Verse-by-Verse Bible Commentary
Job 39:26

Clarke's Commentary

Verse Job 39:26. Doth the hawk fly by thy wisdom — The hawk is called נץ nets, from its swiftness in darting down upon its prey; hence its Latin name, nisus, which is almost the same as the Hebrew. It may very probably mean the falcon, observes Dr. Shaw. The flight of a strong falcon is wonderfully swift. A falcon belonging to the Duke of Cleves flew out of Westphalia into Prussia in one day; and in the county of Norfolk, a hawk has made a flight at a woodcock of near thirty miles in an hour. Thuanus says, "A hawk flew from London to Paris in one night." It was owing to its swiftness that the Egyptians in their hieroglyphics made it the emblem of the wind.

Stretch her wings toward the south? — Most of the falcon tribe pass their spring and summer in cold climates; and wing their way toward warmer regions on the approach of winter. This is what is here meant by stretching her wings toward the south. Is it through thy teaching that this or any other bird of passage knows the precise time for taking flight, and the direction in which she is to go in order to come to a warmer climate? There is much of the wisdom and providence of God to be seen in the migration of birds of passage. This has been remarked before. There is a beautiful passage in Jeremiah, Jeremiah 8:7, on the same subject: "The stork in the heavens knoweth her appointed times; and the turtle, and the crane, and the swallow, observe the time of their coming: but my people know not the judgment of the Lord."

Bridgeway Bible Commentary

Control of the animal world (38:39-39:30)

The pressure on Job increases as God continues with his unanswerable questions. From the natural world in general, God moves to the animal world. He draws Job’s attention to animals that sometimes appear to have no purpose so far as human life is concerned, but are still part of God’s ordering of the world.
God asks Job if he is able to order nature by providing wild animals with food (39-41), while protecting timid animals when they give birth and care for their young (39:1-4). God gives freedom to the wild ass, but at the same time controls the animal and its habitat according to his ordering of nature. Can Job do this (5-8)? Or can Job make a wild ox work like a domestic ox, when God has given the wild ox an instinct that makes it impossible to tame (9-12)?
Some things in God’s creation are puzzling to humans. For example, it appears as if the ostrich neglects her eggs and has no concern for her young, because when she is frightened she runs away and leaves them. People may not understand why the ostrich behaves as it does, but God has given each animal its own particular instinct as he sees fit (13-18). God made the horse with an instinct to be trained. This is impressed upon Job with a description of the spectacular yet fearsome sight of war horses in battle (19-25).
Hawks and eagles make their nests in higher places than other birds, but they are not disadvantaged in looking for food. This is because of their remarkable eyesight, which enables them to see the tiniest objects from a great distance. Can Job compete with a Creator whose wisdom foresaw even the smallest detail (26-30)?

Coffman's Commentaries on the Bible

BEHOLD THE MYSTERIES OF THE HAWK AND THE EAGLE

"Is it by thy wisdom that the hawk soareth? And stretcheth her wings toward the south? Is it at thy command that the eagle mounteth up, And maketh her nest on high? On the cliff she dwelleth, and maketh her home, Upon the point of the cliff, and the stronghold. From thence she spieth out the prey; Her eyes beholdeth it afar off. Her young ones suck up blood: And where the slain are, there is she. The hawk and the eagle are birds of prey; and their behavior is the wonder of all who ever observed it carefully."

"The eagle… maketh her nest on high" In October of 1953, while this writer was a chaplain in the Far East, he once was taken for an excursion on a plane which the GI's called the "Charlie 119"; and we circled the summit of a mountain in southern Japan called `Mount Aso.' There, on the very lip of that active volcano was an eagle's nest! Who can explain such things as that?

"Her eyes beholdeth it afar off" Long before mankind discovered such a thing as the telescope, both eagles and vultures were provided with telescopic vision, an ability most certainly mentioned here. In a similar manner, long before mankind had learned anything whatever about radar, the cave-dwelling bats were created by God with built-in radar systems enabling them to hunt and find and eat millions of insects at night!

Barnes' Notes on the Whole Bible

Doth the hawk fly by thy wisdom - The appeal here is to the hawk, because it is among the most rapid of the birds in its flight. The particuIar thing specified is its flying, and it is supposed that there was something special in that which distinguished it from other birds. Whether it was in regard to its speed, to its manner of flying, or to its habits of flying at periodical seasons, may indeed be made a matter of inquiry, but it is clear that the particular thing in this bird which was adapted to draw the attention, and which evinced especially the wisdom of God, was connected with its flight. The word here rendered “hawk,” (נץ nêts) is probably generic, and includes the various species of the falcon or hawk tribe, as the jet-falcon, the goshawk, the sparrow, hawk, the lanner, the saker, the hobby, the kestril, and the merlin. Not less than one hundred and fifty species of the hawk, it is said, have been described, but of these many are little known, and many of them differ from others only by very slight distinctions.

They are birds of prey, and, as many of them are endowed with remarkable docility, they are trained for the diversions of falconry - which has been quite a science among sportsmen. The falcon, or hawk, is often distinguished for fleetness. One, belonging to a Duke of Cleves, flew out of Westphalia into Prussia in one day; and in the county of Norfolk (England) one was known to make a flight of nearly thirty miles in an hour. A falcon which belonged to Henry IV. of France, having escaped from Fontainebleau, was found twenty-four hours after in Malta, the space traversed being not less than one thousand three hundred and fifty miles; being a velocity of about fifty-seven miles an hour, on the supposition that the bird was on the wing the whole time. It is this remarkable velocity which is here appealed to as a proof of the divine wisdom. God asks Job whether he could have formed these birds for their rapid flight. The wisdom and skill which has done this is evidently far above any that is possessed by man.

And stretch her wings toward the south - Referring to the fact that the bird is migratory at certain seasons of the year. It is not here merely the rapidity of its flight which is referred to, but that remarkable instinct which leads the feathered tribes to seek more congenial climates at the approach of winter. In no way is this to be accounted for, except by the fact that God has so appointed it. This great law of the winged tribes is one of the clearest proofs of divine wisdom and agency.

Smith's Bible Commentary

Chapter 39

Do you know the time when the wild goats of the rock bring forth? can you mark when the hinds calve? Can you number the months that they fulfil? [Do you know how long their pregnancies are?] or do you know the time when they bring forth? They bow themselves, they bring their young ones, and they cast out their sorrows. Can you actually harness a unicorn to plow in your field and to do your work, to bring in your harvest? Did you paint the beautiful wings on the peacocks? or the feathers of the ostrich? And this dumb ostrich that leaves her eggs in the earth, warms them in the dust, and forgets that a foot might crush them, or that the wild beast might break them in. She's hardened against her young ones, as though they were not hers: her labor is in vain without fear; Because God has deprived her of wisdom, neither hath he imparted to her understanding ( Job 39:1-3 , Job 39:10 , Job 39:12-17 ).

Now some birds have tremendous instinctive abilities: who put it in the mind of the golden plover to fly from Alaska to the Aleutians Islands in the springtime in order that they might hatch their eggs and raise their babies in Alaska in the springtime? Who put it in the mind of the plover to fly 2,000 miles over uncharted oceans and land up there in the Aleutian Islands? And then after they have their little ones, and as winter is approaching, the little golden plover turns around and flies back to Hawaii. Who guides it? Who's given it its instinctive guidance system that it can fly over the 2,000 miles of ocean nonstop and land by careful navigation there in Hawaii, even though it may be blown by crosswinds of up to 100 miles an hour and be blown off of course, yet find it's way to Hawaii? Well, you say it remembered the way that it came. Well, then who guides the kids who are left behind, who don't take off for Hawaii until two weeks after their parents have left? And they've never been to Hawaii.

God is just saying to Job, "Hey, Job, who has done all of these things? You know, you think you're so smart, go ahead and see how far you can get in doing these things." Now the ostrich, it lays its eggs, it doesn't worry about, you know, someone coming along and stepping on the sand and cracking the egg because God has hid wisdom from it. He's just let it be dumb, not care about the egg, whether it will hatch or not. He's hardened her against her young ones. And yet with some animals, there is very strong mother instincts. Then God talks about the horse with its tremendous strength and the excitement of the horse in battle and so forth. Who created this excitement within the horse?

Does the hawk fly by wisdom, and stretch forth her wings toward the south? Does the eagle mount up at your command, and makes her nest on high? ( Job 39:26-27 )

Who gave the eagle that instinct to build the nest way up on the cliff? Did you order that?

She dwells and abides on the rocks, upon the crags of the rocks, and in the strong place. And from there she seeks her prey, and her eyes behold very far off. Her young ones also suck up blood: and where the slain are, there is she ( Job 39:28-30 ). "

Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible

Doth the hawk fly by thy wisdom,.... With so much swiftness, steadiness, and constancy, until she has seized her prey. The Vulgate Latin version and some others read, "does she become feathered", or "begin to have feathers?" and so Bochart: either when first fledged; or when, as it is said d she casts her old feathers and gets new ones, and this every year. Now neither her flight nor her feathers, whether at one time or the other, are owing to men, but to the Lord, who gives both;

[and] stretch her wings towards the south? Being a bird of passage, she moves from colder climates towards the winter, and steers her course to the south towards warmer ones e; which she does by an instinct in nature, put into her by the Lord, and not through the instruction of man. Or, as some say, casting off her old feathers, she flies towards the south for warmth; and that her feathers may be cherished with the heat, and grow the sooner and better. Hence it is, perhaps, as Aelianus reports f, that this bird was by the Egyptians consecrated to Apollo or the sun; it being able to look upon the rays of it wistly, constantly, and easily, without being hurt thereby. Porphyry g says, that this bird is not only acceptable to the sun; but has divinity in it, according to the Egyptians; and is no other than Osiris, or the sun represented by the image of it h. Strabo i speaks of a city of the hawks, where this creature is worshipped. It has its name in Greek from the sacredness of it; and according to Hesiod k, is very swift, and has large wings. It is called ωκυπτερος, swift in flying, by Manetho l; and by Homer, ωκιστος πετεηνων, the swiftest of fowls m. It has its name from נצה, to "fly", as Kimchi observes n. Cyril of Jerusalem, on the authority of the Greek version, affirms o, that by a divine instinct or order, the hawk, stretching out its wings, stands in the midst of the air unmoved, looking towards the south. All accounts show it to be a bird that loves warmth, which is the reason of the expression in the text.

d Aelian. de Animal. l. 12. c. 4. e Ibid. l. 2. c. 43. Plin. l. 10. c. 8. f De Animal. l. 7. c. 9. & l. 10. c. 14. g De Abstinentia, l. 4. s. 9. h Kircher. Prodrom. Copt. p. 232. i Geograph. l. 17. p. 562. k Opera & Dies, l. 1. v. 208. l Apotelesm. l. 5. v. 176. m Iliad. 15. v. 238. Odyss 13. v. 87. n Sepher Shorash. rad. נצה. o Cateches. 9. s. 6.

Henry's Complete Commentary on the Bible

      26 Doth the hawk fly by thy wisdom, and stretch her wings toward the south?   27 Doth the eagle mount up at thy command, and make her nest on high?   28 She dwelleth and abideth on the rock, upon the crag of the rock, and the strong place.   29 From thence she seeketh the prey, and her eyes behold afar off.   30 Her young ones also suck up blood: and where the slain are, there is she.

      The birds of the air are proofs of the wonderful power and providences of God, as well as the beasts of the earth; God here refers particularly to two stately ones:-- 1. The hawk, a noble bird of great strength and sagacity, and yet a bird of prey, Job 39:26; Job 39:26. This bird is here taken notice of for her flight, which is swift and strong, and especially for the course she steers towards the south, whither she follows the sun in winter, out of the colder countries in the north, especially when she is to cast her plumes and renew them. This is her wisdom, and it was God that gave her this wisdom, not man. Perhaps the extraordinary wisdom of the hawk's flight after her prey was not used then for men's diversion and recreation, as it has been since. It is a pity that the reclaimed hawk, which is taught to fly at man's command and to make him sport, should at any time be abused to the dishonour of God, since it is from God that she receives that wisdom which makes her flight entertaining and serviceable. 2. The eagle, a royal bird, and yet a bird of prey too, the permission of which, nay, the giving of power to which, may help to reconcile us to the prosperity of oppressors among men. The eagle is here taken notice of, (1.) For the height of her flight. No bird soars so high, has so strong a wind, nor can so well bear the light of the sun. Now, "Doth she mount at thy command?Job 39:27; Job 39:27. Is it by any strength she has from thee? or dost thou direct her flight? No; it is by the natural power and instinct God has given her that she will soar out of thy sight, much more out of thy call." (2.) For the strength of her nest. Her house is her castle and strong-hold; she makes it on high and on the rock, the crag of the rock (Job 39:28; Job 39:28), which sets her and her young out of the reach of danger. Secure sinners think themselves as safe in their sins as the eagle in her nest on high, in the clefts of the rock; but I will bring thee down thence, saith the Lord,Jeremiah 49:16. The higher bad men sit above the resentments of the earth the nearer they ought to think themselves to the vengeance of Heaven. (3.) For her quicksightedness (Job 39:29; Job 39:29): Her eyes behold afar off, not upwards, but downwards, in quest of her prey. In this she is an emblem of a hypocrite, who, while, in the profession of religion, he seems to rise towards heaven, keeps his eye and heart upon the prey on earth, some temporal advantage, some widow's house or other that he hopes to devour, under pretence of devotion. (4.) For the way she has of maintaining herself and her young. She preys upon living animals, which she seizes and tears to pieces, and thence carries to her young ones, which are taught to suck up blood; they do it by instinct, and know no better; but for men that have reason and conscience to thirst after blood is what could scarcely be believed if there had not been in every age wretched instances of it. She also preys upon the dead bodies of men: Where the slain are, there is she, These birds of prey (in another sense than the horse, Job 39:25; Job 39:25) smell the battle afar off. Therefore, when a great slaughter is to be made among the enemies of the church, the fowls are invited to the supper of the great God, to eat the flesh of kings and captains,Revelation 19:17; Revelation 19:18. Our Saviour refers to this instinct of the eagle, Matthew 24:28. Wheresoever the carcase is, there will the eagles be gathered together. Every creature will make towards that which is its proper food; for he that provides the creatures their food has implanted in them that inclination. These and many such instances of natural power and sagacity in the inferior creatures, which we cannot account for, oblige us to confess our own weakness and ignorance and to give glory to God as the fountain of all being, power, wisdom, and perfection.