Job 39:26

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 come to convince the man who dares to sit in judgment on God's doings of his own ignorance and powerlessness.

Job had presumed to sit in judgment on Jehovah and His ways; his competence for this is tested: what does he know? What can he do? Shall the creature — so weak in power, so ignorant, so filled with empty pride — presume to instruct God about His duties? Shall he point out God's failures, and in fact take over what belongs to Him alone?

Now He looks at the hawk, and the eagle more particularly. "Is it by your understanding that the hawk soars?" Who was it that gave these special powers to all these animals and birds? "Is it at your command that the eagle mounts up and makes his nest on high?"

The Hebrew word is nets, and it covers the different species of hawk, of which there are several. Some at least of the hawks are migratory. This is thought to be what Job 39:26 refers to in the words "spreads his wings toward the south." The most common of the smaller hawks in Palestine is the Kestrel.

Jehovah comes back to the creatures that live by preying on others. He asks whether it is Job's wisdom that directs the hawk to take its southward journey as winter approaches. What is this mysterious power, called instinct, that moves the birds to migrate to warmer regions? If it is only the lack of food, why do they fly while food is still plentiful, as the swallows do? And why in flocks? And why to the south? "Even the stork in the heavens knows her times, and the turtledove, swallow, and crane keep the time of their coming" (Jeremiah 8:7).

Of course scientists would say it is by instinct that birds migrate to a warmer climate. But polar bears, for instance, do not have this instinct, and neither do penguins. Who gave this instinct to some birds? Only their Creator.

And so Jehovah comes down to the human level and points out these familiar things in the scene around the suffering saint. Does he see that prowling lioness? Who gives it food for its young? Who listens to the hungry croak of the raven? Who guides the hawk in its homing flight, or the king of birds, the eagle, with its home on high? There is only one answer.

The hawk too may teach him a lesson. Is it by Job's instructions that the hawk soars high into the air? Is it by his command that the eagle mounts up and builds his nest at a dizzy height, where he watches for his prey? Job could give no answer. His silence is agreement.

Let Job only learn his lesson, and he will be satisfied with good things. His youth will be renewed like the eagle. He will mount up with wings, never again to grow weary.