Hawk

The hawk (Hebrew netz, expressive of strong and rapid flight) designates a family of raptors including various species of falcon and hawk native to Palestine — the sparrowhawk, kestrel, and hobby among them. Several species of hawk were migratory visitors to Canaan, making "the hawk flying toward the south" (Job 39:26) a natural observation about the seasonal movements of birds of prey. Leviticus 11:16 and Deuteronomy 14:15 list the hawk among the unclean birds not to be eaten, along with the eagle, vulture, osprey, kite, and raven.

In Job 39:26, God questions Job: "Doth the hawk fly by thy wisdom and stretch her wings toward the south?" — one of a series of rhetorical questions about the mysteries of the created order that demonstrate the Creator's incomparable wisdom and Job's finitude. The hawk's migratory patterns, known and governed by God though beyond human control or planning, serve as one example among many of the vast domain of divine knowledge that undergirds the natural world.