the Week of Proper 28 / Ordinary 33
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Bible Encyclopedias
Gier-Eagle
The 1901 Jewish Encyclopedia
or The Hebrew terms rendered in one or the other of the English versions by "vulture" are: "da'ah" (Leviticus 11:14) and its variant "dayyah" (Deuteronomy 14:13 and Isaiah 34:15 [R. V. "kite"]), "ayyah" (Leviticus 11:14; Deuteronomy 14:13; Job 28:7 [R. V. "kite" and "falcon"]), and "raḥam," "raḥamah" (Leviticus 11:18; Deuteronomy 14:17 [A. V. "giereagle"]); all refer to unclean birds. The raḥam is identified with the Egyptian or Pharaoh's vulture (Neophron percnopterus), called also by the Arabs "raḥam"; it is a migratory bird, known in Palestine and Arabia, returning from the south in the spring. The Hebrew "nesher" (always rendered by "eagle" in the A. and R. V.) also denotes large birds of prey in general, and in some passages refers particularly to the vulture, or griffin-vulture, which belongs to the Vulturidæ family. So in Jeremiah 49:16 and Job 39:27-30, where the nesher is described as making its nest in the highest cliffs, which is characteristic of the vulture; or in Micah 1:16, where the bald-headedness of the nesher is alluded to (this can only refer to the vulture, which is devoid of true feathers on the head and neck); or when it is used as an image of an invading army (comp. Deuteronomy 28:49; Jeremiah 48:40; Hosea 8:1; Habakkuk 1:8). The Romans also did not distinguish sharply between the eagle and the vulture (Pliny, "Nat. Hist." 10:3, 13:26). The griffin-vulture is most abundant in Palestine, where it breeds in colonies, while the kite is represented by four species.
Besides all the Biblical terms for the vulture, the Talmud uses the name "ra'ah" on account of the keenness of the vulture's sight, "for it can, while in Babylon, sight carrion in Palestine" (Ḥul. 63b; B. M. 24b [Rashi]). In the passage of Ḥullin it is said that there are a hundred kinds of unclean birds in the Orient, all belonging to the vulture tribe ("min ayyah"). The proper name of the raḥam is 
; it is called raḥam because with its appearance mercy, that is, rain, is bestowed on the world, while the name 
is due to its cry "shirḳreḳ" (Ḥul. 63a). In Ḥul. 25b is mentioned a bird of whose claws vessels were made, and which Rashi explains to be a griffin-vulture.
- Tristram, Nat. Hist. p. 172;
- Lewysohn, Z. T. p. 167.
These files are public domain.
Singer, Isidore, Ph.D, Projector and Managing Editor. Entry for 'Gier-Eagle'. 1901 The Jewish Encyclopedia. https://www.studylight.org/encyclopedias/eng/tje/g/gier-eagle.html. 1901.
