As for the earth, out of it cometh bread, and underneath it is turned up as by fire;
Job pauses his argument with his friends to describe something everyone can see: people dig. Verse 5 sets ground that gives us food beside the same ground ripped open far below — and the chapter will ask what all that digging never finds.
The verse contrasts the surface of the ground with what lies far below it. One commentator reads "underneath it" as pointing deep down into the earth. He takes the passage as a picture of mining, and notes that even sharp-eyed birds never go where the miner goes:
"As for the earth, out of it comes bread, but underneath it" — that is deep down in it — "is turned up as by fire. The stones of it are the place of sapphires" — precious stones as well as these metals — "and it has dust of gold." The birds do not enter into these depths. They go up into the heights, and they cross the whole surface of the earth. But they do not venture into the mines where man goes down. Not even the vulture.
Commentators differ on what the fire pictures. A second reading ties it to how the treasure below ground came to be:
The earth itself produces bread, that is, grain, though deeper down the earth is turned up as by fire (v.5). "Its stones are the source of sapphires" (v.6). Stones by intense heat produce precious stones, and gold dust is found where heat has been. Job suggests that man knows these things and takes advantage of them.
The two halves of the verse are also a moral contrast. God gives food on the surface; man rips open what is underneath. One writer takes the fire as the violence of the search itself:
Men will give their lives for gold. They are not content with the fertile earth yielding food for man's need; they tear it and search its depths as a fire burning and destroying. Such seems to be the clear meaning of verse 5. It is wealth, gold, jewels, glory, that man seeks after, and for which he is ready to barter his very life and soul. Look at the history of the mining camps of modern times, and it confirms all that Job says. What greed, lust and violence rule in these places… What a contrast to the peaceful work of gathering the rich harvests God has provided on the very surface of the earth. The lesson pictured here is very clear: "Having food and clothing, with these we will be content." Of course this does not mean that these precious things are sinful in themselves, or that their proper use is unnecessary. But the restless craving for them is a sign of the poor heart of man, looking for what can never satisfy.
Note the balance there: the metals and jewels are not condemned. It is the craving that is being weighed.
Verse 5 is not a stray observation. It belongs to the chapter's opening block, and the whole chapter moves from what man can dig up to what only God can reveal:
The chapter may be divided into seven portions. (1) The treasures of earth (vv. 1-6). (2) The hidden treasure (vv. 7-11). (3) Not revealed by nature (vv. 12-14). (4) Its priceless value tested (vv. 15-19). (5) Its report (vv. 20-22). (6) The Revealer (vv. 23-27). (7) The Revelation (v. 28).
One writer links the bread that comes out of the earth to the day Jesus fed a crowd. Jesus did not call down bread from heaven. He began with what the ground had already grown:
The Lord then called on the disciples to gather their resources. He said to them, "How many loaves do you have?" He was about to show before their eyes His own saying, "To the one who has, more will be given." They answer, Seven. And these loaves the Lord took as the beginning of the food-supply for the people. He did not as of old call down bread out of heaven, but He made use of what came out of the earth (Job 28:5). To this fruit of human toil, already multiplied from the bare grain, He gave a further increase.
All this skill and daring proves the point Job is driving at. Man reaches places no animal reaches — and still comes up empty on the one thing that matters:
They dig down, they divert the underground stream, they make paths untrodden by the strongest of beasts or the most keen-sighted of birds. But in all this searching they never find wisdom. He raised this question in verse 12, and he was right that these human activities could not find it. Men may discover much, and since Job's day they have discovered a great deal more, but wisdom eludes them.
- Above. The surface of the earth gives bread — food God provides without a shaft or a rope.
- Below. Deeper down, the ground is turned up as by fire. Commentators differ on what that fire pictures: the heat that formed the gems, or the tearing violence of the search.
- Beyond. Man cuts paths that the strongest beasts and the sharpest-eyed birds never take — not even the vulture.
- Bread, not gold. The restless craving, not the metal itself, is what exposes a heart looking for what cannot satisfy — "having food and clothing, with these we will be content."
- But not wisdom. Every new shaft answers the chapter's question the same way. With all man uncovers, wisdom is never among the finds.
The stones of it are the place of sapphires, and it hath dust of gold.
Job breaks off his long argument with his friends. He turns to the wealth buried in the earth: stones that hold sapphires, and dust of gold. The picture is exact, and it is going somewhere. By verse 12 he asks where to find wisdom, and whether any mine can yield it.
Verse 6 says the earth holds dust of gold. That wording is precise: gold turns up in a different form from silver.
Men do not find gold in veins like silver. They find it in quite a different way — very often in the form of dust, and sometimes of nuggets. But silver they find in large and rich veins.
Verse 6 adds precious stones to the metals. The same writer moves from that straight to the question the search cannot answer.
"Its stones are the place of sapphires" — precious stones as well as these metals — "and it has dust of gold." … "But where shall wisdom be found?" No, there is no wisdom in all that. There is self in all that. Here is what will make a man rich. Here is what will bring money and perhaps distinction. But where shall wisdom be found?
Readers have puzzled over how this chapter connects to the one before it. One commentator answers that what looks like an extreme case is the common story of the human race.
This might look like an extreme case. But in truth it is the all too common experience of the human race. Men chase an empty show. They are eager for every other object under the sun — yes, deep inside the earth and in the depths of the sea. And they overlook the wisdom that consists in the fear of the Lord and can never be separated from it, and the understanding that turns away from evil.
Others see the connection as a straight contrast between two kinds of wealth, and read verses 1-6 as the first of seven movements in the chapter.
Job next contrasts the doom of the ungodly rich, as described in the previous chapter, with the true riches, which can never be lost. … The opening part of the chapter describes the toil and care with which men search for the "delved gold," which so often brings but the "strife and curse which fall over it." He then passes on to the true riches — wisdom; where shall it be found?
The search has a price. One commentator counts what men pay for it.
Men will give their lives for gold. The fertile earth yields food for man's need, but that does not content them. They tear it open and search its depths like a fire burning and destroying. … Man seeks after wealth, gold, jewels and glory, and he is ready to barter his very life and soul for them. … The lesson pictured here is very clear: "If we have food and clothing, with these we will be content." Of course this does not mean that these precious things are sinful in themselves, or that their proper use is unnecessary. But the restless craving for them points to the poor heart of man, seeking what can never satisfy. If only he had used the same earnestness in seeking the true riches, how different the result would be.
One writer sums up the whole mining passage, and adds what the years since have shown.
They dig down. They divert the underground stream. They cut paths that the strongest beasts and the sharpest-eyed birds have never walked. But in all this searching they never find wisdom. This is the question he raised in verse 12, and he was quite right that no one finds it in these human activities. Men may discover much. Since Job's day they have discovered far more. But wisdom still eludes them. If Job could see man's activities and discoveries in our atomic age, he would say the same, only a hundred times more strongly.
Miners learn to judge what is worth having. One commentator adds that they still get it wrong.
They gain a keen sense of what is worth something — though by no means are they always right. Sometimes the miners in our country have thrown away as rubbish what was just as valuable as all that their mind was set upon. But as a general rule they learn what is valuable.
Read as a picture, the gold of verse 6 points past itself.
Men will travel to the ends of the earth for gold — gold refined in the fire and made into beautiful ornaments and the king's crown. But most people treat the true gold, the righteousness of God in Christ, as worthless.
- Dig. Verse 6 names the earth's hidden wealth: stones that hold sapphires, and dust of gold. Gold comes as dust and nuggets, not in veins like silver.
- Find. Man's skill works. He digs down, turns the underground water aside, and cuts paths where no bird or beast has gone.
- Pay. The price shows the heart. Men barter life and soul for what can never satisfy, while the surface of the earth yields bread.
- Fail. Every discovery leaves the question of verse 12 unanswered. There is self in all of it, but no wisdom.
- Miss. The one gold worth having is the righteousness of God in Christ, and most people pass it by as worthless.