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EAGLE.—(1) nesher, Deu_32:11 etc., Lev_11:13 RVm [Note: Revised Version margin.] ‘great vulture.’ (2) râchâm, Lev_11:18, AV [Note: Authorized Version.] ‘gier eagle,’ RV [Note: Revised Version.] ‘vulture.’ (3) aetos, Mat_24:28 || Luk_17:37 (RVm [Note: Revised Version margin.] ‘vultures’), Rev_4:7; Rev_12:14. The Heb. nesher is the equivalent of the Arab. [Note: Arabic.] nisr, which includes eagles, vultures, and ospreys. It is clear from Mic_1:16 ‘enlarge thy baldness as the eagle,’ that the vulture is referred to. There are eight varieties of eagles and four of vultures known in Palestine. The references to nesher are specially appropriate as applied to the griffon vulture (Gyps fulvus), a magnificent bird, ‘the most striking ornithological feature of Palestine’ (Tristram), found especially around the precipitous gorges leading to various parts of the Jordan Valley. Job_39:27; Job_39:30 and Jer_49:16 well describe its habits; and its powerful and rapid flight is referred to in Isa_40:31, Deu_28:49, Hab_1:8. Râchâm corresponds to the Arab. [Note: Arabic.] rakhâm, the Egyptian vulture, a ubiquitous scavenger which visits Palestine from the south every summer.
E. W. G. Masterman.