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Matthew Henry’s Complete Commentary
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Matthew Henry |
J O B
CHAP. XXXIX.
God proceeds here to show Job what little reason he had to charge him
with unkindness who was so compassionate to the inferior creatures and
took such a tender care of them, or to boast of himself, and his own
good deeds before God, which were nothing to the divine mercies. He
shows him also what great reason he had to be humble who knew so little
of the nature of the creatures about him and had so little influence
upon them, and to submit to that God on whom they all depend. He
discourses particularly,
I. Concerning the wild goats and hinds,
II. Concerning the wild ass,
III. Concerning the unicorn,
IV. Concerning the peacock,
V. Concerning the ostrich,
VI. Concerning the horse,
VII. Concerning the hawk and the eagle,
| Man’s Ignorance of the Animal Creation; Description of the Wild Goat, Hind, Wild Ass, and Unicorn. | B. C. 1520. |
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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,
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
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,
(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
a stately proud creature,
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,”
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,”
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. |
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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
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,
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,
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. |
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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
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,
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,
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. |
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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,
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,
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,
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.
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