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Pasture GroundsAid to Bible Understanding
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around.” But the next verse adds: “You must measure outside the city on the east side two thousand cubits” and so on in all four directions. (Num. 35:4, 5) Numerous suggestions have been offered to harmonize the two figures. Some have pointed out that the Septuagint reads “two thousand” in the first instance instead of “a thousand.” However, the Hebrew text as well as the Latin Vulgate and the Syriac Peshitta read “a thousand.” Jewish commentators have offered the possibility that the first thousand cubits (Num. 35:4) were open and used for olive yards and stalls for animals, while the second measurement (Num. 35:5) was for actual grazing or pasture grounds as well as for fields and vineyards, making a total of three thousand cubits on each side.
However, since this reads into the text thoughts that are not there expressed, another explanation seems more likely. Thus, some commentators believe the measurements to mean that the pastureland was determined by measuring out one thousand cubits from each of the four sides of the city, east, west, north and south. As to the two thousand cubits on each side, they believe the expression “outside the city” means that these two thousand cubits were not measured from the city walls outward but were the measurements of each of the four sides of the pasture area as measured along its perimeter. If so, this would mean that the space occupied by the “city in the middle” was not counted in the two thousand cubits measured. As shown in the following diagram, it can be seen that this would allow for harmonizing the two sets of measurements.
In Ezekiel’s temple vision the sanctuary was to have fifty cubits “as pasture ground on each side.” (Ezek. 45:2) The city “Jehovah Himself Is There” that the prophet saw in vision had pasture grounds of 250 cubits on each side. (Ezek. 48:16, 17, 35) Pasture grounds were mentioned in 1 Chronicles 5:16 in connection with “Sharon,” which some believe to have been a region or town E of the Jordan. The Hebrew word translated “pasture ground” in the above instances also appears at Ezekiel 27:28, where it is used in connection with Tyre, the city situated first on the coast and then on an island. In this instance the word has been rendered “coast” (Mo, JB), “countryside” (RS), “open country” (NW) and “rural districts” (Le), the prophecy thus perhaps indicating that those along the coast near Tyre would rejoice at her overthrow.
Flocks held an important place in the lives of many Israelites, requiring pasture grounds where sheep and goats could graze. (2 Sam. 7:8; 1 Chron. 4:39-41) Lack of pasturage for herds brought hardship. (Gen. 47:3, 4) Whereas, abundant grazing land contributed to a time of plenty and peace. (Isa. 30:23; Ps. 65:12, 13; 23:2) By extension, abandoned pasture ground would indicate complete desolation (Isa. 27:10), but restoration to peace and favor would be suggested by pasture grounds being used again. (Isa. 65:10; Jer. 23:3; 33:12; 50:19; Mic. 2:12) As sheep were led by a loving shepherd to pasture grounds where they were safe and had an abundance, so God’s people are guided and cared for by Jehovah.—Ps. 79:13; 95:7; 100:3; Ezek. 34:31.
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PataraAid to Bible Understanding
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PATARA
(Patʹa·ra).
The Lycian seaport where the apostle Paul and his associates, likely in 56 C.E., transferred to a boat sailing for Phoenicia. (Acts 21:1, 2) Patara is today represented by ancient ruins at the village of Gelemish on the mountainous SW coast of Asia Minor and lies several miles E of the mouth of the Xanthos (Koca) River. It served as a port of call for ships from Italy, Egypt, Syria and other places, and was the primary harbor for cities along the Xanthos river valley.
At Acts 21:1 certain ancient manuscripts add “and Myra” after Patara. If this addition is correct, then the ship on which Paul sailed from Miletus either passed Patara or put into port there, with the actual transfer to another boat taking place at Myra, not Patara.
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PathrosAid to Bible Understanding
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PATHROS
(Pathʹros) [perhaps, the Southern Land].
Pathros is regularly associated with Egypt (Hebrew, Mits·raʹyim). (Ezek. 30:13, 14) Most authorities connect the name Pathros with the Egyptian p;-t;-rsy (the actual pronunciation is unknown), a term evidently designating Upper Egypt. Upper Egypt generally designates the region of the Nile valley running from a point somewhat S of Memphis on up to Syene (modern Aswan) at the first cataract of the Nile. Some scholars, however, prefer to include a “Middle Egypt” in this section and believe that Pathros relates more closely to the Thebaid, that is, the region of Upper Egypt around the ancient city of Thebes, some 300 miles (c. 482 kilometers) S of the Delta region of Lower Egypt. The text at Isaiah 11:11, which foretells the return of Israelite exiles from ‘Egypt (Mizraim), Pathros and Cush,’ would seem to corroborate the placing of Pathros somewhere in Upper Egypt, with Cush (Ethiopia) bordering it on the S. An Assyrian inscription of King Esar-haddon gives a similar lineup, referring to “Musur, Paturisi and Cush.”
Ezekiel 29:14 calls Pathros the “land of their [the Egyptians’] origin.” The traditional Egyptian view, as recounted by Herodotus (ii, 4, 15, 99), apparently corroborates this, as it makes Upper Egypt, and particularly the region of Thebes, the seat of the first Egyptian kingdom, under a king whom Herodotus calls “Menes,” a name not found in Egyptian records. Diodorus Siculus (first century B.C.E.) records a similar view (i, 50). The Egyptian tradition set forth by these Greek historians may be a feeble echo of the true history presented in the Bible regarding Mizraim (whose name came to stand for Egypt) and his descendants, including Pathrusim.—Gen. 10:13, 14.
Following the desolation of Judah by Nebuchadnezzar, a remnant of the Jews fled into Egypt. Among the places listed in which they dwelt are Migdol, Tahpanhes, Noph (all cities of Lower Egypt) and “the land of Pathros.” (Jer. 44:1) Here they engaged in idolatrous worship, resulting in Jehovah’s condemnation of them and the warning of a coming conquest of Egypt by Nebuchadnezzar. (Jer. 44:15, 26-30)
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