keep faithful to Jehovah when you are bitterly opposed by members of your own household. And it takes no small amount of courage to keep integrity if you are a youth still attending school and daily have to rub elbows with a crowd of God-defying, mocking, scoffing, sneering teen-agers that likewise flout all rightful human authority, parents, schoolteachers and even the police.

How can you gain this greatly needed, all-important courage? Not by wishful thinking. It comes from a knowledge and understanding of God’s Word and your wholehearted reliance upon it. It is not a book of cowards. When its precepts and examples are properly interpreted and applied it gives the faith and hope in Jehovah that make for courage. Among the many fine examples of courage it contains are those of King David and the One whom he foreshadowed, Jesus Christ. What courage David showed when as a mere youth he took on the taunting giant Goliath! What courage Jesus manifested as he calmly spoke to the armed mob that came to take him on that last night of his earthly ministry!—1 Sam. 17:34-51; Matt. 26:47-56.

You can have like courage today by coming to God’s Word with the right mental attitude, with a consciousness of your spiritual need. But for your personal Bible study to be truly fruitful you must take advantage of the means Jehovah God has provided for your understanding his Word and applying it in our day. Those means consist primarily of five weekly congregational meetings. Do not let any such obstacles as inclement weather interfere with your attending these and gaining the faith-strengthening and hope-inspiring spiritual food to be had at them. Your very association with other courageous Christian ministers will cause your own courage to grow stronger, for if ‘bad associations spoil useful habits,’ certainly it must follow that right associations will strengthen useful habits.—1 Cor. 15:33.

You do want to be a courageous Christian minister, do you not? A courageous minister is a joyful minister. A courageous minister is one that brings honor to Jehovah’s name and shares in its vindication. A courageous minister is one who strengthens his fellow ministers. And a courageous minister is one who brings forth abundantly both the fruitage of the spirit and Kingdom fruitage, thirty-, sixty- and a hundredfold.

During December courageous ministers in English-speaking lands will manifest their faith and hope in Jehovah by bringing the New World Translation of the Holy Scriptures to men of goodwill. Happy are all those who share in this blessed work.

Questions From Readers

● What did Elijah mean when, in reply to Elisha’s request that he be permitted to say farewell to his parents, he said to Elisha: “Go, return; for what have I done to you?”—1 Ki. 19:20.—A. J., United States.

What Elijah here meant was that the matter was not so pressing that Elisha could not first go home and bid his parents farewell. Go, return, for I have no objections. I have done nothing to you to forbid this, his words might be paraphrased. So Elisha proceeded to prepare a feast for his family. This must have taken several hours at least, as it involved killing the bulls, preparing them and then boiling their flesh.

In fact, it is reasonable to conclude that Elijah stayed and shared in this feast, for we do not read of Elisha as hurrying to catch up with Elijah, as though Elijah had kept on going and Elisha stayed behind. So we read that after the feast Elisha “rose up and went following Elijah and began to minister to him.”—1 Ki. 19:21.

This was an entirely different situation from that recorded at Matthew 8:21, 22, where a disciple asked to be first permitted to bury his father, and Jesus replied: “Keep following me, and let the dead bury their dead.” In this case we are not to understand that the father was already dead; otherwise, the son would have been about burying his father, as in Oriental lands people bury their dead soon after they die.

Concerning this expression George M. Lamsa, an authority on Syrian (Aramaic) customs and languages, states: “This phrase is an Orientalism, especially among Aramaic-speaking people. It means ‘my father is an old man and I must take care of him until death.’ Or, ‘My father is on the side of the grave,’ which means, my father may die any day. A man seventy years old is considered ‘dead’ in the Orient because he is non-productive. As they have no insurance companies or banks for protection in old age, an aged man naturally became dependent upon his son for a living. The highest desire of a father, moreover, is to have his son at his death bed to close his eyes at the last hour, when he also pronounces his benediction upon his family. . . . Eastern people are noted for their generosity and hospitality. They not only share food but also bury the dead of the community, and look after the aged.”—Gospel Light, page 62.

So we see that there is no conflict between the call Elijah issued to Elisha and that which Jesus gave to a certain disciple.

● Why does the New World Translation at Philippians 3:11 have the word “earlier”? I do not find it in any other translation.—M. C., United States.

Philippians 3:11, according to the New World Translation, reads: “To see if I may by any means attain to the earlier resurrection from the dead.” The Diaglott, in its interlinear, reads: “If possibly I may attain to the resurrection out of the dead ones.” Marshall’s Interlinear Greek-English New Testament, which is based on Nestle’s text, renders the expression in question in its interlinear, “the out-resurrection.” And the Emphasized Bible by J. Rotherham reads: “If by any means I may advance to the earlier resurrection, which is from among the dead.” The footnote thereon reads, “More literally: ‘the out-resurrection.’”

The Greek word here used is not anástasis, the word almost invariably appearing in the Greek when an English translation reads “resurrection,” and which appears upward of forty times in the Christian Greek Scriptures. Rather, it is the word exanástasis a word, incidentally, that appears only in this text. Basically, in Greek exanástasis means a getting up early in the morning, so it suggests earliness and therefore an earlier rising from the dead. With out doubt Paul had in mind here the “first resurrection,” years later mentioned by John at Revelation 20:6: “Happy and holy is anyone having part in the first resurrection.”

By making a distinction between anástasis and exanástasis the New World Translation again gives proof of its exactness and accuracy. Of course, to those that do not appreciate that there is not only a first and heavenly resurrection but also a later and earthly resurrection this distinction would not seem to be important, but it is for those who do appreciate it, even though this is the only instance in the writings of Paul where he uses this word.

Announcements

FIELD MINISTRY

Faithful service to Jehovah God requires courage. (Ps. 27:14) Throughout December Jehovah’s courageous and faithful witnesses will carry out their ministry by offering the New World Translation of the Holy Scriptures, with a Bible-study booklet, on a contribution of $1.

1963 YEARBOOK AND CALENDAR

Once more a thrilling year of service activity is ended to Jehovah’s praise. Once more the record of zealous preaching for one year is a matter of permanent record. You will want to review that stimulating record in detail and learn what part each land or island of the sea had in adding to the grand total. After December 15 the 1963 Yearbook of Jehovah’s Witnesses containing this report will be available. Obtain your copy for only 50c. Send also for the 1963 calendar, beautifully illustrating the year’s text. It is only 25c.

“WATCHTOWER” STUDIES FOR THE WEEKS

January 13: Benefiting by Subjection to Authorities, also Conscience and Subjection to Authorities, ¶1-12. Page 709.

January 20: Conscience and Subjection to Authorities, ¶13-48. Page 716.