Ostrich
Archimandrite Nikifor’s Biblical Encyclopedia
(Job 39:13–18)—the great flightless bird of Africa and Arabia, adapted to open desert country and remarkable for speed. Job’s poem contrasts its apparently careless treatment of eggs with the strength and swiftness God has given it. The passage is poetic wisdom, not a complete zoological account. Terms rendered “owl” or “ostrich” in the lists of unclean birds and in descriptions of desolate places are not always identifiable with certainty (Lev. 11:16; Deut. 14:15; Lam. 4:3). The encyclopedia’s measurements and commercial observations belong to nineteenth-century natural history.