Job 28:16

It cannot be valued with the gold of Ophir, with the precious onyx, or the sapphire.

EXPOSITORY (ENGLISH BIBLE)

Matthew Henry's Concise Commentary

28:12-19 Job here speaks of wisdom and understanding, the knowing and enjoying of God and ourselves. Its worth is infinitely more than all the riches in this world. It is a gift of the Holy Ghost which cannot be bought with money. Let that which is most precious in God's account, be so in ours. Job asks after it as one that truly desired to find it, and despaired of finding it any where but in God; any way but by Divine revelation.

Barnes' Notes on the Bible

The gold of Ophir - Uniformly spoken of as the most precious gold; see the notes at Job 22:24.

With the precious onyx - The onyx is a semi-pellucid gem, with variously colored veins or zones. It is a variety of the chalcedony. The Arabic word denotes that which was of two colors, where the white predominated. The Greeks gave the name "onyx" ὄνυξ onux to the gem from its resemblance to the color of the thumbnail; see Passow.

Or the sapphire - See the notes at Job 28:6.

Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary

16. gold of Ophir—the most precious (See on [524]Job 22:24 and [525]Ps 45:9).

onyx—(Ge 2:12). More valued formerly than now. The term is Greek, meaning "thumb nail," from some resemblance in color. The Arabic denotes, of two colors, white preponderating.

Matthew Poole's Commentary

The gold of Ophir was the best sort of gold. See Poole "1 Kings 9:28", See Poole "Job 22:24". Onyx, or sardonyx. See Poole "Exodus 28:20".

Gill's Exposition of the Entire Bible

It cannot be valued with the gold of Ophir,.... Which is often spoken of in Scripture as choice gold, if not the best; See Gill on Job 22:24; the sense is, that the gold of Ophir is not of the value of wisdom, or of the same worth with that, and so not sufficient to purchase it: with the precious onyx and sapphire: two precious stones that were in the breastplate of the high priest, of which See Gill on Exodus 28:9; see Gill on Exodus 28:18, and See Gill on Exodus 28:20; but not so precious, or of such value as wisdom. Pliny (y) speaks of the onyx stone as in Arabia, near which Job 54ed, and who doubtless was acquainted with it and its worth, and also with the sapphire he makes mention of before; see Gill on Job 28:6. The word for "valued" is by some rendered "strowed" (z), as goods are when they are exposed to sale; but wisdom should not be laid, or put on a level with these, though so excellent and precious.

(y) Nat. Hist. l. 37. c. 6. (z) "verbum significat sternere", Michaelis.

Geneva Study Bible

It cannot be valued with the gold of Ophir, with the precious onyx, or the sapphire.

EXEGETICAL (ORIGINAL LANGUAGES)

Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges

16. it cannot be valued] lit. weighed for gold of Ophir. Wisdom is conceived as put in the balance as other articles are that are sold, the price given for it being gold of Ophir. The meaning is, it cannot be purchased for gold of Ophir. The word weighed here differs from that in Job 28:15, though it has the same meaning.

Pulpit Commentary

Verse 16. - It cannot be valued with the gold of Ophir. The locality of Ophir has been much contested, but, on the whole, the weight of evidence would seem to be in favour of Arabia, on the south-east coast (see the article on "Ophir" in Smith's 'Dict. of the Bible,' which exhausts all that can be said on the subject). The high estimation in which "gold of Ophir" was held appears not only in this passage, but also in Job 22:24; Psalm 45:9: and Isaiah 13:12. It is to be accounted for by the imperfection of all the anciently known processes of refining, which left the best refined gold inferior to the natural product of the Ophir mines or washings. With the precious onyx, or the sapphire. (On the latter of these two stones, see the comment upon ver. 6.) The "onyx" is probably the stone now known as the "sardonyx," which was highly prized by the ancients. It had a place in the breastplate of the high priest (Exodus 28:20), and is mentioned among the treasures of the King of Tyre (Ezekiel 28:13). The sardonyx presents layers variously coloured, as blue, black, white, and vermilion. Job 28:16

Keil and Delitzsch Biblical Commentary on the Old Testament

13 A mortal knoweth not its price,

And it is not found in the land of the living.

14 The abyss saith: It is not in me,

And the sea saith: It is not with me.

15 Pure gold cannot be given for it,

And silver cannot be weighed as its price;

16 And it is not outweighed with fine gold of Ophir,

With the precious onyx and the sapphire.

It is self-evident that wisdom is found nowhere directly present and within a limited space, as at the bottom of the sea, and cannot be obtained by a direct exchange by means of earthly treasures. It is, moreover, not this self-evident fact that is denied here; but the meaning is, that even if a man should search in every direction through the land of the living, i.e., (as e.g., Psalm 52:7) the world - if he should search through the תּהום, i.e., the subterranean waters that feed the visible waters (vid., Genesis 39:25) - if he should search through the sea, the largest bounded expanse of this water that wells up from beneath - yea, even if he would offer all riches and precious things to put himself in possession of the means and instruments for the acquirement of wisdom, - wisdom, i.e., the profoundest perception of the nature of things, would still be beyond him, and unattainable. ערך, Job 28:13, an equivalent (from ערך, to range beside, to place at the side of), interchanges with מחיר (from מחר, cogn. מהר, מכר, mercari). סגור is זהב סגוּר, 1 Kings 6:20 and freq., which hardly signifies gold shut up equals carefully preserved, rather: closed equals compressed, unmixed; Targ. דּהב סנין, aurum colatum (purgatum). Ewald compares Arab. sajara, to seethe, heat; therefore: heated, gained by smelting. On the other hand, כּתם from כתם, Arab. ktm, occulere, seems originally to denote that which is precious, then precious gold in particular, lxx χρυσίῳ Ωφείρ, Cod. Vat. and Cod. Sinaiticus, Σωφίρ (Egyptized by prefixing the Egyptian sa, part, district, side, whence e.g., sa-rees, the upper country, and sa-heet, the lower country, therefore equals sa-ofir, land of Ophir). שׁהם is translated here by the lxx ὄνυξ (elsewhere σαρδόνυξ or σάρδιος), of which Pliny, h. n. xxxvii. 6, 24, appealing to Sudeines, says, in gemma esse candorem unguis humanii similitudinem; wherefore Knobel, Rdiger, and others, compare the Arab. sâhim, which, however, does not signify pale, but lean, and parched by the heat, with which, in hot countries at least, not pallor, but, on the contrary, a dark brown-black colour, is identified (Fl.). Arab. musahham, striped (Mich.), would be more appropriate, since the onyx is marked through by white veins; but this is a denom. from sahm, a dart, prop. darted, and is therefore wide of the mark. On the etymology of ספּיר, vid., Jesurun, p. 61. Nevertheless both שׁהם and ספּיר are perhaps foreign names, as the name of the emerald (vid., ib. p. 108), which is Indian (Sanskr. marakata, or even marakta); and, on the other hand, it is called in hieroglyph (determined by the stone) uot, the green stone (in Coptic p. auannēse, the green colour) (Lauth).

The transcendent excellence of wisdom above the most precious earthly treasures, which the author of the introduction to the book of Proverbs briefly describes, Job 3:14, is now drawn out in detail.