Commentaries:
Adam Clarke
And these - among the fowls - the eagle - nesher , from nashar , to lacerate, cut, or tear to pieces; hence the eagle, a most rapacious bird of prey, from its tearing the flesh of the animals it feeds on; and for this purpose birds of prey have, in general, strong, crooked talons and a hooked beak. The eagle is a cruel bird, exceedingly ravenous, and almost insatiable.
The ossifrage - Or bone-breaker, from os , a bone, and frango , I break, because it not only strips off the flesh, but breaks the bone in order to extract the marrow. In Hebrew it is called peres , from paras , to break or divide in two, and probably signifies that species of the eagle anciently known by the name of ossifraga , and which we render ossifrage.
Ospray - ozniyah , from azan , to be strong, vigorous; generally supposed to mean the black eagle, such as that described by Homer, Iliad. lib. xxi., ver. 252.
' , ,
̔ ' .
"Having the rapidity of the black eagle, that bird of prey, at once the swiftest and the strongest of the feathered race." Among the Greeks and Romans the eagle was held sacred, and is represented as carrying the thunderbolts of Jupiter. This occurs so frequently, and is so well known, that references are almost needless. See Scheuchzer.
Other commentary entries containing this verse:
1 Kings 17:24
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