Job 28:5

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?

As for the earth, out of it cometh bread,.... That is, bread corn, or corn of which bread is made particularly wheat; which falling, or being cast into the earth, rises up and brings forth fruit, and, when ground into flour, makes fine bread; and to this same original the psalmist ascribes bread, which strengthens man's heart, Psalm 104:14 . The West Indians formerly made their bread of roots of the earth, particularly one called "jucca" (b); so Caesar's soldiers in distress made bread of a root called "chara", steeped in milk (c): and under it is turned up as it were fire; coal, which is fuel for fire; for, as in the earth are mines for gold and silver, iron and brass, out of which they are dug, or the ore of them, so there is coal under the earth; which, when turned up, or dug, is taken for firing; or brimstone, or sulphureous matter, which is easily inflammable; and sometimes the same earth, the surface of which is covered with corn, out of which bread cometh, underneath are coal, or sulphur, and such like combustible matter: some think precious stones are meant, which glitter and sparkle like fire; see Ezekiel 28:14. (b) P. Martyr, Decad 1. l. 1.((c) Caesar. Comment. Bell. Civil. l. 3. c. 48.

Job 28:5-6 . As for the earth, out of it cometh bread — Out of the surface of the earth man gets herbs and corn, and other kinds of food for his sustenance: and under it is turned up, as it were, fire — Lime, to manure and enrich the ground, or coals and brimstone, and other materials of fire: unless, as some suppose, this rather refers to a central fire in the bowels of the earth. The stones of it are the place of sapphires — Of precious stones; the sapphire, as one of the most eminent, being put for all the rest. In some parts of the earth the sapphires are mixed with stones, and cut out of them and polished. And it hath — The earth containeth; dust of gold — Distinct from that gold which is found in the mass; both sorts of gold being found in the earth.

5 . The same idea of the distance from the life of men and the unnaturalness of the miner’s work is pursued in the fine contrast between the peaceful, cultivated and fruitful face of the earth above and the destructive operations carried on in her bowels, which leave a confusion and devastation like that caused by fire. The second clause must be rendered, And underneath it is overturned as if by fire. The reference is hardly to actual blasting; rather to the overthrow and confused ruin that follows the miner’s operations.

Verse 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). Job 28:5

5. Its fertile surface yields food; and yet "beneath it is turned up as it were with fire." So Pliny [Natural History, 33] observes on the ingratitude of man who repays the debt he owes the earth for food, by digging out its bowels. "Fire" was used in mining [Umbreit]. English Version is simpler, which means precious stones which glow like fire; and so Job 28:6 follows naturally (Eze 28:14).

Out of it; out of the upper parts of the earth. Bread; bread-corn, or other food for man’s use. Under it; either, 1. Under the same earth, which either at the same time yields bread out of its upper, and fire out of its lower parts; or at several times; that earth which once was fruitful becoming, by the disposition of Divine Providence, barren and sulphureous, &c. Or, 2. Under other parts of the earth. Is turned up, i.e. is digged out and fetched up. As it were fire; either gold and precious stones, which glitter and sparkle like fire; or coals, and brimstone, and other materials of fire.

As for the earth, out of it cometh bread - That is, it produces food, or the materials for bread. The idea of Job seems to be, that it was proof of great wisdom and skill on the part of man that he had carried the arts of agriculture so far. The earth in producing grain, and the arts of husbandry, were illustrative of wisdom and skill, but they did not impart the wisdom about the government of God which was desired. That was reserved to be imparted more directly by God himself, Job 28:23 ff. And under it is turned up as it were fire - That is, on being turned up it discloses precious stones that seem to glow like coals of fire. This is the obvious sense of this passage, though a different interpretation has been given by most expositors. Job is speaking of mining. He describes the search for, gold, and silver, and precious stones. He says that one of the wonders of wisdom in the earth is, that it produces nutritious grain; another, that when the same earth is turned up it seems to rest on a bed of fire. The dark ground is made to glow by the quantity of jewels that are disclosed, and its deep recesses seem to be on fire. There is no reference here, therefore, as it seems to me. to any volcanic agency, or to any belief that the earth rests on a sea of fire. The idea has been expressed in Sergeant's "Mine:" "Wheresoe'er our footsteps turn, Rubies blush and diamonds burn." Luther has given to the passage a different sense.

Man bringet auch Feuer unten aus der Eerie, da oben Speise auf wachst - "They bring fire from the earth beneath, where food grows up above." Coverdale, "He bringeth food out of the earth; that which is under he consumeth with fire." Herder, "And underneath it is changed as by fire." Dr. Good, "Below it (the earth) windeth a fiery region."

5 The earth-from it cometh forth bread, And beneath it is turned up like fire. 6 The place of the sapphire are its stones, And it containeth gold ore. 7 The way, that no bird of prey knoweth, And the eye of the hawk hath not gazed at, 8 Which the proud beast of prey hath not trodden, Over which the lion hath not walked. Job 28:5 is not to be construed as Rosenm.: ad terram quod attinet, ex qua egreditur panis, quod subtus est subvertitur quasi igne; nor with Schlottm.: (they swing) in the earth, out of which comes bread, which beneath one turns about with fire; for Job 28:5 is not formed so that the Waw of ותחתּיה could be Waw apod., and ארץ cannot signify "in the interior of the earth" as locativus; on the contrary, it stands in opposition to תחתיה, that which is beneath the earth, as denoting the surface of the earth (the proper name of which is אדמה, from the root דם, with the primary notion of a flat covering). They are two grammatically independent predicates, the first of which is only the foil of the other: the earth, out of it cometh forth bread (לחם as Psalm 104:14), and beneath it (the surface of the earth) equals that which lies beneath it (ותחתיה only virtually a subj. in the sense of ותחתּיּותיה, since תּחתּי occurs only as a preposition), is turned about (comp. the construction of the sing. of the verb with the plur. subj.