Job 39:1

Knowest thou the time when the wild goats of the rock bring forth?.... Which creatures are so called, because they dwell among the rocks (d) and run upon them; and though their heads are loaded with

Knowest thou the time when the wild goats of the rock bring forth? or canst thou mark when the hinds do calve? Even wild beasts, cut off from all care of man, are cared for by God at their seasons of greatest need.

JOB CHAPTER 39 Of the wild goats and hinds, ; the wild ass, ; the unicorn, ; the peacock, stork, and ostrich, ; the horse, ; the hawk; the eagle, . These creatures, not fully known to Job, or governed by him, are sufficient to convince him that he is no fit judge of the counsels of God. Knowest thou the time, that thou mayst then go to them, and afford them thy help in their hard work? The wild goats of the rock; which dwell in high and steep rocks, where no man can come. See . Bring forth; which they do with great difficulty, as is implied, , and noted by philosophers, wherein they have no assistance from men, but only from God. When the hinds do calve; when God by his secret instinct directs them to a certain herb called seseli, which, as naturalists report, doth hasten and help forward their birth.

Job 39:1 Knowest thou the time when the wild goats of the rock bring forth? [or] canst thou mark when the hinds do calve?Ver. 1. Knowest thou the time when the wild goats of the rock bring forth?] The history of the living creatures is of singular use we see to set forth the goodness, power, wisdom, and other of God’ s attributes clearly shining in them. And therefore they have very well deserved all sorts who have put forth such histories and discourses; as Aristotle, Aelian, Pliny, Gesner, Aldobrandinus, &c., of whom I may say, as once Eneas Sylvius (afterwards Pope Plus II.) did of learning in general, that popular men should esteem them as silver, noblemen as gold, princes as pearls; and not so slenderly reward them as Pope Sixtus did Theodorus Gaza (who translated and dedicated unto him Aristotle, De Natura Animalium), paying him only for the rich binding and bossing forty crowns; but bountifully encourage them, as Great Alexander did his master Aristotle for that same work; he gave him, saith the history, eight hundred talents, which is four hundred and fourscore thousand crowns (Job. Manl. loc. com. 572). The pleasure of reading such authors is not so great as the profit; for thereby we may attain to the knowledge of God, and of ourselves; of his will, and our duties. Hence we are sent to school to the unreasonable creatures, even the most contemptible, as the pismire, Proverbs 6:6. And Basil, writing to one that was proud of his knowledge, propoundeth unto him divers questions concerning this same pismire, as, namely, how many feet he hath? whether he hath entrails, such as kidneys, liver, heart, veins, nerves, as other living creatures do? &c. Similarly, God here, to humble Job, and to convince him of his meanness, asketh him whether he knoweth the wild goats and hinds, with the time of their bringing forth young, the means and the manner? &c. And whether these things were done by his ordination and vigilance? Many admirable things are written of these wild goats; as what cold places they live in, what inaccessible rocks, how strangely there they hang, what huge leaps they fetch; but especially about their bringing forth, how by a natural sagacity they help themselves, both before and after, by biting upon certain herbs that are helpful to them in that case, Pendentem summa capream de rupe videbis Casuram speres, decipit illa canes (Mart.). These things and many more such may be read about in Pliny’ s Natural History; of which book Erasmus well saith, that it is a store house, or rather a world full of things most worthy to be read. So are not the Jewish expositors, who tell us many strange things here concerning these creatures, quae commentitia esse puto, which I take to be mere fictions, saith learned Mercer; and I to be trifles and old wives’ fables, saith Lavater, to the belief whereof they are justly given up by God for their rejection of Christ, the light of the world.

CHAPTER XXXIX Several animals described: the wild goats and hinds, 1-4. The wild ass, 5-8. The unicorn, 9-12. The peacock and ostrich, 13-18. The war-horse, 19-25. The hawk, 26. And the eagle and her brood, 27-30. NOTES ON CHAP. XXXIX Verse 1. Knowest thou the time] To know time, c., only, was easy, and has nothing extraordinary in it but the meaning of these questions is, to know the circumstances, which have something peculiarly expressive of God's providence, and make the questions proper in this place. Pliny observes, that the hind with young is by instinct directed to a certain herb, named seselis, which facilitates the birth. Thunder, also, which looks like the more immediate hand of Providence, has the same effect. Psalms 29:9: "The VOICE of the Lord maketh the HINDS to CALVE." See Dr. YOUNG. What is called the wild goat, יעל yael, from עלה alah, to ascend, go or mount up, is generally understood to be the ibex or mountain goat, called yael, from the wonderful manner in which it mounts to the tops of the highest rocks. It is certain, says Johnston, there is no crag of the mountains so high, prominent or steep, but this animal will mount it in a number of leaps, provided only it be rough, and have protuberances large enough to receive its hoofs in leaping. This animal is indigenous to Arabia, is of amazing strength and agility, and considerably larger than the common goat. Its horns are very long, and often bend back over the whole body of the animal; and it is said to throw itself from the tops of rocks or towers, and light upon its horns, without receiving any damage. It goes five months with young. When the hinds do calve?] The hind is the female of the stag, or cervus elaphus, and goes eight months with young. They live to thirty-five or forty years. Incredible longevity has been attributed to some stags. One was taken by Charles VI., in the forest of Senlis, about whose neck was a collar with this inscription, Caesar hoc mihi donavit, which led some to believe that this animal had lived from the days of some one of the twelve Caesars, emperors of Rome. I have seen the following form of this inscription: - Tempore quo Caesar Roma dominatus in alta Aureolo jussit collum signare monili; Ne depascentem quisquis me gramina laedat. Caesaris heu! caussa periturae parcere vitae! Which has been long public in the old English ballad strain, thus: - "When Julius Caesar reigned king, About my neck he put this ring; That whosoever should me take Would save my life for Caesar's sake." Aristotle mentions the longevity of the stag, but thinks it fabulous.

Ch. Job 39:1-4. The goats of the rock and the hinds.

Knowest thou, the time when the wild goats of the rock bring forth? - That is, the particular season when the mountain goats bring forth their young.

β. The questions thus far propounded must have profoundly impressed Job with a sense of his insignificance; another, and more important view of himself, he is now to take in the mirror of nature — a