On Tue 3 Apr 2001 (15:51:42), jwest wrote: > >This is a strictly off-list question, if anyone would be kind enough > >to help me out. I read that the statement in Mt.24:28 was a well-known > >proverb. If so, does anyone know what its generic meaning was at that time? > > That is, what is its general meaning apart from the cited context? > > > > cf job 39:27-30 With due respect to Jim: the saying in Matthew 24:28 is about a /corpse/ TO PTWMA and vultures /AETOI/. Vultures feed on dead carrion; whereas the eagle as in Job 39:27ff (Ne$eR) feeds on live prey. In the LXX there is some confusion between AETOS and GUY (gyps fulvus). In the Scriptures the Gyps fulvus is commonly designated as an eagle, when it is a vulture or a griffon vulture. Eagles do not wait for the prey to die; they take living prey. The big cats (lions, tigers etc) cannot eat all their kill at once; vultures soon gather and swoop around waiting for the lion to go away before they come in to pick over the remains. Hence the proverb. Job 39:27 LXX is a case in point. But compare Deuteronomy 14:12ff for a comprehensive list of birds of prey. ERRWSQE Ben -- Revd Ben Crick, BA CF 232 Canterbury Road, Birchington, Kent, CT7 9TD (UK) http://www.cnetwork.co.uk/crick.htm --- B-Greek home page: http://metalab.unc.edu/bgreek You are currently subscribed to b-greek as: [jwrobie@mindspring.com] To unsubscribe, forward this message to leave-b-greek-327Q@franklin.oit.unc.edu To subscribe, send a message to subscribe-b-greek@franklin.oit.unc.edu