Job 28:9

He putteth forth his hand upon the rock,.... The discourse is carried on concerning the miner, and digger in the earth for metals and precious stones; who meeting with a rock or flint, and a ridge of

He putteth forth his hand upon the rock; he overturneth the mountains by the roots. Rock - flint. He puts forth his hand to cleave the hardest rock. By the roots - from their foundations, by undermining them.

This and the two next verses are meant either, 1. Of other eminent and considerable works of God, who sometimes overturneth rocks, and produceth new rivers in unlikely places. Or rather, 2. Of the same work of mining and digging for gold, or other precious things of the earth, and of other effects of man’ s art and wisdom in that work. The miners resolve to break through all opposition, and by iron tools, or fire, or other ways, dig through the hardest rocks. He undermineth the very mountains to find out the metals lying at the bottom of them.

Job 28:9 He putteth forth his hand upon the rock; he overturneth the mountains by the roots.Ver. 9. He putteth forth his hand upon the rock] "He," that is, mortal man, the miner, Job 28:4 (not God, as Mercer would have it), "putteth forth his hand"; sc. to dig down these rocks, that he may come at that treasure, and make himself master of that spoil that is hidden in their entrails. Nil tam difficile est, quod non sollertia vincit. Alexander the Great being asked, How he so soon overran the universe? answered, I never held anything impossible to be achieved. When he had heard of anything dangerous to be done, or unlikely, he would the rather set upon it, and say, Iam periculum par animo Alexandri, This is an enterprise fit for an Alexander. So of Julius Caesar (who had in his time taken a thousand towns, conquered three hundred nations, taken prisoners a million of men, and slain as many) sings the poet (Lucan), - Caesar in omnia praeceps, Nil actum credens, dum quid superesset agendum, Fertur atrox. - Difficulty doth but whet on heroic spirits; it wakeneth, but not any way weakeneth, the courageous and industrious. Hannibal made his way through the Alps by breaking down a huge rock putrefied with fire, and vinegar poured thereon. Hence Juvenal, Opposuit natura Alpemque nivemque Deduxit scopulos, et montem rupit aceto. He overturneth the mountains by the roots] Or, he turneth it up at the roots of the mountains; sc. which he mineth, by the obstinace of his labour. - Labor improbus omnia vincit. Dεινοςκαιπαντολμοςτηςφιλοχρηματιαςερως, saith Isidore, the love of money is daring and desperate.

(9) He putteth forth his hand upon the rock.—The process described is that of tunnelling and excavating, and that of making canals and lining them with stone; and in the course of such works many precious things would be discovered. The canals and cisterns were made so accurately that they retained the water, and did not even weep or trickle.

Verse 9. He putteth forth his hand upon the rock,] Still there appears to be a reference to mining. Man puts his hand upon the rock, he breaks that to pieces, in order to extract the metals which it contains. He overturneth the mountains] He excavates, undermines, or digs them away, when in search of the metals contained in them: this is not only poetically, but literally, the case in many instances.

3–11. Description of mining operations. he setteth] To prevent ambiguity it is better to translate, man setteth, or, men set. The phrase “setteth an end to darkness” hardly refers to the light shed by the miner’s lamp; the expression is more general, meaning that men penetrate into what is dark and deep in the earth as if it were light and above ground—as the next clause explains. searcheth out all perfection] Rather, searcheth out to the very end, or, utmost limit, the stones of darkness and the shadow of death, that is, the darkest recesses in the bowels of the earth. The word, very end or utmost limit is that occurring, ch. Job 26:10 (see notes) and ch. Job 11:7. On “shadow of death” see on ch. Job 24:17.

He putteth forth his hand - That is, the miner in securing the precious metals and gems. Upon the rock - Margin, “flint.” The word used here (חלמישׁ challâmı̂ysh) occurs also in Psalms 104:8. Deuteronomy 8:15; Deuteronomy 32:13.

9. Upon the rock — Against the flint, (the hardest rock,) as in margin. Pliny’s words furnish a fitting comment.