Matthew 6:26

26 Look at the birds which fly in the air: they do not sow or reap or store up in barns, but your Heavenly Father feeds them: are not you of much greater value than they?

Matthew 6:26 Meaning and Commentary

Matthew 6:26

Behold the fowls of the air
Not such as are brought up in houses, but which fly abroad in the air, wild; and are not supported by their own, or any human care, but by the care of God: ( Luke 12:24 ) particularly mentions the "ravens", referring probably to ( Psalms 147:9 ) , and because they are very voracious creatures: and there it is said, "consider the ravens"; look attentively upon them, and with observation,

for they sow not, neither do they reap, nor gather into barns.
This is not said, that men should not sow, nor reap, nor gather into barns: but to reprove their diffidence and unbelief: who, though they have the opportunity of sowing, reaping, and gathering in, year by year, yet distrust the providence of God; when the fowls of the air do none of these,

yet your heavenly Father feedeth them;
see ( Psalms 145:15 Psalms 145:16 ) ( 147:9 ) . The Jews acknowledge this, that the least and meanest of creatures are fed by God.

``Mar says ^F3, the holy blessed God sits (Nzw) , "and feeds", i.e. all creatures, and takes care of them.''

Are ye not much better than they?
Do not you differ from them? are ye not much more excellent than they? And if God 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 Christ's, and appears to have in it pretty much of the like kind of reasoning. In the Misna

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FOOTNOTES:

F4 it is said, that R. Simeon ben Eleazer should say,

``Did you ever see a beast, or a fowl, that had a trade? but they are fed without trouble.''

In the Gemara ^F5 is added,

``Did you ever see a lion bearing burdens, an hart gathering summer fruits, a fox a money changer, or a wolf selling pots? And yet (reu alb Nyonrptm) , "they are nourished without labour", and wherefore are they created? To serve me, and I am created to serve my Maker: and lo! these things have in them an argument, "from the less to the greater"; for if these, which are created to serve me after this manner, are supported without trouble; I, who am created to serve my Maker, is it not fit that I should be supplied without trouble? And what is the reason that I am sustained with trouble? My sins.''

F3 T. Bab. Sabbat, fol. 107. 2. Avoda Zara, fol. 3. 2.
F4 Kiddushin, c. 4. sect. 14.
F5 T. Hieros. Kiddushin, fol. 66. 2. Vid. T. Bab. Kiddushin, fol. 82. 1, 2.

Matthew 6:26 In-Context

24 "No man can be the bondservant of two masters; for either he will dislike one and like the other, or he will attach himself to one and think slightingly of the other. You cannot be the bondservants both of God and of gold.

25 For this reason I charge you not to be over-anxious about your lives, inquiring what you are to eat or what you are to drink, nor yet about your bodies, inquiring what clothes you are to put on. Is not the life more precious than its food, and the body than its clothing?

26 Look at the birds which fly in the air: they do not sow or reap or store up in barns, but your Heavenly Father feeds them: are not you of much greater value than they?

27 Which of you by being over-anxious can add a single foot to his height?

28 And why be anxious about clothing? Learn a lesson from the wild lilies. Watch their growth. They neither toil nor spin,