<p>23:37&nbsp;<em>O Jerusalem, Jerusalem</em>- It was &ldquo;this generation&rdquo; which killed the prophets (:35), so why does the Lord specifically talk here about the children of Jerusalem? &ldquo;Daughter of Zion&rdquo; was an Old Testament term used for the faithful remnant in Jerusalem. But the way the Lord talks of gathering Jerusalem&rsquo;s residents under His wings is surely because He had a clear vision before Him of how the city would be burnt. For a hen typically gathers her brood under her wings to protect them from a barnyard fire; or perhaps with the intention of being burnt first to preserve the life of her brood as long as possible. And these were the Lord&rsquo;s feelings to the &ldquo;Jerusalem&rdquo; which rejected Him and sought His life; He wanted to save them, to buy them some more time at least (as reflected in the parable of the worker who doesn&rsquo;t want to cut the tree down immediately). But they didn&rsquo;t want to know. It was and is all so tragic.</p><p><em>Which kills the prophets</em>- The allusion is to the parable of the husbandmen, who killed and stoned the servants / prophets sent to them (21:35).&nbsp;</p><p><em>And stones those sent to her</em>- The punishment for apostasy (Dt. 13:10; Acts 7:59). It was their wilful religious misunderstandings which led them to such violence in practice.&nbsp;</p><p><em>How often would I have&nbsp;gathered</em>&nbsp;<em>your children together</em>&nbsp;- He lamented over a Zion that sought only to hurt and murder Him. Yet not so many verses later in our Bibles we hear the Lord using the same word in saying that at His coming, the elect would be &quot;<em>gathered together</em>&quot; unto Him (Mt. 24:31). He so often had earnestly desired the coming of His Kingdom there and then; to gather His people unto Him. But they would not. It must have been unbearable to be such a sensitive person in such a hard and insensitive, dehumanizing world. &ldquo;How often&hellip;&rdquo; suggests that there were specific times in His ministry when it would have been potentially possible to gather together Zion&rsquo;s children in one and begin the Kingdom. But they refused.</p><p><em>Even as a hen gathers her chickens-&nbsp;</em>We see the Lord&rsquo;s humility here in comparing Himself to a female, humble, farmyard animal- and not a proud lion. Many of the descriptions of Christ in the parables are taken from Old Testament passages describing the feelings of&nbsp;<em>God</em>&nbsp;towards Israel, showing the truth of this in the first century context when Israel were still God's people. Thus the Lord's description of Himself as a hen wishing to gather the chicks of Jerusalem is based on Is. 31:5: &quot;As mother-birds flying, so will the Lord defend Jerusalem&quot; (Heb.).&nbsp; Lk. 13:8 could suggest that Christ's attitude to Israel was even more patient than that of God Himself; yet because their feelings to Israel are identical, the implication is perhaps that the Son enables and thereby persuades the Father to be even more patient with us than He would naturally be See on 15:13.</p><p><em>Under her wings- but you were not willing</em>- This is a classic Old Testament figure, of the faithful taking refuge under the wings of God&rsquo;s cherubic care. The gracious desire of the Lord to save even those who crucified Him is the essence of God&rsquo;s saving care in the Old Testament.</p>