As for the earth, out of it comes bread, but 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 plain sense of the words
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:
William Kelly"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:
Leslie M. GrantThe 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.
Not content with the bread
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:
Samuel RidoutMen 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.
Where the verse sits in the chapter
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:
Samuel RidoutThe 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).
Bread from the earth in the Lord's hands
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 Bible TreasuryThe 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.
Deep shafts, no wisdom
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:
F. B. HoleThey 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.
Summary
- 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.