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Rev_8:13. An eagle flying in the zenith proclaims, by a threefold annunciation of woe, the three trumpets still remaining.[2506]
εἱδον καὶ ἤκουσα . Cf. Rev_5:11, Rev_6:1.
ἑνὸς ἀετοῦ . Concerning the indefinite meaning of the είς ,[2507] cf. “Winer, p. 111. An eagle is mentioned, not an angel in the form of an eagle.[2508] That it is an eagle which appears as the harbinger of the still impending woe, has its foundation, not in the “prophecy” of Christ, Mat_24:28,—for that passage contains no prophecy at all, but a proverbial assertion of the moral law upon which the threatening prophecies of the Lord depend,—nor is it to be regarded as an antithesis to the dove, Joh_1:32;[2509] nor does the eagle come into consideration as a bird of omen,[2510] for, apart even from the unchristian character of the idea, the evil omen does not lie in the eagle as such. But it is in the same way appropriate that the far-sounding, menacing cry of the mighty, dreadful eagle be raised, in which the irruption of devastating enemies is compared with the flight of the eagle to its plunder.[2511]
πετομένου -g0- ἐν -g0- μεσουρανήματι -g0-. Cf. Rev_14:6, Rev_19:17. Μεσουρανεῖν designates the sun’s position in its meridian altitude; hence μεσουράνημα is first of all the astronomical relation which is occasioned by the sun’s standing in the zenith.[2512] According to this, the expression may designate the ΜΈΣΟΝ ΟὔΡΑΝΟΝ [2513] as the place for the ΜΕΣΟΥΡΑΝΕῖΝ of the sun, but not the space between the vault of heaven and the earth.[2514] The eagle flies to the meridian altitude of heaven, because the idea is thus given, that it can be seen and heard of all to whom its message pertains.
ΤΟῖς ΚΑΤΟΙΚΟῦΣΙΝ ἘΠῚ Τῆς Γῆς , as Rev_6:10.
ἘΚ Τ . ΛΟΙΠ . ΦΩΝ . The ἘΚ , for the same reason as Rev_8:11.[2515]
τῆς σάλπιγγος . The sing, is not distributive,[2516] but by its close connection with τῶν φωνῶν shows itself to be one conception.
[2506] Cf. Rev_9:12, Rev_11:14.
[2507] Rev_19:17.
[2508] Eich., Ew., Stern, De Wette, Bleek, etc. Cf. Critical Notes.
[2509] Hengstenb.: “The eagle is sent to those who do not want the dove to descend upon them.”
[2510] Ewald.
[2511] Deu_28:29; Hos_8:1; Hab_1:8. Cf. Hengstenb.
[2512] Eustathius, on Il., ix. 68: αἴξησις ἡμέρας λέγεται
τὸ ἀπὸ πρωίας μἐχρις ἡλιακοῦ μεσουρανήματος . In Wetst.
[2513] De Wette.
[2514] Ew. i.
[2515] Cf. Mat_18:7 : ἀπό .
[2516] Beng.
Who or what the eagle properly is, cannot be properly decided here, as in Mat_24:28. Yet even here allegorical explanations are found. Beda: “The voice of this eagle daily penetrates the Church through the mouths of eminent teachers.” C. a Lap.:[2517] “Some prophet or other to be expected at the end of the world.” According to Joachim, the eagle is Gregory the Great; according to N. de Lyra, John himself; according to Zeger, the Apostle Paul. Herder, etc, also Böhmer and Volkm., propose the eagle of the Roman legions.
[2517] Cf. Rib.