Job 39

Job 39:1-30.

1. Even wild beasts, cut off from all care of man, are cared for

direct from God and guides them to help themselves in parturition; the

very time when the herdsman is most anxious for his herds.

wild goats--ibex

(Ps 104:18;

1Sa 24:2).

hinds--fawns; most timid and defenseless animals, yet cared for by God.

2. They bring forth with ease and do not need to reckon the months

of pregnancy, as the shepherd does in the case of his flocks.

3. bow themselves--in parturition; bend on their knees

(1Sa 4:19).

bring forth--literally, "cause their young to cleave the womb and

break forth."

sorrows--their young ones, the cause of their momentary pains.

4. are in good liking--in good condition, grow up strong.

with corn--rather, "in the field," without man's care.

return not--being able to provide for themselves.

5. wild ass--Two different Hebrew words are here used for the

same animal, "the ass of the woods" and "the wild ass."

(See on

Job 6:5;

Job 11:12;

Job 24:5;

and

Jer 2:24).

loosed the bands--given its liberty to. Man can rob animals of

freedom, but not, as God, give freedom, combined with subordination to

fixed laws.

6. barren--literally, "salt," that is, unfruitful. (So

Ps 107:34,

Margin.)

7. multitude--rather, "din"; he sets it at defiance, being far away

from it in the freedom of the wilderness.

driver--who urges on the tame ass to work. The wild ass is the symbol

of uncontrolled freedom in the East; even kings have, therefore, added

its name to them.

8. The range--literally, "searching," "that which it finds by

searching is his pasture."

9. unicorn--PLINY [Natural History,

8.21], mentions such an animal; its figure is found depicted in the

ruins of Persepolis. The Hebrew reem conveys the idea of

loftiness and power (compare Ramah; Indian,

Ram; Latin, Roma). The rhinoceros was perhaps the

original type of the unicorn. The Arab rim is a two-horned

animal. Sometimes "unicorn" or reem is a mere poetical symbol or

abstraction; but the buffalo is the animal referred to here, from the

contrast to the tame ox, used in ploughing

(Job 39:10, 12).

abide--literally, "pass the night."

crib--

(Isa 1:3).

10. his band--fastened to the horns, as its chief strength lies in

the head and shoulders.

after thee--obedient to thee; willing to follow, instead of being

goaded on before thee.

11. thy labour--rustic work.

12. believe--trust.

seed--produce

(1Sa 8:15).

into thy barn--rather, "gather (the contents of) thy threshing-floor"

[MAURER]; the corn threshed on it.

13. Rather, "the wing of the ostrich hen"--literally, "the crying

bird"; as the Arab name for it means "song"; referring to its night

cries

(Job 30:29;

Mic 1:8)

vibrating joyously. "Is it not like the quill and feathers of the

pious bird" (the stork)? [UMBREIT]. The

vibrating, quivering wing, serving for sail and oar at once, is

characteristic of the ostrich in full course. Its white and black

feathers in the wing and tail are like the stork's. But, unlike that

bird, the symbol of parental love in the East, it with seeming want of

natural (pious) affection deserts its young. Both birds are poetically

called by descriptive, instead of their usual appellative, names.

14, 15. Yet (unlike the stork) she "leaveth," &c. Hence called by

the Arabs "the impious bird." However, the fact is, she lays her eggs

with great care and hatches them, as other birds do; but in hot

countries the eggs do not need so constant incubation; she therefore

often leaves them and sometimes forgets the place on her return.

Moreover, the outer eggs, intended for food, she feeds to her young;

these eggs, lying separate in the sand, exposed to the sun, gave rise

to the idea of her altogether leaving them. God describes her as she

seems to man; implying, though she may seem foolishly to neglect

her young, yet really she is guided by a sure instinct from God, as

much as animals of instincts widely different.

16. On a slight noise she often forsakes her eggs, and returns not,

as if she were "hardened towards her young."

her labour--in producing eggs, is in vain, (yet)

she has not disquietude (about her young), unlike other birds, who,

if one egg and another are taken away, will go on laying till their

full number is made up.

17. wisdom--such as God gives to other animals, and to man

(Job 35:11).

The Arab proverb is, "foolish as an ostrich." Yet her very seeming want

of wisdom is not without wise design of God, though man cannot see it;

just as in the trials of the godly, which seem so unreasonable to Job,

there lies hid a wise design.

18. Notwithstanding her deficiencies, she has distinguishing

excellences.

lifteth . . . herself--for running; she cannot mount in the air.

GESENIUS translates: "lashes herself" up to her course by flapping her

wings. The old versions favor English Version, and the parallel

"scorneth" answers to her proudly "lifting up herself."

19. The allusion to "the horse"

(Job 39:18),

suggests the description of him. Arab poets delight in praising the

horse; yet it is not mentioned in the possessions of Job

(Job 1:3; 42:12).

It seems to have been at the time chiefly used for war, rather than

"domestic purposes."

thunder--poetically for, "he with arched neck inspires fear as

thunder does." Translate, "majesty"

[UMBREIT]. Rather "the trembling,

quivering mane," answering to the "vibrating wing" of the ostrich

(see on

Job 39:13)

[MAURER]. "Mane" in Greek also is from a

root meaning "fear." English Version is more sublime.

20. make . . . afraid--rather, "canst thou (as I do) make him

spring as the locust?" So in

Joe 2:4,

the comparison is between locusts and war-horses. The

heads of the two are so similar that the Italians call the locusts

cavaletta, "little horse."

nostrils--snorting furiously.

21. valley--where the battle is joined.

goeth on--goeth forth

(Nu 1:3; 21:23).

23. quiver--for the arrows, which they contain, and which are

directed "against him."

glittering spear--literally, "glittering of the spear," like

"lightning of the spear"

(Hab 3:11).

shield--rather, "lance."

24. swalloweth--Fretting with impatience, he

draws the ground towards him with his hoof, as if he would

swallow it. The parallelism shows this to be the sense; not as

MAURER, "scours over it."

neither believeth--for joy. Rather, "he will not stand still, when

the note of the trumpet (soundeth)."

25. saith--poetically applied to his mettlesome neighing, whereby

he shows his love of the battle.

smelleth--snuffeth; discerneth

(Isa 11:3,

Margin).

thunder--thundering voice.

26. The instinct by which some birds migrate to warmer climes

before winter. Rapid flying peculiarly characterizes the whole hawk

genus.

27. eagle--It flies highest of all birds: thence called "the bird

of heaven."

28. abideth--securely

(Ps 91:1);

it occupies the same abode mostly for life.

crag--literally, "tooth"

(1Sa 14:5,

Margin).

strong place--citadel, fastness.

29. seeketh--is on the lookout for.

behold--The eagle descries its prey at an astonishing distance, by

sight, rather than smell.

30. Quoted partly by Jesus Christ

(Mt 24:28).

The food of young eagles is the blood of victims brought by the parent,

when they are still too feeble to devour flesh.

slain--As the vulture chiefly feeds on carcasses, it is included

probably in the eagle genus.