The proud beasts have not trodden it; the lion has not passed over it.
Job is describing a miner. He sinks a shaft, breaks into the rock and brings up gold and gems from places no animal has reached. Verse 8 measures that feat by what it leaves behind: the boldest beasts on earth have never walked there.
The path under the rock
Verse 8 belongs to a short section about what lies hidden under the ground.
Leslie M. GrantIn this section Job speaks of things more hidden from people normally, 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).
Why the picture is here at all
Commentators differ over whether verses 7-11 still describe mining or already reach past it. Ridout points to Job's repeated wording in verse 21.
Samuel RidoutDelitzsch connects this portion (verses 7-11) closely with what goes before, as describing the search after earth's precious stores. Part of it does go into further details. But the similarity of verse 21 to verses 7 and 8 suggests that even this early in the chapter Job is hinting at his main theme — the true riches. Verse 12 confirms this thought.
Everything found except the one thing needed
Man goes where no lion can follow, and still comes up empty.
F. B. HoleJob 28 holds remarkable words about man's search after wisdom. In Job's day people mined for iron or copper, for gold or silver or gems, and it may have been a new pursuit then. 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.
Kelly weighs what all that effort actually gains.
William Kelly"But where shall wisdom be found?" No, there is no wisdom in all that. 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?
Two things nature is famous for, both useless here
Verse 7 names a bird, verse 8 a lion. Each is nature at its peak. (Where the ESV has "falcon," older translations read "vulture.")
Hamilton SmithIn the path of God's will mere human wisdom and understanding will not help. It is a path no bird knows and no lion has trodden (Job 28:7-8). No eye in nature is as keen as the vulture's; no animal is as bold as the lion. But the boldness and long sight of nature are not equal to the path of faith. Only singleness of eye, with Christ as its one Object, will give spiritual understanding.
Ridout reads the lion's desert as land that gives the soul nothing:
Samuel RidoutThe wide deserts, where the proud lion roams with no fear of man, hold no treasure that the heart craves. The hermits, the "desert dwellers," have failed to get peace for their souls by their fasting and punishing of the body.
Where the path finally turns up
If the search downward fails, the chapter looks up. The One who knows the way is not only the Maker of the world but the One who shows Himself in His Son.
Samuel RidoutWe turn now from nature to its Author, from creation to God. He knows the way, and He alone can reveal it to man. And it is not merely God as Creator, but as Revealer in the person of His Son — "I am the way, and the truth, and the life." … He has seen wisdom; no, He is that Wisdom.
A path meant to be walked
The path is not locked shut. The chapter's closing answer brings it within reach.
C. H. MackintoshIt cannot be that we are forced to live in error, in darkness, or in uncertainty. "There is a path," blessed be God, though "no bird of prey knows it … the proud beasts have not trodden it." Where is this safe and blessed path? Hear the divine reply: "Behold, the fear of the Lord, that is wisdom, and to turn away from evil is understanding." (Job 28)
Summary
- Hidden — The verse names a path no sharp-eyed bird has seen and no strong beast has walked.
- Hinted — The same wording returns later in the chapter. Job is pointing past buried ore to the true riches.
- Hollow — Men dig where no animal can follow and bring up gold; wisdom is the one thing the digging never turns up.
- Helpless — Keen sight and bold strength, the best nature offers, are not equal to the path of faith.
- Held out — God alone knows the way, and shows it in His Son; He holds the path out to anyone who fears the Lord and turns from evil.