In the Safety of the Rock

 •  2 min. read  •  grade level: 9
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“the conies [rock badgers—JND] are but a feeble folk, yet make they their houses in the rocks.”
Proverbs 30:2626The conies are but a feeble folk, yet make they their houses in the rocks; (Proverbs 30:26)
Conies, more accurately translated rock badgers or hyraxes, are native to North Africa and the Middle East. They are furry animals which resemble large brown hamsters with large rounded ears. These social animals live in colonies. Among the rock badgers are sentries who watch for danger when the colony is foraging for food. If danger approaches, one shrill sound from the sentry will send all the rock badgers into their rock fortress. Their weakness causes them to rely upon the strength of their fortress. “The Lord is my Rock and my Fortress, and my Deliverer: my God, my strength, in whom I will trust” (Psa. 18:22The Lord is my rock, and my fortress, and my deliverer; my God, my strength, in whom I will trust; my buckler, and the horn of my salvation, and my high tower. (Psalm 18:2)). Their fortress is not made by human design, so they are not “shut in by entering into a town that hath gates and bars” (1 Sam. 23:7). Rules and regulations supervising the actions of man in nature can never secure the heart in peace. Within the rock badgers’ “rock” there is “a path which no fowl knoweth, and which the vulture’s eye hath not seen: the lion’s whelps have not trodden it, nor the fierce lion passed by it” (Job 28:7-87There is a path which no fowl knoweth, and which the vulture's eye hath not seen: 8The lion's whelps have not trodden it, nor the fierce lion passed by it. (Job 28:7‑8)). The sentries are, perhaps, like mothers who watch over their own little ones, and maybe even other little ones in the assembly, to keep them from danger. The sentry doesn’t call out his shrill whistle to get the other rock badgers to gather around himself; his warning is so that the rock badgers will go into the safety of the “rock” to hide from the “roaring lion (who) walketh about, seeking whom he may devour” (1 Pet. 5:7). May we always point to Christ, our Rock.