No traveler in Palestine, the land of sacred memories, will need an
introduction to the sparrows. They are as tame, troublesome, vivacious,
and impertinent, as their numerous progeny across the seas. They chirp
and twitter, asserting their rights of possession in places where they
are not welcome, industriously building their nests in every available
nook and corner, and defending them fearlessly against every feathered
encroacher. They stop up the stove-pipes and water-gutters with
their rubbish, build nests in the windows, and under the eaves of the
roofs, and have not the least reverence for any place or thing. You
see them perching on the loftiest spires of the Holy City, flitting
in and out of minaret and tower, wherever an opening invites them to
a place of security and shelter for rearing their young. They nest
in great numbers in the bushes on the banks of the River Jordan, and
band together in defending their nests against the rooks and crows
that infest the cane-brakes north of Lake Hulah. They live on terms of
great amity and friendliness with the beautiful "wŭr-war" or bee-eater,
which burrows in the soft earth-banks near the out-go of the Jordan,
from the Lake of Galilee. The nests of sparrow and "wŭr-war" are so
numerous and easy to reach that one might easily gather a peck of their
tiny eggs, and unfledged nestlings, with mother-bird and all, could
they be of use. But the Mosaic Law has a precept especially intended
to protect the "birds of the air." In one portion of the inspired text
he writes: "If a bird's nest chances to be before thee in the way, in
any tree, or on the ground, whether they be young ones or eggs, and the
dam sitting upon the young, or upon the eggs, thou shalt not molest the
dam with the young, that it may be well with thee, and that thou mayest
prolong thy days." You will notice how clear is the precept by which
we are forbidden to molest these nests. We _must_ not, the biblical
law says, and to the obedient is the promised blessing of prosperity
and long life, with contrary calamities clearly implied to those who
transgress. In its meaning this precept includes all birds, and was
intended, like many other prohibitory commands, to cultivate sentiments
of humanity and habits of gentleness. And so it is that in Bible lands
the sparrow is more numerous, and less liable to destruction, than in
our own streets, fields and parks, where every bird of this species is
an object of contempt, and often lured to its death, with countless
thousands of victims, unsuspecting and easily taken like himself.
They flit over the "field of the Shepherds," and build nests in
the "cave of the Nativity." They cover the fields of wild oats by
thousands, and chirp and twitter on the hillside where "Ruth went down
to glean." A colony will be found in every old tree on the Mount of
Olives, and even in the "garden of Gethsemane," they nest in perfect
security above the heads of the black-robed attendants, who are on
terms of great familiarity with them. The first reference to the
sparrow in the Bible is an allusion to this habit of the fearless bird
in building its nest in the most sacred places. It recalls the sad and
pathetic period in David's life, when he fled from Jerusalem pursued
by the army of his son Absalom, "who sought his throne and life." Afar
from Jerusalem, and the temple courts, where he led the people in
their devotions, his heart longed for the peace and holy calm, to be
found only within their sacred enclosures, and he says: "A day in thy
courts is better than a thousand." "My soul longeth for thy courts."
"The sparrow hath found a nest for herself where she may lay her young,
even thine altars." Thus he, the great King David, wished for the rest
and peace enjoyed by the humble birds which he had observed so often,
ministering to their young about the holy altar itself. Again, when
Absalom falls in battle, and word is brought David, in the sadness of
his lament, "O, Absalom, my son, my son!" He compares himself to the
tiny, despised bird, saying: "I watch and am as a sparrow, alone upon
the housetop." He had, no doubt, often seen the sparrow, when one had
lost its mate, sitting on the housetop alone, and lamenting hour after
hour its sad bereavement. So again the _sparrow_ is honored above its
fellows, and its affectionate devotion immortalized. But a "Greater
than David," has drawn from this humblest one of the feathered tribe,
a lesson of trust which has touched tenderly, in all ages since,
the heart of every seeker after truth. "Not a sparrow falleth" is a
sentence that comes very close to the human heart. "Not a sparrow
falleth to the ground without your Father. Not one of them is forgotten
of Him. Fear not, therefore. _Ye_ are of more value than many sparrows."
"Not a sparrow falleth,"
How sweet the words and true
"Without your Father's notice,"
Who careth still for you;
O tiny bird, so trustful,
Teach me such trust as thine,
That so the wondrous lesson
I may possess as mine.