Job 27:16. Though he heap up silver as the dust, and prepare raiment as the clay.
The Eastern people have always reckoned collections of raiment among their choice treasures, and estimate them in the accounts of their wealth along with gold and silver. This is seen in the text, and is also to be found in the injunction of the Saviour in Matthew 6:19, where, in speaking of the uncertain character of worldly wealth, he refers to the ravages of the moth upon the treasures of raiment. So Paul in his address at Miletus to the elders of Ephesus, says, “I have coveted no man’s silver, or gold, or apparel” (Acts 20:33). He also refers to the value of garments in 1 Timothy 2:9, where he speaks of “costly array.” James likewise says in his epistle, James 5:2, “Your riches are corrupted, and your garments are moth-eaten.”
See also the note on Genesis 45:22 (#93).