He scorns the tumult of the city; he hears not the shouts of the driver.
God is questioning Job out of the storm. Here He points to the wild donkey — an animal nobody owns, nobody feeds, nobody drives. Who arranged a life like that? Who gave one animal a stall and a master, and another the open waste and no voice to obey?
Who Loosed the Bands
One writer sets out what these animal questions were for: God's care for each creature, and His free hand in deciding how each one lives.
William KellyThis is plainly not a question about animal science. It is a question about the kind care that goes with perfect knowledge of every creature. Suppose God did watch so carefully over young or old, beast or bird, even the least familiar or most out of reach. Suppose His care matched the goodness and wisdom which made them. Was it not then for Job to listen and learn, instead of darkening counsel by words without knowledge? … He, not man, has made them what they are, and ordered their habits and their homes. Some He has given to be the burden-bearers of man. Others He has freed from any such service — like the wild donkey, with its house in the desert.
No City, No Driver
The verse names two sounds — city noise and a driver's shout — and this donkey answers to neither. One writer shows how he lives instead.
Leslie M. GrantThe wild donkey is a completely different creature. He is found mainly in the plains or wilderness. Man does not control the habits of this animal that is "free as the breeze." He lives in "the barren land," yet God somehow sustains him in finding food. He avoids the tumult of the city and is not like the tame donkey that must obey the direction of a driver.
A Mirror Held Up to Job
The same writer turns the portrait back on the man listening to it.
Leslie M. GrantWould men have even thought of creating an animal like this? But in some respects Job was like the wild donkey — independent, rebellious, wanting his own way. So he had another object lesson to consider.
Another writer hears longing here rather than rebuke. Job was the one in chains, while this creature roamed free.
Samuel RidoutWhat control has Job over a creature like this, who knows no bonds, serves no master? As he thinks of their freedom, Job might sigh beneath his burdens. God is able to loosen his bonds. Let him not doubt, but wait on God.
The Picture of Self-Will
Other parts of Scripture use this animal as a symbol. One writer takes it straight to the meaning of sin.
W. W. FeredayIn the Word of God the donkey is not only represented as unclean; it is also the very synonym for self-will. Read the Lord's account of him as He reasons with His servant in Job 39:5-8. And what is sin? … "Sin is lawlessness." In other words, sin is doing our own will and neglecting the will of God. Who can claim to be exempt here? Who among us does not love to have his own way at whatever cost?
Desert Dwellers
One writer applies the picture to a real people: the descendants of Ishmael, a son of Abraham.
William KellyNo sharper picture of Ishmael's descendants was ever drawn than the words quoted here: "He scorns the tumult of the city; he hears not the shouts of the driver" (Job 39:5-8). The Bedouins are exactly like this.
The Better Freedom
The wild donkey hears no driver. One writer sets the opposite picture beside him: a horse that does.
The Christian's FriendThe wild donkey likes his own wild ways. He likes to run about at will and refuses to be bridled or tamed, or to submit himself to another's will. Is this not a striking picture of the heart that has never been changed by God? But a horse in Pharaoh's chariots has been broken in. It has learned to give up its own wishes. It yields to the pull of the rein in its master's hand, and so spends its energy in its master's service.
Summary
- Freedom given. The donkey did not win his liberty; God loosed the bands and assigned him the desert instead of the stall.
- Freedom fed. No driver means no feeder either. Yet God feeds him in the barren land, and His care reaches the creature that serves no man.
- Freedom mirrored. God held up a mirror. Job too was independent and wanting his own way. Commentators differ here: some read the scene as rebuke, others as comfort that God can loosen Job's bonds too.
- Freedom exposed. Hearing no driver is the picture of self-will. Doing our own will in place of God's will is what sin is.
- Freedom fulfilled. Real freedom is not running loose in the desert. It is the broken horse in the chariot, giving its strength to the rein and to its Master's service.