1 Knowest thou the time when the wild goates of the rocke bring forth? or canst thou marke when the hindes doe calue?
2 Canst thou number the moneths that they fulfill? or knowest thou the time when they bring forth?
3 They bowe themselues, they bring forth their young ones, they cast out their sorrowes.
4 Their yong ones are in good liking, they grow vp with corne: they go forth, and returne not vnto them.
5 Who hath sent out the wild asse free? or who hath looosed the bands of the wild asse?
6 Whose house I haue made the wildernesse, and the barren lande his dwellings.
7 He scorneth the multitude of the citie, neither regardeth he the crying of the driuer.
8 The range of the mountaines is his pasture, and hee searcheth after euery greene thing.
9 Will the Unicorne be willing to serue thee? or abide by thy cribbe?
10 Canst thou binde the Unicorne with his band in the furrow? or will he harrow the valleyes after thee?
11 Wilt thou trust him because his strength is great? or wilt thou leaue thy labour to him?
12 Wilt thou beleeue him that hee will bring home thy seed? and gather it into thy barne?
13 Gauest thou the goodly wings vnto the peacocks, or wings and feathers vnto the Ostrich?
14 Which leaueth her egges in the earth, and warmeth them in dust,
15 And forgetteth that the foot may crush them, or that the wilde beast may breake them.
16 She is hardened against her yong ones, as though they were not hers: her labour is in vaine without feare.
17 Because God hath depriued her of wisedome, neither hath he imparted to her vnderstanding.
18 What time she lifteth vp her selfe on high, she scorneth the horse and his rider.
19 Hast thou giuen the horse strength? hast thou clothed his necke with thunder?
20 Canst thou make him afraid as a grashopper? the glory of his nostrils is terrible.
21 He paweth in the valley, and reioyceth in his strength: hee goeth on to meet the armed men.
22 He mocketh at feare, and is not affrighted: neither turneth he backe from the sword.
23 The quiuer ratleth against him, the glittering speare and the shield.
24 He swalloweth the ground with fiercenesse and rage: neither beleeueth he that it is the sound of the trumpet.
25 Hee saith among the trumpets, Ha, ha: and he smelleth the battaile afarre off, the thunder of the captaines, and the shouting.
26 Doeth the hawke flie by thy wisedome, and stretch her wings toward the South?
27 Doeth the Eagle mount vp at thy commaund? and make her nest on high?
28 She dwelleth and abideth on the rocke, vpon the cragge of the rocke, and the strong place.
29 From thence she seeketh the pray, and her eyes behold a farre off.
30 Her yong ones also suck vp blood: and where the slaine are, there is he.
God inquires of Job concerning several animals.
- 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.
Commentary by Matthew Henry, 1710.