The way of an eagle in the air, the way of a serpent on a rock, the way of a ship in the middle of the sea, and the way of a man with a maiden.
ExplanationCommentary
Verse 19. Youth. Hebrew “a virgin.” The “conception of a mighty man (the Messias. Bible.) in a virgin,” is fitly compared to the flight of an eagle in the air, which leaves no trace behind, and is the most difficult to comprehend. See Jeremiah 31:22. Univ. Hist. iii. p. 144, note. Isaiah 7:14. Parkhurst in álm. Bible.—Some of the Jews have admitted this explanation. A. Lap.—Others understand that the marks of virginity are equivocal; (Bossuet, and so forth) or, if we stick to the Vulg. and Septuagint the difference betwixt a child and a young man is extremely great, and almost incomprehensible. Calmet.—Young people who follow their carnal appetite, can no more give an account of their actions than of the course of an eagle, and so forth Worthington.—His wanderings are manifold. The Hebrew seems to contain a prophecy of Christ’s conception.