Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of Job 39:21
He paweth in the valley, and rejoiceth in [his] strength: he goeth on to meet the armed men.
21. the armed men ] lit. the weapons.
Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges
He paweth in the valley – Margin, or, His feet dig. The marginal reading is more in accordance with the Hebrew. The reference is to the well known fact of the pawing of the horse with his feet, as if he would dig up the ground. The same idea occurs in Virgil, as quoted above:
caavatque
Tellurem, et solido graviter solar ungula cornu.
Also in Apollonius, L. iii. Argonauticon:
, ,
.
Hos d’ areios hippos, eeldomenos polemoio,
Skarthmo epichremethon krouei pedon.
As a war-horse, impatient for the battle,
Neighing beats the ground with bis hoofs
He goeth on to meet the armed men – Margin, armor. The margin is in accordance with the Hebrew, but still the idea is substantially the same. The horse rushes on furiously against the weapons of war.
Fuente: Albert Barnes’ Notes on the Bible
Verse 21. He paweth in the valley] yachperu, “they dig in the valley,” i.e., in his violent galloping, in every pitch of his body, he scoops up sods out of the earth. Virgil has seized this idea also, in his cavat tellurem; “he scoops out the ground.” See before.
Fuente: Adam Clarke’s Commentary and Critical Notes on the Bible
He paweth; or, he diggeth. Through courage and wantonness he cannot stand still, but is beating, as it were digging, up the earth with his feet.
In the valley: this he adds, partly because the ground being there more plain and smooth, he hath the better conveniency for his prancing and pawing with his feet, which in hilly and uneven ground he cannot so well do; and partly because battles use to be pitched in valleys, or low grounds, especially horse battles.
Rejoiceth in his strength; making semblance of great pride and complacency in it.
He goeth on to meet the armed men, with great readiness and undaunted courage.
Fuente: English Annotations on the Holy Bible by Matthew Poole
21. valleywhere the battle isjoined.
goeth ongoeth forth(Num 1:3; Num 21:23).
Fuente: Jamieson, Fausset and Brown’s Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible
He paweth in the valley,…. Where armies are usually pitched and set in battle army, and especially the cavalry, for which the valley is most convenient; and here the horse is impatient of engaging, cannot stand still, but rises up with his fore feet and paws and prances, and, as the word signifies, digs the earth and makes it hollow, by a continual striking upon it; so generally horses are commonly described in this manner s;
and rejoiceth in [his] strength; of which he is sensible, and glories in it; marches to the battle with pride and stateliness, defying, as it were, the enemy, and as if sure of victory, of which he has knowledge when obtained; for Lactantius says t of horses, when conquerors they exult, when conquered they grieve; it has its name in the Hebrew language from rejoicing u;
he goeth on to meet the armed men; without any fear or dread of them, as follows.
s “Cavatque tellurem”. Virgil. Georgic. l. 3. v. 87. t Institut. l. 3. c. 8. u “gavisus est”. Vid. Buxtorf. in voce .
Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible
(21) He paweth . . . he rejoiceth.The first verb is plural, and the second singular. They paw (literally, dig), and he rejoiceth.
Fuente: Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers (Old and New Testaments)
21. He paweth The subject of this verb, which is in the plural, is uncertain, and is supposed by Cocceius, Ewald, and Zockler to be “the riders,” who “explore” in the valley; for this is the meaning they attach to the verb. Hitzig thinks that the word , “to paw,” originally read , “gather together,” and that the middle letter has been corrupted into a , and renders the phrase, “they form in troops in the plain, and it [the horse] rejoiceth in its strength.” The prime meaning of the verb hhaphar is “to dig,” as in Job 3:21; Job 11:18, (on the latter of which see note,) and to represent the well-known action of a high-spirited charger, impatient of delay, is a much stronger word than our word “paweth.” The classics embody the figure before us in more laboured descriptions, and more polished periods; but they all fail of the sublime heights to which the sacred writer, teaching of commonest subjects, rises without effort. Thus writes Apollonius, born 253, B.C.:
As a war-horse, impatient for the battle,
Neighing, beats the ground with his hoofs.
. Also Virgil, (Georgic 3:88,):
Cavat que Tellurem, et solido graviter sonat ungula cornu,
And earth around Rings to his solid hoof, that wears the ground.
AElian says of the war-horse, “When he hears the sounding of the reins and the clattering of the bits, and sees the breast-plates and the forehead-pieces, he neighs, and, leaping, makes the ground to ring with his hoofs.”
Valley Mentioned because cavalry are unsuited for fighting among the hills.
Armed men Oppian in like manner remarks of the war-horse, that he has the courage to meet the armed men, . In modern times, however, a solid phalanx of infantry is quite equal to any onset of cavalry, illustrations of which are afforded by the battles of the Pyramids and Waterloo. The Israelites, it is to be remembered, conquered Palestine on foot. They were a nation of infantry. In this respect they resembled the early Egyptians, who do not appear to have possessed any cavalry before the eighteenth dynasty; (see Rawlinson’s Herodotus, ii, pp. 152, 299,) and thus differed from other surrounding nations, such as the Ishmaelite, whose horse has always been his pride and his defence; and from the Canaanite, who was famous for his horses and his chariots. The horsemen formed a no less important part of the Assyrian army than the charioteers. “Horsemen are seen in the most ancient sculptures in Nimroud, and disciplined bodies of cavalry were represented in the bass-reliefs of Kouyunjik.” Layard. In the times of Solomon the horse appears as a right arm of Israelitish defence. 1Ki 10:28; 2Ch 1:16-17; 2Ch 9:28. Mohammed had evidently read this description before writing the One Hundredth Sura of the Koran, which is entitled, “The war-horses which run swiftly.” It commences: “By the war-horses which run swiftly to the battle, with a panting noise; and by those which strike fire by dashing their hoofs against the stones; and by those which make a sudden incursion on the enemy early in the morning, which make the dust fly under their rapid feet; which pass through the hostile troops; verily, man is ungrateful unto the Lord; and he is witness thereof.”
Fuente: Whedon’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
Job 39:21 He paweth in the valley, and rejoiceth in [his] strength: he goeth on to meet the armed men.
Ver. 21. He paweth in the valley ]
— Cavatque
Tellurem, et solido graviter sonat ungula cornu.
Quadrupedante putrem sonitu quatit ungula campum (Virg.).
Such is the impatience of his spirit, that he champs his bit and stamps with his feet; he pricks up his ears, and grows white with foam, and can hardly be held in till the enemy come, and would fain be in the battle; whither, when he comes, he runs upon the pikes, and undauntedly casts himself and his rider among the enemies’ squadrons. Quod summa mirum est,
Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
He paweth: or, His feet dig, Jdg 5:22
and: 1Sa 17:4-10, 1Sa 17:42, Psa 19:5, Jer 9:23
he goeth: Pro 21:31, Jer 8:6
armed men: Heb. armour
Reciprocal: Job 41:26 – The sword
Fuente: The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
39:21 He {n} paweth in the valley, and rejoiceth in [his] strength: he goeth on to meet the armed men.
(n) He beats with his hoof.