Job 28:13-14 | KingComments | STEP | Job has described all the efforts man is willing to make, and all he dares to deepen precious metals from the earth. In the following verses he compares this intensive work with man’s attempts to gain wisdom. Man knows where precious metals can be found, but “wisdom”, where is it to be found ( )? Wisdom is an incomparably greater treasure than the most valuable precious metal hidden in the earth, the value of which is also transient. And where is “wisdom” to be sought, in what place? The observation is that people do not search for it with the same zeal and dedication as they search for mineral treasures. They do not know its value, nor the way to it ( ). The sources or finding places of wisdom therefore do not lie in nature nor “in the land of the living”, i.e. in man. It is necessary to look higher than the earth and man in order to find true wisdom. Wisdom cannot be found in or on earth, but is hidden in God. Wisdom is nowhere to be found in nature by natural man or any creature. In a beautiful personification, the deep and the sea say that they do not harbor wisdom. The deepest divers in the depths of the oceans and those who go to the farthest places across the sea discover nothing of God’s wisdom. To discover wisdom, they must first accept that God is there. Only then they can see that He has made all His works with wisdom ( ). Human effort and reason are completely inadequate to come to the knowledge of the wisdom of God ( ). The wisdom of God is found for us in Christ, for He is the “wisdom of God” ( ; ). And in Christ we can ask God for the wisdom we lack ( ).

‏ Job 28:13-14

Not Disclosed by Nature

Job has described all the efforts man is willing to make, and all he dares to deepen precious metals from the earth. In the following verses he compares this intensive work with man’s attempts to gain wisdom. Man knows where precious metals can be found, but “wisdom”, where is it to be found (Job 28:12)? Wisdom is an incomparably greater treasure than the most valuable precious metal hidden in the earth, the value of which is also transient. And where is “wisdom” to be sought, in what place?

The observation is that people do not search for it with the same zeal and dedication as they search for mineral treasures. They do not know its value, nor the way to it (Job 28:13-14). The sources or finding places of wisdom therefore do not lie in nature nor “in the land of the living”, i.e. in man. It is necessary to look higher than the earth and man in order to find true wisdom. Wisdom cannot be found in or on earth, but is hidden in God.

Wisdom is nowhere to be found in nature by natural man or any creature. In a beautiful personification, the deep and the sea say that they do not harbor wisdom. The deepest divers in the depths of the oceans and those who go to the farthest places across the sea discover nothing of God’s wisdom. To discover wisdom, they must first accept that God is there. Only then they can see that He has made all His works with wisdom (Psa 104:24).

Human effort and reason are completely inadequate to come to the knowledge of the wisdom of God (1Cor 1:21). The wisdom of God is found for us in Christ, for He is the “wisdom of God” (1Cor 1:30; Col 2:3). And in Christ we can ask God for the wisdom we lack (Jam 1:5).