Job 39:14

The ostrich is another most interesting creature of God — a bird, but not a flying bird, using its wings only to help it run at a fast rate. Also, unlike other birds, she makes no comfortable nest to lay her eggs in and hide them from predators. She leaves them in the ground and warms them in the dust, in places where animals or people may walk. She does not consider the danger: these eggs break easily.

There is nothing here about peacocks at all. It is a mistake. It should read, "The wing of the ostrich waves joyously; is it the pinion and plumage of the stork?" The first part of the verse is about the ostrich, and the second part about the stork. The ostrich, with its great fluttering and its stupid indifference to its young, stands in contrast to the stork. The stork is the most affectionate bird that God created. No bird has such great care for its offspring.

And who is to dispute with God? The God who gives one bird its remarkable character of affection takes the commonest sense away from another bird of immense power and great swiftness. An ostrich could outrun a racehorse for a while.

In the previous verse the ostrich is named by a word that means "a crying or wailing." The ostrich leaves its eggs in the sand, well covered up. The sun keeps them warm by day, and the parent sits upon them at night. The bird leaves other eggs unprotected nearby, to feed the young birds when they hatch, and these may be trampled on. As for the parents' indifference to their young, people say that when a hunter comes near, the birds leave their nests and often cannot find the place again in the wide desert. But dead jackals have been found near the nests, killed by the parent birds.

It would be amusing, if it were not so sad, when critics declare that the author of "the poem" made a mistake about the eggs of the ostrich. But it is not an "author" who speaks. It is the Creator Himself, and He knows more about His creatures than all the "scientists" in the world.

All things, however wild and seemingly senseless, are His creatures, and He does not forget them. Here is a creature that God Himself seems to have deprived of the ordinary mother's instincts. Yet some One — Who? — cares for the helpless brood.

As to the ostrich, let its wing speed ever so joyously, God is still sovereign here, whatever man may reason… But this is not without God, who takes in more than man can grasp. Let man then mark, learn, and worship, and not set up to judge God or to murmur.

It is significant that the series opens and closes with mention of beasts and birds of prey. They might seem worthless, or even harmful, and yet He cares for them with unerring wisdom. Shall He fail to watch over His child who knows and trusts Him?