Wisdom: The Oldest Pursuit (2)
To start at the beginning of this series, click here.
Job 28 appears at a crisis point in the story. Job has made a case that the LORD is not just and Job’s friends have made up crimes that he has committed. All to answer from a human basis, why it is that the good man is suffering. The book and the reader is left at a despairing impasse.
So it’s strange that Job 28 begins:
Surely there is a mine for silver
And a place where they refine gold.Iron is taken from the dust,
And copper is smelted from rock.Man puts an end to darkness,
And to the farthest limit he searches out
The rock in gloom and deep shadow.He sinks a shaft far from habitation,
Forgotten by the foot;
They hang and swing to and fro far from men.The earth, from it comes food,
And underneath it is turned up as fire.Its rocks are the source of sapphires,
And its dust contains gold.(The path no bird of prey knows,
Nor has the falcon's eye caught sight of it.The proud beasts have not trodden it,
Nor has the fierce lion passed over it.)He puts his hand on the flint;
He overturns the mountains at the base.He hews out channels through the rocks,
And his eye sees anything precious.He dams up the streams from flowing,
And what is hidden he brings out to the light. (Job 28:1-11)
It’s a fascinating look into ancient mining as we see shafts dug and men swinging to and fro on ropes to go where animals have no care to go. I’ve watched a few gold mining shows. Modern equipment pours tons of dirt and rock into tumblers that spray volumes of water and the slurry flows over screens and at the end they collect gold. Tons of dirt yields little more than a few ounces of gold in the best mines. Machinery, men, and effort weighed against a little bit of gold—and it’s a win. Gold, silver, precious stones, and metals have values that make the effort of their extraction worth it.
So what is the point? We know the value of gold—but how does that help us with the dilemmas of life? “But where can wisdom be found? And where is the place of understanding? Man does not know its value, Nor is it found in the land of the living.” (Job 28:12, 13)
How does one answer Job? How does one answer the wars and famines and natural disasters that destroy property and lives? What are the keys to success: in relationships, in work, in management, and all aspects of life? In all these things we need wisdom and understanding. Great-we know how to get riches from the earth—but where can we find wisdom and understanding—and what is its value?
The author of Job goes back to the mining motif. All the things pulled from the earth with great effort are worthless when it comes to gaining wisdom and understanding.
The deep says, 'It is not in me';
And the sea says, 'It is not with me.'Pure gold cannot be given in exchange for it,
Nor can silver be weighed as its price.It cannot be valued in the gold of Ophir,
In precious onyx, or sapphire.Gold or glass cannot equal it,
Nor can it be exchanged for articles of fine gold.Coral and crystal are not to be mentioned;
And the acquisition of wisdom is above that of pearls.The topaz of Ethiopia cannot equal it,
Nor can it be valued in pure gold.Where then does wisdom come from?
And where is the place of understanding? (Job 28:14-20)
And again the question—where does wisdom and understanding come from? There is a little bit of a tease here. Why speak of mining and then tell us that money does not yield wisdom? Why not just tell us that we need wisdom and tell us how to get it? In part, wisdom does not come so easily. We are being enticed to want it. If you dig for gold, why would you not do whatever is needed to acquire wisdom?
Curiously, the author is not done with his teasing—and so I, too, will close today with this. "Thus it is hidden from the eyes of all living And concealed from the birds of the sky. Abaddon and Death say, 'With our ears we have heard a report of it.'“ (Job 28:21,22) I believe the reference to “all living” means non-human life. Animals have innate instincts to guide them, but people need more. And when a person dies, perhaps in foolishness, he or she might at the end see a bit of wisdom—but with regret.
Let’s continue tomorrow.