Matthew 8:20 - Exposition

And Jesus saith unto him, The foxes have holes . The Asiatic fox ( Vulpes corsac ) is decidedly smaller than our European species, but has the same habits. And the birds of the air (Revised Version, heaven ) have nests . So the Old Latin and the common text of the Vulgate ( nidos ), but birds do not generally live in nests, nor is "nests" so natural a meaning for κατασκηνώσεις as" shelters" (cf. Trench, loc. cit. ) . The renderings in the true text of the Vulgate ( tabernacula ), and in Old Latin k , and Cyprian ( devorsoria ) are interesting. Revised Version margin has, "Gk. lodging places " (cf. Matthew 13:32 and parallel pas sages). But the Son of man . The original phrase, "one like unto a son of man," was used in Daniel 7:13 , apparently as a symbol of the Jewish nation, to which was to be given supreme power. There is no evidence that it was understood of Messiah before our Lord employed it, but rather the re verse. Our Lord uses it here for the sake of the contrast it suggested to the lower creation. Man, the head of creation (as none would acknowledge more fully than this student of the Law), has in the person of the ideal Man not even the luxuries which correspond to those enjoyed by beasts and birds. Such was the love and self-abasement of the Restorer of creation ( Romans 8:21 ). Hath not where to lay his head . He has no home to call his own.