18. How, figuratively, has the “young lion” been trodden down?

¹⁸ The young lion makes an open, frontal attack, exposing itself. So, too, powerful political states have resorted to legislative action that names the victim. They have openly passed laws aimed at Jehovah’s witnesses. Or they have applied nationalistic laws against these. With what purpose? To devour them, to assimilate them, to make them religiously subservient to the State, making them a national religious institution, torn apart from the worldwide body of Jehovah’s witnesses that is ruled from God down. Loyal witnesses of Jehovah have turned down such a totalitarian, State-controlled arrangement. Theocratically they have held firmly to God’s Rule!

21. How do Jehovah’s worshipers trample down the symbolic “maned young lion”?

²¹ The psalmist heightens the intensity of the figures of speech when, in a parallelism, he speaks of trampling down “the maned young lion and the big snake.” The maned young lion should be older and also fiercer-looking than just the young lion; and the big snake would be a monstrous reptile, which the Greek Septuagint Version of the Psalms calls a “dragon.” However, no matter how impressive-looking, how fierce-looking the symbolic maned young lion may be when making his open, frontal attack, Jehovah’s worshipers trample this dangerous attacker down. They walk right on, obeying the Most High God as Sovereign Ruler rather than lionlike men or lionlike man-made organizations. They render to lionlike Caesar only what belongs to Caesar and in no way holding back anything that belongs to God, giving to him all the things belonging to Him. (Acts 5:29; Matt. 22:21) So they are not spiritually hurt by the menacing action of the “lion.”