Verse-by-Verse Bible Commentary
Job 39:29

Clarke's Commentary

Verse Job 39:29. Her eyes behold afar off. — The eagle was proverbial for her strong and clear sight. So Horace, lib. i., sat. iii., ver. 25: -

Cum tua pervideas oculis mala lippus inunctis,

Cur in amicorum vitas tam cernis acutum,

Quam aut aquila, aut serpens Epidaurius?

"For wherefore while you carelessly pass by

Your own worst vices with unheeding eye,

Why so sharp-sighted in another's fame,

Strong as an eagle's ken, or dragon's beam?"

FRANCIS.

So AElian, lib. i., cap. 42. And Homer, Iliad xvii., calls the eagle οξυτατον ὑπουρανιων πετεηνων, "The most quick-sighted of all fowls under heaven."

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

From, thence she seeketh the prey, and her eyes behold afar off - “When far aloft, and no longer discernible by the human eye, such is the wonderful acuteness of its sight, that from the same elevation it will mark a hare, or even a smaller animal, and dart down on it with unerring aim.” “Edin. Ency.” “Of all animals, the eagle has the quickest eye; but his sense of smelling is far inferior to that of the vulture. He never pursues, therefore, but in sight.” “Goldsmith.” This power of sight was early known, and is celebrated by the ancients. Thus, Homer, r’ - . verse 674.

- ὥστ ̓ ἀιετός ὄν ῥά τε φασὶν

Ὀξύσατον δέρκεσθαι ὑπουρανίων πετεηνῶν.

- hōst' aietos on ra te fasin

Oxusaton derkesthai hupouraniōn peteēnōn.

“As the eagle of whom it is said that it enjoys the keenest vision of

All the fowls under heaven.”

So Aelian, II. L. i. 32. Also Horace “Serm.” L. i. Sat. 3:

- tam cernit acutum

Quam aut aquila, aut serpeus Epidaurus.

The Arabic writers say that the eagle can see “four hundred parasangs.” “Damir,” as quoted by Scheutzer. It is now ascertained that birds of prey search out or discern their food rather by the sight than the smell. No sooner does a camel fall and die on the plains of Arabia, than there may be seen in the far-distant sky apparently a black speck, which is soon discovered to be a vulture hastening to its prey. From that vast distance the bird, invisible to human eye, has seen the prey stretched upon the sand and immediately commences toward it its rapid flight.

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

From thence she seeketh the prey,.... From the high rock; from whence she can look down into valleys, and even into the sea; and spy what is for her purpose, and descend and seize upon them; as lambs, fawns, geese, shellfish, c. though they may lie in the most hidden and secret places. Wherefore in the original text it is, "she diggeth the prey or food" s as treasure hid in secret is dug or diligently searched for; and for which she is qualified by the sharpness of her sight, as follows:

[and] her eyes behold afar off; from the high rocks and higher clouds, even from the high sky, as Aelianus t expresses it; and who observes that she is the most sharp sighted of all birds; and so, Homer u says, some affirm.

s חפר אכל "fodit escam"; Montanus, Mercerus. t De Animal. l. 2. c. 26. & l. 1. c. 42. Aristot. & Plin. ut supra. (Aristot. Hist. Animal. l. 9. c. 32. Nat. Hist. l. 10. c. 3.) u Iliad. 17. v. 674, 675. so Diodor. Sic. l. 3. p. 145.

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.