There was Job talking about wisdom – how to find it, what it's place is in life and it's value. His words clearly said that the depths don't hold it, nor the sea. I heard that as the deepest canyon or valley and the deepest sea saying "it's bigger than both of us, 'cause we don't have it."
Then came the blockbuster – in effect, he said that no one has enough gold or silver to buy it, and it could not be paid for with the gold of Ophir, or precious onyx or sapphire.
Those three things got my brain looking for what or where they were [more]- especially for Job to be talking about them as though they were common things. Earlier in chapter 28, I had looked up sapphire, only to find that it is mined in places far from Isreal or Egypt. Thinking back to the stories about sapphires and rubies in the Old Testament got reinforced as real wealth. Seems that sapphires and rubies come about the same way and from the same chemical sources. They were precious stones that had no origin in that area – they had to be imported.
But then Job got to naming places. Ophir was the place, and his reference was that wisdom could not be valued or bought with the gold found in Ophir. Made me dig. Seems that no one actually knows where Ophir is or was. Best guess is that it may have been on the Red Sea somewhere. What my search led me to was the fact that Solomon (you know, of King Solomon's Mines) got shipments (note the plural) of gold through the port at Ophir. Did a quick calculation of one shipment of gold delivered to Solomon.
$750 million at today's prices!
Check it out in First Kings 9:28. Seems that old King Solomon received 420 talents of gold, which would be like 872,000 ounces of gold!
Even giving us the worth of wisdom, Job maintains that above everything else, whether coral, crystal, topaz, gold or silver, wisdom is to be sought. After all, understanding what life is all about requires wisdom. Wisdom not wealth is the key to life.
The detour was worth it, because it made the message clearer. What you and I need is found not in what we own or possess, but in the wisdom we get. Job describes God as being able to see the ends of the earth – that is, He can see farther than any of us. Not only that, He sees everything and is powerful enough to have given force to the wind and to have divided the waters of the earth. He alone has been able to set a boundary for where it will and will not rain or lightning strike.
And then God turns to us and says "You want wisdom? Show a little respect and recognize how awesome I am – that's where it is."