JOB 20 - 29
Job 20 – 29
JOB
20 Zoʹphar+ the Naʹa·ma·thite said in reply:
2 “This is why my own troubling thoughts urge me to answer
Because of the agitation I feel.
3 I have heard a reproof that insults me;
And my understanding impels me to reply.
4 Surely you must have always known this,
For it has been so since man was put on the earth,+
5 That the joyful cry of the wicked is brief
And the rejoicing of the godless one is for a moment.+
6 Although his greatness ascends to heaven
And his head reaches to the clouds,
7 He will perish forever like his own dung;
Those who used to see him will say, ‘Where is he?’
8 He will fly off like a dream, and they will not find him;
He will be chased away like a vision of the night.
9 The eye that once saw him will not do so again,
And his place will behold him no more.+
10 His own children will seek the favor of the poor,
And his own hands will give back his wealth.+
11 His bones were full of youthful vigor,
But it will lie down with him in mere dust.
12 If what is bad tastes sweet in his mouth,
If he hides it under his tongue,
13 If he savors it and does not let it go
But keeps holding it in his mouth,
14 His food will turn sour inside him;
It will become like the poison of cobras within him.
15 He has swallowed down wealth, but he will vomit it up;
God will empty it out of his belly.
16 The venom of cobras he will suck;
The fangs of a viper will kill him.
17 He will never see the streams of water,
The torrents of honey and butter.
18 He will give back his goods without consuming them;
He will not enjoy the wealth from his trade.+
19 For he has crushed and abandoned the poor;
He has seized a house that he did not build.
20 But he will feel no peace within himself;
His wealth will not help him escape.
21 There is nothing left for him to devour;
That is why his prosperity will not last.
22 When his wealth reaches its peak, anxiety will overtake him;
The full force of misfortune will come against him.
23 As he fills his belly,
God will send his burning anger upon him,
Raining it down upon him into his bowels.
24 When he flees from weapons of iron,
Arrows from a copper bow will pierce him.
25 He pulls an arrow from his back,
A glittering weapon from his gall,
And terror seizes him.+
26 Total darkness awaits his treasures;
A fire that no one fanned will consume him;
Calamity awaits any survivors in his tent.
27 Heaven will uncover his error;
The earth will rise up against him.
28 A flood will sweep his house away;
It will be a heavy torrent on the day of God’s anger.
29 This is the wicked man’s share from God,
The inheritance that God has decreed for him.”
JOB
21 Job said in reply:
2 “Listen carefully to what I say;
Let this be the consolation you give me.
3 Bear with me while I speak;
After I speak, you may then mock me.+
4 Is my complaint directed toward a man?
If it were, would I not lose patience?
5 Look at me and stare in amazement;
Put your hand over your mouth.
6 When I think about it, I am disturbed,
And my whole body shudders.
7 Why do the wicked live on,+
Grow old, and become wealthy? +
8 Their children are always in their presence,
And they get to see their descendants.
9 Their houses are secure, they are free from fear,+
And God does not punish them with his rod.
10 Their bulls breed without failure;
Their cows give birth and do not miscarry.
11 Their boys run outside just like a flock,
And their children skip about.
12 They sing accompanied by tambourine and harp
And rejoice at the sound of the flute. +
13 They spend their days in contentment
And go down peacefully to the Grave.
14 But they say to the true God, ‘Leave us alone!
We have no desire to know your ways.+
15 Who is the Almighty, that we should serve him?+
What would we gain by being acquainted with him?’+
16 But I know that they do not control their own prosperity.+
The thinking of the wicked is far from me.+
17 How often is the lamp of the wicked extinguished?+
How often does disaster come upon them?
How often does God deal out destruction to them in his anger?
18 Do they ever become like straw before the wind
And like chaff that a storm wind carries away?
19 God will store up a man’s punishment for his own sons.
But may God repay him so that he will know it.+
20 May his own eyes see his ruin,
And may he be the one to drink from the rage of the Almighty.+
21 For what does he care about what happens to his house after him
If the number of his months is cut short? +
22 Can anyone teach knowledge to God, +
When He is the one who judges even the highest ones?+
23 One man dies in his full vigor+
When he is completely carefree and at ease,+
24 When his thighs are padded with fat
And his bones are strong.
25 But another man dies deeply distressed,
Never having tasted good things.
26 Together they will lie down in the dust,+
And maggots will cover both of them.+
27 Look! I know exactly what you are thinking
And the schemes you devise to wrong me. +
28 For you say, ‘Where is the house of the prominent man,
And where is the tent in which the wicked one lived?’+
29 Have you not questioned travelers?
Do you not carefully study their observations,
30 That an evil person is spared on the day of disaster
And rescued on the day of fury?
31 Who will confront him about his way,
And who will repay him for what he has done?
32 When he is carried to the graveyard,
A vigil will be kept over his tomb.
33 The clods of earth of the valley will be sweet to him,+
And all mankind follows after him +
Like the countless number before him.
34 So why offer me meaningless comfort?+
There is nothing but deceit in your answers!”
JOB
22 Elʹi·phaz+ the Teʹman·ite said in reply:
2 “Can a man be of use to God?
Can anyone with insight be of benefit to him?+
3 Does the Almighty care that you are righteous,
Or does he gain anything because you follow the course of integrity?+
4 Will he punish you
And enter into judgment with you for your reverence?
5 Is it not because your own wickedness is so great
And there is no end to your errors?+
6 For you seize a pledge from your brothers for no reason,
And you strip people of their garments, leaving them naked. +
7 You do not give the tired one a drink of water,
And you hold back food from the hungry.+
8 The land belongs to the powerful man,+
And the favored one dwells in it.
9 But you sent away widows empty-handed,
And you crushed the arms of fatherless children.
10 That is why you are surrounded by traps, +
And sudden terrors frighten you;
11 That is why it is so dark that you cannot see,
And a flood of water covers you.
12 Is not God in the heights of heaven?
And see how high all the stars are.
13 But you have said: ‘What does God really know?
Can he judge through thick gloom?
14 Clouds screen him off so that he does not see
As he walks about on the vault of heaven.’
15 Will you follow the ancient path
That wicked men have walked,
16 Men who have been snatched away before their time,
Whose foundation was washed away by a flood? +
17 They were saying to the true God: ‘Leave us alone!’
And ‘What can the Almighty do to us?’
18 Yet, he is the One who filled their houses with good things.
(Such wicked thinking is far from my own.)
19 The righteous will see this and rejoice,
And the innocent will mock them and say:
20 ‘Our opponents have been destroyed,
And a fire will consume what is left of them.’
21 Get to know Him, and you will be at peace;
Then good things will come your way.
22 Accept the law from his mouth,
And keep his sayings in your heart.+
23 If you return to the Almighty, you will be restored;+
If you remove unrighteousness from your tent,
24 If you would throw your gold into the dust
And the gold of Oʹphir+ into the rocky ravines,
25 Then the Almighty will become your gold,
And he will be your choicest silver.
26 For then your delight will be in the Almighty,
And you will lift up your face to God.
27 You will entreat him, and he will hear you;
And your vows you will pay.
28 Whatever you decide to do will succeed,
And light will shine upon your path.
29 For you will be humiliated when you speak arrogantly,
But he will save the humble.
30 He will rescue those who are innocent;
So if your hands are clean, you will certainly be rescued.”
JOB
23 Job said in reply:
2 “Even today I will complain stubbornly; +
My strength is exhausted because of my sighing.
3 If only I knew where to find God!+
I would go to his place of dwelling.+
4 I would present my case before him
And fill my mouth with arguments;
5 I would learn how he would answer me
And take note of what he says to me.
6 Would he contend with me using his great power?
No, surely he would give me a hearing.+
7 There the upright one could set matters straight with him,
And I would be acquitted once and for all by my Judge.
8 But if I go east, he is not there;
And I return and I cannot find him.
9 When he is working on the left, I cannot look upon him;
Then he turns to the right, but I still do not see him.
10 But he knows the path I have taken.+
After he has tested me, I will come out as pure gold.+
11 My feet have closely followed his footsteps;
I have kept to his way without deviating.+
12 I have not departed from the commandment of his lips.
I have treasured up his sayings+ even more than what was required of
me.
13 When he is determined, who can resist him?+
When he wants to do something, he does it.+
14 For he will carry out completely what has been determined for me,
And he has many such things in store.
15 That is why I am anxious because of him;
When I think about him, my fear grows.
16 God has made me fainthearted,
And the Almighty has made me afraid.
17 But I have not yet been silenced by the darkness
Nor by the gloom that has covered my face.
JOB
24 “Why does the Almighty not set a time?+
Why do those who know him not see his day?
2 People move boundary markers;+
They carry off flocks for their own pasture.
3 They drive away the donkey of fatherless children
And seize the widow’s bull as security for a loan. +
4 They force the poor off the road;
The helpless of the earth must hide from them.+
5 The poor forage for food like wild donkeys+ in the wilderness;
They seek food in the desert for their children.
6 They must harvest in another’s field
And glean from the vineyard of the wicked.
7 They spend the night naked, without clothing;+
They have no covering for the cold.
8 They are drenched by the mountain rains;
They cling to the rocks for lack of shelter.
9 The fatherless child is snatched away from the breast;+
And the garments of the poor are taken as security for a loan,+
10 Forcing them to go about naked, without clothing,
And hungry, as they carry the sheaves of grain.
11 They toil among the terrace walls in the heat of the day;
They tread the winepresses, yet they go thirsty.+
12 The dying keep groaning in the city;
The fatally wounded cry for help,+
But God does not regard this as improper.
13 There are those who rebel against light;+
They do not recognize its ways,
And they do not follow its paths.
14 The murderer rises at daybreak;
He slays the helpless and the poor,+
While at night he engages in theft.
15 The eye of the adulterer waits for the twilight,+
Saying, ‘No one will see me!’+
And he covers his face.
16 In the darkness they break into houses;
By day they shut themselves in.
They are strangers to the light.+
17 For morning is the same as deep darkness for them;
They are familiar with the terrors of deep darkness.
18 But they are swiftly carried away by the waters.
Their portion of the land will be cursed.+
They will not return to their vineyards.
19 Just as drought and heat take away the melted snow,
The Grave takes away those who have sinned!+
20 His mother will forget him; the maggot will feast on him.
He will be remembered no more.+
And unrighteousness will be broken just like a tree.
21 He preys on the barren woman,
And mistreats the widow.
22 God will use his strength to do away with the powerful;
Though they may rise up, they have no assurance of life.
23 God lets them become confident and secure,+
But his eyes are on everything they do. +
24 They are exalted for a little while, then they are no more.+
They are brought low+ and gathered like everyone else;
They are cut off like heads of grain.
25 Now who can prove me a liar
Or refute my word?”
JOB
25 Bilʹdad+ the Shuʹhite said in reply:
2 “Rulership and fearsome might are his;
He establishes peace in heaven.
3 Can his troops be numbered?
Upon whom does his light not rise?
4 So how can mortal man be righteous before God,+
Or how can one born of a woman be innocent? +
5 Even the moon is not bright
And the stars are not pure in his eyes,
6 How much less so mortal man, who is a maggot,
And a son of man, who is a worm!”
Job 26:1-14
JOB
26 Job said in reply:
2 “How you have helped the one with no power!
How you have saved the arm that has no strength!+
3 What great advice you have given to the one lacking wisdom!+
How freely you have revealed your practical wisdom!
4 To whom are you trying to speak,
And who inspired you to say such things?
5 Those who are powerless in death tremble;
They are even lower than the waters and their inhabitants.
6 The Grave is naked in front of God, +
And the place of destruction lies uncovered.
7 He stretches out the northern sky over empty space, +
Suspending the earth upon nothing;
8 He wraps up the waters in his clouds,+
So that the clouds do not burst under their weight;
9 He shuts off the view of his throne,
Spreading out his cloud over it.+
10 He marks out the horizon on the surface of the waters;+
He makes a boundary between light and darkness.
11 The very pillars of heaven shake;
They are stunned by his rebuke.
12 He stirs up the sea with his power,+
And by his understanding he breaks the sea monster to pieces.+
13 With his breath he makes the skies clear;
His hand pierces the elusive serpent.
14 Look! These are just the fringes of his ways;+
Only a faint whisper has been heard of him!
So who can understand his mighty thunder?”+
JOB
27 Job continued his discourse, saying:
2 “As surely as God lives, who has deprived me of justice,+
As the Almighty lives, who has made me bitter,+
3 As long as my breath is within me
And spirit from God is in my nostrils,+
4 My lips will not speak unrighteousness;
Nor will my tongue mutter deceit!
5 It is unthinkable for me to declare you men righteous!
Until I die, I will not renounce my integrity!+
6 I will maintain my righteousness and never let it go;+
My heart will not condemn me as long as I live.
7 May my enemy become like the wicked,
Those assaulting me like the unrighteous.
8 For what hope does the godless man have when he is destroyed,+
When God takes away his life?
9 Will God hear his outcry
When distress comes upon him?+
10 Or will he find delight in the Almighty?
Will he call on God at all times?
11 I will teach you about the power of God;
I will not hide anything about the Almighty.
12 Look! If you have all seen visions,
Why are your speeches completely empty?
13 This is the wicked man’s share from God,+
The inheritance that tyrants receive from the Almighty.
14 If his sons become many, they will fall by the sword,+
And his descendants will not have enough food.
15 Those who survive him will be buried by the plague,
And their widows will not weep for them.
16 Even if he piles up silver like the dust
And stores up fine clothing like the clay,
17 Though he may gather it,
The righteous man will wear it,+
And the innocent will divide up his silver.
18 The house he builds is as fragile as a moth’s cocoon,
Like a shelter+ made by a watchman.
19 He will go to bed rich but will gather nothing;
When he opens his eyes, nothing will be there.
20 Terror overtakes him like a flood;
A storm snatches him away by night.+
21 An east wind will carry him off, and he will be gone;
It sweeps him away from his place.+
22 It will hurl itself at him without pity+
As he desperately tries to flee from its force.+
23 It claps its hands at him
And whistles+ at him from its place.
JOB
28 “There is a place to mine silver
And a place for gold that they refine;+
2 Iron is taken from the ground,
And copper is smelted from rocks.+
3 Man conquers the darkness;
He probes to the limit in the gloom and darkness,
Searching for ore.
4 He sinks a shaft far from where people reside,
In forgotten places, far from where people walk;
Some men descend and swing suspended.
5 Food grows on top of the earth;
But below, there is an upheaval as if by fire.
6 There in the stones is sapphire,
And the dust contains gold.
7 No bird of prey knows the path to it;
The eye of a black kite has not seen it.
8 No majestic beasts have trodden on it;
The young lion has not prowled there.
9 Man strikes the flinty rock with his hand;
He overturns the mountains at their foundation.
10 He cuts water channels+ in the rock;
His eyes spot every precious thing.
11 He dams up the sources of rivers
And brings what was hidden to the light.
12 But wisdom—where can it be found,+
And where is the source of understanding?+
13 No man recognizes its value,+
And it cannot be found in the land of the living.
14 The deep waters say, ‘It is not in me!’
And the sea says, ‘It is not with me!’+
15 It cannot be bought with pure gold;
Nor can silver be weighed out in exchange for it.+
16 It cannot be bought with gold of Oʹphir+
Nor with rare onyx and sapphire.
17 Gold and glass cannot be compared to it;
Nor can a vessel of fine gold be exchanged for it.+
18 Coral and crystal are not worthy of mention,+
For a bagful of wisdom is worth more than one full of pearls.
19 The topaz+ of Cush cannot be compared to it;
It cannot be purchased even with pure gold.
20 But from where does wisdom come,
And where is the source of understanding?+
21 It has been hidden from the eyes of every living thing+
And concealed from the birds of the heavens.
22 Destruction and death say,
‘Our ears have heard only a report of it.’
23 God understands the way to find it;
He alone knows where it resides,+
24 For he looks to the ends of the earth,
And he sees everything under the heavens.+
25 When he set the force of the wind+
And measured out the waters,+
26 When he made a regulation for the rain+
And a path for the thunderous storm cloud,+
27 Then he saw wisdom and explained it;
He established and tested it.
28 And he said to man:
‘Look! The fear of Jehovah—that is wisdom,+
And to turn away from bad is understanding.’”+
JOB
29 Job continued his discourse, saying:
2 “If only I were in the months gone by,
In the days when God was watching over me,
3 When he caused his lamp to shine upon my head,
When I walked through darkness by his light,+
4 When I was in my prime,
When God’s friendship was felt in my tent,+
5 When the Almighty was still with me,
When my children were all around me,
6 When my steps were awash in butter,
And the rocks poured out streams of oil for me.+
7 When I used to go out to the city gate+
And take my seat in the public square,+
8 The young men would see me and step aside,
And even the old men would rise and remain standing.+
9 Princes refrained from speaking;
They would put their hand over their mouth.
10 The voices of the prominent men were silenced;
Their tongue was stuck to the roof of their mouth.
11 Whoever heard me would speak well of me,
And those who saw me would testify for me.
12 For I would rescue the poor who cried for help,+
Along with the fatherless child and anyone who had no helper.+
13 The one about to perish would bless me,+
And I made the heart of the widow rejoice.+
14 I put on righteousness as my clothing;
My justice was like a robe and a turban.
15 I became eyes to the blind
And feet to the lame.
16 I was a father to the poor;+
I would investigate the legal case of those I did not know.+
17 I would break the jaws of the wrongdoer+
And tear the prey away from his teeth.
18 I used to say, ‘I will die in my own home, +
And my days will be as numerous as the grains of sand.
19 My roots will spread out into the waters,
And dew will stay all night on my branches.
20 My glory is constantly renewed,
And the bow in my hand will keep shooting.’
21 People would listen expectantly,
Waiting in silence for my advice.+
22 After I had spoken, they had nothing more to say;
My words would fall gently on their ears.
23 They waited for me as for the rain;
They opened their mouth wide as for the spring rain.+
24 When I smiled at them, they could hardly believe it;
The light of my face would reassure them.
25 I gave them direction as their head,
And I lived like a king among his troops,+
Like one who comforts the mourners.+
***22:5-7. Counsel given on the basis of accusations that lack solid evidence is valueless and damaging.
***27:2; 30:20, 21. Maintaining integrity does not require perfection. Job wrongly criticized God.
***27:5. Only Job could take away his own integrity because integrity is dependent upon one’s love for God. We should therefore cultivate strong love for Jehovah.
***28:1-28. Man knows where earth’s treasures are. As he searches for them, his ingenuity takes him to underground pathways that no farsighted bird of prey can see. Godly wisdom, though, comes from fearing Jehovah.
***29:12-15. We should willingly extend loving-kindness to those in need.
***8 He will fly off like a dream, and they will not find him;
He will be chased away like a vision of the night.
9 The eye that once saw him will not do so again,
- Unhappily, dreams have a habit of slipping away from us soon after we wake up, and we remember just the last one, if any. So we cannot tell anyone much about that full-length nocturnal movie! It is as recorded in the Bible book of Job: “Like a dream he [the wicked apostate] will fly off, and they will not find him.” (Job 20:8) For this reason, researchers will awaken the dreamer when the rapid movements of the eyeballs stop.
***He will never see the streams of water,
The torrents of honey and butter.
- An emulsion principally of fat produced by agitating or churning milk or cream. In Bible times this milk product was unlike that of the modern Western world, for instead of being solid it was in a semifluid state. (Job 20:17) Hence, Koehler and Baumgartner define the Hebrew word chem·ʼahʹ as sweet, fresh butter, still soft. (Lexicon in Veteris Testamenti Libros, Leiden, 1958, p. 308) Franciscus Zorell says that this word refers to “thick, curdled milk.” (Lexicon Hebraicum et Aramaicum Veteris Testamenti, Rome, 1968, p. 248) The same word is rendered “curdled milk” at Judges 5:25.
***But they say to the true God, ‘Leave us alone!
We have no desire to know your ways.+
- However, many do not want God in their lives. They want to ‘go it alone.’ In effect, they say, as did those described at Job 21:14-16: “The wicked tell God to leave them alone; they don’t want to know his will for their lives. They think there is no need to serve God nor any advantage in praying to him. They claim they succeed by their own strength.”—Today’s English Version.
But do they? Not when we see human society cluttered with the wreckage of marriage failures. And this wreckage comes about by ignoring the wisdom that comes from God. That is why the Bible says: “There exists a way that is upright before a man, but the ways of death are the end of it afterward.”—Prov. 14:12.
***When his thighs are padded with fat
And his bones are strong.*
- MARROW
A soft and fatty vascular tissue that fills the interior cavities of most bones. There are two kinds of marrow, yellow and red. In adults, the long, rounder bones are filled with yellow, or inactive, marrow composed mainly of fat, and the flat bones of the skull, the ribs, the sternum, and the pelvis contain red, or active, marrow. Red marrow plays an important role in the formation of blood. It yields the oxygen-carrying red blood corpuscles, the important clotting agents called platelets, and a large percentage of white corpuscles, which primarily serve as fighters of infection. As a blood-forming organ, the marrow has a direct effect upon an individual’s health and vigor. Hence, Job (21:24) appropriately alludes to a well-nourished and healthy person under the figure of one whose bone marrow “is being kept moist.”
***2 “Can a man be of use to God?
Can anyone with insight be of benefit to him?+
-1, 2. (a) What did Eliphaz and Bildad claim about the effect of our service to God? (b) How did Jehovah make his feelings known?
“CAN a man be of use to God? Can anyone with insight be of benefit to him? Does the Almighty care that you are righteous, or does he gain anything because you follow the course of integrity?” (Job 22:1-3) Have you ever wondered about the answers to questions such as these? When Eliphaz the Temanite first posed them to Job, Eliphaz no doubt believed that the answer was no. His associate, Bildad the Shuhite, even argued that a righteous standing before God is not possible for humans.—Read Job 25:4.
2 These false comforters claimed that our efforts to serve Jehovah loyally are of no benefit to him at all, that our value to God is no more than that of a moth, a maggot, or a worm. (Job 4:19; 25:6) At first glance, we might conclude that Eliphaz and Bildad displayed a humble attitude. (Job 22:29) After all, from the top of a high mountain or from the window of an airplane, human activity may seem insignificant. However, is that how Jehovah views our contribution to the Kingdom work as he looks at our planet from his lofty perspective? Jehovah made his feelings known when he reproved Eliphaz, Bildad, and Zophar for speaking falsehood but took delight in Job, referring to him as “my servant.” (Job 42:7, 8) Thus, a person can indeed “be of use to God.”
***5 Is it not because your own wickedness is so great
And there is no end to your errors?+
-1, 2. (a) Who is being taunted, by whom and how? (b) In what way will the parallel experiences of today be demonstrated with those of Job’s time?
LIKE the taunting from wicked King Sennacherib of ancient Assyria, so today Satan keeps up his taunting of the true God Jehovah by speaking abusively of His anointed witnesses. (Isa. 37:21-33) By their faithfully enduring the Babylonish hostility against them, the Job-like anointed ones enable Jehovah, as He says, to “make a reply to him [Satan] that is taunting me.” (Prov. 27:11) In the meantime, in their championing Jehovah’s Sovereign Godship on earth they bear up under much reproach. “With murder against my bones those showing hostility to me have reproached me, while they say to me all day long: ‘Where is your God?’”—Ps. 42:10.
2 To demonstrate the full extent of the modern parallel of the experiences of Jehovah’s witnesses today with those of ancient Job, we will now highlight cases of Babylonish hostility of the clergy against the anointed witnesses on each of the taunts made against ancient Job by his three Babylonized companions. This will be done by taking each of the speeches of Job’s companions in turn and showing how the clergy of Christendom have spoken in the same sibboleth fashion as those ancient agents of Satan. (Judg. 12:6) As this develops it will be observed that the sectarian religious statements have the same ring of hostility as the pronouncements of ancient Eliphaz, Zophar and Bildad. By them the Job-like anointed ones continue to be branded as the world’s No. 1 Religious Badmen to be avoided like poison.—Job 22:5.
FALSE CHARGE OF BIAS
3. What false charge of bias has been made, and by whom? How does this parallel Job’s day?
3 In the frame of thinking of Eliphaz, the clergy claim in effect that it is the religiously unclean, the sinners, the biased ones that bring upon themselves merited reproach and divine punishment. (Job 4:2-8) A Roman Catholic monsignor writes in a nationwide Catholic newspaper in the United States a harsh condemnation of the Bible Society of Jehovah’s witnesses.
“Rejecting the idea of the Holy Trinity, the Bible society translation [the New World Translation of the Christian Greek Scriptures, 1950] replaces the phrase ‘the Father, the Son and the Holy Ghost,’ used frequently [once] throughout the King James version with ‘the spirit and the water and the blood.’ (1 John 5:7) . . . Something of the shallow scholarship in the sect in adopting the word Jehovah as part of its title is shown by the Catholic Biblical Encyclopedia’s treatment of this word.”a (Bracketing ours)
4, 5. What defense have the Witnesses made (a) as to biased translation and (b) for their use of the name Jehovah? (c) How has this been in accord with Job 6:10?
4 Making a proper defense not only of their own rightness but also of the Sovereign Godship of Jehovah as did ancient Job, the modern Witnesses say: “I have not hidden the sayings of the Holy One.” (Job 6:10) In an open letter dated October 11, 1950, a printed six-page reply was published by Jehovah’s witnesses in their Watchtower magazine of December 1, 1950. (Pp. 469-474) There overwhelming evidences were published proving beyond doubt that Jehovah’s witnesses not only are not biased in their New World Translation, but have honestly reproduced the sense and wording of the original-language texts. Note the above Watchtower answer to the charge of biased tampering with the Bible.
“The New World Translation has rewritten no part of the Greek text, not even 1 John 5:7 which is cited in your article as a place where Jehovah’s witnesses clash with the trinitarian doctrine. . . . This is a literal translation of the Greek text by the above-named Augustinus Merk, S.J. . . . it is also a literal translation of the Greek text by the other Roman Catholic scholar, Joseph M. Bover, S.J. . . . Your own precious Vatican Manuscript No. 1209 of the early 4th century does not contain the words, but brands them spurious.”
Thus was crushingly demonstrated the authentic nature of the New World Translation and the falsity of the charge against the anointed witnesses.
5 In addition The Watchtower vindicated its use of “Jehovah” this way:
“Why, then, does the New World Translation use the name Jehovah 237 times in its main text? Is it due to ‘shallow scholarship,’ as you insinuate? No. . . . In addition to the 19 Hebrew versions, it cites versions of the ‘New Testament’ in 38 languages besides English and Hebrew where the translators use a vernacular form of the Hebrew tetragrammaton [Hebrew occurrence of the divine name].”
***“Why does the Almighty not set a time?+
Why do those who know him not see his day?*
- 35 Of course, we are most interested in knowing just when “the end will come.” For truly our lives are involved! In Job 24:1 we read: “The day of reckoning is no secret to the Almighty, though those who know him have no hint of its date.” (The New English Bible) But it must be close at hand! For Jesus says concerning persons who saw the “pangs of distress” start in 1914 C.E.: “This generation will by no means pass away until all these things occur.” (Matthew 24:34) Included in “all these things” is the destruction of the corrupted society of today, as Jesus had just described it: “Then there will be great tribulation such as has not occurred since the world’s beginning until now, no, nor will occur again. In fact, unless those days were cut short, no flesh would be saved; but on account of the chosen ones those days will be cut short.” (Matthew 24:21, 22) If the “great tribulation” were not cut short, mankind would, of itself, perish off the earth! But, happily, all those who love God may escape with their lives. “Jehovah is guarding all those loving him, but all the wicked ones he will annihilate.” (Psalm 145:20) If you heed the Bible prophecy, you, too, can escape and keep on living.
***The eye of the adulterer waits for the twilight,+
Saying, ‘No one will see me!’+
And he covers his face.
- Those words should cause us to reflect: Was it any man who gave orders for the succession of night and day? The morning light is represented as laying hold of the ends of the earth and shaking the wicked out of it, as dust from a cloth. Dawn disperses evildoers; they scurry like beasts to their several dens and hiding places. “As for the eye of the adulterer, it has watched for evening darkness, saying, ‘No eye will behold me!’ And over his face he puts a covering. In the darkness he has dug into houses; by day they must keep themselves locked in.” (Job 24:15, 16) Did any man cause the dawn “to take hold on the extremities of the earth, that the wicked ones might be shaken out from it”?
Morning light—the seal the Almighty holds in his hand—causes the earth, like crude unformed clay, to receive a beautiful impression from it, so that it suddenly assumes distinct form. Sunlight brings to view many colors with which the earth is tinged, and the earth appears in fresh beauty, as arrayed in splendid garments. But did Job or any man command all these beneficial and welcome changes? Does it depend on man’s care and management? Could any man supply the want of light if the sun’s beams should be withheld? Further, the vast ocean covers immense treasures and wonderful works of the Creator. Had Job walked about in the watery deep and taken inventory of its contents?
SNOW AND HAIL
Jehovah propounds more questions: “Where, now, is the way to where light resides? As for darkness, where, now, is its place, that you should take it to its boundary and that you should understand the roadways to its house? Have you come to know because at that time you were being born, and because in number your days are many? Have you entered into the storehouses of the snow, or do you see even the storehouses of the hail, which I have kept back for the time of distress, for the day of fight and war?”—Job 38:19-23.
Has any man ever escorted either light or darkness back to its home or entered into the storehouses of snow and hail that God has kept back for “the time of distress”? Snow itself is a marvel—crystals in an endless variety of beautiful forms! With snow and hail God can fight as effectually, if he pleases, as with lightning or with the sword of an angel. Snow and hail will evidently be used against God’s enemies on “the day of fight and war,” the time of Armageddon. What man can escape hail from heaven if God directs it? “Hailstones” are mentioned at Ezekiel 38:22 in reference to the means God will use to destroy the wicked hordes of humans under satanic leadership. At the battle of Gibeon in ancient times Jehovah used hailstones against his enemies: “There were more who died from the hailstones than those whom the sons of Israel killed with the sword.” (Josh. 10:11) A description of a hailstorm gives us an idea of what God can do on “the day of fight and war.” In his Autobiography (Book II, 50) the Italian sculptor Benvenuto Cellini related this experience:
“We were one day distant from Lyons . . . when the heavens began to thunder with sharp rattling claps. . . . After the thunder the heavens made a noise so great and horrible that I thought the last day had come; so I reined in for a moment, while a shower of hail began to fall without a drop of water. At first the hail was somewhat larger than pellets from a popgun, and when these struck me, they hurt considerably. Little by little it increased in size, until the stones might be compared to balls from a crossbow. My horse became restive with fright; so I wheeled round, and returned at a gallop to where I found my comrades taking refuge in a fir-wood. The hail now grew to the size of big lemons. . . . There fell a stone so huge that it smashed the thick branches of the pine under which I had retired for safety. Another of the hailstones hit my horse upon the head, and almost stunned him; one struck me also, but not directly, else it would have killed me. . . .
“The storm raged for some while, but at last it stopped; and we, who were pounded black and blue, scrambled as well as we could upon our horses. Pursuing the way to our lodging for the night, we showed our scratches and bruises to each other; but about a mile farther on we came upon a scene of devastation which surpassed what we had suffered, and defies description. All the trees were stripped of their leaves and shattered; the beasts in the field lay dead; many of the herdsmen had also been killed; we observed large quantities of hailstones which could not have been grasped with two hands.”—Harvard Classics, Vol. 31, pp. 352, 353.
***4 To whom are you trying to speak, And who inspired you to say such things?*
- Understanding What the Spirit Is
GOD’S written Word is a treasure-house of wisdom, but how can a person benefit from its riches unless he applies himself to studying it and to seeking an accurate understanding of it? Good counsel regarding this is given at Proverbs 4:7: “Wisdom is the prime thing. Acquire wisdom; and with all that you acquire, acquire understanding.”
Knowing the various meanings of expressions used in the Bible is an important factor in acquiring understanding. The word “spirit,” for example, has at least seven different meanings. Unless a person knows these meanings he cannot gain an accurate understanding of the Scripture texts in which the word is used.
In the Hebrew and Greek languages from which the Bible was translated, the word “spirit” carries the basic thought of something windlike, something that is invisible and forceful like air in motion. For this reason Jehovah God, Jesus Christ and angels are called spirits. They cannot be seen by man but they have power that can be made perceptible to man by the effects it produces in the earth. At John 4:24 we are told that “God is a Spirit,” and at 1 Corinthians 15:45 the resurrected Jesus Christ is called “a life-giving spirit.” Regarding angels, Hebrews 1:7 states: “He makes his angels spirits.”
The Hebrew word for spirit is ruʹahh and the Greek word is pneuʹma. Some Bible translations render the Hebrew word neshamahʹ as spirit at Job 26:4 and Proverbs 20:27, but more careful translations use the word “breath” here rather than spirit. This word neshamahʹ is the one that is used at Genesis 2:7 for the vital breath that was put into Adam at the time of his creation. Its use here indicates that what God blew into the nostrils of Adam was literal breath. However, the active life force that God gave him, causing him to have a conscious existence, was his ruʹahh or spirit. This active life force is not specifically mentioned at Genesis 2:7, but it is referred to elsewhere.—Gen. 6:17; 7:22; Eccl. 12:7.
The life force or principle of life in earthly creatures that is sustained by breathing is one of the meanings of spirit. At Job 27:3, the word is used with this meaning. “While my breath is yet whole within me, and the spirit of God is in my nostrils.” The Hebrew word neshamahʹ is used for the literal breath in this scripture, whereas ruʹahh is used for spirit, or life force.
Sometimes the word spirit indicates a person’s mental disposition. This is something that cannot be seen, but it manifests itself in a visible way by a person’s expressions or actions. At Psalm 34:18, mental disposition is clearly indicated by the word spirit: “Jehovah is near to those that are broken at heart; and those who are crushed in spirit he saves.” As a rock is crushed with a hammer so does a repentant person feel crushed when God’s Word brings home to him the gravity of his sins. He humbly seeks forgiveness as did the people who were “stabbed to the heart” with guilt feelings from what Peter said to them at Pentecost. (Acts 2:37) So “crushed in spirit” indicates the mental disposition of a person who has become conscious of his sins and of his spiritual need.
*** 6 The Grave* is naked in front of God,*+
And the place of destruction* lies uncovered.
-
In Hebrew the word ʼavad·dohnʹ means “destruction” and may also refer to “the place of destruction.” It appears in the original Hebrew text a total of five times, and in four of the occurrences it is used to parallel “the burial place,” “Sheol,” and “death.” (Ps 88:11; Job 26:6; 28:22; Pr 15:11) The word ʼavad·dohnʹ in these texts evidently refers to the destructive processes that ensue with human death, and these scriptures indicate that decay or destruction takes place in Sheol, the common grave of mankind. At Job 31:12 ʼavad·dohnʹ designates the damaging effect of an adulterous course. Job declared: “That [adulterous course] is a fire that would eat clear to destruction [ʽadh-ʼavad·dohnʹ], and among all my produce it would take root.”—Compare Pr 6:26-28, 32; 7:26, 27.
17. How do Psalm 139:7, 8 and Proverbs 15:11 prove that the clergy are not correct in teaching that the dead are still alive but only separated from God?
17 In the face of this it is foolish for the clergy of Christendom to argue that those in Sheol or Haʹdes are still alive as immortals and are dead only in the sense of being separated from God. The psalmist David does not agree with those clergymen, for he says to Jehovah God: “Where can I go from your spirit, and where can I run away from your face? If I should ascend to heaven, there you would be; and if I should spread out my couch in Sheol, look! you would be there.” (Ps. 139:7, 8) Confirming that fact, King David’s son Solomon said, in Proverbs 15:11: “Sheol and the place of destruction are in front of Jehovah. How much more so the hearts of the sons of mankind!” Just as Jehovah knows what is in the hearts of men, so he knows who are in Sheol.
18. What does Amos 9:1, 2 show about the reach of God’s spirit?
18 In illustration of how his spirit or active force can reach to all places, even to Sheol, Jehovah God says, in the prophecy of Amos 9:1, 2: “No one fleeing of them will make good his flight, and no one escaping of them will make his getaway. If they dig down into Sheol, from there my own hand will take them; and if they go up to the heavens, from there I shall bring them down.” Here, because of height, the heavens are contrasted with Sheol because of depth. How could men ever dig into Sheol? Only because Sheol is in the earth where men live and dig graves.
19. What does Job 26:5-7 show regarding God’s knowledge of Sheol?
19 Those in Sheol or Haʹdes are not beyond the knowledge and power of Jehovah. This fact is emphasized by the deathly sick Job, when he spoke of earth’s Creator in these words: “Those impotent in death keep trembling beneath the waters and those residing in them. Sheol is naked in front of him, and the place of destruction has no covering [from him]. He is stretching out the north over the empty place, hanging the earth upon nothing.” (Job 26:5-7) Thus Sheol has no covering with which to hide its dead from God’s eyes, but it lies naked before him. He knows who are there.
20, 21. Because of what facts about those in Sheol did Job pray, in Job 14:12-15, for God to hide him there?
20 Away back there in the sixteenth century before our Common Era patient Job knew that those dead in Sheol are really dead; they feel no pain, even as they experience no pleasure, and are not conscious of anything at all. With good reason, then, Job prayed that his painful and shameful sickness might be terminated soon in death and that he might be laid in Sheol, out of sight from the staring eyes of men. Hence he prayed to Jehovah God:
21 “Man also has to lie down and does not get up [by his own power]. Until heaven is no more they will not wake up, nor will they be aroused from their sleep. O that in Sheol you would conceal me, that you would keep me secret until your anger turns back, that you would set a time limit for me and remember me! If an able-bodied man dies can he live again? All the days of my compulsory service I shall wait, until my relief comes. You will call, and I myself shall answer you. For the work of your hands you will have a yearning.”—Job 14:12-15.
22. By his words in Job 14:12-15, how did Job show he did not believe Sheol to be a “land of no return”?
22 Judged by these words, Sheol (Haʹdes, LXX) was not a “land of no return” to Job. It was not a place in which the dead ones were forgotten, abandoned, by God. Instead, the God of Job remembered those in Sheol, and in his own set time he would call forth those in that common grave of mankind, awakening them from their death state as if awakening them from a natural sleep. For that reason the painfully sick Job was willing for God to take his life then and there, to end his terrible sufferings in the flesh, and to lay him away in death in Sheol. Job felt that God was angry with him. So if God let Job be buried out of sight in Sheol, Job could be kept secret until God’s anger had passed away and the time came for God to be favorable to those in Sheol and to resurrect them from death to life under favorable conditions.
*** 10 He marks out the horizon* on the surface of the waters;+
He makes a boundary between light and darkness.
- The Bible’s Harmony With Scientific Facts. The Bible, at Job 26:7, speaks of God as “hanging the earth upon nothing.” Science says that the earth remains in its orbit in space primarily because of the interaction of gravity and centrifugal force. These forces, of course, are invisible. Therefore the earth, like other heavenly bodies, is suspended in space as if hanging on nothing. Speaking from Jehovah’s viewpoint, the prophet Isaiah wrote under inspiration: “There is One who is dwelling above the circle of the earth, the dwellers in which are as grasshoppers.” (Isa 40:22) The Bible says: “He [God] has described a circle upon the face of the waters.” (Job 26:10) The waters are limited by his decree to their proper place. They do not come up and inundate the land; neither do they fly off into space. (Job 38:8-11) From the viewpoint of Jehovah, the earth’s face, or the surface of the waters, would, of course, have a circular form, just as the edge of the moon presents a circular appearance to us. Before land surfaces appeared, the surface of the entire globe was one circular (spherical) mass of surging waters.—Ge 1:2.
*** 18 The house he builds is as fragile as a moth’s cocoon,
Like a shelter+ made by a watchman.
Female clothes moths lay their eggs on fabrics of wool or silk or on furs, distributing them so that emerging caterpillars will have ample room and material on which to feed. The caterpillars will not eat until they have first protected themselves with a “house” or case constructed from the available fibers. In this “house” they remain as they feed.—Job 27:18.
*** 6 I will maintain my righteousness and never let it go;+
My heart will not condemn* me as long as I live.*
5 On the other hand, many imperfect humans have listened to their conscience. Job was a good example. Because he made good decisions, he could say: “My heart will not condemn me as long as I live.” (Job 27:6) When Job spoke of his “heart,” he referred to his conscience, his sense of right and wrong. David, though, ignored his conscience at times and disobeyed Jehovah. Afterward he felt so guilty that it was as if his heart were “striking him.” (1 Samuel 24:5) This was David’s conscience telling him that what he had done was wrong. By listening to his conscience, he could learn to avoid making the same mistake again.
*** 2 Iron is taken from the ground,
And copper is smelted* from rocks.+
- Copper in the free state was not plentiful; metal-bearing ores consisting of oxides, carbonates, or sulfides had to be smelted to release the metallic copper. Copper mines have been located in the Wadi Arabah, that arid part of the Rift Valley that extends S from the Dead Sea to the Gulf of ʽAqaba at the eastern head of the Red Sea. (Job 28:2-4) The mountains of the Promised Land contained copper. (De 8:9) Solomon made castings of copper items near Succoth. (1Ki 7:14-46; 2Ch 4:1-18) Copper was found in abundance on Cyprus. The Bible also speaks of Javan, Tubal, and Meshech as sources of copper.—Eze 27:13.
*** 5 Food grows on top of the earth;
But below, there is an upheaval as if by fire.*
- Questions From Readers
● Does Job 28:5 refer to the apparent molten state of earth’s interior when it says: “As for the earth, out of it food goes forth; but underneath it, it has been upturned as if by fire”?—Cyprus.
No. The context reveals that this pertains to man’s efforts to find earth’s treasures. (Job 28:1-4) Aboveground the farmer peacefully prepares the soil, sows seed and cares for the growing grain. Thus the earth produces food. Underneath earth’s surface, however, man carries on a turbulent ‘upturning’ activity, with effects comparable to that of a ravaging fire. Miners gouge and wrest from earth’s bosom precious stones and metals.
It may be noted that a number of translations render Job 28:5 somewhat differently. For example, the Authorized Version reads: “As for the earth, out of it cometh bread: and under it is turned up as it were fire.” Based on this rendering, some commentators suggest that the fire refers to the glow of precious stones and metals that are uncovered by man. However, our understanding the “fire” to allude to man’s mining operations fits the context better and agrees with the renderings of many modern translations.
Though sparing no efforts to mine earth’s concealed treasures, man does not find true wisdom by exploring the physical creation. (Job 28:1-12) For this, man must turn to God. Job concludes: “Look! The fear of Jehovah—that is wisdom, and to turn away from bad is understanding.”—Job 28:28.
*** 28 And he said to man:
‘Look! The fear of Jehovah—that is wisdom,+
And to turn away from bad is understanding.’”+
10 While such incidental association with God through his Word has brought enlightenment and better living, people who really read the Bible and make it a guide in their lives profit in far greater measure. The patriarch Job points out that more than a surface knowledge of God is necessary. After remarking about some of the marvelous facts of creation that scientists can understand and explain only after much research, he says: “Look! These are the fringes of [God’s] ways, and what a whisper of a matter has been heard of him!” Later, Job points out that the real wisdom requires more of us than learning the mere “fringes of his ways”—something more than mere scientific facts. We must come to know the fineness of God’s personality, to fear him as the One who upholds right principles, and to follow these principles. This wisdom can be gained only by a study of his Word. Job says: “Look! The fear of Jehovah—that is wisdom, and to turn away from bad is understanding.” (Job 26:14; 28:28) To one who seeks, by looking into the Bible, to achieve a relationship with God, the psalmist wrote: “Happy is the one you choose and cause to approach, that he may reside in your courtyards. He will certainly be satisfied with the goodness of your house.”—Ps. 65:4.
***2 “If only I were in the months gone by,
In the days when God was watching over me,
- Consolation for the Depressed
“I FEEL so depressed. Why is this happening to me? What have I done? I should be comforting others, but I cannot comfort myself. Have I committed the unforgivable sin? I think God has abandoned me!” You may recognize this as the cry of a Christian who unexpectedly finds himself very depressed.
Depression is a miserable feeling, but not uncommon. For example, a mature overseer nearing the end of a period of intense study is suddenly gripped by depressing thoughts. A middle-aged woman who works hard to meet her obligations is sad-faced and dejected. A zealous servant in a congregation, although having many living letters of recommendation, feels miserably depressed. A young mother with several Bible studies to her credit is painfully downcast and complains that God does not seem to be as close as she had hoped he would be. A young full-time minister raised “in the discipline and authoritative advice of Jehovah” is suddenly crushed by depressing doubts. An elderly Christian with long years of full-time ministry behind him fears that somehow he has lost the race for the heavenly crown of life.
COMMON EXPERIENCE
These true experiences are not news to students of the Bible. In 50 (A.D.) the apostle Paul exhorted the Christians in Thessalonica to “speak consolingly to the depressed souls.” (1 Thess. 5:14) After denying Christ the third time, Peter “went outside and wept bitterly,” undoubtedly very depressed by personal failure. On the road to Emmaus, Cleopas and another disciple “stood still with sad faces” and poured out their disappointment at the death of Jesus, who they had hoped was destined to deliver Israel. (Luke 22:62; 24:13-21) Paul, in his second letter to the Christians at Corinth, wrote: “We are pressed in every way, but not cramped beyond movement; we are perplexed, but not absolutely with no way out; we are persecuted, but not left in the lurch; we are thrown down, but not destroyed.” “In fact, when we arrived in Macedonia, our flesh got no relief, but we continued to be afflicted in every manner—there were fights without, fears within. Nevertheless God, who comforts those laid low, comforted us by the presence of Titus.”—2 Cor. 4:8, 9; 7:5, 6.
Faithful servants of Jehovah also suffered depressed feelings long before the Christian Era. Integrity-keeping Job had so many burdens that he spoke as if God were no longer with him: “As in the days when God was guarding me; . . . when intimacy with God was at my tent; when the Almighty was yet with me.” (Job 29:2, 4, 5) The Israelites worked so hard in Egyptian slavery that even when Jehovah sent a message of hope through Moses the discouraged people did not believe. (Ex. 6:6-9) Elkanah’s beloved wife Hannah was so disappointed over barrenness and vexed by a rival wife that “she would weep and not eat.” (1 Sam. 1:5-7) The harassed psalmist, feeling sad and abandoned, wrote: “I will say to God my crag: ‘Why have you forgotten me? Why do I walk sad because of the oppression of the enemy?’” (Ps. 42:9) These depressed feelings that leave one cheerless and unable to smile with ease are obviously a common experience that has befallen God’s servants from ancient times to our day. And the causes are still basically the same.
THE CAUSES
Depression is a temporary loss of optimism, courage and hope often termed “low spirits.” As we have seen, it can be induced by personal trials, a sense of personal failure, bitter disappointment, lack of clear understanding of God’s purpose and oppression. Often, however, the cause cannot be easily pinpointed, since a combination of circumstances is involved. A girl away from home may be out of work, alone and homesick. Physical and mental fatigue also team up to cause depression. Sometimes it may simply be poor health or worry. Periodic adjustments in one’s body chemistry may be accompanied by low spirits. Women frequently undergo depression during the menopause. Elderly people may be dejected because of failing physical strength or suspicion that they are unwanted. If one is fatigued by steady hard work or his mind is wearied by intense study and improper rest, he may begin to view life pessimistically, negatively. These are some common causes of the miserable state of depression. Occasionally depression may lean more toward spiritual sickness, with weakened faith and a corresponding inability to get comfort from the Scriptures. The spiritually sick one imagines that for some reason God has turned His back on him, and God-given promises of hope and sympathy are doubted. Whatever the particular cause, depressed feelings are never pleasant.
THE REMEDY
Just as the causes for depression may be one factor or a combination of factors, so the remedy may require one or more steps. Since the depressed mind often is not thinking properly on the facts, it must be refreshed. Then problems will be seen in a clearer light. First, give your body proper rest and attend to its other needs as far as possible. If you have been putting unreasonable demands on your physical stamina, make some adjustments in your schedule. See that late televiewing is not depriving you of needed sleep. Very often depression passes with simple remedies, since the healthy, rested person is able to approach his problems optimistically. He is able to weigh reasons for discouragement against reasons for hope and thereby keep his thinking controlled.
In any depressed state, and particularly where the cause is not easily removed, the Christian will earnestly call on Jehovah in the name of Jesus. The inspired psalmist urges us: “Throw your burden upon Jehovah himself, and he himself will sustain you. Never will he allow the righteous one to totter.” “Jehovah is giving support to all who are falling, and is raising up all who are bowed down.” (Ps. 55:22; 145:14) Confirmation of God’s keen interest in our low spirits comes through the prophet Isaiah: “For this is what the High and Lofty One, who is residing forever and whose name is holy, has said: ‘In the height and in the holy place is where I reside, also with the one crushed and lowly in spirit, to revive the spirit of the lowly ones and to revive the heart of the ones being crushed.’”—Isa. 57:15.
After throwing your burden upon Jehovah, devote as much time as you can drawing close to God through reading the Bible. The proverb says: “Anxious care in the heart of a man is what will cause it to bow down, but the good word is what makes it rejoice.” (Prov. 12:25) That God’s good Word can bring joy back into the heart and light to the sad eyes is attested by Psalm 19:7, 8: “The law of Jehovah is perfect, bringing back the soul. The reminder of Jehovah is trustworthy, making the inexperienced one wise. The orders from Jehovah are upright, causing the heart to rejoice; the commandment of Jehovah is clean, making the eyes shine.”
If your saddened state is due to bitter disappointment in yourself or others, or results from tribulation, remember that trial accomplishes much good when endured. Peter declares that “the person that has suffered in the flesh has desisted from sins, to the end that he may live the remainder of his time in the flesh, no more for the desires of men, but for God’s will.” (1 Pet. 4:1, 2) Yes, tribulation makes us see that our sure hope is in doing God’s will; we come through trial more appreciative of that fact. Apart from discipline, the Christian expects various trials of his faith: “In this fact you are greatly rejoicing, though for a little while at present, if it must be, you have been grieved by various trials, in order that the tested quality of your faith, of much greater value than gold that perishes despite its being proved by fire, may be found a cause for praise and glory and honor at the revelation of Jesus Christ.” (1 Pet. 1:6, 7) Of course, Jehovah is not bringing trials and depression upon you. He is the God of all comfort and it is not desirable with him “for one of these little ones to perish.”—Matt. 18:14.
DOUBTS
But what if depression and doubts leave you uncomforted by the Scriptures? Do not assume that Jehovah has become your foe because your faith is weak. Doubts were not unknown among his faithful servants in Bible times. He did not abandon the Israelites for not believing at the beginning, but delivered them. (Ex. 12:51) Instead of having the apostle Thomas disfellowshiped for doubting eyewitness reports of the Lord’s resurrection, Jesus lovingly helped Thomas get over his unbelief. (John 20:24-29) Jesus’ fleshly brothers James and Jude did not exercise faith in him until after his death and resurrection, yet their early doubts did not prevent them from becoming devoted and useful servants of his later on. With understanding James could compare the doubting man to “a wave of the sea driven by the wind and blown about.” (Jas. 1:6) Sympathetically Jude could instruct Christians by his inspired letter to “continue showing mercy to some that have doubts; save them by snatching them out of the fire.” (Jude 22, 23) That one can survive such fiery ordeal is indicated by Paul when writing at 1 Corinthians 3:10-15: “But let each one keep watching how he is building on it. For no man can lay any other foundation than what is laid, which is Jesus Christ. Now if anyone builds on the foundation gold, silver, precious stones, wood materials, hay, stubble, each one’s work will become manifest, for the day will show it up, because it will be revealed by means of fire; and the fire itself will prove what sort of work each one’s is. If anyone’s work that he has built on it remains, he will receive a reward; if anyone’s work is burned up, he will suffer loss, but he himself will be saved; yet, if so, it will be as through fire.”
In the unhealthy spiritual state where your own prayers seem ineffective, obey James’ instruction and ‘call the older men of the congregation to you, and let them pray over you, greasing you with oil in the name of Jehovah. And the prayer of faith will make you well, and Jehovah will raise you up.’ (Jas. 5:14, 15) Jehovah’s mature overseers understand your condition. They will rub in the soothing “oil” of comfort from Jehovah’s Word and prescribe a schedule of Bible study and service plus association with zealous Christians, all of which in time will get you over your depressing doubts.
Because there is always happiness in Christian giving, one of the surest antidotes for a depressed, cheerless frame of mind is to seek out others who are “sighing and groaning over all the detestable things that are being done” in this pre-Armageddon era. By comforting them you will bring comfort to yourself. (Ezek. 9:4; 2 Cor. 1:3-7) Many mature Christians can testify to the truthfulness of this, calling to mind Psalm 126:5, 6: “Those sowing seed with tears will reap even with a joyful cry. The one that without fail goes forth, even weeping, carrying along a bagful of seed, will without fail come in with a joyful cry, carrying along his sheaves.” Whether in favorable season or in trial and depression, sow the Kingdom seed and reap a happy reward!—Mark 4:14, 20.
We have seen that periods of depression have been endured by faithful servants of Jehovah in pre-Christian, Christian and modern times. Since it is a condition that responds to assistance from Jehovah, his Word and organization, as well as to proper care of the physical man, depressed souls have every reason to be consoled and courageous. Remember, faithful Job was not actually abandoned by Jehovah; Hannah’s disappointment and vexation passed with the birth of Samuel and five other children; Peter’s denial of the Lord was not unpardonable; Paul’s pressed-down feeling gave way to rejoicing and Thomas’ doubts did not disqualify him in the race for eternal life. Neither must depression or any other test be allowed to disqualify you. Rather, as Paul declared, “no temptation has taken you except what is common to men. But God is faithful, and he will not let you be tempted beyond what you can bear, but along with the temptation he will also make the way out in order for you to be able to endure it.” (1 Cor. 10:13) No less is this true of depression. So do not give up in doing what is right. And “may the God who gives hope fill you with all joy and peace by your believing, that you may abound in hope with power of holy spirit.”—Rom. 15:13.
*** 13 The one about to perish would bless me,+
And I made the heart of the widow rejoice.+
- ELDERS—MAKE THE ‘HEART OF WIDOWS GLAD’
12. How can elders ‘make the heart of widows glad’?
12 “The heart of the widow I would make glad,” said Job of pre-Christian times. (Job 29:13) He “felt” the pain experienced by widows. Rather than adding to it by a thoughtless word or deed, he acted to cheer them up inside—in the heart. Elders of Christian congregations today can do likewise by reassuring such ones that the congregation is a warmhearted family, by really making them feel a part of it. The overseers may share a comforting scripture that shows the blessings resulting from faithfulness. “Fellow feeling” will help them to try to understand the tremendous emotional and mental pressures that plague many single parents. (1 Pet. 3:8) Consequently, needy ones will feel free to come to them for help. Each of these spiritual men can truly be like “a place of concealment from the rainstorm, like streams of water in a waterless country.”—Isa. 32:1, 2.
*** 15 I became eyes to the blind
And feet to the lame.
- The results of showing tender affection for these older persons and afflicted ones prove that such consideration has Jehovah’s blessing. One woman rises early each Sunday and drives some distance out of her way to pick up an elderly widow for a day of witnessing, meetings and material sustenance. In another congregation, when illness recently struck a middle-aged woman who lives alone with her elderly mother, members of the congregation swarmed to the sister’s bedside like worker bees, taking over the housecleaning, shopping and other duties. Exclaimed the grateful convalescent: “I didn’t know so many of my brothers loved me! I will never be able to do enough for Jehovah!” Consider the case of a Christian widow and her two daughters. Shortly after this family moved, the mother died. Who would look after the orphans? The overseer in their new congregation appreciated that these teen-agers needed the benefit of a Christian home and arranged to make them part of his household. In yet another instance, when an elderly faithful woman fell into dire circumstances, a family of newly dedicated Witnesses took the afflicted one into their home, where she has been lovingly cared for over a long period of time. These examples prove that James’ words are still being applied: “The form of worship that is clean and undefiled from the standpoint of our God and Father is this: to look after orphans and widows in their tribulation.”—Jas. 1:27.
When you show consideration to one of the least of Jesus’ brothers, he counts it as done to himself. Such consideration will be found among the Lord’s “other sheep” who are in line for the blessing of endless life in God’s new world. (Matt. 25:31-46) Even now blessings come to considerate ones, who find the proverb true: “Happy is he who is showing favor to the afflicted ones.” Besides enjoying the superior happiness of giving, you will find that a visit with an older person or afflicted Christian often provides a mutual exchange of encouragement. By observing the integrity of the one in difficulty the visitor gains a valuable lesson in endurance. Elderly Christians are often rich in interesting experiences and eyewitness accounts of outstanding events in the modern history of Jehovah’s congregation. Consideration shown to afflicted ones causes them to remember you in their prayers to Jehovah. These are some of the blessings that are yours when you show kindness to those faithful ones who may be ‘poor respecting the world but rich in faith.’—Jas. 2:5.
In these critical times Jehovah is examining our hearts to see if we have enough love of God and neighbor to qualify for life in his paradise new world. Under this searching inspection may each one of us be able to repeat the statement of faithful Job: “I would rescue the afflicted one crying for help, and the fatherless boy and anyone that had no helper. The blessing of the one about to perish—upon me it would come, and the heart of the widow I would make glad. Eyes I became to the blind one; and feet to the lame one I was. I was a real father to the poor ones.”—Job 29:12, 13, 15, 16.
“Not a Lover of Money”
“Not a Lover of Money”
✔ One of Jehovah’s witnesses tells how he was attracted to the truth by the attitude shown by the Witnesses who visited the place where he worked: “In the barbershop where I work, Jehovah’s witnesses always called and offered me the Watchtower and Awake! magazines. I always refused, as I was a fervent Catholic and Spiritualist. One day, however, one of my customers took the magazines, giving a certain amount and refusing the change. The Witness replied that he could not keep the change, and this awakened my curiosity.”
*** 10 The voices of the prominent men were silenced;
Their tongue was stuck to the roof of their mouth.
- Earning the Respect Due You
THE lad standing upon the conductor’s podium was only ten years old, yet before him were assembled a hundred trained musicians, every one a virtuoso. Were they disgusted that the management had presumed to let a mere child conduct one of the world’s finest orchestras! They showed it by their disdainful, defiant facial expressions; some were even sucking lollipops to show their contempt.
But not for long. Once the lad lifted his baton and began the rehearsal, it was only a matter of minutes before those instrumental virtuosi were earnestly applying themselves to the business at hand. Ignored now was his being a mere child. What had caused their disdainful disrespect to change to deferential regard, to esteem, to respect? The lad’s ability, for he truly was a prodigy. He had the entire musical score in his head. More than that, he knew what to expect from each instrumentalist, for he could detect at once whenever any one of them played a wrong note. In spite of his age, he had what it took to be a conductor. Incidentally, that was some twenty years ago. Today Maazel is still conducting.
Not only orchestra conductors, but ever so many persons in everyday life are, by reason of their positions, entitled to respect, that is, added respect, for every honest individual is entitled to a measure of respect. In particular are parents and schoolteachers, overseers and ministers—to name but a few—entitled to respect. However, while these could depend solely upon their position or office, it is far better for all concerned when they truly earn the respect due them.
God’s Word, the Bible, throws light on this matter of earning respect, even as it does on every other aspect of life. Thus it tells us of angels not pursuing a certain course—out of respect for Jehovah God. No question about it, Jehovah, the Creator of all things seen and unseen, is entitled to the greatest respect of all his creatures.—2 Pet. 2:11.
In the Bible we also read of one of God’s creatures who at one time enjoyed great respect, namely, Job. As he himself tells us: “When I went forth to the gate by the town, . . . even the aged ones rose up, they stood. Princes themselves restrained words . . . The voice of the leaders themselves was hidden. . . . I was sitting as head; and I resided as a king.”—Job 29:7-10, 25.
And why was such great respect tendered Job? He himself tells us: “For I would rescue the afflicted one crying for help, and the fatherless boy and anyone that had no helper. With righteousness I clothed myself, and it was clothing me. My justice was like a . . . turban. And I would break the jawbones of the wrongdoer, and from his teeth I would tear away the prey.” More than that, Job goes on to enumerate all the selfish or wicked things he had not done. In short, as “the greatest of all the Orientals,” he “proved to be blameless and upright, and fearing God and turning aside from bad.” No question about it, Job earned the great respect that was tendered him.—Job 29:12, 14, 17; 1:1, 3; 31:5-40.
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