The Pulpit Commentary — Job — Section 443

whetber Job doea not u1e the two words 88 thinking of aome f!Oblet or otnl\ment In ■ ynony1n11. whiah oryat11,l and gold were oombined to- Ver. 18.-Kan Jmoweth not the prioe gether. Ornaments of thie -kind have been th81"80f. 'l'be real ,vn]ne of wit>dom oannot found in Phamicia (' Hiat. of Phmnioin,' be et>limat,ed in terms of ordinary human pp. 862, 870). And the u:ohange of U; ehall oalc-ul11ti.on. It transoends figures. Neitller not be for jewels of 11.ne «old ; or, weHla ill it found in tile land of ~• living. True of fine gold. Both in Egypt and Phmnioia wisdom. such • Job is 11peakiug of (see the vessels of gold were common. oomment on ver11. 12-28), does not exist Ver. 18.-Jfo mention ■hall be made of amoni:- men. It tramioonds human faoultrea, oora.l. The word translated "coral" (n\cM:,) Rnd i• Rmong the peculiar possessions of me11.t1s properly •• things that are high." thP Most liil!"h (ver. 23). Henoe the Most It occurs only here and in Ezek, xxvii. 16 High is aliogether inscrutable by man- The rabbinical interpretation of the word as .. his ways are past finding ont." "coral" is doubtful, since it,,wus unknown Yer. 14.-The deptll. &&i.tll., It is not in to the LXX. Or of pearll. The word me: and the 1ea saith, It is not with me. gabWi. (Id'=!~) oocurs only in thi1 place. The deep abyes('S of the ocean declare that So'me identify it with rock-crystal. l'or tha it is not with them ; and the v.ide renches prioe of wisdom is above znbiee.' Here we of the far-e1:tending- see. proole.im that it is have another ob,eure woro. -(c•~•~~), whioh not with them either. is variously rendered by" rubies;"" pearls," Yer. 15.-It CIUIJlot be gotten for gold. "carbuncles," and "red coral." The ho.lance No amount of gold ce.n purche.se it; no, not of authority is in favour _of pearls. . of the purest and ·mnst refined qnali ty (I Kinge vi. 20, 21), for it is not a thing that Ver. 19.-The topu of. Ethiopia shall not can be bought or sold. God must grant it, equal it. It is genezally allowed that the_ &11d find a way of imparting it; which he pithdath (n~;,;,) is e~tl'i.er the "topaz" _or certaiDly will not do for a sum of money. the "chrysolite." In favour of its being lieither shall Bilver be weighed for the prioe the chrysolite is the paese.ge ,of Pliriy whic~ thereat If gold cannot purchase it, much mentions its ·being esteemed for its g-r~er, 1688 CllLil ttilver-the less valuable medium tiDts (' Hist. Nat.,' xxxvii.. 8).. 0:th~rwise_ of exchange. (On the toe:ig}w,Jg of silver, "topaz" might have appeared fo be the be~t in sales, see Gen. x.riii. 16; Jer. xxxii. 9; rendering. By "Cush," :her~ . translate~ Ezra viii. 26.) "Ethiopia.," is· probably meaqt · Ous)µte Arabia, or the southern and soutli.-eas~rn Ver. 16.-It OB.DDOt be valued with the regions (see the author's' Origin of Nat1ons,~ gold of Ophir. The looa.lity of Ophir has pp. 206-209). :N_either shall, it ,be .valued been mucL contested, but, on the whole, the with pure gold. Of the four' words use4 weig,ht of e~idenoe wonld seem to be in for" gold" in this_ passage (vers. 15-17), one_ favour of .Amhi.e., on the .south-east coast (:i.m) seems to be the COID:mQn name, a1i\ljl (see the article on·• Ophir" in Smith's' Diet. to designate the metal by its colour, "ye,l~ of the Bible,' which exhanst.s a.II that ce.n be lo-w,.. since :l.Qf means ." to be yellow." said on the anbject). The high estimation in which "gold of Ophir" was held appean Another (1UQ) means properly " what is not only in 1hls J>IU!Bllge, but also in eh. tre&11nred.,'' or "ehut up," from 1]1;),, "to u.ii. 24; Ps. xlv. 9; and laa.. xiii 12. It shut." The third (1~ seems to be the is to be accounted for by the imperfeotion name for "native gold," or that found in of all the aneiently known prooe8888 of river-woahings and nuggets, which we.a refining, which left the best refined gold regarded eJ! the purest. The fourth (~~) inferior to the natural product of the Ophir is a poetical name only, and designates gold mines or washings. With the precious onyx, of extreme purity (Cant. v. 11), whether or the J1Rpphire. (On the latter of these highly refined or native. Job nses them all, two stones, see the comment upon ver. 6.) to show that there was no gold of any kind The "onyx" is probably the stone now wherewith it was poseible to purchase known u the "se.rdouyx," which was highly wisdom. prized by the ancienta. li had a plaee in Ver. 20.-Whence then oometh wildom 1 the breastplate of the high priest (Exod. and where is the place of understanding 1 xxviii. 20), and is mentioned among the This is a repetition of ver. 12, with a mere treasnres of the King of Tyre (Ezek. JU.viii. variant of the verb in the first line. Job's 13). The ll&l"donyi: preiwnts layerB vari- elaborate inquiry of vers. 14-19. having ously coloured, aa blue, blaclt, white, and thrown no light on the subject, the original ~ .::rmilion. question recurs-Where does wisdJm qome Ver. 17.-The gold anlf .the crystal OII.JIILOt ~? . • equal it; rather, gold and "'11"41- This Ver, 21.-Beeing it ii hid from the eye~ second mention of gold (see ver. 15) seeme of all living. Man cannot see it, because 8Upt:rll.nou, bot perhspe the patriareh ii it ill immaterial, but he cannot even con- OIi, XVtu, 1-28,] THB. B00Jf OJ': JOB; 469