A ROE OR BIRD FROM … THE HUNTER OR FOWLER

Unlike domestic animals the roe and the bird are typically free and unrestrained. Yet, they are both threatened by the hunter and fowler respectively who would seek their harm. In a previ­ous meditation, we considered the bird and applied it to those whose soul has been freed by Christ from the fowler’s cage. Now, we would like to consider Him as seen in the roe and the bird as one who alone can fulfil the requirements of God.

The roe, or perhaps gazelle, is mentioned frequently in scrip­ture, associated with being clean, free, fast, and beloved, yet hunted. The ‘Beloved’ in Song of Solomon is often likened to the roe. While these references may point us to Christ, it is perhaps Psalm 22 where we find the picture most apt for our consider­ation of the hunted roe. The psalm’s title contains ‘to the Deer of the Dawn’. This beautiful animal, with all the lovely features of the roe, is in great distress. Surrounded by the bulls of Bashan and compassed by the wicked dogs, this gentle creature cries out to God, but is forsaken to the darkness of a lonely death. There is no doubt this pictures our beloved Saviour surrounded by the Jewish leaders and Gentile oppressors on the cross, crying, ‘My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me’. For this Deer there was no escape from the Hunter, the ‘Holy’ One, to whom He addressed His cry, must be satisfied and only the spotless Victim could fulfil this requirement.

Similarly, the bird in the fowler’s cage may also picture the Lord Jesus. The word used for the bird is most repeatedly used in Leviticus chapter 14, where two birds have to be taken to pro­vide cleansing for a leprous person or house. One bird is sacrificed while the other, being dipped in the blood of the first bird, is set free. Again, this typifies the Saviour, shedding His own blood so we can be freed from sin. Our proverb urges us to free ourselves from debts we cannot meet. Today, let us remem­ber the One who paid the debt He did not owe, in order to meet the price we could not pay. For this ‘Roe’, there was no deliver­ance, for this ‘Bird’ there was no escape. ‘There was none other good enough to pay the price of sin, He only could unlock the gate of heaven and let us in’, C. F. Alexander.