Hen and cock
Archimandrite Nikifor’s Biblical Encyclopedia
- familiar domestic fowl. Chickens were common in Judea during the Lord's earthly life, as the Gospels partly show; the egg likewise appears as ordinary food (Luke 11:12). All four Evangelists record the cock's crow at Peter's denial (Matt 26:34, 75; Mark 14:30, 68, 72; Luke 22:34; John 13:38), and cockcrow was a familiar designation for a watch of the night (Mark 13:35). The Savior Himself evokes the mother hen's tenderness and care: 'O Jerusalem, Jerusalem ... how often would I have gathered thy children together, even as a hen gathereth her chickens under her wings, and ye would not' (Matt 23:37).