"Her young ones also suck up blood, and where the slain are, there is
she" (ver. 30).
The eagle is one of the most rapacious of birds, and her terrible
instincts are transmitted to her young, which "_suck up blood_." This
is heredity in its most awful form, and is well fitted to shadow forth
the grim heritage of woe which is handed down to _their_ children by the
drunkard, the libertine, and the thief. But in any form the thought is
a solemn one, forcing even the Psalmist to wail, "Behold, I was shapen
in iniquity, and in sin did my mother conceive me." The fountain of the
life is polluted, as well as the streams--"Her young ones also suck up
blood."
But this is not the only way in which the eagle influences her young.
Allusion is frequently made to the way in which she supports them in
their first essays at flight. When the tired fledgeling begins to
flutter downwards, she is said to fly beneath it, and present her back
and wings for its support. And this becomes a beautiful illustration to
the sacred writers of the paternal care of Jehovah over Israel: "As an
eagle stirreth up her nest, fluttereth over her young, spreadeth abroad
her wings, taketh them, beareth them on her wings: so the Lord alone did
lead them, and there was no strange god with them" (Deut. xxxii. 12).
"I bare you on eagles' wings, and brought you unto Myself" (Exod. xix.
4).
Let ours be the holy ambition to be worthy of that care. Let us try,
like the young eagles, to soar and _see_ for ourselves. Let us gaze upon
the Sun of righteousness and rejoice in the fulness of His light,
remembering the promise, that "they who wait upon the Lord shall renew
their strength: they shall mount up with wings as eagles: they shall run
and not be weary, and they shall walk and not faint."
"What is that, mother? The eagle, boy!
Proudly careering his course with joy.
Firm on his own mountain-vigour relying,
Breasting the dark storm, the red bolt defying:
His wing on the wind, and his eye on the sun:
He swerves not a hair, but bears onward, right on.
Boy, may the eagle's flight ever be thine,
Onward and upward, true to the line."
--G. W. DOANE.
*The Lion.*
"He went down also and slew a lion in the midst of a pit in time of
snow."--2 Sam. xxiii. 20.
This text treats of the way in which lions were hunted in Bible lands
before the introduction of firearms. A deep pit was dug in the woods,
and carefully covered over with withered leaves, and when the monarch of
the forest came out in search of his prey and stumbled into the trap, he
was easily secured by the wily hunters, or forthwith despatched with
their long-pointed spears. Benaiah, however, did a more valiant deed
than this. He went down single-handed to the bottom of the pit and slew
the lion in the depth of winter. Evidently he was one of those muscular
giants whom all young Britons will delight to honour--a very Samson in
sheer herculean valour, a brave and dauntless warrior, who was well
worthy of a place among King David's mighty men.
David himself, as a young shepherd, had gone after a lion and a bear,
and rescued a lamb out of their teeth. And Samson, when going down to
the vineyards of Timnath, had also slain a young lion which came out and
roared against him. But both of these encounters had taken place in the
open, where there was a fair field and no favour; whereas Benaiah met
his antagonist in the most dangerous circumstances--in the middle of
winter, when the lion was ravenous with hunger, and at the bottom of a
lion-trap, where there was no possibility of escape. Clearly this man
was a hero who would neither flinch nor fear: "He slew a lion in the
midst of a pit in time of snow."
*Brave and fearless*--that is the lesson which is written large for all
healthy and noble-minded boys, and it is taught by the character of the
lion, no less than by the courage of the lion-slayer. There are few
books in the Bible that do not contain some reference to this majestic
animal, and it is always introduced as an emblem of strength and force,
whether used for a good purpose or abused for a bad one. Jesus Himself
is spoken of as the Lion of the tribe of Judah, and our adversary the
devil is described by Peter as a roaring lion walking about and seeking
whom he may devour.