The Role of Birds
- Adam as the Eagle: The eagle symbolizes Adam who, in his sin, "forgot the revelation"—the clear command of God and the intimate relationship he had with Him. The eagle, which soars high, represents someone who had the opportunity for spiritual insight but allowed it to slip through ignorance or neglect. This can be seen in Adam's failure to uphold God's command when tempted, ultimately leading to the destruction of the revelation of Christ in the garden.
- Eve as the Ossifrage: The ossifrage, a bird connected to the goat in its name, represents Eve and the flesh. Her sin was committed almost by instinct, as she ate from the tree because it seemed good to her, without fully contemplating the implications of disobedience to God's revelation. The goat often symbolizes the flesh, representing a natural, instinctual response rather than a spiritual, discerning action. Eve’s disobedience mirrors how the flesh operates based on desire and impulse, often leading humanity away from the fullness of God’s revelation.
In this understanding, Adam and Eve together represent the destruction of the revelation of Christ in the garden—they allowed Satan's temptation to carry them away from the fullness of God’s plan, and through their actions, the Word was trampled underfoot, as if the path (which represents the heart or understanding) was cleared for the birds (the forces of sin) to steal the seed of revelation.
Matthew’s Account
Matthew speaks to the historical Israel—the descendants of Adam—who, like Eve in the garden, ate and learned from the experience in the garden, but often misinterpreted the revelation of Christ. They, like Eve, were tempted and drew on instinct, failing to see the deeper meaning of the Word in relation to Christ’s coming. Israel’s experience is portrayed as eating from knowledge that didn't bring life but instead brought death, as they rejected the fullness of Christ when He arrived.
Luke’s Account
Luke, in his broader focus on all of humanity, connects all men in Adam to the trampling of Christ’s revelation. The trampling reflects how mankind, like Adam and Eve, consistently rejects or fails to properly honor the deeper revelation of Christ. Just as Adam and Eve’s instinctive disobedience led to the loss of the true understanding of God, all humanity, in Adam, continues in this pattern, trampling upon the truth of Christ's finished work. This highlights the universal fall of man—the loss of Christ’s revelation through the corrupted instinct of the flesh.
In both accounts, the imagery of birds—Adam as the eagle who forgot and Eve as the ossifrage connected to the flesh—speaks to how sinful tendencies (whether through forgetting or instinct) have overshadowed humanity’s understanding of the true revelation of Christ, whether in Eden or throughout history.
