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Commentary Index | Return to PrayerRequest.com | DownloadPaul Kretzmann Commentary - Job 28:1 - 28:11
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Man's Foolish Search for Riches
v. 1. Surely there is a vein for the silver, a place prepared by the Creator where it is found, and a place for gold where they fine it, where men refine gold, after the ore has been taken out of the ground. The connection of thought between the statements in this paragraph and that of the previous chapter is this, that true wisdom cannot be dug out of the earth or acquired by the wicked rich like minerals.
v. 2. Iron is taken out of the earth, brought out by means of deep shafts, and brass is molten out of the stone, that is, the stone of the ore is smelted into copper, this metal being comparatively easily gained.
v. 3. He setteth an end to darkness, men have found ways of lighting up even the dark shafts of the mines beneath the earth, and searcheth out all perfection: the stones of darkness and the shadow of death, that is, the enterprise of men has enabled them to penetrate into the earth in every direction, building their shafts in the subterranean darkness and following the lead of the veins of ore to their very end.
v. 4. The flood, the place of cutting through, breaketh out from the inhabitant, that is, man opens or cuts through a shaft, away from those sojourning above, straight down into the earth; even the waters forgotten of the foot; they are dried up, they are gone away from men, literally, "where forgotten by every one's foot they dangle, far from mortals, they swing," that is, men dig their shafts down so deeply that they are entirely out of sight and ken of men walking above; they are suspended by ropes far from the surface where other men are living and going about their business. All this is done in order to bring metals up to the surface. But true wisdom cannot be so acquired.
v. 5. As for the earth, out of it cometh bread, on its surface the cultivated fields yield grain for man's food; and under it, by contrast, it is turned up as it were fire, cut up into shafts and galleries, as though fire had eaten through. Man is not satisfied with the products which grow out of the earth, but digs for treasures in its deepest recesses.
v. 6. The stones of it are the place of sapphires, for this precious stone is found in the earth; and it hath dust of gold, the nuggets and grains of gold which settle in pockets of mountain streams become the property of the miner.
v. 7. There is a path which no fowl knoweth, no eagle knows the path to the hidden treasures, and which the vulture's eye, as sharp as it is, hath not seen, not even he has gazed upon them:
v. 8. the lion's whelps have not trodden it, the proud beasts of prey, nor the fierce lion passed by it. None of them knew the places where all these riches were hidden.
v. 9. He, that is, man in his restless search for wealth, putteth forth his hand upon the rock, laying his hand even upon flint, the hardest of rocks; he overturneth the mountains by the roots, by digging and blasting for the treasures contained in the ground.
v. 10. He cutteth out rivers among the rocks, cutting passages through solid granite; and his eye seeth every precious thing, for by such digging and blasting the hidden treasures are revealed to the eyes of men.
v. 11. He bindeth the floods from overflowing, stopping the dripping or the seams of water which threaten to fill up the pits and galleries of the mines; and the thing that is hid bringeth he forth to light, by such strenuous mining operations men succeed in bringing up the precious metals and stones hidden in the bosom of the earth. They spare themselves no trouble to gain the vain treasures of this world.