Eagle

EAGLE, a bird whereof there is frequent mention in Scripture. The Eagle is declared in Leviticus to be unclean, as Levit. xi. 13. Deut. xiv. 2. נשר Nescher. Aquila ᾿Αετός.are all other birds of its species; that is to say, all sorts of Eagles, as the Sea-Eagle called in Latin Haliæetus, and the Eagle named Ossifraga, because it breaks the bones in order to extract the marrow. There is likewise a black Eagle called Valeria or Melanæetus. The Hawk and the Vultur may be reckoned as different species of Eagles. All these birds are prohibited by the Law of Moses.

It is said in Psalm ciii. 5. that the Lord maketh a good man young and lusty as an Eagle; renovabitur ut aquilæ juventus tua. The conjectures of interpreters have been very various concerning the Eagle’s growing young again. Some have affirmed, that every Rab. Saadias.ten years the Eagle soars as high as the region of fire, and from thence plunges itself into the Sea, where it loses its old feathers, and gets new ones. St. Austin and EpiphaniusAug. in Psalm. cii. 5. Epiphan. Physiolog. tell us, that when this bird is old, its beak becomes so hooked, that it is no longer able to eat; but that by striking it against a rock, it breaks off this part, and so grows young again by taking fresh nourishment. Others suppose in like manner, that the Eagle’s beak becoming too hooked, as it grows old, it is unable to feed, and is therefore nourished by drinking only; from whence this proverb has its rise, Aquilæ Senectus: but this opinion is contradicted by other Philosophers, who maintain, that the Eagle does not drink at all, no more than other birds with sharp claws. Lastly,¹ others believe that the Eagle grows young again no otherwise than all birds besides, which cast their feathers every year in the moulting season, and have others in their room²: and this is the best and most simple interpretation. In this sense likewise the Hebrew may be expounded; Thou shalt be renewed, and thy youth shall be like that of an Eagle. Thou shalt recover thy strength, and shall be like the Eagle in its youth.

Moses says, that God delivered his people out of Egypt, and bore them upon Eagles Exod. xix. 4. Deut. xxxii. 11.wings; and in another place, that the Lord took upon himself the care of his people, and bore them on his shoulders, as an Eagle beareth her young; that he led them out of Egypt, and let them at liberty, as an Eagle takes its young out of the nest, to teach them how to fly, by gently fluttering about them. Accordingly it is said, that when an Eagle sees its young ones so well grown as to venture upon flying, it hovers over their nest, flutters with its wings, and excites them to imitate it, and take their flight; and when it sees them weary or fearful, it takes them upon its back, and carries them so, that the fowlers cannot hurt the young without piercing through the body of the old one.

Prov. xxx. 19. Prov. xxx. 17.Solomon in his Proverbs says, that there were four things which were entirely unknown to him; 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 maid. There is no difficulty in this passage as to the Eagle, the Serpent, and the Ship; it is very well known that they leave no traces behind them in the air, upon rocks, or upon the sea. And with respect to the way of a man with a maid, or in his youth, it is difficult in the Vulgate only: for the Hebrew signifies no more, than that the marks of virginity in a young woman are very ambiguous, and hard to be discerned.

Micah i. 16. seems to say that the Eagle divests itself of its feathers when it mourns, Enlarge thy baldness as the Eagle; but this signifies no more, than that they to whom the Prophet addresses himself, should cut off their hair in time of mourning, should be naked and stript like a moulting Eagle. It is said that the Eagle at that season casts almost all its feathers, and falls into a languishing condition, so as neither to be able to hunt after prey as usual, nor create terror in other Theodoret. in Mic. i. 16. Matth. xxiv. 28. Luke xvii. 37. Job xxxix. 30. Job ix. 26.birds.

Our Saviour in several places of the Gospel, repeats a sentence out of Job, Wheresoever the carcass is, there will the Eagles be gathered together. The common sort of Eagles eat no carrion, but there is a particular species which does; and not one of any kind but what eats raw flesh, tho’ not indifferently of all sorts, nor that of any creature which dies of itself, but such only as is fresh and lately killed. Which is the literal meaning of Job, in what he says concerning the Eagle; but Jesus Christ makes an allegory of it, and says, that wherever there are Jews, who deal unfaithfully with God, there will be also Romans to execute God’s vengeance on them. See our Comment on St. Matth. xxiv. 28.

I take no notice of other qualities which are ascribed to the Eagle, because they are either false or too common, or have no relation to what is said in Scripture of this bird, and to the design of this Dictionary.

There are some likewise, who talk of the Eagle’s Stone, which is found, as they say, at the entrance of the holes, wherein these birds make their nests. They affirm that the stones here spoken of, have a particular virtue in defending the Eagle’s nest from the effects of thunder. The stones of this kind, which are most valued, are flat and blackish, with a grain like shagreen, and found if any one applies them to the ear and shakes them, because within the large stone, there is one lesser, which nature has formed in it. It is called Ætites in Latin and Pietra d’Aquila in Italian. But there are several fabulous things related of it, and the virtues which are attributed to it.

The Romans, we know, bore the Eagle in their standards, and paid divine honours to it, as they did likewise to their other Ensigns.³ Religio Romanorum tota castrensis signa veneratur, signa jurat, signa omnibus Diis præponit, says Tertullian. Several Fathers and Interpreters are of opinion, that the abomination of desolation, mentioned in Matth. xxiv. 15.these words of the Gospel, When ye shall see the abomination of desolation spoken of by Daniel the Prophet, stand in the holy place, &c. was nothing else but the Roman Eagles, and other military Ensigns, which were lodged in the Holy Place, that is to say, in the Holy Land, about Jerusalem, when Titus incamped his army there⁴. But we rather think, that this abomination of desolation, taken notice of in Daniel, and the Gospel, denotes the profanations of the Temple, caused by the seditious Jews, who called themselves Zealots. Here these wretches committed all the abominations, sacrileges, and murders, which are described by Josephus in his History of the Jewish Wars.

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