Hen
Fausset's Bible Dictionary [1]
Matthew 23:37; Luke 13:34. As "the eagle stirring up her nest, fluttering over her young, spreading abroad her wings, taking, bearing them on her wings," represents the Old Testament aspect of Jehovah in relation to Israel under the law (Deuteronomy 32:11), so the "hen," Christ the lowly loving Son of God gathering God's children under His overshadowing wing, in the gospel (Ruth 2:12; Psalms 17:8; Psalms 91:4). (See EAGLE.) So Jehovah "passed over", or sprang forward to overshadow Israel from the destroying angel (Exodus 12:13). (See PASSOVER; EXODUS.)
International Standard Bible Encyclopedia [2]
( ὄρνις , órnis ): Mentioned in the accounts of the different disciples in describing the work of Jesus ( Matthew 23:37; Luke 13:34 ).
Cyclopedia of Biblical, Theological and Ecclesiastical Literature [3]
(ὄρνις , a bird, especially the domestic fowl, Matthew 23:37; Luke 13:34). We have no evidence that the ancient Hebrews were accustomed to the breeding of poultry, but that the later Jews were acquainted with it (Chald. תִּרְנְגוּלְתָּא ) is evident from 2 Esdras 1:30; Matthew 23:37; Luke 13:34; Luke 22:60-61. Michaelis is of opinion that the incubation of the common hen is referred to in Jeremiah 17:11. The original country of the common poultry fowl is India, where it is called the jungle bird. (See Cock).
The metaphor used in the passages of the Gospels where the term "hen" occurs has always been admired for its beauty. 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 army, as an eagle, was about to fall upon the Jews; our Lord-expresses a desire to guard them from threatened calamities, but they disregarded his invitations and warnings, and fell a prey to their adversaries. Thee word there employed is used in the same specific sense in classical Greek (Aristoph. Av. 102, Vesp. 811). That a bird so intimately connected with the household, and so common in Palestine, as we know from Rabbinical sources (Otho, Lex. Rabb. p. 256), should receive such slight notice, is certainly singular (see Reland, De yalli cantu Hier. au dito, Rotterd. 1709; Detharding, id. Rost. 1752); it is almost equally singular that it is nowhere represented in the paintings of ancient Egypt (Wilkinson, 1, 234). (See Fowl).
