Can you bind him in the furrow with ropes, or will he harrow the valleys after you?
God answers Job out of the whirlwind with a long series of questions about the animals. Here He points to one beast that has never pulled a plough. The challenge is simple. Job cannot make this creature work a field for him. How then can he sit in judgment on the God who made it?
Which Animal Is Meant
Older translations call this animal a "unicorn." One writer tests that older name against what Scripture actually says.
Morrish Bible DictionaryNothing in Scripture suggests that the animal had only one horn. In fact Deuteronomy 33:17 speaks of "the horns of a unicorn" in the older wording, and it must have been an animal the Israelites knew well. Its great strength and untameable nature are the main features. Man cannot use it for farm work as he uses the tame ox.
Another writer names the creature and shows where it stands among the animals God lists.
William KellyThere is only one animal with a single horn, the Indian rhinoceros, found only in Southern Asia, but here it should be the wild ox. We have the wild goat (v. 1), the wild donkey (v. 5), and now the wild ox (v. 9). They follow one another in order. This is a more powerful animal than either of the others. There is a rising in the scale.
Strength Man Cannot Use
The sting of the question is not that the animal is weak. Its strength is real, and useless to Job.
Leslie M. GrantThe wild ox is understood to be a large antelope that cannot be tamed. Could Job make it plod along a furrow, pulling a plough as oxen were taught to do? (v. 10). The strength of the antelope was more than enough for this, but how could man make use of such strength? Could he trust such an animal to bring home grain from the field? (v. 12). Of course the answer to all these questions is no. But this teaches us that God's creation holds much variety that man cannot even understand. It shows up man's limits against God's unlimited resources.
Who Assigned the Yoke
Some animals carry man's loads. Others never will. God, not man, settled which is which.
William KellyWhatever men think or say, neither Job nor anyone else can put the wild ox to man's ordinary work. No one can make it submit quietly to his control or care. Its strength might be priceless. But God made all things, and He gave Adam rule over fish and birds, cattle, every creeping thing, and all the earth. He did not tie the wild ox to the furrow with a rope. He did not make it harrow behind Job. He did not ask Job to hand the labours of the field over to it, at the beginning or at the end.
Why God Asks at All
These are not riddles about farming or zoology. They ask who Job is next to the God who made these creatures.
The Bible TreasuryIn the material world God proves Job ignorant of the origin of any of His works. Now in Job 39 He requires Job to think about how unable he is to rule over the animal world. Whether it is the unicorn, the horse, or the eagle, each and all are stronger than Job. How much more should He who created them and gave them their qualities command Job's reverence and fear!
The Hidden Comfort
There is mercy inside the rebuke. The nature that yields to no man still yields to its Maker.
Samuel RidoutWill the wild ox plough and carry the burdens of daily labour like the tame ox? That wild, untamed nature yields to One only. Can Job doubt that He will control all things, even the wild powers of evil, and make them the obedient servants of His will? So God will bring the wild and wandering thoughts of His poor servant into captivity. He will bring a rich harvest of blessing out of his bitter experiences.
Summary
- Wild, not one-horned. Scripture never gives this creature a single horn. Its marks are great strength and a nature no man can tame.
- Strength without service. Its power is real and worth having, yet Job cannot rope it, cannot make it harrow, cannot trust it to carry a harvest home.
- A rising scale. Goat, then wild donkey, then wild ox — each step puts a stronger creature further out of Job's reach.
- The yoke is God's to give. He assigned some animals to serve man and left others free; Job never had the say in that, at the beginning or at the end.
- Humbled, then harvested. The questions leave Job in reverence before his Maker. The One who alone masters the untameable can master Job's wandering thoughts too, and bring blessing out of his bitterness.