Hen

American Tract Society Bible Dictionary

The care of a hen to protect her brood from hawks, etc., illustrates the Savior's tender care of his people when exposed to the swoop of the Roman eagle, as in all similar perils, Matthew 23:37; 24:22 . The common barn-door fowl is not often mentioned in Scripture, Mark 13:35; 14:30; Luke 22:34; but at the present day they and their eggs are more used in Syria than any other food not vegetable.

Easton's Bible Dictionary

Matthew 23:37Luke 13:34

Hastings' Dictionary of the Bible

HEN . In Zechariah 6:14 ‘Hen the son of Zephaniah’ is mentioned amongst those whose memory was to be perpetuated by the crowns laid up in the Temple (so AV [Note: Authorized Version.] , RV [Note: Revised Version.] ). Some would substitute for ‘Hen’ the name ‘Joshua’ [Josiah] found in Zechariah 6:10 .

Hastings' Dictionary of the New Testament

HEN. —See Animals, p. 64a.

King James Dictionary

HEN, n. The female of any kind of fowl but it is particularly applied to the female of the domestic fowl of the gallinaceous kind, or as sometimes called, the barn-door fowl.

Morrish Bible Dictionary

Son of Zephaniah. Zechariah 6:14 . By comparing verse 14 with verse 10 Hen (really Chen) appears to be another name of Josiah. Some treat the word Hen not as a proper name, and translate 'for the favour of the son of Zephaniah.'

Smith's Bible Dictionary

Hen. (rest).

1. Probably, a son of Zephaniah, and apparently, the same who is called Josiah, in Zechariah 6:10.

2. The hen is nowhere noticed in the Bible except in Matthew 23:37; Luke 13:34. That a bird so common in Palestine should receive such slight notice is certainly peculiar.

Vine's Expository Dictionary of NT Words

1: Ὄρνις (Strong'S #3733 — Noun Masculine — ornis — or'-nis )

"a bird," is used, in the NT, only of a "hen," Matthew 23:27; Luke 13:34 .

Watson's Biblical & Theological Dictionary

ορνις , 2 Esdras 50:30; Matthew 23:37; Luke 13:34 . In these last two passages our Saviour exclaims, "O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, how often would I have gathered thy children together, even as a hen gathereth her chickens under her wings, and ye would not!" The metaphor here used is a very beautiful one. When the hen sees a bird of prey coming, she makes a noise to assemble her chickens, that she may cover them with her wings from the danger. The Roman eagle was about to fall upon the Jewish state; our Lord invited them to himself in order to guard them from threatened calamities: they disregarded his invitations and warnings, and fell a prey to their adversaries. The affection of a hen to her brood is so strong as to have become proverbial. There is a beautiful Greek epigram in the Anthologia, which affords a very fine illustration of the affection of this bird in another view. It has been thus translated:—

"Beneath her fostering wing the hen defends Her darling offspring, while the snow descends; And through the winter's day unmoved defies The chilling fleeces and inclement skies;

Till vanquish'd by the cold and piercing blast, True to her charge she perishes at last."

Plutarch, in his book De Philostorgia, represents this parental attachment and care in a very pleasing manner: "Do we not daily observe with what care the hen protects her chickens; giving some shelter under her wings, supporting others upon her back, calling them around her, and picking out their food; and if any animal approaches that terrifies them, driving it away with a courage and strength truly wonderful?

Webster's Dictionary

(n.) The female of the domestic fowl; also, the female of grouse, pheasants, or any kind of birds; as, the heath hen; the gray hen.

Wilson's Dictionary of Bible Types

Matthew 23:37 (a) This is a type of the tender care and protection which the Lord JESUS offered Israel. CHRIST Himself is compared to the mother hen and the chickens represent the Israelites and the Christians of today.

Luke 13:34 (a) In His early ministry, the Lord JESUS compared Himself to a mother hen calling her brood (the whole nation of Israel) to come to Him and trust Him. Quite sometime later in His ministry, He repeats the same verse in Matthew 23:37, but He changed one word. Instead of calling the "brood," He called the "chickens" - the individual persons of Israel. The events which transpired between these two passages reveal that Israel as a nation had rejected CHRIST, therefore at the end of His journey, He made His appeal for individuals rather than for the whole nation.

Cyclopedia of Biblical, Theological and Ecclesiastical Literature

(Heb. Chen, חֵן , grace, as often; Sept. translates χάρις, Vulg. Hem), the son of Zephaniah, to whom the prophet was sent with a symbolical crown (Zechariah 6:14); probably a figurative name for JOSIAH (Zechariah 6:10).