Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of Job 28:16
It cannot be valued with the gold of Ophir, with the precious onyx, or the sapphire.
16. it cannot be valued ] lit. weighed for gold of Ophir. Wisdom is conceived as put in the balance as other articles are that are sold, the price given for it being gold of Ophir. The meaning is, it cannot be purchased for gold of Ophir. The word weighed here differs from that in Job 28:15, though it has the same meaning.
Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges
The gold of Ophir – Uniformly spoken of as the most precious gold; see the notes at Job 22:24.
With the precious onyx – The onyx is a semi-pellucid gem, with variously colored veins or zones. It is a variety of the chalcedony. The Arabic word denotes that which was of two colors, where the white predominated. The Greeks gave the name onyx onux to the gem from its resemblance to the color of the thumbnail; see Passow.
Or the sapphire – See the notes at Job 28:6.
Fuente: Albert Barnes’ Notes on the Bible
Verse 16. The gold of Ophir] Gold is five times mentioned in this and verses 17 and 19, and four of the times in different words. I shall consider them all at once.
1. SEGOR, from sagar, to shut up. Gold. in the mine, or shut up in the ore; native gold washed by the streams out of the mountains, c. unwrought gold.
Ver. 16. 2. KETHEM, from catham, to sign or stamp: gold made current by being coined, or stamped with its weight or value; what we would call standard or sterling gold.
Ver. 17. 3. ZAHAB, from zahab, to be Lear, bright, or resplendent: the untarnishing metal; the only metal that always keeps its lustre. But probably here it means gold chased, or that in which precious stones are set; burnished gold.
4. PAZ, from paz, to consolidate, joined here with keley, vessels, ornaments, instruments, c.: hammered or wrought gold gold in the finest forms, and most elegant utensils. This metal is at once the brightest, most solid, and most precious, of all the metals yet discovered, of which we have no less than forty in our catalogues.
In these verses there are also seven kinds of precious stones, c., mentioned: onyx, sapphire, crystal, coral, pearls, rubies, and topaz. These I shall also consider in the order of their occurrence.
Ver. 16. 1. shoham, the ONYX, from , a man’s nail, hoof of a horse, because in colour it resembles both. This stone is a species of chalcedony and consists of alternate layers of white and brown chalcedony, under which it generally ranges. In the Vulgate it is called sardonyx, compounded of sard and onyx. Sard is also a variety of chalcedony, of a deep reddish-brown colour, of which, and alternate layers of milk-white chalcedony, the sardonyx consists. A most beautiful block of this mineral sardonyx, from Iceland, now lies before me.
2. sappir, the SAPPHIRE stone, from saphar, to count, number; probably from the number of golden spots with which it is said the sapphire of the ancients abounded. PLINY says, Hist. Nat. lib. xxxvii., cap. 8: Sapphirus aureis punctis collucet: coeruleae et sapphiri, raraque cum purpura: optimae apud Medos, nusquam tame perlucidae. “The sapphire glitters with golden spots. Sapphires are sometimes of an azure, never of a purple colour. Those of Media are the best, but there are none transparent.” This may mean the blood stones; but see below.
What we call the sapphire is a variety of the perfect corundum; it is in hardness inferior only to the diamond. It is of several colours, and from them it has obtained several names.
1. The transparent or translucent is called the white sapphire.
2. The blue is called the oriental sapphire.
3. The violet blue, the oriental amethyst.
4. The yellow, the oriental topaz.
5. The green, the oriental emerald.
6. That with pearly reflections, the opalescent sapphire.
7. When transparent, with a pale, reddish, or bluish reflection, it is called the girasol sapphire.
8. A variety which, when polished, shows a silvered star of six rays in a direction perpendicular to the axis, is called asteria.
When the meaning of the Hebrew word is collated with the description given by Pliny, it must be evident that a spotted opaque stone is meant, and consequently not what is now known by the name sapphire. I conjecture, therefore, that lapis lazuli, which is of a blue colour, with golden-like spots, formed by pyrites of iron, must be intended. The lapis lazuli is that from which the beautiful and unfading colour called ultramarine is obtained.
Ver. 17. 3. zechuchith, CRYSTAL, or glass, from zachah, to be pure, clear, transparent. Crystal or crystal of quartz is a six-sided prism, terminated by six-sided pyramids. It belongs to the siliceous class of minerals: it is exceedingly clear and brilliant, insomuch that this property of it has become proverbial, as clear as crystal.
Fuente: Adam Clarke’s Commentary and Critical Notes on the Bible
The gold of Ophir was the best sort of gold. See Poole “1Ki 9:28“, See Poole “Job 22:24“. Onyx, or sardonyx. See Poole “Exo 28:20“.
Fuente: English Annotations on the Holy Bible by Matthew Poole
16. gold of Ophirthe mostprecious (See on Job 22:24 andPs 45:9).
onyx (Ge2:12). More valued formerly than now. The term is Greek,meaning “thumb nail,” from some resemblance in color. TheArabic denotes, of two colors, white preponderating.
Fuente: Jamieson, Fausset and Brown’s Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible
It cannot be valued with the gold of Ophir,…. Which is often spoken of in Scripture as choice gold, if not the best;
[See comments on Job 22:24]; the sense is, that the gold of Ophir is not of the value of wisdom, or of the same worth with that, and so not sufficient to purchase it: with the precious onyx and sapphire: two precious stones that were in the breastplate of the high priest, of which [See comments on Ex 28:9],
[See comments on Ex 28:18], and
[See comments on Ex 28:20]; but not so precious, or of such value as wisdom. Pliny y speaks of the onyx stone as in Arabia, near which Job lived, and who doubtless was acquainted with it and its worth, and also with the sapphire he makes mention of before,
[See comments on Job 28:6]. The word for “valued” is by some rendered “strowed” z, as goods are when they are exposed to sale; but wisdom should not be laid, or put on a level with these, though so excellent and precious.
y Nat. Hist. l. 37. c. 6. z “verbum significat sternere”, Michaelis.
Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible
16. Ophir See note Job 22:24. The precious onyx Canon Cook alludes to an Egyptian inscription (in Brugsch) which certainly refers to a period before Moses, in which distinct mention is made of precious stones that had been collected by chieftains of the Phoenicians in their voyages.
Onyx Hebrew, shoham, is supposed by Winer to have been the beryl; and, by equally good authorities, to have been the same as our onyx. It is a stone or gem in colour resembling that of the human fingernail, as denoted by the Greek , nail.
Sapphire See Job 28:6.
Fuente: Whedon’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
Job 28:16 It cannot be valued with the gold of Ophir, with the precious onyx, or the sapphire.
Ver. 16. It cannot be valued ] Heb. Thrown on the ground, as wares were wont to be, and are yet, when they are set to sale, and to be prized or valued.
With the gold of Ophir
With the precious onyx, or the sapphire
Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
the gold: 1Ch 29:4, Psa 45:9, Isa 13:12
onyx: Exo 28:20, Eze 28:13
Reciprocal: Gen 2:12 – onyx Gen 10:29 – Ophir Exo 28:9 – onyx Exo 28:18 – sapphire Exo 39:6 – onyx stones 1Ki 9:28 – Ophir 1Ch 29:2 – onyx stones Job 28:6 – sapphires Rev 21:19 – the foundations