“You have your company of young men just like dewdrops.”—Ps. 110:3.

But in particular are God’s people like dew in their refreshing and life-giving activities. Concerning this quality of Jehovah’s literal dewdrops we are told: “The value of this blessing cannot be adequately appreciated by the Western reader; but in Palestine . . . rain rarely, if ever, falls from April to September and, the heat of the sun being at the time very strong, all vegetation would be parched and dried up were it not for the copious dews which fall during the night . . . during the months of April, May, August and September, and after the early and before the latter rains.”—McClintock & Strong’s Cyclopædia.

Concerning these dews of Palestine, Newsweek, August 26, 1957, after quoting Genesis 27:28, had the following to say: “Despite a few such scattered hints in the Bible, the agricultural importance of dew has been ignored in recent centuries. Textbooks carefully explain how water in a plant is transported upward from the roots; a reverse process, the intake of the dew and its movement downward, is never mentioned.

“Now a modern Israeli scientist, who was inspired by the Bible to study dew, has established that this nocturnal deposit of water may spell the difference between a bountiful harvest and drought-ridden starvation. . . . He tells how a water spray simulating dew brought full recovery to wilting citrus trees unirrigated for many rainless months. His bedewed cucumbers were half again as plump as unbedewed ones. Most vegetables . . . grow faster, and yield more when ‘dew’ irrigated . . . Absorption can be so pronounced, he reports, that the soil around the roots will become moist, giving the plant an added reservoir to draw from the next morning.”

Surely, just as Jehovah provided literal dewdrops for the refreshment and life of vegetation, so he has provided symbolic dewdrops to serve for the refreshment and life of those who are “hungering and thirsting for righteousness.” To accomplish their purpose, these who are likened to dewdrops must go forth, searching for men of goodwill and, upon finding them, offer them the refreshing waters of life, in keeping with the prophetic invitation: “The spirit and the bride keep on saying: ‘Come!’ And let anyone hearing say: ‘Come!’”—Matt. 5:6; Rev. 22:17.

The fact that the dew falls ever so gently shows that these Christian ministers are to be kind and gentle in bringing the truth to the people. And just as the dew keeps falling regularly every evening, during its season, so these Witnesses must be regular, not spasmodic, in serving as refreshing dewdrops, especially in faithfully conducting Bible studies with the people in their homes, so that these can become refreshed and revived and take their stand for Jehovah and join in serving, like dewdrops themselves, to bring refreshment to still others.

Surely this is a most happifying work in which to be engaged! During the month of October these Christian witnesses will bring refreshment to the people by offering the Awake! magazine on a subscription basis.

Questions From Readers

● Why was Joshua commanded to hamstring horses? Does this have any meaning for Christians today?—R. B., United States.

The command referred to appears at Joshua 11:6 and reads: “Do not be afraid because of them, for tomorrow about this time I am abandoning all of them slain to Israel. Their horses you will hamstring, and their chariots you will burn in the fire.” And Joshua 11:9 tells of Joshua as doing “just as Jehovah had said to him: their horses he hamstrung, and their chariots he burned in the fire.”

The hamstrings of a horse are the back tendons above the hock of the hind legs of the horse; the hock of the hind legs corresponding to the knee of the horse’s front legs. By cutting these tendons the horses were crippled and no longer able to serve war purposes, either for cavalry or to pull war chariots. This was the simplest way to put a horse out of the battle. Of course, after these horses were hamstrung, disabled, they would be put to death, destroyed, even as were the war chariots.

Concerning horses McClintock & Strong’s Cyclopædia states: “The most striking feature in the Biblical notices of the horse is the exclusive use of it for military operations. In no instance is it referred to as employed for the purpose of ordinary locomotion or agriculture.” They were, however, used for affairs of state. (Esther 6:8; 8:14) They were especially associated with Egypt, as we note at Isaiah 31:1, 3: “Woe to those going down to Egypt for assistance, those who rely on mere horses, and who put their trust in war chariots, because they are numerous, and in steeds, because they are very mighty, but who have not looked to the Holy One of Israel and have not searched for Jehovah himself. The Egyptians, though, are earthling men, and not God; and their horses are flesh, and not spirit.” Similar unfavorable references appear at Psalm 20:7 and Ps 33:17.

Concerning the king of Israel in particular, warning was given: “He should not increase horses for himself.” (Deut. 17:16) No doubt, among the reasons why Jehovah, by the requirements set out in Leviticus 11, showed that the horse was to be viewed as an unclean animal was so that the Jews would not be tempted to acquire horses for food and then use them for war purposes and place their trust in them. Joshua’s action was according to divine instructions that, in turn, were in line with this divine principle. He was the judge of Israel under the invisible King Jehovah God. In obeying the divine command to hamstring the forces of the enemy, he did not appropriate them to himself and thus increase horses for himself as the judge of Israel.

All this, however, serves for more than historical interest, for it is included in “all the things that were written aforetime [which] were written for our instruction, that through our endurance and through the comfort from the Scriptures we might have hope.” (Rom. 15:4) Joshua’s diligently complying with these instructions, doing “just as Jehovah had said to him,” pictures that Jehovah’s people of today do not rely upon the world’s means of carnal warfare. They renounce the carnal warfare of this world and beat their swords into plowshares and their spears into pruning shears. This corresponds to the hamstringing of the war horses of the ancient Canaanites.—Isa. 2:4.

Announcements

FIELD MINISTRY

Like refreshing dew and copious showers, Jehovah’s witnesses bring refreshment to persons who are of goodwill toward God. This they do by making known the truths of God’s Word. As a part of this work, during October they will feature the Awake! magazine. A year’s subscription for Awake!, with three Bible study booklets, will be offered for $1.

INTRODUCING ANOTHER FRIEND TO YOU

Have you ever read the Awake! magazine? It is a companion to The Watchtower and has a rapidly expanding circle of friends. Its current circulation of 3,600,000 is double what it was only six years ago, and the twenty-five languages in which it appears is almost twice what it was then. Doesn’t that growing popularity suggest that you should look into it too? Send for a year’s subscription. It is only $1. Send now and receive three timely booklets on Bible subjects.

“WATCHTOWER” STUDIES FOR THE WEEKS

November 4: “The Word”—Who Is He? According to John, ¶1-28. Page 585.

November 11: “The Word”—Who Is He? According to John, ¶29-32, and Source of His Life, ¶33-57. Page 591.

November 18: Back to John 1:1, 2, ¶58-83. Page 598.