Ver. 1. Knowest thou the time when the wild goats of the rock bring forth?] The history of the living creatures is of singular use we see to set forth the goodness, power, wisdom, and other of God’s attributes clearly shining in them. And therefore they have very well deserved all sorts who have put forth such histories and discourses; as Aristotle, Aelian, Pliny, Gesner, Aldobrandinus, &c., of whom I may say, as once Eneas Sylvius (afterwards Pope Plus II.) did of learning in general, that popular men should esteem them as silver, noblemen as gold, princes as pearls; and not so slenderly reward them as Pope Sixtus did Theodorus Gaza (who translated and dedicated unto him Aristotle, De Natura Animalium), paying him only for the rich binding and bossing forty crowns; but bountifully encourage them, as Great Alexander did his master Aristotle for that same work; he gave him, saith the history, eight hundred talents, which is four hundred and fourscore thousand crowns (Job. Manl. loc. com. 572). The pleasure of reading such authors is not so great as the profit; for thereby we may attain to the knowledge of God, and of ourselves; of his will, and our duties. Hence we are sent to school to the unreasonable creatures, even the most contemptible, as the pismire, Proverbs 6:6. And Basil, writing to one that was proud of his knowledge, propoundeth unto him divers questions concerning this same pismire, as, namely, how many feet he hath? whether he hath entrails, such as kidneys, liver, heart, veins, nerves, as other living creatures do? &c. Similarly, God here, to humble Job, and to convince him of his meanness, asketh him whether he knoweth the wild goats and hinds, with the time of their bringing forth young, the means and the manner? &c. And whether these things were done by his ordination and vigilance? Many admirable things are written of these wild goats; as what cold places they live in, what inaccessible rocks, how strangely there they hang, what huge leaps they fetch; but especially about their bringing forth, how by a natural sagacity they help themselves, both before and after, by biting upon certain herbs that are helpful to them in that case, Pendentem summa capream de rupe videbis Casuram speres, decipit illa canes (Mart.). These things and many more such may be read about in Pliny’s Natural History; of which book Erasmus well saith, that it is a store house, or rather a world full of things most worthy to be read. So are not the Jewish expositors, who tell us many strange things here concerning these creatures, quae commentitia esse puto, which I take to be mere fictions, saith learned Mercer; and I to be trifles and old wives’ fables, saith Lavater, to the belief whereof they are justly given up by God for their rejection of Christ, the light of the world. We grant that the whole world is full of miracles, though for the commonness of them they are little noted, or noticed. But should these men think to help the truth by their lies? Should they speak wickedly for God, and talk deceitfully for him? Or canst thou mark when the hinds do calve?] Which they do not without a great deal of pain (as the Hebrew word importeth), no creature the like, unless it be woman. God sometimes frighteth them by his thunder, and so furthereth their delivery, Psalms 29:9, while they struggle with many griefs, and to give life to their calves, are in danger of losing their own. Now, if God help the hinds in this case, will he be wanting to his labouring daughters? Let them send for Lady Faith to be their midwife; and all shall go well. She hath delivered graves of their dead, Hebrews 11:35. How much more then will she them of their quick births, yea, though they carry death in their bowels!
Ver. 2. Canst thou number the months they fulfil?] Eight months, Aristotle saith (the elephant is said to go above eight years), but who can tell the instant when, or why not sooner or later? Dost thou exactly observe and count those months, as I do, to a moment? Sola hic Deo providentia elucet.
Ver. 3. They bow themselves] sc. By an instinct of nature, whether it be the pain they suffer, which compelleth them to it, or the fear of hurting their calves, which obligeth them to it. They bring forth their young] Diffindunt: fissa sc. et aperta tandem matrice; they bring forth with a great deal of difficulty, to the crushing of their young, which yet escape and grow up. Let good women learn, sperare a Deo faciles et faelices partus, to trust in God for a happy delivery, though it go hard with them, sometimes to the making of some Medea say, Millies in acie mori mallem quam semel parere, I had rather a thousand times die in battle than bring forth one child (Eurip.). They cast out their sorrows] Tormina, their throes, and therewith their young, by the benefit of the herbs Arus and Seselis, which they feed upon, for the better bringing away of their gleanings, as they call the involucrum, that wrappeth the young in the matrix (Arist. Hist. Anim. lib. 8, cap. 5; Plin. lib. 8, cap. 31). The Vulgate hath it, They utter roarings; they cast forth cries which are as terrible as the roarings of lionesses. Stato partus tempore valvae dehiscunt quae a partu mox occluduntur; id quod fieri videmus, inquit Galenus, sed quomodo fiat, admirari tantum possumus. Avicenna vocat opus supra mirabilia omnia, mirabile. Sed miracula assiduitate vilescunt. If a man should be born but once in a hundred years, all the world would stand amazed at such a miracle.