The Watchtower, March 15, 1948
Download: PDF — The Watchtower, March 15, 1948
SfHeWATCHTOWEFl
Published Semimonthly By
WATCH TOWER BIBLE & TRACT SOCIETY 117 Adams Street • - Brooklyn 1, N.Y., U.S A.
Officers
N. H. Knoeb, President Grant Suiter, Secretary
“And all thy children shall be taught of Jehovah; and great shall be the peace of thy children.” - Isaiah 54:13.
THE BIBLE CLEARLY TEACHES
THAT JEHOVAH is the only true God, from everlasting to everlasting, and is the Maker of heaven and earth and Giver of life to his creatures; that the Word or Logos was the beginning of his creation and his active agent in creating all other things; and that the creature Lucifer rebelled against Jehovah and raised the issue of His universal sovereignty;
THAT GOD created the earth for man, made perfect man for the earth and placed him upon It; that man yielded to unfaithful Lucifer, or Satan, and willfully disobeyed God’s law and was sentenced to death; that by reason of Adam’s wrong act all men are born sinners and without the right to life;
THAT THE LOGOS was made human as the man Jesus and suffered death in order to produce the ransom or redemptive price for obedient men; that God raised up Christ Jesus divine and exalted him to heaven above every other creature and clothed him with all power and authority as head of God’s new capital organization;
THAT GOD’S CAPITAL ORGANIZATION is a Theocracy called Zion, and thut Christ Jesus Is the Chief Officer thereof and Is the rightful King of the new world; that the faithful anointed followers of Christ Jesus are Zion’s children, members of Jehovah’s organization, and are His witnesses whose duty and privilege It Is to testify to Jehovah’s supremacy and declare his purposes toward mankind as expressed in the Bible;
THAT THE OLD WORLD, or Satan's uninterrupted rule, ended A.D. 1914, and Christ Jesus has been placed by Jehovah upon the throne, has ousted Satan from heaven, and now proceeds to vindicate His name and establish the “new earth”;
THAT THE RELIEF and blessings of the peoples can come only by Jehovah’s kingdom under Christ, which has begun; that His next great act is to destroy Satan’s organization and establish righteousness completely in the earth; and that under the Kingdom the people of good-will surviving Armageddon will carry out the divine mandate to “fill the earth” with righteous offspring, and that the human dead in the graves will be raised to opportunities of life on earth.
ITS MISSION
THIS journal Is published for the purpose of enabling the people to know Jehovah God and his purposes as expressed in the Bible. It publishes Bible instruction specifically designed to aid Jehovah’s witnesses and all people of good-wllL It arranges systematic Bible study for Its readers and the Society supplies other literature to aid in such studies. It publishes suitable material for radio broadcasting and for other means of public Instruction In the Scriptures.
It adheres strictly to the Bible as authority for Its utterances. It is entirely free and separate from all religion, parties, sects or other worldly organizations. It is wholly and without reservation for the kingdom of Jehovah God under Christ his beloved King. It is not dogmatic, but invites careful and critical examination of its contents in the light of the Scriptures. It does not Indulge in controversy, and its columns are not open to personalities.
Notice to Subscriber*.- Remittances should be sent to office in your country In compliance with regulations to guarantee safe delivery of money. Remittances are accepted at Brooklyn from countries where no office is located, by international money order only. Subscription rates in different countries are stated below in local currency. Notice of expiration (with renewal blank) is sent at least two issues before subscription expires. Change of address when sent to our office may be expected effective within one month. Send your old as well as new address.
Please address the Watch Tower Society in every case.
Offices Yearly Subscription Rate
America (U.S.), 117 Adams St., Brooklyn 1, N.Y.
Australia, 7 Beresford Rd., Strathfleld, N. S. W.
British West Indies, 21 Taylor St., Port of Spain, Trinidad $1.25 Canada, 40 Irwin Ave., Toronto 5, Ontario
England, 34 Craven Terrace, London. W. 2
India, 167 Love Lane, Bombay 27 Rs 3/8
Jamaica, 151 King St., Kingston
New Zealand, G. P. O. Box 30, Wellington, C. 1
Philippine Islands, 2621 Int. 2 Herran, Santa Ana, Manila 2 pesos South Africa, 623 Boston House, Cape Town
Translations of this Journal appear in many languages.
ALL SINCERE STUDENTS OF THE BIBLE who by reason of infirmity, poverty or adversity are unable to pay the subscription price may have The Watchtower free upon written application to the publishers, made once each year, stating the reason for so requesting it. We are 61ad to thus aid the needy, but the written application once each year 1 required by the postal regulations.
Printed in the United States of America
Entered as second-class matter at the post office at Brooklyn, N. Y., under the Act of March 3, 1879.
“ALL NATIONS ADVANCE” TESTIMONY PERIOD
April is the last of the four-month Watchtower subscription campaign and it has been named “All Nations Advance” Testimony Period. This name agrees with the international effort that this campaign has been witnessing to secure at least 300,000 new subscriptions for The Watchtower in the sixteen languages in which it appears. The special campaign offer, of a year’s subscription together with a premium of eight vital booklets issued by the Watch Tower Society, at the regular subscription rate of $1 (American money), expires at the close of April. All Watchtower readers who want its contents to get to other hundreds of thousands should take advantage of this attractive inducement to subscribe by taking part in the campaign during the remaining time. Help make it an “all nations” participation by seeing that you are with us in the field presenting this offer in your respective nation. We have references and instructions for anyone writing in for them. Let us serve you. To know the scope of the “all nations” effort we ask each campaigner to turn in his report at the glorious end, April 30.
“WATCHTOWER” STUDIES
Week of April 25: “That the Ministry Be. Not Blamed,’* fl 1-20 inclusive, The. Watchtower March. 15, 1943.
Week of May 2: “That the Ministry Be Not Blamed," fl 21-40 inclusive, The Watchtower March 15, 1948.
SAVE
your personal or home copy of each issue of The Watchtower. Do not throw them away, but preserve them in a binder or drawer or on Library shelves. At the end of each year, in its December 15 issue, The Watchtower contains an index of subjects and an index of all the scriptures cited, quoted and commented upon in all the leading articles throughout the year. By saving your copies and keeping them in date order you will have an invaluable reference library for consultation in your study of the Bible. Organized companies should preserve copies in the library of their local Theocratic ministry course school.
USE RENEWAL SUBSCRIPTION BLANK
The renewal blank sent you prior to the expiration of your Watchtower subscription should be filled out and returned to the Brooklyn office or to the Branch office in the country where you reside. Servants in the companies, and individuals, when sending in renewals for The Watchtower, should always use these blanks. By fining- in. these, renewal blanks you are assured of the continuation of year Watchtower from the time of expiration, and without delay. It will also be a great help if you sign your name uniformly, and note any recent change of address, on the renewal slip.
&VWCHTOWER
ANNOUNCING JEHOVAH’S KINGDOM
Vol. LXIX March 15, 1948 No. 6
“THAT THE MINISTRY BE NOT BLAMED”
"Giving no offence in any thing, that the ministry be not blamed.”—2 Cor. 6:3.
JEHOVAH is not to be blamed for that class of I men and women who are popularly known as J “ministers of God” but who do not live up to the name, bringing disgrace upon it. When hundreds of thousands of men and women claiming as their title “minister of God” or “minister of the gospel” act contrary to what it means and requires, there should be no surprise that atheism and materialistic Godlessness are increasing throughout the lands of Christendom.
2 Many people, not familiar with the Holy Bible, judge God to be what his so-called “ministers” represent him to be in their speech, teachings and course of life. The religious ministers should not condemn the people for their materialism and Godlessness and lay the blame upon the people’s lack of faith and devotion to righteousness. The religious ministers of Christendom should look at themselves and examine themselves to see if they are not themselves responsible because of what they teach or fail to teach and because of the land of action they take in times of war and in times of peace. They should investigate themselves to see what share of the responsibility they bear for the spread of Godless Communism. How much did the course of action of the Greek Orthodox clergy contribute to the desire for communism and the growth of communism in Russia, the great stronghold of that ideology today? As for the teachings and peacetime and wartime operations of the Roman Catholic clergy, how far has the practical effect of such been to disgust men and women into Godless Communism in Italy, in France, in Austria, and in Poland, all of which countries were Roman Catholic bastions for many centuries ?
’ Of course, chiefly responsible for atheistic Communism is God’s great adversary, Satan the Devil. But if Christendom’s ministers of religion have followed a course of action that has resulted in multitudes’ preferring anti-God Communism, then it is useless for religious clergymen to create a great hue and cry about Communism and to carry on a “holy crusade” against it. By keeping on in their same way of teaching and acting the religious clergy simply
1, 2. Faced with growing Godlessness, who should be investigated? 3. How do religious clergy counteract crusades on Godlessness? counteract their strenuous crusade efforts. They will never succeed, but the great menace to their religious institutions and to their profession as priests and clergymen will grow and at last overwhelm them. The prophecy of the Holy Scriptures forecast exactly that result, saying: “This know also, that in the last days perilous times shall come. For men shall be lovers of their own selves, .. . lovers of pleasures more than lovers of God; having a form of godliness, but denying the power thereof: . . . ever learning, and never able to come to the knowledge of the truth. ... evil men and seducers shall wax worse and worse, deceiving, and being deceived.” (2 Tim. 3:1, 2, 4, 5, 7, 13) The religious clergy of all Christendom, having a love of pleasures and having an outward form of Godliness but a course of life denying the power of Godliness, will never be able to prevent the outworking of prophecy. They will have to eat the bitter fruit of their hypocritical doings.
4 The matter of “minister of God” is therefore very important in these perilous times. The question is, What kind of “ministers” should the people have or look for? They should remember that the Devil has his, and his kind fool the people. Take note in the Bible that these servants of Satan the Devil take to themselves holy names, such as “apostles” and “Christ”; as the Bible says: “For such are false apostles, deceitful workers, transforming themselves into the apostles of Christ. And no marvel: for Satan himself is transformed into an angel of light. Therefore it is no great thing if his ministers also be transformed as the ministers of righteousness; whose end shall be according to their works.” (2 Cor. 11:13-15) Lovers of truth and righteousness do not want such ministers, despite their outward “form of godliness”. The true and living God has his true ministers, and these are the ones that all those who seek God and his way to eternal life want to have. It is very important that the honest-hearted know the Scriptural marks of these true and faithful ministers of God. Otherwise, they will not be helped into the way of eternal life in the righteous new world. Otherwise, too, after having their eyes opened to the
4. What kind o£ ministers should the people have, and why! fraud and hypocrisy of religious clergymen, they will not know where to go and will fall victim to Godless Communism or some other “ism” and false ideology of these hysterical times.
THE PATTERN FOR MEASURING
8 The Holy Scriptures of the Bible give us descriptions and examples of bona fide ministers of the living and true God, to show us what ministers of Jehovah God should be. No one, therefore, can expect to get the correct facts upon this important class and thus be able to safeguard himself against fraud and misguidance unless he goes direct to God’s inspired written Word, the Holy Bible. There is where we now turn for the information that is to follow.
6 The Pattern against which all others claiming to be God’s ministers are to be measured is, in all points, Jesus Christ, for he was and is God’s Chief Servant and, when on earth, he called upon men to follow him. He is God’s High Priest, not by being born into the family of Aaron the Levite and thus inheriting priesthood from Aaron the brother of Moses. No; but by God’s oath he was made High Priest resembling the ancient priest-king named Melchizedek, who reigned and performed his priestly office in the old city of Salem. As the apostle Paul says of Jesus Christ: “But this with an oath by him that said unto him, The Lord [Jehovah] sware and will not repent, Thou art a priest for ever after the order of Melchisedec: by so much was Jesus made a surety of a better testament. For such an high priest became us, who is holy, harmless, undefiled, separate from sinners, and made higher than the heavens.” (Heb. 7: 21, 22, 26) Jesus was therefore a better high priest of God than Aaron was.
7 Aaron was just the high priest of good for the nation of Israel and ministered before Jehovah God in a sacred tabernacle made by human hands of fellow Israelites. He was just a mortal priest, because of being a sinner under the condemnation of death. He could not continue in office forever, but must die, and he had to be succeeded in the priesthood by his offspring after him. He offered upon the altar animals whose blood could not really take away human sins. Hence the priesthood of Aaron at the sacred tabernacle could only picture and foreshadow a greater priest to come, with a better sacrifice that would have actual power to cleanse away human sin. The apostle Paul helps us to this conclusion, for, after showing how the ancient king-priest Melchizedek foreshadowed the true High Priest of God, Christ Jesus, he adds:
8 “Now of the things which we have spoken this is the sum: We have such an high priest, who is set on the right hand of the throne of the Majesty in the 5, 6. Where, and what facts do we get on the pattern for ministers? 7, 8. Why was High Priest Aaron only typical? and typical of whom? heavens; a minister [leitourgos] of the sanctuary, and of the true tabernacle, which the Lord pitched, and not man. For every high priest is ordained to offer gifts and sacrifices:... now hath he obtained a more excellent ministry [leitourgia], by how much also he is the mediator of a better covenant, which was established upon better promises. . . . Christ, being come an high priest of good things to come, by a greater and more perfect tabernacle, not made with hands, that is to say, not of this [material] building; neither by the blood of goats and calves, but by his own blood he entered in once into the holy place, having obtained eternal redemption.”—Heb. 8:1, 2, 3, 6; 9:11, 12.
9 In speaking about Christ Jesus as having a more excellent ministry toward God than High Priest Aaron had, the apostle uses a particular word respecting Jesus. Our English word liturgy comes from it, and it means to perform public duties toward God, to serve the people, to work and exert oneself for the sake of the public good. Christ Jesus rendered such a public service in the interest of the public or people by presenting his perfect human nature as a sacrifice to Jehovah God. By such a sacrifice for humankind in general Christ Jesus was indeed a public minister or public servant, not in being a politician or a statesman of this world, but by being Jehovah’s High Priest to offer the only acceptable sacrifice to Him that serves as an offset to human sins. By faith in his sacrifice anyone of the public who hears the good news and accepts him as God’s appointed High Priest for sins can have approach to God and be relieved of the condemnation due to sin and be brought into the relationship of son of God. Amid this sinful world and its temptations and its opposition to righteousness Jesus deported himself in such a way that his ministry could not be blamed or be found fault with in the very slightest. We admit he died on a tree as a criminal exposed to public shame and reproach; but this was at the hands of his enemies. Also, his unresistingly submitting to death at their violent hands only worked in with God’s purpose that he die as an innocent man and thus offer up a perfect sacrifice to Jehovah God. Even his public enemies could benefit by his sacrifice if they repented and confessed and believed in him.
10 He laid down his life three and a half years after his baptism in the river Jordan, but during those years he was acting as a public servant or minister according to God’s will. Howl By acting as a teacher of all the people, by preaching the gospel of God’s kingdom to the circumcised Jews and the Samaritans. He was in the fullest sense God’s servant for the people, because he did not go in for politics or commerce or the so-called “Jews’ religion”. He dedi-
9 How was he a public servant with a blameless ministry?
10 . Bow *\as he God’s public servant of the circumcision/ cated himself completely to proclaiming the written Word of God, from the prophet Moses to Malachi, and explaining to the circumcised Jews the things concerning God’s kingdom in the light of those sacred Scriptures. For proclaiming the Kingdom message almost exclusively to such circumcised nation he could be called a "minister [or, public servant] of the circumcision for the truth of God”. (Rom. 15: 8) However, before ascending from our earth and returning to heaven from which he had come, Christ Jesus, now resurrected from the dead, gave instructions for his apostles and disciples to extend the Kingdom message out beyond the nation of circumcised Jews and to proclaim the gospel to all the uncircumcised heathen nations, to make disciples also from them. He gave these instructions for a world-wide expansion of the gospel because it was in harmony with the Bible prophecies that he preached. And as a public servant or minister he preached not only in public places, in the temple, in synagogues, in the out-of-doors under God’s blue sky, but also in the private homes of the people. He went from house to house to reach the people and preach to them intimately.
MINISTERS OF MESSIAH
11 While Jesus the Messiah thus served in a public way dealing exclusively with God’s Word, he had others who ministered to him in various ways in order that his ministry might not be disturbed or lessened. Not to be left unmentioned are the several women, who went along with him and his apostles on some of their travels and rendered various services that female hands could offer. Of these it is recorded: “And certain women, which had been healed of evil spirits and infirmities, . . . and many others, which ministered unto him of their substance.” (Luke 8: 2, 3) The apostles, too, at times went out and did the shopping to provide things for the meals, or to arrange for meetings. For example, when Jesus was preaching to the Samaritan woman at the well near Sychar, we read: “His disciples were gone away unto the city to buy meat.” (John 4:8) On his way up to Jerusalem, he once “sent messengers before his face: and they went, and entered into a village of the Samaritans, to make ready for him”. (Luke 9:52) And just before celebrating his last passover supper with his apostles and setting up the Memorial of his own death, “he sent Peter and John, saying, Go and prepare us the passover, that we may eat. And they went, and found as he had said unto them: and they made ready the passover.”—Luke 22: 8, 13.
12 However, they also ministered to Christ Jesus by joining in with him in preaching the glad tidings of God’s kingdom, in some cases breaking the ground
11, 12. How did various ones ministei to Jesus for his work’s sake? for his coming later to top off a local witness to the Kingdom. To this effect we read: “Then he called his twelve disciples together, and gave them power and authority over all devils, and to cure diseases. And he sent them to preach the kingdom of God, .. . After these things the Lord appointed other seventy also, and sent them two and two before his face into every city and place, whither he himself would come. Therefore said he unto them, . . . into whatsoever house ye enter, first say, Peace be to this house.” (Luke 9:1, 2; 10:1-5) He thus trained them to serve God in a public way, for the public benefit.
13 In thus co-operating with Christ Jesus these disciples, women and men alike, were ministers of Christ. But through him they were at the same time ministers to God, because Christ Jesus was God’s anointed Representative. The prophet Moses, who foreshadowed Christ Jesus as Jehovah’s great Prophet, had his servant, namely, Joshua, respecting whom it is written: “And Moses rose up, and his minister Joshua: and Moses went up into the mount of God.” (Ex. 24:13) “Now after the death of Moses the servant of the Lord it came to pass, that the Lord spake unto Joshua, the son of Nun, Moses’ minister.” (Josh. 1:1) Elsewhere Joshua is called Moses’ servant, because servant means the same as minister. (Ex. 33:11; Num. 11:28) Likewise the prophet Elijah, who foreshadowed Christ Jesus at his second coming, had his servant, namely, Elisha, regarding whom we read: “Then he arose, and went after Elijah, and ministered unto him.” (1 Ki. 19:19-21) And to show us one of the ways in which Elisha did minister to Elijah, we read: “One of the king of Israel’s servants answered and said, Here is Elisha the son of Shaphat, which poured water on the hands of Elijah [to wash his hands].” (2 Ki. 3:11) We also read of how the male members of the tribe of Levi were presented to High Priest Aaron, “that they may minister unto him.” (Num. 3: 6; 18:1, 2) However, while Joshua, Elisha and the Levites are spoken of as being ministers to these several men, they rendered their service as to Jehovah God and they were primarily God’s ministers and serving according to his appointment.
14 In like manner those who joined with Christ Jesus in his work were spoken of as his ministers. The privilege of being such Paul the apostle greatly appreciated. Therefore in presenting the proof of his ministry he said: “Are they Hebrews? so am I. Are they Israelites? so am I. Are they the seed of Abraham? so am I. Are they ministers of Christ? . . . I am more.” (2 Cor. 11: 22, 23) He gave to his fellow workers and helpers the same honorable designation. To the church at Colosse he spoke of how they had learned the gospel from Epaphras, and
13. What illustrations show to whom they ministered primarily?
14. How are we today ministers of God as well as of Christ? said: “Ye also learned of Epaphras our dear fellowservant, who is for you a faithful minister of Christ.” (Col. 1:7) Paul also instructed the young man Timothy how to serve faithfully in the church, saying: “If thou put the brethren in remembrance of these things, thou shalt be a good minister of Jesus Christ, nourished up in the words of faith and of good doctrine, whereunto thou hast attained.” (1 Tim. 4:6) At the same time Paul calls Timothy a “minister of God, and our fellowlabourer in the gospel of Christ”. (1 Thess. 3: 2) Thus at the same time we today can be God’s ministers and Christ’s, not that God and Christ are two co-equal persons in a trinity or three-in-one God, but that Christ Jesus is God’s Chief Official. So we can serve God through Christ, who makes our works acceptable to God. We serve God by working under Christ Jesus, whom God has appointed as Head over all His servants. In fact, no creature on earth can render acceptable service to God except through Christ our Leader.
RESTORATION OF SUCH
15 During the fourth century the doctrine of the “trinity” was forced upon Christendom by the decree of the Roman emperor. Religious people of the empire were obliged to believe it, under threat of the police power and sword of the political state. As a consequence, the living and true God Jehovah was forced into the background and more prominence was given to his Son Jesus Christ. Religious leaders ignored Jehovah as if he were to be associated with mainly the despised Jews, and they made loud claims of being the ministers of Christ as the “second person" in a triune God. In violation of Jesus’ command, that “all men should honour the Son, even as they honour the Father”, the religious leaders of Christendom gave more honor to the Son than to the Father. (John 5: 23) Great disrespect was shown to the rightful place and power and authority of the Father, Jehovah God, and men did not understand or seriously consider that they must be first of all servants of Jehovah, just as his Son Jesus Christ is a servant of Jehovah after whom we must pattern. The result was that the name of Jehovah suffered an eclipse. There were many pretending to be “apostles of Christ” and “ministers of Christ”, but practically none confessing to being ministers of Jehovah God, really making him known, appreciated and loved by the people.
16 The prophecies of the Bible foretold that such a falling away from the true, complete faith and from the loving service of God through Christ Jesus would take place among men claiming to be Christians. But Jehovah God did not propose to let himself be always pushed into a corner. The prophecies
15. How was more prominence given to the ministry to Christ?
16. Hence ^hat restoration was promised, and by what force? of his written Word foretold the time coming when his ministers would be restored upon the earth and would serve him in all parts of the globe. In this restoration the spirit of the Lord God would perform its part, for the prophecy of restoration follows the well-known prophecy quoted by Jesus from Isaiah 61:1,2, namely: “The spirit of the Lord Jehovah is upon me; because Jehovah hath anointed me to preach good tidings unto the meek; he hath sent me to bind up the broken-hearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives, and the opening of the prison to them that are bound; to proclaim the year of Jehovah’s favor, and the day of vengeance of our God.” (Jm. Stan.Ver.) Jesus applied this prophecy to himself after he had been anointed with Jehovah’s holy spirit at the Jordan river, where he was baptized. He was Jehovah’s Chief Minister. He restored Jehovah God to his true and rightful place in the hearts and lives of his consecrated people. His followers, anointed with the same spirit from the day of Pentecost forward, became ministers of Jehovah because they became ministers of Christ Jesus and imitated him.
11 During the centuries following the death of Christ’s apostles and their personal fellow servants the ministry to Jehovah God was ignored by those who proclaimed themselves Christ’s followers. After those many centuries it is nothing else than a final and complete fulfillment of the prophecy that God’s holy spirit has been poured out in these last days for the restoration of the ministry to Jehovah God. Speaking of a restoration of His organization of His people in a Theocratic way and also of the rebuilding and expansion of his worship, the prophecy says to these restored anointed ones of our day: “And they shall build the old wastes, they shall raise up the former desolations, and they shall repair the waste cities, the desolations of many generations. And strangers shall stand and feed your flocks, and foreigners shall be your plowmen and your vinedressers. But ye shall be named the priests of Jehovah; men shall call you the ministers of our God"
18 That prophecy, of Isaiah 61:4-6 (Am. Stan. Ver.), has not failed in our day. We have those “ministers of our God”, who are rendering priestly service to him. No, they are not the religious Hierarchy of the Vatican, nor the clergy of Christendom’s other religious organizations. They are the small remnant who particularly since World War I ended, in 1918, have been making strenuous efforts to revive the knowledge of Jehovah and to make known his fame among the nations. Because of their persistent efforts and their faithfulness to his name and universal sovereignty, they have undergone great persecution from the religionists of Christendom. Who are they1? Jehovah’s remnant of anointed witnesses. And
17. 18. How has Isaiah 61:4-6 been fulfilled in our day? who are those “strangers” and “foreigners” who join in feeding the flocks and in productive work of plowing the fields and dressing the vines! They are the “great multitude” of consecrated persons of good-will who have made common cause with the anointed remnant. Because of the large part that these have with the remnant in converting the desolation or broken-down state of Jehovah’s worship in the earth into a blossoming garden in all lands, this great multitude of good-will are also called “Jehovah’s witnesses”. —Rev. 7:9-15.
OF THE GOSPEL, NOT OF RELIGIONS
19 The religious clergy of Christendom’s hundreds of denominations disclaim Jehovah’s witnesses and loudly proclaim that these were not ordained by them and have no recognized standing with them. That is good! That is Scriptural; for the genuine ministers are not made by men or religious clergy, but are made by Jehovah God through Christ Jesus. That was what the apostle Paul claimed as true in regard to himself. Theological training at the feet of Rabbi Gamaliel did not induct Paul into the Christian ministry. (Gal. 1 :11-17) The gospel of which Paul was a minister was not according to man, and he did not get it of man, but was taught it by the revelation of Jesus Christ. The apostle says: “The gospel, whereof I was made a minister, according to the gift of that grace of God which was given me according to the working of his power. ... to preach unto the Gentiles the unsearchable riches of Christ.”—Eph. 3: 6-8, Am. Stan. Ver.; also Col. 1: 23.
20 Paul ministered this pure gospel of salvation. By doing so he served as Christ’s instrument in the work of reconciling other persons to Jehovah God. Hence he says: “All things are of God, who hath reconciled us to himself by Jesus Christ, and hath given to us the ministry of reconciliation.” (2 Cor. 5:18) All this service aided the believers into membership in the church which is Christ’s body; so that the apostle spoke of himself as a servant of the church, saying: "The church, whereof I am made a minister.”—Col. 1: 24, 25.
21 We can thus clearly see that the apostle Paul was not a servant of the Jewish organization that rejected Jesus Christ. He was not a minister of Judaism or “Jews’ religion” with its traditions of the religious fathers. (Gal. 1:13,14) The thing with which he carried on his public work was the gospel as founded on God’s written Word and as preached by Jesus Christ. Today, like Paul, Jehovah’s witnesses act separate from all the religious organizations of Jewry and Christendom. They are not ministers of the hundreds of confusing religions of Chris-
19. As shown in Paul’s case, by whom are these made ministers? 20. How was Paul a minister of the church?
21. Of what are we ministers? and with what do we work? tendom. They are in the same classification as Paul, Timothy, Epaphras, and other early disciples, namely, “ministers of the gospel.” It is with the gospel exclusively that they work. It is this gospel, and not the wisdom and religious ideas of men, that they teach privately and preach publicly. It is with this gospel that they are trained. They are instructed and built up in Christian faith with it. Acquaintance with this true gospel, then a dedication of themselves to make it known to others, is what makes them gospel ministers. They reject the religious traditions of Christendom as “old wives’ fables” and as profane.
12 Hence we strive to conform ourselves closely to Paul’s words to Timothy: "Be a good minister of Christ Jesus, nourished in the words of the faith, and of the good doctrine which thou hast followed until now: but refuse profane and old wives’ fables. And exercise thyself unto godliness.” (1 Tim. 4: 6, 7, Am. Si an. Ver.) We recognize all too well that to be perfect or mature servants of God and of his gospel in Christ we must hold to the inspired writings of the Bible. We must study these in order to become wise to salvation and must preach them to others. That is what the apostle told Timothy, saying: “From a child thou hast known the holy scriptures, which are able to make thee wise unto salvation through faith which is in Christ Jesus. All scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness: that the man of God may be perfect, throughly furnished unto all good works.” —2 Tim. 3:15-17.
23 If we specialize upon this, how can we at all dabble in the politics of this world, or try to dictate what the movie industry shall produce or the cinemas show on the screen, or act as referees in capitallabor disputes! We simply cannot. Those things of this world are not our concern. We cannot line up with the governor of Minnesota who, last November, at a Reformation Day celebration, said publicly: “We are personally responsible for the political conduct of our democracy. If Christians in the United States do not reverse their indifference to government, the time may quickly come when a decision will be forced upon them as a result of our apathy. . . . they must come forward to accept the obligation of leadership and service in political and civil life as never before in the history of our nation.”—New York Times, November 3, 1947.
24 Would Christ Jesus, would the apostle Paul, heed that urgent warning or invitation to entangle themselves with the political affairs of this country, if they were personally present here now! Not if they stuck to the line of action that they followed
22. To be mature servants, we reject wbat and hold to what?
23, 24. (a) With what can we not dabble? (b) Despite being urged, why may we net mess ourselves up with political affairs? when on earth nineteen centuries ago. Christ Jesus owned up to no responsibility for the political conduct of any nation, but quietly said to politician Pilate: “My realm does not belong to this world.” (John 18: 36, Moffatt) And Paul wrote to Timothy: “Endure hardness, as a good soldier of Jesus Christ. No man that warreth entangle th himself with the affairs of this life; that he may please him who hath chosen him to be a soldier.” (2 Tim. 2:3,4) Both Jesus and Paul his faithful imitator kept hands off this world’s running of its affairs and stuck to the ministry of the gospel. We do not imitate Christ Jesus, but follow the pope of Vatican City, if we mess ourselves up with the politics of the various states of this world. Only this past October 30 an Associated Press dispatch said that Pope Pius XII “denied that church and state could be entirely separate”, but that the pope said that “church and state go back to the same font, God, and that both have charge of the same man, of the same natural and supernatural personal dignity”. (New York Times, October 31, 1947) Talking that way, the pope overlooks that when Jesus Christ was offered the charge of all the political states of this world it was not Jehovah God, but it was Satan the Devil, “the god of this world,” that made the offer to Christ Jesus on the terms that Jesus fall down and worship the Devil.
2S Because Jesus Christ was a minister of God and devoted to the ministry of the gospel, he refused to enter politics in league with Satan the Devil. For holding to this neutral course he was foully put to death by a political conspiracy. But no blame can be cast upon Jesus’ ministry, as being fradulent. If the pope, who claims to be Christ’s vicar, had instructed the Roman Catholic clergy to follow Jesus’ example and stick to the gospel, Monsignor Josef Tiso would not have entered the political office of president of Slovakia as a protectorate under Adolf Hitler and taken part in the slaughter of thousands of helpless Slovakian Jews, and all this time being on good terms with the Vatican, and finally appealing to Hitler for military aid when the allies were closing in upon the Nazi forces. Condemned after trial in court, Tiso was hanged as a criminal and Nazi collaborator April 18, 1947. Just his being a Roman Catholic priest did not earn for him a pardon or excuse him of his crimes. Tiso’s ministry was to be blamed according to his known actions, and it only betrayed the Nazi-Fascist sympathies of the Vatican for its newspaper, Osservatore Romano, to say: “The circumstances finally that a priestly character— which is always sacred even in someone who may be guilty—was held in no consideration cannot but
25. 26. (a)In that regard, how was Jesus’ ministry blameless? (b) Why are criminals not to be spared as sacred for being priests? cause deep pain to all the faithful.”—New York Times, of April 20, 1947.
26 Let Osservatore Romano remember that God did not consider the law-breaking, fornicating, thieving Hophni and Phinehas to be sacred despite their guilt. Even if they were priests and sons of High Priest Eli, God decreed their death and promptly let them be slain by the Philistines while acting as chaplains in battle. (1 Sam. 2:34; 4:4-11) Their ministry, while measurably not as bad as Tiso’s, could nevertheless be blamed, because it brought great reproach upon the name of Jehovah God and perverted his service.
21 By no means can God’s true ministers of his gospel undertake to act as the custodians of the morals of the state'or of the public community that upholds such a political state, and try to put Jehovah God in the state. We cannot by making laws give people an injection of righteousness and morality. Not even the law of Moses could legislate righteousness into God’s chosen people of Israel. That Theocratic law could only condemn them as natural-born sinners in Jehovah’s sight and needing redemption, redemption through no political legislation, but through Jesus’ blood. The Roman Catholic priests that try to influence legislation to inject their Roman Catholic righteousness into the people merely serve to legislate themselves into power for controlling the community, Catholic, Protestant and Jewish. The apostle Paul knew better than to try to act as custodian of the morals of the people of Rome and other lands that he visited. He said to the church at Corinth which had a disgusting case of fornication on its hands: “What have I to do to judge them also that are without? do not ye judge them that are within? But them that are without God judgeth. Therefore put away from among yourselves that wicked person.”—1 Cor. 5:12,13.
28 The apostle foretold that at the end of this world, where we are now, the nations would have dropped to their lowest ebb, creating most perilous times, and that there would never be any improvement. (2 Tim. 3:1-13) The failure of Christendom’s clergy to improve the morality of the people of the various political states proves that theirs is a losing fight, because it is no business of a true minister of God. Why, the true ministers of His Word cannot even force the gospel of salvation upon anyone; and it is only through that gospel that any person attains to real righteousness and morality in God’s sight. How, then, can Christendom's ministers of religion hope to regulate the morality of the political state and to legislate uprightness into the people that do not accept and obey the gospel of God in Christ Jesus? They can not. Jehovah’s witnesses are well instructed in that gospel. They do not let themselves be fooled 27. 28 (a)Why cannot true ministers act as custodians of the public morals? (b) Why is it a losing fight to try to do so?
into joining the religious clergy in that futile effort which does not have God's approval or backing. Only His kingdom established in the hands of Christ Jesus will bring in a world completely moral and upright, a new world and not this old world made over.
RELIEF WORK
29 What if the Roman Catholic religious system during the sixteen centuries of its existence since the days of Emperor Constantine had tried to popularize the Holy Scriptures, which, Paul says, are “able to make thee wise unto salvation”? What if the ministers of Roman Catholicism, especially since the invention of printing from movable type, in the fifteenth century, had tried to spread copies of the Bible among the people? What if they had tried- to explain those sacred Scriptures to the people, instead of feeding them upon pagan philosophies and religious traditions of uninspired men? Then their ministry would have been relieved of great blame for today's state of affairs in Christendom and its nations. Just consider what Jehovah’s witnesses, with their small numbers, have done in this regard only since 1919, putting out more than half a billion books and booklets on the Holy Scriptures, besides hundreds of millions of copies of this magazine, free tracts, and other invitations to Bible study! All this despite intense and violent opposition of Roman Catholic religionists and other religious elements in Christendom. Whose ministry is to be blamed, theirs or ours?
30 Today the food situation all over the world is bad, exciting grave fears in religious and political as well as commercial circles believing in free enterprise. It is dinned into our ears that Godless Communism thrives upon famine, disorder and human misery. For this reason Americans are urged from all sides to send food to Western Europe to save it from the advancing juggernaut of Communism, and the religious clergy take great pride in having a leading part in the collecting of such food to be shipped, not for purely humanitarian purposes, but largely for political purposes to prop up weak political governments. But let such religionists understand plainly now, if they did not understand it before, that not mere shortages in material food, not mere famines for bread, are something for atheistic Communism to thrive upon, but that the dreaded Communism thrives more so upon the dearth of getting the pure, spiritual food from God’s written Word. Owing to the unfaithfulness of Christendom’s clergy as the ministers of Christ, which they claim to be, there exists throughout the world just such a famine for hearing the word of Jehovah God. The clergy responsible for this should not consider them-
29. For not spreading the Bible, whose ministry must be blamed?
30. Due to what does spiritual famine exist and Communism thrive? selves free from blame for the thriving of Communism and its growing menace to the world. Because they turn down God’s Word and fight His witnesses that spread his Word, Amos 8:11 predicted: “Behold, the days come, saith the Lord Jehovah, that I will send a famine in the land, not a famine of bread, nor a thirst for water, but of hearing the words of Jehovah.”—Am. Stan. Ver.
31 Hence the vision from the Lord has vanished from the clergy, and Jehovah’s witnesses are the only ones that are bringing real relief to the peoples of all nations. Those who hear Jehovah’s Word which his witnesses minister receive the only effective bulwark against the advance of any Godless “ism” into their lives. This flatly denies the charge of the Roman Catholic Hierarchy that the practical effect of Jehovah’s witnesses’ ministry, despite all their professions, is to promote Communism. That baseless accusation has an undeniable relationship with the charges of the Nazis in Hitler Germany against Jehovah’s witnesses. According to a wireless from Berlin, June 29,1933, Herman Goering, Nazi premier of Prussia, suppressed Jehovah’s witnesses (or Bibelf orscher) as being a “subversive organization”, saying that “under the guise of scientific and Biblical research this international organization has carried on incendiary propaganda against the Christian church and the state, and in dangerous degree has been promoting the Bolshevist disintegration of civilization”, and that this danger has recently become greater, because the German Branch of the Watch Tower Society had come to act as a masked refuge for outlawed “communist and Marxist elements”. That was 21 days before the concordat was signed between Hitler and Pius XI, Franz von Papen signing for Germany and Cardinal Pacelli, now Pius XII, signing for the Vatican.
32 The charge has not yet been raised by the Roman Catholic Hierarchy of America that the organization of Jehovah’s witnesses is a “masked refuge” in which the outlawed “Communist and Marxist elements” are hiding themselves. Only time will tell whether the American Hierarchy will stoop to that. If they do, then the open and above-board, public activities of Jehovah’s witnesses down to the time of raising such a charge will brand it a lie. The ministry of Jehovah’s witnesses can in no wise be blamed for Communism’s growth in the Vatican’s own backyard, its native land of Italy.
33 The relief from spiritual famine that Jehovah’s witnesses are pushing in all nations by spreading the life-saving knowledge of Jehovah God and the kingdom of his Christ is of far more importance and
31, 32. (a) Against what do we erect an effective bulwark? (b) What brands the charge that we promote and harbor Communism a lie?
33. Besides spiritual, what other relief have we recently given?
value than the material relief being carried on by the political, social, commercial and religious agencies. Surely life eternal in the perfect new world is of more enduring importance and worth than life and temporary comforts in this wicked world. However, Jehovah’s witnesses have followed the example of their Christian brethren of the first century and have generously given material things to feed, clothe and house their needy brethren in Europe and the Orient. They have shipped tons upon tons of clothing and food to the faithful ministers of God in various European lands, the Philippine Islands and Japan. During the months of August and September of 1947 alone the witnesses in America contributed $104,000 for the sending of food packages to their fellow ministers in Germany and Austria through the Cooperative for American Remittances to Europe (CARE). This relief work is part of their ministry, for the Scriptures classify it as such.
34 Read, at Acts 11:27-30, where the world-wide dearth was predicted which came to pass in the days of Claudius Caesar. The disciples in Syria started a relief campaign and sent it to their Christian brethren in Judea, including Jerusalem, by the hands of Paul and Barnabas. Acts 12: 25 reports: “Barnabas and Saul returned from Jerusalem, when they had fulfilled their ministry.” Note that this relief work was called a “ministry”. The apostle Paul speaks thus of such relief when reporting his part in a relief campaign about twelve years later (or .about 56 A.D.). Acting as supervisor of the relief funds from Europe, he writes: “But now I go unto Jerusalem to minister unto the saints. For it hath pleased them of Macedonia and Achaia [Greece] to make a certain contribution for the poor saints which are at Jerusalem. It hath pleased them verily; and their debtors they are. For if the Gentiles have been made partakers of their spiritual things, their duty is also to minister [leitourgein] unto them in carnal things.” —Rom. 15:25-27.
35 Jehovah’s witnesses have shown the same loving interest in the material needs of their brethren during the present postwar emergency, entreating the Watch Tower Bible & Tract Society as an agency that they might do something in this regard. As Paul says: “Praying us with much intreaty that we would receive the gift, and take upon us the fellowship of the ministering to the saints. For as touching the ministering to the saints, it is superfluous for me to write to you: for I know the forwardness of your mind,.... For the administration of this service not only supplieth the want of the saints, but is abundant also by many thanksgivings unto God; whiles by the experiment of this ministration they glorify God.” (2 Cor. 8: 4; 9:1, 2,12,13) Paul calls this relief work 34. Where do the Scriptures call this relief work a ministry?
35. What kind of service is this, and why are we not blamable? a public service (liturgy), even though it is not extended to the general public of Christendom but is confined to Jehovah’s servants in Christ. So, in this respect the ministry of Jehovah’s witnesses is not to be blamed. They may feel sure that this loving sharing of things with their fellow servants in need is one of the acts that Jehovah God will not forget, because they have done this for his name’s sake, “in that ye have ministered to the saints, and do minister.” The apostle exhorts us to keep it up to the end. —Heb. 6:10,11.
PUTTING NO OBSTACLE IN OTHERS’ WAY
33 Before not very long this special time of such privileged service in God’s sight will be over, once the final war of Armageddon is past. Appreciating the matter in this day of salvation, we are determined to do as the apostle Paul said, namely, “finish my course with joy, and the ministry, which I have received of the Lord Jesus, to testify the gospel of the grace of God.” (Acts 20:24) Judas fell from the apostolic service, and Paul, when called to it by God’s mercy through Christ, took it up and held it fast as a priceless treasure of service. Said he: “Therefore seeing we have this ministry, as we have received mercy, we faint not.” (Acts 1:17, 25; 2 Cor. 4:1) Paul stood right up to it to the last. He did not look upon any big trialsome experience as being the final test of £iis integrity after which he could take it easy and stop ministering. No; but when in prison at Rome for the second time, while it seemed that he had finished his course, yet he called for Timothy to bring him “the books, but especially the parchments”. He wanted to do more work while in prison until the end came in God’s time for him. They could hold him bound in prison, but could not stop him from preaching even there. In his case it was true, “the word of God is not bound.” (2 Tim. 4:13; 2:9) From such a faithful example as Paul we can take seriously and without faultfinding his own words to Archippus: “Take heed to the ministry which thou hast received in the Lord, that thou fulfil it.” And to Timothy: “Watch thou in all things, endure afflictions, do the work of an evangelist, make full proof of thy ministry.”—Col. 4:17; 2 Tim. 4: 5.
37 How could we expect the apostle to exhort otherwise, when he said concerning his own part in the Lord’s work: “I glorify my ministry?” He did so by giving to it the chief importance in his life and faithfully working at it. (Rom. 11:13, Am. Stan. Ver.) Since he conscientiously copied Jesus Christ in his service to Jehovah God, we can take an example from Paul as a true apostle rather than from religious clergymen of Christendom in their present compromising entanglement with this world. His 36. According to Paul’s example, what are we determined to do?
37. Why is Paul's ministry exemplary and without blame? record shows he put no stumblingblock in anyone’s way. So his ministry cannot be blamed or found fault with. But that of Christendom’s clergy, when compared with the Scriptures, can be found fault with. It has put obstacles in the way of many, not merely Communists but also others, and it has brought immeasurable reproach upon the holy name of Jehovah God.
58 We, too, should be just as jealous as Paul and the other apostles and their fellow workers were for the good name of the ministry that God has entrusted to us through Christ, to preach “this gospel of the kingdom”. We shall try to so conduct ourselves in connection with it that we .may put no obstacles in the way of others’ accepting that gospel of salvation. True, millions of people have taken offense over our flag-saluting stand and because of our neutrality toward wars between nations of Satan’s world, but, in these cases, one’s taking offense is not justified. Why not? Because they are offended at our faithfulness to God’s Word and commands and to Christ’s example. Let it be so in all other cases of offense, that the offended ones can find no fault with us except it be in regard to our loyalty to the law of our God.
38 In other respects, though, let us cause people no reasons for stumbling, because of any selfish conduct, looseness in living up to our calling, or getting afraid of the foe, or tired and then quitting, thus affording men a real cause to blame and find fault with our ministry. But, since we are near the final end of this special "day of salvation”, Armageddon being so close, let us seek to avoid giving offense.
38. What taking of offense toward our course is unjustified? and why? 39. To prevent blame upon our ministry, what shall we do?
Why not make the gospel of salvation committed to us as commendable to others as possible by our unselfish, faithful and devoted course ? That way we do not waste God’s grace that has been bestowed upon us. As the apostle says: “Giving no offence in any thing, that the ministry be not blamed: but in all things approving ourselves as the ministers of God, in much patience, in afflictions, in necessities, in distresses, in stripes, in imprisonments, in tumults, in labours, in watchings, in fastings; by pureness, by knowledge, by longsuffering, by kindness, by the holy [spirit], by love unfeigned, by the word of truth, by the power of God, by the armour of righteousness on the right hand and on the left, by honour and dishonour, by evil report and good report: as deceivers, and yet true; as unknown, and yet well known.”—2 Cor. 6:1-9.
<0 We cannot show proof of our appointment to this gospel work by displaying religious titles and gawdy, pretentious robes and collars received from the Hierarchy and Christendom’s theological seminaries. But, like Paul, we can show proof of our Christian ministry by our consecration to God and by the works of publishing the gospel and aiding others to God’s way of salvation by Christ. Not the flattering titles from men count. The results count. By these we commend ourselves to the consciences of men in the sight of God. Rejoicing at the results that God has accomplished through us thus far, we join with his servant in saying: “I thank Christ Jesus our Lord, who hath enabled me, for that he counted me faithful, putting me into the ministry.” —1 Tim. 1:12.
40. How do we prove our ministry? and what do we express for It?
MEMORIAL AND THE 19-YEAR CYCLE
EVERY 19 years the Memorial, Nisan 14, falls on about the same day of the same month of the modern (Gregorian) calendar. This is because Jehovah has so ordered the movements of the earth and moon that Nisan 1, or the new moon nearest the spring equinox, falls on practically the same day of the solar year every 19 years. A lunar month like Nisan averages a bit more than 29j days and the modern calendar month averages a little less than 30j days. Hence there are more lunar months than calendar months in a 19-year period. In a 19-year cycle between Memorials there are 228 calendar months but 235 lunar months, or 12 years of 12 lunar months each and 7 years of 13 lunar months each. For example, the Memorial in 1925 was celebrated on April 8, and 19 years later (in 1944) the Memorial was celebrated on April 8. Between these two dates there were 6,940 days, which equal 235 lunar months, or 12 years of 12 lunar months each and 7 years of 13 lunar months each. Because of the slightly varying length of lunar months, a lunar year of 12 lunar months may have 353 days or 354 days or 355 days. A
lunar year of 13 months may have 383 days or 384 days or 385 days. In spite of such variation, in a 19-year period the total number of days is approximately 6,940. The following table gives the details for the 19-year period between the Memorials of 1925 and 1944.
Dates of the Memorial*
Number of days between Memorials
Number of lunar months between Memorials
From
To
April
8,
March
27,
March
27,
April
15,
April
15,
April
4,
1928*
April
4,
1928*
March
24,
March
24,
April
12,
April
12,
April
1,
April
1,
March
20,
1932*
March
20,
1932*
April
9,
April
9,
March
28,
March
28,
April
17,
* In this 19-year period there are five leap years: 1928, 1932, 1936, 1940, and 1944.
Dates of the Memorial*
Number of days
Number of lunar month*
From
To
between Memorials
between Memorial*
April
17,
April
6,
1936*
April
6,
1936*
March
26,
March
26,
April
15,
April
15,
April
4,
April
4,
March
23,
1940*
March
23,
1940*
April
11,
April
11,
March
31,
March
31,
April
19,
April
19,
April
8,
1944*
Total years 19; days 6,940; lunar months 235.
In the above table it will be seen that the seven (7)
embolismie years, or years with a 13th lunar month inserted, were the 2d, 5th, Sth, 10th, 13th, 16th, and 18th, which, manifestly, does not follow the Jewish arrangement of fixed embolismie-years, namely, the 3d, 6th, 8th, 11th, 14th, 17th, and 19th, of the 19-year cycle. In ascertaining the Memorial dates, no effort was made to follow the Jewish arrangement. (See The Watchtower of February 1, 1948, page 42, IflO, footnote.)
However, these 19-year cycles show the accuracy with which the Creator has timed the movements of the earth and moon, which he made and placed in the heavens, movements by whose observation his faithful servants on earth can ascertain the proper date for the celebration of the memorial of the death of Christ.
EXODUS TO TEMPLE—480 YEARS
THE extant Hebrew manuscripts of the book of First Kings state that in the four hundred and eightieth year after the exodus of the Israelites from Egypt King Solomon began the building of the temple of Jehovah. (1 Ki. 6:1, 37) The claim has been made by those who dispute the figure 480 that in copying this portion of the Bible (1 Ki. 6:1) a scribe mistook the Hebrew character he n (5) for daleth T (4), which in the modern Hebrew alphabet are very similar in form. (See The Emphatic Diaglott and its footnote on Acts 13:20.) If that be true, then the period from the exodus to the laying of the temple foundation was 580 years instead of 480 years long. Do the facts support such claim?
The extant Hebrew manuscripts of the Bible do not use numerical signs in the text, but spell out all numbers.1 Even the Nash papyrus from the second century before Christ spells out the numbers, “third,” “fourth,” “seventh,” “six,” and “one”.2 Moreover, in the Hebrew Siloam inscription, cut just inside the southern entrance of the tunnel or conduit which Hezekiah (in the eighth century before Christ) caused to be dug from the Gihon spring to the Siloam pool, appear two numbers, three, and twelve hundred; and both are spelled out.3 (2 Chron. 32:2-4; 2 Ki. 20: 20) Furthermore, the Moabite stone, written in a dialect differing little from Biblical Hebrew and erected by Mesha, king of Moab (2 Ki. 1:1; 3:5), after the death of Ahab, king of Israel (919 B.C.), contains seven numbers {thirty, forty, seven thousand, two hundred, fifty, one hundred, and ten), and all of them are spelled out.4 In these inscriptions no numerical signs are used.1 Thus confusion is avoided. For this reason the spelled-out numbers cannot be confused at 1 Kings 6:1, because four (vanR, ’arba'} and five (tvon, hamesh} are not at all similar in Hebrew.
It might be argued that some scribes might have used ciphers for numbers in copying Biblical manuscripts and that all such copies are now lost.5 But even if it be granted
…