Eagle (Nesher, ἀετός)

 •  1 min. read  •  grade level: 10
This is supposed to be the bird known as the Griffon Vulture or Great Vulture—the Gyps fulvus of the naturalists—though it may include other species. Its habits agree with those related of the eagle in scripture, and they are plentiful in Palestine. No sooner does an animal fall than these birds congregate in numbers on its carcass, according to Job 9:2626They are passed away as the swift ships: as the eagle that hasteth to the prey. (Job 9:26) and Matthew 24:2828For wheresoever the carcase is, there will the eagles be gathered together. (Matthew 24:28). The true eagle is a solitary bird, but vultures are seldom found alone. The expression “beareth them on her wings” exactly describes the way the vultures bear up their young, and teach them to fly (Ex. 19:44Ye have seen what I did unto the Egyptians, and how I bare you on eagles' wings, and brought you unto myself. (Exodus 19:4); Deut. 32:1111As an eagle stirreth up her nest, fluttereth over her young, spreadeth abroad her wings, taketh them, beareth them on her wings: (Deuteronomy 32:11)). The vulture also agrees with Micah 1:1616Make thee bald, and poll thee for thy delicate children; enlarge thy baldness as the eagle; for they are gone into captivity from thee. (Micah 1:16) which speaks of its baldness, for the vulture’s head and neck are without feathers. Its swiftness is proverbial (Lam. 4:1919Our persecutors are swifter than the eagles of the heaven: they pursued us upon the mountains, they laid wait for us in the wilderness. (Lamentations 4:19)), and it rests on the highest rocks (Job 39:2727Doth the eagle mount up at thy command, and make her nest on high? (Job 39:27); Jer. 49:1616Thy terribleness hath deceived thee, and the pride of thine heart, O thou that dwellest in the clefts of the rock, that holdest the height of the hill: though thou shouldest make thy nest as high as the eagle, I will bring thee down from thence, saith the Lord. (Jeremiah 49:16)). In Ezekiel and in the Revelation the living creatures have the eagle character as portraying the swiftness in execution of God’s power in creation and judicial government (Ezek. 1:1010As for the likeness of their faces, they four had the face of a man, and the face of a lion, on the right side: and they four had the face of an ox on the left side; they four also had the face of an eagle. (Ezekiel 1:10); Ezek. 10:1414And every one had four faces: the first face was the face of a cherub, and the second face was the face of a man, and the third the face of a lion, and the fourth the face of an eagle. (Ezekiel 10:14); Rev. 4:77And the first beast was like a lion, and the second beast like a calf, and the third beast had a face as a man, and the fourth beast was like a flying eagle. (Revelation 4:7)).
Gyps Fulvus
Flying Gyps Fulvus