\\INTRODUCTION TO JOB 39\\

\*This chapter treats of various creatures, beasts
and birds, which Job had little knowledge of, had
no concern in the make of them, and scarce any power
over them; as of the goats and hinds, \\#Job 39:1-4\\; of
the wild ass, \\#Job 39:5-8\\; of the unicorn, \\#Job 39:9-12\\;
of the peacock and ostrich, \\#Job 39:13-18\\; of the
horse, \\#Job 39:19-25\\; and of the hawk and eagle,
\\#Job 39:26-30\\.

\*Ver. 1. \\Knowest thou the time when the wild goats of the rock
bring\\ \\forth\\? &c.] Which creatures are
so called, because they dwell among the rocks {d} and
run upon them; and though their heads are loaded
with a vast burden of horns upon them, yet can so poise
themselves, as, with the greatest swiftness, to leap from
mountain to mountain, as Pliny says {e}: and if they
bring forth their young in the rocks, as Olympiodorus
asserts, and which is not improbable, it is not to be
wondered, that the time of their bringing forth should
not be known by men, to whom the rocks they run
upon are inaccessible;
\*\\[or] canst thou mark the time when
the hinds do calve\\? that is, precisely and exactly, and
so as to direct, order, and manage, and bring it about,
as the Lord does: and it is wonderful that they should
calve, and not cast their young before their time,
when they are continually in flight and fright, through
men or wild beasts, and are almost always running
and leaping about; and often scared with thunder,
which hastens birth, \\#Ps 29:9\\; otherwise the time
of their bringing forth in general is known by men,
as will be observed in \\#Job 39:2\\.

\*Ver. 2. \\Canst thou number the months [that] they fulfil\\? &c.]
Which some understand both of wild goats
and hinds. Common goats fulfil five months, they
conceive in November, and bring forth in March, as
Pliny {f} observes; but how many the wild goats of the
rock fulfil is not said by him or any other I know of:
the same writer says {g} of hinds, that they go eight
months;
\*\\or knowest thou the time when they bring
forth\\? naturalists {h} tell us, that the hinds conceive
after the rise of the star Arcturus, which rises eleven
days before the autumnal equinox; so that they conceive
in September; and as they go eight months,
they bring forth in April; but then the exact time to
a day and hour is not known. Besides, who has fixed
the time for their bringing forth, and carries them in
it through so many dangers and difficulties? None
but the Lord himself. Now if such common things
in nature were not known perfectly by Job, how should
he be able to search into and find out the causes and reasons
of God's providential dealings with men, or what
is in the womb of Providence?

\*Ver. 3. \\They bow themselves\\, &c.] That they may
bring forth their young with greater ease and more
safety: for it seems the hinds bring forth their young
with great difficulty; and there are provisions in nature
made to lessen it; as thunder, before observed, which
causes them to bring forth the sooner; and there is an
herb called %seselis%, which it is said {i} they feed upon
before birth, to make it the easier; as well as they use
that, and another called %aros%, after the birth, to ease
them of their after-pains;
\*\\they bring forth their young
ones\\; renting and cleaving asunder the membrane, as
the word signifies, in which their young is wrapped;
\*\\they cast out their sorrows\\; either their young, which
they bring forth in pains and which then cease; or the
secundines, or afterbirth, in which the young is
wrapped, and which the philosopher says {k} they eat,
and is supposed to be medical to them. None but a
woman seems to bring forth with more pain than this
creature; and a wife is compared to it, \\#Pr 5:19\\.

\*Ver. 4. \\Their young ones are in good liking\\, &c.]
Plump, fat, and sleek, as fawns are:
\*\\they grow up with
corn\\; by which they grow, or without in the field,
as the word also signifies; and their growth and increase
is very quick, as Aristotle observes {l};
\*\\they go
forth, and return not unto them\\: they go forth into the
fields, and shift and provide for themselves, and trouble
their dams no more; and return not to them, nor
are they known by them.

\*Ver. 5. \\Who hath sent out the wild ass free\\? &c.]
Into the wide waste, where it is, ranges at pleasure,
and is not under the restraint of any; a creature which,
as it is naturally wild, is naturally averse to servitude,
is desirous of liberty and maintains it: not but
that it may be tamed, as Pliny {m} speaks of such
as are; but it chooses to be free, and, agreeably
to its nature, it is sent out into the wilderness
as such: not that it is set free from bondage, for in
that it never was until it is tamed; but its nature
and inclination, and course it pursues, is to be free.
And now the question is, who gave this creature
such a nature, and desire after liberty? and such
power to maintain it? and directs it to take such methods
to secure it, and keep clear of bondage? It is of
God;
\*\\or who hath loosed the bands of the wild ass\\?
not that it has any naturally upon it, and is loosed
from them; but because it is as clear of them as such
creatures are, which have been in bands and are freed
from them: therefore this mode of expression is used,
and which signifies the same as before.

\*Ver. 6. \\Whose house I have made the wilderness\\, &c.]
Appointed that to be his place of residence, as being
agreeable to his nature, at a distance from men, and
in the less danger of being brought into subjection by
them. Such were the deserts of Arabia; where, as
Xenophon {n} relates, were many of these creatures,
and which he represents as very swift: and Leo
Africanus {o} says, great numbers of them are found in
deserts, and on the borders of deserts; hence said to
be used to the wilderness \\#Jer 2:24\\;
\*\\and the barren
lard his dwellings\\; not entirely barren, for then it
could not live there; but comparatively, with respect
to land that is fruitful: or %salt land% {p}; for, as Pliny {q}
says, every place where salt is is barren.

\*Ver. 7. \\He scorneth the multitude of the city\\, &c.]
Choosing rather to be alone in the wilderness and free
than to be among a multitude of men in a city, and
be a slave as the tame ass; or it despises and defies a
multitude of men, that may come out of cities to take
it, Leo Africanus says {r} it yields to none for swiftness
but Barbary horses: according to Xenophon {s}, it exceeds
the horse in swiftness; and when pursued by
horsemen, it will outrun them, and stand still and
rest till they come near it, and then start again; so
that there is no taking it, unless many are employed.
Aristotle {t} says it excels in swiftness; and, according
to Bochart {u}, it has its name in Hebrew from the
Chaldee word \^adp\^, to %run%. Or it may be rendered, %the
noise of the city%, so Cocceius; the stir and bustle in it,
through a multiplicity of men in business;
\*\\neither
regardeth he the crying of the driver\\; or %hears% {w}: he
neither feels his blows, nor hears his words; urging
him to move faster and make quicker dispatch, as the
tame ass does; he being neither ridden nor driven, nor
drawing in a cart or plough.

\*Ver. 8. \\The range of the mountains [is] his pasture\\,
&c.] It ranges about the mountains for food; it looks
about for it, as the word signifies, and tries first one
place and then another to get some, it having short
commons there;
\*\\and he searcheth after every green
thing\\; herb or plant, be it what it will that is green,
it seeks after; and which being scarce in deserts and
mountains, it searches about for and feeds upon it,
wherever it can find it; grass being the peculiar food
of these creatures, see \\#Job 6:5\\; and which is observed
by naturalists {x}.

{d} %Amantis saxa capellae%. Ovid. Epist. 15. v. 55.
{e} Nat. Hist. l. 8. c. 53. Aelian. de Animal. l. 14. c. 16.
{f} Nat. Hist. l. 8. c. 50.
{g} Ib. c. 32.
{h} Ib. & l. 2. c. 47. Aristot. Hist. Animal. l. 6. c. 29. Solinus, c. 31.
{i} Cicero de Natura Deoram, l. 2. Plin. Nat. Hist. c. 8. 32. Aristot.
Hist. Animal. l.9. c.5.
{k} Aristot. ib.
{l} Ib. l. 6. c. 29.
{m} Nat. Hist. l. 8. c. 44.
{n} De Expedition. Cyri, l. 1.
{o} Descriptio Africae, l. 9. p. 752.
{p} \^hxlm\^ %salsuginem%, Montanus; %salsuginosam terram%, Junius &
Tremellius, Piscator.
{q} Nat. Hist. l. 31. c. 7.
{r} Ut supra.
{s} Ut supra.
{t} Hist. Animal. l. 6. c. 36.
{u} Hierozoic. par. 1. l. 1. c. 9. col. 63.
{w} \^emvy al\^ %non audiet%, Pagninus, Montanus.
{x} Oppiani Cyneget. l. 3.