John Gill Commentary Job 39:6

"Whose home I have made the wilderness, And the salt land his dwelling-place?" — Job 39:6 (ASV)

Whose house I have made the wilderness
Appointed that to be his place of residence, as being agreeable to his nature, at a distance from men, and in the less danger of being brought into subjection by them.

Such were the deserts of Arabia; where, as Xenophon ^F14 relates, were many of these creatures, and which he represents as very swift: and Leo Africanus ^F15 says, great numbers of them are found in deserts, and on the borders of deserts; hence said to be used to the wilderness (Jeremiah 2:24) ;

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and the barren land his dwellings ;
not entirely barren, for then it could not live there; but comparatively, with respect to land that is fruitful: or "salt land" ^F16 ; for, as Pliny ^F17 says, every place where salt is, is barren.

FOOTNOTES:

• F14: De Expedition. Cyri, l. 1.
• F15: Descriptio Africae, l. 9. p. 752.
• F16: (hxlm) "salsuginem", Montanus; "salsuginosam terram", Junius & Tremellius, Piscator.
• F17: Nat. Hist. l. 31. c. 7.