but because the people refused to listen and were unworthy.—Matt. 13:58.

CHRISTIAN FAITH

Faith is not the possession of all persons, as it is a fruitage of God’s spirit. (2 Thess. 3:2; Gal. 5:22) Those lacking faith are rejected by Jehovah. (Heb. 11:6) For faith now to be acceptable to God it is necessary to accept Jesus Christ, and this makes possible a righteous standing with God. (Gal. 2:16) A Christian’s faith is not static, but grows. (2 Thess. 1:3) Hence, the request of Jesus’ disciples, “Give us more faith,” was very appropriate, and he did provide them the foundation for increased faith. He supplied them with greater evidence and understanding on which to base their faith.—Luke 17:5.

The entire life course of a Christian is actually governed by faith, enabling him to overcome mountainlike obstacles that would hinder his service to God. (2 Cor. 5:7; Matt. 21:21, 22) Additionally, there must be works consistent with and in display of faith, but works of the Mosaic law are not required. (Jas. 2:21-26; Rom. 3:20) Trials result in strengthening faith. Faith serves as a protective shield in the Christian’s spiritual warfare, helping him to overcome the Devil and be a conqueror of the world.—1 Pet. 1:6, 7; Eph. 6:16; 1 Pet. 5:9; 1 John 5:4.

But faith cannot be taken for granted, because lack of faith is the ‘sin that so easily entangles one.’ To maintain a firm faith requires putting up a hard fight for it, resisting men who could plunge one into immorality, combating the works of the flesh, avoiding the snare of materialism, shunning faith-destroying philosophies and traditions of men and, above all, looking “intently at the Chief Agent and Perfecter of our faith, Jesus.”—Heb. 12:1, 2; Jude 3, 4; Gal. 5:19-21; 1 Tim. 6:9, 10; Col. 2:8.

FAITHFUL AND DISCREET SLAVE

When answering the apostles’ question concerning his future presence and the conclusion of the existing system of things, Jesus Christ included a parable or illustration dealing with a “faithful and discreet slave” and an “evil slave.” The faithful slave’s master appointed him over his domestics or household servants to provide them their food. If approved at his master’s coming (evidently from some trip), the slave would be rewarded by being placed over the master’s entire property.—Matt. 24:3, 45-51.

In the parallel illustration at Luke 12:42-48, the slave is called a “steward,” that is, a house manager or administrator, one placed over servants, though he is himself a servant. Such a position was often filled in ancient times by a faithful slave. (Compare Genesis 24:2; also the case of Joseph at Genesis 39:1-6.) In Jesus’ illustration the steward is first assigned only to the supervision and timely dispensation of the food supplies to the master’s body of attendants or servants, and later, because of his faithful and discreet handling of this ministry, his assignment is widened out to embrace supervision of all the master’s holdings. Regarding the identification of the “master” (Gr., kyʹri·os, also rendered “lord”), Jesus had already shown that he himself occupied such position toward his disciples, and they addressed him as such on occasion. (Matt. 10:24, 25; 18:21; 24:42; John 13:6, 13) The question remains as to the application of the figure of the faithful and discreet slave or steward and what his dispensing food to the domestics represents.

Commentators often view this as a general exhortation to any and all who have individual positions of responsibility in the Christian congregation. The principle of faithfulness and discreetness in discharging responsibility clearly applies to all such. (Compare Matthew 25:14-30; Titus 1:7-9.) Yet, the impossibility of each and every one of these individuals being placed over “all” his master’s belongings at the same time, the time of the master’s arrival, is obvious. This, however, does not require that the “slave” prefigure only one particular person who would be so privileged. The Scriptures contain examples of the use of a singular noun to refer to a collective group, as when Jehovah addresses the collective group of the Israelite nation and tells them: “You are my witnesses [plural], . . . even my servant [singular] whom I have chosen.” (Isa. 43:10) Similarly, the figure of the unfaithful “evil slave” could apply to a collective group in the same way that the “antichrist” is shown to be a class made up of individual antichrists.—1 John 2:18; 2 John 7.

Those forming the Christian congregation are referred to by the apostle Paul as “members of the household of God” (Eph. 2:19; 1 Tim. 3:15), and the same apostle shows that ‘faithful stewardship’ among such household members involved the dispensing of spiritual truths on which those becoming believers would ‘feed.’ (1 Cor. 3:2, 5; 4:1, 2; compare Matthew 4:4.) Whereas this was a prime responsibility of those appointed as ‘shepherds’ of the flock (1 Pet. 5:1-3), the apostle Peter shows that such stewardship of the divine truths was actually committed to all the ‘chosen ones’ of the Christian congregation. (1 Pet. 1:1, 2; 4:10, 11) Thus the entire Christian congregation was to serve in a united stewardship, dispensing such truths. At the same time the individual members making up such composite body or, the “domestics” making up the “house” of God (Heb. 3:6; Eph. 2:19), would also be recipients of the “food” dispensed. (Heb. 5:11-14; compare 1 Corinthians 12:12, 19-27.) Expanded responsibility would result from faithfulness maintained until the master’s promised ‘arrival.’—Matt. 24:46, 47; Luke 12:43, 44.

FALCON

[Heb., nets].

Some suggest that the Hebrew name for this bird derives from a root word meaning “to shine or sparkle” and that it here represents the flashing speed of the bird; others believe the name describes a “high-flying or soaring” bird. Modern lexicographers believe the term applies to falcons, though some consider it to embrace also hawks, which are very similar to the falcons though classified by ornithologists as in a separate “family” grouping. (The Septuagint Version, the Latin Vulgate, the Syriac Peshitta Version, and the Targums all render nets as hawk.) As predators, eating snakes, lizards, small mammals and other birds, “the falcon according to its kind” (“the hawk in its several species,” AT) was among those birds decreed “unclean” in the Mosaic law.—Lev. 11:16; Deut. 14:15.

The falcon is generally viewed as being unsurpassed as to its symmetry, power and strong speedy flight. Some of its members vie with the swift as the fastest fliers of the bird family, observers crediting one falcon with a diving speed of 180 miles (290 kilometers) per hour. Among the more common falcons found in Palestine, particularly in the central part, is the peregrine falcon, noted for its dashing qualities. As with other falcons (and also hawks) the female peregrine is larger than the male, measuring some eighteen inches (46 centimeters) in length, with a wingspread of about three feet (c. 1 meter). A rather dull-colored bird, the peregrine’s back and wings are a dusky gray, the underparts a creamy white with brownish black bars and “arrowhead” markings crossing the breast and sides. The tail is somewhat rounded. The hooked beak has a notch or tooth on the cutting edge of the upper mandible, and the short strong legs terminate in unusually large feet with powerful curved talons. Also found in Palestine are the somewhat larger lanner falcons, abundant in the cliffs and rocky gorges from Mount Hermon all the way down the Jordan valley to the Dead Sea area, and the saker falcons, occupying the high forest regions E of the Jordan.

The smaller common kestrel (Falco tinnunculus), about fourteen inches (36 centimeters) long, is also a member of the same “genus” as the falcon, and in the age of British and European royal falconry it was called the “poor man’s falcon.” It resembles the North American “sparrow hawk” (Falco sparverius). It is abundant the year round throughout Palestine’s forests, gorges and gardens, and even nests on larger buildings in the cities.

Falcons differ from hawks in various ways. The falcon’s wings are longer and generally narrower than those of the hawk; the tail is also longer. Unlike the hawk, the falcon is not primarily a gliding bird, flying rather with rapid powerful strokes of its long, pointed wings. Falcon nests, located on cliffs, high trees, or even building ledges, are also usually smaller and barer than the hawk’s, some falcons only scooping out a shallow “scape” on a cliff ledge for a nest.

The hawk is considered as a smaller member of the same family as the eagle, with the same curved beak and viselike talons. It characteristically has rather short, slightly rounded wings, broader than those of the falcon. Like the falcon, it often catches its prey in full flight. The eastern sparrow hawk (Accipiter nisus) is very plentiful throughout Palestine, its diet including, among other things, sparrows (whence its name) and turtledoves. It spends the summer months in Lebanon and upper Galilee and winters in Judea and the Arabah region.

Job 39:26 describes the falcon’s ‘soaring up and spreading its wings to the south wind,’ and this is understood by some to refer to a southward migration (“spreads his wings to travel south,” JB), which would be true of the lesser kestrel of the falcon family and, to some extent, of the peregrine falcon and the sparrow hawk. Others, however, believe that the text describes the bird as turning into the oncoming wind, and, by the power of its wings, flying into it, ascending higher and higher. Falcons are said to “rise to a great height, always endeavoring to outsoar any bird of which they may be in pursuit” so as to be able to plummet down with fierce velocity upon the prey below, and in doing so they often “avail themselves of the wind, and by flying against it are borne aloft like a kite.” (Funk & Wagnalls New Standard Encyclopedia, 1931, Vol. XI, pp. 329, 330) Similarly the kestrel is often called the “windhover” because of the way it “hovers in the air, heading into the wind, and beating its wings rapidly, while watching the ground for prey.”

Both the falcon and the hawk are noted for their keen sight, that of the hawk being rated as about eight times sharper than that of man. Falconry, using falcons, hawks, and even eagles, is usually considered as having been started by the ancient Persians and has been practiced for millenniums throughout the earth. There is no evidence, however, of its practice among the Hebrews, to whom all these birds were “unclean.”—Deut. 14:12-19.

The falcon held a very prominent place in the religion of Egypt. It became the symbol of Horus, the falcon-headed god of Egypt, who, together with Isis and Osiris, formed the principal trinity or “holy family” among Egypt’s gods and goddesses. The falcon symbol was always used in writing the title of the pharaohs, and, in some cases, these rulers were considered to be incarnations of Horus. Of the hundreds of mummified birds found in Egypt, the falcon, particularly the kestrel, is among the most numerous. Herodotus said that anyone killing a falcon in Egypt even though accidentally, was put to death.

[Picture on page 562]

Female peregrine falcon

[Picture on page 563]

Falcon-headed Egyptian god Horus

FALLING AWAY (OF WOMAN’S THIGH)

The divine punishment that came upon an adulterous woman whose transgression was concealed from her husband but who suspected her of unfaithfulness and therefore brought her to the priest. The priest made the woman stand before Jehovah, took some holy water (evidently pure, fresh water), sprinkled into it some dust from the tabernacle floor, and washed or wiped into it the cursings he had written down. After swearing to her innocence, she was required to drink the water. If guilty, her ‘thigh fell away’ and her belly swelled. If she was innocent, no harm would come upon her.—Num. 5:12-31.

The thigh is apparently used euphemistically in this passage to refer to the sexual organs. (Compare Genesis 46:26.) Logically the punishment affected those organs that were involved in committing the wrong. (Compare Mark 9:43-47.) The expression “fall away” is understood to mean “waste away” (The Holy Bible, translated by the Catholic Biblical Association of America), “shrink” (Da) or “shrivel” (Mo), and hence would suggest that the sex organs atrophied and that there was a loss of fertility and ability to conceive. The fact that the innocent wife was to be made pregnant by her husband (Num. 5:28) would seem to indicate that future pregnancy would be