Do You Remember?

Have you appreciated reading the recent issues of The Watchtower? See if you can answer the following questions:

• What are some reasons why so much evil exists today?

One cause of evil acts is man’s inclination toward badness. (Genesis 8:21) Another is that most people lack accurate knowledge of God’s will. Furthermore, Satan, the originator of evil, continues to meddle in human affairs.​—1/1, pages 4-6.

• What positive effects can result from a good word at the right time? (Proverbs 12:25)

It can build confidence in the recipient, encourage and motivate him, and create in him a sense of belonging. Also, as we seek to commend, we are helped to see the good in others.​—1/1, pages 16-17.

• What did the ark of the covenant contain?

It held the two stone tablets of the Law as well as some of the manna. After Korah’s rebellion, Aaron’s rod was put in the Ark to serve as a witness against that generation. (Hebrews 9:4) The rod and the manna may have been removed from the Ark before the dedication of Solomon’s temple.​—1/15, page 31.

• Why did the Jews in Nehemiah’s day have to bring wood to the temple?

The Mosaic Law did not require an offering of wood. But in Nehemiah’s day there was a need for an ongoing supply of wood in order to burn sacrifices on the altar.​—2/1, page 11.

• What is the Muratorian Fragment?

It is part of a Latin manuscript. The text was originally composed in Greek about the end of the second century C.E. It contains the oldest list of books of the Christian Greek Scriptures viewed as authoritative, as well as comments on the books and their writers.​—2/15, pages 13-14.

• Why did Persian Queen Vashti keep refusing to come to the king? (Esther 1:10-12)

The Bible does not state her motives. Some scholars suggest that she refused because she did not want to degrade herself before the king’s drunken guests. Or maybe this physically attractive queen was really not submissive, thus setting a bad example for other wives in the Persian Empire.​—3/1, page 9.

• How does the ransom provide deliverance?

Jesus’ sacrifice can deliver us from inherited sin and can liberate us from the fatal effects of sin. (Romans 6:23) This sacrifice frees true Christians from a guilty conscience. And by exercising faith in the ransom, we can be delivered from fear regarding our standing before God. (1 John 2:1)​—3/15, page 8.

• What can we learn from the prohibition in the Law not to boil a kid in its mother’s milk? (Exodus 23:19)

Such boiling may have been a pagan ritual performed to produce rain. (Leviticus 20:23) God provided the milk of a mother goat to nourish the kid and help it grow. Cooking the kid in that milk would show contempt for the God-established relation between parent and young. The law against this shows God’s tender compassion.​—4/1, page 31.