Job 39 commentary

—In these questions the Lord continued to humble Job. In this chapter several animals are spoken of, whose nature or situation particularly show the power, wisdom, and manifold works of God. The wild ass. It is better to labour and be good for something, than to ramble and be good for nothing. From the untameableness of this and other creatures, we may see, how unfit we are to give law to Providence, who cannot give law even to a wild ass's colt. The unicorn, a strong, stately, proud creature. He is able to serve, but not willing; and God challenges Job to force him to it. It is a great mercy if, where God gives strength for service, he gives a heart; it is what we should pray for, and reason ourselves into, which the brutes cannot do. Those gifts are not always the most valuable that make the finest show. Who would not rather have the voice of the nightingale, than the tail of the peacock; the eye of the eagle and her soaring wing, and the natural affection of the stork, than the beautiful feathers of the ostrich, which can never rise above the earth, and is without natural affection? The description of the war-horse helps to explain the character of presumptuous sinners. Every one turneth to his course, as the horse rushes into the battle. When a man's heart is fully set in him to do evil, and he is carried on in a wicked way, by the violence of his appetites and passions, there is no making him fear the wrath of God, and the fatal consequences of sin. Secure sinners think themselves as safe in their sins as the eagle in her nest on high, in the clefts of the rocks; but I will bring thee down from thence, saith the Lord, Jer 49:16. All these beautiful references to the works of nature, should teach us a right view of the riches of the wisdom of Him who made and sustains all things. The want of right views concerning the wisdom of God, which is ever present in all things, led Job to think and speak unworthily of Providence.

CHAPTER 39

Job 39:1-30.

1. Even wild beasts, cut off from all care of man, are cared for by God at their seasons of greatest need. Their instinct comes direct from God and guides them to help themselves in parturition; the very time when the herdsman is most anxious for his herds.

wild goats--ibex (Psa 104:18; 1Sa 24:2).

hinds--fawns; most timid and defenseless animals, yet cared for by God.

2. They bring forth with ease and do not need to reckon the months of pregnancy, as the shepherd does in the case of his flocks.

3. bow themselves--in parturition; bend on their knees (1Sa 4:19).

bring forth--literally, "cause their young to cleave the womb and break forth."

sorrows--their young ones, the cause of their momentary pains.

4. are in good liking--in good condition, grow up strong.

with corn--rather, "in the field," without man's care.

return not--being able to provide for themselves.

5. wild ass--Two different Hebrew words are here used for the same animal, "the ass of the woods" and "the wild ass." (See on Job 6:5; Job 11:12; Job 24:5; and Jr 2:24).

loosed the bands--given its liberty to. Man can rob animals of freedom, but not, as God, give freedom, combined with subordination to fixed laws.

6. barren--literally, "salt," that is, unfruitful. (So Psa 107:34, Margin.)

7. multitude--rather, "din"; he sets it at defiance, being far away from it in the freedom of the wilderness.

driver--who urges on the tame ass to work. The wild ass is the symbol of uncontrolled freedom in the East; even kings have, therefore, added its name to them.

8. The range--literally, "searching," "that which it finds by searching is his pasture."

9. unicorn--Pliny [Natural History, 8.21], mentions such an animal; its figure is found depicted in the ruins of Persepolis. The Hebrew reem conveys the idea of loftiness and power (compare Ramah; Indian, Ram; Latin, Roma). The rhinoceros was perhaps the original type of the unicorn. The Arab rim is a two-horned animal. Sometimes "unicorn" or reem is a mere poetical symbol or abstraction; but the buffalo is the animal referred to here, from the contrast to the tame ox, used in ploughing (Job 39:10, 12).

abide--literally, "pass the night."

crib--(Is 1:3).

10. his band--fastened to the horns, as its chief strength lies in the head and shoulders.

after thee--obedient to thee; willing to follow, instead of being goaded on before thee.

11. thy labour--rustic work.

12. believe--trust.

seed--produce (1Sa 8:15).

into thy barn--rather, "gather (the contents of) thy threshing-floor" [Maurer]; the corn threshed on it.

13. Rather, "the wing of the ostrich hen"--literally, "the crying bird"; as the Arab name for it means "song"; referring to its night cries (Job 30:29; Mi 1:8) vibrating joyously. "Is it not like the quill and feathers of the pious bird" (the stork)? [Umbreit]. The vibrating, quivering wing, serving for sail and oar at once, is characteristic of the ostrich in full course. Its white and black feathers in the wing and tail are like the stork's. But, unlike that bird, the symbol of parental love in the East, it with seeming want of natural (pious) affection deserts its young. Both birds are poetically called by descriptive, instead of their usual appellative, names.

14-15. Yet (unlike the stork) she "leaveth," &c. Hence called by the Arabs "the impious bird." However, the fact is, she lays her eggs with great care and hatches them, as other birds do; but in hot countries the eggs do not need so constant incubation; she therefore often leaves them and sometimes forgets the place on her return. Moreover, the outer eggs, intended for food, she feeds to her young; these eggs, lying separate in the sand, exposed to the sun, gave rise to the idea of her altogether leaving them. God describes her as she seems to man; implying, though she may seem foolishly to neglect her young, yet really she is guided by a sure instinct from God, as much as animals of instincts widely different.

16. On a slight noise she often forsakes her eggs, and returns not, as if she were "hardened towards her young."

her labour--in producing eggs, is in vain, (yet) she has not disquietude (about her young), unlike other birds, who, if one egg and another are taken away, will go on laying till their full number is made up.

17. wisdom--such as God gives to other animals, and to man (Job 35:11). The Arab proverb is, "foolish as an ostrich." Yet her very seeming want of wisdom is not without wise design of God, though man cannot see it; just as in the trials of the godly, which seem so unreasonable to Job, there lies hid a wise design.

18. Notwithstanding her deficiencies, she has distinguishing excellences.

lifteth ... herself--for running; she cannot mount in the air. Gesenius translates: "lashes herself" up to her course by flapping her wings. The old versions favor English Version, and the parallel "scorneth" answers to her proudly "lifting up herself."

19. The allusion to "the horse" (Job 39:18), suggests the description of him. Arab poets delight in praising the horse; yet it is not mentioned in the possessions of Job (Job 1:3; 42:12). It seems to have been at the time chiefly used for war, rather than "domestic purposes."

thunder--poetically for, "he with arched neck inspires fear as thunder does." Translate, "majesty" [Umbreit]. Rather "the trembling, quivering mane," answering to the "vibrating wing" of the ostrich (see on Job 39:13) [Maurer]. "Mane" in Greek also is from a root meaning "fear." English Version is more sublime.

20. make ... afraid--rather, "canst thou (as I do) make him spring as the locust?" So in Joe 2:4, the comparison is between locusts and war-horses. The heads of the two are so similar that the Italians call the locusts cavaletta, "little horse."

nostrils--snorting furiously.

21. valley--where the battle is joined.

goeth on--goeth forth (Nu 1:3; 21:23).

23. quiver--for the arrows, which they contain, and which are directed "against him."

glittering spear--literally, "glittering of the spear," like "lightning of the spear" (Ha 3:11).

shield--rather, "lance."

24. swalloweth--Fretting with impatience, he draws the ground towards him with his hoof, as if he would swallow it. The parallelism shows this to be the sense; not as Maurer, "scours over it."

neither believeth--for joy. Rather, "he will not stand still, when the note of the trumpet (soundeth)."

25. saith--poetically applied to his mettlesome neighing, whereby he shows his love of the battle.

smelleth--snuffeth; discerneth (Is 11:3, Margin).

thunder--thundering voice.

26. The instinct by which some birds migrate to warmer climes before winter. Rapid flying peculiarly characterizes the whole hawk genus.

27. eagle--It flies highest of all birds: thence called "the bird of heaven."

28. abideth--securely (Psa 91:1); it occupies the same abode mostly for life.

crag--literally, "tooth" (1Sa 14:5, Margin).

strong place--citadel, fastness.

29. seeketh--is on the lookout for.

behold--The eagle descries its prey at an astonishing distance, by sight, rather than smell.

30. Quoted partly by Jesus Christ (Mt 24:28). The food of young eagles is the blood of victims brought by the parent, when they are still too feeble to devour flesh.

slain--As the vulture chiefly feeds on carcasses, it is included probably in the eagle genus.

Knowest thou the time - To know time, etc., only, was easy, and has nothing extraordinary in it; but the meaning of these questions is, to know the circumstances, which have something peculiarly expressive of God's providence, and make the questions proper in this place. Pliny observes, that the hind with young is by instinct directed to a certain herb, named seselis, which facilitates the birth. Thunder, also, which looks like the more immediate hand of Providence, has the same effect. Psa 29:9 : "The Voice of the Lord maketh the Hinds to Calve." See Dr. Young. What is called the wild goat, יעל yael, from עלה alah, to ascend, go or mount up, is generally understood to be the ibex or mountain goat, called yael, from the wonderful manner in which it mounts to the tops of the highest rocks. It is certain, says Johnston, there is no crag of the mountains so high, prominent or steep, but this animal will mount it in a number of leaps, provided only it be rough, and have protuberances large enough to receive its hoofs in leaping. This animal is indigenous to Arabia, is of amazing strength and agility, and considerably larger than the common goat. Its horns are very long, and often bend back over the whole body of the animal; and it is said to throw itself from the tops of rocks or towers, and light upon its horns, without receiving any damage. It goes five months with young.

When the hinds do calve? - The hind is the female of the stag, or cervus elaphus, and goes eight months with young. They live to thirty-five or forty years. Incredible longevity has been attributed to some stags. One was taken by Charles VI., in the forest of Senlis, about whose neck was a collar with this inscription, Caesar hoc mihi donavit, which led some to believe that this animal had lived from the days of some one of the twelve Caesars, emperors of Rome. I have seen the following form of this inscription: -

Tempore quo Caesar Roma dominatus in alta

Aureolo jussit collum signare monili;

Nehemiah depascentem quisquis me gramina laedat.

Caesaris heu! caussa periturae parcere vitae!

Which has been long public in the old English ballad strain, thus: - "When Julius Caesar reigned king,

About my neck he put this ring;

That whosoever should me take

Would save my life for Caesar's sake."

Aristotle mentions the longevity of the stag, but thinks it fabulous.

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.

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, moss, and the shoots of the fir, beech, and other trees: therefore the word בר bar, here translated corn, should be translated the open field or country. See Parkhurst. Their nurslings bound away - Mr. Good. In a short time they become independent of the mother, leave her, and return no more. The spirit of the questions in these verses appears to be the following: - Understandest thou the cause of breeding of the mountain goats, etc.? Art thou acquainted with the course and progress of the parturition, and the manner in which the bones grow, and acquire solidity in the womb? See Mr. Good's observations. Houbigant's version appears very correct: (Knowest thou) "how their young ones grow up, increase in the fields, and once departing, return to them no more?"

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. The wild ass is not striped like the zebra, nor so elegantly shaped. There are many of those animals in the deserts of Libya and Numidia: they are of a gray color; and run so swiftly that no horse but the Arab barbs can overtake them. Wild asses are found in considerable numbers in East and South Tartary, in Persia, Syria, the islands of the Archipelago, and throughout Mauritania. They differ from tame asses only in their independence and liberty, and in their being stronger and more nimble: but in their shape they are the same. See on Job 6:5 (note).

The bands of the wild ass? - ערוד arod, the brayer, the same animal, but called thus because of the frequent and peculiar noise he makes. But Mr. Good supposes this to be a different animal from the wild ass, (the jichta or equus hemionus), which is distinguished by having solid hoofs, a uniform color, no cross on the back, and the tail hairy only at the tip. The ears and tail resemble those of the zebra; the hoofs and body, those of the ass; and the limbs, those of the horse. It inhabits Arabia, China, Siberia, and Tartary, in glassy saline plains or salt wastes, as mentioned in the following verse.

Whose house - Habitation, or place of resort.

The barren land - מלחה melechah, the salt land, or salt places, as in the margin. See above.

He scorneth the multitude - He is so swift that he cannot be run or hunted down. See the description in Job 39:5 (note).

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.

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 bearings as they please, to indicate the unreal actions, fictitious virtues, and unfought martial exploits of mispraised men. It is not to the honor of the royal arms of Great Britain that this fabulous animal should be one of their supporters. The animal in question, called רים reim, is undoubtedly the rhinoceros, who has the latter name from the horn that grows on his nose. The rhinoceros is known by the name of reim in Arabia to the present day. He is allowed to be a savage animal, showing nothing of the intellect of the elephant. His horn enables him to combat the latter with great success; for, by putting his nose under the elephant's belly, he can rip him up. His skin is like armor, and so very hard as to resist sabres, javelins, lances, and even musket-balls; the only penetrable parts being the belly, the eyes, and about the ears.

Or abide by thy crib? - These and several of the following expressions are intended to point out his savage, untameable nature.

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.

That he will bring home thy seed - Thou canst make no domestic nor agricultural use of him.

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 word נצה notsah, rendered here feathers, should be translated hawk, or pelican. The Vulgate has, Penna struthionis similis est pennis herodii et accipitris; "the feather of the ostrich is like to that of the stork and the hawk." The Chaldee has, "The wing of the wild cock, who crows and claps his wings, is like to the wing of the stork and the hawk." The Septuagint, not knowing what to make of these different terms, have left them all untranslated, so as to make a sentence without sense. Mr. Good has come nearest both to the original and to the meaning, by translating thus: - "The wing of the ostrich tribe is for flapping;

But of the stork and falcon for flight."

Though the wings of the ostrich, says he, cannot raise it from the ground, yet by the motion here alluded to, by a perpetual vibration, or flapping - by perpetually catching or drinking in the wind, (as the term נעלסה neelasah implies, which we render goodly), they give it a rapidity of running beyond that possessed by any other animal in the world. Adanson informs us, that when he was at the factory in Padore, he was in possession of two tame ostriches; and to try their strength, says he, "I made a full-grown negro mount the smallest, and two others the largest. This burden did not seem at all disproportioned to their strength. At first they went a pretty high trot; and, when they were heated a little, they expanded their wings, as if it were to catch the wind, and they moved with such fleetness as to seem to be off the ground. And I am satisfied that those ostriches would have distanced the fleetest race-horses that were ever bred in England."

As to נצה notsah, here translated falcon, Mr. Good observes, that the term naz is used generally by the Arabian writers to signify both falcon and hawk; and there can be little doubt that such is the real meaning of the Hebrew word; and that it imports various species of the falcon family, as jer-falcon, gos-hawk, and sparrow-hawk. "The argument drawn from natural history advances from quadrupeds to birds; and of birds, those only are selected for description which are most common to the country in which the scene lies, and at the same time are most singular in their properties. Thus the ostrich is admirably contrasted with the stork and the eagle, as affording us an instance of a winged animal totally incapable of flight, but endued with an unrivalled rapidity of running, compared with birds whose flight is proverbially fleet, powerful, and persevering. Let man, in the pride of his wisdom, explain or arraign this difference of construction. "Again, the ostrich is peculiarly opposed to the stork and to some species of the eagle in another sense, and a sense adverted to in the verses immediately ensuing; for the ostrich is well known to take little or no care of its eggs, or of its young, while the stork ever has been, and ever deserves to be, held in proverbial repute for its parental tenderness. The Hebrew word חסידה chasidah, imports kindness or affection; and our own term stork, if derived from the Greek στοργη, storge, as some pretend, has the same original meaning." - Good's Job.

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 ostrich discover them, she hatches them as if they were her own, forgetting probably whether they are or are not; so deficient is the recollection of this bird." This illustrates Job 39:15 : "And forgetteth that the foot may crush them, or that the wild beast may break them." The poet seems well acquainted with every part of the subject on which he writes; and facts incontestable confirm all he says. For farther illustration, see the account from Dr. Shaw at the end of the chapter, Job 39:30 (note).

She is hardened against her young - See before, and the extracts from Dr. Shaw at the end of the chapter, Job 39:30 (note). She neglects her little ones, which are often found half starved, straggling, and moaning about, like so many deserted orphans, for their mother.

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

Ridendum revoluta caput: creditque latere

Quad non ipsa videt.'

2. They who hunt them draw the skin of an ostrich's neck on one hand, which proves a sufficient lure to take them with the other. They have so little brain that Heliogabalus had six hundred heads for his supper. Here we may observe, that our judicious as well as sublime author just touches the great points of distinction in each creature, and then hastens to another. A description is exact when you cannot add but what is common to another thing; nor withdraw, but something peculiarly belonging to the thing described. A likeness is lost in too much description, as a meaning is often in too much illustration." - Dr. Young.

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 velut Libyae venantum vocibus ales

Cum premitur, calidas cursu transmittit arenas,

Inque modum veli sinuatis flamine pennis

Pulverulenta volat. "Xenophon says, Cyrus had horses that could overtake the goat and the wild ass; but none that could reach this creature. A thousand golden ducats, or a hundred camels, was the stated price of a horse that could equal their speed." - Dr. Young.

Hast thou given the horse strength? - Before I proceed to any observations, I shall give Mr. Good's version of this, perhaps inimitable, description: - Job 39:19 Hast thou bestowed on the horse mettle?Hast thou clothed his neck with the thunder flash? Job 39:20 Hast thou given him to launch forth as an arrow?Terrible is the pomp of his nostrils. Job 39:21 He paweth in the valley, and exulteth.Boldly he advanceth against the clashing host: Job 39:22 He mocketh at fear, and trembleth not:Nor turneth he back from the sword. Job 39:23 Against him rattleth the quiver,The glittering spear, and the shield: Job 39:24 With rage and fury he devoureth the ground;And is impatient when the trumpet soundeth. Job 39:25 He exclaimeth among the trumpets, Aha!And scenteth the battle afar off,The thunder of the chieftains, and the shouting.

In the year 1713, a letter was sent to the Guardian, which makes No. 86 of that work, containing a critique on this description, compared with similar descriptions of Homer and Virgil. I shall give the substance of it here: -

The great Creator, who accommodated himself to those to whom he vouchsafed to speak, hath put into the mouths of his prophets such sublime sentiments and exalted language as must abash the pride and wisdom of man. In the book of Job, the most ancient poem in the world, we have such paintings and descriptions as I have spoken of in great variety. I shall at present make some remarks on the celebrated description of the horse, in that holy book; and compare it with those drawn by Homer and Virgil.

Homer hath the following similitude of a horse twice over in the Iliad, which Virgil hath copied from him; at least he hath deviated less from Homer than Mr. Dryden hath from him: - Ὡς δ' ὁτε τις στατος ἱππος, ακοστησας επι φατνη, Δεσμον απορῥηξας θειει πεδιοιο κροαινων, Ειωθως λουεσθαι εΰρῥειος ποταμοιο, Κυδιοων· ὑψου δε καρη εχει, αμοι δε χαιται Ωμοις αΐσσονται· ὁ δ' αγλαΐῃφι πεποιθως Ῥιμφα ἑ γουνα φερει μετα τ' ηθεα και νομον ἱππων.

Hom. Il. lib. vi., ver. 506; and lib. xv., ver. 263.

Freed from his keepers, thus with broken reins

The wanton courser prances o'er the plains,

Or in the pride of youth o'erleaps the mound,

And snuffs the female in forbidden ground;

Or seeks his watering in the well-known flood,

To quench his thirst, and cool his fiery blood;

He swims luxuriant in the liquid plain,

And o'er his shoulders flows his waving mane;

He neighs, he snorts, he bears his head on high;

Before his ample chest the frothy waters fly.

Virgil's description is much fuller than the foregoing, which, as I said, is only a simile; whereas Virgil professes to treat of the nature of the horse: - - Tum, si qua sonum procul arma dedere,

Stare loco nescit: micat auribus, et tremit artus

Collectumque premens volvit sub naribus ignem:

Densa juba, et dextro jactata recumbit in armo.

At duplex agitur per lumbos spina, cavatque

Tellurem, et solido graviter sonat ungula cornu.

Virg. Georg. lib. iii., ver. 83.

Which is thus admirably translated: -

The fiery courser, when he hears from far

The sprightly trumpets, and the shouts of war,

Pricks up his ears; and, trembling with delight,

Shifts pace, and paws, and hopes the promised fight.

On his right shoulder his thick mane reclined,

Ruffles at speed, and dances in the wind.

His horny hoofs are jetty black and round;

His chin is double: starting with a bound,

He turns the turf, and shakes the solid ground.

Fire from his eyes, clouds from his nostrils flow;

He bears his rider headlong on the foe.

Now follows that in the Book of Job, which, under all the disadvantages of having been written in a language little understood, of being expressed in phrases peculiar to a part of the world whose manner of thinking and speaking seems to us very uncouth; and, above all, of appearing in a prose translation; is nevertheless so transcendently above the heathen descriptions, that hereby we may perceive how faint and languid the images are which are formed by human authors, when compared with those which are figured, as it were, just as they appear in the eye of the Creator. God, speaking to Job, asks him: - [To do our translators as much justice as possible, and to help the critic, I shall throw it in the hemistich form, in which it appears in the Hebrew, and in which all Hebrew poetry is written.] Job 39:19 Hast thou given to the Horse strength?Hast thou clothed his neck with thunder? Job 39:20 Canst thou make him afraid as a grasshopper?The glory of his nostrils is terrible! Job 39:21 He paweth in the valley, and rejoiceth in strength:He goeth on to meet the armed men. Job 39:22 He mocketh at fear, and is not affrighted:Neither turneth he back from the sword. Job 39:23 Against him rattleth the quiver,The glittering spear and the shield. Job 39:24 He swalloweth the ground with rage and fierceness:Nor doth he believe that it is the sound of the trumpet. Job 39:25 He saith among the trumpets, Heach!And from afar he scenteth the battle,The thunder of the captains, and the shouting.

Here are all the great and sprightly images that thought can form of this generous beast, expressed in such force and vigor of style as would have given the great wits of antiquity new laws for the sublime, had they been acquainted with these writings. I cannot but particularly observe that whereas the classical poets chiefly endeavor to paint the outward figure, lineaments, and motions, the sacred poet makes all the beauties to flow from an inward principle in the creature he describes; and thereby gives great spirit and vivacity to his description. The following phrases and circumstances are singularly remarkable: - Job 39:19 Hast thou clothed his neck with thunder?

Homer and Virgil mention nothing about the neck of the horse but his mane. The sacred author, by the bold figure of thunder, not only expresses the shaking of that remarkable beauty in the horse, and the flakes of hair, which naturally suggest the idea of lightning; but likewise the violent agitation and force of the neck, which in the oriental tongues had been flatly expressed by a metaphor less bold than this. Job 39:20 Canst thou make him afraid as a grasshopper? - There is a twofold beauty in this expression, which not only marks the courage of this beast, by asking if he can be scared; but likewise raises a noble image of his swiftness, by insinuating that, if he could be frightened, he would bound away with the nimbleness of a grasshopper.

The glory of his nostrils is terrible - This is more strong and concise than that of Virgil, which yet is the noblest line that was ever written without inspiration: -

Collectumque premens volvit sub naribus ignem.

And in his nostrils rolls collected fire.

Geor. iii., ver. 85. Job 39:21 He rejoiceth in his strength. Job 39:22 He mocketh at fear. Job 39:24 Neither believeth he that it is the sound of the trumpet. Job 39:25 He saith among the trumpets, Ha! ha!

These are signs of courage, as I said before, flowing from an inward principle. There is a peculiar beauty in his not believing it is the sound of the trumpet: that is, he cannot believe it for joy; but when he is sure of it, and is among the trumpets, he saith, Ha! ha! He neighs, he rejoices. His docility is elegantly painted in his being unmoved at the rattling quiver, the glittering spear, and the shield, Job 39:23, and is well imitated by Oppian, - who undoubtedly read Job, as Virgil did, - in his Poem on Hunting: - Πως μεν γαρ τε μαχαισιν αρηΐος εκλυεν ἱππος Ηχον εγερσιμοθον δολιχων πολεμηΐον αυλων; Η πως αντα δεδορκεν ασκαρδαμυκτοισιν οπωπαις Αιζηοισι λοχον πεπυκασμενον ὁπλιτησι; Και χαλκον σελαγευντα, και αστραπτοντα σιδηρον; Και μαθεν ευτε μενειν χρειω, ποτε δ' αυτις αρουειν.

Oppian Cyneget, lib. i., ver. 206.

Now firm the managed war-horse keeps his ground,

Nor breaks his order though the trumpet sound!

With fearless eye the glittering host surveys,

And glares directly at the helmet's blaze.

The master's word, the laws of war, he knows;

And when to stop, and when to charge the foes.

He swalloweth the ground, Job 39:24, is an expression for prodigious swiftness in use among the Arabians, Job's countrymen, to the present day. The Latins have something like it: -

Latumque fuga consumere campum.

Nemesian.

In flight the extended champaign to consume.

Carpere prata fuga.

Virg. Georg. III., Ver. 142.

In flight to crop the meads. - Campumque volatu

Cum rapuere, pedum vestigia quaeras.

When, in their fight, the champaign they have snatch'd,

No track is left behind.

It is indeed the boldest and noblest of images for swiftness; nor have I met with any thing that comes so near it as Mr. Pope's, in Windsor Forest: -

Th' impatient courser pants in every vein,=

And pawing, seems to beat the distant plain;

Hills, vales, and floods, appear already cross'd;

And ere he starts, a thousand steps are lost.

He smelleth the battle afar off, and what follows about the shouting, is a circumstance expressed with great spirit by Lucan: -

So when the ring with joyful shouts resounds,

With rage and pride th' imprison'd courser bounds;

He frets, he foams, he rends his idle rein,

Springs o'er the fence, and headlong seeks the plain.

This judicious and excellent critique has left me little to say on this sublime description of the horse: I shall add some cursory notes only. In Job 39:19 we have the singular image, clothed his neck with thunder. How thunder and the horse's neck can be well assimilated to each other, I confess I cannot see. The author of the preceding critique seems to think that the principal part of the allusion belongs to the shaking of this remarkable beauty (the mane) in a horse; and the flakes of hair, which naturally suggest the idea of lightning. I am satisfied that the floating mane is here meant. The original is רעמה ramah, which Bochart and other learned men translate as above. How much the mane of a horse shaking and waving in the wind adds to his beauty and stateliness, every one is sensible; and the Greek and Latin poets, in their description of the horse, take notice of it. Thus Homer: - - Αμφι δε χαιται Ωμοις αΐσσονται.

Iliad vi., ver. 509. "His mane dishevell'd o'er his shoulders flies."

And Virgil: -

Luduntque per colla, per armos.

Aen. xi., ver. 497.

The verb רעם raam signifies to toss, to agitate; and may very properly be applied to the mane, for reasons obvious to all. Virgil has seized this characteristic in his fine line, Georg. iii. ver. 86: -

Densa juba, et dextro jactata recumbit in armo. "His toss'd thick mane on his right shoulder falls."

Naturally, the horse is one of the most timid of animals; and this may be at once accounted for from his small quantity of brain. Perhaps there is no animal of his size that has so little. He acquires courage only from discipline; for naturally he starts with terror and affright at any sudden noise. It requires much discipline to bring him to hear the noise of drums and trumpets, and especially to bear a pair of kettle drums placed on each side his neck, and beaten there, with the most alarming variety of sounds. Query, Does the sacred text allude to any thing of this kind? I have been led to form this thought from the following circumstance. In some ancient MSS. of the Shah Nameh, a most eminent heroic poem, by the poet Ferdoosy, the Homer of India, in my own collection, adorned with paintings, representing regal interviews, animals, battles, etc., there appear in some places representations of elephants, horses, and camels, with a pair of drums, something like our kettle drums, hanging on each side of the animal's neck, and beaten, by a person on the saddle, with two plectrums or drumsticks; the neck itself being literally clothed with the drums and the housings on which they are fixed. Who is it then that has framed the disposition of such a timid animal, that by proper discipline it can bear those thundering sounds, which at first would have scared it to the uttermost of distraction? The capacity to receive discipline and instruction is as great a display of the wisdom of God as the formation of the bodies of the largest, smallest, or most complex animals is of his power. I leave this observation without laying any stress upon it. On such difficult subjects conjecture has a lawful range.

He paweth in the valley - יחפרו 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.

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 expressive: האח ומרחוק יריח מלחמה Heach! umerachok yariach milchamah; "Heach, for from afar he scenteth the battle."

The reader will perceive that Mr. Good has given a very different meaning to Job 39:20 from that in the present text, Canst thou make him afraid as a grasshopper? by translating the Hebrew thus: - "Hast thou given him to launch forth as an arrow?"

The word ארבה arbeh, which we translate locust or grasshopper, and which he derives from רבה rabah, the א aleph being merely formative, he says, "may as well mean an arrow as it does in Job 16:13, רביו rabbaiv, 'His arrows fly around me.'" The verb רעש raash in the word התועישנו hatharishennu, "Canst thou make him afraid?' he contends, "signifies to tremble, quiver, rush, launch, dart forth; and, taken in this sense, it seems to unite the two ideas of rapidity and coruscation." This is the principal alteration which this learned man has made in the text.

I shall conclude on this subject by giving Coverdale's translation: Hast thou geven the horse his strength, or lerned him how to bow down his neck with feare; that he letteth himself be dryven forth like a greshopper, where as the stout neyenge that he maketh is fearfull? He breaketh the grounde with the hoffes of his fete chearfully in his strength, and runneth to mete the harnest men. He layeth aside all feare, his stomach is not abated, neither starteth he aback for eny swerde. Though the qyvers rattle upon him, though the speare and shilde glistre: yet russheth he in fearsley, and beateth upon the grounde. He feareth not the noise of the trompettes, but as soone as he heareth the shawmes blowe, Tush (sayeth he) for he smelleth the batell afarre of, the noyse, the captaynes, and the shoutinge. This is wonderfully nervous, and at the same time accurate.

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 is wonderfully swift. A falcon belonging to the Duke of Cleves flew out of Westphalia into Prussia in one day; and in the county of Norfolk, a hawk has made a flight at a woodcock of near thirty miles in an hour. Thuanus says, "A hawk flew from London to Paris in one night." It was owing to its swiftness that the Egyptians in their hieroglyphics made it the emblem of the wind.

Stretch her wings toward the south? - Most of the falcon tribe pass their spring and summer in cold climates; and wing their way toward warmer regions on the approach of winter. This is what is here meant by stretching her wings toward the south. Is it through thy teaching that this or any other bird of passage knows the precise time for taking flight, and the direction in which she is to go in order to come to a warmer climate? There is much of the wisdom and providence of God to be seen in the migration of birds of passage. This has been remarked before. There is a beautiful passage in Jeremiah, Jer 8:7, on the same subject: "The stork in the heavens knoweth her appointed times; and the turtle, and the crane, and the swallow, observe the time of their coming: but my people know not the judgment of the Lord."

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 (note).

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: "And thence espieth the ravine: her eyes trace the prey afar off."

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 while you carelessly pass by

Your own worst vices with unheeding eye,

Why so sharp-sighted in another's fame,

Strong as an eagle's ken, or dragon's beam?"

Francis.

So Aelian, lib. i., cap. 42. And Homer, Iliad xvii., calls the eagle οξυτατον ὑπουρανιων πετεηνων, "The most quick-sighted of all fowls under heaven."

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 gathered together," Mat 24:28 (note). It is likely, however, that this was a proverbial mode of expression; and our Lord adapts it to the circumstances of the Jewish people, who were about to fall a prey to the Romans. See the notes there.

In the preceding notes I have referred to Dr. Shaw's account of the ostrich as the most accurate and authentic yet published. With the following description I am sure every intelligent reader will be pleased. "In commenting therefore upon these texts it may be observed, that when the ostrich is full grown, the neck, particularly of the male, which before was almost naked, is now very beautifully covered with red feathers. The plumage likewise upon the shoulders, the back, and some parts of the wings, from being hitherto of a dark grayish color, becomes now as black as jet, whilst the rest of the feathers retain an exquisite whiteness. They are, as described Job 39:13, the very feathers and plumage of the stork, i.e., they consist of such black and white feathers as the stork, called from thence hdysx chasidah, is known to have. But the belly, the thighs, and the breast, do not partake of this covering, being usually naked, and when touched are of the same warmth as the flesh of quadrupeds. "Under the joint of the great pinion, and sometimes under the less, there is a strong pointed excrescence like a cock's spur, with which it is said to prick and stimulate itself, and thereby acquire fresh strength and vigor whenever it is pursued. But nature seems rather to have intended that, in order to prevent the suffocating effects of too great a plethora, a loss of blood should be consequent thereupon, especially as the ostrich appears to be of a hot constitution, with lungs always confined, and consequently liable to be preter-naturally inflamed upon these occasions. "When these birds are surprised by coming suddenly upon them whilst they are feeding in some valley, or behind some rocky or sandy eminence in the deserts, they will not stay to be curiously viewed and examined. Neither are the Arabs ever dexterous enough to overtake them, even when they are mounted upon their jinse, or horses, as they are called, of family. They, when they raise themselves up for flight, (Job 39:18), laugh at the horse and his rider. They afford him an opportunity only of admiring at a distance the extraordinary agility and the stateliness of their motions, the richness of their plumage, and the great propriety there was of ascribing to them (Job 30:13) an expanded quivering wing. Nothing, certainly, can be more beautiful and entertaining than such a sight! The wings, by their repeated though unwearied vibrations, equally serving them for sails and oars; whilst their feet, no less assisting in conveying them out of sight, are in no degree sensible of fatigue. "By the repeated accounts which I often had from my conductors, as well as from Arabs of different places, I have been informed that the ostrich lays from thirty to fifty eggs. Aelian mentions more than eighty, but I never heard of so large a number. The first egg is deposited in the center; the rest are placed as conveniently as possible round about it. In this manner it is said to lay-deposit or thrust (Job 39:14) - her eggs in The Earth, and to warm them in the sand, and forgetteth, as they are not placed, like those of some other birds, upon trees or in the clefts of rocks, etc., that the foot of the traveler may crush them, or that the wild beasts may break them. "Yet notwithstanding the ample provision which is hereby made for a numerous offspring, scarce one quarter of these eggs are ever supposed to be hatched; and of those that are, no small share of the young ones may perish with hunger, from being left too early by their dams to shift for themselves. For in these the most barren and desolate recesses of the Sahara, where the ostrich chooses to make her nest, it would not be enough to lay eggs and hatch them, unless some proper food was near at hand, and already prepared for their nourishment. And accordingly we are not to consider this large collection of eggs as if they were all intended for a brood; they are, the greatest part of them, reserved for food, which the dam breaks and disposes of according to the number and the cravings of her young ones. "But yet, for all this, 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 perhaps she never returns, or if she do, it may be too late either to restore life to the one, or to preserve the lives of the other. Agreeably to this account, the Arabs meet sometimes with whole nests of these eggs undisturbed; some of which are sweet and good, others are addle and corrupted, others again have their young ones of different growths, according to the time it may be presumed they have been forsaken by the dam. They oftener meet a few of the little ones, no bigger than well-grown pullets, half starved, straggling, and moaning about, like so many distressed orphans, for their mother. And in this manner the ostrich may be said (Job 39:16) to be hardened against her young ones, as though they were not hers; her labor in hatching and attending them so far being vain without fear, or the least concern of what becomes of them afterwards. This want of affection is also recorded, Lam 4:3 : The daughter of my people, says the prophet, is cruel, like the ostriches in the wilderness. "Neither is this the only reproach that may be due to the ostrich; she is likewise inconsiderate and foolish in her private capacity; particularly in the choice of food, which is frequently highly detrimental and pernicious to her; for she swallows every thing greedily and indiscriminately, whether it be pieces of rags, leather, wood, stone, or iron. When I was at Oram, I saw one off these birds swallow, without any seeming uneasiness or inconvenience, several leaden bullets, as they were thrown upon the floor, scorching hot from the mould, the inner coats of the aesophapus and stomach being probably better stocked with glands and juices than in other animals with shorter necks. They are particularly fond of their own excrement, which they greedily eat up as soon as it is voided. No less fond are they of the dung of hens and other poultry. It seems as if their optic as well as olfactory nerves were less adequate and conducive to their safety and preservation than in other creatures. The Divine providence in this, no less than in other respects, (Job 39:17), having deprived them of wisdom, neither hath it imparted to them understanding. "Those parts of the Sahara which these birds chiefly frequent are destitute of all manner of food and herbage, except it be some few tufts of coarse grass, or else a few other solitary plants of the laureola, apocynum, and some other kinds; each of which is equally destitute of nourishment; and, in the psalmist's phrase, (Psa 129:6), even withereth afore it groweth up. Yet these herbs, notwithstanding their dryness, and want of moisture in their temperature, will sometimes have both their leaves and their stalks studded all over with a great variety of land snails, which may afford them some little refreshment. It is very probable, likewise, that they may sometimes seize upon lizards, serpents, together with insects and reptiles of various kinds. Yet still, considering the great voracity and size of this camel-bird, it is wonderful, not only how the little ones, after they are weaned from the provisions I have mentioned, should be brought up and nourished, but even how those of fuller growth and much better qualified to look out for themselves, are able to subsist. "Their organs of digestion, and particularly the gizzards, which, by their strong friction, will wear away iron itself, show them indeed to be granivorous; but yet they have scarce ever an opportunity to exercise them in this way, unless when they chance to stray, which is very seldom, towards those parts of the country which are sown and cultivated, For these, as they are much frequented by the Arabs at the several seasons of grazing, ploughing, and gathering in the harvest; so they are little visited by as indeed they would be an improper abode for this shy, timorous bird; φιλερημος, a lover of the deserts. This last circumstance in the behavior of the ostrich is frequently alluded to in the Holy Scriptures; particularly Isa 13:21; Isa 34:13; Isa 43:20; Jer 50:39; where the word, יענה yaanah, instead of being rendered the ostrich, as it is rightly put in the margin, is called the owl; a word used likewise instead of yaanah or the ostrich, Lev 11:16, and Deu 14:15. "Whilst I was abroad, I had several opportunities of amusing myself with the actions and behavior of the ostrich. It was very diverting to observe with what dexterity and equipoise of body it would play and frisk about on all occasions. In the heat of the day, particularly it would strut along the sunny side of the house with great majesty. It would be perpetually fanning and priding itself with its quivering expanded wings; and seem at every turn to admire and be in love with its shadow. Even at other times whether walking about or resting itself upon the ground, the wings would continue these fanning vibrating motions, as if they were designed to mitigate and assuage that extraordinary heat wherewith their bodies seem to be naturally affected. "Notwithstanding these birds appear tame and tractable to such persons of the family as were more known and familiar to them, yet they were often very rude and fierce to strangers, especially the poorer sort, whom they would not only endeavor to push down by running furiously upon them; but would not cease to peck at them violently with their bills, and to strike them with their feet; whereby they were frequently very mischievous. For the inward claw, or hoof rather as we may call it, of this avis bisulca, being exceedingly strong pointed and angular, I once saw an unfortunate person who had his belly ripped open by one of these strokes. Whilst they are engaged in these combats and assaults, they sometimes make a fierce, angry, and hissing noise with their throats inflated, and their mouths open; at other times, when less resistance is made they have a chuckling or cackling voice, as in the poultry kind; and thereby seem to rejoice and laugh as it were at the timorousness of their adversary. But during the lonesome part of the night, as if their organs of voice had then attained a quite different tone, they often made a very doleful and hideous noise; which would be sometimes like the roaring of a lion; at other times it would bear a near resemblance to the hoarser voices of other quadrupeds, particularly of the bull and the ox. I have often heard them groan, as if they were in the greatest agonies; an action beautifully alluded to by the Prophet Micah, Mic 1:8, where it is said, I will make a mourning like the yaanah or ostrich. Yaanah, therefore, and רננים renanim, the names by which the ostrich is known in the Holy Scriptures, may very properly be deduced from ענה anah, and רנן ranan, words which the lexicographi explain by exclamare or clamare fortiter; for the noise made by the ostrich being loud and sonorous, exclamare or clamare fortiter may, with propriety enough, be attributed to it, especially as those words do not seem to denote any certain or determined mode of voice or sound peculiar to any one particular species of animals, but such as may be applicable to them all, to birds as well as to quadrupeds and other creatures."

Shaw's Travels, p. 541, edit. 4th. 1757.

The subjects in this chapter have been so various and important, that I have been obliged to extend the notes and observations to an unusual length; and yet much is left unnoticed which I wished to have inserted. I have made the best selection I could, and must request those readers who wish for more information to consult zoological writers.

Young ones - Notwithstanding their great weakness caused by their hard entrance into the world. Grow up - As with corn, that is, as if they were fed with corn. Go forth - Finding sufficient provisions abroad by the care of God's providence.

Sent - Who hath given him this disposition that he loves freedom, and hates that subjection which other creatures quietly endure? Loosed - Who keeps him from receiving the bands, and submitting to the service of man.

Scorneth - He feareth them not when they pursue him, because he is swift, and can easily escape them. Driver - He will not be brought to receive his yoke, nor to do his drudgery.

Mountains - He prefers that mean provision with his freedom, before the fattest pastures with servitude.

Unicorn - It is disputed whether this be the Rhinoceros; or a kind of wild bull.

Her labour - In laying her eggs is in vain, because she hath not the fear and tender concern for them, which she should have.

Deprived - Because God hath not implanted in her that instinct, and affection, which he hath put into other birds and beasts toward their young.

Lifteth - To flee from her pursuer: to which end she lifts up her head and body, and spreads her wings. Scorneth - She despises them thro' her swiftness; for though she cannot fly, yet by the aid of her wings she runs so fast, that horse - men cannot reach her.

Thunder - A strong metaphor, to denote force and terror.

Valley - Battles used to be pitched in valleys, or low grounds, especially horse battles.

Quiver - The quiver is here put for the arrows contained in it, which being shot against the horse and rider, make a rattling noise.

Swalloweth - He is so full of rage and fury, that he not only champs his bridle, but is ready to tear and devour the very ground on which he goes. Believeth - He is so pleased with the approach of the battle, and the sound of the trumpet calling to it, that he can scarce believe his ears for gladness.

Ha, ha - An expression of joy and alacrity declared by his proud neighings. Thunder - The loud and joyful clamour begun by the commanders, and followed by the soldiers when they are ready to join battle.

Fly - So strongly, constantly, unweariedly, and swiftly. South - At the approach of winter, when wild hawks fly into warmer countries, as being impatient of cold. The birds of the air are proofs of the wonderful providence of God, as well as the beasts of the earth. God instances in two stately ones.

Mount - Flies directly upward 'till she be out of thy sight; which no other bird can do.

Her eyes - Her sight is exceeding sharp and strong, so that she is able to look upon the sun with open eyes, and to behold the smallest prey upon the earth or sea, when she is mounted out of our sight.

1. KNowest thou the time when the wild goats of the rock bring forth ? or canst thou mark when the hinds do calve ?

That thou mayest then go to them and afford them thy help in their hard work.

Which dwell in high and steep Rocks where no Man can come. See 1 am. 24. 2. Psal. 104. 18.

Which they do with great difficulty as is implied, Psal. 29. 9. and noted by Philosophers, wherein they have no assistance from men but onely from God.

When God by his secret instinct directs them to a certain Herb called Seseli, which, as Naturalists report, doth hasten and help forward their Birth.

Marginal references: [illegible: 1 word] [illegible: 1+ letters]9. 9.

2. Canst thou number the months that they fulfil? or knowest thou the time when they bring forth ?

Dost thou exactly know when they did conceive, and when they will bring forth: which is more uncertain in these than in other Creatures, because there fall out many accidents which cause them to bring forth before their time, as thunder, Psal. 29. 9. and other like causes of sudden fear which may be many and various in those desert places where they live.

3. They bow themselves , they bring forth their young ones , they cast out their sorrows .

Being taught by a Divine instinct to dispose themselves in such a posture as may be fittest for their safe and easie bringing forth.

To wit, with great pain being almost torn or rent asunder with the Birth, as the word signifies: or without any of that help, which tame Beasts oft have.

i. e. Their young ones and their sorrows together. Or, though (which Particle is oft understood) they remit or put away their sorrows, i. e. Though in stead of cherishing and furthering their sorrows, which for their own ease and safety they should do, they foolishly hinder them and so increase their own danger, yet by God's good Providence to them they are enabled to bring forth, as was now said.

4. Their young ones are in good liking , they grow up with corn : they go forth, and return not unto them .

Or, grow strong or fat; notwithstanding their great weakness caused by their hard entrance into the World.

Which they find and feed upon in the Fields.

Or, as with Corn, i. e. as if they were fed with Corn; the Particle as being oft deficient and to be supplied. Or, in the Field, as this word in the Chaldee or Syriak Dialect signifies.

Finding sufficient Provisions abroad by the care and conduct of God's Providence.

5. Who hath sent out the wild ass free ? or who hath loosed the bands of the wild ass ?

Who hath given him this disposition that he loves freedom, and avoids and hates that subjection which other Creatures quietly and contentedly endure.

Which is not to be understood privatively, as if God took off the bands which men had put upon him, but Negatively, that he keeps him from receiving the bands and submitting to the service of Man. Who hath made him so untractable and unmanageable? Which is the more strange, because home-bred Asses are so tame and tractable.

6. Whose house I have made the wilderness , and the barren land his dwellings.

Who useth and loveth to dwell in desert Lands, Ier. 2. 24. Hos[illegible: 1+ letters]a 8. 3. 9.

Called barren, not simply, for then he must be starved there, but comparatively, unmanaged and therefore in a great measure unfruitful Land.

Marginal references: Chap. 24. 5.; Heb. Salt places.

7. He scorneth the multitude of the city , neither regardeth he the crying of the driver .

Either 1. he feareth them not, when they pursue him, because he is swift and can easily escape them. Or 2. he values them not, nor any provisions or advantages which he may have from them, but prefers a vagrant and solitary life in the Wilderness before them. Or 3. he disdains to submit himself to them, and resolutely maintains his own freedom.

He mentions the City rather than the Countrey, partly because there is the greatest Multitude of People to pursue and overtake and subject him: and partly because there is the greatest plenty of all things to invite him; the Fruits of the Countrey being said up in Cities in greatest abundance.

Heb. heareth, i. e obeyeth.

Heb. of the Taskmaster, or Exactor of Labour, i. e. He will not be brought to receive his Yoke nor to do his Drudgery, nor to answer to his cries or commands, as tame Asses are forced to do.

Marginal references: Heb. of the Exactour.

8. The range of the mountain is his pasture, and he searcheth after every green thing.

That which he searcheth out or findeth in the Mountains. He prefers that mean provision and hardship with [illegible: 1+ letters]is freedom before the fattest Pastures with servitude. Why so weak and harmless a Creature as the wild Ass should be untamable when the most savage Lions and Tigers have been tamed; and how there comes to be so vast a difference between the tame, and the wild Ass, thou canst give no reason, but must refer it wholly to my good pleasure, to which also thou shouldst upon the same grounds refer all the various methods of my providence and dealings with thee and with other men, and not so boldly censure what thou dost not understand.

9. Will the Unicorn be willing to serve thee , or abide by thy crib ?

Will he suffer himself to be tied or confined there all Night, and to be reserved to the work of the next day, as the oxen do? Surely no. And if thou canst not rule such a Creature as this, much less art thou able to govern the World or to teach me how to govern it, which thou presumest to do.

Canst thou tame him and bring him into subjection to thy command.

Will he suffer himself to be tied or confined there all Night, and to be reserved to the work of the next day, as the oxen do? Surely no. And if thou canst not rule such a Creature as this, much less art thou able to govern the World or to teach me how to govern it, which thou presumest to do.

x It is much disputed among the Learned, but is not needful to be known by others, whether there be or ever was such a Creature as we call the Unicorn, or whether this Reem, which is the Hebrew name of it, be the Rhinoceros, as some would have it; or a certain kind of wild Goat called Onyx, which is very tall and strong and untractable; or one of that kind of wild Oxen or Bulls called Uri; which may seem most probable both from the description of this Creature here and elsewhere in Scripture which exactly agrees with its description given by other Authours; and from the description of his work in this place; which must in all reason be agreeable to Creatures of that general kind; and from the conjunction of this Creature with Bullocks in Scripture, Deut. 33. 17. and especially Isa. 34. 6, 7 where having put Lambs▪ and Goats, and Rams together, v. 6. as Creatures of the same or very like sort; he mentions Bullocks, and Bulls & Reems, v. 7. as belonging to the same general sort of Creatures. But this I shall not positively determin here He that would know more may see what the Reverend and Learned Mr. Caryl hath upon this Text out of Bootius and others, and my Latin Synopsis on Numb. 23. 22.

10. Canst thou bind the Unicorn with his band in the furrow ? or will he harrow the valleys after thee ?

i. e. In thy furrowed Field, by a Metonymy. Or, to or for (as the prefix Beth is oft used, as Gen. 1. 4. Levit 16. 22. Iob 24. 5.) the furrow, i. e. to make Furrows, or to Plow: for which work Cattle use to be bound together that they may be directed by the Husbandman, and may make right Furrows.

To wit, the low grounds; which are most proper for, and most imployed in the work of Plowing.

Under thy conduct following thee step by step.

11. Wilt thou trust him because his strength is great ? or wilt thou leave thy labour to him ?

To wit, for the doing of these works?

Because he is very able for thy work. And wilt thou by thy power make him willing or force him to put forth and spend his strength in thy service?

Either 1. thy work of Plowing and Harrowing. Or rather 2. the Fruit of thy labour, or the goods gotten by thy labour, as this word is oft used, as Deut. 28. 33. Iob 20. 18. Psal. 78. 46 & 128. 2. Ioh. 4. 38. to wit, the Fruits of the Earth procured by God's blessing upon thy industry.

To be brought home by him into thy Barns, as the next Verse explains it.

12. Wilt thou believe him that he will bring home thy seed , and gather it into thy Barn?

Heb. will return thy seed; either 1. by Plowing and Harrowing thy Land so well that it shall make a good return to thee for thy seed. Or rather 2. by bringing into thy Barn, as it follows, thy seed, i. e. the product of thy seed, or thy sheaves of Corn, as this word is used, Hagg. 2. 19.

13. Gavest thou the goodly wings unto the Peacoks ? or wings and feathers unto the Ostrich ?

The Stile of this Book is very concise and some Verb is manifestly wanting to supply the sense; and this seems to be fitly understood out of v. 19. where it is expressed.

Or, triumphant, that wherein it triumpheth or prideth it self.

Or, feathers. Heb. wing or feather. The Peacocks, beauty lies in its tail; which may well enough be comprehended under this Name, as it is confessed that the Latin word Ala, which properly signifies a wing, is used by Martial and Claudian to express the Peacoks tail.

Or, as some render it, to the Ostrich: whose wings are much more great and goodly than those of the Peacock. And for the other word in the next Clause which is rendred Ostrich, they translate it another way. For that the Hebrew word Hasidah doth not signifie an Ostrich, seems plain from the mention and description of that Bird, Psal 104. 17. Ier. 8. 7. Lament. 4. 3. Zech. 5. 9. which doth not at all agree to the Ostrich. And forasmuch as the following Verses do evidently speak of the Ostrich, and it is absurd to discourse of a Bird which had not been so much as named, and consequently the name of it must be found in this Verse, and there is no other word in this Verse which bids so fair for it, it may seem probable that this word is not to be rendred the Peacock (though it be so taken by most) but the Ostrich. Nor is it likely that both the Peacock and the Ostrich should be crouded together into one Verse: especially when all the following Characters belong onely to the latter of them. Add to this, that it is confessed even by the Hebrew Writers themselves that there is a great uncertainty in the signification of the Names of Birds and Beasts; and therefore it is not strange if many Interpreters were mistaken in the signification of this word.

Or, or the wings or feathers of the Stork (or, or) the Ostrich? Or, didst thou give (which may be repeated out of the former branch) the wings and feathers to the Stork? Or, verily (the Particle im being oft used as a note of confirmation, as Psal. 59. 16. & 63. 7, Prov. 3. 34. & 23. 18.) it hath wings and feathers like those of a Stork; for so indeed they are, black and white like them. And this may be noted as a great and a remarkable work of God, that it should really have wings and feathers as other Birds have, and particularly the Stork, who comes nearest to it in bulk and colour, although otherwise by its vast bulk it might seem to be a Beast rather than a Bird, as it is also called by Aristotle and Pliny, and others.

Marginal references: Or▪ the feathers of the Stork and Ostrich.

14. Which leaveth her eggs in the earth , and warmeth them in the dust ▪

i. e. Which Ostrich; whose property this is noted to be by Naturalists. Or, But: for this unnatural quality is opposed to the goodliness of her wings or feathers.

In the place where she lays them: where she leaves them, either 1. from care lest she should crush and break them if her vast body should sit upon them: or rather 2. from forgetfulness, or carelesness, or unnaturalness, or folly; to which it is manifestly ascribed in the following Verses.

Either 1. covering them with sand that they may be warmed and hatched by that together with the heat of the Sun. But this is judged a fabulous report; for the Arabians, amongst whom this Bird is most frequent and best known, affirm that such Eggs do quickly perish and putrefie. Or rather 2. exposing them to the heat of the Sun, which being excessive in those hot Countreys, doth and must needs quickly destroy or spoil them. And the Ostrich is said to warm them, because her leaving them there is not onely the occasion, but in some sort the cause of the Suns warming them.

15. And forgetteth that the foot may crush them, or that the wild beast may break them.

To wit, of wild Beasts (as it follows) passing that way.

16. She is hardned against her young ones , as though they were not hers : her labour is in vain without fear ;

Or, He, i. e. God, hardens her. Or, she hardneth her self.

i. e. Against her eggs, which he calls her young ones emphatically, to aggravate her fault and folly in destroying those Eggs, which, if not neglected, would have been young ones.

As if they were laid by some other Bird. Or, that they may not be to her, i. e. that they may be utterly lost and destroyed; or as if it were her design to destroy their very being.

To wit, in laying her Eggs is wholly lost.

This may be added as a further aggravation. She doth this, not because she is compelled to forsake her Eggs for fear of men or beasts, but meerly out of an unnatural carelesness. Or, she is without fear, or, for want of fear, to wit, of a provident fear and care about them.

17. Because God hath deprived her of wisdom, neither hath he imparted to her understanding .

Because God hath not implanted in her that natural instinct and providence and affection which he hath put into other Birds and Beasts towards their young. And yet no man presumes to reproach me for making this difference in my Creatures. And as little reason hast thou to blame me for afflicting thee, when others not so bad as thou for the present go unpunished: because I have no less authority over thee, than over them, and can dispose of all my Creatures according to my good pleasure. The great folly of this Bird is noted by Arabick Writers who best know her, and that not onely for this property of forsaking her own Eggs, but also for other things, as that she eats any thing which is offered to her, as Iron, Stones, Glass, hot Coals, &c. Whereas other Birds and Beasts have so much sagacity as to reject improper and unwholsome things; that being pursued by the hunter she thinks her self safe and unseen by hiding her head in the Sand: For which and other such qualities it is a Proverb among the Arabians, More foolish than an Ostrich.

18. What time she lifteth up her self on high , she scorneth the horse and his rider .

To flee from her pursuer: to which end she lifteth up her head and body, and [illegible: 1+ letters]ads her wings.

She despiseth them in regard of her greater swiftness; for though she cannot flie because of her great bulk, being said to be as big as a new-born Camel, yet by the aid of her wings she runs so fast that Horsemen cannot reach her, as both Greek and other Authors have noted.

19. Hast thou given the horse strength ? hast thou clothed his neck with thunder ?

Either strength of body: or rather courage and generous confidence, for which the Horse is highly commended.

i. e. With snorting and neighing; in the making of which found the Neck, in regard of the Throat which is within it, and a part of it, is a principal instrument: which noise may not unfitly be called thunder, because of the great vehemency, and rage wherewith it is attended, and the great terrour which it causeth, especially in War and Battel, of which see Ier. 8. 16. and compare 1 Sam. 12. 17, 18. where this very term of thundring is ascribed to a far lower and less terrible noise. Nor is this, as some alledge, an improper speech, because this thunder or neighing is rather clothed with the Neck, as being within it, than the Neck with it; for nothing is more common in Scripture than to say that men are clothed with righteousness, humility, and other graces, which yet are in strictness of speech within the man, and not he within them. But because this word, in this form, is not elsewhere extant, some render it otherwise, with a mane, with a thick, and full, and deep mane, as the phrase of being clothed with it implies. For this is mentioned by all Writers of Horses, as a notable mark of a generous Horse; which therefore they conceive would not be omitted here where so many several properties and excellencies are described. And the Verb Raam, whence this comes, in the Syriack Language signifies not onely to thunder, but also to be high or lofty: which fitly agrees to the mane which is in the highest part of the Horse.

20 Canst thou make him afraid as a grashopper ? the glory of his nostrils is terrible.

Which is easily affrighted and chased away by the least noise of a Man. Or, as divers others render the place, didst thou make him to move like a Grashopper, skipping and leaping as he goes! So he describes the posture of a gallant and generous Horse, who carvets and praunseth, and as it were danceth as he walks.

That snoring, or sound, and smoke which cometh out of his Nostrils, especially when he is inraged and ingaged in battle, which is another note of a generous Horse, and strikes a terrour into his adversary. Or the vehemency, or majesty, or magnificence of his snorting, or snoring as this word is rendered, Ier▪ 8. 16.

Marginal references: Heb. [illegible: 1 word].

21. He paweth in the valley , and rejoyceth in his strength : he goeth on to meet the armed men ▪

Or, He diggeth. Through courage and wantonness he cannot stand still, but is beating, as it were, digging up the Earth with his feet.

This he adds partly because the ground being there more plain and smooth, he hath the better conveniency for his praunsing and pawing with his feet, which in hilly and uneven ground he cannot so well do, and partly because Battels use to be pitched in Valleys or low grounds, especially Horse Battels

Making semblance of great pride and complacency in it.

With great readiness and undaunted courage.

Marginal references: Or, his see[illegible: 1+ letters] dig.; Heb. the Armour.

22. He mocketh at fear , and is not affrighted: neither turneth he back from the Sword .

i. e. At all Instruments and objects of terrour, as Fear is oft used, as Prov. 1. 26. & 10. 24. He despiseth what other Creatures dread.

Or, because of the Sword: or, for fear of the Sword, as this phrase is used, Isa. 21. 15. & 31. 8. Ier. 14. 16. & 50. 16.

23. The quiver rattleth against him, the glittering spear and the Shield .

Or, although the Quiver, &c. So this comes in as an aggravation of his courage notwithstanding the just causes of fear which are mentioned in this Verse. And the Quiver is here put for the Arrows contained in it by a Metonymy very usual in this very case and in all sorts of Authors, which being shot against the Horse and Rider make this rateling noise here mentioned.

Or rather the Launce or Iavelin. For that this was not a defensive, but an offensive weapon seems plain both from this place where it is mentioned among such, and as an object of fear, which the Shield is not, and from Ios. 8. 18. 1 Sam. 17. 45. where it is so used.

Marginal references: Heb. in flame of the Spear.

24. He swalloweth the ground with fierceness and rage: neither believeth he that it is the sound of the trumpet

The sense is either 1. He is so earnest and eager upon the Battle that he rusheth into it with all speed, and runs over the ground so swiftly, that he might seem to have swallowed it up. Or, 2. He is so full of warlike Rage and Fury, that he not only champs his Bridle, but is ready to tear and devour the very ground on which he goes. And the Phrase here used is not unusual, both in Arabick, and in other Authors: of which see my Latin Synopsis on this place.

i. e. He is so pleased with the approach of the Battle, and the sound of the Trumpet calling to it, that he could scarce believe his Ears for gladness. Compare Gen. 45. 26. Luk. 24. 41. Or thus, He cannot stand still, or firm (as this Verb and the derivative from it is used, not only in the Chaldee and Syriack Dialect, but also in the Hebrew, as Deut. 28. 59. 1 Sam. 2. 35.) when the Trumpet soundeth: His Rider can hardly keep him still, but he strives and longs to run to the fight.

25. He saith among the trumpets, ha, ha ; and he smelleth the battle afar off , the thunder of the captains , and the shouting.

An Expression of Joy and Alacrity, declared by his proud neighings, whereby he doth in some sort answer the sound of the Trumpets, in way of scorn and challenge.

i. e. He perceiveth, as this Phrase is used, Iudg. 16. 19.

At some distance, either of place, or rather of time, as the word is most frequently used. He perceives by the motion of the Souldiers, and the clattering of the Arms, that the Battle is at hand, which is very welcome to him.

By which he understands either the military Orations which the Captains make and deliver with a loud voice to animate their Souldiers to the Battle: Or rather, the loud and joyful clamour begun by the Commanders, and followed by the Souldiers when they are ready to join Battle, that thereby they may both daunt their Enemies, and encourage themselves.

26. Doth the hawk flie by thy wisdom , and stretch her wings toward the south ?

In so singular a manner, so strongly and steddily, so constantly and unweariedly, so swiftly and speedily, so regularly and cunningly to catch her Prey.

Didst thou inspire her with that Wisdom?

Which she doth either 1. when she casts her old Feathers, and gets new ones, which is furthered either by the warmth of Southerly Winds, or by the heat of the Sun, which was Southward from Iob's Country, as it is from ours. Whence it is, that as wild Hawks do this by natural Instinct, so the places which Men build for the keeping of tame Hawks are built towards the South. Or in, or towards Winter, when wild Hawks flie into warmer Countries, as being impatient of cold weather.

27. Doth the Eagle mount up at thy command, and make her nest on high ?

Flies directly upward till she be out of thy sight; which no other Bird can do.

In the highest and inaccessible Rocks. Compare Ier. 49. 16. Obad. v. 4.

Marginal references: Heb. [illegible: 1 word] [illegible: 1 word] [illegible: 1 word].

28. She dwelleth and abideth upon the rock, upon the crag of the rock , and the strong place.

Which she doth, partly for the security of her self and her Young: and partly that she may thence have the better prospect to discern her Prey, as it followeth.

29. From thence she seeketh the prey, and her eyes behold afar off .

Her sight is exceeding sharp and strong, so that she is able to look upon the Sun with open Eyes, and to behold the smallest prey upon the Earth or Sea, when she is mounted out of our sight; which when she spies, she flies to it, with incredible swiftness, even like an Arrow out of a Bow.

30. Her young ones also suck up blood : and where the slain are , there is she .

Either of the Prey which the Eagle hath brought to her Nest for them, or of that which themselves catch and kill, being betimes inured to this work by their Dams. Naturalists note of the Eagle, that she drinketh no Water but Blood only.

Where any dead Carkasses are, yea, or are like to be: For natural Historians write of the Eagles, that they can presage or smell a Battle some days before it be fought. And although some Writers affirm, that there are divers Eagles who do not feed upon Carkasses, and will not meddle with them, yet that many Eagles do feed on them is sufficiently evident by the Testimony both of Scripture as Mat. 24. 28. and of divers both ancient and later Writers.

To wit, in an instant, flying thither with admirable celerity.

Marginal references: Mat. 24. 28. [illegible: 1 word]. 17. 37.

Job 39:1-4   1  Dost thou know the bearing time of the wild goats of the rock?

Observest thou the circles of the hinds?   2  Dost thou number the months which they fulfil,

And knowest thou the time of their bringing forth?   3  They bow down, they let their young break through,

They cast off their pains.   4  Their young ones gain strength, grow up in the desert,

They run away and do not return.

The strophe treats of the female chamois or steinbocks, ibices (perhaps including the certainly different kinds of chamois), and stags. The former are called יעלים, from יעל, Arab. w‛l (a secondary formation from עלה, Arab. ‛lâ), to mount, therefore: rock-climbers. חולל is inf. Pil.: τὸ ὠδίνειν, comp. the Pul. Job 15:7. שׁמר, to observe, exactly as Ecc 11:4; 1Sa 1:12; Zec 11:11. In Job 39:2 the question as to the expiration of the time of bearing is connected with that as to the time of bringing forth. תּספּור, plene, as Job 14:16; לדתּנה (littâna, like עת = עדתּ) with an euphonic termination for לדתּן, as Gen 42:36; Gen 21:29, and also out of pause, Rth 1:19, Ges. §91, 1, rem. 2. Instead of תּפלּחנה Olsh. wishes to read תּפלּטנה, but this (synon. תמלטנה) would be: they let slip away; the former (synon. תבקענה): they cause to divide, i.e., to break through (comp. Arab. felâh, the act of breaking through, freedom, prosperity). On כּרע, to kneel down as the posture of one in travail, vid., 1Sa 4:19. “They cast off their pains” is not meant of an easy working off of the after-pains (Hirz., Schlottm.), but חבל signifies in this phrase, as Schultens has first shown, meton. directly the foetus, as Arab. ḥabal, plur. ahbâl, and ὠδίν, even of a child already grown up, as being the fruit of earlier travail, e.g., in Aeschylus, Agam. 1417f.; even the like phrase, ῥίψαι ὠδῖνα = edere foetum, is found in Euripides, Ion 45. Thus born with ease, the young animals grow rapidly to maturity (חלם, pinguescere, pubescere, whence חלום, a dream as the result of puberty, vid., Psychol. S. 282), grow in the desert (בּבּר, Targ. = בּחוּץ, vid., i. 329, note), seek the plain, and return not again למו, sibi h. e. sui juris esse volentes (Schult.), although it might also signify ad eas, for the Hebr. is rather confused on the question of the distinction of gender, and even in חבליהם and בניהם the masc. is used ἐπικοίνως. We, however, prefer to interpret according to Job 6:19; Job 24:16. Moreover, Bochart is right: Non hic agitur de otiosa et mere speculativa cognitione, sed de ea cognitione, quae Deo propria est, qua res omnes non solum novit, sed et dirigit atque gubernat.

Job 39:5-8   5  Who hath sent forth the wild ass free,

And who loosed the bands of the wild ass,   6  Whose house I made the steppe,

And his dwelling the salt country?   7  He scorneth the tumult of the city,

He heareth not the noise of the driver.   8  That which is seen upon the mountains is his pasture,

And he sniffeth after every green thing.

On the wild ass (not: ass of the forest).It is a dirty yellow with a white belly, single-hoofed and long-eared; its hornless head somewhat resembles that of the gazelle, but is much later; its hair has the dryness of the hair of the deer, and the animal forms the transition from the stag and deer genus to the ass. It is entirely distinct from the mahâ or baqar el-wahsh, wild ox, whose large soft eyes are so much celebrated by the poets of the steppe. This latter is horned and double-hoofed, and forms the transition from the stag to the ox distinct from the ri'm, ראם, therefore perhaps an antelope of the kind of the Indian nîlgau, blue ox, Portax tragocamelus. I have not seen both kinds of animals alive, but I have often seen their skins in the tents of the Ruwalâ. Both kinds are remarkable for their very swift running, and it is especially affirmed of the ferâ that no rider can overtake it. The poets compare a troop of horsemen that come rushing up and vanish in the next moment to a herd of ferâ. In spite of its difficulty and hazardousness, the nomads are passionately given to hunting the wild ass, and the proverb cited by the Kâmûs: kull es - sêd bigôf el - ferâ (every hunt sticks in the belly of the ferâ, i.e., compared with that, every other hunt is nothing), is perfectly correct. When the approach of a herd, which always consists of several hundred, is betrayed by a cloud of dust which can be seen many miles off, so many horsemen rise up from all sides in pursuit that the animals are usually scattered, and single ones are obtained by the dogs and by shots. The herd is called gemı̂le, and its leader is called ‛anûd (ענוּד),as with gazelles. - Wetzst.

In Hebr. and Arab. it is פּרא (ferâ or himâr el - wahsh , i.e., asinus ferus), and Aram. ערוד; the former describes it as a swift-footed animal, the latter as an animal shy and difficult to be tamed by the hand of man; “Kulan” is its Eastern Asiatic name. lxx correctly translates: τίς δὲ ἐστιν ὁ ἀφεὶς ὄνον ἄγριον ἐλεύθερον. חפשׁי is the acc. of the predicate (comp. Gen 33:2; Jer 22:30). Parallel with ערבה (according to its etymon perhaps, land of darkness, terra incognita) is מלחה, salt adj. or (sc. ארץ) a salt land, i.e., therefore unfruitful and incapable of culture, as the country round the Salt Sea of Palestine: that the wild ass even gladly licks the salt or natron of the desert, is a matter of fact, and may be assumed, since all wild animals that feed on plants have a partiality, which is based on chemical laws of life, for licking slat. On Job 39:8 Ew. observes, to render יתוּר as “what is espied” is insecure, “on account of the structure of the verse” (Gramm. S. 419, Anm.). This reason is unintelligible; and in general there is no reason for rendering יתוּר, after lxx, Targ., Jer., and others, as an Aramaic 3 fut. with a mere half vowel instead of Kametz before the tone = יתוּר, which is without example in Old Testament Hebrew (for יהוּא, Ecc 11:3, follows the analogy of יהי), but יתוּר signifies either abundantia (after the form יבוּל, לחוּם Job 20:23, from יתר, Arab. wtr, p. 571) or investigabile, what can be searched out (after the form יקוּם, that which exists, from תּוּר, Arab. târ, to go about, look about), which, with Olsh. §212, and most expositors, we prefer.

Job 39:9-12   9  Will the oryx be willing to serve thee,

Or will he lodge in thy crib? 10  Canst thou bind the oryx in the furrow with a leading rein,

Or will he harrow the valleys, following thee? 11  Wilt thou trust him because his strength is great,

And leave thy labour to him? 12  Wilt thou confide in him to bring in thy sowing,

And to garner thy threshing-floor?

In correct texts רים has a Dagesh in the Resh, and היאבה the accent on the penult., as Pro 11:21 ינּקה רע, and Jer 39:12 רּע מאוּמה. The tone retreats according to the rule, Ges. §29, 3, b; and the Dagesh is, as also when the second word begins with an aspirate,The National Grammarians call this exception to the rule, that the muta is aspirated when the preceding word ends with a vowel, אתי מרחיק (veniens e longinquo), i.e., the case, where the word ending with a vowel is Milel, whether from the very first, or, when the second word is a monosyllable or has the tone on the penult., on account of the accent that has retreated (in order to avoid two syllables with the chief tone coming together); in this case the aspirate, and in general the initial letter (if capable of being doubled) of the second monosyllabic or penultima-accented word, takes a Dagesh; but this is not without exceptions that are quite as regular. Regularly, the second word is not dageshed if it begins with ו, כ, ל, ב, or if the first word is only a bare verb, e.g., עשׂה לו, or one that has only ו before it, e.g., ועשׂה פסח; the tone of the first word in both these examples retreats, but without the initial of the second being doubled. This is supplementary, and as far as necessary a correction, to what is said in Psalter, i 392, Anm.Dag. forte conj., which the Resh also takes, Pro 15:1 מענה־רּך, exceptionally, according to the rule, Ges. §20, 2, a. In all, it occurs thirteen times with Dagesh in the Old Testament - a relic of a mode of pointing which treated the ר (as in Arabic) as a letter capable of being doubled (Ges. §22, 5), that has been supplanted in the system of pointing that gained the ascendency. רים (Psa 22:22, רם) is contracted from ראם (Psa 92:11, plene, ראים), which (= ראם) is of like form with Arab. ri'm (Olsh. §154, a).Since ra'ima, inf. ri'mân, has the signification assuescere, ראם, רים, רימנא (Targ.) might describe the oryx as a gregarious animal, although all ruminants have this characteristic in common. On ראם, Arab. r'm , vid., Seetzen’s Reise, iii. S. 393, Z 9ff., and also iv. 496.

Such, in the present day in Syria, is the name of the gazelle that is for the most part white with a yellow back and yellow stripes in the face (Antilope leucoryx, in distinction from Arab. ‛ifrı̂, the earth-coloured, dirty-yellow Antilope oryx, and Arab. ḥmrı̂ , himrı̂ , the deer-coloured Antilope dorcas); the Talmud also (b. Zebachim, 113b; Bathra, 74 b) combines ראימא and אורזילא or ארזילא, a gazelle (Arab. gazâl), and therefore reckons the reêm to the antelope genus, of which the gazelle is a species; and the question, Job 39:10, shows that an animal whose home is on the mountains is intended, viz., as Bochart, and recently Schlottm. (making use of an academic treatise of Lichtenstein on the antelopes, 1824), has proved, the oryx, which the lxx also probably understands when it translates μονοκέρως; for the Talmud. קרש, mutilated from it, is, according to Chullin, 59 b, a one-horned animal, and is more closely defined as טביא דבי עילאי, “gazelle (antelope) of Be (Beth)-Illâi” (comp. Lewysohn, Zoologie des Talmuds, 1858, §146).

The oryx also appears on Egyptian monuments sometimes with two horns, but mostly with one variously curled; and both AristotleVid., Sundevall, Die Thierarten des Aristoteles (Stockholm, 1863), S. 64f. and Pliny describe it as a one-horned cloven-hoof; so that one must assent to the supposition of a one-horned variety of the oryx (although as a fact of natural history it is not yet fully established), as then there is really tolerably certain information of a one-horned antelope both in Upper Asia and in Central Africa;J. W. von Müller (Das Einhorn von gesch. u. naturwiss. Standpunkte betrachtet, 1852) believed that in a horn in the Ambras Collection at Vienna he recognised a horn of the Monocerôs (comp. Fechner’s Centralblatt, 1854, Nr. 2), but he is hardly right. J. W. von Müller, Francis Galton (Narrative of an Explorer in Tropical South Africa, 1853), and other travellers have heard the natives speak ingenuously of the unicorn, but without seeing it themselves. On the other hand, Huc and Gabet (Journeyings through Mongolia and Thibet, Germ. edition) tell us “a horn of this animal was sent to Calcutta: it was 50 centimetres long and 11 in circumference; from the root it ran up to a gradually diminishing point. It was almost straight, black, etc ... . Hodgson, when English consul at Nepal, had the good fortune to obtain an unicorn ... . It is a kind of antelope, which in southern Thibet, that borders on Nepal, is called Tschiru. Hodgson sent a skin and horn to Calcutta; they came from an unicorn that died in the menagerie of the Raja of Nepal.” The detailed description follows, and the suggestion is advanced that this Antilope Hodgsonii, as it has been proposed to call the Tschiru, is the one-horned oryx of the ancients. The existence of one-horned wild sheep (not antelopes), attested by R. von Schlagintweit (Zoologischer Garten, 1st year, S. 72), the horn of which consists of two parts gradually growing together, covered by one horn-sheath, does not depreciate the credibility of the account given by Huc-Gabet (to which Prof. Will has called my attention as being the most weighty testimony of the time). Another less minute account is to be found in the Arabic description of a journey (communicated to me by Prof. Fleischer) by Selîm Bisteris (Beirût, 1856): In the menagerie of the Viceroy of Egypt he saw an animal of the colour of a gazelle, but the size and form of an ass, with a long straight horn between the ears, and what, as he says, seldom go together) with hoofs, viz. - and as the expression Arab. ḥâfr, horse’s hoof (not Arab. chuff, a camel’s hoof), also implies - proper, uncloven hoofs, - therefore an one-horned and at the same time one-hoofed antelope. and therefore there is sufficient ground for seeking the origin of the tradition of the unicorn in an antelope, - perhaps rather like a horse, - with one horn rising out of the two points of ossification over the frontal suture. The proper buffalo, Bos bubalus, cannot therefore be intended, because it only came from India to Western Asia and Europe at a more recent date, but also not any other species whatever of this animal (Carey and others), which is recognisable by its flat horns, which are also near together, and its forbidding, staring, bloodshot eyes; for it is tameable, and is (even in modern Syria) used as a domestic animal. On the other hand there are antelopes which somewhat resemble the horse, others the ox (whence βούβαλος, βούβαλις, is a name for the antelope), others the deer and the ass. Schultens erroneously considers ראם to be the buffalo, being misled by a passage in the Divan of the Hudheilites, which gives the ri'm the by-name of dhu chadam, i.e., oxen-like white-footed, which exactly applies to the A. oryx or even the A. leucoryx; for the former has white feet and legs striped lengthwise with black stripes, the latter white feet and legs. Just as little reason is there for imagining the rhinoceros after Aquila (and in part Jerome); ῥινοκέρως is nothing but an unhappy rendering of the μονοκέρως of the lxx. The question in Job 39:10, as already observed, requires an animal that inhabits the mountains.

On אבה, to be willing = to take up, receive. The “furrow (תּלם, sulcus, not porca, the ridge between the furrows) of his cord” is that which it is said to break up by means of the ploughshare, being led by a rein. אחריך refers to the leader, who goes just before or at the side; according to Hahn, to one who has finished the sowing which precedes the harrowing; but it is more natural to imagine the leader of the animal that is harrowing, which is certainly not left to itself. On כּי, Job 39:12, as an exponent of the obj. vid., Ew. §336, b. The Chethib here uses the Kal שׁוּב transitively: to bring back (viz., that which was sown as harvested), which is possible (vid., Job 42:10). גרנך, Job 39:12, is either a locative (into thy threshing-floor) or acc. of the obj. per synecd. continentis pro contento, as Rth 3:2; Mat 3:12. The position of the question from beginning to end assumes an animal outwardly resembling the yoke-ox, as the ראם is also elsewhere put with the ox, Deu 33:17; Psa 29:6; Isa 34:7. But the conclusion at length arrived at by Hahn and in Gesenius’ Handwörterbuch, that on this very account the buffalo is to be understood, is a mistake: A. oryx and leucoryx are both (for this very reason not distinguished by the ancients) entirely similar to the ox; they are not only ruminants, like the ox, with a like form of the hoof, but also of a plump form, which makes them appear to be of the ox tribe.

Job 39:13-18 13  The wing of the ostrich vibrates joyously,

Is she pious, wing and feather? 14  No, she leaveth her eggs in the earth

And broodeth over the dust, 15  Forgetting that a foot may crush them,

And the beast of the field trample them. 16  She treateth her young ones harshly as if they were not hers;

In vain is her labour, without her being distressed. 17  For Eloah hath caused her to forget wisdom,

And gave her no share of understanding. 18  At the time when she lasheth herself aloft,

She derideth the horse and horseman.

As the wild ass and the ox-like oryx cannot be tamed by man, and employed in his service like the domestic ass and ox, so the ostrich, although resembling the stork in its stilt-like structure, the colour of its feathers, and its gregarious life, still has characteristics totally different from those one ought to look for according to this similarity. רננים, a wail, prop. a tremulous shrill sound (vid., Job 39:23), is a name of the female ostrich, whose peculiar cry is called in Arabic zimâr (זמר). נעלס (from עלס, which in comparison with עלץ, עלז, rarely occurs) signifies to make gestures of joy. אם, Job 39:13, is an interrogative an; חסידה, pia, is a play upon the name of the stork, which is so called: pia instar ciconiae (on this figure of speech, comp. Mehren’s Rehtorik der Araber, S. 178). כּי, Job 39:14, establishes the negation implied in the question, as e.g., Isa 28:28. The idea is not that the hen-ostrich abandons the hatching of her eggs to the earth (עזב ל as Psa 16:10), and makes them “glow over the dust” (Schlottm.), for the maturing energy compensating for the sitting of the parent bird proceeds from the sun’s heat, which ought to have been mentioned; one would also expect a Hiph. instead of the Piel תּחמּם, which can be understood only of hatching by her own warmth. The hen-ostrich also really broods herself, although from time to time she abandons the חמּם to the sun.It does, however, as it appears, actually occur, that the female leaves the work of hatching to the sun by day, and to the male at night, and does not sit at all herself; vid., Funke’s Naturgeschichte, revised by Taschenberg (1864), S. 243f.

That which contrasts with the φιλοστοργία of the stork, which is here made prominent, is that she lays here eggs in a hole in the ground, and partly, when the nest is full, above round about it, while חסידה ברושׁים ביתה, Psa 104:17. רננים is construed in accordance with its meaning as fem. sing., Ew. §318, a. Since she acts thus, what next happens consistently therewith is told by the not aoristic but only consecutive ותּשׁכּח: and so she forgets that the foot may crush (זוּר, to press together, break by pressure, as הזּוּרה, Isa 59:5 = הזּוּרה, that which is crushed, comp. לנה = לנה, Zec 5:4) them (i.e., the eggs, Ges. §146, 3), and the beast of the field may trample them down, crush them (דּוּשׁ as Arab. dâs, to crush by treading upon anything, to tread out).

Job 39:19-25 19  Dost thou give to the horse strength?

Dost thou clothe his neck with flowing hair? 20  Dost thou cause him to leap about like the grasshopper?

The noise of his snorting is a terror! 21  He paweth the ground in the plain, and boundeth about with strength.

He advanceth to meet an armed host. 22  He laugheth at fear, and is not affrighted,

And turneth not back from the sword. 23  The quiver rattleth over him,

The glittering lance and spear. 24  With fierceness and rage he swalloweth the ground,

And standeth not still, when the trumpet soundeth. 25  He saith at every blast of the trumpet: Ha, ha!

And from afar he scenteth the battle,

The thundering of the captains and the shout of war.

After the ostrich, which, as the Arabs say, is composed of the nature of a bird and a camel, comes the horse in its heroic beauty, and impetuous lust for the battle, which is likewise an evidence of the wisdom of the Ruler of the world - a wisdom which demands the admiration of men. This passage of the book of Job, says K. Löffler, in his Gesch. des Pferdes (1863), is the oldest and most beautiful description of the horse. It may be compared to the praise of the horse in Hammer-Purgstall’s Duftkörner; it deserves more than this latter the praise of majestic simplicity, which is the first feature of classic superiority. Jer. falsely renders Job 39:19: aut circumdabis collo ejus hinnitum; as Schlottm., who also wishes to be so understood: Dost thou adorn his neck with the voice of thunder? The neck (צוּאר, prop. the twister, as Persic gerdân , gerdan , from צוּר, Arab. ṣâr, to twist by pressure, to turn, bend, as Pers. from gerdı̂den, to turn one’s self, twist) has nothing to do with the voice of neighing. But רעמה also does not signify dignity (Ew. 113, d), but the mane, and is not from רעם = ראם = רם, the hair of the mane, as being above, like λοφιά, but from רעם, tremere, the mane as quivering, trembling (Eliz. Smith: the shaking mane); like φόβη, according to Kuhn, cogn. with σόβη, the tail, from φοβεῖν (σοβεῖν), to wag, shake, scare, comp. άΐ́σσεσθαι of the mane, Il. vi. 510.

Job 39:26-30 26  Doth the hawk fly by thy wisdom,

Doth it spread its wings towards the south? 27  Or is it at thy command that the eagle soareth aloft,

And buildeth its nest on high? 28  It inhabiteth the rock, and buildeth its nest

Upon the crag of the rock and fastness. 29  From thence it seeketh food,

Its eyes see afar off. 30  And its young ones suck up blood;

And where the slain are, there is it.

The ancient versions are unanimous in testifying that, according to the signification of the root, נץ signifies the hawk (which is significant in the Hieroglyphics): the soaring one, the high-flyer (comp. Arab. nṣṣ, to rise, struggle forwards, and Arab. nḍḍ, to raise the wings for flight). The Hiph. יאבר- (jussive form in the question, as Job 13:27) might signify: to get feathers, plumescere (Targ., Jer.), but that gives a tame question; wherefore Gregory understands the plumescit of the Vulgate of moulting, for which purpose the hawk seeks the sunny side. But האביר alone, by itself, cannot signify “to get new feathers;” moreover, an annual moulting is common to all birds, and prominence is alone given to the new feathering of the eagle in the Old Testament, Psa 103:5; Mic 1:16, comp. Isa 40:31 (lxx πτεροφυήσουσιν ὡς ἀετοί).Less unfavourable to this rendering is the following, that אברה signifies the long feathers, and אבר the wing that is composed of them (perhaps, since the Talm. אברים signifies wings and limbs, artus, from אבר = הבר, Arab. hbr, to divide, furnish with joints), although נוצה (from נצה, to fly) is the more general designation of the feathers of birds.

Thus, then, the point of the question will lie in לתימן: the hawk is a bird of passage, God has endowed it with instinct to migrate to the south as the winter season is approaching.

In Job 39:27 the circle of the native figures taken from animal life, which began with the lion, the king of quadrupeds, is now closed with the eagle, the king of birds. It is called נשׁר, from נשׁר, Arab. nsr , vellere; as also vultur (by virtue of a strong power of assimilation = vultor) is derived from vellere, - a common name of the golden eagle, the lamb’s vulture, the carrion-kite (Cathartes percnopterus), and indeed also of other kinds of kites and falcons. There is nothing to prevent our understanding the eagle κατ ̓ εξοχήν, viz., the golden eagle (Aquila chrysaëtos), in the present passage; for even to this, corpses, though not already putrified, are a welcome prey. In Job 39:27 we must translate either: and is it at thy command that ... ? or: is it so that (as in הכי) at thy command ... ? The former is more natural here. מצוּדה, Job 39:28, signifies prop. specula (from צוּד, to spy); then, however, as Arab. masâd (referred by the original lexicons to masada), the high hill, and the mountain-top. The rare form יעלעוּ, for which Ges., Olsh., and others wish to read לעלעוּ or ילעלעוּ (from לוּע, deglutire), is to be derived from עלע, a likewise secondary form out of עלעל (from עוּל, to suck, to give suck), (Note: The Arab. ‛alla does not belong here: it gains the signification iterum bibere from the primary signification of “coming over or upon anything,” which branches out in various ways: to take a second, third, etc., drink after the first. More on this point on Isa 3:4.

Supplementary note: The quadriliteral עלעל to be supposed, is not to be derived from עלל, and is not, as it recently has been, to be compared with Arab. ‛ll , “to drink.” This Arab. verb does not signify “to drink” at all, but, among many other branchings out of its general primary signification, related to עלה, Arab. ‛lâ, also signifies: “to take a second, third, etc., drink after the first,” concerning which more details will be given elsewhere. עלעל goes back to עוּל, lactare, with the middle vowel, whence also עויל, Job 16:11; Job 12:18; Job 21:11 (which see). The Hauran dialect has ‛âlûl (plur. ‛awâlı̂l), like the Hebr. עולל (עולל = מעולל), in the signification juvenis, and especially juvencus (comp. infra, p. 689, note 3, “but they are heifers,” Arab. illâ ‛awâlı̂l).) like שׁרשׁ out of שׁרשׁר (from שׁרר, Arab. srr , to make firm), Ew. §118, a, comp. Fürst, Handwörterbuch, sub עוּל, since instances are wanting in favour of עלע being formed out of לעלע (Jesurun, p. 164). Schult. not inappropriately compares even גלג = גלגל in גּלגּתא, Γολγοθᾶ = גּלגּלתּא. The concluding words, Job 39:30, are perhaps echoed in Mat 24:28. High up on a mountain-peak the eagle builds its eyrie, and God has given it a remarkably sharp vision, to see far into the depth below the food that is there for it and its young ones. Not merely from the valley in the neighbourhood of its eyrie, but often from distant plains, which lie deep below on the other side of the mountain range, it seizes its prey, and rises with it even to the clouds, and bears it home to its nest.Vid., the beautiful description in Charles Boner’s Forest Creatures, 1861.

Thus does God work exceeding strangely, but wonderously, apparently by contradictions, but in truth most harmoniously and wisely, in the natural world.

Man's Ignorance of the Animal Creation; Description of the Wild Goat, Hind, Wild Ass, and Unicorn. (b. c. 1520.)

1 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 ones, they cast out their sorrows. 4 Their young ones are in good liking, they grow up with corn; they go forth, and return not unto them. 5 Who hath sent out the wild ass free? or who hath loosed the bands of the wild ass? 6 Whose house I have made the wilderness, and the barren land his dwellings. 7 He scorneth the multitude of the city, neither regardeth he the crying of the driver. 8 The range of the mountains is his pasture, and he searcheth after every green thing. 9 Will the unicorn be willing to serve thee, or abide by thy crib? 10 Canst thou bind the unicorn 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 thy labour to him? 12 Wilt thou believe him, that he will bring home thy seed, and gather it into thy barn?

God here shows Job what little acquaintance he had with the untamed creatures that run wild in the deserts and live at large, but are the care of the divine Providence. As,

I. The wild goats and the hinds. That which is taken notice of concerning them is the bringing forth and bringing up of their young ones. For, as every individual is fed, so every species of animals is preserved, by the care of the divine Providence, and, for aught we know, none extinct to this day. Observe here, 1. Concerning the production of their young, (1.) Man is wholly ignorant of the time when they bring forth, v. 1, 2. Shall we pretend to tell what is in the womb of Providence, or what a day will bring forth, who know not the time of the pregnancy of a hind or a wild goat? (2.) Though they bring forth their young with a great deal of difficulty and sorrow, and have no assistance from man, yet, by the good providence of God, their young ones are safely produced, and their sorrows cast out and forgotten, v. 3. Some think it is intimated (Ps. xxix. 9) that God by thunder helps the hinds in calving. Let it be observed, for the comfort of women in labour, that God helps even the hinds to bring forth their young; and shall he not much more succour them, and save them in child-bearing, who are his children in covenant with him? 2. Concerning the growth of their young, (v. 4): They are in good liking; though they are brought forth in sorrow, after their dams have suckled them awhile they shift for themselves in the corn-fields, and are no more burdensome to them, which is an example to children, when they have grown up, not to be always hanging upon their parents and craving from them, but to put forth themselves to get their own livelihood and to requite their parents.

II. The wild ass, a creature we frequently read of in Scripture, some say untameable. Man is said to be born as the wild ass's colt, so hard to be governed. Two things Providence has allotted to the wild ass:—1. An unbounded liberty (v. 5): Who but God has sent out the wild ass free? He has given a disposition to it, and therefore a dispensation for it. The tame ass is bound to labour; the wild ass has no bonds on him. Note, Freedom from service, and liberty to range at pleasure, are but the privileges of a wild ass. It is a pity that any of the children of men should covet such a liberty, or value themselves on it. It is better to labour and be good for something than ramble and be good for nothing. But if, among men, Providence sets some at liberty and suffers them to live at ease, while others are doomed to servitude, we must not marvel at the matter: it is so among the brute-creatures. 2. An unenclosed lodging (v. 6): Whose house I have made the wilderness, where he has room enough to traverse his ways, and snuff up the wind at his pleasure, as the wild ass is said to do (Jer. ii. 24), as if he had to live upon the air, for it is the barren land that is his dwelling. Observe, The tame ass, that labours, and is serviceable to man, has his master's crib to go to both for shelter and food, and lives in a fruitful land: but the wild ass, that will have his liberty, must have it in a barren land. He that will not labour, let him not eat. He that will shall eat the labour of his hands, and have also to give to him that needs. Jacob, the shepherd, has good red pottage to spare, when Esau, a sportsman, is ready to perish for hunger. A further description of the liberty and livelihood of the wild ass we have, v. 7, 8. (1.) He has no owner, nor will he be in subjection: He scorns the multitude of the city. If they attempt to take him, and in order to that surround him with a multitude, he will soon get clear of them, and the crying of the driver is nothing to him. He laughs at those that live in the tumult and bustle of cities (so bishop Patrick), thinking himself happier in the wilderness; and opinion is the rate of things. (2.) Having no owner, he has no feeder, nor is any provision made for him, but he must shift for himself: The range of the mountains is his pasture, and a bare pasture it is; there he searches after here and there a green thing, as he can find it and pick it up; whereas the labouring asses have green things in plenty, without their searching for them. From the untameableness of this and other creatures we may infer how unfit we are to give law to Providence, who cannot give law even to a wild ass's colt.

III. The unicorn—rhem, a strong creature (Num. xxiii. 22), a stately proud creature, Ps. cxii. 10. He is able to serve, but not willing; and God here challenges Job to force him to it. Job expected every thing should be just as he would have it. "Since thou dost pretend" (says God) "to bring every thing beneath thy sway, begin with the unicorn, and try thy skill upon him. Now that thy oxen and asses are all gone, try whether he will be willing to serve thee in their stead (v. 9) and whether he will be content with the provision thou usedst to make for them: Will he abide by thy crib? No;" 1. "Thou canst not tame him, nor bind him with his band, nor set him to draw the harrow," v. 10. There are creatures that are willing to serve man, that seem to take a pleasure in serving him, and to have a love for their masters; but there are such as will never be brought to serve him, which is the effect of sin. Man has revolted from his subjection to his Maker, and is therefore justly punished with the revolt of the inferior creatures from their subjection to him; and yet, as an instance of God's good-will to man, there are some that are still serviceable to him. Though the wild bull (which some think is meant here by the unicorn) will not serve him, nor submit to his hand in the furrows, yet there are tame bullocks that will, and other animals that are not feræ naturæ—of a wild nature, in whom man may have a property, for whom he provides, and to whose service he is entitled. Lord, what is man, that thou art thus mindful of him? 2. "Thou darest not trust him; though his strength is great, yet thou wilt not leave thy labour to him, as thou dost with thy asses or oxen, which a little child may lead or drive, leaving to them all the pains. Thou wilt never depend upon the wild bull, as likely to come to thy harvest-work, much less to go through it, to bring home thy seed and gather it into thy barn," v. 11, 12. And, because he will not serve about the corn, he is not so well fed as the tame ox, whose mouth was not to be muzzled in treading out the corn; but therefore he will not draw the plough, because he that made him never designed him for it. A disposition to labour is as much the gift of God as an ability for it; and it is a great mercy if, where God gives strength for service, he gives a heart; it is what we should pray for, and reason ourselves into, which the brutes cannot do; for, as among beasts, so among men, those may justly be reckoned wild and abandoned to the deserts who have no mind either to take pains or to do good.

Description of the Peacock and Ostrich. (b. c. 1520.)

13 Gavest thou the goodly wings unto the peacocks? or wings and feathers unto the ostrich? 14 Which leaveth her eggs in the earth, and warmeth them in dust, 15 And forgetteth that the foot may crush them, or that the wild beast may break them. 16 She is hardened against her young ones, as though they were not hers: her labour is in vain 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.

The ostrich is a wonderful animal, a very large bird, but it never flies. Some have called it a winged camel. God here gives an account of it, and observes,

I. Something that it has in common with the peacock, that is, beautiful feathers (v. 13): Gavest thou proud wings unto the peacocks? so some read it. Fine feathers make proud birds. The peacock is an emblem of pride; when he struts, and shows his fine feathers, Solomon in all his glory is not arrayed like him. The ostrich too has goodly feathers, and yet is a foolish bird; for wisdom does not always go along with beauty and gaiety. Other birds do not envy the peacock or the ostrich their gaudy colours, nor complain for want of them; why then should we repine if we see others wear better clothes than we can afford to wear? God gives his gifts variously, and those gifts are not always the most valuable that make the finest show. Who would not rather have the voice of the nightingale than the tail of the peacock, the eye of the eagle and her soaring wing, and the natural affection of the stork, than the beautiful wings and feathers of the ostrich, which can never rise above the earth, and is without natural affection?

II. Something that is peculiar to itself,

1. Carelessness of her young. It is well that this is peculiar to herself, for it is a very bad character. Observe, (1.) How she exposes her eggs; she does not retire to some private place, and make a nest there, as the sparrows and swallows do (Ps. lxxxiv. 3), and there lay eggs and hatch her young. Most birds, as well as other animals, are strangely guided by natural instinct in providing for the preservation of their young. But the ostrich is a monster in nature, for she drops her eggs any where upon the ground and takes no care to hatch them. If the sand and the sun will hatch them, well and good; they may for her, for she will not warm them, v. 14. Nay, she takes no care to preserve them: The foot of the traveller may crush them, and the wild beast break them, v. 15. But how then are any young ones brought forth, and whence is it that the species has not perished? We must suppose either that God, by a special providence, with the heat of the sun and the sand (so some think), hatches the neglected eggs of the ostrich, as he feeds the neglected young ones of the raven, or that, though the ostrich often leaves her eggs thus, yet not always. (2.) The reason why she does thus expose her eggs. It is, [1.] For want of natural affection (v. 16): She is hardened against her young ones. To be hardened against any is unamiable, even in a brute-creature, much more in a rational creature that boasts of humanity, especially to be hardened against young ones, that cannot help themselves and therefore merit compassion, that give no provocation and therefore merit no hard usage: but it is worst of all for her to be hardened against her own young ones, as though they were not hers, whereas really they are parts of herself. Her labour in laying her eggs is in vain and all lost, because she has not that fear and tender concern for them that she should have. Those are most likely to lose their labour that are least in fear of losing it. [2.] For want of wisdom (v. 17): God has deprived her of wisdom. This intimates that the art which other animals have to nourish and preserve their young is God's gift, and that, where it exists not, God denies it, that by the folly of the ostrich, as well as by the wisdom of the ant, we may learn to be wise; for, First, As careless as the ostrich is of her eggs so careless many people are of their own souls; they make no provision for them, no proper nest in which they may be safe, leave them exposed to Satan and his temptations, which is a certain evidence that they are deprived of wisdom. Secondly, So careless are many parents of their children; some of their bodies, not providing for their own house, their own bowels, and therefore worse than infidels, and as bad as the ostrich; but many more are thus careless of their children's souls, take no care of their education, send them abroad into the world untaught, unarmed, forgetting what corruption there is in the world through lust, which will certainly crush them. Thus their labour in rearing them comes to be in vain; it were better for their country that they had never been born. Thirdly, So careless are too many ministers of their people, with whom they should reside; but they leave them in the earth, and forget how busy Satan is to sow tares while men sleep. They overlook those whom they should oversee, and are really hardened against them.

2. Care of herself. She leaves her eggs in danger, but, if she herself be in danger, no creature shall strive more to get out of the way of it than the ostrich, v. 18. Then she lifts up her wings on high (the strength of which then stands her in better stead than their beauty), and, with the help of them, runs so fast that a horseman at full speed cannot overtake her: She scorneth the horse and his rider. Those that are least under the law of natural affection often contend most for the law of self-preservation. Let not the rider be proud of the swiftness of his horse when such an animal as the ostrich shall out-run him.

Description of the War-Horse. (b. c. 1520.)

19 Hast thou given the horse strength? hast thou clothed his neck with thunder? 20 Canst thou make him afraid as a grasshopper? the glory of his nostrils is terrible. 21 He paweth in the valley, and rejoiceth in his strength: he goeth on to meet the armed men. 22 He mocketh at fear, and is not affrighted; neither turneth he back from the sword. 23 The quiver rattleth against him, the glittering spear and the shield. 24 He swalloweth the ground with fierceness and rage: neither believeth he that it is the sound of the trumpet. 25 He saith among the trumpets, Ha, ha; and he smelleth the battle afar off, the thunder of the captains, and the shouting.

God, having displayed his own power in those creatures that are strong and despise man, here shows it in one scarcely inferior to any of them in strength, and yet very tame and serviceable to man, and that is the horse, especially the horse that is prepared against the day of battle and is serviceable to man at a time when he has more than ordinary occasion for his service. It seems, there was, in Job's country, a noble generous breed of horses. Job, it is probable, kept many, though they are not mentioned among his possessions, cattle for use in husbandry being there valued more than those for state and war, which alone horses were then reserved for, and they were not then put to such mean services as with us they are commonly put to. Concerning the great horse, that stately beast, it is here observed, 1. That he has a great deal of strength and spirit (v. 19): Hast thou given the horse strength? He uses his strength for man, but has it not from him: God gave it to him, who is the fountain of all the powers of nature, and yet he himself delights not in the strength of the horse (Ps. cxlvii. 10), but has told us that a horse is a vain thing for safety, Ps. xxxiii. 17. For running, drawing, and carrying, no creature that is ordinarily in the service of man has so much strength as the horse has, nor is of so stout and bold a spirit, not to be made afraid as a grasshopper, but daring and forward to face danger. It is a mercy to man to have such a servant, which, though very strong, submits to the management of a child, and rebels not against his owner. But let not the strength of a horse be trusted to, Hos. xiv. 3; Ps. xx. 7; Isa. xxxi. 1, 3. 2. That his neck and nostrils look great. His neck is clothed with thunder, with a large and flowing mane, which makes him formidable and is an ornament to him. The glory of his nostrils, when he snorts, flings up his head, and throws foam about, is terrible, v. 20. Perhaps there might be at that time, and in that country, a more stately breed of horses than any we have now. 3. That he is very fierce and furious in battle, and charges with an undaunted courage, though he pushes on in imminent danger of his life. (1.) See how frolicsome he is (v. 21): He paws in the valley, scarcely knowing what ground he stands upon. He is proud of his strength, and he has much more reason to be so as using his strength in the service of man, and under his direction, than the wild ass that uses it in contempt of man, and in a revolt from him v. 8. (2.) See how forward he is to engage: He goes on to meet the armed men, animated, not by the goodness of the cause, or the prospect of honour, but only by the sound of the trumpet, the thunder of the captains, and the shouting of the soldiers, which are as bellows to the fire of his innate courage, and make him spring forward with the utmost eagerness, as if he cried, Ha! ha! v. 25. How wonderfully are the brute-creatures fitted for and inclined to the services for which they were designed. (3.) See how fearless he is, how he despises death and the most threatening dangers, (v. 22): He mocks at fear, and makes a jest of it; slash at him with a sword, rattle the quiver, brandish the spear, to drive him back, he will not retreat, but press forward, and even inspires courage into his rider. (4.) See how furious he is. He curvets and prances, and runs on with so much violence and heat against the enemy that one would think he even swallowed the ground with fierceness and rage, v. 24. High mettle is the praise of a horse rather than of a man, whom fierceness and rage ill become. This description of the war-horse will help to explain that character which is given of presumptuous sinners, Jer. viii. 6. Every one turneth to his course, as the horse rusheth into the battle. When a man's heart is fully set in him to do evil, and he is carried on in a wicked way by the violence of inordinate appetites and passions, there is no making him afraid of the wrath of God and the fatal consequences of sin. Let his own conscience set before him the curse of the law, the death that is the wages of sin, and all the terrors of the Almighty in battle-array; he mocks at this fear, and is not affrighted, neither turns he back from the flaming sword of the cherubim. Let ministers lift up their voice like a trumpet, to proclaim the wrath of God against him, he believes not that it is the sound of the trumpet, nor that God and his heralds are in earnest with him; but what will be in the end hereof it is easy to foresee.

Description of the Hawk and Eagle. (b. c. 1520.)

26 Doth the hawk fly by thy wisdom, and stretch her wings toward the south? 27 Doth the eagle mount up at thy command, and make her nest on high? 28 She dwelleth and abideth on the rock, upon the crag of the rock, and the strong place. 29 From thence she seeketh the prey, and her eyes behold afar off. 30 Her young ones also suck up blood: and where the slain are, there is she.

The birds of the air are proofs of the wonderful power and providences of God, as well as the beasts of the earth; God here refers particularly to two stately ones:—1. The hawk, a noble bird of great strength and sagacity, and yet a bird of prey, v. 26. This bird is here taken notice of for her flight, which is swift and strong, and especially for the course she steers towards the south, whither she follows the sun in winter, out of the colder countries in the north, especially when she is to cast her plumes and renew them. This is her wisdom, and it was God that gave her this wisdom, not man. Perhaps the extraordinary wisdom of the hawk's flight after her prey was not used then for men's diversion and recreation, as it has been since. It is a pity that the reclaimed hawk, which is taught to fly at man's command and to make him sport, should at any time be abused to the dishonour of God, since it is from God that she receives that wisdom which makes her flight entertaining and serviceable. 2. The eagle, a royal bird, and yet a bird of prey too, the permission of which, nay, the giving of power to which, may help to reconcile us to the prosperity of oppressors among men. The eagle is here taken notice of, (1.) For the height of her flight. No bird soars so high, has so strong a wind, nor can so well bear the light of the sun. Now, "Doth she mount at thy command? v. 27. Is it by any strength she has from thee? or dost thou direct her flight? No; it is by the natural power and instinct God has given her that she will soar out of thy sight, much more out of thy call." (2.) For the strength of her nest. Her house is her castle and strong-hold; she makes it on high and on the rock, the crag of the rock (v. 28), which sets her and her young out of the reach of danger. Secure sinners think themselves as safe in their sins as the eagle in her nest on high, in the clefts of the rock; but I will bring thee down thence, saith the Lord, Jer. xlix. 16. The higher bad men sit above the resentments of the earth the nearer they ought to think themselves to the vengeance of Heaven. (3.) For her quicksightedness (v. 29): Her eyes behold afar off, not upwards, but downwards, in quest of her prey. In this she is an emblem of a hypocrite, who, while, in the profession of religion, he seems to rise towards heaven, keeps his eye and heart upon the prey on earth, some temporal advantage, some widow's house or other that he hopes to devour, under pretence of devotion. (4.) For the way she has of maintaining herself and her young. She preys upon living animals, which she seizes and tears to pieces, and thence carries to her young ones, which are taught to suck up blood; they do it by instinct, and know no better; but for men that have reason and conscience to thirst after blood is what could scarcely be believed if there had not been in every age wretched instances of it. She also preys upon the dead bodies of men: Where the slain are, there is she, These birds of prey (in another sense than the horse, v. 25) smell the battle afar off. Therefore, when a great slaughter is to be made among the enemies of the church, the fowls are invited to the supper of the great God, to eat the flesh of kings and captains, Rev. xix. 17, 18. Our Saviour refers to this instinct of the eagle, Matt. xxiv. 28. Wheresoever the carcase is, there will the eagles be gathered together. Every creature will make towards that which is its proper food; for he that provides the creatures their food has implanted in them that inclination. These and many such instances of natural power and sagacity in the inferior creatures, which we cannot account for, oblige us to confess our own weakness and ignorance and to give glory to God as the fountain of all being, power, wisdom, and perfection.

CHAP. XXXIX. Verſe 1. Knoweſt thou the time when the wild Goats of the Rock bring forth?]

THe Hiſtory of the living Creatures is of ſingular uſe we ſee to ſet forth the Goodneſs, Power, Wiſdom, and other of Gods Attributes clearly ſhining in them. And therefore they have very well deſerved of all ſorts who have put forth ſuch Hiſtories and diſcourſes; as Ariſtotle, Elian, Pliny, G[illegible: 1 letter]ſner, Aldobrandinus, &c. of whom I may ſay, as once E[illegible: 1 letter]tus Sylvius (afterwards Pope Pius 2) did of Learning in general, That Popular men ſhould eſteem them as ſilver, Noblemen as Gold, Princes as Pearles; and not ſo ſlenderly reward them,Joh. Manl. loc. com. 572. as Pope Sixtus did Theodorus Gaza (who tranſlated, and dedicated unto him, Ariſtotle, De Natura Animalium) paying him only for the rich Binding and Boſſing forty Crowns: but bountifully encourage them, as Great Alexander did his Maſter Ariſtotle for that ſame Work; he gave him ſaith the Hiſtory, eight hundred Talents, which is foure hundred and foure ſcore thouſand Crownes. The pleaſure of reading ſuch Authors, is not ſo great as the profit; for thereby we may attain to the knowledg of God and of our ſelves; of his Will, and our Duties. Hence we are ſent to School to the unreaſonable Creatures, even the moſt contemptible, as the Piſmire, Prov. 6.6. And Baſil writing to one, that was proud of his knowledge, propoundeth unto him diverſe queſtions concerning this ſame Piſmire, as namely, how many feet he hath? whether he hath entrailes, as kidneyes, liver, heart, veines, nerves, as other living Creatures, &c? Semblably, God here to humble Job, and to convince him of his meanneſs, asketh him, whether he knoweth the wild Goats and Hinds, with the time of their bringing forth young, the means and the manner, &c? And whether theſe things were done by his ordination and vigilancy? Many admirable things are written of theſe wild Goats; as what cold places they live in, what inacceſſible Rocks,Pendemem ſumma capream de rupe videbis caſuram ſp[illegible: 1 letter]res, decipit illa canes Mart. how ſtrangely there they hang, what huge leaps they fetch; but eſpecially about their bringing forth, how by a natural ſagacity they help themſelves, both before and after, by biting upon certain herbs that are helpful to them in that caſe. Theſe things, and many more ſuch may be read of in Pliny's Natural Hiſtory; of which Book Eraſmus well ſaith, That it is a ſtore-houſe, or rather a world full of things moſt worthy to be read. So are not the Jewiſh Expoſitors, who tell us many ſtrange things here concerning theſe Creatures, quae commentitia eſſe put[illegible: 1 letter], which I take to be meer Fictions, ſaith Learned Mercer. And I, to be trifles, and old wives Fables, ſaith Lavater. To the belief whereof they are juſtly given up by God for their rejecting of Chriſt the Light of the world. We grant that the whole world is full of miracles, though for the commonneſs of them they are little noted, or noticed. But ſhould theſemen think to help the truth by their lyes? Should they ſpeak wickedly for God, and talk deceitfully for him?

Or canſt thou mark when the Hinds do calve?] Which they do not, without a great deal of pain, (as the Hebrew word importeth) no creature the like, unleſſe it be woman. God ſometimes frighteth them by his thunder, and ſo furthereth their delivery, Pſal. 29.9. whileſt they ſtruggle with many griefs, and to give life to their calves, are in danger of loſing their own. Now, if God help the Hinds in this caſe, will he be wanting to his labouring daughters? Let them ſend for Lady Faith to be their Midwife; and all ſhall go well. She hath delivered Graves of their dead, Heb. 11.35 How much more then will ſhe, them of their quick births, yea, though they carry death in their bowels?

Verſe 2. Canſt thou number the months they fulfil?] Eight months Ariſtotle ſaith (the Elephant is ſaid to go above eight yeares) but who can tell the inſtant when? or why not ſooner, or later? Doeſt thou exactly obſerve and count thoſe months as I do, to a moment? Sola hic Dei providentia elucet.

Verſe 3. They bow themſelves] ſc. By an inſtinct of nature, whether it be the pain they ſuffer which compelleth them to it, or the fear of hurting their calves, which obligeth them to it.

They bring forth their young] Diffindunt: fiſſa ſc: et aperta tandem matrice; they bring forth with a great deal of difficulty, to the cruſhing of their young, which yet eſcape and grow up. Let good women learn, ſperare à Deo faciles & ſalices partus, to truſt in God for a happy delivery, though it go hard with them, ſometimes to the making of ſome Medae[illegible: 1 letter] ſay,Eurip. Millies in acie mori mallem quam ſemel parere. I had rather, a thouſand times, die in battel, than bring forth one childe.

They caſt out their ſorrows] Tormina, their throws, and therewith their young, by the benefit of the herbs Arus and Seſelis, Ariſt. hiſt. anim. lib. 9 cap. 5. Plin. lib. 8. c. 31. which they feed upon, for the better bringing away of their gleanings as they call the involucrum, that wrappeth the young in the matrix. The vulgar hath it, They utter roarings; they caſt forth cryes which are as terrible as the roarings of Lioneſſes. Stato partus tempore valve deh[illegible: 1 letter] ſount que à partu mox occluduntur: id quòd fieri vidensus, inquit Galenus, fed quomodo fiat, admirari tantum poſſumus. Avicenna vocat opus ſupra mirabilia omnia, mirabile. Sed miracula aſſiduitate vileſcunt. If a man ſhould be born but once in an hundred years, all the world would ſtand amazed at ſuch a Miracle.

Verſe 4. Their young ones are in good liking] Or, They recover; revaleſcunt as Iſai. [non-Latin text not transcribed] Sept. 58.16. notwithſtanding the hardneſſe of their birth, by reaſon of their dams exceeding dry temperature, Pſal. 42.1. As the Hinde brayeth after the Water-brooks, as being naturally hot, and dry when in pain eſpecially; and this the young are ſenſible of in their coming into the world, which yet they ſoon recover and grow ſlick and fat. Let God be truſted for the welfare of our children, though weak, and weariſh when new-born, and hard put to't in the birth.

They grow up with Corn.] Or, In the Field; after that they have been nouriſhed a while with their dams-milk, they forrage for themſelves, being calved about Autumne, as Ariſtotle noteth, that is in Seed-time: others ſay, about Harveſt, when corn is in the field, and Gods great[illegible: 1 letter]harn door open, as the proverb is. This is here brought as an Argument of the divine providence.

They go forth, and return not unto them] That is, To their dams; as finding food enough abroad. Thus other creatures, ſo ſoon as born almoſt, can ſhift for themſelves; only poor ſhift-leſſe man is long ere he can do any thing, or comes to any proof, to be able to provide for himſelf.

Verſe 5. Who hath ſent out the wild-Aſſe free?] [non-Latin text not transcribed] Phere, ſerum animal, (ſo Tremellius rendreth it) the wild Creature. And it is not unlikely that the Latine word Fera, Eò quòd onager feritate antecellit. Piſcat. comes from this Hebrew word for a wild-Aſſe; which is a moſt untameable, & untractable creature. Every kind of beaſts, and of birds, and of ſerpents, and of things in the ſea is tamed, & hath been tamed of mankind, Jam 3.7. We read of Auguſtus Caeſar that he had a tame Tiger, but who ever board of a wild-Aſſe tamed? Africa is ſaid to have whole heards of them: and it is reported, that when they ſee a man, they ſtand ſtock ſtill; and kick with their hinder feet, braying aloud. And when the Hunter comes ſo near them, that he could touch them almoſt, they ſnuff up the wind, kick up their heels, and run quite away: ſo nimble they are, that they can hardly be taken, much leſſe tamed? To the Colt of this wild Creature, is a natural man compared by Zophar, chap. 11.12. for his extreme rudeneſſe and unrulineſſe: The Prophet Jeremy hath the like of the Idolaters of his time, chap. 2.24. who were lawleſſe and lewd Loſels, obſtinate, and refractary; ſuch as multò faciliùs fregeris quàm flexeris; will ſooner break than bend: with theſe froward God will wreſtle, Pſal. 18.26. with theſe Antipodes God will walk contrary, Levit. 26.41. and be as croſſe as they are, for the hearts of them. His Law hath four teeth to taw and tame theſe maſterleſſe Monſters; viz. 1. Irritation, Rom. 7.7. 2. Induration, Iſai. 6.10. 3. Obſignation, Gen. 4.7. 4. Execration, Deut. 28.16, 17, &c. Obeyed he will be of them, either Actively or paſſively: and ſanctified he will be, either by them, or upon them, Levit. 10.3. Wild Aſſes are free from men: but ſo are not wild Iſmaelites from God. Who hath ever looſed the bands of the wild Aſſe? but God will hamper his rebels, and certainly ſubdue them; all his foes ſhall become his foot-ſtoole. Be inſtructed therefore, O Jeruſalem, Jer. 6.8. Be not as Horſe and Mule that have no underſtanding, &c. for many ſorrows ſhall be to ſuch wicked, Pſal. 32.9, 10. and it is too [illegible: 1 word] for them to kick againſt the pricks, Acts, 9.5. to puſh back upon the goad, as [illegible: 4 letters]med Heifers uſe to do, but to their further ſorrow, and ſufferance.

Verſe 6. Whoſe houſe I have made the wilderneſs] That of Arabia eſpecially near unto Job. where were whole droves of theſe wild Aſſes. There are a ſort of them alſo in Plara, one of the Ilands of the Egean ſea. Hermites and Anchorites ſeem to affect the ſame liberty: but where did God ever grant it them? Man is [non-Latin text not transcribed] ſaith Ariſtotle, Natures good-fellow, as One engliſheth him: and no ſooner had the Philippians received the Goſpel, but they were in fellowſhip to a day, Phil. 1.5. The Communion of Saints is as well a point of Chriſtian practiſe, [illegible: 1 letter]an Article of Chriſtian belief: and they have much to anſwer for, who ſty up themſelves, and forſake the aſſembling of our ſelves together, as the manner of ſome is, Heb. 10. theſe are in the ready way to utter Apoſtacy, Ibid. He is not like to walk long, who affecteth to walk alone. Two are better than one; and why, ſee Eccleſ. 4.9, 11, 12. with the Notes.

And the barren land his dwelling] Heb. The ſalt place, that is, barren as if it had been ſowed with ſalt, Judg. 9.45. Pſal. 107.33, 34. Salt is taken in Scripture to be both a cauſe and ſigne of barrenneſſe, Deut. 20.23. Zeph. 2.9. though amongſt us there are ſome kind of ſoyles, they ſay, that are manured with ſalt, and thereby made fruitful: but in thoſe hot and dry Countries it was otherwiſe. In theſe barren places, God provideth for the wild-Aſſe: and although he hath there but mean food, yet he is luſty and nimble, and ſaveth himſelf both from the Hunter, and from the ravage of other fierce and ſavage creatures, by his ſtrength and ſwiftneſſe. Xenophon telleth us, That Cyrus paſſing through the wilderneſſe of Arabia, with his Horſe-men, there were many of theſe wild-Aſſes: who, being ſtirred, ran ſo ſwiftly away, that ſome horſe-men following could not come neer them; then ſtanding ſtill:Cyropad. lib. 3. but when the horſe-men approached, they fell again a running as before, thus deluding them. Haec igitur beſtia non mediocre mirabilis Dei potentiae veſtigium eſt. ſaith Brentius. In this beaſt therefore there is much of Gods great power and providence to be ſeen. And from hence alſo we may gather, ſaith another Interpreter, that a little is enough to ſuſtain men in the wilderneſſe of this world: As the Children of Iſrael alſo were here ſuſtained, having nothing to eate but what God ſent them down from heaven from day to day, forty years together. Nature is content with a little, grace with leſſe.

Verſe 7. He ſcorneth the multitude of the City] Heb. He laugheth. Inſignis Metaphora. He would ſcorn to be ſet to work, as the tame Aſſe is. Aſinum oneramus & non curat, quia aſinus eſt, ſaith Bernard, We load the Aſſe, and he taketh it well aworth; becauſe he is an Aſſe. But the wild-Aſſe will not take ſo: he is not a beaſt born to bear burdens as the other. He is not tardum & pigrum animal; as the other, a dull and ſlow creature: for which cauſe alſo, ſaith Bellarmine; God would none of him, Exod. 13.13. & 34.20. Chriſt ſo far hateth dulneſſe, that he bad Judas the traytour, what he did, do quickly. The wild-Aſſe is very ſwift, and fed by Gods providence in the wilderneſſe; ſcorning the multitude, or the hurry-noiſe of the City.

Neither regardeth he the crying of the driver] Heb. Of the Exactour, who rateth and rageth againſt the tame Aſſe with words and blowes, to haſten him to his work, and to bring him this way, and that way. Oppreſſive Princes do the like to their poor ſubjects, (the King of France is called, Rex aſinorum) which ſomtimes maketh them turn wild,Joſeph. l. 18. c. 2. and ſhake off ſubjection; as the Jewes did that to the Romans, chuſing rather to ſuffer the moſt exquiſite torments, than to be enſlaved. But what a mad conceit was that of Martin Stembach, a Dutch Sectary, Anno 1566. who would needs correct the Lords Prayer, Stultam & inefficacem aſſerens orationem in qua interjectione ô uteremur: non ſecus enim hac exclamandi formulà divinam gratiam impediri,Lonicer. ex Theatro vitae. quam aſinarii, aſinorum impetum hoc adverbio?

Verſe 8. The range of the mountains is his paſture] There he keeps, probably, for fear of Lyons, and other fierce creatures: and there he finds food and forrage, ſuch as doth not only appeaſe his hunger, but excite his appetite; as if he were in ſome fat paſture.

And he ſearcheth out every green thing] Speeding better in his ſearch than thoſe Aſſes of Hetruria, which feeding upon green Hemlock, are thereby laid for dead for three dayes, till half hileded by the Countrey men, who take them for dead, they ſtart up, and with an horrible noiſe run away in that pickle.

Verſe 9.Naricornis. Will the Ʋnicorn be willing to ſerve thee?] The Rhinoceros, ſaith the Vulgar: but that's another kind of beaſt, ſo called from the growing of his horn from his noſe. This is the Monoceros or Ʋnicorn, which cannot be taken alive (interimi poteſt, capi non poteſt) as the Rhinoceros may. A very fierce and ſtrong creature it is, and now adayes very rare, but anciently more common: He hath one horn only (and not many, as R. Levi by a miſtake would infer from Deut. 33.17.) that groweth in the middle of his fore-head; and that he lifted up on high: whence alſo he hath his name in the Hebrew. He is deſcribed in Scripture, 1. By this high lifting up of his horn,Lib. 8. cap. 21. Pſal. 92.10. 2. By his ſtrength, Numb. 23.22. 3. From his untameable fierceneſſe, here. Pliny calleth him a Lic[illegible: 1 letter]rn. Vertomannus ſaith he ſaw two of them. Scaliger ſaith he had ſeen the horn of an Unicorn, a ſpecial Antidote againſt Poyſon.Keckerm. But ſome deny that there is any ſuch creature: becauſe if he had an horn ſo placed, and of ſuch a length as is affirmed, he could not graze: and beſides it appeareth not certainly,Ael. lib. that ever any man ſaw ſuch a creature. Aelian ſaith that there are a ſort of wild-Aſſes in India of the bigneſſe of an horſe, that have one horn in the middeſt of their foreheads in length a cubit and an half: and ſo ſharp, that therewith he pierceth through the hardeſt things. Some conceive that by the beaſt here mentioned is meant the wild-Bull, here oppoſſed to the tame Ox, and elſwhere joyned to Oxen, Deut. 33.17. Iſai. 34.6. Whatever it is, it will not be brought to do man ſervice; though fitted by ſtature and ſtrength to do much; but lives at liberty, and is provided for by God.

Or abide by the crib] Heb. Ly all night there as Oxen do, ready for ſervice next morning? I trow not.

Verſe 10. Canſt thou bind the Ʋnicorn, &c?] To keep him in order, and to hold him hard to his work, that he may lay the furrows even? Canſt thou tether or geere him like a horſe? Or will he be brought to drive or lead a Plow or Harrow? No ſuch matter.Auguſt. Before the Fall, all Creatures would gladly have ſerved man. Sed rebellis facta eſt, quia homo numini, creatura homini.

Verſe 11. Wilt thou truſt him becauſe his ſtrength is great?] Of the Unicorns ſtrength Balaam ſpeaketh, Numb. 23.22. the Hebrew word ſignifieth ſuch luſtineſs, courage, & proweſs, as whereby one endureth labor without wearineſs or fainting. Such ſtrength is required in plowmen, whoſe work is never at an end: and hard fallow muſt have a ſtrong team. But the Unicorn will never fadge, nor frame to ſuch an employment. Free God hath made him: and rather than part with his freedom, he will par[illegible: 1 letter]with his life. Let men learn to ſtand faſt in the liberty wherewith Chriſt hath made them free. (Gal. 5.1.) and not he again entangled (as Oxen tyed to the yoke) with the yoke of ſpiritual bondage, worſe than the Egyptian ſervicade.

Verſe 12. wilt thou believe him that he will bring home thy ſeed?] That is, the crop that comes of thy ſeed: as in the former verſe, thy labour that is the fruit of thy labour, as Pſal. 128.2. There is no truſting to this wild and fierce creature to do any ſuch thing. Vertoman ſaith, that he ſaw two Unicorns, and that they were not of ſo fierce a nature, but that they might be brought to ſomewhat. But then they were not true Unicorns, ſay we: ſuch as God here deſcribeth.

And gather it into thy barn?] No truſting to the Unicorns gentleneſſe for any ſuch matter, unleſſe we deſire to be deceived.

Verſe 13. Gaveſt thou the goodly wings unto the Peacock?] Alam exultandam, the wings and tail to the Peacock, wherein he ſo prideth himſelf and taketh ſuch pleaſure, being all in changeable colours, ſo are ſome great promiſers; (the Peacock here hath his name from his loud and ſhrill voice) as often changed as moved. A beautiful bird it is, and pre[illegible: 1 letter]iouſly clothed by God. They were wont to ſay here,Plin. l. 1[illegible: 1 letter]. c. 2[illegible: 1 letter]. That Peacocks, Hops, and Hereſie, came firſt into England in one and the ſame ſhip. They ſay, he moſt of all ſpreads his fair tail, when he is moſt beheld by men, and praiſed. His feathers are good for little elſe but only to pleaſe children. But that he pulleth down his fair plumes, and ſetteth up his harſh Note, when he looketh down upon his ill-favoured feet, is an old ſaid ſaw; let them believe it that liſt.

Or wings and feathers unto the Oſtrich?] And ſo by a Synecdoche, to all other fowles of the air: in the admirable variety of whoſe colours, tunes, and taſtes, 1 Cor. 15.39. much of Gods power, and wiſdom, yea, of his goodneſſe alſo may be ſeen: and therefore the loſſe of theſe creatures (good for food, for phyſick, and for delight, as the companions of our lives) is threatned as a judgement, Jer. 4.25. & 9.10. Some for the Oſtrich render the Stork, and ſome a Night-bird of an ill note: But the following deſcription agreeth beſt with the Buſtard or Oſtrich, which is between a beaſt and a fowle; having ſo thin feathers, and ſo heavie a body, that he cannot flye; but only lifteth up his wings, and runneth very ſwiftly. Elian ſaith that he is almoſt as big as a Camel, being therefore called Struthi[illegible: 1 letter]-camelus. Pliny ſaith that he is higher than an horſe-man on horſe-back, and can out-run him: but is ſo fooliſh, that being purſued, if he can hide his head onely in ſome hole, or thicker, and can ſee no body; he thinks himſelf ſafe, and that no body ſeeth him;Cum interim tot[illegible: 1 letter] corporis mo[illegible: 1 letter]e promineas. though his great bulk be all in ſight. Other effects of his folly, follow in the next words.

Verſe 14. Which leaveth her egges in the earth] Some ſay that ſhe layeth 80. eggs, and having a faculty of diſcerning which of them will prove Oſtriches, and which will come to nothing; ſhe leaveth ſome of them upon the ſand, and upon other ſome ſitteth, and hatcheth them. But this appeareth to be a fiction, becauſe another and a better reaſon of her leaving her eggs is here alleaged: and the power and providence of God giving them life by the heat of the Sun, evidenced, and evinced.

And warmeth them in the duſt] Julius Scaliger reporteth the like of a certain creſted bird of the bigneſſe of an hen, found in Catigan an Iland in the ſea Sur; which ſitteth not upon her eggs, but burieth them two foot deep in the ſand: whence they are hatch't by the Sun and hot ſands: and this, ſay ſome, in very hot Countries is not unuſual.

Verſe 15. And forgetteth that the foot may cruſh them, or, that the wild beaſt may break them] This brutiſh and blockiſh bird forgetteth, that is, ſhe never conſidereth what may befal her eggs, left ſo careleſly. Other fowle ſet their Neſts aloft and out of harms-way: not ſo this fooliſh and careleſſe creature, who hath neither affection to preſerve them, nor fear to loſe them.

Verſe 16. Shee is hardned againſt her young ones, as though they were not hers] Heb. Her ſons: So are thoſe peremptores potius quam parentes, as Bernard calleth them, rather Parricides than Parents, who look not to the precious ſouls of their poor children; who labour not to mend that by education, which they have marred by propagation. Theſe are worſe than thoſe daughters of Jeruſalem, who ſlain almoſt with grief and hunger, became cruel to their ſucklings, like the Oſtriches of the wilderneſſe, Lam. 4.3. What a cruel Mother was Medea? and the Mother of King Edward the Martyr, whom ſhe baſely murthered: And when his brother Egelrod; (who ſucceeded him in the Kingdome) being then but ten yeers old, mourned thereat;Mr. Clarke Martyrol. fol. 31. his mother was ſo enraged, that taking Wax candles, which were readieſt at hand, ſhe therewith ſcourged him ſo ſore, that he could never after endure Wax candles to be burnt before him? But this cruelty was nothing to that of ſoulmurder, whereof many parents by their negligence at leaſt, are deeply guilty: they bring forth children to that old Man-ſlayer,Struthionis aſtorgia declaratur e cauſis duabus, vacuitate metus & vacuitate intellectus. and ſo their labour (in bearing and breeding children) is in vain, and worſe, without fear, for they will not be better adviſed nor affected.

Verſe 17. Becauſe God hath deprived her of wiſdom.] That is of ſuch fore-caſt to provide for her young ones by a natural inſtinct, as other fowles and beaſts have. Gods mercy to men appeareth, 1. in giving us wiſdome beyond them, Job 35.11. 2. In giving us power over them, Pſal. 8. And 3. In learning us ſo much by them in thoſe many Scripture-compariſons, Prov. 7.23. and 26.2. and 27.8. Matth. 8.26 that's a ſweet place, Iſai. 31.5. As birds flying. (ſcil. to ſave their young) ſo wil the Lord defend Jeruſalem; defending alſo, he will deliver it; and paſſing over, he will preſerve it. The Fowles of the Aire are, and may be unto us examples and Monitours of many vertues to be embraced, and vices to be eſchued. In the Oſtrich, for inſtance, we may ſee that ſtrength and bigneſſe of body is not alwayes accompanyed with wiſdom and underſtanding: that it is God who either giveth or denyeth wiſdome to his Creatures; that natural affection is of him; that he gives not all things to one man, but diverſly diſtributeth his gifts: The Oſtrich hath wings, but not to flye with, &c.

[non-Latin text not transcribed]. [non-Latin text not transcribed].— Non omnia poſſumus omnes.

Verſe 18. What time ſhe lifteth up her ſelf on high, &c.] That is, when ſhe runneth away from the hunter (which ſhe doth with ſingular ſwiftneſs) ſhe lifteth up her ſelf on high, not from the earth, as other birds (for that ſhe cannot do) but on the earth, with wings ſtretcht out like ſailes, and her whole body bolt upright, ſcarce touching the earth at all with her feet, but quickning her own pace with ſharp ſpurs, which they ſay ſhe hath in the pinnion of each wing, ſo pricking her ſelf on, that ſhe may run the faſter; to teach us what we ſhould do in the race of Religion, and when purſued by Satan, how to haſten to Chriſt.

She ſcorneth the horſe and his rider] That is, ſhe eaſily out-runs them, being as ſwift as a bird that flyeth. They ſay, the Arabians are wont to try their horſes ſwiftneſs by trying to overtake them.

Verſe 19. Haſt thou given the horſe ſtrength?] Having mentioned the horſe, he comes next to ſhew his nature: and here we have a moſt elegant deſcription of a generous horſe, ſuch as Dubartas maketh Cain to manage, and as the Greeks call, [non-Latin text not transcribed], Fremebundum. Virg. Georg.—Quod ſiqua ſonum procul armadeàêre Stare loco neſcit, micat auribus, & tremit artus: Collectumque premens velvit ſub naribus ignem.

In this Creature therefore we have a clear inſtance of the wonderful Power and Wiſdome of God. If the hoaſe be ſo ſtrong and warlike, what is the Almighty, that man of war, Exod. 15.3. and Victor in Battle, as the Chaldee there calleth him? This is one way whereby we may conceive of God, ſcil. per viam eminemiae, for if there be ſuch and ſuch excellence in the Creature, what is there in the Creator, ſith all that is in us is but a ſpark of his flame, a drop of his Ocean? How then wilt thou, O Job, dare to contend with him, who art not able to ſtand before this Creature of his? Wonderful things are reported concerning Bucephalus, and the horſe of Julius Caeſar, of Nicom[illegible: 1 letter]des King of Bithynia, of the Sibarites War-horſes, Qui ad ſymphonia cantum ſaltatione quadam movebantur. Pauſan. The Perſians dedicated an horſe to the Sun, ſo did the Idolatrous Iſraelites, 2 Kings. 23.11. as the ſwifteſt Creature to the ſwifteſt God. Very ſerviceable he is for drawing and carrying, but eſpecially in battle, whereof only here, De equis militaribus & cataphractis; of War-horſes, the uſe whereof appeareth to be very ancient, even in Jobs dayes. The Iſraelites made little or no uſe of them in the Conqueſt of Canaan; [non-Latin text not transcribed]. Plut. in Numa but their enemies there did, and Pharaoh before them, Exod. 14. Let it be held that a horſe is a vaine thing for ſafety, neither ſhall he deliver any by his great ſtrength, Pſal. 33.17. The Jewes are ſharply reproved, and heavily threatned for truſting to the horſes of Egypt, Iſai. 31.1.

Haſt thou cloathed his neck with thunder?] That is, with neighing and ſnorting, anſwerable to his ſtrength, and which ſoundeth terribly from within his neck, till his very eyes ſparkle, as if he did both thunder and lighten. The Apoſtles, and other Miniſters of God are called Chriſts White horſes, Rev. 6.1, 2. upon which he rideth about the world conquering and to conquer: Horſes for their courage and conſtancy, and white for their purity of Doctrine, Diſcipline and Converſation: They thunder in their Doctrine, and lighten in their lives (as Nazianzen, ſaith Baſil, did) to the ſubduing of ſouls to the obedience of faith.

Verſe 20. Canſt thou make him afraid as a Graſhopper?] Which ſoon flincheth and flyeth with the leaſt noiſe. But the horſe is more like that formidable Army of Locuſts deſcribed, Joel 2. that bare down all before them, and ſhook all places where ever they came.

The glory of his noſtrils is terrible] Heb. Terrors: His ſnorting and ſneezing ſtrikes terror into people. The more wonderful is Gods goodneſſe in ſubduing to weak man ſo luſty a creature, to be ridden and ruled at his pleaſure. He trains him to the great ſaddle, and teacheth him to obey his hand and ſpur, to bound in the aire, to obſerve his meaſures, to ſhew that docility, dexterity and vigour which none but God hath given him, and be every way ſo ſerviceable and uſeful both in War and Peace. Joannes Bodin hath obſerved, That whereas Lions, Wolves,Theas. Nat. 405 and other ravenous creatures have a gall and choler, whereby they are eaſily ſtirred up to anger and revenge: not ſo horſes, aſſes, camels, elephants, and other creatures made for mans help; theſe have neither gall nor hornes, wherein appeareth ſumma Opificis ſapientia, the great wiſdome and goodneſſe of the Creator.

Verſe 21. He paweth in the valley] —Cavatque Tellurem, & ſolido graviter ſonat ungula cornu.Virg. Georg. l. 3 Such is the impatiency of his ſpirit, that he champs his bit, and ſtamps with his feet;Quadrupedante putrem ſonitu quatit ungula Campum. Virg. he pricks up his eares, and growes white with foame, and can hardly be held in till the enemy come, but would fain be in the battle; whither when he comes, he runs upon the Pikes, and undauntedly caſts himſelf and his rider among the enemies ſquadrons: Quod ſummè mirum eſt, ſaith Mercer. which is a wonderful thing indeed: and it is no leſs wonderfully ſet forth by a moſt lively and lightſome hypotypoſis, giving us to ſee, as it were, the horſes ruſhing into the battle, and to hear him ſnoaring, and ſnorting with diſdain and deſpight, bringing every where horror and diſorder.

Verſe 22. He mocketh at fear &c.] Heb. He laugheth, by an elegant Proſopopaeia, ſuch as this Book is full of. Non vanos horret ſtrepitus. He feareth no colours when once ingaged in fight, but counts that a ſport and play whereof others are afraid.

Neither turneth he back from the ſword] Or any other offenſive weapons, theſe cannot make him turn taile or recoil, he is never more furious, then when he ſees himſelfe covered with his blood. —Vires animoſque à vulnere ſumit: Being wounded, he biteth and kicketh, and fighteth no leſſe ſtoutly then the Rider himſelf doth.

Verſe 23 The Quiver rattleth againſt him] The Arrow: thoſe meſſengers of death come whisking and ſinging about his ears (ſo the bullets now in ſo much uſe) but he is unappaled thereat.

The glittering Spear] Heb. The flaming Spear, as Gen. 3.24. that is, bright and clear, ſhining like a flame of fire, which muſt needs be terrible: but not at all to the War-horſe.

And the Shield] Or rather Javelin, Launce, or the like he feareth not a wood of Pikemen ſet in array againſt him.

Verſe 24. He ſwalloweth the ground with fierceneſſe] He runs over it as faſt as if he did ſwallow it up at a draught.Terram pra cur. ſus celeritate, ebibere, & epotare videtur. Merc. In fremitu & commotione. An hyperbolical Metaphor.

With fierceneſs and rage] Or, With commotion or unquietneſs; there is an elegancy in the Original that cannot be engliſhed.

Neither believeth he that it is the ſound of the trumpet] He is ſo over-joyed, when that ſign is given to begin the battle. Others, he cannot ſtand ſtill when he hath once heard the ſound of the Trumpet.

Verſe 25. He ſaith among the Trumpets, Ha, ha] Or, Euge. A Note of rejoycing, which he ſeemeth to utter in his language: theſe are Poetical termes.

He ſmelleth out the battle afar off] He knowes that the onſet is about to be given. Pliny writeth, That horſes will perceive aforehand the very time of the fight if it be but

By the thunder of the Captaines, and the ſhouting] The Captains adhortation, and the Souldiers acclamations, &c. The Hebrew word ſignifieth the noiſe either of joy or ſorrow; both are commonly heard in battles. For every battle of the Warriour is with confuſed noiſe, and garments rolled in blood, Iſai. 9.5. The glory of all this that is ſaid of the horſe,Bodin. theat. Nat. p. 407. the Lord aſſumeth to himſelf; and yet the horſe is not ſo couragious, but that he is as much afraid of, and troubled at the ſight of the Stone Taraxippe (which therehence alſo hath its name) as the Elephant is at the ſight of an Hog, and a Lion of a Cock, wherewith they have a natural antipathy, as Naturaliſts tell us.

Verſe 26.Pennabi[illegible: 1 letter] Doth the Hawk flye by thy wiſdom?] Or, Doth the hawk plumeſcere get her feathers by thy wiſdome? The word cometh from a root which ſignifieth, ſtrong, becauſe the ſtrength of fowles is in their wings, their delight in high flying. Hath the Hawk her wings from thee? and doth ſhe recruit and uſe them, artificio & auſpicio tuo, by thy Art or Induſtry? Tame them indeed men may, and bring them to hand, as Falconers do, for pleaſure more then for profit; but neither can they give them their wings, nor repair them when broken.

And ſtretch her wings toward the South] Thereby to furniſh her ſelf with a ſecond plumage, whilſt ſhe flyeth into thoſe hotter Countries, where (as they ſay) her old feathers by the Sunnes heat fall off, and new tome in their room.

Verſe 27 Doth the Eagle mount up at thy command?] Mount plum up (which no bird elſe can do) to an infinite height, even out of ſight; not without an eye ſtill to her prey, which by this means ſhe ſpyes ſooner, and ſeizeth upon better. A fit embleme of an hypocrite, who ſeemes to ſoar aloft, but it is for ſome ſelf and ſiniſter reſpect;Mat. 24. he ſeeketh not the Lord Jeſus Chriſt (as the ſincere hearted do) but his own belly, Rom. 16.18.

And make her neſt on high] Not in plaines, but on lofty tops, and inacceſſible Rocks, for the ſafety of her young ones. Of the nature of Eagles, read Ariſtotle, De Nat, Animal. lib. 9. cap. 32. and Pliny, lib. 3. cap. 10. They tell us, That there is an enmity between the Eagle and the Serpent; and becauſe the Serpent ſeeketh to deſtroy the young Eagles, ſhe ſetteth her neſt on high to ſafeguard them. And if any man ſeek to rob her neſt, ſhe doubteth not to aſſault him with her wings and talons. Formidable ſhe is to all birds ſave only the Hawk, who is able to deal with her if he can but avoid the firſt ſhock.

Verſe 28. She dwelleth and abideth upon the rock &c.] Which are counterſcarfed and encompaſſed with Precipices; there ſhe makes her neſt in the clefts and crags. The reaſon whereof ſee in the Note on the Verſe afore-going.

Ʋpon the crags of the Rocks] She neſteth not upon the ſand as the Oſtrich doth, ver. 14. And in this ſo great difference of birds and other creatures, is ſeen the wonderful Power and Providence of God.

Verſe 29. From thence ſhe ſeeketh the prey] Beſides fowles, (whereof ſhee is called the Queene) ſhe preyeth upon Hares, Hinds, Foxes, and ſuch other beaſts, as ſhe can maſter. Hence that complaint of the Hare, In me omnis terraeque mariſque aviumque ruina eſt.Martial.

And her eyes behold afar off]. To a very great diſtance. She is ſharp-ſighted, and firſt ſees her prey, and then ſeeks it. She is alſo ſo ſtrong ſighted, that ſhe can look intently into the body of the Sun, without being dazeled; and by that property makes proof of her young ones whether they be right or not. Thoſe that cannot ſo behold the Sun, ſhe drives out of the neſt as ſpurious. Thoſe that can, ſhe owneth,Schol, in Deu[illegible: 1 letter] 32.11. and beareth abroad with her upon her wings (as Munſter noteth out of R. Solomon) that none can ſhoot them, but through her body: and thereto Moſes alludeth Exod. 19.4.

Verſe 30. Her young ones alſo ſuck up blood] Heb. They glut-glut blood; the Hebrew word, jegnalegna dam, ſeemes to be made from the ſound in ſucking. The young Eagles, not yet able to tear the prey brought unto them by the old one with their talons, ſuck the blood with their Beak, and ſo are fleſht in blood betimes.

And where the ſlain are, there is ſhe] This is true of all the kinds of Eagles, but eſpecially of the Vulturine Eagle, which is of a very ſharp ſmell as well as ſight, and by a ſtrange ſagacity of nature, reſorteth with her young to places of ſlaughter and bloodſhed; ſhe followeth Armies, and feedeth on carcaſſes, which they can ſmell, ſay ſome Naturaliſts, before the battle be fought. And can this be of any one but the Lord. Our Saviour alludeth to this Text, Mat, 24.28. Where the carcaſſe is, there will the Eagles be alſo. See my Note on that place.