THE MINISTRY OF ELISHA IN ITS PRACTICAL VALUE (5)
[p. 283] THE MINISTRY OF ELISHA IN ITS PRACTICAL VALUE (5)
JT As has already been remarked, these incidents in 2 Kings are evidently intended to bring out certain features amongst us, particularly as to the household. Here we have the case of the little maid who is to be used in this remarkable way, and undoubtedly it is to remind us how children and young people may be used; and on the other hand how certain grown-up persons may be affected on the lines of deceit and covetousness. These are the great facts that enter into the present reading, especially how young people may be used in the households. Naaman is the leading figure in this incident but perhaps we have not noticed the little maid so much and what affected her, how she is influenced in a good direction. She was just a maid to a certain mistress but she was full of the good that she should do at this particular time.
CHH It is remarkable that there is no resentment shown by her. She might have resented the fact that she had been carried away captive, but there must have been a work of God in her.
JT Just so, she accepts her circumstances; it is a question of the government of God. Although a young person, she is ready to do things and she is affected by what affected her master. Her exclamation in verse 3, “Oh, would that my lord were before the prophet that is in Samaria!” would show that. She is not simply a maid, but a little maid, affected by what affected her master, the one above her; showing that young people are to learn to be subject and appreciate conditions, and to do the best they can in any given circumstances in subjection [p. 284] to God.
SJH Was it not remarkable that she knew the prophet could cure her master? There was no one else cured of leprosy, was there?
JT That was the point, she apparently knew. What remarkable intelligence she had! I am remarking that in view of the number of young people that are coming along in the truth, that they may become useful and take on things, and do anything they can in any given circumstance to bring out what is of God.
AH You remarked this morning on the importance of the young people keeping company with the old. This incident would seem to show that she had kept some company with the prophet.
JT She accepts the position. It is striking to me that we are told she is a little maid, meaning that she is just a servant who was waiting on Naaman’s wife. She was subject and she was intelligent, but how did she know all this?
AH You would think, therefore, that before her captivity she must have kept company with the prophet?
JT We have to infer that for she certainly knew that he had this power. Another thing that comes up is the pride of Naaman; he expected the prophet to do so and so and recognise his importance.
Ques Would this incident show the value of very early instruction for our children in the knowledge and ways of God?
JT Certainly, parents ought to teach the children as much as possible, teach them what is good and give them to know that time is important, of great value and to be utilised and not wasted.
FW The exclamation shows it was a very real matter with her.
JT It shows that she was a really feeling person. Although she was only a little girl, a little maid, she was a feeling person; the exclamation would show [p. 285] that. She was not simply a person paid to do things, but her heart was in the thing — that her master should be cured.
RWS She knows how to speak; she can speak well of those who serve the Lord. Is it not important in these days to know how to serve the Lord and to speak well of those who do?
JT Just so.
FW Anyone preaching the glad tidings should have the feelings of this little maid.
JT Quite so; that a little person like this in such menial circumstances should be so affected is very striking and commendable and ought to be very instructive to all young people here at the present time.
JHP Is it not striking that the Lord may use any agency in order to make His work manifest? In Luke 4 the Spirit of God calls attention to this passage we have read today. These persons were singled out so that the work of God might be manifest.
JT Quite so; it is a time of the sovereignty of God, and we cannot say things must be done because of the circumstances; we must count on the sovereignty of God in doing things. The Lord Jesus Himself uses these incidents to bring out the sovereignty of God, that God acts as He pleases. We must not expect Him to do as we please, He does as He pleases.
AB This morning we were referring to the great or wealthy woman, and you were emphasising the discrepancies in the chapter; but here we have a little maid who had right feelings. It says she was brought out of the land of Israel, a very touching matter, that she is carrying God’s thoughts with her in relation to His people. It says nothing about the divided kingdom but that she was brought “out of the land of Israel”; she is apparently a trustworthy person.
JT Just so. We can only speak typically; the Old Testament contains types but the type is a type of something, and the thing is to see what the something means. Undoubtedly here it is the sovereignty of God to which the Lord is calling attention: that there are things to be done and God would do them as He pleases. It is for us to count on God. So the little maid is to be noticed first and the next thing would be the pride of Naaman. He expects that the prophet would do so and so for him, but Elisha does not do it; instead he humbles him; he says, “Go and wash in the Jordan seven times” and he went and plunged in and was cleansed. But he would not do it at first. His servants enjoined him however; they said that if the prophet had told him to do some great thing would he not have done it? So he humbled himself, and the thing for us older people to do is to humble ourselves and not expect great things to be done for us; but to humble ourselves and do what we are told to do.
EAL The little maid gives a great example to us; she had faith that something could happen that had never happened before; she had no knowledge of anyone ever before being cured of leprosy. Do you think it fits in with what the Lord said to Nathanael, “Thou shalt see greater things than these” (John 1:50)?
JT We have been enlarging on that quite recently, the idea of greater things. It is a question of having great expectations, but on right lines. So the Lord enlarges on what was said, and He says, “Thou shalt see greater things than these”.
RWS I was thinking what great matters are set in motion by just a remark of this little maid; and then the availability of Paul’s sister’s son who becomes Paul’s saviour. Great matters can come from young persons moving rightly.
JT Very good; and another incident of a young person comes in in connection with prayer, in the case of Rhoda. Much prayer had been made for Peter, yet the brethren did not believe that he had been delivered despite their prayers for him, showing the inconsistency that oftentimes marks us. They had been praying for a thing and now they were not ready for it; they said Rhoda was mad, so that she was persecuted because of this unbelieving attitude.
JP Do you think that services of this kind taken on by our young people in our localities would considerably help in developing in them the features of men of God?
JT Very good.
WWM This little girl demonstrates an instance of a young person coming from a godly home where things are right; whereas in the chapter we had this morning things were not right as was shown by the fact that the boy had it all in his head, and he died. But this girl had it in her heart, and she was capable of bringing it out at a right time.
JT Quite so, and she had feeling about it too. No doubt her mistress would appreciate the feeling of the girl for her master. “Oh, would that my lord were before the prophet that is in Samaria!” she said; she was full of feeling and reality in the thing; and of course that is what is needed in the service of God, to have right feelings and if it is a right thing to be thoroughly in it and do it well.
BW Would you say she was rendering testimony in a foreign land?
JT She accepts her circumstances, although humbling; that I think is the point. She is in thorough keeping with the work to be done and has feelings about it. But how is Naaman affected? Is [p. 288] he affected as much as the little maid? I do not think he is.
JP Sometimes we think our circumstances are not so propitious as they might be. Would this help us to see that in God’s ordering our circumstances are set on the lines of being available for service?
JT Available for service, exactly, and very extended influential service in the case of this little girl.
AW Does she keep herself in subjection, would you say, when she goes to her mistress and refers to the man as “my lord”?
JT Yes; she does not attempt to approach Naaman herself; she has discernment as to what is right; in her case she should not go to a man like that and speak to him directly, but she goes to her mistress. It is an orderly, sensible, suitable thing to do.
Ques Would it link on with what the apostle says in Philippians 1:12,13, as to his adverse circumstances turning out to the furtherance of the glad tidings?
JT Very good.
AR What you said is important, that this maid is in her circumstances in relation to her God; God is operating sovereignly in her.
JT Yes, that is the idea I think; and she would have the information brought to her master in a seemly way through her mistress; so that we have what follows in verses 4 and 5 where the king takes up the matter.
RBP Joseph was carried off to Egypt, but he never lost his excellent spirit.
JT Very good, and he never lost his feelings. He was entirely superior to his circumstances; so that the great question for us is as to superiority to our circumstances, so that we should be able to do things with a right spirit and [p. 289] feeling.
BT Is there not gain in naming things as they are? She says he would “cure him of his leprosy”; she was not afraid to name the disease, to call it what it was; whereas in the preceding chapter the woman said it was well when it was not well.
JT Just so; and no doubt persons would whisper among themselves, Do you know that Naaman is a leper? But this maid knew, and she names the thing, and it was his leprosy, it was Naaman’s own case. Now the question is what Naaman will do. The whole thing is confused and darkened by the king of Syria’s action, and then the king of Israel rent his garments, another foolish and unseemly thing, and unreal. The king of Israel is quite mistaken and the whole thing is darkened, and Naaman himself is not right about it. He is full of pride, and how often it darkens us when pride and hurt feelings enter into things of this kind!
AR Is that not leprosy in its essence — pride?
JT Just so; but now in verse 8 we come to “Elisha the man of God”; now we come to the real work of God in Elisha, representing grace, which is the subject before us. So when Naaman is told to wash in Jordan seven times it is the light of God for him; but how is he going to treat it? “Naaman was wroth”, it says. How seriously we may be affected in the pride of our hearts when we might have been saved and helped in some way!
JP Elisha said to the king in verse 8, “let him come now to me, and he shall know that there is a prophet in Israel”. Is it in your mind that calling attention to the man of God and what he stands for is of greater importance than the cure of leprosy in itself?
JT Just so; it is the light; Elisha represents the light of God and that was the great point at the time; Elijah and Elisha represent what was current, Elisha following up Elijah, so that the word of God proceeds.
[p. 290] But now the one who needs help is full of pride and almost misses the blessing. Still, he is capable of being put right, and it is a great matter to have a brother capable of being put right when he is wrong so that he is saved thereby.
EAL The little maid spoke of the prophet that is “in Samaria”, but really the prophet was in Israel.
JT The little girl is dealing with the facts. She is not a politician, she does not know things as a politician would know them; she is simple and treats the facts as they are; that is, “the prophet that is in Samaria”; not simply Israel, but nearby. Literally these are the very facts.
RWS She had faith, and that transcends any political barriers.
AH The prophet himself had had good experience with the Jordan. I wonder if the import of it is in the insistence that this man should use it?
JT Quite so; there is virtue in the Jordan. Apparently this is the first great miracle that Elisha performed. He was quite conversant with the Jordan, and that gives force to his message to Naaman to go and use its waters.
HP Would that be emphasised by the word in Zechariah 4:6, “not by might, nor by power, but by my Spirit”? I wondered if the sovereign action of the Spirit entered into Naaman’s going down and washing so that his flesh became again like the flesh of a little child?
JT He does what he is told now that he is amenable to correction, which is a very great matter for the man who has been wrong. To be amenable to correction is a great matter and salvation depends upon it.
JWD Why was the regular procedure for the cure of leprosy not taken up [p. 291] here?
JT It is a question of who is doing it; it was the maid. We are dealing with her, and our children here before us must be helped on those lines. This is not the way to cure leprosy according to the types; it is just an ordinary thing, to wash in Jordan. What is the virtue in it? It must be the connection with Elisha, the virtue must lie there; he represents grace in the service of God.
SJH Could you help us as to helping Naaman to come down? The servants seem to have had power to bring this haughty man down.
JT It is having influence for good; these servants had influence for good and they used it, and Naaman was amenable to it and was saved in that way.
SJH Do you not think we need help on these lines?
JT I do think so, as to having influence for good and using it as much as possible. It would be a great matter if the brethren all used the influence they have for good and let it be extended to others.
RA At the beginning of these meetings something was said of the numeral seven and it comes in here in this passage.
JT Showing that the prophet is intelligent from the divine standpoint. God Himself uses the numeral seven very much; it is a numeral which has great importance in Scripture. Numerals are of great importance because they convey light from God; God uses them Himself very much.
RWS The servants of Naaman are skilled in the way they approach him: “My father”, they say. Do they not express the kind of grace that is represented in Elisha?
JT The expression “my father” here is to be noted because it comes down from Elisha. He had used it himself. Now Naaman was a big man with his horses and chariots, but as we have said, he was [p. 292] too proud. So Elisha uses the numeral seven that belongs to the divine way, and sends a messenger to convey it; not anything very great, but just a messenger, as Mary Magdalene was sent to speak for the Lord. Elisha says how the cure is to be made; it is not the ordinary way of the types; it is a question of what the little girl has proposed, showing how her word has been carried, and the success is complete.
AH As to the word ‘wash’, have you any thought as to the insistence on the person himself doing it?
JT It might I believe refer to the epistle of John, the great abstract truth that comes in there. It is that sort of thing. But Naaman was wroth; he was not ready for it, and it is often so with us; we are not ready for the truth. Naaman “thought”, that is, he was occupied with his own importance which would interfere with his own blessing. He said, “I thought, He will certainly come out to me”; but why should he come out to him? What a man of God Elisha is! Naaman had no idea of what Elisha was; he had no sense really of what the man of God was. Naaman was a remarkably wise and good man, but still a wise and good man may be very foolish when his pride is hurt.
DrW It takes great skill to deal with an angry man, does it not?
JT Just so. He wanted Elisha to come out and call on the name of Jehovah and make it a big matter, just as is current in Rome now, a big matter, conveying religious bigness and superiority. He says, “I thought, He will ... call on the name of Jehovah his God, and wave his hand”. That is very like Rome, making some sign of that kind as if it were effective. Then Naaman goes on to speak about his country, and what goes on in Damascus. It is nothing [p. 293] but human pride and national feeling, and that often stands in the way of the saints of God.
CHH That is different from the man in Luke 7: he said to the Lord that he was not worthy that He should enter into his house, but would He just speak the word? There is quite a contrast between the spirits of these two men.
JT Just so; faith existed in the man in the New Testament. So this man speaks of what he expected the prophet to do. Then he goes on to talk about national position and importance: “Are not the Abanah and the Pharpar, rivers of Damascus, better than all the waters of Israel?” — as you might say, Are not the things in America greater than the things in other countries? It is just national pride, and we must be rid of it if we are christians. So it goes on that “he turned and went away in a rage”. He is standing in his own light, as many do. But “his servants drew near, and spoke to him and said, My father, if the prophet had bidden thee do some great thing, wouldest thou not have done it? how much rather then, when he says to thee, Wash and be clean?” It is common sense very often that is needed, and now he is sensible and takes good advice; he is amenable to good advice. “Then he went down, and plunged himself seven times in the Jordan, according to the saying of the man of God”. And why should he not? It is well worth while to get thoroughly washed. “And his flesh became again like the flesh of a little child, and he was clean”. That is a wonderful finish to this great episode! He says, “Behold, I know that there is no God in all the earth but in Israel” — he has got light. But then we have more — we see now with Gehazi what may happen in the way of selfishness and the desire for gain. Paul speaks about it, that his own work was without any desire for gain. So Naaman said to Elisha, “I pray thee, take a present of thy servant”, but Elisha refused it. We want to see, those of us who are serving, that we are not serving for gain. Elisha said, “As Jehovah liveth, before whom I stand, I will receive none! And he urged him to take it; but he refused. And Naaman said, If not, then let there, I pray thee, be given to thy servant two mules’ burden of this earth” — he felt there was virtue in it — “for thy servant will no more offer burnt-offering and sacrifice to other gods, but to Jehovah”. He is not going to be heathen any more, he is going to get real blessing; but then what is Gehazi going to do? Naaman is a converted man we might say; he says, “In this thing Jehovah pardon thy servant: when my master goes into the house of Rimmon ... Jehovah pardon thy servant, I pray thee, in this thing”. But now we want to see what the selfishness of Gehazi is; and we are concerned about this in our service to God and to the brethren, as to whether we are serving for gain. Gehazi is marked by downright lies and selfishness; he wants to serve for gain, against which we must all set ourselves. It is very solemn and ought to appeal to everybody here, especially to any who are in any way serving the Lord, that they are not doing it for any personal advantage. Elisha sets out the truth beautifully in his answer to this man.
WWM Do you think that Elisha sets out the right thought of the servant in the service of God, whereas Gehazi would refer somewhat to the clerical system that has taken on this leprosy through the love of money?
JT That is what it is, and the apostle Paul shows that he was never governed by that, especially in 1 Corinthians 9. Perhaps you will quote a little more as to this.
WWM In 1 Timothy 3:8 it says of the ministers, “not seeking gain by base means”; so that anything [p. 295] that is in the line of money in the service of God is a matter of great exercise.
JT We must all be clear of it and set our faces against it; the service of God is to go on without covetousness, for, if we are not set against it, others will be corrupted.
ASB Had you the Corinthian epistles in your mind today? You quoted from chapter 1 this morning, “But of him are ye in Christ Jesus, who has been made to us wisdom from God, and righteousness, and holiness, and redemption”. The word that you referred to came to one between the meetings, and I felt rebuked in my spirit for not responding more to the wealth of the Spirit in this book, in such passages as the end of chapter 1, and chapter 2:9 - 12. And then as to the matter of gain and the truth of separation: there is the danger that we may be serving the saints of God for gain; but what we are to have in mind is the prosperity of God’s work in our localities and the glory of God.
JT And now that the sisters are having more place and liberty amongst us, it is that they too may take on the Spirit of Christ. It is really a question of the incarnation, the truth of the incarnation of Christ; a matter of the kind of man we have to do with and that kind of man is Christ. It is worked out in the first and second letters to the Corinthians — the kind of man that is to be in the service.
FKC In 2 Corinthians 2, the apostle in going over this matter, says, “But thanks be to God, who always leads us in triumph in the Christ, and makes manifest the odour of his knowledge through us in every place”; and then at the end of the chapter, “For we do not, as the many, make a trade of the word of God; but as of sincerity, but as of God, before God, we speak in Christ”.
ABP Gehazi-like men would seem to be in Paul’s mind in Philippians 3:17 - 19, “enemies of the cross of Christ”. They were evidently serving for gain.
JRH It would appear that Gehazi borrows this beautiful expression from his master when he says, “As Jehovah liveth”. Would he not have been preserved from this line of gain for himself if he had been moving in the good of that expression? Would you say that this borrowing of good expressions really enlarges the iniquity and is leprosy in itself, a Romish feature?
JT I was just thinking of that, though I was somewhat avoiding reference to that system and what is current in it at the moment, that is, the statement that Mary has been received up bodily into heaven. Think of the awfulness of that! The brethren do well to be on the alert against it and rebuke it as far as possible.
JLP Should we not note that in God’s governmental dealings the effects of His judgment are not only on Gehazi, but upon his seed for ever?
JT Just so. It is terrible what is going on in that system, to which we have referred! We are not ignorant of what is current in this very country we are in. But on the other hand according to the book of Revelation Russia is the devil’s agent as well as Rome; we have there the beast and the false prophet, which would involve Russia. We have a terrible situation current, and we do well to be with God about it for the devil is working in it. We need to stir up our minds as to the awfulness of what is present in the world, first as to Rome and secondly as to Russia, for these are the two agencies the devil is using to corrupt the whole world. The one is Bolshevism, centering in Russia; and the other is Roman Catholicism, centering in Rome. We are all exposed to these two great features, and we have to be on our guard because they are leading up to the time of the end, to the coming of the Lord. Our [p. 297] great hope is the coming of the Lord, His appearing, it says; it speaks of those who love His appearing. What a great thought that is! The Lord values those who love His appearing. And meantime those that love the Lord are serving for nothing. They love the Lord, and they are doing it because they love Him; they are serving in love. The prophet says his heart went with Gehazi when he followed Naaman, as much as to say, Gehazi, I know exactly what you are doing and what your motives are. That is, he was serving for gain. Elisha knew exactly what he was doing, God gave him light as to it.
FKC In Philippians 4:3 the apostle speaks to his “true yokefellow”, the idea of ‘true’ there being ‘genuine’, as though the genuineness of persons comes out in service.
JT That would mean that the apostle Paul had the fullest confidence in Timotheus, that is to say family feeling — he is his child.
CHH The apostle Paul calls attention to the words of the Lord Jesus, how He said, “It is more blessed to give than to receive” (Acts 20:35).
JT The words of the Lord Jesus, that is very beautiful, a beautiful thought for us, that it is more blessed to give than to receive. So we are not like Gehazi, serving for gain. The prophet discerned what he was doing too; so that we shall not escape if we are doing this, we shall be exposed. The Spirit of God will expose it if we are at all covetous in the service of the Lord.
Pages 298 to 438 — “Prophetic Ministry and the Service of God” Meetings in France, 1939 (Volume 188).