Sprouting Wings

God created winged-things (Genesis 1:21; kanaf ), and they were preserved in the ark (Genesis 7:14). But there aren’t many references to winged-things in the first book of the Bible.

At the Exodus, Yahweh sprouts eagle wings and carries Israel from Egypt (Exodus 19:4, the first use of pterux in the LXX; cf. Exodus 32:11), and then it seems everyone has wings. We met cherubim outside Eden, but only after the Exodus do we discover that they have wings (Exodus 25:20; 37:9) that spread over the ark cover and form a throne for Yahweh. Israelites offer winged-things as ascensions (Leviticus 1:17), and each Israelite has a tassel on the wing of his robe (Numbers 15:38; Deuteronomy 22:12). A man spreads his wing to cover his bride (Ruth 3:9), and curses fall on this who pull back another’s cover (Deuteronomy 22:30; 27:20). Wings clearly are designed for covering (Isaiah 6:2).

Outside of Revelation, Jesus is the only one in the New Testament who has wings - hen-wings so that, like Yahweh, he can bring His chicks under their shadow (Matthew 23:37; Luke 3:34). He is the only true Israelite, the only winged man, in the entire New Testament.

Israel is formed after the pattern of her Deliverer. The winged God of the exodus makes a winged people, equipped to bring others out of bondage and to fly them to safe havens, winged to re-enact exodus.