---
title: "Clarke"
description: "Verse Job 28:1. 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 imp"
image: "/images/missing.jpg"
url: "https://realbiblebelievers.com/commentaries/clarkes-commentary/job/28"
---

Verse [Job 28:1](../../../kjv/job/28/1). ***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 מוצא *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.

Verse [Job 28:2](../../../kjv/job/28/2). ***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 נחושה *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*.

Verse [Job 28:3](../../../kjv/job/28/3). ***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."

Verse [Job 28:4](../../../kjv/job/28/4). ***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 דלו *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 מאנוש נעו *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](../../../kjv/job/9/26), refer to navigation, then in a state of infancy; for the *sea* is not so much as mentioned; but נחל *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*, מעם גר 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*, דלו 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, [Psalms 107:26-27](../../../kjv/psalms/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: -
**

Verse [Job 28:5](../../../kjv/job/28/5). ***The earth, out of it cometh bread*** — Or the earth, ממנה *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](../../../kjv/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.

Verse [Job 28:6](../../../kjv/job/28/6). ***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](../../../kjv/job/28/16).
***Dust of gold*** — Or rather, *gold dust*.

Verse [Job 28:7](../../../kjv/job/28/7). **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."

Verse [Job 28:9](../../../kjv/job/28/9). ***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.

Verse [Job 28:10](../../../kjv/job/28/10). ***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.

Verse [Job 28:11](../../../kjv/job/28/11). ***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 terrae; et in sede manium opes* *quaerimus*. "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: -
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.

Verse [Job 28:12](../../../kjv/job/28/12). ***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 חכמה *chochmah, wisdom*, and בינה *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](../../../kjv/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 חכמה *chochmah, wisdom*, by θεοσεβια, *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.

Verse [Job 28:13](../../../kjv/job/28/13). ***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.

Verse [Job 28:14](../../../kjv/job/28/14). ***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.

Verse [Job 28:15](../../../kjv/job/28/15). ***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.

Verse [Job 28:16](../../../kjv/job/28/16). ***The gold of Ophir*** — Gold is *five* times mentioned in this and verses [Job 28:17](../../../kjv/job/28/17) and [Job 28:19](../../../kjv/job/28/19), and *four* of the times in different words. I shall consider them all at once.
1. סגור SEGOR, from סגר *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. [Job 28:16](../../../kjv/job/28/16). 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. [Job 28:17](../../../kjv/job/28/17). 3. זהב ZAHAB, from זהב *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. פז PAZ, from פז *paz*, to *consolidate*, joined here with *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. [Job 28:16](../../../kjv/job/28/16). 1. שהם shoham, the ONYX, from ονυξ, *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. ספיר sappir, the SAPPHIRE stone, from ספר *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: coeruleae et sapphiri, raraque cum purpura: optimae apud Medos, nusquam tame perlucidae. "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. [Job 28:17](../../../kjv/job/28/17). 3. זכוכית zechuchith, CRYSTAL, or *glass*, from זכה *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*.

Verse [Job 28:17](../../../kjv/job/28/17). [Job 28:16](../../../kjv/job/28/16); [Job 28:16](../../../kjv/job/28/16).

Verse [Job 28:18](../../../kjv/job/28/18). *See also Clarke on "*[Job 28:16](../../../kjv/job/28/16)*"*.
Ver. [Job 28:18](../../../kjv/job/28/18). 4. ראמות 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. גביש gabish, PEARLS, from גבש *gabash*, in Arabic, to be *smooth*, to *shave off the hair*; and hence *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. [Job 28:18](../../../kjv/job/28/18). 6. פנינים peninim, RUBIES, from פנה *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 פנה *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 *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. פטדה pitdah, the TOPAZ. This word occurs only in [Exodus 28:17](../../../kjv/exodus/28/17); [Exodus 39:10](../../../kjv/exodus/39/10); [Ezekiel 28:13](../../../kjv/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 τοπαζιον, *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.

Verse [Job 28:19](../../../kjv/job/28/19). ***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.
*See also Clarke on "*[Job 28:16](../../../kjv/job/28/16)*"*.

Verse [Job 28:20](../../../kjv/job/28/20). ***Whence then cometh wisdom?*** — Nearly the same words as in [Job 28:12](../../../kjv/job/28/12), where see the note.

Verse [Job 28:22](../../../kjv/job/28/22). ***Destruction and death say, We have heard the fame*** *thereof*] אבדון ומות *Abaddon vamaveth*, the destroyer, and his offspring death. This is the very name that is given to the *devil* in Greek letters Αβαδδων, [Revelation 9:11](../../../kjv/revelation/9/11), and is rendered by the Greek word Απολλυων, *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](../../../kjv/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.

Verse [Job 28:23](../../../kjv/job/28/23). ***God understandeth the way thereof*** — It can only be taught by a revelation from himself. Instead of הבין *hebin,* *understandeth*, six MSS. have הכין *hechin, disposed* or *established*. This reading is also supported by the *Septuagint*; Ὁ Θεος ευ συνεστησεν αυτης ὁδον, "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.

Verse [Job 28:24](../../../kjv/job/28/24). ***For he looketh to the ends of the earth*** — His knowledge is unlimited, and his power infinite.

Verse [Job 28:25](../../../kjv/job/28/25). ***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. [Job 28:28](../../../kjv/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*.

Verse [Job 28:26](../../../kjv/job/28/26). ***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*** — ודרך לחזיז קולות *vederech lachaziz koloth*. קול kol signifies *voice* of any kind; and *koloth* is the plural and is taken for the frequent *claps* or *rattlings* of thunder. חז *chaz* signifies to *notch,* *indentate*, or *serrate*, as in the edges of the leaves of trees; חזיז *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.

Verse [Job 28:27](../../../kjv/job/28/27). ***Then did he see it, and declare it*** — When he had finished all his creative operations, and tried and proved his work, חקרה *chakarah*, investigated and found it to be very good; then he gave the needful revelation to man; for,

Verse [Job 28:28](../../../kjv/job/28/28). ***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](../../../kjv/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](../../../kjv/job/28/12).
FROM what has been observed on verses [Job 28:25](../../../kjv/job/28/25), [Job 28:26](../../../kjv/job/28/26), [Job 28:25-26](../../../kjv/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 faeces.
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.

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