Deuteronomy 22

Deuteronomy 22:6-7

Bird-Nesting If a bird’s nest chance to be before thee in the way, in any tree or on the ground, with young ones or eggs, and the dam sitting upon the young, or upon the eggs, thou shalt not take the dam with the young: thou shalt in any wise let the dam go, but the young thou mayest take to thyself; that it may be well with thee, and that thou mayest prolong thy days.—Deuteronomy 22:6-7.You think of the children of Israel, don’t you, as having lived far back in the dark ages? But here is one of the commandments which God gave to them—a little one about a bird’s nest—and the words of it make us feel that those wanderers were just big boys and girls with the same inclinations as we ourselves have today.We learn from the words that the birds that flew about the Israelites as they journeyed were, in many cases, birds such as those we have now. The people must have been robbing their nests too, else we should not have had this verse at all. Naturally enough, in their wanderings they often came upon a nest by the wayside.It may be that the Israelitish boys knew the little bird nests which are found in a hollow by the side of a marsh. Perhaps they thoughtlessly scattered the eggs, or perhaps Mr. Lapwing—artful little bird that he is!—lured them away from it with the wonderful antics with which he and his ancestors, generation after generation, have protected their nests.

For Mr. Lapwing is the real defender of his nest.

The mother bird is generally so frightened that she flies away. But when an enemy approaches the male lapwing practices the tricks his father taught him. Gradually moving farther and farther away from where the precious eggs are, he turns a number of somersaults, or he does other equally extraordinary things. The onlooker becomes so interested that the nest is forgotten. You remember Noah’s clever scout bird, the dove? She, too, would be known to the Israelites. The dove has a very mournful note. No wonder!

Her family has ancient legends of how large numbers of them used to be trapped and taken captive to Jerusalem and then killed. Sacrifice had no meaning to them. It was all a mystery, and they just mourned.What made me think of the text this morning? Why, just the fact that it is May! And May is the great month for birds’ nests. It is the birds’ busy time.In trees, in bushes, on house-tops, or on the ground, they have built their little homes. What wonderful architects many of them are. One bird has woven twigs together into a building like an old Gothic church; another has built his house in the shape of a bottle; while one we all love lives in a dear little house made of mud.

They were very patient while they gathered their building materials; and when they selected a site for their nest, by some strange instinct they chose it as far out of the reach of boys and girls as possible. But in spite of all their wonderful wisdom, somehow—and I feel ashamed to say it—there are always boys ready to climb up and destroy the little houses on which so much thoughtful care has been bestowed.Now I am to give you three reasons why I want you not to disturb a bird’s nest while it’s being used.1. Because it is cruel and cowardly.—What would you think if anyone were to break open the door of your home and run away with your bed? Think of your mother going out one day and coming home to find that someone had been there and stolen you away! Yet, how often does the poor mother bird come home to find all her children taken from her? If you rob a nest, it is a case of the strong taking advantage of the weak —a cowardly action under any circumstances—you know it is.2.

Because the birds have rights.—Any creature that suffers has rights. Theodore Parker, the great American preacher, when a lad, saw a turtle on a log, and, with stone in hand, he crept up and was about to throw it, when he heard a voice within which made him desist.

He asked his mother about it. She told him that it was the protest of the doctrine of rights— the voice of God. Killing an animal for food or clothing is a part of life. But killing an animal for “fun” or “sport” is wrong.3. Because we ought to love the birds, and love never willfully hurts what it loves. Love was Christ’s great commandment—love in little as well as in big things. God is great, yet He cares for the birds. “Are not two sparrows sold for a farthing? and one of them shall not fall on the ground without your Father.”What has the song of birds’ not done for many a man and woman? It has cheered them, it has inspired them, it has given them new courage.

It has even led them to God.Here are some beautiful verses, by the poet George Macdonald, which tell what the song of a bird did for the heart of a man.A brown bird sang on a blossomy tree,Sang in the moonshine, merrily,Three little songs, one, two, and three,A song for his wife, for himself, and me.He sang for his wife, sang low, sang high,Filling the moonlight that filled the sky;“Thee, thee, I love thee, heart alive!Thee, thee, thee, and thy round eggs five!”He sang to himself, “What shall I doWith this life that thrills me through and through!Glad is so glad that it turns to ache!Out with it, song, or my heart will break!”He sang to me, “Man, do not fearThough the moon goes down and the dark is nearListen my song and rest thine eyes;Let the moon go down that the sun may rise!”I folded me up in the heart of his tune,And fell asleep with the sinking moon;I woke with the day’s first golden gleam,And, lo, I had dreamed a precious dream!

Deuteronomy 22:8

Battlements When thou buildest a new house, then thou shalt make a battlement for thy roof.—Deuteronomy 22:8.I suppose not more than two or three of you have actually seen an Eastern house. But all of you have seen pictures of houses in India, Egypt, and Palestine. And not one of you but has admired their flat roofs. “What a grand idea!” you have said to yourselves. “I wish our houses had flat roofs too. Wouldn’t it be great to go up there and look down on the street?”Now, when you were gazing at the pictures did your sharp eyes notice also that some, but not all, of these flat roofs had a wall round the edge? That wall round the edge is the battlement of today’s text. And today’s text is just one of the lesser laws which the Hebrews made long years ago.And a very good common-sense law it was!

For the roof of an Eastern house is perhaps more used than any other part of it. ‘ It is the playground and the promenade, the garden, the drying loft, and—in the hot weather—the sleeping-place of the people who live in the house. It is also the spot from which a view may be had, for Oriental houses have generally no windows giving on to the street, and if they have windows, these are so closely latticed that they are of little use.If an Eastern roof is used for so many purposes you can understand how necessary this law was.

You yourself would not care to sleep where there was a chance of rolling off your mattress in the middle of the night and next minute finding yourself in the street. It is bad enough when you fall from your bed on to the floor. Or imagine playing games on a roof without a battlement! You would have no freedom at all. You would constantly have to be watching that you did not step back into the air. The battlement is, at one and the same time, what restrains you and what gives you freedom.The Hebrews made this law for the owners of houses. The owner of a house was held responsible if anyone chanced to fall off the roof and get injured or killed. The pity was that every one did not obey it; Some people preferred their own way.

And it is the same still.There is a famous book about Palestine which I hope you may all read some day. It is called The Land and the Book. If it had not been for a battlement that book might never have been written. The writer, Dr. Thomson, on the third day of his tour through the Holy Land was so absorbed in gazing at the wonderful view to be had from the roof of a house in Beirut that he nearly walked off it, and if it had not been for the parapet which caught him he would have plunged to the street below. He tells us in that book that the Moslems today build high parapets round their houses.

But the Christians are, alas! not so particular. And he adds that many an accident would be prevented if everybody observed the law of battlements.And there would be far less sorrow and trouble in life if people obeyed the law of battlements there.

The law of house battlements was a kind law. It had love behind it. The law of life’s battlements is as kind a law and it has just as much love behind it. As the owner of the house was responsible for the life of whoever went on the roof, so your father and mother feel responsible for you. And so they build battlements. They build them even for the youngest of you.The first battlements they build are battlements you can actually see. When you are a toddling baby, they pop you into a play-pen. Inside it you can be safely left to amuse yourself.

If you had not that fence round you, you would be exploring everything and everywhere, and getting hurt every other minute. Or they put a fire-guard in front of the grate. You think it is a nuisance, especially when you are dying to light papers at the blaze; but that fire-guard is your battlement of safety. It keeps you from setting fire to yourself and being badly burnt.As you grow older you will find that life’s battlements are not—like baby’s battlements—things you can see. They are rather rules that you must keep, laws which you must obey. For instance, you are forbidden to be out later than a certain hour at night, you are not allowed to smoke cigarettes, or to read certain books, and you are debarred from making friends with certain companions.

You think all these rules irksome and needless. But every “don’t” is a battlement of safety, and some day you will understand that your father and mother knew better than you, and that the rules they made for you were wise and good.Later, when you reach what older people are fond of calling “years of discretion,” you will find that you have to build many of your own battlements.

You will find that Parliament has made laws which, as a good citizen, you must keep or suffer the penalty, But within these laws you will find there are many things you may do that it were better you should not do. If you are wise you will say to yourself, I may but I shan’t, and you will build your battlements cheerfully and manfully.And having built your battlements, keep behind them! Don’t jump over them from a false idea that you will have more freedom on the other side. You will only land yourself in terrible danger. And don’t knock them down weakly at the suggestion of a friend who has perhaps knocked down his and wants company in his dangerous doings. Have the courage to defend your walls when you once have built them.Otherwise you will be like the valuable little dog whom a man saw fastened to a railing.

He went up to it and undid the chain and marched it off. And that doggie never so much as tried to bark, or struggle, or bite the thief.

It meekly allowed itself to be led away.Are you going to be like that stupid dog, “led away” by evil companions? Or are you going to stick to the rules you have made? Are you going to keep behind your battlements?But with all this battlement-building don’t forget the best parapet of all, the parapet which makes all other parapets secure, and without which every other parapet is liable to fall or crumble away. That parapet is the love of Christ. Take Him as your Friend. Then all life’s battlements will be blessings not hindrances.