CHAP. XXVIII.
Job observes, that man, though he can find out the hidden veins of silver, gold, iron, and brass, yet cannot find out wisdom: God hath taught him that wisdom consists in the fear of the Lord.
Before Christ 1645.
Job 28:1. Surely there is a vein for the silver— See the Reflections on the 28th verse, p. 806. This chapter, as it is one of the most beautiful and instructive, so perhaps, we may adds it is the most obscure of the whole book. The subject of it is an inquiry after wisdom: not the wisdom of God, meaning the unsearchable depths of his counsels; but wisdom in general, or rather the wisdom proper to man; and, therefore, in the last verse, as the result of the inquiry, we are told what that wisdom is. The chapter begins with a fine description of the indefatigable industry and ardour of mankind, in searching after things which contribute either to the use or ornament of life; how they dig into the bowels of the earth for metals, gold, silver, iron, and brass; and though the great Creator hath set a boundary betwixt light and darkness, dividing the two hemispheres from each other, as by a line or circle, yet the industry of avarice of man is without bounds. He searcheth into the land of darkness itself for hidden treasures. See Job 28:3. The word rendered vein, מוצא motza, signifies properly a going-forth: there is a going-forth for the silver; that is, "man hath found where silver may be dug out of the earth." See Peters and Houbigant.

Job 28:2. And brass is molten out of the stone— And stone, when it is melted, becometh brass. Houbigant.

Job 28:3. He setteth an end to darkness— He hath set, or, an end is set to darkness, and an extremity to all, or, to the universe. He (meaning man, that audacious creature) searcheth out the stones of darkness, and the shadow of death. He digs into another world, as it were, for gold and precious stones. תכלית taklith, as well as קצ ketz, signifies the end, the border, and extremity of any thing; and the extremity of all, or the universe, I apprehend to mean the same-horizontal circle which divides the light and darkness from each other; for what is above the horizon is, in effect, the universe to us; at least, it was so to the ancients, who considered all below it, as, to them, a region of perpetual darkness. It was this upper visible hemisphere which they called the world; see chap. Job 18:18 and 1 Samuel 2:8. That this must be the meaning here, seems further confirmed by a parallel place in this speech of Job, chap. Job 26:10 where he points out the same horizontal circle in almost the same words: He hath set a circle as a boundary upon the face of the waters, even to the extremity of light and darkness; i.e. to the very edge where light and darkness meet. This is evidently the sense of that passage, and we see that the expressions in both are much the same; only what is called the extremity of light in one, is in the other passage, called the extremity of all, or the universe, meaning the whole enlightened hemisphere. See Proverbs 26:10. Isaiah 44:24. If this then be the true sense of this difficult passage, I believe the reader will agree with me, that the thought is very noble and sublime: it is as if we should say, in the language of Horace, Nequicquam Deus abscidit, &c. "In vain is it that God hath divided the light from the darkness, if men will dig into the land of darkness itself for gold and treasures." As the author of the Book of Job was, perhaps, the most brief writer that ever appeared in the world, and his language the most concise; he just gives you a glimpse of things, and leaves the rest to be supplied by the imagination of the reader. His thoughts are like the gold and jewels that he speaks of; precious in themselves, we must sometimes labour hard, and go deep for them. Peters. Heath understands the passage somewhat differently; and, supposing it to contain a description of the dreadful life of the miner, who descends into the bowels of the earth in search of ore, he renders it, Maketh a league with darkness, and all destruction; who searcheth out the stones of darkness, and the shadow of death.

Job 28:4. The flood breaketh out— The author here gives us another instance of the daring spirit and ingenuity of mankind; how they cross the broad rivers and arms of the sea for commerce, where there is no path for the foot of man; where they lessen to the sight, and are tossed upon the waves. The verse may be literally translated thus: The flood interrupts from the stranger; forgotten of the foot, they appear less than men; they are tossed. If we were to see such a passage in Pindar, I am persuaded, we should think that which I have given to be the sense of it, and admire the strong and lively images here set before us. There are but two places which I remember in the Book of Job, where there is any allusion to navigation, and both shew it to have been in its infancy: the one is chap. Job 9:26 on which see the note; the other is this before us; where the sea is not so much as mentioned, but נחל nachal, a torrent, or flood; some arm of the sea, perhaps, of a few leagues over, which, dividing the several nations, must interrupt their hospitality and commerce with each other, except by the help of navigation. One would think that Job had the boat and mariners in his eye when he describes them so poetically in these three remarkable particulars; that they are forgotten of the foot; i.e. their feet forget them, and are no longer serviceable to them in this very different way of travelling; that they lessen to the sight; they look like crows instead of men, as they go further and further from the shore; and lastly, are tossed up and down upon the billows; נעו nau. The word seems to denote any involuntary and irregular motion, and is used by the Psalmist for the staggering of a drunkard; to which he compares the unsteady motion of a ship's crew tossed in a storm, in that fine description, Psalms 107:27. Peters.

Job 28:5. As for the earth, out of it, &c.— By means of it. Heath; who thinks that the latter part of the verse refers to the bituminous sulphureous countries in the east; the subversion of which produced the destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah; though it seems probable that the meaning is more general.

Job 28:7. There is a path which no fowl knoweth— As for his path, the eagle knoweth it not: the eye of the vulture hath not pierced it. Heath.

Job 28:22. Destruction and death say, &c.— In this and the following verses we have an answer to the great question, "Whence cometh wisdom?" But it opens to us by degrees. Destruction and death say, we have heard the same thereof with our ears. Destruction and death mean the dead: the metonymy is easy, and gives a clear and natural sense to the passage. He had just before told us, that wisdom and her place were hid from the eyes of all the living, and, therefore, where should we go to seek for it, but among the dead? The synonymous words Destruction and death are used, probably, after the Hebrew manner, to increase the signification, and to denote a long race of their dead ancestors from the beginning of the world downward. "The generations of men (says Job,) who have lived before us, and are now gone to the regions of the dead, have told us, We have heard the fame thereof with our ears; that is, we have had something relating to this question about wisdom delivered down to us by tradition from our forefathers." That this must be the meaning, can scarcely be doubted, when it is considered what a regard is paid, throughout this whole dispute, by every speaker and in every speech almost, to what was taught them by their ancestors; from whom, in a manner, all their wisdom was derived, transmitted down, and received with a religious veneration; so that the citing of their authority in favour of the point in question, was looked upon as an unanswerable argument: nor is this any wonder, considering what a short remove they were from the very fountain-head of their traditions, and that those, when traced to their beginning, carried with them a divine authority: for, whether derived from Adam or from Noah, as the first, in his state of innocence at least, was admitted to a free converse with his Maker; so the other was a prophet, to whom God was pleased to reveal himself in a very singular manner; and therefore the instructions conveyed down from these must needs have been esteemed as oracles; and those who had the advantage of living nearest to them, and so were supposed to have received the greatest share of this traditional knowledge, must, of course, have been looked upon as the wisest men. See Peters, and the note on chap. Job 8:8.