Job 39:11

11 And dost thou trust him, because his strength is great? and wilt thou commit thy works 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.

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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 And will the unicorn be willing to serve thee, or to lie down at thy manger?

10 And wilt thou bind his yoke with thongs, or will he plough furrows for thee in the plain?

11 And dost thou trust him, because his strength is great? and wilt thou commit thy works to him?

12 And wilt thou believe that he will return to thee thy seed, and bring in thy threshing-floor?

13 The peacock has a beautiful wing: if the stork and the ostrich conceive, ,