Eagle
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EAGLE.(1) nesher, Deu_32:11 etc., Lev_11:13 RVm [Note: Revised Version margin.] great vulture. (2) râchâm, Lev_11:18, AV [Note: Authorized Version.] gier eagle, RV [Note: Revised Version.] vulture. (3) aetos, Mat_24:28 || Luk_17:37 (RVm [Note: Revised Version margin.] vultures), Rev_4:7; Rev_12:14. The Heb. nesher is the equivalent of the Arab. [Note: Arabic.] nisr, which includes eagles, vultures, and ospreys. It is clear from Mic_1:16 enlarge thy baldness as the eagle, that the vulture is referred to. There are eight varieties of eagles and four of vultures known in Palestine. The references to nesher are specially appropriate as applied to the griffon vulture (Gyps fulvus), a magnificent bird, the most striking ornithological feature of Palestine (Tristram), found especially around the precipitous gorges leading to various parts of the Jordan Valley. Job_39:27; Job_39:30 and Jer_49:16 well describe its habits; and its powerful and rapid flight is referred to in Isa_40:31, Deu_28:49, Hab_1:8. Râchâm corresponds to the Arab. [Note: Arabic.] rakhâm, the Egyptian vulture, a ubiquitous scavenger which visits Palestine from the south every summer.
E. W. G. Masterman.
Hastings' Dictionary of the Bible
Edited by James Hastings, D.D. Published in 1909
Nesher. Lev_11:13. The golden eagle (W. Drake). The griffon vulture; the Arab nisr is plainly the Hebrew nesher. In Mic_1:16, "make thee bald (shaving the head betokening mourning) ... enlarge thy baldness as the nesher," the griffon vulture must be meant; for it is "bald," which the eagle is not. "A majestic and royal bird, the largest and most powerful seen in Palestine, far surpassing the eagle in size and power" (Tristram). The Egyptians ranked it as first among birds. The da'ah (Lev_11:14) is not "the vulture" but the black kite. The Hebrew qaarach is to make bald the back of the head, very applicable to the griffon vulture's head and neck, which are destitute of true feathers. The golden eagle; the spotted, common in the rocky regions; the imperial; and the Circaeros gallicus (short-toed eagle), living on reptiles only: Palestine Exploration Quarterly Statement, October, 1876), are all found in Palestine.
Its swift flight is alluded to, and rapacious cruelty, representing prophetically (Hab_1:8; Jer_4:13) the Chaldean, and ultimately, the Roman, invaders of Israel (Deu_28:49; Eze_17:3-7). Compare Josephus, B. J., 6. Its soaring high and making its nest in the inaccessible rock, also its wonderful far-sightedness and strength (Job_39:27-30). Psa_103:5 says: "thy youth is renewed like the eagle's"; not as if the eagle renewed its youth in old age, but by the Lord's goodness "thy youth is renewed" so as to be as vigorous as the eagle. The eagle's vigor and longevity are illustrated by the Greek proverb, "the eagle's old age is as good as the lark's youth." Its preying on decomposing carcass symbolizes the divine retributive principle that, where corruption is, there vengeance shall follow. "Wheresoever the carcass is, there will the eagles be gathered together," quoted by our Lord from Job_39:30; Mat_24:28 - the vulture chiefly feeds on carcass.
The eagle's forcibly training its young to fly pictures the Lord's power, combined with parental tenderness, in training and tending His people (Deu_32:11; Exo_19:4). In the law the fostering mother is the eagle, God manifesting His power and sternness mingled with tenderness in bringing His people out of Egypt with a mighty hand and outstretched arm; in the gospel the fostering mother is the hen (Mat_23:37), Christ coming in grace, humility, and obedience unto death (Bochart). Subsequently, Christ rescues His people "from the face of the serpent" by giving His church the "two wings of a great eagle" (Rev_12:14).
The eagle "hovers over her young" in teaching them their first flight, ready in a moment to save them when in danger of falling on the rocks below. Compare Isa_31:5. God stirred up Israel from the foul nest of Egypt, which of their own accord they would have never left, so satisfied were they with its fleshpots in spite of its corruptions. The "stirring up the nest" spiritually corresponds to the first awakening of the soul; the "fluttering over her young" to the brooding of the Holy Spirit over the awakened soul; the "taking and bearing on her wings" to His continuous teaching and guardian care. The eagle assists the young one's first effort by flying under to sustain it for a moment and encourage its efforts.
So the Spirit cooperates with us, after He has first given us the good will (Php_2:12-13). The eagle rouses from the nest, the hen gathers to herself; so the law and the gospel respectively. The Persians under Cyrus had a golden eagle on a spear as their standard (Isa_46:11). The eagle is represented in Assyrian sculptures as accompanying their armies; Nisroch, their god, had an eagle's head. The Romans had the eagle standard, hence, the appropriateness of their being compared to an eagle (Deu_28:49).
Fausset's Bible Dictionary
By Andrew Robert Fausset, co-Author of Jamieson, Fausset and Brown's 1888.
Eagle. (Hebrew, nesher, that is, a tearer with the beak). At least four distinct kinds of eagles have been observed in Palestine, namely, the golden eagle, Aquila chrysaetos, the spotted eagle, Aquila naevia, the imperial eagle, Aquila heliaca, and the very common Circaetos gallicus. The Hebrew, nesher may stand for any of these different species, though perhaps more particular reference to the golden and imperial eagles and the griffon vulture may be intended.
The passage in Micah, Mic_1:16, "enlarge thy baldness as the eagle," may refer to the griffon vulture, Vultur fulvus, in which case the simile is peculiarly appropriate, for the whole head and neck of this bird are destitute of true feathers.
The "eagles" of Mat_24:28; Luk_17:37 may include the Vultur fulvus and Neophron percnopterus; though, as eagles frequently prey upon dead bodies, there is no necessity to restrict the Greek word to the Vulturidae. The figure of an eagle is now and has long been a favorite military ensign. The Persians so employed it; a fact which illustrates the passage in Isa_46:11 The same bird was similarly employed by the Assyrians and the Romans.
Smith's Bible Dictionary
By Dr. William Smith.Published in 1863
נשר , Exo_19:4; Lev_11:13. The name is derived from a verb which signifies to lacerate, or tear in pieces. The eagle has always been considered as the king of birds, on account of its great strength, rapidity and elevation of flight, natural ferocity, and the terror it inspires into its fellows of the air. Its voracity is so great that a large extent of territory is requisite for the supply of proper sustenance; and Providence has therefore constituted it a solitary animal: two pair of eagles are never found in the same neighbourhood, though the genus is dispersed through every quarter of the world. Its sight is quick, strong, and piercing, to a proverb. In Job_39:27, the natural history of the eagle is finely drawn up:
Is it at thy voice that the eagle soars? And therefore maketh his nest on high The rock is the place of his habitation.
He abides on the crag, the place of strength.
Thence he pounces upon his prey.
His eyes discern afar off.
Even his young ones drink down blood; And wherever is slaughter, there is he.
Alluding to the popular opinion that the eagle assists its feeble young in their flight, by bearing them up on its own pinions, Moses represents Jehovah as saying, Ye have seen what I did to the Egyptians, and how I bore you on eagles' wings, and brought you unto myself, Exo_19:4. Scheuchzer has quoted from an ancient poet, the following beautiful paraphrase on this passage:
Ac velut alituum princeps, fulvusque tonantis Armiger, implumes, et adhuc sine robore natos Sollicita refovet cura, pinguisque ferinae Indulget pastus: mox ut cum viribus aloe Vesticipes crevere, vocat se blandior aura, Expansa invitat pluma, dorsoque morantes Excipit, attollitque humeris, plausuque secundo
Fertur in arva, timens oneri, et tamen impete presso
Remigium tentans alarum, incurvaque pinnis
Vela legens, humiles tranat sub nubibus oras.
Hinc sensim supra alta petit, jam jamque sub astra Erigitur, cursusque leves citus urget in auras, Omnia pervolitans late loca, et agmine foetus Fertque refertque suos vario, moremque volandi Addocet: illi autem, longa assuetudine docti, Paulatim incipiunt pennis se credere coelo Impavidi: tantum a teneris valet addere curam.
[And as the king of birds, and tawny, armour-bearer of the Thunderer, cherishes with anxious care his unfledged, and as yet feeble young, and gratifies their appetite with rich prey: presently, when their downy wings have increased in strength, a milder air calls them forth, with expanded plumage he invites them, and receives them hesitating on his back, and sustains them on his shoulders, and with easy flight is borne over the fields, fearing for his burden, and yet with a moderated effort trying the rowing of their wings, and furling with his pinions his curved sails, he glides through the low regions beneath the clouds. Hence by degrees he soars aloft, and now he mourns to the starry heaven, and swiftly urges his rapid flight through the air, sweeping widely over space, and in his gyrations bearing his offspring to and fro, teaches them
the art of flying:but they, taught by long practice, gradually begin to trust themselves fearlessly on their wings: So much does it avail to train the young with care.]
2. When Balaam delivered his predictions respecting the fate that awaited the nations which he then particularized, he said of the Kenites, Strong is thy dwelling, and thou puttest thy nest in a rock, Num_24:21; alluding to that princely bird, the eagle, which not only delights in soaring to the loftiest heights, but chooses the highest rocks, and most elevated mountains, as desirable situations for erecting its nest, Hab_2:9; Oba_1:4. What Job says concerning the eagle, which is to be understood in a literal sense, Where the slain are, there is he, our Saviour turns into a fine parable: Wheresoever the carcass is, there will the eagles be gathered together, Mat_24:28; that is, Wherever the Jews are, who have corruptly fallen from God, there will be the Romans, who bore the eagle as their standard, to execute vengeance upon them, Luk_17:37.
3. The swiftness of the flight of the eagle is alluded to in several passages of Scripture; as, The Lord shall bring a nation against thee from afar, from the end of the earth, as swift as the eagle flieth, Deu_28:49.
In the affecting lamentation of David over Saul and Jonathan, their impetuous and rapid career is described in forcible terms: They were swifter than eagles; they were stronger than lions, 2Sa_1:23. Jeremiah when he beheld in vision the march of Nebuchadnezzar cried, Behold, he shall come up as clouds, and his chariots shall be as a whirlwind. His horses are swifter than eagles. Wo unto us, for we are spoiled, Jer_4:13. To the wide-expanded wings of the eagle, and the rapidity of his flight, the same prophet beautifully alludes in a subsequent chapter, where he describes the subversion of Moab by the same ruthless conqueror: Behold, he shall fly as an eagle, and spread his wings over Moab, Jer_48:40. In the same manner he describes the sudden desolations of Ammon in the next chapter; but, when he turns his eye to the ruins of his own country, he exclaims, in still more energetic language, Our persecutors are swifter than the eagles of the heavens,
Lam_4:19. Under the same comparison the patriarch Job describes the rapid flight of time: My days are passed away, as the eagle that hasteth to the prey, Job_9:26. The surprising rapidity with which the blessings of common providence sometimes vanish from the grasp of the possessor is thus described by Solomon: Riches certainly make themselves wings: they fly away as an eagle toward heaven, Pro_23:5. The flight of this bird is as sublime as it is rapid and impetuous. None of the feathered race soar so high. In his daring excursions he is said to leave the clouds of heaven, and regions of thunder, and lightning, and tempest, far beneath him, and to approach the very limits of ether. There is an allusion to this lofty soaring in the prophecy of Obadiah, concerning the pride of Moab: Though thou exalt thyself as the eagle, and though thou set thy nest among the stars, thence will I bring thee down, saith the Lord,
Oba_1:4. The prophet Jeremiah pronounces the doom of Edom in similar terms: O thou that dwellest in the clefts of the rock, that holdest the height of the hill; though thou shouldest make thy nest high as the eagle, I will bring thee down from thence, saith the Lord, Jer_49:16. The eagle lives and retains its vigour to a great age; and, after moulting, renews its vigour so surprisingly, as to be said, hyperbolically, to become young again, Psa_103:5, and Isa_40:31. It is remarkable that Cyrus, compared, in Isa_46:11, to an eagle, (so the word translated ravenous bird should be rendered,) had an eagle for his ensign according to Xenophon, who uses, without knowing it, the identical word of the prophet, with only a Greek termination to it: so exact is the correspondence between the prophet and the historian, the prediction and the event. Xenophon and other ancient historians inform us that the golden eagle with extended wings was the ensign of the Persian monarchs long before it was adopted by the Romans: and it is very probable that the Persians borrowed the symbol from the ancient Assyrians, in whose banners it waved, till imperial Babylon bowed her head to the yoke of Cyrus. If this conjecture be well founded, it discovers the reason why the sacred writers, in describing the victorious march of the Assyrian armies, allude so frequently to the expanded eagle. Referring to the Babylonian monarch, the prophet Hosea proclaimed in the ears of all Israel, the measure of whose iniquities was nearly full, He shall come as an eagle against the house of the Lord,
Hos_8:1. Jeremiah predicted a similar calamity: Thus saith the Lord, Behold, he shall fly as an eagle, and spread his wings over Moab, Jer_48:40; and the same figure was employed to denote the destruction that overtook the house of Esau: Behold, he shall come up and fly as the eagle, and spread his wings over Bozrah, Jer_49:22. The words of these prophets received a full accomplishment in the irresistible impetuosity, and complete success with which the Babylonian monarchs, and particularly Nebuchadnezzar, pursued their plans of conquest. Ezekiel denominates him, with great propriety, a great eagle with great wings, because he was the most powerful monarch of his time, and led into the field more numerous and better appointed armies, (which the prophet calls, by a beautiful figure, his wings, the wings of his army,) than perhaps the world had ever seen. The Prophet Isaiah, referring to the same monarch, predicted the subjugation of Judea in these terms; He shall pass through Judah. He shall overflow, and go over. He shall reach even to the neck; and the stretching out of his wings (the array of his army) shall fill the breadth of thy land, O Immanuel,
Isa_8:8. The king of Egypt is also styled by Ezekiel, a great eagle, with great wings, and many feathers; but he manifestly gives the preference to the king of Babylon, by adding, that he had long wings, full of feathers, which had divers colours; that is, greater wealth, and a more numerous army.
Biblical and Theological Dictionary by Richard Watson
PRINTER 1849.
ē?g'l (נשׁר, nesher; ἀετός, aetós; Latin aquila): A bird of the genus aquila of the family falconidae. The Hebrew nesher, meaning ?to tear with the beak,? is almost invariably translated ?eagle,? throughout the Bible; yet many of the most important references compel the admission that the bird to which they applied was a vulture. There were many large birds and carrion eaters flocking over Palestine, attracted by the offal from animals slaughtered for tribal feasts and continuous sacrifice. The eagle family could not be separated from the vultures by their habit of feeding, for they ate the offal from slaughter as well as the vultures. One distinction always holds good. Eagles never flock. They select the tallest trees of the forest, the topmost crag of the mountain, and pairs live in solitude, hunting and feeding singly, whenever possible carrying their prey to the nest so that the young may gain strength and experience by tearing at it and feeding themselves. The vultures are friendly, and collect and feed in flocks. So wherever it is recorded that a ?flock came down on a carcass,? there may have been an eagle or two in it, but the body of it were vultures. Because they came in such close contact with birds of prey, the natives came nearer dividing them into families than any birds. Of perhaps a half-dozen, they recognized three eagles, they knew three vultures, four or five falcons, and several kites; but almost every Biblical reference is translated ?eagle,? no matter how evident the text makes it that the bird was a vulture. For example, Mic_1:16 : ?Make thee bald, and cut off thy hair for the children of thy delight: enlarge thy baldness as the eagle (m ?vulture?); for they are gone into captivity from thee.? This is a reference to the custom of shaving the head when in mourning, but as Palestine knew no bald eagle, the text could refer only to the bare head and neck of the griffon vulture. The eagles were, when hunger-driven, birds of prey; the vultures, carrion feeders only. There was a golden eagle (the osprey of the King James Version), not very common, distinguished by its tan-colored head; the imperial eagle, more numerous and easily identified by a dark head and white shoulders; a spotted eagle; a tawny eagle, much more common and readily distinguished by its plumage; and the short-toed eagle, most common of all and especially a bird of prey, as also a small hooded eagle so similar to a vulture that it was easily mistaken for one, save that it was very bold about taking its own food.
The first Biblical reference to the eagle referred to the right bird. Exo_19:4 : ?Ye have seen what I did unto the Egyptians, and how I bare you on eagles' wings, and brought you unto myself.? This ?bare you on eagles' wings? must not be interpreted to mean that an eagle ever carried anything on its back. It merely means that by strength of powerful wing it could carry quite a load with its feet and frequently was seen doing this. Vultures never carried anything; they feasted and regurgitated what they had eaten to their young. The second reference is found in Lev_11:13 and repeated in Deu_14:12, the lists of abominations. It would seem peculiar that Moses would find it necessary to include eagles in this list until it is known that Arab mountaineers were eating these birds at that time. The next falls in Deu_28:49 : ?Yahweh will bring a nation against thee from far, from the end of the earth, as the eagle flieth; a nation whose tongue thou shalt not understand.? This also refers to the true eagle and points out that its power of sustained flight, and the speed it could attain when hastening to its hunger-clamoring young, had been observed. The next reference is in Deu_32:11 :
?As an eagle that stirreth up her nest,
That fluttereth over her young,
He spread abroad his wings, he took them,
He bare them on his pinions.?
This is good natural history at last. Former versions made these lines read as if the eagle carried its young on its wings, a thing wholly incompatible with flight in any bird. Samuel's record of the lamentation of David over Saul and Jonathan is a wonderful poetic outburst and contains reference to this homing flight of the eagle (2Sa_1:23). In Job_9:26 the arrow-like downward plunge of the hunger-driven eagle is used in comparison with the flight of time. In Job 39, which contains more good natural history than any other chapter of the Bible, will be found everything concerning the eagle anyone need know:
?Is it at thy command that the eagle mounteth up,
And maketh her nest on high?
On the cliff she dwelleth, and maketh her home,
Upon the point of the cliff, and the stronghold.
From thence she spieth out the prey;
Her eyes behold it afar off.
Her young ones also suck up blood:
And where the slain are, there is she? (Job_39:27-30).
Psa_103:5 is a reference to the long life of the eagle. The bird has been known to live to an astonishing age in captivity; under natural conditions, the age it attains can only be guessed.
?Who satisfieth thy desire with good things,
So that thy youth is renewed like the eagle.?
Pro_23:5 compares the flight of wealth with that of an eagle; Pro_30:17 touches on the fact that the eye of prey is the first place attacked in eating, probably because it is the most vulnerable point and so is frequently fed to the young. Pro_30:19 :
?The way of an eagle in the air;
The way of a serpent upon a rock:
The way of a ship in the midst of the sea;
And the way of a man with a maiden.?
This reference to the eagle is to that wonderful power of flight that enables a bird to hang as if frozen in the sky, for long periods appearing to our sight immovable, or to sail and soar directly into the eye of the sun, seeming to rejoice in its strength of flight and to exult in the security and freedom of the upper air.
The word ?way? is here improperly translated. To the average mind it always means a road, a path. In this instance it should be translated:
The characteristics of an eagle in the air;
The habit of a serpent upon the rock;
The path of a ship in the midst of the sea;
And the manner of a man with a maid.
Each of these lines stood a separate marvel to Agur, and had no connection with the others (but compare The Wisdom of Solomon 5:10, 11, and see WAY).
Isa_40:31 is another flight reference. Jer_49:16 refers to the inaccessible heights at which the eagle loves to build and rear its young. Jer_49:22 refers to the eagle's power of flight. Eze_1:10 recounts a vision of the prophet in which strange living creatures had faces resembling eagles. The same book (Eze_17:3) contains the parable of the eagle: ?Thus saith the Lord Yahweh: A great eagle with great wings and long pinions, full of feathers, which had divers colors, came unto Lebanon, and took the top of the cedar.? Hos_8:1 is another flight reference. Oba_1:4 is almost identical with Jer_49:16. The next reference is that of Micah, and really refers to the griffon vulture (Mic_1:16). In Hab_1:8 the reference is to swift flight. Mat_24:28 undoubtedly refers to vultures. In Rev_4:7 the eagle is used as a symbol of strength. In Rev_8:13 the bird is represented as speaking: ?And I saw, and I heard an eagle (the King James Version ?angel?), flying in mid heaven, saying with a great voice, Woe, woe, woe, for them that dwell on the earth, by reason of the other voices of the trumpet of the three angels, who are yet to sound.? The eagle makes its last appearance in the vision of the woman and the dragon (Rev_12:14).
International Standard Bible Encyclopedia
PRINTER 1915.
Fig. 168?Aquila heliaca
Eagle (Exo_19:4; Lev_11:13, etc.). The Eagle, in zoology, forms a family of several genera of birds of prey, mostly distinguished for their size, courage, powers of flight, and arms for attack. The bill is strong and bent into a plain pointed hook, without the notch in the inner curve which characterizes falcons; the nostrils are covered with a naked cere or skin, of a yellow or a blue color; the eyes are lateral, sunken, or placed beneath an overhanging brow; the head and neck covered with abundance of longish, narrow-pointed feathers; the chest broad, the legs and thighs exceedingly stout and sinewy, and feathered down to the toes; the feathers in general are brownish and rust-colored, and the tail is black, grey, or deep brown. Sea-eagles have the legs half bare and covered with horny scales; not unusually the head, back, and tail more or less white. The larger species of both measure, from head to tip of tail, 3 feet 6 inches or more, and spread their wings above 7 feet 6 inches. The claws of the fore and hind toe are particularly strong and sharp; in the sea-eagles they form more than half a circle, and in length measure from 1? to 1? of an inch. These majestic birds have their abode in Europe, on the shores of the Mediterranean, in Syria and Arabia, wherever there are vast woody mountains and lofty cliffs: they occupy each a single district, always by pairs, excepting on the coasts, where the sea eagle and the osprey may be found not remote from the region possessed by the rough-legged eagles. It is in this last genus, most generally represented by the golden eagle, that the most powerful and largest birds are found. That species in its more juvenile plumage, known as the ring-tailed eagle, the Imperial eagle, and the booted eagle, is found in Syria; and at least one species of the sea-eagles frequents the coasts, and is even of stronger wing than the others. These build usually in the cliffs of Phoenicia, while the others are more commonly domiciliated within the mountains. According to their strength and habits the former subsist on antelopes, hares, hyrax, bustard, stork, tortoises, and serpents; and the latter usually on fish; both pursue the catta, partridge, and lizard. The osprey alone being migratory retires to Southern Arabia in winter. None, excepting the last-mentioned, are so exclusively averse to carrion as is commonly asserted: from choice or necessity they all, but in particular the sea-eagles, occasionally feed upon carcasses of horses, etc.; and it is well known in the East that they follow armies for that purpose. Hence the allusions in Job and Mat_24:28, though vultures may be included, are perfectly correct. So again are those which refer to the eagle's eyrie, fixed in the most elevated cliffs. The swiftness of this bird, stooping among a flock of wild geese, with the rushing sound of a whirlwind, we have witnessed; and all know its towering flight, suspended on its broad wings among the clouds with little motion or effort. Thus the predictions, in which terrible nations coming from afar are assimilated to eagles, have a poetical and absolute truth, since there are species like the golden, which really inhabit the whole circumference of the earth, and the nations alluded to bore eagles' wings for standards, and for ornaments on their shields, helmets, and shoulders. The species here figured is the one most common in Syria, and is distinguished from the others by a spot of white feathers on each shoulder.
The Popular Cyclopedia of Biblical Literature
by John Kitto.
Exo_19:4 (a) GOD compares Himself to an eagle in His work of taking Israel safely through the sorrows, dangers, and distresses of the wilderness journey.
Psa_103:5 (a) The strength and vigorous care given to the believer who walks with the Lord is compared to that which the eagle possesses. The Christian thus blessed is able to mount up above his surroundings and circumstances.
Pro_30:17 (a) By this figure we are informed that this particular type of sinner may not die a natural death, but will be subject to an unusual punishment which is unnatural.
Isa_40:31 (a) Under this figure, the Lord describes the ease and joy with which Christians rise out of their distresses and are set free from their surroundings when they look to the Lord earnestly for His blessing.
Eze_1:10 (b) One of the four aspects of the Lord JESUS, His deity, is represented here. This character of CHRIST is described particularly in the Gospel of John. (See also Eze_10:14, and Rev_4:7).
Eze_17:3 (a) The King of Babylon is represented by the eagle in this verse. The description concerns his invasion of Palestine and his victory over the King of the Jews. In verse 7 the eagle represents the King of Egypt. This is plainly seen by reading the rest of the chapter. These Kings are represented as eagles because they ruled over other kingdoms, they were swift in their invasions, and they were cruel in their afflictions of their conquered peoples.
Eze_17:7 (a) The King of Egypt also is compared to an eagle because he too was just about equal in power to the King of Babylon and ruled over kings and nations.
Dan_7:4 (a) The King of Babylon is described as an eagle in this passage, because of his supreme power, his swiftness, and his superiority. He is also described as a lion in the same passage. This refers to his mighty strength, for he did have more actual military power than the nations who followed him.
Hos_8:1 (a) Here is a reference to the swiftness with which the enemy of Israel would invade the land and conquer the people of GOD because of their disobedience.
Mic_1:16 (a) This peculiar figure probably describes an Oriental custom of magnifying the grief of those who sorrow. They wear unusual garments, eat unusual food, wail in an unusual loud fashion, and otherwise seek to let the world know of their grief.
Mat_24:28 (b) This is a description of the cruel, devouring nations who will pounce upon Israel in the time of her downfall and will carry away all her treasures. (See also Luk_17:37).
Rev_12:14 (a) This seems to be a prophecy concerning the special provision GOD will make to preserve a remnant of Israel from the terrible scourge and persecution that will arise against that people in the great day of GOD's wrath.
Wilson's Dictionary of Bible Types
press 1957.
Eagle
occurs in Scripture as the translation of the Hebrews נֶשֶׁר (ne'sher, so called from tearing its prey with its beak; occurs Exo_19:4; Lev_11:13; Deu_14:12; Deu_28:49; Deu_32:11; 2Sa_1:23; Job_9:26; Job_39:27; Psa_103:5; Pro_23:5; Pro_30:17; Pro_30:19; Isa_40:31; Jer_4:13; Jer_48:40; Jer_49:16; Jer_49:22; Lam_4:19; Eze_1:10; Eze_10:14; Eze_17:3; Eze_17:7; Hos_8:1; Oba_1:4; Mic_1:16; Hab_1:8), with which all the designations of the kindred dialects agree, Chald. נְשִׁר (neshar', Dan_4:33; Dan_7:4), Sept. and N.T. ἀετός (Mat_24:28; Luk_17:37; Rev_4:7; Rev_12:14). As there are many species of eagles, the nesher, when distinguished from others, seems to have denoted the chief species, the golden eagle, χρυσαίετος, as in Lev_11:13; Deu_14:12. The word, however, seems to have had a broader acceptation, and, like the Greek ἀετός and Arabic nesr (see Bochart, Hieroz. 2:312 sq.), sometimes comprehends also a species of vulture, especially in those passages where the nesher is said to be bald (Mic_1:16), and to feed on carcasses (Job 29:27; Pro_30:17; Mat_24:28), which, however the true eagle will occasionally do. SEE GIER-EAGLE; SEE HAWK; SEE OSPREY; SEE OSSIFRAGE; SEE VULTURE.
1. The characteristics of the eagle referred to in the Scriptures are its swiftness of flight (Deu_28:49; 2Sa_1:23; Jer_4:13; Jer_49:22; Lam_4:19, etc.); its mounting high into the air (Job_39:27; Pro_23:5; Pro_30:19; Isa_40:31; Jer_49:16); its strength and vigor (in Psa_103:5); its predaceous habits (Job_9:26; Pro_30:17; compare AElian, Anim. 10:14); its setting its nest in high places (in Jer_49:16; comp. Aristotle, Anim. 9:22; Pliny, 10:4); the care in training its young to fly (in Exo_19:4; Deu_32:11); its powers of vision (in Job_39:29; comp. Homer, Il. 17:674; AElian, Anim. 1:42; Isidore, Origg. 12:1; Pliny, 12:88); and its molting (Psa_103:5). As king of birds, the eagle naturally became an emblem of powerful empires (Eze_17:3; Eze_17:7), especially in the symbolical figures of Babylon (Dan_7:4), and the cherubim (Eze_1:10; Eze_10:14; Rev_4:7), like the griffin of classical antiquity. SEE CREATURE, LIVING. Eaglets are referred to in Pro_30:17 as first picking out the eyes of their prey.
The following is a close translation of a graphic description of raptorial birds of this class which occurs in the book of Job (39:26-30):
By thy understanding will [the] hawk tower,
Spread his wings southward?
Perchance on thy bidding [the] eagle will soar,
Or [it is then] that he will make lofty his nest?
A rock will he inhabit, and [there] roost,
Upon the peak of a rock, even [the] citadel:
Thence he has spied food,
From afar his eyes will look:
Then his brood will sip blood;
Ay, wherever [are the] slain, there [is] he!
To the last line in this quotation our Savior seems to allude in Mat_24:28. " Wheresoever the carcass is, there will the eagles be gathered together;" that is, wherever the Jewish people, who were morally and judicially dead, might be, there would the Roman armies, whose standard was an eagle, and whose strength and fierceness resembled that of the king of birds, in comparison with his fellows, pursue and devour them. The ἀετοί of Mat_24:28; Luk_17:37, may include the fultur Jalvus and Neophraon percnopterus; though, as some eagles prey upon dead bodies, there is no necessity to restrict the Greek word to the Vulturide (see Lucian, Navig. p. 1; comp. Seneca, Ep. 95; Martial, 6:62). The figure of an eagle is now, and has long been, a favorite military ensign. The Persians so employed it, which fact illustrates the passage in Isa_46:11, where Cyrus is alluded to under the symbol of an " eagle" (עִיַט) or "ravenous bird" (compare Xenoph. Cyrop. 7:4). The same bird was similarly employed by the Assyrians and the Romans. Eagles are frequently represented in Assyrian sculptures attending the soldiers in their battles, and some have hence supposed that they were trained birds. Considering, however, the wild and intractable nature of eagles, it is very improbable that this was the case. The representation of these birds was doubtless intended to portray the common feature in Eastern battlefield scenery, of birds of prey awaiting to satisfy their hunger on the bodies of the slain. These passages have been by some commentators referred to the vulture, on the assumed ground that the eagle never feeds on carrion, but confines itself to that prey which it has killed by its own prowess. This, however, is a mistake (see Forakal, Descript. Anim. page 12; compare Michaelis, Orient. Bibl. 9:37 sq., and new Orient. Bibl. 9:43 sq.); no such chivalrous feeling exists in either eagle or lion; both will feed ignominiously on a body found dead. Any visitor of the British zoological gardens may see that the habit imputed is at least not invariable. (See also Thomson, Land and Book, 1:491.) Aquila bisfasciata, of India, was shot by Colossians Sykes at the carcass of a tiger; and Arapax, of South Africa is "frequently one of the first birds that approaches a dead animal."
Of all known birds, the eagle flies not only the highest, but also with the greatest rapidity (comp. Homer, Il. 22:308). To this circumstance there are several striking allusions in the sacred volume. Among the evils threatened to the Israelites in case of their disobedience, the prophet names one, in the following terms: "The Lord shall bring a nation against thee from far, from the end of the earth, as swift as the eagle flieth" (Deu_28:49). The march of Nebuchadnezzar against Jerusalem is predicted in the same terms: "Behold, he shall come up as clouds, and his chariots as a whirlwind: his horses are swifter than eagles" (Jer_4:13); as is his invasion of Moab also: "For thus saith the Lord, Behold he shall fly as an eagle, and shall spread his wings over Moab" (Jer_48:40); i.e., he shall settle down on the devoted country as an eagle over its prey. (See also Lam_4:19; Hos_8:2; Hab_1:8.)
The eagle, it is said, lives to a great age, and, like other birds of prey, sheds his feathers in the beginning of spring. After this season he appears with fresh strength and vigor, and his old age assumes the appearance of youth. To this David alludes when gratefully reviewing the mercies of Jehovah, "Who satisfieth thy mouth with good things, so that thy youth is renewed like the eagle's" (Psa_103:5); as does the prophet, also, when describing the renovating and quickening influences of the Spirit of God: "They that wait upon the Lord shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings as eagles; they shall run and not be weary; and they shall walk and not faint" (Isa_40:31). Some Jewish interpreters have illustrated the former passage by a reference to the old fables about the eagle being able to renew his strength when very old (SEE BOCHART, HIEROZ. 2:747). But modern commentators for the most part are inclined to think that these words refer to the eagle after the molting season, when the bird is more full of activity than before. Others prefer Hengstenberg's explanation on Psa_103:5," Thy youth is renewed, so that in point of strength thou art like the eagle."
The passage in Mic_1:16, " Enlarge thy baldness as the eagle," has been understood by Bochart (Hieroz. 2:744) and others to refer to the eagle at the time of its molting in the spring. Oedman ( Vermischte Samml. 1:64) erroneously refers the baldness spoken of by the prophet to point to the Vultur barbatus (Gypaetus), the bearded "vulture or lammergeeyer, which he supposed was bald. It appears to us to be extremely improbable that there is any reference in the passage under consideration to eagles molting. Allusion is here made to the custom of shaving the head as a token of mourning; but there would be little or no appropriateness in the comparison of a shaved head with an eagle at the time of molting. But if the nesser is supposed to denote the griffon vulture (Vultur fulvus), the simile is peculiarly appropriate; it may be remarked that the Hebrew verb karach (קָרִח) signifies "to make bald on the back part of the head;" the notion here conveyed is very applicable to the whole head and neck of this bird, which is destitute of true feathers. The direction of the prophet is to a token of mourning, which was usually assumed by making bald the crown of the head; here, however, it was to be enlarged, extended, as the baldness of the eagle. Exactly answering to this idea is Mr. Bruce's description of the head of the "golden eagle:" the crown of his head was bare; so was the front where the bill and skull joined. The meaning of the prophet, therefore, seems to be that the people were not to content themselves with shaving the crown of the head merely, as on ordinary occasions, but, under this special visitation of retributive justice, were to extend the baldness over the entire head. With reference to the texts referred to above, which compare the watchful and sustaining care of his people by the Almighty with that exhibited by the eagle in training its younger ones to fly, especially the spirited one in Deu_32:11-12
As an eagle will rouse his nest;
Over his fledglings will hover;
Will spread his wings,
Will take it [i.e. his brood, or each of the young];
Will bear it upon his pinions:
[So] Jehovah, he alone would guide him [i.e. Israel];
And there was not with him a strange god"
We may quote a passage from Sir Humphrey Davy, who says, "I once saw a very interesting sight above one of the crags of Ben Nevis, as I was going in the pursuit of black game. Two parent eagles were teaching their offspring, two young birds, the maneuvers of flight. They began by rising from the top of the mountain, in the eye of the sun. It was about midday, and bright for this climate. They at first made small circles, and the young birds imitated them. They paused on their wings, waiting till they had made their first flight, and then took a second and larger gyration, always rising towards the sun, and enlarging their circle of flight so as to make a gradually ascending spiral. The young ones still and slowly followed, apparently flying better as they mounted; and they continued this sublime exercise, always rising, till they became mere points in the air, and the young ones were lost, and afterwards their parents, to our aching sight." The expression in Exodus and Deut., "beareth them on her wings," has been understood by Rabbinical writers and others to mean that the eagle does actually carry her young ones on her wings and shoulders. This is putting on the words a construction which they by no means are intended to convey; at the same time, it is not improbable that the parent bird assists the first efforts of her young by flying under them, thus sustaining them for a moment, and encouraging them in their early lessons. (Comp. AElian, Anim. 2:40; Oppian, Cyneg. 3:1:15; Jerome in Jesa. 46; Naumaun, Naturgesch. d. Vogel, 1:215; on the contrary, Aristotle, Anim. 9:22.),
Finally, the eagle was an Assyrian emblem, and hence probably the reference in Hab_1:8. The eagle-headed deity of the Assyrian sculptures is that of the god Nisroch (q.v.); and in the representations of battles certain birds of this order are frequently shown accompanying the Assyrian warriors in their attacks, and in one case bearing off the entrails of the slain. From the Assyrians the use of the eagle as a standard (q.v.) descended to the Persians, and from them probably to the Romans. In all ages, and in most countries, as the proverbial "king of birds," it has been the symbol of majesty among the feathered tribes, like the lion among beasts.
2. The eagle, in zoology, forms a family of several genera of birds of prey, mostly distinguished for their size, courage, powers of flight, and arms for attack. The bill is strong, and bent into a plain pointed hook, without the notch in the inner curve which characterizes falcons; the nostrils are covered with a naked cere or skin of a yellow or a blue color; the eyes are lateral, sunken, or placed beneath an overhanging brow; the head and neck covered with abundance of longish, narrow-pointed feathers; the chest broad, and the legs and thighs exceedingly stout and sinewy. Eagles, properly so called, constitute the genus Aquila, and have the tarsi feathered down to the toes; they are clothed in general with brownish and rust- colored feathers, and the tail is black, grey, or deep brown. Sea-eagles (genus Haliaetus) have the tarsi or legs half bare and covered with horny scales; not unusually the head, back, and tail more or less white. The larger species of both measure, from head to tip of tail, 3 feet 6 inches or more, and spread their wings above 7 feet 6 inches; but these are proportionably broad to their length, for it is the third quill feather which is the longest, as if the Creator intended to restrain within bounds their rapidity of flight, while by their breadth the power of continuing on the wing is little or not at all impeded. The claws of the fore and hind toe are particularly strong and sharp; in the sea-eagles they form more than half a circle, and in length measure from 1.5 to 1.75 of an inch. These majestic birds have their abode in Europe, on the shores of the Mediterranean, in Syria and Arabia, wherever there are vast woody mountains and lofty cliffs; they occupy each a single district, always by pairs, excepting on the coasts, where the sea- eagle and the osprey (Pandion halicetus) may be found not remote from the region possessed by the rough-legged eagles the first because it seeks to subsist on the industry of the second, and does not interfere with the prey of the third. It is in this last genus, most generally represented by the golden eagle (Aquila chryaeta) that the most powerful and largest birds are found. That species in its more juvenile plumage, known as the ring- tailed eagle, the imperial eagle, or mogilnick (A. heliaca), and the booted eagle (A. pinnata), is found in Syria; and at least one species of the sea- eagles (the Hal. ossifragus, albicilla, or albicaudus) frequents the coasts, and is even of stronger wing than the others.
These build usually in the cliffs of Phoenicia, while the others are more commonly domiciliated within the mountains. According to their strength and habits, the former subsist on antelopes, hares, hyrax, bustard, stork, tortoises, and serpents; and the latter usually live on fish; both pursue the catta (pterocles), partridge, and lizard. The osprey alone being migratory, retires to Southern Arabia in winter. None, excepting the last mentioned, are so exclusively averse to carrion as is commonly asserted: from choice or necessity they all, but in particular the sea-eagles, occasionally feed upon carcasses of horses, etc.; and it is well known in the East that they follow armies for that purpose. Hence the allusions in Job and Mat_24:28, though vultures may be included, are perfectly correct. So again are those which refer to the eagle's eyrie, fixed in the most elevated cliffs. The swiftness of this bird, stooping among a flock of wild geese with the rushing sound of a whirlwind, is very remarkable; and all know its towering flight, suspended on its broad wings among the clouds with little motion or effort. Thus the predictions, in which terrible nations coming from afar are assimilated to eagles, have a poetical and absolute truth, since there are species, like the golden, which really inhabit the whole circumference of the earth, and the nations alluded to bore eagles' wings for standards, and for ornaments on their shields, helmets, and shoulders. In the northern half of Asia, and among all the Turkish races, this practice is not entirely abandoned at this day, and eagle ensigns were constantly the companions of the dragons. China, India, Bactria, Persia, Egypt, the successors of Alexandria, the Etruscans, the Romans, the Celtae, and the Arabs had eagle signa of carved work, of metal, or the skins of birds stuffed, and set up as if they were living. These, named עִיַט (ayit, a "ravenous bird," Isa_46:1, whence ἀετός), aquila, eryx, simurg, humma or humaion, karakush (the birds of victory of different nations and periods of antiquity), were always symbolical of rapid, irresistible conquest. A black eagle was the ensign of Kalid, general of Mohammed, at the battle of Aisnadin, and the carved eagle still ,seen on the walls of the citadel of Cairo, set up by Karakufsh, the vizier of Salah- ed-din, to commemorate his own name and administration, indicates a species not here enumerated. At least for distinct kinds of eagles have been observed in Palestine, viz. the golden eagle (Aquila Chrysaitos), the spotted eagle (A. naevia), the common species in the rocky districts (see Ibis, 1:23), the imperial eagle (Aquila Heliaca), and the very common Circaetos gallicus, which preys on the numerous reptilia of Palestine (see the vernacular Arabic names of different species of Vulturidae and Falconidae in Loche's Catalogue des Oiseaux observ. en Algerie; and in Ibis, volumes 1, 2, Tristram's papers on the ornithology of North Africa). The Hebrews nesher may stand for any of these different species. though perhaps more particular reference to the golden and imperial eagles and the griffon vulture may be intended. The Aq. heliaca, here figured, is the species most common in Syria, and is distinguished from the others by a spot of white feathers on each shoulder. (See the Penny Cyclopcedia, s.v. Falconidae; Hebenstreit, Aquilae naturae S.S. Historia, e historia naturali et e Monumentt. vett. illustrata, Lips. 1747.) SEE BIRD.
CYCLOPEDIA OF BIBLICAL, THEOLOGICAL AND ECCLESIASTICAL
press 1895.
E. W. G. Masterman.
Hastings' Dictionary of the Bible
Edited by James Hastings, D.D. Published in 1909
Nesher. Lev_11:13. The golden eagle (W. Drake). The griffon vulture; the Arab nisr is plainly the Hebrew nesher. In Mic_1:16, "make thee bald (shaving the head betokening mourning) ... enlarge thy baldness as the nesher," the griffon vulture must be meant; for it is "bald," which the eagle is not. "A majestic and royal bird, the largest and most powerful seen in Palestine, far surpassing the eagle in size and power" (Tristram). The Egyptians ranked it as first among birds. The da'ah (Lev_11:14) is not "the vulture" but the black kite. The Hebrew qaarach is to make bald the back of the head, very applicable to the griffon vulture's head and neck, which are destitute of true feathers. The golden eagle; the spotted, common in the rocky regions; the imperial; and the Circaeros gallicus (short-toed eagle), living on reptiles only: Palestine Exploration Quarterly Statement, October, 1876), are all found in Palestine.
Its swift flight is alluded to, and rapacious cruelty, representing prophetically (Hab_1:8; Jer_4:13) the Chaldean, and ultimately, the Roman, invaders of Israel (Deu_28:49; Eze_17:3-7). Compare Josephus, B. J., 6. Its soaring high and making its nest in the inaccessible rock, also its wonderful far-sightedness and strength (Job_39:27-30). Psa_103:5 says: "thy youth is renewed like the eagle's"; not as if the eagle renewed its youth in old age, but by the Lord's goodness "thy youth is renewed" so as to be as vigorous as the eagle. The eagle's vigor and longevity are illustrated by the Greek proverb, "the eagle's old age is as good as the lark's youth." Its preying on decomposing carcass symbolizes the divine retributive principle that, where corruption is, there vengeance shall follow. "Wheresoever the carcass is, there will the eagles be gathered together," quoted by our Lord from Job_39:30; Mat_24:28 - the vulture chiefly feeds on carcass.
The eagle's forcibly training its young to fly pictures the Lord's power, combined with parental tenderness, in training and tending His people (Deu_32:11; Exo_19:4). In the law the fostering mother is the eagle, God manifesting His power and sternness mingled with tenderness in bringing His people out of Egypt with a mighty hand and outstretched arm; in the gospel the fostering mother is the hen (Mat_23:37), Christ coming in grace, humility, and obedience unto death (Bochart). Subsequently, Christ rescues His people "from the face of the serpent" by giving His church the "two wings of a great eagle" (Rev_12:14).
The eagle "hovers over her young" in teaching them their first flight, ready in a moment to save them when in danger of falling on the rocks below. Compare Isa_31:5. God stirred up Israel from the foul nest of Egypt, which of their own accord they would have never left, so satisfied were they with its fleshpots in spite of its corruptions. The "stirring up the nest" spiritually corresponds to the first awakening of the soul; the "fluttering over her young" to the brooding of the Holy Spirit over the awakened soul; the "taking and bearing on her wings" to His continuous teaching and guardian care. The eagle assists the young one's first effort by flying under to sustain it for a moment and encourage its efforts.
So the Spirit cooperates with us, after He has first given us the good will (Php_2:12-13). The eagle rouses from the nest, the hen gathers to herself; so the law and the gospel respectively. The Persians under Cyrus had a golden eagle on a spear as their standard (Isa_46:11). The eagle is represented in Assyrian sculptures as accompanying their armies; Nisroch, their god, had an eagle's head. The Romans had the eagle standard, hence, the appropriateness of their being compared to an eagle (Deu_28:49).
Fausset's Bible Dictionary
By Andrew Robert Fausset, co-Author of Jamieson, Fausset and Brown's 1888.
Eagle. (Hebrew, nesher, that is, a tearer with the beak). At least four distinct kinds of eagles have been observed in Palestine, namely, the golden eagle, Aquila chrysaetos, the spotted eagle, Aquila naevia, the imperial eagle, Aquila heliaca, and the very common Circaetos gallicus. The Hebrew, nesher may stand for any of these different species, though perhaps more particular reference to the golden and imperial eagles and the griffon vulture may be intended.
The passage in Micah, Mic_1:16, "enlarge thy baldness as the eagle," may refer to the griffon vulture, Vultur fulvus, in which case the simile is peculiarly appropriate, for the whole head and neck of this bird are destitute of true feathers.
The "eagles" of Mat_24:28; Luk_17:37 may include the Vultur fulvus and Neophron percnopterus; though, as eagles frequently prey upon dead bodies, there is no necessity to restrict the Greek word to the Vulturidae. The figure of an eagle is now and has long been a favorite military ensign. The Persians so employed it; a fact which illustrates the passage in Isa_46:11 The same bird was similarly employed by the Assyrians and the Romans.
Smith's Bible Dictionary
By Dr. William Smith.Published in 1863
נשר , Exo_19:4; Lev_11:13. The name is derived from a verb which signifies to lacerate, or tear in pieces. The eagle has always been considered as the king of birds, on account of its great strength, rapidity and elevation of flight, natural ferocity, and the terror it inspires into its fellows of the air. Its voracity is so great that a large extent of territory is requisite for the supply of proper sustenance; and Providence has therefore constituted it a solitary animal: two pair of eagles are never found in the same neighbourhood, though the genus is dispersed through every quarter of the world. Its sight is quick, strong, and piercing, to a proverb. In Job_39:27, the natural history of the eagle is finely drawn up:
Is it at thy voice that the eagle soars? And therefore maketh his nest on high The rock is the place of his habitation.
He abides on the crag, the place of strength.
Thence he pounces upon his prey.
His eyes discern afar off.
Even his young ones drink down blood; And wherever is slaughter, there is he.
Alluding to the popular opinion that the eagle assists its feeble young in their flight, by bearing them up on its own pinions, Moses represents Jehovah as saying, Ye have seen what I did to the Egyptians, and how I bore you on eagles' wings, and brought you unto myself, Exo_19:4. Scheuchzer has quoted from an ancient poet, the following beautiful paraphrase on this passage:
Ac velut alituum princeps, fulvusque tonantis Armiger, implumes, et adhuc sine robore natos Sollicita refovet cura, pinguisque ferinae Indulget pastus: mox ut cum viribus aloe Vesticipes crevere, vocat se blandior aura, Expansa invitat pluma, dorsoque morantes Excipit, attollitque humeris, plausuque secundo
Fertur in arva, timens oneri, et tamen impete presso
Remigium tentans alarum, incurvaque pinnis
Vela legens, humiles tranat sub nubibus oras.
Hinc sensim supra alta petit, jam jamque sub astra Erigitur, cursusque leves citus urget in auras, Omnia pervolitans late loca, et agmine foetus Fertque refertque suos vario, moremque volandi Addocet: illi autem, longa assuetudine docti, Paulatim incipiunt pennis se credere coelo Impavidi: tantum a teneris valet addere curam.
[And as the king of birds, and tawny, armour-bearer of the Thunderer, cherishes with anxious care his unfledged, and as yet feeble young, and gratifies their appetite with rich prey: presently, when their downy wings have increased in strength, a milder air calls them forth, with expanded plumage he invites them, and receives them hesitating on his back, and sustains them on his shoulders, and with easy flight is borne over the fields, fearing for his burden, and yet with a moderated effort trying the rowing of their wings, and furling with his pinions his curved sails, he glides through the low regions beneath the clouds. Hence by degrees he soars aloft, and now he mourns to the starry heaven, and swiftly urges his rapid flight through the air, sweeping widely over space, and in his gyrations bearing his offspring to and fro, teaches them
the art of flying:but they, taught by long practice, gradually begin to trust themselves fearlessly on their wings: So much does it avail to train the young with care.]
2. When Balaam delivered his predictions respecting the fate that awaited the nations which he then particularized, he said of the Kenites, Strong is thy dwelling, and thou puttest thy nest in a rock, Num_24:21; alluding to that princely bird, the eagle, which not only delights in soaring to the loftiest heights, but chooses the highest rocks, and most elevated mountains, as desirable situations for erecting its nest, Hab_2:9; Oba_1:4. What Job says concerning the eagle, which is to be understood in a literal sense, Where the slain are, there is he, our Saviour turns into a fine parable: Wheresoever the carcass is, there will the eagles be gathered together, Mat_24:28; that is, Wherever the Jews are, who have corruptly fallen from God, there will be the Romans, who bore the eagle as their standard, to execute vengeance upon them, Luk_17:37.
3. The swiftness of the flight of the eagle is alluded to in several passages of Scripture; as, The Lord shall bring a nation against thee from afar, from the end of the earth, as swift as the eagle flieth, Deu_28:49.
In the affecting lamentation of David over Saul and Jonathan, their impetuous and rapid career is described in forcible terms: They were swifter than eagles; they were stronger than lions, 2Sa_1:23. Jeremiah when he beheld in vision the march of Nebuchadnezzar cried, Behold, he shall come up as clouds, and his chariots shall be as a whirlwind. His horses are swifter than eagles. Wo unto us, for we are spoiled, Jer_4:13. To the wide-expanded wings of the eagle, and the rapidity of his flight, the same prophet beautifully alludes in a subsequent chapter, where he describes the subversion of Moab by the same ruthless conqueror: Behold, he shall fly as an eagle, and spread his wings over Moab, Jer_48:40. In the same manner he describes the sudden desolations of Ammon in the next chapter; but, when he turns his eye to the ruins of his own country, he exclaims, in still more energetic language, Our persecutors are swifter than the eagles of the heavens,
Lam_4:19. Under the same comparison the patriarch Job describes the rapid flight of time: My days are passed away, as the eagle that hasteth to the prey, Job_9:26. The surprising rapidity with which the blessings of common providence sometimes vanish from the grasp of the possessor is thus described by Solomon: Riches certainly make themselves wings: they fly away as an eagle toward heaven, Pro_23:5. The flight of this bird is as sublime as it is rapid and impetuous. None of the feathered race soar so high. In his daring excursions he is said to leave the clouds of heaven, and regions of thunder, and lightning, and tempest, far beneath him, and to approach the very limits of ether. There is an allusion to this lofty soaring in the prophecy of Obadiah, concerning the pride of Moab: Though thou exalt thyself as the eagle, and though thou set thy nest among the stars, thence will I bring thee down, saith the Lord,
Oba_1:4. The prophet Jeremiah pronounces the doom of Edom in similar terms: O thou that dwellest in the clefts of the rock, that holdest the height of the hill; though thou shouldest make thy nest high as the eagle, I will bring thee down from thence, saith the Lord, Jer_49:16. The eagle lives and retains its vigour to a great age; and, after moulting, renews its vigour so surprisingly, as to be said, hyperbolically, to become young again, Psa_103:5, and Isa_40:31. It is remarkable that Cyrus, compared, in Isa_46:11, to an eagle, (so the word translated ravenous bird should be rendered,) had an eagle for his ensign according to Xenophon, who uses, without knowing it, the identical word of the prophet, with only a Greek termination to it: so exact is the correspondence between the prophet and the historian, the prediction and the event. Xenophon and other ancient historians inform us that the golden eagle with extended wings was the ensign of the Persian monarchs long before it was adopted by the Romans: and it is very probable that the Persians borrowed the symbol from the ancient Assyrians, in whose banners it waved, till imperial Babylon bowed her head to the yoke of Cyrus. If this conjecture be well founded, it discovers the reason why the sacred writers, in describing the victorious march of the Assyrian armies, allude so frequently to the expanded eagle. Referring to the Babylonian monarch, the prophet Hosea proclaimed in the ears of all Israel, the measure of whose iniquities was nearly full, He shall come as an eagle against the house of the Lord,
Hos_8:1. Jeremiah predicted a similar calamity: Thus saith the Lord, Behold, he shall fly as an eagle, and spread his wings over Moab, Jer_48:40; and the same figure was employed to denote the destruction that overtook the house of Esau: Behold, he shall come up and fly as the eagle, and spread his wings over Bozrah, Jer_49:22. The words of these prophets received a full accomplishment in the irresistible impetuosity, and complete success with which the Babylonian monarchs, and particularly Nebuchadnezzar, pursued their plans of conquest. Ezekiel denominates him, with great propriety, a great eagle with great wings, because he was the most powerful monarch of his time, and led into the field more numerous and better appointed armies, (which the prophet calls, by a beautiful figure, his wings, the wings of his army,) than perhaps the world had ever seen. The Prophet Isaiah, referring to the same monarch, predicted the subjugation of Judea in these terms; He shall pass through Judah. He shall overflow, and go over. He shall reach even to the neck; and the stretching out of his wings (the array of his army) shall fill the breadth of thy land, O Immanuel,
Isa_8:8. The king of Egypt is also styled by Ezekiel, a great eagle, with great wings, and many feathers; but he manifestly gives the preference to the king of Babylon, by adding, that he had long wings, full of feathers, which had divers colours; that is, greater wealth, and a more numerous army.
Biblical and Theological Dictionary by Richard Watson
PRINTER 1849.
ē?g'l (נשׁר, nesher; ἀετός, aetós; Latin aquila): A bird of the genus aquila of the family falconidae. The Hebrew nesher, meaning ?to tear with the beak,? is almost invariably translated ?eagle,? throughout the Bible; yet many of the most important references compel the admission that the bird to which they applied was a vulture. There were many large birds and carrion eaters flocking over Palestine, attracted by the offal from animals slaughtered for tribal feasts and continuous sacrifice. The eagle family could not be separated from the vultures by their habit of feeding, for they ate the offal from slaughter as well as the vultures. One distinction always holds good. Eagles never flock. They select the tallest trees of the forest, the topmost crag of the mountain, and pairs live in solitude, hunting and feeding singly, whenever possible carrying their prey to the nest so that the young may gain strength and experience by tearing at it and feeding themselves. The vultures are friendly, and collect and feed in flocks. So wherever it is recorded that a ?flock came down on a carcass,? there may have been an eagle or two in it, but the body of it were vultures. Because they came in such close contact with birds of prey, the natives came nearer dividing them into families than any birds. Of perhaps a half-dozen, they recognized three eagles, they knew three vultures, four or five falcons, and several kites; but almost every Biblical reference is translated ?eagle,? no matter how evident the text makes it that the bird was a vulture. For example, Mic_1:16 : ?Make thee bald, and cut off thy hair for the children of thy delight: enlarge thy baldness as the eagle (m ?vulture?); for they are gone into captivity from thee.? This is a reference to the custom of shaving the head when in mourning, but as Palestine knew no bald eagle, the text could refer only to the bare head and neck of the griffon vulture. The eagles were, when hunger-driven, birds of prey; the vultures, carrion feeders only. There was a golden eagle (the osprey of the King James Version), not very common, distinguished by its tan-colored head; the imperial eagle, more numerous and easily identified by a dark head and white shoulders; a spotted eagle; a tawny eagle, much more common and readily distinguished by its plumage; and the short-toed eagle, most common of all and especially a bird of prey, as also a small hooded eagle so similar to a vulture that it was easily mistaken for one, save that it was very bold about taking its own food.
The first Biblical reference to the eagle referred to the right bird. Exo_19:4 : ?Ye have seen what I did unto the Egyptians, and how I bare you on eagles' wings, and brought you unto myself.? This ?bare you on eagles' wings? must not be interpreted to mean that an eagle ever carried anything on its back. It merely means that by strength of powerful wing it could carry quite a load with its feet and frequently was seen doing this. Vultures never carried anything; they feasted and regurgitated what they had eaten to their young. The second reference is found in Lev_11:13 and repeated in Deu_14:12, the lists of abominations. It would seem peculiar that Moses would find it necessary to include eagles in this list until it is known that Arab mountaineers were eating these birds at that time. The next falls in Deu_28:49 : ?Yahweh will bring a nation against thee from far, from the end of the earth, as the eagle flieth; a nation whose tongue thou shalt not understand.? This also refers to the true eagle and points out that its power of sustained flight, and the speed it could attain when hastening to its hunger-clamoring young, had been observed. The next reference is in Deu_32:11 :
?As an eagle that stirreth up her nest,
That fluttereth over her young,
He spread abroad his wings, he took them,
He bare them on his pinions.?
This is good natural history at last. Former versions made these lines read as if the eagle carried its young on its wings, a thing wholly incompatible with flight in any bird. Samuel's record of the lamentation of David over Saul and Jonathan is a wonderful poetic outburst and contains reference to this homing flight of the eagle (2Sa_1:23). In Job_9:26 the arrow-like downward plunge of the hunger-driven eagle is used in comparison with the flight of time. In Job 39, which contains more good natural history than any other chapter of the Bible, will be found everything concerning the eagle anyone need know:
?Is it at thy command that the eagle mounteth up,
And maketh her nest on high?
On the cliff she dwelleth, and maketh her home,
Upon the point of the cliff, and the stronghold.
From thence she spieth out the prey;
Her eyes behold it afar off.
Her young ones also suck up blood:
And where the slain are, there is she? (Job_39:27-30).
Psa_103:5 is a reference to the long life of the eagle. The bird has been known to live to an astonishing age in captivity; under natural conditions, the age it attains can only be guessed.
?Who satisfieth thy desire with good things,
So that thy youth is renewed like the eagle.?
Pro_23:5 compares the flight of wealth with that of an eagle; Pro_30:17 touches on the fact that the eye of prey is the first place attacked in eating, probably because it is the most vulnerable point and so is frequently fed to the young. Pro_30:19 :
?The way of an eagle in the air;
The way of a serpent upon a rock:
The way of a ship in the midst of the sea;
And the way of a man with a maiden.?
This reference to the eagle is to that wonderful power of flight that enables a bird to hang as if frozen in the sky, for long periods appearing to our sight immovable, or to sail and soar directly into the eye of the sun, seeming to rejoice in its strength of flight and to exult in the security and freedom of the upper air.
The word ?way? is here improperly translated. To the average mind it always means a road, a path. In this instance it should be translated:
The characteristics of an eagle in the air;
The habit of a serpent upon the rock;
The path of a ship in the midst of the sea;
And the manner of a man with a maid.
Each of these lines stood a separate marvel to Agur, and had no connection with the others (but compare The Wisdom of Solomon 5:10, 11, and see WAY).
Isa_40:31 is another flight reference. Jer_49:16 refers to the inaccessible heights at which the eagle loves to build and rear its young. Jer_49:22 refers to the eagle's power of flight. Eze_1:10 recounts a vision of the prophet in which strange living creatures had faces resembling eagles. The same book (Eze_17:3) contains the parable of the eagle: ?Thus saith the Lord Yahweh: A great eagle with great wings and long pinions, full of feathers, which had divers colors, came unto Lebanon, and took the top of the cedar.? Hos_8:1 is another flight reference. Oba_1:4 is almost identical with Jer_49:16. The next reference is that of Micah, and really refers to the griffon vulture (Mic_1:16). In Hab_1:8 the reference is to swift flight. Mat_24:28 undoubtedly refers to vultures. In Rev_4:7 the eagle is used as a symbol of strength. In Rev_8:13 the bird is represented as speaking: ?And I saw, and I heard an eagle (the King James Version ?angel?), flying in mid heaven, saying with a great voice, Woe, woe, woe, for them that dwell on the earth, by reason of the other voices of the trumpet of the three angels, who are yet to sound.? The eagle makes its last appearance in the vision of the woman and the dragon (Rev_12:14).
International Standard Bible Encyclopedia
PRINTER 1915.
Fig. 168?Aquila heliaca
Eagle (Exo_19:4; Lev_11:13, etc.). The Eagle, in zoology, forms a family of several genera of birds of prey, mostly distinguished for their size, courage, powers of flight, and arms for attack. The bill is strong and bent into a plain pointed hook, without the notch in the inner curve which characterizes falcons; the nostrils are covered with a naked cere or skin, of a yellow or a blue color; the eyes are lateral, sunken, or placed beneath an overhanging brow; the head and neck covered with abundance of longish, narrow-pointed feathers; the chest broad, the legs and thighs exceedingly stout and sinewy, and feathered down to the toes; the feathers in general are brownish and rust-colored, and the tail is black, grey, or deep brown. Sea-eagles have the legs half bare and covered with horny scales; not unusually the head, back, and tail more or less white. The larger species of both measure, from head to tip of tail, 3 feet 6 inches or more, and spread their wings above 7 feet 6 inches. The claws of the fore and hind toe are particularly strong and sharp; in the sea-eagles they form more than half a circle, and in length measure from 1? to 1? of an inch. These majestic birds have their abode in Europe, on the shores of the Mediterranean, in Syria and Arabia, wherever there are vast woody mountains and lofty cliffs: they occupy each a single district, always by pairs, excepting on the coasts, where the sea eagle and the osprey may be found not remote from the region possessed by the rough-legged eagles. It is in this last genus, most generally represented by the golden eagle, that the most powerful and largest birds are found. That species in its more juvenile plumage, known as the ring-tailed eagle, the Imperial eagle, and the booted eagle, is found in Syria; and at least one species of the sea-eagles frequents the coasts, and is even of stronger wing than the others. These build usually in the cliffs of Phoenicia, while the others are more commonly domiciliated within the mountains. According to their strength and habits the former subsist on antelopes, hares, hyrax, bustard, stork, tortoises, and serpents; and the latter usually on fish; both pursue the catta, partridge, and lizard. The osprey alone being migratory retires to Southern Arabia in winter. None, excepting the last-mentioned, are so exclusively averse to carrion as is commonly asserted: from choice or necessity they all, but in particular the sea-eagles, occasionally feed upon carcasses of horses, etc.; and it is well known in the East that they follow armies for that purpose. Hence the allusions in Job and Mat_24:28, though vultures may be included, are perfectly correct. So again are those which refer to the eagle's eyrie, fixed in the most elevated cliffs. The swiftness of this bird, stooping among a flock of wild geese, with the rushing sound of a whirlwind, we have witnessed; and all know its towering flight, suspended on its broad wings among the clouds with little motion or effort. Thus the predictions, in which terrible nations coming from afar are assimilated to eagles, have a poetical and absolute truth, since there are species like the golden, which really inhabit the whole circumference of the earth, and the nations alluded to bore eagles' wings for standards, and for ornaments on their shields, helmets, and shoulders. The species here figured is the one most common in Syria, and is distinguished from the others by a spot of white feathers on each shoulder.
The Popular Cyclopedia of Biblical Literature
by John Kitto.
Exo_19:4 (a) GOD compares Himself to an eagle in His work of taking Israel safely through the sorrows, dangers, and distresses of the wilderness journey.
Psa_103:5 (a) The strength and vigorous care given to the believer who walks with the Lord is compared to that which the eagle possesses. The Christian thus blessed is able to mount up above his surroundings and circumstances.
Pro_30:17 (a) By this figure we are informed that this particular type of sinner may not die a natural death, but will be subject to an unusual punishment which is unnatural.
Isa_40:31 (a) Under this figure, the Lord describes the ease and joy with which Christians rise out of their distresses and are set free from their surroundings when they look to the Lord earnestly for His blessing.
Eze_1:10 (b) One of the four aspects of the Lord JESUS, His deity, is represented here. This character of CHRIST is described particularly in the Gospel of John. (See also Eze_10:14, and Rev_4:7).
Eze_17:3 (a) The King of Babylon is represented by the eagle in this verse. The description concerns his invasion of Palestine and his victory over the King of the Jews. In verse 7 the eagle represents the King of Egypt. This is plainly seen by reading the rest of the chapter. These Kings are represented as eagles because they ruled over other kingdoms, they were swift in their invasions, and they were cruel in their afflictions of their conquered peoples.
Eze_17:7 (a) The King of Egypt also is compared to an eagle because he too was just about equal in power to the King of Babylon and ruled over kings and nations.
Dan_7:4 (a) The King of Babylon is described as an eagle in this passage, because of his supreme power, his swiftness, and his superiority. He is also described as a lion in the same passage. This refers to his mighty strength, for he did have more actual military power than the nations who followed him.
Hos_8:1 (a) Here is a reference to the swiftness with which the enemy of Israel would invade the land and conquer the people of GOD because of their disobedience.
Mic_1:16 (a) This peculiar figure probably describes an Oriental custom of magnifying the grief of those who sorrow. They wear unusual garments, eat unusual food, wail in an unusual loud fashion, and otherwise seek to let the world know of their grief.
Mat_24:28 (b) This is a description of the cruel, devouring nations who will pounce upon Israel in the time of her downfall and will carry away all her treasures. (See also Luk_17:37).
Rev_12:14 (a) This seems to be a prophecy concerning the special provision GOD will make to preserve a remnant of Israel from the terrible scourge and persecution that will arise against that people in the great day of GOD's wrath.
Wilson's Dictionary of Bible Types
press 1957.
Eagle
occurs in Scripture as the translation of the Hebrews נֶשֶׁר (ne'sher, so called from tearing its prey with its beak; occurs Exo_19:4; Lev_11:13; Deu_14:12; Deu_28:49; Deu_32:11; 2Sa_1:23; Job_9:26; Job_39:27; Psa_103:5; Pro_23:5; Pro_30:17; Pro_30:19; Isa_40:31; Jer_4:13; Jer_48:40; Jer_49:16; Jer_49:22; Lam_4:19; Eze_1:10; Eze_10:14; Eze_17:3; Eze_17:7; Hos_8:1; Oba_1:4; Mic_1:16; Hab_1:8), with which all the designations of the kindred dialects agree, Chald. נְשִׁר (neshar', Dan_4:33; Dan_7:4), Sept. and N.T. ἀετός (Mat_24:28; Luk_17:37; Rev_4:7; Rev_12:14). As there are many species of eagles, the nesher, when distinguished from others, seems to have denoted the chief species, the golden eagle, χρυσαίετος, as in Lev_11:13; Deu_14:12. The word, however, seems to have had a broader acceptation, and, like the Greek ἀετός and Arabic nesr (see Bochart, Hieroz. 2:312 sq.), sometimes comprehends also a species of vulture, especially in those passages where the nesher is said to be bald (Mic_1:16), and to feed on carcasses (Job 29:27; Pro_30:17; Mat_24:28), which, however the true eagle will occasionally do. SEE GIER-EAGLE; SEE HAWK; SEE OSPREY; SEE OSSIFRAGE; SEE VULTURE.
1. The characteristics of the eagle referred to in the Scriptures are its swiftness of flight (Deu_28:49; 2Sa_1:23; Jer_4:13; Jer_49:22; Lam_4:19, etc.); its mounting high into the air (Job_39:27; Pro_23:5; Pro_30:19; Isa_40:31; Jer_49:16); its strength and vigor (in Psa_103:5); its predaceous habits (Job_9:26; Pro_30:17; compare AElian, Anim. 10:14); its setting its nest in high places (in Jer_49:16; comp. Aristotle, Anim. 9:22; Pliny, 10:4); the care in training its young to fly (in Exo_19:4; Deu_32:11); its powers of vision (in Job_39:29; comp. Homer, Il. 17:674; AElian, Anim. 1:42; Isidore, Origg. 12:1; Pliny, 12:88); and its molting (Psa_103:5). As king of birds, the eagle naturally became an emblem of powerful empires (Eze_17:3; Eze_17:7), especially in the symbolical figures of Babylon (Dan_7:4), and the cherubim (Eze_1:10; Eze_10:14; Rev_4:7), like the griffin of classical antiquity. SEE CREATURE, LIVING. Eaglets are referred to in Pro_30:17 as first picking out the eyes of their prey.
The following is a close translation of a graphic description of raptorial birds of this class which occurs in the book of Job (39:26-30):
By thy understanding will [the] hawk tower,
Spread his wings southward?
Perchance on thy bidding [the] eagle will soar,
Or [it is then] that he will make lofty his nest?
A rock will he inhabit, and [there] roost,
Upon the peak of a rock, even [the] citadel:
Thence he has spied food,
From afar his eyes will look:
Then his brood will sip blood;
Ay, wherever [are the] slain, there [is] he!
To the last line in this quotation our Savior seems to allude in Mat_24:28. " Wheresoever the carcass is, there will the eagles be gathered together;" that is, wherever the Jewish people, who were morally and judicially dead, might be, there would the Roman armies, whose standard was an eagle, and whose strength and fierceness resembled that of the king of birds, in comparison with his fellows, pursue and devour them. The ἀετοί of Mat_24:28; Luk_17:37, may include the fultur Jalvus and Neophraon percnopterus; though, as some eagles prey upon dead bodies, there is no necessity to restrict the Greek word to the Vulturide (see Lucian, Navig. p. 1; comp. Seneca, Ep. 95; Martial, 6:62). The figure of an eagle is now, and has long been, a favorite military ensign. The Persians so employed it, which fact illustrates the passage in Isa_46:11, where Cyrus is alluded to under the symbol of an " eagle" (עִיַט) or "ravenous bird" (compare Xenoph. Cyrop. 7:4). The same bird was similarly employed by the Assyrians and the Romans. Eagles are frequently represented in Assyrian sculptures attending the soldiers in their battles, and some have hence supposed that they were trained birds. Considering, however, the wild and intractable nature of eagles, it is very improbable that this was the case. The representation of these birds was doubtless intended to portray the common feature in Eastern battlefield scenery, of birds of prey awaiting to satisfy their hunger on the bodies of the slain. These passages have been by some commentators referred to the vulture, on the assumed ground that the eagle never feeds on carrion, but confines itself to that prey which it has killed by its own prowess. This, however, is a mistake (see Forakal, Descript. Anim. page 12; compare Michaelis, Orient. Bibl. 9:37 sq., and new Orient. Bibl. 9:43 sq.); no such chivalrous feeling exists in either eagle or lion; both will feed ignominiously on a body found dead. Any visitor of the British zoological gardens may see that the habit imputed is at least not invariable. (See also Thomson, Land and Book, 1:491.) Aquila bisfasciata, of India, was shot by Colossians Sykes at the carcass of a tiger; and Arapax, of South Africa is "frequently one of the first birds that approaches a dead animal."
Of all known birds, the eagle flies not only the highest, but also with the greatest rapidity (comp. Homer, Il. 22:308). To this circumstance there are several striking allusions in the sacred volume. Among the evils threatened to the Israelites in case of their disobedience, the prophet names one, in the following terms: "The Lord shall bring a nation against thee from far, from the end of the earth, as swift as the eagle flieth" (Deu_28:49). The march of Nebuchadnezzar against Jerusalem is predicted in the same terms: "Behold, he shall come up as clouds, and his chariots as a whirlwind: his horses are swifter than eagles" (Jer_4:13); as is his invasion of Moab also: "For thus saith the Lord, Behold he shall fly as an eagle, and shall spread his wings over Moab" (Jer_48:40); i.e., he shall settle down on the devoted country as an eagle over its prey. (See also Lam_4:19; Hos_8:2; Hab_1:8.)
The eagle, it is said, lives to a great age, and, like other birds of prey, sheds his feathers in the beginning of spring. After this season he appears with fresh strength and vigor, and his old age assumes the appearance of youth. To this David alludes when gratefully reviewing the mercies of Jehovah, "Who satisfieth thy mouth with good things, so that thy youth is renewed like the eagle's" (Psa_103:5); as does the prophet, also, when describing the renovating and quickening influences of the Spirit of God: "They that wait upon the Lord shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings as eagles; they shall run and not be weary; and they shall walk and not faint" (Isa_40:31). Some Jewish interpreters have illustrated the former passage by a reference to the old fables about the eagle being able to renew his strength when very old (SEE BOCHART, HIEROZ. 2:747). But modern commentators for the most part are inclined to think that these words refer to the eagle after the molting season, when the bird is more full of activity than before. Others prefer Hengstenberg's explanation on Psa_103:5," Thy youth is renewed, so that in point of strength thou art like the eagle."
The passage in Mic_1:16, " Enlarge thy baldness as the eagle," has been understood by Bochart (Hieroz. 2:744) and others to refer to the eagle at the time of its molting in the spring. Oedman ( Vermischte Samml. 1:64) erroneously refers the baldness spoken of by the prophet to point to the Vultur barbatus (Gypaetus), the bearded "vulture or lammergeeyer, which he supposed was bald. It appears to us to be extremely improbable that there is any reference in the passage under consideration to eagles molting. Allusion is here made to the custom of shaving the head as a token of mourning; but there would be little or no appropriateness in the comparison of a shaved head with an eagle at the time of molting. But if the nesser is supposed to denote the griffon vulture (Vultur fulvus), the simile is peculiarly appropriate; it may be remarked that the Hebrew verb karach (קָרִח) signifies "to make bald on the back part of the head;" the notion here conveyed is very applicable to the whole head and neck of this bird, which is destitute of true feathers. The direction of the prophet is to a token of mourning, which was usually assumed by making bald the crown of the head; here, however, it was to be enlarged, extended, as the baldness of the eagle. Exactly answering to this idea is Mr. Bruce's description of the head of the "golden eagle:" the crown of his head was bare; so was the front where the bill and skull joined. The meaning of the prophet, therefore, seems to be that the people were not to content themselves with shaving the crown of the head merely, as on ordinary occasions, but, under this special visitation of retributive justice, were to extend the baldness over the entire head. With reference to the texts referred to above, which compare the watchful and sustaining care of his people by the Almighty with that exhibited by the eagle in training its younger ones to fly, especially the spirited one in Deu_32:11-12
As an eagle will rouse his nest;
Over his fledglings will hover;
Will spread his wings,
Will take it [i.e. his brood, or each of the young];
Will bear it upon his pinions:
[So] Jehovah, he alone would guide him [i.e. Israel];
And there was not with him a strange god"
We may quote a passage from Sir Humphrey Davy, who says, "I once saw a very interesting sight above one of the crags of Ben Nevis, as I was going in the pursuit of black game. Two parent eagles were teaching their offspring, two young birds, the maneuvers of flight. They began by rising from the top of the mountain, in the eye of the sun. It was about midday, and bright for this climate. They at first made small circles, and the young birds imitated them. They paused on their wings, waiting till they had made their first flight, and then took a second and larger gyration, always rising towards the sun, and enlarging their circle of flight so as to make a gradually ascending spiral. The young ones still and slowly followed, apparently flying better as they mounted; and they continued this sublime exercise, always rising, till they became mere points in the air, and the young ones were lost, and afterwards their parents, to our aching sight." The expression in Exodus and Deut., "beareth them on her wings," has been understood by Rabbinical writers and others to mean that the eagle does actually carry her young ones on her wings and shoulders. This is putting on the words a construction which they by no means are intended to convey; at the same time, it is not improbable that the parent bird assists the first efforts of her young by flying under them, thus sustaining them for a moment, and encouraging them in their early lessons. (Comp. AElian, Anim. 2:40; Oppian, Cyneg. 3:1:15; Jerome in Jesa. 46; Naumaun, Naturgesch. d. Vogel, 1:215; on the contrary, Aristotle, Anim. 9:22.),
Finally, the eagle was an Assyrian emblem, and hence probably the reference in Hab_1:8. The eagle-headed deity of the Assyrian sculptures is that of the god Nisroch (q.v.); and in the representations of battles certain birds of this order are frequently shown accompanying the Assyrian warriors in their attacks, and in one case bearing off the entrails of the slain. From the Assyrians the use of the eagle as a standard (q.v.) descended to the Persians, and from them probably to the Romans. In all ages, and in most countries, as the proverbial "king of birds," it has been the symbol of majesty among the feathered tribes, like the lion among beasts.
2. The eagle, in zoology, forms a family of several genera of birds of prey, mostly distinguished for their size, courage, powers of flight, and arms for attack. The bill is strong, and bent into a plain pointed hook, without the notch in the inner curve which characterizes falcons; the nostrils are covered with a naked cere or skin of a yellow or a blue color; the eyes are lateral, sunken, or placed beneath an overhanging brow; the head and neck covered with abundance of longish, narrow-pointed feathers; the chest broad, and the legs and thighs exceedingly stout and sinewy. Eagles, properly so called, constitute the genus Aquila, and have the tarsi feathered down to the toes; they are clothed in general with brownish and rust- colored feathers, and the tail is black, grey, or deep brown. Sea-eagles (genus Haliaetus) have the tarsi or legs half bare and covered with horny scales; not unusually the head, back, and tail more or less white. The larger species of both measure, from head to tip of tail, 3 feet 6 inches or more, and spread their wings above 7 feet 6 inches; but these are proportionably broad to their length, for it is the third quill feather which is the longest, as if the Creator intended to restrain within bounds their rapidity of flight, while by their breadth the power of continuing on the wing is little or not at all impeded. The claws of the fore and hind toe are particularly strong and sharp; in the sea-eagles they form more than half a circle, and in length measure from 1.5 to 1.75 of an inch. These majestic birds have their abode in Europe, on the shores of the Mediterranean, in Syria and Arabia, wherever there are vast woody mountains and lofty cliffs; they occupy each a single district, always by pairs, excepting on the coasts, where the sea- eagle and the osprey (Pandion halicetus) may be found not remote from the region possessed by the rough-legged eagles the first because it seeks to subsist on the industry of the second, and does not interfere with the prey of the third. It is in this last genus, most generally represented by the golden eagle (Aquila chryaeta) that the most powerful and largest birds are found. That species in its more juvenile plumage, known as the ring- tailed eagle, the imperial eagle, or mogilnick (A. heliaca), and the booted eagle (A. pinnata), is found in Syria; and at least one species of the sea- eagles (the Hal. ossifragus, albicilla, or albicaudus) frequents the coasts, and is even of stronger wing than the others.
These build usually in the cliffs of Phoenicia, while the others are more commonly domiciliated within the mountains. According to their strength and habits, the former subsist on antelopes, hares, hyrax, bustard, stork, tortoises, and serpents; and the latter usually live on fish; both pursue the catta (pterocles), partridge, and lizard. The osprey alone being migratory, retires to Southern Arabia in winter. None, excepting the last mentioned, are so exclusively averse to carrion as is commonly asserted: from choice or necessity they all, but in particular the sea-eagles, occasionally feed upon carcasses of horses, etc.; and it is well known in the East that they follow armies for that purpose. Hence the allusions in Job and Mat_24:28, though vultures may be included, are perfectly correct. So again are those which refer to the eagle's eyrie, fixed in the most elevated cliffs. The swiftness of this bird, stooping among a flock of wild geese with the rushing sound of a whirlwind, is very remarkable; and all know its towering flight, suspended on its broad wings among the clouds with little motion or effort. Thus the predictions, in which terrible nations coming from afar are assimilated to eagles, have a poetical and absolute truth, since there are species, like the golden, which really inhabit the whole circumference of the earth, and the nations alluded to bore eagles' wings for standards, and for ornaments on their shields, helmets, and shoulders. In the northern half of Asia, and among all the Turkish races, this practice is not entirely abandoned at this day, and eagle ensigns were constantly the companions of the dragons. China, India, Bactria, Persia, Egypt, the successors of Alexandria, the Etruscans, the Romans, the Celtae, and the Arabs had eagle signa of carved work, of metal, or the skins of birds stuffed, and set up as if they were living. These, named עִיַט (ayit, a "ravenous bird," Isa_46:1, whence ἀετός), aquila, eryx, simurg, humma or humaion, karakush (the birds of victory of different nations and periods of antiquity), were always symbolical of rapid, irresistible conquest. A black eagle was the ensign of Kalid, general of Mohammed, at the battle of Aisnadin, and the carved eagle still ,seen on the walls of the citadel of Cairo, set up by Karakufsh, the vizier of Salah- ed-din, to commemorate his own name and administration, indicates a species not here enumerated. At least for distinct kinds of eagles have been observed in Palestine, viz. the golden eagle (Aquila Chrysaitos), the spotted eagle (A. naevia), the common species in the rocky districts (see Ibis, 1:23), the imperial eagle (Aquila Heliaca), and the very common Circaetos gallicus, which preys on the numerous reptilia of Palestine (see the vernacular Arabic names of different species of Vulturidae and Falconidae in Loche's Catalogue des Oiseaux observ. en Algerie; and in Ibis, volumes 1, 2, Tristram's papers on the ornithology of North Africa). The Hebrews nesher may stand for any of these different species. though perhaps more particular reference to the golden and imperial eagles and the griffon vulture may be intended. The Aq. heliaca, here figured, is the species most common in Syria, and is distinguished from the others by a spot of white feathers on each shoulder. (See the Penny Cyclopcedia, s.v. Falconidae; Hebenstreit, Aquilae naturae S.S. Historia, e historia naturali et e Monumentt. vett. illustrata, Lips. 1747.) SEE BIRD.
CYCLOPEDIA OF BIBLICAL, THEOLOGICAL AND ECCLESIASTICAL
press 1895.
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