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Job 28:13-14
13 Man ['enowsh] knoweth [yada`] not the price [`erek] thereof; neither is it found [matsa'] in the land ['erets] of the living [chay].
14 The depth [tahowm] saith ['amar], It is not in me: and the sea [yam] saith ['amar], It is not with me. KJV-Interlinear
13 'Man does not know its value, Nor is it found in the land of the living. 14 'The deep says, 'It is not in me'; And the sea says, 'It is not with me.' NASB
The word for value or price, is 'erek,' which means to set something in its order, to arrange, to understand its perspective relative to some other thing.
Here it means to understand the purpose, meaning, and ultimately the value, of wisdom.
Most folks think they know what wisdom is, but in fact very few in this world do know or understand what wisdom really is.
Often times talent, ability, wit, humor, ridicule, and other similar attitudes or human gifts, are interpreted as wisdom. Even success or older age, are often viewed as attributes of wisdom.
The word for man, 'enowsh,' refers to mortal man, with emphasis on human frailties, deficiencies, melancholy, desperate, woeful, sick and so forth.
Man thinks of himself as being something more than what he actually is. Thinking himself as being smarter, brighter, more intuitive than life gives him credit for.
But Job places these attitudes in perspective with a little very subtle humor.
Man believes that he is capable to doing most anything he puts his mind to. It is not unusual to hear the clever remarks, 'You can do anything you put your mind to.' 'You can be anything you want to be.' You can achieve anything you want in life.'
But of course it is those who actually achieve something in life, that say these things. Perhaps a few thousand or a few million people will achieve some worldly 'dream' in life, but that leaves billions who do not.
But that again is the typical view of people who lack wisdom. They will take a very narrow view of life, and extrapolate it such that their belief will magically apply to everyone, even to the unknown. As though their view or platitude (a meaningless saying or overused cliché), suddenly carries the weight of wisdom, which it does not.
Having a talent, or having great wealth, having some great position, or having been born into some high state of life, are not prerequisites, nor attributes of wisdom.
Job states here clearly, wisdom is not from this world. Wisdom cannot be found in this world. Wisdom cannot be purchased, nor can it be discovered by some pioneer risk taker.
Man can go to the bottom of the sea, or to the moon and beyond, but wisdom is in neither of those places.
Discovering the secrets of the universe, of quantum physics, of any science or technology that you can imagine, are mere discoveries of the nuts and bolts, and order or design, of creation. That knowledge (the details of life) does not constitute wisdom.
Socrates said that wisdom begins with the definition of terms. Some look for wisdom in simplicity, or in how we ourselves view the world, or in how we ourselves view ourselves, or in how we view others, or with the concept of wonder and imagination.
But as far as the Bible is concerned, all of these views are nothing more than views of the nuts and bolts of life's components, or just invented philosophies.
Wisdom begins with the fear of the Lord.
From Gods perspective, there are only two things we need be concerned about. First, what God can do for us, and second, what God can withhold from us. Both of these are phenomenal and beyond our comprehension.
Since man does not live or exist in this universe as an autonomous creature, we must look to the one to whom we owe our existence and continued support. Without God, we would not exist. Without God, we would not have any resources with which to survive on. Without God, we wouldn't even have anything that we could call valuable.
Without God, there is only one destiny for man - the Lake of Fire, a region in which God lets loose all of the controls, and order, and rules, which sustain existence. Since man cannot even control the beat of his own heart, then controlling an environment that is completely out of control, will be totally impossible.
But try as they may, most folks continue to go their own course through life, conveniently disregarding the Bible, content to be satisfied with their own views of life.
And, most folks will live their entire life with that attitude. They are too stubborn to see the truth, so God allows them to fill out there years on this earth, all the while believing that they have discovered truth, but really haven't a clue.
Man does not know the value of truth, unless man knows the attributes of his relationship, or lack of one, with God.
And, man will never know the value of truth, unless he gets with a daily study of the scriptures.
We can all see the difference in value between fine china and paper plates. Is it so difficult to see the difference in value between Bible doctrine and all of the other philosophies out there in the world?
