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PeaceAid to Bible Understanding
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Solomon (whose name means “peaceable”).—Matt. 12:42.
PEACE BETWEEN MAN AND THE ANIMAL CREATION
Jehovah God promised to the Israelites, if obedient: “I will put peace in the land, and you will indeed lie down, with no one making you tremble; and I will make the injurious wild beast cease out of the land.” (Lev. 26:6) This meant that the wild animals would stay within the confines of their habitat and not bring harm to the Israelites and their domestic animals. On the other hand, if the Israelites proved to be disobedient, Jehovah would allow their land to be invaded and devastated by foreign armies. As this would result in reducing the population, wild animals would multiply, penetrate formerly inhabited areas and do injury to the survivors and their domestic animals.—Compare Exodus 23:29; Leviticus 26:22; 2 Kings 17:5, 6, 24-26.
The peace promised to the Israelites in connection with the wild animals differed from that enjoyed by the first man and woman in the garden of Eden, for Adam and Eve enjoyed full dominion over the animal creation. (Gen. 1:28) By contrast, in prophecy, like dominion is only attributed to Christ Jesus. (Ps. 8:4-8; Heb. 2:5-9) Therefore, it is under the governmental administration of Jesus Christ, the “stump of Jesse” or God’s “servant David,” that peace will again prevail between men and the animals. (Isa. 11:1, 6-9; 65:25; Ezek. 34:23-25) These last cited texts basically have a figurative application, for it is obvious that the peace between animals, such as the wolf and the lamb, there described did not find literal fulfillment in ancient Israel. Persons of harmful, beastlike disposition were thus foretold to cease their vicious ways and live in peace with their more docile neighbors. However, the prophetic use of the animals figuratively to portray the peaceful conditions to prevail among God’s people implies that there will also be peace among literal animals under the rule of the “stump of Jesse,” Christ Jesus, even as there evidently was in Eden.
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PeacockAid to Bible Understanding
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PEACOCK
[Heb., tuk·ki·yimʹ (plural)].
The term “peacock” properly applies to the brilliantly colored male of the peafowl. It is a large bird of the pheasant family, about the size of a turkey. The peacock is particularly noted for its magnificent train of iridescent green and gold feathers marked with large “eyespots” of blue. The train can be spread at will to form an impressive semicircular screen or fan touching the ground on either side. The peacock shakes the fanned train, producing a rustling sound and causing the feathers to shimmer with their iridescent hues. The neck and breast are also of a beautiful metallic greenish-blue color. Due to its majestic beauty the bird was greatly prized from ancient times.
In King Solomon’s time the triannual voyages of his fleet of ships of Tarshish brought cargoes of “gold and silver, ivory, and apes and peacocks.” (1 Ki. 10:22) While certain of Solomon’s ships made trips to Ophir (evidently in the Red Sea area; 1 Ki. 9:26-28), 2 Chronicles 9:21 mentions ships “going to Tarshish” (likely in Spain) in connection with the carrying of the above commodities, including peacocks. It is not certain, therefore, from what place or area the peacocks were imported. These beautiful birds are held to be native of SE Asia and are abundant in India and Ceylon. Some believe that the Hebrew name (tuk·ki·yimʹ) is to be connected with the Old Tamil name for the peacock, tokei. The peacocks obtained by Solomon’s fleet could have been obtained, of course, along their usual route at some trading center having contacts with India. Of interest, also, is the statement in The Animal Kingdom (1954; Frederick Drimmer, M.A., Editor, Vol. II, p. 988): “For centuries scientists assumed that there were no peacocks in Africa—their known dwelling places were the East Indies and southeastern Asia. The belief of the naturalists was shattered in 1936, when the Congo peacock was discovered in the Belgian Congo.”
The peacock apparently reached Greece at least by the fifth century B.C.E. and is said to have been bred on the island of Samos off the coast of Asia Minor. The Greek poet Aristophanes spoke of “Persian Peacocks” and some suggest that the bird reached Greece from India by way of Persia.
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PearlAid to Bible Understanding
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PEARL
A smooth, relatively hard, globular and generally white gem with a soft iridescent luster, which has from ancient times been used for adornment. (1 Tim. 2:9; Rev. 17:4; 18:11, 12, 15, 16; 21:2, 21) It is a hardened mass of calcium carbonate that forms inside oysters and certain other mollusks. When a foreign particle (such as a grain of sand or a small parasite) enters the area between the body and the shell of a mollusk, this stimulates the creature’s secretion of a calcareous substance called “nacre,” which hardens into a pearly layer around the irritating intruding material. Successive layers of this shell-like substance are built up around the foreign particle that serves as a nucleus. If the nucleus remains free from the shell due to the contractions of the mantle lining the shell, a beautiful pearl is formed in the course of several years.
Pearls of gem quality are taken from the sea pearl oyster, a native of most warm tropical waters, and notably of the vicinity of Bahrein Island (ancient Tylos) in the Persian Gulf, and of the Red Sea.
ILLUSTRATIVE USE
The Bible at times alludes to the preciousness of pearls in an illustrative way. With reference to the surpassing value of true wisdom, Job said: “A bagful of wisdom is worth more than one full of pearls.” (Job 28:18) In the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus Christ counseled: “Do not give what is holy to dogs, neither throw your pearls before swine, that they may never trample them under their feet and turn around and rip you open.” (Matt. 7:6) Evidently Jesus meant that, if a person shows that he is like a dog or a swine, with no appreciation for spiritual things, one should not further endeavor to share spiritual thoughts and teachings with him. Such corrupt persons would only trample upon valuable spiritual things and abuse or injure anyone endeavoring to share these with them. Jesus also illustrated the preciousness of the kingdom of the heavens by “one pearl” of such high value that a traveling merchant seeking fine pearls “promptly sold all the things he had and bought it.” (Matt. 13:45, 46) Thereby Jesus showed that an individual appreciating the true worth of gaining the kingdom of the heavens would be willing to part with anything in order to do so.—Compare Matthew 11:12; Luke 13:23-25; Philippians 3:8-11.
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PedahelAid to Bible Understanding
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PEDAHEL
(Ped·ahʹel) [God has ransomed].
A chieftain of Naphtali appointed by Jehovah to help divide the Promised Land among the tribes; son of Ammihud.—Num. 34:16, 17, 28.
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PedaiahAid to Bible Understanding
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PEDAIAH
(Pe·daiʹah) [Jehovah has ransomed].
1. Father of Joel; during David’s reign he was prince of the half of the tribe of Manasseh dwelling W of the Jordan.—1 Chron. 27:20, 22.
2. Father of Jehoiakim’s mother Zebidah; Pedaiah lived in Rumah.—2 Ki. 23:36.
3. Third-named son of King Jehoiachin (Jeconiah) born during the Babylonian exile. Pedaiah became father to postexilic Governor Zerubbabel and was therefore a vital link in the line leading to Jesus.
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