Knowest thou the time when the wild goats of the rock bring forth? dost thou mark the calving of the hinds?
God answers Job with questions, and in Job 39 they turn from the world's structure to the creatures that fill it. The chapter opens with two births no human ever sees, and asks a suffering man what he can learn from animals he cannot reach or help.
God's first example lives where no one can follow. One commentator walks through the verse:
"Do you know the time when the wild goats of the rock give birth?" They are generally very hard for man to reach. They are found in the great heights of the mountains. "Can you watch when the deer give birth? Can you number the months that they complete? Or do you know the time when they bring forth? They bow themselves; they bring forth their young ones, they cast out their pangs; their young ones are in good condition" — though they are hunted to death, and man is fond of feeding on them, yet God provides for them.
(He uses an older translation; the ESV says "mountain goats" and "the calving of the does.")
These questions sound like a quiz about animal biology. One commentator says that reading misses the point:
Think of the blindness of rationalism. Here is a magnificent disproof of human presumption and complaint against God. Rationalism sees in it no more than Job's ignorance of how long a deer, or another animal named, takes in gestation! Clearly the question here is not zoological learning. It is about the kind and generous care that goes with perfect knowledge of every creature. His watchful oversight matched the goodness and wisdom that made them. It covered young and old, beast and bird, even the least familiar and the hardest to reach. If God cared like that, was it not for Job to listen and learn, instead of darkening counsel with words without knowledge?
God's care is not aimed at the species in general. It reaches each animal at the moment that animal needs it. The same writer ties this to what Jesus told His disciples:
Again, was it Job who looked after the mountain goat, or kept watch over the deer at a time most critical for themselves and their offspring? Certainly there is not one whose months El does not count, whose time of bearing He does not know. He counts the hairs of our heads. He sees every sparrow that falls, and has His part in all. The Saviour told this to the trembling disciples to encourage them as they went out at His word.
"El" is a Hebrew name for God.
Knowing a fact is not the same as keeping a life. Job may know how long these animals carry their young. The question goes further:
What does Job know about the habits of the wild animals living in the mountains no one can reach? "The high mountains are for the wild goats" (Ps. 104:18). He might know in general how long these elusive creatures carry their young. But does he know and watch over each parent animal, guard its life, and bring it safely through its time of danger? How amazing and how consistent it all is, and how completely beyond man's knowledge or power. And these young ones, kept for a short time by their parent, then going off on their own — who watches over them?
God's care for these cliff animals is not only about animals. One writer applies it to people in trouble:
If God cares for these "rock-climbers," will He not watch the steps of His timid people who are trying to climb over the rugged rocks of adversity? Will He not be with them in the birth-pangs of frightening experiences, and give them a happy outcome from all their troubles?
One writer carries this question about timing into the birth of Christ:
Days of God are being fulfilled; days that God is counting; days, we may say with spiritual sensitivity, that Mary counted. Think of God entering into this great matter, the fulfilment of days. He says to Job, "Do you know when the mountain goats give birth?" (Job 39:1). The sympathetic interest of God in these great matters — entirely beyond the understanding of men! The number of Mary's days was fulfilled. In Galatians we are told, "When the fullness of time had come." These were days counted by God, days counted by the angels.
- Reach — The examples lie beyond man: high rocks, elusive animals, births nobody attends.
- Care — The point is not zoology. It is care joined to perfect knowledge, and Job's part was to listen and learn.
- Counted — God counts the months of every animal that carries young. He knows the hour of every birth no human eye sees.
- How much more — If God brings a wild goat safely through her danger, He keeps His people climbing the rocks of adversity.
- Timing — The God who times a deer's calving also fulfilled the counted days that brought Christ into the world.
Dost thou number the months that they fulfil? and knowest thou the time when they bring forth?
God is still questioning Job, and His questions have moved from how the world was made to the wild deer on the hills. Counting months and knowing the hour of a birth sounds like a small thing. Job cannot do it. God does it for every animal alive.
God's questions do not stay in the sky.
In the material world God shows Job that he knows nothing about how any of His works began. Now, in Job 39, God makes him think about how unable he is to rule over the animal world.
Notice which animals He picks.
The Lord now turns Job's attention to animals not in the least aggressive, the wild goats and the deer. Indeed, instead of being aggressive, they are elusive. Did Job understand all about them? — when they bear their young, how many months they carry them, and so on. How much Job knew at the time we do not know. There is more general knowledge of these things now. Even so, how many people know all about such matters from real experience with the animals themselves?
The verse turns on counting, and on knowing a time. Who does that counting?
Again, was it Job who looked after the mountain goat? Did he keep watch over the deer at the time of greatest danger to themselves and their young? Certainly there is not one whose months God does not count, not one whose time of bearing He does not know. He who counts the hairs of our heads sees every sparrow that falls, and has His part in all. The Saviour told the trembling disciples this to encourage them, as they went out at His word.
It would be easy to read the verse as a quiz about animal biology.
Think of the blindness of rationalism! Here is a magnificent disproof of human pride and complaint against God, and rationalism sees no more in it than Job's ignorance of how long a deer, or another animal named here, carries her young. Clearly the question here is not about zoological knowledge. It is about the generous care that goes together with perfect knowledge of every creature. God kept such watchful oversight over young or old, beast or bird, even the least familiar or the hardest to reach, and He did it with the goodness and wisdom that made them. If so, was it not for Job to listen and learn, instead of darkening counsel by words without knowledge?
Knowing a fact and keeping watch are not the same thing.
He might know in general how long these elusive creatures carry their young. But does he know and watch over each parent animal, guard its life, and bring it safely through its time of danger? How amazing and uniform it all is, how utterly beyond man's knowledge or power. And these young, for a brief time sustained by their parent, then going off by themselves — who watches over them?
Job was a man in the middle of terrible loss. Ridout turns this picture toward people in trouble.
If God cares for these "rock-climbers," shall He not watch the steps of His timid people who are seeking to climb over the rugged rocks of adversity? Will He not be with them in the birth pangs of fearful experiences, and give them a happy outcome from all their troubles?
Another writer follows this counting of months to a later birth.
Days of God are being fulfilled; days that God is numbering; days, we may say with spiritual delicacy, that Mary numbered. The sympathetic interest of God in these great matters is entirely beyond the understanding of men! The number of Mary's days was fulfilled. Galatians tells us, "When the fullness of time had come." These were days numbered by God, days numbered by the angels.
The God who counts the months of a deer counted those days too.
- Counted. No creature's months go uncounted by God, and no birth in the wild happens outside His knowledge.
- Cared for. The counting is not cold record-keeping. In God, perfect knowledge and generous care go together.
- Hidden. God names animals that keep away from people. His attention reaches where no human eye looks.
- Humbled. Job could not rule or even track the animal world, so he was in no position to correct the God who does both.
- Comforted. If He brings a deer safely through her hour of danger, He will bring His own people through theirs to a good end.
They bow themselves, they give birth to their young ones, they cast out their pains;
God questions Job about the wild goats and deer of the mountains, down to the hour when their young are born. The question is not whether Job knows the timing, but who is present at the birth — and what that says about the God Job has complained about.
These animals live where people cannot follow. No one watches the birth this verse describes. One writer asks whether Job could do more than know a general fact about the species:
What does Job know about the habits of the wild animals living in the unreachable mountains? "The high mountains are for the wild goats" (Psalm 104:18). He might know in general how long these shy creatures carry their young. But does he know each parent animal? Does he watch over it, guard its life, and bring it safely through its time of danger? How amazing and how consistent it all is, and how completely beyond man's knowledge or power. And these young, kept for a short while by their parent, then going off on their own — who watches over them?
"They cast out their sorrows" in older versions renders what modern translations give as labour pains ending. One rendering of the passage sets the bowing, the bearing, and the letting go in a single sweep:
They bow themselves, they bring forth their young, / They cast away their pangs. / Their young fatten, grow up in the desert, / They go forth, and return to them no more!
The same writer notes what surrounds these births: these are hunted animals, yet their young come through and thrive.
"Their young ones are in good liking" — though they are hunted to death, and man is fond of feeding on them, yet God provides for them.
Some have read the question as a quiz about how long animals carry their young. One writer answers that reading:
Think how blind rationalism is. Here is a magnificent disproof of human pride and complaint against God, and all it sees is that Job did not know how long a hind or some other animal named takes to carry her young! Clearly the question here is not about animal science. It is about the kind care that goes with perfect knowledge of every creature. God kept this watch over young and old, beast and bird, even the least familiar or the most unreachable. His care matched the goodness and wisdom that made them. So was it not for Job to listen and learn, instead of darkening counsel by words without knowledge? And His ways with His people go far deeper than His dealings with the animal world.
The chapter keeps asking Job whether this watch is his to keep. One writer gives the answer, and carries it from the deer to the disciples:
Again, was it Job who looked after the mountain goat, or kept watch over the hinds at a time most critical for themselves and their offspring? There is not one whose months God does not count, and not one whose time of bearing He does not know. He counts the hairs of our heads. He sees every sparrow that falls, and has His part in all. The Saviour told the trembling disciples this to encourage them, as they went out at His word.
Job was suffering, and he had complained about God's dealings with him. One writer argues from the wild goat up to Job himself:
Man does not care for these animals, but God does. And if God cares for these climbers of the rocks, how much more does He care for humans who face difficulties that may seem impossible to overcome? Let Job consider this well.
Another writer applies the climb and the birth pangs to God's own people:
If God cares for these "rock-climbers," will He not watch the steps of His timid people who are trying to climb over the rugged rocks of adversity? Will He not be with them in the birth-throes of terrifying experiences, and give them a happy outcome from all their troubles?
- Hidden. The birth happens in mountains no human visits, so if anyone is watching over it, it must be God.
- Counted. God knows more than the species in general. He counts the months of each creature and knows her hour of bearing.
- Released. The birth is over, the danger passes, and the young are strong — God's provision, not man's.
- Misread. The question is not a test in animal science. The point is God's kind care, joined to perfect knowledge of every creature.
- Applied. If God stays with a doe in her hour of danger, He stays with His people in theirs. He gives them a happy outcome from all their troubles.
Their young ones become strong, they grow up in the open field, they go forth, and return not unto them.
Job 39:4 belongs to a long line of questions God puts to Job, holding up one creature after another before a man who had argued about God's ways. The young mountain goats grow strong, leave, and never come back — so who, if not Job, watched over them?
God turns from the wonders of creation to living creatures. The list has an aim.
From the wonders of lifeless creation above, beneath, and around, Jehovah now turns to the animal kingdom. The lion, the raven, the wild goat or ibex, the wild ass, the wild ox, the ostrich, the horse, the hawk, and the eagle appear one after another. They are there to convince the man who dares to sit in judgment on God's doings that he is ignorant and powerless.
It would be easy to read these verses as a quiz on natural history. Commentators press hard against that reading.
Think of the blindness of rationalism! Here is a magnificent disproof of human presumption and complaint against God. Yet rationalism sees no more in it than Job's ignorance of how long a hind, or other animal named, takes to carry her young. Clearly the question here is not knowledge of animals. It is the kind care that goes together with perfect knowledge of every creature. Suppose God kept such watchful oversight over young or old, beast or bird, even the least familiar or the hardest to reach. Then Job's part was to listen and learn, not to cloud the matter with words without knowledge.
Where does this care happen? Far from people, and among animals men hunt for food.
"Do you know when the mountain goats of the rock give birth?" (Job 39:1). Man can rarely reach them. They live high up in the mountains. "Their young ones become strong; they grow up in the open; they go out and do not return to them." Though men hunt them to death and are fond of eating them, God still provides for them.
The closing line describes a parting: the mother's brief care ends, and the young go off alone.
What does Job know about the habits of the wild animals living in mountains he cannot reach? "The high mountains are for the wild goats" (Ps. 104:18). He might know in general how long these elusive creatures carry their young. But does he know and watch over each parent animal, guard its life, and bring it safely through its time of danger? How amazing and how steady it all is, and how far beyond man's knowledge or power. And these young, kept for a short while by their parent, then going off on their own — who watches over them?
The argument now runs upward, from the animals to man himself.
Then what about the goats of the rock and their young? His all-seeing eye saw them out on the desert rocks, and He watched over their young. Could He not then watch the steps of His higher creature, man, His own offspring?
The same picture becomes comfort for people in trouble.
If God cares for these "rock-climbers," will He not watch the steps of His timid people as they climb the rugged rocks of adversity? Will He not be with them in the birth-pangs of frightening experiences? Will He not give them a happy outcome from all their troubles?
- Counted — God keeps a count no man keeps. Job may know in general how long a wild goat carries her young. He never watched over a single one of them.
- Cared for — What God counts, He also keeps. The questions are not about animal facts but about "the kind care that goes together with perfect knowledge of every creature."
- Concealed — This care happens where no one is looking: high rocks, open country, creatures "the least familiar or the hardest to reach." God's goodness needs no audience.
- Continued — When the young "go out and do not return," the mother's care ends and God's does not. He provides for the hunted, and He watches the young that go off alone.
- Concluded — If He watches the young goat, He watches the sufferer. "Could He not then watch the steps of His higher creature, man?" That is the question the whole parade of creatures leaves with Job.