John Topel, «What Kind of a Sign are Vultures? Luke 17,37b», Vol. 84 (2003) 403-411
The only consensus about the meaning of Jesus' proverb in Q, Matthew or Luke is that it is enigmatic. But closer attention to the trope itself and its literary context may give clues to its meaning in Luke 17. The two principal preoccupations of exegetes are 1) whether aetoi means eagles or vultures, and 2) how to define the literary context in which the proverb is to be read: does it refer to the coming day of the Son of Man (17,22-34) or of the last judgment (17,34-35)? This paper argues that aetoi here must mean vultures and the appropriate context for the interpretation of the proverb is the whole speech, for which its serves as the conclusion. There is a curious interplay between the Pharisees' "When" (v. 20) and the "Where?" (v. 37a) of the disciples. Attending to the polysemic possibilities of the proverb provides a meaning which knits the whole speech together.
sharp enough to tear carcasses. It eats only flesh and viscera. Also common is the Egyptian Vulture (Neophron percnopterus), much smaller at about 22"-25". It has very weak feet and beak. It is omnivorous, including excrement and garbage in its diet, and is a frequent visitor to town and village streets. Also common is the Lammergeier (Gypaetus barbatus), which much resembles the eagle, with feathered head, prehensile feet with talons, and a large curved beak. It is 39"-42" long, but, as a bird whose diet is principally bones, frequently waits for the smaller vultures to strip the bones of meat and sinews. Finally, the African Lappet-faced Vulture (Torgos tracheliotus), has a sub-species resident in the southern Negev. It is 37" to 42" long, has a pinkish head and neck and a huge beak, capable of tearing open hippos, elephants, or rhinos. It is large enough to dominate the pecking order and eats whenever it wants. In Jesus' own day the Eurasian Black Vulture (Aegypius monachus) was common. It is 36"-39" long, with a heavy raptorial beak and prehensile feet.
Frequently exegetes single out either the Griffon Vulture or the Lammergeier as the bird of the proverb. But this misses the zoological reality, and so the meaning of the proverb. A large body usually attracts two or three genera of vultures, because they collaborate in stripping the corpse. The pecking order is determined by the size and strength of the beak, so that those with larger beaks rip open the skin and eat first. Then the vultures with smaller beaks enter the carcass and eat the meat and viscera, and the Lammergeier finishes up the bones. Thus the proverb speaks probably of different genera of vultures flying together from diverse nesting grounds to collaborate in stripping the carcass.
But identifying the birds of the proverb does not clarify its meaning, and so we need to investigate the context in which the proverb lies and the metaphoric meaning of the proverb itself.
3. The Literary Context of the Proverb
Commentators and exegetes who have studied the eschatological discourse are divided about the exact context in which to interpret the proverb. Some, following the lead of Juelicher and the Fathers, interpret pou= as referring to the coming of the Son of Man, or see it as correlating with the po/te of the Pharisees, and so functioning as a summary of the entire discourse (Plummer, Creed, Danker, Fitzmyer, Guenther, "Eagles" 143, Evans, Green). Others (Hauck, J. Schmid, Grundmann)23 have interpreted it from its placement after 17,34-35, so that pou= asks about the place in the judgment where some have been left (a)feqh/setai). Schlatter24 notes that it also asks the place of those who have been taken (paralhmfqh/setai).
J. Zmijewski has written the most thorough study of Luke's use of the proverb in Eschatologiereden, 506-518. He first notes that 17,37a is Luke's introductory formula