reaper’s fingers to protect them from being cut by the sickle or the dry stalks.

The Israelites were commanded not to reap the edges of their fields. Instead, they were to leave a little grain standing “for the afflicted one and the alien resident.” (Lev. 19:9, 10) After the grain was reaped, it was gathered, bound in sheaves, and piled in heaps, perhaps on the threshing floor.—Gen. 37:6, 7; Ruth 3:6, 7.

FIGURATIVE USE

Reaping is often used figuratively in the Scriptures to illustrate the end result of one’s works, whether good or bad. The divine principle is that “whatever a man is sowing, this he will also reap.” Paul showed that, whereas the one sowing with a view to the flesh reaps corruption therefrom, “he who is sowing with a view to the spirit will reap everlasting life from the spirit,” and assured Galatian Christians that they would reap if they did not tire out. (Gal. 6:7-9; Prov. 22:8; Hos. 8:1, 7) In encouraging Christian generosity toward needy fellow believers in Judea, the apostle told the Corinthians: “He that sows sparingly will also reap sparingly; and he that sows bountifully will also reap bountifully.”—2 Cor. 9:5-7.

Jesus Christ dispatched his disciples to “reap,” implying that they were to gather responsive Jews as his disciples. (John 4:35-38) According to Jesus’ illustration of the symbolic “wheat” and “weeds,” at “the conclusion of the system of things,” the Son of man sends out his angelic reapers to “collect out from his kingdom all things that cause stumbling and persons who are doing lawlessness.” These “weeds” (“the sons of the wicked one”) are pitched into a figurative fiery furnace, whereas the “wheat” (“the sons of the kingdom”) are preserved and “will shine as brightly as the sun in the kingdom of their Father.”—Matt. 13:24-30, 36-43.

That the glorified and enthroned Jesus Christ directs this reaping and separating work is shown by John’s vision in Revelation, where Christ is pictured as someone “like a son of man, with a golden crown on his head and a sharp sickle in his hand.” In response to the angelic cry, “Put your sickle in and reap, because the hour has come to reap, for the harvest of the earth is thoroughly ripe,” John beheld that he “thrust in his sickle on the earth, and the earth was reaped.” The apostle observed that thereafter “the vine of the earth” was gathered and hurled into “the great wine press of the anger of God.”—Rev. 14:14-20; compare Revelation 19:11-16.

REASONABLENESS

“Reasonable” appropriately conveys the thought of the Greek word e·pi·ei·kesʹ, which has been defined as meaning “seemly, fitting; hence, equitable, fair, moderate, forbearing, not insisting on the letter of the law; it expresses that considerateness that looks ‘humanely and reasonably at the facts of a case.’”—An Expository Dictionary of New Testament Words (Vol. II, pp. 144, 145) by W. E. Vine.

Reasonableness is a distinctive feature of heavenly wisdom. (Jas. 3:17) It is a quality that a man who is appointed as an overseer in a Christian congregation must have. (1 Tim. 3:2, 3) He would have to be reasonable with himself, in dealing with others and in his view of problems. Also, Christians generally are encouraged to be reasonable. The apostle Paul counseled the Philippians: “Let your reasonableness become known to all men.” (Phil. 4:5) And Titus was instructed to remind the Christians of Crete “to be reasonable.” (Titus 3:1, 2) This was especially fitting, since the inhabitants of Crete as a whole had the reputation of being liars, injurious wild beasts and unemployed gluttons.—Titus 1:12.

At 1 Peter 2:18 house servants are admonished to “be in subjection to their owners with all due fear, not only to the good and reasonable, but also to those hard to please.”

REBA

(Reʹba) [fourth part].

One of the five kings of Midian slain in the avenging of Midian’s immoral seduction of Israel. (Num. 31:2, 8) At the time, the five were presumably vassals of the Amorites and hence are also called “the dukes of Sihon.”—Josh. 13:21.

REBEKAH

(Re·bekʹah) [possibly, “cow”].

The daughter of Bethuel the son of Nahor, and therefore grandniece of Abraham. Her brother’s name was Laban.—Gen. 22:20-23.

About 1878 B.C.E., when Abraham sent his household manager, likely Eliezer, in search of a suitable wife for his son Isaac (now forty years old), he came to “the city of Nahor” in the upper Mesopotamian valley. There at a well, this servant prayed that Jehovah’s choice would be the damsel who not only would give him a drink when asked but also would volunteer to water his ten camels. (Gen. 24:1-14) While he was praying, Rebekah came to the well with a water jar. When asked for a sip of water she graciously gave him a drink and then “quickly emptied her jar into the drinking trough and ran yet again and again to the well to draw water, and kept drawing for all his camels. All the while the man was gazing at her in wonder, keeping silent to know whether Jehovah had made his trip successful or not.” Rebekah proved to be kind, hospitable, modest in her manners and industrious; besides this, “the young woman was very attractive in appearance.”—Gen. 24:14-21.

Abraham’s servant, recognizing that his prayer had been answered, bestowed upon Rebekah a costly gold nose ring and two beautiful gold bracelets. These she showed to her family, to her mother and her brother Laban, who, in turn, extended the hospitality of their home to the visitor and the attendants with him. (Gen. 24:22-32) But before he would eat, the man stated his business. Laban and his father Bethuel gave their consent for Rebekah to marry Isaac, gifts, consisting of precious articles of gold and silver and exquisite garments, were given to Rebekah and her family, and then they all ate together. (Gen. 24:33-54) This transaction constituted an honorable marriage contract, not between Rebekah and Isaac, but between their parents, according to the custom of the time. Rebekah was therewith betrothed to Isaac, and was from then on, in effect, his wife.

With Rebekah’s consent, the caravan took off the next morning for the long journey to the Negeb near Beer-lahai-roi, where Isaac was living at the time. Before she left, Rebekah’s family blessed her, saying: “May you become thousands times ten thousand, and let your seed take possession of the gate of those who hate it.” Her nurse Deborah and other lady attendants accompanied Rebekah, none of whom, it appears, ever returned to their homeland.—Gen. 24:55-62; 35:8.

Upon reaching their destination, Rebekah put on a headcloth at the approach of her bridegroom Issac, and after Abraham’s servant had recounted all the events of his mission, relating how Jehovah had directed the choice, Isaac brought Rebekah into his mother’s tent to become his wife. Isaac dearly loved Rebekah, and in her he “found comfort after the loss of his mother” Sarah, who had died three years earlier.—Gen. 24:63-67.

Like Sarah, Rebekah for a long time remained barren. After some nineteen years, during which time Isaac persistently appealed to Jehovah, she conceived and bore the twins Esau and Jacob. (Gen. 25:20, 26) So distressing was her pregnancy, as the two struggled with each other in her womb, that Rebekah wondered, “Just why am I alive?” In response, Jehovah assured her that she would become the mother of two great nations, and that “the older will serve the younger.” (Gen. 25:21-26) This, Paul says, was to demonstrate that the choice of the ‘seed of promise’ depended entirely on God.—Rom. 9:6-13.

Also like Sarah, Rebekah disguised her identity on one occasion, passing herself off as her husband’s