Job 39:25

He saith among the trumpets, ha, ha,.... As pleased with the sound of them, rejoicing thereat, and which he signifies by neighing; and he smelleth the battle afar off; which respects not so much the

He saith among the trumpets, Ha, ha; and he smelleth the battle afar off, the thunder of the captains, and the shouting. Saith - poetically applied to his mettlesome neighing, whereby he shows his love of the battle.

Ha, ha; 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. He smelleth, i.e. he perceiveth, as this phrase is used, . Afar off; at some distance, either of place, or rather of time, as the word is most frequently used. He perceives by the motion of the soldiers, and the clattering of the arms, that the battle is at hand, which is very welcome to him. The thunder of the captains; by which he understands, either the military orations which the captains make and deliver with a loud voice to animate their soldiers to the battle; or rather the loud and joyful clamour begun by the commanders, and followed by the soldiers, when they are ready to join battle, that thereby they may both daunt their enemies, and encourage themselves.

Job 39:25 He saith among the trumpets, Ha, ha; and he smelleth the battle afar off, the thunder of the captains, and the shouting.Ver. 25. He saith among the trumpets, Ha, ha] Or, Euge. A note of rejoicing, which he seemeth to utter in his language: these are poetic terms. He smelleth out the battle afar off] He knows that the onset is about to be given. Pliny writeth, That horses will perceive beforehand the very time of the fight, if it be but By the thunder of the captains, and the shouting] The captains’ adhortations and the soldiers’ acclamations, &c. The Hebrew word signifieth the noise either of joy or sorrow: both are commonly heard in battles. "For every battle of the warrior is with confused noise, and garments rolled in blood," Isaiah 9:5. The glory of all this that is said of the horse the Lord assumeth to himself; and yet the horse is not so courageous, 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 a hog, and a lion of a cock, wherewith they have a natural antipathy, as naturalists tell us (Bodin. Theat. Nat. p. 407).

(25) He saith among the trumpets—Literally, when there are plenty of trumpets: 1 e., as often as the trumpet soundeth.

Verse 25. 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.

25. he saith among the trumpets] Rather, as oft as the trumpet soundeth he saith, Ha, ha! The “thunder” of the captains is the roar of command; and the “shouting” is the battle-cry of the soldiery. Has Job created this wonder of beauty and fierceness and endowed him with his extraordinary qualities, which make him mingle in the conflicts of men with a fury and lust of battle greater even than their own?

He saith among the trumpets, Ha, ha - That is,” When the trumpet sounds, his voice is heard “as if” he said, Aha - or said that he heard the sound calling him to the battle.” The reference is to the

25. He saith among the trumpets — At every blast, (literally, “trumpet,”) he saith, Aha! Smelleth the battle — A like instinct is attributed to the horse in Pliny — “He presages the battle.” Layard, in his “New Discoveries,” (p.