Job. 38:41 Who provideth for the raven his food? when his young ones cry unto God, they wander for lack of meat.
Luke 12:24 Consider the ravens: for they neither sow nor reap; which neither have storehouse nor barn; and G-d feedeth them: how much more are ye better than the fowls?
Matt. 6:26 Behold the fowls of the air: for they sow not, neither do they reap, nor gather into barns; yet your heavenly Father feedeth them. Are ye not much better than they?
According to the Jews there are three sorts of ravens, the black raven, the raven of the valley, which is said to be white, and the raven whose head is like a dove. The raven is a black carnivorous bird Proverbs 30:17; The Hebrew oreb is applied to the several species of the crow family. Fowls of very little worth, and disregarded by men, and odious to them, as well as unclean by the Law; (Solomon 5:11 Forbidden as food Leviticus 11:15 ; Deuteronomy 14:14 for it is unclean) and yet these are taken care of by G-d.
As ravenous beasts, so ravenous birds, are fed by the divine Providence. Who but G-d provides for the raven his food? Man does not; he takes care only of those creatures that are, or may be, useful to him. But G-d has a regard to all the works of His hands, even the meanest and least valuable. The ravens' young ones are in a special manner necessitous and G-d supplies them, Ps. 147:9. G-d's feeding the fowls, especially these fowls in Matt. 6:26, is an encouragement to us to trust Him for our daily bread.
Raven – Transition from the noble lioness to the croaking raven. Though man dislikes it, as of ill omen, G-d cares for it, as for all His creatures.
1. What distress the young ravens are often in: As soon as they are able to fly they turn them out of their nests, and even drive them out of the country where they are; when, as it is said in Job 38:41, they wander for lack of meat. The old ones, they say, neglect them, and do not provide for them as other birds do for their young: and indeed those that are ravenous to others are commonly barbarous to their own, and unnatural.
2. What they are supposed to do in that distress: They cry, for they are noisy clamorous creatures, and this is interpreted as crying to G-d, who gibes it to them. It being the cry of nature, it is looked upon as directed to the G-d of nature. The putting of so favourable a construction as this upon the cries of the young ravens may encourage us in our prayers, though we can but cry, Abba, Father.
3. What G-d does for them. Some way or other He provides for them, so that they grow up, and come to maturity. And He that takes this care of the young ravens certainly will care for His people or theirs.
The providence of G-d is so much concerned for such worthless creatures, the people of G-d, and disciples of the Messiah, ought by no means to distrust it: for as it follows, The Hebrews acknowledge this, that the least and meanest of creatures are fed by G-d. Do not you differ from them? Are you not much more excellent than they? And if G-d feeds and provides for inferior creatures, such as are very mean and contemptible, how much more will He not provide for you? There is a passage in the Talmud, which has great affinity to this of Y’Shua and appears to have in it pretty much of the like kind of reasoning. In the Mishna. This, being but one instance of many of the divine compassion, may give us occasion to think how much good our G-d does, every day, beyond what we are aware of.
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