peacock Summary and Overview

(Heb. tuk, apparently borrowed from the Tamil tokei). This bird is indigenous to India. It was brought to Solomon by his ships from Tarshish (1 Kings 10:22; 2 Chr. 9:21), which in this case was probably a district on the Malabar coast of India, or in Ceylon. The word so rendered in Job 39:13 literally means wild, tumultuous crying, and properly denotes the female ostrich (q.v.).

PEA'COCK . 1 Kgs 10:22. This singular and beautiful bird is mentioned among the articles imported by Solomon from Tharshish, the modern Ceylon or Malabar coast of India, where the peacock is indigenous. In Job 39:13 another Hebrew word is found, better rendered "ostriches," and the word "ostrich" should be translated (as it is elsewhere) "stork." The wings of the ostrich cannot raise it from the ground; yet in running it catches (or, as the word rendered "goodly" imports, "drinks in") the wind. The construction of the ostrich and that of the stork are thus contrasted, as are also their habits; for the stork is as proverbial for her tenderness to her young as is the ostrich for her seeming indifference. Job 39:14-16. See Ostrich, Stork. Peacock.