ὄρνις, 2 Esdras i, 30; Matt. xxiii, 37; Luke xiii, 34. In these
last two passages our Saviour exclaims, “O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, how
often would I have gathered thy children together, even as a hen
gathereth her chickens under her wings, and ye would not!” The metaphor
here used is a very beautiful one. When the hen sees a bird of prey
coming, she makes a noise to assemble her chickens, that she may cover
them with her wings from the danger. The Roman eagle was about to fall
upon the Jewish state; our Lord invited them to himself in order to
guard them from threatened calamities: they disregarded his invitations
and warnings, and fell a prey to their adversaries. The affection of the
hen to her brood is so strong as to have become proverbial. There is a
beautiful Greek epigram in the Anthologia, which affords a very fine
illustration of the affection of this bird in another view. It has been
thus translated:--
“Beneath her fostering wing the hen defends
Her darling offspring, while the snow descends;
And through the winter’s day unmoved defies
The chilling fleeces and inclement skies;
Till vanquish'd by the cold and piercing blast,
True to her charge she perishes at last.”
Plutarch, in his book _De Philostorgiâ_, represents this parental
attachment and care in a very pleasing manner: “Do we not daily observe
with what care the hen protects her chickens; giving some shelter under
her wings, supporting others upon her back, calling them around her, and
picking out their food; and if any animal approaches that terrifies
them, driving it away with a courage and strength truly wonderful?”
last two passages our Saviour exclaims, “O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, how
often would I have gathered thy children together, even as a hen
gathereth her chickens under her wings, and ye would not!” The metaphor
here used is a very beautiful one. When the hen sees a bird of prey
coming, she makes a noise to assemble her chickens, that she may cover
them with her wings from the danger. The Roman eagle was about to fall
upon the Jewish state; our Lord invited them to himself in order to
guard them from threatened calamities: they disregarded his invitations
and warnings, and fell a prey to their adversaries. The affection of the
hen to her brood is so strong as to have become proverbial. There is a
beautiful Greek epigram in the Anthologia, which affords a very fine
illustration of the affection of this bird in another view. It has been
thus translated:--
“Beneath her fostering wing the hen defends
Her darling offspring, while the snow descends;
And through the winter’s day unmoved defies
The chilling fleeces and inclement skies;
Till vanquish'd by the cold and piercing blast,
True to her charge she perishes at last.”
Plutarch, in his book _De Philostorgiâ_, represents this parental
attachment and care in a very pleasing manner: “Do we not daily observe
with what care the hen protects her chickens; giving some shelter under
her wings, supporting others upon her back, calling them around her, and
picking out their food; and if any animal approaches that terrifies
them, driving it away with a courage and strength truly wonderful?”