Job 39:1-30

2. And of the animal world (Job 39:1, Job 40:2)

TEXT 39:1-30 to Job 40:2

39 Knowest thou the time when the wild goats of the rock bring forth?

Or canst thou mark when the hinds do calve?

2 Canst thou number the months that they fulfil?

Or knowest thou the time when they bring forth?

3 They bow themselves, they bring forth their young,

They cast out their pains.

4 Then- young ones become strong,

they grow up in the open field;

They go forth and return not again.

5 Who hath sent out the wild ass free?

Or who hath loosed the bonds of the swift ass,

6 Whose home I have made the wilderness,

And the salt land his dwelling place?

7 He scorneth the tumult of the city,

Neither heareth he the shoutings of the driver.

8 The range of the mountains is his pasture,

And he searcheth after every green thing.

9 Will the wild-ox be content to serve thee?

Or will he abide by thy crib?

10 Canst thou bind the wild-ox with his band in the furrow?

Or will he harrow the valleys after thee?

11 Wilt thou trust him, because his strength is great?

Or wilt thou leave to him thy labor?

12 Wilt thou confide in him, that he will bring home thy seed,

And gather the grain of thy threshing-floor?

13 The wings of the ostrich wave proudly;

But are they the pinions and plumage of love?

14 For she leaveth her eggs on the earth,

And warmeth them in the dust,

15 And forgetteth that the foot may crush them.

Or that the wild beast may trample them.

16 She dealeth hardly with her young ones,

as if they were not hers:
Though her labor be in vain, she is without fear;

17 Because God hath deprived her of wisdom,

Neither hath he imparted to her understanding.

18 What time she lifteth up herself on high,

She scorneth the horse and his rider.

19 Hast thou given the horse his might?

Hast thou clothed his neck with the quivering mane?

20 Hast thou made him to leap as a locust?

The glory of his snorting is terrible.

21 He paweth in the valley, and rejoiceth in his strength:

He goeth out to meet the armed men.

22 He mocketh at fear, and is not dismayed;

Neither turneth he back from the sword.

23 The quiver rattleth against him,

The flashing spear and the javelin.

24 He swalloweth the ground with fierceness and rage;

Neither believeth he that it is the voice of the trumpet.

25 As oft as the trumpet soundeth he saith,

Aha! And he smelleth the battle afar off,
The thunder of the captains, and the shouting.

26 Is it by thy wisdom that the hawk soareth,

And stretcheth her wings toward the south?

27 Is it at thy command that the eagle mounteth up,

And maketh her nest on high?

28 On the cliff she dwelleth, and maketh her home,

Upon the point of the cliff, and the stronghold.

29 From thence she spieth out the prey;

Her eyes behold it afar off.

30 Her young ones also suck up blood:

And where the slant are, there is she.

COMMENT 39:1-30

Job 39:1Job, what do you know about ibex[381] or mountain goats and the laws of birth? This specie of wild goat is still found near Khirbet Qumran and En GediPsalms 104:18; 1 Samuel 24:7. The inaccessible cliffs are their habitat, but God's providence guards over them even there. Hind is a specie of deer that survived in the woodlands of Palestine, before they were denuded in the 20th centuryGenesis 49:21; Deuteronomy 12:15; Psalms 18:33; and Proverbs 5:19. Job, what do you know about the existence of the hind?

[381] For contemporary efforts to save this specie of goat, see H. Weiner, The Wild Goat of Bin Gedi, 1963.

Job 39:2There is duplication between verses one and two. But the first line is concerned with pregnancy and the second with birth. Job, do you or can you count the months before the delivery of the young?

Job 39:3The word rendered bow as in A. V. themselves is used of human childbirth in 1 Samuel 4:19. The Hebrew term hebel (as in A. V. pain) is the usual word for the pain of childbirth. The line suggests the ease with which they deliver their YoungIsaiah 13:8.

Job 39:4This verse emphasizes the rapid maturity and parental care of the ibex. The ease with which they are delivered is matched by the quickness with which they develop and become independent. God can provide this marvelous example of His care of the goats even in the open fields.

Job 39:5God guards the wild ass, who roams the steppes. Though he freely surveys the desert, his freedom has been given bounds by God. Even this seemingly untamable creature is under God's sovereigntyJob 6:5; Job 11:12; Job 24:5; Genesis 16:12; Hosea 8:9; and Isaiah 32:14. The wild ass is described here with two words, one being an Aramaic loan word. The wild ass is so mobile that only the fastest horses can equal its speed.

Job 39:6The steppes and the salt land are the extreme ends of the fertile ground. He lives there in order to be free of man, who lives on or near the fertile landJob 24:5; Jeremiah 17:6; Psalms 107:34; and Judges 9:45. The Qumran Targum renders the second line as His dwelling in the salt land.

Job 39:7The wild ass, lit. laughs at the restrictions of the city. The freedom of the desert is to his liking. There he fends for himself. Freedom from oppression is derived from the labor of beastsIsaiah 9:3. His yearning for freedom causes him to avoid any place inhabited by man. Man always enslaves him, if he can.

Job 39:8The wild ass pays the price of its freedom. It refuses to be subservient to man. It is often hungry because of sparse food supply in the desertJeremiah 14:6. He must search (Heb. drs, but The Qumran Targum reads the verb rdppursue) for his food. But he knows where to search. Who informed you of this, Job?

Job 39:9In previous verses a contrast was made between the domesticated and wild ass; here the comparison is between wild and tame buffalo. Hunting this dangerous beast was a sport of royaltyNumbers 23:22; Numbers 24:8; Psalms 22:21; Psalms 29:6; Psalms 92:10; and Isaiah 34:7. That this animal (re-'em, rent) had more than a single horn is clear from Deuteronomy 33:17. Tiglathpileser I killed a rimu in Syria. This metaphor in the Old Testament means powerNumbers 23:22; Numbers 24:8; Psalms 22:21; and Isaiah 34:7.[382]

[382] See A. H. Godbey, The Unicorn in the Old Testament, American Journal of Semitic Literature, 1939, pp. 256-296.

Job 39:10The tame ox was used for plowing, but could man plow with a wild ox?Proverbs 14:4. The first line presents a strange image as rendered in A. V. canst thou bind the wild ox with band in the furrow? A slight emendation will yield a more meaningful line, wilt thou bind him with a cord or rope halter? This is a more natural image than binding the ox to the furrow, as is implied in the A. V. Clearly the second line pictures harrowing, as opposed to plowing, as the ox was led in the former labor, and man followed the animal in the latter.

Job 39:11Yet, because of the ox's strength, would you allow him to go unguided to the field? He is strong, but man has the plan which can be fulfilled only by thoughtful preparation; this same kind of purposefulness and thoughtful preparation God has given to every dimension of the universe. The ox might be harnessed by mind but without intentional guidance, the ox is unreliable.

Job 39:12The ox has strength but not much intelligence. He could not bring the harvest in from the fields and prepare it for storage, could he? The Hebrew literally has bring backand gather your threshing floor. Slight emendation will yield to your threshing floor, which makes sense.

Job 39:13The A. V. rendering ostrich is derived from the Hebrew word which means shrill cries (renanim)Lamentations 4:3. The ostrich is cruel to its young, yet is faster than the fleetest horse. The root -lslit. rejoice, flap wildlyis rendered wave proudly in the A. V.[383] The second line has only three Hebrew words in it: (1) pinionDeuteronomy 32:11; and Psalms 91:4; (2) may be either feminine adjective pious or stork derived from noun hesedLeviticus 11:19; Psalms 104:17; Jeremiah 8:7; and (3) plumageEzekiel 17:3. If the second word is rendered stork, which is known for its affection for the young, then we have a contrast between a bird with affection and one which lacks parental concern. But the comparison may be between the stork's capacity to fly with its wings and the ostrich with beautiful plumage but which cannot fly.

[383] For analysis, see D. F. Payne, Annual of the Swedish Theological Institute. Vol. V, 1967, 50, 58, 64ff.

Job 39:14The ostrich places (Heb. -zbput, place)[384] its eggs in the sand. During the day the heat of the sun keeps them warm, but at night the ostrich must sit on them. Generally the hen ostrich hatches only one-third of her eggs. She feeds the other two-thirds to her young at various stages of development.

[384] For the design in the placing of the eggs rather than merely leaving them, see M. Dahood, JBL, 1959, pp. 303-309.

Job 39:15The eggs are often covered with sand; some might lie unprotected on top of the ground. Though the ostrich egg shells are very hard, there would naturally be some danger of being crushed by jackals and other predators, including man.

Job 39:16The A. V. rendering of she dealeth hardly or with cruelty comes from a verb which is used in Isaiah 63:17 of the hardening of the heart. The hen often acts unconcerned, i.e., with no fear. Dahood translated the last line at the emptiness of her toil with fear.[385]

[385] M. Dahood, The Bible in Catholic Thought, p. 74.

Job 39:17This judgment of the ostrich's intelligence is reinforced by an Arabian proverbial sayingmore stupid than the ostrich. Both its ignorance and cruelty are proverbial. But in spite of its lack of intelligence, God providentially cares for it.

Job 39:18The acme of speed is the ostrich. Zenaphon, in his Anabasis, I, Job 39:2, provides details of an ostrich who out ran horses. They have been clocked up to 26 miles per hour.

Job 39:19The A. V. is still the most probable rendering, with the exception of the phrase translated quivering mane.[386] There is consistently a very free rendering throughout Job in the N. E. B., T. E. V., and the Living Bible. Since the word is only found here, it will be impossible to do any more than provide a conjecture, but probably the root implies strength not quivering. The horse quivers its neck (when it is roused), and this in turn makes the mane stand erect. We must retain the image of the cultural function of each of the animals in the Near East if the parallelism is to be understood. The ass was the beast of burden, the ox was used for plowing, and donkeys or mules were riding animals. The horse was reserved for hunting and warfare, first to draw chariots; later it became a cavalry mount.

[386] See M. Dahood, Biblica, 1959, p. 58.

Job 39:20Joel 2:4 compares the locust and the horseRevelation 9:7. The word -shr (M. T. nhr) means snorting, as the horses prepare for the charge in battleJeremiah 5:29; Jeremiah 8:16. The Qumran Targum reads with his snorting terror and fear.

Job 39:21The mighty war horse digs (Heb. Yhprmuch stronger than paws) violently (Heb. be-'emeqnot as A. V. renders, in the valley),[387] the ground. The Qumran Targum renders the line and he paws in the valley and runs and rejoices revealing the change of the Hebrew text of Job from b-'mq to bbq-'; the LXX also understands valley instead of power.

[387] That this word here means power not valley, see M. Dahood, Biblica, 1959, p. 166; and W. F. Albright, Wisdom in Israel and in the Ancient Near East, eds. Noth and Thomas, Yetus Testamentum, Supplement, III, 1955, p. 14.

Job 39:22This verse makes it crystal clear that the imagery is that of a war horse, rather than a horse in general. Men are afraid of attack in war, but the horse mocketh fear.

Job 39:23The battle is about to begin. The arrows are rattling (tirnehsee Brown, Driver, Briggs) in the quiver. The bright javelin[388] or perhaps sword reflects the flashing sun (lit. flame of).

[388] For a description of this weapon, see G. Molin, Journal of Semitic Studies, 1956, pp. 334ff; also Yigal Yadin, The Scrolls of War of the Sons of Light Against the Sons of Darkness (Oxford, 1962), p. 284; and his The Art of Warfare in Biblical Lands, 2 vols., 1963, p. 172.

Job 39:24The two nouns in line one suggest excitement rather than hostility or angerPsalms 77:18 and Isaiah 14:16. The excited horse literally swallows ground, i.e., races unchecked. The A. V. rendering of the second line is unsatisfactoryneither believeth he. is all but meaningless. The verb root means be firm, i.e., the horse cannot stand still.

Job 39:25The horse hears the trumpet signal for battleAmos 3:6. There is no verb in the Hebrew text, but -bede is probably to be understood adverbially at the call of the trumpetJob 11:3; Job 41:4. The cry of satisfaction, aha, goes forth as soon as he hears the trumpetPsalms 35:21; Psalms 40:15; Isaiah 44:16; Ezekiel 25:3; and Ezekiel 36:2. He smells[389] the battle, even at a distance.

[389] P. A. H. de Boer, Words and Meanings, eds. Acbroyd and Lindars, 1968, pp. 29ff, suggests that verb means smells of, recalls, or suggests.

Job 39:26This verse alludes to the southward migration of birds in late fall or early winterJeremiah 8:7. Job, you know that it is not your wisdom that performs all of these wonders. Only Yahweh can understand the intricate interworkings of every factor in creation.

Job 39:27In the Old Testament, the word neser designates both eagles and vulturesJob 9:26; Proverbs 30:18-19. Either would fit in the context. Eagles often, vultures always, built their nests in inaccessible locations[390] (Heb. ki means falcon). Job, did you provide these birds with their instincts?

[390] See J. Reider, Vetus Testamentum, 1954, p. 294.

Job 39:28Here the great heights of the mountains are vigorously describedJeremiah 49:16; 1 Samuel 14:4. Who told these birds to build their nests at such high elevations?

Job 39:29The imagery signifies the sharp-sightedness of the eagle. Dhorme gives more than adequate testimonies in his brilliant paradigm of writing commentary. The scriptures also bear witness to the swiftness of the eagle in attacking its preyDeuteronomy 28:49; Jeremiah 48:40; and Jeremiah 49:16.

Job 39:30Dhorme emends the verb ye-'al le-'u to yield a more appropriate image than eagles sucking up blood. His emendation yields the resultant, shake a thing from Aramaic. The action of the eagle would then be that of picking at bloody flesh, which is more appropriate for the eagle than sucking. The New Testament contains a proverbial saying that where there is a corpse, the eagle/vultures will flockMatthew 24:28; Luke 17:37.