God concludes the eagle passage: 'Her young ones feast on blood, and wherever the slain are, there is she.' This final verse of chapter 39 characterizes the eagle's feeding, particularly its connection to death and slaughter. The eagle's young feed on blood; the eagle goes where the slain are. The verse explicitly connects the eagle, a creature God has created, to death and violence. Wherever killing occurs, the eagle appears. The verse establishes that divine creation has woven together predators and prey, violence and death, creating a cosmos in which creatures thrive by consuming the dead bodies of others. Job did not create such a system; God has. The verse is the culminating image of God's speeches about animals: not the ostrich running swiftly, not the horse leaping into battle, but the eagle feasting on the corpses of the slain. Divine creation includes death, violence, and predation as fundamental features. The implicit question becomes explicit: if divine creation fundamentally includes violence, death, and predation, on what basis can Job complain that his suffering is unjust?

COMMUNITY REFLECTIONS

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