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ExtortionAid to Bible Understanding
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years Paul’s detention in prison. Of this, Paul was aware, but he offered Felix nothing. Eventually Felix was succeeded in office by Governor Festus.—Acts 24:26, 27.
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EyeAid to Bible Understanding
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EYE
The organ of sight, a highly efficient, self-adjusting “camera” that transmits impulses to the brain, where the object focused on the eye’s retina is interpreted as sight. The possession of two eyes, as in the human body, provides stereoscopic vision. Sight being probably the most important channel of communication to the mind, the loss of sight is a tremendous handicap. In Israel, under the Law, the man who knocked out the eye of his slave had to let the slave go free. (Ex. 21:26) In order to humiliate and to shatter the power of their enemies, some ancient nations followed the cruel practice of blinding prominent men among the captured enemy. (Judg. 16:21; 1 Sam. 11:2; 2 Ki. 25:7) The eye is one of the most beautiful parts of the body. (Song of Sol. 1:15; 4:9; 7:4) So disfiguring and detrimental was an eye affliction that one could not serve as a priest under the Law covenant if he was blind or diseased in either eye.—Lev. 21:18, 20.
The structure of the eye reveals a marvelous knowledge of optics on the part of its Maker, and the process by which the brain interprets what is transmitted through the eye is far from being understood by scientists, all pointing to its Designer’s intelligence. Jehovah God himself testifies to his creatorship of the eye, saying: “The One forming the eye, can he not look?”—Ps. 94:9; Prov. 20:12.
JEHOVAH’S EYES
God helps humans to understand and appreciate things about himself by likening them to things that we see and know well. Thus he speaks figuratively of his “eyes” being on his people, evidently indicating his watchfulness and loving care for them. The apostle Peter says: “The eyes of Jehovah are upon the righteous ones.” (1 Pet. 3:12) He emphasizes this care and sensitiveness for their welfare when he speaks of his servants as the “pupil” of his eye, metaphorically representing their preciousness in his sight and his quickness to act in their behalf when touched by the enemy.—Deut. 32:10; Ps. 17:8.
Describing God’s observation of the actions of all men, Jeremiah wrote that his “eyes are opened upon all the ways of the sons of men, in order to give to each one according to his ways.” (Jer. 32:19) Of Jehovah’s omniscience and his purpose to exercise justice toward all, the apostle Paul writes: “There is not a creation that is not manifest to his sight, but all things are naked and openly exposed to the eyes of him with whom we have an accounting.” (Heb. 4:13; 2 Chron. 16:9; Ps. 66:7; Prov. 15:3) Of the searching quality of God’s examination of men, the psalmist says: “His own eyes behold, his own beaming eyes examine the sons of men.”—Ps. 11:4.
Jehovah’s ability to know a person’s characteristics and tendencies or his genetic makeup even while he is being formed in the womb, as was the case with Jacob and Esau (Gen. 25:21-23; Rom. 9:10-13), is indicated by the psalmist David’s words: “Your eyes saw even the embryo of me, and in your book all its parts were down in writing, as regards the days when they were formed and there was not yet one among them.”—Ps. 139:15, 16.
ILLUSTRATIVE USAGE
The human eye is an important channel of communication to the mind, strongly influencing the emotions and actions. Satan tempted Eve by causing her to desire something seen with her eyes. (Gen. 3:6) He attempted to induce Jesus to sin by reaching out improperly for things seen with his eyes. (Luke 4:5-7) And the apostle John tells us that “the desire of the eyes” is one of the things originating with this world, which is passing away. (1 John 2:16, 17) Many of the emotions are likewise expressed by the eyes, and so the Scriptures use the expressions “lofty [haughty] eyes” (Prov. 6:17); “lustrous eyes” (of the bad, seductive woman—Prov. 6:25); “eyes full of adultery” (2 Pet. 2:14); the “ungenerous eye” (Prov. 23:6); the “envious eye” (Prov. 28:22); the ‘eye that is wicked’ (‘evil eye,’ AV); the latter does not refer to any magical quality of the eye, but to an eye with bad intent, the opposite of being “kindly in eye.”—Matt. 20:15; Prov. 22:9.
Gestures by means of the eyes are very expressive of the individual’s feelings. They may show pity or lack of it (Deut. 19:13); they may ‘wink’ or ‘blink’ in derision, or scheming insincerity. (Ps. 35:19; Prov. 6:13; 16:30) One who does not want to observe or who does not desire to carry out an act for another may be spoken of as shutting or hiding his eyes. (Matt. 13:15; Prov. 28:27) The stupid one is said to have his eyes “at the extremity of the earth,” wandering here and there without any fixed object, his thoughts being everywhere except where they ought to be. (Prov. 17:24) Even a person’s health and vigor or his state of happiness are manifested by the appearance of his eyes. (1 Sam. 14:27-29; Deut. 34:7; Job 17:7; Ps. 6:7; 88:9) King Jehoshaphat addressed Jehovah: “Our eyes are toward you.”—2 Chron. 20:12.
SEEING GOD
Spirit creatures, angels, are able to behold the brilliance of Jehovah (Matt. 18:10; Luke 1:19), an experience that no human eyes could endure, for Jehovah himself told Moses: “No man may see me and yet live.” (Ex. 33:20) John said: “No man has seen God at any time.” (John 1:18) Therefore, when Jesus told his disciple Philip: “He that has seen me has seen the Father also” (John 14:9), and when the apostle John said: “He that does bad has not seen God” (3 John 11), obviously those spoken of as seeing God see him, not with their physical eyes, but with what the apostle Paul described as the ‘eyes of their heart.’ (Eph. 1:18) Those who see with the eyes of the heart are those who have really come to know God, appreciating his qualities, and that is why John could say: “He that does not love has not come to know God, because God is love.”—1 John 4:8.
So, too, in view of the fact that Jesus said the ‘world would behold him no more’ (John 14:19) the statement at Revelation 1:7: “Every eye will see him [Jesus Christ],” must have reference, not to the literal eye, but, rather, to the effect upon the mind of human observers by the evidences that they can see with their literal eyes when he goes forth to destroy his enemies. The Bible plainly indicates, however, that those whom God calls to heavenly life with Christ will literally see God, which requires for them a change to divine nature, resurrection in a heavenly spiritual body.—1 Pet. 1:4; 2 Pet. 1:4; 1 Cor. 15:50-54; compare 1 Peter 3:18.
SPIRITUAL SIGHT
The spiritual eye as well as the physical eye is a gift of God. (Prov. 20:12) He promises to heal both spiritual eyes and physical ones, and to remove all causes for tears. (Isa. 35:5; Rev. 21:4) One cannot understand God’s purposes without the gift of spiritual eyesight. On the other hand, Jehovah hides his truth from the eyes of those who are stubborn or rebellious, letting “their eyes become darkened.” (Rom. 11:8-10; Luke 19:42) “They have [literal] eyes, but they cannot see [spiritually].”—Jer. 5:21; Isa. 59:10.
Jesus also pointed out that one’s spiritual vision must be kept sharp and in focus. He said: “The lamp of the body is the eye. If, then, your eye is simple [all one way; in focus; generous], your whole body will be bright; but if your eye is wicked, your whole body will be dark. If in reality the light that is in you is darkness, how great that darkness is!” (Matt. 6:22, 23) He further counsels that one should not find fault with some tiny defect in another’s personality, a mere “straw” in his eye, when he himself has a huge defect, a “rafter” that he should first clear out of his own.—Matt. 7:3-5.
The apostle John saw the throne of God and in conjunction with it four living creatures full of eyes in front and behind. (Rev. 4:6, 8) Such equipment would enable the possessors thereof to be continually on the watch, taking note of God in all things and observing all his indications of what he wants done. (Compare Psalm 123:2; also Ezekiel 1:18; 10:12.) Jehovah counsels his servants not to let his sayings ‘get away from their eyes.’—Prov. 4:20, 21; Luke 10:23; see BLINDNESS.
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EzbaiAid to Bible Understanding
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EZBAI
(Ezʹbai) [possibly, hyssoplike].
The father of Naarai. Naarai was one of the mighty men of King David’s military forces.—1 Chron. 11:26, 37.
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EzbonAid to Bible Understanding
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EZBON
(Ezʹbon).
1. A son of Gad and the grandson of Jacob. (Gen. 46:16) The parallel account in Numbers 26:16 lists Ozni the forefather of the Oznites instead of Ezbon, suggesting that both names apply to the same person.
2. A son of Bela and a descendant of Benjamin. Ezbon is called one of the “heads of the house of their forefathers, valiant, mighty men.”—1 Chron. 7:6, 7.
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EzekielAid to Bible Understanding
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EZEKIEL
(Ezeʹkiel) [God strengthens].
The son of Buzi, a priest. He was among the captives taken to Babylon by Nebuchadnezzar along with Jehoiachin in 617 B.C.E. His first visions of God came to him in “the thirtieth year, in the fourth month, on the fifth day of the month,” in the “fifth year of the exile of King Jehoiachin.” He prophesied to the Jews living by the river Chebar, which some modern authorities believe to be one of the great Babylonian canals. The “thirtieth year” seems to have reference to Ezekiel’s age. He began his duties as a prophet at this time.—Ezek. 1:1-3.
Ezekiel, therefore, was about twenty-six years old when he went into captivity with Jehoiachin in 617 B.C.E. Being of a priestly family, he was no doubt very well acquainted with the temple and its arrangement and all the activities carried out therein, and was well versed in the Law.
No doubt Ezekiel had also been well acquainted with Jeremiah and his prophecies much earlier, due to the fact that Jeremiah was a prophet in Jerusalem during Ezekiel’s youth. Then, too, Ezekiel had enjoyed the advantage of living in Judah during part of the reign of righteous King Josiah, who destroyed the Baal altars and the graven images, set about to repair the temple, and intensified his reformation in behalf of pure worship in Judah when the book of the Law (apparently an original written by Moses) was found in the temple.—2 Chron. chap. 34.
CONTEMPORARIES
Ezekiel’s prophetic life was contemporaneous with Jeremiah and Daniel. Jeremiah served as God’s prophet to the Jews in Jerusalem and Judah, coming in contact with the corrupt Judean kings. Daniel, who was in the court of Babylon and later of Medo-Persia, was given prophecies concerning the succession of world powers and their defeat at the hands of the kingdom of God. Ezekiel served among the Jewish people and their headmen in Babylonia and continued the work of the prophets there. So, while the Jews in Jerusalem had the benefit of the temple with its high priest and the priestly prophet Jeremiah, those in Babylon were not forsaken by Jehovah. Ezekiel was God’s prophet to them and, while not performing sacrificial services, he was there as a counselor and instructor in God’s law.
There was also a close relationship between the prophetic work of Jeremiah and Ezekiel, both of them refuting and striving to dissipate in the minds of the Jews in Jerusalem and in Babylonia the idea that God was going to bring an early end to Babylonian domination and that Jerusalem would not fall. Jeremiah actually sent a letter to the captives in the land of Babylonia, telling them to settle down and be at peace in Babylon for the reason that a seventy-year period was yet ahead of them before they would be delivered. Doubtless Ezekiel got to hear the words of this letter. Also, he may have heard the reading of the book that Jeremiah later sent foretelling the downfall of Babylon.—Jer. chap. 29; 51:59-64.
PROPHESIED TO “OBSTINATE” PEOPLE
The captives in Babylonia were in a better position before Jehovah than the Jews remaining in Palestine, as illustrated by the baskets of good and bad figs that Jeremiah saw. (Jer. chap. 24) But even so, Ezekiel had no easy task set before him, because the captive Israelites were also a part of the rebellious house, and as Ezekiel was told, it was among “obstinate ones and things pricking you and it is among scorpions that you are dwelling.” (Ezek. 2:6) At Jehovah’s command he took up dwelling among the exiles at Tel-abib by the river Chebar. (Ezek. 3:4, 15) Although the Jews were exiles, they were living in their own houses. (Jer. 29:5) They were able to continue organized, at least to an extent, religiously. The older men of Judah were able to visit Ezekiel several times. (Ezek. 8:1; 14:1; 20:1) Even when the time came for the restoration at the end of the seventy years, many of these Jews did not want to leave Babylon.
One of the reasons for the lack of desire to return on the part of at least some of the Jews in Babylon may have been materialism. The archives of a great business house, “Murashu and Sons,” were uncovered by an American expedition at the site of a Euphrates canal near Nippur, which some authorities believe was near Chebar. Inscriptions found there contain a number of Jewish names, which indicates that the Israelites had become quite well established and that a good many of them had become involved in the commercial activities of Babylon.
DEATH OF WIFE
Ezekiel says that he received his commission by the river Chebar in the fifth year of the exile of King Jehoiachin (or in 613 B.C.E.). He prophesied for at least twenty-two years to 591 B.C. E., his last dated prophecy being in the twenty-seventh year of the captivity. (Ezek. 29:17) Ezekiel was apparently happily married. Then Jehovah told him: “Son of man, here I am taking away from you the thing desirable to your eyes by a blow.” (Ezek. 24:16) His wife may have been unfaithful to him or to Jehovah, but, whatever be the reason for her death, Ezekiel was commanded not to weep, but to sigh without words. Ezekiel was told to wear his headdress and not to adopt any signs or evidences of mourning. This was all really for the purpose of a sign to the Israelites there in Babylonian captivity that Jehovah would profane his sanctuary in which the Israelites took such pride, and that, contrary to their hopes, Jerusalem would be destroyed.—Ezek. 24:17-27.
A “WATCHMAN”
In a manner similar to that of Isaiah, Ezekiel received his commission to prophesy. He was given an awe-inspiring vision of Jehovah on his throne attended by living creatures having four faces and wings, accompanied by wheels within wheels, which moved along with the living creatures. Jehovah then spoke, giving Ezekiel the title “son of man,” which distinguishes him as Jehovah’s prophet throughout the book of Ezekiel. (Ezek. chaps. 1, 2; compare Isaiah chap. 6.) He was sent as a watchman to the house of Israel to warn them of their wicked way. Though they would be very hardhearted, nonetheless the warning was necessary so that they would know
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