Job 28:16

It cannot be valued with the gold of Ophir,.... Which is often spoken of in Scripture as choice gold, if not the best; [See comments on Job 22:24]; the sense is, that the gold of Ophir is not of the

It cannot be valued with the gold of Ophir, with the precious onyx, or the sapphire. Gold of Ophir - the most precious (note, Job 22:24; Psalms 45:9). Onyx - (Genesis 2:12). More valued formerly than now.

The gold of Ophir was the best sort of gold. See Poole "", See Poole "". Onyx, or sardonyx. See Poole "".

Job 28:16 It cannot be valued with the gold of Ophir, with the precious onyx, or the sapphire.Ver. 16. It cannot be valued] Heb. Thrown on the ground, as wares were wont to be, and are yet, when they are set to sale, and to be prized or valued. With the gold of Ophir] The word here rendered gold is not the same as that in the former or those in the following verses. Five different times gold is here mentioned (because so highly prized among men), and in four different words. Jerome on Jeremiah 10:1-25 observeth that the Hebrew have seven different words for gold; and five different sorts are here instanced. That here mentioned is a special name for the most resplendent and glistering gold, Psalms 45:9 Daniel 10:5 Son 5:11. Of it comes Michtam of David, or David’ s golden psalm, Psalms 16:1, his ingot of gold. Broughton thinks it to be no Hebrew word, but the name of gold in Ophir; Obrizium dictum volunt, quasi Ophirizium. Ophir is Peru, say some; others, an island in the Indies, where the most precious gold was to be had, called also gold of Parvaim, 2 Chronicles 3:6. This is supposed to be in Havilah, Genesis 2:11. It is called perfections of gold, 2 Chronicles 4:21. With the precious onyx, or the sapphire] The onyx is a stone said to be found in the river Ganges, and to be of a white colour, like the white of a man’ s nail, whence it hath its name. See of it, Plin. lib. 37, cap. 4; Boet. Hist. Gem. lib. 2, cap. 90. The sapphire is a stone of a sky coloured blue, or of a light coloured purple.

Verse 16. The gold of Ophir] Gold is five times mentioned in this and verses 17 and 19, and four of the times in different words. I shall consider them all at once. 1. סגור SEGOR, from סגר sagar, to shut up. Gold. in the mine, or shut up in the ore; native gold washed by the streams out of the mountains, c. unwrought gold. Ver. 16. 2. כתם KETHEM, from כתם catham, to sign or stamp: gold made current by being coined, or stamped with its weight or value; what we would call standard or sterling gold. Ver. 17. 3. זהב ZAHAB, from זהב zahab, to be Lear, bright, or resplendent: the untarnishing metal; the only metal that always keeps its lustre. But probably here it means gold chased, or that in which precious stones are set; burnished gold. 4. פז PAZ, from פז paz, to consolidate, joined here with keley, vessels, ornaments, instruments, c.: hammered or wrought gold gold in the finest forms, and most elegant utensils. This metal is at once the brightest, most solid, and most precious, of all the metals yet discovered, of which we have no less than forty in our catalogues. In these verses there are also seven kinds of precious stones, c., mentioned: onyx, sapphire, crystal, coral, pearls, rubies, and topaz. These I shall also consider in the order of their occurrence. Ver. 16. 1. שהם shoham, the ONYX, from ονυξ, a man's nail, hoof of a horse, because in colour it resembles both. This stone is a species of chalcedony and consists of alternate layers of white and brown chalcedony, under which it generally ranges. In the Vulgate it is called sardonyx, compounded of sard and onyx. Sard is also a variety of chalcedony, of a deep reddish-brown colour, of which, and alternate layers of milk-white chalcedony, the sardonyx consists. A most beautiful block of this mineral sardonyx, from Iceland, now lies before me. 2. ספיר sappir, the SAPPHIRE stone, from ספר saphar, to count, number; probably from the number of golden spots with which it is said the sapphire of the ancients abounded. PLINY says, Hist. Nat. lib. xxxvii., cap. 8: Sapphirus aureis punctis collucet: coeruleae et sapphiri, raraque cum purpura: optimae apud Medos, nusquam tame perlucidae. "The sapphire glitters with golden spots. Sapphires are sometimes of an azure, never of a purple colour. Those of Media are the best, but there are none transparent." This may mean the blood stones; but see below. What we call the sapphire is a variety of the perfect corundum; it is in hardness inferior only to the diamond. It is of several colours, and from them it has obtained several names. 1. The transparent or translucent is called the white sapphire. 2. The blue is called the oriental sapphire. 3. The violet blue, the oriental amethyst. 4. The yellow, the oriental topaz. 5. The green, the oriental emerald. 6. That with pearly reflections, the opalescent sapphire. 7. When transparent, with a pale, reddish, or bluish reflection, it is called the girasol sapphire. 8.

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.

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.

16. Ophir — See note Job 22:24. The precious onyx — Canon Cook alludes to an Egyptian inscription (in Brugsch) which certainly refers to a period before Moses, in which distinct mention is made of