Job 39

Job 39:1-12

God proceeds to discourage farther concerning. 1. The wild goats and the hinds, ver. 1—4. 2. The wild off, ver. 5—8. 3. The unicorn, ver. 9—12. 4. The peacock, ver. 13. 5. The shrub, ver. 19—24. 6. The berth, ver. 19—24. 7. The heart and the angle, ver. 26—30. In all which, Job’s family knowledge must appear, and his duty of submission be evident.

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 knoweth 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

hath sent out the wild as free? or who hath loofed the bands of the wild as? 6. Whose house I have made the wilderness, and the barren land his dwellings. 7. He foreseth 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 ther, or abide by thy crib? 10. Canst thou bind the unicorn with his band in the furrow? or will he harrow the valley 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 feed, and gather it into thy barn.

How little Job’s knowledge, how infinite God’s, is here manifested; and whilst his tender mercies are seen over all his works, how unreasonable were Job’s complaints against God, as cruel or unkind?

1. Who knows but God alone, when the wild goats and hinds bring forth, how long they bear their burden, and the hour and moment in which they shall be delivered, v. 1, 2. Though their travailing pangs are sharp, they are fairly preserved. v. 3. Their young ones grow up by their fides, till able to seek their own luftenance: they quit their dam, forgetting and forgotten, v. 4.

2. Who gave the wild as liberty, and that untimable spirit that recite to obtain? v. 5. God gives each shall its diverse disposition, and provides for each a suitable provision and abode. The wilderness and barren mountain is his dwelling, v. 6. far from the haunts of men; preferring liberty, though with poverty, to slavery with plenty: he despises the multitude that would bear him, and no driver urges him on with his cries, v. 7. From place to place he roams in search of food, and finds pailure even in the wilderness. Note, (1.) Liberty is a precious jewel, and they who are free, with noble spirit should maintain their happy independence. (2.) Shall man, that cannot give law to the wild affix cult, presume to direct his maker?

3. God bids him try to bind the Rhum, which we translate unicorn; though it is much doubted whether there be any such creature as we represent him. It is therefore generally rendered the wild bull, which comes in apopistely after what had been spoken of the wild as. The tame ox might be brought to the yoke and the crib, but who could make the wild bull serviceable, v. 9. or break him to the plough or harrow, v. 10. Great as his strength is, he is too unruly to be trusted with any labour of the field, and can neither be led nor drove. If he cannot then govern one creature, much more unite was he to preside over the world, and direct the ways of Providence. Note, It is not ability, but the willingness to do good, that makes a man truly valuable.

4. Gaveft thou the goodly wings unto the peacocks? or wings and feathers unto the oftrich? 14. Which leaveth her eggs in the earth, and warmeth them in the dodi, 15. And forgeteth 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 lifeth up herself on high, she scorneth the horse and his rider.

Job 39:13-18

The oftrich next is produced, as among the wondrous works of God. Gaveft thou the goodly wings unto the peacocks, or rather oftriches, as others translate the word, to which alone the following verses relate, and whose wings are beautiful, whilst the peacock’s have nothing singular. She layeth her eggs on the earth; not that, as some have suggeshed, they are dropped at random, and left to be hatched by the sun, for she hath a nest where her eggs are deposited, yet on the earth, where every foot may crush them; and so forgetful is she, that when she lights of another nest, she will sit and hatch them, leaving her eggs, and hardened against her real young, as though they were not hers. Thus her labour is in vain for another, without fear of what will betide her own, v. 16. and this because God hath deprived her of wisdom; from whom alone the different instincts of beasts, as well as reason in man, is derived, v. 17. But though so stupid and unnatural in danger, her speed is most rapid, raising herself (though unable to fly) by the affluence of her wings, she leaves the foreseth horse and its rider far behind. Note, (1.) How many ungodly parsons, like the cruel oftrich, are infernible to the fruit of their womb, expose their children to want by their extravagances, or their fouls to ruin by their neglect. (2.) Thus careless mindless deters their flocks, indifferent what becomes of them, if deceivers seduce them, or they perish for lack of knowledge, they are hardened against the loss. One thing however they for-

get not; though they refuse to feed their young, they are abundantly careful to find themselves, and will have the fleece, tho’ the devil seize the fold.

19. Haft thou given the horse strength? haft 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 j’mocketh at fear, and is not affrighted; neither turneth he back from the sword. 23. The quiver rateth against him, the glittering spear and the shield. 24. He swalloweth the ground with fierceneils and rage: neither believeth he that it is the sound of the trumpet. 25. He faith among the trumpets, Ha, ha; and he smeleth the battle afar off, the thunder of the captains, and the shouting.

Job 39:19-25

How iminimably beautiful is this description! Behold the horse trained for war, strength is in every motion, his rising neck is chastened with thunder, from his wide nostrils insists the copious gleam; jowing in the valley, he frems to glory in his might; the armed hoff and glittering spear cannot intimidate him: eager to engage, he fleece can bear refrain, and prancing fierce, seems as if he would swallow the ground under his feet; his ears erect, catch with delight the martial trumpet’s sound; he snuffs the smell of battle from afar, and animated by the fount or signal for engagement, fearless of death or danger, on her ruffins, defies the sharp bread and rattling quiver, and tramples with refillless fury on whatever oppresses him in his course. Note, Such is the sinner, Jer. viii. 6. hurried on by immediate appetite, he ruffles to the purification of his lulls; no danger, loss, or suffering can refrain him; yea, the very terrors of God’s wrath be scorns, and ruin on the thick bodies of his buckles, till smitten through with the sword of death, he falls, and plunges into that gulph of perdition, he would not be warned to avoid.

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 fuck up blood: and where the slain are, there is she.

Job 39:26-30

The hawk and eagle are produced among birds, in proof of the power and providence of God. The hawk, that with such sagacity pursues her prey swift and strong, and from the colder climes at winter’s approach, follows the southern sun: the eagle, that mounts to such a towering height, fixes on the craggy rock her neft, and makes it her abode; thence darting on her prey, defecuted from afar, she feeds her young with the raw flesh of slaughtered health, or following the battle, waits for the carcass of the slain. Who taught such wisdom to the feathered fowl, or directs their flight? not Job: and if he pretended not to challenge these, let’s ought he to claim a right to direct the providence of God. Note, (1.) Though the sinner, like the eagle, builds his nest on the rock, Jer. xlix, 16. he that set him up on high, can also call him down. (2.) The greedy eye, sharp as the eagle’s, ever attentive on gain, little cares how it be obtained; whether by fucking the blood of the oppressed, or by practices corrupt as the corpse of the dead.