CHAPTER XXXIX _Several animals described: the wild goats and hinds_, 1-4. _The wild ass_, 5-8. _The unicorn_, 9-12. _The peacock and ostrich_, 13-18. _The war-horse_, 19-25. _The hawk_, 26. _And the eagle and her brood_, 27-30. NOTES ON CHAP. XXXIX Verse Job 39:1. _KNOWEST THOU THE TIME_]... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Job 39:3. _THEY BOW THEMSELVES_] In order to bring forth their young ones. _THEY CAST OUT THEIR SORROWS._] חבליהם _chebleyhem_; the _placenta,_ _afterbirth_, or umbilical cord. So this word has been understood.... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Job 39:4. _IN GOOD LIKING_] After the fawns have sucked for some time, the dam leads them to the pastures, where they feed on different kinds of herbage; but not _on corn_, for they are not born before harvest-time in Arabia and Palestine, and the stag does not feed on corn, but on grass, mos... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Job 39:5. _WHO HATH SENT OUT THE WILD ASS FREE?_] פרא _pere_, which we translate _wild ass_, is the same as the ονος αγριος of the Greeks, and the _onager_ of the Latins; which must not, says _Buffon_, be confounded with the _zebra_, for this is an animal of a different species from the _ass_... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Job 39:6. _WHOSE HOUSE_] Habitation, or place of resort. _THE BARREN LAND_] מלחה _melechah_, the _salt land_, or _salt_ _places_, as in the margin. See above.... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Job 39:7. _HE SCORNETH THE MULTITUDE_] He is so swift that he cannot be run or hunted down. See the description in Job 39:5.... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Job 39:8. _THE RANGE OF THE MOUNTAINS_] The mountains and desert places are his peculiar places of pasture; and he lives on any thing that is _green_, or any kind of _vegetable_ production.... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Job 39:9. _WILL THE UNICORN BE WILLING TO SERVE THEE?_] The "fine elegant animal like a horse, with one long rich curled horn growing out of his forehead," commonly called the _unicorn_, must be given up as fabulous. The _heralds_ must claim him as their own; place him in their armorial bearin... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Job 39:10. _CANST THOU BIND THE UNICORN - IN THE FURROW?_] He will not plough, nor draw in the yoke _with another_? nor canst thou use him _singly_, to harrow the ground.... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Job 39:12. _THAT HE WILL BRING HOME THY SEED_] Thou canst make no domestic nor agricultural use of him.... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Job 39:13. _THE GOODLY WINGS UNTO THE PEACOCKS?_] I believe _peacocks_ are not intended here; and the Hebrew word רננים _renanim_ should be translated _ostriches_; and the term חסידה _chasidah_, which we translate _ostrich_, should be, as it is elsewhere translated, _stork_; and perhaps the wo... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Job 39:14. _WHICH LEAVETH HER EGGS IN THE EARTH_] This want of parental affection in the _ostrich_ is almost universally acknowledged. Mr. _Jackson_, in his _Account of Morocco_, observes: "The ostrich, having laid her eggs, goes away, _forgetting_ or _forsaking_ them: and if some other ostri... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Job 39:16. _SHE IS HARDENED AGAINST HER YOUNG_] See before, and the extracts from Dr. _Shaw_ at the end of the chapter. Job 39:30. She neglects her little ones, which are often found half starved, straggling, and moaning about, like so many deserted orphans, for their mother.... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Job 39:17. _GOD HATH DEPRIVED HER OF WISDOM_] Of this foolishness we have an account from the ancients; and here follow two instances: "1. It covers its head in the reeds, and thinks itself all out of sight because itself cannot see. So _Claudian_: - ____________ 'Stat lumine clauso Ridendu... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Job 39:18. _SHE LIFTETH UP HERSELF_] _When she raiseth up herself to_ _run away_. Proofs of the fleetness of this bird have already been given. It neither flies nor runs distinctly, but has a motion composed of both; and, using its wings as sails, makes great speed. So _Claudian_: - Vasta vel... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Job 39:19. _HAST THOU GIVEN THE HORSE STRENGTH?_] Before I proceed to any observations, I shall give Mr. _Good's_ version of this, perhaps inimitable, description: - Ver. Job 39:19. Hast thou bestowed on the horse mettle? Hast thou clothed his neck with the thunder flash? Ver. Job 39:20. Ha... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Job 39:21. _HE PAWETH IN THE VALLEY_] רעם _yachperu_, "_they dig_ in the valley," i.e., in his violent galloping, in every pitch of his body, he scoops up sods out of the earth. _Virgil_ has seized this idea also, in his _cavat tellurem_; "he scoops out the ground." See before.... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Job 39:25. _HE SAITH AMONG THE TRUMPETS, HA, HA_] The original is peculiarly emphatical: האח _Heach_! a strong, partly _nasal_, partly _guttural_ sound, exactly resembling the first note which the horse emits in _neighing_. The strong, guttural sounds in this hemistich are exceedingly expressi... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Job 39:26. _DOTH THE HAWK FLY BY THY WISDOM_] The _hawk_ is called נץ _nets_, from its swiftness in darting down upon its prey; hence its _Latin_ name, _nisus_, which is almost the same as the _Hebrew_. It may very probably mean the _falcon_, observes Dr. _Shaw_. The flight of a strong falcon... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Job 39:27. _DOTH THE EAGLE MOUNT UP_] The eagle is said to be of so acute a sight, that when she is so high in the air that men cannot see her, she can discern a small fish in the water! See on Job 39:29.... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Job 39:28. _UPON THE CRAG OF THE ROCK_] שן סלע _shen sela_, the _tooth of the rock_, i.e., some _projecting_ part, whither _adventurous_ man himself dares not follow her. _AND THE STRONG PLACE._] ומצודה _umetsudah_. Mr. _Good_ translates this word _ravine_, and joins it to Job 39:29, thus: "A... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Job 39:29. _HER EYES BEHOLD AFAR OFF._] The _eagle_ was proverbial for her strong and clear sight. So _Horace_, lib. i., sat. iii., ver. 25: - Cum tua pervideas oculis mala lippus inunctis, Cur in amicorum vitas tam cernis acutum, Quam aut aquila, aut serpens Epidaurius? "For wherefore whi... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Job 39:30. _HER YOUNG ONES ALSO SUCK UP BLOOD_] The eagle does not feed her young with _carrion_, but with prey _newly_ slain, so that they may _suck up blood_. _WHERE THE SLAIN_ ARE, _THERE_ IS _SHE._] These words are quoted by our Lord. "Wheresoever the carcass is, there will the eagles be... [ Continue Reading ]