Job's discourse on wisdom, with which he continues his speech, follows directly from what he said in the preceding...
Job's discourse on wisdom, with which he continues his speech, follows directly from what he said in the preceding chapter. A person can be judged only by a law that has been revealed to them and that they themselves understand. Otherwise—as is characteristic of human law—the question arises of whether judgment and punishment are justified. Could a human being have known the whole truth about the Creator's will? Did Job have the possibility of being wholly perfect, or was his righteousness the utmost a person can attain in serving God?
These are the questions Job answers in chapter 28. He speaks of the human works that fill the earth. People mine gold and silver, copper and iron, grow grain and seek out precious stones. The scale of human activity is astonishing; Job speaks of rocks through which people cut channels, and of streams whose flow they stop. Much lies within human power, and with the passage of time our capabilities continue to grow. In our own day, we could add a great deal to this list of civilisation's achievements. But wisdom, the knowledge of the path leading to the fullness of true life, belongs to a different order. Where is it, that a person might come to know it? The depths of the seas have become accessible to humanity, yet the deep says: it is not in me. People will mine gold and precious stones, but no treasure can buy wisdom. It is hidden from the sight of the living, and the dead have only heard of it but do not know its place.
Thus, however much a person may wish it, they cannot attain wisdom so as to be perfect before God; at any rate, they cannot do so on their own. In the Torah the Lord shows humanity the way of life, which in the age of the author of Job was called wisdom. Significantly, one of the Torah's most important texts seems to join the conversation the author of Job presents to us. Instructing a person to follow the commandments, love God and thus draw near to him, Deut. 30:11–14 says: ‘For this commandment which I command you today is neither beyond your reach nor far away. It is not in heaven, that one might say, “Who would go up to heaven for us and bring it to us, and let us hear it, so that we might do it?” Nor is it beyond the sea, that one might say, “Who would cross the sea for us and bring it to us, and let us hear it, so that we might do it?” But this word is very near you, in your mouth and in your heart, so that you may do it.’
Like the tradition of Deuteronomy that goes back to Moses, and unlike his friends, Job considers a person's striving to fulfil what God has revealed to them to be fundamentally important. God knows wisdom, and it is subject to him. He reveals it to humanity, and a person receives wisdom in the way Job describes in the closing lines of this chapter. Following the traditional expressions of the late biblical period, Job calls awe before the Unseen and turning away from evil the essence of true wisdom. Unlike his friends, who think within the framework of ritual defilement—whose nature does not matter and need not be understood—Job speaks of the direction of the human heart. For him, righteousness and wisdom mean being oriented towards God.
Some scholars consider chapter 28 an insertion, a kind of lyrical digression. They regard it as an independent poem. Even if this is so, the book's author binds the discourse on wisdom inseparably to the whole context of Job's speeches. Perhaps he used a traditional literary structure—but he used it more than appropriately.
28 The wisdom of God in the works of nature, Job 28:1-11.
A wisdom like this cannot be found in man, neither can it be bought at any price, Job 28:12-21.
Death makes a report concerning it, Job 28:22.
It is hid in God, Job 28:23-27.
To fear God is man's wisdom, Job 28:28.
28:12 That wisdom - Man hath one kind of wisdom, to discover the works of nature, and to perform the operations of art; but as for that sublime wisdom which consists in the knowledge of God and ourselves, no man can discover this, but by the special gift of Cod.
28:13 Found - Among men upon earth, but only among those blessed spirits that dwell above.
28:14 The depth - This is not to he found in any part of the sea, though a man may dig or dive ever so deep to find it, nor to be learned from any creature.