Hen and chicks
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Jesus of Nazareth uses the metaphor of the hen that gathers her chicks in the Gospel according to Matthew ( Mt 23:37 Lut ) and Luke ( Lk 13:34 Lut ) as a picture of how God repeatedly cared about Jerusalem and its inhabitants .
Context and explanation
The figurative word comes at the end of a speech by Jesus that was directed against the scribes and Pharisees . Through the picture he expresses once more how God has tried again and again for Jerusalem, but this has been rejected again and again.
“Jerusalem, Jerusalem, you kill the prophets and stone them that are sent to you! How often have I wanted to gather your children together as a hen gathers her chicks under her wings; and you didn't want to! "
The phrase is based on the saying of the prophet Isaiah:
"And the LORD of hosts will protect Jerusalem as birds do with their wings; he will protect, save, spare and deliver."
Ultimately, in Jesus Christ , God himself repeatedly stood up for Jerusalem. But since this met with such great rejection, Jesus and with it God will leave the holy city and the temple , which means the end for them (verse 38). This abandonment will last until his final return (v. 39).
reception
Johann Sebastian Bach takes the picture in the cantata Darzu has appeared the son of God (BWV 40, 1723), where it says in aria no. 7: “ Jesus, who can save, takes care of his little cakes and wants them with wings cover. "
Individual evidence
- ↑ Stuttgart Explanatory Bible. ISBN 3-438-01121-2 , 2nd edition 1992, German Bible Society Stuttgart, p. 1210