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This Chapter Verse Commentaries:
1 Moreover Job continued his parable, and said:
2 As God liveth, who hath taken away my judgment;
and the Almighty, who hath vexed my soul;
3 all the while my breath is in me,
and the spirit of God is in my nostrils;—
4 my lips shall not speak wickedness
nor my tongue utter deceit.
5 God forbid that I should justify you:
till I die I will not remove mine integrity from me.
6 My righteousness I hold fast, I will not let it go:
my heart shall not reproach me so long as I live.
7 Let mine enemy be as the wicked,
and he that riseth up against me as the unrighteous.
8 For what is the hope of the hypocrite, though he hath gained,
when God taketh away his soul?
9 Will God hear his cry
when trouble cometh upon him?
10 Will he delight himself in the Almighty?
will he always call upon God?
b. Statement of his belief that the prosperity of the ungodly cannot endure, but that they must infallibly come to a terrible end. Job_27:11-23
11 I will teach you by the hand of God;
that which is with the Almighty will I not conceal.
12 Behold, all ye yourselves have seen it;
why then are ye thus altogether vain?
13 This is the portion of a wicked man with God,
and the heritage of oppressors, which they shall receive of the Almighty.
14 If his children be multiplied, it is for the sword;
and his offspring shall not be satisfied with bread.
15 Those that remain of him shall be buried in death;
and his widows shall not weep.
16 Though he heap up silver as the dust,
and prepare raiment as the clay;
17 he may prepare it, but the just shall put it on,
and the innocent shall divide the silver.
18 He buildeth his house as a moth,
and as a booth that the keeper maketh.
19 The rich man shall lie down, but he shall not be gathered;
he openeth his eyes, and he is not!
20 Terrors take hold on him as waters,
a tempest stealeth him away in the night.
21 The east wind carrieth him away, and he departeth:
and as a storm hurleth him out of his place.
22 For God shall cast upon him, and not spare:
He would fain flee out of his hand.
23 Men shall clap their hands at him,
and hiss him out of his place.
c. Declaration that true Wisdom, which alone can secure real well-being, and a correct solution of the dark enigmas of man’s destiny, is to be found nowhere on earth, but only with God, and by means of a pious submission to God. Chap. 28
1 Surely there is a vein for the silver,
and a place for gold where they fine it.
2 Iron is taken out of the earth.
and brass is molten out of the stone.
3 He setteth an end to darkness,
and searcheth out all perfection:
the stones of darkness, and the shadow of death.
4 The flood breaketh out from the inhabitants;
even the waters forgotten of the foot:
they are dried up, they are gone away from men.
5 As for the earth, out of it cometh bread:
and under it is turned up as it were fire.
6 The stones of it are the place of sapphires:
and it hath dust of gold.
7 There is a path which no fowl knoweth,
and which the vulture’s eye hath not seen.
8 The lion’s whelps have not trodden it
nor the fierce lion passed by it.
9 He putteth forth his hand upon the rock;
10 He cutteth out rivers among the rocks;
and his eye seeth every precious thing.
he overturneth the mountains by the roots.
11 He bindeth the floods from overflowing;
and the thing that is hid bringeth he forth to light.
12 But where shall wisdom be found?
and where is the place of understanding?
13 Man knoweth not the price thereof:
neither is it found in the land of the living.
14 The depth saith, It is not in me;
and the sea saith, It is not with me.
15 It cannot be gotten for gold,
neither shall silver be weighed for the price thereof.
16 It cannot be valued with the gold of Ophir,
with the precious onyx, or the sapphire.
17 The gold and the crystal cannot equal it:
and the exchange of it shall not be for jewels of fine gold.
18 No mention shall be made of coral, or of pearls;
for the price of wisdom is above rubies.
19 The topaz of Ethiopia shall not equal it,
neither shall it be valued with pure gold.
20 Whence then cometh wisdom?
and where if the place of understanding?
21 Seeing it is hid from the eyes of all living,
and kept close from the fowls of the air.
22 Destruction and death say,
we have heard the fame thereof with our ears.
23 God understandeth the way thereof,
and He knoweth the place thereof.
24 For He looketh to the ends of the earth,
and seeth under the whole heaven;
25 to make the weight for the winds;
and He weigheth the waters by measure.
26 When He made a decree for the rain,
and a way for the lightning of the thunder;
27 Then did He see it, and declare it;
He prepared it, yea, and searched it out.
28 And unto man He said:
Behold, the fear of the Lord, that is wisdom;
and to depart from evil is understanding.
2. First Section: The asseveration of his innocence: Job_27:2-10.
First Strophe: Job_27:2-4.—As God liveth (lit. “living is God!” a well-known Hebrew, and also Arabic formula of adjuration) [the only place where Job resorts to the oath], who hath taken away from me my right, and the Almighty who hath vexed my soul; lit. “who hath made bitter my soul” (LXX.: ὁ ðéêñþóáò , comp. Col_3:19 : ðéêñáßíåóèáé ).
Job_27:3. For still all my breath is in me, and God’s breath is in my nostrils, i. e. I am still possessed of enough freshness and vigor of spirit to know what I say, to be a responsible witness in behalf of my innocence. The older expositors, and among the moderns Schlottmann [Good, Noyes, Conant, Bernard, Carey, Rodwell, Elzas, Renan, Merx, and so E. V.] take the verse not as a parenthetic reason for the adjuration in Job_27:2, but as the antecedent of Job_27:4 : “so long as my breath is yet in me,” etc. But in that case the contents of the oath would have a double introduction, first by ëִּé , then by àִí . Moreover the words ëָּìÎòåֹã ðִùְׁîָúִé áִé , as the parallel passages, 2Sa_1:9; Hos_14:3, show, have not in the least the appearance of an adverbial antecedent determination of time.—[The older rendering is certainly to be preferred. (1) It expresses a thought much more suitable for incorporation into an oath. “As God lives—while I live—I will speak only the truth”—is natural. “As God lives—and I take this oath because I am fully competent to stand up to what I am swearing—my lips shall not,” etc.—is decidedly unnatural. (2) The language at once suggests the simple idea of living—“breath ( ðùׁîúé ) yet in me—the breath of Eloah in my nostril.” This is scarcely the language one would use in describing a particular inward condition. (3) ëִּé is simply transitional, introducing after the oath a thought preparatory to the principal thought introduced by àִí , a construction which Delitzsch admits to be possible, though what there is perplexing in it, it is difficult to see. (4) ëָּìÎ is used adverbially as in Psa_39:6; Psa_45:14; Ecc_5:15; here—“wholly as long as” (see Gesenius and Fürst). It thus strengthens the expression in a way that is altogether appropriate to the strong feeling which prompts the oath.—E.]
Job_27:4 gives the contents of the oath, which the following verses unfold still more specifically and comprehensively. In regard to òַåְìָä , lit. “perverseness,” hence “falsehood, untruthfulness,” and its synonym øְîִéָּä , comp. Job_13:7.
Second Strophe: Job_27:5-7.—Far be it from me (lit. “for a profanation be it to me,” comp. Ew. § 329, a) to grant that you are in the right:—wherein is seen in the second member—until I die I will not let my innocence be taken away from me (lit. “I will not let it depart from me”), i. e. I will not cease from asserting it continually.
Job_27:6. In regard to äִøְôָּä in a, meaning “to let something go, to let it fall,” comp. Job_7:19.—My heart reproacheth not one of my days.— çøó , lit. “to pluck, to pick off,” carpere, vellicare. ìֵáָá here is unquestionably synonymous substantially with “conscience.” So Luther translated it both here and in Jos_14:7; comp. also 1Sa_24:6 [5]; 2Sa_24:10, where it may also be translated “conscience” (see in general Vilmar, Theolog. Moral. I., p. 66). Most modern commentators rightly take îִï in îִéָּîָé , as partitive—“one of my days;” the temporal rendering of the expression adopted by the ancients, as also by Ewald (= while I live, in omni vita mea, Vulg.) [E. V.], necessitates the harsh and scarcely admissible rendering of éֶçֱøַó as intransitive, or as reflexive (“does not blame itself,” Ewald) [E. V. supplies “me”]. It remains to be said, that this asseveration of innocence (like that in Job_23:10 seq.) is, in some measure, exaggerated, when compared with the mention which Job makes earlier of “the sins of his youth,” Job_13:26.
Job_27:7. Mine enemy must appear as the wicked, and mine adversary as the unrighteous:viz. as the penalty of their falsely suspecting and disputing my innocence. Only this optative rendering of the Jussive éְäִé is suited to the context, not the concessive: “though mine enemy be an evil-doer, I am none” (Hirz.). As to îִúְ÷ֹîֵí , comp. Job_20:27; Psa_59:2. [“The idea conveyed in àֹéֵá is hostility of feeling; in îִúְ÷ֹîֵí , hostility of action, and that initiative. It is, to some extent, expressive of unprovoked assault.” Carey.]
Third Strophe: Job_27:8-10.—For what is the hope of an ungodly man when He cutteth off, when Eloah draweth out his soul?—This question is to be understood from the two former discourses of Job, in which, when confronting death he placed his hope with animated emphasis on God, as his final deliverer and avenger (chs. 17. and 19.). In contrast with such a joyful hope reaching out beyond death, the evil-doer has nothing more to hope for, when once God has cut off his thread of life, and drawn out his soul out of the mortal body enclosing it ( éֵùֶׁì Imperf. apoc. Kal. from ùָׁìָä , extrahere, cognate with ùìì and ðùì ). The figurative expression: “cutting off the soul,” has always for its basis the same conception of the body as a tent, and of the internal thread of life as the tent-cord, which we came across in Job_4:21. Possibly the expression: “drawing out” has the same explanation, although this seems to have rather for its basis the comparison of the body to a sheath for the soul (Dan_7:15), so that accordingly we have a transition from one figure to another. [E. V. (after the Vulgate, Syr., Targ.), Gesenius in Thes., Fürst, Con., Ber., Merx, Rod., Elz., translate ëִּé éִáְöָò “though he hath gained” soil, riches, or “though he despoil.” The meaning “to plunder” or “gain” is certainly more in harmony with the usage of the verb in Kal, and avoids the mixture of metaphor according to the other construction.—E.]
Job_27:9-10. Will God hear his cry? … Can he delight himself in the Almighty?etc. The meaning of these questions is that to him there shall be neither the hearing of his prayers, nor a joyful, trustful and loving fellowship with God ( äִúְòַðָּâ as in Job_22:26). Job accordingly claims for himself both these things (comp. Job_13:16), and thereby leaves out of the account transient obscurations of his spirit, like that in consequence of which he mourns (Job_19:7) that his prayer is not heard.
3. Second Section: Description of the inevitable overthrow of the wicked: Job_27:11-23. The striking correspondence which this description by Job seems at first sight to exhibit with the well-known descriptions of the friends, especially in the second series of the colloquy, and this notwithstanding the fact that Job himself only just before, in chs. 21 and 24, has maintained the happiness of the wicked to the end of their life, have led some to assume a transposition, or confusion of the text (Kennicott, Stuhlmann, Bernstein, [Bernard, Wemyss, Elzas]; comp. Introd. § 9, 1); others, to suppose that Job is here simply repeating the opinion of his opponents, without purposing to make it his own (Eichhorn, Das Buch Hiob übers., etc., 1824; Böckel, 2d Ed. 1830). But the contradiction to Job’s former utterances is only apparent, for: (1) The opinion that the prosperity of the wicked cannot endure has been repeatedly put forth even by himself, at least in principle (comp. Job_21:16; Job_23:15; Job_24:12; comp. also below Job_31:3 seq.). (2) The erroneous and objectionably one-sided utterances regarding God as a hard-hearted persecutor of innocence, and author of the prosperity of many evil-doers, which he has heretofore frequently put forth, needed to be counteracted by the truths which supplement and rectify these one-sided errors. (3) It was of importance to Job, not so much to instruct the friends in regard to the fact that the impending destruction of the ungodly was certain—for that they had long known this fact is expressly set forth in Job_27:12—as rather to place this phenomenon in the right light, in opposition to the perverted application which they had made of it, and to exhibit its profound connection with the order of the universe as established by the only wise God. This end he accomplishes by subsequently introducing a description of true wisdom and understanding, a treasure deeply hidden, and to be possessed only through the fear of God, and humble submission to Him.—This is the end which Job has in view in the present discourse. It is not necessary (with Brentius and others of the older expositors, also Schlottmann) to find in it a warning purpose, i. e., the purpose to set before the friends the end of those who judge unjustly, and who render unfriendly decisions, with a view of terrifying them—a purpose of which there is nowhere any indication, and for which there would seem to be no particular motive, seeing that the discussion has come to an end, and that any attempt to move the vanquished opponents by warnings would be cruelly and most injuriously at variance with the conciliatory mildness which this last discourse of Job’s elsewhere breathes.
[a. The attempts to relieve the difficulty connected with the passage before us by changing and transposing the text are arbitrary and unsatisfactory, producing abrupt connections, or rather breaks, and a confusion of thought and impression more serious than that which it is sought to remove.
b. Especially does it betray a total want of appreciation of the author’s skill in managing the plot and development of the drama to force in Zophar for a third speech. The logical and rhetorical exhaustion of the friends could not well be more effectively indicated than by the way in which the colloquy on their part tapers and dwindles—first in the short, and so far as ideas are concerned, poverty-stricken speech of Bildad, and finally in the complete dumbness of Zophar, perhaps of all three the most consummate master of words.
c. The theory that Job is here going over the ground of the friends, and repeating their position, is disproved negatively by the absence of anything to indicate such a course, and positively by the straightforward earnestness and deep feeling which pervade the passage, as well as by what he says in the introductory verses 11, 12.
d. Regarded as Job’s own earnest affirmations the following considerations should be borne in mind.
(1) As shown above by Zöckler, isolated statements have already proceeded in harmony with the representation given here. At the same time it cannot be denied that this is much the most extended and emphatic expression by Job of the view here set forth, and that it is in form much more nearly allied to the representations of the friends. But:
(2) It is no part of the poet’s plan to preserve Job’s unalterable consistency. Job’s experiences are most various, and his utterances change with them. They strike each various chord of sorrow, joy, doubt, confidence, despair, hope, fear, yearning, victory. Through all it is true there is an underlying unity and identity of character; but the variations exist, and are full of dramatic interest and importance, and yet more of sacred practical suggestiveness.
(3) These inconsistencies still further prepare the way for a termination and solution of the controversy. As Umbreit has shown, “without the apparent contradiction in Job’s speeches, the interchange of words would have been endless;” or as Delitzsch has stated it: “Had Job’s stand-point been absolutely immovable, the controversy could not possibly have come to a well-adjusted decision, which the poet must have planned, and which he also really brings about, by causing his hero still to retain an imperturbable consciousness of his innocence, but also allowing his irritation to subside, and his extreme harshness to become moderated.”
(4) In the particular passage before us, Job’s utterance is to be explained largely in the light of the victory which he has just achieved. In the hour of triumph a great soul is moderate, calm, just. So here Job shows the greatness of his strength by conceding to the friends the truth in their position, and by stating that truth with a power equal to their own. It is a masterly touch of the poet’s art that shows itself here in this picture of a great soul in the hour of victory.
(5) There is, however, as suggested above by Zöckler, a still more conscious and controlling purpose in the following description. Job describes the certain destruction of the wicked, not mainly in the way of concession to the friends, but rather for his own vindication. The friends had portrayed such descriptions to show how much there are in the evil-doer’s fate to remind of Job’s calamities. Job takes up the theme to show how unlike his fate, with all its tragic lineaments, and the abandoned sinner’s. He still holds fast to his righteousness, is heard by God, delights in God, is on terms of intimacy with God, is competent to instruct in behalf of God;—the wicked man has a very different portion with God! As ever therefore Job is not merely eloquent, but cogent; and when he accepts their conclusions, it is to overwhelm them yet more completely with their own arguments.—E.]
First Strophes: Job_27:11-13. Introduction to the following description.
Job_27:11. I will teach you concerning God’s hand:i. e. concerning His doings, His mode of working. In regard to áְ with verbs of teaching or instructing, comp. Psa_25:8; Psa_25:12; Psa_32:8; Pro_4:11 (Ew. § 217, f).—The mind of the Almighty will I not conceal from you: lit. “what is with the Almighty, that which forms the contents of His thoughts and counsels;” comp. Job_10:13; Job_23:10, etc.
Job_27:12. See now, all ye yourselves [ àַúֶּí emphatic] have seen it, have become familiar with it by observation ( çָæָä , as in Job_15:17), so that ye do not need to learn the thing itself, but only to acquire a more correct, unprejudiced understanding of it. The second member points to the latter: “and why are ye then vain with vanity?” i. e. so altogether vain, so completely entangled in perverse delusion? (Ew. § 281, a).
Job_27:13 announces the theme treated of in the passage following, in words which purposely convey a reminder of the language used by one of the opponents, Zophar, at the close of his discourse (Job_20:29).
Second Strophe: Job_27:14-18. The judgment, upon the family, possessions, and homestead of the evil-doer.
Job_27:14. If his children multiply (it is) for the sword. ìְîåֹÎçֶøֶá sc. éִøְáּåּ . In respect to ìְîåֹ , found only in Job, comp. Job_29:21; Job_38:40; Job_40:4 (Ew. § 221, b).
Job_27:15. The remnant of those who are his shall be buried by the pestilence.— ùְׂøִéãָéå “his escaped ones” (comp. Job_20:21; Job_20:26), are the descendants still remaining to him, after that the sword and famine have already thinned their ranks. This remainder the Pestilence will carry off, that third destroying angel, in addition to the sword and famine, mentioned also in Jer_14:12; Jer_15:2; Jer_18:21; 2Sa_24:13; Lev_26:25 seq. Here, as also in Jer_15:2, this is simply designated “death” ( îָåֶú ); and by the phrase, “in death (or by death) they are buried,” allusion is made to the quick succession of death and burial, which is customary in such epidemics (comp. Amo_6:9 seq.). This bold and truly poetic thought is destroyed if, with Böttcher, we take áîåú to mean in momento mortis, or if, with Olshausen [Merx], we arbitrarily insert a ìֹà before éִ÷ָáֵøåּ . [Carey explains: “They shall be sepulchred by Death. This is literal, and a bold figure, by which is signified that they should have no other burial than such as Death should give them on the open field, where they had fallen, either by sword or by famine.” This, however, is somewhat too artificial and modern]. And his widows weep not—to wit, in following the coffin, because by reason of the frightful raging of the disease, funeral solemnities are not observed. “His widows” may mean both the principal wives and concubines of the head of the family, and those of his deceased sons and grandsons; these latter even, in a certain sense, belonging to him, the patriarch. Comp. the literal repetition of this member in Psa_78:64, where the twofold possibility mentioned here is not recognized, because the àַìְîְðֹúָéå there refers to the “people,” òַí .
Job_27:16. If he heapeth up for himself silver as the dust, etc.—The same figures used to designate material regarded as worthless on account of its great quantity in Zec_9:3.
Job_27:17. Apodosis to the preceding verse, expressing the same thought as, e. g., Psa_37:29; Psa_37:34; Ecc_2:16.
Job_27:18. He hath built, like a moth, his house, and like a booth, which a watchman puts up (in a vineyard, or an orchard, Isa_1:8). The point of comparison for both members is the laxity, frailty, destructibility of such structures, which are intended to be broken up soon.
Third Strophe: Job_27:19-23. He lieth down rich, and doeth it not again.—So according to the reading åְìֹà éֹàñִó ( = éåֹñִé ó ), which already the LXX. ( êáὶ ïὐ ðñïóèÞóåé ), Itala, and Pesh. followed, which is favored by parallel passages, such as Job_20:9; Job_40:5, and is accordingly preferred by the leading modern commentators, such as Ewald, Hirzel, Delitzsch, Dillmann [Renan, Rodwell, Merx]. The renderings based on the reading åְìֹà éֵàָñֵó are not so good; as, e. g., “and yet nothing is taken away” (Schnurr., Umbreit, Stick. [Elzas, Wemyss: “but he shall take nothing away”];—“and he is not buried” (Ralbag, Rosenmüller, Schlottmann) [Noyes, E. V.: “he shall not be gathered,” and so Con., Lee, Scott, etc. Carey explains the familiar phrase, “to be gathered (to one’s fathers, etc.),” not of being buried in the grave, but of being removed to the place of spirits. The objections to referring the clause to the rich man’s burial, as stated by Delitzsch, are, that the preceding strophe has already referred to his not being buried, and that the relation of the two parts of the verse in this interpretation is unsatisfactory]. The same may be said of the reading åְìֹà éֶàֱñֹó , “and takes not with him” (Jerome, and some MSS.). Openeth his eyes—and is gone! (comp. Job_24:24).—This further description of the sudden end of the wicked relates to the morning, the time of awakening, as the preceding clause refers to the evening hour of going to bed.
Job_27:20. The multitude of terrors (i. e., the sudden terrors of death; comp. Job_18:14; Job_20:25) like the waters (like the torrents of a sudden overflow—comp. Job_20:28; Jer_47:2; Psa_18:5 [4]) overtakes him ( úַּùִּׂéâ , 3d Perf. sing. fem, referring to the plur. áַּìָּäåֹú ; comp. Job_14:19). On b comp. Job_21:18.
Job_27:21. Further descriptive expansion of the figure of a tempest: The east wind lifteth him up.—This wind being elsewhere frequently described as particularly violent and descriptive; comp. Job_1:19; Job_15:2; Job_38:24; Isa_27:8; Eze_27:26. Concerning åְéֵìַêְ , ut pereat, comp. Job_14:20; Job_19:10.
Job_27:22. The subj. of åְéַùְׁìֵêְ can be only God, the secret Author of the whole judgment of wrath here described. Of Him it is said: He hurleth upon him without sparing—to wit, arrows; comp. Job_16:13; and in regard to the objectless = äִùְׁìִéêְ “to shoot,” see Num_35:20. Before His hand must he flee—lit. “must he fleeing flee.”—The Inf. Absol. expresses the strenuousness and yet the futility of his various attempts to flee (Del.: “before His hand he fleeth hither and thither”).
Job_27:23. They clap their hands at him—rejoicing at his calamity and mocking him; comp. Job_34:37; Lam_2:15; Nah_3:19. The plural suffixes in òָìֵéîåֹ and ëַּôֵּéîåֹ are used poetically for the sing., as in Job_20:23; Job_22:2. “The accumulation of the terminations êmo and ômo gives a tone of thunder and a gloomy impress to this conclusion of the description of judgment, as these terminations frequently occur in the book of Psalms, where moral depravity is mourned and divine judgment threatened (e. g., in Psalms 73).” DelThey hiss him out of his place—so that he must leave his dwelling-place (comp. Job_8:18) in the midst of scorn and hissing (comp. Zep_2:15; Jer_49:17). Or “out of his home” (Hirz.), which rendering gives essentially the same meaning.
4. Third Section: first Strophe. Job_28:1-11. The difficulty, indeed the absolute impossibility, of attaining true wisdom by human skill and endeavor, described by means of an illustration taken from mining, which gives man access to all valuable treasures of a material sort, but which can by no means put him in possession of that spiritual good which comes from God. The question—whence the author had acquired so accurate a knowledge of mining as he here displays, seeing that the land of the Israelites was comparatively poor in mineral treasures (comp. Keil, Bibl. Archäol., p. 35 seq., 38)? may be answered, on the basis of Biblical and extra-Biblical sources of information, as follows: (1) The Jews in Palestine could not have been absolutely, strangers to the business of mining, seeing that in Deu_8:9 there is expressly promised to them “a land whose stones are iron, and out of whose hills thou mayest dig brass.” (2) Both Lebanon in the north, and the Idumean mountains in the south-east of Palestine proper, had copper mines, the particular location of these being at Phunon, or Phaino, Num_33:42 seq., in the working of which it is certain that the Jews were occasionally interested; comp. Volney’s Travels; Ritter, Erdkunde XVII. 1063; Gesenius, Thes. p. 1095; v. Rougemont, Bronzezeit, p. 87. (3) The Israelites possessed iron pits, possibly in South Lebanon, where in modern times such may still be found, together with smelting furnaces (Russegger, Reise I. 779, 778 seq.), but certainly in the country east of the Jordan, where, according to the testimony of Josephus, de B. Jud. IV. 8, 2, there was an “iron mountain” ( óéäçñïῦí ὸ ̓ ñïò ) north of Moabitis, the “Cross Mountain,” El Mi’râd of to-day, between the gorges of the Wadi Zerka and Wadi Arabun, west of Gerash; a mountain district in which in our own century iron mines have been worked here and there (v. Rougemont, l. c.; Wetzstein in Delitzsch, II. 90–91). (4) Jerome testifies to the existence of ancient gold mines in Idumea (Opp. ed. Vail. III. 183). (5) The Israelites might also come occasionally into connection with the copper and iron mines of the Sinai-peninsula, in the development of which the Egyptian Pharaohs were conspicuously energetic (comp. Aristeas v. Haverkamp, p. 114; Lepsius, Briefe, p. 335 seq.; Ritter, Erdkunde XIV. 784 seq; v. Rougemont, l. c. (6) What has been said above by no means excludes the possibility that in this description the poet in many particulars took for his basis traditional reports concerning the mines of distant lands, e. g. concerning the gold mines of Upper Egypt and Nubia (Diodorus Job_3:11 seq.), concerning the gold and silver mines of the Phenicians in Spain (1Ma_8:3; Plin. Job_3:4; Diod. 5:35 seq.), concerning the emerald quarries of the Egyptians at Berenice, and other deposits of precious stones, more or less remote. Comp. above Introd. § 7, b; and see a fuller discussion of the subject in Delitzsch 2:86–89; to some extent also the mining experts who have commented on the following verses, such as v. Weltheim (in J. D. Mich., Orient. Bibl. 23,. 7 seq.), and Rud. Nasse (Stud. u. Krit., 1863, p. 105 seq.)
Job_28:1. For there is for the silver a vein [Germ. Fundort, place where it is found], and a place for the gold, which they refine.—The connection between this section and the preceding, which is indicated by the causal ëִּé “for,” is this: The phenomenon described in Job_27:11-23, that the wicked—with whom, according to Job_28:2-10 Job is not to be classed—meet with a terrible end without deliverance, is to be explained by the fact that they do not possess true wisdom, which can be acquired only through the fear of God, which cannot, like the treasures of this earth (the only object for which the wicked plan and toil), be dug out, exchanged or bought. The proposition introduced by ëִּé accordingly assigns a reason first of all for that which forms the contents of Job_27:11-23 (“the prosperity of the ungodly cannot endure”), but secondarily and indirectly also that which is announced in Job_27:2-10 (Job is an upright man, and one who fears God, whose joy in God does not forsake him even in the midst of the deepest misery). [“The miserable end of the ungodly is confirmed by this, that the wisdom of man, which he has despised, consists in the fear of God; and Job thereby attains at the same time the special aim of his teaching, which is announced at Job_27:11 by àåøä àúëí áéãÎàì ; viz. he has at the same time proved that he who retains the fear of God in the midst of his sufferings, though those sufferings are an insoluble mystery, cannot be a øùׁò . … And if we ponder the fact that Job has depicted the ungodly as a covetous rich man who is snatched away by sudden death from his immense possession of silver and other costly treasures, we see that Job 28. confirms the preceding picture of punitive judgment in the following manner: silver and other precious metals come out of the earth, but wisdom, whose value exceeds all these earthly treasures, is to be found nowhere within the province of the creature; God alone possesses it, and from God alone it comes; and so far as man can and is to attain to it, it consists in the fear of the Lord and the forsaking of evil.” Delitzsch.] The first verses of the chapter indeed down to the 11th, present nothing whatever as yet of that which serves directly to establish those antecedent propositions, they simply prepare the way for the demonstration proper, by describing the achievements of art and labor in the accumulation by men of their treasures, by means of which nevertheless wisdom can not be found. Hence ëִּé may appropriately be rendered “for truly” (the “but” in Job_28:12 corresponding to the “truly”). This connection between Job 28, 27 is erroneously exhibited, when any subordinate proposition of Job 27 is regarded as that which is to be established (as e. g., according to Hirzel, the question in Job_28:12 : “why are ye so altogether vain? why do ye adhere to so perverse a delusion?” or according to Schlottmann the purpose to warn against the sin of making unfriendly charges, which he thinks is to be read between the lines in the description Job_28:11-23). These false conceptions of the connection, alike with the total abandonment of all connection, which has led many critics to resort to arbitrary attempts to assign to Job 28. another position (e. g. according to Pareau after Job 26.; according to Stuhlmann after Job 25) or to question altogether its genuineness (Knobel, Bernstein——comp. Introd. § 9, 1)—all these one-sided conceptions rest, for the most part, on the assumption that it is the divine wisdom, which rules the universe, whose unsearchableness is described in our chapter, and not rather wisdom regarded as a human possession, as a moral and intellectual blessing bestowed by God on men, connected with genuine fear of God. Comp. Doctrinal and Ethical Remarks, No. 1. [E. V.’s rendering of ëִּé by “surely” overlooks the connection, and was probably prompted by the difficulty attending it].— îåֹöָà , lit. “outlet” (comp. 1Ki_10:28), the place where anything may be found, synonymous with the following îָ÷åֹí .—The word éָåֹ÷ּåּ is a relative clause: gold, which they refine, or wash out. In regard to æ÷÷ , lit. “to filter, to strain,” as a technical term for purifying the precious metals from the stone-alloy which is mixed with them, comp. Mal_3:3; Psa_12:7 [6]; 1Ch_28:18. Comp. the passage relative to the gold mines of Upper Egypt, describing this process of crushing fine the gold-quartz, and of washing it out, this process accordingly of “gold-washing,” as practised by the ancients, in Diodor. Job_3:11 seq., as well as the explanations in Klemm’s Allgem. Kulturgesch. V. 503 seq., and in M. Uhlemann, Egypt.Alterthumskunde, II. 148 seq.
Job_28:2. Iron is brought up out of the ground.— òָôָø here of the interior or deep ground, not of the surface as in Job_39:14; Job_41:25 [33], and stone is smelted into copper.— éָöåּ÷ here not as in Job_41:15 Partic. Pual of éö÷ , but as in Job_29:6 Imperf. of éö÷= öåּ÷ (the 3d pers. sing. masc. expressing the indefinite subj.). [Gesenius not so well makes the verb transitive: “and stone pours out brass.”]
Job_28:3. He has put an end [ ùָׂí still the indefinite subj., but as the description becomes more individual and concrete, it is better with E. V. to use from this point on the personal pron. “he”] to the darkness, viz. by the miner’s lamp; and in every direction (lit. “to each remotest point, to every extremity, in all directions”) [not as E. V. “all perfection,” which is too general, missing the idiomatic use of the phrase; nor adverbially: “to the utmost,” or “most closely:”—“ ìúëìéú might be used thus adverbially, but ìëìÎúëìéú is to be explained according to ìëìÎøåç , Eze_5:10, ‘to all the winds.’ ” Delitzsch]—he searcheth the stones of darkness and of death-shade,i. e. the stones under the earth, hidden in deep darkness. äåּà before çֹå÷ֵø refers back to the indefinite subj. of ùָׂí , who is continued through Job_28:4, and again in Job_28:9-11.
Job_28:4. He breaketh [openeth, cutteth through] a shaft away from those who sojourn (above). ðçì , elsewhere river, valley [river-bed] (Wadi), is here—as is already made probable by the verb ôָøַõ , pointing to a violent breaking through (comp. Job_16:14), and as is made still more apparent by the third member of the verse—a mining passage in the earth, and that moreover a perpendicular shaft rather than a sloping gallery. îֵòִñÎâָּø , lit. “away from one tarrying, a dweller,” i. e. removed from the human habitations found above, removing from them ever further and deeper into the bowels of the earth. [Schlottmann understands by âø the miner himself dwelling as a stranger in his loneliness; i. e. his shaft sinks ever further from the hut in which he dwells above. The use of âø is doubtless a little singular, and Schlottmann’s explanation may be accepted so far as it may serve to account for it by the suggestion that those who do live in the vicinity of mines are naturally âָּøִéí , sojourners, living there to ply their trade and shifting about as new mines or veins are discovered.—E.]—Who are forgotten of every step, lit. “of a foot” ( îִðִּéÎøֶâֶì ), i. e. of the foot or step of one travelling above on the surface of the earth [=“totally vanished from the remembrance of those who pass by above”], not the foot of the man himself that is spoken of, as though his descent by a rope in the depths of the shaft were here described (V. Leonhardt in Umbr. and Hirzel). [On this use of îִï after ðùׁëç , comp. Deu_31:21; Psa_31:13; “forgotten out of the mind, out of the heart”]. Moreover äַðִּùְׁëָּçִéí are identical, according to the accents, with the indef. subj. of ôָּøַõ (the interchange between sing, and plur. acc. to Ew. § 319, a); hence the meaning is: those who work deep down in the shafts of the mines. They are again referred to in the finite verbs in c, which continue the participial construction: they hang far away from men, and swing. ãַּìּåּ from ãּìì (related to æìì ) deorsum pendere, according to the accents, accompanies îֵàֱðåֹùׁ (meaning the same with îֵòִñÎâָּø ), not ðָòåּ , as Hahn and Schlottm. think. The adventurous swinging of those engaged in digging the ore out of the steep sides of the shafts, hanging down by a rope, is in these few, simple words beautifully and clearly portrayed. It is the situation described by Pliny (H. N. Job_33:4, Job 21 : is qui cædit, funibus pendet, ut procul intuenti species ne ferarum quidem, sed alitum fiat. Pendentes majori ex parte librant et lineas itineri præducunt, etc. [The above rendering, adopted by all modern exegetes, gives a meaning so appropriate to the language and connection, and withal so beautiful, vivid and graphic that it seems Strange that all the ancient and most of the modern versions of Scripture, including E. V., should have so completely darkened the meaning. The source of the difficulty lay doubtless in ðçì which being taken in its customary meaning of “river, flood,” threw everything into confusion. Add to this a probable want of familiarity with mining operations on the part of the early translators, and the result will not seem so surprising.—E.]
Job_28:5 states what the miners are doing in the depths.—The earth—out of it cometh forth the bread-corn ( ìֶçֶí as in Psa_104:14), but under it it is overturned like fire:i. e. as fire incessantly destroys, and turns what is uppermost lowermost. [“Man’s restless search, which rummages everything through, is compared to the unrestrainable ravaging fire.” Del.] Instead of ëְּîåֹ Jerome reads áְּîåֹ : “is overturned with fire,” which some moderns prefer (Hirz., Schlott.), who find a reference here to the blasting of the miners. But this is too remote. [“The principal thought is the process of breaking through; the means are not so much regarded; and fire was not the only means.” Dillmann. Some commentators have fancied in this verse a trace of what modern criticism calls “sentimentalism,” as though Job were protesting against ruthlessly ravaging as with fire the interior of that generous earth which on its surface yields bread for the support of man. Job is, however, fixing his attention solely on the agent—man, who not satisfied with what grows out of the earth, digs for treasure into its deepest recesses.—E.]
Job_28:6. The place of the sapphire ( îָ÷åֹí as in Job_28:1 a, the place where it may be found) are its stones, viz. the earth’s, Job_28:5; in the midst of its stones is found the sapphire, which is mentioned here as a specimen of precious stones of the highest value.—And nuggets of gold (or “gold ore,” hardly “gold-dust” as Hirzel thinks) become his, viz. the miner’s (so Schult., Rosenm., Ewald, Dillmann). Or: “nuggets of gold belong to it,” the place ( î÷åí ) where the sapphire is found (Hahn, Schlottm., Delitzsch). The reader may take his choice between these two relations of áּåֹ ; the brevity of the expression makes it impossible to decide with certainty.
Job_28:7. The path (thither) no bird of prey hath known [and the vulture’s eye hath not gazed upon it]. ðָúִéáִ is a prefixed nom. absol. like àֶøֶõ in Job_28:5. It may indeed also be taken as in opposition to îָ÷åֹí in Job_28:6 (hardly to òַôְøåִú æָäָá , as Ewald thinks), in which case the rendering would be: “the path, which no bird of prey hath known,” etc. (Del.). But that “the place of the sapphire” should be immediately afterwards spoken of as a “path,” looks somewhat doubtful. Concerning ùְׁæָôַúּåּ comp. on Job_20:9.—[The rendering of E. V.: “There is a path which no fowl knoweth,” etc., is vague and incorrect in so far as it leads the mind away from the deposits of treasure, which are the principal theme of the passage.—E.]
Job_28:8 carries out yet further the description begun in Job_28:7 of the inaccessibleness of the subterranean passage-ways. The proud beasts of prey (lit. “sons of pride;” so also in Job_41:26 [34]) have not trodden it.—That this finely illustrative phrase [“sons of pride”] refers to the haughty, majestically stepping beasts of prey [“seeking the most secret retreat, and shunning no danger,” Del.], appears clearly enough from the parallel use of ùַׁçַì in b (comp. Job_4:10).
Job_28:9. On the flint (the hardest of all stones) he lays his hand (the subject being man, as the overturner of mountains; see b, and respecting the use there of îִùֹּׁøֶùׁ , radicitus, “from the root,” comp. above Job_13:27; Job_19:28. [“ ùָׁìַç éãָ áְּ something like our “to take in hand,” of an undertaking requiring strong determination and courage, which here consists in blasting, etc. Del.] How the hand is laid on flint and similar hard stones is described by Pliny l. c.: Occursant silices; hos igne et aceto rumpunt, sæpius vero, quoniam id cuniculos fumo et vapore strangulat, cædunt fractariis CL. libras habentibus, etc.
Job_28:10. Through the rocks he cutteth passages.— éְàֹøִéí , an Egyptian word, which signifies literally water-canals, must here, like ðçì in Job_28:4, signify subterranean passages or pits for mining. And further, according to b, what is intended are galleries, horizontal excavations, in which the ore is dug out, and precious stones discovered. The word can scarcely be used of wet conduits, or canals to carry off the water accumulating in the pits, of which Job does not begin to speak until the following verse (against v. Weltheim, etc.). [The rendering “rivers” (E. V., Con., Car., Rod., etc.) would be still more misleading, because more vague, than “canals,” which is not without plausible arguments in its favor. Add however to Zöckler’s arguments in favor of the rendering “passages, galleries,” the sequence in the second member: And his eye sees every precious thing; which, as Delitzsch says, “is consistently connected with what precedes, since by cutting these cuniculi the courses of the ore (veins), and any precious stones that may also be embedded there, are laid bare.”—E.]
Job_28:11. That they may not drip he stops up passage-ways.— îִáְּëִé , lit. “away from dripping” [weeping], or: “against the dripping,” i. e. against the oozing through of the water in the excavations, to which the shafts and galleries, especially when old, were so easily liable. çִáֵּùׁ , as elsewhere çָáַùׁ , to stop or dam up, to bind up surgically (comp. çֹáֵùׁ , the surgeon, or wound-healer in Isa_3:7; Isa_1:6). ðֵçָøåֹú seems in general to mean the same as ðçìéí above, and éְàֹøִéí Job_28:10, to wit, excavatio