Her young ones also suck up blood: and where the slain are, there is she.
All Commentaries on Job 39:30 Go To Job 39
Gregory The Dialogist
AD 604
104. As if it were plainly said; She herself indeed feeds on the contemplation of His Godhead, but because her hearers cannot understand the mysteries of the Godhead, they are satiated with hearing of the blood of the Lord Crucified. For to suck up blood, is to reverence the weaknesses of the Lord’s Passion. Hence it is, that the same Paul, who, as we said a little before, had soared to the secrets of the third heaven, said to his disciples; For I have determined to know nothing among you, save Jesus Christ, and Him crucified. [l Cor. 2, 2] As if this eagle were plainly saying; I indeed behold as my food the power of His Godhead afar off, but to you, who are still young, I give the blood only of His Incarnation to be sucked up. For he, who in his preaching had been silent as to the loftiness of the Godhead, and informs his weak hearers of the Blood alone of the Cross, what else does he do, but give blood to his young ones? But, because the soul of every holy preacher is, when stripped of the corruption of the flesh, led directly to Him, Who of His own accord submitted to death for us, and rose from death, it is fitly added of this eagle,
And wheresoever the carcase shall be, she is immediately present.
105. For a carcase is so called from its fall [cadaver, a casu]. And the body of the Lord is, not undeservedly, called a carcase, on account of the fall of death. But that which is here said of this eagle; Wheresoever the carcase shall he, she is immediately present; this same thing the Truth has promised will take place, in souls as they depart from the body, saying, Wheresoever the body shall he, thither will the eagles also be gathered together. [Luke l7, 37] As if He plainly said, I, your Incarnate Redeemer, Who preside over the heavenly abode, will exalt the souls of the Elect also, to heavenly places, when I shall have released them from the flesh.
106. But this which is said of this eagle; Wheresoever the carcase shall be, she is immediately present, can be understood in another sense also. For every one, who has fallen into the death of sin, will be able, not inappropriately, to be called a carcase. For he, who has not the quickening spirit of righteousness, lies, as it were, without life. Because, then, every holy preacher anxiously flies to the spot, where he thinks there are sinners, to shew the light of revival to those who are lying in the death of sin, it is well said of this eagle; Wheresoever the carcase shall be, she is immediately present. That is, he proceeds to the place, where he foresees the utility of preaching; in order that, because he already lives a spiritual life, he may benefit others who are lying in their death, whom he devours, as it were, by reproving, yet, by converting them from iniquity to innocence, he changes them, as it were, by eating them, into his own members. Lo, the very Paul, whom we have already frequently brought forward for a testimony, when he was going at one time to Judaea, at another to Corinth, at another to Ephesus, at another to Rome, at another to the Spains, that he might announce the grace of eternal life to those who were lying in the death of sin; what else did he prove himself to be but an eagle; which, swiftly flying over every thing, was seeking for the carcase wheresoever lying; in order that, while he was performing the will of God, in having gained sinners, he might find, as it were, his own food in the carcase? For the food of the righteous is the conversion of sinners, of which it is said, Labour not for the meat which perisheth, but for that which endureth unto eternal life. [John 6, 27] Having heard, therefore, such numerous virtues of holy men, blessed Job is understood to have been astonished, and to have been silent, from the awe of admiration.
