He ranges the mountains as his pasture, and he searches after every green thing.
God's answer to Job runs through creature after creature. Here He stops at the wild donkey — an animal no one owns, feeding where no farmer plants. Who arranged that life, and what does it say to Job?
The Creator Assigned the Habitat
One writer puts the wild donkey next to the working animals. The same hand arranged both.
William KellyHe, not man, has made them what they are, and ordered their habits and their homes. He has given some animals the work of carrying man's burdens. Others He has kept free from any such service. Take the wild donkey. Its house is the desert and its dwelling-place the open country. There a city's noise and a driver's shouts are unknown. It can range the mountains at will as it searches out every green thing.
Fed Where Nothing Grows
The pasture in this verse is not rich farmland.
Leslie M. GrantThe wild donkey lives in "the barren land," yet God somehow sustains him in finding food. ... His pasture is the lower ranges of the mountains, not the rocks. There he may find green vegetation.
Care for Creatures Men Ignore
God's care reaches creatures men would write off. The argument then runs from them to Job.
Samuel RidoutThe series opens with God's provision for beasts and birds of prey, as seen in the lion and the raven. Next, the wild animals of the mountain and desert come under His all-wise care... They might seem worthless, even harmful, yet He cares for them with unerring wisdom. Shall He fail to watch over His child who knows and trusts Him?
A Portrait Job Could Recognise
Commentators also read the animal as a mirror held up to Job.
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.
The lesson is not for Job alone.
W. W. FeredayIn the Word of God the donkey is not only unclean; it is also the very picture of self-will. Read the Lord's account of him as He reasons with His servant in Job 39:5-8. And what is sin? Scripture defines it in 1 John 3:4: "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 whatever the cost?
Comfort for a Man in Bonds
Suffering held Job down while this animal roamed free.
Samuel RidoutMoving from the mountain to the plain, the Lord points out the one creature that lives in those waste places: the wild donkey. He is quite different from the wild goats in ways and habits. But he shares one thing with them: he depends completely on his Creator. What control has Job over a creature like this, who knows no bonds and serves no master? As he thinks of their freedom, Job might sigh under his burdens. God is able to loosen his bonds. Let him not doubt, but wait on God.
A Description That Still Fits
One writer applies the same description to a people still living this way.
William KellyNo more vivid sketch was ever drawn than the one given of Ishmael's descendants in the words quoted... Such exactly are the Bedouins. No sober Christian supposes an ongoing miracle in Ishmael's case. Yet what God said of that race is as sure as what He said of Israel.
Summary
- Freed by God. God gave this donkey his freedom. He made the desert his home and kept him clear of human service.
- Fed by God. His pasture is barren ground below the rocks. God feeds him there as he searches out every green thing.
- Known by God. His care reaches even the creatures men count worthless. It will not fail His child who trusts Him.
- Mirrored in Job. Independent, rebellious, wanting his own way: the animal pictures self-will. God asks Job to see himself in it.
- Released by God. The One who loosed this creature's bands can loose Job's; the lesson ends not in envy of the free but in waiting on God.