walks of life. Today illustrations are freely used in the publications of Jehovah’s witnesses. Notice them in the book From Paradise Lost to Paradise Regained and how they assist the reader to appreciate more fully the printed information.

LIVING WHAT YOU READ

24-30. What points illustrated in Judges 6-8 stick in your mind, helping you to remember this account and to gain in knowledge of Jehovah?

²⁴ Having a fertile mind well cultivated now by these principles, we can launch off into a most captivating feast of Jehovah’s Word. To get the most out of the pictures unfolding before us we visualize mentally the happenings involved in the event. With Judges chapters 6-8, come with us into the past when judges ruled Israel and we will join ourselves to a farmer called Gideon. He has just been visited by Jehovah’s angel, who proves that Gideon has been chosen to save the Israelites from the Midianites. We are soon caught up in a chain of fast-moving happenings. In the night down comes the altar of Baal and up goes the altar of Jehovah, sending the city fathers looking for the blood of Gideon. You hear Gideon’s father send them on their way, with a challenge to their god Baal. Gideon’s messengers bring together 32,000 men, and now with two more signs from God that erase any doubts from Gideon’s mind we march to the well of Harod, under five miles from the massive camp of marauding Midianites in the Valley of Jezreel.

²⁵ But now you can hardly believe your eyes. Gideon is doing what Jehovah long ago commanded the army officers to do. “The officers must . . . say, ‘Who is the man that is fearful and fainthearted? Let him go and return to his house, that he may not cause the hearts of his brothers to melt as his own heart.’” (Deut. 20:8) Does your heart nearly melt when you learn 22,000 men go home? What will be done, for the Midianites are like insects for numbers, and what if they should know of Gideon’s plan and the size of his army now reduced to 10,000?

²⁶ Now they are led to water. They stop to drink! A few quickly scoop a handful of water to their mouth and almost immediately these are separated to one side to make just 300 in all. The 9,700 that went down on their knees to drink water are being sent home! You remember the angel’s words to Gideon: “You will certainly strike down Midian as if one man.” (Judg. 6:16) But with so few? No wonder this place, the name of the well of Harod, means “trembling.”

²⁷ Consider yourself now as one of the three hundred. You conclude now that if we win it will be by Jehovah’s power, not ours, and we do well to follow his instructions through Gideon without any more anxieties. You now have the point that Jehovah is emphasizing to all present and future generations: follow instructions.

²⁸ Night falls, Gideon scouts the enemy camp and is made strong by what he hears. He returns soon and organizes the 300 into three bands. Each man receives the strangest fighting equipment: trumpets, and torches in large opaque jars. Gideon teaches us how to use them and reveals the signal.

²⁹ And now we start, at midnight; the darkness crowding in like a wall deadens the sounds of moving men. Suppose some one falls in the dark and awakens the enemy, or someone overly anxious does not wait for Gideon’s signal, but independently runs ahead of Jehovah’s arrangements. It is a tense time, you feel it in your bones; seconds seem like hours. You draw near, you can hear muffled voices of the enemy as they post sentries for the midnight watch. The camp sleeps. And then, three hundred and one resonant trumpets join in sonorous blast, three hundred and one water jars are smashed, three hundred and one torches are held high as three hundred and one male voices thunder out “Jehovah’s sword and Gideon’s!”

³⁰ The Midianite camp breaks into destructive panic. The camp that was as the sand of the sea turns to a running disorderly mass. They turn on each other, killing in mad confusion. Blind flight takes them mile after mile over rugged territory, with one hundred and twenty thousand men killed by their own fellows and by the other Israelites that Gideon called to bottle up the way to escape at the crossing places at the Jordan.

31. (a) How can we file material to be remembered for future use? (b) But what really is the most essential point to be kept in mind?

³¹ It is a sight you will never forget. So you will not forget if you live what you read while you study. Use all your senses. Use description to create a picture. Stir up your imagination. Be a part of the event. Taste the food. Drive the horses. Climb the rocks. Blow the trumpets. Walk in the damp grass. Feel the occasion; get the sense of it. And while you do all of this, apply the counsel given to yourself. If you print on your mind the reasons for the actions taken and how Jehovah’s name and will are involved you will recall this knowledge readily for use. Notice how long remembered Gideon’s actions are in the Bible, and, more importantly, that Jehovah was the one that brought the victory.—1 Sam. 12:11; Ps. 83:9, 11; Isa. 9:4; 10:26; Heb. 11:32.

Add to Your Knowledge Every Day

1. Contrast the growth of one gaining wisdom of men with that from God’s Word.

MANY persons balk at making new Scriptural ideas their own, no doubt because they will have to give up old ideas that are not in line with Bible truth. If we cling to man-made wisdom in preference to God’s teaching, we will grow but it will be in pride, followed quickly by envy, strife, suspicion, and our easily disturbed mind will be a very unhealthy one. (1 Tim. 6:3-5) Great happiness comes from changing our personality and from experiencing the replacing of old selfish ideas with solid Bible principles. (Eph. 4:22-24) You will be able to look back and compare your former thinking and its unreasonableness with the truth and the logic that you now have to use in understanding fine details of the great panoramic picture recorded in the Bible.

2, 3. While it is necessary to stop in study to look up cited scriptures and to go to the dictionary or other helps, what must we avoid?

² To accomplish the most in the time you have requires that you stick to the subject under study. If we were to look up the meaning of a word in the dictionary and then read the definitions of all the other words listed there, we would not gain the desired information from our study. Get the idea that is the theme and fit all the relative details into place to support that idea. Otherwise your knowledge will be like the unfinished picture puzzle, limited to just little patches of scenes that could be added to and thus enlarged to a grand view of Jehovah’s will if you stuck to the subject. For example, notice how much we would have missed of the account of Gideon if in the preceding article we had not gotten the main idea involved and expressed at Judges 7:2.

³ The publications used by Jehovah’s witnesses cite many scriptures that space does not permit printing. To get the full sense of the points made, these scriptures are essential or they would not be cited. Looking up the scriptures in paragraph 22 of the previous article will soon impress upon one’s mind the point, that Jehovah understands how to teach us since he has revealed so many facts concerning knowledge and how it works.

4, 5. (a) What desired blessing will regular review of the truth give us? (b) Where can we find help on research for knowledge of God?

⁴ Our reviewing ideas learned plants them deeper in our mind and also causes us to express the ideas, which is the way we convey them to others. In fact, an excellent way to review is to discuss with others the things learned. Repeated ideas become your working tools. Peter wrote: “This is now the second letter I am writing you, in which, as in my first one, I am arousing your clear thinking faculties by way of a reminder, that you should remember the sayings previously spoken by the holy prophets and the commandment of the Lord and Savior through your apostles.” (2 Pet. 3:1, 2) Jehovah’s spirit brings back truths learned. (John 14:26) Lively discussions that review the knowledge we have gained are encouraging and upbuilding to all participants. In fact, Paul reveals that the reason for his visit to his fellow Christians in Rome was to view them and have an exchanging of encouragement. “For I am longing to see you, that I may impart some spiritual gift to you in order for you to be made firm; or, rather, that there may be an interchange of encouragement among you, by each one through the other’s faith, both yours and mine.”—Rom. 1:11, 12.

⁵ It is expected that, in an organization so given to teaching as Jehovah’s witnesses are, there would be practical suggestions on how to do research. There are; and more, there are many invaluable aids to assist the student in his research.

6. Where should we look first for research equipment, and what do you find in yours?

⁶ First, examine your Bible for research equipment. The table of contents lists books and the page number for locating these books. The pages may have marginal references, with symbols to locate other scriptures having to do with the same topic. The original edition of the New World Translation of the Bible contains a valuable chain reference as well as footnotes with material that would require months of study to compile, yet there it is for your use. If you have a copy of the original edition, turn your New World Translation to the first book of the Bible, Genesis, and notice the extensive footnotes and the help they render in the understanding of the texts. See Genesis 1:16 and footnote a, which reads: “‘Make.’ Not ‘create,’ as in Ge 1 verses 1, 21, 27 and in Ge chapter 2, verse 3.” This shows a difference.

7. Why is a Bible concordance helpful, and what features does yours have?

⁷ A Bible concordance is your “right-hand man” when it comes to finding Scripture texts. You may remember only a principal word, such as “teach,” but in the concordance, usually in the back of your Bible, you will find many words listed and where or in what Bible verses to locate them. Perhaps you want to know if we shall ever enjoy peace; so “peace” is your word, and you will find it in the concordance with scriptures giving you a broad view of that subject. There are more helpful features in various concordances that will be explained to you in the explanatory information of these Bible concordances.

PRACTICAL BIBLE AIDS

8-10. Explain the assistance available in the various publications of Jehovah’s witnesses. Why have such libraries?

⁸ In the publications of Jehovah’s witnesses you will find many practical aids to research. The subject index in the book “Your Will Be Done on Earth,” on page 378, under “World Powers,” lists seven world powers and page numbers of printed paragraphs thereon for our understanding of these in history and in God’s purposes. Information on the doctrine of “hell-fire” can be found by turning to the subject index of “Let God Be True,” and there we are directed to page 98 for the truth. The book “Equipped for Every Good Work” contains a book-by-book discussion of the Bible, along with facts pertaining to the writers, the time period these books cover and Bible languages. Various translations and descriptions of Bible composition are treated.

⁹ Additionally, these publications have scripture indexes. So if you are wondering what is meant at 1 Corinthians 7:39, to marry “only in the Lord,” you would find that scripture listed in the index of the book “This Means Everlasting Life” and a reference to page 149 for the explanation. The Watch Tower Publications Index is printed at the end of each year, with both a scripture and a subject index. You could look up 1 Corinthians 7:39 in the Index and find that in the 1960 and 1961 issues of The Watchtower there is outstanding and timely material on marriage.

¹⁰ Special features of these publications should not be overlooked. In the book “New Heavens and a New Earth,” page 364, is a chart of outstanding historical dates, running all the way from Adam’s creation in 4025 B.C. to A.D. 1945, when the United Nations comes into existence. This chart is complete with scripture references. On page 367 of the book You May Survive Armageddon into God’s New World is a list of forty-two prophecies in the Bible of those survivors who will live on this earth forever. The book “Your Will Be Done on Earth,” page 365, has a chronological chart of world powers, covering the time period 607 B.C. to A.D. 1926. “Make Sure of All Things” sets forth seventy principal themes with a well-rounded-out Scriptural coverage. Then there are maps, difficult texts explained and appendix material in the New World Translation of the Holy Scriptures, 1961 edition. All these publications provide so much nourishment when used as courses of our spiritual meal. Know where to find information. Be acquainted with the books you have in your own library.

11. Why can Bible dictionaries be very useful in research on many facts, and yet why can they not be trusted fully on doctrines and prophecy?

¹¹ Bible dictionaries are very useful in supplying details often overlooked in our study. The Bible itself is a never-ending source of new things. It contains information on every imaginable subject, dealing with the affairs of entire nations and civilizations, involving the daily life and customs of peoples. It does not always supply details. For example, read of the furnishings of homes mentioned at Amos 3:12, 15; 6:4; Ezekiel 27:15-24; Proverbs 7:16, 17; 31:21-24. You could look for further details under “House,” in the Bible dictionary. But a word of caution is in order. These dictionaries are written by men trained in various religious faiths and so are divided in opinions. When they enter the field of doctrine or prophecy they are not all reliable guides. The instrument to be trusted for building up knowledge of doctrine and prophecy would be the one measuring up to 1 Corinthians 1:10, namely: “You should all speak in agreement, . . . there should not be divisions among you.”

DAILY SPIRITUAL FOOD

12. What provision is available for adding to our knowledge every day? Is this just for Jehovah’s witnesses?

¹² As regular daily eating of food keeps us strong so daily feeding on God’s Word strengthens us, not just for that day; but having added to the knowledge we already have, we progress on to maturity and to full growth, imitating our example, Christ Jesus. The annual Yearbook of Jehovah’s Witnesses in English and German provides for this daily necessity. How? A Scripture text is listed for each day of the year with, underneath, a one-paragraph excerpt from the Watchtower magazine commenting on the text. This wonderful provision is enjoyed by hundreds of thousands of persons of goodwill toward God. Issues of The Watchtower in other languages contain regularly the daily texts for the month, together with references to where the comments thereon can be found in The Watchtower in their respective language.

13-16. (a) Illustrate how we can use this provision to good advantage. (b) What do the Scriptures say such daily practice will do for us?

¹³ By taking advantage of this provision note how much you can learn. For example, take September 23, 1962. Hebrews 6:1 is the text for the day, and it reads: “Let us press on to maturity.” That has reference, not to bodily growth, but to spiritual growth as a Christian in knowledge, understanding, good qualities, and ability to teach the Bible to others.

¹⁴ The comment from the June 15, 1961 issue of The Watchtower on this text makes the point that, regardless of age, we can retain the will to learn and keep the mind active, and that we have many advantages as a result of our years of study toward gaining Christian maturity. In short, we never get too old to learn. The article entitled “Progressing Toward Maturity” in that issue offers much practical information on using and advancing in knowledge.

¹⁵ Turn back to the Bible now and read chapter five of Hebrews, which leads up to Hebrews 6:1, and as you do, try to discern why that statement is made at the beginning of chapter six. You will also note that Hebrews 5:11-14 gives us the reason why we do not outgrow learning. If you were to read the chapter surrounding the daily text every day, you would read a third of the Bible each year.

¹⁶ The chain reference in the six-volume edition of the New World Translation of the Bible will increase your understanding by referring you to other scriptures that are related to the daily text. The first five chapters of Hebrews 1-5 deal with paying attention to what we have heard and learned. This matter of daily spiritual food for growing to maturity is well epitomized at Proverbs 8:32-34: “Listen to me; yes, happy are the ones that keep my very ways. Listen to discipline and become wise, and do not show any neglect. Happy is the man that is listening to me by keeping awake at my doors day by day.”

17. (a) Appreciating the value of all these helps will cause us to do what? (b) Yet what is the key to getting knowledge?

¹⁷ The key to continued growth in knowledge is to remain always under the blessing of the greatest Teacher, whose wisdom we shall never exhaust. Each day we can look forward to more knowledge that will serve as a basis for our entire living. (Prov. 4:10-13, 18) The only way you can grow in knowledge is to use it.—Hos. 4:6.

18, 19. Is the greatest enjoyment found in the eating of spiritual food?

¹⁸ What would you think of a mother who allowed her daughter to grow up without teaching her how to prepare food and to cook a meal, or a father who neglected to teach his son how to work? Not much. These neglected children would always look back with regrets on the lack