Eagle

At Sinai God reminds Israel how he rescued them: “I bare you on eagles’ wings, and brought you unto myself” (Exodus 19:4). Deuteronomy 32:11 returns to the picture of an eagle that “stirreth up her nest, fluttereth over her young.” Yet eagles in Scripture are also swift and fierce. Moses warns of a foreign nation “as swift as the eagle flieth,” and Job 39 asks, “Doth the eagle mount up at thy command?” Ezekiel and Revelation give an eagle’s face to heavenly creatures, and Revelation 12:14 gives the woman “two wings of a great eagle” to escape into the wilderness.

19 verses

Exodus

Exodus 19:4

Ye have seen what I did unto the Egyptians, and how I bare you on eagles' wings, and brought you unto myself.

Leviticus

Leviticus 11:13

And these are they which ye shall have in abomination among the fowls; they shall not be eaten, they are an abomination: the eagle, and the ossifrage, and the ospray,

Deuteronomy

Deuteronomy 28:49

The LORD shall bring a nation against thee from far, from the end of the earth, as swift as the eagle flieth; a nation whose tongue thou shalt not understand;

Deuteronomy 32:11

As an eagle stirreth up her nest, fluttereth over her young, spreadeth abroad her wings, taketh them, beareth them on her wings:

Job

Job 9:26

They are passed away as the swift ships: as the eagle that hasteth to the prey.

Job 39:27

Doth the eagle mount up at thy command, and make her nest on high?

Job 39:28

She dwelleth and abideth on the rock, upon the crag of the rock, and the strong place.

Job 39:29

From thence she seeketh the prey, and her eyes behold afar off.

Job 39:30

Her young ones also suck up blood: and where the slain are, there is she.

Proverbs

Proverbs 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 maid.

Jeremiah

Jeremiah 4:13

Behold, he shall come up as clouds, and his chariots shall be as a whirlwind: his horses are swifter than eagles. Woe unto us! for we are spoiled.

Jeremiah 48:40

For thus saith the LORD; Behold, he shall fly as an eagle, and shall spread his wings over Moab.

Jeremiah 49:22

Behold, he shall come up and fly as the eagle, and spread his wings over Bozrah: and at that day shall the heart of the mighty men of Edom be as the heart of a woman in her pangs.

Ezekiel

Ezekiel 1:10

As 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 10:14

And 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 17:3

And say, Thus saith the Lord GOD; A great eagle with great wings, longwinged, full of feathers, which had divers colours, came unto Lebanon, and took the highest branch of the cedar:

Daniel

Daniel 7:4

The first was like a lion, and had eagle's wings: I beheld till the wings thereof were plucked, and it was lifted up from the earth, and made stand upon the feet as a man, and a man's heart was given to it.

Revelation

Revelation 4:7

And 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 12:14

And to the woman were given two wings of a great eagle, that she might fly into the wilderness, into her place, where she is nourished for a time, and times, and half a time, from the face of the serpent.

From Easton's Bible Dictionary

Matthew George Easton, 1897

(Herb. nesher; properly the griffon vulture or great vulture, so called from its tearing its prey with its beak), referred to for its swiftness of flight (Deut. 28:49; 2 Sam. 1:23), its mounting high in the air (Job 39:27), its strength (Ps. 103:5), its setting its nest in high places (Jer. 49:16), and its power of vision (Job 39:27-30).

This “ravenous bird” is a symbol of those nations whom God employs and sends forth to do a work of destruction, sweeping away whatever is decaying and putrescent (Matt. 24:28; Isa. 46:11; Ezek. 39:4; Deut. 28:49; Jer. 4:13; 48:40). It is said that the eagle sheds his feathers in the beginning of spring, and with fresh plumage assumes the appearance of youth. To this, allusion is made in Ps. 103:5 and Isa. 40:31. God’s care over his people is likened to that of the eagle in training its young to fly (Ex. 19:4; Deut. 32:11, 12). An interesting illustration is thus recorded by Sir Humphry Davy:, “I once saw a very interesting sight above the crags of Ben Nevis. 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 mid-day, and bright for the climate. They at first made small circles, and the young birds imitated them. They paused on their wings, waiting till they had made their flight, and then took a second and larger gyration, always rising toward 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.” (See Isa. 40:31.)

Read the full entry

There have been observed in Palestine four distinct species of eagles, (1) the golden eagle (Aquila chrysaetos); (2) the spotted eagle (Aquila naevia); (3) the common species, the imperial eagle (Aquila heliaca); and (4) the Circaetos gallicus, which preys on reptiles. The eagle was unclean by the Levitical law (Lev. 11:13; Deut. 14:12).

From Smith's Bible Dictionary

William Smith, 1884

(Heb. nesher , i.e. a tearer with the beak). At least four distinct kinds of eagles have been observed in Palestine, viz., 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, (Micah 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 (Matthew 24:28; Luke 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 (Isaiah 46:11) The same bird was similarly employed by the Assyrians and the Romans.