Job 28:22–23

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.

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.

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."

"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.

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.

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.

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.

This is how death and destruction heard the fame of His wisdom: only God knows it (Job 28:22-23).

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.

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.

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?

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.