In Psalm 84:3 the sparrows are mentioned again, this time they are found making a home (nest) in the Tabernacle area. As mentioned in the first Sparrow article, they are known to make nest in many kinds of places. Let’s look at this verse in its context to understand a great blessing found here.
Psalms 84:1-4 KJV
(1) How amiable are thy tabernacles, O LORD of hosts!
(2) My soul longeth, yea even fainteth for the courts of the LORD: my heart and my flesh crieth out for the living God.
(3) Yea, the sparrow hath found a house, and the swallow a nest for herself, where she may lay her young, even thine altars, O LORD of hosts, my King, and my God.
(4) Blessed are they that dwell in thy house: they will be still praising thee. Selah.
Vesper Sparrow
The commentaries have different views, but many agree that the sparrow has made her nest in the Tabernacle and is close to the altars. David’s soul is longing to be in the courts of the Lord and near the Lord. The sparrow is there, has moved in and is even raising her family there. I think he is envious of the birds because they get to spend so much time there and also they sing so often, praising God.
Do we yearn and long to spend time with the Lord, our Savior? Do we seek to be as close as we can get? Do we enjoy reading His Word, praying to Him, and attending church where we can learn, sing and praise, and have fellowship with other believers? I trust you can say a mighty, Amen!
Again we have a bird that is in a list of “unclean” birds. This time we will look at the Cuckoo. No. This is not the bird that pops out of your clock on the hour and sings. Let’s find out about the real Cuckoos.
And the owl, and the night hawk, and the cuckoo, and the hawk after his kind, (Deuteronomy 14:15 KJV)
And the owl, and the night hawk, and the cuckoo, and the hawk after his kind, (Leviticus 11:16 KJV)
Here in the U. S. we have a Black-billed, Common, Mangrove, Yellow-billed and Oriental, Cuckoos. The Common and Oriental Cuckoos have only been seen in Alaska. The Mangrove is seen along the mangroves of southern Florida and the other two like dense thickets, woodlands, orchards and along streams. Worldwide there are close to 100 species of Cuckoos. Our Roadrunner is the same family – cuculidae.
The cuckoos have a slender body with a downcurved bill and a long tail. Most of them have spots on the underside of their tails and the sexes are similiar. Many species of cuckoos have a habit of laying their eggs in another’s kind of bird’s nest and letting those parent raise the bird. The chick seems to hatch first and then either knock the other eggs out of the nest or harm the new chicks. Other cuckoos raise their own babies.
You-Tube of Cuckoo Sound with pictures and one showing warbler feeding baby. (from Poland)
(Updated 2/3/2009 – Video of Cuckoo laying egg in other nest and of a Cuckoo Duck
The Lapwing is only mentioned twice in scripture and both times in a list of “unclean” birds. “But these are they of which ye shall not eat,” says Deuteronomy 14:12.
And the stork, the heron after her kind, and the lapwing, and the bat. (Leviticus 11:19 KJV)
And the stork, and the heron after her kind, and the lapwing, and the bat. (Deuteronomy 14:18 KJV)
The only Lapwing in North America is the Northern Lapwing and then that has only been seen in isolated sightings. They are on the List of Birds of Florida. They are found in Europe and Asia near wetlands, coastal pastures and short-grass meadows or fields. They are in the same Order as Gulls, Terns and Plovers. In Europe there is also a Sociable Lapwing and a White-tailed Lapwing. “Most of the Lapwings seem to feed on insects and small prey from grasslands. They lay their eggs in nest on the ground and very protective of their young. They feign injury or will lead intruders away. If that doesn’t work, they are known to attack, even humans. They are medium sized about 12-13 inches with long legs. Their heads have a striking pattern with a wispy crest. Their behavior reminds me of a Killdeer.
Apparently the Lapwing was mentioned in three of Shakespeare’s plays: Comedy of Errors, Much Ado About Nothing and Measure for Measure
Most people are familiar with the Ostrich, but let’s find out some details about them. The Bible verses that refer to them, caused me to want to find out about them. For instance, in Job 39:13-18 KJV
(13)Gavest thou the goodly wings unto the peacocks? or wings and feathers unto the ostrich?
Here the wings of an ostrich are mentioned, but they are very small. Huh! It seems that those little wings help with balance when running, are used for mating rituals, to scare off predators, to control their temperature, and they help shelter the young (when they stick around). “The feathers were very popular for ornamentation in fashionable clothing (such as hats during the 19th century).” “The original South African ostrich feather dusters were invented in Johannesburg, South Africa by missionary, broom factory manager, Harry S. Beckner in 1903.”, Wikipedia
(14) Which leaveth her eggs in the earth, and warmeth them in dust,
The nest is made by the male who digs an indentation 12-24 inches deep and all his females lay the eggs in the communal nest (up to 60 eggs). The females share sitting on them in the daytime and the male sits at night. Females are a light color whereas the male has a black coloring. Creation at work.
(15) And forgetteth that the foot may crush them, or that the wild beast may break them.
They seem to desert the nest alot and then when they are there their foot can cause damage to the eggs. By the way, the eggs are the largest of the living birds and weigh as much as 2 dozen eggs (3 lbs).
(16) She is hardened against her young ones, as though they were not hers: her labor is in vain without fear; (17) Because God hath deprived her of wisdom, neither hath he imparted to her understanding.
Because not all the chicks in the nest are hers, she doesn’t seem too concerned even about her own. Maybe the Lord has spared her from fret by making her not too smart.
(18 ) What time she lifteth up herself on high, she scorneth the horse and his rider.
This was interesting in that ostriches have been clocked at 55 mph. They can run that fast in a spurt, but can maintain speeds of 30 mph which out lasts a horse. They stand up to 8 feet tall.
The Ostrich can also be found in Lam_4:3; Isa_13:21; Isa_34:13; and Isa_43:20.
Today we will start with the Eagle, which our pastor used as the theme of his article in this month’s Window. Here in North America we have the Bald Eagle (our National symbol) and the Golden Eagle, Stellar’s Eagle and White-tailed Eagle. The Bald Eagle’s “bald spot” doesn’t appear until they are 4 or 5 years old and develop a white head and tail. The Bald Eagle is only in North America. In Israel you might see a Short-toed Eagle, Great or Lesser Spotted Eagle, Steppe, Imperial, Golden, Booted, or Bonelli’s Eagle.
I love to watch an eagle flying; it stops me in my tracks. We are lucky here in Polk County to have many this time of the year. Stay alert and also visit the South Lake Howard Nature Center to see a pair sitting either on the tower or at the nest. Ask most anyone there and they will point out the nest.
Eagle on Tower Near Lake Howard and Eagle in Nest at Lake Howard Nature Park.
Job 9:26 – “Like an eagle swooping on its prey.”
Pro 30:19 – “The way of an eagle in the air”
Jer 49:22 – “fly like the eagle”
Hab 1:8 – “They fly as the eagle that hastens to eat.”
Pro 23:5 –“They fly away like an eagle toward heaven.”
An African Eagle
“Birds display a wide range of patterns in flight. Swifts and swallows use a fast, gliding motion. Ducks and geese have sustained, powerful flight. Birds of prey such as eagles and falcons usually catch their targets by swooping from high in the sky, capturing their victims after a swift dive—which may reach speeds of 250 kilometers an hour (165 mph). As the bird swoops to the ground, it spreads its powerful wings to act as a brake.” (“Created to fly,” Creation 16(3), June 1994)
Click link to see a Bald eagle hovering and landing on rock.
For those of us in the “older generation,” Job 9:25-26 (NKJV) reminds us that we need to stay active for our Lord because our life passes by swiftly. “Now my days are swifter than a runner; They flee away, they see no good. They pass by like swift ships, Like an eagle swooping on its prey.”
A few more facts about eagles:
Eagles are mentioned in hymns such as: They That Wait Upon the Lord –“They shall mount up with wings as eagles:” The Mercy Seat – “Ah, there on eagle wings we soar,” Art Thou Afraid? – “On eagles’ wings they mount, they soar, Their wings are faith and love,”
In Israel, the eagle is the largest bird and has an eight foot wing span.
There are at least 25 verses in the Bible that mention the eagle.
The eagle is an “unclean” bird.
There is much more to say about eagles, but we will leave them to continue with the many other birds mentioned in the Bible. A parting remark by C. H. Spurgeon quoted on Pg 57 of John Stott’s The Birds Our Teachers, follows:
“Brother, your failure, if you fail, will begin in your faith. The air says to the eagle, Trust me; spread thy broad wings; I will bear thee up to the sun. Only trust me. Take thy foot from off yon rock which thou canst feel beneath thee. Get away from it, and be buoyed up by the unseen element.’ My brethren, eaglets of heaven, mount aloft, for God invites you. Mount! You have but to trust him.”
Goal: To encourage your understanding and help you form a mental picture of the fowls or birds of the air found in scripture.
God has created the fowls and birds and they are mentioned throughout the Bible. When you read the name of a bird, does a mental picture come to view or do you just keep reading without a thought to what you just read? Sure, you know some of them, like the Eagle or a Sparrow, but how about a Bittern, Ossifrage, Hoopoe, or Lapwing? Not just their names are important, but how about the illustrations that use birds to teach lessons? God’s care, strength, provision and other lessons are taught with birds as the examples.
“But now ask the beasts, and they will teach you; And the birds of the air, and they will tell you;” Job 12:7
So, let’s get started with:
The Birds of the Bible
“Then God said, ‘Let the waters abound with an abundance of living creatures, and let birds fly above the earth across the face of the firmament of the heavens.’ So God created great sea creatures and every living thing that moves, with which the waters abounded, according to their kind, and every winged bird according to its kind. And God saw that it was good. And God blessed them, saying, ‘Be fruitful and multiply, and fill the waters in the seas, and let birds multiply on the earth.’ So the evening and the morning were the fifth day.” Gen 1: 20-23
Here we see that God created the birds on day five of creation and that “it was good.”
“Out of the ground the LORD God formed every beast of the field and every bird of the air, and brought them to Adam to see what he would call them. And whatever Adam called each living creature, that was its name.” Gen 2:19-20a
Adam was given the privilege of giving all the “critters” their names. Were there as many varieties of birds then as now? There have been changes within the species (kinds), but not evolution (changing from one kind to another kind).
Depending on which copy of the Bible you use, here are some of the names of birds mentioned in the Bible. These will be introduced in following blogs. Not necessarily in the following order. Bittern; Chicken; Cormorant; Crane; Cuckoo; Dove; Eagle; Falcon; Glede; Hawk; Hen; Heron; Hoopoe; Kite; Lapwing; Night Hawk; Osprey; Ossifrage; Ostrich; Owl; Partridge; Peacock; Pelican; Pigeon; Quail; Raven; Sparrow; Stork; Swallow; Swan; Vulture
Lee's Birdwatching Adventures Plus 