See the eagle! His steely claws are locked onto the branch of his choosing. Nothing will move him—not even the strongest wind—for he is hunting. He peers into the distance for he knows that there he will find his next meal, but not for him, for his eaglets waiting in their mountain eyrie.
A storm erupts, but that does not worry this magnificent bird, the king of the air. He has learned the secrets of the wind and will use to his advantage the thing that can petrify us if we are caught in its hurricane blast. But he is not silly. He will use the wind to go where he wishes, higher and higher now until we can hardly see him from the ground. He has not forgotten his mission—a meal for his family—so he chooses another way to the scurrying creature he spotted before he rose into the heavens.
Humans, without a means of protection, are fearful of eagles that choose to fly straight at us, intent on showing us who is master of the attack.
Usually, though, humans do not have to worry about attacks by eagles for they live in a different environment.
But what does the Bible say about this magnificent bird, the king of the sky, the master of all he surveys? We could turn to Moses’ final oration to the Israelites before they entered the Promised Land. Half of the tribes were to assemble on Mount Gerizim, and the other half on Mount Ebal. If the people should flagrantly disobey God, He would send a nation against them, “as swift as the eagle flies” (Deuteronomy 28:49). Even then, the eagle was a feared creature. God could have used the peregrine falcon, which flies faster than the eagle, but because that bird is far smaller than the largest eagle, it doesn’t have the same presence, the same majestic, terrifying appearance. So, the Bible emphasises the swift flight of the eagle, backing up what we know from our own experience.
But wait, there is another side to the eagle we must not overlook. Nearly 40 years earlier, when Israel was at Mount Sinai, God, having told Moses to meet Him on the mount, said, referring to a practice of the eagle parent in helping their young to fly, that, “You have seen what I did to the Egyptians, and how I bore you on eagles’ wings and brought you to Myself” (Exodus 19:4). What a beautiful picture of God! In this illustration, He did not focus on some fearsome aspect of the eagle, but on its caring, parental aspect, as it taught its young the ways of the wind.
In Psalm 103, David outlines the many things God does for us, even renewing our youth like the eagle (v5).
In his book of many proverbs, Solomon admits there are some things he does not know. As he says in Proverbs 30:18, “There are three things which are too wonderful for me, yes, four which I do not understand.” Then, in verse 19, he names one as “The way of an eagle in the air.”
And isn’t that true. While the inventiveness of humans has usually involved coming down from great heights, we in no way can emulate an eagle, or any other bird for that matter, to master the air in the same way.
The prophet Isaiah highlights an integral capability of the eagle when describing those who wait on the Lord:
“Those who wait on the Lord
Shall renew their strength,
They shall mount up with wings like eagles,
They shall run and not be weary,
They shall walk and not faint” (40:31).
We are not finished with this amazing bird, for we find the eagle is included in various visions, particularly in the books of Ezekiel and Revelation. In chapters 1, 10 and 17 of Ezekiel you will find interesting reading that is too detailed to include in this article.
The apostle John, author of Revelation, was given a vision of the throne room of God. There, he saw four living creatures, one of which was like a “flying eagle” (4:7).
Later, in chapter 12, alongside a description of the woman representing God’s true church, we read that after the birth of the Child, she (the church)—to save her from the dragon, the devil and Satan—“was given two wings of a great eagle that she might fly into the wilderness to her place”.
So while we may fear the eagle if we were to face it in the wild, God has seen there are many positive, helpful aspects of this great bird, the king of the sky. And these helpful aspects include what God can and does do in His daily care of us, protecting us from danger. Isn’t that wonderful?
William Ackland is a prolific writer who is now retired in Cooranbong (NSW)
