ὅπου ἐὰν ᾖ τὸ πτῶμα, ἐκεῖ συναχθήσονται οἱ ἀετοί. Matt 24:28 SBL Greek NT
Wherever there is a carcass, there the vultures will gather. Matt 24:28 NIV (RSV and others have “eagles”)
In the middle of Matthew’s version of what has been called “the Synoptic Apocalypse”, we have this strange statement. Or at least we do, in English. I am not sure it is quite such a non sequitur in the Greek.
Jesus has just spoken about deception, and instructed His disciples to not believe it, nor to act upon it, when they hear reports of The Christ being “out there” or “in here”. The reason is simple: when He returns, no one will be left wondering. It will be visible and obvious. Have you seen lightning in the east illuminate the sky all the way to the west? Yes, just like that. You will not be left wondering. Wailing, possibly.
And then this verse. What is He saying? Is He really suggesting, in the very next breathe, that His lightning-like arrival will be like a dead body being attacked by birds of prey? And who is which in this picture? Clearly Jesus is not the dead body, but are we?
I think it is rather more simple than that. This is a continuation of His theme to the effect that lots of people will be very deceived and likely to believe things that simply are not true. We just need to nail down a couple of words to understand what is going on.
Firstly, πτῶμα. Literally it is a fall, and hence some kind of calamity. In some contexts it is indeed a (fallen) body, but usually with other qualifiers, such as “a fallen Greek”, or whatever. So let’s go with a fall or calamity for now.
What about the ἀετοί?
It is indeed “the eagles”, but we have to remember that for the Greeks, and therefore their language, their primary interest in eagles was not a taxonomic approach to ornithology. It is almost certainly true that ἀετός was less “a bird of the genus, Aquila” and more “a bird of omen”. So the word is often simply “omen”.
So here’s how I would render this verse: “wherever it should happen that there is a calamity, the ‘birds of omen’ will gather together.”
(It’s true, of course. If I remember correctly, Martin Luther was convinced the world was about to end because the River Oder had burst its banks for the third year in a row. Before you laugh, just check what you have been saying…)
In other words, Jesus is saying to His disciples, “whenever some terrible thing happens, people will read it as an omen of the end; but don’t you waste your time or get distracted doing that. You will know when I turn up. You will see me – and so will all the tribes on earth. And in the meantime, make sure you are executing your assignment, faithfully.”
A word in season, perhaps. And do have a blessed Christmas and a prosperous New Year.
Seeing the Kingdom 