Hebrew Word Study – Long Life – Ha’araketh Yamim – הַאֲרַכְתָּ֖ יָמִֽים  Hei Aleph Resh Kap Taw     Yod Mem Yod Mem

Scripture gives us an enigmatic command in Deuteronomy 22:2-6: ““If a bird’s nest happens to be before you along the way, in any tree or on the ground, with young ones or eggs, with the mother sitting on the young or on the eggs, you shall not take the mother with the young; (7) But thou shalt in any wise let the dam go, and take the young to thee; that it may be well with thee, and that thou mayest prolong thy days.

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The command seems so simple, do not take the mother bird from her young or one even sitting on her eggs. It is a command that doesn’t cost us anything.  That is a very simple command to fulfill, in fact seems so minor.  There are literally billions of birds why it is so wrong to disturb one nest?  Well, for one thing, the mother bird would grieve if her young were taken from her and the young would suffer and God cares for the feelings of even a mother bird and her chicks. But also note that if you obey this command you “may prolong your days.”  In Hebrew, this is ha’araketh yamim.   These are the same words used in Exodus 20:12 Honour thy father and thy mother: that thy days may be long upon the land which the LORD thy God giveth thee.

There are only two commands that promise to lengthen your days. Honoring your parents and protecting the feelings of a mother bird. Actually, what the command is saying is to protect the heart of a parent and/or a mother. In the Hebrew, this does not necessarily mean you will live a longer life, but that every day of your life will be fulfilling and joyful. Thus, this minor command to protect the feelings of a mother bird, even if it is a small insignificant bird like a hummingbird, bears extreme importance. This verse not only tells us that a mother bird has feelings, a heart that can be broken but that we have an obligation to protect that heart.  

Our nation is in the midst of a political campaign for the election of our next president…

We recently had a political convention where many speeches were made by many politicians pontificating about the needs of the country and how they would fulfill those needs. But the most moving speeches, the speeches that expressed the greatest sincerity such that left the audience as well as a nation listening to these speeches in tears. These were the speeches of a mother who lost her son to fentanyl or a parent who lost a child on the battlefield.  Nothing touches a nation, or a people more than the cry of a mother who has lost a child. It doesn’t matter the color of the skin, the status of that person, or their rank in life.  That cry of grief can break the hard shell of almost any human heart. 

I remember seeing a small fawn lying beside a road out in the country that had been killed by a passing car. The mother deer was standing over that little fawn.  When I drove past that same site a few hours later that mother deer was still standing over her child. It was what we call heart-wrenching.  I recently reading where Walt Disney ordered the removal of the scene in Bambi where Bambi’s mother was killed by hunters because the scene was felt to be too traumatic for children.  Even the scene that was left that did not show the mother deer actually being killed but showed Bambi’s grief was considered too traumatic.

But, if the mother’s grief over losing the life that was created within her is too much for us to bear, how much so must the grief of the Creator of that life suffer? Do we ever consider the heartache of the Creator over a life that is wantonly snuffed out whether in the womb or out? Yes, God even mourns the loss of a life He created for the smallest creature as a little mother bird. 

FOR THE COMPLETE STUDY ON THIS TOPIC WHICH INCLUDES LEARNING THE LANGUAGE OF BIRDS AND ANIMALS JOIN OUR ALL-ACCESS SITE AND SEE OUR IN-DEPTH STUDY ENTITLED: “COMMUNICATION WITH ANIMALS” AND ALSO OUR SECTION ON “YIREDU   www.hebrewwordstudy.com

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