Where is Wisdom Found?

Continuing a Bible study of Job, Job is still speaking in chapter 28:

(Job 28:1) "Surely there is a vein for the silver, and a place for gold where they refine it. (2) Iron is taken out of the earth, and brass is molten out of the stone."

Job starts by saying that there surely are wonders of the world that man has been able to discover. The theologian Adam Clarke points out beautifully that this "chapter is the oldest and finest piece of natural history in the world".

(3) "He sets an end to darkness, and searches out all perfection: the stones of darkness, and the shadow of death."

The pronoun "He" refers to man who mines precious stones from the depths of the earth, appearing even to have gone to the regions of the shadow of death.

(4) "The flood breaks out from the inhabitant; even the waters forgotten by the foot; they are dried up, they are gone away from men."

Waters that are so far below the ground that they are not known to man, break forth through mining the earth.

(5) "As for the earth, out of it comes bread, and under it is turned up as if it were fire. (6) The stones of it are the places of sapphires, and it has dust of gold."

Out of the earth comes food, and below that? Job could be referring to coal, which was fuel for fire, or maybe he refers to something like molten lava boiling below the surface of the earth.

(7) "There is a path which no bird knows, and which the vulture's eye has not seen; (8) The lion's whelps have not trodden it, nor the fierce lion passed by it."

Man, as a miner, is able to dig deep into the earth to a place that neither beast nor bird with the keenest sight has ever seen.

(9) "He puts forth his hand on the rock; he overturns the mountains by the roots. (10) He cuts out rivers among the rocks, and his eye sees every precious thing. (11) He binds the floods from overflowing, and what is hidden he brings forth to light."

Interestingly, John Wesley thinks this passage is speaking about God. But some theologians think it continues with the miner. I see no reason why these verses can't be describing the miner. After all, man does have some power in the earth. That is why he often, in pride, believes he has more power than he actually does. The miner does indeed dig through rock. He can blast away mountains. He can dig out streams and dam them up. What is hidden below the surface of the ground or under the water can indeed be brought to light. A miner sees many precious things hidden in the earth.

(12) "But where will wisdom be found? And where is the place of understanding?"

The "But" cinches it for me. If the previous verses had been talking about God, why would there now be a "But"? Although man can do these seemingly marvelous things and unearth these wonders, there is no real wisdom and understanding in doing these things. Just because man can reach into the bowels of the earth and dig out wonders of God never before seen, he cannot really know the true wisdom of God. He may have knowledge of many earthly creations of God, and may have some understanding of how God has worked in nature on this earth, but he cannot really know the mind of God just by unearthing these wonders.

I suppose even if the previous passage of verses 9 through 11 had been speaking about the wonders of God, as John Wesley said, rather than what man can do, verse 12 would still make sense. Even though we see these marvelous wonders of God on earth, it does not mean we have complete understanding of Him. Either way, the context is the same. No matter what man sees and knows of God here on earth, he cannot know the mind of God.

(13) "Man does not know its value; neither is it found in the land of the living."

Man does not even know the value of true wisdom and understanding of God, and there is not enough in all the world to equal the value of it.

(14) "The deep says, 'It is not in me', and the sea says, 'It is not with me.' (15) It cannot be gotten for gold, neither shall silver be weighed for its price. (16) It cannot be valued with the gold of Ophir, with the precious onyx, or the sapphire. (17) The gold and the crystal cannot equal it, and the exchange of it will not be for jewels of fine gold. (18) No mention will be made of coral, or of pearls, for the price of wisdom is above rubies. (19) The topaz of Ethiopia will not equal it; neither will it be valued with pure gold."

Job recites a poetic list of all the wonderful and valuable treasures of the earth that cannot come close to the value of true wisdom.

(20) "From where then does wisdom come? And where is the place of understanding? (21) Seeing it is hidden from the eyes of all living, and concealed from the birds of the air."

Since wisdom is not known in all the world, and nothing comes close to it here on earth, Job asks from where then does it come.

(22) "Destruction and death say, 'We have heard the fame of it with our ears.'"

This is an interesting side note of Job's. Although, no one on earth knows wisdom, death and destruction have heard of it? Does he mean that, in death, souls will have more understanding? I do know a day is coming when all will know God and every knee will bow to Him, but this verse seems to suggest that the dead only have a partial knowledge of it at this point; they've only heard of it, they can't really say for certain what it is. So when souls depart this earth, do they have an inkling of what is to come at that point? I can see this verse another way. Perhaps after reviewing what happened in a certain destruction and death, we can garner some wisdom, learning from the past, so to speak. Think of all the Biblical wisdom that has been given to us for our learning, but even in this, we can say we have read about it, we have heard about it, but we cannot really KNOW it.

(23) "God understands its way, and He knows its place, (24) For He looks to the ends of the earth, and sees under the whole heavens, (25) To make the weight for the winds, and He weighs the waters by measure."

Man may be able to discover some secrets of the earth. He may be able to dig through mountains and dig out creeks, but it is God who made those mountains and made the waters that will flow into those creeks. God knows exactly what is necessary to hold back the oceans and He has the power to unleash them by the wind that He alone controls.

(26) "When He made a law for the rain, and a way for the lightning of the thunder, (27) Then He saw it and declared it; He prepared it, yea, and searched it out."

God declared His creations. God saw it, that it was good. He declared it through his marvelous works of nature, that they declare the glory of God. Our words "searched it out" aren't really sufficient for the meaning of the original word, "chaqar", which denotes a perfect intimate knowledge.

(28) "And to man He said, 'Behold, the fear of the Lord, that is wisdom, and to depart from evil is understanding.'"

The best we can attain of true wisdom and understanding on this earth is to fear the Lord and depart from evil. That is the charge God left for us. The word translated as fear also means reverence. Fearing the Lord is having a reverential fear that He is the One who holds your life in His hands. It's not that we have to be constantly afraid that He will strike us down for no reason, but we understand that He has the power to do so, but He loves us and wants the best for us, which is everlasting life with Him in eternity. Evil necessarily has to be as God describes it to us. The best we can do here on earth is to follow the Lord and follow the commandments He left for us, and that will be wisdom and understanding here on earth. We cannot have God's perfect intimate knowledge, but we can have what He gives us through His Holy Spirit when we seek to follow Him.