Job 39:1
_OF THE WILD GOATS AND HINDS; OF THE WILD ASS; THE UNICORN, THE PEACOCK, STORK, AND OSTRICH; THE HORSE, THE HAWK, AND THE EAGLE._ _Before Christ 1645._... [ Continue Reading ]
_OF THE WILD GOATS AND HINDS; OF THE WILD ASS; THE UNICORN, THE PEACOCK, STORK, AND OSTRICH; THE HORSE, THE HAWK, AND THE EAGLE._ _Before Christ 1645._... [ Continue Reading ]
CANST THOU NUMBER THE MONTHS, &C.— The meaning of these questions is, "Knowest thou the time and circumstances of their bringing forth?" For, to know the time only was easy, and had nothing in it extraordinary; but the circumstances had something peculiarly expressive of God's providence, which make... [ Continue Reading ]
THEY BOW THEMSELVES— The manuscripts mark the two last verbs with a circle. Houbigant's version runs thus: _They bow themselves; they burst with their pains; they cast forth their young._ But I cannot help disagreeing with the learned father of the Oratory; as the passage, according to our version,... [ Continue Reading ]
THE MULTITUDE OF THE CITY— Or, _The thronged city._... [ Continue Reading ]
WILL THE UNICORN, &C.— See Numbers 24:8. Schultens is of opinion, that the animal here mentioned is the Arabian _buffaloe,_ of the bull species, but absolutely untameable, and which the Arabians frequently hunt. See the authorities which this learned writer has produced, in his note on the place.... [ Continue Reading ]
GOODLY WINGS UNTO THE PEACOCKS— Bochart seems to have proved, beyond all dispute, that the word rendered _peacocks_ signifies _ostriches;_ and the following description entirely agrees with that opinion. Mr. Heath renders the verse, _The wing of the ostrich is triumphantly expanded, though the stron... [ Continue Reading ]
HAST THOU GIVEN THE HORSE STRENGTH, &C.— It is difficult to express violent motions, which are fleeting and transitory, either in colours or words. In poetry, it requires great spirit in thought, and energy in style, of which we find more in the eastern poetry than in either the Greek or Roman. The... [ Continue Reading ]
DOTH THE HAWK FLY BY THY WISDOM? &C.— Thuanus, _De Re Accip._ mentions a hawk which flew from London to Paris in a night; and it was on account of its remarkable swiftness that the Egyptians made it their hieroglyphic for the _wind._... [ Continue Reading ]
HER EYES BEHOLD AFAR OFF— Dr. Young paraphrases this well: Thence [from the rock] wide o'er nature takes her dread survey, And, with a glance predestinates her prey. And he 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... [ Continue Reading ]