Her eyes behold afar off

[rockytopva]

27 Doth the eagle mount up at thy command, and make her nest on high?
28 She dwelleth and abideth on the rock, upon the crag of the rock, and the strong place.
29 From thence she seeketh the prey, and her eyes behold afar off. - Job 39

* An eagle in flight can reputedly sight a rabbit two miles away.
* The retina's fovea has one million cells per mm2 as compared to 200,000 per mm2 in humans.
* An eyesight estimated at 4 to 8 times stronger than that of the average human.
* Their eyes are stated to be larger in size than their brain, by weight
* Eagle tears moisten the eyes and contain the chemical lysozyme which protects against salt water and also destroys bacteria, thus preventing eye infections. The first chemical synthesis of a lysozyme protein was finally achieved in 2007 by Thomas Durek in Steve Kent's lab at the University of Chicago who made a synthetic functional lysozyme molecule.
* Generally, eagles do not suffer from myopia (nearsightedness) and hyperopia (farsightedness); those who have these defects cannot hunt easily and eventually starve to death. - Eagle eye - Wikipedia

The design of the eagle was a tough one!

 

[amadeus]

27 Doth the eagle mount up at thy command, and make her nest on high?
28 She dwelleth and abideth on the rock, upon the crag of the rock, and the strong place.
29 From thence she seeketh the prey, and her eyes behold afar off. - Job 39

* An eagle in flight can reputedly sight a rabbit two miles away.
* The retina's fovea has one million cells per mm2 as compared to 200,000 per mm2 in humans.
* An eyesight estimated at 4 to 8 times stronger than that of the average human.
* Their eyes are stated to be larger in size than their brain, by weight
* Eagle tears moisten the eyes and contain the chemical lysozyme which protects against salt water and also destroys bacteria, thus preventing eye infections. The first chemical synthesis of a lysozyme protein was finally achieved in 2007 by Thomas Durek in Steve Kent's lab at the University of Chicago who made a synthetic functional lysozyme molecule.
* Generally, eagles do not suffer from myopia (nearsightedness) and hyperopia (farsightedness); those who have these defects cannot hunt easily and eventually starve to death. - Eagle eye - Wikipedia

The design of the eagle was a tough one!

But the people?

"For this people's heart is waxed gross, and their ears are dull of hearing, and their eyes they have closed; lest at any time they should see with their eyes and hear with their ears, and should understand with their heart, and should be converted, and I should heal them.
But blessed are your eyes, for they see: and your ears, for they hear." Matt 13:15-16

And then the flying...

"He giveth power to the faint; and to them that have no might he increaseth strength.
Even the youths shall faint and be weary, and the young men shall utterly fall:
But they that wait upon the LORD shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings as eagles; they shall run, and not be weary; and they shall walk, and not faint." Isaiah 40:29-31

 

[icxn]

27 Doth the eagle mount up at thy command, and make her nest on high?
28 She dwelleth and abideth on the rock, upon the crag of the rock, and the strong place.
29 From thence she seeketh the prey, and her eyes behold afar off. - Job 39

Such an eagle is the soul of those who, through obedience to God’s commandments, mount up above the 20,000 things of this world (Luke 14:31) with which the Devil captures most men (with eyesight limited to 200,000 cells) and make their nest, the meditation of their heart, on heavenly (high) things. They abide in Christ, the spiritual rock, with a body crucified to the world (crag of the rock is the Cross) and a mind filled with the secret* things of God (His wisdom and knowledge), this is the strong place. From such an advantage point and having eyes, a discerning mind that beholds afar off, they can spot the spiritual rodents, the passions hidden in our flesh as they make their appearance looking to steal some spiritual fruit from the field of our heart. Likewise, they can catch any other natural observation (such as the OP) as if prey and with their sharp beak extract and feed on the spiritual contemplation hidden thereof.

______
* In the Septuagint verse 28 reads “on a crag of a rock, and in a secret place,” alluding to Psalm 27:5: “For in the time of trouble He shall hide me in His pavilion; in the secret place of His tabernacle He shall hide me; He shall set me high upon a rock.”

Eagle tears moisten the eyes and contain the chemical lysozyme which protects against salt water and also destroys bacteria, thus preventing eye infections.

The Lord in His infinite wisdom gave us repentance, the spiritual lysozyme* found in humble tears, in modest speech, in the milk of His words and the mucus of self-reproach, all of which can protect our mind, the eye of the soul, from the saltiness of pride and the bacteria of false beliefs.

_____
* Lysozyme is abundant in secretions including tears, saliva, human milk, and mucus.

 

[Jay Ross]

27 Doth the eagle mount up at thy command, and make her nest on high?
28 She dwelleth and abideth on the rock, upon the crag of the rock, and the strong place.
29 From thence she seeketh the prey, and her eyes behold afar off. - Job 39

* An eagle in flight can reputedly sight a rabbit two miles away.
* The retina's fovea has one million cells per mm2 as compared to 200,000 per mm2 in humans.
* An eyesight estimated at 4 to 8 times stronger than that of the average human.
* Their eyes are stated to be larger in size than their brain, by weight
* Eagle tears moisten the eyes and contain the chemical lysozyme which protects against salt water and also destroys bacteria, thus preventing eye infections. The first chemical synthesis of a lysozyme protein was finally achieved in 2007 by Thomas Durek in Steve Kent's lab at the University of Chicago who made a synthetic functional lysozyme molecule.
* Generally, eagles do not suffer from myopia (nearsightedness) and hyperopia (farsightedness); those who have these defects cannot hunt easily and eventually starve to death. - Eagle eye - Wikipedia

The design of the eagle was a tough one!

That information is all well and good, but the most critical part of the eye is the lens which focuses the image onto the back of the eye so that the pixelated image at the back of the eye can be discerned and identified as an object of interest, i.e. a rabbit. An eagle, with a little over twice the pixilation resolution of the back of the eye with the same lens magnification has a better chance of edge resolution which is required to determine the object in the image and whether or not it is moving, i.e. is it live prey. The other issue is the apertures of the respective eyes and how many lumen of light is available from the object being looked at. The ability for an eagle's vision to be better than that of a Human's has many factors which must be considered and a superficial scan of the facts does not provide the full picture.

The eagle can see what is good to consume from afar and we also need to be able to discern what is good for us to have life.

Shalom

 

[rockytopva]

The eye of a cat. Not as interesting as the eagle, but fascinating all the same. I believe it took some thought to design such an instrument.

 

[Helen]

AMEN!!! Good thoughts here.

 

[rockytopva]

The eyes of a mantis shrimp. This crustacean has the most complex visual system in the entire animal kingdom. Where humans have three different kinds of photoreceptors that enables us to see in color, the mantis shrimp has up to 16 different kinds, giving them color vision ranging from deep ultraviolet to infrared, as well as the ability to see polarised light, something no other animal is known to do. Obviously someone must have thought it was more important to design this system than it was dealing with humans

 

[VictoryinJesus]

But the people?

"For this people's heart is waxed gross, and their ears are dull of hearing, and their eyes they have closed; lest at any time they should see with their eyes and hear with their ears, and should understand with their heart, and should be converted, and I should heal them.
But blessed are your eyes, for they see: and your ears, for they hear." Matt 13:15-16

And then the flying...

"He giveth power to the faint; and to them that have no might he increaseth strength.
Even the youths shall faint and be weary, and the young men shall utterly fall:
But they that wait upon the LORD shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings as eagles; they shall run, and not be weary; and they shall walk, and not faint." Isaiah 40:29-31

“But they that wait upon the LORD shall renew their strength...” makes me think of ‘These all died in faith, not having received the promises, but having seen them afar off, and were persuaded of them, and embraced them, and confessed that they were strangers and pilgrims on the earth. [14] For they that say such things declare plainly that they seek a country.’ Hebrews 11:13-14
(Were persuaded of them, and embraced them, and confessed...)

Job 39:27-30 Doth the eagle mount up at thy command, and make her nest on high? [28] She dwelleth and abideth on the rock, upon the crag of the rock, and the strong place. [29] From thence she seeketh the prey, and her eyes behold afar off. [30] Her young ones also suck up blood: and where the slain are, there is she.


2 Corinthians 3:11-13 For if that which is done away was glorious, much more that which remaineth is glorious. [12] Seeing then that we have such hope, we use great plainness of speech: [13] And not as Moses, which put a vail over his face, that the children of Israel could not stedfastly look to the end of that which is abolished:

Matthew 26:58-64 But Peter followed him afar off unto the high priest's palace, and went in, and sat with the servants, to see the end. [59] Now the chief priests, and elders, and all the council, sought false witness against Jesus, to put him to death; [60] But found none: yea, though many false witnesses came, yet found they none. At the last came two false witnesses, [61] And said, This fellow said, I am able to destroy the temple of God, and to build it in three days. (Matthew 5:15-17) 62] And the high priest arose, and said unto him, Answerest thou nothing? what is it which these witness against thee? [63] But Jesus held his peace. And the high priest answered and said unto him, I adjure thee by the living God, that thou tell us whether thou be the Christ, the Son of God. [64] Jesus saith unto him, Thou hast said: nevertheless I say unto you, Hereafter shall ye see the Son of man sitting on the right hand of power, and coming in the clouds of heaven.

Luke 18:13 And the publican, standing afar off, would not lift up so much as his eyes unto heaven, but smote upon his breast, saying, God be merciful to me a sinner.

2 Peter 1:9-11 But he that lacketh these things is blind, and cannot see afar off, and hath forgotten that he was purged from his old sins. [10] Wherefore the rather, brethren, give diligence to make your calling and election sure: for if ye do these things, ye shall never fall: (they shall mount up with wings as eagles; they shall run, and not be weary; and they shall walk, and not faint.) [11] For so an entrance shall be ministered unto you abundantly into the everlasting kingdom of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ.

Acts 2:39 For the promise is unto you, and to your children, and to all that are afar off, even as many as the Lord our God shall call. John 17:20 Neither pray I for these alone, but for them also which shall believe on me through their word;

 

[farouk]

“But they that wait upon the LORD shall renew their strength...” makes me think of ‘These all died in faith, not having received the promises, but having seen them afar off, and were persuaded of them, and embraced them, and confessed that they were strangers and pilgrims on the earth. [14] For they that say such things declare plainly that they seek a country.’ Hebrews 11:13-14
(Were persuaded of them, and embraced them, and confessed...)

Job 39:27-30 Doth the eagle mount up at thy command, and make her nest on high? [28] She dwelleth and abideth on the rock, upon the crag of the rock, and the strong place. [29] From thence she seeketh the prey, and her eyes behold afar off. [30] Her young ones also suck up blood: and where the slain are, there is she.


2 Corinthians 3:11-13 For if that which is done away was glorious, much more that which remaineth is glorious. [12] Seeing then that we have such hope, we use great plainness of speech: [13] And not as Moses, which put a vail over his face, that the children of Israel could not stedfastly look to the end of that which is abolished:

Matthew 26:58-64 But Peter followed him afar off unto the high priest's palace, and went in, and sat with the servants, to see the end. [59] Now the chief priests, and elders, and all the council, sought false witness against Jesus, to put him to death; [60] But found none: yea, though many false witnesses came, yet found they none. At the last came two false witnesses, [61] And said, This fellow said, I am able to destroy the temple of God, and to build it in three days. (Matthew 5:15-17) 62] And the high priest arose, and said unto him, Answerest thou nothing? what is it which these witness against thee? [63] But Jesus held his peace. And the high priest answered and said unto him, I adjure thee by the living God, that thou tell us whether thou be the Christ, the Son of God. [64] Jesus saith unto him, Thou hast said: nevertheless I say unto you, Hereafter shall ye see the Son of man sitting on the right hand of power, and coming in the clouds of heaven.

Luke 18:13 And the publican, standing afar off, would not lift up so much as his eyes unto heaven, but smote upon his breast, saying, God be merciful to me a sinner.

2 Peter 1:9-11 But he that lacketh these things is blind, and cannot see afar off, and hath forgotten that he was purged from his old sins. [10] Wherefore the rather, brethren, give diligence to make your calling and election sure: for if ye do these things, ye shall never fall: (they shall mount up with wings as eagles; they shall run, and not be weary; and they shall walk, and not faint.) [11] For so an entrance shall be ministered unto you abundantly into the everlasting kingdom of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ.

Acts 2:39 For the promise is unto you, and to your children, and to all that are afar off, even as many as the Lord our God shall call. John 17:20 Neither pray I for these alone, but for them also which shall believe on me through their word;

@VictoryinJesus The lives of pilgrim saints of Isaiah 40 and Hebrews 11: so instructive from Old and New Testaments alike.

 

[icxn]

The eye of a cat. Not as interesting as the eagle, but fascinating all the same...

The cat may not have as sharp an eyesight as the eagle, but she can see in the dark and is equally keen in detecting her pray using her focused hearing and her acute sense of touch and smell. Likewise the vigilant man (Matthew 24:43), in the darkness of this present life, has his inner senses trained with much prayer like 24 whiskers* (Revelation 5:8) so as to detect any movement of evil thoughts and desires, which like mice, enter through the cracks (senses) of our house – some even make nests in the walls (our bodies), these are the particular pleasures we are addicted to (Psalms 18:29) - and spoil our spiritual provisions (LXX Wisdom of Solomon 4:12)**. With appropriate verses from scripture (Matthew 4:4), like sharp teeth, he then gets hold of these movements of the flesh and doesn’t let them operate in himself.

_______
* A cat has about twenty-four movable whiskers, in four sets on each upper lip on either side of its nose. These permit the cat to create a three-dimensional map of its surroundings. They aid sensation and navigation by enabling a cat to know that it is near obstacles without needing to see them, just like any disturbance (distraction) in our prayers informs us of worldly affections (obstacles) we need to work on (avoid).
** For the bewitching of naughtiness doth obscure things that are honest; and the wandering of concupiscence doth undermine the simple mind.

 

[rockytopva]

Thank you icxn! Interesting facts are welcome! Another interesting fact of the eagle is in that she can build great nests and raise a family from on high.

27 Doth the eagle mount up at thy command, and make her nest on high? She dwelleth and abideth on the rock, upon the crag of the rock, and the strong place. From thence she seeketh the prey, and her eyes behold afar off. - Job 39:27-29

As an eagle stirreth up her nest, fluttereth over her young, spreadeth abroad her wings, taketh them, beareth them on her wings... - Deuteronomy 32:11

While tending to their nesting duties, non-releasable Bald Eagles ‘Franklin’ and ‘Independence,’ cared for by the non-profit American Eagle Foundation (www.eagles.org), recently survived severe storms that passed through the East Tennessee area. “During the high winds and intense thunder showers, I intently watched the eagle nest day and night from a video camera available over the Internet,” said AEF President Al Cecere. “It always amazes me how the parent birds faithfully cover the eggs and young with their body and wings during severe weather, even when chunks of hail are pounding on their backs.” - Bald Eagle Nesting Pair Survives Tornado-like Storms; Egg Hatches – American Eagle Foundation

The nest of two Milford bald eagles managed to withstand bad weather from earlier this week. The pair had previously lost their nest and one of their eggs in a major windstorm in February. The birds came back and worked to fix up their nest. - Milford bald eagle nest survives high winds

The Eagles nest is also another wonder of creation. This nest can withstand hurricane like winds and can be very heavy.

 

[rockytopva]

Are not two sparrows sold for a farthing? and one of them shall not fall on the ground without your Father. - Matthew 10:29

I had a sparrow build a nest in an outside light fixture and then abandon her little baby chicks. They tried to escape the nest and their dead bodies lie underneath the light fixture. I am going to have to tear the nest down and remove the dead bodies. I will spend the rest of the day grieving and sorrowing the loss of the little ones. Little ones have spirits too and are of interest to the Heavenly Father.

 

[rockytopva]

Now to tackle the issues of evolution...

Virtue is not knowledge Otherwise it could be taught.
Mass is not knowledge We may develop representations of mass because of what comes through our senses but the mass itself exists independently of our mental knowledge.

Our mind organizes experiences in different ways. The mind (via the reason) and the senses (via the mass) both make important contributions to consciousness. Immanuel Kant’s reflection on Physics led him to develop a new theory of knowledge that combines rationalism and empiricism into a new synthesis called critical philosophy. Kant agrees with Hume that knowledge begins with experience, but disagrees to the experience sensual limitations. “Though our knowledge begins with experience, it does not follow that it rises out of experience. Just as a person wearing sunglasses sees things differently, so the human being sees things according to that structure.”

Kant distinguishes the consciousness into two dimensions, sensibility and understanding. Sensibility is the minds way of receiving representation of things (intuition- insight) from the body, Understanding is how the mind actively thinks about those objects. Theories about the forms of intuition and the categories of the understanding lead to distinguish phenomena (appearances as filtered through our senses and understanding) from noumena (things themselves as they exist independently from the mind which we can never know).Intuition is the ability to acquire knowledge without proof, evidence, or that which is reported through the senses.

So the senses aid our mental ability to reason the structure of reality. But.... Spirituality and Mass exists outside Intelligence, so it is impossible for us to know true form. It is important, for the sake of spirituality, that we divide the man into three parts… Physical, Spiritual, and Intellectual. If E = mc2 then we can divide and conclude that...

Mass (m) = Energy (E/c2) And there are three varieties...

Natural E/c2 - All mass is basically cooled plasma, the sun is the visible form of E/c2
Mental E/c2 - Our thinking can produce creativeness, light, and good things
Spiritual E/c2 - E (motivation, warmth, love) / c2 (faith, hope, charity, joy)

The Natural E/c2 in the form of mass produces a gravity that attracts other objects
The Intellectual E/c2 produces a gravity that draws us to study
The Spiritual E/c2 also has a gravity that draws and makes religion attractive

Evolution, then, is the result of the filtered imagination of man and is not how things are actually are.

 

[rockytopva]

The Philippine Tarsier, it is said that the eyes make up almost half its body weight.