The Pulpit Commentary — Job — Section 449

:a::xxiii. 4. 2_1): Above, upon t~e b1~g~t el\rth, the ~read-corn. Is gro'Wing, whlle below men are. st1rr1ng1 e.nd rummagmg m 1te _bowels, using sometimes the disturbing and destrnctne force of fire (ver. 5). Precious stones 1\9 well as met:1.ls, s11.pphires at well as golden ore, foll a prize to the diligent miner (ver. 6). Then, to heighten the description, the inaccessibility of these imbtcmmean ways is depicted. The all-roaming birds and beasts of prey have not discovered them (ver. 8). But undaunted man lays his band on the flint, uproots the mountains, and bursts open paths through the rocks, and the fire of l".ager desire glitters in his eye RB it falls on each precious thing. He toils to keop the water out of his shafts, by which they are so readily overflowed and spoiled; and thus he brings the hidden treasures to light (ver, 11), Such are the ~pl<•ndid capabilities of man-the courage, the energy, the defiance of danger--called out by his desires. His reward comes; but docs it correspond to his exertions? Having paBSed the hl'st of his days in these severe toils and anxieties and dangers, be thin'ks to sit do'l'l"D and solace his age with tbe acquisitions of his younger and more daring years; but does the enjoyment of the poor remainder of life balance these struggles which perhaps brought age upon him before his time, and cut him off from pleasure in the proper days of pleasure, and from the youthful satisfactions that were then denied ? "I am this day fourscore years old, and cm I yet taste what I eat and what I drink?" (2 8nm. xix. 35). "Whoever lives to Barzillai's years shall not be able, with all Barzillai's wealth and greatness, to procure himself a quicker and better relish of what shall be set before him than Barzillai had" (South). II. v.-rnDOJ,[ NO OUTWARD GOOD, Al.'D 'BY NO OUTWARD MEANS TO BE FOUND. (Vers. 12-22.) Prooiool wisdom, the principle of right conduct, and theoretical wisdom, or insight,-wbere in all the wide world shall they be found (ver. 12)? None knows the purchase-price, nor the market for wisdom in all the wide land of the living. " Put money in thy purse" is the one maxim which applies in everything but this. "Money answereth all things;" but there ar&-exceptions, and this is one. Gold and silver have no more power than stones and clods in this spiritual commerce. Cross the seas; visit the great cities ; enter the churches ; study at the schools ; see and hear all; yet still the aching heart will cry, "Where is wisd0m to be found? and what is its price?" ·All the gold and jewels of the Indies cannot buy it. Its worth is incomparable. Weight nor measure can be applied to it; it bas no place in the business and exchange of the world (vers. 13--19). Again, then, and again the question recurs, "Whence comes wisdom? where is the plaoe of understanding?" Science cannot answer, with all her keenness of vision and wealth of know ledi;:e; no brightest eagle-eye has searched out its locale. Neither the living nor the kingdom of the dead can bring us news of its site (vers. 2~22). It must, then, be immaterial. And being real, it must be sought for and found by that which is real and spiritual in ourselves. The things which eye bath not seen, nor ear heard, nor imagination conceived, God reveals to the spirit. We must be conscious of a spiritual life and of spiritual needs; of a destiny for heavenly as well as earthly things; we must yield to the spiritnal impulse, and labour for the satisfaction of the spiritual hunger as well e.e for the bread that perisheth, if this great question is ever for us to be answered. Ill. WISDOM 16 IN THE FEAB OF GoD. (Vere. 23--28.) 1. The guestioo amwerecl. God knows the way to wisdom, for he knows its seat and place. (Ver. 23.) He is himself the All-wise One. His wisdom is seen in the marvellous construction and arrangement of the natural world. He regulates 1he winds and the waters (lea, xl. 12), the rain, the lightning, and the thunder (vers. 24-26). And his absolute wisdom is the rule for the inward life of=, the still more wonderful world of the spiritual life. In the creation as e whole he announces typically his eternal will to all rational creatures (ver. 27). 2. The Divine tkclaratiOA. (Ver. 28, "The fear of the Lord fs wisdom, and to depart from evil is understanding.") God would not keep his wisdom altogether secret. He reveals, as well as is, wisdom. This is the original eternal command, the Jaw that "is not of yesterday," and which has never been unknown in any generation of mankind. LESBONB. 1. The eternal wealth of God's nature. He needed no model or copy from which to frame his world. "He spake, and it was done; commanded, and it stood fast " (ver. 27). 2. There is a wisdom which is an example and end, and a wisdom which is a 1hadow and me&Dl!, The former is in God, the latter from God in us. So are we OH, XXVIII, 1-28.] THE BOOK OF JOB.