Eagles are included among the unclean birds mentioned in the Bible <Lev. 11:13>, (NKJV), but they were admired as majestic birds. The golden eagle, which is really dark brown with sprinkles of gold, has a 26-meter (8-feet) wingspread. It nests in high places that are inaccessible <Jer. 49:16>. There, in a nest which the eagle makes larger each year, the eagle hatches two eggs. Usually only one eaglet survives to
adulthood.
An eagle has keen eyesight. He can spot his prey while soaring hundreds of feet in the air. Like a lightning bolt, he drops to sieze it, killing it quickly with his powerful claws. Then he swoops back to his nest to rip the meat apart and share it with his young.
A mother eagle carries her eaglet on her back until it masters the art of flying. Moses used this familiar picture from nature to describe God's care for His people. God stirred up Jacob (the nation of Israel), and carried His people on His wings <Deut. 32:11-12> as He delivered them from slavery in Egypt.
Solomon marveled at "the way of an eagle in the air" <Prov. 30:19>. An eagle can stay aloft for hours, rarely moving his wings and riding wind currents. But many passages in the Bible also speak of the swiftness of the eagle's flight <Deut. 28:49>.
The belief that an eagle renews its strength and youthful appearance after shedding its feathers gave rise to
<Psalm 103:5> and <Isaiah 40:31>. Eagles do have a long lifespan, living 20 to 30 years in the wild, and longer in captivity.
In the Old Testament, prophets spoke of the eagle as a symbol of God's judgment <Jer. 48:40; Ezek.
17:3,7>. In <Revelation 12:14>, "two wings of a great eagle" portray God's intervention to deliver His people from persecution.
(from Nelson's Illustrated Bible Dictionary) (Copyright (C) 1986, Thomas Nelson Publishers)
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Eagles of the Bible
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The Eagles
Wood's Bible Animals, 1875 As to the Eagle, rightly so called, there is little doubt that it is one of the many birds of prey that seem to have been classed under the general title of Asniyeh—the word which in the Authorized Version of the Bible is rendered as Osprey. A similar confusion is observable in the modern Arabic, one word, ogab, being applied
indiscriminately to all the Eagles and the large falconidae.
The chief of the true Eagles, namely, the Golden Eagle (Aquila chrysaetos), is one of the inhabitants of Palestine, and is seen frequently, though never in great numbers. Indeed, its predacious habits unfit it for associating with its kind. Any animal which lives chiefly, if not wholly, by the chase, requires a large district in order to enable it to live, and thus twenty or thirty eagles will be scattered over a district of twice the number of miles. Like the lion among the mammalia, the Eagle leads an almost solitary life, scarcely ever associating with any of its kind except its mate and its young.
Although it lives principally by the chase, it has no objection to carrion, and, as has already been mentioned on page 342, may be seen feeding on a dead animal in company with the lesser vultures, though it retires before the lordly griffon. Being so thinly scattered, it would not be so conspicuous a bird as the griffon, which is not only very much larger, but associates in great numbers, and probably on that account no definite species of Eagle seems to be mentioned in Holy Writ.
Four or five species of Eagle are known to inhabit Palestine. There is, for example, the Imperial Eagle (Aquila mogilnik), which may be distinguished from the Golden Eagle by a white patch on the shoulders, and the long, lancet-shaped feathers of the head and neck. These feathers are of a fawn colour, and contrast beautifully with the deep black-brown of the back and wins. It is not very often seen, being a bird that loves the forest, and that does not care to leave the shelter of the trees. It is tolerably common in Palestine.
Then there are several of the allied species, of which the best example is perhaps the Short-toed Eagle (Circaetus
cinereus), a bird which is extremely plentiful in the Holy Land—so plentiful indeed that, as Mr. Tristram remarks, there are probably twice as many of the Short-toed Eagles in Palestine as of all the other species put together. The genus to which
Eagles of the Bible
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this bird belongs does not take rank with the true Eagles, but is supposed by systematic naturalists to hold an intermediate place between the true Eagles and the ospreys.
The Short-toed Eagle is seldom a carrion-eater, preferring to kill its prey for itself. It feeds mostly on serpents and other reptiles, and is especially fond of frogs. It is a large and somewhat heavily built bird, lightness and swiftness being far less necessary than strength in taking the animals on which it feeds. It is rather more than two feet in length, and is a
decidedly handsome bird, the back being dark brown, and the under parts white, covered with crescent-shaped black spots.
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Posted by Roy Clark in Sermon Outlines on January 13th, 2012 | no responses
Brief Outline
Introduction: In Isaiah 40:18, the prophet Isaiah raised a significant question: “To whom then will you liken God?” The writer seemed to be searching for a larger scale to weigh the greatness of God and a longer measuring rod to handle the greatness of the Almighty!
Six Discoveries of Isaiah:
1. God is greater than all of creation (40:12-14).
2. God is greater than the nations (40:15-17).
3. God is greater than the folly of idolatry (40:18-20).
4. God is greater than the rulers of this world (40:21-24).
Page 1 of 7 Resources For Your Ministry Soaring Like Eagles
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