איוב, פרק כ״ח, פסוק ט׳

The most massive and stable forces of nature sometimes stand helpless against a higher power capable of shaking them to their very core. The dramatic image of splitting hard stone and uprooting mountains serves as a metaphor for a piercing force that reaches deep underground, completely altering the known reality. This profound disruption targets massive, unyielding rocks and incredibly hard flint [רלב״ג, מצודת ציון, ביאור שטיינזלץ].

The identity of the one acting upon this hard stone is understood in a few different ways. The primary approach among commentators is that this refers to the direct action of God, who easily unsettles the natural elements that otherwise seem so permanent and strong [אבן עזרא, ביאור שטיינזלץ]. Another perspective suggests a human element, portraying a miner digging deep into the earth in search of hidden treasures [ביאור שטיינזלץ]. A more poetic interpretation views this as a metaphor, where the reaching hand actually belongs to the abstract path mentioned earlier in the text, using human features to describe a conceptual route [מלבי״ם].

The ultimate result of this power is the complete uprooting of mountains from their base. The exact mechanism of this upheaval is explained in several ways. Some describe it as a natural process caused by wind trapped deep within the earth that eventually erupts to overturn the mountains, or by the sheer force of water breaking through solid rock [מצודת דוד, תקות אנוש]. Others view it as an action meant to cover the deep abyss or to draw flowing rivers out of the barren stone [רמב״ן, אבן עזרא]. Taking the upheaval quite literally, some commentators explain that God completely overturns the mountains, leaving their underground roots pointing upward to the sky while the surface and everything on it face downward [רש״י, אלשיך].