Job 39:5

5 "Who has let the wild donkey go free? Who has ¹loosed the bonds of the swift donkey,

Job 39:5 Meaning and Commentary

Job 39:5

Who hath sent out the wild ass free?
&c.] Into the wide waste, where it is, ranges at pleasure, and is not under the restraint of any; a creature which, as it is naturally wild, is naturally averse to servitude, is desirous of liberty and maintains it: not but that it may be tamed, as Pliny ^F13 speaks of such as are; but it chooses to be free, and, agreeably to its nature, it is sent out into the wilderness as such: not that it is set free from bondage, for in that it never was until it is tamed; but its nature and inclination, and course it pursues, is to be free. And now the question is, who gave this creature such a nature, and desire after liberty? and such power to maintain it? and directs it to take such methods to secure it, and keep clear of bondage? It is of God;

or who hath loosed the bands of the wild ass?
not that it has any naturally upon it, and is loosed from them; but because it is as clear of them as such creatures are, which have been in bands and are freed from them: therefore this mode of expression is used, and which signifies the same as before.

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FOOTNOTES:

F13 Nat. Hist. l. 8. c. 44.

Job 39:5 In-Context

3 when they crouch, bring forth their offspring, and are delivered of their young?

4 Their young ones become strong; they grow up in the open; they go out and do not return to them.

5 "Who has let the wild donkey go free? Who has loosed the bonds of the swift donkey,

6 to whom I have given the arid plain for his home and the salt land for his dwelling place?

7 He scorns the tumult of the city; he hears not the shouts of the driver.

Cross References

• 1. [Job 12:18; Psalms 116:16]