Job 35:11

Who teacheth us more than the beasts of the earth?.... Who are taught and know much, especially some of them; but not so much as man, see Isaiah 1:3; and maketh us wiser than the fowls of heaven?

But none saith, Where is God my maker, who giveth songs in the night; But the reason is, that the innocent sufferers often do not humbly seek God for succour; so to their "pride" is to be laid the

This is mentioned as a further aggravation of men’ s neglect of God in their misery. God hath given to men those gifts which he hath denied to beasts, reason and religion, wisdom to know God and themselves, and their obligations to God, and their dependence upon him. And therefore it ill becometh them to lie like brute creatures, roaring and crying out in their miseries, without taking any notice of God in way of prayer or praise; and if they do so, it is no wonder if God takes no notice of them.

Job 35:11 Who teacheth us more than the beasts of the earth, and maketh us wiser than the fowls of heaven?Ver. 11. Who teacheth us more than the beasts of the earth] This many wretched people never consider; and are therefore heavily, but worthily, vexed by oppressors, ut vexatio det intellectum, that smart may make wit; and that they may not bellow as beasts do when they feel pain; but flee to God by well prepared prayer, not so much for ease as for the use of what they suffer. Now, blessed is the man whom God chasteneth, and withal teacheth him out of his law; that he may give him rest from the days of adversity, Psalms 94:12-13. Hereunto, not only reason is required (the mercy here mentioned, and celebrated), but religion also; which is the true philosopher’ s stone that makes golden afflictions, 1 Peter 1:7, and, as Moses’ s hand, turneth a serpent into a rod. The truth is, religion is the highest reason (neither is anything more irrational than irreligion, 2 Thessalonians 3:2), and this also God alone teacheth. For, Cathedram habet in coelo qui corda docet, saith Austin. And again, Quando Christus Magister, quam cito discitur quod docetur? It is God above who teacheth the heart; and this, if he once undertake, it is soon despatched. All this, if sinful men would well weigh, and be thankful for, as they ought, God would surely help them, and not suffer them so to be held under. And maketh us wiser than the fowls of heaven?] Sapientificat. Some birds are very silly, as the struthiocamelus, that having thrust his head into a thicket, and seeing nobody, thinketh that therefore none seeth him, and so maketh himself a prey (Plin. l. x. c. 1). Doves sit in their dovecotes and see their nests destroyed, their young ones taken away and killed before their eyes; neither ever do they offer to rescue or revenge. Mention is made by writers of a certain nameless little bird, which, for fear lest the heavens should fall upon her, puts always, when she sleepeth, one foot upon her head (Cael. Rhod.). How much better the bird onocrotalus; of whom it is reported, that out of expectation of the hawk to grapple with her, she sleepeth with her beak exalted, as if she would contend with her adversary. Something there is that the wisest may learn from the fowls of the air, to whom, therefore, they are sent and set to school, Matthew 6:26 Jeremiah 8:7; yet generally God hath put more understanding into men; so that as he should not do like them by preying upon others, so he should not cry unto God only in distress, as the young ravens do when hunger bitten; but pray always, and in everything give thanks; for which purpose it is that God hath given us reason, speech, and much matter and means, far above the unreasonable creatures. Vae igitur stupiditati hominum in calamitatibus torpentium.

(11) Who teacheth us.—Or it may be, Who teacheth us by, and maketh us wise by, &c. Then the sense will be that the oppression is so severe that the victims of it forget that God can give songs in the night, and that He has favoured men more than the beasts of the field, and that, as not one sparrow can fall to the ground without Him, so He has even numbered the hairs of those who are of more value to Him than many sparrows.

Verse 11. Who teacheth us more than the beasts] "The ox knoweth his owner, and the ass his master's crib; but Israel doth not know me, my people do not consider; " Isaiah 1:3. Beasts, bards, fowls, and in many cases pond-fishes, know and seem thankful to the hand that feeds them; while man, made much more noble than they, gifted with the greatest powers, privileged with the most important benefits, considers not the Lord, nor discerns the operation of his hand. Quadrupeds, reptiles, and fowls, have more gratitude to their masters than man has to his God.

11. God has given to men a higher wisdom than to the beasts, and communicates to them a continuous instruction through His fellowship and ways. Their appeal to heaven should not be the mere instinctive cry of suffering, but the voice of trust and submission.

Who teacheth us more than the beasts of the earth - Who is able to teach us mere than the irrational creation; that is, in regard to the nature and design of affliction. They suffer without knowing why.

11. More than the beasts of the earth — The bestowment of reason and of a moral sense, and of the knowledge of God and of our duty, leads God to expect something more from us than brutish cries, such