“I am a worm and not a man.”

(Psalm 22:6)

“David was ‘a man agreeable to Jehovah’s heart.’” (The Watchtower, January 1, 1989, page 23) Nevertheless he considered himself a feckless “worm.” This was in compliance with the words of Bildad who had said centuries before: “Even the moon is not bright and the stars are not pure in … [God’s] eyes, how much less so mortal man, who is a maggot, and a son of man, who is a worm!” – Job 25:5, 6.

God’s word emphasizes the worthlessness of us humans in many places. “The sons of mankind are a delusion. When laid together on the scales, they are lighter than a mere breath.” (Psalm 62:9) Indeed, “all men have turned aside, all of them have become worthless.” (Romans 3:12) Even whole “nations are like a drop from a bucket, and as the film of dust on the scales they are regarded” – how much less than a dust particle is then a single human? – Isaiah 40:15.

Does keeping God’s commandments and doing his will reduce our drossiness? No, Jesus clearly stated: “When you have done all the things assigned to you, say: ‘We are good-for-nothing slaves.’” (Luke 17:10) No doubt this is true. God would not even need Christians to proclaim his word; he could simply make the stones cry out. (Luke 19:40) So regardless how much we exert ourselves – in God’s eyes we will always be worthless, a worm, a mere breath, a tiny fraction of a dust particle.

“A private place should be designated for use outside the camp.”

(Deuteronomy 23:12)

God provided clear instructions for Israel’s trek through the wilderness. He also regulated how the call of nature should be answered. There should be a privy “outside the camp,” and he commanded: “There is where you should go. A peg should be part of your equipment. When you squat outside, you should dig a hole with it and then cover your excrement.” (Deuteronomy 23:12, 13) What did this mean in practice? To get an idea of it, we have to realize how big Israel’s camp was. “The number coming up out of Egypt, namely, 600,000 able-bodied men besides women and children, would mean that there could have been more than three million persons.” – Insight on the Scriptures, volume I, page 778.

“More than three million persons” need a lot of space. Los Angeles has 3.9 million inhabitants and occupies 503 square miles. Imagine that for all inhabitants of Los Angeles (or Chicago, or Berlin,) there would only be a single privy outside the city! Even with our modern transportation means, a trip across such a city can take an hour. But in Israel’s camp there was no subway; every inhabitant had to walk to the privy outside the camp by foot.

Of course, back then there were no multistory buildings, only tents. If we assume that every person needed 100 square feet, the camp would have had a diameter around 4 miles. A person could walk that distance in an hour; of course only if there would not be tens of thousands of others on the way. But we must not forget that there were not only 3 million people in the camp, but also “flocks and herds, a great number of livestock.” (Exodus 12:38) The animals must have been near their owners. We don’t know how large the “flocks and herds” were, but some people owned thousands of animals. (Job 1:3) And we also don’t know what happened to the animals’ excrements – maybe they were left in the camp, or the owners gathered them and brought them to the privy.

Due to the many animals, the camp might have had a diameter of 12, or maybe even 30 miles. Depending on one’s home location, the way to the privy and back could have taken a day or more. And imagine how pleasant it was to live at the edge of the camp, right next to the privy! Granted, there were the noises and smells, but the way to the privy was short. All in all, we can conclude that Israel’s camp was perfectly organized.

“So these men … were thrown into the burning fiery furnace.”

(Daniel 3:21)

The pagan king Nebuchadnezzar threw three men “into the burning fiery furnace” because they refused to worship his gods. (Daniel 3:14, 21) This is not the only Bible account that puts furnaces in a negative context. The prophet Hosea condemned the apostate Israelites: “All of them are adulterers, like a furnace.” (Hosea 7:4, NWT 1984) So furnaces were as bad as adulterers – and back then, adultery was one of the worst crimes imaginable. Adulterers had to “be put to death without fail.” – Leviticus 20:10.

The Bible further mentions a “metalsmith” making idols “over the coals,” that is, by the help of a furnace. (Isaiah 44:12) On another occasion, apostate king Jehoiakim “was sitting … with a fire burning in the brazier before him,” and he used this kind of oven to burn the scroll of the prophet Jeremiah. (Jeremiah 36:22, 23) “The slaves and the officers” of the High Priest also “were standing around a charcoal fire they had made” during Jesus’ conviction. (John 18:18) Is it not interesting that the Bible mentions fires and furnaces so often in regard to Gods enemies? This shows without doubt that God does not approve the use of furnaces and heatings. This is probably also the reason why “faithful Abraham … went out from the Chaldean city of Ur,” since Ur was the birthplace of central heating. – Insight on the Scriptures, volume I, page 974; Bringing God’s Word to the Nations.

Does this mean that Christians should not heat at all? Yes, since God himself declared that “the earth will never cease to have … cold and heat.” (Genesis 8:22) The winter cold is an order from God, that is why the apostle Paul served him “in cold and lacking clothing.” (2 Corinthians 11:27) Therefor let us imitate the faithful worshippers of old by living with “no covering for the cold.” (Job 24:7) If we live in a house with heating, we should follow Abraham’s example and move out immediately. Only then we might have a chance to survive “the day … that is burning like the furnace.” – Malachi 4:1, NWT 1984.

“The righteous have enough to eat.”

(Proverbs 13:25, GNT)

“The UN’s Food and Agriculture Organization … estimated that 842 million people are undernourished … Malnutrition is a cause of death for more than 3.1 million children under 5 every year.” (Wikipedia) Who is to blame for that? Tyrannical rulers who exploit their population? The western industrial nations? The climate change?

No. According to the Bible, this is not the case, since “the Lord will not allow the righteous to hunger.” (Proverbs 10:3, NASB) “Those seeking Jehovah will lack nothing.” (Psalm 34:10) The Bible’s conclusion is clear: When someone starves, it’s his own fault, because only “the stomach of the wicked is empty.” (Proverbs 13:25, HCSB) Accordingly, true Christians do not share in efforts to alleviate world hunger.

“Asa got a foot disease that became progressively worse. Instead of asking the Lord for help, he went to doctors.”

(2 Chronicles 16:12, GWT)

The Bible condemns King Asa because when he was sick, he did not turn to Jehovah but rather to physicians. “Jehovah’s Witnesses often turn to doctors or surgeons,” too. (The Watchtower, November 15, 1977, page 686) Why is this wrong?

Turning to doctors during illness is futile because “the germ theory has never been proven” and is only “a leftover superstition of a past age … Germs do not cause disease.” (The Golden Age, March 18, 1931, page 404) But also “we do not attribute … our diseases and ailments to direct intervention of the Devil.” (The Watchtower, August 1, 1973, page 476) No, diseases have a different reason.

King Asa should have known where diseases really come from, since Moses had told his ancestors: “Jehovah will cause the disease to cling to you … Jehovah will strike you with tuberculosis, burning fever, inflammation, feverish heat … Jehovah will strike you with the boils of Egypt, piles, eczema, and skin lesions … Jehovah will strike you with madness and blindness … Jehovah will strike you with painful and incurable boils on your knees and legs.” – Deuteronomy 28:21, 22, 27, 28, 35.

So, neither germs nor the devil are causing diseases, but Jehovah God. He even promised: “I … shall certainly make you sick.” (Micah 6:13) This is the real reason why turning to a doctor in case of diseases is futile. Diseases are part of God’s purpose; if we would try to heal them we would walk “in opposition to Jehovah” like Nimrod. (Genesis 10:9) And since God causes them, no one besides him can heal them.

“Moab is my washbasin.”

(Psalm 60:8)

Jehovah God called Moab ‘his washbasin.’ Does that mean that God has a wash from time to time? Should we, as “imitators of God,” also wash ourselves? (Ephesians 5:1) No, that is not the case. According to the reference work Insight on the Scriptures, the reference to the “washbasin” rather “indicated contempt.” (volume II, page 861) After all, it was David who attributed these words to God. How is David connected to Moab?

God foretold through his prophet Balaam: “He [a future king] will certainly break apart the forehead of Moab.” (Numbers 24:17) This was fulfilled when “David … conquered the land of Moab. He made the people lie down on the ground in a row, and he measured them off in groups with a length of rope. He measured off two groups to be executed for every one group to be spared. The Moabites who were spared became David’s servants.” – 2 Samuel 8:2, NLT.

So God did not have a wash in his washbasin; rather he ‘broke it apart.’ Thereby he gave us an example, since washbasins are a real danger for all true Christians. Jesus pointed out that hand washing is a “tradition of the men of former times,” thus a pagan custom. (Mark 7:3) “The proud religious law-keepers and all the [apostate] Jews never eat until they wash their hands.” – Mark 7:3, NLV.

In actual fact, the custom of hand washing – and of washing in general – comes from the pagan goddess Hygieia. Even the word “hygiene” is derived from her name. No wonder that God despises ‘washbasins’ and uses this term as a swearword! May we never get enmeshed in any ritual acts in honor of Hygieia!

“Really, during the nights my kidneys have corrected me.”

(Psalm 16:7, NWT 1984)

“Those whom Jehovah loves he reproves.” (Proverbs 3:12) And “at … times correction from God may be … painful.” (The Watchtower, September 1, 1981, page 17) This is obviously what David experienced. Jehovah caused him to feel pain in his kidneys, so that he was “reproved by pain on his bed.” (Job 33:19) Hence, if we have nephralgia next time, we should not see a physician (2 Chronicles 16:12) We must rather endure “the pain of correction” and ask ourselves, ‘What sin have I committed?’” – The Watchtower, December 1, 1977, page 721.

“You have been weighed on a scale and found to be too light.”

(Daniel 5:27, GWT)

“Belshazzar … made a great bread” and “was drinking wine.” (Daniel 5:1, NWT 1984, Fn.) As a result he suffered from short weight, and he was “weighed on a scale and found to be too light.” (Daniel 5:27)  All Christians struggling with obesity can follow his example and live on nothing but bread and wine. Jesus did that too, indicating that he also was overweight. – Matthew 26:26, 27.

“Now there was in Joppa a disciple named Tabitha …

… which means, when translated, ‘Dorcas.’” (Acts 9:36)

After Tabitha died, the bereaved sent for Peter. What happened when he arrived at the mourners? Did they tell him what a good person Tabitha had been or how they miss her company? No, no one wasted any word her her personality. Rather they kept “showing him the coats and other clothes Dorcas had made for them.” (Acts 9:39, NLT) Accordingly the Watchtower says: “Why … was Dorcas loved so much? – Well, the Bible says that she … gave fine gifts. She apparently made nice clothes for widows.” – August 1, 2011, page 14.

So the Christians in Joppa missed Tabitha only because now no one would make “coats and other clothes” for them anymore. Peter felt sympathy for them and resurrected Tabitha; “then he called in the believers and widows, and presented her to them alive,” so that she could make more “nice clothes” for them. – Acts 9:41, MSG.

“As the clay in the hand of the potter, so are you in my hand.”

(Jeremiah 18:4)

“God created everything.” (Awake!, February 8, 1981, page 32) What is the quality of his works? He revealed the answer to this question to his prophet Jeremiah who reported: “[God] said, ‘Go down to the potter’s shop, and I will speak to you there.’ So I did as he told me and found the potter working at his wheel. But the jar he was making did not turn out as he had hoped … Then the LORD gave me this message: ‘O Israel, can I not do to you as this potter has done to his clay? As the clay is in the potter’s hand, so are you in my hand.’” – Jeremiah 18:1-6, NLT.

Thus Jehovah God deals with humans like a poor potter with his clay – sometimes things do “not turn out as he had hoped.” No doubt this applies to humans as well as to all his other works of creation – a reasonable explanation why there are creatures like mosquitoes, roundworms or Ebola viruses. Sometimes God’s plans do not work out.