10. In what tongues has Jehovah made communication, and why?

¹⁰ Jehovah has never communicated in an unknown tongue but always in the language of mankind, the living tongue of his faithful witnesses. (Acts 2:5-11) To Adam, Noah, Abraham, Moses, and the Hebrew prophets, Jehovah spoke in mankind’s first language, now known as Hebrew. Hebrew continued to be used for as long as it could be understood, even as late as the time of Saul of Tarsus, to whom the resurrected Jesus spoke in that language. (Acts 26:14) When the Aramaic language of the Chaldeans took hold among the Israelites in exile, some communications then came from God in Aramaic, for the people understood that language. (Ezra 4:8–6:18; 7:12-26; Dan. 2:4b–7:28) Later, when Greek was the international language and the principal language of his witnesses, Jehovah’s communications were made and preserved in that tongue. The sayings preserved in the Bible are Jehovah’s communication, spoken always in a living tongue for the benefit of humble, truth-loving men on earth.

THE LANGUAGE OF TRUTH

12, 13. (a) How has Jehovah made his communications easy to understand? (b) Give examples.

¹² Regardless of the system of human language used by Jehovah, in all instances he has communicated in the language of truth, not in religious mysticisms. It is a language simple and easy to understand. (Zeph. 3:9) Earthly man can easily understand three-dimensional matters, that is, objects that have height, breadth, and length and that are set in the stream of time. Therefore, Jehovah has represented invisible things by using typical representations that the mind of man can comprehend. As an example, there was the tabernacle designed by God and erected by Moses in the wilderness. Under inspiration Paul used its three-dimensional symbols to explain glorious realities that are of heaven itself.​—Heb. 8:5; 9:9.

¹³ Another example: Jehovah, who is spirit, does not literally sit on a thronelike chair in heaven. However, to us mere men, bound by visible realities, God expresses himself by using such a visible symbol to convey understanding. When he commences heavenly court proceedings, it is just as when a king on earth begins proceedings by taking his seat on a throne.​—Dan. 7:9-14.