Albert Barnes Commentary Job 28:1

"Surely there is a mine for silver, And a place for gold which they refine." — Job 28:1 (ASV)

Surely there is a vein for silver - Margin, “mine.” Coverdale translates this, “There are places where silver is molten.” Professor Lee translates it, “There is an outlet for the silver,” and supposes it means the emergence or separation of the silver from the earthy particles surrounding it in the ore, not its extraction from the mine. The word translated “vein” (מוצא môtsâ') properly means a going forth, like the rising of the sun (Psalms 19:6), or the promulgation of an edict (Daniel 9:25). It can also mean a place of going forth—such as a gate or door (Ezekiel 42:11; Ezekiel 43:11)—and from there, a mine, a vein, or a place from which metals come forth; that is, a place where they are obtained. So the Septuagint here says, Ἔστι γὰρ άργυρίῳ τόπος ὅθεν γίνεται Esti gar arguriō topos hothen ginetai — “there is a place for silver from which it is obtained.” The idea here is that humanity had shown its wisdom in discovering silver mines and working them.

It was one of the instances of human skill that people had been able to penetrate the earth, bring out the ore of precious metals, and convert it to valuable purposes.

And a place for gold - This refers to a workshop or laboratory for working precious metals. Job says that even in his time, such a laboratory was a proof of human wisdom. So now, one of the most striking proofs of skill is found in the places where precious metals are purified and worked into the various forms suitable for ornament and use.

Where they fine it - — יזקו yāzoqû. The word used here (זקק zâqaq) properly means to bind fast, to fetter; then to compress, to squeeze through a strainer; and thus, to strain, filter; and subsequently to purify—as wine that is filtered, or gold that is purified (Malachi 3:3). It may refer here to any process of purifying or refining. This is commonly done by applying heat. One of the instructive uses of the book of Job is the light it incidentally sheds on the state of ancient arts and sciences, and the condition of society regarding the comforts of life in the early period of the world when the author lived. In this passage it is clear:

1. That the metals were then in general use, and
2. That they were so worked as to provide, in Job’s view, a striking illustration of human wisdom and skill.

Society was so far advanced as to use not only gold and silver but also copper and brass. The use of gold and silver commonly precedes the discovery of iron; consequently, the mention of iron in any ancient book indicates a considerably advanced state of society. Of course, it is not known to what extent the art of working metals was carried in Job’s time, since all that would be indicated here is that the method of obtaining the pure metal from the ore was understood. It may be interesting, however, to observe that this art was known to the Egyptians early on and was developed by them to a considerable degree of perfection.

Pharaoh arrayed Joseph in vestures of fine linen, and put a chain of gold about his neck (Genesis 41:42); and great quantities of gold and silver ornaments were borrowed by the Israelites from the Egyptians when they were about to go to the Promised Land. Gold and silver are mentioned as known in the earliest ages (Genesis 41:42; Exodus 20:23; Genesis 23:15–16).

Iron is also mentioned as having been known early (Genesis 4:22). Tubal Cain was an instructor in iron and brass. Gold and silver mines were worked early in Egypt. If Moses compiled the book of Job, it is possible that some of the descriptions here may have been derived from that country; in any case, the method of working these precious metals was probably the same in Arabia and Egypt. From the mention of earrings, bracelets, and jewels of silver and gold in the days of Abraham, it is evident that the art of metallurgy was known at a very remote period. Workmen are noted by Homer as excelling in the manufacture of arms, rich vases, and other objects inlaid or ornamented with metals:

Πηλείδης δ’ ἆιψ’ ἄλλα τίθει ταχυτῆτος ἄεθλα,
Ἀργύρεον κρατῆρα τετυγμειον.
Pēleidēs d' aips alla tithei tachytētos aethla,
Argyreon kratēra tetugmeion.
Iliad xxiii. 741.

His account of the shield of Achilles (Iliad xviii. 474) proves that the art of working in precious metals was well known in his time. The skill required to delineate the various objects he describes was such that no ordinary artisan, even today, could be supposed to possess. In Egypt, gold and silver ornaments—consisting of rings, bracelets, necklaces, and trinkets—have been found in considerable abundance from the times of Osirtasen I and Thothmes III, who were contemporaries of Joseph and Moses. Diodorus (i. 49) mentions an Egyptian silver mine that produced 3,200 myriads of minae.

The gold mines of Egypt remained unknown for a long time, and their position was ascertained only relatively recently by M. Linant and M. Bonomi. They lie in the Bisharee desert, about a seventeen-day journey southeast from Derow. The matrix in which Egyptian gold was found is quartz, and the excavations to procure the gold are exceedingly deep.

The principal excavation is 180 feet deep. The quartz obtained this way was broken by the workmen into small fragments, about the size of a bean. These fragments were passed through hand mills made of granitic stone. When reduced to powder, the quartz was washed on inclined tables, and the gold was thus separated from the stone.

Diodorus says that the principal people engaged in mining operations were captives taken in war and individuals compelled to labor in the mines for offenses against the government. They were bound in fetters and forced to labor night and day. “No attention,” he says, “is paid to these persons; they do not even have a piece of rag to cover themselves. So wretched is their condition that everyone who witnesses it deplores the excessive misery they endure.

No rest, no intermission from toil, is given to either the sick or the maimed. Neither the weakness of age nor women’s infirmities are regarded; all are driven to the work with the lash until, at last, overcome with the intolerable weight of their afflictions, they die in the midst of their toil.”

Diodorus adds, “Nature indeed, I think, teaches that as gold is obtained with immense labor, so it is kept with difficulty, creating great anxiety, and attended in its use with both pleasure and grief.”

It was perhaps in view of such laborious and difficult operations in obtaining precious metals, and of the skill humanity had shown in extracting them from the earth, that Job alluded here to the process as a striking proof of human wisdom. On the early use of metals among the ancient Egyptians, the reader may consult with advantage Wilkinson’s “Manners and Customs of the Ancient Egyptians,” Volume 3, pages 215 and following.