ChristadelphianBooksOnline
David Baird
The Education of Job

Chapters 27, 28 - The Third Cycle of Speeches - Job

Job's First Monologue

Job's Conclusion

	27:1-6	I am right, you are wrong
	27:7-12	God's justice will prevail
	27:13-23	What if my oppressors are punished?

The Excellency of Wisdom

	28:1-6	The ingenuity of man
	28:7-8	The superior knowledge of man
	28:9-11	The skilfulness of man
	28:12-19	Wisdom - where is it? It cannot be bought
	28:20-22	Wisdom - where is it? It is hidden
	28:23-28	Wisdom - it is with God

Job's Conclusion

It may seem odd to entitle chapter 27 as "Job's Conclusion." After all, Job is only warming up as he continues for four more chapters. Chapter 27 represents Job's concluding statement to his friends. It is as if Job, having finished what he has to say to Bildad, pauses in anticipation of Zophar's customary blustery rhetoric. Zophar's silence enables Job to tidy up the loose ends of the debate and, with true debating style, to forthrightly affirm the correctness of his reasoning while leaving the final judgment to the adjudicator which is God Himself.

What follows this chapter is a series of powerful and insightful soliloquies. Job exclaims the excellency of wisdom before making a dazzling and detailed appeal that, as far as Job was concerned, totally exonerated him of any wrongdoing.

27:1-6 I am right, you are wrong

Job takes up his "parable" (mashal - "discourse" Green, NKJV, NIV etc) and swears an oath on the life of El, even Shaddai. Elihu, and many since him, was offended by this oath (34:5). Job describes El as He who has removed his right to justice and Shaddai as He who has made Job's soul bitter (27:2 Green, RSV). While this reveals a negative attitude in Job, such expressions may well have an element of truth. God had not responded to Job's appeal. His friends, and anybody else privy to Job's circumstances, had judged Job as guilty. His right to justice had been compromised. This inevitably led to bitterness of soul (7:11, 10:1, 21:25). Where Job is wrong is his presumption that God should have responded when and how Job desired.

What Job is doing is adopting the last resort of a man in a trial. With this forceful oath he ironically places his judgment in the hands of the One who, in Job's perception, has removed his right to a fair trial. As he has failed to gain any response from God, Job uses the strongest measure possible to force God's hand.

He adds weight to his oath by solemnly affirming that as long as he can breathe (27:3) he will not speak wickedness or utter deceit (27:4). There was no way ("Far be it from me" JB, Delitzsch, Roth, Green) that Job would admit that his friends were right. Until the day he dies he will not concede anything that would detract from his integrity (27:5).

With a final oath ("On my righteousness" Roth, YLit), he maintains that his conscience is clear (27:6). He has done nothing amiss. These words, as translated by the Septuagint, are coincidentally picked up by the thief on the cross in his description of our crucified Lord (Luke 23:41). Job may well aver his integrity but he merely prefigured, in an imperfect way, that perfect one - the Lord Jesus Christ.

27:7-12 God's justice will prevail

Job swore oaths to his integrity but his enemy did not believe him. They considered him to be the greatest of sinners and that this was confirmed by the dreadful circumstances of his recent existence. Job's enemy is not God (even though he feels God treats him as one - 13:24), nor is it the Satan. It is his accusers.

Job's relationship with them has deteriorated to such a level that he desires their punishment. He wants them to be treated in precisely the manner that they declared the wicked must be treated (27:7). If Zophar is right, in that the joy of the hypocrite is short-lived (20:5), then let the hypocrite's lot be that of his friends. Yes, the hypocrite may have a short moment of triumph, but what does it matter when God takes away his soul (27:8 - see Matt 16:26; Luke 12:20 for our Lord's agreement with this sentiment).

Perhaps the hypocrite can cry out to God for help? He can, but it is ineffective. Job's question, "Will he always call upon God?" (27:10) is packed with intent. His friends never, in the record, call on God whereas Job, in prosperity and destitution, constantly does so. Their reliance on their own experience (Eliphaz) and their own learning (Bildad) and their own opinions (Zophar) challenged their ability to seek help from God for Job. So when troubles assail them they will be at a loss as to what to do.

Job tells them to listen to what he has to teach them. He will teach them "about" (NKJV - not "by") the hand of God. And he is only doing so because, even though they know Job is right, they continue to "behave with complete nonsense" (27:12 NKJV - literally "vain with this vanity" Green).

It should also be noted that the use of plural pronouns in 27:11-12 assists us to understand that this is Job talking to his friends and not, as some believe, Zophar addressing Job.

27:13-23 What if my oppressors are punished?

This section is one of the most perplexing in the Book of Job. It gives the very strong impression that Job has abandoned the position he has so doggedly adhered to, despite extreme provocation, and accepted the viewpoint of his friends. He appears to directly contradict the teaching he expounded so vigorously in chapter 21.

Because of this, some claim that this section is the voice of Zophar and others that Job is actually contradicting himself and has finally sided with his accusers. Others feel that he is summarising the arguments of his friends, while a fourth suggestion is that the sense is future; the predicted punishment, that if not implemented immediately, will ultimately occur. The opening suggestion is no longer supported with the relish it once was and lacks textual validation (see notes introducing chapters 23, 24), while the second suggestion has no contextual support whatsoever. The third suggestion is promising. It may seem artificial but Job could well be turning the theory of exact retribution back onto its professors. The final suggestion also has merit but it requires Job to recant the very arguments he used to demolish the reasoning of his friends (e.g. 21:18 is contradicted by 27:14).

While no solution is clear-cut, I believe Job is summarising his friends' arguments. He is not doing so as a memory prompt. He does so to taunt them. Job takes up Zophar's final expression (20:29) and labels them as wicked (rasha) and ruthless (Green, NIV - Heb aris). Rasha and aris are also coupled by Eliphaz in 15:20 in his graphic description of the wicked writhing in pain. Job's message is caustically simple, "If you keep on behaving the way you are, and if you are right, then you will receive all the punishments you have described in your utterances."

It is not the most charming thing Job could say, but the detail that follows indicates how carefully he had listened to what they had to say and how absurd he perceived it to be. He is also declaring that it is they, and not him, who are wicked and ruthless. They have been unrelenting in their pursuit of Job's sins. They have been, despite evidence to the contrary, unmoved in asserting their simplistic, black-and-white philosophy. If they are right in their doctrine and Job is right in his assessment of their characters then the following calamities, as extracted from their own teachings, will befall them:

Their children will be slain or afflicted with famine, should they escape the sword (27:14 - see 5:4, 18:19);
Their posterity will be cut off and its demise will not be lamented, not even by their wives (27:15 - see 18:17-19);
Their accumulated wealth will be distributed to the righteous and the innocent (27:16-17 - see 22:18-19);
Their houses are fragile, ready for destruction (27:18 - see 4:19, 8:14-15, 20:28);
They will go to bed rich, only to awaken to abject poverty (27:19 - see 15:21);
They will be surrounded by terrors just as a natural disaster overwhelms its helpless victims (27:20 - see 18:11, 20:25, 22:11); and
They will be swept into oblivion, as if driven by the scorching east wind (27:21 - see 15:2,30) which they are desperately unable to avoid (27:22 see 20:24).

Their final humiliation will be marked by the scorn that accompanies their desolation. People will clap their hands and hiss. The mood is that of mocking contempt and derision (Lam 2:15; Ezek 27:36), underlying which is relief and joy at their demise. It is also the mood of the righteous as outlined by Eliphaz in 22:19-20.

Chapter 28 - The Excellency of Wisdom

Brother Papowski entitles this extraordinary section of Scripture, "Job's Hymn on Wisdom." Reichert seems all overcome when he writes, "This chapter is one of the deservedly celebrated portions of the Book and one of the incomparably great poems in the Bible, and indeed world literature." Yet, according to Andersen, "Most scholars find it impossible to believe that Job ever recited this poem." They consider it quite out of place with what precedes and follows it.

If anything, the words of this poem could only belong to Job. He is the individual who is closest to the truth. He is the one who openly seeks God, while the others merely recommend such an action. Whereas Bildad declared that man is no better than a maggot (25:6), Job, in chapter 28, recognised that while man does have ingenuity, knowledge and skill, true wisdom can only be found with God. Such sentiments are, after chapters of overstated and over-rated sophistry, an accurate and refreshing blast of balance.

It is also interesting to observe the broad construction of Job's final words:

1.	Accuser-focussed chapters (i.e. 26, 27) as Job completes his demolition of his accusers' reasoning;
2.	God-focussed chapter 28 wherein Job beautifully expounds the superiority of divine wisdom; and
3.	Self-focussed chapters (i.e. 29-31) in which Job reviews his personal circumstances and issues a final appeal.

If we, as I believe we should, interpret this in a positive way, God, along with His wisdom, is the pivot of this lengthy session. While the other chapters do present as being self-serving for Job, chapter 28 shines like a beacon. However, it would be incredibly harsh to severely criticise Job for his comments in the other chapters. After all, they follow hours of talk that portrayed Job as the worst of criminals whose biggest sin was yet to be unveiled. The fact that Job can utter chapter 28, in the overall context of what has happened to him, is nothing short of astonishing as well as being a colossal testimony to his faith.

28:1-6 The ingenuity of man

The break in the flow of thought is abrupt as it is dramatic. Upon completing the gloomy picture of chapter 27, Job switches direction with "Surely," and proceeds to extol how clever man is.

Man, through his ingenuity, can extract the most precious of metals from the ground - silver, gold, iron and copper. Who or what else can do that? And it is not just a matter of scratching around like some untamed beast. Man, with his mine shafts and lanterns, "puts an end to darkness (chosek) and searches every recess for ore in the darkness (ophel) and shadow of death (tsalmaveth)" (28:3 NKJV). Whereas Job used chosek, ophel and tsalmaveth in 10:21-22 to labour the dreariness of the grave, he is now more upbeat as he uses these expressions to describe the underground man-made caverns that enrich their determined occupants.

Verse 4 is about as obscure as it gets. The versions are at odds with each other and the variations that emerge from this section of Hebrew text is nothing short of remarkable. The Revised Standard Version is as good as any and maintains contextual consistency with:

"They open shafts in a valley away from where man lives, they are forgotten by travellers, they hang afar from man, they swing to and fro."

The last two expressions probably refer to miners, suspended from ropes, swinging in the gloominess, digging for copper. All is tranquillity on the surface, but underneath man transforms the earth as he diligently seeks out that which is hidden.

28:7-8 The superior knowledge of man

Man can do what no other creature can do. The "bird of prey" (RSV, NKJV etc) does not know about man's ingenious mining activities. The "falcon", despite its astonishing eyesight, cannot see them. The lion with all its power and courage does not set his foot in such places.

Only man has the knowledge to determine where precious metals can be extracted. He is more observant than the falcon and more intrepid than the lion. The most remote areas of the earth are breached in man's quest for treasure.

28:9-11 The skilfulness of man

Man's dogged skilfulness is demonstrated in his determination to extract every precious object from the ground. Mountains do not bar his progress as man will crush the hardest of rocks (28:9). He cuts underground tunnels in his pursuit of the earth's treasures. Unlike the falcon of 28:7, man "seeth every precious thing" (28:10). "Rivers" is better rendered as "channels" (RSV, RV, NKJV) and usually refers to the canals of the River Nile. In this context it relates to underground mining passages and is paraphrased by some versions as "tunnels" (NIV, JB) or "galleries" (NEB).

Finally, to complete his account of man's mining operations, Job describes how man skilfully avoids the flooding of these underground galleries. The first half of 28:11 literally reads, "He dams up the rivers from weeping" (Green mg, Soncino). Both Reichert and Gibson quote from Cox who writes on this expression, "The picturesque phrase ('that they weep not') may have been a technical term among the miners in ancient times, just as our colliers name the action the water that percolates through and into their workings 'weeping', and our navvies call the fine sand which percolates through the sides of the tunnel 'crying sand'."

28:12-19 Wisdom - where is it? It cannot be bought

Man can unearth precious stones and metals. Man is smarter than the beasts, ingenious in overcoming obstacles and skilful in his activity. His successes are nothing short of spectacular but is he wise? He can find silver and gold but does he know where he can find wisdom (hokma) and understanding (bina)? These questions, posed in 28:12, are the pivot of this remarkable poem. They re-emerge as a refrain in 28:20 and are answered, by Job, in 28:28.

Hokma is a favourite word of Job's (see notes on 12:2) and is a word that can be applied in many circumstances. However, unlike Job's almost cavalier use of the word in chapter 12, in chapter 28 it conveys the meaning of wisdom in its truest sense (TWOT) or the absolute wisdom of God (Reichert) and is moral rather than intellectual (Girdlestone). Does man know how to access this wisdom which is "specially a knowledge of the principles in accordance with which God rules and governs the world" (Gibson).

Bina is virtually a synonym of hokma with its variation being that it relates more to intellectual knowledge. This difference is not that significant and it is more than likely a poetical repetition to reinforce the point - wisdom and understanding eludes mankind.

Well, where is wisdom and where is understanding? It is impossible to buy. Man does not comprehend its value (28:13 - this interpretation, supported from the Hebrew, should be preferred over that of modern versions that have adopted the Septuagint's rendition). You cannot find wisdom in the marketplace, lovingly placed on display by a hopeful vendor. In fact, it cannot be found in the land of the living or, in other words, it cannot be obtained from the world.

The Deep (Tehom), that mythical abyss below the earth from which the Sea (Yam) drew its water, is adamant, "It is not in me." The Sea is just as dogmatic, "It is not with me" (28:14).

But what about all the amazing treasures man extracts from the earth? Surely he has accumulated enough wealth to purchase an ample supply of hokma and bina? Not so. None of the following can achieve such a goal:

Purified fine gold (segor) and silver - 28:15;
The gold (ketem) of Ophir (a possible allusion to the words of Eliphaz in 22:24-25), precious onyx and sapphires - 28:16;
Gold (waw), glass (zekokit - only here in the Old Testament - an early form of glass that was widely revered by the Hebrews as a precious substance) and jewels of gold (paz) - 28:17;
Coral, crystal and rubies - 28:18; and
Ethiopian topaz and pure gold (ketem) - 28:19.

While commentators differ on the exact meaning of the substances mentioned, it is obvious that Job, especially through the plethora of synonyms denoting gold, is stressing that hokma and bina cannot be bought by anything.

28:20-22 Wisdom - where is it? It is hidden

Having affirmed that wisdom is priceless, Job repeats the question, "Where is it?" One may as well know the location of this invaluable commodity. Sadly, for man, it is hidden! You can soar high in the skies like a bird on the wing and you still cannot find it. Even the powerful forces of Abaddon (see 26:6) and Death do not know its location although they have heard reports (JB) or rumours (NIV) about wisdom.

28:23-28 Wisdom - it is with God

If Tehom, Yam (28:14), Abaddon and Death (28:22) neither possess nor are able to locate wisdom, then who is powerful enough to do so? "God understands its way, and He knows its place" (28:23 NKJV), and there is a very simple reason why God understands wisdom and knows where it is - He is the Creator. "He" is emphatic in 28:23-24 (Roth, CompB). He is the Only One. His gaze extends to the ends of the earth. He is everywhere present. His knowledge, in embracing everything, undoubtedly includes the place and way of wisdom.

Job has carefully built up an image of man, followed it with an insight into man's major deficiency and then concluded with the obvious superiority of God. He next proceeds to provide a few specimens of God's wisdom - wind, water, rain, thunder. God is in all these basics, whereas man, for all his skill, knowledge and ingenuity, is conspicuously absent. Elihu (37:6-18) and Yahweh (41:24-30) both pick up on this in later speeches.

The point is sufficiently made in these examples. God has wisdom far above man's and can do what no man can do. He can order the very elements of nature. Elements which, at His command, can nourish or destroy. God has mapped it all out. From the beginning of creation, God's wisdom was there. He "did see it, and declare it; he prepared it, yea, and searched it out" (28:27). These four verbs, of themselves, are everyday Hebrew words but combine to form an impressive description of God's perfect comprehension of wisdom. God has, in the poetical terms employed, left no stone unturned. Every aspect of wisdom is known to Him.

What then is wisdom? "And he said to man, 'Wisdom? It is the fear of the Lord. Understanding? - avoidance of evil'" (28:28 JB). "Lord" is more than likely Yahweh (CompB, Gibson).

Job has reached the grand conclusion of his majestic poem. It is concise, easily understood, accurate but deficient. It appears platitudinous but Job genuinely believed it to be God's understanding. Furthermore, fearing God and departing from evil are part of the composite that is God's assessment of Job's character (1:1,8, 2:3). But if 28:28 is the sublime summation, why was Job later compelled to acknowledge his failings? He was not perfection but his character, after the horrendous trials he had to bear, was developed in a way that he had not anticipated.

The writer of the Proverbs provides us with some valuable clues. "The fear of the LORD is the beginning of knowledge" (Prov 1:7). The fear of Yahweh is the first and controlling principle. Without it knowledge is not possible. The fear of Yahweh is also the "beginning of wisdom" (Psa 111:10; Prov 9:10). It is essential for the development of wisdom. True wisdom can only be developed in God's children if they live their lives in recognition of the fact that God is watching them. But wisdom must be displayed. It is not exclusively academic nor is it limited to a departure from doing evil.

Wisdom must dwell in the heart (Psa 90:12; Prov 2:10) and is associated with redemption (Psa 111:9), joy (Prov 3:13), discretion (Prov 8:12) and humility (Prov 11:2). It cannot be partnered with pride (Prov 13:10), scorn (Prov 14:6) or foolishness (Prov 14:33).

Job's assertion of what God has decreed is not completely verified elsewhere in Scripture. 28:28 is part of the picture. Job is not wrong in his understanding. However he is lacking in his understanding and he makes the mistake of declaring his knowledge to be divinely endorsed. His description of wisdom lacks an appreciation of God's grace and the necessity for man to work for the salvation of others (Matt 22:37-40; Phil 2:4-5). It was a lesson Job had to learn before Yahweh would turn his captivity (42:10).