וְֽ֭נֶעֶלְמָה מֵעֵינֵ֣י כָל־חָ֑י וּמֵע֖וֹף הַשָּׁמַ֣יִם נִסְתָּֽרָה׃
אַז זי איז פֿאַרהױלן פֿון די אױגן פֿון יעטװעדער לעבעדיקן, און פֿון פֿױגל פֿון הימל איז זי פֿאַרבאָרגן.
Malbim
He points out that by taking this approach, he [Bildad] is actually reinforcing Job’s own thesis and opinion that it is the Cosmos that rules the world and that it is by its decree that each person's fortune is determined, whether for favor or reproach. for prosperity and joy, or poverty and plague. For though by his insistence that individuals are subject to God’s Governance and that the stars do not predestine an individual’s acts of volition, so there is reward for the good and punishment the wicked, Bildad had differed from Job’s position, he nevertheless recognized that the administration of this Governance does not override the Governance of the Cosmos, and so it is conceivable that what befits a wicked person befalls a righteous one, or vice versa, for God will not alter the Cosmos because of the deeds of the righteous person.1On this view, prayer has no instrumental purpose, for Nature will always decide. Thus, the question of the suffering of the righteous and of the prosperity of the wicked remains in all its force. For Bildad’s assurance that they will be rewarded or punished after death is totally rejected by Job, seeing, as he has already stated, over and over again, that he has no proof of a life after death; something which is hidden from the sight of all flesh (Job 28:21).
Rabbeinu Bahya
In this verse Solomon speaks in the name of the emanation חכמה, wisdom. This is the level of wisdom which is concealed even from the מלאכי השרת, “the ministering angels.” Job referred to this elusive wisdom when he said: ”but where can wisdom be found?” (Job 28,12) Concerning this level of wisdom we also have a verse in Job 28,21 “it is hidden from the eyes of all living, concealed from the fowl of heaven.” Our sages interpreted the words: “from the fowl of heaven” as a reference to the ministering angels. This is the “wisdom” which preceded creation of heaven and earth. We have an allusion to this fact in Proverbs 3,19: “The Lord founded the earth by wisdom; He established the heavens by understanding.” We have a further verse in Scripture alluding to this in the very next verse. “By His knowledge the depths burst apart, and the skies distilled dew.” All the verses we have just quoted prove that heaven and earth, the depths and all that is contained within them have been created by G’d using this חכמה, “wisdom” as His instrument. This is also what Solomon meant to say in Proverbs 8,25-29: “Before [the foundations of] the mountains were sunk, before the hills I was born. He had not yet made earth and fields of the world’s first clump of clay. I was there when He set the heavens into place; when He fixed the horizon upon the deep. When He made the heavens above firm, and the fountains of the deep gushed forth; when He assigned the sea its limits so that its waters never transgress His command.”
If you want to examine the various expressions used by Solomon in greater depth, the expression “the deep” refers to what our sages call the קו ירוק, another word for the emanation בינה, “insight.” The word הרים, “mountains” is a reference to the patriarchs. (the emanations חסד, גבורה and תפארת represented by the patriarchs.) The word ארץ is a reference to the emanation סוף [an alternate name for the emanation מלכות, Ed.]
Solomon called this חכמה by the name ראשית, seeing that it preceded the creation of the universe popularly known as מעשה בראשית. This was also the reason that when the Torah commenced its report about the creation of the universe it had to commence with the word בראשית. The word ראשית not only refers to the beginning of something in terms of time, but it also means that something is superior in quality. An example is found in Amos 6,6: וראשית שמנים ימשחו, “and anoint themselves with the best oils.” Just as superior oil floats to the top of all other liquids so wisdom rises to the top of all other forms of existence. This is what is meant by the words in our opening verse: “He has created (acquired) me at the beginning of His discourse.” In other words, wisdom proclaims that it had been G’d’s first acquisition, something G’d has secured for Himself from a hidden source. This mysterious source is the region in which wisdom originates. Inasmuch as the words “and from the fowl of heaven it is hidden,” were understood to be a reference to the angels, it is clear that the word קנני of which Solomon spoke in Proverbs 8,22, has its root in the word קן, i.e. a bird’s nest. The nest is the place in which the bird originates. Solomon explained that the original “site” of wisdom gave birth to wisdom which is its first “nest.” Wisdom relates to all other phenomena in this universe as does the nest to all the chicks hatched in it, i.e. it is its origin. If all this is true then wisdom was not created out of a total void as some of the philosophers have thought, but it is a phenomenon and a derivative of the original אין, void or nothingness, the supreme and hidden source. This is what Job spoke about when he said: “where can wisdom be found?” These words of Job must not be understood as an inquiry, a question expressing hopelessness, but as a piece of information. The Torah has informed us that “wisdom” emanates from a hidden source. The Torah itself was created by drawing on that hidden source. Seeing that the Torah originates in that domain it is called לקח טוב, “good instruction” (Proverbs 4,2) and the ministering angels are envious that it was entrusted to man.
Our sages in Shabbat 85 confirmed this when they described that when G’d was about to give the Torah to Moses the angels were upset and remonstrated with G’d how He could entrust such a hidden treasure to mere man, a creature that defiles himself so often, a creature dominated often by its evil urge? We derive the fact that such a conversation took place from David’s remark in Psalms 8,2: “O Lord, our Lord, How majestic is Your name throughout the earth, You Who have covered the heavens with Your splendor!“ This statement reflects the angels’ argument that G’d’s splendor should remain in the heaven and not be made available on earth. G’d answered the angels with rhetorical questions such as: “it is written in the Torah ‘you should remember the Sabbath to keep it holy.’ It is written: ‘honor your father and your mother!;’ it is written in the Torah: ‘you shall not steal, etc., etc.’ Is there any need for such instructions for celestial beings? Do you suffer from either an evil urge or exposure to defilement? Are there foods which are permitted to you and others which are not?” Thus far the Midrash.
If you want to examine the various expressions used by Solomon in greater depth, the expression “the deep” refers to what our sages call the קו ירוק, another word for the emanation בינה, “insight.” The word הרים, “mountains” is a reference to the patriarchs. (the emanations חסד, גבורה and תפארת represented by the patriarchs.) The word ארץ is a reference to the emanation סוף [an alternate name for the emanation מלכות, Ed.]
Solomon called this חכמה by the name ראשית, seeing that it preceded the creation of the universe popularly known as מעשה בראשית. This was also the reason that when the Torah commenced its report about the creation of the universe it had to commence with the word בראשית. The word ראשית not only refers to the beginning of something in terms of time, but it also means that something is superior in quality. An example is found in Amos 6,6: וראשית שמנים ימשחו, “and anoint themselves with the best oils.” Just as superior oil floats to the top of all other liquids so wisdom rises to the top of all other forms of existence. This is what is meant by the words in our opening verse: “He has created (acquired) me at the beginning of His discourse.” In other words, wisdom proclaims that it had been G’d’s first acquisition, something G’d has secured for Himself from a hidden source. This mysterious source is the region in which wisdom originates. Inasmuch as the words “and from the fowl of heaven it is hidden,” were understood to be a reference to the angels, it is clear that the word קנני of which Solomon spoke in Proverbs 8,22, has its root in the word קן, i.e. a bird’s nest. The nest is the place in which the bird originates. Solomon explained that the original “site” of wisdom gave birth to wisdom which is its first “nest.” Wisdom relates to all other phenomena in this universe as does the nest to all the chicks hatched in it, i.e. it is its origin. If all this is true then wisdom was not created out of a total void as some of the philosophers have thought, but it is a phenomenon and a derivative of the original אין, void or nothingness, the supreme and hidden source. This is what Job spoke about when he said: “where can wisdom be found?” These words of Job must not be understood as an inquiry, a question expressing hopelessness, but as a piece of information. The Torah has informed us that “wisdom” emanates from a hidden source. The Torah itself was created by drawing on that hidden source. Seeing that the Torah originates in that domain it is called לקח טוב, “good instruction” (Proverbs 4,2) and the ministering angels are envious that it was entrusted to man.
Our sages in Shabbat 85 confirmed this when they described that when G’d was about to give the Torah to Moses the angels were upset and remonstrated with G’d how He could entrust such a hidden treasure to mere man, a creature that defiles himself so often, a creature dominated often by its evil urge? We derive the fact that such a conversation took place from David’s remark in Psalms 8,2: “O Lord, our Lord, How majestic is Your name throughout the earth, You Who have covered the heavens with Your splendor!“ This statement reflects the angels’ argument that G’d’s splendor should remain in the heaven and not be made available on earth. G’d answered the angels with rhetorical questions such as: “it is written in the Torah ‘you should remember the Sabbath to keep it holy.’ It is written: ‘honor your father and your mother!;’ it is written in the Torah: ‘you shall not steal, etc., etc.’ Is there any need for such instructions for celestial beings? Do you suffer from either an evil urge or exposure to defilement? Are there foods which are permitted to you and others which are not?” Thus far the Midrash.
Ezra ben Solomon
“Whence [me-ayin] can Wisdom be found?” [Job 28:12]. This Wisdom itself derives from Nought [ayin], the primordial Nought, no mortal knowing its value [‘erkah] which here means its order and array. That is to say, no one knows how to order the primal existences that are situated within her or how to know its characteristics. As it is written: “Who like Me can announce, can foretell it—and match Me thereby? Even as I told the future to an ancient people …” [Isa. 44:7]. “[For Wisdom] can not be found in the land of the living” [Job 28:13]. Even the angels do not know it. Thus the text states figuratively: “The deep says: ‘It is not in me.’ The sea says: ‘I do not have it’” [Job 28:14]. Similarly we find “But whence does wisdom come?” [Job 28:20] and “it is hidden from the eyes of all of the living” [Job 28:21], from them whose lives are eternal. “Concealed from all the fowl of heaven”—the ministering angels.