GENERATIONS IN THE BOOK OF GENESIS (6)
[p. 474] GENERATIONS IN THE BOOK OF GENESIS (6)
Genesis 36: 1 - 8; Genesis 37: 1 - 4; Genesis 47: 7 - 10; Genesis 48: 14 - 16
JT In connection with the generations of Isaac, we were unable to say anything as to Rebecca and the two nations, which, it is said, were in her womb. They were announced prophetically, and they bring out something of the qualities of Rebecca as representative, with Sarah, of the sisterhood of the family of God. That side is carried through in the Scriptures. The mind of God is indicated to Rebecca as to her unborn children — that sovereignty entered exclusively into the generations of Isaac. Whilst Esau proved hateful to God in result, he occasions the bringing out of the character of the dispensation, in that he also is blessed by Isaac. His blessing is stated in Genesis 27: 39: “And Isaac his father answered and said to him, Behold, thy dwelling shall be of the fatness of the earth, And of the dew of heaven from above; And by thy sword shalt thou live; And thou shalt serve thy brother; And it shall come to pass when thou rovest about, That thou shalt break his yoke from off thy neck”. Then the chapter says, “Esau hated Jacob”.
In regard of Jacob, it seems that the blessing is invoked.. “And God give thee of the dew of heaven, And of the fatness of the earth, And plenty of corn and new wine. Let peoples serve thee, And races bow down to thee ... Cursed be they that curse thee, And blessed be they that bless thee”. So that in what accrues — the good and the evil — occasion is taken to bring out the character of our dispensation typically, that is, blessing upon all, although in result one line is hated. God said, “I loved Jacob, and I hated Esau” (Malachi 1: 3). Though Esau is ultimately hated, he is here blessed, but the blessing takes the form of a statement of facts; what should be, and brings out what the man really was; whereas with Jacob the blessing is invoked
[p. 475] and he is protected. There is the family of faith running through him, representing what is real in christianity, but still, both are blessed. Another thing that is to be noted in these generations is that they are written from the standpoint of what had developed already. That is, Moses, the writer, being conversant with the facts would speak of them from the standpoint of the testimony of God. So the histories or generations, as we have been speaking of them, are intended to instruct the people of God as to the persons under consideration.
PL You mean that where people are in relation to the testimony it becomes the touchstone to their spiritual history.
JT That is how, I think, we should look at it, what has come out morally. The instruction clearly has the testimony in mind, for that is what Moses represents; he was feelingly identified with the testimony. The Lord took great pains in His ministry, according to John particularly, to stress the importance of Moses’ writings, that they were to be believed. They are to be read in faith, so that Abraham, speaking to the rich man in hades, says, “If they hear not Moses and the prophets, not even if one rise from among the dead will they be persuaded” (Luke 16: 31). We can thus see what a testimony we have in these books, how reliably written by a man who was faithful in all God’s house.
Ques You remarked that the idea of father came out, not only in Abraham, but also in Isaac and Jacob. Is it in the fact that they bless their sons?
JT You can see that here. Blessing is the leading thought in the book, and runs right through in a paternal way. So Abraham exercises his fatherly care for Isaac; and notwithstanding the lamentable feebleness of Isaac, he rises to this thought under God. “By faith Isaac blessed Jacob and Esau concerning things to come” (Hebrews 11: 20). And, having blessed Jacob, he [p. 476] undertakes to help and guide him in regard of his wife. So we shall see in considering Jacob how it runs through, he rises even to the blessing of Pharaoh. The less is blessed of the greater manifestly, as Scripture says, and Jacob is able to bless Pharaoh, showing how pronounced the idea of blessing is. Then, Jacob loved Joseph; that is the fatherly thought in regard of what is lovable, and in the end, taking on and elevating the sons of Joseph to the rank of the twelve tribes — the sons of Jacob. So we are on the up line in his service, and we see, notwithstanding general weakness, how the idea of the testimony is maintained. It is a point of the greatest importance that we do not lose sight of it and drop below the proper level. God brought Isaac to it in the blessing of Jacob and Esau, and then there was the exercise of fatherly care for Jacob that he should have a proper wife, that the line should be kept intact.
Ques What would you say as to the exercise of Rebecca? Does she suggest something in a subjective way that lays hold of the thought of God, and which, in that way, rises above the declension?
JT Clearly, she is brought in with Sarah, and Rachel, and Leah, as developed out of the generations of Shem and Terah, showing the import of those generations and how cumulative they are. So that we should be instructed as to what we have to do with. Rebecca had the mind of God about the two sons; she loved Jacob. That is, she augmented the fatherly thought, because it is not only the thought of God Himself as Father, but the idea of father in those who are responsible — as you get it with Paul and John and others to whom that title applied. The fatherly thought is often weak amongst the brothers and has to be augmented or supported by the maternal side.
PL Would that be seen in Deborah, a “mother in Israel”, and would Barak represent the weak paternal side?
[p. 477] JT Exactly; and in Manoah too; you have the maternal qualities in his wife without mentioning her name; the qualities are what is stressed. You have it also in Gideon’s mother, who had the right ideal — her sons, as described by the kings of Midian, show that her ideal of manhood went beyond her husband.
PL And like Hannah.
Ques So would you say that through the maternal help of Rebecca, Isaac sends Jacob away in a most dignified manner to find a wife, not as escaping from his brother?
JT Yes. “And Isaac called Jacob, and blessed him, and charged him, and said to him, Thou shalt not take a wife of the daughters of Canaan. Arise, go to Padan-Aram, to the house of Bethuel thy mother’s father, and take a wife thence of the daughters of Laban, thy mother’s brother. And the Almighty God bless thee, and make thee fruitful and multiply thee, that thou mayest become a company of peoples. And may he give thee the blessing of Abraham, to thee and to thy seed with thee, in order that thou mayest possess the land of thy sojourning, which God gave to Abraham! And Isaac sent away Jacob; and he went to Padan-Aram, to Laban the son of Bethuel the Syrian, the brother of Rebecca, Jacob’s and Esau’s mother”. And verse 7 shows that Rebecca joined with Isaac in sending Jacob to Padan-Aram. The sisterly side is brought in and the kindred stressed. All this points to the exercise of fatherly qualities, augmented by motherly ones, which are intended to be seen throughout this dispensation — of course, principally in the elder brethren, so that we have the line preserved amid all these other generations with which we have to do. Esau, on the other hand, ignored these instructions, and caused grief to his mother, taking wives from the daughters of the Canaanites. Then, when he saw that Isaac had blessed Jacob and sent him away to take a wife, and that the daughters of Canaan were evil in the sight of Isaac his father, “Esau went to Ishmael, and took, besides the wives that he had, Mahalath the daughter of Ishmael Abraham’s son, the sister of Nebaioth, to be his wife”. That is just imitation, and morally is of no value.
PL Is that Laodicea assuming the light of Philadelphia without the state?
JT Quite so; we have to guard against that. Imitation in the things of God is calculated to discredit what is genuine.
MWB Then you would view Esau as within the christian profession. You refer to Jacob as that which is real in christianity; Esau is profane.
JT That is the position. He starts out on that line. He was on the line of nature, a man of the field, but Jacob was a plain man and dwelt in tents, and was loved by his mother. Esau is marked off as a natural man, but still ready to imitate, and if Jacob is blessed, he must get a blessing too. I suppose this kind of rivalry is prevalent throughout christendom, persons trying to attain to what is of God in order to maintain self-importance, but hating those who have divine things as valuing them on the principle of faith.
HFN Would you say a word as to the distinctive features that are to mark a father, and then the features represented in the mother?
JT The father, first of all, gives status to the family — the sons, and undertakes authority, as we see in Abraham and Isaac, to guide and protect according to right principles, because both Abraham and Isaac lay out right principles, as we have just read in the charge to Jacob. Then the mother acts more instinctively, as seen both in Sarah and Rebecca. Sarah was above her husband really in having Ishmael cast out, and Rebecca would have the blessing for Jacob. She knew to whom it belonged; she was not robbing anybody, for Esau had nothing to be robbed of really. It is to him that hath that more is given. Esau had denied himself of [p. 479] his wealth, and Rebecca knew from God that Jacob was put first, that the elder was to serve the younger, and she would have the blessing for him. Although we cannot excuse her methods, yet there was determination that Jacob should have the blessing. It is that maternal quality, whether in literal mothers or in the assembly, that has the determination that the young should have the blessing, those marked off for it.
JHT Is that worked out to an issue in the prophet Obadiah: 17, 18? It says, “The house of Jacob shall possess their possessions. And the house of Jacob shall be a fire, and the house of Joseph a flame, and the house of Esau for stubble; and they shall kindle in them and devour them; and there shall not be any remaining of the house of Esau”.
JT Quite. In the first scripture read we have the generations of Esau, and we are told again the kind of wives he took, and then in the end of the paragraph (verse 8), “Thus Esau dwelt in mount Seir; Esau is Edom;” so there is no doubt as to him. It is not always easy to determine those whom Esau represents, but in this chapter, I believe the generations of Esau are to help us to discern them.
AMH It is mentioned three times in this chapter that “Esau is Edom”. Is that a reference back to the making of his bargain, that it put upon him the terms he had made himself in selling his birthright for “this red thing”?
JT Yes, Edom signifying red. Then it will be observed that he had kings: “And these are the kings that reigned in the land of Edom before there reigned a king over the children of Israel”. Then again in the end of the chapter, the chiefs of Edom being mentioned, “This is Esau, the father of Edom”.
JTJr It says in verse 6 that he went away from his brother Jacob after he had acquired a great deal of substance in the land of Canaan: has that any reference [p. 480] to the departure of certain ones from the truth and what they have taken with them?
JT Yes. There has been much of that; people having acquired things amongst the brethren — that is, in Canaan — and gone off with it, and set themselves up elsewhere in independency.
JJ The anxiety of Jacob about the wives of his sons does not appear. The fatherly feature that you have spoken of in regard of Abraham and Isaac as to their sons is very clear, but in Jacob it seems to be entirely absent.
JT We see a sorrowful lack in that respect in the history of Judah, in chapter 38. We cannot go into it now to any extent, but it is a chapter of disgrace. The early fatherly qualities of Jacob were weak, but he rises subsequently; indicative of the varied history of the believer — of all of us. We may have the right thought objectively, but Jacob represents the long, chequered, varied histories of the saints, and how we may rise to the idea of the primary thought of God as we go on, reaching it perhaps in a more spiritual way than had been reached earlier. The history of his family is most distressing but he loved Joseph; he loved what was lovable.
PL Do we find in Paul, claiming so rightly to be the father of the Corinthians, one who exceeds Jacob in loving what was unlovable? Is that part of the fatherly service?
JT Quite so; we have had it already: “if even in abundantly loving you I should be less loved”. God knew that he loved them. It is these fatherly qualities amongst us that are so much needed, to guide the young. Jacob’s love is seen in the fact that he loved Joseph, but it is rather in the fact that he loved what was lovable. His mother loved him too, that is, he was brought up in love, and Jacob loved what was lovable, but we have to learn to love like God. That is the difficulty; being able to love saints who are not attractive “Love in the Spirit” is the great thing, involving love for all saints. Those are two thoughts which we get in Colossians, that you love in the Spirit, thus that you love those who may be unlovable, and you do the utmost for them.
EuR Esau seems to recognise that what was fatherly would preserve his brother, because he did not suggest slaying him till the days of mourning for his father were over. Does each generation in that way protect what is of God in the generation coming on?
JT I think that suggestion is there. He had some regard for his father in that sense.
Ques How are we to regard the word in Deuteronomy 23: 7? “Thou shalt not abhor an Edomite; for he is thy brother”.
JT That is in the early part of the history; nor would God permit Israel to touch Edom on their way to Canaan. All that brings out what consideration Edom had, just as we were saying. He was blessed, and God would act towards him according to the blessing and give him every opportunity to be right. So in Deuteronomy 2, Israel is directed not to touch him. We are apt to speak severely of those who like Edom have gathered up certain truth amongst us and gone off in independency. We have perhaps to do with them in contending for the truth, but to go beyond that is unwise, for God is caring for them. In fact that is what is happening in other lands today, and we cannot but feel that God would act for them. They have turned away from the truth, but they are in distress and we cannot but feel for them. I think Deuteronomy would show how God’s consideration for Edom is in keeping with the fact that he was blessed, but all that consideration proved futile, and the hatred toward Israel deepened. The prophets show how God took account of this hatred in Edom, so the last prophet says that God hated [p. 482] him.
JTS Does the wonderful patience of the Lord in regard of Laodicea serve as an example for us — “Behold, I stand at the door and am knocking” — but in result Laodicea is spued out of the Lord’s mouth.
JT You feel you cannot regard those represented in Edom just as the world; you cannot but think of them according to the early history, and as it says here, according to their generations. It is a question of their origin and what God thinks about them, and it is important to keep that in mind, because we are apt to classify them all as the same, but they are not the same. Edom is not Ishmael, nor is Ishmael Edom, although they are linked together. We see them in the Psalms — Edomites, Ishmaelites, etc., all attacking Israel, but they all have their identification (Psalm 83: 6 - 8).
JC-S You said this morning that some of them were near relatives; would we embrace them in our prayers and in service, without violating the truth?
JT Surely; I hope we do serve them in that way. In the book of Judges, it is said that Jephthah in speaking to the king of Ammon pointed out how Israel treated Edom and walked round the land of Edom, and reached Canaan as the result of further walking. So we must have patience and give them every opportunity, because it is a question of maintaining the dispensation. Isaac blessed both Jacob and Esau. See what Esau is. Isaac says, “Behold, thy dwelling shall be of the fatness of the earth”. I apprehend that means that those typified are in the area in which the Spirit is operating, and so the truth is available to them. “The dew of heaven” is there. Then it says, “And by thy sword shalt thou live; And thou shalt serve thy brother; And it shall come to pass when thou rovest about” — there is no idea of fellowship in that — “That thou shalt break his yoke from off thy neck”. That is the sort of thing. It is not easy to love them, nor indeed can we speak much about loving them in those conditions,
[p. 483] but we have consideration for them and give them every opportunity to adjust themselves and walk in the truth.
PL Do you see it in David’s respect for the anointing and his long patience with Saul?
JT Quite so; and, as has been remarked with regard to Laodicea, the Lord says, “I counsel thee to buy of me”. That is very touching. He says, ‘I am about to spue you out of My mouth, but I am ready to give you counsel, and if you do not want grace, a free gift, I am ready to sell it to you — anything to help you’.
HFN In the blessing of Jacob, the dew of heaven is mentioned first, and then the fatness of the earth and corn and new wine, but in regard to Esau, it is the fatness of the earth first, the dew of heaven coming second. Would Jacob carry on in spiritual power what was seen in Abraham in relation to what is heavenly?
JT That is what I understand, and he is to be supported by corn and new wine, to be maintained at the full height of the position. It is that he is furnished with what belongs to the testimony and sustained in it.
HMS In this connection you made some remark as to the link God has with those in christendom.
JT We were speaking of these generations involving what was from the beginning, their origin and history. For instance, the claim to apostolic succession — that is not from the beginning; it never existed, but it is claimed by the greater part of christendom. You ignore that; but then, there are other things that really belong to the beginning, that you feel some of them at least have, and that makes a difference — you are nearer to such.
JHT The Ishmaelites are those that buy Joseph and sell him into Egypt, whereas in chapter 33, as Jacob meets Esau, it says, “lastly Joseph drew near”, and that seems to leave an impression on Esau for the time [p. 484] being.
JT It is Christ really presented to him. It says in that chapter that “Esau ran to meet him, and embraced him, and fell on his neck, and kissed him; and they wept. And he lifted up his eyes and saw the women and the children, and said, Who are these with thee? And he said, The children that God has graciously given thy servant. And the maidservants drew near, they and their children, and they bowed. And Leah also, with her children, drew near, and they bowed. And lastly Joseph drew near, and Rachel, and they bowed” (Genesis 33: 4 - 7). You will notice that Joseph is placed before Rachel, that is, it is Christ. Whether Esau had discernment or not, there it was. When Joseph was born, Jacob was affected by that small suggestion of Christ; the spiritual man is thus affected, but was Esau affected? There is no evidence that he was. The true saint is affected by a touch from God, of Christ, in whatever small measure He is presented. Jacob is affected by the birth of Joseph. Esau had this testimony, and that really is the way to get at those represented by Esau; to let the children that God has given be seen by them. Let Christ shine in the midst of them; that is, put Christ first — Joseph is here before Rachel.
HH In Jeremiah 49: 11 it says in regard of Edom: “Leave thine orphans, I will preserve them alive; and let thy widows trust in me”. That is, God would bring them down in grace. I suppose there is no inheritance in the world to come for the Edomite, whatever exercise there may be now and whatever care may be bestowed at the present time in relation to the testimony. Is that right?
JT Yes. It is in keeping with this dispensation, grace being the ruling thought: “so also grace might reign through righteousness to eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord” (Romans 5: 21). This should govern us in our relations with [p. 485] all.
PL Do you not see all this in Paul appearing before the Edomite, Agrippa and the appeal to him? And do not Jacob and Esau meet in Scripture in many crises in that way, and the dignity of Jacob shines out?
JT It is a very fine example. There can be no doubt that the Herods were Edomites. They came into contact with Christ, but the Lord did not make anything of Herod. John the baptist reproved one of them, and the Lord did not answer Herod at all. I suppose that is the final item in the testimony; he is ignored. The Lord came in under the law, and acted accordingly, but in the dispensation in which we are, grace is reigning through righteousness, and I suppose the apostle before Agrippa is the full expression of christianity in this sense. It is more than Joseph going before Rachel. There was a touch of Christ in that, but see what was in Paul! How he could speak in such a feeling way, that he would to God they were all like him! The idea of the dispensation is there, not only in terms, but in substance. What a testimony for Agrippa! And so he said, “In a little thou persuadest me to become a Christian” (Acts 26: 28). But he was not persuaded; he remained the Edomite.
JJ Would the blessing on the house of Obed-edom coincide with the dispensation?
JT Possibly. A name meaning worshipper or servant of Edom surely suggests some link with him and would accord with the grace we are speaking of (compare Deuteronomy 23: 7, 8).
But now, we are not getting on to the end. We were noticing that the fatherly qualities in Jacob were such that he loved the lovable one, but he made no provision for the wives of his sons, and the result is that, as Joseph is sold, Judah falls into disgrace. No doubt we may find a counterpart of that in the history of christendom, that where Christ has been sold for worldly gain, disgrace follows. So that we have to wait for the real generations of Jacob, and only Joseph is [p. 486] mentioned until we come to the families of Jacob in the light of Joseph in glory (Genesis 46). It is Christ glorified now, not Christ as in Isaac, or in Abraham, but Christ glorified among the nations. That is to say, it is the history of christianity from the divine side ever since.
PL Is not even that dark history brought in in sovereign mercy in the bringing in of one of the participants, Thamar, into the royal line in Matthew?
JT That is another illustration of what we are saying, God making the most of what happens. In spite of the conditions He is working out His thoughts, so that the line is preserved.
MWB Does the fact that Joseph is immediately mentioned in the generations of Jacob in chapter 37 show the way the line is morally carried on, giving the idea of the generation?
JT I think that is right. His generation is taken up more definitely in Genesis 46: 1 - 7, when Jacob is on the way to Egypt. It says, “And Israel took his journey with all that he had, and came to Beer-sheba; and he offered sacrifices to the God of his father Isaac. And God spoke to Israel in the visions of the night and said, Jacob, Jacob! And he said, Here am I. And he said, I am God, the God of thy father”. That is Isaac, because it is a question now of recovery, of things being secured that had apparently been in abeyance or lost. The yea and the amen of everything is in Christ, the Son of God. Then it says, “And Jacob rose up from Beer-sheba; and the sons of Israel carried Jacob their father, and their little ones, and their wives, on the wagons that Pharaoh had sent to carry him. And they took their cattle, and their goods which they had acquired in the land of Canaan, and came to Egypt, Jacob and all his seed with him; his sons and his sons’ sons with him, his daughters and his sons’ daughters and all his seed he brought with him to Egypt”. Things are being gathered up now, and they are going to [p. 487] Joseph, that is Christ glorified among the nations. For that is the point now: whatever has happened, all is secured in a glorified Christ. And then we have the names: “And these are the names of the sons of Israel who came into Egypt”. We get all the family now, with their goods, and with their faces towards Joseph, that is Christ glorified. Then, as Jacob reaches Joseph, the fatherly qualities begin to shine again. Already he is owned by Joseph: “Tell my father of all my glory in Egypt”. But Jacob never really has his place, as far as I see, from the time of the selling of Joseph until he is in the presence of Joseph in glory. The fatherhood of Jacob shines fully then, so the recovery is on that line.
MWB We need to be under the influence of a glorified Christ.
JT Yes; there is a moral element underlying Jacob’s condition. He has gone through things which neither Abraham nor Isaac went through. So it is a suffering Christ now. That is what we are coming to in the terrible history of christendom at the end — how things are secured on this line; it is the sufferings and the glory. So the fatherly qualities of Jacob are now coming into evidence, and he is able to bless even Pharaoh.
Rem We learn how everything hangs on the personal service of Christ in glory. I was thinking of chapter 37: “These are the generations of Jacob. Joseph”.
JT There it is. Your mind is to hang on Joseph, but now Jacob is in the presence of his glory.
EuR In loving Joseph there, is Jacob typical of God as Father, or of believers?
JT Both; we have to look at it in that way. It is either God, or what God is working out in the fatherly element, the thought of blessing.
PL Do we get this thought in the “promise of life, the life which is in Christ Jesus” (2 Timothy 1: 1)? Is that [p. 488] everything secured in the true Joseph, and then the development of these fatherly qualities in Paul, who immediately says, “my beloved child”, and then later on, “Thou therefore, my child, be strong in the grace which is in Christ Jesus” (2 Timothy 2: 1).
JT I was thinking of that — how much 2 Timothy opens up to us in the last days. Everything is secured in a risen Christ — even salvation: “that they also may obtain the salvation which is in Christ Jesus with eternal glory” (2 Timothy 2: 10). It is outside the range of man now, in One who has gone through unspeakable sufferings, and who is now in glory, but He is glorified amongst the gentiles. So it is a question of going out to Him, and with all our wealth, as has been remarked: “Jacob rose up from Beer-sheba; and the sons of Israel carried Jacob their father, and their little ones, and their wives, on the waggons that Pharaoh had sent to carry him. And they took their cattle, and their goods which they had acquired in the land of Canaan”. It is all gathered up and carried through — nothing is lost.
WSS Jacob’s sons had no appreciation of Joseph, and could have no appreciation of him and their father until Joseph had suffered and been glorified. Thus we cannot come into a knowledge of the Father apart from the appreciation of Christ as having suffered and been glorified.
JT Nor can you have the working out of the dispensation in conditions of deception such as existed in Jacob’s house, from the time of the selling of Joseph into Egypt, until Joseph is made known to his brethren. Think of the state and the feelings, the atmosphere that pervaded that house in those ten men, murderers really, secretly conscious of their guilt! What an atmosphere was in that house! There could not be spiritual development in those circumstances, but only in the light, where everything is as clear as crystal, where we stand on the sea of glass in the presence of the [p. 489] divine glory.
WSS I suppose in christendom publicly there is a marked absence of the appreciation of the Father, so that recovery is in connection with the learning of the Father.
JT Jacob returns to it now. It says, “And Joseph brought Jacob his father, and set him before Pharaoh”. Then it says, “And Jacob blessed Pharaoh”, as if that was the great effect; and it is. In the end of the paragraph it says, “And Jacob blessed Pharaoh, and went out from Pharaoh”, but in the beginning it is cited as a great fact to be noted.
HFN Would you say a word in regard of the three thoughts of blessing in Jacob? He first blesses Pharaoh, then the two sons of Joseph come in for blessing, and then finally he calls his sons and blesses them.
JT God had made Joseph a father to Pharaoh (Genesis 45: 8), that testimony was there, but Joseph did not bless Pharaoh. It awaited the true father to do that, and it is said twice over that Jacob blessed Pharaoh.
AMH What does Pharaoh represent?
JT He was the greatest man on earth outwardly. It is to show what God is developing in His people and how it rises in superiority and supremacy above the greatest on earth. “Bless and curse not” — that is the attitude.
Ques Does Peter suggest the full and final gain of the dispensation in 1 Peter 3: 8, 9? “Finally, be all of one mind, sympathising, full of brotherly love, tender hearted, humble minded; not rendering evil for evil, or railing for railing; but on the contrary, blessing others, because ye have been called to this, that ye should inherit blessing”.
JT Quite so. All that enters into what we are saying, so that we have the idea of the dispensation before us, that is, blessing and not cursing. You see the greatness and dignity of this position: the lord of all Egypt brings this old man, for he was that, and sets him before Pharaoh, and then the Spirit of God says, “Jacob blessed Pharaoh”. That is the great thought. There was dignity in it. Then he went out from his presence; Pharaoh did not dismiss him, Jacob went out.
Then we come to the passage read in chapter 48, to show how this fatherly quality moves Jacob to take on the sons of Joseph, who had an inferior place to the tribes, and raises them to the level of the tribes, and then blesses one of them above the other, introducing the idea of the fatherly thought in sovereignty. It is the mind of God absolutely; he set Ephraim before Manasseh, and that is a fixed matter. It is not merely a question of what a man does, but what God does, Jacob has come up to that level. We come back to the full thought that God is acting and confirming what is being done, that He is doing it.
WW So is the idea of maturity arrived at with spiritual understanding as to the divine mind?
JT Yes. The fatherly qualities have risen to that height, that God’s mind is expressed in Jacob.
Ques Why is it Jacob that blesses Pharaoh, but Israel in regard of the two sons of Joseph?
JT Israel is the more spiritual thought.
JJ Why is it said in Hebrews 11: 21, in connection with blessing both the sons of Joseph, that he “worshipped on the top of his staff”?
JT He is viewed there, of course, Godward. The allusion is to the end of chapter 47, he “worshipped on the bed’s head”. They are really two thoughts, but brought together in the New Testament. The one is Godward and the other is manward. In the blessing of the sons of Joseph, the fatherhood of God is expressed in Jacob; he has risen to the full thought of fatherhood.
EuR Does chapter 45 involve the brethren of Christ, according to John 20, and chapter 48 involve sons with Him before the Father, according to His eternal thoughts?
JT That is right. Joseph himself is blessed with a double portion, so you can see it is manifestly God [p. 491] now, but acting through Jacob who has risen to it, according to the suggestion in the New Testament, the full mind of God.
Rem First of all, God set out to Abraham that the firstborn was to be set aside. It nearly breaks down in Isaac, but God comes in again and produces a man who needs no prompting, but who acts intelligently, and says, “I know”, rising to the full height of intelligent action.
JT Quite so; it would have broken down in the hands of Joseph even. So it is the full thought set out to the end, Jacob having risen to it.
HFN In regard to the sons at the end, why is it you do not get the thought of blessing until you come to Joseph, and then you get the richest thoughts of blessing in the book? The first blessing is in Genesis 1 — does all in the book culminate in the blessing of Joseph?
JT It seems so, in the place that he acquires. Of course, he is a type of Christ, but he had failed in that in seeking to hinder the placing of Ephraim before Manasseh, a solemn thing introduced at this juncture. It was not a small matter, it was serious, and in it we are reminded to be on our guard, because the most spiritual might fail in this way. In certain circumstances one may, through allowing natural feelings, set aside the mind of God. Joseph comes back to the truth, and the wonderful place he has in the next chapter shows what he was generally in the mind of God.
HFN Would you say a word on the different thoughts of blessing? There is the blessing of heaven; there is the blessing of the deep that lieth under; there are the blessings of the breast and of the womb. Then “The blessings of thy father surpass the blessings of my ancestors, Unto the bounds of the everlasting hills: They shall be on the head of Joseph”.
JT It is a big subject, more than we can now enter on. The passage is wonderful (Genesis 49: 22 - 26);
[p. 492] it is the most sublime language you can get, showing what a place Joseph had in the mind of God, expressed through Jacob. Chapter 49 is from the father; Jacob says, “Assemble yourselves, and hear, ye sons of Jacob, And listen to Israel your father”. We have here the full thought of the father risen to, the mind of God opened up, also the actual history of the tribes. The evil is owned, but they are all blessed; their position is secured infallibly in a risen and glorified Christ.
PL Is that fatherly ideal to be cherished; the saints are all ranged under Christ intelligently? Is it developed in the great thought of the tribes round the tabernacle in Exodus?
JT Quite so; and you see how Joseph rises up in his greatness in the mind of God in the blessing. But all the tribes are there, so that it finishes by saying: “All these are the twelve tribes of Israel, and this is what their father spoke to them”. How much enters into that! What fatherly qualities and communications there are: “and he blessed them: every one according to his blessing he blessed them”. It is very stimulating as we are coming to the end, and the aim is that the dispensation should finish at its distinctive level in a spiritual way.
MWB Could you tell us the leading feature of fatherly grace in each of those mentioned — Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob?
JT The leading fatherly feature in Abraham is his thought for Isaac, that he should not leave the land and that his wife should be of his own kindred and be brought to him there. Then the leading fatherly thought in Isaac is that he blesses both Jacob and Esau, not in regard to his own feelings, but in regard to the testimony, as the Spirit of God shows in the New Testament. Then the leading feature here with Jacob is the elevation of the sons to the new platform, and he blesses them with divine intelligence, and speaks to them all [p. 493] as their father. So it is, blessing, blessing, blessing, and “every one according to his blessing he blessed them”.
AJG The elevation of blessing is according to the sovereignty of God: “In thee will Israel bless, saying, God make thee as Ephraim and Manasseh!” (Genesis 48: 20).
PL Every family is named of the Father.
JT That is it exactly: “the Father ... of whom every family in the heavens and on earth is named” (Ephesians 3: 14, 15).