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Overseers for the Joy of the FlockThe Watchtower—1961 | May 15
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news, are thrilling. The increasing flood of persons of good will from all nations into the New World society is evidence of the great ingathering now on. How long the privilege of sharing in this grand undertaking will last we do not know. But let us determine to share in it fully with joy. Let us pursue the things that make for peace, and rejoice with the rejoicing of Jehovah’s nation.—1 Pet. 3:11, 12; Ps. 106:5.
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The Thought Behind the ProverbThe Watchtower—1961 | May 15
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The Thought Behind the Proverb
THE book of Proverbs is a rich mine of practical counsel. Every phase of human relationship seems to be covered. There is counsel on how to treat friends, the rearing of children, the snares that lurk in the path of young and old, and the perils of overconfidence. To benefit from this mine of truth requires digging on our part. “If you keep seeking for it as for silver, and as for hid treasures you keep searching for it, in that case you will understand the fear of Jehovah, and you will find the very knowledge of God.” (Prov. 2:4, 5) Examining the thought behind the inspired proverb is a most profitable way of digging for the treasures of divine wisdom.
“Listen, my son, to the discipline of your father, and do not forsake the law of your mother. For they are a wreath of attractiveness to your head and a fine necklace to your throat.”
A child ought to get its first ideas of God from his parents, and his father’s and mother’s love ought to be the stepping-stones by which he rises to understand the love of God, his Father in heaven. So the proverb teaches. Instruction and discipline of wisdom may at first seem difficult and hard, like fetters of iron restraining the corruption and rebellion that is inborn, but in time they become like chains of gold, worn like ornaments and no burden at all.
“For the net is spread simply for nothing before the eyes of anything owning wings.”
The Revised Standard Version explains the verse to mean that, unlike birds that do not allow themselves to be caught when nets are spread before their very eyes, wicked men go to their own destruction blindly. In this chapter the wicked are represented as scheming privately to ensnare the innocent. If their designs were known, the innocent would evade the snare, “for the net is spread simply for nothing before the eyes of anything owning wings.” The wise counsel is to attend to Jehovah’s instructions and you will see the designs of the wicked and so be able to avoid their snares, as does the bird that sees the net before its eyes.
“The one holding back grain—the populace will execrate him, but there is a blessing for the head of the one letting it be bought.”
It seems that the fast way to make money in olden times was to buy up grain when prices were low and then wait till famine pressed heavily and then sell the grain at famine prices. It was sort of an ancient version of the black market. Even though some good was done by the individual’s practice, by his limiting consumption
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