Job 28:14

28:12-19 Job here speaks of wisdom and understanding, the knowing and enjoying of God and ourselves. Its worth is infinitely more than all the riches in this world. It is a gift of the Holy Ghost which cannot be bought with money. Let that which is most precious in God's account, be so in ours. Job asks after it as one that truly desired to find it, and despaired of finding it any where but in God; any way but by Divine revelation.

The depth saith, it is not in me,.... That is, the deep places of the earth, that are dug in it, the mines, and the like, could they speak, they would say there are no metal, nor minerals, no rich treasures of gold and silver ore, of pearls and precious stones, in the bowels of it, that are of the value of wisdom, or to be compared to it: and the sea saith, it is not with me; had that a voice to speak, it would freely declare, that there is nothing in its vast compass, at the bottom of it, or to be got out of it, as corals that grow in it, and pearls fished from thence, after mentioned, that are a sufficient price for wisdom. Some understand these words, the former part of miners and colliers, and such sort of men, that dig and live in the depths of the earth; and the latter part of mariners, that are employed on the sea, who are generally ignorant and carnal men, and void of the knowledge of wisdom in every view of it; but the sense first given is best.

14 . Three great regions are mentioned, none of which is the “place” of Wisdom, the land of the living, the deep, and the sea. These three exhaust the extent of the upper world. The “land of the living” is the earth as the abode of living beings, more especially of men, Psalm 52:5 . The “deep” is the primeval abyss, out of which perhaps the sea is fed, lying under the earth, Genesis 1:2 , Psalm 24:2 —an almost mythological conception. Down under all these, however, lies the underworld of the dead, ch. Job 26:5 .

The depth, to wit, of the earth, because the sea here follows as a differing place. This is a very common figure, whereby speech is ascribed to dumb and senseless creatures. The meaning is, This is not to be found in any part of the land or sea, yea, though a man should dig or dive never so deep to find it, nor to be learned from any creatures; for though these discover the being, and power, and in part the wisdom of God, yet they do not instruct us in the methods and grounds of God’s providential dispensations to good and evil men: these are secrets of wisdom reserved for God himself.

The depth saith - This is a beautiful personification. The object of this verse and the following is, to show that wisdom cannot be found in the deepest recesses to which man can penetrate, nor purchased by anything which man possesses. It must come from God only. The word "depth" here (תהום tehôm) means properly a wave, billow, surge; then a mass of waters, a flood, or the deep ocean, Deuteronomy 8:7 ; Genesis 7:11 ; Psalm 36:6 ; and then a gulf, or abyss. It refers here to the sea, or ocean; and the idea is, that its vast depths might be sounded, and true wisdom would not be found there.

13 A mortal knoweth not its price, And it is not found in the land of the living. 14 The abyss saith: It is not in me, And the sea saith: It is not with me. 15 Pure gold cannot be given for it, And silver cannot be weighed as its price; 16 And it is not outweighed with fine gold of Ophir, With the precious onyx and the sapphire. It is self-evident that wisdom is found nowhere directly present and within a limited space, as at the bottom of the sea, and cannot be obtained by a direct exchange by means of earthly treasures.

It is, moreover, not this self-evident fact that is denied here; but the meaning is, that even if a man should search in every direction through the land of the living, i.e., (as e.g., Psalm 52:7) the world - if he should search through the תּהום, i.e., the subterranean waters that feed the visible waters (vid., Genesis 39:25) - if he should search through the sea, the largest bounded expanse of this water that wells up from beneath - yea, even if he would offer all riches and precious things to put himself in possession of the means and instruments for the acquirement of wisdom, - wisdom, i.e., the profoundest perception of the nature of things, would still be beyond him, and unattainable. ערך, Job 28:13, an equivalent (from ערך, to range beside, to place at the side of), interchanges with מחיר (from מחר, cogn. מהר, מכר, mercari). סגור is זהב סגוּר, 1 Kings 6:20 and freq., which hardly signifies gold shut up equals carefully preserved, rather: closed equals compressed, unmixed; Targ. דּהב סנין, aurum colatum (purgatum). Ewald compares Arab. sajara, to seethe, heat; therefore: heated, gained by smelting. On the other hand, כּתם from כתם, Arab. ktm, occulere, seems originally to denote that which is precious, then precious gold in particular, lxx χρυσίῳ Ωφείρ, Cod. Vat. and Cod.

[Bible] 27:22. And he shall cast upon him, and shall not spare: out of his hand he would willingly flee. 27:23. He shall clasp his hands upon him, and shall hiss at him, beholding his place. Job Chapter 28 Man's industry searcheth out many things: true wisdom is taught by God alone. 28:1. Silver hath beginnings of its veins, and gold hath a place wherein it is melted. 28:2. Iron is taken out of the earth, and stone melted with heat is turned into brass. 28:3. He hath set a time for darkness, and the end of all things he considereth, the stone also that is in the dark and the shadow of death. 28:4. The flood divideth from the people that are on their journey, those whom the food of the needy man hath forgotten, and who cannot be come at. 28:5. The land, out of which bread grew in its place, hath been overturned with fire. 28:6. The stones of it are the place of sapphires, and the clods of it are gold. 28:7. The bird hath not known the path, neither hath the eye of the vulture beheld it. 28:8. The children of the merchants have not trodden it, neither hath the lioness passed by it. 28:9. He hath stretched forth his hand to the flint, he hath overturned mountains from the roots. 28:10. In the rocks he hath cut out rivers, and his eye hath seen every precious thing. 28:11. The depths also of rivers he hath searched, and hidden things he hath brought forth to light. 28:12. But where is wisdom to be found, and where is the place of understanding? 28:13. Man knoweth not the price thereof, neither is it found in the land of them that live in delights. 28:14. The depth saith: It is not in me: and the sea saith: It is not with me. 28:15. The finest gold shall not purchase it, neither shall silver be weighed in exchange for it. 28:16. It shall not be compared with the dyed colours of India, or with the most precious stone sardonyx, or the sapphire. 28:17. Gold or crystal cannot equal it, neither shall any vessels of gold be changed for it.