Word of Encouragement (01/05/2023)
“He found him in a desert land, and in the howling waste of the wilderness; he encircled him, he cared for him, he kept him as the apple of his eye. 11 Like an eagle that stirs up its nest, that flutters over its young, spreading out its wings, catching them, bearing them on its pinions, 12 the LORD alone guided him, no foreign god was with him. 13 He made him ride on the high places of the land, and he ate the produce of the field, and he suckled him with honey out of the rock, and oil out of the flinty rock. 14 Curds from the herd, and milk from the flock, with fat of lambs, rams of Bashan and goats, with the very finest of the wheat-- and you drank foaming wine made from the blood of the grape.” (Deut. 32:10-14)
Last time, we reflected on God’s care for Israel in terms of an eagle stirring up its nest. How about the LORD protecting Israel as an eagle “flutters over its young”? We can think of God’s glory cloud—the pillar of cloud to cover her from the heat of the day and the pillar of fire to shield her from the cold of the night.
We can even see the LORD doing this on the night of the Passover. We read in Isa. 31:5, “Like birds hovering, so the LORD of hosts will protect Jerusalem; he will protect and deliver it; he will spare and rescue it.” The same avian imagery is being used for the LORD’s promise to protect Israel if she should turn toward God from their idols. The Hebrew word for “spare” (pasach) is the same as the Passover (pasach). As M.G. Kline said, this presents a fascinating possibility that the Passover celebrated not so much the LORD passing over the Jewish households as the LORD fluttering over them like an eagle over its young, not allowing “the destroyer” to pass through them (Ex. 12:12).
Ex. 12:23b is fascinating in this regard: “...the LORD will pass over the door and will not allow the destroyer to enter your houses to strike you.” The LORD’s action of “passing over” is connected to not allowing the destroyer to “pass through” Israel’s household. In this case, the avian imagery of an eagle fluttering over its young (to protect its young from a snake, for example) seems to fit better. Because of the doctrine of the Trinity, we can even picture the Second Person of the Trinity, which the blood of the paschal lambs pointed to, hovering over the Jewish households so that the destroyer could not enter!
The last description—“spreading out its wings, catching them, bearing them on its pinions”—may point to the fact that God was the One, who carried Israel on His wings throughout her wilderness journey. After all, He provided manna and water so Israel could continue her journey through the wilderness. He also led her with the pillar of cloud and fire so that Israel might not get lost.
If God’s care for Israel could be described in this way, all the more so can His care for the new covenant people be, for whom He laid down His life to redeem them eternally from their sin! We are not protected by the blood of a lamb, which cannot wash away our sins (Heb. 10:4); we are protected by the precious blood of the (Paschal) Lamb of God. Christ does not just flutter over us, does He? He dwells in us through His Holy Spirit and protects us from within; He protects us as His own body—truly as the apple of His eye—not just as His treasured possession.
As we begin the New Year, let us do so with the confidence that comes from God’s eternal, unbreakable love, sealed by the eternal blood of the Lamb of God! Let us be bold in bearing witness to this supreme love, which God poured out on us in Jesus Christ.