Chapter 28
 |
And unto man he said, Behold, the fear of the Lord,
that is wisdom; and to depart from evil is understanding.
Job 28:28
|
Job’s poem about wisdom
v1 In the right place, there is silver.
There is also gold. But men must use fire to make pure gold.
v2 Men obtain iron from dust.
And they make copper (another metal) from the rocks.
v3 A man carries his torch into the darkest places. He searches everywhere.
He looks for valuable rocks in the deepest darkness.
v4 He goes away from the town. He goes to places that other people have forgotten.
There, he bores through the rock. He descends into a deep cave. There, he hangs and swings round.
v5 Food comes from the earth’s surface.
But everything is different underneath the surface.
Fire has changed everything.
v6 There are beautiful precious stones in the rocks.
There is gold in the dust.
v7 This is a secret that the birds do not know.
Birds do not visit such places. Birds cannot see these places.
v8 The proudest animals have not been there.
Lions do not go that way.
v9 But a man breaks those rocks.
A man explores beneath the mountains.
v10 A man breaks the rocks to see the precious things inside.
v11 He causes the rivers not to flow.
Then, he sees the things that the waters hid.
v12 But the man does not discover wisdom.
He does not know how to be intelligent.
v13 He does not even realise that wisdom is valuable.
He cannot discover wisdom among the living things of the earth.
v14 He cannot discover wisdom in the sea.
Even if he went to the deepest places, he would not become wise.
v15 Nobody can buy wisdom.
Even the best gold and silver cannot make someone wise.
v16 Wisdom is more precious than the beautiful things from the rocks.
Wisdom is more precious than gold.
Wisdom is more precious than precious stones, for example onyx and sapphires.
v17 Wisdom is better than the purest things.
Wisdom is even more valuable than gold or glass.
v18 Wisdom is much better than the beautiful things that come from the sea, for example coral and pearls.
Wisdom is more valuable than the most expensive precious stones.
v19 In the distant country called Ethiopia, there is a precious stone called topaz.
But topaz is not as good as wisdom.
Even the richest person cannot buy wisdom.
v20 But people need to discover wisdom.
They have to know how to be intelligent.
v21 But no living thing can find wisdom.
Even the birds do not know where to look for it.
v22 You will not even become wise when you die.
In hell, people can only whisper about wisdom.
v23 Only God understands wisdom.
He alone can teach you to be wise.
v24 Only God sees the whole earth.
Only God knows everything.
v25 He established the strength of the wind.
He measured the waters in the clouds.
v26 He decided how the rain would fall.
He chose a route for the storm and the lightning.
v27 God saw wisdom!
God declared wisdom!
God prepared wisdom!
God tested wisdom!
v28 So, God said to people:
‘If you respect God, then you will be wise.
If you refuse to do evil things, then you will be intelligent.’
Verses 1-2
All metals were precious when Job lived. Men seemed to make metals from ordinary rocks. But the process needed great skill. The workmen had to search for the right rocks. Then they would burn the rocks in the hottest fire. In the end, they would produce a tiny quantity of pure metal.
Verses 3-4
In fact, the rocks that men needed to make metals were special rocks. To find these rocks, a man
would have to go underground. The man would squeeze his body through cracks in the ground. He would enter a cave. He would descend further on ropes.
Keith Simons
Verses 5-6
The soil where plants grow seems so ordinary. But nothing is ordinary underground. A man needs a torch to see anything. But, with his torch, the man may find precious things.
Verses 7-8
Animals do not live in such places. But men have learned the skills to go there.
Verses 9-11
But the man is not gentle when he enters this special place. He is like a thief. He breaks the rocks. He takes away everything that is precious. He destroys everything so that he may become rich.
Verse 12
This man has many skills.
But he is still a fool.
He may discover gold and silver.
He may become rich.
But wisdom is better than gold or silver.
If the man does not learn to be wise, that man is stupid.
Verse 13
This man does not appreciate wisdom. And he does not care about wisdom. He only thinks about his own wealth.
Verse 14
The man will not discover wisdom underground. Other men dive into the sea to find precious things (verse 18). But they will not find wisdom there, either.
Verse 15
Some things matter more than money. A wealthy man cannot buy wisdom. And a poor man may be very wise.
Verses 16-18
Wisdom is precious. Wisdom is perfect. And wisdom is valuable. In other words, wisdom is much better than anything else. Job was emphasising the importance of wisdom.
Verse 19
The country called Ethiopia was a long way from where Job lived. And the precious stone called topaz was very, very rare. And so it was very expensive. But it is better to be wise, than to own much topaz.
Verse 20
Topaz (verse 19) may be beautiful. But it is not useful. God and silver (verse 15) are valuable. But money cannot teach us how to trust God. So wisdom is better than all these things. But wisdom is not something that you can just discover. In fact, wisdom does not even belong in this world.
Verses 21-22
In verse 21, Job spoke about things that are alive.
In verse 22, he spoke about people who are dead.
Neither life nor death can teach you how to be wise.
Verse 23
You may think that it is impossible to learn such wisdom. But wisdom is God’s gift to people (James 1:5). God wants everyone to learn to be wise (Proverbs 1:5).
Verses 24-26
These verses are similar to Proverbs 8:22-31. God himself used wisdom when he created the world.
Verse 27
Wisdom is not merely the thoughts of human minds. And wisdom is not clever ideas, like the ideas of Job’s friends.
God chose wisdom as a quality that people need.
Wisdom will benefit our whole lives. And wisdom will bring us to heaven when we die.
This is a very important verse. It explains how we can be wise. Like Job, (Job 1:1) we must:
· respect God, and
· refuse to do evil things.
See also Proverbs 1:7 and Proverbs 3:5-6.
This was also Jesus’ message in Mark 1:15. He told the people to believe God’s message. In other words, he told them to respect God’s words. And Jesus told them to stop their evil behavior.
If we respect God, he will teach us. He will show us how to please him.
Then, we shall learn to be his people.
But, in order to respect God, we need to obey his commands. So, we should refuse to do evil deeds. We shall make many mistakes. But if we confess our errors to God, he will forgive us (1 John 1:9).
