Job 39:11

11 Will you trust him because his strength is great? Or will you leave your labor to him?

Job 39:11 Meaning and Commentary

Job 39:11

Wilt thou trust him, because his strength [is] great?
&c.] No; tame oxen are employed because they are strong to labour, ( Psalms 144:14 ) ; and they are to be trusted, in ploughing or treading out the corn, under direction, because they are manageable, and will attend to business with constancy; but the wild ox, though stronger, and so fitter for labour, is yet not to be trusted, because unruly and unmanageable: if that sort of wild oxen called "uri" could be thought to be meant, for which Bootius F8 contends, Caesar's account of them would agree with this character of the "reem", as to his great strength: he says of them F9, they are in size a little smaller than elephants, of the kind, colour, and shape of a bull; they are of great strength and of great swiftness, and not to be tamed;

or wilt thou leave thy labour to him?
to plough thy fields, to harrow thy lands, and to bring home the ripe corn? as in ( Job 39:12 ) ; thou wilt not.


FOOTNOTES:

F8 Animadvers. Sacr. l. 3. c. 1. s. 14.
F9 Comment. de Bello Gall. l. 6. c. 27.

Job 39:11 In-Context

9 "Will the wild ox be willing to serve you? Will he bed by your manger?
10 Can you bind the wild ox in the furrow with ropes? Or will he plow the valleys behind you?
11 Will you trust him because his strength is great? Or will you leave your labor to him?
12 Will you trust him to bring home your grain, And gather it to your threshing floor?
13 "The wings of the ostrich wave proudly, But are her wings and pinions like the kindly stork's?
Scripture taken from the New King James Version. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson, Inc. Used by permission. All rights reserved.