Where is WISDOM to be Found?
Posted on Nov 29, 2011 in David L Cooper | 0 comments
By David L. Cooper
A Study of Job, Chapter 28
The twenty-eighth chapter of the Book of Job is a unique portion of the Word of God. It is a classic on the subject of wisdom. It falls naturally into three parts: I. Wisdom is not to be found in the mines beneath the earth (vs. 1-11); II. Wisdom is not to be purchased in the Markets of men (vs. 12-22); III. God knows where wisdom is to be found (vs. 23-28).
In this classic passage on the subject Job asserts that wisdom is not to be found in silver mines; nor can it be discovered in gold deposits. Not only are silver and gold dug up out of the bowels of the earth, but iron and copper, metals absolutely essential to modern life, are likewise to be found there. Job affirms (vs. 2) that copper is “molten out of the stone,” the stone of the mountains. This reference immediately causes one to think of such a passage as Deuteronomy 8:9: “. . . a land (Canaan) wherein thou shalt eat bread without scarceness, thou shalt not lack anything in it; a land whose stones are iron, and out of whose hills thou mayest dig copper.” Here we are told that copper and iron are in the mountains of Palestine. Solomon developed and operated copper and iron mines, one of the sources of his abounding wealth, in that portion of the southern part of the country known as the Negev, especially in the southern end of the Jordan Valley south of the Dead Sea, which extends to the Gulf of Akaba. Recent excavations have been made there which bring to light the very extensive mining operations of Solomon. IN this connection, let me call attention to the fact that there are great mineral resources in the Dead Sea. Reports come that oil also has been discovered in the State of Israel, and that the supply is comparable to that in Iraq. Men can go down into the bowels of the earth and can bring forth these precious metals oil and minerals, which are so very essential to modern life today. Job speaks of sinking a shaft into the earth for the purpose of finding the metals (vs. 3-4).
Verse 5 is quite revealing: “As for the earth, out of it cometh bread; and underneath it is turned up as it were by fire.” Everyone knows that the bread and the food we eat comes ultimately from the soil, as is asserted in this verse, and as we learn from Genesis, chapter 3. Moreover, we are told by Job that underneath the crust of the earth is fire, which is turned up. This is verified by the volcanoes which we have. Doubtless the many gems which we have are the result of fires in the central part of the earth and the intense pressure to which various elements have been subjected. Therefore, Job said, the stones thereof are the place of sapphires and they have the dust of gold (vs. 6).
Our author asserts that the birds of pretty and the beasts of the field know nothing of the places underneath the surface of the earth. All they know is that which is on and above the surface of the earth (vs. 7-8).
According to the information contained in verses 9 and 10, God overturns the mountains, uproots them, and cuts channels in the rocks for the rivers. His eye sees every precious thing that is hidden beneath the surface of the earth. Also He binds up the streams, subterranean canals, and reservoirs of water, which are mentioned in such passages as Psalm 24:1-2, and causes them to cease trickling. By His overruling providence He brings various things to light. From all this information we see that God knows and understands what is in the center of the earth, what is in its crust, and what grows upon its bosom. He is in absolute and full control of everything.
But where is wisdom?
12 But where shall wisdom be found? And where is the place of understanding?
13 Man knoweth not the price thereof; neither is it found in the land of the living.
14 The deep saith, It is not in me; and the sea saith; it is not with me (28:12-14).
Job understood the various things which he mentioned in the first eleven verses of this chapter. He, a man, knew where to get these material things; but the question which was uppermost with him was, Where to get wisdom? Who knows its place, or the price thereof? If the deep were a person, it would answer and say, “It is not in me,” and the sea would say, “It is not with me.” Man may, by his labors, ingenuity, and industry, find the precious things—or the things which men consider precious. But in his quest he cannot—in the strength of natural man—find the richest treasure, wisdom.
Wisdom is not to be purchased in the marts of the world.
Regardless of how much gold and silver a person may have, he cannot go out into the markets of the world and purchase wisdom, which is not to be compared with the finest gold or Ophir, with the onyx, or with the sapphire. The pavement upon which the throne of God is represented as resting is sapphire (Ex. 25:9-10). Gold and glass cannot equal wisdom; no type of jewels of finest gold, or coral, or crystal can compare with it. “Yes, the price of wisdom is above rubies.” The Egyptian topaz does not equal it, nor is it to be valued with pure gold.
Since wisdom is so very wonderful and valuable, and since it cannot be purchased in the marts of the world at any price, where, then, can this most important of all commodities in all the universe be obtained?
Wisdom and understanding are almost synonymous terms. But this statement is not true concerning knowledge. Knowledge is the acquisition of facts and principles. Wisdom and understanding constitute the ability to appraise, to evaluate situations, and to act accordingly. Thus it becomes apparent that wisdom is of paramount importance.
But, according to verse 21, wisdom is hid from the eyes of the living and also from the birds of the heavens. “Death and Destruction,” personified in verse 22, are represented as saying: “We have heard a rumor thereof with our ears.” Destruction, here, is Abaddon, the place in which evil spirits are incarcerated (Rev. 9:1-11). When we take a survey of the first 22 verses of Job, chapter 28, we see that wisdom, which is so very indispensable to life, cannot be found in the mines of the world: neither can it be found in the strata of the earth; nor down in the depths of the central part of it. It is not to be purchased in the markets of the world; nor found in the land of the living. It cannot be discovered in the depths of the sea. Where, then, can it be found?
God Knows the Place of Wisdom
23 God understandeth the way thereof, and he knoweth the place thereof.
24 For he looketh to the ends of the earth, and seeth under the whole heaven;
25 To make a weight for the wind: Yes, he meteth out the waters by measure.
26 When he made a decree for the rain, and a way for the lightning of the thunder;
27 Then did he see it, and declare it; he established it, yea, and searched it out.
28 And unto man he said, Behold, the fear of the Lord, that is wisdom; and to depart from
evil is understanding (vs. 23-28).
Since man does not know where wisdom is and cannot find it, he is told where it can be obtained (vs. 23-28). In describing the place of wisdom, Job speaks of God in His activity in creating the universe, and, by inference, he tells us that wisdom is to be found in God and God alone. When anyone studies the physical sciences and sees the order, the symmetry, in the universe, and observes the relations that exist between the multitudinous things of the cosmos, and when he understands the dependence of one thing upon another, and how various things serve different purposes, he comes to the conclusion that the Being who has thus created and is controlling the universe is the very quintessence of wisdom.
After drawing this analogy, with its great lesson, Job in plain words said: “Behold, the fear of the Lord, that is wisdom; and to depart from evil is understanding” (vs. 28).
The conclusion Job reached is in perfect harmony with the teaching of Proverbs, chapter 8. In the first 21 verses of this passage wisdom, as an abstract quality, is personified and represented as crying to the children of men and trying to impart the lessons of wisdom to them. But by the time we reach verses 22-31, we find that the writer has ceased to think of wisdom as an abstract quality; and now conceives of it as being embodied in a Being who was with God from all eternity, and who created the material universe. This is such a wonderful passage on the subject of wisdom that I deem it appropriate to quote it here:
22 Jehovah possessed me in the beginning of the way, before his works of old.
23 I was set up from everlasting, from the beginning, before the earth was.
24 When there were no depths, I was brought forth, when there were no fountains
abounding with water.
25 Before the mountains were settled, before the hills was I brought forth;
26 While as yet he had not made the earth, nor the fields, nor the beginning of the dust of
the world.
27 When he established the heavens, I was there: when he set a circle upon the face of the
deep,
28 When he made firm the skies above, when the fountains of the deep became strong,
29 When he gave to the sea its bound, that the waters should not transgress his
commandment, when he marked out the foundations of the earth;
30 Then I was by him, as a master workman; and I was daily his delight, rejoicing always
before him,
31 Rejoicing in his habitable earth; and my delight was with the sons of men (Prov.
When these verses are studied in the light of such a portion of scripture as John 1:1-18, it becomes immediately apparent that this Being of whom Solomon spoke was none other than the Word, the Logos, of God which was in the beginning with God, was associated with God and was very God: “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. 2 The same was in the beginning with God” (John 1:1-2). He, therefore, was and is the very embodiment of wisdom: “. . . Christ the power of God, and the wisdom of God” (I Cor.
When the Word, the Lord Jesus Christ, laid aside His glory and came to earth, taking upon Himself the form of flesh and dwelling among men, He was “made unto us wisdom from God, and righteousness and sanctification, and redemption: 31 that, according as it is written, He that glorieth, let him glory in the Lord” (I Cor. 1:30-31).
Where is wisdom to be found? Only in the man, Christ Jesus, who was made the very expression of the wisdom of God, having become “one mediator also between God and men, himself man, Christ Jesus, 6 who gave himself a ransom for all; the testimony to be borne in its own times . . .” (I Tim. 2:5-7). The one who comes to the Lord Jesus Christ, and is born again, and who allows the Spirit of God to dwell in his heart richly, finds the Source of all wisdom.
Although the Word of God made flesh, the Lord Jesus Christ, is the very embodiment of true wisdom, we find that the Written Word—the expression of the wisdom of the Living Word—is also the source of wisdom. WE ho have come to Christ, the Living Word, should likewise come constantly to the Scriptures, the Written Word, and by digging down into its mines of eternal truth, obtain there the wisdom, the understanding, and the fear of God. On this point let us again hear Solomon:
1 My son, if thou wilt receive my words, and lay up my commandments with thee;
2 So as to incline thine ear unto wisdom, and apply thy heart of understanding;
3 Yes, if thou cry after discernment, and lift up thy voice for understanding;
4 If thou seek her as silver, and search for her as for hid treasures:
5 Then shalt thou understand the fear of Jehovah, and find the knowledge of God.
6 For Jehovah giveth wisdom; out of his mouth cometh knowledge and understanding;
7 He layeth up sound wisdom for the upright; he is a shield to them that walk in integrity;
8 That he may guard the paths of justice, and preserve the way of his saints (Prov. 2:1-8).
Thus both the Living Word, the Lord Jesus Christ, and in the Written Word, the Holy Scriptures, we have the wisdom of God. Let us therefore “. . . seek her as silver, and search for her as for hid treasures. 5Then shalt thou understand the fear of Jehovah, and find the knowledge of God.
