“Numquid nosti tempus partus ibicum in petris, vel parturientes cervas observasti ?”
“Knowest thou the time when the wild goats of the rock bring forth? or canst thou mark when the hinds do calve?”
““Do you know when mountain goats give birth? Have you watched the doe bear her fawn?”
““Do you know the time when the mountain goats give birth? Do you watch when the doe bears fawns?”
“Knowest thou the time when the wild goats of the rock bring forth? Or canst thou mark when the hinds do calve?”
After he had declared God’s works in the heavens, he showeth his marvelous providence in earth, even toward the brute beasts.
After he had declared God’s works in the heavens, he showeth his marvelous providence in earth, even toward the brute beasts.
Goats (Ibex. Hebrew Yahale.; Haydock) frequent rocks, and places which are almost inaccessible to man. (Calmet)
I. The wild goats and the hinds. That which is taken notice of concerning them is the bringing forth and bringing up of their young ones. For, as every individual is fed, so every species of animals is preserved, by the care of the divine Providence, and, for aught we know, none extinct to this day. Observe here, 1. Concerning the production of their young, (1.) Man is wholly ignorant of the time when they bring forth, v. 1, 2. Shall we pretend to tell what is in the womb of Providence, or what a day will bring forth, who know not the time of the pregnancy of a hind or a wild goat? (2.) Though they bring forth their young with a great deal of difficulty and sorrow, and have no assistance from man, yet, by the good providence of God, their young ones are safely produced, and their sorrows cast out and forgotten, v. 3. Some think it is intimated (Ps 29 9) that God by thunder helps the hinds in calving. Let it be observed, for the comfort of women in labour, that God helps even the hinds to bring forth their young; and shall he not much more succour them, and save them in child-bearing, who are his children in covenant with him? 2. Concerning the growth of their young, (v. 4): They are in good liking; though they are brought forth in sorrow, after their dams have suckled them awhile they shift for themselves in the corn-fields, and are no more burdensome to them, which is an example to children, when they have grown up, not to be always hanging upon their parents and craving from them, but to put forth themselves to get their own livelihood and to requite their parents.
God inquires of Job concerning several animals.