Anonymous Asks (345)

“What does an eagle signify in the Bible?”

Birds of prey are majestic, beautiful, horrible creatures. If you’ve ever watched a winged predator drop out of the sky to pluck a smaller bird out of the air then calmly shred its screaming victim to pieces, all the while brazenly meeting the gaze of horrified onlookers through the glass pane of a full length 21st storey office window, you will know exactly what I mean. You may taste your own lunch a second time.

Eagles soar with mesmerizing elegance, then eviscerate mercilessly in a matter of seconds. You do not mess with such creatures.

Israelites and Eagles

Many species of eagles live in or migrate through Israel. Half the world’s lesser spotted eagle population soars over the nation every year, approximately 80,000 birds, but at least six other distinct eagle species either migrate through Israel or nest there. This being the case, eagles gave the writers of our Bible plenty of material to work with. They were surely a common sight in Bible times.

As we might expect then, the phrase “as the eagle” or “like the eagle” is all over the Bible (even “fly like an eagle” for those old enough to remember Steve Miller), so the inquiring mind who came up with today’s question is posing a good one. As with many of the symbols used in the Bible (especially sheep), I’m unsure we can nail down eagle symbolism to a single, pithy answer. The writers of different scriptures had different aspects of the eagle in mind when they used its image to illustrate spiritual truths.

The first few times the Bible mentions eagles is in the Law of Moses, where the main point of the exercise seems to be that Israelites should never ever eat them. (The word “abomination” makes a cameo appearance.) This should not surprise anyone who’s seen eagles enjoying a nice light snack. Digging into an eagle breast with a knife and fork is not like scarfing down a couple of fried chicken wings, you can be sure. You never know what (or who) might have been in their gullets.

Swift and Merciless

The first true eagle figure of speech quickly follows, in Deuteronomy 28, the passage where Moses lists the blessings for Israel’s obedience and the curses for rebellion. He says:

“The Lord will bring a nation against you from far away, from the end of the earth, swooping down like the eagle, a nation whose language you do not understand, a hard-faced nation who shall not respect the old or show mercy to the young.”

Eagles come in fast and hard, and they show no mercy. Job also refers to eagles being “swift to the prey”. Assyria and/or Babylon eventually fulfilled Moses’ prophecy, depending on the era and the tribes involved. The predatory nation (or its king) might be the most common association with the eagle image in scripture.

On Eagle’s Wings

As unpleasant as it might be to find oneself an eagle’s prey, the story is not all bad. Being an eaglet is apparently like getting your avian status card:

“Like an eagle that stirs up its nest, that flutters over its young, spreading out its wings, catching them, bearing them on its pinions, the Lord alone guided him.”

This is Moses again, only a few chapters later in Deuteronomy, but this time the mother eagle is a picture of God’s wondrous care and provision for Israel in bringing a people out of Egypt, through the desert, and into a land of milk and honey. It’s tender, wonderful, and the exact opposite of eagles-as-nasty-Chaldeans-with-sharp-swords.

Better Speed This Up

If I take six sentences to go through each of the different ways the writers of scripture use the eagle to illustrate something, we’ll be here all day. Better speed this up.

In Proverbs, the eagle reminds us of the speed with which wealth can disappear, “flying like an eagle toward heaven”. Don’t put your trust in that. Later in the same book, eagles symbolize mystery. How do they soar like that? Other birds have to flap. They don’t look anywhere near as dignified and graceful. In Jeremiah, the eagle’s nest is a simile evoking apparent safety that isn’t so safe after all, at least not when God is judge. Micah — I kid you not — uses the eagle simile to describe the baldness of Israelite parents cutting off their own hair in grief over losing their children. Finally, in Revelation, the woman (Israel) is given “the two wings of a great eagle” in order to escape the dragon. If you want to get out of trouble fast, bones, muscles and feathers will do the trick.

All Over the Map

As you should be able to see by now, there is no consistent Bible symbolism in relation to the eagle. Scary, fast, bald, loving, mysterious: it all depends on the context in which you find the image and what the individual writer is trying to bring out by association.

Probably the best-known biblical eagle resides in Ezekiel 1 and 10. He is the fourth of four faces of each of the living creatures that make up what looks like the “axle assembly” of the chariot of the Lord. In chapter 10, Ezekiel repeatedly refers to these living creatures as “cherubim”, which ought to obliterate forever the secular picture of cherubs as chubby infants with wings, but mysteriously does not. In Revelation 4, these living creatures reappear in a slightly different form. Unlike Ezekiel, John assigns a single face to each living creature. There are probably all kinds of spiritual lessons to be unpacked by comparing the two accounts, but I’m not your guy for that, as those who do so tend to veer abruptly into speculation, like suggesting the eagle is John the Apostle. The four living creatures show up again in chapters 5, 6, 14, 15 and 19 in constant motion around the throne of God, so, like eagles, they are definitely a presence to be reckoned with.

If you want to have a really good time, just Google “What do the faces of the cherubim symbolize?” You will find no consistent answer, since scripture does not provide one.

Sometimes it’s safer to just let mystery be mystery. We’ll find out eventually.