Eagle (Heb. nesker; a tearer with the beak). There can be little doubt that the eagle of Scripture is the griffon (Gyps fulvus), or great vulture, see margin of the R. V., Leviticus 11:13, a bird very abundant in Palestine and adjacent countries. In spite of its name, it is a much nobler bird than a common vulture, and is scarcely more of a carrion-feeder than are all eagles. Indeed, the griffon is used by the orientals as the type of the lordly and the great. This well-known bird of prey was unclean by the Levitical law. Leviticus 11:13, Deuteronomy 14:12. It is called the "great vulture" in the margin of the R. V. The habits of the eagle are described in Numbers 24:21, Job 9:26, Job 1:39-30, Proverbs 23:5, Proverbs 30:17, Proverbs 30:19, Jeremiah 49:16, Ezekiel 17:3, Obadiah 1:4, Habakkuk 1:8, Habakkuk 2:9, Matthew 24:28, Luke 17:37.