Deuteronomy 22:6 (NKJV) – “If a bird’s nest happens to be before you along the way, in any tree or on the ground, with young ones or eggs, with the mother sitting on the young or on the eggs, you shall not take the mother with the young; 7 you shall surely let the mother go, and take the young for yourself, that it may be well with you and that you may prolong your days.
So let’s deal with the surface of the text first. Why would the Lord have something like this recorded in the eternal word?
Men in their wickedness, don’t care about others and so they would take the mother bird for themselves and leave the young birds to die, which out of selfishness, produces death. Given the choice between one young baby bird versus the mother who can produce 50+ birds, the human mind would obviously choose the mother who can make you more money faster. It’s like stealing a fish versus the whole fishing boat. One is the fruit, and the other produces fruit.
The same command here in Deuteronomy 22 is also in Leviticus 23.
Leviticus 23:22 (NKJV) – ‘When you reap the harvest of your land, you shall not wholly reap the corners of your field when you reap, nor shall you gather any gleaning from your harvest. You shall leave them for the poor and for the stranger: I am the LORD your God.’”
So the Lord wants us to think of others in all we do. Jesus definitely fulfilled that, and so we follow Him in like manner.
Alright lets go deeper…
Remember when Jesus likened Himself to a mother bird?!
Matthew 23:37 – “O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, the one who kills the prophets and stones those who are sent to her! How often I wanted to gather your children together, AS A HEN GATHERS HER CHICKS UNDER HER WINGS, but you were not willing!”
Jesus longed to gather all of Jerusalem under His wings, and bring each one close, but only 12 disciples were following closely “under His wings”.
A mother hen provides safety, security, food, nurturing care, training, teaching, help, and sustains/gives life for all her young chicks.
It just so happens that the average clutch size for a mother hen is 10-14 chicks.
Jesus had 12 disciples!
So check this out:
One of the best places to stumble upon a bird’s nest is in a garden right?
Matthew 26:45 (NKJV) – Then He came to His disciples and said to them, “Are you still sleeping and resting? Behold, the hour is at hand, and the Son of Man is being betrayed into the hands of sinners. 46 Rise, let Us be going. See, My betrayer is at hand.” 47 And while He was still speaking, behold, Judas, one of the twelve, with a great multitude with swords and clubs, came from the chief priests and elders of the people.
What did they do when they came to a garden late at night and happened upon a “nest” of 11 young disciples in training?
They took the One who gives life and killed Him. Therefore, they unknowingly, but still nonetheless, prophetically disobeyed the command of the Lord in Deuteronomy 22:6-7.
What happens when you take the mother from the young? Inevitably, the young die soon after. And so the disciples died soon after for their witness to Jesus.
The young chicks don’t produce life on their own…yet. They need to be raised to maturity first, and then they will be able to produce life, or multiply after their own kind. And so the disciples in the garden of Gethsemane aren’t mature yet, but were raised to maturity after the Holy Spirit came upon them, then they were sent out to reproduce after their own kind and make disciples, bringing them “under their wings”; exactly like Jesus did for them.
Matthew 28:19 (NKJV) – Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, 20 teaching them to observe all things that I have commanded you; and lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age.” Amen.