Job 39:10

Job 39:10 Canst thou bind the unicorn with his band in the furrow? or will he harrow the valleys after thee?

Ver. 10. Canst thou bind the unicorn? &c.] To keep him in order, and to hold him hard to his work, that he may lay the furrows even? Canst thou tether or gear him, like a horse? Or wilt he be brought to drive or lead a plough or harrow? No such matter. Before the Fall all creatures would gladly have served man. Sed rebellis facta est, quia homo numini, creatura homini (August.).

John Trapp, A Commentary or Exposition upon All the Books of the Old and New Testament (1647–1656) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Job_39:10

Will he harrow the valleys after thee?

Will he harrow the valleys after thee

What more humiliating proof have we of the depravity of the human heart, than the arrogant assumption of deciding on Gods plans, and censuring His providential government, when we are so entirely ignorant of the most simple and ordinary occurrences in Nature? This was the error into which Job had fallen. Harrowing so tears and disturbs the ground, that it has, from the earliest ages, been considered as a fit emblem of very heavy and complicated trial. Here it suggests the necessity and benefits of frequent adversity.

1. The human heart, naturally haughty, requires much to reduce it, and break it into subjection to Christ; events adverse to our wishes, and which cross our inclinations, graciously effect this useful purpose. As the ground is torn and reduced by the harrow, so adversities administered by the Almighty lower the haughty temper and subdue the unhallowed dispositions of His people.

2. By this method of tillage the surface of the earth is smoothed and rendered level. Our minds are brought into an orderly and submissive state by trials of extraordinary severity and pressure. So ruffled and rugged are our tempers that, for our own sakes, this chaos must be brought to order, this confusion into regularity. The unequality of a ploughed field is too feeble a representation of this state of mind.

3. Adverse providences occasion the good seed of the Word to be covered and hidden in our hearts, as the grain literally is covered from injury, and concealed from the birds, by the process of harrowing. An analogy may be traced between the field sown and yet unharrowed, and the mind stored with moral and even religious instruction, but undisciplined by trial.

4. The resemblance between the usefulness of harrowing, to collect the dead weeds, and cleanse the land of old roots, and the good effects of holy trouble, to detach those many moral weeds and those pernicious roots of evil which yet remain in our hearts. (W. Clayton.)

The Biblical Illustrator, edited by Joseph S. Exell (c. 1880s–1900s) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Job 39:10-11. Canst thou bind the unicorn in the furrow? — That is, in thy furrowed field, or to, or for the furrow? that is, to make furrows, or to plough, for which work cattle are usually bound together, that they may be directed by the husbandmen, and may make right furrows. Will he harrow the valleys — The low grounds; after thee? — Under thy conduct, following thee step by step? Wilt thou trust him — Namely, for the doing of these works; because his strength is great? — Because he is very able to do them. Wilt thou, by thy power, make him willing, or force him to put forth his strength in thy service? Wilt thou leave thy labour — Thy work of ploughing and harrowing; or the fruit of thy labour, namely, the fruits of the earth, procured by God’s blessing upon thy industry, to him? — Wilt thou leave them to him to be brought home into thy barns? as the next verse explains it.

Joseph Benson's Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1811–1818) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

his band--fastened to the horns, as its chief strength lies in the head and shoulders.

after thee--obedient to thee; willing to follow, instead of being goaded on before thee.

Jamieson, Fausset & Brown — Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

Verse 10. Canst thou bind the unicorn - in the furrow?] He will not plough, nor draw in the yoke with another? nor canst thou use him singly, to harrow the ground.

Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible (1810–1826) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

Canst thou bind the unicorn with his band in the furrow?.... Put the yoke and harness upon him, and fasten it to the plough to draw it, that he may make furrows with it in the field, or plough up the ground as the tame ox does? thou canst not;

or will he harrow the valleys after thee? draw the harrow which is used after ploughing to break the clods, and make the land smooth and even? he will not: valleys are particularly mentioned, because arable land is usually in them; see Psa 65:13.

John Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible (1746–1763) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

Canst thou bind the unicorn with his band in the furrow? - That is, with the common traces or cords which are employed in binding oxen to the plow.

Or will he harrow the valleys after thee? - The word “valleys” here is used to denote such ground as was capable of being plowed or harrowed. Hills and mountains could not thus be cultivated, though the spade was in common use in planting the vine there, and even in preparing them for seed, Isa 7:25. The phrase “after thee” indicates that the custom of driving cattle in harrowing then was the same as that practiced now with oxen, when the person who employs them goes in advance of them. It shows that they were entirely under subjection, and it is here implied that the ראם re'êm could not be thus tamed.

Albert Barnes' Notes on the Bible (1834–1885) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

Valleys, or furrows. Can he be made to harrow?

George Leo Haydock (1774–1849), Haydock's Catholic Family Bible and Commentary, 1859 edition — public domain. Excludes Psalms (Douay-Rheims chapter numbering differs from Protestant) and Deuterocanonical books (Catholic canon only).

In the furrow, i.e. in thy furrowed field, by a metonymy. Or, to or for (as the prefix beth is oft used, as Gen 11:4; Lev 16:22; Job 24:5)

the furrow, i.e. to make furrows, or to plough; for which work cattle use to be bound together, that they may be directed by the husbandman, and may make right furrows.

The valleys, to wit, the low grounds, which are most proper for and most employed in the work of ploughing.

After thee; under thy conduct, following thee step by step.

Matthew Poole's English Annotations on the Holy Bible (1683–1685) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

10. With his band in the furrow — Literally, on the furrow of his cord: the sense of which is, according to Furst, “Canst thou bind the reem so that his draw-line is upon the ridge?” the left rope being always on the ridge of the bed in making the furrow. The telem, תלם, Arabic, tilem, here rendered furrow, was, according to the explanation of the Turkish Kamus, “the ditch-like crack which the iron of the ploughman tears in the field,” an explanation which Delitzsch approves; but this does not well accord with the use of the same word in Job_31:38, and Hos_10:4. The pictorial representations on the monuments show that the ancient Egyptians bound their oxen to the plough by a cord fastened around the horns and tied to the yoke and the handle. See note on Job_1:14.

Daniel D. Whedon (gen. ed.), Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1874–1909) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Canst thou bind the unicorn with his band in the furrow? That is, "as thou bindest the ox?" Canst thou make him plough for thee? Or will he harrow the valleys after thee? Another common employment of oxen.

The Pulpit Commentary (1880–1919), ed. H.D.M. Spence-Jones & Joseph S. Exell — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

to a furrow with his rope (Or did you tie a wild ox because of the furrow of your ox?) rope Heb. עבתו, a rope with which they tie [oxen] to the furrows of the plow.

will he harrow, prepare the field.

Rashi on the Tanakh — English translations: “The Judaica Press complete Tanach with Rashi, translated by A. J. Rosenberg” (CC BY 4.0); “Pentateuch with Rashi's commentary by M. Rosenbaum and A.M. Silbermann, 1929-1934” (public domain); “The Metsudah Tanach series, Lakewood, N.J” (CC BY 4.0); and “The Book of Joshua, Metsudah Publications, 1997” (CC BY 4.0). Text via Sefaria.