No where near a Bible scholar-- Was I even close ?

I am a member of a group of four women who became friends through the common interest of losing weight doing a particular workout program. To make it easy to stay aquainted, without being a part of a message board, one of the women put together a Yahoo group for us to participate in. We are four very different women, but have managed to stay in touch with each other for the past 5 years, and some of us have even had the opportunity to meet the others and spend time together. Those stories are a good idea for a blog entry! But, today my post is going to be taken straight from a correspondence from this morning. I spent a lot of time writing and I dont know if I will have time to write anymore today, so here goes....................

This is what we recieved from one of the women today: I have this question.. I was reading my Bible this morning... what does Luke (uh oh), I think it's either 12:37 or 15:37, mean. The preceding passages talk about "two men can be walking side by side and one is taken away, two maids might be sleeping and one will be taken away..." etc. But then the disciples ask, "Where" and Jesus answers, "Where the eagles are together", or something like that (I thought I'd remember this better, should have brought my bible with me). Any explanation would be helpful, no rush, run it by your Bible scholars

Those who know me, know I love the chance to "google" and find out info (and i'm always up for making a short story long....) . So--within the time frame of my hour lunch, this is what I came up with for a reply: (I did pray for Godly wisdom before I replied--I hope I paid attention!!)

Ok-so here's the deal. First off we are discussing the Bible verse: Luke 17:37. You mentioned the verses before this one--which is good--because we always need to take scripture in context. There are many people who will pull a verse out of the Bible, out of context, to support or justify themselves in a decision, and it is not appropriate. Even Satan quoted scripture to Jesus when he was in the desert. But it was taken out of context and twisted to suit his evil purpose. That is why it is important for us to read God's Word for ourselves. To study it. It is not good to just take the word of a teacher or even a preacher and never take the time to read your Bible for yourself. There has been and will be many false prophets who will tell people the Bible (or God or Jesus) says one thing, when that is not the case.

Ok--so------getting back to the scripture. I went back to read all of Luke 17 to get an idea of what is going on in these scriptures. Jesus is talking to and teaching his disciples. He is talking about being prepared for His second coming and about how times will be before this time. At some point, the disciples as where this will take place.

Jesus answers that, "Wherever the body is, there the eagles will gather together". There is another verse similar to this one, in Matthew 24: 27-28. Again, Jesus is talking to the disciples about his second coming. The verse says, "For as lightning that comes from the east is visible even in the west, so will be the coming of the Son of Man. Wherever there is a carcass, there the vultures will gather. Hmm- this verse says vultures instead of eagles.

I have learned, for study purposes, to read more than one translation of a verse. So-I went back to Luke 17:37 (our verse in question) and found some different translations. One translation uses buzzards and another vultures instead of eagles. One other uses both eagle and vulture.

When I think of an eagle and a buzzard, I get two completely different pictures in my mind. An Eagle is a strong majestic bird-- A symbol of our country. A buzzard is a dirty ole bird taking advantage of the misfortune of another animal. How could both words be used in this verse and mean the same thing? Ok- so this needs some further investigation.

I have also learned, that if you know the Greek or Hebrew meaning of a word, or the customs during the time of the writing of the scriptures, it can bring a whole new meaning to the scripture. A more accurate meaning. So--I decide to investigate further. I found a website that says that the Hebrew or Greek word used in this verse can either mean eagle or vulture. And when this word is used in an Old Testament verse, it is being used to mean a bird of prey in general. Although eagles can eat carrion (dead animal carcass), it is more characteristic for vultures to do this, so most modern authors choose to use vulture in the translation of this verse.

So--we have this: Where there carcass is, there the vultures will gather. And it is in the context of the time of the Second Coming. If we take what Jesus says as literally, then He will return at a place of great carnage. This seems to support several different Bible verses that talk about how bad things will be before the Second Coming. In particular, look at Revelation 19: 17-18 And I saw an angel standing in the sun; and he cried with a loud voice, saying to all the birds that fly in mid heaven, Come and be gathered together unto the great supper of God; that ye may eat the flesh of kings, and the flesh of captains, and the flesh of mighty men, and the flesh of horses and of them that sit thereon, and the flesh of all men, both free and bond, and small and great

Some people even take into consideration how vultures can be seen from a great distance when circling over the dead body and take it to mean that the Second Coming will be clearly visible. This would seem to support Revelation 1:7 that says that when Jesus comes again, with the clouds, every eye will see Him.

So--to me, this verse is like the other verses in this chapter of Luke, in that it is giving us an idea of what things will be like. God has not given us all the details to further events. No one knows the day or time except God. Not even the angels in heaven know. (Matthew 24:36) But, it doesn't sound like a very pretty picture! But, God has instructed us to be prepared. He has told us to keep watch (Matthew 25:13). And I think that is what God was trying to relay in his teachings to the disciples in Luke 17.

That is my take on the verse in the short time I had to do some research. I hope it made sense and I was not all over the place. I prayed for God to lead me to the right verses for a good answer. I'm so glad you asked the question. Not only did I get to do one of my favorite things, (googling), it led me to some great scriptures to reflect upon!

That was really kind of fun. I hope it was accurate!!