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Endurance Serves to Prove IntegrityThe Watchtower—1958 | January 1
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name and tell of His salvation.
12. All gaining life must do what, and what comfort do we get from the rewards given Jesus, Job and all other faithful servants of Jehovah?
12 To take care of this great organization of Jehovah’s witnesses world-wide there are eighty-four branch offices. In these eighty-four branches we have an organization requiring the help of 1,107 persons. And backing them up in full-time service are 20,912 pioneers, special pioneers, missionaries and circuit and district servants scattered all over the world. All of them together associate in congregations in 164 lands and islands of the sea to the number of 16,883. Why not associate with one of them, the one nearest you? Learn about Jehovah’s purposes. Do not be afraid of being a Christian and of the endurance that one must show as a Christian in order to prove his integrity. Anyone who is ever going to gain everlasting life is going to have to prove his loyalty and faith to the Sovereign Ruler of the universe. So why draw back? There is no peace of mind or happiness in life in drawing back. It is a progressive person, the one who loves life, who will move ahead. The way to gain life is to live in God’s new world. Remember, those who have endured as Christians are pronounced happy. You have seen the outcome of endurance in the life of Christ Jesus and in the life of Job, and in the lives of true Christians behind the Iron Curtain and elsewhere today. What will it gain for them? Christ Jesus gained the tender affection and compassion from Jehovah, and a great reward for integrity-keeping. So did Job, and so will all faithful servants of Jehovah. Why not the same for you? Then you will be able to say as did the psalmist because of your walking in your own integrity: “My own foot will certainly stand on a level place; among the congregated throngs I shall bless Jehovah.”—Ps. 26:12.
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Questions From ReadersThe Watchtower—1958 | January 1
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Questions From Readers
● Why does Leviticus 11:20-23 speak of insects as ‘going on all fours,’ when they have six feet?—L. E., United States.
Leviticus 11:20, 21 reads: “Every winged swarming creature that goes on all fours is a loathsome thing to you. Only this is what you may eat of all the winged swarming creatures that go upon all fours, those that have leaper legs above their feet with which to leap upon the earth.”
It is unreasonable to think that the Bible writer did not know that insects with wings have six legs. He speaks of these insects that ‘go on all fours’ and then specifies certain ones in this category, and the ones he mentions have six legs, two of these being legs for leaping. A Jewish commentary gives this explanation on Le 11 verses 20 and 23: “go upon all four. The phrase used here cannot be taken to mean that the insects were possessed of only four legs. The words probably refer to their method of locomotion, and signify, ‘that move like quadrupeds.’ . . . 23. which have four feet. i.e. without the ‘bending legs.’”
There are winged insects, such as bees and flies and wasps, that walk along like the quadrupeds that go on all four. Of these, there are some with leaper legs that may be eaten. They literally have four feet that they crawl with, the other two being for leaping. The Bible is written in the colorful language of the common people, and we must allow for picturesque or descriptive expressions that are not always strictly literal. We sometimes speak of a man standing up on his hind legs and fighting. We do not mean it to be taken literally, to imply that he has forelegs and that he usually walks along on all four. We are drawing the picture from quadrupeds that rear up on their hind legs and paw or strike with their forelegs, as do horses or deer or bear when fighting. In a similar way, descriptively and not literally, the Bible refers to winged insects as going on all fours like quadrupeds.
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