The Watchtower — November 1, 1960

“Rice Christians” Are No Christians

“RICE Christians” have disappeared from mainland China. At least so stated Dr. Tracey K. Jones, Jr., at a recent meeting of the Methodist Board of Missions, according to The Christian Century, February 20, 1960.

What is a “rice Christian”? One who was won over to profess one of the religions of Christendom by being furnished rice or other food. Since feeding the stomach does not of itself make for strong convictions, it is not surprising that Communist pressure in China should cause these “rice Christians” to forsake their so-called Christianity.

While communism may have put an end to “rice Christians” on the China mainland, such will keep on thriving elsewhere so long as religious organizations use the same tactics. Thus the above-quoted religious weekly in an earlier issue said: “New Roman Catholic churches which were built in places [in Formosa] where there was no Catholic population were equipped for storage and distribution of relief supplies. . . . Priests used the U.S. surplus commodities that came to them so cheaply as come-ons for converts and stay-ons for the come-ons.”

Most pertinent therefore was question No. 5 in a series of eleven questions sent out by the World Council of Churches to its members. It asked: “Can we agree to disown any Church action by which material or social advantages are offered to influence individuals’ Church affiliation, or undue pressures are brought to bear on persons in times of helplessness or stress?”

Not that “rice Christians” are limited to the rice countries of Asia. Not at all. All Christendom is infected by this selfish virus of professing to worship God yet doing so out of ulterior motives. Because of this we find a great increase in certain lands in church membership, in observance of religious holidays, in sale of religious articles and in construction of new church buildings. That all this increased activity does not represent sincere Christianity is apparent from the fact that in these same countries there are increased crime, delinquency and immorality.

Concerning such “rice Christians,” the apostle Paul said that they were “men corrupted in mind and despoiled of the truth, thinking that godly devotion is a means of gain.” And in foretelling “that in the last days critical times hard to deal with will be here,” Paul goes on to describe the various kinds of delinquency found in the world today, and then states that men would be “lovers of pleasures rather than lovers of God, having a form of godly devotion but proving false to its power; and from these turn away.”—1 Tim. 6:5; 2 Tim. 3:1-5.

Strictly speaking, there can be no such persons as rice Christians. There can be rice Methodists, rice Presbyterians and rice Catholics, but not rice Christians, for Jesus Christ set no such precedent. He emphasized the spiritual above the physical, saying: “Man must live, not on bread alone, but on every utterance coming forth through Jehovah’s mouth.” He called those happy who “are conscious of their spiritual need, since the kingdom of the heavens belongs to them. Happy are those who are hungering and thirsting [not for rice and wine but] for righteousness, since they will be filled.”—Matt. 4:4; 5:3, 6.

True, when crowds had continued with him for days and ran out of food, rather than see them drop famished by the way, Jesus miraculously supplied them with material food, causing a few loaves and fishes to feed many thousands on at least two occasions. But when some followed him simply because of having been thus fed, he rebuked them, saying: “Most truly I say to you, You are looking for me, not because you saw signs [proofs that he was a prophet of God], but because you ate from the loaves and were satisfied. Work, not for the food that perishes, but for the food that remains for life everlasting, which the Son of man will give you, for upon this one the Father, even God, has put his seal of approval.”—John 6:25-27.

True Christianity is not a matter of selfishness but of unselfishness or love: “You must love Jehovah your God with your whole heart and with your whole soul and with your whole mind and with your whole strength,” and, “You must love your neighbor as yourself.” Jesus also said that “the Son of man came, not to be ministered to, but to minister and to give his soul a ransom in exchange for many.” By his course of action Jesus showed that he appreciated that “there is more happiness in giving than there is in receiving.”—Mark 12:30, 31; Matt. 20:28; Acts 20:35.

Can Jesus’ teachings be taken literally in our day? With so much selfishness on every hand, is it possible to apply these Christian principles? Yes, it is; and the New World society of Jehovah’s witnesses gives ample proof therefor. The great majority of them have come out of the popular religions of the world, of pagandom and of Christendom. What has been the inducing cause for these to become Christian witnesses of Jehovah? Not anything of a material nature. It has been the love of truth, the love of God, the love of one’s fellow man. What has attracted many has also been the high principles and the zeal of those bringing them this message, and, in particular, the glorious hope of God’s kingdom and the blessings it will bring in a new world of righteousness.

How practical has all this been? That without the help of any “rice” at all the number of ministers preaching regularly each month has increased nearly three and a half times in ten years, from 230,532 in 1949 to 803,482 in 1959. And these have cast aside all racial, political, national and cultural prejudices and work as a harmonious whole in 176 lands and islands of the sea. Truly, real Christianity does not need “rice” to produce Christians!

Christians—Spectators or Participants?

COULD an army victorious if the general fought but the troops refused? Could a track team win if the captain ran but the others would not?

Troops that refused to fight would be tried for mutiny. The penalty during wartime is death. A team that refused to run would be dismissed and athletes eager to compete would be used.

Christians are likened to soldiers and runners. “As a right kind of soldier of Christ Jesus take your part in suffering evil. No man serving as a soldier involves himself in the commercial businesses of life, in order that he may meet the approval of the one who enrolled him as a soldier. Moreover, if anyone contends even in the games, he is not crowned unless he has contended according to the rules.” (2 Tim. 2:3-5) “Let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, as we look intently at the leader and perfecter of our faith, Jesus.”—Heb. 12:1, 2.

CLERGY ONLY?

Do these words imply that only ministers or priests of religion are to be the participants? Are they the only ones engaged in a contest for life? No, all seekers of everlasting life must take part. All who desire the reward must participate. Taking part is essential, but so is obeying the rules. An army may fight, but if they are ill equipped and badly trained, they will lose. A runner may run, but if he has not exercised and does not run according to the rules, he will not receive the prize. At 1 Corinthians 9:24 the apostle Paul states: “Do you not know that the runners in a race all run, but only one receives the prize? Run in such a way that you may attain it.” The Christian must therefore do his utmost to be victorious without violating the rules.

Soldiers? Runners? Participants? Yes. But observers or spectators? No. Nowhere in the Christian Greek Scriptures are Christians encouraged merely to watch as others participate in the race for life. Nowhere are Christians encouraged merely to listen while someone else does all the speaking. A dictionary defines “Christian” in this way: “Believer in Christ; follower of His example or teachings; member of the religion founded by Him.” Simply put, a Christian must be Christlike. What was Christ like? What were the apostles and disciples and early Christians like? Were they spectators or participants? The apostle Paul declared: “We have become a theatrical spectacle to the world, both to angels and to men.” The early Christians were part of the drama, part of the action. Non-Christians were part of the audience, inactive.—1 Cor. 4:9.

Christians love Christ. What does this love entail? Jesus said: “If anyone loves me, he will observe my word . . . He that does not love me does not observe my words; and the word that you are hearing is not mine, but belongs to the Father who sent me.” (John 14:23, 24) Love expresses itself by what is done. Jesus urged his followers to observe the words of his Father. Obedience to God’s requirements was essential to salvation. Love for God and love for Christ is to be demonstrated by obeying their commandments.

Which commandments? Churchgoers generally believe that these are commandments concerning morality, kindness, clean speech, uprightness, and so forth. These are important, but more is involved. We must follow Jesus’ example as ministers of God.

When Jesus walked the earth, he taught others about God’s ways. In addition, he trained his hearers to do the same teaching work he was engaged in. Note his commissioning of others: “These twelve Jesus sent forth, giving them these orders: . . . As you go, preach, saying, ‘The kingdom of the heavens has drawn near.’” After his death and resurrection an even greater teaching work would be done. When he returned from the grave, Jesus said: “Go therefore and make disciples of people of all the nations, . . . teaching them to observe all the things I have commanded you.” (Matt. 10:5, 7; 28:19, 20) A disciple does what his teacher does. Those preached to were to become preachers also. Disciples were participants, not spectators!

What method would be used to carry out these instructions to preach? Would it mean the use of buildings to gather people together to hear a preacher or minister? This would be helpful, but it would not be the primary method of accomplishing the ministry. Jesus showed what must be done: “Into whatever city or village you enter, search out who in it is deserving . . . When you are entering into the house, greet the household; and if the house is deserving, let the peace you wish it come upon it . . . Wherever anyone does not take you in or listen to your words, on going out of that house or that city shake the dust off your feet.” (Matt. 10:11-14) The teacher would not require the hearer to come to him. The teacher would go to his audience! At Acts 20:20 the apostle Paul said: “I did not hold back from telling you any of the things that were profitable nor from teaching you publicly and from house to house.”

From house to house! This is the principal method Jesus commanded his followers to use in their preaching activity.

It is true that these instructions were delivered over 1900 years ago. Nevertheless, their age does not nullify their application to our time. It is especially now that they have particular significance. The age we live in was specifically singled out by Jesus as the ‘last days’ that would see the end of this wicked world and its replacement by God’s new world. Highlighting part of the composite sign of the end, Jesus said: “This good news of the kingdom will be preached in all the inhabited earth for the purpose of a witness to all the nations, and then the accomplished end will come.”—Matt. 24:14.

Jesus did much preaching. His apostles and disciples as a group did even more. But the greatest preaching and teaching campaign in all history would have to be done now! Yes, Jesus said the entire inhabited earth would be preached to. People in all nations must be warned of the impending doom of this system and told the cheering good news of God’s established kingdom.

NOT FOR ALL?

Who would do this? Christians—all Christians! Some may feel that this is too broad in scope, that Jesus never intended that all should become preachers and teachers. They feel that, since those adhering to their religion do not engage in house-to-house preaching, it is not required. It would be well, therefore, for such ones to note the following statements from leaders of major church groups.

Catholic clergyman John A. O’Brien, writing in the publication Extension of January, 1959, stated: “‘Other sheep I have,’ said Jesus, ‘that are not of this Fold: them also I must bring, and they shall hear My voice, and there shall be one Fold and one Shepherd.’ How are these to be brought into the true Fold? Not by sitting in our homes, but by going to them. This calls for the shoe leather apostolate, for doorbell ringing, for the courteous calling at homes.”

Is this being done by Catholics? Answers O’Brien: “The job can be done if our 37,000,000 laity take off their coats, roll up their sleeves, and get to work alongside of their spiritual shepherds.” The fact that they are urged to begin plainly indicates they are not doing it. After relating that it took 250 Catholics to make one convert, he added: “245 did not lift a finger or give the matter a single thought. In contrast, every Witness of Jehovah spends several hours each week, seeking to win adherents.” Whom does he use as an example of what should be done? Jehovah’s witnesses!

Another clergyman, speaking to a National Council of Churches group, said: “You must recognize witnessing as being fundamental. It is the basis of our faith.” From England, Canon Bryan Green writes in the May 14, 1960, Birmingham Post: “We channel money into expensive evangelistic mass campaigns, into central organizations, and into overadornment of buildings. Would money and energy not be better spent in . . . training of lay people to go back to the apostolic task of house-to-house campaigning? Why apostolic? Paul in the Acts of the Apostles tells us how he did not ‘shrink from teaching both in public and from house-to-house.’”

Does Canon Green expect this to be taken up by his people? He laments: “A good idea, perhaps; but have we the dedication and the perseverance within the Christian Church to carry through such a task to success on the nation-wide scale that is demanded? . . . We might well ask where are the young men of our Christian Churches—clergy apart—who are willing to make such sacrifices for the cause of Christ and his Gospel?” Obviously, this religious leader entertains little hope of arousing the laymen to action in house-to-house ministry. Does he single out any group as an example? He states: “The main point where the Jehovah’s witnesses have something to teach the Christian Church is in their belief in the power of literature, and in house-to-house distribution. This is how they work. The men are sincerely dedicated to their task. They mean business . . . because they believe they have a divine commission.”

The Paterson, New Jersey, Evening News of May 5, 1960, noted the agreement of the major religious denominations in connection with this type of ministry. It said: “What is this much-discussed ‘ministry of the laity’? Protestant and Catholic writers, who have turned out scores of books on the subject lately, agree that . . . every layman is called upon to help communicate the good news of Christ to those who have not heard or understood it. The commandment to preach the gospel to ‘every living creature’ was not directed solely at ordained clergymen: it was laid upon the whole church. And laymen constitute more than 99 percent of the manpower of the church.”

The magazine Lutheran Witness of October 20, 1959, spoke about the duty of all to witness: “Luther elevated the laity from its inferior position and made every Christian a ‘priest.’ First and foremost among these ‘priestly’ activities is witnessing for Christ by life, love, and lips. To be His is to be His witnesses! . . . Under God, every Christian should be on the witnessing team. Already in the fourth century the noted church father Jerome declared: ‘Baptism is the ordination of the laity.’”

In this same publication, a theological seminary professor shows the extreme unlikelihood of lay activity in this church. Dr. Herman Sasse referred “to Lutherans throughout the world, who because they have grown indifferent to sound Lutheran doctrine, could not give definite and satisfactory answers . . . Our churches are precisely in the same position in which Anglicanism finds itself. The Anglican Church is likewise unable to say, even as is the world of Reformed churches, just what she believes.”

Baptist minister L. Tarr of Canada showed the seriousness of not being a participant: “Every Christian should be actively engaged in the work of the Gospel. This age calls for disciples. Anything short of that is hypocrisy.” He then admitted that churchgoers “consider themselves to be spectators rather than participants.”

WHERE RESPONSIBILITY RESTS

How can an army advance without having learned to use its weapons? How can a runner compete if he has never learned to run? How can a Christian witness if he does not know what to witness about? The appalling ignorance existing in Christendom regarding Bible truths makes their witnessing an impossibility. The Lansing, Michigan, State Journal of May 11, 1960, expressed this view, saying: “This will not be a simple task. Religious illiteracy abounds in the pews of American churches, and no layman, however willing, can serve as an articulate apostle of a creed he does not fully comprehend.”

The burden of responsibility for this lack of accurate knowledge rests with the spiritual leaders. They have not faithfully taught Bible truths. They have not employed the Scriptural house-to-house method themselves to set the right example. It is as if the general refused to take part in the war, as if the captain refused to help his team. As a result, both clergy and laity, yes, both generals and troops, both captains and runners, have been disqualified by the great judge, Jehovah God. As was true of the nation of Israel, so it has proved to be true of Christendom: “The kingdom of God will be taken from you and be given to a nation producing its fruits.”—Matt. 21:43.

God will use those who are willing to participate and be his witnesses. Today, hundreds of thousands of Jehovah’s witnesses have responded to Jesus’ command to preach the Kingdom good news from house to house. They alone have been faithful to this commandment. How strange it is, then, that other religions acknowledge witnessing as essential, yet persecute and oppose the ones doing what they recommend!

Everlasting life is a wonderful prize. Spectators will not obtain it, but participants will. Do not become an inactive spectator, but participate to win God’s approval and life in his new world!

Greatest Issue of Life

“The one and only real and profound theme of the world and of human history . . . is the conflict between belief and unbelief,” said Johann von Goethe. The apostle Paul recognized this issue of faith by saying: “Without faith it is impossible to win his good pleasure, for he that approaches God must believe that he is and that he becomes the rewarder of those earnestly seeking him.”—Heb. 11:6.

Marriage in Paradise

“And the Lord God took man, and put him into the paradise of pleasure, to dress it, and to keep it. And the Lord God built the rib which he took from Adam into a woman: and brought her to Adam.”—Gen. 2:15, 22, Dy.

1. Where did human marriage begin, and where will its purpose be fulfilled?

MARRIAGE of man and woman began in Paradise. When Paradise is restored to this earth under the kingdom of the Lord God, there will be marriage of man and woman, until the divine purpose in such a union is fulfilled.

2. (a) How should marriage be treated, and why? (b) At God’s stating his decision to create man, what question arose, and why?

² Rightly, marriage should be treated with honor and respect. Marriage was a paradise privilege for man and woman. It added a touch of beauty and joyfulness to the earthly paradise. Human marriage was from the most honorable and respectable source. Its originator was heavenly, the Most High God, who never does anything wrong, who never sins. He was man’s own Creator. Toward the close of the sixth creative “day” this holy and most lofty Creator took steps to bring into existence his highest earthly creature. “And [in heaven] God went on to say: ‘Let us make man in our image, according to our likeness, and let them have in subjection the fish of the sea and the flying creatures of the heavens and the domestic animals and all the earth and every creeping animal that is creeping upon the earth.’” (Gen 1:26) By saying to his creative agent, his heavenly Son: “Let THEM have in subjection,” God indicated to his creative Son that there were to be two or more, or many, men on the earth having the inferior animal creatures in subjection. How were these men to be produced? God showed his creative Son how.

3. To create man, where did God turn for his building material, and how does Paul verify the Genesis record about this?

³ To what source did God turn for his building material? In His Book, the Holy Bible, he tells us: “Then Jehovah God proceeded to form the man out of dust from the ground and to blow into his nostrils the breath of life, and the man came to be a living soul. Further, Jehovah God planted a garden [a park, a paradise] in Eden, toward the east, and there he put the man whom he had formed.” (Gen. 2:7, 8, and marginal reading) The Christian apostle Paul verifies the inspired authority of that Bible record in the second chapter of Genesis, saying: “It is even so written: ‘The first man Adam became a living soul.’ . . . The first man is out of the earth and made of dust.”—1 Cor. 15:45-47.

4. Why does man have mental, moral and emotional qualities that monkeys and apes do not have, and why was it proper for the male human to have headship over his earthly companion?

⁴ To begin with, Jehovah God made just one human creature, but not as an experiment. In whose image did he make man—in the image of a monkey or of an ape? No; but, as God said to his creative Son, “in our image, according to our likeness.” (Gen. 1:26) “And God proceeded to create the man in his image, in God’s image he created him.” (Gen. 1:27) This is why the first man, who was a perfect man and a “son of God,” had mental, moral and emotional qualities that the highest of the lower animals does not have. (Luke 3:38) The same apostle Paul confirmed the inspired authority of Genesis, chapter one, from which we quoted, by saying: “A man ought not to have his head veiled, as he is God’s image and glory.” (1 Cor. 11:7) The first man, Adam, headed the human family. Hence he had priority, or precedence in order, over the next human creature that would appear on the earth. God, his Creator and heavenly Father, was interested in his son Adam’s having an earthly companion suitable for him. How did God furnish such a companion?

5. Why did God not mate man with an ape or monkey, and so how have scientists without faith made themselves ridiculous?

⁵ God did not pick some big female monkey or ape as the mate for the perfect man Adam. That would have been making his son turn bestial and commit bestiality. The supreme Biologist, Jehovah God, knew that Adam could not be crossed with a female monkey or ape, even to produce a mongrel offspring to fill the earth with descendants. That is why faithless scientists have made themselves ridiculous and have failed in their experimental efforts to breed a man or a woman with a monkey or ape in order to produce offspring and to prove their theory that man is related to the monkey family or to anthropoid apes.—Ex. 22:19; Lev. 18:23-25.

6. What was the result of Adam’s biological study in Eden, and so how was God’s ability as a creative Father put to the test?

⁶ As a Father, God desired to please his earthly son Adam. He made Adam acquainted with the beasts and the birds and left to his capable son Adam the task of naming all the beasts and the birds. However, Adam felt not the slightest desire to pair up with a wild beast or a domestic animal or even an ape and commit bestiality with such a subhuman creature. None of them was like the perfect man Adam, “the son of God.” The result of Adam’s biological study of the animals and birds was summed up in this statement, in Genesis 2:20: “But for man there was found no helper as a complement of him.” What was God to do now, inasmuch as he had said: “It is not good for the man to continue by himself. I am going to make a helper for man, as a complement of him”? Would God be able to produce a creature that would please Adam and be desirable to him as a man, although he had never seen this creature before? Like a wise Father, he knew how he could satisfy his son with a real mate.—Gen. 2:18.

7, 8. (a) How did Jehovah God satisfy his earthly son with a real mate? (b) What were Adam’s reactions to God’s introduction to him of his future Edenic companion? Why?

⁷ Imagine yourself as a normal man being awakened from a deep, dreamless sleep and being introduced to a perfectly beautiful virgin female of the same human family as yourself, the first one that you had ever seen! That was Adam’s experience. “Hence Jehovah God had a deep sleep fall upon the man and, while he was sleeping, he took one of his ribs and then closed up the flesh over its place. And Jehovah God proceeded to build the rib that he had taken from the man into a woman and to bring her to the man.”—Gen. 2:21, 22.

⁸ Jehovah God makes no mistakes. As an exact Scientist he commits no errors of judgment. He is no poor matchmaker. What, then, were the reactions of his human son to this introduction? God explained to Adam who this female creature was and how she had come into existence. Thus Adam knew she had no connection or relationship with the animals and birds that he had inspected and named previously. He appreciated that it was his heavenly Father’s will for him to accept this female creature in marriage. He could not and would not refuse one of his own flesh and bone. He was most highly pleased to accept her as his wife and to take her into his home to be his helper and his complementary companion. He was completely satisfied with her, much to his heavenly Father’s happiness. “Then the man [ish] said: “This is at last bone of my bones and flesh of my flesh. This one will be called Woman [ish·shahʹ], because from man [ish] this one was taken.”—Gen. 2:23

9. By what kind of family groups was Eden to be inhabited, and how did Jesus Christ confirm the inspired agreement between the first and second chapters of Genesis?

⁹ That is how the statement in Genesis 1:27 came about: “Male and female he created them.” Then, to state the theocratic rule that was to control there in the Paradise of Eden, God followed up Adam’s poetic outburst by saying, in Genesis 2:24: “That is why a man will leave his father and his mother and he must stick to his wife and they must become one flesh.” Over four thousand years later, Jesus Christ, God’s heavenly Son, confirmed the inspired genuineness of the first and the second chapter of Genesis. He demonstrated that they were not contradictory but were in agreement with each other by what he said to religious men who invalidated God’s Word by their traditions. Jesus quoted from both chapters and said: “Did you not read that he who created them at the beginning made them male and female and said: ‘For this reason a man will leave his father and his mother and will stick to his wife, and the two will be one flesh’? . . . Therefore, what God has yoked together let no man put apart.” (Matt. 19:4-6) Accordingly, the paradise of Eden was to have independent, though related, family groups.

THE FIRST COST OF MARRIAGE

10. (a) How does Paul explain the relationship between man and woman in their relative glory? (b) Why was perfect woman a good thing for perfect man?

¹⁰ In order to get a wife, it cost Adam one of his ribs. Because this first woman was created from the first man Adam, who was himself created in God’s image, according to God’s likeness, that woman became man’s glory. The inspired apostle Paul places this meaning upon the relationship of the man and the woman, saying: “He is God’s image and glory; but the woman is man’s glory. For man is not out of woman, but woman out of man; and, what is more, man was not created for the sake of the woman, but woman for the sake of the man.” (1 Cor. 11:7-9) Because the man was God’s earthly image and likeness, the woman wife had reason to show deep respect to her husband, man. In this way she could best reflect man’s glory, the glory of her husband. She would thus be a good thing for the man Adam. “Has one found a good wife? One has found a good thing and one gets good will from Jehovah,” says Proverbs 18:22. Woman was a good thing from the heavenly Father; for it is written: “Every good gift and every perfect present is from above, for it comes down from the Father of the celestial lights.”—Jas. 1:17.

11. Eden was the place of what kind of marriage, and why is marriage holy?

¹¹ For this reason the paradise of Eden was the place of the perfect marriage, between the perfect man created in God’s image and likeness and the perfect woman who could faithfully reflect man’s perfect glory, to God’s praise. It being from the God of holiness, marriage is holy. It is not sinful in itself, but it can be sinned against.

12, 13. Why could God bless the married human couple, and why was marriage one of all the things that God saw to be good?

¹² God the Creator purposed that marriage should be a blessing to man and woman, that they should live together in peace, both of them joining in fulfilling the perfect purpose of Jehovah God. That was why, after the man Adam accepted the woman as his wife, their Creator and heavenly Father could bless them.

¹³ His blessing and his will for them is stated in these words: “Male and female he created them. Further, God blessed them and God said to them: ‘Be fruitful and become many and fill the earth and subdue it, and have in subjection the fish of the sea and the flying creatures of the heavens and every living creature that is creeping upon the earth.’” (Gen. 1:27, 28) God could not bless a bad thing any more than he could create a sinful, improper thing. His creating of perfect woman was a good thing, because it was not good for the only man on earth to be alone in his kind; and by himself he could not reproduce his own kind. Likewise, the marriage of perfect man and woman in Paradise was a good thing, because it would serve the blessed purpose of the heavenly Father in comfortably filling earth with perfect human creatures and making the whole earth a paradise for the everlasting home of a perfect human race. The Bible account includes the perfect marriage in Paradise on the sixth creative “day” when it says: “After that God saw everything he had made and, look! it was very good. And there came to be evening and there came to be morning, a sixth day.”—Gen. 1:31.

14. Did God provide for divorce of this couple at any future time, and what was Adam’s attitude toward divorce in Eden?

¹⁴ That was the earliest form of marriage on earth, and the leading ethnologists of this twentieth century who are without faith are looking in vain for anything earlier or different. When Jehovah God married the perfect man and woman in Paradise, did God provide for divorce of this young couple at any future time? No; why should he? He set before them the prospect of everlasting union in peace and harmony, with a perfect, happy family of descendants filling a paradise embracing all the earth. On his happy day of marriage Adam had no thought of divorce enter his mind; he had no idea of such a thing. Why should he want to divorce from himself bone of his bones and flesh of his flesh, one who was “one flesh” with him, one whom God had yoked together with him? He as well as his wife was determined to fulfill the sweet purpose of this perfect marriage.

15. Of what was this human marriage an illustration and so what did the taking of a rib from Adam in order to make his wife illustrate?

¹⁵ Their indissoluble marriage was a human illustration of the greater marriage, that of their heavenly Father to his heavenly wifelike companion, namely, his invisible heavenly organization of holy spiritual sons. Long before creating man and woman God had created a heavenly organization of sons. From their invisible heavenly point of view they had observed the creation of the earth. Jehovah God referred to these organized sons when he said to God-fearing Job of the land of Uz: “Where did you happen to be when I founded the earth? . . . when the morning stars joyfully cried out together, and all the sons of God began shouting in applause?” (Job 38:4, 7) The fact is that Jehovah God was speaking to the chief one of this heavenly organization of sons when he said: “Let us make man in our image, according to our likeness.” (Gen. 1:26) This entire organization of angelic sons issued forth from Jehovah God in that they are his creation by means of his active force or spirit. This is what was illustrated in the taking of a rib from Adam’s side and building it up into a wife for Adam.

16. (a) How did God refer to his heavenly organization in Eden, and why? (b) Why was it compared to Sarah, in Isaiah 54:1-6?

¹⁶ This heavenly angelic organization God united to himself in indissoluble ties like those of marriage, so that He speaks of this universal heavenly organization of holy angels as his wife. He referred to this symbolic heavenly woman when he said to the great Serpent that induced sin in the paradise of Eden: “I shall put enmity between you and the woman and between your seed and her seed. He will bruise you in the head and you will bruise him in the heel.” (Gen. 3:15) After this promise the heavenly angelic organization was a long time in producing this promised Seed, the Christ or Messiah. Hence she was likened to long-barren Sarah, the wife of the patriarch Abraham, who at ninety years of age bore to Abraham their first and only son, Isaac. Speaking to his heavenly organization under the figure of Sarah, Jehovah God prophetically assured his “woman” or “wife” that she would in due time give birth to the promised Seed or Christ. God said: “‘Cry out joyfully, you barren woman that did not give birth! . . . For your grand Maker is your husbandly owner, Jehovah of armies being his name; and the Holy One of Israel is your Repurchaser. The God of the whole earth he will be called. For Jehovah called you as if you were a wife abandoned and hurt in spirit, and as a wife of the time of youth who was then rejected,’ your God has said.”—Isa. 54:1, 5, 6.

17. What is pictured in that Abraham never divorced Sarah, and for what is this a pattern?

¹⁷ Abraham never divorced his wife Sarah. She died, still his wife, thirty-seven years after the birth of their only son Isaac. (Gen. 23:1, 2) Jehovah God will never divorce his faithful heavenly organization, his “wife” or “woman” pictured on earth by Sarah. This is the right heavenly pattern for all human marriages, beginning with that of Adam and Eve in the earthly paradise.—Gal. 4:26-28.

18. Why, and how, would marriages in the garden of Eden have been monogamous through continued faithfulness?

¹⁸ Adam’s marriage was monogamous, for God gave him only one wife. Had Adam and Eve remained faithful in Paradise and had they brought forth perfect sons and daughters in that Edenic park, they would have followed the divine pattern. They would have given each of their sons only one of their daughters as a wife, each daughter a virgin. These marriages would have been indissoluble. All such married persons continuing faithful to their God, none would have suffered the penalty for sin, which is death. None would have died, and the marriage of none of them would have been dissolved by death. There would have been no marrying of widowers and widows.

19. What kind of experience would childbirth in Eden have been, and to what extent would it have proceeded?

¹⁹ All marriages would have been fruitful to the bringing forth of many children in perfection. Childbearing by the wives would have been a wonderful, joyful experience to be looked forward to with pleasure and no fear at all. All this would be with a view to realizing the divine purpose to have this earth filled with perfect human inhabitants, cultivating and taking care of the earth-wide paradise, their everlasting home. When this purpose had been accomplished, the perfect married couples would exercise perfect self-control and refrain from producing further children. According to God’s will and arrangement, their power to reproduce would also reach its limit and would cease functioning. In Paradise, marriage would have meant for the wedded couples no “tribulation in their flesh,” such as the apostle Paul predicted for married couples now.—1 Cor. 7:28.

20. Regardless of the state of human marriage and its dead offspring, what is still God’s purpose, and what does he say to the archenemy of this purpose?

²⁰ God’s purpose of a paradise earth filled with perfect, godly men and women praising the great Creator will yet be achieved, in his appointed time, regardless of the present state of human marriage. Yes, regardless of the fact that the billions of the children of previous but now dissolved marriages lie dead in the dust or slime of the earth. The beautiful purpose regarding this earth that God revealed to Adam and Eve in Paradise is still his today and is not impossible for him. To the archenemy of this purpose He declares: “Jehovah of armies has sworn, saying: ‘Surely just as I have figured, so it must occur; and just as I have counseled, that is what will come true.’ . . . For Jehovah of armies himself has counseled, and who can break it up? And his hand is the one stretched out, and who can turn it back?”—Isa. 14:24-27.

21. How many marriages took place in Paradise, and what would have been spared the human family had all marriages occurred there?

²¹ Nevertheless, how much marital unhappiness and failure, how much human suffering, how much vilification of God’s holy name and word would have been spared the human family had all marriages of men and women taken place in Paradise, not just that local paradise over in the Middle East but a paradise expanded throughout the whole earth, subdued by obedient, righteous, perfect married couples and their holy children! God had opened up the possibility for all human marriages to take place in the garden of Eden enlarged. As it turned out, there was just one marriage in the earthly paradise of almost six thousand years ago.

22. (a) Why did that marriage in Paradise result in such domestic discord and unhappiness? (b) For what things had Eve been showing proper regard, and why properly so?

²² That blessed union of Adam and Eve in their perfection was begun in their perfect home under God’s blessing. Why did it result in such domestic discord and unhappiness? It was because the man and wife, although perfect, failed to meet their marriage responsibilities and hold fast to their proper relationship to each other when their first test came. A meddler in their private affairs, a marriage disturber and home wrecker, appeared, a person who framed the idea of turning all this divine arrangement to his own selfish advantage. This was an ambitious, self-seeking, rebellious spirit-son of God, who earned for himself the name of Satan the Devil. He did not discuss matters with the married couple together. No; he started talking by means of a serpent when Eve was to herself, away from her marriage head, her husband Adam. Quite properly Eve told the serpent what her husband had told her, that God forbade them to eat of the tree of the knowledge of good and bad. She was following her husband’s word and example in not eating of that tree. Her husband stood in the relation of a prophet of Jehovah God to her, and was then a true prophet. So she was showing regard for God’s word as well as for the headship of her husband by whom God’s word was transmitted to her.

IGNORING HEADSHIP IN MARRIAGE

23. What did the serpent now say, and thus what did it accuse Adam and God of being?

²³ Now, though, the serpent (or the one invisibly behind it) told Eve that her husband was a false prophet. It said slanderously that Jehovah God was a liar, not all-powerful, not able to enforce the penalty for the violation of his law. “At this the serpent said to the woman: ‘You [both you and your husband] positively will not die. For God knows that in the very day of your eating from [the forbidden tree] your eyes are bound to be opened and you are bound to be like God, knowing good and bad.’”—Gen. 3:4, 5.

24. What breach of her marriage relationship did Eve now commit, and how did she propose to use her supposed wisdom?

²⁴ Eve felt drawn to the idea of being like her heavenly Father, and so she partook of the forbidden fruit. But what a way to become like her Father, by disobeying Him! In this she committed a breach of her theocratic marriage relationship; she did not consult her husband in his capacity as God’s prophet It became with her like with her descendants, the Israelites in their crisis long after: “They have rejected the very word of Jehovah, and what wisdom do they have?” (Jer. 8:9) Worse—now she would exercise her influence over her husband to follow the wisdom that she thought she had!

25. (a) How did Adam come to face his first marriage problem? (b) Could Adam divorce Eve, and what determined that matter?

²⁵ Later Adam rejoined Eve. He did not face the same woman whom he had known before. He faced a woman who thought more highly of herself than she ought to think. He faced a transgressor, a woman disobedient to their God and Father. She offered him the forbidden fruit, in verification of her own sin. Then Adam faced his first marriage problem! God was not there to ask. Yet Adam knew that his wife had seriously sinned and had come under the death penalty announced by God: “In the day you eat from it you will positively die.” (Gen. 2:17) This penalty of death might dissolve Adam’s marriage to beautiful Eve. Adam had no authority to divorce Eve; she was bone of his bones and flesh of his flesh. She was “one flesh” with him, yoked to him by Jehovah God himself.

26, 27. (a) How could Adam have divorced himself from Eve’s transgression, and what responsibility would he thus have exercised? (b) How was the husband’s headship with its power set forth in Israel’s law, and how could Adam have continued to be God’s prophet?

²⁶ However, Adam could have divorced himself from Eve’s transgression then and there by refusing the forbidden fruit at her hand, under her suasion. True, their God and heavenly Father had said: “That is why a man will leave his father and his mother and he must stick to his wife.” But he must not leave his God. Whom did Adam love more, his wife or his God and Life-giver? In order to take the right action toward his wife, Adam did not need to wait till he next “heard the voice of Jehovah God walking in the garden [Paradise] about the breezy part of the day.” He could show theocratic headship in the marriage bond, like an Israelite husband in God’s chosen nation much later. The Israelites came into relationship with God by a formal covenant through the mediator Moses the prophet, whereas Adam and Eve were in direct relationship with God as his own perfect children, needing no mediator.—Gen. 2:24; 3:8.

²⁷ In the case of an Israelite woman God’s law through Moses stated: “In the case of the vow of a widow or a divorced woman, everything that she [without a husband as her head] has bound upon her soul will stand against her. However, if it is in the house of her husband that she has vowed or has bound an abstinence vow upon her soul by an oath, and her husband has heard it and has kept silent toward her, he has not forbidden her and all her vows must stand or any abstinence vow that she has bound upon her soul should stand. But if her husband has totally annulled them on the day of his hearing any expression of her lips as her vows or as an abstinence vow of her soul, they will not stand. Her husband has annulled them and Jehovah will forgive her. Any vow or any oath of an abstinence vow to afflict the soul, her husband should establish it or her husband should annul it. And if he should totally annul them after his hearing them, then he must answer for her iniquity.” (Num. 30:9-13, 15) Had Adam disavowed his wife’s transgression by rejecting the fruit at her lovely hand, he would have continued as Jehovah’s prophet to the human family. He would not have had to feel a guilty conscience and to hide with a loin covering when Jehovah God approached them about the breezy part of the day.

28. Why could Adam not eat with good conscience the fruit offered to him by Eve?

²⁸ In this matter it was not an instance of a wife’s preparing a meal and her husband’s eating what was set before him without asking any questions for conscience’ sake. In Adam conscience began working, because he knew what fruit he was being urged to eat—the fruit forbidden by their God and Maker, the Owner of Paradise.

29. (a) How did Adam fall down respecting his headship? (b) How does Paul show who was the more responsible one in the transgression?

²⁹ It was a time for Adam to exercise theocratic headship in the marriage union. Instead, he let himself be ensnared because of fear at the thought of losing his wife when God enforced the penalty of death. He let his wife teach him disobedience to the supreme law of God. He followed the lead of his sinful wife misled by the crafty, false argument of the serpent. He confirmed her sin by his own eating of the forbidden fruit. He did not live up to his marriage obligation as head of the house for the protection of the family with which he was authorized to fill the earth. Consequently, of the now sinful married couple he, as head of the house, was most responsible. In harmony with this, the apostle Paul wrote: “I do not permit a woman to teach, or to exercise authority over a man, but to be in silence. For Adam was formed first, then Eve. Also Adam was not deceived, but the woman was thoroughly deceived and came to be in transgression.”—1 Tim. 2:12-14.

30. Upon whom did God lay the chief responsibility for ruining this marriage, and with what penalty?

³⁰ When God rendered judgment upon the sinful couple, he laid the chief responsibility for the ruining of this marriage in Paradise upon the invisible, spiritual rebel behind the serpent. God said to the serpent: “You have done this thing.” Then God proceeded to sentence Satan the Devil to future destruction under the heel of the Seed of God’s heavenly “woman” or “wife.”—Gen. 3:14, 15.

31, 32. (a) How is it shown upon whom God laid the heavier responsibility as regards the married couple? (b) How had Eve not shone as “man’s glory,” and what stated penalty did God lay upon her?

³¹ However, as regards the human married couple, Jehovah God put the heavier responsibility upon the husband. It was the husband, Adam, whom God sentenced to eat the fruit of cursed ground outside Paradise until he died and decomposed to dust of the cursed ground.

³² God’s judgment upon the wife, Eve, merely foretold her pains of childbearing and also her subordination. She had not shone as “man’s glory,” her perfect husband’s glory. She had disregarded the headship of her prophet husband and had ignored his warning from God and had taken the lead into sin under the false inducement of a stranger, a slanderer both of God and of His prophet. Hence now she must be made to know the headship of her husband. In His judgment God said to the wife, Eve: “And your longing will be for your husband, and he will dominate you.” (Gen. 3:16) From then on she endured the domination of a deliberately sinful, imperfect husband who was out of relationship with God, until she died, that is, if Adam overlived her by his dying first when 930 years old.

33. By God’s now taking what measures did married life in Paradise come to an end, and all for what cause?

³³ So married life in that peaceful Paradise of Eden came to an end. It was all because of sin, which is the breaking of the sacred law of God. Now God did not want any further eating of the Edenic fruitage to which the now sinful Adam and Eve were not entitled and of which Adam, possibly under the influence and suggestion of his wife, might seek to eat. “And Jehovah God went on to say: ‘Here the man has become like one of us in knowing good and bad, and now in order that he may not put his hand out and actually take fruit also of the tree of life and eat and live forever,—’ With that Jehovah God put him out of the garden [Paradise] of Eden to cultivate the ground from which he had been taken. And so he drove the man out and posted at the east of the garden of Eden the cherubs and the flaming blade of a sword that was turning itself continually to guard the way to the tree of life.”—Gen. 3:22-24.

34. How will marriage in Paradise shortly be realized, and what privilege will married couples then have toward the Originator of marriage?

³⁴ Married life in Paradise ceased thus in such a calamitous way because husband and wife did not maintain the God-ordained relationship between each other. Yet the ideal of marriage in Paradise will shortly be marvelously enjoyed to the praise of the great Originator of marriage. No, this will not be by lovers’ dying and going to heaven to be with each other in celestial wedlock. It will be by surviving the war of Armageddon not far ahead. After that universal war will have destroyed all those who are today ruining the earth, God’s kingdom by means of Christ the Seed of His “woman” will restore Paradise to this earth and extend it all around the planet. Faithful surviving couples will continue their married life after Armageddon directly into the restored Paradise. Single survivors will enjoy the privilege of entering into married life with theocratic partners and will have the happiness of raising children under Paradise conditions, with Satan the Devil bound. All these will have the privilege of vindicating Jehovah God by proving that married life in Paradise can be a blessed success.

Marriage Outside Paradise

1. Outside of Eden what did the continuation of marriage result in, and the descendants of which son of Adam survived the Flood?

THE expelled couple, Adam and Eve, kept up their marriage outside of the Paradise of Eden. We can be sure that, from then on, it was not a peaceful marriage. Out there on the cursed ground they began bringing forth their sin-infected children in a dying condition from birth onward. Adam “became father to sons and daughters.” (Gen. 4:1; 5:4) In course of time new marriages were transacted. The mature sons of Adam were married to the mature daughters of Adam. So it is recorded that afterward their first-born son Cain “had intercourse with his wife and she became pregnant and gave birth to Enoch.” In the Bible six generations are recorded from Cain, who lived off to himself “in the land of Fugitiveness to the east of Eden.” (Gen. 4:16-24) Cain had a younger brother named Seth. The human family of today traces its descent from Seth, not from Cain, all of whose offspring suffered destruction in the great Flood. Among Seth’s descendants were Enoch the prophet and Noah the builder of the ark in which eight human souls survived that world-wide flood.—1 Pet. 3:20; 2 Pet. 2:5.

2. Who introduced polygamy, and how did disobedient “sons of God” enter into human marriage?

² Regarding the preflood days of Noah, Jesus Christ himself tells us that “people were in those days before the flood, eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, until the day that Noah entered into the ark.” (Matt. 24:38) How those marriages were performed the Holy Bible does not report. Polygamy was introduced by Lamech, a descendant of wicked Cain, for Lamech took two wives to himself. (Gen. 4:19-24) In Noah’s days before the flood “sons of God” from heaven materialized upon the earth in order to marry the good-looking “daughters of men.” It is reported that these disobedient “sons of God” satisfied their passion by “taking wives for themselves of all whom they selected,” and had a mongrel offspring who were called Nephilim, “the mighty ones who were of that world, the men of fame.” How many wives each of those passionate “sons of God” selected and took for themselves, and whether they took legally married women away from their legal husbands because of being so good-looking, the Bible does not say.—Gen. 6:1-4.

3. How did polygamists fare in the Flood, and by adherence to what type of marriage will the human family be kept alive into Paradise restored?

³ One thing is certain: all polygamists were wiped out by the Flood, for the surviving Noah and his three sons had each but one wife. Since Jesus Christ said that things will be in his days in the “time of the end” of this wicked world as they were in the days of Noah, we know that no bigamists or polygamists will be permitted to survive the end of this wicked world and thus live on into Paradise under the kingdom of God. Accordingly, the human family started from a man with but one wife; the human family was preserved from the great Flood by a man who had but one wife, together with his monogamous sons; and the human family will be kept alive without interruption through the end of this “present wicked system of things” by godly men and women and children who adhere strictly to monogamy, the marriage of one woman with one man.

4. How did God show that he authorized the marriage of the offspring of the Flood survivors, and what now makes expectant survivors of Armageddon examine their relationships?

⁴ Immediately after the Flood, Jehovah God blessed Noah and his three sons and said to them, just as he had said when blessing Adam and Eve in the Paradise of Eden: “Be fruitful and become many and fill the earth.” Thus he authorized the marriage of their offspring, also saying: “As for you men, be fruitful and become many, make the earth swarm with you and become many in it.” (Gen. 9:1-7) Today, over forty-three centuries later, men think that the earth is swarming with men and that there is a population explosion. But the destruction of this wicked system of things in the universal war of Armageddon will greatly reduce earth’s population, as the Flood did. Hence all persons dedicated to God, who are looking forward to enjoying married life in the promised earthly Paradise under God’s kingdom, are now conscientiously examining their relationships. They want to bring these into harmony with the rules and standards of God’s Word as to morals, marriage and divorce.

5. (a) As regards marriage customs and standards what is the big question for us in this “time of the end”? (b) May some marriage practices that God permitted in the past be taken as the standard now?

⁵ Today marriage customs and standards differ throughout the earth. In the various lands the man-made laws may approve and allow these. But the big question in this critical “time of the end” is, Does the present-day law of Jehovah God approve of these? What is God’s law of marriage that applies now in this “time of the end”? There are some past marriage practices that God permitted and regulated among his chosen servants in centuries before Christ, but today we may not even take these as the standard for married persons who want to please God now. So let us make an examination.

6. How did Abraham’s wife Sarah try to compensate for her long barrenness, and does God approve of such a course today?

⁶ Four hundred years after the Flood Jehovah’s friend, the patriarch Abraham, was a man married to one wife, Sarah. When he was eighty-five years old and Sarah seventy-five years old, they still had no child because of Sarah’s barrenness. Sarah decided to adopt a child. To this end she gave her Egyptian maidservant Hagar to Abraham to have intercourse with in order to generate a desired son. Hagar bore a son, who was named Ishmael; and Sarah adopted this child as her own. There is no record that for the next fifteen years Abraham had any further relations with Hagar as a secondary wife. However, such a way of compensating for a barren wife, or even present-day artificial insemination, in order to get a child is not approved by God now. Even though God promised to bless Ishmael and multiply him, yet God did not accept this adopted child to be Abraham’s heir. Sarah herself must become the mother of the heir.

7. (a) How did God show a secondary wife had not been necessary for Abraham to pass to a son God’s blessing concerning the Seed? (b) Does the custom in many lands of having secondary wives make this practice right for God’s servants today?

⁷ Years later Almighty God revived the reproductive powers of Abraham and of Sarah and miraculously gave Abraham a son through Sarah, when she was ninety and he a hundred years old. There had really been no need of a secondary wife for Abraham in order to get a male heir to whom to pass God’s covenant promise concerning a Seed for blessing all the families of the earth. Some years afterward Sarah urgently requested that the secondary wife Hagar and her son Ishmael should be dismissed from the household. God approved of this, and Abraham obeyed God’s indicated will and sent Hagar and Ishmael away, never to return. (Gen. 16:1 to 21:21; Gal. 4:22-31) Today Jehovah God does not approve of his servants’ having secondary wives, even though a man’s having women as secondary wives besides his legal wife may be the accepted, allowed custom in many countries.

8. (a) Whose example did Abraham’s son Isaac follow as to marriage? (b) In picturing what great fact could Isaac thus serve?

⁸ Sarah’s only child, Isaac, stuck to just one wife. He followed the divine example set forth in the Paradise of Eden and also set forth in the Flood survivors, Noah and his three sons. Isaac did this, despite the fact that his wife Rebekah was barren twenty years before she produced the twins Jacob and Esau. (Gen. 25:19-26) In this way Isaac faithfully served God’s purpose in picturing that the Son of God, Jesus Christ, would have only one spiritual bride, namely, God’s true Christian congregation made up of 144,000 faithful footstep followers, whom God adopts as his spiritual children. (Gal. 4:28-31) Writing to these children of God, the apostle Paul says to the Christians in Corinth to whom he had brought the truth about Christ: “I am jealous over you with a godly jealousy, for I personally promised you in marriage to one husband that I might present you as a chaste virgin to the Christ.”—2 Cor. 11:2.

HAVING MORE THAN ONE WIFE AT ONE TIME

9. (a) How did Jacob arrange to get a wife from his uncle Laban? (b) Against what sin was Jacob’s deep love for Rachel a protection?

⁹ Of Isaac’s twin sons Jacob was the one whom God chose as the man to receive the divine promise made to Abraham for blessing all the families of the earth by the Seed of God’s “woman.” Jacob wanted to be like his father Isaac and have just one wife, namely, Rachel, the daughter of his own uncle Laban. Jacob was a relative of Laban, but Jacob was not given Rachel free. So Jacob said to Laban: “I am willing to serve you seven years for Rachel your younger daughter.” This being agreed to, Jacob served seven years for Rachel. “In his eyes they proved to be like some few days because of his love for her.” Not merely that the time passed quickly because Jacob was so deeply in love as to be unaware of the length of time; but rather that he loved Rachel so much that he thought seven years of hard work to be a cheap price to pay for such a precious girl. Jacob’s deep love for Rachel was a protection for him against immorality. During his seven years of engagement to Rachel he maintained his virginity, the same as she did hers, that he might be morally clean when he married her.

10. In this respect how was Jacob a model for Christians of today?

¹⁰ In this respect Jacob was a model for Christians of today. How many men professing to be dedicated Christians now would be willing to pay a bride price of seven years of shepherding or other hard work and still think it cheap? How many of them would have the moral strength to keep virginity, or the single state, during seven years of being engaged to marry, in order to offer themselves chaste and clean to their marital partners? Even with an engagement period much less than seven years, all dedicated Christians should respect the engagement, as Jacob did, and keep good morals.

11. (a) With what in view did Jacob ask his uncle Laban for Rachel at the end of seven years’ work? (b) In marriage how had his twin brother Esau shown disrespect for his parents and the Abrahamic covenant?

¹¹ At the end of the engagement period Jacob said to Laban his aged uncle: “Give over my wife, because my days are up, and let me have relations with her.” (Gen. 29:18-21) Jacob now had a right to ask for Rachel as his wife, not just to enjoy the marriage bed with her but to set up an independent home of his own and raise a family, inasmuch as he was now eighty-four years old and also the natural heir of the Abrahamic promise. By now Jacob’s twin brother Esau had been married forty-four years. Esau was a wild, adventurous hunter and a passionate man. Contrary to the wishes of his parents, who feared Jehovah God and respected the Abrahamic covenant, Esau married unbelieving women of the land, two Hittites. “They were a source of bitterness of spirit to Isaac and Rebekah,” his parents. Yes, Esau became a polygamist, of his own choice and action. When he was seventy-seven years old he took a third wife, a cousin of his, an Ishmaelitess. (Gen. 26:34, 35; 28:8, 9) This was when his twin brother Jacob was starting to work out his bride price to get possession of Rachel, a believer in Jehovah the God of Abraham and Isaac.

12, 13. How was Jacob, contrary to his wishes, led into polygamy?

¹² Jacob did not become a polygamist intentionally, to imitate his brother Esau. Polygamy was not of Jacob’s original planning. The only woman he wanted was Rachel. However, on the wedding night Laban presented to Jacob as wife Rachel’s sister Leah, under a heavy veil that concealed her identity. The next morning Jacob discovered that he had had relations with Leah, not Rachel.

¹³ Why had Laban played this trick on his son-in-law? Because Leah was older than Rachel, and Laban her father argued that it was not the custom of the land to marry off the younger daughter before the first-born. Along with Leah, Laban gave his maidservant Zilpah to serve as Leah’s own maid and also as a secondary wife, should that become advisable. But Jacob had only one real love and still wanted Rachel. So Laban suggested to Jacob that he work another seven years in payment of bride price for Rachel. Jacob agreed.

14. When did Jacob receive Rachel as wife, and how did Jehovah God show whether he approved or disapproved of Jacob’s polygamy under these circumstances?

¹⁴ At the end of the week-long celebration of the marriage of Jacob and Leah, Laban gave Jacob Rachel in marriage, and Jacob began paying off the bride price in hard work. In love of Rachel he stuck to his contract. He worked out the full price, which he still thought to be far less than the worth of beloved Rachel. Laban gave a maidservant also to Rachel. (Gen. 29:9-30) It is thus seen that Jacob was tricked into polygamy. However, he married sisters who feared Jehovah; and Jehovah God did not express his disapproval. In fact, he blessed Jacob with twelve sons and one daughter by these two sisters and their maidservants.

15. (a) What regulation did God make as to the same man’s marrying sisters in Israel? (b) How did King Solomon follow Esau’s example, but what had God wisely commanded concerning future kings of Israel?

¹⁵ Later, when Jehovah God organized these twelve sons and their families into the nation of Israel and brought this nation out of slavery in Egypt, Jehovah still permitted polygamy in this nation. But he forbade a polygamist’s marrying fleshly sisters during their lifetime. He commanded: “You must not take a woman in addition to her sister as a rival to uncover her nakedness, that is, besides her during her lifetime.” (Lev. 18:18) The greatest polygamist in the history of the nation of Israel (but not of the world) was King Solomon of Jerusalem. “He came to have seven hundred wives, princesses, and three hundred concubines, and his wives gradually turned away his heart,” from worshiping Jehovah as the only living and true God. This was because Solomon followed Esau’s example in marrying foreign wives, including the daughter of the ruling Pharaoh of Egypt. (1 Ki. 11:1-3) Wisely Jehovah God had commanded concerning the future kings of Israel: “He should also not multiply wives for himself that his heart may not turn aside, . . . he must write in a book for himself a copy of this law from that which is in charge of the priests, the Levites. And it must continue with him and he must read in it all the days of his life, in order that he may learn to fear Jehovah his God.”—Deut. 17:17-19.

16. While permitting polygamy in Israel, what also did God do regarding it?

¹⁶ So God did permit polygamy in ancient Israel, but he laid down legal provisions regarding it in order to protect the original wife of the polygamist as well as any other wife and their children. (Deut. 21:15-17) The practice of polygamy doubtless served to build up a big population in the nation of natural Israel.

17. What was the state of polygamy in Israel in Jesus’ day, and to what standard for his followers did he hold as regards marriage?

¹⁷ When Israel came under the rule of the world-conquering Romans in the first century before the Christian era, polygamy had fallen off among the Israelites or Jews. Says The Jewish Encyclopedia (Volume VIII, page 336): “Monogamy was the rule among the Jews in Roman times, but there were notable exceptions.” By the law given to the Israelites through Jehovah’s prophet Moses, the Jews who still claim to be under that law could feel free to practice polygamy the same as their distant relatives do, the Arab Mohammedans. In sharp contrast, Jesus Christ declared God’s will for his footstep followers to be marriage that copied the example in Paradise. Jesus Christ, the Son of God, was perfect and sinless. So in the matter of human marriage he held to the standard of the perfect man in Paradise, that of a man’s having but one living wife. (Matt. 19:1-9) It is the only standard that will be permitted in the Paradise soon to be restored under God’s kingdom.

18. Why should a worshiper of Jehovah be willing that a wife should cost him something, and what wife could be considered as “from Jehovah”?

¹⁸ Before the much-married King Solomon fell away from God’s pure worship, he wrote these words: “Has one found a good wife? One has found a good thing and one gets good will from Jehovah.” (Prov. 18:22) “The inheritance from fathers is a house and wealth, but a discreet wife is from Jehovah.” (Prov. 19:14) A worshiper of Jehovah God should be willing, therefore, that his wife should cost him something, either before or after marriage, especially such a wife as would get him good will from Jehovah, a wife such as he could consider “from Jehovah” because of her complete dedication and exclusive devotion to God.

19. What examples of payment of a bride price does the Bible offer?

¹⁹ In Bible times among God’s chosen people it was the custom to pay a bride price as the initial expense of having a wife. David the giant-killer paid two hundred foreskins of Philistine soldiers for his wife Michal, King Saul’s daughter. (1 Sam. 18:20-27) The prophet Hosea paid fifteen silver pieces and one and a half homer-measures of barley for his wife. (Hos. 3:1-3) Jesus Christ paid for his spiritual bride by the sacrifice of his own life. (Eph. 5:25, 26) Remember, too, that Eve cost Adam a rib.—Gen. 2:21, 22.

20, 21. In places, what expensive marriage custom still exists for the bride’s father, and what Bible examples do we have of it?

²⁰ That ancient custom still persists in many parts of the earth today. Also, in some parts it is the custom for the father to give a dowry along with his daughter, that is, money, goods or an estate which a woman brings to her bridegroom at marriage. This is expensive to her father. But the giving of dowry was anciently practiced even in the nation of Israel. Take the case of Caleb, the companion of Joshua in spying out the land of Canaan. In spite of his age he was permitted to cross the Jordan River and enter the Promised Land of Palestine with Joshua as the successor of the prophet Moses. Caleb had to conquer his portion of the land. He promised to give his daughter Achsah to the man capturing the enemy city of Kiriath-sepher. His nephew Othniel captured it. When Achsah was being given him as wife, she asked an addition to a certain dowry from her father Caleb. Hence to a southern piece of land for her, Caleb added the needed springs of water.—Josh. 15:13-19.

²¹ Pharaoh king of Egypt married off his daughter to King Solomon. To the bride Pharaoh gave as a “parting gift,” or dowry, the city of Gezer, which city King Solomon then built up. (1 Ki. 9:16, 17) A dowry is not a way of paying a man to marry one’s daughter, but it does give material assistance to the man taking her. It spares her of being entirely an expense to her husband.

22. (a) At Pentecost A.D. 33 were bride price and dowry abolished for the Christian congregation, and what are the indications? (b) According to God’s new covenant, what standard of marriage must Christians follow today?

²² When the Christian congregation was established on the day of Pentecost, A.D. 33, the original members were Jews and those who had become Jewish proselytes by circumcision. For three and a half years the Christian congregation continued exclusively of Jews and proselytes. These Jews brought their marriage customs in some regards over to Christianity. Even Jesus Christ their Leader used Jewish marriage customs to illustrate his talks by parables. (Matt. 22:1-14; 25:1-13; Luke 12:35-40) Some marriage arrangements of the Jews were, indeed, abolished by Jehovah’s new covenant with the Christian congregation, although he had set them forth and had authorized them in his law to the Jews through Moses. But no record exists that bride price and dowry were abolished or forbidden among Christians, no, nor wedding celebrations either. Jehovah’s new covenant, however, did restore to the Christian congregation the perfect standard of marriage that he himself set up with the perfect man and woman in the Paradise of Eden. That standard we Christians must follow today.

(Other articles in this series to follow)

Exercising Practical Wisdom in a Doomed World

FAR though modern man has been able to reach out into space, he has not been able to reach the heavens where Jehovah God dwells. And although the more man learns about nature the more proof he has of God’s existence, with it all he no more sees God in his works than does a cow looking up into the sky. Such wisdom is most impractical. Why? Because not only has it filled the earth with strife, confusion and corruption, but it ignores the fact that only Jehovah God can give security now and at Armageddon.a

Blindly men and nations fight over world domination. Ignoring God’s Word, they are in the dark to the fact that the question as to who will rule the world has long been settled. Jehovah God himself has given the administration of all things into the hands of his Son, Jesus Christ. Those who are wise will submit themselves to this powerful King and line up with his will.—Eph. 1:10-12.

As Jesus showed in one of his illustrations, when faced with superior forces the wise thing to do is to negotiate peace. Since Jesus Christ will soon act as Almighty God’s executioner, it is the course of wisdom for us to negotiate peace with God by dedicating ourselves to do his will. Having sued for peace, we must be willing to say good-by to all our belongings, if need be, and continue to pay the running expenses, as it were, of our dedication. Thereafter we must keep a strong, sharp, decided attitude toward it. If we let ourselves become weak, like salt that has lost its flavor, we would be unfit for God’s use.—Luke 14:25-35.

Further illustrating the course of practical wisdom in a doomed world, Jesus told of an unjust steward who, when about to lose his position, made friends for himself by reducing the amounts his master’s debtors owed. His own master or lord, not the Lord Jesus, commended him for his shrewdness, his practical worldly wisdom. So we today, if we have practical wisdom, will make friends of Jehovah God and Jesus Christ with whatever unrighteous riches we have. Then when this old world goes down, these Friends will bring us into their everlasting dwelling places.—Luke 16:1-9.

Yes, as Jesus emphasized in his sermon on the mount, it is not enough merely to hear the good news of God’s kingdom and to believe it to be true. We must do something about it, act upon it. Only then shall we be like the wise man who built his house on a rock-mass. Our obedience to God’s righteous requirements will give us a firm foundation that will enable us to weather Armageddon.—Matt. 7:24-27.

God’s righteous requirements at the present time relate primarily to making known his name and kingdom by preaching from house to house, on the streets, and whenever opportunity affords. We must be concerned about working efficiently by properly preparing ourselves. Then our tool, the Word of God, will be like a sharp ax, effective in accomplishing our purpose.—Eccl. 10:10.

So particularly during this month of November, let all exercise practical wisdom by urging others to sue for peace with God and by using all we have to make friends of Jehovah God and Jesus Christ.

[Footnotes]

Jacob—The Mild-tempered and Peaceable Man of God

ARE you ever tempted to take the law into your own hands because of an injustice? Do you ever feel stirred to use force to get what is coming to you? Although this is the policy of the nations of the world, it may not be the policy of the true servants of Jehovah God. Instead, they must heed the counsel: “Do not avenge yourselves, beloved, but yield place to the wrath; for it is written: ‘Vengeance is mine, I will repay, says Jehovah.’” Yes, under such conditions the wise course is for us to remember the words of Jesus: “Happy are the mild-tempered.” “Happy are the peaceable.”—Rom. 12:19; Matt. 5:5, 9.

A faithful servant of God whose course proved the wisdom of mildness of temper and peaceableness was Jacob. He showed these qualities in his dealings with his father, his twin brother, his father-in-law, his sons and outsiders. Time and again he chose not to fight for his rights, preferring peace to the fruits of contention. He was richly blessed, both spiritually and materially, setting an example for us.

God, in answer to Jacob’s father’s prayers, caused Rebekah, Isaac’s wife, to conceive twins after a barrenness of almost twenty years. Before the two were born Jehovah foretold that the older would serve the younger. At the birth of the twins the older, because of his hairy skin, was called Esau, which means “Hairy.” The younger was named Jacob, meaning “Supplanter; Taking Hold of the Heel,” because at his birth he took hold of the heel of his brother.—Gen. 25:21-26.

Jacob, in contrast to Esau who loved outdoor life and was a cunning hunter, was an honest, harmless and innocent man who preferred to live in tents. Jacob appreciated spiritual things; his God Jehovah was close and real to him, as can be seen by his vow and prayers. He put great confidence in the promise of God that his father had inherited from Abraham. Without doubt Jacob noticed that Esau did not highly value this treasure, otherwise he would hardly have dared to suggest that Esau give it up for a mere bowl of stew. Had Esau truly appreciated his birthright, then, even though ravenously hungry, he would have spurned Jacob’s offer. But no, Esau was a materialistic, fleshly-minded man. Jacob did him no injustice in bargaining with him for the birthright.—Gen. 25:27-34.

Although Esau had sealed the bargain with an oath, he made ready to receive the blessing that went with the birthright at his father’s hands. Jacob apparently was reluctant to force the issue by arguing with Esau or with his father Isaac. It took Rebekah to persuade Jacob to take the necessary steps—which he did by impersonating Esau—so as to secure for himself the blessing that went with the birthright to which he was now entitled. Besides, did not God indicate that Jacob would receive the birthright by foretelling that the older would serve the younger?—Gen. 27:1-40.

Still, most Bible commentators find fault with Jacob. They speak of his “trickery and deceit,” and of his “fraudulent grasping of Esau’s birthright,” and so forth. But all such adverse criticism of Jacob is out of order. Rather, Esau is the one to be censured for wanting to receive the birthright blessing after having sold it. Certainly Isaac did not hold it against Jacob, for shortly thereafter, when sending Jacob to his mother’s relatives to get a wife for himself, he again blessed Jacob. And God’s Word, instead of censuring Jacob, censures Esau: “Esau despised the birthright.” “I loved Jacob, but I hated Esau.” “Anyone not appreciating sacred things, like Esau, who in exchange for one meal gave away his rights as firstborn.”—Gen. 28:1-4; 25:34; Rom. 9:13; Heb. 12:16.

JACOB ACQUIRES A LARGE HOUSEHOLD

By this time Jacob was a man past seventy years old and his destination, Paddan-aram, was some five hundred miles away. En route Jehovah appeared to him in a dream, repeated the Abrahamic promise to him and assured Jacob that he would go with him and that he would have a safe return. Upon awakening, Jacob worshiped Jehovah and made a vow to give Jehovah a tenth of all he acquired upon his safe return.—Gen. 28:13-22.

Arriving at his uncle Laban’s place, Jacob met and fell in love with his beautiful cousin Rachel. He agreed to work seven years for Rachel, which seven years seemed like but a few days because of his love and appreciation of Rachel. But at the end of the seven years Laban, under the cover of night, palmed off his older and plainer daughter Leah on Jacob. Jacob could have risen up in arms against such a palpable fraud, but he did not. Instead, he agreed to serve another seven years, Rachel being given to him the following week. Jacob, in thus preferring peace to strife, was not harmed thereby. Had he stood his ground and insisted on having only Rachel he would have had but two sons instead of twelve and a daughter. And let it be noted that Leah bore both Levi and Judah, the family heads of the two most honored tribes of Israel.—Gen. 29:1-35.

After Jacob had served Laban fourteen years and after the birth of his eleventh son, Joseph, he asked Laban to send him back to his own country. But Laban demurred because ever since Jacob came to him he was prospering. Jacob agreed to remain upon the condition that he would get all the speckled and color-patched sheep, the dark-brown young rams and the color-patched and speckled she-goats. Jacob now began to look out for his own interests, though not neglecting Laban’s flocks; Jehovah also greatly prospered him. Now Laban and his sons became envious of Jacob. Noting this, Jacob chose an opportune time to leave for his own country.—Gen. 30:25–31:18.

Upon discovering that Jacob had left him, Laban pursued after him and, at the end of seven days, caught up with Jacob. But not before Jehovah appeared to Laban and warned him not to speak bad to Jacob. When Laban met Jacob he began to quarrel with Jacob, but Jacob stood his ground. He pointed to his faithful record of twenty years of hard work and how unfairly Laban had treated him, changing his wages ten times. Selfishly, dishonestly, and hypocritically, Laban claimed that all Jacob had really belonged to Laban, thus discounting Jacob’s twenty years of hard labor. In the end, however, he concluded with Jacob a covenant for peaceful relations between the two households. To memorialize it they set up a monument of stones which they named “Witness heap” and “The Watchtower.” Then Laban went back and Jacob proceeded on his way.—Gen. 31:19-55.

Faced now with the prospect of meeting Esau, Jacob sent ahead messengers to plead reconciliation. When these returned with the news that his vengeful brother was coming toward him with four hundred men, Jacob earnestly appealed to Jehovah for help. At the same time he dispatched to Esau a most generous gift consisting of sheep, goats, camels, cattle, asses, more than five hundred all told.

After dispatching this gift Jacob met a stranger who began to grapple with him and who proved to be an angel of God. Jacob grappled with this one all night, and in the morning let him go only on the condition that he bless Jacob. The angel then blessed Jacob and told him that his name no more would be Jacob but Israel, because he had successfully contended with God.—Gen. 32:22-31.

Fearing the worst, Jacob had divided his camp into two parts so that should one part be attacked the other could escape. However, when Esau met Jacob he embraced him and kissed him and both burst into tears. Though Esau assured Jacob that he himself had many possessions, Jacob insisted that he accept his gift, which he did. Jacob’s prayers and actions in harmony with his prayers proved fruitful.—Gen. 33:1-16.

BACK IN CANAANLAND

In time Jacob settled down in Canaan near Shechem. One day his daughter Dinah, failing to guard her associations, visited the pagan daughters of the land. She was noticed by one of the chieftains of the land, who violated her. Jacob evidently intended to pursue a course similar to that taken by his father and grandfather under somewhat similar circumstances, that of peace. But not so his sons. They cruelly wreaked a bloody vengeance on the entire city to avenge their sister’s humiliation. This caused Jacob to complain: “You have brought trouble upon me in making me a stench to the inhabitants of the land, . . . whereas I am few in number, and they will certainly gather together against me and assault me and I must be annihilated, I and my house.” No doubt to avoid this eventuality, Jehovah instructed Jacob to leave the area and go to Bethel. Additionally God caused fear to come upon the people of the land so that they did not pursue Jacob and his household.—Gen. 33:18 to 35:7.

During the journey that followed, Jehovah again appeared to Jacob and restated the precious promise to him; Jacob’s wife Rachel died giving birth to her second son Benjamin; Jacob’s first-born son Reuben played false to his father by having relations with Bilhah, one of his father’s concubines; and, not long after Jacob reached Hebron, where his aged father Isaac was dwelling, his father died at the age of 180 years.—Gen. 35:9-29.

Once again Jacob and his household settled down in Canaanland. Having lost Rachel, his favorite wife, it was but natural for Jacob to bestow special affection upon her first-born son Joseph. This, together with Joseph’s relating certain dreams foretelling his exaltation, was so resented by his brothers that they determined to do away with him, but were persuaded by Judah to sell him into slavery instead. They then gave his father to understand that Joseph had been slain by wild beasts. Famine caused Jacob to send his sons, except Benjamin, the youngest, to Egypt for supplies, where, unknown to him, Joseph was now premier. When Jacob heard of this he was so overjoyed he did not think of demanding an explanation of his sons. He accepted Joseph’s invitation to come to Egypt, and on the way Jehovah assured him that such was his will and that Jacob would become a great nation.—Gen. 46:1-4.

JACOB IN EGYPT

Jacob was now 130 years old and, as he told Pharaoh, they were few and distressing, few compared to those of his father and grandfather, both of whom outlived Jacob by about thirty years. Joy, however, was to crown his old age. He and his household were settled in the region of Egypt best suited for their flocks. And not only did he once again see Joseph, but he also saw Joseph’s sons Ephraim and Manasseh and blessed them and uttered prophecy regarding them that later was fulfilled.—Gen. 47:3-12; 48:8-16.

Imagine now aged Jacob, 147 years old, surrounded by his twelve sons as he speaks his testament and utters divine prophecy. It is at the same time a day of judgment, as it were. He begins by strongly condemning his first-born son for having defiled his father’s lounge. Next, he severely rebukes his sons Simeon and Levi for their bloody avenging of their sister Dinah’s violation. The first three sons having eliminated themselves by their course of action, Jacob gave the chief blessing to Judah: “The scepter will not turn aside from Judah, neither the commander’s staff from between his feet, until Shiloh comes, and to him the obedience of the people will belong.” (Had not Judah showed himself the most dependable and mature of all Jacob’s sons, by his defense of both Joseph and Benjamin? Surely he had!) Then came prophecies regarding the remaining eight of Jacob’s sons and instructions as to the burial of his remains. “Thus Jacob finished giving commands to his sons . . . and expired.”—Gen. 49:1-33.

Truly Jacob was a man of God, mild in temper and peaceable. He lived close to God and made frequent use of prayer, and God honored him by repeatedly appearing to him. Because Jacob was not quick to fight for his rights God maneuvered matters so that Jacob received what was due him. He was singularly blessed in receiving the Abrahamic promise and in becoming the father of the nation of Israel. Above all, he had Jehovah’s approval and received one of the highest honors a mortal could receive: he had his name associated with the one true God Jehovah, for time and again we read of Jehovah being termed “the God of Jacob.”—2 Sam. 23:1; Ps. 81:1, 4.

Jacob is further honored in that he served to picture the Christian congregation of 144,000 members. Just as Abraham pictured Jehovah God and Isaac pictured Jesus Christ, so Jacob pictured the bride of Christ. (Matt. 8:11) It is to these especially that the words of Jesus apply: “Happy are the mild-tempered ones, since they will inherit the earth. Happy are the peaceable, since they will be called ‘sons of God’.” (Matt. 5:5, 9) The remnant of these on earth in modern times are also termed Jacob at Jeremiah 30:7-11, where their distressing experiences during and shortly after World War I are foretold.

Jacob is a fine example for all God’s servants today. They too must have a keen appreciation of spiritual things and be mild-tempered and peaceable. Also to be imitated by them is Jacob’s willingness to endure hardships for the sake of the sheep entrusted to his care. (Gen. 31:36-42) Truly, “all the things that were written aforetime were written for our instruction.”—Rom. 15:4.

‘One Who Is Despised’

THE Roman historian Suetonius wrote a history of twelve Caesars. The son of a Roman knight, Suetonius got much of his information about the worst of the Caesars from eyewitnesses. He himself lived nearly thirty years under the Caesars and had ready access to the Imperial and Senatorial archives. It is interesting to note Suetonius’ description of Tiberius Caesar, the one referred to prophetically by the Bible as “one who is to be despised”; that is, because of his bad qualities. (Dan. 11:21) Suetonius writes concerning this despised person in his work The Twelve Caesars (translated by Robert Graves):

● “Some signs of Tiberius’s savage and dour character could be distinguished even in his boyhood. Theodorus the Gadarene, who taught him rhetoric, seems to have been the first to do so, since, on having occasion to reprove Tiberius, he would call him ‘mud, kneaded with blood!’ But after he became Emperor, while he was still gaining popular favour by a pretence of moderation, there could be no doubt that Theodorus had been right. . . .

● “A praetor asked Tiberius whether, in his opinion, courts should be convened to try cases of lèse majesté. Tiberius replied that the law must be enforced; and enforce it he did, most savagely, too. One man was accused of decapitating an image of Augustus with a view to substituting another head; his case was tried before the Senate and, finding a conflict of evidence, Tiberius had the witnesses examined under torture. The offender was sentenced to death, which provided a precedent for farfetched accusations: people could now be executed for . . . changing their own clothes, close to an image of Augustus, or for carrying a ring or coin, bearing Augustus’s head, into a privy or a brothel; or for criticizing anything Augustus had ever said or done. The climax came when a man died merely for letting an honour be voted him by his native town council on the same day that honours had once been voted to Augustus.

● “Tiberius did so many other wicked deeds under the pretext of reforming public morals—but in reality to gratify his lust for seeing people suffer—that many satires were written against the evils of the day . . .

● “A few days after he came to Capri a fisherman suddenly intruded on his solitude by presenting him with an enormous mullet, which he had lugged up the trackless cliffs at the rear of the island. Tiberius was so scared that he ordered his guards to rub the fisherman’s face with the mullet. The scales skinned it raw, and the poor fellow shouted in his agony: ‘Thank Heaven, I did not bring Caesar that huge crab I also caught!’ Tiberius sent for the crab and had it used in the same way. . . .

● “Soon Tiberius broke out in every sort of cruelty and never lacked for victims: these were, first, his mother’s friends and less intimate acquaintances; . . . finally, those of Sejanus [commander of the Praetorian Guards, also executed]. With Sejanus out of the way his savageries increased; which proved that Sejanus had not, as some thought, been inciting him to commit them, but merely providing the opportunities that he demanded. . . .

● “A detailed list of Tiberius’s barbarities would take a long time to compile; I shall content myself with a few samples. Not a day, however holy, passed without an execution. . . . Many of his men victims were accused and punished with their children—some actually by their children—and the relatives forbidden to go into mourning. Special awards were voted to the informers who had denounced them and, in certain circumstances, to the witnesses too. An informer’s word was always believed. . . .

● “The bodies of all executed persons were flung on the Stairs of Mourning, and dragged to the Tiber with hooks—as many as twenty a day, including women and children. Tradition forbade the strangling of virgins; so, when little girls had been condemned to die in this way, the executioner began by violating them. . . . In Capri they still show the place at the cliff top where Tiberius used to watch his victims being thrown into the sea . . .

● “Much evidence is extant, not only of the hatred that Tiberius earned but of the state of terror in which he himself lived, and the insults heaped upon him. . . . The first news of his death caused such joy at Rome that people ran about yelling: ‘To the Tiber with Tiberius!’ and others offered prayers to Mother Earth and the Infernal Gods to give him no home below except among the damned.”

● Truly Tiberius Caesar was a person despised.

What Does Halloween Mean to You?

ON Halloween night when confronted by a masked, costumed youth making the requesting threat, “Trick or treat,” do you think it cute, just a harmless occasion for children to enjoy themselves? Do you consider Halloween to be a time to go to costume parties, bob for apples, and carve a hollowed-out pumpkin into a fearsome face? Do you put stock in stories about the return of spirits of the dead, of witches, and of ghosts and goblins? Is this time of the year a serious occasion to you, one when you visit the graves of loved ones and attend special religious services? People view the celebration of Halloween differently. What does it mean to you?

Halloween actually means Hallow Even or the Eve of All Hallows. In the eighth century Pope Gregory III established November 1 as the date for a feast to honor all the saints, it being called All Saints’ Day. According to The Catholic Encyclopedia, it is a feast of the highest rank. Since all saints are considered hallowed people, the eve of the feast in their behalf came to be called Eve of All Hallows, or, for short, Halloween.

In the United States October 31 is Halloween night, a time for fun, boisterousness and playing pranks. It has been called the worst night of the year for vandalism, when both young and old run wild. In Latin-American countries November 2 is the day celebrated, but in a much different way. November 2 is the day of the Roman Catholic festival All Souls’ Day, which dates from about the eleventh century. This festival is based on the belief that the souls of the dead can be aided in getting out of purgatory to reach heaven by the prayers and alms-deeds of the faithful on earth. Therefore at this festival, referred to as the Day of the Dead and occurring the day after All Saints’ Day, people visit the graves of loved ones and offer prayers and alms in their behalf.

HALLOWEEN AND THE BIBLE

Does Halloween mean to you honoring dead saints and commemorating the departed by praying for their souls? Although Halloween and its associated festivals are religious feasts of Christendom in honor and in behalf of the dead, where is the Scriptural precedent for them? None can be found. When Cornelius fell at the feet of the apostle Peter to give honor to him, Peter did not approve, but said, “Rise; I myself am also a man.” Even when the apostle John fell down to worship an angel, he was rebuked: “Be careful! Do not do that! . . . Worship God,” was the angel’s command. (Acts 10:26; Rev. 19:10) The apostle Paul also warned about being deprived of the prize of life by men who would sponsor “a form of worship of the angels.” Wisely Christians avoid any celebration that is for the purpose of honoring anyone except God.—Col. 2:18.

The Bible teaches: “The soul that is sinning—it itself will die.” (Ezek. 18:4) Since the souls of the dead are not alive, it is impossible for them to be helped by the prayers of those on earth; therefore the festival All Souls’ Day is not founded on a Scriptural basis and shows lack of faith in God’s Word.

The Bible also teaches: “Train up a boy according to the way for him; even when he grows old he will not turn aside from it.” (Prov. 22:6) How can this scripture be harmonized with the Halloween practice of ‘tricking or treating’? It may appear cute to have youngsters call at homes with the requesting threat, “Trick or treat,” but is it cute when they grow older and threaten people with violence if they do not pay what they ask? Is this Halloween practice bringing up a child in the right way, or is it directing him toward an unchristian course of vandalism and crime?

ROOTED IN PAGANISM

Halloween’s roots, although not found in the Bible, can be traced back to a pagan origin. The pre-Christian Egyptians, Greeks and Romans all celebrated a festival for the dead. These ancients believed that on these occasions the spirits of the dead returned; therefore food was left for them and lamps were kept burning so they would not lose their way.

The Celtic order of Druids worshiped Samhain, lord of the dead, as well as a sun-god to whom the horse was sacred. On November 1, which was also their New Year, they held a joint festival in honor of these gods. It was believed that the souls of those who had died the previous year because of their sins were confined to the bodies of lower animals, and at the time of this festival Samhain assembled them together, and they were released to go to the Druid heaven. On the eve of the feast of Samhain the pagan Celts used to keep bonfires burning, believing that this would protect them from evil spirits.

The many features of today’s Halloween and Day of the Dead celebrations can be traced directly back to paganism. The ancients associated this time of the year with the supernatural and with the thronging of dead spirits, so it was right in line with Catholic church policy to adopt this date for their All Saints’ and All Souls’ Day. The people were thus able to keep their pagan customs and beliefs and still celebrate what are called Christian festivals of the highest rank. But the varnish applied by Christendom to these pagan feasts is so thin that there is no questioning the fact that Halloween is rooted in paganism.

WHAT HALLOWEEN MEANS TO A CHRISTIAN

It is interesting to note that the Protestant Reformation was touched off on Halloween night. How so? Martin Luther, knowing it was the custom of the people to flock to the Palace Church in Wittenberg, Germany, on the eve of All Saints, picked that night to nail his ninety-five theses to its door. On reading them, the people’s smoldering resentment against the Catholic church burst into flames. Many pagan practices were cast off by the reformers, the celebration of Allhallows Eve being one of them.

How about Christians today, how should they view Halloween? Christians will be motivated by Scriptural principle and not by human reasoning that may argue: “What harm can come from letting children attend a costume party? Everyone else participates, and it is hard on the children when they are different.” It is not Scripturally wrong for children to have a costume party or play games such as bobbing for apples. However, doing so as a part of Halloween would be celebrating that pagan religious feast. This would be compromising Christian principles. One can be sure that Christ Jesus, who always stuck close to what the Bible said, would heed the divine commands: “You must not walk in the statutes of the nations.” “Do not learn the way of the nations at all.” (Lev. 20:23; Jer. 10:2) Jesus was never influenced by human reasoning into compromising on Scriptural commands! Therefore, neither will a Christian today compromise, even if it means being different and separate from the world.

Early Christians followed Jesus’ steps closely. They heeded the command: “Do not become unevenly yoked with unbelievers. . . . ‘Therefore get out from among them, and separate yourselves,’ says Jehovah, ‘and quit touching the unclean thing.’” (2 Cor. 6:14, 17) Edward Gibbon in the book Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire (Vol. I, pages 396, 397) says that early Christians took no part in “the games that the prince and people celebrated in honour of their peculiar festivals . . . The Christian, on these interesting occasions, was compelled to desert the persons who were the dearest to him, rather than contract the guilt inherent to those impious ceremonies . . . The dangerous temptations which on every side lurked in ambush to surprise the unguarded believer assailed him with redoubled violence on the days of solemn festivals.”

The situation is the same now. On the day of pagan festivals such as Halloween true Christians will want to be particularly on guard ‘to keep themselves without spot from the world.’ Christian parents will show real love for their children by explaining to them why loyal servants of Jehovah do not participate in the Halloween celebration. If as with the early Christians it ‘compels them to part with old-world friends,’ assure them that they are making Jehovah’s heart glad by their uncompromising stand.—Jas. 1:27; Prov. 27:11.

If on Halloween night you are confronted with the requesting threat, “Trick or treat,” then what? Should you treat? Christians are not selfish, yet there is a principle involved, and true Christians are inflexible when it comes to Scriptural principles. The occasion could be taken to explain this, and even invite the youngsters back on another day with the assurance that then they will be given more information as well as a treat.

Although Halloween poses as a Christian holiday, it is exposed as a pagan feast. It has not borne the fruit of pure Christianity but is a night when one fears for the safety of his property and possessions. Christians are looking to live in a new world wherein “righteousness is to dwell.” They are endeavoring to live now as they hope to live then, in that new world. Pagan feasts such as Halloween will not be observed then; that means a Christian will not celebrate them now.—2 Pet. 3:13.

Questions From Readers

● Please answer my question in The Watchtower.—Unsigned.

Among the many readers of The Watchtower who write in for information are some who ask personal questions on which they want a Scriptural answer, but who give no name or address. Others give an address but no name. For the benefit of all, we would like to set out here the policy of the Watch Tower Society in answering questions received.

The Society is glad to be of help to all who sincerely seek answers to questions that call for a Bible answer. First of all, a personal answer is sent by mail to the one who inquires. Then those questions that are of sufficient interest and importance are printed in this Questions from Readers section of The Watchtower. Questions of a personal nature are of concern only to the ones involved, so these are not published. In other cases the questions asked are ones that have been answered in recent issues of The Watchtower; of course, these will not be printed again right away, but a personal answer will be sent and, in many cases, reference will be made to the Watch Tower publications that discussed the point in question.

However, it is the policy of the Watch Tower Society never to answer correspondence that does not bear the name of the inquirer. So let all that wish to avail themselves of the help that the publishers of The Watchtower give in providing Scriptural answers to questions of a personal or a doctrinal nature give their name (not merely initials) and address so that they may be certain to get direct and personal attention.

● Will there be earthquakes in the new world?—D.S., U.S.A.

Today it is held that the majority of earthquakes are caused by slipping of large sections of the earth along faults or cracks in the earth, while others are due to volcanic activity or the collapse of limestone caverns. Among the theories advanced to account for the slippage of faults is the strain caused by contraction due to the cooling of the earth. In view of this natural cause we are not to think that either Jehovah God or Satan the Devil causes the earthquakes of today.

Earthquakes are repeatedly mentioned in the Scriptures. It is apparent that some of these were caused by Jehovah, or timed by him. Among these can be numbered the one that swallowed up the households of Korah, Dathan and Abiram, and the ones that occurred at the time of Jesus’ death and resurrection.—Num. 16:31-33; Matt. 27:51-54; 28:2.

Jesus, who shared in creation, doubtless foresaw the settling of the earth’s crust and the build-up of pressures within that would seek escape. As a Master Worker he may well have known that this time of the end would be the time for an increase in such disturbances.—Matt. 24:7.

However, there is no reason to fear the possibility of such an occurrence in the new world. Jesus Christ, Jehovah’s Master Worker and the one of whom it is said that “all things came into existence through him,” has been enthroned in heaven as the immortal king of the new world. (Prov. 8:30; John 1:3) With loving concern, he will see that no harm comes to his new world subjects from the forces of nature, even as he once calmed the turbulent waters of the Sea of Galilee when a boat was “close to being swamped.” (Mark 4:37-41) Knowing well the structure of the earth, he may see to it that internal pressures find their outlet in unpopulated parts of the earth or under the ocean so as to cause no harm to man, or he may make it possible for men to move out of such areas before any disturbance occurs. Of this we can be certain: no one will be harmed by any such phenomena in the new world. And, no doubt, when the entire earth has been made a paradise, earthquakes will cease.

Announcements

FIELD MINISTRY

Exercising practical wisdom in a doomed world calls for separateness from old-world aims and activities, and wholehearted devotion to New World activities. Throughout November such New World activities will include offering the Bible-study aids From Paradise Lost to Paradise Regained and “Let God Be True,” along with two booklets, for $1.25.

WHAT IS GOD’S PROVISION FOR YOU?

Have you ever thought: “How wonderful it would be really to understand the Bible”? If you have, then you will be delighted with the two Bible-study aids From Paradise Lost to Paradise Regained and “Let God Be True.” Already millions of copies of these two popular hard-bound books have been placed in the homes of grateful persons interested in God’s Word. The simple yet comprehensive message from the Bible that they contain will thrill you and give you renewed hope for your future in God’s loving provision for all obedient mankind. Send only $1.25 today and receive free two timely booklets on Bible subjects.

“WATCHTOWER” STUDIES FOR THE WEEKS

December 4: Marriage in Paradise, ¶1-27. Page 649.

December 11: Marriage in Paradise, ¶28-34, and Marriage Outside Paradise. Page 656.