Job 28:3

28:1-11 Job maintained that the dispensations of Providence were regulated by the highest wisdom. To confirm this, he showed of what a great deal of knowledge and wealth men may make themselves masters. The caverns of the earth may be discovered, but not the counsels of Heaven. Go to the miners, thou sluggard in religion, consider their ways, and be wise. Let their courage and diligence in seeking the wealth that perishes, shame us out of slothfulness and faint-heartedness in labouring for the true riches. How much better is it to get wisdom than gold! How much easier, and safer! Yet gold is sought for, but grace neglected. Will the hopes of precious things out of the earth, so men call them, though really they are paltry and perishing, be such a spur to industry, and shall not the certain prospect of truly precious things in heaven be much more so?

(3) He setteth an end to darkness. —May be read thus, Man setteth an end to darkness, and searcheth out to the furthest bound the stones of darkness and the shadow of death.Matthew Henry's Concise Commentary28:1-11 Job maintained that the dispensations of Providence were regulated by the highest wisdom. To confirm this, he showed of what a great deal of knowledge and wealth men may make themselves masters. The caverns of the earth may be discovered, but not the counsels of Heaven. Go to the miners, thou sluggard in religion, consider their ways, and be wise. Let their courage and diligence in seeking the wealth that perishes, shame us out of slothfulness and faint-heartedness in labouring for the true riches. How much better is it to get wisdom than gold! How much easier, and safer! Yet gold is sought for, but grace neglected. Will the hopes of precious things out of the earth, so men call them, though really they are paltry and perishing, be such a spur to industry, and shall not the certain prospect of truly precious things in heaven be much more so?Barnes' Notes on the BibleHe setteth an end to darkness - That is, man does. The reference here is undoubtedly to the operations of mining, and the idea is, that man delves into the darkest regions; he goes even to the outer limits of darkness; he penetrates everywhere.

Probably the allusion is derived from the custom of carrying torches into mines.And searcheth out all perfection - Makes a complete search; examines everything; carries the matter to the utmost. The idea is not that he searches out all perfection - as our translation would seem to convey; but that he makes a complete and thorough search - and yet after all he does not come to the true and highest wisdom.The stones of darkness - The last stone, says Herder, in the mining investigations in the time of Job; the corner or boundary stone, as it were, of the kingdom of darkness and night. Prof. Lee supposes that there is allusion here to the fact that stones were used as "weights," and that the idea is, that man had ascertained the "exact weight" of the gross darkness, that is, had taken an accurate admeasurement of it, or had wholly investigated it. But this solution seems far-fetched. Schultens supposes the center of the earth to be denoted by this expression. But it seems to me that the words "stone" and "darkness" are to be separated, and that the one is not used to qualify the other. The sense is, that man searches out everything; he perfectly and accurately penetrates everywhere, and examines all objects; "the stone" (אבן 'eben), that is, the rocks, the mines; "the darkness" (אפל 'ôphel), that is, the darkness of the cavern, the interior of the earth; "and the shadow of death" (צלמות tsalmâveth), that is, the most dark and impenetrable regions of the earth.

3–11 . Description of mining operations. he setteth ] To prevent ambiguity it is better to translate, man setteth, or, men set . The phrase “setteth an end to darkness” hardly refers to the light shed by the miner’s lamp; the expression is more general, meaning that men penetrate into what is dark and deep in the earth as if it were light and above ground—as the next clause explains. searcheth out all perfection ] Rather, searcheth out to the very end, or, utmost limit, the stones of darkness and the shadow of death, that is, the darkest recesses in the bowels of the earth. The word, very end or utmost limit is that occurring, ch. Job 26:10 (see notes) and ch. Job 11:7 . On “shadow of death” see on ch. Job 24:17 .

Verse 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 stones of darkness, and the shadow of death ; rather, and searcheth out to the furthest bound the stones of thick darkness and of the shadow of death ; explores, i.e. the entire murky regina within the earth, notwithstanding its fearful gloom and obscurity. Job 28:3

3. "Man makes an end of darkness," by exploring the darkest depths (with torches). all perfection—rather, carries out his search to the utmost perfection; most thoroughly searches the stones of darkness and of the shadow of death (thickest gloom); that is, the stones, whatever they be, embedded in the darkest bowels of the earth [Umbreit] (Job 26:10).

He; either, 1. Man, the miner; or, 2. God, of whose works of nature he here speaks; or, 3. God as the chief author and director, and man as God’s instrument in the work. An end; or, a bound , how far the darkness shall reach, and how far the dark and hidden parts and treasures of the earth shall be searched, and discovered, and brought to light. All perfection, i.e. metals and minerals, which are nothing else but earth concocted, and hardened, and brought to maturity and perfection. Or, unto all perfection , i.e. he perfectly and exactly searcheth them out; although the Hebrew lamed may be here only a note of the accusative case, as our translation takes it. The stones; either gems and precious stones, which are called by this word, Proverbs 26:8 ; or those stones out of which the metals forementioned are taken. Of darkness, and the shadow of death; which lie hid in the dark and deadly shades and bowels of the earth.