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Benefiting by Subjection to AuthoritiesThe Watchtower—1962 | December 1
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for doing good? The Persian government allowed Daniel, and also Mordecai, to do good, even though this directly benefited Jehovah’s people; and it even commended Daniel and Mordecai for doing so. It approved of their doing so, as they were the captive slaves of such governments. Vengeance deservedly came upon the persecutors of Daniel and of Queen Esther and Mordecai and of their Jewish brothers.
19. How did God use Gentile rulers as his avenger against the wayward ten-tribe kingdom of Israel?
19 In the centuries before Christ God authorized Gentile rulers or “superior authorities” to act as his avenger to express divine wrath upon his chosen people because of their national failures toward him. According to Isaiah 9:8-17, God used King Rezin of Syria together with the Philistines to act as his avenger against Ephraim and the inhabitants of Samaria, the capital of Northern Israel. According to Isaiah 10:5, 6, 15, Jehovah also made the king of Assyria the stick or rod with which to belabor that wayward nation.
20. How did God use Gentile rulers as his avenger against Judah, Egypt and Babylon?
20 According to Jeremiah’s words (Jer 25:8-11; 27:4-8), Jehovah made the king of Babylon his servant by whom to bring divine vengeance upon the nation of Judah and other nations having to do with Judah. The king of Babylon was as God’s sword. (Ezek. 21:8-23) Jehovah made the king of Babylon like his woodcutter to chop down and subdue Egypt, which had grown like a sturdy tree. (Ezek. 31:2-14) King Cyrus of Persia was made Jehovah’s anointed one to humiliate Babylon and overthrow it as a world power.—Isa. 45:1-4.
21. (a) Whom did God use as his avenger A.D. 70, and against whom? (b) May the “authority” act as an avenger only when carrying out a Bible prophecy, or when also?
21 In the days of Christ’s apostles Jehovah God used the Roman authority to act as his avenger with the sword in the year 70. That year was when the “days for meting out justice,” the days of vengeance, came upon the antichristian nation of Israel. So its holy city and temple of worship were destroyed by the Roman legions under General Titus. (Luke 21:20-24; Matt. 23:35 to 24:2) That was a day of judgment for Israel. However, there is no need for the worldly “authority” to wait until the judgment day of a disobedient nation before it acts as an “avenger to express wrath.” The avenger’s wrath can be expressed at any other time against any individual wrongdoer, by the law processes of the “authority.” So the truth of the apostle Paul’s words does not need to be limited to the time that God carries out a prophecy against a whole nation.
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Conscience and Subjection to AuthoritiesThe Watchtower—1962 | December 1
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Conscience and Subjection to Authorities
1. When does the greatest benefit come to one from subjection to authorities, and who therefore receive the greatest benefit?
THE greatest benefit from subjecting ourselves to the “existing authorities” that God permits to rule on earth comes by being subject with the right motive. The motive of fear does not always keep men from doing wrong or from opposing the “superior authorities.” In all the nations and lands the persons who have the best motive for subjecting themselves are the persons who are no part of Christendom but who are Christians dedicated to Jehovah God and who follow in the
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