Matthew Poole and continuators on Job 39:14

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.