One, the laſt attempt of nature, and makes us finde heaven on earth.

And the exchange of it ſhall not be for jewels (or veſſels) or fine gold] Of Phez-gold, ſo Broughton renders it; and would have it come from Feſſe in Barbary. The Arabians now call gold Phes. Of this ſolid faſt gold were made many precious Jewels or Veſſels, like that French coyn in the Hiſtorian,Vas auri puri puti. in qua plus f[illegible: 1 letter]rmae quam ponderis, in which was not ſo much weight as workmanſhip; Prov. 25.11. Apples of Gold, in Lattices of Silver; or put in a Caſe of Silver cutwork.

Verſe 18. No mention ſhall be made of Coral] No talk of Coral or Carbuncle, of Pearl, or any other the rareſt and richeſt Jewels in all the world. We read of Cleopatra, that vying with Antony in luxury, ſhe drunk up a Pearl of incredible price diſſolved in vineger; and of Charles Duke of Burgundy, Macrob. Sat. lib 5. cap. 17 Alſted. Chrono[illegible: 1 letter]. that in the Fight at Nanſey, he loſt a Diamond of that worth, ut eo tota aliqua regio emi poſſet, that therewith a man might have bought a whole country. It was afterwards ſet in the Popes triple-Crown; but no way worthy to be mentioned in the ſame day with wiſedom.

For the price of Wiſdom is above Rubies] Which are ſo called from their lovely redneſs; ſee Lam. 4.7. Pearls ſome render it: of which Pliny ſaith,Plin. lib. 9. c 35. Principium culmenque rerum omnium pretii margaritae tenent; Pearls are the principal of all precious things. They were ſo of old; but they are not ſo now-adayes. What huge ſums were once given for Saints Reliques (as they called them) and Popes-Pardons? but now the world is grown wiſer. England is no more a babe: there is no man here,Acts & Mon. 990 but now he knows that they do fooliſhly, that give gold for lead, more weight of that, then they receive of this. This and much more to the ſame purpoſe, ſpeaketh Henry 8. (in his proteſtation againſt the Pope) who yet, as a faint Chapman, went not to the price of this true wiſdome; as appeareth by that publick ſpeech of his in Parliament, There are many that are too buſie with their new Sumpſimus, and others that dote too much upon their old Mumpſimus, the new Religion, though true, he envied: the old, though his own, he deſpiſed, being as a ſpeckled bird, or a cake half baked &c.

Verſe 19 The Topaz of Ethiopia ſhall not equal it] Of the Topaz, ſee Plin. lib. 36. cap 8. It ſeemeth to have the luſtre of Gold, and purity of Chryſtal, and thoſe agreeable mixtures of colours, which make the purple of Kings. The operations of this Stone are many and rare, as Rueus ſets them forth.Lib. 2. cap. 9

Neither ſhall it be valued with pure gold] Plato ſaith as much of moral wiſdome, [non-Latin text not transcribed], No Gold or Gem ſo gliſtereth. And elſewhere he ſaith, that if moral vertue could be beheld with mortal eyes, mirificos ſui amores excitaret, it would wonderfully enamour men. Aurelius the Emperour would ſay, That he would not leave the knowledg he might learn in one houre, for all the gold that he poſſeſſed. Alphonſus King of Arragon profeſſed, That he would rather chuſe to loſe his Jewels then his Books, his Kingdomes (whereof he had many,) quam literas, quas permodicas ſcire dicebat, Val. Max. Chriſtian. 118, 237 then that little Learning he had attained unto. Many have been ſo taken with the ſtudy of the Mathematicks, that they could have lived and dyed in it. Vae igitur ſtupari noſtro, Leo Digges. Wo then to the world becauſe of wiſdome: This incomparable Wiſdome of God in a myſtery, as the Apoſtle calleth it. Haec quia pr[illegible: 1 letter] vili, ſub pedibuſque jacet.Ovid, Money is moſt mens ſtudy, not without an horrible neglect of pietie, which yet is the principal thing, Prov. 3. and profitable to all things, 1 Tim. 4.8. as that which hath the promiſe of both lives, ibid. Now the Promiſes are exceeding great and precious things, 2 Pet. 1.4. even the unſearchable riches of Chriſt, Epheſ. 3.8. Such gold as cannot be too deer bought, Matth. 13.44.46. nor too far fet, no, though ſo far as the Queen of Sheba came to hear the wiſdome of Solomon; and could have been content to have changed her throne for his footſtool. Sure it is, ſhe was no niggard, but parted with abundance of precious things and ſweet odours for that wiſdome which ſhe held (and worthily) far more ſweet and precious then all her annual entradoes. Sure it is, that if the mountaines were Pearle, the huge Rocks Rubies, and the whole Globe a ſhining Chryſolite, yet all this were nothing to the worth of the wiſdome here commended. How greatly bound then are Gods people to bleſſe his Name for communicating unto us this unvaluable treaſure by his Word and Spirit, 1 Cor. 2. Hath he not written for us excellent things in counſels and knowledge, Prov. 22.20? hath he not made his Son, that eſſential wiſdome of his, to become unto us, Wiſdome, Righteouſneſſe, Sanctification and Redemption, 1 Cor. 1.30? Should ſome earthly Prince give us a rich Ring off his finger wherein there were a Chryſolite, a Saphire, a Topaz, or ſome other precious Stone, how highly would we honour him, and what would we not be ready to do or ſuffer for him? And ſhall we not much more do ſo for God, rich in mercy plenteous in goodneſſe, abundant in kindneſſe and in truth, who giveth us all things richly to enjoy? O pray for that bleſſed ſight, Epheſ. 1.18. and 3.18. and reckon one grain of grace more worth then all the gold of Ophir; one remnant of faith beyond all the gorgeous and gay attire in the world.

Verſe 20. Whence then cometh wiſdome, &c?] See the Note on verſe 12. q. d. No where ſurely is ſhe to be found but with God the fountain of wiſdome, verſ. 23. To ſeek her elſewhere is but laborious loſſe of time; witneſſe the Philoſophers anxious, but bootleſſe diſquiſitions after the Summum Bonum, the true bleſſedneſs of chief good; about which there were eight ſeveral opinions, and yet all out.

Verſe 21.Maxima pars eorum quaeſcimus eſt [illegible: 1 word] pars cor[illegible: 1 letter]m quae neſcimus. Seeing it is hid from the eyes of all living] As hath beene before ſet forth verſe 13. They that ſee moſt into it, ſee but in part, and muſt needs ſay, that the greateſt part of their knowledg, is the leaſt part of their ignorance. Something they know of his revealed will, but nothing at all of his ſecret. Whereunto we may add, that there are many occult qualities in nature, the reaſon whereof the wiſeſt men undertand not.

And kept cloſe from the fowles of the Aire] Which yet fly very high, and ſeem to touch the clouds of heaven; as the Eagle which delighteth in high-flying. Some wil have the Angels (elſewhere ſet forth as winged creatures) to be here meant: who although they ſtand alwayes in Gods preſence, and ſee much of his Majeſty, yet not at all, nothing neer, Iſai. 6. they cover their faces with their wings, as with a double ſcarf, (as not not able to behold his glory) and make their addreſſes unto him with greateſt ſelf-abaſements.

Verſe 22. Deſtruction and death ſay, &c] That is, the dead in the grave, and damned in hell,Junius. as ſome gloſſe it. Others, man in his corrupt eſtate, though a child of death yet capable of ſalvation; and the wiſedome of God hath found out a way to ſave him by his Son, letting in life by the car, according to that, Hear and your ſouls ſhall live. The dead (in ſins and treſpaſſes) ſhall hear the voice of the Son of God (in the preaching of the Word) and ſhal live, Vatabl. Iſaiah 55.3 the life of grace here, and of glory hereafter, John 5.25. Theſe have heard of Gods wiſdome in his various dealings with the ſons of men, and that with their ears: both with the griſtles that grow on their heads, and with the inward ears of their minds, ſo that one ſound hath pierced both; but yet the one half hath not been told them, they can truly ſay, as the Queen of Sh[illegible: 1 letter] ba ſaid to Solomon, Thou haſt added Wiſdome and goodneſſe to the fame, 1 Kings 10.7. And as David in the perſon of Chriſt, Pſal. 16.11. Thou wilt ſhew me the path of life: whereby is hinted, that Chriſt himſelf as man did not ſo fully underſtand in the daies of his fleſh, the unconceivable joies of heaven, as he did afterwards, when his whole perſon was glorified with the glory which (as God) he had with the Father before the world was, John 17.5.

Verſe 23 God underſtandeth the way thereof] The only wiſe God, who alone knowes her price, knowes her retreat. Haec ſunt inferni & mortis verba, ſaith Brentius; Theſe are the words of hell and of death. But we may better take them, as ſpoken by Job himſelf; which yet are to be underſtood, not as if Job thought that there was any place, out of God, where his wiſdome might be ſought; or any way, out of himſelf to go to it. But theſe things are ſpoken after the manner of men, ſaith Merlin: for wiſedome is in God, yea God is wiſdome it ſelf. For the wiſdome of God is nothing elſe, but the moſt wiſe God: ſith whatſoever is in God, is God. Therefore ſeeing he is well known to himſelf, how can his wiſdom be but as well known unto him? His infinite knowledg and underſtanding is in ſome ſort ſhadowed out unto us in the words following.

Verſe 24. For he looketh to the ends of the earth] He is [non-Latin text not transcribed],Baſil. all eye: ſo that together and at once he beholdeth all things in the whole courſe of Nature, and under the whole cope of heaven. His eyes behold, his eye-lids try the children of men, Pſal. 11.4. Where the former pointeth out Gods knowledg, the latter his judgment, his critical deſcant, ſaith One. And ſurely this All-ſeeing eye of God, ſaith another Interpreter) ſhould keep us within the compaſſe of obedience, as much as any thing; ſith he who is our Judge, is a conſtant eye-witneſſe of our cogitatious, communication and whole converſation. Cave, ſpectat Cato: Take heed. Cato ſeeth you, was an old watch-word among the Romans, and a retentive from vice. How much more ſhould this be among Chriſtians? Ne pecces, Deus ipſe videt; Be adviſed, God beholdeth you. Think not that he who is inviſible cannot ſee, or that becauſe he is the high and lofty One that inhabiteth eternity; therefore he cannot ſee ſo far as earth; for he looketh to the ends and extremities of the earth, his eyes run to and fro, they are in every place beholding the evil and the good, Pro. 15.3. The world is to him as a ſea of glaſſe, Rev. 4.6. He ſeeth through it, and every man before him is all window: he ſeeth the very entrals of the ſoule, the heart of the heart, All things are naked and open before him, ſaith the Apoſtle, Heb. 4.13. Naked for the outſide, and open for the inſide of them: the word ſignifieth, diſſected, quartered, and as it were, cleft through the back-bone: He ſearcheth the Raines, thoſe ſeats of Luſt and moſt abſtruſe parts of the body, ſo wrapt up in fat and fleſh, as if no eye ſhould come at them.

And ſeeth under the whole heaven] His providence like a well drawn picture, looketh every way, and extendeth to every the leaſt and lighteſt occurrence; governing all things wiſely and powerfully, and ordering the diſorders of the world to his own glory. Epicures and Atheiſts would ſhut him up in heaven, as hath been before noted, as if he did neither know nor do any thing here below; but they will find it otherwiſe.

Verſe 25 To make the weights for the wind.] He ordereth wind and water, raine and thunder, Pondere, menſura, numero facit omnia,— therefore wiſdom is with him. The winds he weigheth in a balance, then when they ſeem to blow where they liſt, piercing through the aire with their violent blaſts, God ſets them their bounds, and appoints them their proportion: He ſends them out as his Poſtes, and makes them pace orderly.

And he weigheth the waters by meaſure] Both the raine, (not a drop falls in vain in a wrong place, or at randome, but by a divine Decree, as a witneſſe of his Wiſdome and Goodneſſe, Acts 17.14) and the ſea and Rivers: neither doe the winds blow, nor the waters flow without the Lord, who is the great Moderatour, that meaſureth the waters in the hollow of his hand, &c. Iſai. 40.12.

Verſe 26. When he made a Decree for the rain] And hence it is, that it raineth upon one City, and not upon another, Am. 4.7. See the Note there. The riſe of rain out of vapours drawn up from the earth by the heat of the Sun, and the generation of it in the clouds, is no leſſe wonderful, then the uſe of it is neceſſary for the refreſhing and fatning of the earth; allaying the heat, and nouriſhing the herb and tree, &c. Theſe ſhowres may ſeeme to ariſe, and be carried up and downe at randome, and without a Law; but Job aſſureth us, that God maketh a decree, a Statute, or a bound for them, and that he gives, or with holds rain at his pleaſure.

And a way for the lightning of the thunder] Or, for the lightning and the thunder: In both which there is much of God to be ſeen and heard; theſe being the Harbingers, as it were, and Officers to make roome for him, and to manifeſt his power, which the greateſt muſt acknowledg, Pſal. 29 1, 2. and the Saints muſt take comfort in verſe 11. As for thoſe impious wretches, that ſlight theſe wonderful works of Almighty God, & ſpeak baſely of them (as he of whom Mr. Perkins ſomewhere writeth, that hearing it thunder, ſaid it was nothing but Tom Tumbrel a hooping his tubs, & was thereupon killed with a thunder-bolt: and thoſe old Italians that uſed in time of thunder, to ring their greateſt bells, and ſhoot off their greateſt Ordnance, &c. on purpoſe to drown the noiſe of the heavens:) As they are worſe then Pharaoh and Caligula, and other heathens, who ſtiled their chief god, Altitonans, the high-Thunderer: ſo they ſhall one day ſee the Lord Chriſt ſuddenly coming upon them as lightning, and dreadfully thundering out that diſmal Diſcedite, Go ye curſed.

Verſe 27 Then did he ſee it, and declare it, &c.] Or, Then doth he ſee it, and number it, &c. ſcil. When he ordereth winds, waters, and other creatures, he hath wiſdom ready & in numerat[illegible: 1 letter], as we ſay; as well known, and as familiar as men have thoſe things they daily deal in. Illa vero verborum congeries, faith an Expoſitour, This heap of words,Merlin. God ſaw it, numbred it, prepared it, ſearched it out, ſerveth but to ſhew how intimate wiſdom is with God, and how proper to him. And leſt any ſhould ſay, Hath God then communicated no heavenly wiſdom to his creature? Yes, ſaith Job, but ſuch as is thus circumſcribed;

Verſe 28 But unto man he ſaid &c.] q.d. Let him not curiouſly pry into Gods ſecrets,Infignis eſt hic locus. Mercer. nor raſhly cenſure others (as you have done me) but out of a reverential fear of God, eſchew evil and do good, for this ſhall be his wiſdom, Deut. 4.6. and the contrary, Jer. 8.9. See like exts, Deut. 29.29. Eccleſ. 12.13. Pſal. 111.10. Prov. 1.7. and 9.10. with the Notes.