Job 28:10

_HE CUTTETH OUT RIVERS AMONG THE ROCKS; AND HIS EYE SEETH EVERY PRECIOUS THING._ He cuts channels to drain off the waters, which hinder his mining; and when the waters are gone, he is able to see the precious things in the earth....

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?...

Verse Job 28:10. _HE CUTTETH OUT RIVERS AMONG THE ROCKS_] He cuts canals, adits, c., in the rocks, and drives levels under ground, in order to discover _loads_ or _veins_ of ore. These are often continued a great way under ground and may be poetically compared to rivers, channels, or canals. _HIS EYE SEETH EVERY PRECIOUS THING._] He sinks those _shafts_, and drives those _levels_, in order to discover where the precious minerals lie, of which he is in pursuit....

HE CUTTETH OUT RIVERS AMONG THE ROCKS - That is, in his operations of mining, he cuts channels for the water to flow off through the rocks. This was done, as it is now, for the purpose of drawing off the water that accumulates in mines. HIS EYE SEETH EVERY PRECIOUS THING - Every valuable mineral or precious stone that lies imbedded in the rocks. It is evident from this, that mining operations were carried to a considerable extent in the time of Job. The art of thus penetrating the earth, and laying open its secret treasures, indicate an advanced stage of society - a stage much removed from barbarism....

EXPOSITION JOB 28:1 The connection of this chapter with the preceding is somewhat obscure. Probably we are to regard Job as led to see, even while he is justifying God's ways with sinners (Job 27:8), how many and how great are the difficulties in the way of forming a single consistent theory of the Divine action, which shall be applicable to all cases. Hence he comes to the conclusion that God is incomprehensible by man and inscrutable; and that it is only given to man to know him sufficiently for his practical guidance. To impress this on his hearers is his main object (verses 12-28); and, to impress it the more, he introduces it by a sharp contrast. Wonderful as is man's cleverness and ingenuity in respect of earthly things and physical phenomena (verses 1-11), with respect to h

HE CUTTETH OUT RIVERS AMONG THE ROCKS,.... By cleaving rocks asunder in order to find out things of value in the cliffs of them; or by cutting his way through them, the miner opens a course for rivers and floods of water, to drain off from his mines, and so can go on with his works more comfortably, and with success; though sometimes they sink through high rocks, till they go so far below their basis, that they can go no further for water, in some places forty or fifty fathom deep i: AND HIS EYE SEETH EVERY PRECIOUS THING; in the cliffs of the rock, or at the bottom of the rivers and floods, as they go off, or in the mines he digs, even gold or silver, or precious stones: hence came the fable of Lynceus, and from him the phrase of Lyncean eyes k, who was said to see all things under the earth, because he was the first that searched for metals, as brass, silver, c. and in search of them...

CHAPTER 28 _ 1. The treasures of the earth (Job 28:1)_ 2. The better treasures (Job 28:7) 3. God knoweth the way and the true wisdom (Job 28:23) Job 28:1. This part of the monologue of Job does not seem to have much relation, if any, to the controversial matter of the previous Chapter s. He speaks first of the treasures of the earth, the riches which man seeks after, but which do not last, and are so often man's undoing. Job shows that he had a good knowledge of mining operations. He knows of veins of silver and how gold is refined. Iron is taken out of the earth and copper molten out of stone. Then he describes how the miner with

JOB 28. Here again we come to a critical question. It is difficult to fit this chapter into the argument, whether Job 27:7 is given to Job or to Zophar. It is a widely accepted conclusion of scholars that the chapter is an independent poem on Wisdom (a very fine one) which has somehow found its way into the text of the Book of Job. In its present form it opens with the word For, marking a connexion with something that has gone before; so that the beginning appears to be lost. Duhm has suggested that since the word whence cometh wisdom (or where shall wisdom be found) and where is the place of understanding? occur as a refrain in the poem, it probably also began with them. The poem has a parallel in Proverbs 8. JOB 28:1. THE FIRST STROPHE. (Where shall wisdom be found?) For silver, gold, iron, and copper c

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....

C. SOURCE OF TRUE WISDOM (Job 28:1-28) 1. Man finds hidden treasures of the earth, as in mining. (Job 28:1-11) TEXT 28:1-11 1 SURELY THERE IS A MINE FOR SILVER, And a place for gold which they refine. 2 Iron is taken out of the earth, And copper is molten out of the stone. 3 _Man_ setteth an end to darkness, And searcheth out, to the farthest bound, The stones of obscurity and of thick darkness. 4 He breaketh open a shaft away from where men sojourn; They are forgotten of the foot; They hang afar from men, they swing to and fro. 5 As for the earth, out of it cometh bread; And underneath it is turned up as it were by fire. 6 The stones thereof are the place of sapphires, And it hath dust of gold. 7 That path