Insight on the News

Solomon’s Mines Found?

● In the days of King David and King Solomon of ancient Israel, a place called “Ophir” was the source of fabulous amounts of gold. Much of the known gold supply of the ancient world is thought to have originated there. In the Bible book of First Chronicles, chapter 29, verse 4, King David is spoken of as donating 3,000 talents of gold from Ophir to the temple at Jerusalem, an amount valued at hundreds of millions of dollars today. Solomon’s trading fleets regularly brought back large amounts of gold from Ophir. (1 Ki. 9:26-28) There was so much gold then that silver was spoken of as being of relatively little value.​—1 Ki. 10:21.

Now geologists say that they may have found “King Solomon’s Mine” in Saudi Arabia. Between Mecca and Medina is an area, located in a mountainous region, known as the “Cradle of Gold.” There geologists found a vast abandoned gold mine. Among their finds are huge quantities of waste rock, an estimated million tons, left by the ancient miners, still containing traces of gold. Thousands of stone hammers and grindstones used to extract the gold from the ore litter the mine slopes. Said geologist Robert W. Luce: “Our investigations have now confirmed that the old mine could have been as rich as described in biblical accounts.”

Shifting Power Balance

● Former presidential aide Patrick Buchanan stated that the overall balance of military power between the United States and the Soviet Union is in the process of shifting. He said: “Over the past seven years, the U.S. Navy has been cut in half; it is now smaller in size than the U.S. Navy before Pearl Harbor. The new global Soviet Navy outnumbers the combined U.S. fleets two to one in major combat vessels and submarines.”

Regarding land forces, he declared: “The Soviet Union fields 168 combat divisions to the Americans’ 19. They have twice the number of armored personnel carriers, three times the number of heavy mortars and artillery pieces, four times the number of tanks.”

In Bible prophecy the Communist powers are now included in what is called in symbolic language “the king of the north.” In this “time of the end” where we now live, Da chapter 11 of the Bible book of Daniel says regarding this totalitarian “king of the north” that “to the god of fortresses . . . he will give glory. . . . And he will act effectively against the most fortified strongholds.”

Thus, just as God’s prophetic Word foretold, in our day this anti-God power has come to the fore, growing swiftly in scientific militarism. And, as Daniel foretold, he has kept “thrusting out his hand against the lands.” But the Bible shows that this “king of the north” will be brought to an end along with all other political powers at God’s war of Armageddon.​—Dan. 11:36–12:1; Rev. 16:14-16.

You Need Not Be Alone

● In many nations, especially the industrial societies, family life is breaking down. Also, there are fewer ties between neighbors and friends. The book “Lonely in America” says: “The tight boundaries of rural, neighborhood, family-centered America have burst. . . . Life in America has exploded, and loneliness is one main ingredient in the fallout.” Added to this is the rising crime rate that has made people more distrustful of others. Loneliness has thus become an almost permanent condition for growing millions of people. This loneliness is especially tragic for many elderly and infirm people who are often neglected by others.

But this condition does not apply to those who have faith in Jehovah God and who listen to his Word. God’s Word says that those who accept his Word must meet together for mutual encouragement. (Heb. 10:24, 25) That is why among Jehovah’s Witnesses, the problem of loneliness is being conquered. Their wholesome association with one another at Christian meetings, and also socially; their learning from God’s Word how to improve family life, including caring for the elderly among them; their preaching work that puts them in contact with many other sincere people, including neighbors; and their access to God by means of prayer, all powerfully counteract loneliness.