Wing

WING, Ala. By the Name Wing, the Hebrews understand, not only the Wings of Birds, but also the Lappet of a Garment, the Extremity of a Country, the Wings of an Army; and, in a figurative and metaphorical Sense, Protection, or Defence. God says, that he has born his People upon the Wings of Eagles;¹ that is to say, that he had brought them out of Egypt, as an Eagle carries its Young ones under its Wings. The Prophet begs of God to protect him under his Wings. He says, that the Children Psalm xvi. 9.of Men put their Hopes in the Protection of his Wings: In tegmine alarum Psalm xxxv. 8.tuarum sperabunt. Ruth desires of Booz to stretch the Wing of his Garment over her: Ruth. iii. 9.Expande pallium tuum; In the Hebrew, alam tuam super famulam tuam. Jerem. ii. 34. In thy skirts [Heb. Wings] is found the blood of the souls of the poor innocents. Isaiah, Isa. viii. 8.speaking to the Army of the King of Israel, and of Syria, who were coming into the Land of Judah, says to ‘em, The stretching out of his wings shall fill the breadth of thy land, O Immanuel. The same Prophet calls the Sistra of the Egyptians, Isai. xviii. 1.Cymbalum alarum, probably because of the Rings that played in the Holes of the Sistrum.

Elsewhere, he calls the utmost Part of the Country, the Wing of the Land, Isai. xiv. 16. We have heard the Praises of the Just, from the Extremity of the Earth; à finibus terræ; the Hebrew says, ab alis terræ. See also Job xxxviii. 13. Tenuisti extrema terræ. Malachi iv. 2. The Name of Wings is given to the Sun-beams. Orietur vobis sol justitiæ, & sanitas in pennis ejus. Or, rather, the Sun is represented to us as having Wings, because of the great Rapidity of its Course. Profane Authors sometimes ascribe Wings to the Animals that draw the Chariot of Apollo: They also give them to Mithras, who is the Sun. Hosea, iv. 19. speaking of the Wind, describes it as having Wings. Ligavit eum spiritus in alis suis.

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