Job 39:5-8 NIV

The Pulpit Commentary - Job 39:1-30

Jehovah to Job: the first answer-the examination: 6. Concerning certain wild animals. I. THE MOUNTAIN GOAT AND THE HIND . (Verses 1-4.) 1 . The creatures intended. It is generally agreed that these are the steinbock, or ibex, and the stag. The former, inhabiting exclusively the more rocky and desolate parts of the country, possesses fore legs considerably shorter than its hinder, which enable it to ascend with more facility than to descend, and lead it, when pursued, to... read more

Spence, H. D. M., etc.

The Pulpit Commentary - Job 39:1-30

The creatures not dependent upon man. We truly know that of man it is written, "Thou hast put all things under his feet;" and "We see not yet all things put under him." The creatures over whom dominion was given to man are not wholly submissive. And man must learn his littleness in presence of the great creatures of God whom he fails to subdue. "The wild goats" and "the hinds" and "the wild ass," "the unicorn," even "the ostrich," "the horse" and the birds of the air, "the hawk" and "the... read more

Spence, H. D. M., etc.

The Pulpit Commentary - Job 39:5

Who hath sent out the wild ass free? or who hath loosed the bands of the wild ass? Two kinds of onager ' or wild ass, seem to be intended—the one called pore' ( פִרֶא ), and the other 'arod ( עָרוֹד ). These correspond probably to the Asinus hemippus and the Asinus onager of modern naturalists, the former of which is still found in the deserts of Syria, Mesopotamia, and Northern Arabia, while the latter inhabits Western Asia from 48° N.lat. southward to Persia,... read more

Spence, H. D. M., etc.

The Pulpit Commentary - Job 39:5-8

The wild ass. The special characteristic of the wild ass is said to be untractability. While no animal is more tame than the poor, ill-treated donkey of the London street, no animal is more essentially untamable than the Syrian ass of the desert. It is said that though one of these creatures bad been captured when young and kept for three years in confinement, it remained "as untractable as when it was first caught, biting and kicking furiously at every one who approached it." It is the type... read more

Spence, H. D. M., etc.

The Pulpit Commentary - Job 39:6

Whose house I have made the wilderness . The Mesopotamian regions inhabited by the Asinus hemippus are those vast stretches of rolling plain, treeless, producing a few aromatic shrubs and much wormwood, which intervene between the Sinjar mountain-range and the Babylonian alluvium. Here the wild ass was seen by Xenophon and the Ten Thousand, in company with ostriches, gazelles, and bustards (Xen; 'Anab.,' 1.5); and here Sir Austin Layard also made its acquaintance. The Asians onager ... read more

Spence, H. D. M., etc.

The Pulpit Commentary - Job 39:7

He scorneth the multitude of the city . Avoids, that is, the haunts of men, and is never seen near them. Neither regardeth he the crying of the driver. Nothing will induce the wild ass to submit to domestication. read more

Spence, H. D. M., etc.

The Pulpit Commentary - Job 39:8

The range of the mountains is his pasture . By "mountains" we must here understand rocky ranges like the Sinjar and the mountains of Beloochistan, or again those of the Sinaitic peninsula. Wild asses do not frequent the regions which we commonly call mountainous . And he searcheth after every green thing ; i.e. he seeks out the small patches of pasture which are to be found in such rocky regions. read more

Albert Barnes

Albert Barnes' Notes on the Whole Bible - Job 39:5

Who hath sent out the wild ass free? - For a description of the wild ass, see the notes at Job 11:12. On the meaning of the word rendered “free” (חפשׁי chophshı̂y), see the notes at Isaiah 58:6. These animals commonly “inhabit the dry and mountainous parts of the deserts of Great Tartary, but not higher than about latitude 48 degrees. They are migratory, and arrive in vast troops to feed, during the summer, on the tracts to the north and east of the sea of Aral. About autumn they collect in... read more

Albert Barnes

Albert Barnes' Notes on the Whole Bible - Job 39:6

Whose house I have made - God had appointed its home in the desert.And the barren land his dwellings - Margin, as in Hebrew “salt places.” Such places were usually barren. Psalms 107:34, “he turneth a fruitful land into barrenness.” Hebrew “saltness.” Thus, Virgil, Geor. ii. 238-240:Salsa antem tellus, et quae, perhibetur amara.Frugibus infelix: ea nec mansuescit arando;Nec Baccho genus, aut pomis sua nomina servat.Compare Pliny, Nat. His. 31, 7, Deuteronomy 29:23. read more

Albert Barnes

Albert Barnes' Notes on the Whole Bible - Job 39:7

He scorneth the multitude of the city - That is, he sets all this at defiance; he is not intimidated by it. He finds his home far away from the city in the wild freedom of the wilderness.Neither regardeth he the crying of the driver - Margin, “exacter.” The Hebrew word properly means a collector of taxes or revenue, and hence, an oppressor, and a driver of cattle. The allusion here is to a driver, and the meaning is, that he is not subject to restraint, but enjoys the most unlimited freedom. read more

The Pulpit Commentary - Job 39:1-30

The Pulpit Commentary - Job 39:1-30

The Pulpit Commentary - Job 39:5

The Pulpit Commentary - Job 39:5-8

The Pulpit Commentary - Job 39:6

The Pulpit Commentary - Job 39:7

The Pulpit Commentary - Job 39:8

Albert Barnes' Notes on the Whole Bible - Job 39:5

Albert Barnes' Notes on the Whole Bible - Job 39:6

Albert Barnes' Notes on the Whole Bible - Job 39:7

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