Job 28

Notes

No wonder that I cannot tell you the reasons why God punishes some wicked men in this world and not all, when, after all our researches, we have so scanty a knowledge of natural things. There are secret mines for the silver, and a country for gold, which men melt and refine. 2. And iron is, with art and labour, dragged from the dust, and stones are melted into brass; 3. The miners, in the most earnest and daring manner, dig till they have quite lost the light of day, and bring their ore from the dark caverns of the earth, where pestilential damps and other dangers often prove mortal. 4. While, with infinite labour, they drain off the springs that disturb them, they break into veins of metal about the bottom of mountains; and, unheeded by the men who walk above them, they wander in the dark bowels of the earth. 5, 6. While the surface of the ground produces herbs and corn for food to animals; lime, brimstone, and such other combustibles are found in its bowels; nay, the most precious stones and gold in some parts of it. 7, 8. So mysterious are the passages of these miners that the most quick-sighted fowls never looked into them, and the most fierce and courageous animals never dared to enter them. 9. But the miners artfully cut their way through rocks of flint, and dig to the bottoms of mountains, to come at the precious metals. 10. They make passages for draining off the water that breaks in upon them, and cleave asunder the veins of ore, and earnestly discover the precious stones and metals. 11. They stop the springs from overflowing their mine, turning them another way, and bring up these precious gems or metals which had been long sealed up in the heart of the earth. 12. But to find out solid wisdom, or obtain the knowledge of God's reasons in his providential conduct, is still more difficult. 13. God hath so disposed it that no man knows the order, method, or importance of his procedure; and no man on earth can attain to it. 14. No search into the depths of the earth or sea can procure it. 15-19. Not all the precious metals or gems in the world can purchase it. 20, 21. No, not the most quick-sighted creatures on earth can point out a method to obtain it. 22. The solid consideration of death and hell are a proper introduction to true wisdom; and yet in death and damnation there are manifold instances of God's wise procedure which are not sufficiently comprehended in the reasons of them. 23-27. God alone—who is infinite in wisdom and knowledge, and who rules and governs all things for the best—who manages winds, waters, rains, and thunders in all their circumstances, degree, time, place, or form—properly understands the reasons of whatever he does, particularly his dealings with men. 28. But what he inculcates and bestows upon men as their proper wisdom is such a knowledge and filial awe of his unbounded excellencies, as makes them to flee to him as their only refuge and portion; and, hating everything sinful, to love him and keep his commandments.

Ver. 1. [The general scope of this address on mining operations is well indicated by Delitzsch:—'According to the most natural connection Job desires to show that the final lot of the rich man is well merited, because the treasures which he made the object of his avarice and pride, though ever so costly, are still earthly in their nature and origin.' It is interesting to inquire where Job got his knowledge of mining. There is monumental evidence that mining operations were carried on in the peninsula of Sinai long before the exodus. The remains of smelting furnaces, the dwellings of the miners, the temples they erected, and the works they undertook, may be seen on the spot to this day; and they are testimonies to the scientific acquirements and enterprising spirit of some great primeval nation. With these or kindred works Job must have been acquainted. P.]

Ver. 4. [Delitzsch's translation of this difficult passage is as follows:—'He breaketh away a shaft from those who tarry above; there, forgotten by every foot, they hang and swing far from men.' Allusion is manifestly made to the operations of the miner, especially in the copper-mines. 'The shaft' is the perpendicular aperture to the mine. Down it the miners are let by a rope, on which they hang and swing unseen by those above. P.]

Ver. 5. [That is, the surface of the earth is heaved up and tossed by the operations of the miner, just as volcanic fire heaves up a mountain. P.]

Ver. 11. [Bindeth the floods. It is probable the reference of Job is to the ingenious methods and gigantic efforts whereby mines were drained in his days; but of the literal binding of the floods, many parts of the Low Countries of the European continent, rescued by embankment from the sea, afford the most striking examples. Roberts in his Illustrations refers the greater part of this chapter to the eastern works for irrigation; but we can see no good reason for supposing them so obscurely combined with the evident reference to mining. See ver. 1, 2. C.]

Ver. 25. [The writer here refers to those great fixed laws which regulate all physical nature. These laws are divine in origin. God appointed them. He appointed to the wind the measure of its force; he distributed the seas and oceans by measure; he appointed to the rains, the lightning, and the thunder their laws. God thus rules the world in every department. P.]

Reflections.—Alas! how men rack their wits, and toil their members, to obtain riches, which, while enjoyed, are unsubstantial, and which quickly take to themselves wings and fly away, as an eagle towards heaven! Why are we not more industrious in digging for Jesus' hidden treasures, which answer all things and endure for ever! Surely Jesus and his mysteries, Jesus and his grace, must be strangely mistaken when men can thus prefer created trifles and rarities of dust! But how great is that God whose eye overlooks all, whose power effects all, whose purpose rules all things! Let me never dare to pry into his private counsels, whereby he regulates his conduct. Let me leave the secrets of other men's hearts and the deep mysteries of providence to the Lord. And let me and my children study what he has revealed to us as the standard of our faith and practice. Let us learn the wisdom which comes from above, which is pure and peaceable, manifested in fearing the Lord and departing from evil.