The Watchtower, December 15, 1948

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"They shall know that I am Jehovah!'

Vol. LXIX

-Ezekiel 35:15.

Semimonthly No. 24

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DECEMBER 15, 1948

CONTENTS

Praise to the Nations Yet More and More ...................

“My Rock,” “My Crag”...................

From Youth On ..................._..........

“In the Time of Old Age” ...............

Adversaries Destined to Reproach

and Dishonor .................................

The 1949 Yeartext ......................_.....

The Rising Generation ...................

Our Greatness Increased .................

Bringing Forth Fruit in Old Age .

Field Experiences .............................

Scripture Index for

the Leading Articles, 1948 .......

Subject Index for

“The Watchtower”, 1943 .........

.....371

._.. 372

.....373

.....374

.375 .. 376 . 377 ..379 ..379 .. 3S2

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“Setting the Mark” Testimony Period 370

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“Watchtower” Studies

1949 Yearbook of Jehovah’s witnesses 370

1949 Calendar

SfcWATCHTOWER,

Published Semimonthly Bt

WATCH TOWER BIBLE & TRACT SOCIETY 117 Adams Street . . Brooklyn 1, N.Y., U.S .A.

Officers

N. H. Knorr, 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 CLEABLY 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 Ids 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 ail power and authority as head of God’s new capital organizatiou;

THAT GOD’S CAPITAL ORGANIZATION is a Theocracy called Zion, and that 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 net 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

HIS 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-will.

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 Subscribers: Remittances should be sent to office in your country In compliance with regulations to guarantee sate delivery ot 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 curreucy. Notice of expo at ion (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.

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Translations of this journal appear in many languages.

ALL SINCERE STUDENTS OF THE BIBLE who by reason ot Infirmity, poverty or adversity are unable to pay the subscnption piiee may have The Watchtower free upon written application to the publishers, made once each year, stating the reason for so requesting it. lie are glad to thus aid the needy, but the written application once each year is required by the postal regulations.

Printed in the United States of America

Entered as second-class matter at the post office at Brooklyn. N. F., under the Act of Hatch 3, ISIS.

“SETTING THE MARK” TESTIMONY PERIOD

Humane persons interested in the eternal life of people of good-will in God’s righteous new world will want to make an indelible mark in their intellect by means of the Kingdom truth. That is why the month of December has been set aside as a testimony period of special effort, as indicated by the above-given name. To help in setting the mark upon good-will foreheads, as foretold in Ezekiel, chapter 9, the offer that Jehovah’s witnesses are popularizing during this closing month of 1948 is the latest book, “Let God Se True,” and the booklet Permanent Governor of All Rations (or The Joy of All the People) to all contributors of 35c for the combination. Every reader of The Watchtower can actively associate himself with this marking work which leads to our being spared by God’s executioners during the oncoming battle of Armageddon. We welcome the co-operation of all, and assure you of our best services in helping to establish your contact with experienced Kingdom publishers. Your report filled out on the form supplied by the Society will greatly interest us at the end of December's work.

“WATCHTOWER” STUDIES

Week of January 23; “Praise to the Nations Yet More and More,” fl 1-23 inclusive, The Watchtower December 15, 1948.

Week of January 30: “Praise to the Nations Yet More and More,” fl 24-29 inclusive, also “The 1949 Yeartext,"

fl 1-16 inclusive, The Watchtoiver December 15, 1948.

1949 YEARBOOK OF JEHOVAH’S WITNESSES

With gratitude to God for accomplishing through his servants the greatest service achievement during this past year, the Society now releases the 1949 Yearbook of Jehovah’s witnesses. It will be really a stirring experience, and not a dull review of data and figures, for you to read the president’s report at length on the year’s activities of Jehovah’s witnesses in more than ninety lands. Also, introduced by his own special comment on the 1949 yeartext, the texts and comments drawn from the latest Watchtower issues provide you with a choice thought for each day of the year. Orders for copies of the 1949 Yearbook, bound in peach-eolor cloth, with more than 350 pages, should be accompanied by remittances at 50c a copy. Companies should send in combined orders to minimize our work of handling and shipping.

1949 CALENDAR

Again the Lord provides us with a new service calendar, for the year 1949, the text for which is, “I . . . will yet praise thee more and more.” (Ps. 71:14) The picture embellishing it steps into the field of realism by exhibiting under the year’s text a bird’s-eye view of that now world-famous missionary school, Gilead, in its environs, in four colors, and which is mightily aiding today in praising Jehovah more and more. Under the picture the date pad presents the six special testimony periods of 1949 and the alternative months, together with the service theme for eaeh such month. Orders may now be sent in, with remittance to cover, at 25e a calendar, or $1.00 for five mailed to one address.

ffieWffCHTOWER

ANNOUNCING JEHOVAH’S KINGDOM

Vol. LXIX December 15, 1948 No. 24

PRAISE TO THE NATIONS YET MORE AND MORE

I . . . will yet praise thee more and more.”—Ps. 71:14.

JEHOVAH God is the sure trust of all those who seek deliverance from the great danger in the world. From our buoyant, vigorous youth on into feeble old age he can be relied upon to rescue us from mighty enemies plotting our ruin and destruction. When our life forces and bodily powers fail because of our advanced years, he will prove loyal. He will never fail those who have kept their trust in him throughout life. This rule of divine dealing holds true, not only with respect to individual persons, but also with respect to organizations devoted to him.

2 The great organizations of this world which claim to serve God and Christ fail to accept and rely upon that divine rule. So-called “Christendom’’ professes to see in godless communism a real threat to her existence and her political, commercial and religious institutions. On certain money coins she stamps the words “In God we trust”, but, contrary to this, she turns her back on his kingdom and pins her faith to the powerful, heavily armed democracies of this world to save her. At the same time, to keep peaceful relations between countries, she leans heavily upon a United Nations, a hodge-podge of nations pagan and professedly Christian, communistic and democratic, socialistic and capitalistic. Those few people who keep their trust true and blameless in Jehovah God Christendom considers not up to the times and against the public welfare, and she persecutes and discriminates against them. Her religious hypocrisy will shortly lead her to ruin, but those Christians who genuinely make Jehovah God their refuge will praise him more and more. They will be delivered and will prosper in the new world.

3 The foregoing statements get strong backing and great emphasis in the inspired prophecy of Psalm 71. In the original Hebrew in which the psalm was written, it appears with no heading or superscription and starts out at once with the words, “In thee, 0 Jehovah, do I take refuge.” (Ps. 71:1, Am. Stan. Ver.) What is more, these opening words tie in smoothly with the closing words of Psalm 70. For these rea-

1. How is Jehovah loyal both to individuals and to organizations? 2. How does Christendom boho her chum to trust in God?

8, 4. How do we asceitain the authorship of Psalm 71. Auth.Ver.t sons Psalm 71 is understood to be one with Psalm 70, the two constituting in fact one psalm. That being so, Psalm 71 was produced by the aged King David of Jerusalem, since Psalm 70 has the superscription: “For the Chief Musician. A Psalm of David; to bring to remembrance.” (Psalm 70, Am. Stan. Ver.) Supporting David’s authorship we have the Greek Septuagint Version, the first translation of the ancient Hebrew Bible. In it this psalm, listed as Psalm 71 in non-Catholic translations, appears as Psalm 70, and it has this superscription: “By David, a Psalm sung by the sons of Jonadab, and the first that were taken captive.” (Ps. 70:1, LXX, Bagster translation) The Roman Catholic Douay Version follows the Greek Septuagint, and so it reads: “A psalm for David. Of the sons of Jonadab, and the former captives.”—Ps. 70:1, Douay.

* David of Bethlehem was anointed by the prophet Samuel at Jehovah’s command to be the king of the nation of Israel. He died as lung in his seventy-first year,.after a reign of 404 years. He could well have written this psalm in his old age. But in the actual fulfillment of Psalm 71 the psalmist speaks prophetically for an organisation of God’s people in its old age.

6 Religious prejudice should not blind anyone, Gentile or Jew, Catholic or Protestant, to a special fact: Regardless of the translation that the reader uses, the original Hebrew of Psalm 71 makes it plain that the psalmist confesses devotion to Jehovah as God and acknowledges Jehovah as his Lord. For this very reason the psalmist makes repeated appeals for deliverance and relief in his old age, and just so, too, God’s visible organization and all those associated with it today send up repeated appeals for deliverance and relief in the midst of today’s world developments. They both rely upon God’s righteousness and talk and sing about it amid this corrupt world. Right at the start the aged psalmist confesses without shame where his trust and hope rest, and sings out: “In thee, O Jehovah, do I take refuge: let me never be put to shame. Deliver me in thy righteousness, and rescue me: bow down thine ear unto me, and

5. On wbat basis does the psalmist appeal for deliverance?

save me. Be thou to me a rock of habitation, where-unto I may continually resort: thou hast given commandment to save me; for thou art mv rock and my fortress.”—Ps. 71:1-3, Am. Stan. Ver.

6 Now we ask you merely to examine facts bearing on the modern fulfillment when we ask: Whom do we find taking refuge in Jehovah in 1949 and calling upon him for deliverance and salvation? Show us a religious organization of Christendom or of Jewry doing so. You cannot; but only those are doing so who are known world-wide under the name of the Most High God, namely, Jehovah’s witnesses. Continually they suffer the persecution and antagonism of all the religious systems of Christendom, and their use of the name is challenged by these systems, who ask sarcastically: “Where did Jehovah invite them to be His witnesses?”

7 This magazine. The Watchtower, is now in its seventieth year, a fairly old age. So since July, 1879, the witnesses of the Most High God have used this journal as one means of publishing Bible truth and serving spiritual food to the people. As early as its third issue (that of September, 1S79) the Watch Tower magazine began calling attention to Jehovah as being the name of the Most High God, the Father of the Lord Jesus Christ. Just read the article “The Day of Judgment” on pages 7 and 8 of that third issue of this magazine to verify that fact. In the issue of October, 1881, the divine name begins figuring in the titles of articles. In that issue we find the article entitled “Jehovah’s Feet”, which uses as its text the following: “‘This saith Jehovah, Heaven is my throne and earth is my footstool.’ Isa. 66:1. [Literal Hebrew trans.]” That article describes Jehovah as setting up the kingdom of his Son Jesus Christ and points to A.D. 1914 as a marked date in the “time of trouble”. The worst of all earthly troubles being anticipated, the need of the Lord God as a refuge was keenly felt then.

8 In a particular sense in 1925 we went to taking refuge in the Most High God, who exclusively bears the name Jehovah: “That men may know that thou, whose name alone is JEHOVAH, art the most high over all the earth.” (Ps. 83: IS) In that year the Lord God called our attention to the startling fact that his purpose at the battle of Armageddon is to make a name for himself, for he himself will fight that battle for his people. So in the Watch Tower issue of January 1, 1926, the leading article was “Who Will Honor Jehovah?” Paragraph 38 said: “The time approaches when God will make for himself a name. God will have somebody to be his witnesses in the earth. And who could we expect would have the privilege of filling that place? Surely none other than

o Who onlv take retupe in Jehovah today’

7. Since when has The Watchtower exalted Jehovah?

8, 9. Why bince 1925 did ve specially make Jehovah our refuge? Zion, God’s organization, some members of which are on earth. To such Jehovah says: ‘Ye are my witnesses, saith the Lord, . . . therefore ye are my witnesses, saith the Lord, that I am God.’—Isaiah 43:10-12.” To this, paragraph 43 added: “Now only a remnant of those professing to be followers of Jesus will be faithful and true witnesses of our God. Now all the nations calling themselves Christian have defamed God’s holy name; and he will bring upon the world a great time of trouble ‘in that great and terrible day of the Lord’, and will make for himself a name that the people may know that he is God. He will have a witness of this fact given now, and this witness he has privileged Zion to give.”

9 Two years later The Watchtoiver (January 1. 1928) published the leading article “Honor His Name”, and in this (fl 26) it stressed the truth of Proverbs 18:10: “The name of Jehovah is a strong tower; the righteous runneth into it, and is safe.” —Am. Stan. Ver.

10 Under such stimulation from the sacred Scriptures and through The Watchtower God’s consecrated people bent their energies as never before to delivering a testimony to His name to all nations of the globe. James had long ago declared that God's purpose in this “Christian era” was to take out a people for his name (Acts 15:14), and in the years following 1928 Jehovah’s people brought his name into prominence before the world. By force of historic facts and of fulfilled prophecy, and not with any self-assuming presumptuousness, on Sunday, July 26,1931, at an international assembly in Columbus, Ohio, they declared themselves to the world by the Scriptural name “Jehovah’s witnesses”. Worthiness of the name was to be proved, not merely by what they had done in bygone years, but by their faithfully measuring up to the name in the future. On that account the name has stuck to them ever since, despite all the public reproach, religious persecution and judicial discrimination that have been heaped upon them. To this day they keep on “announcing Jehovah’s kingdom”, as stated on the front page of this magazine since its issue of March 1, 1939. The open adoption of the name “Jehovah’s witnesses", and their faithful activities in harmony with it, have demonstrated beyond any denial by opposing religionists that these witnesses of the Most High God are the only ones on earth today who have taken refuge in Jehovah and made him their “rock of habitation”, as the psalmist prophesied.

“MY ROCK,” “MY CRAG”

11 Especially since the Vatican’s “holy year of 1933”, after Hitler came to dictatorship in Germany, the religious systems of Christendom, spear-headed 10 Bow do our name and activity prove we take refuge in Jehovah’ 11. How have we proved He Is a “rock of habitation'^ to resoit to’ by the Roman Catholic Hierarchy, have been trying to exterminate Jehovah’s witnesses by all manner of means, in totalitarian lands and in democratic lands as well. Opportunely World War II was taken advantage of to try to throttle these Christian witnesses of the Lord God and wipe them out. Their survival to this postwar year, with tens of thousands of persons of good-will associating themselves with them, proves that Jehovah has been a sure refuge for them. He has not let them be put to shame nor let their trust in him be disappointed. In his righteousness he has delivered them from their oppressive foes, and rescued them from the threatened extermination. He has bowed down his ear to their cries amid the persecution by combined enemies. He has saved them for the further witness he wants given on the earth before Armageddon. They are a living example today of the truth that men and women of faith who resort continually to Jehovah as their God of worship will find him to be a “rock of habitation”. They can use the psalmist David’s words to Jehovah : “Thou art my rock [my crag] and my fortress. Thou hast given commandment to save me.”

12 Before being exalted as king over Israel, the giant-killer David was being pursued by the unfaithful ruler Saul and his military forces. We read: “When Saul and his men went to seek him, they told David, and he went down to the crag which is in the Desert of Maon. When Saul heard it, he pursued David to the Desert of ilaon. Saul went on one side of the mountain, and David and his men on the other side of the mountain; and David was in desperate straits to escape from Saul, for Saul and his men were at the point of surrounding David and his men, to seize them, when a messenger came to Saul, saying, ‘Come quickly, for the Philistines have made a raid upon the land.’ So Saul returned from pursuing David and went to meet the Philistines; therefore they called that place the Crag of the Divisions. Then David went up from there, and dwelt in the strongholds of Engedi.”—1 Sam. 23: 25-29, An Amer. Trans.

13 There is no question that Jehovah God in whom David trusted ordered such pressure to be put upon King Saul to pull away his forces just when he all but had the fugitive David within his clutches there on that crag or rock in the Desert of Maon. By a quick maneuver Almighty God kept that crag or rock between David and his persecutors, so that the pursuers did not overtake this anointed worshiper of Jehovah. It was not the mere crag or rock, but his God, that made it safe for David. For good reason, then, David called Jehovah “his rock [crag]” and always sent up his prayer to Jehovah when danger appeared. He was never shamed with dis-

12, 13. How did Jehovah prove to be a “rock” to David and to us? appointment. Likewise, the facts show it to have been with the witnesses of Jehovah in this twentieth century. The name of the Lord God has been upon them for their protection. Time and again in overwhelming numbers and with superior material powers their foes have been about ready to close in upon them to destroy them. But Jehovah has stood as a craglike rock in between the wicked foes and their objectives. This has only strengthened the trust of his faithful anointed remnant and their good-will associates in him as their rock and fortress to which always to resort.

FROM YOUTH ON

14 The psalmist expected Jehovah never to change from being his deliverer. This was because the psalmist himself never changed from worshiping Jehovah as God and obeying him as Sovereign-Lord. So with confidence he prayed: “Rescue me, 0 my God, out of the hand of the wicked, out of the hand of the unrighteous and cruel man. For thou art my hope, 0 Lord Jehovah: thou art my trust from my youth. By thee have I been holden up from the womb; thou art he that took me out of my mother’s bowels: my praise shall be continually of thee.” (Ps. 71: 4-6, Am. Stan. Ver.) The aged psalmist did not name the wicked enemy, the unrighteous man that was so eager to destroy him that he did not stop at violence and cruel falsehoods.

15 Jesus was known as the “son of David”, and, like David his royal forefather, he put his hope and trust in the Lord Jehovah as his God and Father. In his case the religious priests, scribes and elders corresponded to the wicked, the unrighteous and cruel man, whom the psalmist mentioned. Even these religious enemies testified to Jesus’ hoping and trusting in Jehovah God, for we read concerning Jesus as he was hanging upon the torture stake: “Likewise also the chief priests mocking him, with the scribes and elders, said, He saved others; himself he cannot save. If he be the King of Israel, let him now come down from the cross, and we will believe him. He trusted in God; let him deliver him now, if he will have him: for he said, I am the Son of God.” (Matt. 27: 41-43) Because Jesus, as God’s High Priest, must die for mankind’s sins, God’s rescue of him did not come until after he had lain in the grave for three days. For this his rescue was all the more remarkable.

16 Even when Jesus was a young child, the great enemy Satan the Devil tried to destroy him by means of the soldiers whom wicked, cruel and violent King Herod sent to Bethlehem. Jehovah his Father rescued the young child by forewarning his earthly 14 Why could David pray to be rescued by God, and from wham’ 15 Correspondingly, bow was Jesus thus rescued’ 16-18 (a) Huw was Jehovah made Israel's tru^t from childhood or youth? (b) When was the Christian organization thus taught to trust Him?

parents and sending them down to Egypt till after Herod’s own death. We read that he was there “until the death of Herod: that it might be fulfilled which was spoken of the Lord by the prophet, saying, Out of Egypt have I called my son.” (Matt. 2:15) However, the prophecy from which Matthew quotes to apply part of it to the young child Jesus reads in full: “When Israel was a child, then I loved him, and called my son out of Egypt.” (Hos. 11:1) The complete fulfillment of Hosea’s prophecy is therefore upon the spiritual Israel, the Christian congregation of Jesus' footstep followers. They were foreshadowed by the natural Israelites whom God brought up out of literal Egypt under the leadership of the prophet Moses. Then they were but a youthful Theocratic nation. When Moses appeared to them as God’s prophet in Egypt to lead them, he declared that the name of the God who sent him was Jehovah. All through the wilderness journey of forty years that followed their coming out of Egypt he taught them to fear God’s name and trust in it. At Mount Sinai he gave them God’s Ten Commandments, the first of which reads: “I am Jehovah thy God, who brought thee out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of bondage. Thou shalt have no other gods before me.” And in his farewell song to Israel Moses sang: “I will proclaim the name of Jehovah.”—Ex. 20:1-3 and Deut. 32:3, Am. Stan. Ver.

17 In likening natural Israel at that time to a child, God’s Word speaks of the youth of that typical Theocratic nation. Looking back over the continuous persecutions upon that people for being Jehovah’s chosen nation, the psalmist says: “Many a time have they afflicted me from my youth, may Israel now say: many a time have they afflicted me from my youth : yet they have not prevailed against me.” (Ps. 129:1, 2) And the prophet Jeremiah says to Israel: “Thus saith Jehovah, I remember for thee the kindness of thy youth, . . . Israel was holiness unto Jehovah, the firstfruits of his increase: all that devour him shall be held guilty.” (Jer. 2:2,3, Am. Stan. Ver.) So, too, with the true Christian organization of which Christ Jesus is Head: it had its youth in the days of Jesus and his twelve apostles. Jesus, who was foreshadowed by the prophet Moses, taught this holy nation of spiritual Israel to fear the name of Jehovah, and he led it out of the antitypical Egypt, this oppressive world with its false religions. In a last prayer with his faithful apostles Jesus said to Jehovah God: “I manifested thy name unto the men whom thou gavest me out of the world: thine they were, and thou gavest them to me; and they have kept thy word. . . . Holy Father, keep them in thy name which thou hast given me, that they may be one, even as we are.”—John 17: 6,11, Am. Stan. Ver.

18 Thus in its youth the Christian organization under Christ the Head was taught to lean upon Jehovah God and to stay itself upon him for all the centuries to follow.

” The mother of the Christian organization under Christ the Head! No, she is not the virgin Jewess Mary, who bore Jesus. Jehovah God has a universal organization of creatures united and faithful to Him as Head and Lord, and this organization is given the symbolical name Jerusalem. He speaks to it as his wife and says: “Thy Maker is thy husband; Jehovah of hosts is his name: and the Holy One of Israel is thy Redeemer.” (Isa. 54:5, Am. Stan. Ver.) Out of the womb of this universal mother, this organization married to him, God as Father takes the Christian organization whose Head is Christ Jesus. The mother organization is the one meant when Paul says to his Christian brethren: “But the Jerusalem that is above is free, which is our mother.” (Gal. 4: 26, Am. Stan. Ver.) The true organization of Jehovah’s children who follow Christ Jesus as Master has held on to its hope and confidence in Jehovah from the very day of its birth, namely, the day of Pentecost, when Jehovah poured down his holy spirit through Christ Jesus. Today, after nineteen centuries, it can still say: “Upon thee have I leaned from birth; from my mother’s womb thou hast been my stay; in thee is my hope continually.” (Ps. 71: 6, An Amer. Trans.) A number of religious organizations in Christendom claim to have descended without a break from the original apostolic organization of the first century. But where do any of them demonstrate that apostolic devotion to Jehovah and reliance upon Him? But the facts about Jehovah’s witnesses of the nineteenth and twentieth centuries prove them worthy and entitled to take up and repeat the psalmist’s words. They have stayed upon Jehovah, and their hope continues to be upon him through Christ.

"IN THE TIME OF OLD AGE”

20 In 1931, when the name “Jehovah’s witnesses" was adopted, all the world wondered at them and thought they were just “another religious sect”. In the years since then the world has been given more cause to wonder at them. This agrees with the psalmist’s next words: “I am as a wonder unto many; but thou art my strong refuge. My mouth shall be filled with thy praise, and with thy honor all the day. Cast me not off in the time of old age; forsake me not when my strength faileth.”—Ps. 71:7-9, Am.Stan. Ver.

21 Even Christ Jesus, tbe Head of the Christian organization, was a cause of wonderment, a prodigy, to the unbelieving religionists in his day. This was as the prophecy had foretold, for he is Jehovah’s great

19. How has Jehovah been Its stay and hope from its mother’s womb > 20, 21. Like Jesus, what must we be to many todaj, as prophesied'' Prophet who was prefigured by Isaiah. Isaiah’s prophecy is quoted and applied to Christ by the apostle Paul, who says: “For which cause he is not ashamed to call them brethren, saying, . . . Behold I and the children which God hath given me.” (Heb. 2:11-13) The full prophecy of Isaiah 8:18 speaks prophetically of Jesus and his followers, his Godgiven children, as being wonders in the religious world and says: “Behold, I and the children whom Jehovah hath given me are for signs and for wonders in Israel from Jehovah of hosts, who dwelleth in mount Zion.” (Am. Stan. Ver.) Therefore Christ’s true followers today must be wonders as well as signs to the modern religious world.

22 Jehovah’s witnesses are just that. To the religious systems of Christendom that have become a part of this world and conformed themselves to it in thought and action, the witnesses of the Most High God are a wonder for their firm refusal to compromise with this world. They are a marvel for openly confessing Jehovah’s name and preaching his Kingdom in the same way that Christ Jesus and his disciples did, “publicly, and from house to house.” (Acts 20: 20) Christ Jesus was a marvel in his day for the religious persecutions and the terrible sufferings and reproaches that he underwent. His faithful imitators today, Jehovah’s witnesses, are marvelous, too, for the persecutions and hostility they endure from combined Christendom and Jewry and for the afflictions and false accusations and shame they have endured till now, so that Christendom is astounded because they still keep on going and increasing. Their continuous preaching of this gospel of the kingdom of God in all the world for a witness to all nations is part of the great sign of the end of this evil world and of the presence of Jehovah’s King Christ Jesus on the heavenly throne to rule in the midst of his enemies.—Matt. 24:14; Ps. 110:1, 2.

23 However, Jehovah’s witnesses know they must be exposed as a wonder, a prodigy, a portent, before the world’s eyes and what this position must cost them. In order to endure it they make the Most High God their strong refuge, and thus they keep their integrity unbroken toward him. In their strong refuge their mouths fill up with his praise and pour it out fearlessly. Christendom’s religious systems make Jehovah hideous, saying he is a God who fiendishly delights in eternally tormenting human souls after death in literal fire and brimstone and who is responsible for all the woes that have come upon mankind since A.D. 1914. But Jehovah’s witnesses describe him to the people of good-will according to the Bible teaching and they show forth his beauty and virtues all day long.

22. How are Jehovah’s witnesses today a wonder to Christendom? 23. How do they endure this position, and with mouths filled how?

24 Measured from the day of the feast of Pentecost A.D. 33, when Jehovah God by Christ Jesus poured out the holy spirit upon the faithful disciples, this is the twentieth century of the life and wonderful experiences of the Christian organization. It is now in its old age, for the Bible foretells the time when this organization of spirit-anointed Christians must pass from the earthly scene to their heavenly inheritance, and that time is evidently near. When complete, the organization under Christ Jesus the Head numbers at most only 144,000; and after all these centuries in which God has been picking out this people for his name, there is only a small remnant of those 144,000 now left in the flesh among men. Hence in this period of old age the visible organization is numerically weak; strength of great numbers fails it. At this stage of growth will the Lord God cast this remnant off? Will he forsake them because their strength fails numerically and because their fewness in number invites persecution? No. The name of Jehovah is called upon them; and because his name is involved, the anointed remnant pray he will not forsake them. They want to remain his people.

ADVERSARIES DESTINED TO REPROACH AND DISHONOR

25 There is a special reason for this appeal not to be forsaken now. The sacred prophecies show that at the end of this world, when the Theocratic organization of Jehovah’s anointed people should be in its old age, Satan the Devil would be cast out of heaven and to the earth and he would persecute God’s organization and “make war with the remnant of her seed’’. (Rev. 12:7-17) In the language of the psalmist this anointed remnant now says: “For my foes say concerning me, and those who watch for my life make plans, also, saying, 'God has abandoned him; pursue and seize him; for there is no one to rescue him.’ O God, be not far from me! Hasten, O my God, to my help! May they be put to shame and destroyed who are hostile to me; may they be covered with abuse and shame who seek to injure me.” (Ps. 71: 10-13, An Amer. Trans.) Our enemies would like to believe that Almighty God has forsaken his devoted witnesses. In fact, God lets it appear so in order to let the enemies become bold and reckless and show the wickedness of their hearts behind their hypocritical religious front. God even permitted his beloved Son on the torture stake to cry out, in fulfillment of Psalm 22:1: “My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me?” (Matt. 27 : 46) It puts a test of faith and devotion upon his faithful followers to come into a like outward appearance of being forsaken of Jehovah God.

26 The psalmist mentioned to God that the enemies

24. How and why does strength fall, and so what do they pray God9 25 Why do they appeal not to be forsaken of God now**

26, 27. (a) As to attempts to injure, how does the Catholic press plot against our life? (b) How do we refute the malicious lie? spoke against him and plotted against his life. Now when it comes to hostile speech with a sinister design against Jehovah’s witnesses, we charge that there is a conspiracy inside the Roman Catholic press to misrepresent these faithful Christians. As a recent disclosure of this we cite the religious monthly, Father Baker’s Victorian Magazine, published at Lackawanna, N.Y. On page 65 of its issue of June, 1948, under the heading “Attention, Americans!” and in between brief articles on Communism and a final article about the German people corrupted by Hitler, the Victorian publishes in bold type the following article:

The Catholic press tells us that the atheistic government of Poland is financing sects like the Jehovah’s Witnesses in order to destroy the Catholicity of the people. “Watchtower” salesmen are making the rounds of homes with pamphlets reviling the Church. Sunday lectures also are organized, denouncing Catholicism and glorifying Communism.1

27 At a time when the United States government is taking all precautionary measures against Communist infiltration into the political structure and is conducting a Communist clean-out the Catholic press publishes propaganda like the above in order to inflame the minds of Roman Catholics and of as many Americans as it can against Jehovah’s witnesses. Responsible officials of the American government, however, have in recent years informed themselves too well on Jehovah’s witnesses to be now deceived by such lying propaganda of the Catholic press. The 1949 Yearbook of Jehovah’s witnesses shows that the Watch Tower Bible and Tract Society conducts a Branch office in Lodz, Poland, as well as in sixty-six other countries. It is a deliberate lie of the Catholic press to publish that our Branch in Poland and the activities of Christian companies under it are financed by the “atheistic government of Poland”. What our brethren in Poland and other lands publish and circulate is simply faithful translations of what our Society first publishes here in America; and the public lectures delivered by Jehovah’s witnesses throughout the world follow the pattern and printed outline of lectures openly given here in America. In none of our publications and in none of the public lectures by our representative spokesmen do we glorify any political ism.

28 In sharp contrast with Roman Catholics and other religionists, Jehovah’s witnesses do not take part in the politics of any land. They glorify only Jehovah’s kingdom by Christ Jesus as the rightful government of all the earth. The Catholic press is in this case found to be spitting out its venom and writhing in chagrin and vexation because Jehovah’s witnesses in Poland as everywhere else are following the apostle Paul’s example and preaching the Kingdom gospel “publicly, and from house to house”. (Acts 20:20) For what Jehovah’s witnesses are doing in Poland and how they are financed we refer honest Catholics to our 1949 Yearbook report.

29 The enemies issue orders to their religio-political dupes to pursue and seize Jehovah’s witnesses, in wishful thinking that these are forsaken by the God these worship and are without anyone to deliver them. But God’s holy spirit has already interceded for us by having inspired the psalmist to record the prayer for God not to be far from us but to hasten and help us. Under inspiration of God’s interceding spirit the prayer is already written down for us in Psalm 71 for the adversaries of our soul or life to be disgraced and destroyed. Just as certainly as that inspired prayer stands written against those who set out to injure us, such enemies are destined to be covered with insults, reproach and dishonor. The rest of God’s prophetic Word shows all this coming to them.

28. Why does the Catholic press thus spit out venom and writhe9 29 How has Gods spiut already interceded for us in Psalm 71?

THE 1949 YEARTEXT

KNOWING the faithfulness of his God, and confident that God will answer his prayer, the psalmist says: “But I will hope continually, and will yet praise thee more and more. My mouth shall 1, 2. As shown by the 1949 yeartext, what have we resolved to do? shew forth thy righteousness and thy salvation all the day; for I know not the numbers thereof.” —Ps. 71: 14, 15.

2 With the same hope that the living and true God will beat back the enemy and uphold them in preaching his gospel, Jehovah’s witnesses have adopted as their yeartext for 1949 the psalmist’s words, and these appear on their 1949 calendar, namely: “I . . . will yet praise thee more and more.” This sums up their fearless determination for 1949 and all years to come until Armageddon: “I . . . will add more to all thy praise.” (An Amer. Trans.; Douay) “I praise thee more than ever.” (Moffatt) “I. . . praise Thee, the longer the more.” (Wellhausen) While the inspired psalm prays for the shaming and reproach of all our presumptuous opposers, Jehovah’s witnesses do not seek self-praise, nor praise from any men. Jesus said: “Woe unto you, when all men shall speak well of you! for so did their fathers to the false prophets.” (Luke 6:26) Wisely we organize and equip ourselves to praise Jehovah God and his Christ. We cannot now take our ease, leaning back on the past years of praising Jehovah. No; and neither do we fear what the enemies threaten and may attempt to do. We resolve to praise yet more and more the God who preserves and delivers us, yes, to add more praise to all the past years of praise to him; to praise him more than ever, and, the longer we praise him, to praise him all the more.

3 No matter how long we live, we can never tell the number of his acts of deliverance of us individually or as an organization. We can never tell to the full all about his righteousness and the salvation that he performs for us and for all who turn from this world and give their faithful allegiance to Jehovah’s kingdom by Christ Jesus. Nevertheless, although we can believe with our heart and have righteousness result to us for this, we open our mouths in confession of Jehovah God and his kingdom, knowing that this is the least we can do and that it results in salvation to us. So for 1949 and all succeeding years we are decided that our mouths shall tell of His goodness and faithfulness all day long.

4 Resolved to praise the Lord yet more and more, the psalmist speaks for us today, saying: “I will come with the mighty acts of the Lord Jehovah: I will make mention of thy righteousness, even of thine only. 0 God, thou hast taught me from my youth; and hitherto have I declared thy wondrous works.” (Ps. 71:16,17, Am. Stan. Ver.) Go on, Christendom, with your hero-worship and your praising and exalting of political systems and ideologies; but we as Jehovah’s witnesses will do as the psalmist and come forward with only God’s mighty deeds and acts and will recite these to all nations. We know there is no righteousness in this world and its backers, and as for righteousness, we have only that of Jehovah to tell.

5 From the youth of the Christian organization in the first century Jehovah has taught his people. Back there Jesus said no one could come to him as a disciple except Jehovah God taught him: “No man can come to me, except the Father which hath sent me draw him: and I will raise him up at the last day. It is written in the prophets, And they shall be all taught of God. Every man therefore that hath heard, and hath learned of the Father, cometh unto me.” (John 6:44,45) The religious Pharisees held to the traditions of their fathers that made God’s Word void and so they refused to be taught by God through his Word, and consequently they did not come to Jesus. No one could become one of Jehovah’s witnesses except by being taught by him through his Word. In its youth the Christian organization remembered its Creator and accepted Jehovah as Teacher and was drawn to Jesus as the Christ by Him. All through the centuries to the organization’s old age now, Jehovah by Christ Jesus has taught his witnesses, not only doctrine, but also his righteousness and his wondrous works. And these things of God we have declared persistently to this day. In recognition of Jehovah as our only Teacher by Christ Jesus this magazine The Watchtower quit publishing on its second page (top) of each issue an editorial committee of five men, but with the issue of October 15, 1931, it started publishing instead the prophecy to which Jesus referred, namely: “And all thy children shall be taught of Jehovah; and great shall be the peace of thy children.” (Isa. 54:13, Am. Stan. Ver.) We continue to look to Jehovah for teaching by Christ Jesus.

THE RISING GENERATION

6 The true Christian organization is now old with an antiquity of nineteen centuries and is, figuratively speaking, “gray-headed,” but it does not want to quit, go on a pension and retire from declaring Jehovah’s wondrous works. The remnant of the anointed Christian organization look forward in the light of Bible prophecy and see a new generation, the next generation of servants that will take over completely after the remnant have passed off the earthly scene. They want to expand the worship of the living and true God over all the earth. Hence they want to pass on to this rising generation of people consecrated to God all the instruction that Jehovah God by Christ has taught them, that this next generation may be saved to eternal life on earth under God’s kingdom. So the anointed remnant of the Theocratic organization take up the psalmist’s words: “Even now therefore that I am old and grey-headed, 0 God! do not forsake me, until I tell of thine arm unto a new generation—unto every one that is to come thy might.” (Ps. 71:18, Rotherham) “That I may tell the rising

6 Old, gray-headed, why docs the remnant not want to quit now? generation of thy strength and thy might.” (Moffatt) What an inspiring motive for living!

’ This “new generation”, this “rising generation”, is made up of those people now consecrating themselves to Jehovah through his Christ. Jesus spoke of them as his “other sheep” whom he would add to his flock of sheep in this day under him as the One Shepherd. These sheep began to manifest themselves from and after the year 1918, in which year (on February 24) the public speech was delivered for the first time, “The World Has Ended—Millions Now Living May Never Die.” From then on, the fact that such a class of “sheep” was foretold to show up at this end of the world began to appear in Bible prophecies. It is now evident that one of the reasons for which Jehovah God spared the anointed remnant alive after 1918 was for them to minister the Kingdom truth to this rising generation of consecrated people of good-will. This class of “other sheep” was foreshadowed by numerous persons and groups in Hebrew Scripture.

8 We have already called notice (page 371, fl3) to the superscription of Psalm 71 as it appears in the Greek translation, the Septuagint (or, the Seventy Hebrew translators). We repeat it: "'By David, a Psahn sung by the sons of Jonadab, and the first that were taken captive.” (Bagster; also C. Thomson) In the Septuagint the psahn is listed as Psalm 70, and the Catholic Douay Version follows this numbering. There Psalm 70:1 reads: “A psalm for David. Of the sons of Jonadab, and the former captives. In thee, 0 Lord, I have hoped, let me never be put to confusion.” In a footnote of the Douay Version (Murphy edition) the comment on verse 1 says: “Of the sons of Jonadab. The Rechabites, of whom see Jer. 35. By this addition of the seventy-two interpreters, we gather that this psalm was usually sung in the synagogue, in the person of the Rechabites, and of those who were first carried away into captivity.”

9 The Rechabites were the sons of Jonadab the son of Rechab and joined themselves in good-will to the Israelites and worshiped the God of Israel, Jehovah. Just before Jerusalem was destroyed in 607 B.C. and the few thousands of surviving Jews were carried captive to Babylon Jehovah sent this promise through the prophet Jeremiah to the sons of Jonadab : “Thus says the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel: ‘Because you have been obedient to the charge of Jonadab your ancestor, and have kept all his instructions, and have done just as he charged you, thus says the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel: Jondadab, the son of Rechab, shall not want a man to stand in my presence forever.’”—Jer. 35:18,19, An Amer. Trans.

7 Vho now appear as this “new generation”, and since when?

8 . In whose presence was Psalm 71 sung, as the superscription shows? 9. 10. Whom do these ’sons of Jonadab” picture, and why?

10 In previous issues of The Watchtower it has been explained how these Rechabites or sons of Jondadab foreshadowed the “other sheep” of goodwill. Jonadab (or Jehonadab, meaning Jehovah is liberal) first puts in appearance in Scripture when King Jehu of Israel drives up to him in his chariot and says to him: “Is thy heart right, as my heart is with thy heart?” Jonadab replies: “It is.” King Jehu then said: “If it be, give me thy hand.” “And he gave him his hand; and he took him up to him into the chariot. And he said, Come with me, and see my zeal for Jehovah. So they made him ride in his chariot.” (2 Ki. 10:15,16, Am. Stan. Ver.) To display his zeal for Jehovah, King Jehu took Jonadab along to the temple of the false god Baal at Samaria. There King Jehu made all the apostate Jews put on the garments of Baal-worship to identify them, and then he sent in his executioners and slaughtered all such breakers of the First and Second Commandments. Jonadab and all the other worshipers of Jehovah were spared alive. Jonadab, as related in earlier issues of The Watchtower (August 1, 1932, onward), prefigured the consecrated people of good-will who give their allegiance to Jehovah’s King Christ Jesus since 191S and whom Jehovah’s executioners spare alive clear through the battle of Armageddon, during which all the Baal-worshipers or worshipers of false religions will be destroyed. Thus Jonadab and the Rechabites or sons of Jonadab picture the same modern-day class of good-will.

11 During the years of World War I (A.D. 1914191S) the anointed remnant of Jehovah’s witnesses went into captivity to great mystic Babylon, this world under its false religions. But in 1919 Jehovah God by his King Christ Jesus began bringing these spiritual Israelites out from their unwilling captivity to Babylon. Thereafter, too, the modern Jonadab class began to show up in ever-growing numbers and to associate themselves with the remnant, particularly from 1932 forward. Seeing, as we now do, the application of Psalm 71 here discussed, we can now appreciate how fitting it was for it to be sung at the synagogue in the presence of the Israelites who were once captives to Babylon and also of the sons of Jonadab. Today both the remnant of spiritual Israelites and also the modern Jonadab class can enjoy the understanding of this fulfilled psalm.

12 Certainly, then, although the anointed remnant is in the old and gray-haired stage of the Christian organization, they will keep on praying that Jehovah God will not forsake them until they have declared His arm, that is, his strength and activities, to the next generation, the Jonadab class, for their salvation through Armageddon into the righteous new world. The remnant want to reach with the Kingdom

11. By what one-time captives is Psalm 71 also now sung9

12. Whom do they not want to fall to tell about Jehovah’s arm? message “every one that is to come”. In Jehovah’s due time he by his reigning Kang will bring forth the faithful prophets and other overcomers of preChristian centuries from the grave to make them “princes in all the earth”. (Ps. 45:16) Then the faithful remnant, who also expect to survive the battle of Armageddon, will have the privilege of telling these princes of the “new earth” about the arm and strength of Jehovah God at this end of the world. These princes will constitute part of the next or new generation.—Ps. 71:18, Am. Stan. Ver.; Rotherham.

13 Old age and gray hairs do not cause Jehovah God to dismiss his faithful remnant from service or to forsake them. His prophecy on the last days of this world assures the Christian organization: “I will pour out my spirit upon all flesh [young and old]; . . . your old men shall dream dreams.” (Joel 2:28) In Bible times the old men were made ambassadors, so that to be an ambassador meant to be old. (2 Cor. 5:20; Eph. 6:20) Quite so, God causes the remnant of the Christian organization in its old age to see fulfilled the dreams his prophets saw in ancient times, and also to be his ambassadors to deliver the final message of reconciliation at this end of the world. He has honored his anointed organization in its old age with serving as ambassadors of his established kingdom, the Theocratic Government now in power under his reigning King Christ.

OUR GREATNESS INCREASED

14 The faithful remnant, to whom Jehovah God lias shown such mercy and honor since 1918, can now see the psalmist’s prayer fulfilled in them: “Thy power and thy righteousness extend, 0 God, unto the high heavens. Thou who hast done great things, 0 God, who is like thee? 0 thou who hast made us see many dangers and disasters, do thou quicken us again, and from the depths of the earth bring us up again. Do thou increase my greatness, and turn and comfort me!” (Ps. 71:19-21, An Amer. Trans.) Whereas the political, commercial, judicial and religious elements of this world continue dealing very unrighteously with Jehovah’s witnesses, the Lord God has magnified his righteousness toward his devoted remnant. It is as high as the heavens, God’s throne. Who can be like Him? He has let his remnant see many a sore trial. In 1918, at the climax of World War I, it looked like a disaster for them, a disaster from which they 13. How has God honored the remnant of the Christian organization m its old age 2

14 How has He increased their greatness and comforted them? would never rise. They were then under oppressions and captivity by the murderous powers of this world, so that they were like the pile of dry bones in the deep valley that Ezekiel saw in vision after Jerusalem was destroyed and the Jewish captives were displaced. (Ezek. 37:1-14) But in the vision God quickened that valley of dry bones to life again, and he did so with his faithful remnant in 1919. He brought them up from the depths of captivity and restraint under earthly rulers. He turned his favor again to them and increased their greatness as his witnesses and ambassadors. He has comforted them also by raising up at their side a great multitude of consecrated companions of good-will, the new, rising generation.

15 Thus comforted, and with strength renewed by Almighty God, the remnant sing forth the final lines of Psalm 71, and the increasing multitude of the rising generation join in with them: “I also will praise thee with the lyre, I will sing of thy faithfulness, 0 my God, with the harp, 0 thou holy one of Israel. My lips shall joyfully shout when I sing praises to thee, and my life which thou hast redeemed. Aly tongue, too, shall tell of thy righteousness all day long; for they shall be put to shame, they shall be disgraced, who sought to do me harm.”—Ps. 71: 22-24, An Amer. Trans.

16 By his dealings with us since 1918 Jehovah God by Christ has redeemed our life. Now if we faithfully use our days that are left before the battle of Armageddon breaks, it means our eternal life in the new world following that battle. On emerging from World War I, which marked the beginning of the end of this world, the nations came forth to a course of shame and contempt, as their career for thirty years since then now shows. For continuing to resist God’s kingdom and seeking to harm his ambassadors they will go down to destruction in the greatest shame and disgrace at Armageddon. But the remnant, followed in due time by the rising generation of good-will, have come forth to a life of praise to Jehovah God and his King. They fearlessly shout his praises. They hold fast their resolve to make joyful confession of him with their mouth till the great act of righteousness occurs, the vindication of Jehovah’s sovereignty at Armageddon by his victorious King Christ Jesus.

15, 16. How does their redeemed life iesult dlrterentlj from the cotuse upon which the nations entered since 1918?

BRINGING FORTH FRUIT IN OLD AGE

WE ARE now in the thirty-fifth year of the “Day of Jehovah”. Quite a number of those who were in the Kingdom truth movement back there at the beginning of this momentous day, which was visibly marked by the outbreak of World War I, are today well advanced in years, but are still holding on to the service of the now established Kingdom. The physical hardships of old age are now making themselves felt in their bodies, as described by the ancient wise man, whom Jehovah God raised up and inspired to be a preacher, or a “Koheleth”, as he was called in the Hebrew language in which he spoke and wrote. These aging servants of the Most High God can now well appreciate the wisdom of their course in taking up the service as witnesses of Jehovah in the days decades ago when their vigor and vitality were greater and they could thus render their best to a deserving God; and they can also appreciate the solemn admonition contained in the wise man’s words for the youth of these days, as he writes:

“Rejoice, 0 young man, in your youth, and let your mind be glad in the days of your vigor, and walk in the ways of your mind and in the sight of your eyes; but know that for all these things God will bring you into judgment. And put away worry from your mind, and remove evil from your flesh; for youth and the prime of life are vanity. Remember your Creator in the days of your vigor, before the evil days come, and the years approach of which you will say, ‘I have no pleasure in them.’ ”—Eccl. 11:9 to 12:1, An Amer. Trans.

The world, particularly Christendom with her millions of religionists who are “lovers of pleasures more than lovers of God”, offers its pleasures to the young men and women, who snatch at the delusions; but advanced age has again and again proved them all empty bubbles. This world, now in its “time of the end” since A.D. 1914, has nothing substantial to offer for very much longer, and therefore, unless the human mind has found its satisfaction in the living and true God Jehovah and in his Son Jesus Christ, there is indeed no pleasure in old age. The wise man, Koheleth or Preacher, presents us a vivid pen picture of old age—“the evil days” of physical decline and infirmity, “of which you will say, T have no pleasure in them.’ ” He then proceeds to tell us why, saying:

“Before the sun becomes dark, and the light, and the moon, and the stars; and the clouds return after the rain; on the day when the guardians of the house tremble, and the strong men are bent, and the grinding-maids cease because they are few, and the ladies peering through the windows are darkened.”—Ecel. 12:2, 3, An Amer. Trans.

Here we can recognize how Koheleth, in poetical figurative speech, refers to the dimness of vision of old age, both mental and physical in most cases, and to the fact that clouds of trouble of one kind or another quickly succeed one another following every experience refreshing like rain which for a time brings hope of succeeding sunshine of prosperity. But the guardians of the house, namely, the arms and the hands of our earthly bodies, give way to trembling on the day of old age; and those figurative “strong men”, our lower limbs, bend with difficulty in trying to support the weight of the body. Along with this the “grinding-maids”, our natural teeth, cease to perform their office because of decay or loss of them, and our powers of vision and perception which look through the windows of our bodies, our eyes, are dimmed and the need of stronger glasses increases.

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The Watchtower, December 15, 1948