_A.M. 2484. B.C. 1520._ The more fully to convince Job of his ignorance. God here discourses of the wild goats and hinds, Job 39:1; of the wild ass, Job 39:5; of the unicorn, Job 39:9; of the peacock and ostrich, Job 39:13; of the horse, Job 39:19; of the hawk and eagle, Job 39:26.... [ Continue Reading ]
_Knowest thou the time when the wild goats of the rock _ Which dwell in high and steep rocks, where no man can come; _bring forth? _ Which they do with great difficulty, as is implied, Psalms 29:9, and observed by naturalists, and in which they have no help save from God only. “Vain man, who wouldes... [ Continue Reading ]
_They bow themselves_ Being taught by a divine instinct to put themselves into such a posture as may be most fit for their safe and easy bringing forth. _They bring forth their young ones_ Hebrew, תפלחנה, _tephallachnah, dissecant, discindunt, scilicet matricem, aut ventrem ad pullos edendos._ Buxdo... [ Continue Reading ]
_Their young ones are in good liking_ Notwithstanding their great weakness caused by their hard entrance into the world. _They grow up with corn_ As _with corn;_ that is, as if they were fed with corn. _They go forth and return not_ Finding sufficient provisions abroad by the care of God's providenc... [ Continue Reading ]
_Who hath sent out the wild ass free?_ Who hath given him this disposition, that he loves freedom, and hates that subjection which other creatures quietly endure. Compare Job 11:12; Hosea 8:9; in which, and other places of Scripture, the wild ass is described as delighting in the wilderness; pervers... [ Continue Reading ]
_Whose house I have made the wilderness_ Which uses and loves to dwell in desert lands; _and the barren land his dwellings_ Called barren, not simply, for then he must be starved there, but comparatively uncultivated, and therefore, in a great measure, unfruitful. _He scorneth_ Hebrew, ישׂחק, _jisch... [ Continue Reading ]
_Will the unicorn be willing to serve thee_ Canst thou tame him, and bring him into subjection to thy command? Or, _abide by thy crib?_ Will he suffer himself to be tied, or confined there all night, and kept for the work of the next day as the oxen are? Surely not. It is much disputed among the lea... [ Continue Reading ]
_Canst thou bind the unicorn in the furrow?_ That is, in thy furrowed field, or to, or for the furrow? that is, to make furrows, or to plough, for which work cattle are usually bound together, that they may be directed by the husbandmen, and may make right furrows. _Will he harrow the valleys_ The l... [ Continue Reading ]
_Gavest thou the goodly wings unto the peacocks?_ The subject now changes from beasts to birds. There is no Hebrew in the text for _gavest thou_, and Bochart, who says of this verse, _Vix ullus sit Scripturæ locus qui minus intelligatur, There is, perhaps, scarce any passage of Scripture which is le... [ Continue Reading ]
_Which leaveth her eggs in the earth_ “The ostrich lays from thirty to fifty eggs. Ælian mentions more than eighty; but I never heard of so large a number. The first egg is deposited in the centre; the rest are placed as conveniently as possible round it. In this manner she is said to _lay_, deposit... [ Continue Reading ]
_She is hardened against her young ones_ “A very little share of that στοργη, or natural affection, which so strongly exerts itself in most other creatures, is observable in the ostrich: for upon the least distant noise, or trivial occasion, she forsakes her eggs, or her young ones, to which, perhap... [ Continue Reading ]
_Because God hath deprived her of wisdom_ The want of natural affection to her young is not the only reproach due to the ostrich. “She is likewise inconsiderate and foolish in her private capacity, particularly in her choice of food, which is frequently highly detrimental and pernicious to her, for... [ Continue Reading ]
_What time she lifteth up herself on high_ Or, as Dr. Shaw more properly renders this clause, _When she raiseth herself up to run away_, namely, from her pursuers. For which purpose she stretches out her neck and legs, both which are very tall, lifts up her head and body, and spreads her wings; _she... [ Continue Reading ]
_Hast thou given the horse strength?_ Hebrew, גבורה, _geburah, his fortitude_, the courage and generous confidence for which the horse is highly commended. The reader will observe, that all the great and sprightly images which thought can form of this noble animal are expressed in this paragraph wit... [ Continue Reading ]
_Doth the hawk fly by thy wisdom?_ So strongly, constantly, unweariedly, and swiftly. Thuanus mentions a hawk which flew from London to Paris in a night; and it was on account of the remarkable swiftness of the hawk that the Egyptians made it their hieroglyphic for the wind; _and stretch her wings t... [ Continue Reading ]
_Doth the eagle mount up at thy command?_ Fly directly upward till she be out of thy sight, which no other bird can do; _and make her nest on high_ In the highest and inaccessible rocks: compare Jeremiah 49:16; Obadiah 1:4. _She dwelleth upon the crag of the rock_ Which she doth partly for the secur... [ Continue Reading ]
_Her eyes behold afar off_ Dr. Young observes, that “the eagle is said to be of so acute a sight that, when she is so high in the air that man cannot see her, she can discern the smallest fish in the water.” The author of this book accurately understood the nature of the creatures he describes, and... [ Continue Reading ]