The way of an eagle in the air; the way of a serpent upon a rock; the way of a ship in the midst of the sea; and the way of a man with a maiden.
All Commentaries on Proverbs 30:19 Go To Proverbs 30
Bede
AD 735
With regard to history, it is as written thus. But because this speaks in parables, “the way of the eagle in the heavens” is discovered only with difficulty, referring as it does to the subtlety of the enemy whereby great effort is required to detect his flight around the hearts of heavenly people. The same is true for “the way of the serpent upon the earth,” that is, the cunning of the venomous enemy with which he does not cease to plot against those whom he perceives to be founded upon the rock of faith. Likewise for “the way of the ship in the middle of the sea,” that is, the way of iniquity whereby he moves with such subtlety through the bitter waves of this world, agitated by the winds of unclean spirits, that his journey can be hardly detected or not at all. For the prophet testifies that the eagle signifies this malignant adversary, saying, “Our persecutors were faster than the eagles of heaven,” that is, the people who pursued us were so fierce that they appeared to be even more vicious than demons themselves. That a serpent often represents the devil was proven both in the sin of the first man and when a wise man said, “Flee from sin as though from the face of a serpent.” And the prophet showed that a ship designates the inconstancy of those who are blown about by every wind of doctrine when he referred to “the Chaldeans glorying in their ships,” that is, the unclean of spirit exalting in the fragility and instability of the human mind and in their own destruction, as though they were rejoicing victors. Just as they are too clever to be found, therefore, so does the young person who has abandoned the way of truth have such difficulty in thinking that he continually every hour descends further into aimless, senseless considerations. –.
