The Birds Of The Bible Series

Edwin Markham the great poet one day told his five year old boy Virgil that there is

poetry in everything--a tree, a board, a stone, a cliff; in food and drink or day and dark--in

everything. Virgil stood looking out the window, and he saw a birds nest. He urged his

father to come and look, and said defiantly, "there's a bird's nest, father! Let's see you write

a poet about it!" Markham accepted the challenge. He sat down and wrote one of the most

beautiful poems of his career.

There are three green eggs in a small brown pocket,

And the breeze will swing and the gale will rock it,

Till three little birds on the thin edge teeter,

And our God be glad and the world be sweeter!

This poem is biblical in content for the Bible supports that broad statement that the birth

of birds makes God glad and the world sweeter. When God created the birds He saw that it

was good, and he blessed them and commanded them to multiply on the earth. They obeyed,

and there are now between 8 and 9 thousand different kinds of birds on the earth. God is a

lover of beauty and variety.

The value of birds is not limited to being objects of beauty to inspire poetry, however. In

Gen. 1:26 God made man to have dominion over the birds of the air. Man has done this, and

has used birds for a variety of practical values. All through history birds have been a great

help to man, and they have saved many lives. In the ancient world of the East they were so

important for clearing the land of dead animals and insects that laws were passed

authorizing the death penalty for anyone to who killed them. They were man's original

garbage disposals. Today they play a health role by being used for experiments.

There military value has been known for centuries. Few people realize that birds helped

the allies defeat Germany. England had between 50 and 75 thousand birds in military

service. Every bomber carried one or two pigeons to race back with and SOS in case of

trouble. Dived bombing hawks were trained to knock German carrier pigeons out of the sky.

Others were trained to help and see rescue work, and are credited with saving many British

and American lives.

We are all aware of the increase use of birds as pets, and of trained birds for

entertainment in the circus. The question for us, however, is not, do birds have a variety of

poetic and practical values, but do they have theological values? That is, do they play an

important enough role in God's word to justify the use of pulpit time for their

consideration? Can a sermon on the birds be Biblical and valuable in fulfilling a Biblical

purpose? The answer is, not only is a Biblical sermon on birds possible, it is essential if one

is to proclaim the whole counsel of God. Birds play a role in Scripture that is beyond the

imagination of the average Christian. There are three hundred references to birds in the

Bible, and many of them with significant messages. If we are to live by every word that

proceeds out of the mouth of God, then we must give some time to the study of birds. Many

of the great Bible characters were bird lovers and much of the finest bird poetry has been

written by Christians.

Jesus was a bird lover, and bird watcher, and used these feathered friends often in His

teaching. In fact, He used them more than any other creature. Alice Parmelee, in her book,

ALL THE BIRDS OF THE BIBLE, writes, "The Bible is rich in its appreciation of nature,

but it contains nothing to equal Jesus' awareness of the wonder and beauty and meaning of

creation. All nature was to him a finger pointing to God." It is by His authority and

command that we are studying the birds. In Matt. 6:26 as Jesus sat on the hillside teaching

He pointed to the birds overhead and said, "Look at the birds of the air, they neither sow

nor reap nor gather into barns, yet your heavenly father feeds them. Are you not of more

value than they?" Jesus points our eyes to the birds as illustrations of God's care. He also

said not a sparrow falls without God's knowledge. When he sought for an illustration of

what he wanted His disciples to be, He urged them to be wise as serpents but harmless as

doves. He used birds in His parables of the sower and the mustard seed, and on other

occasions, which we shall see later.

The key text is Matt. 23:37 where Jesus compares His love and compassion for Israel to