성경 주석서

Ch. 28 Wisdom can nowhere be found by man; God alone is in possession of it; the wisdom of man is to fear the lord

The chapter contains a single thought, viz. that Wisdom cannot be reached by man. The thought, however, is set forth and illustrated in many ways and with much poetical adornment.

First, Job 28:1-14, the precious ores and stones have a place where they may be found, to which men penetrate and from which they bring them forth to the light; but Wisdom has no place where it can be found in all the land of the living.

Second, Job 28:15-22, Wisdom is not to be seen in the marts of mankind; it cannot be purchased though gold and all precious things were offered for it. It is not found even in the world below, the realm of the dead.

Third, Job 28:23-28, God alone knoweth the way to it and is in possession of it, for He is the Creator of the World. The Wisdom of man is the Fear of the Lord.

1. surely there is] Rather, for there is. The connexion, however, with the preceding is difficult to perceive (see at the end of the chapter).

there is a vein] lit. an issue or source. The emphasis falls on is—there is a place from which silver comes forth, it has a source out of which it may be gotten.

where they fine it] Rather, which they (men) refine. The most precious ores, both silver and gold, have a place where they may be found; however distant and dark and deep in the earth their place be, such a place is known, men penetrate to it, and bring them forth. The antithesis is presented in Job 28:12, But whence shall Wisdom be found? and where is the place of understanding? It hath no place known to man.

2. brass is molten out of the stone] lit. they (men) melt the stone into brass, i.e. copper. Men know how to possess themselves of the metals.

3–11. Description of mining operations.

he setteth] To prevent ambiguity it is better to translate, man setteth, or, men set. The phrase “setteth an end to darkness” hardly refers to the light shed by the miner’s lamp; the expression is more general, meaning that men penetrate into what is dark and deep in the earth as if it were light and above ground—as the next clause explains.

searcheth out all perfection] Rather, searcheth out to the very end, or, utmost limit, the stones of darkness and the shadow of death, that is, the darkest recesses in the bowels of the earth. The word, very end or utmost limit is that occurring, ch. Job 26:10 (see notes) and ch. Job 11:7. On “shadow of death” see on ch. Job 24:17.

4. This verse reads as a whole,

They break a shaft away from man’s abode;

They are forgotten of the foot;

Far away from men they hang, and swing.

The first clause, lit. away from the dweller or inhabitant, describes how the miners sink their shaft deep down below and away from the abode of men above. There they are forgotten by the foot of those overhead, who walk oblivious of them. And the last clause describes how they “hang and swing,” i.e. swing suspended in cages or from ropes as they pursue their unnatural operations—

half way down

Hangs one that gathers samphire—dreadful trade.

5. The same idea of the distance from the life of men and the unnaturalness of the miner’s work is pursued in the fine contrast between the peaceful, cultivated and fruitful face of the earth above and the destructive operations carried on in her bowels, which leave a confusion and devastation like that caused by fire. The second clause must be rendered,

And underneath it is overturned as if by fire.

The reference is hardly to actual blasting; rather to the overthrow and confused ruin that follows the miner’s operations.

6. Through these operations which carry ruin into the bowels of the earth men, however, find the richest reward. The stones of the heart of the earth are the place of sapphires, and of auriferous dust.

it hath dust of gold] “It” refers to the “place” in the first clause, hardly to the sapphire, although a particular kind of sapphire is described as being grained or striated with gold. This, however, can hardly be what is meant by “dust of gold.” Instead of it hath dust we might render he hath—i. e. man; he finds his way to the place of sapphires and possesses himself of the auriferous earth.

7. there is a path] Rather, that path no eagle knoweth, lit.—a path which no eagle &c., the words taking up what is said in Job 28:6,—the way to the place of sapphires. The sharp-sighted birds of prey have not seen that path.