---
title: "Adam Clarke’s Commentary and Critical Notes on the Bible · Volume 1: Genesis to Jeremiah"
author: "Adam Clarke"
languages: [en]
shelf: "Commentaries"
section: 540 of 914
url: https://scriptura.si/works/adam-clarke-commentary-volume-1-genesis-to-jeremiah/540/
cite: "Adam Clarke, Adam Clarke’s Commentary and Critical Notes on the Bible · Volume 1: Genesis to Jeremiah, section 540. Scriptura (scriptura.si), https://scriptura.si/works/adam-clarke-commentary-volume-1-genesis-to-jeremiah/540/"
---

# Adam Clarke’s Commentary and Critical Notes on the Bible · Volume 1: Genesis to Jeremiah

*Adam Clarke*

Clarke's learned notes on the Hebrew and Greek, verse by verse, from Genesis to Revelation: volume 1 of 2.

## 540. Job · 67 of 73

Source: https://scriptura.si/works/adam-clarke-commentary-volume-1-genesis-to-jeremiah/540/ · cite a paragraph as https://scriptura.si/works/adam-clarke-commentary-volume-1-genesis-to-jeremiah/540/#p-N

[¶0] He swims luxuriant in the liquid plain,

[¶1] And o'er his shoulders flows his waving mane;

[¶2] He neighs, he snorts, he bears his head on high;

[¶3] Before his ample chest the frothy waters fly.

[¶4] Virgil's description is much fuller than the foregoing, which, as I said, is only a simile; whereas Virgil professes to treat of the nature of the horse: - - Tum, si qua sonum procul arma dedere,

[¶5] Stare loco nescit: micat auribus, et tremit artus

[¶6] Collectumque premens volvit sub naribus ignem:

[¶7] Densa juba, et dextro jactata recumbit in armo.

[¶8] At duplex agitur per lumbos spina, cavatque

[¶9] Tellurem, et solido graviter sonat ungula cornu.

[¶10] Virg. Georg. lib. iii., ver. 83.

[¶11] Which is thus admirably translated: -

[¶12] The fiery courser, when he hears from far

[¶13] The sprightly trumpets, and the shouts of war,

[¶14] Pricks up his ears; and, trembling with delight,

[¶15] Shifts pace, and paws, and hopes the promised fight.

[¶16] On his right shoulder his thick mane reclined,

[¶17] Ruffles at speed, and dances in the wind.

[¶18] His horny hoofs are jetty black and round;

[¶19] His chin is double: starting with a bound,

[¶20] He turns the turf, and shakes the solid ground.

[¶21] Fire from his eyes, clouds from his nostrils flow;

[¶22] He bears his rider headlong on the foe.

[¶23] Now follows that in the Book of Job, which, under all the disadvantages of having been written in a language little understood, of being expressed in phrases peculiar to a part of the world whose manner of thinking and speaking seems to us very uncouth; and, above all, of appearing in a prose translation; is nevertheless so transcendently above the heathen descriptions, that hereby we may perceive how faint and languid the images are which are formed by human authors, when compared with those which are figured, as it were, just as they appear in the eye of the Creator. God, speaking to Job, asks him: - [To do our translators as much justice as possible, and to help the critic, I shall throw it in the hemistich form, in which it appears in the Hebrew, and in which all Hebrew poetry is written.] [Job 39:19] Hast thou given to the Horse strength?Hast thou clothed his neck with thunder? [Job 39:20] Canst thou make him afraid as a grasshopper?The glory of his nostrils is terrible! [Job 39:21] He paweth in the valley, and rejoiceth in strength:He goeth on to meet the armed men. [Job 39:22] He mocketh at fear, and is not affrighted:Neither turneth he back from the sword. [Job 39:23] Against him rattleth the quiver,The glittering spear and the shield. [Job 39:24] He swalloweth the ground with rage and fierceness:Nor doth he believe that it is the sound of the trumpet. [Job 39:25] He saith among the trumpets, Heach!And from afar he scenteth the battle,The thunder of the captains, and the shouting.

[¶24] Here are all the great and sprightly images that thought can form of this generous beast, expressed in such force and vigor of style as would have given the great wits of antiquity new laws for the sublime, had they been acquainted with these writings. I cannot but particularly observe that whereas the classical poets chiefly endeavor to paint the outward figure, lineaments, and motions, the sacred poet makes all the beauties to flow from an inward principle in the creature he describes; and thereby gives great spirit and vivacity to his description. The following phrases and circumstances are singularly remarkable: - [Job 39:19] Hast thou clothed his neck with thunder?

[¶25] Homer and Virgil mention nothing about the neck of the horse but his mane. The sacred author, by the bold figure of thunder, not only expresses the shaking of that remarkable beauty in the horse, and the flakes of hair, which naturally suggest the idea of lightning; but likewise the violent agitation and force of the neck, which in the oriental tongues had been flatly expressed by a metaphor less bold than this. [Job 39:20] Canst thou make him afraid as a grasshopper? - There is a twofold beauty in this expression, which not only marks the courage of this beast, by asking if he can be scared; but likewise raises a noble image of his swiftness, by insinuating that, if he could be frightened, he would bound away with the nimbleness of a grasshopper.

[¶26] The glory of his nostrils is terrible - This is more strong and concise than that of Virgil, which yet is the noblest line that was ever written without inspiration: -

[¶27] Collectumque premens volvit sub naribus ignem.

[¶28] And in his nostrils rolls collected fire.

[¶29] Geor. iii., ver. 85. [Job 39:21] He rejoiceth in his strength. [Job 39:22] He mocketh at fear. [Job 39:24] Neither believeth he that it is the sound of the trumpet. [Job 39:25] He saith among the trumpets, Ha! ha!

[¶30] These are signs of courage, as I said before, flowing from an inward principle. There is a peculiar beauty in his not believing it is the sound of the trumpet: that is, he cannot believe it for joy; but when he is sure of it, and is among the trumpets, he saith, Ha! ha! He neighs, he rejoices. His docility is elegantly painted in his being unmoved at the rattling quiver, the glittering spear, and the shield, [Job 39:23], and is well imitated by Oppian, - who undoubtedly read Job, as Virgil did, - in his Poem on Hunting: - Πως μεν γαρ τε μαχαισιν αρηΐος εκλυεν ἱππος Ηχον εγερσιμοθον δολιχων πολεμηΐον αυλων; Η πως αντα δεδορκεν ασκαρδαμυκτοισιν οπωπαις Αιζηοισι λοχον πεπυκασμενον ὁπλιτησι; Και χαλκον σελαγευντα, και αστραπτοντα σιδηρον; Και μαθεν ευτε μενειν χρειω, ποτε δ' αυτις αρουειν.

[¶31] Oppian Cyneget, lib. i., ver. 206.

[¶32] Now firm the managed war-horse keeps his ground,

[¶33] Nor breaks his order though the trumpet sound!

[¶34] With fearless eye the glittering host surveys,

[¶35] And glares directly at the helmet's blaze.

[¶36] The master's word, the laws of war, he knows;

[¶37] And when to stop, and when to charge the foes.

[¶38] He swalloweth the ground, [Job 39:24], is an expression for prodigious swiftness in use among the Arabians, Job's countrymen, to the present day. The Latins have something like it: -

[¶39] Latumque fuga consumere campum.

[¶40] Nemesian.

[¶41] In flight the extended champaign to consume.

[¶42] Carpere prata fuga.

[¶43] Virg. Georg. III., Ver. 142.

[¶44] In flight to crop the meads. - Campumque volatu