PJ54
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Friday, August 19 2022A man of understanding acquires skillful direction.—Prov. 1:5.
What could cause someone to reject good counsel from a loving friend? Pride. Proud people like “to have their ears tickled.” They “turn away from listening to the truth.” (2 Tim. 4:3, 4) They have an inflated view of their own opinion and worth. However, the apostle Paul wrote: “If anyone thinks he is something when he is nothing, he is deceiving himself.” (Gal. 6:3) King Solomon summed up the matter well. He wrote: “Better is a poor but wise child than an old but stupid king, who no longer has enough sense to heed a warning.” (Eccl. 4:13) Note the example set by the apostle Peter when he was publicly corrected by the apostle Paul. (Gal. 2:11-14) Peter could have resented what Paul said, focusing on the way he said it and where he chose to say it. But Peter was wise. He accepted the counsel and did not nurse a grudge against Paul. Instead, he later referred to Paul as a “beloved brother.”—2 Pet. 3:15. w20.11 21 ¶9, 11-12
Examining the Scriptures Daily—2022
The land of Zebulun and Naphtali will see a great light
Jehovah has feelings. Seems strange to even have to say that. Sometimes, though, we might forget or fail to appreciate that simple fact. Actually, we have thoughts and feelings and can relate to ourselves and the people around us and God because we are made in His image
e-watchman.com
The land of Zebulun and Naphtali will see a great light Part 1
October 25th, 2020
Jehovah has feelings. Seems strange to even have to say that. Sometimes, though, we might forget or fail to appreciate that simple fact. Actually, we have thoughts and feelings and can relate to ourselves and the people around us and God because we are made in His image and likeness. For example, we may feel impatient in a certain situation. That’s because God endowed us with the capacity. We may become offended, even to the point of anger. Again, we were created with the ability to respond to things in a certain way. And yes, Almighty God gets hurt feelings, even as is stated in the Psalms: “How often they would rebel against him in the wilderness, they would make him feel hurt in the desert!” (78:40)God grew impatient with Israel. He was highly offended by their worship of demons and all that went with it. So, after putting up with it for a long time God expressed His anger when he “whistled” for the Assyrian hordes to swoop down on Israel like a swarm of bees. In his fury, God had them dragged off the beautiful land he had given them. The terms and conditions were clearly stipulated in the Law covenant. It is not as though God acted in a capricious manner. Sadly, not long afterward Jehovah also appointed Babylon to measure out the same punishment to Judah and Jerusalem.
But God is merciful. That is one of His dominant qualities. In time Jehovah reclaimed the Jews from Babylon and Persia and settled them back in their ancestral homeland. True, they were thereafter ruled over by the Greeks and the Romans after them, but they were not overtly oppressed. Thus, the original setting.
“However, the gloom will not be as when the land had distress, as in former times when the land of Zebulun and the land of Naphtali were treated with contempt. But at a later time He will cause it to be honored—the way by the sea, in the region of the Jordan, Galilee of the nations. The people who were walking in the darkness have seen a great light. As for those dwelling in the land of deep shadow, light has shone on them.” —Isaiah 9:1-2
The original territory of Zebulun and Naphtali encompassed the land where Jesus later grew up in Nazareth —a village in the north of Israel. After his anointing, Christ based his ministry in Capernaum from where he went out to preach among the humble country folk
Yes, those people in Galilee of the nations saw a great light. And those who continued to walk in the light were given the privilege of becoming sons of the light.
“You have made the nation populous; you have made its rejoicing great. They rejoice before you as people rejoice in the harvesttime, as those who joyfully divide up the spoil. For you have shattered to pieces the yoke of their load, the rod on their shoulders, the staff of the taskmaster, as in the day of Midian.” —Isaiah 9:3-4
The day of Midian was when Gideon and his band of 300 selectmen ambushed and routed the sleeping army of Midianite and Amalekite warriors by brandishing torches and smashing pottery and shouting “Jehovah’s sword and Gideon’s!”
The expression “holy terror” comes to mind. Roused from a dead sleep by the crashing sound and the shrieking war cry evoking the name of Israel’s God, Jehovah, in the dark of night the panicked invaders slaughtered each other. There is no mention of the Midianites harassing the Hebrews after that.
It is doubtful that the apostles were aware at the time Jesus was fulfilling the prophecy of Isaiah by casting a divine light on the people in the land of spiritual darkness. Their minds were not opened up to understand those things until after Jesus fulfilled the things written. But it is true that the faithful Jews expected a messianic king to come. That was about the extent of their knowledge.
As previous saviors (also known as judges) had done, the apostles evidently expected Jesus to throw off the Roman overlords —perhaps like Gideon. No doubt that is why Peter ignorantly tried to counsel Jesus about his sacrificial course. Needless to say, Jesus did not shatter to pieces the Roman yoke. That is because the prophecy of Isaiah seamlessly shifts between Messiah’s earthly life in the land of Zebulun and Naphtali to his Second Coming. It is to the coming of the Kingdom that the above prophecy applies.
Indeed, the ultimate fulfillment of the prophecy relates to the harvesttime, about which Jesus spoke concerning the weeds and the wheat. Although the masses of churchgoers with delusional heavenly aspirations suppose 144,000 is a piddling few, considering that God has never granted immortality to any creature except Jesus after he was raised from the dead, it is amazing that the Creator would gift corrupt humans with indestructibleness. Hence, the nation that God will make populous is what Paul referred to as “the Israel of God.”
In his inspired letter James, Jesus’ half brother in the flesh, sent his greetings “to the 12 tribes that are scattered about.” Of course, Christ’s congregation is not divided into tribes. The references to the Israel of God and the 12 tribes connects Christ’s congregation to the fulfillment of virtually all prophecy. The land of Zebulun and the land of Naphtali has a spiritual counterpart. After all, Zebulun and Naphtali are listed in the seventh chapter of Revelation from where 12,000 from each tribe are made to stand with the Lamb on the summit of Zion. And it is those chosen from the symbolic 12 tribes who will see a great light when Jesus is revealed to them.