Job 28:18

_NO MENTION SHALL BE MADE OF CORAL, OR OF PEARLS: FOR THE PRICE OF WISDOM IS ABOVE RUBIES._ Red coral (Ezekiel 27:16). PEARLS - literally, what is frozen х_ GAABIYSH_ (H1378)]. Probably crystal; and Job 28:17 will then be glass. RUBIES. Umbreit translates pearls (see Lamentations 4:1; Proverbs 3:15, "She is more precious than rubies: and all the things thou canst desire are not to be compared unto her"). The Urim and Thummim, the means of consulting God by the twelve stones on the high priest's breastplate, "the stones of the sanctuary" ...

12-19 Job here speaks of wisdom and understanding, the knowing and enjoying of God and ourselves. Its worth is infinitely more than all the riches in this world. It is a gift of the Holy Ghost which cannot be bought with money. Let that which is most precious in God's account, be so in ours. Job asks after it as one that truly desired to find it, and despaired of finding it any where but in God; any way but by Divine revelation....

Verse Job 28:18. _See also Clarke on "_Job 28:16_"_. Ver. Job 28:18. 4. ראמות ramoth, CORAL, from ראם _raam_, to be _exalted_ or _elevated_; probably from this remarkable property of coral, "it always grows from the tops of marine rocky caverns with the head downwards." _Red coral_ is found in the Mediterranean, about the isles of Majorca and Minorca, on the African coast, and in the Ethiopic ocean. 5. גביש gabish, PEARLS, from גבש _gabash_, in Arabic, to be _smooth_, to _shave off the hair_; and hence _gabish_, the _pearl_, the _smooth round substance_; and also _hail_ or _hailstones,_ because of their resemblance to _pearls_. The pea

NO MENTION SHALL BE MADE OF CORAL - That is, as a price by which to purchase wisdom, or in comparison with wisdom. The margin here is, “Ramoth” - retaining the Hebrew word ראמה _râ'mâh_. Jerome renders it, _“excelsa”_ - exalted or valuable things. So the Septuagint, Μετέωρα _Meteōra_ - exalted or sublime things; as if the word were from רום, to be exalted. According to the rabbis, the word here means “red coral.” It occurs also in Ezekiel 27:16, where it is mentioned as a valuable commodity in merchandise in which Syria traded with Tyre, and occurs in connection with emeralds, purple, broidered work, fine linen, and agate. The coral is a well known marine substance, not valued now as if it were a precious stone, but probably in th

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

NO MENTION SHALL BE MADE OF CORAL, OR OF PEARLS,.... Coral is a marine plant, is as hard as a stone, and of such value as to be reckoned among precious stones; Ezekiel 27:16. In Arabia Felix, on the shore of the Red sea, is a place called Coralia n; it may be from coral found there. Pearls are from shellfish taken out of the sea, though these seem rather intended in the next clause: the words "ramoth" and "gabish" are left untranslated by some, and by others are taken for precious stones, though unknown, so called because they are found in high places, which both words signify. The Targum renders the first by "sandalchin", and seems to be the same with the sardonyx, a precious stone found in Arabia, and which found there is by Pliny o said to excel. Junius and Tremellius render it by "sandastros"; which, as Pliny says p, some call "Garamantis", being bred in a place of that name in India...

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

As the preceding verses (1 14) expressed the idea that there was no "place" of Wisdom where men could find it and from which they could bring it forth, these verses express the idea that it can be acquired by no price which men can offer for it. It is altogether unattainable. The passage may contain the additional idea of the preciousness or desirableness of Wisdom (see Job 28:18), but the purpose of these verses is not to set forth wisdom as a good or as the chief good, for which one might willingly give all that he holds most precious; the thought of the passage is that _though_one should offer gold and precious stones for Wisdom it cannot be procured, being nowhere to be found. That the Writer's purpose is to express this conception mainly is evident from the refrain which closes the passage, as a similar one closed the preceding passage: But Wisdom whence cometh it? and where is the...

BUT WHERE SHALL WISDOM BE FOUND?— Job continues to give further instances of the daring and yet successful attempts of mankind, to provide themselves with every necessary and conveniency of life; such as corn for bread; (Job 28:5.) fountains of water in the dry places, where they are wanted, cut out of the hard rock; (Job 28:10.) and rapid rivers restrained within their channels to prevent the mischiefs of their overflow: Job 28:11. To which he adds again gold and sapphires, and other precious stones, dug from the deep dark caverns of the earth, _where the lion's foot never trod, nor the vulture's eye hath reached:_ in short, that there is scarcely any thing so concealed, but that the industry of man hath brought it to light; wisdom alone