Consider the ravens
According to the Jews F11 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. In Matthew the
"fowls of the air" in general are mentioned, as they are here in
the Cambridge copy of Beza's; but in others, "the ravens" in
particular, they being fowls of very little worth, and
disregarded by men, and odious to them, as well as unclean by the
law; and yet these are taken care of by God. The Arabic version
reads, "the young ravens"; and these are which are said to cry
unto God, who provides food for them, and gives it to them, (
Job 38:41 ) (
Psalms
147:9 )
for they neither sow nor reap, which neither have
storehouse nor
barn;
and yet they are provided for, and therefore, why should men, and
especially God's own people, distrust his providence over them,
when they both sow and reap, have the seedtime, and harvest in
the appointed seasons: they cast their seed into the earth, and
it springs up and brings forth much fruit, which they reap when
ripe, and gather into their barns and storehouses, from whence
they are supplied till another season returns; wherefore they
have no reason to distress themselves, seeing, though this is not
the case of ravens, yet
God feedeth them;
their young ones, as the above places show. Jerom says
F12, that it is affirmed by some
philosophers, that they live upon dew. The Jews F13 have a
notion, that the old ravens being cruel to their young, and
hating them, the Lord has pity on them, and prepares flies, or
worms for them, which arise out of their dung, and enter into
their mouths, and they them. One of their commentators says
F14, when the young ones are hatched
they are white, and the old ones leave them, not taking them for
their own, and therefore bring them no food, and then they cry to
God; and this is mentioned by some Christian writers, but not
sufficiently confirmed: and another of them observes F15, that
the philosophers of the Gentiles say, that the ravens leave their
young as soon as they are hatched; but what Aristotle F16, Pliny
F17, and Aelianus F18 affirm
of these creatures is, that 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, "they wander
for lack of meat, and cry unto God, who gives it to them": and
since this is the case, and the providence of God is so much
concerned for such worthless creatures, the people of God, and
disciples of Christ, ought by no means to distrust it: for as it
follows,
how much more are ye better than the fowls:
or "than these", as the Vulgate Latin version reads; that is than
these ravens, or any other fowls whatever; (See Gill on
Matthew
6:26).