THE MINISTRY OF ELISHA IN ITS PRACTICAL VALUE (4)
[p. 269] THE MINISTRY OF ELISHA IN ITS PRACTICAL VALUE (4)
JT It may be well to call attention to the use of the term, ‘man of God’, in 1 and 2 Kings. It is not used much in the New Testament, though it is used of Timotheus; and the question arises as to what there is of this kind at the present time — of the character of men of God. They are characterised by being identified with God Himself and with His interests. But now I think we should devote ourselves to the details of this chapter; they are very striking and full of instruction in the men and women brought before us. The first one mentioned in the passage read is this wealthy woman called the Shunammite. She is a wealthy person, which is remarkable. We had a sister before us yesterday who was the widow of one of the sons of the prophets, whose children were about to be taken away by the creditor; and she had to make way for the Spirit as typified in the pot of oil. That is, the idea is emphasised of the Spirit of God. But it is remarkable, the prevalence of the term ‘man of God’; it strikes me in this chapter at this time, and I wonder if we should not fix our minds upon it to see how it should take on meaning for us.
WL Does it appear to be a characteristic matter here, rather than a mere title?
JT I think it is characteristic. It is applied to Elijah as well as to Elisha, but particularly now to Elisha. That is, he is characteristically a man who began in a very small way as a ploughman, illustrating what the Spirit of God says in 1 Corinthians 1:26,30 as to “not many noble” and so on being called. We have persons mentioned who show that God has taken up ordinary people; but God makes the man. That is to be stressed in the idea of the man of God,
[p. 270] that it is not what he has made himself, not his own characteristics, but what God has made him: “of him are ye in Christ Jesus”, that is the idea.
AR The woman herself calls Elisha this.
JT Yes, she does; he is constantly called ‘man of God’, and she is one who does it. This woman of Shunem is called a great woman, but at the same time she has a right attitude about it; she would seem to be comely and humble about it all despite the wealth she has.
AH She says to her husband, “I perceive that this is a holy man of God”. Does that indicate that she got some gain from what was set out in the previous incident?
JT It does. David said of Abigail, “Blessed be thy discernment” (1 Samuel 25:33); this woman had discernment too. We now have the sisters specially before us and very much has been made of them, and we believe that God is helping us as to the whole matter. It is striking how they behave in these incidents, how simple they are and how comely. This woman is in keeping with the position, making no show of her wealth or of anything that she has as according to the flesh. She appealed to her husband as to Elisha, “this is a holy man of God”, she says.
JP Does the fact that women come so prominently into the early days of Elisha’s ministry suggest to us the need of the subjective work of the Spirit to develop these features of the man of God in us?
JT Surely, the subjective work of the Spirit. I was thinking how it would appear: “Behold, how good and how pleasant it is for brethren to dwell together in unity!” (Psalm 133:1) and so forth. So it is not a question of what is in heaven, it is what there is to be seen down here, how good and pleasant the brethren appear as seen in unity.
JP Peter speaks in his epistle of holy men of God speaking in the power of the Holy Spirit.
[p. 271] I suppose that would come into Elisha’s ministry, the Holy Spirit’s power in his speaking.
SJH Would not expressions found in the early service of Elijah and Elisha bear on this term, ‘man of God’? Elijah could say, “Jehovah the God of Israel ... before whom I stand”; and Elisha also says, “Jehovah of hosts ... before whom I stand”.
JT I suppose the idea would be that the servant is just before God. He is not thinking of anyone else, but just of pleasing God. So it was said of an earlier saint, Enoch, that he had this testimony that he pleased God.
SJH That would be the moral basis of the term.
RA Is this woman of wealth in power in the place where she dwells? I understand the meaning of the word ‘Shunem’ is quietness.
JT You say quietness? Very good, it is just what should be seen in the sisters to be quiet and restful; not to make a fuss about things, but to be restful and subject.
AP Does the thought of the man of God suggest the provision for the assembly to the end of the dispensation as following on the apostolic days, as being what is characteristic in our day?
JT Why do you say that, because it is hardly mentioned except in Timothy?
AP I thought in connection with the scripture before us that the idea of widowhood and such circumstances as are set out in the widow bring to light the provision that is found in men like Elisha, who is termed the man of God. I thought it would help us as to the understanding and appropriation of the Holy Spirit’s service with us to the end.
JT Yes; that is the great point that is being stressed at the present time, the matter of the Spirit; it is not simply what is seen in certain men, but the Spirit is taking charge of things. It is not a [p. 272] time when we have great men as in earlier days, like the apostle Paul and others such as Luther and Mr. Darby. It is not a time for these. They came up and God made them what was needed; they filled the gap as it were, and they were content to be without any distinction. I think that is the idea, because the Spirit of God is jealous as to what His rights are, as He is in charge of everything. He is here as sent from heaven and He is in complete charge of everything. And so let us continue until the end, for that is what I believe will characterise the end. The Spirit of God is on earth as in us and here with us. This morning, at this very moment, the Spirit is ready to help us and we are conscious of it. As we begin our meeting we are conscious that the Spirit is here; we have the idea of the minstrel. But the Spirit of God is the minstrel really, Himself; He is the power of everything.
AP I thought that that fits in with the idea that Elisha does not provide the oil himself; it was there already. That is to say attention is called to what is there, suggestively the Holy Spirit, and the dignity that is proper to Him.
JT People are very prone to say, ‘Our brother, Mr. So-and-So, the Lord’s servant’, when we are not always so sure whether we can designate a man as the Lord’s servant. The servant himself is not assuming that title, so we had better just be simple about what a man is, and designate him accordingly. What we want is the power, that is the point. We want to see where the Spirit of God is and what He is doing, and that the assembly is in mind. But the subjects of this chapter are very remarkable, and we should confine ourselves largely to them to get the full gain of them beginning with this one about the Shunammite.
CHH Would you suggest that this wealthy woman is a continuation of the previous woman,
[p. 273] that she is one who is now living “on the rest”; that is, that she is in the value of the Holy Spirit?
JT That is good; but there is another thing, Why is she said to be a great woman? Her husband is not said to be a great man. She is distinguished from her husband in that sense, that she must have had means, and why is her husband not in it as well? Or does she control her own money and spend it? As we consider the matter, perhaps she is not such a simple person as we had thought. She should be distinguished as a wife, as having a husband and recognising him, which indeed she does, but perhaps she does not recognise him enough, because she is the one who is doing things. She is the one that is in the lead, which is hardly right.
RWS Is he not rather poor himself from what comes out later? He questioned her going to the prophet, saying, “It is neither new moon nor sabbath”. He is not very spiritual, is he?
JT Clearly not; he is more or less kindly and subject. He feels what has to be done, you might say, but why should the wife be so distinguished and called a great woman, as she is by the Spirit of God? The word ‘wealthy’ means ‘great’; but why should she be made so much of? Why should there not be just the ordinary thought of man and wife, so that things are according to God? I was just wondering why we cannot get something out of it as to husbands and wives, because here the wife comes so much into prominence, whereas God’s thought is to have husbands and wives moving together and not one predominating above the other.
JLP I wondered if she did not set out an excellent spirit in the matter of perceiving, for she says, “I perceive that this is a holy man of God”; but when it comes to making provision for the man of God she says, “Let us”. So that do you not [p. 274] think we might look into this matter of working things out with one another to get the best?
JT Very good. She certainly is not very unseemly. At the same time there is something peculiar in that the Spirit of God brings forward the use of the word ‘wealthy’ in connection with her instead of placing things in her husband. Then she is the one who constrained the prophet to enter, and who proposed building the room for him. She must have been resting in something that she possessed in view of the man of God and what can be done for him. The question is whether we can get anything out of it as to regularity in these matters, because God is the God of order. It is a question of a man and his wife, and we had better see whether they stand in relation to others as they should and whether the truth of God is being honoured through them. Aquila and Priscilla, for instance, are mentioned six times equally one with the other. There is no distinction between them in that sense.
AAT Is the elect lady mentioned by John a great woman?
JT Just so; that is a good example. It is remarkable that John should use that term; he speaks of the elect lady and her children; the children are mentioned too.
WL Are you suggesting that this woman is morally similar to Priscilla? And at the present time is it not your thought and the desire of all of us that our sisters should come into things morally and spiritually along with the brothers?
JT Along with the brothers — that is what the Spirit of God is stressing; the sisters should have their place with the brothers under certain limitations. And now the question is whether this woman of Shunem is taking her right place in relation to her husband; whether there is affection with us so that we can be regulated, husbands and wives, according [p. 275] to God? Because Aquila and Priscilla, I believe, are excellent examples of the right-minded husband and wife and how they are related one to the other. They shine together and are able to do things; as Phoebe is in Romans where she is mentioned as a servant of the assembly at Cenchrea; a very remarkable thing that she is able to be that.
EAL I would like to get your thought for my own help and that of the brothers as to the place the father has here. It says, “and the child grew, and it came to pass one day, that he went out to his father to the reapers”. Is there an implication there that the mother was keeping the son too much to herself, as if she had acquired him through the prophet’s word and was not really giving the father the place over him that he should have?
JT I think he is rather weak; he sends the sick child back to his mother. Why cannot he do something for him himself?
EAL He sends him back by a servant rather than taking him himself.
AH Does Judges 1:13 - 15 help at all in this balanced working of things together? Achsah urges her husband to ask for the field, and she herself asks for springs of water.
JT Very good. If you link that up with John 4 you will get something of interest, because it is a woman there too, the woman of Samaria, and she knows all about water. It is wonderful, all that is said to her as to worship in that particular chapter.
AH I think that is helpful, because it is striking with that woman that she affects the men: she says, “Come, see a man”. She has the Spirit springing up in her.
JT Just so. Caleb recognises what is needed in the sister, his daughter; he gives her springs of water because that is what she valued. And that is what is so needed, the power of springs. Achsah [p. 276] sprang off her ass and Rebecca sprang off the camel. It is a question of a spring and the power of grace and the Spirit of God acting.
RWS The devil has spoiled the thought of womanhood, has he not, especially here in the States; he has lowered the great place women have in the mind of God. I was thinking too of the allusion Paul makes to “silly women” in 2 Timothy 3:6. In this scripture in Kings there is great public breakdown, and we are living in days of breakdown; so that these feminine features are to be enshrined in the assembly, in their proper setting, our sisters marked by being great spiritually.
JT This woman is great apart from her husband clearly; evidently her husband has not made her so. She has money of her own that she can use, and she is going to use it; and of course she does it pretty well; but then the question is whether she has not too much influence in what she is doing?
WWM Do you think that Deborah sets out the right idea? When Barak asks her to go with him she says, I will go with you but it will not be to your honour; you should be head, I do not want to be the head of this matter. Is that the idea?
JT Just so; and so it is remarkable that Deborah is not mentioned in Hebrews 11, whereas Barak is; the Spirit of God seems to keep the man in his place, to keep the place filled properly, filled by a man.
TNW Is there anything in the fact that the child’s being on her knees till noon did not seem to have any avail? She did not bring her husband into that matter, whereas “men ought always to pray” (Luke 18:1).
JT That is right, that is some of the instruction that just came up yesterday. Some may say, What about the prayer meetings? Well, it is clear that women are not to pray audibly in the assembly:
“[p. 277] I will ... that men pray every where”, the apostle says (1 Timothy 2:8).
JWF Would the word in Ephesians 5 in relation to husbands loving their wives even as the Christ also loved the assembly, show us that this matter of the ‘man of God’ has to be taken on by the husbands in view of the wives becoming what they should be?
JT I think it might be well for the passage in Ephesians 5 to be read to get the full bearing of it. (Ephesians 5:22 - 33 read.) There we have the whole subject of husbands and wives in the household; and I think we might well proceed now with our subject in 2 Kings so as to get the bearing of things with this great woman and see how it would help us as to our households.
FW In verse 8 it seems that the woman took the initiative without her husband; apparently she had not consulted her husband because it says, “and she constrained him to eat bread. And so it was, that as oft as he passed by, he turned in thither to eat bread”. She does not seem to have spoken to her husband till afterward.
JT I noticed that. We began with Elisha however; Elisha is our subject; but this great woman should be kept in mind, that as you say she takes the initiative herself. I think God is helping us in this great subject of husbands and wives in the assembly setting; and no doubt it has come up that we might get things in order, that sisters and brothers alike may be regulated by the truth; that sisters may not take the initiative too much but may leave the initiative with the brothers.
GW What is in mind in verse 13 where she says, “I dwell among mine own people”?
JT Dwelling with our own people is very good, but there is more than that needed; because she might do that and still be boastful of her own wealth and do these things for the man of God on her own [p. 278] initiative, getting a room and a bed and all these things without her husband.
RWS Elijah took the child out of the bosom of the mother, and here the child dies on its mother’s knees. “He sat on her knees till noon, and died”. Is that a balancing thought, as if there is something wrong here and out of balance?
JT There is something wrong that we have to get right; so let us proceed with verse 8: “And so it was, that as oft as he passed by, he turned in thither to eat bread. And she said to her husband, Behold now, I perceive that this is a holy man of God, who passes by us continually. Let us make, I pray thee, a small upper chamber” — we might dwell on that for a moment — “let us”: now that is very good, but you see she is doing it, she is taking the initiative, and I think that has to be corrected somewhat.
CHH Would you say that where there are riches there is always a danger of degenerating into what is Laodicean? As boasting in them there might be degeneration.
JT Just so. She is a wealthy woman who has a husband, and things should have been normal between them; but things are happening which indicate that God is dealing in discipline. We want to get the good of this discipline as we proceed, so let us read verses 10 to 16. We see here that she is the actor; she is doing everything. The fact is that she is leading in the whole matter. But still God is with the prophet, and that is the point to notice because we are dealing with Elisha; we want to get all the good we can from this servant Elisha. God is clearly with him, and we can thank God that He is with the servant even if there are certain discrepancies; and I think there are some with Elisha himself because he brings Gehazi into things [p. 279] and they take character from that. So the child dies and we have to inquire why we have such discipline as this, that the child should die; and then that Elisha should say to Gehazi, Do so and so. We had better read on from verse 17 to verse 37. There is something wrong with the boy’s head, he says, “My head!” but why should it be the head? I think there has been too much education in all probability, and that, attached to the wealth of the mother, is at the bottom of all this. Still, God is in the thing. But the child dies, and now Gehazi is brought into it, and there is a defect in him too. We have to watch and see where there are these defects to be corrected. The woman has a title; she is called the Shunammite; she is evidently a distinguished person and she said it was well with her, but it was not well. Then when the servant did Elisha’s bidding the child was not awakened. Things were not going well. Why should they not go well? Nevertheless God is in the whole matter and we have to see how He finally intervenes. But there is much to be considered. What has Elisha in mind, for instance, in looking through the house? What is in the house and what kind of a house is it? What kind of furnishings has it, and are there evidences of pride? The house has to be considered, and the man of God has to change his methods too, so that there are certain discrepancies all around. As we were saying, why should he walk through the house to and fro? Is it to see what is going on there, what magazines might be there and all that sort of thing? Because whatever things are wrong are in mind for correction. Then finally God comes in in resurrection, and we read that the woman took up her son and went out. And so the matter is settled, satisfactorily settled. Still, there were discrepancies that need not have been there, and that is the point we need to learn.
[p. 280] Now I think we might as well go on to the next section as we have this great matter settled, and have something for our souls, I trust, every one of us. We might read from verse 38 to the end of the chapter. Here we have the sons of the prophets coming forward again, the younger generation, and what marks them? Someone is careless in what he is doing, in what he shreds into the great pot, and he is causing death. If that is not corrected there will be moral death. But the man of God knows what to do, and we can always say, Thank God for the man of God. He is thinking for God, and the thing is adjusted as it should be.
AH Does Gilgal in Joshua 5 offset this matter of Gilgal here, do you think? It says there that “This day have I rolled away the reproach of Egypt from off you”. And then immediately following on that it says that “they ate of the old corn of the land”. Why should there be famine in Gilgal if the truth is maintained?
J.T. Why indeed?
JP You were stressing in the beginning of these meetings the setting out of the spirit of grace on the part of Elisha. Do I gather that you are now drawing to our attention the manner in which Elisha is meeting all these various conditions, that we might be able to see the spirit in which the work is carried out?
JT Quite so, how emergencies can be met and discrepancies corrected; the chapter is full of details in this respect.
WL In going to Gilgal would Elisha still be finding the need in himself for self-judgment?
JT Just so, it is a question of dealing with the flesh. The flesh is still there and we must deal with it.
AR The salvation of the younger ones lies in being near the older brothers and sisters.
[p. 281] JT I think that is good because they are not inclined that way; they gravitate towards each other instead of listening to, and being with, the older brothers and sisters, and that is where their safety lies. They mingle with each other just because they are young, but the older ones would have more influence with them for good than could be found amongst themselves.
FKC In this paragraph it calls attention to “a wild vine”, and “wild colocynths”.
JT That is some youthful influence I am certain, and there is death in the pot on account of that. God alone can save us from all these things.
RWS And it is “into the field”. Would that be some feature of the world?
JT Very likely.
AH Will you say something about the meal, please?
JT It is the humanity of Christ that is in mind. It is not the kind of humanity where young people would desire to have this and that and to make a show. It is the Spirit of Christ that we want, that kind of humanity, that kind of man; let us bring Him into our evenings or whatever gatherings it may be.
FWW Will you tell us what you have had in mind recently in connection with the reading of whole passages of Scripture? Is it because there is the danger of taking verses out of their context if they are read by themselves? And then you mentioned also the matter of procedure in the giving out of hymns.
JT We are to let the Scripture have its full place. And if hymns are to be sung, let us sing hymns, and not parts of hymns. I do not say we may not give out parts of hymns, but I think there is too much of it, giving out one verse where a whole hymn could be sung as it was intended to be sung.
[p. 282] If it was worth composing it is worth singing as a whole at a given time. It should be a great matter in settling and balancing things amongst us to have the idea of the minstrel more prominent, to have the hymns sung properly and sung well. We do not get the idea of the hymn at all in one verse, not the whole idea.