Albert Barnes Commentary Job 39

Do you know the time when the wild goats of the rock bring forth? – That is, the particular season when the mountain goats bring forth their young. The habits of domestic animals—the sheep, the tame goat, etc.—would be fully understood.

But the question here relates to the animals that roamed at large on inaccessible cliffs, that were hidden in deep forests, that were far from the dwellings and observation of people. The meaning is that there were many facts regarding such points of Natural History which Job could not explain.

God knew all their instincts and habits, and on the inaccessible cliffs, in the deep dell, in the dark forest, he was with them, and they were the objects of his care. He not only regarded the condition of the domestic animals that had been brought into the service of humans, and where humans perhaps might be disposed to claim that they owed much of their comfort to their care, but he also regarded the wild, wandering beast of the mountain, where no such pretense could be advanced.

The providence of God is over them. In the periods of their lives when they seem most to need attention—when every shepherd and herdsman is most solicitous about his flocks and herds—then God is present, and his care is seen in their preservation.

The particular point in the inquiry here is not regarding the time when these animals produced their young or the period of their gestation, which might probably be known, but regarding the attention and care that was necessary for them when they were so far removed from human observation and had no human aid.

The “wild goat of the rock” referred to here is, doubtless, the Ibex, or mountain goat, that has its dwellings among the rocks, or in stony places. The Hebrew term is יעל (yâ‛êl)—from יעל (ya‛al)—meaning “to ascend, to go up.” They had their residence in the lofty rocks of mountains (Psalms 104:18): The high hills are a refuge for the wild goats.

In Hebrew, “For the goats of the rocks” is יעלים סלעים (yâ‛êliym sela‛iym). So in 1 Samuel 24:2, it says, Saul went to seek David and his men upon the rocks of the wild goats; that is, where the wild goats—היעלים (hayâ‛êliym)—were. For a description of the wild goat, see Bochart, Hieroz. P. i. Lib. iii. c. xxiii.

The animal referred to here is, doubtless, the same one that Burckhardt saw on the summit of Mount Catherine, adjacent to Mount Sinai, and which he describes in his Travels in Syria, p. 571:

“As we approached the summit of the mountain (Catherine, adjacent to Mount Sinai), we saw at a distance a small flock of mountain goats feeding among the rocks. One of our Arabs left us, and by a widely circuitous route endeavored to get to the leeward of them, and near enough to fire at them. He enjoined us to remain in sight of them, and to sit down in order not to alarm them.

He had nearly reached a favorable spot behind a rock, when the goats suddenly took to flight. They could not have seen the Arab, but the wind changed, and thus they smelled him. The chase of the beden, as the wild goat is called, resembles that of the chamois of the Alps, and requires as much enterprise and patience. The Arabs make long circuits to surprise them and endeavor to come upon them early in the morning, when they feed.

The goats have a leader who keeps watch, and on any suspicious smell, sound, or object, makes a noise, which is a signal to the flock to make their escape. They have much decreased of late, if we may believe the Arabs, who say that fifty years ago, if a stranger came to a tent and the owner of it had no sheep to kill, he took his gun and went in search of a beden. They are, however, even now more common here than in the Alps or in the mountains to the east of the Red Sea. I had three or four of them brought to me at the convent, which I bought at three-fourths of a dollar each.

The flesh is excellent and has nearly the same flavor as that of deer. The Bedouins make water bags of their skins and rings of their horns, which they wear on their thumbs. When the beden is met with in the plains, the hunters’ dogs easily catch him; but they cannot come up with him among the rocks, where he can make leaps of 20 feet.”

Or can you observe when the hinds calve? – The reference here is to the special care and protection of God manifested for them. The meaning is that this animal always seems timid and apprehensive of danger, and that special care is bestowed upon an animal so defenseless in enabling it to rear its young. The word “hinds” denotes the deer, the fawn—perhaps the most timid and defenseless of all animals.

Canst thou number the months ... - That is, as they wander in the wilderness, as they live in inaccessible crags and cliffs of the rocks, it is impossible for man to be acquainted with their habits as he can with those of the domestic animals.

They bow themselves - literally, they curve or bend themselves; that is, they draw their limbs together.

They cast out their sorrows - That is, they cast forth the offspring of their pains, or the young which cause their pains. The idea seems to be that they do this without any of the care and attention which shepherds are obliged to show to their flocks at such seasons. They do it when God alone guards them; when they are in the wilderness or on the rocks far away from human dwellings. The leading thought in all this seems to be that the tender care of God was over his creatures, in the most perilous and delicate state, and that all this was exercised where people had no access to them, and could not even observe them.

Their young ones are in good liking – in Hebrew, "they are fat"; and thus, it means that they are strong and robust.

They grow up with corn – Herder, Gesenius, Noyes, Umbreit, and Rosenmuller translate this as "in the wilderness," or "field." The proper and usual meaning of the word used here (בר bâr) is corn (grain); but in Chaldee it has the sense of open fields, or country. The same idea is found in the Arabic, and this meaning seems to be required by the connection. The idea is not that they are nurtured with grain, which would require human care, but that they are nurtured under the direct eye of God far from human dwellings, even when they go away from their mother and do not return to the place of their birth.

This is one of the instances, therefore, in which the connection seems to require us to adopt a meaning that does not occur elsewhere in Hebrew, but which is found in the cognate languages.

They go forth, and return not unto them – God guards and preserves them, even when they wander away from their mother and are left helpless. Many young animals require long attention from humans; many are kept for a considerable period by the mother's side. However, the idea here seems to be that the young of the wild goat and the fawn are entrusted early to God's providence and are protected by Him alone. The particular care of Providence over these animals seems to be specified because no others are exposed to so many dangers in their early life.

"Every creature then is a formidable enemy. The eagle, the falcon, the osprey, the wolf, the dog, and all the rapacious animals of the cat family, are continually seeking to find their retreat. But what is more unnatural still, the stag himself is a professed enemy, and she, the hind, is obliged to use all her skills to conceal her young from him, as from the most dangerous of her pursuers." (Goldsmith’s Nat. His.)

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 herds of hundreds, and even thousands, and direct their course southward toward India to enjoy a warm retreat during winter. But they more usually retire to Persia, where they are found in the mountains of Casbin, and where part of them remain during the whole year.

They are also said to penetrate to the southern parts of India, to the mountains of Malabar and Gelconda. These animals were anciently found in Palestine, Syria, Arabia Deserta, Mesopotamia, Phrygia, and Lycaonia, but they rarely occur in those regions at the present time, and seem to be almost entirely confined to Tartary, some parts of Persia and India, and Africa. Their manners resemble those of the wild horse.

They assemble in troops under the conduct of a leader or sentinel, and are extremely shy and vigilant. They will, however, stop in the midst of their course, and even suffer the approach of man for an instant, and then dart off with the utmost rapidity. They have been at all times celebrated for their swiftness. Their voice resembles that of the common ass, but is shriller” (Rob. Calmet).

The Onager or wild ass is doubtless “the parent stock from which we have derived the useful domestic animal, which seems to have degenerated the further it has been removed from its parent seat in Central Asia. It is greatly distinguished in spirit and grace of form from the domestic ass. It is taller and more dignified; it holds the head higher, and the legs are more elegantly shaped.

Even the head, though large in proportion to the body, has a finer appearance, from the forehead being more arched; the neck by which it is sustained is much longer, and has a more graceful bend. It has a short mane of dark and woolly hair, and a stripe of dark bushy hair also runs along the ridge of the back from the mane to the tail. The hair of the body is of a silver gray, inclining to flaxen color in some parts, and white under the belly.

The hair is soft and silken, similar in texture to that of the camel” (The Pictorial Bible).

It is of this animal, so different in spirit, energy, agility, and appearance, from the domestic animal of that name, that we must think in order to understand this passage. We must think of them fleet as the wind, untamed and unbroken, wandering over vast plains in groups and herds, assembled by thousands under a leader or guide, and bounding off with uncontrollable rapidity on the approach of man, if we would feel the force of the appeal which is here made.

God asks of Job whether he—who could not even subdue and tame this wild creature—had ordained the laws of its freedom; had held it as a captive, and then set it at liberty to exult over boundless plains in its conscious independence.

The idea is that it was one of the creatures of God, under no laws but such as He had been pleased to impose upon it, and wholly beyond the government of man.

Or who hath loosed the bands of the wild ass? - As if he had been once a captive, and then set free.

The illustration is derived from the feeling that attends a restoration to liberty. The freedom of this animal seems to be as productive of exhilaration as if it had been a prisoner or slave, and had been suddenly emancipated.