The Holy Ghost hath taken such notice of this little bird, and thereby rendered the term so familiar to our ears, by his frequent mention of it in Scripture, that I could not altogether find in my heart to pass it by unnoticed. Moreover, it is one of the clean birds: (see Leviticus 11:1-47) not that I suppose that the sparrow, so called in Scripture, is of the same genus or tribe as our English sparrows of the barn; though this much despised bird is in my esteem a very sweet, interesting, and domestic bird; but certainly the sparrow, or the Tzippher, as the Hebrews called it, of the Scriptures, must have been of gentle and familiar manners. I do not doubt, at the same time, but that the name Tzippher was used for certain small birds beside the one so particularly noticed.
But let the reader pause over the thought of the sparrow making a nest for herself, and where in safety she might lay her young, high on the altar of the Lord's house, far out of the reach of the malice of all robbers of her nest, or murderers of herself and her young; and then let him contemplate the beauty of the similitude, when a child of God flies to the New Testament altar of his security, even to Jesus, and finds a rest in him, far above the reach of all disturbers of his repose, by resting in him, and resting to him, yea, making Jesus himself his rest, and his portion for ever! (See Psalms 84:1-4)