Questions From Readers

● The Watch Tower publications state that Isaac was five years old when he was weaned. What is the basis for this statement?—H. S., United States.

While the Scriptures do not specifically state the age at which Isaac was weaned, from the facts they do contain we can, nevertheless, ascertain this. Stephen said, as recorded at Acts 7:6, 7: “God spoke to this effect, that [Abraham’s] seed would be alien residents in a foreign land and the people would enslave them and afflict them for four hundred years.”—Gen. 15:13.

What would happen at the end of that time period? Genesis 15:14 answers: “But the nation that they will serve I am judging, and after that they will go out with many goods.” God did execute his judgments on Egypt in the form of ten plagues, and then, laden with the precious things of the Egyptians, the Israelites made their exodus from the land, crossing the Red Sea and heading southeast to Mount Sinai, where they gathered to worship Jehovah.—Ex. 7:4, 5; 12:35, 36.

As shown in the Bible chronology published in The Watchtower, 1951, pages 221, 222, and the book “New Heavens and a New Earth,” this deliverance from Egyptian bondage took place in 1513 B.C. Since this marked the end of the four-hundred-year period of affliction, the beginning of that period must have been in 1913 B.C. According to the same chronology, Isaac was five years of age at this time.

It had been foretold that Abraham’s seed would be alien residents in a land not theirs. This was true from the time of Isaac’s birth, for his father had left his home in Ur and was an alien resident in southern Palestine. It had been also foretold that this seed would come into servitude or be enslaved, but this was not true of their situation during the entire time of their alien residence. Not until 1750 B.C. was Joseph sold into slavery by his brothers and taken to Egypt, later to be made prime minister of the land. Then, in time, his descendants and those of his brothers who had moved into Egypt and had become a populous people were subjected to oppressive forced labor there. So it is evident that the slavery, which terminated in 1513 B.C., did not extend over a period of four hundred years. Nevertheless, affliction for Abraham’s offspring did begin four hundred years before the deliverance from Egypt. It began at the time that Isaac was weaned, and on which occasion, the Bible makes it a point to say, Ishmael, the son of Sarah’s Egyptian slave girl, poked fun at Isaac. Since the four-hundred-year period indicates that Isaac was five years old when this “affliction” began, and, according to the record, it started at the time of his being weaned, we must conclude that he was weaned at the age of five.—Gen. 21:8, 9.

Today, when so many women in the Western world refuse to nurse their own children, or limit their nursing of a child to six to nine months, the period of five years seems incomprehensibly long. But Dr. D. B. Jellife, in Infant Nutrition in the Subtropics and Tropics, shows that in many parts of the world children are weaned first after eighteen months to two years, that frequently in Latin-American lands children are nursed up to two or three years, and that in Arabia it is customary for a mother to nurse her children anywhere from thirteen to thirty-two months. In many places the length of nursing, or lactation, as medical literature refers to it, continues until the next pregnancy.

In the Middle Ages in Europe the average age for weaning was two years and, apparently, in the time of the Maccabees it was three years, for at 2 Maccabees 7:27 we read of a woman who nursed her son three years. There are not a few in the medical profession who hold that a mother’s milk far surpasses cow’s milk in nutrients, and the claim is made by some that the longer the child subsists on its mother’s milk the healthier it will be. In view of Sarah’s fondness of Isaac, and especially as he was not only her first but also her only son, it is easy to understand why she would have nursed him for five years.

Note also that young Samuel was brought to the temple or tabernacle for service immediately upon his being weaned. Since it was not until the age of three that even the offspring of the priests were numbered among those for whom provision was made, Samuel must have been at least that old when he was presented for temple service, and perhaps older. A child that was too young would have been of little help to adults in ministering at the house of God.—2 Chron. 31:16; 1 Sam. 1:22-24.

● The Watchtower, April 15, 1962, on page 238, made reference to a certain petition to excommunicate Hitler that a group of Catholic organizations cabled to the pope. In view of the fact that this statement has been challenged by some, the entire text, as it appeared in the Catholic Telegraph-Register, Cincinnati, Ohio, of September 1, 1939, follows herewith:

“REARED AS CATHOLIC BUT VIOLATES FAITH SAYS CABLE TO POPE

“250 Chicago Delegates from Nations, Religious Veteran’s Trade Union Bodies Join in Startling Appeal.

“(While we carry the article below as an interesting news item, we do not agree editorially that it is wise to seek action on such a grave matter as excommunication. It is best to leave to the church authorities all such matters. They know best all the points involved and the possible consequences.—EDITORS.)

“(By James Colvin)

“CHICAGO (Exclusive)—An appeal has been made to Pius XII that Reichsfuehrer Adolph Hitler be excommunicated.

“The Resolution [was] sent in at the height of the European delegates of Nations, Religious, Veterans’, and Trade Union Groups, banded together in the United Organizations for the Defense of Democracy.

“Copies of the cablegram were sent to George Cardinal Mundelein of Chicago, William Cardinal O’Connell of Boston, Dennis Cardinal Dougherty of Philadelphia, and Archbishop Amleto Giovanni Cicognani Apostolic Delegate to United States at Washington.

“‘Adolph Hitler,’ it read in part, ‘was born of Catholic parents, was baptized a Catholic, and was reared and educated as such. While publicly by his words, deeds and orders he has become the world’s greatest menace to Christianity, and to civilization, he has not publicly up to the present time declared himself outside of the Church of his parents, and has not repudiated his membership therein, thus remaining subject to the laws and discipline of the Church.

“‘Firmly believing that the pronouncing of excommunication upon Adolph Hitler will help the cause of freedom, Christianity, Humanity, and civilization at this time, we hereby respectfully plead, appeal, and petition your Holiness publicly to proclaim and impose excommunication of Adolph Hitler.’

“One of the speakers at a mass meeting declared: ‘we petition to make saints, thus recognizing the power of the Papacy. If such action holds good there, why not here?’ Included in the organizations represented at the meeting were units of the Polish National Alliance, branches of the Polish Roman Catholic Unions, and its joint Committee of Slovak organizations.”