110. God’s Care for Wild Animals

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Hymns: RHC 310 Glorious Freedom 314 Nearer, Still Nearer 354 God Leads Us Along

Job 39:1-12

1 Knowest thou the time when the wild goats of the rock bring forth? or canst thou mark when the hinds do calve? 2 Canst thou number the months that they fulfil? or knowest thou the time when they bring forth? 3 They bow themselves, they bring forth their young ones, they cast out their sorrows. 4 Their young ones are in good liking, they grow up with corn; they go forth, and return not unto them. 5 Who hath sent out the wild ass free? or who hath loosed the bands of the wild ass? 6 Whose house I have made the wilderness, and the barren land his dwellings. 7 He scorneth the multitude of the city, neither regardeth he the crying of the driver. 8 The range of the mountains is his pasture, and he searcheth after every green thing. 9 Will the unicorn be willing to serve thee, or abide by thy crib? 10 Canst thou bind the unicorn with his band in the furrow? or will he harrow the valleys after thee? 11 Wilt thou trust him, because his strength is great? or wilt thou leave thy labour to him? 12 Wilt thou believe him, that he will bring home thy seed, and gather it into thy barn?

God’s Care for Wild Animals

OUTLINE

  • The Wild Goat (v1-4)
  • The Wild Ass (v5-8)
  • The Unicorn (v9-12)

INTRODUCTION

When God created the animals, they were brought to Adam who named them. God gave man dominion over the animal world. There are only a handful of domesticated animals in the direct dominion of man for useful labour like the horses, the sheep and the oxen. Although man has no direct contact with the animals in the wild, God takes care of them. He feeds them and cares for them.

Job is brought to understand God’s sovereign care over the animal world which man has no part. For the animals in the wild, far beyond the reach of man, in the remote areas of the wild, God cares for them. 

God cited three examples – the wild goat (v1-4), the wild ass (v5-8) and the unicorn (v9-12).

  • The Wild Goat (v1-4)

1 Knowest thou the time when the wild goats of the rock bring forth? or canst thou mark when the hinds do calve? 2 Canst thou number the months that they fulfil? or knowest thou the time when they bring forth? 3 They bow themselves, they bring forth their young ones, they cast out their sorrows. 4 Their young ones are in good liking, they grow up with corn; they go forth, and return not unto them.

The wild goats and the hind (female deer) bring forth their young. Does Job know the time needed to bring forth a baby wild goat? How many months will that be? The question was meant to help Job see that God is the One looking after the animal world even in the wild, out of the reach of man. Man is not that great after all. He is clueless as to the life cycle of these wild animals. God, however, being the Creator and Sustainer, cares for these in the wild.

Like the woman bringing forth her child during the time of her labour, there is great agony, pain, and even sorrows. However, when the child is born, the mother rejoices and forgets the distress that she has just gone through to bring forth the child. The little baby in the arms of the mother, that little life that came forth from her womb, causes her to forget ther her labour – they cast out their sorrows (v3). What an apt imagery and description.

These little wild goats and little deer feed upon the corn in the wild, growing in the sight of their parents and one day, they would go forth and not return again to their parents.

  • The Wild Ass (v5-8)

5 Who hath sent out the wild ass free? or who hath loosed the bands of the wild ass? 6 Whose house I have made the wilderness, and the barren land his dwellings. 7 He scorneth the multitude of the city, neither regardeth he the crying of the driver. 8 The range of the mountains is his pasture, and he searcheth after every green thing.

The wild ass is free to roam in the wilderness that is called his house. Even the barren land is God’s provision for a home. His freedom is well cherished. 

Jeremiah 2:24 (KJV) A wild ass used to the wilderness, that snuffeth up the wind at her pleasure; in her occasion who can turn her away? all they that seek her will not weary themselves; in her month they shall find her.

Contrasted with the city dwellers who have their carriages driven by domesticated asses, the wild ass, it is envisaged, enjoy the free life that it has been given by its Creator. The horse is much sought after by man. Domesticated to carry his burdens – Psalm 147:10 (KJV) He delighteth not in the strength of the horse: he taketh not pleasure in the legs of a man.

The domesticated ass is out to labour – Nehemiah 13:15 (KJV) In those days saw I in Judah some treading wine presses on the sabbath, and bringing in sheaves, and lading asses; as also wine, grapes, and figs, and all manner ofburdens, which they brought into Jerusalem on the sabbath day: and I testified against them in the day wherein they sold victuals.

The wild ass is personified as cherishing its freedom and adhors the enslaving multitude of men who use their labour for their own conveniences.

The mountain range is his pasture and he freely the roam the mountain range for green pastures to feed upon – Genesis 1:29-30 (KJV) And God said, Behold, I have given you every herb bearing seed, which is upon the face of all the earth, and every tree, in the which is the fruit of a tree yielding seed; to you it shall be for meat. And to every beast of the earth, and to every fowl of the air, and to every thing that creepeth upon the earth, wherein there is life, I have givenevery green herb for meat: and it was so.

Also, Psalm 104:10-11 (KJV) He sendeth the springs into the valleys, which run among the hills. They give drink to every beast of the field: the wild asses quench their thirst.

Job is familiar with domesticated asses and oxen but there are the undomesticated ones cared by God. Job may have thought himself a great man in possession of much cattle – Job 1:14 (KJV) And there came a messenger unto Job, and said, The oxen were plowing, and the asses feeding beside them:

When Nebuchadnezzar was filled with pride, God humbled him by reducing him to the state of a wild ass – Daniel 5:21 (KJV) And he was driven from the sons of men; and his heart was made like the beasts, and his dwelling was with the wild asses: they fed him with grass like oxen, and his body was wet with the dew of heaven; till he knew that the most high God ruled in the kingdom of men, and that he appointeth over it whomsoever he will.

A lesson also for Job to understand that God indeed rules overall and He has the power to abase as well as to propser anyone at His pleasure. How we need to fear Him who has the power not only kill the body but to cast the soul to hell!

  • The Unicorn (v9-12)

9 Will the unicorn be willing to serve thee, or abide by thy crib? 10 Canst thou bind the unicorn with his band in the furrow? or will he harrow the valleys after thee? 11 Wilt thou trust him, because his strength is great? or wilt thou leave thy labour to him? 12 Wilt thou believe him, that he will bring home thy seed, and gather it into thy barn?

The unicorn (wild bull or ox) does not labour to till the farmland. It is a strong creatures – Numbers 23:22 (KJV) God brought them out of Egypt; he hath as it were the strength of an unicorn.

In fact, the wild bull or ox, undomesticated, untamed, would “dread” the burden of having to labour for man’s benefit. God has created them to roam free in the wilderness, free from the harassment of men.

Even when they are caught and forceably made to labour in the field, given its free nature, will they be willing to pull the plough and sow the seed and gather the harvest? Hardly. They are made to live that free life in the wild.

God is the One that made them and cared for them. Man would exploit them and often abuse them. 

Proverbs 14:4 (KJV) Where no oxen are, the crib is clean: but much increase is by the strength of the ox.

Psalm 144:14 (KJV) That our oxen may be strong to labour; that there be no breaking in, nor going out; that there be no complaining in our streets.

CONCLUSION

May the Lord be exalted in the hearts of His people and He has the preeminence in our lives. Amen.