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Bible Dictionaries
Hawk
Watson's Biblical & Theological Dictionary
or נ , from the root נצה , to fly, because of the rapidity and length of flight for which this bird is remarkable, Leviticus 11:16; Deuteronomy 14:15; Job 39:26 . 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 39:26 , 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.
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Watson, Richard. Entry for 'Hawk'. Richard Watson's Biblical & Theological Dictionary. https://www.studylight.org/dictionaries/eng/wtd/h/hawk.html. 1831-2.
