Job 28:16

Verse Job 28:16. The gold of Ophir] Gold is five times mentioned in this and verses Job 28:17 and Job 28:19, and four of the times in different words. I shall consider them all at once.

1. סגור SEGOR, from סגר 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. Job 28:16. 2. כתם KETHEM, from כתם 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. Job 28:17. 3. זהב ZAHAB, from זהב 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. פז PAZ, from פז 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. Job 28:16. 1. שהם shoham, the ONYX, from ονυξ, 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. ספיר sappir, the SAPPHIRE stone, from ספר 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. Job 28:17. 3. זכוכית zechuchith, CRYSTAL, or glass, from זכה 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.