T he
Watchman Answers
‘This is a service department where questions pertaining to
the Bible and its interpretation are answered for WATCH-
MAN readers. Anyone is free to address questions to the
Editor, who puts himself under obligation to answer here
only those that will be of general interest to our readers.
Others may be answered by letter. Inquirers must give
name and address, but these will not be printed.
The Nazarite Vow
Why was Samson's mother commanded not to drink strong drink and not
to eat any unclean thing?
The record is in Judges 13: 4, 5. Samson, the strong man, was to be a
Nazarite from birth. These were men who took a vow not to drink spiritu-
ous liquors, cut their hair, or touch a dead body. Samson's mother was
told to abstain from strong drink and unclean flesh foods, before he was
born, so that the child might have prenatal influences in the right direction,
and have less desire for the forbidden things. ‘This was the only way he
could be a Nazarite from birth. There is also in this a health suggestion
for prospective mothers. That child is sure to have a poor heritage of health
whose mother indulges in alcohol or abundance of flesh foods.
War and Bible Teaching
Psalms 144: 1. I thought it was against the teachings of the Bible to war and
fight.
David is here thanking God that He teaches his hands to war and his
fingers to fight. The Bible is not against fighting. ‘Fight the good fight
of faith,” “put on the whole armor of God,” says Paul. It all depends on
whom we fight, and the weapons we use. We are not to use “carnal weap-
ons,” but the “sword of the spirit,”’ etc. Ephesians 6: 11-16. And we are
to fight evil; not so much evil men, but the evil 2z men. If men are insepar-
ably connected with evil, we must oppose them with all our strength.
As to just how this is to be done in every case, God directs the true Chris-
tian. We believe David is here thinking of fighting with evil spirits, or
evil angels, and is using his words figuratively. Of course at times evil
spirits manifest themselves through men, and in such a case he fights men.
But David’s animosity was against the devil and his cohorts, not against
men as such. This is evident in many of his martial psalms.
Moses and Circumcision
Verses 24-26 of Exodus 4 do not seem to fit into the chapter. Please explain
them.
These verses record how God sought to kill Moses when he was on his way
to deliver Israel from Egypt, and Moses’ wife circumcised their son with a
sharp stone, and reproached him for being a bloody husband. This is a
very enlightening episode if taken in view of what had transpired before
in the history of God’s people. It is put in here without any explanation
because we should know why it occurred, and Moses should have known
better than to let it occur. When God made His covenant with Abraham
and his seed after him in all generations, He commanded very definitely:
“Fvery man child among you shall be circumcised.” And they were to be
circumcised on the eighth day after birth, and any who were not so treated
were to be cut off from God's people, for they had broken His covenant.”
(Genesis 17: 9-14.) Moses’ wife, Zipporah, was a Midianite (Exodus 2:
15, 16, 21) but was also a descendent of Abraham (Genesis 25: 1, 2), yet
she must have opposed the rite of circumcision being practiced on her
children. And Moses yielded to her wishes. But now a great crisis had come
in the life of Moses. He had been chosen of God to lead His people out of
bondage and, like all leaders, he must be an example and without fault.
A people whom God was calling to be covenant-keepers could not be led by
a covenanti-breaker. So God took this means, a threat
of death or cutting off, to impress upon Moses and
Zipporah the absolute necessity of keeping His com-
mands to the letter if they would be a success in their
great work of leadership and law-giving. But the woman
missed the point, and would let a little matter of pain
to her son keep her from entering into covenant rela-
tionship with Jehovah,
PAGE THIRTY
Publicity Movement
(Continued from page 5)
were only about thirty people present.
Fifteen years later there were only
3,500 communicants in the world. In
1900 there were but 61,509 believers
in the United States and 14,548 outside
the United States. Today there are
112,276 Seventh-day Adventists in North
America, 161,788 in foreign countries,
a total of 274,064 world membership.
The denomination has doubled its
membership every ten years since it
came into existence.
In 1927 there were 26,100 baptisms,
18,307 church workers, 7,803 workers in
mission fields working in 127 countries
and 296 languages. $1,962,167.53 was
contributed to home missions, $3,770,
888.29 to foreign missions. Seventh-day
Adventists support their ministry by
the Bible system of tithing and through
this medium in 1927 contributed $6,-
211,759.20 to the support of the church.
Seventh-day Adventists are spending
more each year in proportion to member-
ship in foreign missions than any other
Protestant denomination.
Its literature is being published in 133
languages by 57 publishing houses. To
buy only one copy of each publication
put out by these publishing houses would
cost $1,594.00. In 1927 $4,638,127.00
worth of gospel literature was distributed
by the denomination. In its effort to
achieve its tremendous goal of carrying
the gospel to the world in this generation
this denomination has not limited itself
to the word of the minister and of the
printed page. Every medium of modern
education and communication is used.
Seventy-one sanitariums and treat-
ment rooms representing alone an in-
vestment of more than 48 million dollars
minister to the physical as well as
spiritual needs of humanity in all corners
of the world.
Through an educational program of
the church, 1,307 primary schools are
maintained, and 144 intermediate schools,
academies, and colleges educate the
youth of the denomination to become
workers in the great work of the king-
dom.
Newspapers, magazines, the radio,
billboards, motion pictures, and many
other modern means of communication
contribute their bit to finishing the task
this people sincerely believe God has
appointed them to do.
Even this magazine has a small part
in this great task in the publication of
this and other articles on the ‘signs
of the times.”
One cannot read these astonishing
facts about the rapid rise of a world-
wide movement from a little group of
thirty people back in 1848 without
marveling, “What hath God wrought?”
Did not Jesus himself say, ‘By their
fruits ye shall know them’?
‘These facts and figures have not been
set down here with any thought of
boasting to the world about the ac-
THE WATCHMAN MAGAZINE