John Gill Commentary Job 39:13

"The wings of the ostrich wave proudly; [But] are they the pinions and plumage of love?" — Job 39:13 (ASV)

[Did you give] the goodly wings to the peacocks ?
&c.] Rather "ostriches", as the Vulgate Latin and Tigurine versions render it; some render it, "the wing of those that exult is joyful", so Montanus; that is, of the ostriches; who, in confidence of their wings, exult and glory over the horse and his rider, (Job 39:18) ; for peacocks are not remarkable for their wings, but for their tails; whereas the wings of the ostrich are as sails to them, as several writers observe ^F11 ; and with which they rather run, or row, than fly: hence it is called by Plautus ^F12 "passer marinus", the sea sparrow: and the feathers of it are more goodly than those of the wings of the peacock;

and besides, it is a question whether the peacock was where Job lived, and in his times; since it is originally from the Indies, and from there it was brought to Judea in the times of Solomon; and was not known in Greece and Rome ^F13 until later ages. Alexander the Great, when he first saw them in India, was surprised at them; and yet Solon ^F14 speaks of them in his time as seen by him, which was at least two hundred years before Alexander; though at Rome not common in the times of Horace ^F15 , who calls a peacock "rara avis"; and speaks of them as sold for a great price; but ostriches were well known in Arabia, where Job lived, as is testified by Xenophon ^F16 , Strabo ^F17 , and Diodorus Siculus ^F18 . Moreover, what is said in the following verses is only true of the ostrich, and that only is spoken of here and there, as it follows;

or wings and feathers to the ostrich ;
or whose wings and feathers are like the storks; and so Bochart renders the words, truly they have "the wing and feather of the stork"; the colours of which are black and white, from which it has its name (pelagrov) ^F19 in Greek; and so Leo Africanus ^F20 says of the ostriches, that they have in their wings large feathers of a black and white colour; and this was a creature well known in Arabia ^F21 , in which Job lived.

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FOOTNOTES:

• F11: Xenophon. de Expedit. Cyri, l. 1. Aelian. de. Animal. l. 2. c. 77.
• F12: Persa, Act. 2. Sc. 2. v. 17.
• F13: Aelian. de Animal. l. 5. c. 21.
• F14: Laert. Vit. Solon. l. 1. c. 2.
• F15: Sermon. l. 2. Sat. 2. v. 25, 26. Vid. Plin. Nat. Hist. l. 10. c. 20. Macrob. Saturnal. l. 3. c. 13.
• F16: Ut supra. (Xenophon. de Expedit. Cyri, l. 1.)
• F17: Geograph. l. 16. p. 531.
• F18: Bibliothec. l. 2. p. 133.
• F19: Suidas in voce (pelagrov) .
• F20: Descriptio Africae, l. 9. p. 766.
• F21: Diodor. Sicul. ut supra. (Bibliothec. l. 2. p. 133.)