Job 39

The Book of Job is full of wonderfully vivid descriptions of the planet we live on. In Job 38 and 39 God talks about the many animals he created, from the lion, the mountain goats, to the donkey, the ox, the rather silly ostrich, the beautiful majestic horse to the hawk that spread its wings across the sky. I just love how each creature is described in such detail and the words are so beautifully crafted. If you close your eyes you can imagine each of these animals so vividly. 

God created all these wondrous creatures, giving each one abilities to cope in nature, from the deserts to the mountain tops. Each animal has a purpose, none are place on earth for random reasons, each carefully created by God and not through some spontaneous action — what an extraordinary world God has created in which we are part of.   Which is why we need to take care of it

“Can you hunt the prey for the lion,

Or satisfy the appetite of the young lions,

When they crouch in their dens,

Or lurk in their lairs to lie in wait?

Who provides food for the raven,

When its young ones cry to God,

And wander about for lack of food?

“Do you know the time when the wild mountain goats bear young?

Or can you mark when the deer gives birth?

Can you number the months that they fulfill?

Or do you know the time when they bear young?

They bow down,

They bring forth their young,

They deliver their offspring.

Their young ones are healthy,

They grow strong with grain;

They depart and do not return to them.

“Who set the wild donkey free?

Who loosed the bonds of the onager,

Whose home I have made the wilderness,

And the barren land his dwelling?

He scorns the tumult of the city;

He does not heed the shouts of the driver.

The range of the mountains is his pasture,

And he searches after every green thing.

“Will the wild ox be willing to serve you?

Will he bed by your manger?

Can you bind the wild ox in the furrow with ropes?

Or will he plow the valleys behind you?

Will you trust him because his strength is great?

Or will you leave your labor to him?

Will you trust him to bring home your grain,

And gather it to your threshing floor?

“The wings of the ostrich wave proudly,

But are her wings and pinions like the kindly stork’s?

For she leaves her eggs on the ground,

And warms them in the dust;

She forgets that a foot may crush them,

Or that a wild beast may break them.

She treats her young harshly, as though they were not hers;

Her labor is in vain, without concern,

Because God deprived her of wisdom,

And did not endow her with understanding.

When she lifts herself on high,

She scorns the horse and its rider.

“Have you given the horse strength?

Have you clothed his neck with thunder?

Can you frighten him like a locust?

His majestic snorting strikes terror.

He paws in the valley, and rejoices in his strength;

He gallops into the clash of arms.

He mocks at fear, and is not frightened;

Nor does he turn back from the sword.

The quiver rattles against him,

The glittering spear and javelin.

He devours the distance with fierceness and rage;

Nor does he come to a halt because the trumpet has sounded.

At the blast of the trumpet he says, ‘Aha!’

He smells the battle from afar,

The thunder of captains and shouting.

“Does the hawk fly by your wisdom,

And spread its wings toward the south?

Does the eagle mount up at your command,

And make its nest on high?

On the rock it dwells and resides,

On the crag of the rock and the stronghold.

From there it spies out the prey;

Its eyes observe from afar.

Its young ones suck up blood;

And where the slain are, there it is.”

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