Job 28

The Pulpit Commentary - Job 28:1-28

Job's first parable: 3. A discourse upon true wisdom. I. THE WISDOM UNDISCOVERABLE BY HUMAN GENIUS . Among the stupendous efforts of human industry and skill with which Job was acquainted, nothing was better fitted to impress the mind with a sense of man's illimitable daring, resistless might, and wonderful success in searching out all perfection (verse 3), and brining hidden things to light (vet, 11), than the operations of the miner. These, a knowledge of which may have been... read more

Spence, H. D. M., etc.

The Pulpit Commentary - Job 28:2

Iron is taken out of the earth (see the comment on Job 20:24 ). Iron was found in the hills of Palestine ( Deuteronomy 8:9 ), in the trans-Jordanic region (Josephus, 'Bell. Jud,' 4.8. § 2), in the sandstone of the Lebanon, and in Egypt, probably also in many other places. It is scarcely ever found except in the shape of iron ore, and so has to be "taken out of the earth." And brass is molten out of the stone. By "brass" we must understand copper, since the amalgam brass is never found... read more

Spence, H. D. M., etc.

The Pulpit Commentary - Job 28:3

He setteth an end to darkness . Man, in his desire to obtain these metals, "setteth an end to darkness," i.e. letteth in the light of day, or the artificial light which he carries with him, upon the natural abode of darkness, the inner parts of the earth. The miner's first operation is to pierce the ground with a shaft, perpendicular, horizontal, or oblique, as suits his purpose. Through this the light enters into what was previously pitch darkness. And searcheth out all perfection: the... read more

Spence, H. D. M., etc.

The Pulpit Commentary - Job 28:4

The flood breaketh out from the inhabitant . This passage is very obscure; but recent critics suggest, as its probable meaning, "He ( i.e. the miner) breaketh open a shaft, away from where men inhabit" (see the Revised Version). The miner does not wish to be interfered with, and therefore sinks his shaft in some wild spot, far from the habitations of men. Even the waters forgotten of the foot; rather, they are forgotten of the foot ; i.e. no one visits them; they are left alone; they... read more

Spence, H. D. M., etc.

The Pulpit Commentary - Job 28:5

As for the earth, out of it cometh bread . Man's cleverness is such that he turns the earth to various uses. By tillage of its surface he causes it to produce the staff of life, bread: and by his mining operations the under part of it is turned up as fire, or rather, as by fire. Fire was used in some of the processes whereby masses of material were detached and forced to yield their treasures (see Pliny, 'Hist. Nat.,' 33.4. § 73). read more

Spence, H. D. M., etc.

The Pulpit Commentary - Job 28:6

The stones of it are the place of sapphires . Among the rocks and stones whereof the interior of the earth is mainly composed are found gems of inestinable value, for instance, sapphires. It is doubtful whether the Hebrew sapphire ( ספיר ) was the gem which bears that name among ourselves, or the lapis lazuli. In either case it was highly esteemed, and appeared in kings' crowns ( Ezekiel 28:13 ), and in the high priest's breastplate ( Exodus 28:18 ); Job notes its high value in... read more

Spence, H. D. M., etc.

The Pulpit Commentary - Job 28:7

There is a path which no fowl knoweth ; or, his is a path which no bird of prey knoweth (see the Revised Version). The miner's path through the bowels of the earth is intended. And which the vulture's eye hath not seen . The vulture is probably the most keen-sighted of birds, but it cannot even get a glimpse of the subterraneous path which the miner treads. read more

Spence, H. D. M., etc.

The Pulpit Commentary - Job 28:8

The lion's whelps have not trodden it ; literally, the sons of the fierce— the whelps of lions, tigers, or leopards may be intended. These beasts would haunt the mountains and penetrate into natural caverns, bat would never adventure themselves in the shafts and adits of miners. Nor the fierce lion passed by it; rather, passed thereby (see the Revised Version). read more

Spence, H. D. M., etc.

The Pulpit Commentary - Job 28:9

He putteth forth his hand upon the rock . Our Revisers translate, upon the flinty rock ; while Canon Cook maintains that "the word used means either granite or quartz." Probably Job meant no more than that man does not shrink from attacking any—even the hardest—rock; but will subdue it, and cut his way through it, if he has occasion so to do. He overturneth the mountains by the roots . Herodotus, in describing what he had seen of the Phoenician mining operations in the island of... read more

Spence, H. D. M., etc.

The Pulpit Commentary - Job 28:10

He cutteth out rivers among the rocks . Some understand this of man's general ability to cut canals and tunnels, and change the course of rivers. But the allusion is more probably to the works undertaken in mines for the carrying off of the water from them. Diodorus says that when subterranean springs were tapped in mines, which threatened to flood them, it was usual to construct ducts, or tunnels, by which the inconvenient liquid might be carried off to a lower level (Diod. Siculus, 5.37. §... read more

The Pulpit Commentary - Job 28:1-28

The Pulpit Commentary - Job 28:2

The Pulpit Commentary - Job 28:3

The Pulpit Commentary - Job 28:4

The Pulpit Commentary - Job 28:5

The Pulpit Commentary - Job 28:6

The Pulpit Commentary - Job 28:7

The Pulpit Commentary - Job 28:8

The Pulpit Commentary - Job 28:9

The Pulpit Commentary - Job 28:10

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