Job 39:13 Commentary and Bible Study

There is a shift of gear now to keep us alert. The first two words are not in the Hebrew. This is the only section in the chapter without a question mark. The KJV has added words – ‘Gavest thou’ – to turn it into a question, but the Hebrew is a statement. The KJV has ‘peacock’, but the Hebrew is ‘bird of piercing cry’, and other translations understand this refers to the ostrich. Verses 14-18 certainly describe the well-known behaviour of the ostrich. The second bird named by the KJV as ‘ostrich’ should be the stork or heron. A comparison is being made between the flightless wings of the ostrich and the more effective wings of the stork which carry them gracefully through the air. The ostrich cannot fly. It may flap its wings proudly, but it cannot use them to lift itself off the ground. It can however move at great speed and can outrun a horse. It can deliver a tremendous kick to its would-be predators. Its wings are used for display in mating and in feigning injury to lead away a predator. The ostrich has not lost the ability to fly; the passage tells us this is the way God made it. Several features of its behaviour are picked out to illustrate how God has apparently deprived it of wisdom. It does not build a nest but lays its eggs in a shallow hollow dug in the ground by the male where the hot dust warms them. She has a reputation among the Arabs for not recognising her own eggs, and, when she returns, sitting on the eggs of other birds. But the true explanation is that these are communal nests of multiple unrelated hen birds. The male mates with a number of hen birds and takes charge of the resulting eggs, the ‘nest’ containing up to sixty eggs, which are incubated by a single male ostrich at night and just one of the hens – the dominant hen – during the day. The other hens leave once they have laid their eggs. When the eggs hatch the young can move and feed themselves immediately, and need no particular care from their mothers. They may join other groups of chicks and stay together for protection, but they largely rear themselves. All these features are noted by the Lord. The eggs are laid on the ground where they are at risk of being trodden on – the ostrich has heavy and powerful feet – or eaten by any animal passing by. The majority of hens abandon the nest and seem completely indifferent to their young, treating them as if their young did not belong to them. Unlike almost all other creatures they seem to be entirely indifferent to their own young and to have no care for them. Survival rate is low with an average of one per nest. All this gives the appearance of a creature which has been deprived of sense. But although the ostrich seems to be a foolish creature, it does all right; it does as well as any other creature in the wild. Things are not as they appear, Job. You can criticise the ostrich but it manages to bring offspring into the world and they survive. God has a purpose even for the ostrich; it too exists to the glory of God. Job has anguish that he is suffering when he has pleased God, and others who disobey are blessed. Yes, but God has a place for creatures that seem to be quite foolish, such as this bird. They too are part of God’s creation. In God’s ordering there is foolishness and there is evil in the world. If you didn’t have the foolishness of the ostrich, you wouldn’t appreciate the wiser animals. God is giving us a set of values.