#THE EAGLE THE BEAR AND THE DRAGON FULL#

Son of man, put forth a riddle, and speak a parable unto the house of Israel And say, Thus saith the Lord GOD A great eagle with great wings, longwinged, full of feathers, which had divers colours, came unto Lebanon, and took the highest branch of the cedar. Babylon and EgyptДЄ parable or riddle in Ezekiel represents both Babylon and Egypt as great eagles, and Israel as a cedar and a vine: Both the ram and the goat have local significance. This prophecy referred to the conquering of Persia by Greece under Alexander the Great. And the rough goat is the king of Grecia: and the great horn that is between his eyes is the first king. The ram which thou sawest having two horns are the kings of Media and Persia.

Later the angel interprets the vision to Daniel: In Daniel 8 the Lord reveals a vision of a great fight between a strong ram and a stronger goat. And historians themselves commonly use the imagery of animals to allude to the character of a nationвЂ™s people and its armies. Our national sports teams are often named after local animals and birds, even fish. Consider the British Lion, the American Eagle, the Russian Bear, the Chinese Dragon, and the somewhat less fearsome New Zealand Kiwi.

The use of real or even fantastic animals to represent a nation is not unusual. Applying the characteristics of different animals to nations and empires also helps illustrate some aspects of their nature. Usually those animals have a local significance which makes the connection with the nation more obvious. B ible prophecy often uses animals to represent kingdoms or kings.

The eagle the bear and the dragon