THE PARTRIDGE BROODS BUT DOES NOT HATCH

One of the Bible’s basic teachings is ‘the innate depravity of the human heart’, Streane. It is here declared in the clearest terms. This unpalatable doctrine explains much of our behaviour. The heart in scripture is ‘the total inner being’, Feinberg. Sin radically affects thought, emotion and desire. This is the universal condi­tion of men and women. Each of us is crooked at the core, corrupt and humanly incurable. We cannot even truly under­stand ourselves. Only the All-Knowing One can plumb the depths of the human heart. He searches and tests us through and through. One day, all human secrets will be revealed, Rom. 2. 16. Christ will judge both outward act and inward motive per­fectly. There can hardly be a more challenging prospect.

Our inner wickedness is often revealed by our attitude to wealth and possessions. The love of money is the root of all kinds of evil, 1 Tim. 6. 10 NKJV. God forbids theft and coveting, Exod. 20. 15, 17. Amos denounces oppression of the defence­less, Amos 5. 11, 12, and market manipulation, Amos 8. 5, 6. Jeremiah pronounces a solemn woe against a king who exploited his workforce, Jer. 22. 13.

The picture of nature that forms our text shows that living for unjust acquisition is the poorest possible investment. Jere­miah compares a man who lives only for material gain at whatever cost to others to ‘a partridge that broods but does not hatch’ NKJV. In Palestine, the partridge laid her eggs on the ground. Her nest could easily be trampled on and destroyed. Her unhatched eggs were easy prey for marauding animals or nest robbers. Thus, regularly, the partridge hatched far fewer eggs than she had laid. The spiritual lesson is plain. The simile ‘sums up the man who sells his soul for what he cannot keep’, Kidner. One of the wise men uses a dif­ferent picture to teach the same truth. Riches can easily take wings and fly away like the eagle, Prov. 23. 5. The man who lives for wealth and unscrupulously schemes for riches is ulti­mately a fool, despite his worldly acumen. So is every one, however, according to the Lord Jesus, who lays up treasure for himself and is not rich towards God, Luke 12. 21.