Job · Chapter 28
Surely there is a vein for the silver, and a place for gold where they fine it.
Iron is taken out of the earth, and brass is molten out of the stone.
Adam Clarke
Verse 2. 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 hcwjn 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.
Joseph Benson
Verses 2, 3. Iron is taken out of the earth, &c. — They invent means to extract iron and brass out of the earth and stone. He setteth an end to darkness, &c. — There is no mine so dismally dark, but there is some man or other who will undertake to work in it, and find out a method of conveying light into it: and searcheth out all perfection — He searches to the very bottom of it, and finds out all the valuable treasures contained therein; the stones of darkness, and the shadow of death — The precious stones, which lie hid in the dark bowels of the earth, where no living thing can dwell.
Joseph Sutcliffe
Verse 2. Brass is molten, melted out of ores of zinc, lapis calaminaris, light perforated ores, found on Mendip hills in Somerset, Derbyshire, and other places.
Daniel Whedon
2. Iron… earth — Iron and brass are both alluded to in the final address of Moses as abounding in the Promised Land. Deuteronomy 8:9. The Jews do not seem to have worked these mines to any great extent, though it is now known that they were worked by the early Canaanitish races. (ROUGEMONT, L’Age du Bronze, 188.) Iron was certainly found in Lebanon, and Josephus speaks of an “iron mountain that runs in length as far as Moab.” — Wars, 4:8, 2. Pliny (xxxiv, 14) says, mines of iron are to be found almost everywhere. Brass… stone — And stone is molten into copper. Brass, as is well known, is an alloy of copper and zinc. At Punon, between Petra and Zoar, were copper mines, to which, during the persecutions of the Roman emperors, many Christians were banished that they might fall victims to the excessive sufferings connected with mining. The numerous remains of smelting furnaces, which may still be seen, show that mining operations for copper were once carried on upon a very large scale in the outlying districts of Sinai, near Jebel Habashi. These operations probably antedated those of Magharah or Sarabit. See PALMER’S Desert of the Exodus, 234, 256.
He setteth an end to darkness, and searcheth out all perfection: the stones of darkness, and the shadow of death.
John Wesley
V. 3. 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.
Adam Clarke
Verse 3. 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.”
Joseph Benson
Verses 2, 3. Iron is taken out of the earth, &c. — They invent means to extract iron and brass out of the earth and stone. He setteth an end to darkness, &c. — There is no mine so dismally dark, but there is some man or other who will undertake to work in it, and find out a method of conveying light into it: and searcheth out all perfection — He searches to the very bottom of it, and finds out all the valuable treasures contained therein; the stones of darkness, and the shadow of death — The precious stones, which lie hid in the dark bowels of the earth, where no living thing can dwell.
Daniel Whedon
3. He — The miner. An end to darkness — The torch of the miner dispels the darkness of the mine, and thus “he setteth an end to darkness.” and searcheth out perfectly, (literally, to every extremity, to the utmost,) the stones of darkness (metals) and the shadow of death. Ancient commentators thought that Job meant by this phrase to designate the centre of the earth. Schultens gives sixteen theories on this subject. Pliny, whose description of mining (about A.D. 77) remarkably illustrates that of Job says: “We penetrate the bowels of the earth and seek riches in the abode of the dead (manes.”) — Nat. Hist., Job 33:21.
The flood breaketh out from the inhabitant; even the waters forgotten of the foot: they are dried up, they are gone away from men.
John Wesley
V. 4. 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.
Adam Clarke
Verse 4. 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 wld 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 נעו vwnam 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 ljn 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, rg מעם 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, wld 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, Psalm 107:26, 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.
Joseph Benson
Verse 4. The flood breaketh out — While men are digging and searching in the mines, a flood of waters breaks in suddenly and violently upon them, and disturbs them in their work; from the inhabitant — Hebrew, rg µ[m, megnim gar, from with the inhabitant, or sojourner, as the word rather means: that is, out of that part of the earth which the miners inhabit, or wherever they sojourn and work; so that they dare not continue there any longer: but are forced to leave the place; even the waters forgotten of the foot — The first words in this clause, even the waters, are not in the Hebrew. It is only, They (namely, the waters) are forgotten of the foot; that is, the foot, treading on dry ground, forgets that the waters were lately there. They are dried up, they are gone away from men — That is, the art of man finds a way to divert such waters into different channels, and to drain them, so that they leave the places dry again, or, at least, run in such shallow streams that they are easily passed over.
Joseph Sutcliffe
Ver. 4. The flood breaketh out from the inhabitant. Rumpit alveum de cum pede montis; words equivalent to the text of Moses. “The fountains of the great deep were broken up.” Numerous are the proofs which the book of Job exhibits, that he and Moses, the prince of Hebrew prophets, derived knowledge from the same traditions.
Daniel Whedon
4. The flood — “Cimmerian darkness,” to use the words of Schultens, surrounds this verse. The reading most accepted at present is, literally, He sinketh a shaft away from where men dwell: forgotten of the foot, they hang far from men, they string to and fro. The flood breaketh — ljn, which commonly signifies a stream of water, and sometimes a valley or gorge, Genesis 26:17, 19; 2 Kings 3:16, is here used in the unusual sense of shaft, and objectively to the verb “breaketh,” or “sinketh.” They are dried up — It is now admitted that the Arabic signification of dalal, “hang suspended,” is the proper meaning of the Hebrew here. Job’s description of the dizzy and dangerous descent into a mine strikingly agrees with that of Pliny, who represents the men as “suspended by ropes and swinging,” even while they cut the rocks. “The course taken,” he says, “is where there is no footing for men.” Pliny thus best interprets forgotten of the foot, a phrase which is used like that of the psalmist, “let my right hand forget,” etc., 137:5, to express temporary disability for performing its ordinary offices.
As for the earth, out of it cometh bread: and under it is turned up as it were fire.
John Wesley
V. 5. Fire-Coals, and brimstone, and other materials of fire. Unless this refer, as some suppose, to a central fire.
Adam Clarke
Verse 5. The earth, out of it cometh bread] Or the earth, hnmm 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 centre 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,” &c. 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 {Job 28:7, 8} 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.
Joseph Benson
Verses 5, 6. As for the earth, out of it cometh bread — Out of the surface of the earth man gets herbs and corn, and other kinds of food for his sustenance: and under it is turned up, as it were, fire — Lime, to manure and enrich the ground, or coals and brimstone, and other materials of fire: unless, as some suppose, this rather refers to a central fire in the bowels of the earth. The stones of it are the place of sapphires — Of precious stones; the sapphire, as 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. And it hath — The earth containeth; dust of gold — Distinct from that gold which is found in the mass; both sorts of gold being found in the earth.
Joseph Sutcliffe
Ver. 5, 6. As for the earth, out of it cometh bread. E terra exit panis. “From the earth proceeds bread, and subterranean fire is, as it were, scattered beneath.”—Sapphires: see on Exodus 28:19, where gems are described.—It hath dust of gold. The districts of gold ore run out in strata to vast extent, one or two feet thick, where particles of gold abound; and from those veins, the particles are washed into the beds of rivers. Sometimes the miner meets with small masses of native gold. Job says of those districts, “the glebes are gold itself.”
Daniel Whedon
5. Turned up as it were fire — Same also in the Septuagint. Pliny has a like thought. Ungrateful man repays the debt he owes the earth for bread (Psalm 104:14) by digging out her bowels. The miner probably used fire in his work of excavation, and thus produced effects like those of subterranean fires. In the days of Pliny they broke the rocks with fire and vinegar. Herodotus, (vi, 47,) in his description of “the workings in Thasos” by the Phoenicians, whose home it will be remembered was only about one hundred and eighty miles from Idumaea, states, “that a huge mountain has been turned upside down in the search for ores.”
The stones of it are the place of sapphires: and it hath dust of gold.
John Wesley
V. 6. 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.
Adam Clarke
Verse 6. 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. Dust of gold] Or rather, gold dust.
Joseph Benson
Verses 5, 6. As for the earth, out of it cometh bread — Out of the surface of the earth man gets herbs and corn, and other kinds of food for his sustenance: and under it is turned up, as it were, fire — Lime, to manure and enrich the ground, or coals and brimstone, and other materials of fire: unless, as some suppose, this rather refers to a central fire in the bowels of the earth. The stones of it are the place of sapphires — Of precious stones; the sapphire, as 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. And it hath — The earth containeth; dust of gold — Distinct from that gold which is found in the mass; both sorts of gold being found in the earth.
Joseph Sutcliffe
Ver. 5, 6. As for the earth, out of it cometh bread. E terra exit panis. “From the earth proceeds bread, and subterranean fire is, as it were, scattered beneath.”—Sapphires: see on Exodus 28:19, where gems are described.—It hath dust of gold. The districts of gold ore run out in strata to vast extent, one or two feet thick, where particles of gold abound; and from those veins, the particles are washed into the beds of rivers. Sometimes the miner meets with small masses of native gold. Job says of those districts, “the glebes are gold itself.”
Daniel Whedon
6. Sapphires — The precious stone we call the sapphire is generally of a sky-blue colour, transparent, and harder than ruby. The ancients seem to have called the lapis lazuli by that name. But this was too plentiful, as Winer (i, 282) well says, to admit of its being accounted one of the precious stones of Job. There was discovered (A.D. 1859) at the opening of the tomb of Amosis, in Thebes, an axe made of lapis lazuli. Dust of gold — “Modern science, instead of confuting, only confirms the aphorism of the patriarch Job, who has shadowed forth the downward persistence of the one, (silver,) and the superficial distribution of the other, (gold.) Surely there is a vein for the silver, the earth hath dust of gold.” — Sir Roderick Murchison. Hitzig supposes the words of this verse to be the reply of the miner, justifying his ingratitude by the consideration of the sapphires and gold he expects to gain out of the earth.
There is a path which no fowl knoweth, and which the vulture’s eye hath not seen:
John Wesley
V. 7. 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.
Adam Clarke
Verse 7. There is a path which no fowl knoweth] The instinct of birds is most surprising. They traverse vast forests, &c., 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 centre 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.”
Joseph Benson
Verses 7, 8. There is a path which no fowl knoweth — Namely, in the bowels of the earth. Man by his industry goeth in mines under the earth, in paths where neither bird nor beast has ever entered. Which the vulture’s eye hath not seen — Whose eye is very quick and strong, and searches all places for its prey. The lion’s whelps — Hebrew, xjv ynb, benei shachatz, the sons of the wild beast, have not trodden it — The wildest beasts, who search for solitary places, have never made their den there, nor so much as approached it; nor the fierce lion passed by it — 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.
Joseph Sutcliffe
Ver. 7. There is a path, of subterranean ranges of caverns, which communicate with one another throughout the whole earth, and preserve it from explosions. Here rivers flow, and lakes are formed, unseen by the vulture’s eye.
Daniel Whedon
7. There is a path — The path — no fowl (rather, bird of prey) hath known it, and the vulture’s eye hath not seen it. The vulture — The ayyah, Tristram supposes to have been the red kite; others, the vulture. So acute and farseeing is its vision, that the Talmud says, “It is in Babylon and seeth a carcass in the land of Israel.” The natural powers of the brute creation excited the astonishment of the ancients, even to the extent of adoration. On the outer cases of Egyptian mummies were painted with other figures those of the hawk or vulture. Mummied vultures remain to the present day. See PETTIGREW’S History of Mummies, chap. 14.
The lion’s whelps have not trodden it, nor the fierce lion passed by it.
John Wesley
V. 8. 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.
Joseph Benson
Verses 7, 8. There is a path which no fowl knoweth — Namely, in the bowels of the earth. Man by his industry goeth in mines under the earth, in paths where neither bird nor beast has ever entered. Which the vulture’s eye hath not seen — Whose eye is very quick and strong, and searches all places for its prey. The lion’s whelps — Hebrew, xjv ynb, benei shachatz, the sons of the wild beast, have not trodden it — The wildest beasts, who search for solitary places, have never made their den there, nor so much as approached it; nor the fierce lion passed by it — 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.
Daniel Whedon
8. Lion’s whelps — Literally, sons of pride. Same as in Job 41:34. In enlarging thus upon the hidden path of the mine, that leads to the precious treasures of the earth, there is a covert allusion to the treasures of wisdom, which, in like manner, lie concealed.
He putteth forth his hand upon the rock; he overturneth the mountains by the roots.
John Wesley
V. 9. He, &c.-This and the two next verses mention other eminent works of God, who overturneth rocks, and produceth new rivers.
Adam Clarke
Verse 9. 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.
Joseph Benson
Verses 9-11. He putteth forth his hand upon the rock, &c. — He digs through the hardest rocks by his obstinate labour; and undermines mountains, that he may find the treasures hid in their bowels. He cutteth out rivers among the rocks — If he meets with waters in his mining, which hinder his work, he cuts a channel through the rocks to convey them away; or, if he wants water, to wash the ore, he, with incredible industry, cuts channels to bring it into the mines. And his eye seeth every precious thing — Having with great art, and indefatigable industry, broke through all difficulties, he at last arrives at the wished-for object, and finds those precious treasures which he sought for. He bindeth the floods from overflowing — He restraineth them, and, as it were, bindeth them to their good behaviour, that they may not overflow the mine. Or, by his industry and skill he confineth the rivers, so that they cannot overflow. And the thing that is hid bringeth he forth to light — Those metals, or precious stones, which lie hid in the secret parts of the earth, he discovers to himself and others.
Joseph Sutcliffe
Ver. 9. He putteth forth his hand, and toucheth the rock, and makes bare the flinty rocks. The diluvian tides washed and made bare our craggy hills and contour cliffs; and where the seas could enter the craters of volcanoes, the mountains burst from their base. John Whitehurst says of the Derbyshire strata, “In the neighbourhood of Ecton, Wetton, Dovedale, Ilam, and Swithamly, the strata lie in the utmost confusion and disorder: they are broken, dislocated, and thrown into every possible direction.”
Daniel Whedon
9. Upon the rock — Against the flint, (the hardest rock,) as in margin. Pliny’s words furnish a fitting comment. “They attack the flint with iron wedges and hammer’s.… The mountain, fractured, falls off at a great distance.… The victors gaze upon nature’s downfall.”
He cutteth out rivers among the rocks; and his eye seeth every precious thing.
John Wesley
V. 10. Seeth-Even those which no human art or industry was ever able to discover.
Adam Clarke
Verse 10. He cutteth out rivers among the rocks] He cuts canals, adits, &c., 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.
Joseph Benson
Verses 9-11. He putteth forth his hand upon the rock, &c. — He digs through the hardest rocks by his obstinate labour; and undermines mountains, that he may find the treasures hid in their bowels. He cutteth out rivers among the rocks — If he meets with waters in his mining, which hinder his work, he cuts a channel through the rocks to convey them away; or, if he wants water, to wash the ore, he, with incredible industry, cuts channels to bring it into the mines. And his eye seeth every precious thing — Having with great art, and indefatigable industry, broke through all difficulties, he at last arrives at the wished-for object, and finds those precious treasures which he sought for. He bindeth the floods from overflowing — He restraineth them, and, as it were, bindeth them to their good behaviour, that they may not overflow the mine. Or, by his industry and skill he confineth the rivers, so that they cannot overflow. And the thing that is hid bringeth he forth to light — Those metals, or precious stones, which lie hid in the secret parts of the earth, he discovers to himself and others.
Daniel Whedon
10. Rivers — In the sense of canals or water-courses. The fact that the word ray, here used, is of Egyptian origin, (the word aur of the hieroglyphics, signifying river,) is an indication that Job may be describing the Egyptian mines and mode of mining, perhaps those in the Sinaitic districts, either in the wady Magharah or that of Sarabit. “To wash the ruins,” says Pliny, “they bring rivers from the tops of mountains a hundred miles off. They carry aqueducts over the valleys, and sometimes hew a way for those pipes THROUGH THE ROCKS.”
He bindeth the floods from overflowing; and the thing that is hid bringeth he forth to light.
Adam Clarke
Verse 11. 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 neighbouring 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 terræ; et in sede manium opes quærimus. “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 centre 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 terræ:
Quasque recondiderat, Stygiisque admoverat umbris,
Effodiuntur opes, irritænenta 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.
Joseph Benson
Verses 9-11. He putteth forth his hand upon the rock, &c. — He digs through the hardest rocks by his obstinate labour; and undermines mountains, that he may find the treasures hid in their bowels. He cutteth out rivers among the rocks — If he meets with waters in his mining, which hinder his work, he cuts a channel through the rocks to convey them away; or, if he wants water, to wash the ore, he, with incredible industry, cuts channels to bring it into the mines. And his eye seeth every precious thing — Having with great art, and indefatigable industry, broke through all difficulties, he at last arrives at the wished-for object, and finds those precious treasures which he sought for. He bindeth the floods from overflowing — He restraineth them, and, as it were, bindeth them to their good behaviour, that they may not overflow the mine. Or, by his industry and skill he confineth the rivers, so that they cannot overflow. And the thing that is hid bringeth he forth to light — Those metals, or precious stones, which lie hid in the secret parts of the earth, he discovers to himself and others.
Joseph Sutcliffe
Ver. 11. He bindeth the floods, by the laws of gravity, which regulate the tides: an unusual high tide is occasioned by a strong wind, and a violent tempest.
Daniel Whedon
11. From overflowing — From weeping, (margin.) A beautiful figure to represent the commonplace task of the miner, that of binding up the ever trickling subterranean rills. Umbreit’s rather free rendering, he stilleth the tears of the streams, is in harmony with the poetical conception of the Hebrew who looked upon a fountain (ayin) as an eye of nature. Second strophe — Application of the preceding description to wisdom — a good unattainable by any sense of man; unlimited by place it is not to be found in the world of the living nor in Abaddon, the lowest world of the dead; in value it far surpasses all conceivable wealth, and is therefore infinitely beyond the reach of the covetous and extortionate, living or dead, 12-22.
But where shall wisdom be found? and where is the place of understanding?
John Wesley
V. 12. 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 God.
Adam Clarke
Verse 12. 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 hmkj chochmah, wisdom, and hnyb 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 hmkj chochmah, wisdom, by qeosebia, 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.
Joseph Benson
Verse 12. But where shall wisdom be found? — I confess that man hath one kind of wisdom, and that in a great degree, namely, 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 perfect knowledge of all God’s counsels and ways, and of the reasons of the dispensations of his providence toward good and bad men, this is far above man’s reach, and is the prerogative of God alone. Nay, and that wisdom which consists in the true and saving knowledge of God and ourselves, no man can attain but by the special gift of God.
Daniel Whedon
12. Wisdom — hmkjh, is a word of varied and comprehensive import. It includes both intellectual and moral qualities; either, as they exist (concretely) in the mind of God or other moral agent, or as they are brought to light (abstractly) either by His action or that of some other being. In other words, it may mean either the divine idea or archetype according to which God works, or high intelligent action itself, involving upright conduct. It also means pure creative Intelligence, (hhokmah,) answering to the Logos of the New Testament. Here Wisdom is used with the article, and personified: — darkly mysterious, of worth inestimable, perfect in all its works, infinitely to be desired by man; a Divine Conception and yet distinct from God, (verse 27, it may prefigure the incarnate Being who is “made unto us wisdom and righteousness.” Nature, as revealed wisdom of God, incomplete and unsatisfying, carries within herself an embryonic prediction that in the fulness of time there should be a fuller disclosure made of divinely hidden wisdom. The boasted Pindar, of the classics, fails in his tribute to wisdom when compared with Job: — “How can’st thou hope true wisdom’s to be found,
Wherein so little man surpasses man?
For it can never be that minds,
Of mortal woman born,
Can trace the counsels of Deity.”
— Fragment x, (Dissen.)
Compare the apocryphal Book of Wisdom, chapters vii-ix. Understanding — hnyb, is rendered by the Germans, einsicht, insight. Its root idea, “to divide,” “to separate,” is the same as that of hhokmah, (wisdom,) and they are used interchangeably. The former, (binah,) according to Delitzsch, is the faculty of seeing through that which is distinguishable consisting of the possession of the right criteria; while the latter, (hhokmah,) is the perception, in general, of things in their true nature and their final causes.
Man knoweth not the price thereof; neither is it found in the land of the living.
John Wesley
V. 13. Found-Among men upon earth, but only among those blessed spirits that dwell above.
Adam Clarke
Verse 13. 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, &c., whence man came, what is his duty, his nature, and his end. Literature, science, arts, &c., &c., can only avail man for the present life, nor can they contribute to his true happiness, unless tempered and directed by genuine religion.
Joseph Benson
Verses 13, 14. Man knoweth not the price thereof — Its immense, its unspeakable value: nor can it be purchased with all that he hath to give for it. Neither is it found in the land of the living — It is not a thing that any part of this world affords. Nor is it found in perfection among mortal men, that live on earth, but only among those blessed spirits that live in heaven. The depth saith, It is not in me, &c. — Could the profound abysses of the sea speak, they would tell us they do not conceal this wisdom in their great depths. It is not to be found in any part of the land or sea, though a man should dig or dive ever so deep to find it; nor is it to be learned from any creature. For though the creatures of God discover his being, and power, and, in part, his wisdom, yet they do not instruct us in the methods and reasons of his providential dispensations toward good and evil men; nor communicate that experimental, practical knowledge of him of which cometh salvation.
Daniel Whedon
13. The price thereof — The Septuagint reads, “way thereof” which Dillmann and Hitzig follow on the supposition that it agrees better with the context. As wisdom is “the highest power in God,” so for man it is the highest good. Its value is not known, for it is above all valuation.
The depth saith, It is not in me: and the sea saith, It is not with me.
John Wesley
V. 14. The depth-This is not to be 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.
Adam Clarke
Verse 14. 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.
Joseph Benson
Verses 13, 14. Man knoweth not the price thereof — Its immense, its unspeakable value: nor can it be purchased with all that he hath to give for it. Neither is it found in the land of the living — It is not a thing that any part of this world affords. Nor is it found in perfection among mortal men, that live on earth, but only among those blessed spirits that live in heaven. The depth saith, It is not in me, &c. — Could the profound abysses of the sea speak, they would tell us they do not conceal this wisdom in their great depths. It is not to be found in any part of the land or sea, though a man should dig or dive ever so deep to find it; nor is it to be learned from any creature. For though the creatures of God discover his being, and power, and, in part, his wisdom, yet they do not instruct us in the methods and reasons of his providential dispensations toward good and evil men; nor communicate that experimental, practical knowledge of him of which cometh salvation.
Daniel Whedon
14. The depth — Uncreated Wisdom is subsequently represented as saying, (Proverbs 8:24,) “When there were no depths” — primordial elements of the world — “I was brought forth.” This vast abyss lifts up its voice, “Wisdom is not in me!”
It cannot be gotten for gold, neither shall silver be weighed for the price thereof.
Adam Clarke
Verse 15. 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.
Joseph Benson
Verses 15-17. It cannot be gotten for gold — The choicest gold laid up in treasures, as the word rgs, segor, signifies: neither shall silver be weighed for the price thereof — Namely, in the balance; for in those times money was paid by weight. It cannot be valued with gold of Ophir — Though the gold that comes from thence be the purest of all, neither that, nor the most precious stones, can purchase this wisdom. The gold and the crystal — Hebrew, tykwkz, zecucith, gemma nitidissima, a very bright gem, says Buxtorf: lapis pretiosus, nitidus, a bright precious stone, Ab. Ezra. The word is not elsewhere used, but being derived from Ëkz, zachach, purus, vel mundus esse, it has in it the signification of purity, clearness, and brightness. The exchange of it shall not be for jewels — Or, vessels, as ylk, chelei, rather means; of fine gold, zp, paz, of solid gold, in which vessels the curiosity of art is added to the excellence of the matter of which they are formed.
Daniel Whedon
15. Gold — Hebrew, segor. Four different words are used for gold in this chapter. Gold, “most honoured prize of wealth,” (Pindar,) first and last (verses 15 and 19) in this brilliant array of nature’s treasures, filled then, as now, its world-wide place of supremacy. See note, however, on verse 1.
It cannot be valued with the gold of Ophir, with the precious onyx, or the sapphire.
Adam Clarke
Verse 16. The gold of Ophir] Gold is five times mentioned in this and verses 17 and 19, and four of the times in different words. I shall consider them all at once.
1. rwgs SEGOR, from rgs sagar, to shut up. Gold. in the mine, or shut up in the ore; native gold washed by the streams out of the mountains, &c.; unwrought gold.
Ver. 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.
Ver. 17. 3. bhz ZAHAB, from bhz 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. zp PAZ, from zp paz, to consolidate, joined here with ylk keley, vessels, ornaments, instruments, &c.: 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, &c., mentioned: onyx, sapphire, crystal, coral, pearls, rubies, and topaz. These I shall also consider in the order of their occurrence. Ver. 16. 1. שהם shoham, the ONYX, from onux, a man’s nail, hoof of a horse, because in colour 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 colour, 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. ryps sappir, the SAPPHIRE stone, from rps 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: cœruleæ et sapphiri, raraque cum purpura: optimæ apud Medos, nusquam tame perlucidæ. “The sapphire glitters with golden spots. Sapphires are sometimes of an azure, never of a purple colour. 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 colours, 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 colour, with golden-like spots, formed by pyrites of iron, must be intended. The lapis lazuli is that from which the beautiful and unfading colour called ultramarine is obtained.
Ver. 17. 3. tykwkz zechuchith, CRYSTAL, or glass, from hkz 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.
Ver. 18. 4. twmar 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. vybg gabish, PEARLS, from vbg gabash, in Arabic, to be smooth, to shave off the hair; and hence vybg 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. Ver. 18. 6. פנינים peninim, RUBIES, from hnp 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 hnp panah, to turn, look, behold, &c.
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 מפנינים חכמה Ëvm 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. hdcp pitdah, the TOPAZ. This word occurs only in Exodus 28:17; 39:10; Ezekiel 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 topazion, 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, &c., 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.
Joseph Benson
Verses 15-17. It cannot be gotten for gold — The choicest gold laid up in treasures, as the word rgs, segor, signifies: neither shall silver be weighed for the price thereof — Namely, in the balance; for in those times money was paid by weight. It cannot be valued with gold of Ophir — Though the gold that comes from thence be the purest of all, neither that, nor the most precious stones, can purchase this wisdom. The gold and the crystal — Hebrew, tykwkz, zecucith, gemma nitidissima, a very bright gem, says Buxtorf: lapis pretiosus, nitidus, a bright precious stone, Ab. Ezra. The word is not elsewhere used, but being derived from Ëkz, zachach, purus, vel mundus esse, it has in it the signification of purity, clearness, and brightness. The exchange of it shall not be for jewels — Or, vessels, as ylk, chelei, rather means; of fine gold, zp, paz, of solid gold, in which vessels the curiosity of art is added to the excellence of the matter of which they are formed.
Joseph Sutcliffe
Ver. 16. The gold of Ophir. Job in this and the following verses, uses various terms for gold to designate the metal, and the vessels made of gold. Ophir signifies southern Africa. 1 Kings 9:28.
Daniel Whedon
16. Ophir — See note Job 22:24. The precious onyx — Canon Cook alludes to an Egyptian inscription (in Brugsch) which certainly refers to a period before Moses, in which distinct mention is made of precious stones that had been collected by chieftains of the Phoenicians in their voyages. Onyx — Hebrew, shoham, is supposed by Winer to have been the beryl; and, by equally good authorities, to have been the same as our onyx. It is a stone or gem in colour resembling that of the human fingernail, as denoted by the Greek onux, nail. Sapphire — See verse 6.
The gold and the crystal cannot equal it: and the exchange of it shall not be for jewels of fine gold.
Joseph Benson
Verses 15-17. It cannot be gotten for gold — The choicest gold laid up in treasures, as the word rgs, segor, signifies: neither shall silver be weighed for the price thereof — Namely, in the balance; for in those times money was paid by weight. It cannot be valued with gold of Ophir — Though the gold that comes from thence be the purest of all, neither that, nor the most precious stones, can purchase this wisdom. The gold and the crystal — Hebrew, tykwkz, zecucith, gemma nitidissima, a very bright gem, says Buxtorf: lapis pretiosus, nitidus, a bright precious stone, Ab. Ezra. The word is not elsewhere used, but being derived from Ëkz, zachach, purus, vel mundus esse, it has in it the signification of purity, clearness, and brightness. The exchange of it shall not be for jewels — Or, vessels, as ylk, chelei, rather means; of fine gold, zp, paz, of solid gold, in which vessels the curiosity of art is added to the excellence of the matter of which they are formed.
Daniel Whedon
17. Crystal — Probably glass. The manufacture of glass is of great antiquity, as is evident from the paintings at Beni Hassan, of more than 3,800 years ago, which still represent the process of glass-blowing. The Egyptians had the secret of introducing gold between layers of glass; also of working Mosaic in glass of so delicate a pattern as to have required the use of a magnifying lens. (WILKINSON, P.A., 2:61.) Glass perfectly transparent was esteemed of extremely high value. Nero is said, according to Carey, to have purchased two glass cups with handles for a sum equivalent to 50,000 pounds sterling. Jewels — Vessels.
No mention shall be made of coral, or of pearls: for the price of wisdom is above rubies.
Joseph Benson
Verses 18, 19. No mention shall be made of coral or of pearls — They are of no value, if compared with wisdom, nor fit to be mentioned as a price wherewith to purchase it. For the price, &c. — Hebrew, Ëvm, meshech, the attraction, or extraction, of wisdom is above rubies — µynynpm, mippeninim, pearls. But the expression is rendered by the LXX., uper ta eswtata, above the innermost, or most concealed and guarded things; and by the Vulgate de occultis, of secret things. Chappelow proposes to render the words, “The attraction of wisdom is above any thing we behold:” a translation which, as he observes, Aquila’s version justifies gluku de sofia para ta periblepta, wisdom is sweet, or desirable, above the things that are anywhere seen. Poole, who would render meshech, extraction, or acquisition, thinks there is an allusion to the manner in which pearls are obtained, namely, by diving to the bottom of the sea; which, he observes, is aptly applied to this wisdom, because, lying very deep, and remote from the reach of mankind, it is not to be obtained without diligent search and consideration. The clause would then be read, The drawing forth of wisdom is above that of pearls: that is, men may dive into the sea, and fetch up pearls, but this wisdom lies a great deal deeper. The topaz of Ethiopia — Or of Arabia, for Cush signifies both countries; and the topaz, which Pliny calls amplissima gemmarum, the most noble of gems, was found in the Red sea, which lay between both, and so might be ascribed to either; shall not equal it, &c. — The Ethiopian topaz, which is so much esteemed for its wonderful lustre, doth not come near it in value; nor are the golden ornaments which they wear in those parts proportionable to it.
Joseph Sutcliffe
Ver. 18. No mention shall be made of corals or of pearls. Not a word of all this in the Hebrew! Literally, Ramoth and Gabisch shall not be named. They are understood to be two hills where gems were found. So is the Chaldaic, collis eminens, high or eminent hills. The Gothic import of the word is very similar; our fathers gave the name of Ramshead, to the high hill east of Plymouth harbour.
Daniel Whedon
18. Coral — Ramoth, cognate with the Arabic rama, to be blood red. “Probably the red coral, which was highly prized by the ancients.” — Winer. Pearls — Hebrew, Gabish. So uncertain is the meaning of this word that Schultens leaves it untranslated. The word means ice, and it is now generally thought to have been the quartz crystal from its being pellucid, like ice. Carey renders it mother-of-pearl. Price — Possession. Rubies — Peninim, The meaning is doubtful — probably pearls. Thus most recent commentators. Pearls were in ancient times procured from the Persian Gulf, whose fisheries were pointed out to Nearchus, the admiral of Alexander the Great. In the Assyrian ruins Layard found a gold ear-ring adorned with pearls. (Nineveh, 3:595.)
The topaz of Ethiopia shall not equal it, neither shall it be valued with pure gold.
Adam Clarke
Verse 19. 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.
Joseph Benson
Verses 18, 19. No mention shall be made of coral or of pearls — They are of no value, if compared with wisdom, nor fit to be mentioned as a price wherewith to purchase it. For the price, &c. — Hebrew, Ëvm, meshech, the attraction, or extraction, of wisdom is above rubies — µynynpm, mippeninim, pearls. But the expression is rendered by the LXX., uper ta eswtata, above the innermost, or most concealed and guarded things; and by the Vulgate de occultis, of secret things. Chappelow proposes to render the words, “The attraction of wisdom is above any thing we behold:” a translation which, as he observes, Aquila’s version justifies gluku de sofia para ta periblepta, wisdom is sweet, or desirable, above the things that are anywhere seen. Poole, who would render meshech, extraction, or acquisition, thinks there is an allusion to the manner in which pearls are obtained, namely, by diving to the bottom of the sea; which, he observes, is aptly applied to this wisdom, because, lying very deep, and remote from the reach of mankind, it is not to be obtained without diligent search and consideration. The clause would then be read, The drawing forth of wisdom is above that of pearls: that is, men may dive into the sea, and fetch up pearls, but this wisdom lies a great deal deeper. The topaz of Ethiopia — Or of Arabia, for Cush signifies both countries; and the topaz, which Pliny calls amplissima gemmarum, the most noble of gems, was found in the Red sea, which lay between both, and so might be ascribed to either; shall not equal it, &c. — The Ethiopian topaz, which is so much esteemed for its wonderful lustre, doth not come near it in value; nor are the golden ornaments which they wear in those parts proportionable to it.
Daniel Whedon
19. Topaz — A most precious gem, whose prevailing colour was wine-yellow, passing over into carnation red, lilac, or a pale green. Professor Eadie states that a single topaz has sold for more than a million dollars. See Pliny, xxxvii, sec. 32. All Semitic nations displayed an absorbing passion for jewels and precious stones. Judges 8:24; Ezekiel 28:13, etc. As with the King of Tyre, their aspiration was to be covered with precious stones. Before the imagination, kindled with the contemplation of earth’s treasures, celestial wisdom urges her own incomparable worth. Ethiopia — Hebrew, Cush. “Where the south declines,” says Herodotus, (iii, 114,) “toward the setting sun, lies the country called Ethiopia, the last inhabited land in that direction.”
Whence then cometh wisdom? and where is the place of understanding?
John Wesley
V. 20. 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.
Adam Clarke
Verse 20. Whence then cometh wisdom?] Nearly the same words as in Job 28:12, where see the note.
Joseph Benson
Verses 20, 21. Whence then cometh wisdom, &c. — By what means, then, shall we get this precious treasure of wisdom, of which we are so desirous? Who can show us where it lies, that we may go and search for it? By a diligent prosecution of this inquiry he brings us at length to this issue: That 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, which belongs to us and to our children. It is hid from the eyes of all living — Of all men that live upon the earth. And kept close from the fowls of the air — Though they fly high, and can see far and clearly, they cannot discern this: men of the most exalted and comprehensive minds, of the most enlarged and elevated understanding, cannot discover it: however acute their discernment may be, and however high their thoughts may soar, yet they cannot rise to this height, they cannot comprehend this. 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 discovers them; and not to know the secret reasons of Providence, till eternity brings them to light.
Daniel Whedon
20. Whence… cometh wisdom — Job repeats his question that he may, if possible, enforce a reply. The varied gems of beauty that adorn this subject may have been in the mind of Paul when he speaks of “the manifold,” polupoikilov, (literally, much variegated,) “wisdom of God.” Wisdom is pure, one in essence, “one in sublime unity of truth and purpose;” transmitted through the Church, it becomes “chromatic, so to speak, with the rainbow colours of that light which in itself is one and undivided.” — ALFORD on Ephesians, 3:10.
Seeing it is hid from the eyes of all living, and kept close from the fowls of the air.
John Wesley
V. 21. 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.
Joseph Benson
Verses 20, 21. Whence then cometh wisdom, &c. — By what means, then, shall we get this precious treasure of wisdom, of which we are so desirous? Who can show us where it lies, that we may go and search for it? By a diligent prosecution of this inquiry he brings us at length to this issue: That 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, which belongs to us and to our children. It is hid from the eyes of all living — Of all men that live upon the earth. And kept close from the fowls of the air — Though they fly high, and can see far and clearly, they cannot discern this: men of the most exalted and comprehensive minds, of the most enlarged and elevated understanding, cannot discover it: however acute their discernment may be, and however high their thoughts may soar, yet they cannot rise to this height, they cannot comprehend this. 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 discovers them; and not to know the secret reasons of Providence, till eternity brings them to light.
Daniel Whedon
21. The fowls of the air — To their acuteness of vision and wondrous habits of migration may be due the widespread ascription to them of superior wisdom. In all their wide range of flight and vision they have never seen Wisdom’s abode.
Destruction and death say, We have heard the fame thereof with our ears.
John Wesley
V. 22. 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.
Adam Clarke
Verse 22. Destruction and death say, We have heard the fame thereof] ומות אבדונ Abaddon vamaveth, the destroyer, and his offspring death. This is the very name that is given to the devil in Greek letters Abaddwn, Revelation 9:11, and is rendered by the Greek word Apolluwn, 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.
Joseph Benson
Verse 22. Destruction and death — Either, 1st, Men that are dead, and thereby freed from the encumbrance of their bodies, which depressed their minds, and whose faculties are more raised and enlarged than those of men still in the body; or, rather, 2d, The grave, the habitation of the dead, to which these things are here ascribed, as they are to the depths and to the sea, verse 14, by a common figure. These inward recesses of the earth are as little acquainted with this wisdom as the upper regions: and had they a tongue they could only say, We have heard the fame thereof — We know it only by slight and uncertain rumours. But 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.
Daniel Whedon
22. We have heard the fame thereof — The silence of the living suggests appeal to the dead. New regions of being may perchance have opened new resources of knowledge. In sublime figure the poet summons destruction (Hebrew, Abaddon, see Job 26:6) and death. All the information they can give is hearsay. They have heard a vague report. In the gloomy view of the ancients, death gave but little increase of knowledge. If the living know not, much less the dead.
Third strophe — With God is the lofty abode of wisdom, as is attested by its display in the creation and ordering of the world. True wisdom he imparts to man through obedience to the divine law and through the fear of God — two divinely appointed conservators against wickedness and the consequent doom of those who practice evil, 23-28. “The last of these three divisions (of the chapter), into which the highest truths are compressed, is for emphasis the shortest, in its calmness and abrupt ending the most solemn, because the thought finds no expression that is altogether adequate, floating in a height that is immeasurable, but opening a boundless field for further reflection.” — Ewald.
God understandeth the way thereof, and he knoweth the place thereof.
John Wesley
V. 23. 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.
Adam Clarke
Verse 23. God understandeth the way thereof] It can only be taught by a revelation from himself. Instead of הבינ hebin, understandeth, six MSS. have הכינ hechin, disposed or established. This reading is also supported by the Septuagint; oJ Qeov eu sunesthsen authv odon, “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.
Joseph Benson
Verses 23, 24. God understandeth the way thereof — God alone knows and can make known the nature and properties, the rules and measures, the plans and designs, the operations and effects, of this wisdom which we inquire after; or, the methods which he takes, in the management of all affairs in the world, together with its reasons, and the ends he has in view in them. And he knoweth the place thereof — Where it dwells, which is only in his own mind. For he looketh to the ends of the earth — 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.
Daniel Whedon
23. Thereof — To it. God (Elohim) alone understands the way to wisdom. “The ways” and “the place thereof,” as Pareau has well remarked, still carry forward the figure of a costly treasure deposited in a place inaccessible and concealed from all men.
For he looketh to the ends of the earth, and seeth under the whole heaven;
John Wesley
V. 24. 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.
Adam Clarke
Verse 24. For he looketh to the ends of the earth] His knowledge is unlimited, and his power infinite.
Joseph Benson
Verses 23, 24. God understandeth the way thereof — God alone knows and can make known the nature and properties, the rules and measures, the plans and designs, the operations and effects, of this wisdom which we inquire after; or, the methods which he takes, in the management of all affairs in the world, together with its reasons, and the ends he has in view in them. And he knoweth the place thereof — Where it dwells, which is only in his own mind. For he looketh to the ends of the earth — 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.
To make the weight for the winds; and he weigheth the waters by measure.
John Wesley
V. 25. 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.
Adam Clarke
Verse 25. 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. See Clarke “Job 28:28”. 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.
Joseph Benson
Verse 25. To make the weight for the winds — His wisdom it is which sets things in such exact order, and gives them such just measures, that the wind cannot blow but in those proportions which he hath prescribed. He appoints to every wind that blows its season, its degree, its bounds, when, and where, and how much, and how long, each shall blow. He only knows why he doth these things. 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, and that he doth all things in the most exact order, and weight, and measure. And he weigheth the waters — Namely, the rain-waters, which God layeth up in his storehouses, the clouds, and thence draws them forth, and sends them down upon the earth, in such times and proportions as he thinks fit. By measure — For liquid things are examined by measure, as other things are by weight: and here are both weight and measure, to signify with what perfect wisdom God governs the world.
Daniel Whedon
25. The weight for the winds — In the four representative instances which Job adduces out of the great storehouse of like wonder-workings, wisdom is no more manifested in the adjustment of the weight of the wind, or in the distribution of immense masses of water by measure, or in the opening up of a path for the lightning of the thunders, than in the rounding of the small waterdrops that fall gently to the earth vivifying its widespread fields. It is thought wonderful that Aristotle (B.C. 384) should have known of the weight and elasticity of the air. The weight of a column of air is equal to a column of mercury thirty inches high — a fact illustrated by the barometer. Weigheth the waters by measure — The magnitude of the ocean is one of the conditions to which the structure of all organized beings which are dependent upon climate must be adapted. (WHEWELL, Bridg. Treat., Bohn’s edit., p. 45.)
When he made a decree for the rain, and a way for the lightning of the thunder:
John Wesley
V. 26. When-At the first creation, when he settled that course and order which should be 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.
Adam Clarke
Verse 26. 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 vapour 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] twlwq zyzjl Ërdw vederech lachaziz koloth. lwq kol signifies voice of any kind; and koloth is the plural and is taken for the frequent claps or rattlings of thunder. zj chaz signifies to notch, indentate, or serrate, as in the edges of the leaves of trees; zyzj 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.
Joseph Benson
Verse 26. When — At the first creation, he settled that course and order which should afterward be continued; he made a decree for the rain — 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 mercy, as Elihu speaks, Job 37:13. And a way for the lightning of the thunder — A path, or egress, for it out of the thick cloud in which it was shut up, and, as it were, imprisoned; and the course which it should take, and in which it should proceed, to accomplish the purposes intended by him.
Daniel Whedon
26. A decree — A law. Thunder — Hebrew, Voices. Thunder was the voice of God. Psalm 29:3. The manifestation of the divine presence was frequently attested by thunder. The ancient Jews, according to Buxtorf, called an oracle of God The daughter of the voice, or thunder. See note, 38:25. The book of Proverbs enlarges upon the work of divine wisdom in the creation of the world. Proverbs 8:22-31.
Then did he see it, and declare it; he prepared it, yea, and searched it out.
John Wesley
V. 27. 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.
Adam Clarke
Verse 27. Then did he see it, and declare it] When he had finished all his creative operations, and tried and proved his work, hrqj chakarah, investigated and found it to be very good; then he gave the needful revelation to man; for,
Joseph Benson
Verse 27. Then did he see it — Namely, wisdom, which is the subject of the present discourse. This God saw, not without, in any creature formed by him, but within himself; he looked upon it in his own eternal mind, as the rule by which he would proceed in the creation and government of all things. And declared it — Made it evident, first to angels, and then to man, when he created this lower world; that is, discovered by his works the deep wisdom which lay hid before in his own breast. He prepared it — He had it in readiness for the doing of all his works, as if he had, for a long time, been preparing materials for them. So it is spoken of God after the manner of men. Or, as hnykh, hechinah, may be properly rendered, he established it, namely, the order which he first fixed in the world, that it should continue in after ages. And searched it out — 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.
Daniel Whedon
27. Then — At the time of creation, He contemplated Wisdom; made her known through the medium of her works; established her as governor of the world; and searched out her works to see whether they might answer their high design, or “whether she was adequate to the task of governing the world.” — Maurer. Declare it — Nature is a perpetual discloser of the mind of deity. Romans 1:20. Prepared — Established.
And unto man he said, Behold, the fear of the LORD, that is wisdom; and to depart from evil is understanding.
John Wesley
V. 28. 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.
Adam Clarke
Verse 28. 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, Genesis 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 labour 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 verses 25, 26, {Job 28:25, 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 fæces.
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 on the 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 centre 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, &c., 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, &c. 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.
JOB
Joseph Benson
Verse 28. And — Or, rather, but, unto man — For this is added by way of opposition, to show that man’s wisdom doth not lie in a curious inquiry into, or an exact knowledge of God’s secret counsels, and the ways of his providence, but in things of quite another nature; he said — Unto Adam, in the day when he was created, and in and with him to all his posterity: that is, God spake it partly, and at first inwardly, to the mind of man, in which he wrote this with his own finger; and partly afterward, by the holy patriarchs and prophets, and other teachers whom he sent into the world, to teach men true wisdom; which accordingly they did, not by acquainting the people with the secrets of God’s counsels and providence, but by declaring to them his revealed will, and instructing them in their duty toward God and one another; making it their great and principal, if not only business, to make men wise unto salvation: see Deuteronomy 4:6, and 29:29. Behold — Which expression denotes the great importance of this doctrine, and man’s backwardness to apprehend, consider, and practise it; and withal, man’s proneness to place his wisdom in vain and curious speculations; the fear of the Lord — True religion in all its branches, including the knowledge and love of God, followed by obedience to his will, and every part of godliness and righteousness: that is wisdom — In that only consists man’s true wisdom; because that, and that only, is his duty, and his safety and happiness, both for this life and for the next; and because this is attainable, whereas the depths of God’s counsels are unknown and unsearchable to man and all created beings. And to depart from 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. Is understanding — 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 only 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 toward him; but also to vindicate himself from the imputation of hypocrisy, which they fastened upon him, by showing that he had ever esteemed it to be his best wisdom to fear God, and to depart from evil.
Daniel Whedon
28. Unto man — Hebrew, Adam; which leads some to suppose that this divine precept was delivered to our fore-parents before the fall, and that it “contains perhaps a summary of religious knowledge imparted to them.” — Lee. The Lord — Adhonai. Many manuscripts have Jehovah. That man might answer the end of his being — dwelling in harmony with God and himself — divine wisdom encompassed him also with law, no less than the elemental powers of nature. This law, like all the works of wisdom, was simple and yet perfect — the offspring of divine goodness and love. “Fear is the mother of foresight:” spiritual fear, of a foresight that comprehends the possibilities of life and the reality of eternity. The fear of God, in any world of moral beings, is a conserving power as essential as that which binds the planetary system. In man wisdom manifests itself as a moral growth, whose life is rooted in the fear of the Lord and the departing from evil; in God it is the eternal embodiment of perfection without growth, degrees, or limitations. “No one,” says St. Ambrose, “can know wisdom without God;” a sentiment which Lord Bacon supplements with a lesson which the philosophers of the day should heed: “It is an assured truth, and a conclusion of experience, that a little, or superficial knowledge, of philosophy may incline the mind to Atheism, but a further proceeding therein doth bring the mind back to religion.” — Advancement of Science. See also his Essays, 16. The scholar is referred to the exhaustive treatise on this chapter by Pareau, entitled, “Wisdom better known to the Dead than to the Living,” and to be found at the close of his work De Immortalitatis Notitiis, 229-367; also Samuel Wesley’s Dissertationes in Librum Jobi, 34.
John Wesley
V. 1. 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.
Adam Clarke
Verse 1. 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 axwm 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.
Joseph Benson
Verse 1. Surely, &c. — Job, having confuted his three friends on their own principles, in the last two and some of the preceding chapters, here falls into a kind of soliloquy on the difficulty of obtaining true wisdom. His friends had laid claim to it from their great age, and from their knowledge of ancient traditions: see Job 5:27, and Job 8:8, 9, and Job 15:9, 10, and Job 20:4; but he had shown them of how little importance or signification their conclusions were. Where, then, it became the question, is wisdom to be found? To answer this question is the intent of Job’s discourse in this chapter, which is evidently an inquiry after wisdom; not the unsearchable depths of God’s counsels, but wisdom in general; or, rather, the wisdom proper to man: see verse 28. Job here determines, that even that wisdom is not attainable by the human capacity and industry without a revelation from God. The several arts of discovering and purifying silver, of refining gold, making iron and brass from the ore, the art of mining itself, the secrets of husbandry, are all within the reach of human ability and diligence: but to comprehend the ways of Divine Providence, and understand the reasons of God’s dispensations toward mankind, whether the righteous or the wicked, is above man’s capacity, and can only be known so far as God is pleased to reveal them: that God, however, has furnished man with a sufficient rule to walk by, and that to attend to it is his highest wisdom, and, indeed, the only way to be truly wise; all other speculations and attempts to attain true wisdom being vain and fruitless.
There is a vein for silver, &c. — Thus the chapter begins with a fine description of the indefatigable industry and ardour of mankind in searching after things which contribute either to the use or ornament of life; how they dig into the bowels of the earth for metals, gold, silver, iron, brass; and that the industry or avarice of man is without bounds: he searcheth into the land of darkness itself for hidden treasures. The word rendered vein, axwm, mutza, signifies properly a going forth; there is a going forth for the silver: that is, “man hath found where silver may be dug out of the earth.” And a place for gold where they fine it — Or, as it is in the margin, rather, for gold which they fine. For he speaks not here of the works of men and of art, but of those of God and nature, as is manifest from the foregoing and following words.
Daniel Whedon
1. For beauty of thought and richness of imagery, Job’s eulogium of wisdom is worthy to be compared with Paul’s panegyric of charity. (1 Corinthians 13.) Delitzsch calls it “a song of triumph without vain-glory.” Job is unconsciously carving for himself a monolith with an ineffaceable inscription of the two predominant traits of his character, the fear of God and the eschewing of evil. (Compare verse 28 with 1:8.) The deep mysteriousness of the divine procedure in the punishment of the wicked, the main thought of the preceding chapter, leads him to speak of divine wisdom in general, whose ways are unsearchable, and, like the field of the miner’s toil, buried in darkness. The wicked through toil and danger may, like the miner, acquire jewels, precious stones, and great store of wealth, but the true and abiding treasures are with God, and come from God alone. The covetous rich man treasures up silver and costly vestments, Job 27:16, but fails of celestial good — the divine wisdom, a “pearl of great price;” and this loss is his punishment also — a carrying forward of the retributive thought of the preceding chapter. Hengstenberg, following Von Hofmann, thus traces the connexion: “Sin is the destruction of men; the wicked man must go to the ground; FOR wisdom, which alone can ward off destruction, is to be found only in God; the sinner is excluded from this wisdom, and must therefore run into the arms of destruction.” “The sea of life abounds in rocks on which the bark must soon split, if so be wisdom sit not at the helm.” — 2:181, 172. “In the organism of the work this chapter is the jewelled clasp that binds the one half, the complication of the plot, to the other half, its solution.” — Delitzsch. Surely — For, links the entire chapter with the last ten verses of 27. The transition is abrupt, and is in perfect keeping with Job and the Oriental mode of thought in general. A vein — Literally, outlet, for the silver. In the most ancient times silver was more scarce than gold. Hence throughout the Old Testament we find keseph, silver, used as a term for money. Abraham bought the field of Ephron for “four hundred shekels of silver, current money with the merchant.” Genesis 23:16. The most important silver mines of the ancients were in Spain. A place for gold — Gold abounded in Ethiopia, also in Nubia, as is indicated by the word noub, old Egyptian for gold. There remains to the present time an historical tablet of Rameses II., relating to the gold mines of Ethiopia, possibly the very mines which have been recently discovered in the Bisharee desert, by Linant and Bonomi. Jerome speaks of ancient gold mines in Idumaea, Job’s home. Where they fine — Which they refine. The two different words employed by the Hebrew for refining, qqz, of the text, and tsaraph, point to two different processes of refining, the one (that of the text) of filtering or straining, the other of smelting by fire. Both of these Hebrew words for refining appear in Malachi 3:3, and are in later times probably used interchangeably. The process of refining by filtering is described at length by Diodorus, iii, chap. 1. The figure below
illustrates the Egyptian mode of smelting.