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RichesAid to Bible Understanding
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all material things, but wrote: “Give orders to those who are rich in the present system of things not to be high-minded, and to rest their hope, not on uncertain riches, but on God, who furnishes us all things richly for our enjoyment; to work at good, to be rich in fine works, to be liberal, ready to share, safely treasuring up for themselves a fine foundation for the future, in order that they may get a firm hold on the real life.” (1 Tim. 6:17-19) Thus these wealthy Christians had to watch their attitude, keeping riches in their proper place and using them generously to aid others.
MAMMON
The original-language term ma·mo·nasʹ (or, its anglicized form “mammon”) is generally understood to denote money or riches. (Matt. 6:24; Luke 16:9, 11, 13; compare AS, AV, NW.) There is no evidence that the expression was ever the name of a specific deity. Jesus used the term when showing that a person cannot be a slave to God and to riches. (Matt. 6:24) He urged his hearers: “Make friends for yourselves by means of the unrighteous riches, so that, when such fail, they may receive you into the everlasting dwelling places.” (Luke 16:9) Since the possession or desire for material riches can lead to lawless acts, they may for this reason have been designated as “unrighteous riches,” in contrast with the spiritual riches. Also, material riches, particularly money, actually belong to and are under the control of “Caesar,” who issues money and assigns a particular value to it. Such riches are transitory, being subject to economic conditions, and the possession of such is liable to loss due to circumstances. Hence, one having such riches should not put his trust in them, nor use them as the world in general does for selfish purposes, such as the amassing of still greater wealth. (1 Cor. 7:31) Rather, he should be alert and diligent to make friends of the possessors of the everlasting dwelling places.
The possessors of “the everlasting dwelling places” are Jehovah God and his Son Christ Jesus. (Compare John 6:37-40, 44.) Persons who do not use their “unrighteous riches” in a proper way (as in assisting those in need and in furthering the “good news” [Gal. 2:10; Phil. 4:15]) could never be friends of God and of his Son Christ Jesus. Their unfaithfulness in the use of unrighteous riches would show that they are unfit to be entrusted with spiritual riches. (Luke 16:10-12) Such persons could never be fine stewards of God’s undeserved kindness, dispensing spiritual riches to others.—1 Pet. 4:10, 11.
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RiddleAid to Bible Understanding
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RIDDLE
A saying that is puzzling. Riddles are contrasted with plain speech that can be readily understood. (Num. 12:8) The word is sometimes used as an expression parallel to proverbial saying, because a riddle may well be a statement that is full of meaning but set out in obscure language. (Ps. 49:4) The same Hebrew word that is rendered “riddles” is also, in a different context, translated “perplexing questions.” (2 Chron. 9:1) Formulating a riddle, which often involves an obscure but accurate analogy, requires a keen mind, and solving such a riddle calls for ability to see things in relation to one another; so the Bible refers to riddles as the product of wise persons and as something that can be fathomed by a man of understanding.—Prov. 1:5, 6.
The Bible itself contains riddles involving Jehovah’s purposes. (Ps. 78:2-4) They are statements that may at first perplex the reader; they may be intentionally obscure, employing meaningful comparisons that were not meant to be understood by persons at the time they were first written. For example, in Zechariah 3:8 Jehovah refers prophetically to “my servant Sprout,” but he does not there explain that this one is a sprout or offspring of the royal line of David; that actually such one is God’s own Son then in the heavens who would be born to a virgin descendant of King David. And Revelation 13:18 says the “number of the wild beast” is said to be “six hundred and sixty-six,” but it does not there explain the significance of that number.
At times riddles were used, not to mystify the ones who heard them, but apparently to arouse interest and to make the message conveyed more vivid. Such was the case with the riddle of the two eagles and the vine, propounded to the house of Israel by the prophet Ezekiel. (Ezek. 17:1-8) Immediately after he had presented the riddle, Ezekiel was instructed by Jehovah to ask the people if they understood it and then to explain it to them.
Some riddles were set forth for men to guess, and often in verse, as was the case with the one Samson propounded to the Philistines. (Judg. 14:12-18) He deliberately employed comparisons that would not be readily perceived when he said: “Out of the eater something to eat came forth, and out of the strong something sweet came forth.” His riddle was based on an experience he personally had had shortly before this when he scraped honey out of the carcass of a lion, where it had been deposited by a swarm of bees.—Judg. 14:8, 9.
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RidiculeAid to Bible Understanding
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RIDICULE
The act of belittling or exposing to contempt, derision or mockery. There are a number of Hebrew and Greek words that express varying degrees of ridicule, the choice of word depending on circumstances. We therefore read in the Bible of persons that mock, deride, sneer, scoff, jeer, laugh at or make fun of others.
Ridiculers, particularly those who scoff at the principles and counsel of God’s Word, are spoken of in the Bible as detestable. (Prov. 24:9) If such do not accept reproof they will experience disaster. (Prov. 1:22-27) And, how despicable are those who deride the poor, or their own parents! (Prov. 17:5; 30:17) Ridiculers often refuse to listen to rebuke (Prov. 13:1) and do not love those reproving them. (Prov. 9:7, 8; 15:12) Nevertheless, they should be disciplined for the benefit of others. (Prov. 9:12; 19:25, 29; 21:11) Instead of keeping company with such unholy ones it is better to drive them away; much happier are those who refuse to sit with ungodly ridiculers.—Ps. 1:1; Prov. 22:10.
RIDICULE AGAINST GOD’S SERVANTS
Unjustified ridicule of every sort is suffered by faithful servants of Jehovah. Job was falsely accused of deriding others (Job 11:3), whereas, in reality, he was the one derided, mocked and made a laughingstock for his course of integrity. (Job 12:4; 17:2; 21:3) David was derided and mocked. (Ps. 22:7; 35:16) Likewise, Elisha (2 Ki. 2:23), Nehemiah and those associated with him (Neh. 2:19; 4:1), and many others “received their trial by mockings.” (Heb. 11:36) When King Hezekiah of Judah sent runners throughout cities of Ephraim and Manasseh, urging them to come to Jerusalem and celebrate the Passover, many individuals mocked and derided the messengers. (2 Chron. 30:1, 10) This, in fact, was the way apostates of both houses of Israel treated God’s prophets and messengers until the rage of Jehovah swept them all away.—2 Chron. 36:15, 16.
Jesus and his disciples ridiculed
As God’s Servant and Prophet, Jesus Christ was sneered at, laughed at, made fun of, treated insolently, even spit upon, during his ministry on earth. (Mark 5:40; Luke 16:14; 18:32) The Jewish priests and rulers were especially hateful in their derision. (Matt. 27:41; Mark 15:29-31; Luke 23:11, 35) The Roman soldiers joined in the mockery when he was delivered up to them.—Matt. 27:27-31; Mark 15:20; Luke 22:63; 23:36.
The disciples of Jesus Christ were likewise mocked by the uninformed and by unbelievers. (Acts 2:13; 17:32) The apostle Paul, speaking of the derision suffered by his fellow disciples at the hands of the Jews, points back to the prophetic picture of ancient times, wherein Isaac, at the age of about five years, was derided by his nineteen-year-old half-brother Ishmael, who, in jealousy, was “poking fun” at (“mocking,” AV, Yg) Isaac. (Gen. 21:9) Paul gives the prophetic application, saying: “Now we, brothers, are children belonging to the promise the same as Isaac was. But just as then the one born in the manner of flesh began persecuting the one born in the manner of spirit [God having intervened to bring about Isaac’s birth], so also now.” (Gal. 4:28, 29) Later Paul writes: “In fact, all those desiring to live with godly devotion in association with Christ Jesus will also be persecuted.”—2 Tim. 3:12.
Enduring ridicule with the proper viewpoint
Jesus Christ knew all along that he would face ridicule, and that it would culminate in his being put to death. But he recognized that the reproaches were actually against Jehovah, whom he represented, and this was all the more painful to him who ‘always did the things pleasing to his Father’ (John 8:29), and who was more concerned with the sanctification of his Father’s name than anything else. (Matt. 6:9) Accordingly, “when he was being reviled, he did not go reviling in return. When he was suffering, he did not go threatening, but kept on committing himself to the one who judges righteously.” The apostle Peter expresses this point when writing to Christians, particularly to slaves, exhorting them not to let such treatment incite them to retaliate, for Christ is their example, “a model,” Peter says, “for you to follow his steps closely.”—1 Pet. 2:18-23; Rom. 12:17-21.
Jeremiah the prophet of God said, at one point in his career, “I became an object of laughter all day long; everyone is holding me in derision.” Momentarily he weakened and considered stopping his prophetic work because of the unceasing reproach and jeering. But he too recognized that it was “for the word of Jehovah” that the derision came, and God’s word in his heart proved to be like a burning fire that he could not endure to hold in. For his faithfulness Jehovah was with him “like a terrible mighty one,” and Jeremiah was strengthened to keep on loyally.—Jer. 20:7-11.
Job was a man righteously maintaining his integrity through great ridicule. But he developed the wrong viewpoint and made a mistake, for which he was corrected. Elihu said of him: “What able-bodied man is like Job, who drinks up derision like water?” (Job 34:7) Job became too concerned with his own justification rather than God’s, and tended to magnify his own righteousness more than God’s. (Job 35:2; 36:24) In receiving the severe ridicule of his three “companions,” Job tended to count it directed toward himself rather than toward God. In this he was like a person drinking water with enjoyment, like one who gives himself up to derision and ridicule and delights in it. God later explained to Job that these ridiculers were actually (in the final analysis) speaking untruth against God. (Job 42:7) Similarly, Jehovah told the prophet Samuel when Israel demanded a king: “It is not you whom they have rejected, but it is I whom they have rejected from being king over them.” (1 Sam. 8:7) And Jesus said to his disciples: “You will be objects of hatred by all the nations [not on your own account, but] on account of my name.” (Matt. 24:9) These things, kept in mind, will enable the Christian to endure ridicule in the right spirit and will qualify him to receive a reward for his endurance.—Luke 6:22, 23.
JUSTIFIABLE RIDICULE
Ridicule may be deserved and well justified. One not exercising foresight or who neglects good counsel may take a foolish course that makes him the object of ridicule. Jesus gave such an example, of a man who started to build a tower without first counting the cost. (Luke 14:28-30) Jehovah set Israel “as a reproach to [her] neighbors, a derision and jeering to those all around” her, justly so, because of her own waywardness and disobedience to God, even to the point of bringing reproach upon God’s name among the nations. (Ps. 44:13; 79:4; 80:6; Ezek. 22:4, 5; 23:32; 36:4, 21, 22) The prophet Elijah appropriately mocked the priests of Baal for their defiance of Jehovah. (1 Ki. 18:26, 27) After Sennacherib had taunted and spoken of Jehovah abusively before King Hezekiah and the people of Jerusalem, the tables were turned, and ridicule, derision, reproach and ignominious defeat fell upon this haughty Assyrian king and his army. (2 Ki. 19:20, 21; Isa. 37:21, 22) In a similar manner Moab became an object of ridicule. (Jer. 48:25-27, 39) The nations of earth have gone to the extreme in ridiculing God, but Jehovah laughs at them and holds them in derision for their impudent resistance of his universal sovereignty, as they reap the bad fruitage of their course.—Ps. 2:2-4; 59:8; Prov. 1:26; 3:34.
RIDICULERS IN THE “LAST DAYS”
One of the signs marking the “last days” would be “ridiculers with their ridicule, proceeding according to their own desires [“own desires for ungodly things” (Jude 17, 18)] and saying: ‘Where is this promised presence of his? Why, from the day our forefathers fell asleep in death, all things are continuing exactly as from creation’s beginning.’” (2 Pet. 3:3, 4) Obviously, such ones do not heed the advice of Isaiah 28:21, 22, warning of the grave danger of scoffing at Jehovah.
“GOD IS NOT ONE TO BE MOCKED”
The apostle Paul warns of the serious danger that attends an attempt to mock God, that is, to one who thinks that the principles of God’s administration can be treated with contempt or successfully evaded. He writes to the Galatian Christians: “For if anyone thinks he is something when he is nothing, he is deceiving his own mind. . . . Do not be misled: God is not one to be mocked. For whatever a man is sowing, this he will also reap; because he who is sowing with a view to his flesh will reap corruption from his flesh, but he who is sowing with a view to the spirit will reap everlasting life from the spirit.”—Gal. 6:3-8.
Here the apostle shows that a person should not deceive himself with a false estimate of his own worth, thereby ignoring God and his Word. He should clean up his life to walk by the spirit as the Word directs. If one does not do this, but instead goes on sowing with a view to fleshly desires, he will be ‘accepting the undeserved kindness of God and missing its purpose,’ and treating God’s instruction as contemptible. (2 Cor. 6:1) He may deceive himself into thinking that he is safe. Nevertheless, God knows his heart and will judge him accordingly.
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RighteousnessAid to Bible Understanding
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RIGHTEOUSNESS
[Heb., tseʹdheq, tsedha·qahʹ, righteousness, justice; Gr., di·kai·o·syʹne, righteousness, justice].
Both the Hebrew and the Greek words have the thought of “rectitude,” “uprightness,” indicating a standard or norm determining what is upright. “Righteousness” is frequently used in connection with a judge, or with judgment, giving the term a somewhat legal flavor (hence, the original-language terms are often translated “justice”). (Ps. 35:24; 72:2; 96:13; Isa. 11:4; Rev. 19:11) In the Mosaic law, at Leviticus 19:36 tseʹdheq is used four times in connection with business transactions: “You should prove to have accurate [tseʹdheq, “just,” AT, AV, Le] scales, accurate weights, an accurate ephah and an accurate hin.”
GOD SETS THE STANDARD
Greek scholar Kenneth S. Wuest (quoting also from Cremer) says, in Studies in the Vocabulary of the Greek New Testament (1966 printing), page 37: “God is the objective standard which determines the content of meaning of dikaios [righteous], and at the same time keeps that content of meaning constant and unchanging, since He is the unchanging One. ‘Righteousness in the biblical sense is a condition of rightness the standard of which is God, which is estimated
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