Job 28:5 Commentary - Dr Peter Masters | Metropolitan Tabernacle

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Job 28:5

Comments

The acquaintance which the average man has with the depths below goes no further than the turning of the soil by the plough. He knows this well enough, but as for what lies below and then below that; it is another world and one he does not wish to visit. We live with this superficial knowledge of our world and few brave souls venture to explore what lies beneath. What do we really know? Underneath the familiar landscape lies a sea of fire which only occasionally comes to the surface. The landscapes that we know so well and whose familiarity calms us, are the upheavals of a molten earth below our feet. This makes a mockery of all our confident ease; we live only by God’s permission. Even the miner does not explore very far into this hostile environment for no life can survive there.Out of that hostile and impenetrable environment come objects of surpassing beauty, and what looks like it is simply rock or dust yields up sparkling gems and glinting gold. How surprising that such things should come out of such a place. But wisdom is also obtained from unexpected locations. The wise man gains more wisdom and to him every barren field is a source of treasure. His daily dealings with the righteous and the wicked are a source of further wisdom, as he sifts human motives, studies human responses, and guards his own conduct in every situation that he encounters. Out of what looks like unpromising material he obtains treasures of wisdom that sparkle with a far more enduring light than any gem that belongs to this passing world.

Application

In the same way, the majority of mankind who travel the broad way never stop to ask the more searching questions for fear that their fragile world will be disturbed. They are happy with the delusion that sin wraps around them and they welcome its bewitchment. If they thought it was less than it presents itself to be, they would be disappointed and their make-believe world would collapse, leaving them with nothing, so they encourage self-deception. Wishing to fabricate a realm without God, they cobble together an inconsistent view of the world with many arbitrary elements built into it. But the seeker after wisdom is not content to accept the story that the world tells him; he wants to go beneath the surface to things that are hidden from the eyes of men. How worthwhile is this enquiry? It is life and death for all eternity. [Others think the word ‘fire’ refers to the brilliant flash of gem stones.]

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Job 28:5 Commentary and Bible Study