Continuation of yesterday’s reading with verse 5
omitted. See:
03042023.html
I will add that Roman Catholics read verses 1 to 6 today (thus, the readings coincide on these two days).
If in the previous reading it was mainly about the people of Israel,
but you can also see indications of the Son of God Jesus Christ, Who is
to be born in Israel, Who is his (as a certain communion with God)
Representative and, figuratively speaking, the Heart of Israel
, then
the today’s reading is about Him. He (Jesus Christ) is the Light of the
nations, He returns to God the dispersed of Israel (who were called to
holiness, but departed from it) through repentance and conversion, He is
the Savior.
The verse of Isaiah XLIX, 8 is quoted by the apostle Paul with the addition that it was fulfilled in Christ in their time.
In general, the prophecy is about the grace of God and the power to do God’s will in Christ, as well as about the future Kingdom of God in a form that is more understandable to the inhabitants of hot and somewhat arid Palestine.
Water springs
are an image of the grace of God and the gifts of the
Holy Spirit, Himself, as we can see from the Gospel words of the Savior.
In the Gospel, Christ adds more, saying that a faithful and saved person
himself / herself becomes a source of living water
– not as the
Primary Source of the Holy Spirit, but as a secondary source – through
union with Him and assistance in spreading Him in the world.
The story of Jacob’s resettlement to the Fatherland of Abraham, the vision of the mysterious stairs to heaven (which firstly represented the Mother of God and the Son of God), Jacob’s marriage, the birth of children, and the like are omitted.
Reading about the fact that the Lord tells Jacob to return to the Promised Land, and also about the fact that He preserved and blessed Jacob (the righteous) even when they wanted to harm him (his father-in-law).
Genesis XXXI, 8-9 — for more than 14 years in Laban’s flocks there remained mostly new sheep born during the time of Jacob’s work for him, but all of them turned out to be Jacob’s, although Laban deliberately tried to prevent Jacob from becoming rich through his work on Laban.
An example of the fact that employers should take care of the well-being of their employees (which Laban did not do, or did reluctantly, and became poor because of it by God’s will).
Jacob’s dream, where an Angel who is God appeared to him (that is, it
was the Son of God, Who later became a man), prompted him to return to
the Promised Land, and his wifes (Jacob, not wanting it, but had two
wives, which was quite normal in that society; besides, he has slaves;
Christ in the Gospels teaches how we should treat with the topic, I
wrote about it in other works), who are also Laban’s daughters, fully
supported Jacob, their husband. See also about Nathanael’s vocation at
the link:
05032023.html
About
the relationships, see by the links:
https://oleksandr-zhabenko.github.io/uk/%D0%9F%D0%B5%D1%80%D0%B5%D0%BB%D1%8E%D0%B1-%D0%BF%D0%BE%D0%B2%D0%BD%D0%B0-%D0%B2%D0%B5%D1%80%D1%81%D1%96%D1%8F.html
(the full version)
https://oleksandr-zhabenko.github.io/en/Adultery-briefly.html
(the brief version)
06032023.html
(the
citation there from Instagram)
This, among other things, is one of the evidences that husbands are closer and more important to wives and wives to husbands than parents.
The Greek and Hebrew texts are generally close, but for some verses they differ markedly.
Through Solomon, the Lord teaches the value of justice and righteousness, modesty, integrity, truthfulness, warns against sins, against wickedness, teaches to avoid evil and do not contribute to it, notes the importance of fair punishment for society, teaches to help those in need (with the well-known classical thought that who does not help when can in need, he / she himself / herself will find himself / herself in a state of need without help), teaches to do good (even secretly), to be generous, not to live for entertainment, to be moderate in fun (not to be thoughtless), encourages wisdom in the search for wives (and husbands), encourages good and righteousness.
In the verse of Proverbs XXI, 16 – giants
can be translated as
dead
, and as ghosts
, and as rephaim
(literally in Hebrew – giants
who died).
Glory be to Thee, our God, glory be to Thee!