Job 27:1 ¶ Moreover Job continued his parable, and said,
Job 27:2 As God liveth, who hath taken away my judgment; and the Almighty, who hath vexed my soul;
Job 27:3 All the while my breath is in me, and the spirit of God is in my nostrils;
Job 27:4 My lips shall not speak wickedness, nor my tongue utter deceit.
Job’s discourse continues. I liked the wording of the CJB: “I swear by the living God, who is denying me justice, and by Shaddai, who deals with me so bitterly, that as long as my life remains in me and God’s breath is in my nostrils, my lips will not speak unrighteousness, or my tongue utter deceit.”
Though Job does not feel he deserves the treatment from God that he is getting, he swears by God never to accuse Him of unrighteousness or knowingly say anything that is not true.
Job still doesn’t understand that God is not judging him. He doesn’t know that he has been singled out as a man of strong faith and that it is the enemy attacking him. He does know, however, that his very life is dependent upon the breath of God in his being.
Job 27:5 God forbid that I should justify you: till I die I will not remove mine integrity from me.
Job 27:6 My righteousness I hold fast, and will not let it go: my heart shall not reproach me so long as I live.
Job continues to strongly protest his friends’ accusations against him and maintain his innocence.
Wiersbe: “He would not lie just to please his friends or to try to bribe God into restoring his fortunes. (Satan would have rejoiced at that.) Job had to live with his conscience no matter what his friends said or his God did to him.”
Job 27:7 ¶ Let mine enemy be as the wicked, and he that riseth up against me as the unrighteous.
Job 27:8 For what is the hope of the hypocrite, though he hath gained, when God taketh away his soul?
Job 27:9 Will God hear his cry when trouble cometh upon him?
Job 27:10 Will he delight himself in the Almighty? will he always call upon God?
As David often did in the psalms, Job counts his enemies among the wicked, the unrighteous. I think this is a direct reference to his three counselors. He then poses some questions intended to show that hypocrites have no hope. When they die, they can take nothing with them; they gain nothing. They can’t really expect God to hear their prayers in time of trouble. He implies that it is not likely that they will delight in God and pray in response to those troubles?
Job has continued to seek God in prayer because he knows deep inside that God has the answer to his questions; he knows that God is the only source from which he can expect deliverance because he is a righteous man. The natural response of the wicked man is to curse God for what is happening to him in time of trouble—not to turn to God in prayer.
Job 27:11 ¶ I will teach you by the hand of God: that which is with the Almighty will I not conceal.
Job 27:12 Behold, all ye yourselves have seen it; why then are ye thus altogether vain?
Job then offers to teach his friends about the power of God. He doesn’t understand why they refuse to admit what they have seen.
I liked this quote Guzik used from Andersen: “The disagreement between Job and his friends is not over whether God is just or not; it is over how the justice of God is seen to work out in particular events, and specifically in Job’s experiences.”
Job 27:13 This is the portion of a wicked man with God, and the heritage of oppressors, which they shall receive of the Almighty.
Job 27:14 If his children be multiplied, it is for the sword: and his offspring shall not be satisfied with bread.
Job 27:15 Those that remain of him shall be buried in death: and his widows shall not weep.
Job goes on to describe what the wicked man can expect from God. He may have many children, but the heritage he leaves them is one of greed, fighting and war. Those who survive will follow him in death, and the wife he leaves behind will not mourn him.
Job 27:16 Though he heap up silver as the dust, and prepare raiment as the clay;
Job 27:17 He may prepare it, but the just shall put it on, and the innocent shall divide the silver.
Job 27:18 He buildeth his house as a moth, and as a booth that the keeper maketh.
Job 27:19 The rich man shall lie down, but he shall not be gathered: he openeth his eyes, and he is not.
Job 27:20 Terrors take hold on him as waters, a tempest stealeth him away in the night.
Job 27:21 The east wind carrieth him away, and he departeth: and as a storm hurleth him out of his place.
Job 27:22 For God shall cast upon him, and not spare: he would fain flee out of his hand.
Job 27:23 Men shall clap their hands at him, and shall hiss him out of his place.
Though the wicked may become wealthy, the righteous will eventually inherit that wealth. What he provides for his family will prove to be weak and unstable; it can be lost overnight. When that happens, the people will mock him and run him away.
That certainly alludes to a truth that many refuse to acknowledge today. The financial stability of the nations is intertwined like never before. It wouldn’t take much for the whole system to collapse. No matter how rich one might be, all can be lost suddenly without warning. Nothing in life is guaranteed—not even your next breath.
I like this comment from Coffman: “The greatest error of Job's friends was their belief that sufferings, hardships, and disasters falling upon any person constituted proof of that person's wickedness. Any error of such colossal dimensions would condemn Jesus Christ himself. Look what happened to him! The sad fact is that, even today, the same gross error is found in the thinking of many people. Throughout Job, it must be remembered that it is this particular error, rather than any other, that Job so bitterly opposed.”
Job 28:1 ¶ Surely there is a vein for the silver, and a place for gold where they fine it.
Job 28:2 Iron is taken out of the earth, and brass is molten out of the stone.
Job 28:3 He setteth an end to darkness, and searcheth out all perfection: the stones of darkness, and the shadow of death.
Job 28:4 The flood breaketh out from the inhabitant; even the waters forgotten of the foot: they are dried up, they are gone away from men.
In this chapter Job talks about the value of wisdom and declares God as its source.
Job begins by painting a picture of man’s search for valuable gems. It seems that from the earliest times men knew how to mine for precious metals and gems from deep within the earth. He notes that you find silver in silver mines and gold in gold mines; he also establishes that men knew how to refine these metals. Iron and brass are also taken from the earth and need refining. Those who want these metals are willing to take their light into the deep areas of darkness to obtain them. They are willing to face great dangers to possess them.
Doesn’t it set your mind to wondering how men first learned such things and how they were able to accomplish such things without modern technology!
Job 28:5 As for the earth, out of it cometh bread: and under it is turned up as it were fire.
Job 28:6 The stones of it are the place of sapphires: and it hath dust of gold.
Job observes that though the earth seems peaceful on the surface where sources of food are planted and grown, the deep places of the earth have fires of transformation. It is where sapphires and gold dust are formed and found.
Job 28:7 There is a path which no fowl knoweth, and which the vulture’s eye hath not seen:
Job 28:8 The lion’s whelps have not trodden it, nor the fierce lion passed by it.
Job goes on to describe these places in the earth as unknown even to the birds of prey with their amazing vision and not explored by the mighty animals of the forest like the lion.
Job 28:9 He putteth forth his hand upon the rock; he overturneth the mountains by the roots.
Job 28:10 He cutteth out rivers among the rocks; and his eye seeth every precious thing.
Job 28:11 He bindeth the floods from overflowing; and the thing that is hid bringeth he forth to light.
Job describes how man digs into the rocky ground and mountain caves to search out the deep places of the earth and bring out its hidden treasures.
Job 28:12 But where shall wisdom be found? and where is the place of understanding?
Job then begins to draw a contrast between searching for the treasures of earth and searching for wisdom. He poses the question of where man can find wisdom and understanding. To be able to get wisdom assumes a foundation of knowledge (facts and data about any given subject). Understanding is the ability to interpret knowledge. Wisdom is the ability to put your understanding to the best possible use.
Job 28:13 Man knoweth not the price thereof; neither is it found in the land of the living.
Job 28:14 ¶ The depth saith, It is not in me: and the sea saith, It is not with me.
Job 28:15 It cannot be gotten for gold, neither shall silver be weighed for the price thereof.
Job 28:16 It cannot be valued with the gold of Ophir, with the precious onyx, or the sapphire.
Job 28:17 The gold and the crystal cannot equal it: and the exchange of it shall not be for jewels of fine gold.
Job 28:18 No mention shall be made of coral, or of pearls: for the price of wisdom is above rubies.
Job 28:19 The topaz of Ethiopia shall not equal it, neither shall it be valued with pure gold.
Job reasons that man cannot place a price on wisdom; it’s not a commodity you can get from the ground or from the seas. It cannot be bought with precious metals or gems. It is priceless in comparison to those things.
Wiersbe: “The Word of God is like a deep mine filled with precious treasures; but the believer must put forth effort to discover its riches.”
Job 28:20 ¶ Whence then cometh wisdom? and where is the place of understanding?
Job 28:21 Seeing it is hid from the eyes of all living, and kept close from the fowls of the air.
Job 28:22 Destruction and death say, We have heard the fame thereof with our ears.
Again, Job poses the question of where man can get wisdom and understanding. He notes that it cannot be seen. Even the unknown world of the dead has only heard of it.
The NIV Commentary makes this observation: “That Destruction and Death have a rumor about wisdom probably means those who reach that place have a belated understanding they missed in life.” This seems to be supported by the account Jesus reported of the death of the rich man and Lazarus as recorded in Luke.
Luke 16:19–31 “There was a certain rich man, which was clothed in purple and fine linen, and fared sumptuously every day: And there was a certain beggar named Lazarus, which was laid at his gate, full of sores, And desiring to be fed with the crumbs which fell from the rich man’s table: moreover the dogs came and licked his sores. And it came to pass, that the beggar died, and was carried by the angels into Abraham’s bosom: the rich man also died, and was buried; And in hell he lift up his eyes, being in torments, and seeth Abraham afar off, and Lazarus in his bosom. And he cried and said, Father Abraham, have mercy on me, and send Lazarus, that he may dip the tip of his finger in water, and cool my tongue; for I am tormented in this flame. But Abraham said, Son, remember that thou in thy lifetime receivedst thy good things, and likewise Lazarus evil things: but now he is comforted, and thou art tormented. And beside all this, between us and you there is a great gulf fixed: so that they which would pass from hence to you cannot; neither can they pass to us, that would come from thence. Then he said, I pray thee therefore, father, that thou wouldest send him to my father’s house: For I have five brethren; that he may testify unto them, lest they also come into this place of torment. Abraham saith unto him, They have Moses and the prophets; let them hear them. And he said, Nay, father Abraham: but if one went unto them from the dead, they will repent. And he said unto him, If they hear not Moses and the prophets, neither will they be persuaded, though one rose from the dead.”
Job 28:23 God understandeth the way thereof, and he knoweth the place thereof.
Job 28:24 For he looketh to the ends of the earth, and seeth under the whole heaven;
Job 28:25 To make the weight for the winds; and he weigheth the waters by measure.
Job 28:26 When he made a decree for the rain, and a way for the lightning of the thunder:
Job 28:27 Then did he see it, and declare it; he prepared it, yea, and searched it out.
Job 28:28 And unto man he said, Behold, the fear of the Lord, that is wisdom; and to depart from evil is understanding.
Job concludes that God is the source from which man can gain understanding. This fact is shown by His ability to know and see everything on planet earth and His ability to control the forces of nature. God revealed to man that it is a healthy fear and awe of Him that is the source of wisdom. Only when we are willing to live lives yielded to Him in faith and obedience can we truly find wisdom. When we make that choice, we demonstrate good understanding.
Psalms 111:10 “The fear of the LORD is the beginning of wisdom: a good understanding have all they that do his commandments: his praise endureth for ever.”
Proverbs 9:10 “The fear of the LORD is the beginning of wisdom: and the knowledge of the holy is understanding.”
Adam Clarke provides a possible scenario for God’s instruction to man regarding wisdom: “This probably refers to the revelation of his will which God gave to Adam after his fall. He had before sought for wisdom in a forbidden way. When he and Eve saw that the tree was pleasant to the eyes, and a tree to be desired to make one wise, they took and did eat. Thus they lost all the wisdom that they had, by not setting the fear of the Lord before their eyes; and became foolish, wicked, and miserable. Hear, then, what God prescribes as a proper remedy for this dire disease: The fear of the Lord, that is wisdom; it is thy only wisdom now to set God always before thy eyes, that thou mayest not again transgress.”
Courson: “If we don’t fear the Lord, gang, we’ll fear everything else. But if we fear Him, we’ll have nothing else to fear.”