It cannot be bought for gold, and silver cannot be weighed as its price.
Job has just described men digging for treasure — cutting tunnels, overturning rock, hauling silver and gold into the light. Then he stops and asks where wisdom is kept, and this verse is his first answer: gold cannot buy it.
The Argument Job Is Making
Job is answering his three friends. They had claimed to understand God's ways.
Leslie M. GrantJob's friends thought they had "the secrets of wisdom" (ch. 11:6), but Job could see that their arguments were not wise at all. So he confronts them: wisdom is not so easy to get. In fact, wisdom cannot be bought with gold or silver (v.15).
Wisdom Put On The Scales
Job now measures wisdom against the best that people own.
Samuel RidoutSomething of such priceless value is now tested against everything man counts as treasure. Pure gold and silver, weighed out without limit, cannot buy it. The fine gold of Ophir, the precious onyx and the sapphire — "a king's ransom" — have no place here… We search all of nature in vain for anything to compare with it, for its price is above every treasure on earth. If only men saw this, so that they might find the one jewel of eternal value. Everything else is nothing without it.
Why No Price Can Reach It
The problem is not that the price is too high. Wisdom is of a different kind altogether.
Leslie M. GrantIn other words, nothing in nature can come near the value of true wisdom. True wisdom is spiritual, not natural… A person receives this wisdom only through faith in the Lord Jesus, as the Spirit of God reveals it. How wonderful this is, far above all natural understanding!
Effort Spent In The Wrong Mine
Men work hard for gold. They dig shafts and turn rivers aside to get it. So why will they not work that hard for wisdom?
Samuel RidoutAgain we ask, why will men not work like this for the "hidden wisdom"? Why will they not sift for it, when it lies so close by? Or, if they must, why not remove the very mountains of difficulty by faith? "The course of this world" rushes past like a river, and it would swallow the true riches. So why do men not dam it, or turn it away, so that they may have the one thing worth more than all wealth? "The one who seeks finds" is still true. But this seeking and finding are not like the hard work of digging for gold. Wisdom is hidden, and the way to it is unknown, because God is unknown, and men will not listen to Him.
Not Buried In The Earth, But Given From Heaven
So wisdom is not in the mine, the sea, or the market. That leaves only one direction: above.
William KellyWhat 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.
The Answer Job Finally Reaches
The chapter does not leave the question open. God Himself says what wisdom is.
W. W. FeredayGod alone can declare what wisdom really is and what it is worth. He "said to man, 'Behold, the fear of the Lord, that is wisdom, and to turn away from evil is understanding.'" Solomon said the same thing later: "The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom, and the knowledge of the Holy One is insight" (Prov. 9:10). So until God has His rightful place in a man's mind and heart, that man cannot see anything wisely. His thoughts are off centre. His starting point is all wrong.
Summary
- Priced. Job prices wisdom against gold and weighed-out silver. Nothing man counts as treasure can meet the price.
- Refused. Wisdom is not simply expensive. It is of another order — spiritual, not natural — so no amount of wealth ever turns into it.
- Misplaced. Men tunnel through mountains and turn rivers aside for metal. The same effort spent on the hidden wisdom would find it, for "the one who seeks finds."
- Given. Wisdom is not in the earth or the sea. It comes down from heaven, and Christ is where it is found.
- Feared. The chapter's own answer is the fear of the Lord and turning from evil. Leave God out and your thinking is off centre from the start.