The great speckled bird in the Bible is a metaphor for faith, or as you might be able to tell from the title of this post. What does the great speckled bird mean in the bible? This may seem like an unnecessary question to ask, but when we talk about the topic of bible verses, there are so many different interpretations and meanings.
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What does the great speckled bird mean in the bible?
The speckled bird stands out from the others in a positive way. They have completely black wings. The splotchy bird doesn’t appear to belong here.
It’s not uncommon that someone will google a phrase from the bible and find multiple different meanings. We’ll try to break down how some of these different interpretations were formed by studying how their meanings are connected through history.
I wondered, “Who in the Bible was shunned by his family because he was “different,” keeping that in mind? In the New Testament, Christ is without a doubt. Joseph is a figure from the Old Testament. What about Joseph and Christ did the family not like, and why?
You will be rejected by others because of two things. You will resemble the “speckled bird” if you follow Christ.
People who are lost care less about what you do and more about what you have to say. The world wants you, the spotted bird, to leave them alone and take flight.
1. They want you to stop mentioning your Father: Joseph’s father, Israel, adored him. They shared a tight personal bond. Jesus frequently mentioned his heavenly Father. Let me dare you to read through the Gospel of John in your Bible and circle the word “Father.” You’ll be surprised at how frequently Jesus refers to his “Father.” Joseph’s brothers despised him because their father loved him in Genesis 37:1-8.
2. They want you to stop discussing the future: Joseph has a vision. He told his brothers about his dream. In his dream, his brothers’ sheaves bowed down before Joseph’s sheaf. They despised him. They didn’t want to think about Joseph ruling over them one day.
The great speckled bird is described as being unclean in Jeremiah 12:9.
Jeremiah 12:9
Has not my inheritance become to me like a speckled bird of prey that other birds of prey surround and attack? Go and gather all the wild beasts; bring them to devour.
It is a vulture that eats carrion. God claims that as punishment for Judah’s terrible and unrepentant sins, He will hand them over to the Babylonians for their wrath and plunder. There are a few animal comparisons made: Israel has transformed into a speckled vulture engaged in a battle with other carrion eaters to see who can consume the most trash.
The significance is that Judah has completely turned into an idolater and has degenerated into a terrible spiritual state
“It’s not my heritage to be a speckled bird?” as a bird of various colors, delightful to look at, as the peacock, as Jerom interprets it here; as a bird of various colors, and unusual, which other birds get around, look on, hate, and peck at.
Some believe this refers to the motley party-colored religion that the Jews had embraced, consisting of various rites and ceremonies of the Heathens; on account of which they thought they looked beautiful and comely when they were hated and rejected by God for them; but the word rather means to be dipped or stained, as with blood.
The great speckled bird meaning
We can be certain that the great speckled bird in Jeremiah 12 represents Old Testament Israel, possibly zeroing in more closely on the House of Judah.
The speckled bird is compared to the LORD’s heritage in Jeremiah 12:9. Or perhaps it’s the other way around—the LORD compares His heritage to a bird with spots.
It is valid to carry the speckled bird symbolism through into spiritual Israel if we take into account the dualism that we see in the scriptures between the Old Testament physical Israel and the New Covenant spiritual Israel, which is the church (Galatians 6:16; Romans 11).
God’s people had been dearly loved of his soul, precious in his eyes, but they had acted in such a way that he had to give them up to their enemies. Many professing churches, like speckled birds, present a mingling of religion and the world, with all of its vain fashions, pursuits, and pollutions.
God’s people are as strange to men as a speckled bird, but these people made themselves that way through their own folly, and the beasts and birds are summoned to prey on them. The entire land would be left desolate. But no one would take the warning seriously until the judgments were actually carried out. Men will be made to feel when God’s hand is lifted up and they cannot see.
Is the great speckled bird mentioned in the Bible?
Indeed it is! Only one verse in the Bible mentions the great speckled bird:
Jeremiah 12:9
Has not my inheritance become to me like a speckled bird of prey that other birds of prey surround and attack? Go and gather all the wild beasts; bring them to devour.
This is an invitation to the enemies of the people of the Jews, comparable for their fierceness and savageness to the beasts of the field, to come and destroy them; and shows that their destruction was by divine permission, and according to the will of God. Compare with this ( Revelation 19:18 ).
That is the great speckled bird in the bible
According to the bible verse, Jeremiah 12 verse 9: Mine heritage is unto me as a speckled bird,…Or, “Is not my heritage to be a speckled bird?” as a bird of various colors, delightful to look at, as the peacock, as Jerom interprets it here; it was previously, but not now; or as a bird of various colors, and unusual, which other birds get around, look on hate, and peck at.
Some believe this refers to the haphazardly colored religion that the Jews had embraced, consisting of various Heathen rites and ceremonies; on account of which they thought they looked beautiful and comely when they were hated and rejected by God for them.
However, the word means to be dipped or stained, as with blood, and thus denotes a bird of prey stained with the blood of others; a fitting symbol of the Jews’ cruelty in shedding the blood of the prophets. Some call it a “fingered bird” because a word similar to this means “finger”; that is, a bird with talons or claws; like fingers, a ravenous bird, and it has the same meaning as before.
But the Septuagint interprets it as a beast and calls it a hyena; which Bochart agrees with because the word in Arabic refers to such a creature; and Schindler observes that with the Septuagint, my heritage is as a speckled bird: the word in Hebrew means to dye or color, and interpreters are divided on whether to interpret it of a bird colored by nature (as our translators understood it, and thus translated it speckled) or by accident, as ravenous birds are colored by the blood of other birds killed by them.
As a result, some interpret the text as a condemnation of the Jews for their cruelty, colored by oppression and innocent bloodshed. Others, of their tincture by a variety of superstition and idolatry. My heritage is as a speckled bird: the word in Hebrew means to dye or color.
In both cases, the word for “bird” refers to a “bird of prey” (Isaiah 46:11; Genesis 15:11), and the “speckled bird” is most likely, but not certainly, a less common species of vulture. The image was most likely inspired by something the prophet saw: birds of prey of one species gathering and attacking a lone stranger of another, accompanied by the “beasts of the field,” the wolves, jackals, and hyaenas, who scent their prey.
Perhaps the term “speckled” refers to the bird attacked as having better plumage than the others (perhaps one of the kingfishers that abound in Palestine), and thus being treated as a stranger and an enemy.
The great speckled bird bible verse
The Great speckled verse was mentioned only just once in the scripture in the book of Jeremiah 12 verse 9,- The first part of this verse is incorrectly translated. It should be, instead of Mine heritage is unto me, etc. Is my ancestor a colored bird of prey (to my chagrin, dative ethics)? Are there birds of prey all around her?
The passage is difficult to understand, but the following appears to be the most plausible explanation: – Jehovah is shown as surprised to see his chosen people becoming prey to the heathen (a strongly anthropomorphic description, as if Jehovah had not anticipated that his “giving up” his people would have such sad results). It appears to him (in human terms) that Israel is “a colored bird of prey,” the bright plumage of which enrages its less brilliant comrades.
