נץ, from the root נצה, _to fly_, because of the rapidity and
length of flight for which this bird is remarkable, Lev. xi, 16; Deut.
xiv, 15; Job xxxix, 26. _Naz_ is used generically by the Arabian writers
to signify both falcon and hawk; and the term is given in both these
senses by Meninski. There can be little doubt that such is the real
meaning of the Hebrew word, and that it imports various species of the
falcon family, as jer-falcon, goshawk, and sparrow-hawk. As this is a
bird of prey, cruel in its temper, and gross in its manners, it was
forbidden as food, and all others of its kind, in the Mosaic ritual. The
Greeks consecrated the hawk to Apollo; and among the Egyptians no animal
was held in so high veneration as the ibis and the hawk. Most of the
species of hawk, we are told; are birds of passage. The hawk, therefore,
is produced, in Job xxxix, 26, as a specimen of that astonishing
instinct which teaches birds of passage to know their times and seasons,
when to migrate out of one country into another for the benefit of food,
or a warmer climate, or both. The common translation does not give the
full force of the passage: “Doth the hawk fly by thy wisdom?” The real
meaning is, “Doth she know, through thy skill or wisdom, the precise
period for taking flight, or migrating and stretching her wings toward a
southern or warmer climate?” The passage is well rendered by Sandys:--
“Doth the wild haggard tower into the sky,
And to the south by thy direction fly?”
Her migration is not conducted by the wisdom and prudence of man, but by
the superintending and upholding providence of the only wise God.
length of flight for which this bird is remarkable, Lev. xi, 16; Deut.
xiv, 15; Job xxxix, 26. _Naz_ is used generically by the Arabian writers
to signify both falcon and hawk; and the term is given in both these
senses by Meninski. There can be little doubt that such is the real
meaning of the Hebrew word, and that it imports various species of the
falcon family, as jer-falcon, goshawk, and sparrow-hawk. As this is a
bird of prey, cruel in its temper, and gross in its manners, it was
forbidden as food, and all others of its kind, in the Mosaic ritual. The
Greeks consecrated the hawk to Apollo; and among the Egyptians no animal
was held in so high veneration as the ibis and the hawk. Most of the
species of hawk, we are told; are birds of passage. The hawk, therefore,
is produced, in Job xxxix, 26, as a specimen of that astonishing
instinct which teaches birds of passage to know their times and seasons,
when to migrate out of one country into another for the benefit of food,
or a warmer climate, or both. The common translation does not give the
full force of the passage: “Doth the hawk fly by thy wisdom?” The real
meaning is, “Doth she know, through thy skill or wisdom, the precise
period for taking flight, or migrating and stretching her wings toward a
southern or warmer climate?” The passage is well rendered by Sandys:--
“Doth the wild haggard tower into the sky,
And to the south by thy direction fly?”
Her migration is not conducted by the wisdom and prudence of man, but by
the superintending and upholding providence of the only wise God.