like a mother to it. The marriage of the sun as a father and the earth as a
mother produces all the growth that adorns the surface of the planet.
The influence of this heavenly field on the physical world occasions
the miraculous progression in plants from seed to fruit to new seeds. It
also results in many types of plant that turn their faces, so to speak,
toward the sun by day and bow them when the sun sets, and in flowers
that open when the sun rises and close when it sets. It also induces the
songbirds to sing sweetly first thing in the morning and again after they
have been fed by their mother, the earth. In these ways all these creatures
honor their father and their mother.
All these phenomena are proof that through the sun and the earth
the Lord makes available all the necessities for both the living beings and
the inanimate things in the physical world. Therefore we read in David,
Praise Jehovah from the heavens. Praise him, sun and moon. Praise
him from the earth, great sea creatures and the depths. Praise him, fruit
trees and all cedars, the wild beast and every animal, creeping things
and birds with wings, the kings of the earth and all peoples, young men
and young women. (Psalms 147 : 7 – 12 )Also in Job:
Please, ask the animals and they will teach you. Ask the birds of heaven
and they will make it known to you. Ask the shrub of the earth and it
will instruct you. The fish in the sea will tell you the story. Which of all
these things does not know that the hand of Jehovah has done this?
(Job 12 : 7 , 8 , 9 )“Ask and they will teach” means watch, pay attention, and judge from
these things that the Lord Jehovih created them.
The Fifth CommandmentYou Are Not to KillThis commandment, “You are not to kill,” in its earthly meaningmeans 309
not killing people, inflicting on them any fatal wound, or mutilating their
bodies. It also means not bringing any deadly evil against their names and
reputations, since for many people their reputation and their life go hand
in hand.
§309 the ten commandments 373