Job 39 · The Lantern

The LORD Speaks of His Creation

Do you know the time when the mountain goats give birth? Do you watch over the calving of the does?

He is right in saying, "Have you protected the calving of the hinds?" Since flight, fear and anxiety are usual in this kind of animal, which never ceases from leaping and galloping, how, he says, can it not abort, so do you know how its young can be given birth at the right time?

Knowest thou the time when the wild goats bring forth in the rocks, or hast thou observed the hinds when they calve? 36. The southern part of the world calls birds, which inhabit the streams of the Nile, 'ibices.' But the eastern and western quarters term small quadrupeds, 'ibices,' whose custom also it is to bring forth in the rocks, because they know not how to dwell except i…

The Lord called to mind in what preceded what relates to the cognitive power, speaking about the wisdom of men and the intelligence of the cock. (38:36) He also called to mind the prey of lions and the food of crows, which relate to the nutritive power.

Can you count the months they fulfill, and do you know the time when they give birth?

They crouch down, they split open for their young; they send out their birth pangs.

Their young grow strong; they increase in the open field; they go out and do not return to them.

Their young ones are weaned, and go to their pasture; they go forth, and return not unto them. 49. Holy Scripture terms 'pasture' that food of eternal verdure, where our refreshment will no longer waste away with any dryness of failing. Of which pasture it is said by the Psalmist, The Lord ruleth me, and I shall want nothing; He hath placed me there in a place of pasture. [Ps.

Just as the mothers by natural aptitude prepare themselves for giving birth, so also their young by natural aptitude are divinely taught to search for the necessities of life for themselves, and so he says, "Their young separate," which is not the case with a human child, for a boy who has only been born cannot move himself to leave his mother, but this happens with those anima…

Who sent the wild donkey free? And who loosed the bonds of the swift ass,

Then he adds, "Who has let the wild ass go free?" "Who has disposed things in this manner?" he says. "Who has established the laws of nature?" These are, he says, permanent laws that never change. This animal is strong and untamed. Even if you multiply your efforts, you will never have it under your control.

Who hath sent out the wild ass free, and who hath loosed his bands? 50. Understand, Except Myself. For the wild ass, who dwells in solitude, signifies, not inaptly, the life of those who dwell far removed from the crowds of people.

When he has said these things which pertain to certain special properties of animals: knowledge, food and giving birth, he treats those things which pertain to conserving their lives as a whole. On this subject the first wonderful thing is that certain animals, when they are domesticated, cannot sustain themselves without the care of man.

whose home I made the desert plain, and his dwellings the salt land?

He laughs at the roar of the town; he does not hear the shouts of a driver.

He ranges the mountains as his pasture, and searches after every green thing.

He looks round on the mountains of his pasture. 64. The mountains of his pasture are the lofty contemplations of inward refreshment. For the more holy men abase themselves outwardly with contempt, the more abundantly are they supported within with the contemplation of revelations. Whence it is written; He hath disposed the ascents in his heart in the valley of tears; [Ps.

The other reason is because there he wanders more freely in search of pasture, and so he says, "He ranges the mountains for his pasture," since free access to different places to find his pasture lies open to him, and he receives the pastures themselves at his own pleasure, and so he says, "and he searches eagerly for green grass." Domestic asses are not given the best pasturag…

Will the wild ox consent to serve you? Will he spend the night at your feeding trough?

"Is the unicorn willing to serve you?" This animal, as is reported, is similar to an ox and is found in the austral regions, armed with a single horn. In the unicorn, whoever is not subjected at all to the bondage of the world is covertly represented. It is said to be provided with a single horn, because there is only one truth for the righteous.

Will the rhinoceros be willing to serve thee? [MYSTICAL INTERPRETATION] 29. But perhaps before we discuss this strength and neighing of the horse, some persons are desirous of having both the strength of the rhinoceros, and the folly of this ostrich explained in another way, putting aside their moral meaning.

Just as the ass serves man for carrying heavy loads, and the wild ass finds his habitat in wild places, so also among domesticated animals the ox serves man for plowing because of his strength. He is compared to the rhinoceros or unicorn among wild animals, a very strong and fierce four-footed animal with one horn in the middle of his forehead.

Can you bind the wild ox in the furrow with his rope? Will he harrow the valleys after you?

Will you trust him because his strength is great? And will you leave your labor to him?

Wilt thou have confidence in his great strength, and wilt thou leave to him thy labours? 8. The Lord asserts that He has confidence in the strength of the rhinoceros; because He inclined the powers, which He had conferred for a temporal purpose on an earthly prince, to minister to His reverence, in order that by the power he had received, through which he had, heretofore, been…

Some strong animals are set free to guard the fields against thieves or animals which can devastate the standing grain, as fields are guarded in this way by ferocious dogs, but this cannot be done with the rhinoceros, because he is not domesticated, and so he says, "Will you put your confidence in his great strength and will you leave your labors to him?", i.e., to guard the fr…

Will you believe him, that he will bring back your seed, and gather it to your threshing floor?

Wilt thou trust him to bring back thy seed to thee, and to gather thy floor? [MYSTICAL INTERPRETATION] 34. Let us consider what Saul was, when, from his very youth, he was engaged in aiding those who stoned, when he was laying waste some places of the Church, and, having received letters, was seeking for others to lay waste, when no single death of the faithful sufficed him, bu…

Likewise, you cannot use him like a strong farm hand to reap the fruits of the earth, and so he says, "Will you have faith in him that he will render the seed to you and bring it together on your threshing floor?", like a worker does who sows seed taken from his master and gives it back multiplied, when he collects the crops on the threshing floor, and after the threshing bring…

The wing of the ostrich flaps joyously — is it the pinion and plumage of a stork?

The sort of wings described here appears to signify the synagogue of those who led Christ to the cross. Indeed, who is that mother who generated many children but whose children are not hers? It can only be the one who gave birth to the prophets and brought up the apostles, who are not hers though.

The wing of the ostrich is like the wings of the heron and the hawk. [MYSTICAL INTERPRETATION] 36. What is signified by the name 'ostrich,' but the synagogue, which had indeed the wings of the law, but from grovelling in its heart in things below, never raised itself from the earth?

After he has examined the things which distinguish wild animals from the domestic ones, he treats the properties of some animals which seem to differ from other animals. This is especially true in the ostrich, which is a species of bird very close in genus to beasts.

For she leaves her eggs to the earth, and warms them on the dust,

and forgets that a foot may crush them, and that the beast of the field may trample them.

She treats her young harshly, as if they were not hers; her labor is in vain, without dread —

because God made her forget wisdom, and gave her no share in understanding.

When she lashes herself on high, she laughs at the horse and its rider.

When the time shall be, she raiseth her wings on high, she scorneth the horseman and his rider. 27. For what do we understand by the wings of this ostrich, except the thoughts of the hypocrite, kept close at this time as if folded together? But when the time shall come, he raises them on high; because when an opportunity is found, he makes them manifest by his pride.

Because he had said already that she has wings like the falcon and the hawk, (v.13) consequently, he shows next what purpose wings serve her saying, "When the time comes," when some necessity of violent movement presents itself to her, "she lifts her wings up high," so that although her body cannot be raised to fly by her wings, she is helped by her wings to run more swiftly, a…

Do you give the horse his might? Do you clothe his neck with a mane?

Do you make him leap like a locust? The majesty of his snorting is terror.

They paw in the valley, and he exults in strength; he goes out to meet the weapons.

He laughs at dread and is not dismayed, and does not turn back from the sword.

Against him the quiver rattles, the flashing spear and the javelin.

With shaking and raging he swallows the ground, and does not stand still at the sound of the trumpet.

At the trumpet he says, “Aha!” And from afar he smells the battle — the thunder of the officers, and the shouting.

Is it from your understanding that the hawk soars, spreading his wings toward the south?

How does God keep hawks hovering in the air? How does he provide them with nourishment? You can figure out all that he said from a small number of examples! Why did he not mention beefs or rams or other animals of this kind, but only those that are useless for us and seem to exist without reason?

Doth the hawk get feathers by thy wisdom, stretching her wings toward the South? 92. That the hawk casts off its old feathers every year, as the new grow up, and gets a plumage without intermission, hardly any one is ignorant.

After he has explained about animals which walk on the earth, he goes on to animals which fly in the air. First, he remarks on the natural aptitude of the hawk, who in molting season stretches out his wings to the South Wind, which is a hot wind, so that with the pores opened he may shed the old feathers and new ones may take their place, and so he says, "Is it by your wisdom t…

Is it at your mouth that the eagle goes up, and that he lifts his nest on high?

The eagle is Christ. The high rock is the cross. The young ones licking the blood are the souls of the saints, who feed on Christ's blood flowing from his side, that blood that also the nations of the believers enjoy like young ones of the heavenly eagle.

Hence in Job: "Does the eagle fly up at your command to pass the night at his lofty nest?" And later: "Where the slain are, there is he." First, he speaks wonders of the eagle, and then humble things; and so it is with rapture. For the man ravished to the greatest height is also the most humble.

He last speaks about the eagle, who flies higher than the rest of the birds, and so he says, "Will the eagle fly high at your command," like he does at mine? For the eagle does this by natural instinct.

He dwells on a rock and lodges there, on the tooth of the rock and the stronghold.

From there he searches out food; his eyes look far off.

And his young ones lap up blood; and where the slain are, there is he.

Her young ones suck up blood. And wheresoever the carcase shall be, she is immediately present. 104. As if it were plainly said; She herself indeed feeds on the contemplation of His Godhead, but because her hearers cannot understand the mysteries of the Godhead, they are satiated with hearing of the blood of the Lord Crucified.

The eagle is powerful in game like the lion among quadrupeds. To show this he says, "His young suck up blood," that is, of the living animals which the eagle carries back to the nest.

Job39

The LORD Speaks of His Creation