Job 28:3 Commentary and Bible Study

The miner goes deep into the earth exploring caves and passage ways, and opening up shafts of his own. He reaches places where no man has been before and where darkness has reigned since the earth was formed; he goes into the most inaccessible places known to man. Into these obscure and remote corners he brings light to assist him in his work. No crevice or recess is left unexplored, in case it reveals some treasure which could be obtained by only a little more effort. Light has never shone in these obscure regions before, but now their secrets are laid bare by this curious explorer, man. He judges that a little discovery may make the risks and the labour involved worthwhile. He searches for ores in regions which would otherwise be regarded as belonging to the dead. He is then an intruder into death itself in order to find his wanted treasures.The language strains to express the extremity to which men are prepared to go in their quest. What is regarded as far off limits for normal human beings is a daily encounter for the miner. He makes his way to the entrance at the beginning of a day’s work and descends over the edge into the gloom below. Others would turn back a hundred times, but he goes on to penetrate the earth to still greater depths. Reaching an inaccessible new fissure, he breaks through to widen the way so that a slender human life can be lowered into the abyss from which others would despair of ever coming back. No one is there to watch him at work and on the surface of the earth men and women walk to and fro unaware of the fearful exploits going on far beneath their feet. Using ropes he descends to places where climbing is impossible and swings to and fro above chasms whose depths he cannot measure. He reaches his goal and returns to the light with what others have no hope of possessing.