Arthur Walker-Jones, «The So-called Ostrich in the God Speeches of the Book of Job (Job 39,13-18)», Vol. 86 (2005) 494-510
The so-called ostrich passage (39,13-18) has been much discussed by scholars
both because of the difficulties it presents and the importance of its position in the
book of Job. Discussions have focused on why an ostrich appears, rather than
whether the Mynnr is, in fact, an ostrich. Quite a number of Hebrew words and
expressions have to be emended or explained to make them fit an ostrich.
Moreover, H.-P. Müller has shown that Mynnr is not the name for ostrich in Hebrew
or any Semitic languages, is not translated "ostrich" in early Greek versions, the
Peshitta, or Targums, and the translation "ostrich" probably came from a false
identification in early Christian reflection on nature. This article uses contemporary
ornithological literature and the information the passage provides on the
nest, habitat, behaviours, and calls of the Mynnr to identify a more likely type of
bird. The identification of the Mynnr as a sand grouse helps resolve a number of
problems in the text and clarify the literary connections of the passage to the rest
of the animal discourse, God speeches, and book of Job.
504 Arthur Walker-Jones
may be appropriate in the context. On the one hand, the word may be
translated “lays†because that is within the range of meanings of the
word and it is in parallel with “broodsâ€. On the other hand, the word
may allude to the bird sometimes leaving the nest or the poets feeling
that laying eggs in an unlined scrape, even if well tended, verges on
abandonment. Therefore, the word may both mean “lays†and allude to
a sense of abandonment.
The root jvq in verse 16, however, may not mean “cruelâ€. The one
other use of this root in the Hebrew Bible, also in the Hiphil, means
“make hard†(40). The more frequently occurring and related root, hvq,
can mean “make hard or stubborn†in the Hiphil. Sand grouse chicks
(like the chicks of the ostrich and other ground-nesting birds) are
highly precocial. Soon after they hatch, they are able to walk. They
leave the nest within the first day and are able to feed themselves.
Maclean says of Namaqua Sand Grouse that when an intruder
approaches and the parent gives a warning call, the chicks either
“crouch where they are†or if the intruder is still at some distance run
to a “shrub or stone and crouch in the shade†(41). He also says that
“sometimes both parents go to drink together, leaving the chicks
crouched under shrubs on the calcrete†(42). The young of the sand
grouse are parallel to the young deer who “become strongâ€, “grow up
in the openâ€, “go forth, and do not return to them†(39,4; NRSV). The
verse may refer to stubborn, hardy, and independent chicks and
accordingly I have translated, “she makes chicks that are hardy†(43).
Thus, an understanding of the behaviours of ground-nesting birds
helps explain the Hebrew of verse 16 and its literary connection to
verse 4.
Furthermore, the appeal to folk ideas lacks methodological rigor.
Bochart and Laufer provide several classical Greco-Roman and Arab
references to the cruelty and stupidity of the ostrich (44). Laufer and
Delitzsch provide contemporary stories including stories from Arab
(40) Isa 63,17.
(41) G.L. MACLEAN, “Field Studies on the Sandgrouse of the Kalahari Desertâ€,
Living Bird 7 (1968) 227.
(42) MACLEAN, “Field Studiesâ€, 224.
(43) Similarly, Gordis, translates “she makes tough†based on an Arab cognate
(Job, 440, 460).
(44) S. BOCHART, Hierozoicon (Frankfurt am Main 1675) II, 217-231, 238-249
[lib. 2, cap. 14, 16]; LAUFER, “Ostrich Egg-shell Cupsâ€, 26.