Jan 11, 2012 -- 6:17AM, Goodtobehomestill wrote:

Since the law was equal for both sexes if there was proof of adultery, men and women were both liable to execution, we might just assume that in general women were too busy and too sensible to unjustly charge unfaithfulness.  Seeing a weakness in Israelite men toward this, Jehovah made provision.

Good humor!

Mar 17, 2012 -- 7:51AM, Ed2 wrote:

I have a few more questions from another thread

community.beliefnet.com/go/thread/view/4... (post #113)

since I don't really don't think that Faith_on_the_March is a JW:

I do believe it is actually a book!

Isaiah 65:25a(NWT) says:

“The wolf and the lamb themselves will feed as one, and the lion will eat straw just like the bull; and as for the serpent, his food will be dust.

Therefore, I have two questions about this scripture...for anyone who would like to answer.

1)If these prophecies are literal, then why isn't verse 25a consistent since it uses symbolic language for the serpent?

(Genesis 3:14) . . .. Upon your belly you will go and dust is what you will eat all the days of your life. . .

Because the prophecy has both a literal and and a figurative application.   Please note that the food serpents ate before the flood would be essentially the same on the New Earth paradise.   However, this particular statement calls to mind the prophecy in Genesis 3:15 - deliberately.

2)Since serpents won't be literally eating dust in the new system, what would be your guess as to what serpents will eat in the new system?

As I said above, the same as their pre-flood diet when Genesis 3:14 was fulfilled upon the literal serpent. 

Btw the serpent (Satan) will "lick the dust" - as per the current English idiom.

 

 

Mar 17, 2012 -- 9:57AM, Newtonian wrote:

1)If these prophecies are literal, then why isn't verse 25a consistent since it uses symbolic language for the serpent?

(Genesis 3:14) . . .. Upon your belly you will go and dust is what you will eat all the days of your life. . .

Because the prophecy has both a literal and and a figurative application.   Please note that the food serpents ate before the flood would be essentially the same on the New Earth paradise.   However, this particular statement calls to mind the prophecy in Genesis 3:15 - deliberately.

Another part of the curse was that the serpent would now go "upon its belly."  Did serpents have legs before this curse?  And, to be quite honest, I don't see how that is a curse, as other creatures go upon their belly as well.

(Matthew 13:39) . . .The harvest is a conclusion of a system of things, and the reapers are angels.

(Matthew 21:43-44) 43 This is why I say to YOU, The kingdom of God will be taken from YOU and be given to a nation producing its fruits. 44 Also, the person falling upon this stone will be shattered. As for anyone upon whom it falls, it will pulverize him.”
(Matthew 23:37-24:2) 37 “Jerusalem, Jerusalem, the killer of the prophets and stoner of those sent forth to her,—how often I wanted to gather your children together, the way a hen gathers her chicks together under her wings! But YOU people did not want it. 38 Look! YOUR house is abandoned to YOU. 39 For I say to YOU, YOU will by no means see me from henceforth until YOU say, ‘Blessed is he that comes in Jehovah’s name!’” 24 Departing now, Jesus was on his way from the temple, but his disciples approached to show him the buildings of the temple. 2 In response he said to them: “Do YOU not behold all these things? Truly I say to YOU, By no means will a stone be left here upon a stone and not be thrown down.”

They asked for a sign, because Jesus had already spoken to them of the 'conclusion of the system of things.'  Did they know there were actually to be two fulfillments?  I can't see how.  Their job was to publicize what they knew, what Jesus had told them.  And if they had known in 33 C.E. that Jerusalem would not fall until 70 C.E. would they have been the energetic preachers of this fact that they were?  Probably not. 

The system of worship centered at Jerusalem had represented God's kingdom, but was being taken away from the Jewish nation, and the Christians had to live in line with that fact, and in expectation of the execution of judgment on apostate Israel.  And they had to teach others to do the same.

One clue that there is a greater fulfillment lies in the phrase 'tribulation that has not occured since the world's beginning.'  While the coming tribulation of Jerusalem was staggering, it did not match the scope of the Flood.  But the early Christians rightly publicized the tribulation that was coming in their day, using language Jesus had used that would later refer to both fulfillments, even though Christ wasn't 'present' in the same way for the Jerusalem destruction as he is in our day, as enthroned King. 

A person would always need to live as if the Kingdom were 'near' or they would lose their focus, and live for self.  The temptation for that is just that great.

Mar 17, 2012 -- 10:42AM, Knowsnothing wrote:

Mar 17, 2012 -- 9:57AM, Newtonian wrote:

1)If these prophecies are literal, then why isn't verse 25a consistent since it uses symbolic language for the serpent?

(Genesis 3:14) . . .. Upon your belly you will go and dust is what you will eat all the days of your life. . .

Because the prophecy has both a literal and and a figurative application.   Please note that the food serpents ate before the flood would be essentially the same on the New Earth paradise.   However, this particular statement calls to mind the prophecy in Genesis 3:15 - deliberately.

Another part of the curse was that the serpent would now go "upon its belly."  Did serpents have legs before this curse?  And, to be quite honest, I don't see how that is a curse, as other creatures go upon their belly as well.

Good question.  The original serpent, as in Revelation 12:9, was Satan - and he is indeed on his last legs!

Actually, that is a good question - answered twice over the years in our Questions from readers.

Here is the more recent answer:

"

Questions

From Readers

Did

the serpent that spoke to Eve have legs?

As recorded at Genesis 3:14, Jehovah God addressed the serpent that had deceived Eve in the garden of Eden. God said: “Because you have done this thing, you are the cursed one out of all the domestic animals and out of all the wild beasts of the field. Upon your belly you will go and dust is what you will eat all the days of your life.” The Bible does not specifically state that the animal used in tempting Eve had previously had legs but lost them. While the wording of Genesis 3:14 might lead some to think so, we need not necessarily conclude that prior to this curse, serpents had legs. Why not?

Principally because the real object of Jehovah’s judgment was Satan—the invisible spirit who had misused that lowly animal. The Bible describes Satan as “the father of the lie” and “the original serpent.” Both of these expressions apparently point back to Satan’s using a visible animal, a serpent, as his mouthpiece to induce Eve to disobey God’s command.—John 8:44; Revelation 20:2.

God created serpents, and Adam had apparently given serpents their name before Satan’s deceptive act. The unreasoning serpent that spoke to Eve was not to blame. It would have been unaware that Satan was manipulating it, and it could not understand the judgment that God rendered against the disobedient parties.

Why, then, did God speak of the serpent’s physical abasement? The behavior of a serpent in its natural environment, crawling on its belly and flicking its tongue as if to lick up dust, fittingly symbolized Satan’s debased condition. Having previously enjoyed a lofty position as one of God’s angels, he was consigned to the lowly condition referred to in the Bible as Tartarus.—2 Peter 2:4.

Further, as a literal serpent might wound a man’s heel, Satan in his debased state would ‘bruise the heel’ of God’s “seed.” (Genesis 3:15) The primary part of that seed proved to be Jesus Christ, who temporarily suffered at the hands of Satan’s agents. But the symbolic serpent’s head will, in time, be permanently crushed by Christ and his resurrected anointed Christian companions. (Romans 16:20) Thus, God’s directing his curse toward the visible serpent aptly pictured the debasement and ultimate destruction of the invisible “original serpent,” Satan the Devil." - "The Watchtower," 6/15/07, p. 31

In short, good to be home was correct.