For it is hidden from the eyes of all living, and concealed from the fowl of the heavens.
Job has just described how far human skill can reach: into mines, under mountains, through rock. Then he asks where wisdom itself lives. Verse 21 rules out two whole regions at once: every living eye on earth, and everything that flies above it.
The verse does not say wisdom is hard to find. It says it is hidden. One writer explains why even the richest searcher cannot buy it.
But while man is told to seek, this wisdom is not found in nature, nor by human effort. Where is wisdom found? Where does understanding live? Man, frail and mortal, does not know, and he does not have the price to pay for it, for it is not found in the land of the living. If it were within reach, some would be able to reach it; some rich man would have the price to pay for it. But it is beyond man... Nature, by itself, cannot give even one simple clue to this heavenly, this wonderful good.
Human skill gets into places no creature will go, and still comes back empty-handed.
Man can, no doubt, set his course across the waters. Man can cut a road through the rocks. In his eagerness for his own aims, man can level mountains and fill valleys. He can even go where the vulture never flies and never sees. He can break into places no wild beast ever enters... But where is wisdom to be found? The finest gold cannot buy it. The most precious gems and the finest works of art are no fair exchange for it.
The second half of the verse lifts the search above ground level and finds the same answer. Height is no advantage.
Job knew there is such a thing as wisdom, and most people realise that wisdom does exist. But where? All man's searching does not find it: "it is hidden from the eyes of all living" and even "concealed from the birds of the air" (vv. 20-21). The birds fly high above man, yet they have no understanding of it. Remember too that the birds of the air picture spirits, and the unclean birds stand for unclean spirits. God's wisdom is beyond what these can grasp. "Destruction and death say, We have heard a report about it with our ears" (v. 22), but only a report, for wisdom itself is known only when God reveals it.
If wisdom is missing from earth, sea and sky, that does not mean it does not exist. Its home is elsewhere.
What a very solemn thing that is! True wisdom and true understanding not found in the earth at all! It comes down from heaven. It is found only in Christ; and Christ had not yet come; and further, this is what came out still more by Christ's rejection and Christ's death... "It is hidden from the eyes of all living and concealed from the birds of the air." It is not in the skies, as far as the eye can see them. "Destruction and death say, We have heard a report of it with our ears." Yes, that is just what happened. There was a report of that One who is Himself wisdom, and who is the Giver of wisdom to the meek. It was by death that it came to us, but they did not know it.
Another writer reads the faint rumour heard by death and destruction as pointing forward to the cross.
If it is not to be found in creation, where then does wisdom come from? and where is the place of understanding? seeing it is hidden from the eyes of all living. In answer, we are told, "God understands the way thereof"; also that "destruction and death" had heard the fame of it. This is surely an intimation of the cross of Christ. Yes, the necessary wisdom was known to God, and when that "hidden wisdom" came forth in Christ, and the world crucified the Lord of glory, then death and destruction heard its fame!
Verse 21 is not the end of the chapter. What no eye could find, God says plainly to man. His answer is short enough for anyone to remember.
"And he said to man" — there is a wisdom above man — "Behold, the fear of the Lord, that is wisdom, and to turn away from evil is understanding." That is exactly what a soul feels when it is converted. He may know nothing more than that; he sees how he has been in almost all evil, and he departs from it. A real sight of Christ is enough to do that by the Spirit of God, and the fear of the Lord.
One writer gathers up every place the chapter has ruled out, and turns the search into a personal question.
The vulture's eye is keen, powerful and far-seeing, yet it has not seen it. The young lion is strong in movement and majestic in bearing, yet it has not walked there... The depth says, It is not in me, and the sea says, It is not with me. Gold and precious stones cannot buy it. All the wealth of the universe cannot equal it, and no cleverness of man can discover it. So where am I to turn? Where shall I find it?
- Search. Human skill reaches places no bird or beast will go, and still cannot find wisdom. Nature gives no clue.
- Sealed. The verse closes both directions at once. It is hidden from every living eye below and concealed from what flies above. Even creatures far above man have no grasp of it.
- Rumour. Death and destruction heard only a report. Wisdom itself is known only when God reveals it.
- Revealed. Wisdom is not on earth because it comes down from heaven. It is found only in Christ, and it reached us by His death.
- Received. God does not keep the answer to Himself: the fear of the Lord is wisdom, and turning away from evil is understanding. Kelly says this is exactly what happens when a soul is converted.
Destruction and death say, We have heard its report with our ears.
Job's long speech turns from digging and buried gold to a harder search: where do you find wisdom? In verse 22 two voices from the world of the dead answer, and even they have only heard a rumour.
The chapter opens with men hard at work for gold, then sets that work beside something digging cannot reach.
The opening part of the chapter describes the hard work and care with which men dig for gold, which so often brings only the strife and curse that fall on it. He then moves on to the true riches — wisdom. Where can it be found? Searching earth or sea for it is useless, and all the wealth of the world cannot match it. Even the dark shadows of death can only witness that it exists. They do not tell how or where to get it.
Time has not changed the result.
Men may discover much, and since Job's day they have discovered far more, but wisdom escapes them. Suppose Job could see all that people do and discover in our atomic age. He would say the same thing, only a hundred times more strongly.
Older translations turn the name "Abaddon" into "Destruction." It appears in a small group of passages.
Revelation 9:11 shows this name to be the same as Apollyon, "the destroyer," whom it calls "the angel of the bottomless pit." It is perhaps not so much one of the names of Satan, as his character in person. It occurs six times in the Old Testament. Three times it goes with hell (sheol): Job 26:6; Proverbs 15:11; Proverbs 27:20. Once it goes with death: "Destruction and Death say," Job 28:22. Once it goes with the grave, Psalm 88:11. In all these passages, and in Job 31:12, it is translated "destruction."
Hearing about something is not the same as having it.
"Destruction and death say, We have heard a report about it with our ears" (v.22), but only a report, for God alone makes wisdom itself known, by direct revelation.
(Where the ESV reads "a rumor of it," older translations say "a report" or "the fame of it.")
What death takes away is itself a lesson.
Death and destruction cannot give positive wisdom. What they can show, from the other side, is that only what does not belong to mortal man has any value. A man sets up his family and keeps his name alive, but he himself is gone. Nothing stops the hand of death.
Ridout finds one more hint in the same silence.
Nature does speak of wisdom, but it does not pass wisdom on... And yet, if the poet had had ears to hear, those graves would at least whisper back a hint. The present life was not all, and wisdom lies beyond time. "Destruction and death say, We have heard the fame of it with our ears." How true it is that those who think about the end of their life are near to wisdom, ready to receive the revelation which God gives.
Two writers hear in that rumour the report of a Person.
True wisdom and true understanding are not found in the earth at all! It comes down from heaven. It is found only in Christ; and Christ had not yet come... "Destruction and death say, We have heard the fame of it with our ears." Yes, it was just that very thing. There was a report of that One who is Himself wisdom, and who is the Giver of wisdom to the meek. It was by death that it came to us, but they did not know it.
Darby ties the same words to the death of Christ.
This is how death and destruction heard the fame of His wisdom: only God knows it (Job 28:22-23).
Only one voice can end the search.
God alone can declare its true nature and value, "and to man He said, Behold, the fear of the Lord, that is wisdom; and to depart from evil is understanding."... So until God has His rightful place in a man's mind and heart, he cannot look at anything wisely. His thoughts are out of centre. His beginning is all wrong.
- Search. Men dig for gold and discover more in every age. Wisdom still stays out of reach.
- Rumour. Destruction and Death — Abaddon, "the destroyer" — have only heard a report. Wisdom itself comes by direct revelation from God.
- Warning. Death teaches nothing positive. It does show that only what does not belong to mortal man has value. Those who think about their own end stand nearest to wisdom.
- Report. Writers hear in that rumour a report of Christ, who is wisdom Himself. Wisdom came to us by way of death, and those who heard the report did not know it.
- Answer. God alone knows wisdom's place, and what He tells man is short: fear the Lord, turn from evil. Until He has His rightful place in a heart, every thought is off centre.
God understandeth the way thereof, and he knoweth its place
Job has just searched mine shafts and sea depths, and every place gives the same answer: wisdom is not here. Verse 23 is the turn: the search moves from creation to the Creator, from where man can go to what God alone knows.
One writer sums up why every search for wisdom comes up empty.
While man is told to seek, this wisdom is not found in nature, nor by human effort. The question is asked: Where is wisdom found? Where does understanding live? Man, frail mortal, does not know it and cannot pay its price, for it is not found in the land of the living. If it were within reach, then some would be able to attain it; some rich man would have the price to pay for it. But it is beyond man. In the bottomless deep, the call for wisdom wakes only one reply: "It is not in me." The wide sea, for all its size, does not hold this priceless treasure. Nature, in itself, is powerless to give even a simple clue to this heavenly, this wonderful good.
Read the preceding verses as a personal question and you feel the weight of this one. One writer puts himself in the place of the seeker:
If wisdom cannot be bought with gold or precious stones — if the wealth of the universe cannot equal it, and no cleverness of man can discover it — then where am I to turn? where shall I find it?
The verse says God knows both the "way" and the "place" of wisdom. One writer sets that knowledge beside the whole universe God governs.
If destruction and death can only say that they have heard its report, God understands its way and He knows its place. The universe in no degree distracts Him: He looks to the ends of the earth, He sees not only in but under the whole heaven. Nothing is too delicate or too vast for His knowledge and His rule. He gives the winds their weight and measures out the waters. He controls the rain and the lightning. Yet He also laid down the foundation of all righteousness, and this for man on earth to hear. It is to give God His rights.
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One writer follows the search from creation to its Author, and from the Author to a Person.
We turn now from nature to its Author, from creation to God. He knows the way, and He alone can reveal it to man. And it is not merely God as Creator, but as Revealer in the person of His Son — "I am the way, and the truth, and the life." … He has seen wisdom; no, He is that Wisdom.
Another writer reads the answer of verse 23 as reaching past creation into salvation itself.
Yes, in all His creation He knows the way. Much more so in redemption: He is, in the person of His blessed Son, the way to Himself, and in Him all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge are hidden.
One writer turns to the person who leaves God out.
Until God gets His rightful place in a man's mind and heart, he is incapable of viewing anything wisely. His thoughts are out of centre. His beginning is all wrong.
One writer names the secret of wisdom, and what works against it.
Here, then, is the divine secret of wisdom: "the fear of the Lord." This sets the conscience directly in the presence of God, which is its only true place. Satan's aim is to keep the conscience out of this place. He works to bring it under the power and authority of man … He pushes something in between the conscience and the authority of Christ the Lord. It does not matter what it is. It may be a creed or a confession containing a quantity of truth — it may be the opinion of a man or a set of men — the judgment of some favourite teacher — anything, in short, that comes in and takes over, in the heart, the place that belongs to God's Word alone.
- Searched — Man digs and prices the whole earth. Nature cannot give even a simple clue to wisdom.
- Beyond reach — If wisdom could be bought, some rich man would already own it. It lies outside human effort.
- Known — God understands its way and knows its place. The universe never distracts Him, and nothing is too delicate or too vast for His rule.
- Revealed — He alone can give it. He does so not only as Creator but as Revealer in His Son, who holds all the treasures of wisdom.
- Feared — Wisdom starts when God has His rightful place. The conscience then stands before Him, ruled by His Word and nothing else.