“That path no bird of prey knows, and the falcon's eye has not seen it.
Job has been describing miners who tunnel into the earth for silver, gold and precious stones. Then he points to a path that no digging, no flight and no strength has ever found. The question the chapter is driving toward is not where treasure is, but where wisdom is.
The picture: a bird above, a miner below
Job names two creatures for what they can do. One sees everything below from the sky. The other relies on sheer strength.
Leslie M. GrantIn this section Job speaks of things that are usually hidden from people, but which God brings to light (v.11). There is a path that no bird knows, though it can fly high above earth to observe what is below. No falcon's eye (which is amazingly keen) discerns it (v.7). The proud or fierce lion cannot force his way into it by his superior strength (v.8).
Man goes the other direction — down. His digging can make him rich, and it still leaves the chapter's question open.
William KellyThe birds go up into the heights and cross the whole surface of the earth, but they do not venture into the mines where man goes down... There is self in all that. There is what will make a man rich; there is what will bring money and perhaps distinction; but where shall wisdom be found? and where is the place of understanding? Well, it is not on the earth.
The wrong tools: sharp sight and great strength
Older translations call the bird a fowl and the falcon a vulture, which is why several writers use those words. The bird and the lion stand for two things people trust in themselves: sight and strength. Neither reaches this road.
Hamilton SmithNo eye so keen in nature as the vulture's; no animal so bold as the lion. But the boldness and long-sightedness of nature are not equal for the path of faith. Only an eye fixed on Christ as its one Object will give spiritual understanding.
Wisdom comes down, not up
If wisdom is not in the mine, the sea or the sky, it must come from somewhere higher.
William KellyTrue wisdom and true understanding not found in the earth at all! It comes down from heaven. It is found only in Christ... "The sea says, It is not with me... It is hidden from the eyes of all living, and kept close from the birds of the air."
The path Christ walked
Commentators read this hidden path as the Lord's own path through this world.
Scripture QuarterlyA path that the sharpest natural sight, pictured here by the vulture's eye, has never seen must be a remarkable path. Such was the Lord's path here... That one path was a lonely one for the Lord while He was on earth. Foxes had holes, and birds had nests, but He had no pillow.
Where that path ended is as far beyond nature's reach as the path itself.
J. N. Darby"I am he that lives and was dead, and behold I am alive for evermore," are His new titles and dignities. By them He has passed into a sphere beyond the vulture's eye, a sphere no bird knows, which the lion's whelps have not trodden, and where the fierce lion has never passed by.
Walking a road you cannot see by nature
The natural eye cannot see this way, so the believer needs another kind of sight.
Andrew MillerThe path of separation is too narrow for the natural eye to discern. The word of God lays down no broad lines to mark the Christian's way through this world. Only the spiritual eye can see the way out of it.
So where does this path lead?
Hamilton SmithLike the path of death, it passes through a world of sorrow — yes, through the valley of the shadow of death. But unlike the path of death, it leads into the presence of the LORD, where there is fulness of joy and pleasures for evermore.
Where the chapter finally lands
Job 28 does not leave the question hanging. The chapter gives its own answer at the end.
C. H. MackintoshIt cannot be that we must live in error, in darkness, or uncertainty. "There is a path," blessed be God, though "no bird knows it, and the vulture's eye has not seen it. The lion's whelps have not trodden it, nor the fierce lion passed by it." Where is this safe and blessed path? Hear the divine reply: "Behold, the fear of the Lord, that is wisdom: and to depart from evil is understanding." (Job 28)
Summary
- Hidden — The bird's eye and the lion's strength are nature's best. Sight and force at their peak still miss this path.
- Higher — Man digs down and finds silver and gold, but not wisdom. Wisdom is not in the earth at all. It comes down from heaven.
- Him — Commentators read this path as the Lord's own lonely road through this world. It ends in a sphere beyond the vulture's eye.
- Ours — This same path passes through sorrow, yet it leads into the presence of the LORD, where there is fulness of joy.
- How — No broad lines mark it out, so only the spiritual eye sees it. The chapter's answer is the fear of the Lord and turning from evil.