Lecture 1 — Wisdom is not in a determined place

^28:1^ Silver has its origin in veins and gold a place where it is formed.

^28:2^ Iron is taken from the earth and stone dissolved by heat is changed to bronze.

^28:3^ He placed a time for the darkness and he considers the end of the universe, and also the rocks in the clouds and the shadow of death.

^28:4^ A torrent divides them from people traveling and those whom the step of the poor man has forgotten, and they are impossible to visit.

^28:5^ The earth from which bread arose in its place is destroyed by fire.

^28:6^ Places whose stones are sapphires, whose dust is gold.

^28:7^ This land does not know the path of the bird nor does it see the eyes of the vulture.

^28:8^ The sons of peddlers do not tread it; nor does the lioness cross it.

^28:9^ To the flinty rock he extends his hand; he overturns the mountains even to their roots.

^28:10^ He hollows out watercourses in the rocks and his eye sees every precious thing.

^28:11^ He also searches fully the depths of rivers and he has brought hidden things to light.

381. Silver has its origin in veins. Above Job had shown how frail and perishable is the lot which the wicked receive from God (Job 27:13). Now he intends to show in opposition the dignity of the spiritual good which just men perceive from God, even in this world. He understands the spiritual good to be arranged under wisdom. He therefore intends to prefer wisdom to all corporeal things, both as to its origin, and as to its precious worth (Job 28:15). He begins to show that everything which is precious in corporeal things has its origin in determined places, and begins with metals, which are considered precious in the opinion of men. Note that metals are generated from the humid gases, dissolved in the earth by the action of the sun and of the other stars, and conserved in the earth. This is the origin of the pliability and the fusibility of metals; whereas, on the contrary, stones and other things like them which are not pliable or fusible are generated from the dry vapors trapped in the earth. Metals are specifically divided according to the greater or lesser purity of the vapor distilled and the different intensity of the heat separating them. Among these, gold seems to be the most pure, after this silver, and after this bronze, and finally iron. Metals take their origin according to their greater or lesser purity. Because gold is most pure, it is generally found generated in its purity in the sand of rivers because of the great evaporation and the warmth of the sand. Silver is found generally in certain veins, either in the earth or in rocks. Bronze is found incorporated into rocks. One finds iron in muddy earth which has not yet been perfectly integrated so that it has not yet acquired the consistency of a stone.

In commenting on the various locations of the metals, he says, silver has its origins in veins, in determined places, from which such gases are decomposed which are apt for the generation of silver. Thus, as soon as these vapors are mixed with either earth or stones, then vapors form veins of silver. As to gold he then says, and for gold there is a place in which it is refined, because some nuggets of gold are collected from a great quantity of sand, which are liquefied in one. This does not happen in every place, but only where a due proportion of active power coincides with the matter proportionate to such a species. As to iron, he says, iron is taken from the earth, because it is found in the earth in a form which is not yet refined. As to bronze, he says, and stone, in which one finds a gas proportioned to its nature mixed with it, dissolved by heat, of great intensity, changed to bronze, when what is found there of the nature of bronze is made aqueous by the action of heat.

382. He then proceeds to examine other things which have a determined time and place from divine disposition, and so are subject to divine knowledge. The greater part of these are hidden from men. The darkness of night hides the sun and many other things from us, but this happens by divine disposition, and so he says, he placed a time for the darkness. Also, some things are hidden from us by their corruption when they are resolved into their principles, which are known to God but hidden from us, and so he says, and he considers the end of the universe, the end of the resolution of things. Some are hidden from men because of the inaccessibility of place, as some mountains are sometimes inaccessible in which there are things which are removed from human sight, and expressing this he says, and also the rocks in the clouds, which is the cliff of some high mountain, covered over by clouds like darkness, and the shadow of death, some shadowy place in the canyons of the mountains, which the life giving heat of the sun never touches. A torrent divides them from people traveling, for torrents often flow from the mountains which cannot be crossed, so that there is only room on one bank of the river for travelers to pass, and there is no access to the other bank of the river. Some few men live in inaccessible places like these. Even the beggars who go everywhere do not presume to go to these places because of the difficulty of the approach, and so he says, and, the torrent divides from the people traveling, those, men, who living in inaccessible places, the step of the poor man has forgotten, so that they do not go there, and they are impossible to visit, because there is no means of ready access to them.

383. There are also some places which are inaccessible, not because of their location, but because of something extraordinary happening about them, for example, because they are ruined by some physical change, like Sodom and Gomorrah (Gen 19:21), and so he says, the earth from which bread arose in its place, as in a proper and fitting place, is destroyed by fire, for the cause of that destruction was a very great heat. With great abundance of heat, the dissolution both of the dry and wet attain a great degree of integration, which gives birth to precious things like rocks or metals. So as to the precious stones which are formed from dry vapor, he says, places whose stones are sapphires, in the land ruined by fire. As to precious metals which are generated from humid vapor he says, whose dust is gold. Because these places release a harmful air from the abundance of sulphur, not only men but also brute animals avoid these places. First, as to the birds which one sees least he says, land, that kind of earth, does not know the path of the bird, because he does not dare to fly over it, nor even to approach it, because of the harmful air. Thus he says, nor does it (this land) see the eyes of the vulture, who can see things very far away. Or one can interpret the text in another way. This land does not know the path of a bird; the bird has no experience of that land or this path, because the bird does not pass through it, nor does anyone see, in that land, the eyes of the vulture. Next he treats of men, saying, the sons of peddlers do not tread it, which refers to the merchants who are used to going to hard to reach places on business. Then he treats of the four‑footed animals, saying, nor will the lioness, who lives in wild places, cross it.

384. Although these places are hidden from men, they are not hidden from God, who exercises his power in both the mountains and the rivers, and so he says, to the flinty rock, the mountains made of rock, he extends his hand, his power.

He demonstrates this in two effects.

First, by the fact that the mountains are sometimes completely destroyed, and he expresses this by saying, he overturns the mountains even to their roots.

Second is the fact that waters cross through the middle of the mountains (cf. Ps 103:10), as though there were a way through the rocks hewn for them by divine power, and so he says, he hollows out watercourses in the rocks, in the courses of rivers. Just as his power is extended to do all these splendid deeds, so his wisdom is extended to know every precious thing, and so he says, his eye sees every precious thing. For if he can lay the mountains low, if he can cut through rocks and exercise the same power over all the earth, he consequently can see the precious things which are hidden there although the eye of man cannot see them. His eyes not only see those things which are hidden in the earth, but he also searches fully the depths of rivers, that is, he knows what is hidden in the depths of rivers so perfectly that he seems to carefully inspect them, and the proof of this is that he has brought hidden things to light, revealed them to men.