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Commentary Index | Return to PrayerRequest.com | DownloadPaul Kretzmann Commentary - Job 28:12 - 28:28
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God Alone The Possessor of True Wisdom.
Over against man's foolish quest for vain and unstable riches Job places the wisdom of God, unattainable by the outward seeking and searching of men.
v. 12. But where shall wisdom be found? And where is the place of understanding? True wisdom, the understanding of God, the knowledge of the revelation of God, is the highest good of man.
v. 13. Man knoweth not the price thereof, no mortal realizes its value for purchase or exchange; neither is it found in the land of the living, on the earth as inhabited by men, as a product of their labor.
v. 14. The depth, the abyss of waters beneath the earth, saith, It is not in me; and the sea, the great and mighty ocean, saith, It is not with me.
v. 15. It cannot be gotten for gold, the purest gold cannot be given in exchange for it, neither shall silver be weighed for the price thereof.
v. 16. It cannot be valued with the gold of Ophir, with the finest gold known to the ancients, with the precious onyx or the sapphire, both of which were valued very highly in the Orient.
v. 17. The gold and the crystal, glass, upon which at that time a very high valuation was placed, whether it was natural or artificial, cannot equal it, and the exchange of it shall not be for jewels of fine gold, they simply could not be considered as equivalent to it.
v. 18. No mention shall be made of coral or of pearls, that is, corals and quartz-crystal could not even be named in comparison with it; for the price of wisdom is above rubies, it is immeasurably exalted in value over the most precious treasures of men.
v. 19. The topaz of Ethiopia shall not equal it, neither shall it be valued with pure gold, that which has gone through the most careful process of refining. Job exhausts all comparisons which men would suggest in trying to obtain a fair valuation of the rich treasure of which he speaks.
v. 20. Whence, then, cometh wisdom, and where is the place of understanding? The same question is propounded again in order to drive home the truth about to be stated.
v. 21. Seeing it is hid from the eyes of all living, the creatures of the earth endowed with senses, and kept close from the fowls of the air, even from the sharp-sighted winged tribe.
v. 22. Destruction and death, the realm of the dead and the place reserved for the wicked, say, We have heard the fame thereof with our ears, they knew of it only by hearsay, they had no personal acquaintance with it.
v. 23. God understandeth the way thereof, He alone is familiar with true wisdom, and He knoweth the place thereof, He knows exactly where it may be found.
v. 24. For He looketh to the ends of the earth and seeth under the whole heaven, nothing is hidden from His wisdom and omniscience,
v. 25. to make the weight for the winds; and He weigheth the waters by measure, they are entirely under His direction and government.
v. 26. When He made a decree for the rain, appointing to it when and how often it should fall, and a way for the lightning of the thunder, a path for the thunder-flash through the clouds, all these phenomena being regulated by Him,
v. 27. then, when He exercised His creative and providential power, did He see it and declare it, He unfolded and set forth before men some of the evidences of eternal wisdom; He prepared it, yea, and searched it out, establishing its foundation throughout nature, making everything subject to the laws of His wisdom.
v. 28. And unto man He said, singling him out for this revelation, as the highest creature of His almighty power, Behold, the fear of the Lord, that is wisdom, to know Him and to reverence Him as the one true God is the sum of all wisdom; and to depart from evil is understanding. To forsake the evil, as being utterly contrary to God, His essence and His will, and to live in accordance with the demands of His holiness, that is the highest form of wisdom. This wisdom can be attained to through the knowledge of Jesus Christ as the Savior of mankind, for by faith in Him all believers are brought into that communion with God which will reveal to them the fulness of His wisdom and give them the strength to do His will.