Fathers

Job 28

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Surely there is a vein for the silver, and a place for gold where they fine it. Iron is taken out of the earth, and brass is molten out of the stone. He setteth an end to darkness, and searcheth out all perfection: the stones of darkness, and the shadow of death. The flood breaketh out from the inhabitant; even the waters forgotten of the foot: they are dried up, they are gone away from men. As for the earth, out of it cometh bread: and under it is turned up as it were fire. The stones of it are the place of sapphires: and it hath dust of gold. There is a path which no fowl knoweth, and which the vulture's eye hath not seen: The lion's whelps have not trodden it, nor the fierce lion passed by it. He putteth forth his hand upon the rock; he overturneth the mountains by the roots. He cutteth out rivers among the rocks; and his eye seeth every precious thing. He bindeth the floods from overflowing; and the thing that is hid bringeth he forth to light. But where shall wisdom be found? and where is the place of understanding? Man knoweth not the price thereof; neither is it found in the land of the living. The depth saith, It is not in me: and the sea saith, It is not with me. It cannot be gotten for gold, neither shall silver be weighed for the price thereof. It cannot be valued with the gold of Ophir, with the precious onyx, or the sapphire. The gold and the crystal cannot equal it: and the exchange of it shall not be for jewels of fine gold. No mention shall be made of coral, or of pearls: for the price of wisdom is above rubies. The topaz of Ethiopia shall not equal it, neither shall it be valued with pure gold. Whence then cometh wisdom? and where is the place of understanding? Seeing it is hid from the eyes of all living, and kept close from the fowls of the air. Destruction and death say, We have heard the fame thereof with our ears. God understandeth the way thereof, and he knoweth the place thereof. For he looketh to the ends of the earth, and seeth under the whole heaven; To make the weight for the winds; and he weigheth the waters by measure. When he made a decree for the rain, and a way for the lightning of the thunder: Then did he see it, and declare it; he prepared it, yea, and searched it out. And unto man he said, Behold, the fear of the Lord, that is wisdom; and to depart from evil is understanding.

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What the Fathers say

Job 28:12

Western Saints

Gregory the Dialogist

But where shall wisdom be found? and where is the place of understanding? Man knoweth not the price thereof: neither is it found in the land of them that live pleasantly. But because the declarations of God are, without His wisdom, never fathomed at all, (for except him who hath received His Spirit, none knoweth in any sort His words,) the holy man adds words touching the subject of searching out that same Wisdom of God. It is first to be noted, that two points be proposed to himself, and two he adds making answer. …

Morals on the Book of Job, Book XVIII ↗

Thomas Aquinas

Since he had shown that all the precious things found in corporeal bodies are contained in determined places, which though they are unknown to men are still known to God, he shows the eminence of wisdom by first introducing the fact that it is not contained in a determined place, and so he says, "But where is wisdom found?" This is as if he says: Wisdom is shut up in no corporeal place because it is not something corporeal. …

Commentary on Job ↗

Bonaventure

Job raises the question of where wisdom may be found; and he answers negatively, that it is not found by a man living in a merely human manner, saying: 'Man does not know its price, nor is it found in the land of those who live pleasantly.' That last statement gives the reason: this is the cause why the carnal man does not know the price of wisdom, because the carnal man does not perceive the savor of wisdom; nor can a man know wisdom unless he finds its savor; and he does not find savor in it if he lives delicately, because carnal …

Collationes de Septem Donis, Collation 7 ↗