Psalm 102:5-6

Psalm 102:5-6

The Desert Owl

It’s not a pretty picture, a man shrunken almost to a corpse, unable to eat, reduced to nothing, unaware of time, just existing and groaning through the torments that rack his body.

Then follows this curious statement, one that you and I would never make however deep our anguish. “I am like a desert owl, like an owl among the ruins.”

 

I checked my Handbook of Middle Eastern Owls! Most owls prefer habitats where there are trees, rivers, groves, wooded hills etc and many of these nocturnal creatures are very hard to find. Our psalmist has obviously seen an owl in a desert place, and I can only assume it may have been the Eagle Owl, which is a very large bird, up to 5ft wingspan, which does occupy rocky hills, ravines and cliffs. All owls are “unclean” birds that cannot be eaten. “These are the birds you are to regard as unclean and not eat because they are unclean: the eagle, the vulture, the black vulture, the red kite, any kind of black kite, any kind of raven, the horned owl, the screech owl, the gull, any kind of hawk, the little owl, the cormorant, the great owl, the white owl, the desert owl.” (Leviticus11:13–18; see also Deuteronomy 14:11–17).

Owls are among the wild predators that have long dwelled in the desert lands and the abandoned ruins of Egypt and the Holy Land. Both Isaiah and Zephaniah speak of owls nesting in ruined wastelands to paint symbolic images of barrenness, emptiness, and utter desolation: “For the LORD has a day of vengeance, a year of retribution, to uphold Zion’s cause. Edom’s streams will be turned into pitch, her dust into burning sulphur; her land will become blazing pitch! It will not be quenched night or day; its smoke will rise forever. From generation to generation it will lie desolate; no one will ever pass through it again. The desert owl and screech owl will possess it; the great owl and the raven will nest there. God will stretch out over Edom the measuring line of chaos and the plumb line of desolation. . . . The owl will nest there and lay eggs, she will hatch them, and care for her young under the shadow of her wings” (Isaiah 34:8-11, 15.)

I’ve often wondered if the language used to describe the desolation of these wild creatures is also in context when describing the habitation of evil spirits, wandering desolate and alone in barren places?