The Eagle

Yesterday I wrote about the animals that are used as metaphors in the scriptures.  There is one more that’s not stated as explicitly but which is interesting to look at.  After miraculously preserving the lives of the Israelites in bringing them out of Egypt, Jehovah said, “Ye have seen what I did unto the Egyptians, and how I bare you on eagles’ wings, and brought you unto myself” (Exodus 19:4).  This analogy of the Lord’s help being like carrying us on eagles’ wings is also found in modern scripture: “I say unto you that it is my will that my servant Lyman Wight should continue in preaching for Zion, in the spirit of meekness, confessing me before the world; and I will bear him up as on eagles’ wings; and he shall beget glory and honor to himself and unto my name” (D&C 124:18).  In the same revelation another received counsel that mentioned an eagle: “He shall mount up in the imagination of his thoughts as upon eagles’ wings” (D&C 124:99).  In Isaiah we have similar language in which the faithful disciples to have the power of the eagles like the Savior: “But they that 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” (Isaiah 40:31).  We can become as if we were given wings of eagles in similitude of the Son who like an eagle brought the children of Israel across the Red Sea. 

                  In the words of Malachi we  read, “But unto you that fear my name, shall the Son of Righteousness arise with healing in his wings; and ye shall go forth and grow up as calves in the stall” (3 Nephi 25:2).  I’ve always wondered about that phrase “healing in his wings.”  What does the verse mean by the “wings” of the Lord?  The language is repeated by Nephi as he spoke about the Savior: “Behold, they will crucify him; and after he is laid in a sepulchre for the space of three days he shall rise from the dead, with healing in his wings; and all those who shall believe on his name shall be saved in the kingdom of God” (2 Nephi 25:13).  I have to wonder if these references to the “wings” of the Lord are really hearkening back to the language Exodus in which the Lord is compared to an eagle.  Perhaps Malachi was really reemphasizing the metaphor of the Lord being like an eagle in His power and might and that He can lift us up out of whatever troubles and sorrows we might be in.  If He could miraculously bring the children of Israel across the Red Sea—something that only a powerful animal that can fly would do— then surely He can help us to overcome the challenges of mortality.  According to one source the bald eagle was chosen as the national emblem “because of its long life, great strength and majestic looks.”  Perhaps we can say too that the Savior is represented at times by the eagle because of His “great strength” to lift us over the trials in our lives.