Job

There was a man in the land of Uz whose name was Job , and that man was perfect and upright and one that feared God and eschewed evil . ” He was blessed with a large family and thousand of sheep and cattle . He was ” the greatest man in the East . “

” Then , one day , the song of the gods came to present themselves to Yahweh , and Satan was there among them . And Yahweh asked Satan where he had been ; and Satan answered . Ranging over the earth , roaming all over it . “

Thus begins the biblical tale of Job , the righteous man who was put to the test by Satan to the limits of man´s faith in God . As one calamity followed another and Job began to question the Lord´ ways , three of his friends journeyed from distant lands to give him sympathy and comfort . As Job voiced his plaints and doubts of divine wisdom , the friends pointed out to him the many wonders of the heavens and the earth that were known only to God ; among them were the marvels of metals and their sources and the ingenuity of finding them and extracting them from the depths of the earth .

Surely there is a source for silver
And a place where gold is refined ;
Where iron is obtained from ores
and copper is smelted out of stones .

To darkness He puts and end ,
The usefulness he researched
of stones in depths and obscurity .
He breaches the brook away from habitation ,
where the forgotten and strange men move about .

There is a land of which the ingots come ,
Whose underground is upheavaled as with fire ;
A place where the blue – green stones are ,
that has ores of gold .
Even a vulture knows not the was thereto ,
And a falcon´s eye has not discerned it …

There He set his hand to the granite ,
He overturned mountains at their roots ,
He cut galleries through the rocks ,
and all that is precious His eyes has seen ,
he dammed up the sources of the streams ,
and that which is hidden he brought to light .

Does man known all these places ? Job asked , did man by himself discover all the metallurgical processes ? Indeed , he challenged his three friends , where does this knowledge of minerals and metals come from ?

And where shall Knowledge be found ?
Where does Comprehension come from ?
No man knows its progression ;
its source is not where mortals dwell …

Solod gold not its full measure ,
in silver it is priceless .
To the red gold of ophir it is not confined ,
nor by precious cornelian or lapis- lazuli .
Gold and crystal are nor not its measure ,
neither is its value in golden vessels .
black coral and alabaster need no mention ;
Knowledge is beyond mere pearls …

Clearly , Job conceded , all this Knowledge comes from God – the one who had both enriched him and deprived him and who could restore him :

God alone understand its course
and knows how it is established .
For He can scan ends of the Earth
and see all that is under the skies .

The inclusion of the marvels of mining in Job s discourse with his three friends may not have been accidental . Though nothing is known of the identity of Job himself or of the land where he had lived , the names of the three friends provide some clues . The first one was Elipaz of Teman , from southern Arabia ; his name meant ” God is my Pure Gold . “ The second one was Bildad of Shuha , a country believed to have been located south of Carcemish , the Hittite city ; the land´s name meant ” place oft the deep pits . “ The third one was Zophar of Na´amah , a place named after the sister of Tubal – Cain , ” the master of all smiths ” according to the Bible . All three , had come from lands associated with mining .

In asking these detailed questions Job …displayed considerable knowledge of mineralogy , mining , and metallurgical processes . His time is certainly long after mas first use of copper by hammering lumps of native copper into useful shapes and well into the period when metals were obtained by mining ores that had to be smelted , refined , and cast .

~ by vittidk on December 3, 2008.