Matthew Henry's Concise Commentary on the Whole Bible
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Job
Book: Job
Chapter: 39
Overview:
God inquires of
Job concerning several animals.
- In these questions the
Lord continued to humble
Job. In this
Chapter several animals are spoken of, whose nature or situation
particularly show the power,
Wisdom, and manifold
Works of
God.
The wild
Ass. It is better to labour and be good for something,
than to ramble and be good for nothing. From the untameableness
of this and other creatures, we may see, how unfit we are to
give
Law to
Providence, who cannot give
Law even to a wild
Ass's
colt. The
Unicorn, a strong, stately, proud
Creature. He is able
to serve, but not willing; and
God challenges
Job to force him
to it. It is a great
Mercy if, where
God gives strength for
service, he gives a
Heart; it is what we should pray for, and
reason ourselves into, which the brutes cannot do. Those
Gifts
are not always the most valuable that make the finest show. Who
would not rather have the voice of the nightingale, than the
tail of the
Peacock; the
Eye of the
Eagle and her soaring wing,
and the natural
Affection of the
Stork, than the beautiful
feathers of the
Ostrich, which can never rise above the
Earth,
and is without natural
Affection? The description of the
War-
Horse Helps to explain the character of presumptuous
sinners. Every one turneth to his course, as the
Horse rushes
into the battle. When a
Man's
Heart is fully set in him to do
evil, and he is carried
On in a wicked way,
By the violence of
his appetites and passions, there is
No making him fear the
wrath of
God, and the fatal consequences of
Sin. Secure sinners
think themselves as safe in their sins as the
Eagle in her nest
On high, in the clefts of the rocks; but I will bring thee down
from thence, saith the
Lord, Jer 49:16. All these beautiful
references to the
Works of nature, should teach us a right view
of the riches of the
Wisdom of Him who made and sustains all
things. The want of right views concerning the
Wisdom of
God,
which is ever present in all things, led
Job to think and speak
unworthily of
Providence.