The Watchtower — November 1, 1963

Indecision Is a Thief of Time

“HOW long will you be limping upon two different opinions? If Jehovah is the true God, go following him; but if Baal is, go following him.” (1 Ki. 18:21) With these strong words the prophet Elijah berated the indecision on the part of the nation of Israel with respect to their worship. At a time when true worship was at a very low ebb because of the corrupting influence of wicked King Ahab and his idolatrous queen, Jezebel, this was no time to be doubting in their worship, but, rather, a time for decisive action on the part of those who would have God’s blessing and favor. However, indecision on the part of the whole nation was stealing time that should have been used in true worship, time that rightly belonged to their God, Jehovah, by virtue of their dedication to him. It was time that could never be redeemed; it was gone forever.

The same principle is brought to our attention by the Christian Bible writer James in his discussion of the matter of prayer. He shows that the dedicated Christian, when praying to Jehovah, must have no doubts as to whether God exists or about whether he answers the prayers of his servants. Rather, he should draw near to him in faith and with complete confidence. “Let him keep on asking in faith, not doubting at all, for he who doubts is like a wave of the sea driven by the wind and blown about. In fact, let not that man suppose that he will receive anything from Jehovah; he is an indecisive man, unsteady in all his ways.” (Jas. 1:6-8) Those who are indecisive in their attitude toward God lack faith. Before it is too late they need to take steps to remedy the situation by earnestly studying God’s Word and associating with those who love and serve him.

In our everyday life we are called upon to make decisions on many matters, some small and some great. Here, too, indecision can be a thief of valuable time. Even on such comparatively minor details as dressing and buying, decisions must be made. A shopping tour that starts out happily may end in exhaustion and frayed tempers if you cannot make the final decision between two different styles or colors. How much time could be saved by a calm, quick decision on the basis of one’s likes and needs! This does not mean that one should buy the first article he sees; but, rather, a happy medium should be found between the unwise, hasty decision and the time-wasting course of indecision.

The business executive is one who must be ready to make more weighty decisions that may involve the reputation of the company for which he works. In many instances time is the prime factor. Indecision on his part may mean the difference between being awarded a profitable contract and losing it. Nevertheless, a hasty decision on his part might well spell disaster for him and for the company. So the wise executive will not allow himself to be pressured into an unwise decision. Rather, he will have in mind all the facts, and then in the light of all factors he will be able to make a wise decision. He will not allow the spirit of indecision to be the thief of valuable time that can never be recovered.

The dedicated Christian minister is one who is particularly interested in using wisely the time at his disposal. He has dedicated everything he has, including his time, to the doing of God’s will, so he should do his utmost to see that time is not wasted. For his benefit the apostle Paul wrote: “Keep strict watch that how you walk is not as unwise but as wise persons, buying out the opportune time for yourselves, because the days are wicked.” (Eph. 5:15, 16) He may be considering moving to another section of the country or to another land in order to increase his ministerial opportunities or he may be considering the possibility of becoming a full-time preacher of the good news. He has considered all the factors involved and can find nothing that prevents him from fulfilling his desire. But indecision can be the thief of time that could be used in carrying out that ministry.

Or he may have been assigned to prepare a Bible lecture on a certain subject and has received a general outline of what should be presented in the lecture. He begins his preparation, but he finds that from the very outset he is beset with indecision. Hours may pass without any success in deciding what material to use or how to arrange it in a logical order. However, if he will fix in mind the objective of his talk and then select the few main aspects of the subject that will do most in achieving that objective, he will readily be able to determine what information supports these key thoughts and what does not fit and so should be set aside. Also, if he will carefully consider the audience to which he will speak and what he knows about their needs in connection with his subject, he will find that he is well on the way in the preparation of a most beneficial discourse.

Today, especially, time is valuable. If used wisely, it can bring everlasting blessings to the individual. The Bible clearly shows that within this generation God’s righteous government in the hands of his King, Christ Jesus, will hold undisputed sway over this whole earth. Conditions of peace, justice and happiness will be the lot of all those who put their complete trust in that righteous rule. But it requires a definite decision on the part of each person living now. The basis for making that decision is an accurate knowledge of Jehovah God and his purposes through his Son Jesus Christ. Today Jehovah’s witnesses in all parts of the earth are glad to be able to help righteously disposed persons gain that knowledge, which can mean eternal life for them. So you, too, are urged not to be indifferent and not to let a course of indecision steal your time. Use your time wisely, because it can mean your everlasting life.

How Does Your Religion Raise Money?

IT TAKES money to run a household, a business or a government. It also takes money to sustain the operation of a religious organization. Many and varied are the methods used by churches and temples to raise the necessary money. Which method does your religion use? More important still: Which method does God’s Word, the Bible, indicate as the one to be preferred?

The more popular methods of raising funds in use by many religions include church suppers, bakery and rummage sales, bazaars and even ox roasts. Of course, there is nothing wrong with these activities in themselves, but when they are employed for the raising of funds for religious ends, the Christian naturally feels tempted to look for some Scriptural basis or precedent that supports their use. But the search is in vain, because it was not Jesus and his apostles who originated these methods of fund raising. In fact, the lunches provided by Jesus were free.—Mark 6:35-44; 8:1-9.

Others, again, raise money for their churches by operating games of chance, such as bingo, raffles and lotteries. It must shake the composure of some church members to read press reports such as these: “Church Raffle Fete Shut Down by Police,” and “Charity ‘Wheels’ Seized.” Some may be reluctant to think of this as gambling. Somehow or another it may seem to them that, since the games are connected with church work, they are lifted out of the realm of anything suggesting immorality. ‘And,’ they may feel, ‘there is really no harm done, since the funds are not appropriated for the personal enrichment of individuals.’ But just a little thought on the matter will tell us that someone is being harmed, at least in a financial way. Since these projects are for the purpose of raising funds for the church, then there has to be a winner—the church. And since there has to be a winner, there also has to be a loser—the participant. So is this going to help the participant to stand up to his financial obligations at home and elsewhere? He may feel that this is only a way to help him live up to his obligations toward his church. But he could always contribute the money to the church according to his means. A lot depends on whether he wants to get a “kick” out of giving or happiness out of giving, which is what the Bible recommends. (Acts 20:35) Of course, there are more than just financial obligations to be considered. People join churches as a means of bringing themselves closer to God. But can it honestly be said that raising money by games of chance draws people closer to God? He speaks out against those “setting in order a table for the god of Good Luck.”—Isa. 65:11.

A number of churches employ the services of professional fund-raising experts who make use of all the up-to-date techniques of salesmanship in order to high-pressure church members into making larger contributions. Then there are also “psychological stratagems,” advertised by such organizations as the American Institute of Motivation Research and offered to clergymen for a price. But what is the effect on church members when they begin to realize that they are being treated with “techniques” and “stratagems” every Sunday? They may give, but are they happy givers?

OPERATING BUSINESS ENTERPRISES

Then, again, other churches have gone into business to raise money. Thus the Milwaukee, Wisconsin, Journal, February 25, 1962, reported that “Churches ‘Lay Up Treasure’ in Business,” and that “Many Denominations Make Profits in a Wide Variety of Nonreligious Enterprises, from Parking Lots to Wineries.” Under these headings the Journal went on to say:

“Just inside the gate of a large amusement park in New Jersey a black-robed nun sits on a folding chair, accepting with a warm ‘God bless you’ each coin that drops into the cigar box on her lap. To beg, she’s not ashamed. But if it’s money she’s after, real money, her humble method is as out of tune with the 1962 church scene as her whispered aves with the calliopes’ strident oom-pah-pah. . . . She could, for example, turn a neat profit for her church by owning a parking lot, or a restaurant, or an apartment house, or a coal mine. . . . Or she could make exquisite candies, or bake fine bread, or [make] new brandy. . . . These are but a handful of the profitable ventures pursued today by churches across the land.”

But is business for profit necessary for the sustaining of religious activity? There is certainly nothing wrong with a Christian’s being in business. The apostle Paul and other early Christians worked for financial gain when this was necessary. But necessary for what? Why, necessary for their own personal needs, so that they could sustain themselves as active ministers of God’s Word. There is no record that the first-century Christian church itself ever went into secular business for its own support. Jesus did not feel any need to amass funds for the sake of carrying on his ministry. When a certain rich young ruler came to consult him on God’s requirements, Jesus did not tell him to invest and expand his riches for the sake of contributing to the ministry. Rather, he told him that he would do well to rid himself of his material encumbrances for the sake of dedicating himself to ministerial work as a follower of Jesus.—Matt. 6:19, 20; 19:16-25.

ASKING OR BEGGING

The item we quoted from the Milwaukee Journal spoke of a nun begging for her church. Roger Lloyd, religious editor of the Manchester Guardian, once stated that he gave two cheers when, after twenty years, he ceased to be a parish priest. One of these cheers was to celebrate the fact that he would no longer have to beg for money. No doubt, one of the ways he begged for his church was by having the collection plate passed. This common practice is not usually thought of as begging, but the insinuation involved is tantamount to begging.

Much of this form of raising money is done by mail, as when Billy Graham sends out postal cards soliciting help to pay off the deficits incurred by his publicity campaigns. A letter sent out by the Passionist Fathers Missions, located in the southern part of the United States, begins this way: “Dear Friend: Did you ever have to beg? God grant that you shall never have to. It is a most unpleasant task—one that often meets with harsh refusals and bitter, unkind words, or simply ignoring. Yet, beg we must. The priest in the mission is forced to be a beggar for Christ.”

But can we imagine God’s cause in such dire straits that his servants have to beg to keep it alive? Does begging for God make sense? Is it in the fitness of things to beg for the One to whom belongs the universe, “the beasts upon a thousand mountains”? The priests and Levites under the Mosaic law never found it necessary to beg. When, in the days of Nehemiah, the Israelites failed to provide properly for the temple worship, the Levites went to working in the fields to provide for themselves.—Ps. 50:10-12; Deut. 12:19; Neh. 13:10.

The same principle applied in the days of Jesus’ apostles. When fellow Christians failed to support the apostle Paul in his ministry, he worked at making tents. He acted on the principle laid down by Jesus: “There is more happiness in giving than there is in receiving.” Paul set the pattern for Christians.—Acts 18:3; 20:34, 35; 1 Cor. 11:1.

TITHING

Perhaps your church is one of those that raise money by means of the tithe. Some of the smaller denominations, such as the Seventh-day Adventists and the Mormons, have practiced tithing for a long time, but today there is a definite trend toward its use in both the Roman Catholic and Protestant churches. Especially zealous in this regard is the American Roman Catholic weekly, Our Sunday Visitor. Says a “Father” Joseph Payne: “This is God’s plan, not man’s, that each wage earner give 10 per cent to His works. . . . If we question the fairness of tithing we are questioning God’s wisdom.” It is said that every family must tithe the gross income, and this regardless of how large the family is and how small the income.

But is tithing “God’s plan”? No, says the Roman Catholic theologian Gregory Baum, professor of theology at St. Michael’s College, Toronto, Canada. To claim that it is, says he, is dangerous, “because it not only proclaims wrong teaching but also falsifies men’s conscience and causes anguish and revolt. The divine teaching confided to Israel has been abrogated. . . . As Christians we are free from the law of Moses. Circumcision, tithing and other commandments are no longer for us. Is tithing the law of the church? The answer is very simple. It is not.” However, the sixteenth-century Catholic Council of Trent went so far as ordering the tithe on pain of excommunication.

Gregory Baum may be mistaken as to Roman Catholic teaching on the subject of tithing, but he is not mistaken as to what the Bible teaches about it. When Jesus Christ abolished by his death “the Law of commandments consisting in decrees,” he also abolished tithing.—Eph. 2:14, 15; Rom. 6:14.

If tithing were for Christians there would be some indication to that effect in the Christian Greek Scriptures, but we look in vain for such an indication. Although tithing is mentioned some forty times in the Bible, there are only three separate and distinct references to it in the so-called New Testament.

The first of these is where Jesus said: “Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! because you give the tenth [or tithe] . . . but you have disregarded the weightier matters of the Law, namely, justice and mercy and faithfulness.” Another reference is found in the words of the self-righteous Pharisee of Jesus’ parable: “I fast twice a week, I give the tenth [or tithe] of all things I acquire.” Yet a third reference is found in a discussion of the subject in the book of Hebrews, where tithing is mentioned to show the superiority of the priesthood of Jesus, but not to show that tithing is for Christians.—Matt. 23:23; Luke 11:42; 18:12; Heb. 7:4-9.

Just reasoning on the subject rules out tithing as a means for sustaining Christian activities. Christian service is a matter of love, and love is not rendered on a percentage basis. A man who truly loves his wife does not need any such regulation in order to supply her needs, nor would he limit himself to a certain percentage if able to give more when required. And a woman who truly loves her husband would not expect a certain percentage of his salary for herself regardless of whether he could afford it or not. God is more reasonable than the best of housewives.

Besides, tithing is not always an entirely equitable arrangement. Due to present unequal economic conditions, the tithe for one man may amount to a mere trifle, a bagatelle, as it were, whereas for another it may represent a staggering burden. So, on the one hand, the tithe would not necessarily indicate unselfishness and, on the other hand, it would work a real hardship, an oppressive burden.

It is not surprising, therefore, that tithing was not a part of early Christian teaching. In earlier times it was required in God’s law for the Israelites but it was an entirely just arrangement. In the first place, each Israelite received a just portion of land and, if this were lost, provision was made for restoration in the jubilee year. Besides, the tithe was given primarily to the Levite, who received no inheritance in the land. But those conditions did not prevail in the Christian congregation. For this reason neither do we find any tithing arrangement in the postapostolic days of the Christian church. Says the Encyclopedia of Religion and Ethics: “The system of tithes was not resorted to for several centuries . . . Until the fourth century little is heard of it . . . Epiphanius says that the tithe is no more binding than circumcision.” (Vol. 12, p. 348) However, with the falling away from the true faith, as foretold by the apostle Paul, the Christian church also went astray as to the means to be used to raise money to take care of the expense incurred in preaching the good news. Still it was not until the sixth century that certain church councils made the tithe obligatory, and only toward the end of the eighth century did Charlemagne make the tithe a matter of law for the Holy Roman Empire.

However, even in ancient times the simple device of having a contribution box or chest was found to be very effective. This was done in the days of King Jehoash and High Priest Jehoiada. Such chests were also found to be practical in Jesus’ day, and a similar method prevails in the Kingdom Halls of Jehovah’s witnesses today. A contribution box or two are placed at the rear of the hall where each one may go and contribute whatever he chooses without feeling any obligation or compulsion.—2 Ki. 12:9, 10; Luke 21:1.

Where the true Christian spirit is, there is no need for anything more; the fund-raising activities discussed here are not employed. What is required is more teaching of the people about God’s own attributes, his wisdom, love, justice and power, the truth about his purposes regarding the vindication of his name and the establishment of a paradise earth. Not to be overlooked are the Bible examples of unselfish giving displayed by God’s Son and also by God-fearing, though imperfect, men. This teaching will bring about a spontaneous response from those so taught. Then, as the apostle Paul expressed it, “if the readiness is there first, it is especially acceptable according to what a person has, not according to what a person does not have.”—2 Cor. 8:12.

The Book of “Everlasting Good News” is Beneficial

“All Scripture is inspired of God and beneficial.”—2 Tim. 3:16

1. For what reason is the Bible often used in courtrooms in many parts of our earth?

HAVE you ever gone on the witness stand or into a witness box or dock in a courtroom, say in Scotland or Canada or the United States of America? Before you were called upon to bear witness you were sworn in to tell the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth. But why, when swearing to tell the naked truth, were you obliged to lay your right hand upon a copy of the Holy Scriptures or the Holy Bible? It is because that book is looked upon as being God’s Book, the written Word of God, and it represents him. So when one swears to bear witness to the truth, with hand upon the Holy Bible, one is really swearing before God the Bible’s Author and thus becomes responsible to Him for what he says under oath.

2. Since it is impossible for God to lie, what can be said about his Word the Bible?

² The Bible’s Author is the “God of truth,” and “it is impossible for God to lie,” and when we swear before Him He expects us to tell the solemn truth, and the judicial Court expects us to tell the truth. (Ps. 31:5; Heb. 6:18; Titus 1:2) He being the “God of truth,” he could never be the Author of a book of lies. If his Book, the Holy Bible, were a book of lies, myths and fairy tales and “old wives’ fables,” how could we sincerely swear to tell the truth with our right hand resting upon such a book? We could not do so, and it would not stimulate us to tell the truth. Concerning the Holy Scriptures, Jesus Christ said in prayer to God: “Your word is truth.” If we are truly his followers, we will prayerfully say the same thing concerning the Holy Bible. We will make a distinction between it and myths, fables.—John 17:17.

3. How does the Bible magnify the Creator of heaven and earth, and what should all mankind do in this day?

³ Why must the Holy Scriptures, the Holy Bible, be the only Book of the one and only true God? The true God is no creation, no creature. For time eternal he was before creation. Just as it ought to do, the Bible, as being His Book, starts out with an account of Him as the Creator. “In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth,” are its opening words. (Gen. 1:1) To the very last book of the Bible this same Creator is given his true prominence and dignity, although this last book was written one thousand six hundred years after the first book. In this last book there are addressed to Him on his heavenly throne these words: “You are worthy, our Lord and God, to receive glory, honor, and power, for you created all things; by your will they existed and were created.” And an angel is seen who “swore by him who lives forever and ever, who created the heavens and all that is in them, the earth and all that is in it, and the sea and all that is in it.” (Rev. 4:11; 10:5, 6, AT) And another angel tells all earth’s inhabitants: “Fear God and . . . worship the One who made the heaven and the earth and sea and fountains of waters.” (Rev. 14:6, 7) That is the right kind of conclusion to which God’s Book should come.

4. (a) What makes the Bible different from any other book? (b) Is authorship of a Book by God something strange?

⁴ Critics of the Bible do not need to point out that mere men wrote this book. The Bible itself honestly informs us of that fact. But what makes this book different from any other book written by men is that the Holy Bible is “inspired of God.” That is to say, “breathed of God,” as one of the Bible writers describes it. It was as if God, by an invisible breath, put into the minds of the thirty-nine God-fearing men who composed the Bible what to write and what truths to put on record. This fact makes God the Creator really the Author of this Book. This is not strange. He could create a book just as easily as he could create heaven and earth and the brains in man’s head.

5. (a) Why is it necessary to know the name of the God who authored the Bible? (b) What is his name, and how often does it appear in the Bible?

⁵ There are ever so many gods worshiped by earth’s inhabitants today. For this reason we insist on knowing which one of all these gods authored the Holy Bible. What is the name of the Bible’s divine Author? In Christendom there are religious clergymen and also translators of the Bible into other languages who say that God needs no name to identify him, because he is a universal God and it is enough for him to be just God without a name. But God the Creator does not agree with such clergymen and Bible translators, and he inspired his original Bible writers to use his name thousands of times. He did not want his name to be hidden at any time, so that he would become a nameless God. Conveniently, the Holy Bible names its Inspirer about seven thousand times, from its first book, chapter two, down to its joyful outcries of Hallelujah, in its last book, in the fourth last chapter, that is to say, in Revelation 19:1, 3, 4, 6. The outcry Hallelujah means “Praise Jah,” and the name Jah is an abbreviation of the name Jehovah, or Yahweh, as some critical clergymen prefer to pronounce it today. He inspired his prophet Isaiah to write: “I am Jehovah. That is my name.” (Isa. 42:8) He dignifies himself with a name.

6. (a) What is unique about the judgments, laws, prophets and prophecies of the Bible? (b) As the living God, what has Jehovah done in authoring the Bible that makes this Book so different?

⁶ The Holy Bible is written in God’s name, Jehovah. Its judgments and laws are pronounced in his name. Its prophets are sent in his name, and their prophecies are declared over his name and written with his name as a signature of guarantee. The Bible does credit to God’s name. What other book tells us so much about this God the Creator? What other book describes him so fully or presents him so vividly? He is not a god set out in unhistorical, undatable mythologies and unreasonable religious traditions that are the product of man’s imaginations. He is a God tied in directly with human history from man’s very start till now, for He is man’s Creator. He has nothing to do with myths or religious mythologies. As a living God, he weaves his speeches, his prophecies, his deeds and his course of action right in with dated, true-life history of mankind, and gives his attention, not to just his chosen servants or people, but also to nations, not excluding a single nation today.

7. Why is the Bible not just a Book of the ancient past, and so of what can we be confident today?

⁷ God’s dealings with mankind did not stop nineteen hundred years ago with the writing of the last book of the Bible. That very last book, because it is prophetic, together with all the other prophetic books and utterances of the whole Bible, projected Jehovah God into the then distant future, yes, into our very own day. In the light of these prophecies Jehovah God is clearly seen to be responsible for many marvelous things taking place today. Certain almost unbelievable things of our time can only be explained on the understanding that He is accountable for them. Of one thing we may be absolutely sure: Jehovah God the Almighty is at work today. Fulfillment of Bible prophecy proves that fact. In turn, that fact proves that the Bible is inspired, and that it is God’s Book.—2 Pet. 1:20, 21.

8. For whom is the “everlasting good news” meant, and how valuable is that news now?

⁸ Why are we especially interested today in knowing that the Holy Bible is God’s Book, that it is “inspired of God”? We want to know this because we desire to be sure that its glorious message is true. It is a book of “everlasting good news” for every nation, tribe and people of no matter what language. (Rev. 14:6) What the Bible announces was “good news” nineteen centuries ago when the writing of the Holy Scriptures was finished. With the passing of all these centuries the good news of the Bible has not grown stale and lost its interest or appeal. Its news is just as good today as ever, because it is “everlasting” good news. It never loses its value. In fact, the news it bears is more alive and interesting today than at any time in the past! Why? Because the inspired Bible prophecies are undergoing realization today, to prove that we have reached the conclusion of this old system of things with its overabundance of bad news today.

9. What divine promise causes us great happiness now?

⁹ So we have proof that we are at the time for God to bring in his new order of righteousness that He has promised in his Word. All right-minded men and women, all lovers of truth and uprightness long for a new order of things such as God has promised in his Bible. He alone is mighty enough to do away with this old order and replace it with a perfectly righteous new order. We want salvation through Jesus Christ from this corrupt, death-dealing old order. O what good news it is to know that now is the time for the Almighty God, Jehovah, to save us from it and to bring us into his new order with its blessings of freedom from war, of prosperity and plenty, of truth, of pure worship of God and of healthful living, not dying, yes, of the resurrection of our dead loved ones!

“WISE FOR SALVATION”

10, 11. (a) How did Paul show the value of God’s Book in writing to Timothy? (b) What constituted the “holy writings” at that time?

¹⁰ For us to become wise enough to gain that salvation we need the only book that tells us about it, God’s Book, the Holy Scriptures. This need is what the Christian apostle Paul stressed to a younger Christian overseer named Timothy, when Paul wrote: “You, however, continue in the things that you learned and were persuaded to believe, knowing from what persons you learned them and that from infancy you have known the holy writings, which are able to make you wise for salvation through the faith in connection with Christ Jesus.” (2 Tim. 3:14, 15) Among those from whom Timothy learned the things that he was persuaded to believe were his grandmother Lois and his mother Eunice, who was a Jewess. From Timothy’s infancy Eunice especially could teach the “holy writings” to him as her little son, for her husband was a Greek. Doubtless she took him to the Jewish synagogue.

¹¹ The holy writings that were then available for Timothy’s learning were the Hebrew Scriptures from the first book, Genesis, to the thirty-ninth and last book, Malachi, written hundreds of years before Timothy’s birth. No inspired writings were added to those Hebrew “holy writings” until the Christian apostle Matthew wrote his Gospel of the life of Jesus Christ, first in Hebrew, about the year 41 of our Common Era, the so-called Christian era. A few years after the Gospel of Matthew was written, the apostle Paul set out on his first missionary tour and visited the hometown of Eunice and Timothy and declared the good news there, at which time doubtless Eunice and Lois believed, becoming Christians.

12. Logically, what “holy writings” did Paul thus use?

¹² In declaring the good news about Jesus Christ as the one whom Jehovah God sent into the world for man’s salvation, the apostle Paul used the Hebrew “holy writings” from Genesis to Malachi. Whether he had Matthew’s Gospel with him is not certain, but Matthew continually quoted the Hebrew Scriptures to prove that Jesus is the promised Christ, the Son of the living God. (Acts 13:1 to 14:21; 16:1-3) From the time of their conversion, Timothy’s mother Eunice and his grandmother Lois could instruct him in the Hebrew Scriptures from the standpoint of the “faith in connection with Christ Jesus.” They continued doing this until Paul revisited their hometown on his second missionary trip a few years later.

13. What additions were now made to the “holy writings”?

¹³ By now Timothy had become a Christian himself and was well reported on by the local Christian congregation. So Paul took Timothy along with him on this missionary trip, which now extended itself from Asia Minor into Greece, including the city of Thessalonica. (Acts 16:4 to 17:14) It was then that the second inspired Greek book was added to the Hebrew “holy writings,” for under inspiration Paul wrote his letter of comfort and instruction to the persecuted Christian congregation in Thessalonica, in which letter he mentions Timothy three times. (1 Thess. 1:1; 3:2, 6) After that the apostle Paul was inspired to write further additions to the Hebrew “holy writings,” including a first letter to Timothy.

14. (a) Who were used to write inspired “holy writings”? (b) When Paul wrote the words “All Scripture is inspired” how much of the “holy writings” were then completed and what do they include today?

¹⁴ In this work of adding to the inspired Hebrew Scriptures the apostle Paul was joined by other faithful Jewish Christians, such as Luke the physician, Mark, James and Peter. When Paul wrote a second letter to Timothy, which was Paul’s last inspired letter, he and Timothy had been associated together in the work for fifteen years. During all those years the further additions to the inspired Christian Greek Scriptures were made, with the exception of possibly the book of Jude, the writer of which was the brother of James, and also the five writings of the apostle John, which were written toward the close of the first century of our Common Era. Consequently, when Paul wrote his final letter to Timothy and said: “All Scripture is inspired of God and beneficial,” there were doubtless twenty-one inspired books, all addressed to Christians, in addition to the thirty-nine books of the Hebrew Scriptures. (2 Tim. 3:16) Today Paul’s expression “All Scripture is inspired of God” includes the writings of Jude and John, for these also were written under inspiration of God’s holy spirit and were added to the collection of inspired Christian writings, to complete the inspired Holy Bible.

15. How only can we be “wise for salvation”?

¹⁵ Today, therefore, “all Scripture” includes the sixty-six books of the Bible, as it is now divided up in order. Those who practice Judaism or the Jews’ religion reject the twenty-seven books of the Christian Greek Scriptures. But as for us, if we are to prove successful in gaining the “salvation through the faith in connection with Christ Jesus,” we must accept these inspired writings by his apostles and disciples. We must accept “all Scripture” that is inspired of God the Father of Jesus Christ. Only in this way can we become “wise for salvation.” Those who reject part of the inspired “holy writings” are unwise and are certain to fail of gaining salvation to life in God’s new order.

FOR MEN OF GOD

16. What obstacle to gaining salvation has to be faced, but what must we do?

¹⁶ There are enemies who are opposed to your gaining the “salvation through the faith in connection with Christ Jesus.” They begrudge you this salvation that they themselves do not desire. The apostle Paul pointed to these when he wrote about the persecutions he had borne and then remarked: “In fact, all those desiring to live with godly devotion in association with Christ Jesus will also be persecuted. But wicked men and impostors will advance from bad to worse, misleading and being misled.” That is why Paul went on to say to Timothy: “You, however, continue in the things that you learned and were persuaded to believe, knowing from what persons you learned them.”—2 Tim. 3:12-14.

17. What can be said about those who taught Timothy?

¹⁷ Those from whom Timothy learned what he did were not wicked impostors who were themselves misled and who were also trying to mislead others. Paul, from whom Timothy had learned so much for fifteen years, was no impostor. Had Paul been an impostor he would not have undergone all the persecution that he suffered “in association with Christ Jesus”; Paul would have quit and gone in for something that would have spared him persecution. Neither were Timothy’s mother Eunice and grandmother Lois, who taught him the “holy writings” from infancy, impostors. They were all teaching Timothy the truth for his salvation, and not trying to mislead him in order to make selfish gain from him.

18, 19. Why do we have even greater need today for the “holy writings”?

¹⁸ Today we need God’s Book, the “holy writings,” just as much as the Christian overseer Timothy did, if not more so. We are living in those very days and their conditions against which Paul warned Timothy earlier in his letter, saying: “Know this, that in the last days critical times hard to deal with will be here. For men will be lovers of themselves, lovers of money, self-assuming, haughty, blasphemers, disobedient to parents, unthankful, disloyal, having no natural affection, not open to any agreement, slanderers, without self-control, fierce, without love of goodness, betrayers, headstrong, puffed up with pride, 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. For from these arise those men who slyly work their way into households and lead as their captives weak women loaded down with sins, led by various desires, [women] always learning and yet never able to come to an accurate knowledge of truth.”—2 Tim. 3:1-7.

¹⁹ We know that those foretold conditions are upon us and mark these as the critical “last days.” To meet the situation and come to an accurate knowledge of truth and stay in the truth, living it, we need more than a man’s book. We need God’s Book, with all its counsel and instruction. Almighty God has provided it for us. To gain the promised salvation, we have to “continue in the things” that are written in that Book. The Christian overseer Timothy was a “man of God,” and that is why Paul wrote Timothy as he did. (1 Tim. 6:11) That is what we want to be, men of God, people of God.

20. To aid one to qualify as a man of God, what has Jehovah given us?

²⁰ In ancient times both the prophet Elijah and his successor Elisha were known as men of God. (1 Ki. 17:18; 2 Ki. 4:9, 21-27) A materialized angel and also unnamed prophets were called men of God. (Judg. 13:6-8; 1 Sam. 2:27; 1 Ki. 13:1-31; 2 Chron. 25:7-9) The prophet Moses was the first one whom the Bible spoke of as a man of God, and he was a prophetic figure or type of Jesus Christ, who was the greatest man of God ever on earth and who is the example for all his disciples. (Deut. 33:1; Josh. 14:6) That we disciples of Christ may be men of God, people of God, who are “fully competent, completely equipped for every good work” in these critical “last days,” God has given us his Book in completeness, the inspired “holy writings.” (2 Tim. 3:17) How grateful we should be to God the Giver!

21. (a) For what reasons do we call God’s Word “holy”? (b) What change can it make in a person’s life?

²¹ The Holy Bible has qualities had by no mere man-made books, of the making of which there is no end. (Eccl. 12:12) The writings in the Bible are “holy.” That is so because they are “inspired of God” and they were written for the purpose of vindicating, justifying, glorifying God and sanctifying his people, making them holy. Jesus Christ called attention to this fact when he prayed to God for his disciples and said: “Sanctify them by means of the truth; your word is truth. And I am sanctifying myself in their behalf, that they also may be sanctified by means of truth.” (John 17:17, 19) The Holy Bible has sanctifying power, able to produce a complete change in a person’s life so as to make him a “man of God,” a person separate from this bedeviled world, a person completely dedicated to God and to his worship and service. Persons of this kind are the ones whom God will save to life eternal in His righteous new order, now so near at hand. The Bible is therefore most beneficial to us. Why, then, should we not prefer it above all other books? We do!

This book of the law should not depart from your mouth, and you must in an undertone read in it day and night, in order that you may take care to do according to all that is written in it; for then you will make your way successful and then you will act wisely.—Josh. 1:8.

How All Scripture Inspired of God is Beneficial

1. What is the real purpose of the Bible, and so is there another book to compare with it?

MOST books today are written to sell, with financial profit to the authors and to the printers. The Bible was not written to be just the “best seller.” It is in fact the best seller today, it being thus far translated into 1,202 languages and being sold by the millions of copies every year, so that it has an unequaled circulation. This is all just as it should be. But the real purpose of the Bible is not the making of material profit, but the making of spiritual profit, which results in life everlasting in God’s glorious new order. So no other book can compare with the Bible in the benefits it gives to those who read it and live up to it. It is the most beneficial book on earth. Hence we ought to read it.

2. (a) Outline all the benefits of the Scriptures as mentioned in 2 Timothy 3:16, 17. (b) How much of the “holy writings” did Paul mean by the term “all Scripture,” and how is this illustrated by Paul?

² Note how beneficial the “holy writings” are for readers who want to be men of God, people belonging to God by a full dedication of themselves and serving him as men of God should serve him. Here is what the apostle Paul wrote the Christian overseer Timothy about the beneficialness of the Holy Scriptures: “All Scripture is inspired of God and beneficial for teaching, for reproving, for setting things straight, for disciplining in righteousness, that the man of God may be fully competent, completely equipped for every good work.” (2 Tim. 3:16, 17) As Paul said “all Scripture,” he meant the whole Bible, not just the so-called New Testament, which some religionists of Christendom say is all that is necessary for Christians, and not just the inspired Hebrew Scriptures, which the Jews say is all that is necessary for gaining a blessed life in the future world. We need the whole Bible, the pre-Christian part and the Christian part, for both parts are “inspired of God,” and we dare not ignore anything that God inspires. All of it is beneficial to seekers of everlasting life in happiness. It is just as the apostle Paul wrote after he had made a quotation from the pre-Christian Hebrew Scriptures and applied it to Jesus Christ, saying: “For even Christ did not please himself; but just as it is written [in Psalm 69:9]: ‘The reproaches of those who were reproaching you have fallen upon me.’ For all the things that were written aforetime [that is, before the time of Christ] were written for our instruction, that through our endurance and through the comfort from the Scriptures [written before Christ] we might have hope.” (Rom. 15:3, 4) Hence for any “man of God” to be “fully competent, completely equipped,” he has to have and use the whole Bible.

“FOR TEACHING”

3. What qualifications as a teacher did Paul have, and who is our Greatest Teacher?

³ Note that the apostle Paul says that all scripture that God inspired is beneficial for teaching, that is, for use in teaching others how to win the precious prize of everlasting life. Paul himself was an excellent example of this fact, and he wrote Timothy: “I was appointed a preacher and an apostle—I am telling the truth, I am not lying—a teacher of nations in the matter of faith and truth.” (1 Tim. 2:7) Paul was the greatest of the inspired Christian contributors to the writing of the Bible. He and seven other disciples of Christ wrote the Christian Greek Scriptures, and they were followers of the greatest teacher ever on earth as a man, Jesus Christ. Furthermore, the heavenly Inspirer of the whole Bible is the Greatest Teacher in all existence, and concerning him these words are said to God’s organization: “All your sons will be persons taught by Jehovah.”—Isa. 54:13; John 6:45.

4. How does Jehovah become our Teacher?

⁴ Ought it not to thrill us to think that we are taught by Jehovah God himself? He does become our Teacher if we take his inspired Book and read and study and apply it as His students. So his Holy Book should have teaching qualities superior to those of the very latest man-made book, not, of course, for teaching worldly school subjects, but for teaching us how to make a glorious success in life by living in harmony with the revealed purpose of the Giver of everlasting life, Jehovah God.

5. What facts make it evident that not just the eleven faithful apostles were to be teachers of God’s Word?

⁵ It was not to just the eleven faithful apostles but to all the disciples assembled on one occasion in the province of Galilee that the resurrected Jesus Christ gave this command: “Go therefore and make disciples of people of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the holy spirit, teaching them to observe all the things I have commanded you. And, look! I am with you all the days until the conclusion of the system of things.” (Matt. 28:19, 20) The eleven faithful apostles were all of them dead by the end of the first century, and so that command to make disciples, baptize and teach until the conclusion of the system of things could not have been meant for apostles only but was meant for all his disciples. Not the eleven faithful apostles, but we today are the ones living on earth during the “conclusion of the system of things,” and we trust that the resurrected Jesus Christ will be with us all the days till the end of this “conclusion of the system of things.” It is to us, therefore, to whom his command to make disciples, baptize and teach also applies. To prove ourselves his faithful followers we must now do these things.

6. Why is an accurate written record needed to teach truth, and did this need change after the death and resurrection of Jesus?

⁶ For doing these commanded things we need a book, something written or printed, not just hearsay, not some unwritten tradition that depends for its accuracy upon the honesty or the perfect memory of the persons who pass the information along verbally. Even Jesus Christ, the greatest Teacher ever on earth, did not talk just what came into his mind. He used an instruction book, and that book was the Holy Bible of his day, the inspired “holy writings” in Hebrew and Aramaic, which he could read and study. That is why he was all the time saying, “It is written,” and quoting from the inspired Hebrew Scriptures. (Matt. 4:4-10; Luke 24:27, 32, 44-47) After he was resurrected from the dead and ascended back to heaven the textbook for the instruction of his disciples was not changed and superseded by something else; it was retained, but was enlarged or added to, twenty-seven additions being made to it under divine inspiration, to make the textbook complete. In its entirety it is now almost nineteen hundred years old, but it is not out of date and needing to have something more modern substituted for it.

7. Why is it still the “right” book for teaching in our day?

⁷ By its prophecies it is even yet in advance of our day. It always remains “inspired of God,” and so is always right, correct, even in this nuclear, space age, this Brain Age in which men are in some ways using the brains that the God of the Bible gave them. No, we do not need to change our textbook of instruction. What we need to do is obey the command to teach it, for it is the “word of God.” In this we can imitate our Model Teacher, Jesus Christ, and also his twelve apostles. Concerning the apostle Paul when in Corinth, Luke his missionary companion, says: “So he stayed set there a year and six months, teaching among them the word of God.”—Acts 18:1-11.

8, 9. With what problems in teaching truth are we faced today?

⁸ Today we have to teach surrounded by religious clergymen who tickle the ears of their church flocks with things the people like to hear, to please them and draw a salary from them. That is as Paul wrote Timothy that it would be, saying:

⁹ “For there will be a period of time when they will not put up with the healthful teaching, but, in accord with their own desires, they will accumulate teachers for themselves to have their ears tickled; and they will turn their ears away from the truth, whereas they will be turned aside to false stories.” (2 Tim. 4:3, 4) “The inspired utterance says definitely that in later periods of time some will fall away from the faith, paying attention to misleading inspired utterances and teachings of demons, by the hypocrisy of men who speak lies, marked in their conscience as with a branding iron; forbidding to marry, commanding to abstain from foods which God created to be partaken of with thanksgiving by those who have faith and accurately know the truth. By giving these advices to the brothers you will be a fine minister of Christ Jesus, one nourished with the words of the faith and of the fine teaching which you have followed closely. But turn down the false stories which violate what is holy and which old women tell.”—1 Tim. 4:1-3, 6, 7.

10, 11. (a) In view of the situation now, of what must we be sure personally about our teaching? (b) What outstanding assistance are we given?

¹⁰ Faced with such a situation, we have to check, not only what those clergymen of Christendom teach by making a comparison with our copies of the Holy Bible, but also what we ourselves teach, that we may be always Scriptural. We sincerely have no desire to become untruthful, mentally diseased, spiritually diseased and really antichristian as teachers. So from God’s inspired Word we must teach ourselves as well as others, thus ourselves following what we teach others to follow. As we study the Bible as students or pupils of Jehovah God, there is an enlightening force that we require. What is that? It is God’s holy spirit. The Bible was produced by inspiration of God’s spirit, and for understanding it we must have the help of that same spirit. Showing this need, Paul wrote concerning things God has prepared for those loving him:

¹¹ “It is to us God has revealed them through his spirit, for the spirit searches into all things, even the deep things of God . . . no one has come to know the things of God, except the spirit of God. Now we received, not the spirit of the world, but the spirit which is from God, that we might know the things that have been kindly given us by God. These things we also speak, not with words taught by human wisdom, but with those taught by the spirit, as we combine spiritual matters with spiritual words.”

12, 13. (a) Why do Christians today need Jehovah’s holy spirit poured out on them, and where do they find that spirit in great measure? (b) What, then, do they do?

¹² In harmony with those words of 1 Corinthians 2:10-13, the apostle Peter himself was taught by God’s outpoured spirit on the day of Pentecost to say what he did about the fulfillment of the prophecies of Joel 2:28-32 and Psalms 16:8-11 and Ps 110:1, scriptures that Christ’s disciples had never understood before. (Acts 2:1-36) Since the close of World War I in 1918 we students of God’s Word have needed the assistance of God’s spirit just as much as those first Christians did on that day of Pentecost of A.D. 33. Otherwise we could not have discerned the marvelous fulfillment of the Bible prophecies giving proof to our eyes, minds and hearts that God’s Messianic kingdom was established in heaven A.D. 1914 to put down all God’s enemies and to give mankind a perfect government of righteousness. (Matthew, chapters 24, 25; Mark 13; Luke 21; Rev. 11:15–12:10) God’s Bible is charged with his spirit, and anyone who prayerfully takes the Bible to heart feels the effect of that spirit. Concerning the spoken word Jesus said: “It is the spirit that is life-giving; . . . The sayings that I have spoken to you are spirit and are life.” (John 6:63) So it is with the written Word of God: it has God’s spirit in it and is therefore instructive.

¹³ We need to follow the spirit expressed in that written Word rather than let antichrists teach us things contrary to that spiritual Word. As the apostle John wrote, after discussing antichristian liars: “As for you, the anointing [with God’s spirit] that you received from him remains in you, and you do not need anyone to be teaching you; but, as the anointing from him is teaching you about all things, and is true and is no lie, and just as it has taught you, remain in union with him,” from whom you received the anointing with the spirit. This we do by remaining in harmony with God’s written Word.—1 John 2:27.

14. Why is Jesus such a fine example to follow?

¹⁴ Jesus Christ, our Model Teacher, said: “I do nothing of my own initiative; but just as the Father taught me I speak these things.” (John 8:28) As a perfect man of God he also was taught by the then written Word of God. Since he was humble enough to take Jehovah’s teaching, we as his followers have no reason to be too proud to take Jehovah’s teaching by means of his book and with the help of his spirit. Nothing compares with his inspired “holy writings” in being “beneficial for teaching.” Be taught by means of it and then, in turn, teach others by means of it.

“FOR REPROVING”

15. How is “all Scripture” beneficial for reproving one?

¹⁵ The apostle Paul wrote that all inspired Scripture is beneficial also “for reproving.” Being imperfect as even we Christians are, there is need at times for reproof to be given to Christians. Once the resurrected Jesus Christ strongly reproved an entire Christian congregation, telling it how materialistic it had become and how miserable, pitiable, poor, blind and naked it was spiritually. And in closing counsel to this congregation in Laodicea, Asia Minor, he said: “All those for whom I have affection I reprove and discipline. Therefore be zealous and repent.”—Rev. 3:14-19.

16, 17. (a) Why was the reproving of Peter necessary? (b) How did Paul do this reproving of Peter?

¹⁶ Even an apostle once had to be reproved. That was the apostle Peter or Cephas. In the year 36, when he opened the door for uncircumcised Gentiles (non-Jews) to enter into the Christian congregation, he properly accepted entertainment in a Gentile home, and this for the first time. Years later, out of fear of possible criticism, he refused to associate with Gentile Christians in Antioch, Syria, also influencing other Jewish Christians to the same hypocritical way. God used another apostle, namely, Paul, to reprove Peter.

¹⁷ Paul says: “When I saw they were not walking straight according to the truth of the good news, I said to Cephas before them all: ‘If you, though you are a Jew, live as the nations do, and not as Jews do, how is it that you are compelling people of the nations to live according to Jewish practice?’” Paul reproved Cephas, that is, Peter, before all the others. Why? In explanation Paul says: “I resisted him face to face, because he stood condemned.” (Gal. 2:11-14; Acts 10:24-48) It is to be understood that Peter (Cephas) recognized his wrongdoing and straightened out his Christian conduct, being now concerned more by criticism from God through an apostolic servant rather than by criticism from men having a wrong viewpoint.

18. Explain the difference between reproving and rebuking.

¹⁸ Here is where we can see the difference between a rebuke and a reproof in the Scriptures, in which different Greek words are used for both those words. A rebuke may have no real basis for being given. Hence it may be unjustly administered, for which reason it does not convince or convict the rebuked person of any sin or wrongdoing, because none exists. Such a rebuke produces no change of conduct in repentance on the part of the rebuked person. This finally should make the rebuker realize that he was wrong.

19. (a) How, then, was Peter rebuking rather than reproving Jesus? (b) Yet why was it proper for Jesus to rebuke the demon and the stormy winds and sea?

¹⁹ This was the case with the apostle Peter and the Lord Jesus Christ. Jesus had just told his apostles for the first time about the painful self-sacrificing course that he must take in order to do God’s will. “And Peter took him and began to rebuke him, saying, ‘God forbid, Lord! This shall never happen to you.’ But he turned and said to Peter, ‘Get behind me, Satan! You are a hindrance to me; for you are not on the side of God, but of men.’” (Matt. 16:21-23, RS; AV) Peter rebuked his Master Jesus by raising strong objections to what Jesus said. Jesus did not deserve such a rebuke, and so, instead of repenting and changing his course, he corrected the thoughtlessly, hastily speaking Peter. Of course, Jesus was right when he rebuked the demon, forcing it to leave the boy that was possessed. (Matt. 17:18) In a storm at sea Jesus rebuked the winds and the sea. He could not reprove those inanimate things.—Matt. 8:23-27.

20, 21. (a) What counsel did Jesus give in Luke 17:3 according to the Revised Standard and Authorized Version Bible translations? (b) Why, then, at Matthew 18:15-17 does Jesus speak of reproving a brother?

²⁰ In regard to difficulties between Christian brothers, Jesus said: “Take heed to yourselves; if your brother sins, rebuke him, and if he repents, forgive him.” (Luke 17:3, RS; AV) However, the sinner might not in all cases repent so as to gain forgiveness.

²¹ Why, then, in a similar case did Jesus speak of reproving? He said: “If your brother commits a sin, go lay bare his fault [or, administer a reproof] between you and him alone. If he listens to you, you have gained your brother. But if he does not listen, take along with you one or two more, in order that at the mouth of two or three witnesses every matter may be established. If he does not listen to them, speak to the congregation. If he does not listen even to the congregation, let him be to you just as a man of the nations and as a tax collector.” (Matt. 18:15-17) Since, in this case, the accused individual deserves to be expelled from the congregation, the reproving of him was deserved, more so than a mere rebuke. He was proved to be wrong and he knows it inside himself. This was the purpose meant when the one sinned against first laid the fault bare between himself and the sinner, though the sinner never would confess his sin. The presenting of proof continued, first before several witnesses and then before the congregation.

22, 23. (a) What is involved in reproving a brother? (b) How did Paul illustrate the meaning of reproof?

²² Thus in the case of reproving, the one who does it not only makes the accusation but also produces the proof to back it up. If the accused person says something in his own defense, the reprover does not merely answer him; he refutes him, disproves him. The reproved person may not even then make a confession, an honest admission of his guilt, but within himself he feels convicted. He is inwardly convinced of his sin or wrongdoing. This should lead him to change his course in harmony with his self-consciousness of sin. If he does not do so, he may be disfellowshiped on the basis of the proof. How a reproof can work the apostle Paul illustrates in 1 Corinthians 14:24, 25, where he writes to the congregation:

²³ “If [at a meeting] you are all prophesying and any unbeliever or ordinary person comes in, he is reproved by them all, he is closely examined by all; the secrets of his heart become manifest, so that he will fall upon his face and worship God, declaring: ‘God is really among you.’”

24, 25. What responsibility with regard to reproving does a light bearer have?

²⁴ If we declare God’s Word of truth, it will deliver its own reproof. That is why Jesus Christ said: “He that practices vile things hates the light and does not come to the light, in order that his works may not be reproved.” (John 3:20) Those bearing the light of God’s “holy writings” should be reproving the things of religious, moral darkness. Paul tells the light bearers:

²⁵ “Quit sharing with them in the unfruitful works that belong to the darkness, but, rather, even be reproving them, for the things that take place in secret by them it is shameful even to relate. Now all the things that are being reproved are made manifest by the light, for everything that is being made manifest is light [a thing no longer secret or under cover of darkness, but a lighted-up thing]. Wherefore he says: ‘Awake, O sleeper, and arise from the dead, and the Christ will shine upon you.’”—Eph. 5:11-14.

26. On being reproved, what does a wise person do?

²⁶ The one sleeping as in darkness of night, who is therefore dead in his trespasses and sins, accepts the reproof that is delivered to him and awakes and rises up from his spiritually dead condition and undertakes to follow Jesus Christ. Christ shines upon him with favor and with truth, and he becomes a light bearer, reflecting the light that he receives from Christ, about whom all the “holy writings” testify.

27. How did Paul in writing Timothy and Titus show the need of giving reproofs?

²⁷ Under some circumstances a congregation overseer has to reprove a member or members of the congregation publicly. So, in his first letter to Timothy, Paul told him: “Reprove before all onlookers persons who practice sin, that the rest also may have fear.” In his final letter Paul wrote Timothy: “Preach the word, be at it urgently in favorable season, in troublesome season, reprove, reprimand [or, rebuke], exhort, with all long-suffering and art of teaching.” (1 Tim. 5:20; 2 Tim. 4:2) He also authorized another overseer, Titus, to do the same public reproving before the congregation. Paul wrote him: “Holding firmly to the faithful word as respects his art of teaching, that he may be able both to exhort by the teaching that is healthful and to reprove [or, refute] those who contradict. . . . For this very cause keep on reproving them with severity, that they may be healthy in the faith. Keep on speaking these things and exhorting and reproving with full authority to command. Let no man ever despise you.”—Titus 1:9, 13; 2:15.

28. What, then, is the real value of reproof, and from what all-important source should it come?

²⁸ So the purpose of reproving is to recover the sinner, to refute and silence the contradictor, to help the materialistic person to become “healthy in the faith.” In order to give such effective reproofs, privately or before the congregation, what is more beneficial for us to use than the “holy writings”?

29. Why is love shown in giving reproof?

²⁹ Never should the person reproved forget that the real motive behind the reproof is love. Why? Because the reprover seeks to correct the error of the person at fault, to convict him of his error and to help him to confess it and to amend his course. Jesus said that all those for whom he had affection he reproved. (Rev. 3:19) The person at fault should appreciate that he can get a benefit from the reproof and should try to get understanding from it. Proverbs 19:25 tells us: “The ridiculer you should strike, that the inexperienced one may become shrewd; and there should be a reproving of the understanding one, that he may discern knowledge.”

30. What are the wise words on reproof contained in Proverbs 3:11, 12, and so how should we accept it?

³⁰ In this way the person reproved will not depreciate or belittle the reproof because it is given through a human instrument or mouthpiece. In Hebrews 12:4-6 those who want to be sons of God are told not to forget Proverbs 3:11, 12, which reads: “The discipline of Jehovah, O my son, do not reject; and do not abhor his reproof, because the one whom Jehovah loves he reproves, even as a father does a son in whom he finds pleasure.” So, even if the reproof does come through a human channel, yet if the reproof is taken from the inspired “holy writings” and if it is given by a Christian “man of God,” then we can be sure it is a reproof from Jehovah God and we should accept it as such. But view it as expressing God’s love.

“FOR SETTING THINGS STRAIGHT”

31. (a) Name another benefit of the “holy writings.” (b) How did Isaiah show the necessity of setting things straight?

³¹ Another way in which the inspired “holy writings” are beneficial is “for setting things straight.” (2 Tim. 3:16) When we were outside in the crooked world, even though we were in Christendom, we certainly needed to straighten out our relationship with God. This is the very thing he desires us to do. In Isaiah 1:18, 19 he speaks to his wayward people and says: “‘Come, now, you people, and let us set matters straight between us,’ says Jehovah. ‘Though the sins of you people should prove to be as scarlet, they will be made white just like snow; though they should be red like crimson cloth, they will become even like wool. If you people show willingness and do listen, the good of the land you will eat.’”

32. How did God often set matters straight in ancient times, and how does he do so in our day?

³² In ancient times Jehovah God sent his prophets to help the sinful people to straighten matters out and get a correct understanding of matters and know how to proceed correctly toward God. Today we have his Holy Bible, his inspired “holy writings,” to help us to straighten things out in our lives, that we may become “wise for salvation through the faith in connection with Christ Jesus.” Since the Holy Bible can help us in this way, it is a beneficial book indeed, and we need it above all other books. It is the most precious book to us. Because it has helped us to take the crookedness out of our lives, we know we can use it in helping others to straighten things out in their minds and in their moral and religious lives. We can also help the dejected ones to straighten up.

33-35. (a) How must we handle God’s Word in order to set matters straight among brothers and with outsiders? (b) How did Paul emphasize this with Timothy?

³³ That is just the thing we are told to do in Hebrews 12:12, 13, which reads: “Straighten up the hands that hang down and the enfeebled knees, and keep making straight paths for your feet, that what is lame may not be put out of joint, but rather that it may be healed.” Yes, at times our spiritual brothers need a straightening out, as in the case long ago in Antioch, Syria, when the apostle Paul saw that Peter (Cephas) and other Jewish Christians “were not walking straight according to the truth of the good news.” (Gal. 2:14) Whether with our Christian brothers or with inquiring persons outside in the world, including hypocritical Christendom, we have to use God’s inspired written Word in order to straighten things out in a way pleasing to him, which is the only correct way. Not only do we have to use the Bible, but we have to use it in the right way, in a harmonious, consistent way. The overseer Timothy was expected to help his brothers and seekers after God to straighten matters out, and for this reason the apostle Paul wrote him:

³⁴ “Keep reminding them of these things, charging them before God as witness, not to fight about words, a thing of no usefulness at all because it overturns those listening. Do your utmost to present yourself approved to God, a workman with nothing to be ashamed of, handling the word of the truth aright.”—2 Tim. 2:14, 15.

³⁵ That means not to let a thing needing to be straightened out become confused, because of words meant to hide the truth and to overturn the faith of believers or of learners, but to let God’s “word of the truth” decide matters. It means to teach straight doctrine. If we do this, we shall not be ashamed of the results.

“FOR DISCIPLINING IN RIGHTEOUSNESS”

36. (a) How do religious clergymen often defend unscriptural things, but what does God’s Word command under such circumstances? (b) Explain Paul’s words to fathers at Ephesians 6:4.

³⁶ Finally, “all Scripture” containing the inspired “holy writings” is beneficial “for disciplining in righteousness.” (2 Tim. 3:16) Sometimes, when a certain practice or requirement of a religious organization is pointed out to be contrary to the “holy writings,” the religious clergyman will try to justify the unscriptural thing by saying: “It is the discipline of the Church.” But if the thing is not according to “all Scripture,” then it is not a disciplining in righteousness and does not work out any salvation for the disciplined one. The basic purpose of discipline is education, instruction. (Acts 7:22) This education may be given within the framework of certain laws and regulations of an organization. In Paul’s words to fathers this organization is the Christian home, as when he says: “You, fathers, do not be irritating your children, but go on bringing them up in the discipline and authoritative advice of Jehovah.” (Eph. 6:4) Here the discipline would be an education accompanied by deeds or acts of training the children, in order to make them understand how to conduct themselves in the Christian home in subjection to the Christian father. To help them to proceed according to this discipline, some authoritative advice or word of counsel and encouragement from God’s authoritative Word can be given to the children as needed during their training. Thus discipline means that they cannot go according to their immature childish whims, fancies and thoughtless desires, but must learn to act in obedience to Christian rules and regulations for the household.

37, 38. How does such discipline go beyond just fathers and children?

³⁷ Then, too, there is the discipline that must prevail with that larger, more comprehensive institution, the organization of Jehovah God, which is now represented on earth by the congregation of his Christian witnesses. This represents the house of the great heavenly Father, the “house of God.” Its rules, regulations and way of operation are righteous, and any member of the household who thinks and acts in harmony with them learns righteousness.

³⁸ We must be given instruction as to how to conduct ourselves inside God’s organization, and this was why Paul gave instruction to Timothy, writing: “I am writing you these things, . . . that you may know how you ought to conduct yourself in God’s household, which is the congregation of the living God, a pillar and support of the truth.” (1 Tim. 3:14, 15) Paul’s instructions to Timothy are now contained in inspired “holy writings,” and so “all Scripture” that God inspired is beneficial “for disciplining in righteousness.”

39. Again, with what motive is discipline to be given, and what does this mean to Christians?

³⁹ The motive behind Christian discipline, whether in a God-fearing home or in a congregation of Jehovah’s witnesses, is love. It will therefore be established and carried out in a proper manner. How this education by deeds within theocratic laws and regulations is to be conducted the inspired “holy writings” plainly tell us. Because it is motivated by love and is meant to be educative, with our salvation in mind, it should be submitted to, although it does not permit us to speak, act and live in the loose way in which the world does, either inside the congregation or outside.

40. What obstacles may we have to face in this world, but what joy is had too?

⁴⁰ Proceeding in this disciplined way may subject us to criticism, opposition and persecution from the world, but all this goes along now with our disciplining in this world. It may make our God-given work of preaching the “everlasting good news” a hard experience for us “publicly and from house to house,” but this is good discipline for us, with good results in view. “True,” says Hebrews 12:11: “no discipline seems for the present to be joyous, but grievous; yet afterward to those who have been trained by it it yields peaceable fruit, namely, righteousness.” So let us love God our heavenly Father for it.

41. If we pay attention to “all Scripture,” what will we become?

⁴¹ Today we must live our lives, we must unitedly carry on our worldwide work, as disciplined Christian witnesses of Jehovah. We must act and serve as men of God, his dedicated people. Our wisdom for eternal salvation lies in faithfully studying and using his Book of “everlasting good news.” It was lovingly given to us “that the man of God may be fully competent, completely equipped for every good work.”—2 Tim. 3:17; Rev. 14:6.

City Steward

◆ At Romans 16:23 the apostle Paul, writing from Corinth, sends greetings from some of his co-workers; for instance, “Erastus the city steward greets you.” Erastus apparently was in charge of the financial affairs of the city. During excavations in Corinth in 1929 Professor T. L. Shear discovered a pavement or paving block with this inscription: “ERASTVS PRO: AED: S: P: STRAVIT” (“Erastus, procurator and aedile, laid this pavement at his own expense”). Whether the Erastus mentioned in this inscription is the same one as Paul mentions is uncertain, but the pavement is believed to have existed in the first century A.D.—Biblical Archaeology, G. Ernest Wright, p. 262.

At Peace Through Knowledge Daily Added To

PEACE is truly a pleasant and desirable state. This is especially true of peace with God and peace with one’s fellow Christians. That peace should be the lot of all Christ’s followers he indicated when he said to his disciples shortly before leaving them: “I leave you peace, I give you my peace. I do not give it to you the way that the world gives it. Do not let your hearts be troubled nor let them shrink for fear.”—John 14:27.

What will aid Christians to have this peace? Their taking in knowledge regularly, daily, from Jehovah God by means of his Word the Bible, his earthly organization and his holy spirit. As Isaiah foretold: “All your sons will be persons taught by Jehovah, and the peace of your sons will be abundant.”—Isa. 54:13.a

How well Jesus set the pattern for this, from his childhood on! “Jesus went on progressing in wisdom and in physical growth and in favor with God and men.” As we peruse the record of his ministry we cannot help being impressed with his familiarity with his Father’s Scriptures. How readily he turned to God’s Word in answering the tempter, Satan the Devil, in refuting the arguments of his opponents and in making his points in his public talks!—Luke 2:52; Matt. 4:3-10; 5:27-42; 22:29-40.

To acquire such a familiarity with the Scriptures took time on the part of Jesus, and it will take time on your part also. In this busy old world there are so many things that make demands on your time. So it means buying out time from other less important things so as to have time for personal study, for family study and for congregational study. Yes, “keep strict watch that how you walk is not as unwise but as wise persons, buying out the opportune time for yourselves, because the days are wicked.”—Eph. 5:15, 16.

To add to your knowledge so as to be at peace you will want to approach Bible study with a keen spiritual appetite, conscious of your spiritual need. But how can you have that frame of mind if you are mentally sluggish because of having eaten a heavy meal or if you have become drowsy because of watching television for several hours? You must be not only willing but in a fit mental condition to do hard work, to search and to dig: “If you keep seeking for it as for silver, and as for hid treasures you keep searching for it, in that case you will . . . find the very knowledge of God.”—Prov. 2:4-6.

For best results, be regular. To keep physically well and strong you do not eat just once or twice a week. So to have spiritual health and strength, it takes regular, daily feeding on spiritual food. Take some time each day to read and meditate on the Bible.

As you study the Bible-study aids Jehovah God has providentially provided, new things will be brought to your attention. How shall you view these—with a critical eye? No, but as did those of Beroea: “They received the word with the greatest eagerness of mind, carefully examining the Scriptures daily as to whether these things were so.” And as you are convinced of the truth of what you read, make it a part of yourself, let it make over your personality into the likeness of your Pattern, Jesus Christ.—Acts 17:11; Col. 3:10.

Another thing to watch is to stick to the subject under study, be it preparing for a congregational study, for a public lecture, for some part on a program or to absorb the contents of a new publication. Do not be like the housewife that went to a supermarket to buy meat and vegetables for the family dinner and came home with soap and cereals instead because there happened to be a bargain in these! Apply your mind to the business at hand.

Among other aids to taking in knowledge are review, meditation and discussion. After a period of private study, review briefly what you have studied. At the next opportunity, as when walking alone or when waiting for someone, meditate, call to mind what you last studied. Also, as occasion affords—for example, at social gatherings—be alert to discuss with fellow Christians the things you learned. In fact, all knowledge has a companion, responsibility, that of sharing your knowledge with others. By all such means you will be at peace through knowledge daily added to.

[Footnotes]

“Moses, the Man of the True God”

HAVE you ever put forth an effort to see or meet a man of notable achievement, fame or fortune? And did you then feel elated because you had met him in person? Yet did you ever pause to consider that anytime you wish you can meet the most notable persons that ever lived simply by going to the Bible?

True, meeting such persons by means of a book may not be as stimulating to the senses nor as flattering to one’s vanity, but it can be every bit as interesting and enjoyable and far more rewarding to heart and mind. Going to that Book will increase our love and appreciation both for Jehovah God and for the fine men and women we meet within its pages. At the same time we shall be incited to follow their fine examples and can draw lessons from the mistakes they made so that we can avoid making the same ones.—Rom. 15:4.

All this is true in particular of Moses, “the man of the true God.” Mightily and extensively he served God and his people. For forty years God used him as His prophet, to deliver His people, to mediate between God and man, to give Israel His laws, to judge them, to be their ruler, to build their sanctuary and to conduct their successful military campaigns. More than that, he was used by Jehovah God to start off Bible writing, in which he was neither excelled in beauty nor equaled in quantity.—Ezra 3:2.

Repeatedly he is referred to as “the man of the true God,” and some forty times as God’s servant or the servant of God. He is mentioned in about half the books of the Hebrew and the Christian Greek Scriptures for a total of some eight hundred times. He lived to the ripe old age of 120 years in an era when seventy or eighty was the normal span of life, and at the time of his death “his eye had not grown dim, and his vital strength had not fled.”—Deut. 34:7; Ps. 90:10.

Well did he deserve the epitaph: “There has never yet risen up a prophet in Israel like Moses, whom Jehovah knew face to face, as respects all the signs and the miracles that Jehovah sent him to do in the land of Egypt to Pharaoh and all his servants and all his land, and as regards all the strong hand and all the great awesomeness that Moses exercised before the eyes of all Israel.”—Deut. 34:10-12.

EIGHTY YEARS OF PREPARATION

About a century ago there began a challenging of the authenticity of the writings of Moses, but modern Palestinian archaeologists have made the theories of these “higher critics” look so foolish that there is no need to take time and space to refute them. Neither is there any point in noting the fanciful tales spun by Josephus and others in an attempt to supplement and complete the Bible record regarding Moses, since they are in such striking contrast to the sober, reasoned and matter-of-fact Scriptural record.

Moses apparently was born in 1593 B.C., of two God-fearing parents, Amram and Jochebed, of the tribe of Levi. It was at a time when Pharaoh’s genocidal decree was in effect: “Every new-born son you are to throw into the river Nile.” But because of their faith in Jehovah God, “Moses was hid for three months by his parents after his birth, because they saw the young child was beautiful and they did not fear the order of the king.”—Ex. 1:22; Heb. 11:23.

When no longer able to conceal his presence, his mother placed him in a little chest or ark she had made of papyrus and pitch and placed it among the reeds of the Nile, at the same time instructing his sister Miriam to watch what would happen to him. Providentially, the infant was found by the daughter of Pharaoh as she came to bathe. His being a most beautiful child and crying at the time so moved her with compassion that she was quite agreeable to the suggestion by the child’s sister to find a Hebrew woman to nurse the child for her. Thus it was that Moses was reared in a God-fearing home, that of his own parents. At a certain age he was brought to Pharaoh’s daughter, who named him Moses. “It is because I have drawn him out of the water,” she said.—Ex. 2:10.

So well did his parents bring up Moses “in the discipline and authoritative advice of Jehovah” that ‘when he grew old he never departed from it,’ even though afterward he “was instructed in all the wisdom of the Egyptians.” By the time Moses was forty years old he had fully matured, was a man strong in mind and body, one “mighty in his words and deeds.”—Eph. 6:4; Prov. 22:6; Acts 7:22.

It was then that Moses made the important decision of his life: “Choosing to be ill-treated with the people of God rather than to have the temporary enjoyment of sin, because he esteemed the reproach of the Christ [God’s appointed servant] as riches greater than the treasures of Egypt.” Having interfered and killed an Egyptian who was abusing an Israelite and finding that his efforts on the part of his people were not appreciated by them, Moses found it expedient to flee.—Heb. 11:25, 26; Acts 7:25-29.

Fleeing eastward, he came to the land of Midian and there was welcomed by one of its priestly sheiks, one Jethro, because of having gone to the aid of his daughters in the matter of watering their flocks. There Moses remained and shepherded Jethro’s flocks for forty years. As a shepherd for all those years Moses learned patience, humility, meekness and waiting upon Jehovah. While in Midian he married one of the daughters of Jethro and had two sons by her. Unknown to Moses God was preparing him to serve his people in a most striking way. How often during those forty years Moses’ thoughts must have gone out to his brothers in bondage in Egypt!—Ex. 2:15-25; Acts 7:30.

MOSES AND THE MIRACULOUS

Then one day Moses received a call from Jehovah God to do the very thing he had so much wanted to do forty years before, deliver his people. There was nothing vague or hazy about this call. Moses did not invent it, as can be seen from the fact that he was most reluctant to accept the commission given him by Jehovah’s angel that appeared to him at a burning bush that was not consumed. For the first time in the Scriptures we read of a human empowered to perform miracles, the first of which was that of changing a rod into a serpent and then back again into a rod, so that Moses could prove to his people that Jehovah had actually appeared to him.—Ex. 3:1–4:31.

And the miraculous continued with Moses. He was instrumental in bringing ten supernatural plagues upon Egypt. These cannot be attributed to natural causes, for why did they come just when Moses said they would and leave only at his instance or when he said they would? Next came the great deliverance of his people at the Red Sea, through which his nation marched dry-shod, but in which the pursuing Egyptians were drowned. The miraculous was evident throughout the forty-year trek of his people in the wilderness, among other things in supplying food and drink. There was the manna, which fell six days each week and which was impossible to keep over until the next day except if that day was the sabbath, on which none fell. During all that time their shoes and their clothes did not wear out!—Ex. 7:19 to 16:36; Deut. 29:5.

Worthy of special mention also was the awe-inspiring spectacle of the earth quaking, fire, smoke, lightning, trumpet sound and powerful voice, all fitting concomitants of the giving of the Law by Jehovah God himself. Thereafter Moses twice spent forty days in the sacred mountain, in the presence of God and his angels, receiving instructions regarding Israel’s worship. He saw as much of God’s glory as any human on earth could and yet live, and when he came down to his people his face so shone that it was necessary for him for some time afterward to wear a veil. Without doubt, until the coming of the Son of God no other man was used so mightily and extensively in connection with the divinely miraculous as was Moses.—Ex. 19:1-25; 33:20; 34:27-35.

“THE MEEKEST OF ALL THE MEN”

Moses’ personality was equally outstanding, for “the man Moses was by far the meekest of all the men who were upon the surface of the ground.” (Num. 12:3) Some have wondered about this statement, but when we consider the facts we must remember that it was written under divine inspiration.

As used in the Scriptures, meekness has no connotation of weakness but just the opposite, an implication of strength. It means to be patient, forbearing, enduring injuries without resentment, self-controlled and gentle, not easily provoked or irritated, consistently mild or gentle of temper. It follows that a meek person is also teachable.

Moses manifested his meekness by patiently serving as judge from morning to night, by putting up with the murmuring of this people time and again, from the time that they were still in Egypt until just before entering the Promised Land. Being an imperfect human, like the rest of us, at times it was almost too much for him, but he kept bearing their burdens. Repeatedly he faced insubordination, on the part of his own brother and sister, on the part of chieftains of his own tribe and even from the nation as a whole. Yet only once did they so provoke him that “he began to speak rashly with his lips” and “it went badly with Moses by reason of them.”—Num. 11:10-15; Ps. 106:33, 32.

That incident, it may be noted, helps underscore the fact that Moses’ meekness was not because of weakness. He had a striking personality, for we read that he was mighty in word and deed, no doubt a powerful man physically. He also was highly educated, better than any of his people. Usually a higher education makes a man less meek, but not so with Moses.

Meek he was and yet also a man of courage. It took great courage to appear repeatedly before Pharaoh, to lead his own people out of Egypt, across the Red Sea and through the wilderness. At the same time he had a strong sense of righteous indignation. It caused him to kill an Egyptian who was treating one of his brothers unjustly, to interfere when one of his own brothers was treating another unjustly and to take the side of the daughters of Jethro against the shepherds. Especially did his breaking of the tablets of the Law at seeing the idolatry of his people testify to his strong righteous indignation. This trait also makes his meekness all the more outstanding.—Acts 7:23-28.

Nor is that all. What about his ability to organize his people into an orderly army and nation and to lead them to victory over hostile nations that came out to do battle? Was he not used in an outstanding way in performing miracles? Who was inspired to write so much of the Word of God?a And who else was privileged to spend eighty days in the presence of God and his angels, talking to the Creator, as it were, face to face? Yet meek in view of all this! “The meekest of all the men who were upon the surface of the ground”? Unquestionably!

What enabled Moses to be meek? For one thing, his faith. Because of his strong faith he could leave his case in God’s hands instead of being concerned about fighting back and trying to vindicate himself. Jehovah God was real to him, as can be seen in his frequent talking with God. Another powerful factor was Moses’ humility. Typical was his response when Joshua tried to have certain Israelites kept from prophesying, as though Moses should have a monopoly on it: “Are you feeling jealous for me? No, I wish that all of Jehovah’s people were prophets, because Jehovah would put his spirit upon them!”—Num. 11:29.

Certainly without Jehovah’s spirit Moses could not have been meek, and, in particular, not without that fruitage of the spirit, love. He loved Jehovah with all his heart, mind, soul and vital force and was jealous for His name and pure worship. Love made it possible for him to submit to whatever God permitted.

Love of neighbor, of his people, also helped Moses to be meek, to bear so much from his people without resentment. How ungrateful were his people! Though breaking the tablets of the Law in righteous indignation because of their idolatry, the next thing he is doing is pleading for them, even as he did right after they talked about stoning him because of the bad report of the spies. In particular does the book of Deuteronomy reveal Moses’ love for his people. It was as a love letter to them. What affection, what earnestness, what solicitude for their welfare he reveals therein! How he pleads with them to do the right thing, that it might go well with them, as he recounts the marvelous way in which Jehovah had led them!

Fittingly Moses was a type of Jesus Christ. What Moses did on a comparatively small scale Jesus will do on an earthwide, yes, a universal scale, as the vindicator of Jehovah’s name and as deliverer and mediator between God and man.—Acts 3:22, 23.

Moses served without any material reward. He had the satisfaction of doing God’s will and having His approval. Without doubt he looked forward to a reward in the future and will, in God’s due time, receive it in God’s new order of things.

Moses was a marvelous example for all servants of Jehovah in his faith, humility, zeal for righteousness, unflagging service, his meekness and his love for Jehovah and his people. True, he was not perfect, and erred on occasion. While endeavoring to avoid like mistakes, we can but stand in awe at what he was privileged to do and seek to imitate his fine qualities.

[Footnotes]

Damascus—A Desert Jewel

SNUGGLED against the Anti-Lebanon mountains of Syria with the vast Syrian desert stretching out before it, Damascus is a green, sparkling oasis in a desert wasteland. With an abundance of water tumbling down to it from the lofty mountains at its rear it has, from ancient times, been a refreshing stopping place for caravans traveling between Babylon, Palestine and Egypt. As long as there were any people living in this region, the location of Damascus was certain to be the place for a town.

The history of this city reaches back from our present day to the time of Abraham, who lived more than 1900 years before the coming of Jesus Christ. It was from this city that Abraham’s steward Eliezer, came, as revealed in the Bible at Genesis 15:2. It also is mentioned at Genesis 14:15 to indicate how far north Abraham pursued the four kings who carried off Lot, his nephew. In the days of King David, it was captured and garrisoned by David, but under the reign of David’s son Solomon it broke away and became independent.

Because of its rather remote location, it was, more or less, at the mercy of invading armies, especially those coming from the east on their way to Palestine. It was taken by the Assyrians, the Babylonians, the Persians, the Greeks and the Romans. Throughout its long history, it was sacked by invading soldiers repeatedly, and at least twice its prominent citizens were taken away into captivity.

The city sits on a tableland that is about 2,200 feet above sea level. Being well above the hot desert floor, it enjoys a pleasant temperature that ranges from 80° to 87° F. in the summer. Seldom does it drop below 45° F. in the winter. Two mountain-fed rivers water the area around Damascus, decorating it with lush vegetation. To a traveler coming off the hot, dry desert, it was regarded as just about the most beautiful city in the world. Its poets called it “The Pearl of the East,” “The Eye of the Desert.”

In Bible times the two rivers there were called the Abanah and the Pharpar. These were the rivers mentioned by Naaman the leper who came to Elisha from Damascus to be healed. When told to bathe seven times in the muddy Jordan, he felt enraged. “Are not the Abanah and the Pharpar, the rivers of Damascus, better than all the waters of Israel?” (2 Ki. 5:12) Those rivers did more for the land around Damascus than the Jordan could in Palestine, because it runs in deep, rocky channels. So it was natural for Naaman to have a certain amount of pride over the rivers that beautified Damascus.

IMPORTANT TRADE ROUTE

The international trade route coming from Babylon followed the Euphrates River north to a point northeast of Damascus. Then it headed out across the desert for Damascus, about three hundred miles away. When the traders reached this green jewel in a dry wasteland, they could rest and replenish their water supplies. As might be expected, the caravans brought a lot of business to this city as they stopped over on their way to more distant places. This passage trade probably has been more important to it than its other trading.

Heading west from Damascus was a trade route that linked the city with the Mediterranean port city of Tyre. Trade between Tyre and Assyria passed through Damascus. For the manufactured goods coming from Tyre, Damascus could trade such things as wool and wine. The prophet Ezekiel speaks of this, addressing his words to Tyre: “Damascus was your merchant in the abundance of your works, because of the abundance of all your valuable things, with the wine of Helbon and the wool of reddish gray.”—Ezek. 27:18.

Three trade routes began at Damascus and headed south, linking Palestine and Egypt with the well-traveled route between Damascus and the cities near the Euphrates River to the east. The dominant route passed the northwestern end of the Sea of Galilee and worked its way to the seaport town of Joppa, where it joined the great coast road. From there it went south along the coast, passing through the Philistine town of Gaza and on into Egypt through Goshen.

The second trade route branching off from the southern Damascus road passed by the southeastern edge of the Sea of Galilee. It then went south through the center of Palestine, passing through Jerusalem, Hebron, Beer-sheba and finally ending at Memphis in Egypt.

The third route from Damascus was known as the “King’s Highway.” It kept to the eastern side of the Jordan and about eighteen miles inland from the river. It was the main highway through Moab and Edom, the one that the Edomites refused to permit the Israelites to use for passing through their territory in the days of Moses, when they said: “On the king’s road we shall march.” (Num. 20:17) It is thought to have been the highway used by the Elamite-Babylonian kings in Abraham’s day who attacked the kings of Sodom, Gomorrah, Zoar, Admah and Zeboiim, who were located in the vicinity of the Dead Sea. Most likely they followed the usual route across the desert to Damascus and then went south on the King’s Highway.

The King’s Highway linked Damascus with the important Red Sea port, Ezion-geber. From there the route swung due west, crossing the Sinai Peninsula, and entering Egypt to the south of the other routes entering that country. Thus Damascus had three main highways that connected it with Egypt as well as most of Palestine. It was the key city through which trade from the cities of this large area passed to reach the great eastern empires that hugged the Euphrates River. This undoubtedly was the reason why it was included with the ten cities of the Greek Decapolis, although it was quite some distance north of the others. As a place of strategic value economically to the people of the Near East and a refreshingly green oasis in the desert, it earned its reputation as a desert jewel.

It was while Saul of Tarsus was nearing this city of Damascus on a mission of persecution against the Christians there that a bright light from heaven struck him blind and the glorified Jesus Christ reproved him for his course. Just a few days later Ananias, one of the Christians whom Saul had come to put in bonds, was sent by Jesus to restore Saul’s sight and instruct him in The Way. He found him in a house on the street called Straight, which was a magnificent thoroughfare in those days. But after a good many days, when Saul had publicly demonstrated his zeal for his new-found faith by zealous preaching, the Jews in the city schemed to do away with him, and he had to escape at night in a basket lowered through an opening in the city wall.—Acts 9:1-25.

While Damascus has declined in importance as a commercial center, even to this day it has not lost its reputation as a fruitful oasis, nor has it ceased to be a place where faithful Christians preach the same truths that were made known by Ananias, Saul and other faithful Christians there.

[Map on page 669]

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Damascus

Sea of Galilee

Medit. Sea

Questions From Readers

● Might the earthquakes mentioned by Jesus Christ at Matthew 24:7 be symbolic in nature? Could they refer to political affairs such as revolutions?

In giving his prophecy of the last days, Jesus said, according to Matthew 24:7: “For nation will rise against nation and kingdom against kingdom, and there will be food shortages and earthquakes in one place after another.” Some have treated the earthquakes mentioned here as though they were symbolic in nature. They have viewed them as typical of human revolutions and political or governmental affairs that cause great difficulties among mankind. Yet, is such a conclusion warranted when the context of Jesus’ prophecy is considered? No, indeed; for if we were to treat the earthquakes as being figurative or symbolic of political or social revolutions, then we would be obliged to treat the food shortages in the same way. Further, we would have to view as symbolic the pestilences mentioned in Luke’s account of Jesus’ prophecy regarding the last days. (Luke 21:11) And what of the wars foretold? Were they symbolic? We would be compelled to say so if we placed a symbolic construction on the earthquakes of Jesus’ prophecy.

The wars experienced in this generation have certainly been anything but symbolic. Millions have perished and millions more have suffered severely from the scourge of war in this generation. Literal food shortages and ravaging diseases have plagued mankind in our day. How great, for example, is the present food problem, especially in view of the expanding world population? “The arms race and the space race could become problems of only academic interest,” maintained Norman W. Desrosier, professor of food technology at Purdue University, if mankind does not win its race to satisfy the “essential needs of the hungry of the world.” The wars, the famines and the pestilences, then, are literal. So are the earthquakes.

Under the headline “The Shifting Earth,” William L. Laurence wrote in the New York Times of March 6, 1960: “Ten or more major earthquakes shake the earth every year. The smallest of them releases about a thousand times more energy than an atomic bomb of the type that destroyed Hiroshima and Nagasaki. . . . Although destructive earthquakes are relatively few in number, small ones are common occurrences. It is estimated that in all a million shocks take place every year.” Another report said: “In 2,000 years of recorded history, earthquakes have probably taken 10,000,000 lives.” (New York Times, August 20, 1950) This would be an average of about 5,000 deaths a year. However, between 1915 and 1949, 848,450 persons met death as a result of earthquakes. The annual average of deaths due to earthquakes was not 5,000, but 24,241 for that thirty-five-year period! It is obvious, therefore, that the earthquakes of Matthew 24:7 are literal, just as literal as are the other features of the composite sign of the world’s time of the end. They are not symbolic of governmental difficulties, revolutions or other upheavals of human society.

● Why does the New World Translation at Exodus 20:13 read, “You must not murder,” when other translations use the word “kill,” as in the Authorized Version, which reads “Thou shalt not kill”?—D.T., United States.

A number of translations use the word “kill” at Exodus 20:13; among these are the Douay Version, the Catholic Confraternity, the American Standard Version and the Revised Standard Version. However, the New World Translation uses the word “murder” instead of “kill” at Exodus 20:13 because the Hebrew word here is ratsach, which means, according to Young’s Exhaustive Concordance, “to murder, pierce.” Regarding this same Hebrew word Strong’s lexicon of Hebrew words states: “ratsach, a prim. root, prop. to dash to pieces, i.e. kill (a human being), especially to murder.” To murder means: “to kill (a human being) unlawfully and with premeditated malice or willfully, deliberately, and unlawfully.”—Webster’s Third New International Dictionary.

In its various forms the word ratsach occurs some forty times in the Hebrew Scriptures. Invariably it refers to the taking of human life, although not always wrongly or unlawfully. What, then, would determine whether the word should be rendered “kill (slay)” or “murder”? It would be upon the basis of the context and also what light the rest of God’s Word sheds upon the subject. In this regard it should be noted that even the King James Version, at times, renders this Hebrew word as “murder” or “murderer.” For instance, “they slay the widow and the stranger, and murder the fatherless.” “The murderer rising with the light killeth the poor and needy.” (Ps. 94:6; Job 24:14) The Authorized Version, moreover, distinguishes between murder and accidental manslaying at Numbers 35:6-31, doing so according to the context; yet the Hebrew word involved is still ratsach: “They shall be unto you cities for refuge from the avenger; that the manslayer [ratsach] die not.” “If he smite him with an instrument of iron, so that he die, he is a murderer: the murderer [ratsach] shall surely be put to death.”—Num. 35:12, 16, AV.

It is evident, in the light of the rest of God’s Word, that Exodus 20:13 did not prohibit all killing; for the Israelites were allowed to put to death, in fact, were commanded by God to put to death murderers, idol worshipers, breakers of the sabbath, and so forth. Thus execution of a murderer would not be unlawful in God’s eyes and could not be considered “murder”; it would not be in violation of Exodus 20:13. (Gen. 9:6) Likewise, the pagan, demon-worshiping inhabitants of the land that Jehovah had promised to his people came under Jehovah’s judgment of execution for their sins, and he used his people, the Israelites, to carry out that execution. So their following this command of Jehovah’s was not a violation of his command at Exodus 20:13 and could not be considered as murder.

It is specifically unlawful killing (slaying) of a human or murder that God prohibits. With sound Scriptural reason, then, not only the New World Translation but also Robert Young’s version, James Moffatt’s version, Knox’s translation, the Soncino version and An American Translation render ratsach at Exodus 20:13 as “murder.”

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