THE KINGDOM AND SUBJECTION
[p. 39] THE KINGDOM AND SUBJECTION
2 Samuel 8: 1 - 18; 2 Samuel 9: 1
JT It was in my mind to give the Lord opportunity by the Spirit to bring out something of the kingdom seen here in type, the kingdom of God exercised by David, that is by Christ: how the thought in it is not extinction but subjection. In the wars of Canaan in Joshua extermination was in mind but here it is subjection, with the result that the nations spoken of, representing certain features of the flesh in man, are subdued and become contributory — they bring gifts. Then another thing to be noticed for our instruction is the thought of sonship. In chapter 7, Jehovah says to David: “I will be his father, and he shall be my son” (verse 14), and his exploits or service in this chapter link on with this liberty, so that the son is king.
PSP Would you mind saying what is the difference between the thought of extermination in Joshua and what we have here?
JT What is in view in Joshua is the complete extermination of the enemies representing spiritual wickedness in heavenly places. There was no idea of subduing angels in heavenly places: they had to be cast out. But in the kingdom under David it is subjection, so that men are subdued and brought under his sway, and as brought under his sway, they are contributory; they bring gifts.
AHB Is this more on the line of grace?
JT That is what comes out: that is why I suggested the next chapter. Nations are subdued and David’s realm is set up, an ordered state of things set up by Christ. Then David said: “Is there yet any that is left of the house of Saul, that I may shew him kindness for Jonathan’s sake?”
Ques Why does the Philistine head the list of [p. 40] the enemies?
JT The Philistines are the most difficult to subdue, and what is stressed about them is that he smote them and subdued them. His smiting was effective. We may smite our brethren or persons who have done us harm, but we may not subdue them. He took the power of the capital out of the hand of the Philistines. There was rule from the centre.
Ques Does it mean a new centre?
JT I think so. The new centre had already been introduced in this book; Jerusalem is the centre. He took the power of the capital. That was a great exploit, because the Philistines had been a particularly difficult and aggressive enemy of the people of God. Their oppression was most rigorous.
Ques What have you in mind in speaking of the presents?
JT If there are no presents, you get professed subjection.
Rem I was thinking of the man in the gospels. It says that he was so violent that no man was able to subdue him. The Lord comes into his life and he is entirely subdued, sitting at the Lord’s feet, clothed and in his right mind. I wondered whether that would be one who would be contributory as having been brought into subjection to the Lord.
JT That is a fine example of subjection. He is intelligently so: he is sitting, and clothed, and in his right mind — material for the assembly.
ED What feature do the Philistines represent?
JT That feature that is in the land, taking up the place of privilege without going through death. They are marked by bigness, giants: alluding, I suppose, to what we have in christendom. They are the most difficult, they have a place and they know it. The Moabites, Syrians, Ammonites, and Amalekites are not in the land but the Philistines are, and they are occupying professedly the same position as the most spiritual, so that they are difficult men to overcome.
WJS David’s first encounter was with a Philistine.
JT He was a tremendous man — his height was six cubits and a span. David smote him with a sling and a stone. He is brought down by the word of God. We read that the Israelites went down to the Philistines to sharpen their weapons (1 Samuel 13: 20). It is a sad thing if we have to take our tools down to the Philistines to be sharpened. We do not imitate them or borrow from them, but we have our own weapons and the Philistines cannot stand against them.
David made no mistake. He did not beat the air. He smote the Philistines and subdued them: his smiting was effective. The Son exercises the power of the kingdom.
Ques What is your thought in that connection?
JT Christ the Son is King. Psalm 2 brings that out. The Lord is set as King upon the holy hill of Zion, but then He is the Son — “Thou art my Son; I this day have begotten thee”. David is in the light of sonship in chapter 7 and he moves accordingly. He went in and sat before Jehovah. He took up his liberty and used it.
AC Did the Philistines bring any gifts?
JT They yield rights, they yield the power of the capital, or it was taken out of their hands. The saints are delivered from this kind of enemy.
The Moabites are not in the land but they represent another phase of the flesh. The Moabite is a religious man who stands in relation to us outwardly. Moab represents pride. The prophetic word about him is that he is very proud. Moab is not emptied from vessel to vessel. He has not come under the discipline of God. He may have so much money that God cannot touch him.
Rem There is one full line to keep alive.
JT God discriminates. There are certain to be kept alive. A man may be a Moabite through his means,
[p. 42] his learning, or ancestry: God cannot touch him through discipline, yet there may be something there.
God discriminates and in his severest dealings with us He is infinitely fair, He is a God of measure. David comes in as carrying out the will of God.
NKMcC So in the prophetic word you referred to in Jeremiah you get, “I will turn the captivity of Moab at the end of the days, saith Jehovah. Thus far is the judgment of Moab” (Jeremiah 48: 47).
JT “Thus far” are the words of Jeremiah. The matter is not ended either with Moab, “thus far”. It is a very good point to be reached that he is turned. It brings out the fairness of God in His severest measures, “One full line to keep alive”.
HyG Does this thought of the lines correspond with what you get in 2 Corinthians 2: 16, “To the one an odour from death unto death, but to the others an odour from life unto life”?
JT Very good. God is glorified in the testimony of the Old Testament.
It says in that chapter in Corinthians, “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” (verse 14). God led them about, so here it is with David.
Ques What would you advise us to do if we find that we are not being emptied from vessel to vessel? I suppose Moab is an element in itself.
JT It is pride, big or little. Pride keeps God out.
Abraham made room for God in his offering. He made way for God to come down and He passed through the pieces. In all our calculations we should make room for God. He expects us to make room for Him, so that He does not come up against a barred door.
“Moab ... hath not been emptied from vessel to vessel, neither hath he gone into captivity: therefore [p. 43] his taste hath remained in him, and his scent is not changed” (Jeremiah 48: 11).
Ques Is that why God brings in a drought upon them? “Come down from thy glory and sit in the drought” (Jeremiah 48: 18). I wondered whether that is the means God would use to reduce this natural pride.
JT The circumstances of the saints may be favourable, may be easy, but how long are they going to last if God puts his hand upon them? God can always reach the things.
JOS Is there some thought that Moab would eventually have a link with the people of God? “Thus far is the judgment of Moab”. He is turned in the end through discipline. Is there some suggestion in Psalm 60: 8 that Moab comes into the place of privilege? — “Moab is my wash-pot”.
JT A wash-pot is a very useful thing. That section in Psalm 60 is also in Psalm 108. It is in a military setting in Psalm 60 and a worshipful setting in Psalm 108. You know the circumstances under which Psalm 60 was composed: take it out of that setting and put it in Psalm 108, worship. That psalm is set in the last book of Psalms, Hallel, where God is praised, everybody is called upon to praise God.
The Syrians are also connected with the saints: they have a sort of hereditary place. Laban, the Syrian, was related to Isaac’s wife, Rebecca. Links of this sort, based on what is historical, have no value whatsoever morally; they induce opposition.
Ques Is the sect of the Pharisees in Acts 15 on the same line? They have a position and cling to it, using it against anything that the Lord is doing at the moment.
JT It is typical of any element in the flesh that assumes priority through age or whatever it might be. Some old brothers have lost spiritually in this way. There can be no claim on the line of age.
It says, “David smote Hadadezer, the son of Rehob, king of Zobah, as he went to recover his dominion by the river Euphrates”. These are people at a distance and will be troublesome later if not now. You might say they are so far away that they are not worth troubling about, but David goes the whole way. “And David took from him one thousand seven hundred horsemen, and twenty thousand footmen; and David houghed all the chariot horses, but reserved of them for a hundred chariots”. He is discriminative.
Ques Referring to what you have said about the Syrians and those who are a long way off, would what Paul says in Acts 20: 29 apply; “For I know this, that there will come in amongst you after my departure grievous wolves, not sparing the flock”? Would it be like David here dealing with things as far as he could?
JT We have to be concerned about the utmost limits of the territory. We must not let one idea go. We allow things which seem to be so distant just to drag along. It was a long way off, but David went there and overcame them.
AVP What is the thought of the garrisons?
JT Garrisons mean that God has here certain people like David holding the ground. Garrisons are to keep these things down all the time, otherwise they will rise up again: one subjugation is not sufficient. A garrison is to maintain a state. Whatever God has reached is not to be destroyed.
The Syrian seems to be prominent in his attempt to overcome the particular vessel or servant the Lord is using; that element has to be met. At the end of Corinthians there is an attempt to discredit Paul as the one through whom Christ is speaking.
The Syrians of Damascus came up to help Hadadezer. Damascus has an important place: being one of the oldest links with Abraham and his servants. They were that kind of people. The link would be that they [p. 45] were both Syrians, and the one could not do without the other.
Ques Is there any reason why David smites twenty-two thousand Syrians, yet in the previous verse he takes from Hadadezer horses for a hundred chariots?
JT He takes their power in the first case but in the second case the men are destroyed.
Ques If the Syrians were enemies, under what circumstances would David receive gifts from them?
JT The Syrians are subdued, christians are subdued. There are results if a christian is subdued; otherwise he is not used. Saul says to the Lord: “What shall I do, Lord?” He is subdued. The Lord knew from the beginning what was in Saul of Tarsus and all the features, such as devotedness and faithfulness, that could be brought in for the support of the testimony were carried over when once he was subdued. He had been faithful in what he had begun with, and that principle was carried over.
The Syrians became David’s servants and brought gifts. David took the shields of gold that were on the servants of Hadadezer and from the cities of Hadadezer exceeding much bronze.
You get results here. David dedicates everything to Jehovah. That is what we should notice; that all this is to enrich the house of God; the yield is for God — everything is for God. It is seen more fully in 2 Chronicles where David carries on this thought, the end in view being the house of God. That is what the Lord is aiming at now in the gospel and in all His service — subjugation and enrichment.
NFA The Lord would encourage us to look for results from the preaching.
JT That is the idea. The epistle to Romans for us is the great gospel epistle, but at the end the apostle reminds us of something that is very great, the mystery.
AWR “For of him, and through him, and for him are all things: to him be glory for ever. Amen”
([p. 46] Romans 11: 36). Would that be the end in view in the gospel, the kingdom fully secured for God?
JT Matthew was a man of substance in a material way and after the Lord called him, he made a great entertainment for Him in his house. That is carrying substance over.
You see that in many instances. Zacchaeus was a rich man, little in stature, of great potential value and he wanted to see Jesus who he was. A very fine thought! He climbed up into a sycamore tree to see Him. He will never make anything at all of you up there looking down on Him. Rich people often look down on the Lord; riches are most blinding. The Lord looks up at this man and He calls him by name; he is known potentially. We have no historical account as to whether the Lord had seen him before. In gospel meetings the Lord knows who is there. Paul says: “I endure all things for the sake of the elect, that they also may obtain the salvation which is in Christ Jesus with eternal glory” (2 Timothy 2: 10).
Zacchaeus wanted to see Jesus who He was. The greatest Person in the universe — why should I not want to see Him?
The Lord says to him: “Make haste and come down, for today I must remain in thy house”. Things must have been ready in his house, for Zacchaeus received him joyfully. He was not at all inconvenienced in his mind, he was called to receive Him as He ought to be received. “Make haste and come down”, and he made haste and came down and received the Lord joyfully.
Zacchaeus tells the Lord what he did and if he had taken anything from man by false accusation he restored it fourfold; he was righteous in a practical way. He did not do it always; he would never have been a successful business man if he had. The Lord calls him a son of Abraham. He had come down and made his confession. Every business man ought to be faced with the challenge as to how he is getting his money,
[p. 47] paying his debts, giving full value and even more.
Rem The house was the great burden of David’s life.
JT All this service of subjugation that David undertook ends in wealth for God; that is the idea. David made him a name after he returned from smiting the Syrians in the valley of salt, his own exploit. The Edomites all became servants to David.
Rem What is the thought in dedication?
JT That would mean that he could not go back on it. If you dedicate a certain amount of money to the Lord, you cannot change your mind, you ought not to do so. There is to be no recalling. There is the dedication of persons like Samuel; he was not to be recalled.
Ques Is the principle seen in the psalm: “I have sworn, and I will perform it, that I will keep thy righteous judgments” (Psalm 119: 106)?
JT That is the idea. There is no recalling of a dedicated thing or vow. It is also seen in Jephthah’s very rash vow.
“Jehovah preserved David whithersoever he went”. He had confidence in him. David moved on his own initiative. The question might be raised as to turning to the Lord first. If it is right to do a thing, do it. I am not saying we should not pray about it; of course, you bring the Lord into everything.
Paul looked forward to going to Rome and James supposes that you might go into a city to spend a whole year there and traffic and make gain. He does not speak of weeks, it is a whole year: but it is if the Lord should so will and we should live that we do this or that. Paul stayed at Corinth eighteen months. He could not take on any other engagement. The Lord did not tell him to stay there; He told him that he had much people in the city and he stayed there to get them. That is intelligence.
The Lord is with him in his service — a matter of confidence. Paul says: “We shall live with him by God’s power towards you” (2 Corinthians 13: 4).
[p. 48] In verses 15 to 18 we have David’s cabinet, his officers; everything is fixed now. Then David says: “Is there yet any that is left of the house of Saul?” What a pleasing thing it must have been that he could do that! He could seek out one of the house of Saul.
Ques What would answer to what you have been speaking of as the cabinet?
JT An ordered state of things, established in Christ, worked out in every local company where the Lord is seen.
Ques “Benaiah the son of Jehoiada was over the Cherethites and the Pelethites;” who would they represent?
JT They are the runners and executioners, bodyguards for the king, looking after things and seeing that there are no hostile attacks. Everything of an evil character was dealt with. Only as these elements are subjugated are we able to look out on our enemies. If you are concerned about this or that, you are not able to exploit grace. It is a great moral thing to be able to overcome evil with good. Very often discipline is executed with personal feeling; there is no question of a brother being spiritually saved but only of getting rid of him; that is a very terrible thing.
This chapter really is to gather up the whole scope of David’s reign.
Ques Was David’s desire to obtain spoil for God?
JT That was the underlying thought with him all the time. He comes to light as one who moves on his own initiative as seeking to serve the Lord. If we are subject and obedient, we may be taken up and great things may be done by us. David’s sons were chief rulers. That gives the idea of subjection and affection, the family side; they were persons in relation to him.
Ques Is that necessary before the gospel can go out effectively as suggested in the next verse?
JT You have order. David can show grace. The result is that Mephibosheth is brought into sonship, and set up in an ordered state of things.