Job 39:27

27 Whether an eagle shall be raised up at thy commandment, and shall set his nest in high places?

Job 39:27 Meaning and Commentary

Job 39:27

Doth the eagle mount up at thy command
No; but by an instinct which God has placed in it, and a capacity he has given it above all other birds. They take a circuit in their flight, and bend about before they soar aloft: but the eagle steers its course directly upwards towards heaven, till out of sight; and, as Apuleius says ^F16, up to the clouds, where it rains and snows, and beyond which there is no place for thunder and lightning;

and make her nest on high?
so the philosopher says ^F17; eagles make their nests not in plains, but in high places, especially in cragged rocks, as in ( Job 39:28 ) .

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FOOTNOTES:

F16 Florida 1.
F17 Aristot. Hist. Animal. l. 9. c. 32.

Job 39:27 In-Context

25 When he heareth a clarion, he saith, Joy! he smelleth (the) battle afar (off); the exciting of dukes, and the yelling of the host (the orders of the leaders, and the yelling of the army).

26 Whether an hawk spreading abroad his wings to the south, beginneth to have feathers by thy wisdom? (Be it by thy wisdom that a hawk haveth feathers, and spreadeth his wings towards the south?)

27 Whether an eagle shall be raised up at thy commandment, and shall set his nest in high places?

28 He dwelleth in stones, and he abideth in flints broken before, and in rocks, to which men may not nigh. (He liveth on the stones, yea, on broken stones and rocks, to which men cannot come near.)

29 From thence he beholdeth (his) meat (From there he seeth his prey), and his eyes look from [a]far.