He bindeth the floods from overflowing; and the thing that is hid bringeth he forth to light.
The verse stands in the second of the four parts of the book of Job, the debate between Job and his three friends on his afflictions in chapters 4 to 31, made up of three circles of speeches by each. The book of Job is the oldest book in the Bible and the oldest poetical book to come down, written by Moses in Midian, with a prose prologue in chapters 1 and 2, followed after the debate by the speeches of Elihu in chapters 32 to 37 and the speeches of the Lord out of the storm-cloud, and ending with a prose epilogue in chapter 42:7-17. More narrowly it stands in chapters 3-31, which hold the arguments or colloquies between Job and his three friends on the cause and object of human suffering.
The chapter containing the verse is a panegyric or praise on wisdom. It belongs to a description of God's greatness and wisdom within Job's contemplation of God's power. That praised wisdom of God is what His children must learn by walking in the fear of Him.
The verse presents human skill in bringing hidden things to light and restraining floods from overflowing, as in mining work where man searches out iron and copper and silver and gold, cutting channels among the rocks and holding back streams. This skill belongs to things man knows more or less about in the earth, yet it does not give him wisdom. Finding valuable things in the earth does not reveal where wisdom is found or how it is obtained. Man does not know the place of wisdom and cannot find it in the sea nor get it for gold, since no wealth of the world can equal it, but God understands the way of wisdom and brings it within man's reach by revealing that the fear of the Lord is wisdom and to depart from evil is understanding. What is hidden can be brought to light through diligent searching, which applies to studying the Bible, where like a miner tracing a rich vein a seeker follows each subject through the different books until gathering what God has said about it, with the help and guidance of the Spirit.
The verse stands in the second of the four parts of the book of Job, the debate between Job and his three friends on his afflictions in chapters 4 to 31, made up of three circles of speeches by each. The book of Job is the oldest book in the Bible and the oldest poetical book to come down, written by Moses in Midian, with a prose prologue in chapters 1 and 2, followed after the debate by the speeches of Elihu in chapters 32 to 37 and the speeches of the Lord out of the storm-cloud, and ending with a prose epilogue in chapter 42:7-17. More narrowly it stands in chapters 3-31, which hold the arguments or colloquies between Job and his three friends on the cause and object of human suffering.
The chapter containing the verse is a panegyric or praise on wisdom. It belongs to a description of God's greatness and wisdom within Job's contemplation of God's power. That praised wisdom of God is what His children must learn by walking in the fear of Him.
The verse presents human skill in bringing hidden things to light and restraining floods from overflowing, as in mining work where man searches out iron and copper and silver and gold, cutting channels among the rocks and holding back streams. This skill belongs to things man knows more or less about in the earth, yet it does not give him wisdom. Finding valuable things in the earth does not reveal where wisdom is found or how it is obtained. Man does not know the place of wisdom and cannot find it in the sea nor get it for gold, since no wealth of the world can equal it, but God understands the way of wisdom and brings it within man's reach by revealing that the fear of the Lord is wisdom and to depart from evil is understanding. What is hidden can be brought to light through diligent searching, which applies to studying the Bible, where like a miner tracing a rich vein a seeker follows each subject through the different books until gathering what God has said about it, with the help and guidance of the Spirit.