Job Chapter 28
A Didactic Digression about Wisdom
When I was 15, I stopped reading Les Miserables around page 500. I wanted a story, a well paced multi-character story that didn't stop every 60 pages to pontificate on whatever subject interested Victor Hugo. I didn't mind reading an entire novella about a priest before Jean Valjean even shows up, but why did I have to read about the Battle of Waterloo for 70 pages? Couldn't Hugo just mention that Thenardier robbed dead soldiers after the battle was over and move on? As the futurist manifesto said “It is stupid to write 100 words when one will do.”
Since then, I've gained patience for authors who stop the narrative to give over a lecture on whale fat or the Great Man of History belief system. It took me decades to finally read Les Miserables and like it. I can even find these didactic digressions entertaining.
Chapter 28 is a didactic digression. The Bible is full of didactic digressions, including Yonah's speech about G-d preserving him while stuck in a fish or the last four verses of Qoheleth (Ecclesiastes). With Chapter 28, the didactic digression/insertion is not as obvious. It says that Job is talking. Even if it doesn't sound like Job, the Zophar theory (someone forgot to write 'zophar said') doesn't work either. So the best explanation is that someone had this beautiful poem about wisdom and threw it in Job's big speech. It's definitely more precious than rubies.
The last verse encapsulates the chapter: ”G-d said to man, fear G-d, that is wisdom (chokmah). Flee evil, that is understanding (binah). Contact your local kabalist for the nuances between those words. This is a standard Biblical statement. The Greeks gave us ”Wisdom begins when you understand that you know nothing,” but it's essentially the same conclusion. Wisdom comes from experience and humility. Children may be intelligent. Teenagers can be geniuses, but wisdom requires actual reflection. Only adults can be wise and even they don't necessarily have wisdom. As the Fool says to King Lear: “Thou shouldst not have been old till thou has been wise.”
Other parts of the chapter feel like a Proverbs greatest hits. You can find gold. You can find topaz. You can't find wisdom, even though it's more valuable. You can't chase it or buy it. Wisdom has a price above rubies. This is repeated several times in the Bible. Also, a virtuous woman is more valuable than rubies.
Like the Tao, wisdom is not something you can just capture after a chase. You can't argue it into existence. It comes in moments of pain and refection and maybe therapy. Have you ever remembered an argument with a friend and realized that you had been fucking stupid? And toxic. And sanctimonious. So belligerent that you wince in pain and wish that you could hop in a time machine so you could slap yourself on the back of the head? That's the beginning of wisdom. Not quite as poetic as the fear of G-d or knowing that you know nothing. It's hard to become wise, but it's worth it if only to stop blaming others for your problems and abandon the viewpoint that the world is full of stupid assholes to either fight or exploit.
Yet, we are in a world full of foolish toxic assholes who succeed because they are foolish toxic assholes. Who doesn't want Trump's power or Musk's money? Who doesn't want to become wildly popular for pushing idiot belief systems that sound good to selfish stupid people? Certainly, Andrew Tate, Michael Moore and Noam Chomsky have not needed wisdom to get ahead. You could shout about Chomsky denying that the Khmer Rouge were genocidal monsters from sunrise to sunset and his fans would still ignore you. Yet, do you really want to be these people? They are all miserable. Elon Musk had to give a nazi salute to feel relevant. Trump's enemy list grows by the day. Andrew Tate is incredibly stupid and when he dies, no one will mourn him. Moore has been chasing that sweet 90s celebrity status for years to diminishing returns. He's even spreading blood libel. Sorry dude, Caitlin Johnstone and Susan Sarandon and the Columbia University nazis got there first.
Fear G-d or admit that you are full of shit. That's wisdom. Sadly you can't use it to buy a nice condominium. At least your children are less likely denounce you as a loathsome shitbag.
For more discourse on Biblical stuff, I published a biography of Rashi and She Nailed a Stake Through His Head.
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If you’d like to read up on the victims and survivors of the Khmer Rouge, check out this article. Yes, Anthony Bourdain was right to hate Kissinger, but don’t let Chomsky get away with a clean reputation.