If a bird's nest chance to be before thee in the way, in any tree, or upon the ground, with young or with eggs, and the dam sitting upon the young or upon the eggs, thou shalt not take the dam with the young
A traveller finds a nest by the road — in a tree or on the ground. A mother bird sits over her eggs or chicks. God gives a law for that moment. Why does the Maker of the universe write a rule about a bird's nest? And what was that rule meant to do to the person who kept it?
The law sits among rules about clothes, roofs, ploughing and sowing. This is ordinary daily life. One writer makes that the point:
No mother could watch the habits and manners of her little child more carefully than the Almighty Creator and moral Ruler of the universe watched the smallest details of the daily life of His people... We are amazed to find the Most High God, the Creator of the ends of the earth, the One who sustains the vast universe, stooping to make a law about a bird's nest. Yet why should we be amazed? To Him it is the same thing to provide for one sparrow as to feed a thousand million people every day.
These rules aim at something inside the person, not just at what he does on the road:
The spirit behind all these rules teaches us a great deal, and so does the goodness and tenderness of God. He is willing to take notice of all these things. He teaches His people delicacy, decency, consideration for others, and sensitivity. Such feelings remove cruelty and soften the hardness of man's heart, and they shape a man's ways after the love which the Spirit of God clothes Himself with when He works in the human heart.
Another writer reads the whole chapter this way. God is shaping the affections of His people, not just their conduct:
The great aim here is that God would shape the heart of His people by His own affections, in this relationship and to this measure. He would give them thoughts that are not merely righteous but holy. More than that, He would give them thoughts mixed with tenderness whenever tenderness is called for.
The mother bird is easy to catch because she will not leave her young. The young may be taken; she may not. That is what makes seizing her a particular wrong:
To take the mother bird, held there by her love for her young, was a shameful use of natural instinct. It also broke the honour due to parents, which reappears here in the motherly love of animals.
The next verse adds a reward. Its wording is not new. It repeats the promise God gave to children who honour their parents:
The law concerning the bird's nest shows the Creator's care, and His people are to recognise it. Keeping this law carries the same promise as the commandment about obedience to parents.
The same writer weighs what the repeated promise shows:
The repetition of the promise here is very striking. It shows how sensitive the truly obedient heart will be. God has surrounded us in nature with reminders of our condition, and with tests of it.
Commentators differ on how far to press a spiritual meaning here. On this law, one writer declines to guess:
We may not understand why the eggs or young birds could be taken from the mother, while the mother herself could not. This must have a spiritual meaning that escapes us.
One writer carries the picture forward to the garden. There Jesus faced the men who came to arrest Him and said, "If you seek me, let these men go":
In John 18:7-8, Deuteronomy 22:6 finds its spiritual counterpart. The Lord seems to say: "Take either Me or them; you cannot have both."
- Small. God writes a law about a nest by the road. Nothing in His people's daily life is beneath His notice. Feeding a sparrow costs Him no more than feeding the world.
- Soft. The rule aims at the heart, not the hand. It removes cruelty and teaches consideration, so that righteousness comes mixed with tenderness.
- Shameful. The evil named here is using a mother's love against her. Her love holds her to the nest. To seize her for that tramples the honour owed to parents.
- Same. The reward is the very promise given for honouring father and mother. The obedient heart proves sensitive even in the smallest test God sets in nature.
- Substitute. The mother given up so the young go free finds its counterpart in the garden: "Take either Me or them; you cannot have both."
thou shalt in any case let the dam go, and thou mayest take the young to thee, that it may be well with thee, and that thou mayest prolong thy days.
God ties a promise to something as small as a bird's nest beside the road. Why would the Creator of everything make a law about a bird, and what does keeping it do to the person who obeys?
One writer sees God's care for His people in the very smallness of this rule.
Nothing escaped His gracious notice; nothing was too trivial for His tender care. No mother could watch her little child's habits and manners more carefully than the Almighty Creator and Ruler of the universe watched the smallest details of His people's daily life... It amazes us to find the Most High God, the Creator of the ends of the earth and the Sustainer of the vast universe, stooping to make a law about a bird's nest. Yet why be amazed? To Him, providing for one sparrow is just the same as feeding a thousand million people every day.
One writer looks at the whole chapter and asks what God is aiming at in rules this small.
Deuteronomy 22 gathers a group of rules about righteousness, care, love and tenderness — the smallest matters as well as the greatest... Anyone can see the great aim here. God would shape the heart of His people in this relationship and by this measure, according to His own affections. He would give them not bare righteous thoughts but holy ones — and holy thoughts mixed with tenderness where tenderness is called for.
Why spare the mother and take only the young? One writer finds the answer in what holds her to the nest.
Her love for her young holds the mother bird to the nest. To take her was a shameful use of that natural instinct. It also broke the honour owed to parents, since her love for her young is motherly love reproduced in the lower creatures. The repetition of the promise here is very striking. It shows how sensitive a truly obedient heart will be. God has surrounded us in nature with reminders of our condition, and with tests of it too.
One writer points out where else this reward appears in the law.
The law concerning the bird's nest shows the Creator's care, and His people are to recognise it. Keeping this law carries the same promise as the commandment about obedience to parents.
Another writer meets the same promise again in the New Testament, joined to the command about honouring parents.
Here we have a rare instance of a direct quotation from the law of Moses to back the Christian conscience. It is described as the first commandment with a promise: "that it may go well with you." ... In the practical working of His government, God acts on unchanging principles. His way is always to attach a real blessing to obedience. So even those who are not under law but under grace are still subject to the positive commands of God. They are under law to Christ... The relationship in question belongs to this life, and so does the promise. It is well with us, and we consciously enjoy the Father's favour, as long as we walk as obedient children in His light.
Behind all these rules stands the character of the God who gave them.
The spirit of all these rules teaches us much, and so does the goodness and tenderness of God. He is willing to take notice of all these things. He teaches His people care, good manners, thought for others and sensitivity — the feelings that drive out brutality and soften the hardness of man's heart... But God's law sets limits and conditions. These keep in check the wickedness of a will that hardens itself while it oppresses others.
One writer admits that part of this law's meaning stays out of reach.
We may not understand why a man could take the eggs or the young birds from the mother, yet not take the mother herself. There must be a spiritual meaning here that escapes us.
- The nest — God makes a law about a bird's nest, because nothing about His people is too small for Him to notice.
- The mother — her love holds her to the nest, so trapping her would exploit an instinct God gave.
- The mirror — a bird's love for her young echoes the honour owed to parents, so nature itself tests the heart.
- The promise — this law carries the same reward as honouring father and mother: God's blessing on the life we live now.
- The result — keeping small rules like this shapes the heart. It teaches thought for others and softens hardness.