The stork in the heaven. — The eye of the prophet looked on nature at once with the quick observation of one who is alive to all her changes, and with the profound thought of a poet finding inner meanings in all phenomena. The birds of the air obey their instincts as the law of their nature. Israel, with its fatal gift of freedom, resists that which is its law of life. The stork arrives in Palestine in March, and leaves for the north of Europe in April or May. The Hebrew name, chasideh (literally, the pious bird), indicating its care for its young, is suggestive, as also is the phrase “in the heavens,” as applied to its characteristic mode of flight. The turtle-dove appears at the approach of spring (Song Song of Solomon 2:12).
The crane and the swallow. — In the judgment of Tristram and other modern naturalists, the words should change places, and perhaps “swift” take the place of swallow. The word for “swallow” in Psalms 84:3 is different. The same combination meets us in Isaiah 38:14.
Judgment. — Better, perhaps, ordinance, the appointed rule of life which brute creatures obey and man transgresses.