Job 28:4

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?

(4 ) The flood breaketh out . . . is very uncertain. We may render, Man breaketh open a shaft where none sojourneth; they are forgotten where none passeth by: i.e., the labourers in these deserted places, they hang afar from the haunts of men, they flit to and fro. Or it may be, The flood breaketh out from the inhabitants, even the waters forgotten of the foot: they are dried up, they are gone away from man: that is, the very course of rivers is subject to the will and power of man. Those who walk over the place forget that it was once a river, so completely has man obliterated the marks of it.

Job 28:4 . The flood breaketh out — While men are digging and searching in the mines, a flood of waters breaks in suddenly and violently upon them, and disturbs them in their work; from the inhabitant — Hebrew, מעם גר , megnim gar, from with the inhabitant, or sojourner, as the word rather means: that is, out of that part of the earth which the miners inhabit, or wherever they sojourn and work; so that they dare not continue there any longer: but are forced to leave the place; even the waters forgotten of the foot — The first words in this clause, even the waters, are not in the Hebrew. It is only, They (namely, the waters ) are forgotten of the foot; that is, the foot, treading on dry ground, forgets that the waters were lately there. They are dried up, they are gone away from men — That is, the art of man finds a way to divert such waters into different channels, and to drain them, so that they leave the places dry again, or, at least, run in such shallow streams that they are easily passed over.

4 . This verse reads as a whole, They break a shaft away from man’s abode; They are forgotten of the foot; Far away from men they hang, and swing. The first clause, lit. away from the dweller or inhabitant , describes how the miners sink their shaft deep down below and away from the abode of men above. There they are forgotten by the foot of those overhead, who walk oblivious of them. And the last clause describes how they “hang and swing,” i.e. swing suspended in cages or from ropes as they pursue their unnatural operations— half way down Hangs one that gathers samphire—dreadful trade.

Verse 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 are "forgotten of the foot" of the passer-by. They are dried up, they are gone away from men ; rather, they hang swinging to and fro far from men. The descent of the shaft is made by a rope, to which they "hang swinging" all the time that they defend. As they have sought secrecy, all this takes place far from the haunts of men. Job 28:4

4. Three hardships in mining: 1. "A stream (flood) breaks out at the side of the stranger"; namely, the miner, a strange newcomer into places heretofore unexplored; his surprise at the sudden stream breaking out beside him is expressed (English Version, "from the inhabitant"). 2. "Forgotten (unsupported) by the foot they hang," namely, by ropes, in descending. In the Hebrew, "Lo there" precedes this clause, graphically placing it as if before the eyes. "The waters" is inserted by English Version. "Are dried up," ought to be, "hang," "are suspended." English Version perhaps understood, waters of whose existence man was previously unconscious, and near which he never trod; and yet man's energy is such, that by pumps, &c., he soon causes them to "dry up and go away" [So Herder]. 3. "Far away from men, they move with uncertain step"; they stagger; not "they are gone" [Umbreit].

This verse speaks either, 1. Of another great and remarkable work of God, whereby in some places either new rivers break forth, or old rivers break in upon the inhabitants, and drive them away; and in other places rivers or other waters are dried up, or derived into other channels or grounds, by which means these lands are rendered more useful and fruitful. Or rather, 2. Of an accident which commonly happens in mines, where, whilst men are digging, a flood of waters breaks in suddenly and violently upon them, and disturbs them in their work. From the inhabitant, Heb. from with the inhabitant, i.e. out of that part of the earth which the miners in a manner inhabit, or where they have their fixed abode, and for the most part dwell. Or, so that there is no inhabitant or abider , i.e. so that the miners dare continue there no longer, but are forced to come away. Even the waters; which word is easily and fitly understood out of the foregoing word flood . Or without this supplement, the flood may be said to be forgotten, &c., that singular word being collectively taken, and so conveniently joined with this word of the plural number. Forgotten of the foot, i.e. untrodden by the foot of man, such waters as men either never did pass over, by reason of their depth, cannot pass over; or such as though the miners at first for a while did pass over, yet now cannot, or dare not, do so any more.

Forgetfulness is here ascribed to the foot, as it is to the hand, Psalm 137:5 ; and it is put for ignorance or unacquaintedness; as all sinners are said to forget God, though many of them never remembered nor minded him. They are dried up, they are gone away from men; Heb. they are dried up (or drawn up , to wit, by engines made for that purpose) from men, (i.e. from the miners, that they may not be hindered in their work. Or, with or by men , the prefix mem being oft put for beth , i.e. by the labour of men,) they remove or vanish , or pass away, and so the miners return to their work.

The flood breaketh out from the inhabitant - It would be difficult to tell what idea our translators affixed to this sentence, though it seems to be a literal version of the Hebrew. There has been a great variety of rendering given to the passage. Noyes translates it: "From the place where they dwell they open a shaft, Unsupported by the feet, They are suspended, they swing away from men." Herder: "A flood goeth out from the realm of oblivion, They draw it up from the foot of the mountain, They remove it away from men." According to this, the meaning, Herder says, would be, that "the dwelling of the forgotten would be the kingdom of the dead, and at greater depth than the deepest mines have reached. Streams break forth from the river of eternal oblivion beneath, and yet are overcome by the miners, pumped dry, and turned out of the way. "Yet I confess," says he, "the passage remains obscure to my mind." Coverdale renders it, "With the river of water parteth he asunder the strange people, that knoweth no good neighborhood; such as are rude, unmannerly, and boisterous." The Septuagint renders it, "The channels of brooks are choked up with sand; when to such as know not the right way strength is unavailing, and they are removed from among men." The difficulty of interpreting the passage has been felt by every expositor to be great; and there are scarcely two expositions alike.

There can be no doubt that Job refers to mining operations, and the whole passage should be explained with reference to such works. But the obscurity may possibly arise from the fact that mining operations were then conducted in a manner different from what they are now, and the allusion may be to some custom which was then well understood, but of which we now know nothing. A plausible interpretation, at least, has been furnished by Gesenius, and one which seems to me to be more satisfactory than any other. An explanation of the words in the passage will bring out this view. The word rendered "breaketh out" (פרץ pârats) means to break, rend, tear through - and here refers to the act of breaking through the earth for the purpose of sinking a shaft or pit in a mine. The word rendered "flood" (נחל nachal) means properly a stream or brook; then a valley in which a brook runs along; and here Gesenius supposes it means a shaft or pit of a mine. It may be called a נחל nachal, or valley, from the resemblance to a gully which the water has washed away by a mountain-torrent. From the inhabitant - This conveys evidently no idea as it now stands. The Hebrew is מעם־גר mē‛ı̂m-gār. The word גוּר gûr, from which גר gār is derived, means to sojourn for a time, to dwell, as a stranger or guest; and the phrase here means, "away from any dweller or inhabitant;" that is, from where people dwell, or from the surface of the ground as the home of men; that is, under ground.