Job 39:4
XXXIX. (4) THEY GROW UP WITH CORN. — Or more probably, perhaps, _in the open field,_ as the word means according to some.... [ Continue Reading ]
XXXIX. (4) THEY GROW UP WITH CORN. — Or more probably, perhaps, _in the open field,_ as the word means according to some.... [ Continue Reading ]
THE CRYING OF THE DRIVER. — Or, _the shoutings of the taskmaster._ The word is the same as is applied to the taskmasters of Egypt, and this suggests the question whether or not there may be a reminiscence of that bondage here.... [ Continue Reading ]
THE UNICORN. — It is a mistake to identify this animal with the rhinoceros, as was formerly done; it is more probably the same with the buffalo, or wild ox. The most glaring form of the mistake is in Psalms 22:22 : “Thou hast heard me also from among the _horns_ of the _unicorns”_ The way in which t... [ Continue Reading ]
WILT THOU BELIEVE HIM? — _i.e., trust him,_ as in the former verse “Wilt thou [trust” was, rather, _Wilt thou feel confidence in him? _... [ Continue Reading ]
GAVEST THOU THE GOODLY WINGS UNTO THE PEACOCKS? — Rather, _The wing of the ostrich is superb, but are her pinions and her feathers like the stork’s?_ Ostrich feathers are said to be worth from £8 to £15 a pound; but, beautiful and valuable as they are, they are hardly like the plumage of a bird, and... [ Continue Reading ]
WHICH LEAVETH HER EGGS. — The ostrich only sits upon her eggs at night, when the cold would chill and destroy them; by day the heat of the sand continues the process of hatching.... [ Continue Reading ]
SHE LIFTETH UP HERSELF. — That is, either from the nest when she comes to maturity, or when she sets out to run. The ostrich has a habit of running in a curve, which alone enables horsemen to overtake and kill or capture her. As in Job 39:13 a comparison seems to be drawn between the ostrich and the... [ Continue Reading ]
THUNDER — _i.e.,_ with _terror,_ such as thunder causes. Some refer it to the moving or shaking of the mane.... [ Continue Reading ]
CANST THOU MAKE HIM AFRAID AS A GRASSHOPPER? — Rather, _Hast thou made him to leap as a locust? _... [ Continue Reading ]
HE PAWETH... HE REJOICETH. — The first verb is plural, and the second singular. “They paw” (literally, _dig_)_,_ and “he rejoiceth.”... [ Continue Reading ]
NEITHER BELIEVETH HE — _i.e._, he disregardeth the summons of the trumpet, as though he did not believe that it gave the call to war.... [ Continue Reading ]
HE SAITH AMONG THE TRUMPETS — Literally, _when there are plenty of trumpets: 1 e.,_ as often as the trumpet soundeth.... [ Continue Reading ]
DOTH THE HAWK FLY? — The more symmetrical order of these descriptions would be for the ostrich to have come _after_ the war-horse and before the hawk; in that case there would have been a gradual transition from the fleetest of quadrupeds to the fleetest of birds by means of the ostrich, which, thou... [ Continue Reading ]
WHERE THE SLAIN ARE, THERE IS SHE. — Comp. Matthew 24:28, and Luke 17:37.... [ Continue Reading ]