Photo and Commentary ©2024 by Robert Howson
Tuesday, March 19, 2024
They used to be grouped together under the appropriate title, the Scarlet-rumped Tanager, but now they’ve been divided into two distinct species, Passerini’s Tanager, and Cherrie’s Tanager. Which would be all well and good, except in their striking red and black plumage they look identical. The primary difference is that Passerini’s is found on the Caribbean side of Costa Rica while Cherrie’s is found on the Pacific side, a convenient distinction for all except those who are lost. But how does one know there are really two different kinds of birds, and not just one of the group who, like the bear who went over the mountain to see what he could see, had the urge to explore?
From an observational perspective, the answer is, you can’t. That is, if you elect to look only at the males. There is a more notable difference between the females of the two species, however. The differences there are subtle, but at least they are discernible.
In our cosmopolitan society today, the words of Deuteronomy 7:3 seem strangely archaic and out of place. Why would God instruct the Children of Israel not to intermarry with the nations surrounding them? Was He so ethnocentric that He couldn’t stand a little diversity? “Do not intermarry with them. Do not give your daughters to their sons or take their daughters for your sons.” The following verse provides us with His reason. “For they will turn your children away from following me to serve other gods…” (NIV) We’re so familiar with this line of logic we run the danger of not really hearing what is being said. So, instead, let’s couch this in the terminology used in the previous paragraph which dealt with birds. It appears as though God was concerned they would lose their distinctiveness, that which made them identifiable as followers of YHWH. If they lost that distinction, it would be more difficult, if not impossible, for others to discern the difference God wished to make in the people who elected to follow Him. If that ability to distinguish between two species of tanagers carries significance for us as humans, wouldn’t you think it might not be appropriate for God to be concerned about that same attribute among His own children?