Lenten Study Job Ch 28
Job explains how hard it is to gain wisdom. He first gives us a basis for comparison. Then he goes into how hard it is to gain wisdom. Finally, he closes with an explanation of what wisdom is and how to know if someone has become wise.
"There was a man in the land of Uz" by andrevanb is marked with CC BY-NC-SA 2.0.Caption
1 “Surely there is a mine for silver And a place where they refine gold.
2 “Iron is taken from the dust, And copper is smelted from rock.
3 “Man puts an end to darkness, And to the farthest limit he searches out The rock in gloom and deep shadow.
4 “He sinks a shaft far from habitation, Forgotten by the foot; They hang and swing to and fro far from men.
Job 28:1-4 (NASB)
Mining the earth for minerals was probably one of the most scientific things in Job’s day. This passage relates to us today if we expand the activity of mining to encompass all of science. We read this and see technical skills, skills based on learning how things work, and abilities to go places considered remote or inhospitable to living creatures. Yet, in all this, Man still figures out a way to go into the ground, dig out minerals, and make something valuable out of them. Modern-day science is no different. Going into space is going into one of the most inhospitable and unforgiving places we know. It takes great scientific acumen, learning, and ability to make that happen. Just as in Job’s day, modern Man believes he is all-powerful simply because he can go out and come back without dying. We are so proud of ourselves for surviving the trip we forget to think about how powerful the entity that created it is.
5 “The earth, from it comes food, And underneath it is turned up as fire.
6 “Its rocks are the source of sapphires, And its dust contains gold.
Job 28:5-6 (NASB)
Job is talking about science and the art of taking knowledge and making something valuable out of it.
7 “The path no bird of prey knows, Nor has the falcon’s eye caught sight of it.
8 “The proud beasts have not trodden it, Nor has the fierce lion passed over it.
Job 28:7-8 (NASB)
People venturing into unknown places where even the wild animals haven’t gone.
9 “He puts his hand on the flint; He overturns the mountains at the base.
Job 28:9 (NASB)
The base of the mountain phrase means on the inside, delving into caves and mining for precious minerals.
10 “He hews out channels through the rocks, And his eye sees anything precious.
11 “He dams up the streams from flowing, And what is hidden he brings out to the light.
Job 28:10-11 (NASB)
Pure discovery. Seeking for things you believe to be there and finding them but also coming across something completely new and never before seen.
12 “But where can wisdom be found? And where is the place of understanding?
Job 28:12 (NASB)
Those previous eleven verses are all set up for Job’s statement on finding wisdom. All the hard work, effort, and toil that goes into learning something new, successfully traveling to and from a dangerous location, and retrieving precious things from deep in the ground are all very difficult labors. Just the physical nature of those labors is extraordinary, but the mental efforts needed to learn new skills and discover them in the first place. It is an amazing amount of energy expended on behalf of discovery. Finding wisdom is harder.
13 “Man does not know its value, Nor is it found in the land of the living.
Job 28:13 (NASB)
The old added that knowledge is power is a misnomer, not true. Knowledge is all the information about a thing. This covers learning good aspects about a thing but also bad aspects.
14 “The deep says, ‘It is not in me’; And the sea says, ‘It is not with me.’
15 “Pure gold cannot be given in exchange for it, Nor can silver be weighed as its price.
16 “It cannot be valued in the gold of Ophir, In precious onyx, or sapphire.
17 “Gold or glass cannot equal it, Nor can it be exchanged for articles of fine gold.
18 “Coral and crystal are not to be mentioned; And the acquisition of wisdom is above that of pearls.
Job 28:14-18 (NASB)
Morphine is a drug. It has amazing pain-killing properties when administered in the proper dosage. Morphine is also highly addictive, damages the human body in the wrong dosages, and can even kill you. Morphine has both good and bad aspects. Knowledge is knowing all the aspects of morphine that you can, both good and bad. Wisdom is knowing when to use it, how much to give a person, when not to use it, and how to help someone addicted to it stop using it.
19 “The topaz of Ethiopia cannot equal it, Nor can it be valued in pure gold.
20 “Where then does wisdom come from? And where is the place of understanding?
21 “Thus it is hidden from the eyes of all living And concealed from the birds of the sky.
22 “Abaddon and Death say, ‘With our ears we have heard a report of it.’
23 “God understands its way, And He knows its place.
Job 28:19-23 (NASB)
We only get wisdom when choosing the good aspects of a thing over the bad ones. Who determines what is good and bad about any one thing? God and He gave us this information in the Bible.
24 “For He looks to the ends of the earth And sees everything under the heavens.
25 “When He imparted weight to the wind And meted out the waters by measure,
26 When He set a limit for the rain And a course for the thunderbolt,
27 Then He saw it and declared it; He established it and also searched it out.
Job 28:24-27 (NASB)
Why does only God get to decide what good and bad are? Because He created everything, When He set up the universe, He created all the rules under which we operate. He not only set everything in motion, but He first created those things that would be moving before He then set them in motion. It is His purview and His alone that determines if a thing is good or bad, and there can be no argument with Him once that decision is made.
28 “And to man He said, ‘Behold, the fear of the Lord, that is wisdom; And to depart from evil is understanding.’”
Job 28:28 (NASB)
We can know a thing is good or bad and even know the wise choice on that subject. If we do not actually make the wise choice, we have not gained wisdom, we are not wise, and we do not fully understand. When we actively make wise choices, choose the things God would choose if He were us, we demonstrate that we understand. Note that Job makes no bones about the bad aspects of a thing. They are evil. When we actively decide to choose things that are not wise, that are not good, that are not approved of by God, we choose evil. You can call it whatever you want; dumb, bad choice, foolish, stupid, or even misguided. The bottom line is when we move away from what God says is good, we actively choose evil over good. What is fear of the Lord? Fear of the Lord is actively recognizing God does delineate between good and evil without grey areas, and He does not welcome those who willingly choose evil over good.