2 SAMUEL 17 (CONTINUED)
2 SAMUEL 17 (CONTINUED)
JT We closed last time with an allusion to the secret service of David seen in chapter 17. We scarcely got beyond verse 14, the counsels respectively of Ahithophel and Hushai. The counsel of Hushai is given from verse 7 to the end of verse 14 and the object is clearly to defeat the counsel of Ahithophel. Both counsels being given, verse 15 shows that the secret service began to operate in a more definite way. It had been operating in Hushai but now there is another added to the five we have mentioned in that service, that is, the maid in verse 17. They take on an unnamed person. Jonathan and Ahimaaz [p. 176] were in En-rogel, the maid went and told them and they went and told king David. Then it says that a lad saw them and told Absalom. “Then they went both of them away quickly, and came to the house of a man at Bahurim, who had a well in his court; and they went down there. And the woman took and spread the covering over the well’s mouth, and spread ground corn on it; and the thing was not known”. As an outcome of all this, “By the morning light there was not one of them missing that had not gone over the Jordan”. The secret service is operating and overcoming. Although it is discerned in its way by the agents of the world, the advice given is to pass over, that is, safety is in passing over Jordan, which I suppose applied spiritually would be a second experience of death. Kidron is the first and then Jordan.
Ques Does the counsel rise to a high level in Hushai telling the priests what was taking place in order that the priests might pass on the information, the matter being handled in a priestly way?
JT That was what came before us a little. The names of all are mentioned, two priests, two sons and Hushai; and now we have a sixth, a nameless person, but doing good service, so that the service is on a high level. Spiritually it is the idea of the acceptance of death, passing over. How much is made of the words “pass over” in chapter 15! But now it is passing over the Jordan.
Ques What is the difference between death at Kidron and death at Jordan?
JT I think as we were saying that Kidron is in the midst of great suggestions. Around it and in the vicinity are great thoughts; Jerusalem, the mount of Olives, the temple and the ark. There is one who crosses it in a special way; they all cross it to get out of Jerusalem, but the one whose crossing is strikingly emphasised is Ittai, a spiritual man;
[p. 177] he represents the idea. David was hindering him so as to bring out what was there. We have in him, I think, what gives understanding about Kidron. Ittai said, in answer to David’s challenge: “As Jehovah liveth, and as my lord the king liveth, surely in what place my lord the king shall be, whether in death or life even there also will thy servant be ... . And Ittai the Gittite passed over, and all his men, and all the little ones that were with him”, 2 Samuel 15:21, 22.
Rem In the little ones passing over I suppose the idea of household baptism would be in view in this secret service. Perhaps that would account for the fact too that this maid is used.
JT You mean that she would be a household servant probably?
Rem It might give an inspiring stimulus to household baptism. We need recruits for this secret service.
Ques And is not the house brought in later at Bahurim?
JT Yes, and the woman and the well. The spiritual environment of Kidron is understood especially because of the spiritual depth of Ittai.
He makes a beautiful speech, and the acceptance of it unqualifiedly by the king is as much as to say, That is the thing; you qualify, Ittai. That must lend lustre to the whole position. The Jordan, however, is by itself. There is no temple nearby or anything of that kind suggestive of spirituality; but it is history. Jordan is history from the outset. It is the great division or barrier between Canaan and the wilderness. The ark is illustrated in its overthrow of the power of the Jordan, but there is no question of power in Kidron. It is a torrent, but the Jordan is satanic power concentrated, death in the hands of Satan; it seems to be the second great thought here, deliverance necessitates the passing over.
[p. 178] Ques The Lord passed over Kidron with His disciples into the garden; is there any significance in that?
JT We were speaking about that, the correspondence between the two positions. It is this same brook, the same torrent; the true David is there and the traitor Judas, the son of perdition, answering to Absalom here. The Lord passed over into the garden to meet the enemy who was ahead of Him. Absalom was behind here. David was outside the city, but Satan and the great conflict with death was in the garden of Gethsemane. Jordan is the next thing, of course, “that through death he might annul him who has the might of death, that is, the devil”,
(Hebrews 2:14). It seems as if the passing over now by the tidings through the secret service is the only way of safety, and they were all over “by the morning light”. If it applies to us spiritually, deliverance can only be on those lines. “Then David arose, and all the people that were with him, and they passed over the Jordan; by the morning light there was not one of them missing that had not gone over the Jordan”, chapter 17:22. That is the idea, they are on new ground; it would be like the resurrection, the power of God operative. David would not be behind in understanding this.
Rem You are not looking on this historically but rather as soul experience in view of recovery.
JT Yes, and in view of escaping the influence of Absalom. It really is antichristian influence rather than the antichrist himself; I think we saw that before. It is rather like what is current today generally, and the secret service, which is a spiritual thought, enables us at meetings like these and other meetings of a spiritual character to get light from one and another. We would point out in using this expression ‘secret service’ that there is no question of disloyalty to the powers that be. A secret agent [p. 179] of any given government might think in hearing such an expression that we are disloyal to it; but as we have been noticing in Zechariah, these powers are the four spirits of the heavens, they belong to the secret service themselves. The men in government may not themselves understand this, but God is working for us through them.
Rem “We are not ignorant of his devices”, 2 Corinthians 2:11. Saints are fully acquainted with the enemy.
JT Our relations with one another and the fellowship are a mystery really and enable us to understand what is operating against us and what is for us. Even the powers that be are for us.
Rem The example of this maid is good; youth should not work for the antichristian system.
JT That is the effort of the devil today, to get the youth on the antichristian side by teaching and influence.
Ques Does Colossians suggest “the morning light”?
JT The power of God in resurrection you mean; we are “risen with Christ”. It was really the escape out of the antichristian world, there was not one left.
Ques Is it a priestly matter to go over Jordan? I notice the priest gives the word of command to go over.
JT By the two messengers, yes.
Ques Would you say more about Zadok? Does not his priesthood extend over a long period?
JT You mean we find it in Ezekiel. I think he represents the priesthood ‘par excellence’, you might say, because of his place in the future house. He comes before Abiathar here although it would seem that Abiathar was before him spiritually. We know that Abiathar failed later, so that Zadok must be the great thought of the priesthood here.
Rem In Ezekiel we find: “of the sons of Zadok who kept my charge and went not astray when the children, of Israel went astray”, Ezekiel 48:11. Thus it would appear as if the link was maintained by them on priestly lines while everything publicly seemed to be gone, and that fits in with this section too, and helps on the line of priestly service from the secret point of view.
JT There are these five men to begin with and then two women added later without their names being given, as if to augment the position by the subjective conditions. This idea enters into all our relations with one another now, brothers and sisters alike, as apprehending the ministry. The powers that be belong to the system, they keep the peace of the world so that the saints may move about. There is no disloyalty with us at all to any person in authority, mayor, governor, president, king; it is the moral thing that we are dealing with.
Ques How do you reconcile the actual recognition of the powers that be with what develops at the end — the man of sin who “exalts himself on high against all called God ... showing himself that he is God”,
JT That is antichrist. We have not come to antichrist yet but we have come to antichristian influence. Revelation has to do with antichrist personally, he comes out with his armies to combat the Lord. In the meantime the four spirits of the heavens stand, they are part of the system, they stand before the God of all the earth, whatever they may be personally and their influence is for our benefit.
Rem So that we support the powers that be until they declare themselves against Christ.
JT They are God’s ministers for good.
Rem So that we should not view certain acts of certain officials as really representative of the abstract view. There may be an official guilty of unrighteous acts or a judge doing violence to the actual laws of [p. 181] the country, but what we are speaking of is the abstract view, not isolated circumstances.
JT Yes, in the abstract these powers are viewed as horses guided by external pressure, so that in spite of themselves they do things which are in our favour.
Ques What is the thought in David marshalling all his hosts?
JT We are coming to what is open now. But this is very practical, the little ones going over and then these young men and women working successfully; the thing goes through successfully, a most important matter. There are five men and two women, so far as I see here; the first women is called “the maid” . Why the article is before the word I do not know, it must point to some known person; she represents something.
Rem The functioning of the whole system depends for the moment upon her; Hushai is in the king’s house and the priests are in the city; the message is conveyed to the priests’ sons by her.
JT And the fact that the article is there would seem to indicate that she is an important element, that she is part of the thing; without her it would not have worked. Everyone should take it home to himself, that without him there is a missing link.
Rem The link was not missing in Acts when the forty banded themselves together to kill Paul. A lad was there who came into the breach, and the whole thing changed.
JT And then there was Rhoda, a young girl, whatever her capacity was; she may have been a maid in the house but she was ready.
Rem Such a slender sort of link would warrant any one of us putting ourselves into this position. The marvel is that God allowed things to be so sustained; at times they were held only by the merest link. Even with the preservation of the Scriptures [p. 182] there were times when it looked as if they could not be preserved.
JT The burial of the Lord seemed to be a precarious matter. There was a grave dug for him “with the wicked”; but a rich man was used at that point. He steps in there and is the necessary link from the divine point of view. The Lord was “with the rich in his death” (Isaiah 53:9).
Rem The woman’s activities in Bahurim are more pronounced than the man’s, more developed, and were intelligent.
JT Quite so. The maid is an official allusion. It says that of the young men “they went both of them away quickly, and came to the house of a man at Bahurim, who had a well in his court; and they went down there. And the woman took and spread the covering over the well’s mouth, and spread ground corn on it; and the thing was not known”, 2 Samuel 17:19. Without anything more being said the woman is ready. The feminine side is secretive and she responds here.
Rem The man does nothing; it almost looks questionable as to whether he was at home. When the husband is away the wife has ability to act in emergency.
JT That fits in here; she knew what to do; she had orders from nobody. The well is an important provision or accessory to the house and it would be in her department.
Rem It is something like Rahab in the beginning of Joshua, the top of her house is used. The more you look at it the more it seems to be the Colossian position.
JT I think it is, and the woman is secretive in principle as a figure in the Scriptures. The thing is well done both in Rahab’s case and here.
Ques Would not the fact that the well is there [p. 183] and the woman in the good of it accentuate the subjective side?
JT It would all be in her department. The woman is to “guide the house”, showing that she has an official place which the husband has to observe to be right. So the woman “took and spread the covering over the well’s mouth”; she knew where it was kept. Then she “spread ground corn on it”, and the thing was successful.
Rem If the husband is away someone must be at home.
JT That the house may function. The household is part of the thing. With Ittai, they all went over. If the household is functioning there ought to be all these things there, a furnished house that can be used. The wife is over it, she guides it.
Ques The men go down into the well; what does that signify?
JT The thing was there and they knew of it. It is what this house provides. It is a part of the system of the believer’s house.
Rem If the husband is away it seems to be an important thing that she is at home. What good is a house if there is nobody there? These men might have been slain if she had not been there to receive them.
JT The house is functioning even if the husband is not there.
Ques Is there also the suggestion that any one of us may be called into an important issue at any moment without warning? This woman is presumably engaged in her daily tasks and does not know of the crisis. Suddenly she is brought face to face with it and has to make a decision. None of us can be neutral.
JT I never saw this so plainly before, the matter of the house functioning in the testimony. The well is there and the woman does the rest, having the [p. 184] needed things. Ground corn — what a fine thought! It was all there. How does this come into her mind? It would indicate food, but it is the wisdom in concealing that strikes me. How well it succeeded! She had all this, but the well was not known to be there, it was covered over.
Ques In a general way does this decision correspond with what John writes of in his epistle, the last times and the many antichrists? “Ye have the unction from the holy one and ye know all things”, 1 John 2:20. Would that suggest the ability to understand what to do?
JT I think that is very good because in the official ministry in Christendom certain university training is necessary, whereas in meeting antichrist in that passage you allude to, “ye have the unction from the holy one and ye know all things”, 1 John 2:20. It is proceeding from the Holy One (not ‘of’ ). It comes out, and “ye know all things”. I was noticing an account of the so-called “Bampton lecturers” in a university, men who give a public lecture for Lent or Easter. The occasion was well furnished with money, but one provision was that the man who gives this lecture must be at least an M. A. That is not necessary with an unction from the Holy One. I mention it to show you what professing Christendom is; it is ignoring the unction from the Holy One. This woman knew what to do and she did it. You do not get an M. A. from the Holy One, not that one would say anything against education, but the Holy Spirit is ignored, especially in regard to antichristian activities.
Rem The official side having broken down, the secret operations of God come to light connected with His own work.
JT The public would call John the baptist anything: a prophet, the Messiah, etc.; and when the Lord Himself went to Jerusalem many believed [p. 185] on Him because of the signs, but the Spirit of God says that Jesus did not trust them. That is where new birth comes in, just there; you cannot tell what it is, it is the wind blowing where it lists; that is the Spirit. The point I think that enters into all this is that you know what to do in a crisis.
Rem “They ... came to the house of a man at Bahurim, who had a well in his court; and they went down there”. Think of them trusting themselves to this house! They might have been putting themselves into the hands of a traitor, the same as Sisera.
Ques Does letting them down into the well correspond at all with the disciples when they let Paul down in a basket?
JT It does not say they let these men down: “they came”, and “they went down”, and “they came up out of the well”; it is all their own action, and the woman’s action is to complete the position. In the concealment of these two men the thing is working perfectly and the Spirit of God shows it is successful.
Rem The enemy cannot discern the working of the Spirit.
Ques Does this develop into the overthrow of the whole system? We spoke last week about the counsel of the princes of Zoan, whose wisdom is foolishness.
JT We were speaking of the hidden wisdom; the world does not know that, it is at a disadvantage.
Rem What seems to be developing is the extraordinary co-operation of these links. The men went down and the woman does just the thing to confirm what they have done.
Ques Is all this teaching to indicate to David that things had not been right in his kingdom?
JT That is the sorrowful side; it would all come home to him, where did all this sorrow begin? That is the other side. The king himself is the [p. 186] occasion of it, staying at home when kings go forth to battle, and sinning; but whatever the cause, the testimony is in jeopardy and the thing now is to protect it.
Rem None of us need aspire to do something that we are not intended to do. We might have in our minds that we would like to be some prominent person who would be known everywhere. But this whole secret service at this point is dependent upon an unknown person doing this one thing and perhaps only taking a very short time to do it.
JT It is the Colossian position right through; the message they carry is so urgent: “pass quickly over the water”, (verse 21), that they did not even mention Jordan at first. But then, David understood that this was meant.
Ques Would going down into the well and coming up again indicate their faith?
JT There is some idea in their going down, they knew what to do. David left the ark in the city but the link must be kept with the ark. He is not a party man, he is moving in the light of the whole position. He is crossing over and the position is changing now. You can see how the position is endangered by those who have led or are supposed to lead not being in their places and functioning. “Love never fails”. It is a question of what our hands find to do, but we are often not up to the mark and the enemy gets the advantage.
Rem We need to go through the process of disappearance; none of us can give proper counsel otherwise.
JT I have no doubt this woman of Bahurim would cover her head in praying; that is the lesson in Christianity as to the woman’s place. If she had not been ready here there would have been no success. I am not speaking of the literal thing, but subjection [p. 187] in the woman enables her to function when her husband is not there.
Ques Would it fit in with what we are saying about household baptism, the idea of covering or protecting that which is of the secret service?
JT The whole position is covered by baptism publicly, showing that we are on the Lord’s side.
Ques Do you think weakness is seen in the woman’s reply to Absalom’s servants?
JT I do not think so. Of course, when it comes to truthfulness you have to make allowance for the day in which they lived. But the idea here is that the world will not pass that way; there is a barrier and they go over the brook of water.
Rem The well has a covering, verse 19.
JT It must have been there all the time, the well would not have been kept open. I suppose it was for protection; the woman uses it now and covers it with the corn.
Rem Whatever you do in this secret service it is all a case of taking your life in your hands; she was really speaking to Absalom’s servants in defence of the whole position.
JT These untruths have to be left. The Holy Spirit mentions them, and they are not to be justified, of course, but the time had not come for a right understanding of truth. It is what is done and the success of it that is emphasised here. This idea of covering is very important, because it refers to the feminine side of the position; she uses the cover. And then there is the fact that the husband is not mentioned: it is his house but she has the food. If we can follow spiritually we shall see what everything means.
Ques Do you think that the corn would refer to some feature of Christ?
JT Yes. There is something which is hidden in the Colossian sense, that the world [p. 188] knows not.
Rem This line of action means the death of Ahithophel.
JT In verse 21 we read of the message being sent to David and he goes beyond the Jordan; then in verse 23: “And when Ahithophel saw that his counsel was not followed, he saddled his ass, and arose and went to his house, to his city, and gave charge to his household, and hanged himself, and he died; and he was buried in the sepulchre of his father”. Why is that put in here? It is the wisdom of this world coming to nought. Everything is in order according to the man, his house is set in order, but he hangs himself, that is the end of him.
Ques Is passing over Jordan by the morning light a suggestion of resurrection?
JT Yes, the new day begins. David over Jordan is really the beginning of the end for Absalom; he went over but that was for destruction.
Rem Wisdom hidden in the assembly would bring to nought such wisdom as Ahithophel’s.
JT David acting in the light of the secret service brings this out. He is not assuming to know better than the messengers, he is subject; so we do well to pay attention to all that is going on in our meetings. It is a question of the Comforter: “He shall guide”, it says; John 16:13. I take this to mean that any number of brothers may speak, but the Spirit fills the matter out and we reach the desired end under His direction. The message of Ahimaaz and Jonathan is very direct: “they came up out of the well, and went and told king David; and they said to David, Arise and pass quickly over the water”, verse 21. They did not bow down to him as the king at all, it is the secret service in mind; it is a question of the Spirit of God and everyone has to be subject to Him.
Rem The close of the chapter indicates that God has blessed the whole position in that there is [p. 189] an abundance of everything for the weary people. Instead of defeat there is this evidence of plenty.
JT “And David came to Mahanaim”, verse 24. This is where the angels met Jacob, David would not forget that, either; and it was where grace had been resisted in the children of Ammon, a very striking matter. We have Absalom as the first one mentioned after this: “And Absalom passed over the Jordan”, verse 24. It is very remarkable how the matter goes forward. It is where grace had been resisted and despised, but now it is operative in these men, Shobi the son of Nahash of Rabbah of the children of Ammon, and Machir and Barzillai.
Rem This is like the commissariat, a very important department of the army. There is the secret service and the civil service and this would be like the commissariat.
Rem Grace is very important too, because it shows that what appears to be impossible is now effected, by the fact that there is a secret work of God in the soul of Shobi.
JT That is the thought. This man who had been a despiser is subject; that is what is taking place today.