Attributed commentary excerpt
John Gill's Exposition on Job 39:13
A historical reference excerpt for this verse. Read it alongside the biblical text and other available sources.
Exposition of the Old and New Testament
John Gill (1697–1771) · 18th-century historical commentary
Source: BibleWord.ai's local reference edition of this named work.
[Gavest thou] the goodly wings unto the peacocks? etc.] Rather “ostriches”, as the Vulgate Latin and Tigurine versions render it; some render it, “the wing of those that exult is joyful”, so Montanus; that is, of the ostriches; who, in confidence of their wings, exult and glory over the horse and his rider, (<183918>Job 39:18); for peacocks are not remarkable for their wings, but for their tails; whereas the wings of the ostrich are as sails unto them, as several writers observe f1375; and with which they rather run, or row, than fly: hence it is called by Plautus f1376 “passer marinus”, the sea sparrow: and the feathers of it are more goodly than those of the wings of the peacock; and besides, it is a question whether the peacock was where Job lived, and in his times; since it is originally from the Indies, and from thence it was brought to Judea in the times of Solomon; and was not known in Greece and Rome f1377 until later ages. Alexander the Great, when he first saw them in India, was surprised at them; and yet Solon f1378 speaks of them in his time as seen by him, which was at least two hundred years before Alexander; though at Rome not common in the times of Horace f1379, who calls a peacock “rara avis”; and speaks of them as sold for a great price; but ostriches were well known in Arabia, where Job lived, as is testified by Xenophon f1380, Strabo f1381, and Diodorus Siculus f1382. Moreover, what is said in the following verses is only true of the ostrich, and that only is spoken of here and there, as it follows; or wings and feathers unto the ostrich; or whose wings and feathers are like the storks; and so Bochart renders the words, truly they have “the wing and feather of the stork”; the colours of which are black and white, from whence it has its name pelagrov f1383 in Greek; and so Leo Africanus f1384 says of the ostriches, that they have in their wings large feathers of a black and white colour; and this was a creature well known in Arabia f1385, in which Job lived.
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