As an eagle stirreth up her nest
Her young ones in it, to get them out of it: Jarchi says the
eagle is merciful to its young, and does not go into its nest
suddenly, but first makes a noise, and disturbs them with her
wings, striking them against a tree or its branches, that so they
being awakened may be fitter to receive her: with respect to
literal Israel, Egypt was their nest, where they were who were
then in their infant state, lay like young birds in a nest; and
though it was a filthy one and where they were confined, yet they
seemed sometimes as if they did not care to come out of it; until
the Lord made use of means to get them out, by the ministry of
Moses and Aaron, by suffering their taskmasters to make their
bondage heavier, and by judgments inflicted on the Egyptians,
which made them urgent upon them to depart: with respect to
spiritual Israel, their nest is a state of unregeneracy, in which
they are at ease, and do not care to be awakened and stirred out
of it; but the Lord, in love to them, awakens them, stirs them
up, and gets them out, by sending his ministers to arouse them,
by letting in the law into their consciences, which works a sense
of wrath, by convincing them by his Spirit of their sin and
danger, opening their eyes to see their wretched and miserable
estate and condition, and by exerting his almighty power,
plucking them as brands out of the burning:
fluttereth over her young;
by that means to get them out of the nest, and teach them to fly,
as well as to preserve them from the attempts of any to take them
away; for though some writers represent the eagle as hardhearted
to its young, casting them out of the nest, when they are taken
care of by the offifrage; yet this is to be understood of it when
tired with nursing, and when its young are capable of taking care
of themselves; or of some sort of eagles; for Aelianus
F18 testifies, that of all animals the
eagle is most affectionate to its young, and most studiously
careful of them; when it sees anyone coming to them, it will not
suffer them to go away unpunished, but will beat them with its
wings and tear them with its nails: Jarchi thinks this phrase is
expressive of the manner of its incubation on its young; it does
not, he says, lie heavy upon them, but lifts up herself, and
touches them as if she did not touch them; but it rather
signifies the motion she makes with her wings to get her young,
when fledged, out of the nest, and to teach them to make use of
their wings, as she does; and we are told that young eagles, when
their wings are weak, will fly about their dams and learn of them
to fly F19; and hence it is that young eagles
while they are eating flutter their wings, that motion being so
natural to them, and seeing their dams do so likewise F20: this
passage seems to contradict a notion that has obtained with some,
that an eagle only breeds one at a time; the philosopher says
F21, the eagle lays three eggs and
casts out two of them; according to the verse of Musaeus, it lays
three, casts out two, and brings up one; and so, he says, it
commonly is the case: but sometimes three young ones are seen
together; and the black eagles are more kind to their young, and
careful in the nourishment of them; and the same says Pliny
F23; yea we are told, that sometimes
seven are seen in a nest F24:
spreadeth abroad her wings taketh them, beareth them on her
wings;
that is, spreads forth her wings when she flutters over her young
to instruct them; or she does this in order to take up her young
and carry them on them: it is said that eagles fly round their
nest, and vary the flights for the instruction of their young;
and afterwards taking them on their backs, they soar with them
aloft, in order to try their strength, shaking them off into the
air: and if they perceive them too weak to sustain themselves,
they with surprising dexterity fly under them again, and receive
them on their wings to prevent their fall F25;
(See Gill on Exodus
19:4); thus the Lord, comparable to this creature for his
affection to the people of Israel, his care of them, and his
strength to bear and carry them, did bear them as on eagles'
wings, and carried and saved them all the days of old; even
Christ, the Angel of Jehovah's presence, the rock of salvation
they rejected, see ( Exodus 19:4 ) (
Isaiah 63:9 )
; and all this in a spiritual and evangelic sense may be
expressive of the gracious dealings of God with his spiritual
Israel; teaching and enabling them to mount up with wings as
eagles, to soar aloft in the exercise of faith, hope, and love,
entering thereby within the vail into the holiest of all, and
living in the constant and comfortable expectation of heaven and
happiness; and of the Lord's taking his people up from the low
estate in which they are, and raising them up to near communion
with himself, bearing them on his heart, in his hands, and on his
arm, supporting them under all their afflictions, and carrying
them, through all their troubles and difficulties, safe to
eternal glory and happiness.