demand justice against a criminal by throwing dust on him. Unjustifiably enraged by certain words of Paul, a crowd in Jerusalem showed their animosity against him by “tossing dust into the air.” Through their emotional demonstration and their words they made their disapproval of Paul clear to the military commander. (Acts 22:22-24) Similarly, Shimei manifested disapproval of David’s kingship by “walking abreast of him that he might call down evil; and he kept throwing stones while abreast of him, and he threw a lot of dust.”—2 Sam. 16:5-13.

Jesus Christ instructed his disciples that when anyone failed to receive them or listen to their words, they were to shake or wipe the dust off their feet upon leaving that house or that city. This practice served “for a witness against them,” implying that Jesus’ followers were peacefully departing and leaving that house or that city to the consequences that would come from God.—Matt. 10:11-15; Luke 9:5; 10:10-12; Acts 13:50, 51.

DYES, DYEING

The art of imparting particular hues and tints to thread, fabric and other materials through various processes by employing coloring matter was known and practiced before the days of Abraham and is probably as old as the art of weaving. The Israelites used such goods as blue thread, coccus scarlet material and wool dyed reddish purple for the tabernacle and for priestly garments. (Ex. chaps. 25-28, 35, 38, 39) Dyeing, more of a domestic activity in earlier times, eventually became quite a commercial enterprise in various places. The early Egyptians were noted for their particularly brilliant dyed goods (Ezek. 27:7) and, after Egypt’s decline, Tyre and other Phoenician cities became important dye centers. The discovery of dye plants throughout Palestine shows that the Hebrews also practiced the art of dyeing.

ANCIENT PROCESSES

Dyeing processes varied from place to place. Sometimes the thread was dyed, whereas in other cases the dye was applied to finished cloth. It seems that thread was bathed in dye twice, being squeezed after its removal from the vat the second time so that the valued dye could be retained. The thread was thereafter laid out so that it could dry.

Each material had to be treated in a different way. Sometimes, though rarely, the coloring matter had a natural affinity for the fiber being dyed. But when that was not so, it was necessary to treat the material first with a mordant, a substance having an attraction for both the fiber and the dye. To serve as a mordant, a substance must at least have an attraction for the coloring matter, so that it will combine with it to form a colored compound that is insoluble. Discoveries show that the Egyptians employed mordants in dyeing processes. For instance, red, yellow and blue were three of the colors they used, and it is said that such dyes could not have been fixed without using oxides of arsenic, iron and tin as mordants.

Evidently, animal skins were first tanned and then dyed. Even recently in Syria, ram skins have been tanned in sumac and then the dye has been applied. After the drying of the dye, the skins have been rubbed with oil and then polished. Shoes and other leather items used by the Bedouins have thus been dyed red and may well remind one of the “ram skins dyed red” used for the tabernacle.—Ex. 25:5.

Interesting in connection with dyed materials is a building inscription of Assyrian King Tiglath-pileser III. After telling of his military campaigns against Palestine and Syria, he states that he received tribute from a certain Hiram of Tyre and other rulers. The listed articles include “linen garments with multicolored trimmings, blue-dyed wool, purple-dyed wool, . . . also lambs whose stretched hides were dyed purple, (and) wild birds whose spread-out wings were dyed blue.”—Ancient Near Eastern Texts Relating to the Old Testament, edited by James B. Pritchard, 2d ed., 1955, pp. 282 283.

SOURCES OF DYES

Dyes were acquired from various sources. In Palestine, yellow dyes were obtained from almond leaves and ground pomegranate rind, though the Phoenicians also used turmeric and safflower. The Hebrews could obtain black dye from the bark of the pomegranate tree and red from the roots of the madder plant. Indigo plants that were probably brought into Palestine from Egypt or Syria could be used for blue dye. Part of one method used to impart purple hues to wool consisted of steeping the wool in grape juice overnight and sprinkling powdered madder on it.

Coccus scarlet and crimson dyes had as their source the oldest dyestuff known, a parasitic homopterous insect of the family Coccidae (the Coccus ilicis). Because the living female, about the size of a cherry pit, resembles a berry, the Greeks applied to it their word kokʹkos, meaning “berry.” The Arab name for the insect is qirmiz or kermez, from which the English word “crimson” is derived. This insect is found throughout the Middle East. Only its eggs contain the purplish-red dyestuff, rich in kermesic acid. Toward the end of April the wingless female, filled with eggs, attaches herself by means of her proboscis to the twigs, and sometimes to the leaves, of the small holm oak. The grubs or kermes are gathered and dried and the valued dye is obtained by boiling them in water. This is the red dye that was used extensively for the appurtenances of the tabernacle and for the garments worn by Israel’s high priest.

Purple dye was obtained from shellfish or mollusks such as the Murex trunculus and Murex brandaris. In the neck of these creatures there is a small gland containing but a single drop of fluid called “the flower.” Initially it has the appearance and consistency of cream, but upon exposure to air and light it gradually changes to a deep violet or reddish purple. These shellfish are found along the shores of the Mediterranean Sea and the shades of color acquired from them vary according to their location. The larger specimens were broken open individually and the precious fluid was carefully removed from them, whereas the smaller ones were crushed in mortars. Since the amount of fluid acquired from each shellfish was quite small, accumulating a considerable amount was a costly process. Hence, this dye was expensive and garments dyed purple became the mark of wealthy persons or those in high station. (Esther 8:15; Luke 16:19) Another shellfish (the cerulean mussel) has been suggested as the source of a blue dye.

Ancient Tyre became famous for a purple or deep-crimson dye known as Tyrian or Imperial purple. Though the Tyrians are said to have employed a method of double-dyeing, the exact formula used to obtain this color is unknown. The coloring matter was evidently obtained from the Murex and Purpura mollusks, piles of emptied shells of the Murex trunculus having been found along the shore of Tyre and in the vicinity of Sidon. The Phoenician city of Tyre is depicted by Jehovah as having wool dyed reddish purple and other colorful materials, as well as carrying on trading in such articles.—Ezek. 27:2, 7, 24; see COLORS.

EAGLE

[Heb., ne·sherʹ; Gr., ae·tosʹ].

Some believe that the Hebrew name derives from a root word meaning “to tear in pieces or lacerate.” Others view it as onomatopoeic (that is, a name whose very sound suggests the thing meant), and believe that ne·sherʹ represents a “rushing sound,” or “gleaming flash,” hence a bird that dives after its prey, plummeting downward with a rushing sound and like flashing light through the air. In either case, the Hebrew term well describes the eagle, a large bird of prey whose lightning plunge from great heights causes a whining sound as the air rushes through its widespread pinions (the outer wing feathers). A bird of prey and a drinker of blood (Job 39:27, 30), the eagle was included among those birds listed as “unclean” by the Mosaic law.—Lev. 11:13; Deut. 14:12.

PALESTINIAN VARIETIES

Of the eagles found in Palestine today, the most common are the imperial and the golden eagles, although other varieties, such as the short-toed eagle, are also seen. The golden eagle, named thus because of the golden sheen on its head and nape, winters throughout Palestine and spends the summer months in mountainous Lebanon. An impressive dark-brown bird, it measures about three feet (one meter) in length, with a total wingspan of about four feet (1.2 meters). Eagles characteristically have a rather broad head with a projecting ridge above the eyes, a short, powerful, hooked beak, sturdy legs and sharp, powerful talons.

‘CARRIED ON WINGS OF EAGLES’

The Sinai region is called “eagle country,” where the birds soar and glide on their strong, broad wings. So, the liberated Israelites gathered at Mount Sinai could well appreciate the aptness of the picture conveyed by God’s words, that he had carried them out of Egypt “on wings of eagles.” (Ex. 19:4; compare Revelation 12:14.) Nearly forty years later Moses could compare Jehovah’s leading of Israel through the wilderness to that of an eagle that “stirs up its nest, hovers over its fledglings, spreads out its wings, takes them, carries them on its pinions.” (Deut. 32:9-12) When the young eaglets reach the time to begin flying, the parent eagle stirs them up, fluttering and flapping its wings to convey the idea to its young, and then edges or lures them out of the nest so that they try out their wings.

Though some have doubted that the eagle ever actually carries the young on its back, a guide in Scotland is reported by Sir W. B. Thomas as testifying concerning the golden eagle that “the parent birds, after urging and sometimes shoving the youngster into the air, will swoop underneath and rest the struggler for a moment on their wings and back.” An observer in the United States is quoted in the Bulletin of the Smithsonian Institution (Vol. CLXVII, p. 302) as saying: “The mother started from the nest in the crags and, roughly handling the youngster, she allowed him to drop, I should say, about ninety feet; then she would swoop down under him, wings spread, and he would alight on her back. She would soar to the top of the range with him and repeat the process . . . My father and I watched him, spellbound, for over an hour.” G. R. Driver, commenting on these statements, says: “The picture [at Deuteronomy 32:11] then is not a mere flight of fancy but is based on actual fact.”—Palestine Exploration Quarterly, Jan.-June 1958, pp. 56, 57.

NESTS AND FARSIGHTEDNESS

The nest-building habits of the eagle are emphasized in God’s questioning of Job at Job 39:27-30. The nest or aerie may be in a high tree or on the crag of a cliff or rocky canyon. Over the years the nest may grow to be as much as seven feet (2 meters) high, that of some eagles coming to weigh as much as a ton (.9 metric ton)! The apparent security and inaccessibility of the eagle’s nest were also used figuratively by the prophets in their messages against the lofty kingdom of Edom in the rugged mountains of the Arabah. (Jer. 49:16; Obad. 3, 4) The farsightedness of the eagle, mentioned at Job 39:29, is borne out by Rutherford Platt in his book The River of Life (1956, pp. 215, 216), which also shows the unusual design of the eye of the eagle, testifying to the Creator’s wisdom. The book says:

“We find the championship eyes of the whole animal kingdom . . . [in] the eyes of the eagle, the vulture, and the hawk. So keen are they that they can look down from a thousand feet in the air and spot a rabbit or a grouse half hidden in the grass.

“Sharp eyesight of the hunter eye is caused by the reflection of the object falling on a dense clump of pointed, cone-shaped cells. This tiny spot in the back of the eyeball absorbs light rays from the object through thousands of points, in a special manner which summons up a clear image in the mind. For almost all hunters, such as the skunk, the cougar, and ourselves, the single spot of cones is enough; we look straight ahead and approach directly the object of our gaze. But not so the eagle or the hawk, which, having fixed the rabbit in the grass with its sharp focusing cones, may then approach by a long, slanting dive. This causes the image of the target to move across the back of the eyeball on a curved path. Such a path is precisely plotted for the eagle eye so that instead of a clump of cones the diving bird has a curved path of cones. As the eagle zooms down, the rabbit in the grass is thus held in constant focus.”—Jer. 49:22.

FLIGHT ABILITIES

The eagle’s swiftness is highlighted in many texts. (2 Sam. 1:23; Jer. 4:13; Lam. 4:19; Hab. 1:8) There are reports of eagles surpassing a speed of eighty miles (129 kilometers) per hour. Solomon warned that wealth “makes wings for itself” like those of a skyward-bound eagle (Prov. 23:4, 5), while Job mourned the swiftness of life’s passing, comparing it with the speed of an eagle in search of prey. (Job 9:25, 26) Yet those trusting in Jehovah receive power to go on, as if mounting up on the seemingly tireless wing of the soaring eagle.—Isa. 40:31.

Modern scientists have wondered at the “way of an eagle in the heavens,” as did the writer of Proverbs 30:19. In the April 1962 issue of Scientific American, Clarence D. Cone, Jr., relates the manner in which observation of the majestic and almost effortless soaring of eagles, hawks and vultures “has helped to lead the way to the discovery of a fundamental mechanism of meteorology.” (P. 131) He then shows the manner in which such large birds utilize to the full the dynamic power of the great “bubbles” of heated air that float up from the land due to the heat of the sun and which are known as thermal shells, as well as demonstrating the way in which the “slotted” wing tips of the eagle and similar soaring birds are so designed aerodynamically as to eliminate air “drag” on the wing.

FIGURATIVE USAGE

This powerful bird of prey was a frequent symbol used by the prophets to represent the warring forces of enemy nations in their sudden and often unexpected attacks. (Deut. 28:49-51; Jer. 48:40; 49:22; Hos. 8:1) The Babylonian and Egyptian rulers were characterized as eagles (Ezek. 17:3, 7; Dan. 7:3, 4), and it is notable that the figure of the eagle was regularly used on the royal scepters, standards and steles of many ancient nations, including Assyria, Persia and Rome, even as it has been used in modern times by Germany, the United States and others.

Some have questioned the use of the word “eagles” at Matthew 24:28 and Luke 17:37, holding that the texts must refer instead to vultures, gathered around a carcass. However, although the eagle is not primarily a carrion eater, as is the vulture, it does feed on such dead bodies at times. (Palestine Exploration Quarterly, April, 1955, p. 9) So, too, the eagle, though usually a solitary hunter, unlike the gregarious vulture, is known to hunt in pairs occasionally, and the book The Animal Kingdom (1954, Frederick Drimmer, M.A., editor in chief, Vol. II, p. 965) reports an instance in which “a number of them launched a mass attack upon a prong-horned antelope.” Jesus’ prophecy above-mentioned was given in connection with his promised second coming or “presence.” Hence, it would not apply merely to the desolation of the Jewish nation by the Roman armies with their standards emblazoned with the figures of eagles, an event taking place in the year 70 C.E. The later vision at Revelation 19:11-21 parallels Jesus’ prophecy in many respects and depicts a “carcass” formed of earth’s kings, their armies, and all having the mark of the beast. Eagles are elsewhere used in Revelation to represent creatures attending God’s throne and announcing the judgment messages of God for those on earth, doubtless to indicate swiftness and farsightedness.—Rev. 4:7; 8:13; compare Ezekiel 1:10; 10:14.

Another text that many scholars view as applying to the vulture rather than to the eagle is Micah 1:16, which speaks of Israel’s figuratively ‘broadening out its baldness like that of the eagle.’ The eagle’s head is well feathered, even the North American “bald eagle” being called thus only because its white head feathers give it the appearance of baldness from a distance. The Griffon vulture, common in Palestine, has only some soft white down on its head, and the neck is sparsely feathered. If the text applies to it, this would indicate that the Hebrew ne·sherʹ has broader application than to the eagle only. It may be noted that the Griffon vulture, while not classed by ornithologists as of the same “species” or “genus” as the eagle, is counted as of the same “family” (Accipitridae). Some, however, believe Micah 1:16 has reference to the moulting that the eagle undergoes, although this is said to be a quite gradual and rather inconspicuous process. This moulting process, bringing some reduction of activity and strength and followed by a renewal of normal life, may be what the psalmist meant by one’s youth “renewing itself just like that of an eagle.” (Ps. 103:5) Others see in this a reference to the relatively long life of the eagle, some having been known to reach an age of eighty years.

The name “Aquila” (Acts 18:2) is Latin for eagle.

[Picture on page 473]

Golden eagle

EAR

The organ for hearing, designed and created by Jehovah God. (Ps. 94:9; Prov. 20:12) The ear consists of three parts: the outer ear, the middle ear and the inner ear. The middle ear is a small chamber that begins with the eardrum and leads to the maze of passageways that constitute the inner ear. Besides its function in connection with hearing, the inner ear also possesses organs having to do with balance and motion. The possession of two ears is a great help in locating the source and direction of sounds.

The human ear detects sounds within the range of about 15 to 15,000 or 20,000 cycles per second, although some younger persons can hear tones up to 23,000 cycles. The ears of many animals are sensitive to tones of higher pitch that are inaudible to the human ear. The range of sound energy perceived by the human ear is remarkable. The loudest sound that the ear can tolerate without danger is two million million times as powerful as the least perceptible sound. The human ear has the maximum sensitivity that it is practical to possess, for if the ears were any keener they would respond to the unceasing molecular motions of the air particles themselves.

Since the Maker of the ear can hear, the Bible speaks of him as possessing ears, symbolically. (Num. 11:18; Ps. 116:1, 2) By this symbolism Jehovah pictures himself as having ears open to the prayers, petitions and cries of the righteous. (Ps. 10:17; 18:6; 34:15; 130:2; Isa. 59:1; 1 Pet. 3:12) While he hears the murmurings of complainers and the wicked speech of his enemies (Num. 11:1; 2 Ki. 19:28), he refuses to hear their distress calls when execution of judgment catches up with them. (Ezek. 8:18) As to idol images, although they may have ears carved or engraved on them they, of course, cannot hear and are powerless to receive or answer the prayers of their worshipers.—Ps. 115:6.

FIGURATIVE USE

In the Bible the word “ear” is used very forcefully in a figurative sense as representing the complete process of hearing. The term is used with respect to the faculty of hearing and then weighing the truthfulness and value of what is spoken. (Job 12:11; 34:3) The way the expression “give ear” or to ‘incline one’s ear’ is used indicates that it means to pay attention with a view to acting on that which is heard. (Ps. 78:1; 86:6; Isa. 51:4) To ‘have the ears opened’ means that the individual receives understanding or enlightenment on a matter. (Isa. 50:5) The expression ‘uncover the ear’ may originate from the fact that, in Oriental lands, a person would partially remove the headdress so as to hear more clearly. This expression, as well as the phrase ‘disclose to the ear,’ refers to the giving of information in private or the revealing of a secret or something not previously known.—1 Sam. 9:15; 20:2, 12, 13; 2 Sam.7:27.

An ‘awakened ear’ is one that is made attentive. (Isa. 50:4) Such an ear may belong to a person who has formerly been among the ones “deaf [spiritually] though they have [literal] ears.” (Isa. 43:8) The righteous man is described in the Bible as listening to God, but stopping up his ear to wickedness. (Isa. 33:15) Similarly Jesus, using the word “listen” with the same sense of ‘giving attention to, understanding and believing the good news,’ said: “My sheep listen to my voice,” and, “a stranger they will by no means follow but will flee from him, because they do not know the voice of strangers.”—John 10:27, 5.

On the other hand, the ears of the rebellious ones are said to be “heavy” (AV) or “unresponsive” and they ‘hear with annoyance.’ (Isa. 6:10; Matt. 13:15; Acts 28:27) Such wicked ones are likened to the cobra that stops up its ears, refusing to listen to the voice of the charmer.—Ps. 58:4.

Jehovah, through his servants, spoke of the stubborn, disobedient Israelites as having ‘uncircumcised ears.’ (Jer. 6:10; Acts 7:51) They are as though stopped up with something that impedes hearing. They are ears that have not been opened by Jehovah, who gives ears of understanding and obedience to those who seek him, but allows the spiritual hearing of the disobedient ones to become dulled. (Deut. 29:4; Rom. 11:8) The apostle Paul foretold a time when some professing to be Christians would apostatize from the true faith, not wanting to hear the truth of God’s Word, but desiring to have their ears “tickled” by things pleasing to them, and would therefore listen to false teachers. (2 Tim. 4:3, 4; 1 Tim. 4:1) Also, one’s ears may “tingle” due to hearing startling news, especially news of calamity.—1 Sam. 3:11; 2 Ki. 21:12; Jer. 19:3.