Psalm 90:4
eagles and chickens
He will overshadow thee with his shoulders: and under his wings thou shalt trust. (Psalm 90:4 DR)
Whenever we learn something new, we are in a vulnerable position. Sometimes the stakes are pretty low, but other times they can be high, which is why the way in which learn is usually incremental. As we gain mastery and competence we can take on more and more risks and require less and less supervision.
In the animal world this is evident with eagles. Contrary to popular belief, eaglets are generally not pushed out of the nest to force them to learn to fly. Rather, it is a gradual process of taking smaller steps towards flight. The nestlings are in their first few weeks completely dependent on their mother and are vulnerable to the elements, other predators, and even fratricidal siblings. At around a month and a half old they start to take little hop flights in which they hop around the nest with wings outstretched in imitation of their mother or attempt to hover for brief periods of time.
At about three months old they are physically capable of flight and will take little fledging flights by hopping to other branches in the tree or around the nest, and eventually venture out for their first flight. While there have been some anecdotal instances of adult eagles catching their fallen young, most of the time it is a make or break flight. A fall of a pre-mature fledgling will not necessarily kill the eaglet, but it does leave them vulnerable.
The next few weeks are spent perfecting flight and landing, and by about 6 months old they are ready to leave the nest and will strike out on their own.
The Psalmist likens the righteous man who seeks the Lord’s protection to a baby bird who shelters under his mother’s wings, a metaphor for trust and confidence. In the initial stages of the spiritual life we are as vulnerable as newborn birds, requiring constant care and support:
The prophet now speaks in his own person, and addresses the just man, who spoke hitherto, saying, you were right in saying I will trust in him, for “he hath delivered me from the snare of the hunters;” for he really did deliver you, and will always deliver you from every danger, for while you will be but a little one, and no match for your enemies, he will foster you under his wings, like a hen or an eagle. (St. Robert Bellarmine, A Commentary on the Book of the Psalms, 90, 4.)
This is not to say that we are ever not in need of God’s protection, but rather that the phases of the spiritual life require different approaches and training. St. Paul mentions something similar in his epistle to the Corinthians:
And I, brethren, could not speak to you as unto spiritual, but as unto carnal. As unto little ones in Christ. I gave you milk to drink, not meat; for you were not able as yet. But neither indeed are you now able; for you are yet carnal. (1 Corinthians 3:1-2 DR)
St. Robert Bellarmine notes a distinction in metaphors used of God in reference to birds:
God has been compared to two birds in the Holy Scriptures, the eagle and the hen; to the former in Deut. 32, “As the eagle enticing her young to fly, and hovering over them;” to the latter in Mat. 23, “How often would I have gathered together thy children, as the hen gathereth her chickens under her wings.” God was an eagle before, a hen after the incarnation; or, if it be referred to Christ alone, as God he is an eagle, as man a hen; or he was a hen previous to an eagle after his resurrection. He, therefore, says, “He will overshadow thee with his shoulders.” (St. Robert Bellarmine, A Commentary on the Book of the Psalms, 90, 4.)
The distinction being drawn here is of God’s approach to man based upon his spiritual state. In the case of the eagle it speaks to the spiritual state of man when he is strengthened in his faith enough to spread his wings, so to speak, and is ready to grow deeper in his spiritual life and face more of the onslaughts of the world and the devil, having Christ as his exemplar for such a contest. In the case of the hen it is a metaphor for those new in the faith or who are still spiritual infants:
If you consider other birds, brethren, you will find many that hatch their eggs, and keep their young warm: but none that weakens herself in sympathy with her chickens, as the hen does. We see swallows, sparrows, and storks outside their nests, without being able to decide whether they have young or no: but we know the hen to be a mother by the weakness of her voice, and the loosening of her feathers: she changes altogether from love for her chickens: she weakens herself because they are weak. Thus since we were weak, the Wisdom of God made Itself weak, when the Word was made flesh, and dwelt in us, John 1:14 that we might hope under His wings. (St. Augustine, Expositions on the Psalms, 90, 5.)
Newly born chicks end up spending about 60% of their time brooding under their mother’s wings, which has a host of benefits. An interesting aspect of this is that all this time together creates a sort of synchronization in which the mother and the chicks do all their activities together, from eating to sleeping and the various other things, which helps her chicks to learn. The obvious metaphor here is that as we in the spiritual life get more in sync with the Wisdom of God we will learn and grow spiritually. We will certainly never outgrow our need for God or his protection from the snares of the enemy, and thus every metaphor ultimately fails, but the growth in the spiritual life is real and thus God accommodates himself to our weakness for our benefit that we might “hope under his wings.”
This animation was an attempt to take it in somewhat of a literal direction, and just happened in retrospect to fit with what St. Robert Bellarmine had written about the distinction between the eagle and the hen.
I was looking for a some images for this animation and came across this eagle from the St. Sever Beatus which I thought would work nicely. I cut it out in Photoshop, separated the wings from the body and rigged it up in After Effects, doing some slight position and rotation animations to give it a bit of a hovering effect.
Unfortunately, there weren’t any eaglets from the same image, so I started browsing around some other manuscripts for something that would be in a similar medieval miniature style. I found this hen illustration from a Turkish version of the Wonders of Creation, created sometime in the 13th century. I thought it looked more like a little chick, so I decided to go with it. I cut it out in Photoshop and composited it in After Effects and created some quick little hops, which in retrospect works for both chicks and eaglets.
Enjoy.
He will overshadow thee with his shoulders: and under his wings thou shalt trust.
(Psalm 90:4 DR)
View a higher quality version of this gif here: