Who provideth for the raven his food?.... Not man, but God; he feeds the ravens, creatures very voracious, mean, and useless, Lu 12:24;when his young ones cry unto God; cry for want of food; which is interpreted by the Lord as a cry unto him, and he relieves them, Ps 147:9; when deserted by the old ones; either left in their nests through forgetfulness, as some ; or because they are not, till fledged, black like them, as others ; when God feeds them, as some say , with a kind of dew from heaven, or with flies that fly about them, and fall into their mouths; or with worms bred out of their dung but these things are not to be depended on; it may rather respect them when cast out of the nest by the old ones, when able to fly, which is testified by naturalists ; and with this agrees what follows:they wander for lack of meat; being obliged to shift for themselves, when God takes care of them; which is an instance of his providential goodness; and how this is to be improved, see Mt 6:26.
Plin. apud Servium in Virgil. Georgic. l. 1. p. 189. Pirke Eliezer, c. 21. Hieron. in Pasl. cxlvii. 9. Aristot. Hist. Animal. l. 9. c. 3. Plin. Nat. Hist. l. 10. c. 12.