Job 39
Big idea: A parade of animals that nobody owns, and the point of every one of them is independence: the donkey who laughs at the city, the wild ox who will not pull a plough, the ostrich who forgets her eggs and outruns a horse, and a war horse who laughs at fear.
Every creature here is either useless to human beings or refuses to be used, which is the argument the chapter is making by accumulation.
39:1–18 — Who has set the wild donkey free?
The first questions are about births nobody attends: do you know when the mountain goats give birth, or watch when the doe bears her fawn? Can you number the months they carry, or know the time when they give birth? They crouch, they bear their young, they are done with their labour pains. Their young grow strong in the open field; they go out and don't come back. It happens correctly and completely without supervision, and the offspring leave and never return, which is the opposite of a farm.
1 “Do you know the time when the mountain goats give birth? Do you watch when the doe bears fawns? 2 Can you count the months that they fulfill? Or do you know the time when they give birth? 3 They bow themselves. They bear their young. They end their labor pains. 4 Their young ones become strong. They grow up in the open field. They go out, and don’t return again. 5 “Who has set the wild donkey free? Or who has loosened the bonds of the swift donkey, 6 whose home I have made the wilderness, and the salt land his dwelling place? 7 He scorns the tumult of the city, neither does he hear the shouting of the driver. 8 The range of the mountains is his pasture. He searches after every green thing. 9 “Will the wild ox be content to serve you? Or will he stay by your feeding trough? 10 Can you hold the wild ox in the furrow with his harness? Or will he till the valleys after you? 11 Will you trust him, because his strength is great? Or will you leave to him your labor? 12 Will you confide in him, that he will bring home your seed, and gather the grain of your threshing floor? 13 “The wings of the ostrich wave proudly, but are they the feathers and plumage of love? 14 For she leaves her eggs on the earth, warms them in the dust, 15 and forgets that the foot may crush them, or that the wild animal may trample them. 16 She deals harshly with her young ones, as if they were not hers. Though her labor is in vain, she is without fear, 17 because God has deprived her of wisdom, neither has he imparted to her understanding. 18 When she lifts up herself on high, she scorns the horse and his rider.
39:19–30 — He laughs at fear
The war horse is the finest animal portrait in Scripture and it is entirely about eagerness. Have you given the horse his might? Have you clothed his neck with a quivering mane? Did you make him leap like a locust? The glory of his snorting is terrifying. He paws in the valley and rejoices in his strength; he goes out to meet the armed men. He laughs at fear and is not dismayed; he doesn't turn back from the sword. The quiver rattles against him, the flashing spear and the javelin. He eats up the ground with fierceness and rage, and doesn't stand still when the trumpet sounds — as often as it sounds he says Aha, and he smells the battle from far off, the thunder of the captains and the shouting.
19 “Have you given the horse might? Have you clothed his neck with a quivering mane? 20 Have you made him to leap as a locust? The glory of his snorting is awesome. 21 He paws in the valley, and rejoices in his strength. He goes out to meet the armed men. 22 He mocks at fear, and is not dismayed, neither does he turn back from the sword. 23 The quiver rattles against him, the flashing spear and the javelin. 24 He eats up the ground with fierceness and rage, neither does he stand still at the sound of the trumpet. 25 As often as the trumpet sounds he snorts, ‘Aha!’ He smells the battle afar off, the thunder of the captains, and the shouting. 26 “Is it by your wisdom that the hawk soars, and stretches her wings toward the south? 27 Is it at your command that the eagle mounts up, and makes his nest on high? 28 On the cliff he dwells and makes his home, on the point of the cliff and the stronghold. 29 From there he spies out the prey. His eyes see it afar off. 30 His young ones also suck up blood. Where the slain are, there he is.”
Scripture text: World English Bible (public domain).