Job 28:2

"Iron is taken out of the earth, and brass is molten out of the stone." That is just exactly where copper is found. Where we read "brass" it is very often "copper" — and that is mostly the case in the Bible. He now gives us a remarkable sketch of mining in very early times.

He speaks first of the treasures of the earth — the riches man goes after. They do not last, and they are so often man's undoing. Job shows that he had a good knowledge of mining operations. He knows of veins of silver and how gold is refined. Iron is taken out of the earth and copper molten out of stone. Then he describes the miner with his lamp. He puts an end to the darkness as he digs into the mountains and sinks a shaft. He also mentions the dangers of mining — "they hang (suspended by ropes) far from men, they swing to and fro." All this man does, risking life and comfort, to get gold and the treasures of the earth.

God has seen fit to put these metals in places where men can find them without difficulty, and men certainly make much use of them. Yet they know little of the spiritual truths these metals stand for. Gold speaks of the glory of God. Silver speaks of the redemption that is in Christ Jesus. Iron speaks of the strength of the kingdom of God. Copper speaks of the holiness of God.

Iron, needed in every kind of work, takes hard labour to draw out of the dust of the earth. Man labours for these earthly necessities, but forgets Him in whom alone is strength. Brass, or copper, with its unyielding strength, was and still is melted out of the stone that holds it. But men place little value on the unchanging judgments of God.

This is a very remarkable chapter. It follows man's skill as he does all sorts of things — metalwork, engineering, holding back the floods, and bringing hidden things out of the earth. His skill is unlimited, in a way, over what is under his control — but this is not wisdom... God arranged all these things. So far as creation goes — that is, where man lives — He had wisdom about the things that occupy man. But He put man in relationship with Himself, that is more. Truly recognising this, and the exercise of conscience that follows — that is wisdom for man.

Men may discover much, and since Job's day they have discovered far more, but wisdom still eludes them. If Job could see what men do and discover in our atomic age, he would say the same, only a hundred times more strongly.

Man's daring resources, with covetousness behind, conquer all difficulties. The hard flint gives way to his hand. He overturns mountains by the root if they stand in his way, and cuts rivers through the rocks, to reach the precious things his eye sees.