Does the hawk fly by your wisdom, and stretch her wings toward the south?
Read Chapter 39
George Leo Haydock
AD 1849
Feathered. Hebrew, "fly. "(Haydock)
South, at the approach of "winter retiring "to warmer regions. (Pliny x. 8.)
Septuagint, "spreading her wings, looking unmoved, towards the south. "The hawk alone can stare at the sun, and fly to a great height. (Ælian x. 14.)
Hence the Egyptians consecrated this bird to the sun. (Calmet)
The eagle is of the same species, and has the same properties. (Haydock) Aristotle mentions 10, and Pliny 16 species of hawks. (Worthington)
92. That the hawk casts off its old feathers every year, as the new grow up, and gets a plumage without intermission, hardly any one is ignorant. But that time of plumage, when it is clothed in the nest, is not here spoken of; because, namely, at that time, being doubtless yet but young, it is not able to stretch its wings towards the South. But that annual plumage is described, which is renewed, as the old feathers become loose. And for domesticated hawks, moist and warm spots are sought out, for them to get their plumage the better. But it is the custom, with wild hawks, to stretch their wings, when the south wind blows, in order that by the mildness of the wind their limbs may become warm, so as to loosen the old feathers. But when there is no wind, they make for themselves a warm air by stretching and flapping their wings against the rays of the sun, and when the pores have thus been opened, either the old feathers fall out, or the new ones grow up. What is it then for the hawk to ...
How does God keep hawks hovering in the air? How does he provide them with nourishment? You can figure out all that he said from a small number of examples! Why did he not mention beefs or rams or other animals of this kind, but only those that are useless for us and seem to exist without reason? This is in order to show that if wisdom and providence appear in useful animals, they appear even more in those that seem to be useless, because you see that carnivorous birds of prey possess a certain reasonable wisdom that derives from the natural instinct living in each of them. So … some of them are inclined to fight, others scent the corpses, and the vulture remains still in the air. - "Commentary on Job 39.26–30"
