Reference for Life and How we dey Preach—Meeting Book
SEPTEMBER 4-10
BETTER THINGS WEY DEY INSIDE BIBLE | EZEKIEL 42-45
“Pure Worship Restored!”
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“Set Your Heart Upon” God’s Temple!
3 This extensive vision, filling nine chapters of Ezekiel’s book, provided exiled Judeans with a faith-strengthening promise. Pure worship would be restored! In the centuries since then, even down to our day, this vision has been a source of encouragement to lovers of Jehovah. How so? Let us examine what Ezekiel’s prophetic vision meant to the exiled Israelites. It has four main components: the temple, the priesthood, the chieftain, and the land.
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Temple
Ezekiel’s temple vision. In 593 B.C.E., in the 14th year after the destruction of Jerusalem and Solomon’s temple therein, the priest-prophet Ezekiel, transported in vision to a high mountaintop, beheld a great temple of Jehovah. (Eze 40:1, 2) To humiliate and bring about repentance of the exiled Jews, also doubtless to comfort faithful ones, Ezekiel was instructed to relate everything he saw to “the house of Israel.” (Eze 40:4; 43:10, 11) The vision gave careful attention to the details of measurement. The units of measure used were the “reed” (the long reed, 3.11 m; 10.2 ft) and the “cubit” (the long cubit, 51.8 cm; 20.4 in.). (Eze 40:5, ftn) This attention to measurement has led some to believe that this visionary temple was to serve as a model for the temple later constructed by Zerubbabel in the postexilic period. There is, however, no conclusive substantiation of this assumption.
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“Set Your Heart Upon” God’s Temple!
10 How all of this must have lifted the hearts of those exiles! Each family was assured of having an inheritance in the land. (Compare Micah 4:4.) Pure worship would occupy an exalted, central place there. And notice in Ezekiel’s vision that the chieftain, like the priests, would live on land contributed by the people. (Ezekiel 45:16) So in the restored land, the people were to contribute to the work of those whom Jehovah appointed to take the lead, supporting them by cooperating with their direction. In all, this land was a picture of organization, cooperation, and security.
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Name
Israel’s failure as God’s name people to live up to his righteous commands constituted a profanation or defilement of God’s name. (Eze 43:8; Am 2:7) Since the Israelites’ unfaithfulness resulted in God’s punishing them, this also gave opportunity for his name to be spoken of disrespectfully by other nations. (Compare Ps 74:10, 18; Isa 52:5.) Failing to recognize that the chastisement came from Jehovah, these nations wrongly attributed the calamities that befell Israel to the inability of Jehovah to protect his people. To clear his name of such reproach, Jehovah acted for the sake of his name and restored a remnant of Israel to their land.—Eze 36:22-24.
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Justice
Therefore, Jehovah has always rightly required that those desiring to gain his approval acquaint themselves with his standard of justice and follow it. (Isa 1:17, 18; 10:1, 2; Jer 7:5-7; 21:12; 22:3, 4; Eze 45:9, 10; Am 5:15; Mic 3:9-12; 6:8; Zec 7:9-12)
SEPTEMBER 11-17
BETTER THINGS WEY DEY INSIDE BIBLE | EZEKIEL 46-48
“Blessings That Restored Israel Would Enjoy”
w99 3/1 10 ¶11-12
“Set Your Heart Upon” God’s Temple!
11 Would Jehovah bless their land? The prophecy answers this question with a heartwarming picture. A stream flows from the temple, widening as it goes, becoming a torrent by the time it enters the Dead Sea. There it revives lifeless waters, and a fishing industry flourishes on a stretch of the shoreline. Along the riverbanks are many trees that bear fruit year-round, giving nourishment and healing.—Ezekiel 47:1-12.
12 To the exiles, this promise echoed and confirmed earlier restoration prophecies that they held very dear. More than once, Jehovah’s inspired prophets had described a restored, repopulated Israel in paradisaic terms. Dead regions coming to life had been a recurring prophetic theme. (Isaiah 35:1, 6, 7; 51:3; Ezekiel 36:35; 37:1-14) So the people could expect that Jehovah’s life-giving blessings would flow forth like a river from the restored temple. Consequently, a spiritually dead nation would revive. The restored people would be blessed with outstanding spiritual men—men as righteous and firm as the trees along those visionary riverbanks, men who would take the lead in rebuilding a ruined land. Isaiah too had written of “big trees of righteousness” who would “rebuild the long-standing devastated places.”—Isaiah 61:3, 4.
w99 3/1 10 ¶10
“Set Your Heart Upon” God’s Temple!
10 How all of this must have lifted the hearts of those exiles! Each family was assured of having an inheritance in the land. (Compare Micah 4:4.) Pure worship would occupy an exalted, central place there. And notice in Ezekiel’s vision that the chieftain, like the priests, would live on land contributed by the people. (Ezekiel 45:16) So in the restored land, the people were to contribute to the work of those whom Jehovah appointed to take the lead, supporting them by cooperating with their direction. In all, this land was a picture of organization, cooperation, and security.
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w99 3/1 11 ¶14
“Set Your Heart Upon” God’s Temple!
14 Were these events the only fulfillment of Ezekiel’s vision? No; something far greater is indicated. Consider: The temple that Ezekiel saw could not really be built as described. True, the Jews took that vision seriously and even applied some details literally. However, the visionary temple as a whole was too large even to fit on Mount Moriah, the site of the former temple. In addition, Ezekiel’s temple was not in the city but some distance away on a separate tract of land, whereas the second temple was built where its predecessor had stood, in the city of Jerusalem. (Ezra 1:1, 2) Further, no literal river ever emerged from Jerusalem’s temple. So ancient Israel saw only a token fulfillment of Ezekiel’s prophecy. This implies that there must be a greater, spiritual fulfillment of this vision.
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Son of Man
In the Hebrew Scriptures the most frequent occurrence of the expression is in the book of Ezekiel, where over 90 times God addresses the prophet as “son of man.” (Eze 2:1, 3, 6, 8) The designation as so used apparently serves to emphasize that the prophet is simply an earthling, thus heightening the contrast between the human spokesman and the Source of his message, the Most High God. The same designation is applied to the prophet Daniel at Daniel 8:17.
SEPTEMBER 18-24
BETTER THINGS WEY DEY INSIDE BIBLE | DANIEL 1-3
“Loyalty to Jehovah Brings Rewards”
w15 7/15 25 ¶15-16
Maintain Your Loyalty to God’s Kingdom
15 Sooner or later, all of Jehovah’s servants will find themselves in situations in which their conscience obliges them to stand out as different from those around them—whether colleagues, classmates, neighbors, relatives, or others. (1 Pet. 2:19) Yet, stand out we must! We should not be surprised if the world hates us for our stand; Jesus warned us that it would. Most opposers do not appreciate the importance of the issues involved in Christian neutrality. For us, though, these are matters of utmost importance.
16 Loyalty to Jehovah requires that we be steadfast in the face of threats. (Dan. 3:16-18) Fear of man can affect people of all ages, but young people may find it especially difficult to go against the flow, so to speak. If your children are facing such issues as the flag salute or nationalistic celebrations, do not hesitate to assist them. Use Family Worship sessions to help your children understand the issues involved so that they can meet those challenges courageously. Help them to express their personal convictions clearly and respectfully. (Rom. 1:16) To back up your children, take the initiative to speak with their teachers about these matters if necessary.
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Be Courageous—Jehovah Is With You!
13 In the seventh century B.C.E., three Hebrew servants of Jehovah were given clear evidence that God rewards faith and courage. King Nebuchadnezzar assembled Babylon’s dignitaries and demanded that they worship a towering image of gold. Any who would not do so were to die in a fiery furnace. The three Hebrews respectfully told Nebuchadnezzar: “Our God whom we are serving is able to rescue us. Out of the burning fiery furnace and out of your hand, O king, he will rescue us. But if not, let it become known to you, O king, that your gods are not the ones we are serving, and the image of gold that you have set up we will not worship.” (Dan. 3:16-18) The thrilling rescue of the three Hebrews is vividly described at Daniel 3:19-30. Although we are not likely to be threatened with death in a fiery furnace, we do face tests of integrity and can be sure that God will bless us for our faith and courage.
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Meshach
There are three probable reasons why they considered the king’s delicacies ‘polluting’: (1) The Babylonians ate animals declared unclean by the Mosaic Law; (2) they would not be careful to see that the animals were properly bled, some perhaps being strangled; (3) the pagans often first sacrificed the animals to their gods, considering the eating of such meat as a part of worship of these gods.—Da 1:8; compare 1Co 10:18-20, 28.
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WHO MAKE UP “ALL THESE KINGDOMS”?
The prophecy at Daniel 2:44 states that God’s Kingdom “will crush and put an end to all these kingdoms.” That prophecy refers only to the kingdoms pictured by the various parts of the image.
What about all other human governments? The parallel prophecy in Revelation reveals the larger picture. It shows that “the kings of the entire inhabited earth” will be gathered against Jehovah on “the great day of God the Almighty.” (Rev. 16:14; 19:19-21) Hence, not only the kingdoms of the image but also all other human governments will be destroyed at Armageddon.
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The Key to a Happy World
The answer is found at Daniel 2:44: “In the days of those kings [ruling at the end of the present system] the God of heaven will set up a kingdom that will never be brought to ruin. And the kingdom itself will not be passed on to any other people. It will crush and put an end to all these [man-made] kingdoms, and it itself will stand to times indefinite.” Why will God’s Kingdom have to “crush” earthly rulerships? Because these insist on perpetuating the God-defying spirit of self-determination promoted by Satan back in the garden of Eden. In addition to working against mankind’s best interests, those who strive to perpetuate that spirit put themselves on a collision course with the Creator. (Psalm 2:6-12; Revelation 16:14, 16) Hence, we must ask ourselves, ‘Are we for or against rule by God?’
SEPTEMBER 25–OCTOBER 1
BETTER THINGS WEY DEY INSIDE BIBLE | DANIEL 4-6
“Are You Serving Jehovah Continually?”
w10 11/15 6 ¶16
Young Ones—Be Guided by God’s Word
16 Why should you want to obey Jehovah even when you are alone? Remember this: You are able either to hurt Jehovah’s feelings or to make his heart rejoice. (Gen. 6:5, 6; Prov. 27:11) Jehovah is affected by your actions because “he cares for you.” (1 Pet. 5:7) He wants you to listen to him so that you can benefit yourself. (Isa. 48:17, 18) When some of Jehovah’s servants in ancient Israel ignored his counsel, they caused him to feel pain. (Ps. 78:40, 41) On the other hand, Jehovah felt deep affection for the prophet Daniel, for an angel called him a “very desirable man.” (Dan. 10:11) Why? Daniel remained loyal to God not only when in public but also in private.—Read Daniel 6:10.
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Do You Share Jehovah’s View of Sacred Things?
12 Not surprisingly, many things related to the lives of anointed members of the Christian congregation and their companions are held sacred. Our relationship with Jehovah is something sacred. (1 Chronicles 28:9; Psalm 36:7) It is so precious to us that we allow nothing and no one to come between us and our God, Jehovah. (2 Chronicles 15:2; James 4:7, 8) Prayer plays an important part in our maintaining a close relationship with Jehovah. Prayer was so sacred to the prophet Daniel that even at the risk of his life, he continued faithful in his custom of praying to Jehovah. (Daniel 6:7-11) “The prayers of the holy ones,” or anointed Christians, are likened to incense used in temple worship. (Revelation 5:8; 8:3, 4; Leviticus 16:12, 13) This symbolism underscores the sacredness of prayer. What a privilege it is to be able to communicate with the Sovereign of the universe! No wonder prayer is held sacred in our lives!
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Why Should We Pray Incessantly?
2 How did Jehovah view Daniel? When the angel Gabriel came to answer one of Daniel’s prayers, he described the prophet as “someone very desirable” or “a man greatly beloved.” (Daniel 9:20-23; The New English Bible) In the prophecy of Ezekiel, Jehovah referred to Daniel as a righteous man. (Ezekiel 14:14, 20) Over the years, Daniel’s prayers evidently resulted in a close relationship with his God, a fact recognized even by Darius.—Daniel 6:16.
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“The Spirit and the Bride Keep On Saying: ‘Come!’ ”
15 After Daniel had spent a night in the lions’ pit, the king himself went there and cried out: “O Daniel, servant of the living God, has your God whom you are serving with constancy been able to rescue you from the lions?” Daniel immediately replied: “O king, live on even to times indefinite. My own God sent his angel and shut the mouth of the lions, and they have not brought me to ruin, forasmuch as before him innocence itself was found in me; and also before you, O king, no hurtful act have I done.” Jehovah blessed Daniel for serving “with constancy.”—Dan. 6:19-22.
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Highlights From the Book of Daniel
4:10, 11, 20-22—What was represented, or symbolized, by the immense tree in Nebuchadnezzar’s dream? The tree initially represented Nebuchadnezzar as the ruler of a world power. Since the rulership extended “to the extremity of the earth,” however, the tree must signify something far grander. Daniel 4:17 connects the dream to the rulership of “the Most High” over mankind. The tree, then, also symbolized Jehovah’s universal sovereignty, especially with respect to the earth. Therefore, the dream has two fulfillments—in Nebuchadnezzar’s rulership and in Jehovah’s sovereignty.
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Questions From Readers
When the Hebrew named Daniel was finally brought in, the king repeated his offer—to clothe Daniel with purple, to put a gold necklace on him, and to make him the third ruler in the kingdom. The prophet honorably replied: “Let your gifts prove to be to you yourself, and your presents do you give to others. However, I shall read the writing itself to the king, and the interpretation I shall make known to him.”—Daniel 5:17.
So Daniel did not need to be bribed or paid to provide the interpretation. The king could keep his gifts or bestow them on someone else. Daniel would provide the explanation, not for a reward, but because he was empowered to do so by Jehovah, the true God, whose judgment on Babylon was impending.
As we read at Daniel 5:29, after Daniel had read and interpreted the words as he said he would, the king ordered that the rewards be given to Daniel anyway. Daniel himself did not put on the clothing and the necklace. They were put on him by order of the absolute ruler, King Belshazzar. But this does not conflict with Daniel 5:17, where the prophet made it clear that his motive was not a selfish one.
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Four Words That Changed the World
22 Thus the riddle was solved. Mighty Babylon was about to fall to the Medo-Persian forces. Though crestfallen in the face of this pronouncement of doom, Belshazzar kept his word. He had his servants clothe Daniel with purple, bedeck him with a golden necklace, and herald him as the third ruler in the kingdom. (Daniel 5:29) Daniel did not refuse these honors, recognizing that they reflected the honor due Jehovah. Of course, Belshazzar may have hoped to soften Jehovah’s judgment by honoring His prophet. If so, it was a case of too little too late.
because he is able to humiliate those who are walking in pride.”