Christopher Rush

At the climax of Job’s lamentation, just before his final self-defense, he gives a poetically moving discourse on wisdom, centering on two important questions: “where shall wisdom be found? And where is the place of understanding?” (Job 28:12) Along with its three companions knowledge, understanding, and discernment, wisdom’s location and purpose are frequent motifs throughout the book, discussed by Job’s three companions, Elihu, and God Himself (though this essay will focus only on the humans’ perspectives in the book).  Job’s friends’ comments on wisdom usually come in the context of upbraiding Job for his unrighteousness, yet they differ in emphases.  Elihu’s comments on wisdom come mainly in opposition to everything he has heard from the other four.  Job gets the final word (for our purposes), rethinking his own position on wisdom being not so unattainable after all.

Wisdom is nigh impossible to locate, says Job at first.  It is neither in “the land of the living” (28:13b) nor in the deep or the sea (28:14).  It is not where living creatures on the ground or the birds in the air can find it (28:21), and not even Abaddon and Death know anything beyond “a rumor of it” (22:22).  Even if man were to stumble accidentally upon it, he would “not know its worth” (28:12) because it is so rare and truly unique (cf. 28:15-19).  Wisdom does not reside in man’s purview, neither in his heart nor in his head: he can’t find it, doesn’t know its worth (likening it to a valuable jewel), and wouldn’t know what to do with it even if he did find it.

Job’s companions similarly address wisdom and where it could be found, yet they mostly disagree with Job on its source.  Zophar comes closest to agreeing with Job’s initial premise of wisdom’s elusiveness.  “Can you find out the deep things of God?  Can you find out the limit of the Almighty?  It is higher than heavens – what can you do?  Deeper than Sheol – what can you know?” (11:7) In fact, it is so elusive, “a stupid man will get understanding when a wild donkey’s colt is born a man!” (11:12) Eliphaz at first agrees with wisdom’s rarity, intimating wisdom is an individual experience: he has it because an indiscernible spirit in a stealthy voice whispered in his ear (4:12-16).  Yet wisdom can have a more accessible source simply through experiencing a long life: “Both the gray-haired and the aged are among us” (15:10), says Eliphaz, and since they are older than Job he can’t possibly have more wisdom than they have (15:9).  Bildad offers a similar source of wisdom, in the traditions and teachings passed down from one generation to the next.  Job should “consider what the fathers have searched out.… Will they not teach you and tell you and utter words out of their understanding?” (8:8, 10).  Elihu rejects these outright, saying “It is not the old who are wise nor the aged who understand what is right” (32:9).  Even more brazen, Elihu declares if any of them disagree with his counsel, despite his being the youngest of them all, he can be a source of wisdom for them (33:33)!

Wisdom’s purpose is another point of contention.  Job doesn’t initially see much practical use for it in this life or the next since it is so unlike anything else of human experience, and man is so mystified by it he thinks of it like a jewel, though rarer and more costly than any other precious gem (28:12-22).  Eliphaz especially proves Job right, likening wisdom to a physical adornment with spiritual significance.  Eliphaz says most men die without wisdom, and that lack of wisdom often brings about their destruction (4:14-5:7, esp. 4:21), as if wisdom were armor against mortality.  (This is one of the few statements with which Elihu agrees, cf. 36:12.)  Eliphaz says further that not even the angels have wisdom, so God doesn’t trust them (4:18, 15:15) – one of his more bizarre declarations, rivalled perhaps only when he says wisdom benefits the person who has it, but that doesn’t much matter to God in how He treats that person (22:2-4).  Job doesn’t have wisdom, says Eliphaz, because he doesn’t fear God (15:2-4); worse, Job thinks God’s wisdom is inscrutable (22:13-14), and if Job would only repent from his wickedness (i.e., receive God’s wisdom), he would be rewarded by God … but he can only conceive of these rewards in terms of material blessings or riches (22:21-26).

Can wisdom be found in the heart?  Certainly not in the hearts of the four men around Job.  Bildad gets so fed up with Job’s words he speaks out of anger, believing Job is calling them stupid (and by implication devoid of wisdom, 18:3b).  Zophar likewise admits he is speaking emotionally out of haste (thus likely not from calm, comported wisdom, 20:2-3).  Eliphaz thinks wisdom is of the heart, but a heart motivated by acquisitiveness.  Elihu ends his tirade by declaring God “does not regard any who are wise in [their own] heart” (37:24).

Job concludes more optimistically, however, by declaring God not only knows where to find wisdom but also what it actually is (28:23-27).  Wisdom is a proper attitude of fearing God, and understanding is a proper action of turning from evil (28:28).  It thus can be found in the heart, when one stops thinking of wisdom as a material treasure but instead as the proper emotional perspective of who God is and how we should feel in response (and who we are in relation to Him – wisdom’s location).  It can also be found in the head: when one understands who God is and thus knows the proper way to respond to that knowledge, one turns away from evil (toward a life time of serving God – wisdom’s purpose).  Wisdom’s companions knowledge, understanding, and discernment are all mental (and spiritual), after all.  The fear of God and the proper knowledge of Him lead to a life of proper action.  Knowing what a thing is, such as wisdom, makes finding that thing and knowing what to do with it much easier – an essential component Job and his companions mostly ignored throughout their conversation.