THE SUPPORT OF GOD IN RECOVERY
[p. 204] THE SUPPORT OF GOD IN RECOVERY
Genesis 30: 25; Genesis 31: 11 - 16; Genesis 32: 1, 2; Genesis 33: 1 - 11
JT There are several other incidents in the history of Jacob that will be alluded to, but it was thought that it would suffice to read these. What is in mind is to show how, where declension sets in in believers, or earthly-mindedness, or even worldliness, and recovery begins, God comes in at once to help when our faces are in the right direction. We, perhaps, have noticed that persons, whilst professedly seeking to be right, fail to reach their professed desire, because there seems to be no help, no support from God, and it becomes a question as to whether there are secret conditions that should be exposed and confessed. As soon as we are transparent, and our faces are set in the right direction, we get divine help. It is said, “Had I regarded iniquity in my heart, the Lord would not hear”, Psalm 66: 18. And it is thought that these passages would help us to see how God comes in as honesty and purpose, as in the first verses read, begin the matter. “And it came to pass when Rachel had borne Joseph, that Jacob said to Laban, Send me away, that I may go to my place and to my country”, Genesis 30: 25. Evidently it was of Jacob’s own volition that he said this.
Then in the next chapter we have in verse 3: “And Jehovah said to Jacob, Return into the land of thy fathers, and to thy kindred; and I will be with thee” (chapter 31: 3). Then in view of the large family he had, and the holdings or belongings, we have in verses 11 - 16 how God helped to bring his family into accord with him in their movements. So that the angel of God says to Jacob, “Jacob! And I said, Here am I” (verse 11). And he tells how God blessed him in cattle; and then it says Rachel [p. 205] and Leah answered and said to him, “Is there yet any portion or inheritance for us in our father’s house? Are we not reckoned of him strangers? For he has sold us, and has even constantly devoured our money. For all the wealth that God has taken from our father is ours and our children’s; and now whatever God has said to thee do” (verses 14 - 16). That is, they are with their husband against their father. Then passing over other scriptures that might be read, this one in chapter 32 shows God Himself is with Jacob in power. “And [p. 216] Jacob went on his way; and the angels of God met him. And when Jacob saw them he said, This is the camp of God. And he called the name of that place Mahanaim”, which means, two camps.
Well, I thought just to indicate what is in mind in calling attention to these scriptures, because our families, especially where there has been retrogression or departure, are sure to pick up what we are in, and very often retard our recovery, and I thought it was well to see that God brings even the families around here. Rachel and Leah and, as we shall see in chapter 33, an offended brother, is recovered, too. At least, he is influenced by what is from God. Jacob sets his family in order, putting Joseph foremost before his mother. So that it is not only a right spirit in Jacob, but a spiritual understanding, spiritual testimony. So that Esau is affected.
RWS To set Jacob’s face in the right direction would God use His government? Jacob says in chapter 31: 7, “And your father has mocked me, and has changed my wages ten times”. Is there God’s government? Then when that is responded to God comes in and gives Joseph, because it says when Joseph was born, he said, “Send me away”, chapter 30: 25.
JT I think we should see that Joseph is a sort of token of spiritual understanding in Jacob. In chapter 33 he is set before his mother. As the family in its subdivisions passes before Esau, Joseph is set [p. 206] before his mother. He comes in last, but he is before his mother. This would represent spiritual intelligence in the testimony in the family. The family is secured, as we see in chapter 31, but it is this spiritual touch which would point to Christ. Christ has a full place in the family, and it is a very important matter, if we are to have our families with us, that it is not only by influence in the way of headship, or authority in the husband, but that there is spirituality in it.
ANW In that connection, is it your suggestion that the first verse read in chapter 30 suggests that what makes the turn is some fresh living view of Christ?
JT That is what I thought. It is said, Rachel had said, “God has taken away my reproach. And she called his name Joseph; and said, Jehovah will add to me another son” (chapter 30: 23, 24). Joseph means ‘addition’. So that Rachel clearly has prophetic power here, and calls him Joseph, which means ‘He will add’ and then she definitely says here, “Jehovah will add to me another son”. And then, after Rachel had borne Joseph, Jacob says to Laban, Send me away, as if the light of another spiritual world was in his soul in the light of what Rachel said, and the name she gave her son, and the prophetic word as to Benjamin. I was thinking that is how the thing stands.
WB-w “Give me my wives for whom I have served thee, and my children” (verse 26). Rachel and Leah were in the thing. It is a good thing to have the wives with us in the movement, the sisters.
JT Yes; the wives and the children. I thought that was a very important item in the history, and God evidently helped in the matter, because it was Jacob’s dream that seemed to affect him. In chapter 31 it would seem that the dream that Jacob records helped the matter, and then when his father-in-law [p. 207] would have done him harm, God helped him again, showing how God is with a man when he is in the right direction.
FSC Would the word in Deuteronomy 26 fit into what we are saying, where they came before the Lord with the first-fruits in their baskets?
JT I think that is right. It is the feeling you have when drawing near to God. What you were, and what you are now, having your inheritance in Canaan and a basket with first-fruits in it. It is this help that we get from God that I was thinking of. When a brother has turned away, or at least retrograded to some extent, and the thought comes into his heart to return to God, to God’s house, God is immediately with him and helps him in his family, because that would be pretty sure to retard him otherwise, with so many cattle and other things; and when his father-in-law takes issue with him, God comes to Laban and says, Do not do any harm to Jacob, so that we are well protected as we turn around to God.
TH Rachel gets a word from God.
JT She has clearly a prophetic place. We are told in the gospel of Matthew that she wept for her children. She is a real mother and evidently she has a prophetic mind here in naming Joseph and saying she will have another son.
CAM Speaking of having his face in the right direction, he never seems to have forgotten his bearings in a way. I mean he refers to ‘my country’ and so on. I was thinking about this matter of his turning. It is emphasised that where there is a turning, it needs reinforcing. It is always a kind of critical part of the course that we take. I was wondering whether God in this way did not reinforce it as to time and as to his feelings, too.
JT What has struck me about it here is that it was his own decision. God had not said anything to him yet about going back, “Send me away” (that is after Joseph is born) “that I may go to my place and to my country”. That is what you look for if God is working in a moral way with persons who have turned away. You want to be right with those with whom you have to do. He did not want to go away clandestinely. He did afterwards. But here he wants Laban to send him. He wants things to be orderly and seemly, and he would not take his wives and children by force. He says, “Give me my wives for whom I have served thee, and my children; that I may go away, for thou knowest my service which I have served thee”. It is a very sober, righteous, seemly way to begin. It seems as if, if a man is with God at all, this is what will mark him.
WB-w Was twenty years not a long time to be away? Twenty years out of fellowship is a long time.
JT Well, he had not forgotten his country, “Send me away, that I may go to my place and to my country”. So that, although it was a long time, he had not forgotten his place. 1 Corinthians 1: 2 says, “With all that in every place call on the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, both theirs and ours”: he had a country, but he had a place.
WB-w Would God allow that in His wisdom and in His ways in discipline those twenty years would help him?
JT I think that is what comes out. The finishing touches are seen in what has been read, but they are not completed until he reaches Bethel in chapter 35. But the thing begins with yourself, although in an unseen way God must work with a man before he will move, but there is nothing said about a vision here. It is the light that was evidently in Jacob. Apparently Jacob never lost the sense of the light shown at the birth of Joseph and what his mother said, for the mother and Joseph here are identified.
RWS What would be the root of Jacob’s deflection in the [p. 209] truth?
JT Well, I think mercantile instincts. He began to talk about buying a wife, serving for a wife. I think it is a sort of instinct that enlarged in the history of Jacob’s family, the mercantile instinct. He had to stay fourteen years. Isaac and Rebecca had no thought of his going and spending all that time to get a wife. They had in mind that it should be on ordinary principles; that affection should spring up; that he should not have to buy a wife by serving for one. That meant almost fourteen years. And now you will notice that Laban says to him in verse 27, “I pray thee, if I have found favour in thine eyes — I have discovered that Jehovah has blessed me for thy sake. And he said, Appoint to me thy wages, and I will give it. And he said to him, Thou knowest how I have served thee, and what thy cattle has become with me. For it was little that thou hadst before me, and it is increased to a multitude, and Jehovah has blessed thee from the time I came; and now, when shall I also provide for my house? And he said, What shall I give thee? And Jacob said, Thou shalt not give me anything. If thou doest this for me, I will again feed and keep thy flock: I will pass through all thy flock today, to remove thence all the speckled and spotted sheep, and all the brown lambs, and the spotted and speckled among the goats; and that shall be my hire” (verses 27 - 32). That was a defect. The light had come into his soul that he expressed, to be let go to his place and his country. Well, why does he stop? It is just for hire.
JS Would that be a trait of the Jew today?
JT It is clear enough. We know what they are in New York City. But it is a question of what each of us is. We may sacrifice divine advantage or privilege for the sake of gain. The Lord speaks about that, and Paul to Timothy speaks about the love of money. It is a root of all evil. It is not the [p. 210] root, but it is a root, one of the roots of all evil, and I believe that is what held him back here, whereas he should have answered to the light at once. It was of his own accord Jacob said he wanted to go. Why did he not go?
CAM Laban being the kind of man he was, Jacob might have said, Well, if I had not run into such a man as this, I would not have been in such difficulty. I suppose God ordered all that, and what Jacob had to do was to learn in his own soul and not blame anybody else.
JT Quite so. And if light came into his soul, why not go in it? What hindered him? Evidently to get more cattle.
Rem Laban would represent the Protestant system. The commercial spirit is there and may creep into us as coming out of it. I was thinking Laban must represent the general position in christianity, whereas Jacob comes out of it, but may carry the commercial spirit with him.
JT Yes; he carried that with him. It is remarkable as the history goes on how slow he is to learn. In chapter 33 he goes to Succoth to build a house. He had not got to the end of his journey yet, and it shows how easily a man may be turned aside. It is to show the tendency with us to vacillate and allow second thoughts to govern us instead of first ones. The first one was the right one. Succoth was not his place. Bethel was the idea.
JS Is that seen in the prodigal: “I will rise up and go to my father”, Luke 15: 18?
JT Just so; and he does go.
Rem Laban says, “I have discovered that Jehovah has blessed me for thy sake” (chapter 30: 27). God was working with Laban also.
JT Laban recognised God, but it was just because He had given him more cattle. I mean that is the thing that governs the position here. And when you [p. 211] come to chapter 33: 17 it says, “Jacob journeyed to Succoth, and built himself a house, and for his cattle he made booths”. Clearly the cattle had a great place with him. He stopped short of the house of God. I think the chapter brings out the tendency with us, however sincere. As we get light from God we go in it, and then we are stopped by some natural consideration, and then we go again and are stopped by another natural consideration, to build a house and booths for the cattle.
AR It says, “And there he set up an altar, and called it El-Elohe-Israel” (verse 20). Would you say the cattle were in his mind, and himself? The next altar is in relation to God Himself (chapter 35: 7).
JT That is right. He connected God with himself and his cattle. The great thought is the God of Bethel.
ABP Oftentimes thoughts come to us as we sit under the ministry which are right thoughts, and as we consider them we take more conservative steps.
JT These are all most important suggestions. The way to get the good of it is to put oneself in the position of Jacob, inclusive of one’s family. You have a right thought, and you resolve to move in it, and then someone comes and makes a proposal to you of some kind. He holds out this opportunity for increased wealth, and Jacob stays there to get the cattle. It brought him into considerable difficulty, because Laban had it in his mind to do him harm. We are really playing with fire when we do these things. We may get into serious difficulties unless we move in the light.
Rem Rachel and Leah seem to move together in the chapter you suggested. When it is a matter of going with Jacob, they were not moving independently, but together. In chapter 31: 14 they seem to be of one mind in the matter.
JT [p. 212] I thought the dream was to help them. It is mentioned to show that they were helped by it. God intended that dream to help them, and it is a question, therefore, if the wives are slothful in what is right, if you are able to bring in the dream; if you have not got anything corresponding with the dream you have not got much power. It is a communication from God that gives you power.
JS Is Rachel Israel after the flesh?
JT Well, she is the first-love, but last really. She is a prophetess, really, in relation to Joseph when she says, “Jehovah will add to me another son”, but she died as he was born, and yet her voice comes down into Matthew, showing God gives her a great place in the testimony.
JS How do you regard Leah?
JT Leah is the assembly. She is not so good-looking. The gentiles were not so appealing to the Lord as the Jews were. Paul himself was held by the Jews to much sorrow, but the Lord was not. He cut the connection with the Jews altogether.
Ques Do you have in mind that the husband should have a prophetic word for the wife? The dream of Jacob would be a prophetic word.
JT If you have any dream, spiritual impulses from God, they are intended to give you power with your family. There is nothing more important than to be able to sway your family, not by mere willpower or authority, but by influence, by spiritual impressions. If they are not swayed by that they will become sinful.
JS The dreams were to be in relation to the house of God.
JT The dream in relation to the house of God was in chapter 28. This is a dream in Padan evidently meant to affect his wife and children. “And the Angel of God said to me in a dream, Jacob! And I [p. 213] said, Here am I. And he said, Lift up now thine eyes, and see: all the rams that leap upon the flock are ringstraked, speckled, and spotted; for I have seen all that Laban does to thee. I am the God of Bethel, where thou anointedst the pillar, where thou vowedst a vow to me. Now arise, depart out of this land, and return to the land of thy kindred” (chapter 31: 11 - 13). This is what he told Rachel and Leah. It was at the time when the wages he had bargained for with Laban were coming to him. Apparently that affected the two women, and it says, “And Rachel and Leah answered and said to him, ... Whatever God has said to thee do”.
CAM I suppose you would say there is nothing stronger in a household crisis than to be able to say you have had some dealings with God. Sometimes it needs something to carry the position.
JT That is the point. They would value the cattle, you may be sure. Wives like the cattle, I mean, the money; although that is not all he said, but it was the incident where the cattle were increased. They were with God in this thing.
ABP Would not this dream primarily adjust Jacob? It is God that was doing it. It was not his contriving.
JT God is working in spite of difficulties. God is able to overcome difficulties, and Jacob himself had them, because he was not really fair in laying these rods before the cattle. But God says to him, “For I have seen all that Laban does to thee”. That is very touching. Although what Jacob was doing was not altogether commendable, yet God is taking account of Laban. What an unfair man he was! He was unfair from the start with all this bargaining with Jacob, and God is very fair in these things, even in ordinary things, even as regards Rachel. God listened to her. “God remembered Rachel, and God listened to her” (chapter 30: 22). He had consideration [p. 214] for Leah because She was ill-favoured. God is fair and gives us to understand He is fair anyway.
JS Would you regard the present day as one of recovery?
JT Well, I suppose you do. We are all subjects of the grace of God, taken out of such associations as Jacob was in.
AR In regard to this appearing, God says, “I am the God of Bethel, where thou anointedst the pillar, where thou vowedst a vow to me” (chapter 31: 13). God could have said to him, I am God; but He links Himself on with His house and links Jacob on with His house, too. That is to remind us that all our houses are to be held in relation to God’s house.
JT Clearly. The cattle, the fairness of God in helping Jacob in the bargain he made with Laban is very remarkable. God enters into that, the unfairness of Laban. That same point comes up in verse 22: “It was told Laban on the third day that Jacob had fled. And he took his brethren with him, and pursued after him seven days’ journey, and overtook him on mount Gilead. And God came to Laban the Syrian in a dream by night, and said to him, Take care thou speak not to Jacob either good or bad”. That is God again. Laban has a dream. Whether he ever had one before, we do not know; but he had a dream in connection with Jacob.
Ques Does the covenant go back to chapter 28? He had a covenant with God that God would care for him. Would not that be the original contract?
JT That is the basis of it. These chapters are full of that sort of thing, communications of God with His children; He enters into their little matters, their family matters and so on, and brings in His fairness.
RWS Laban says in chapter 31: 29: “It would be in the power of my hand to do you hurt;
[p. 215] but the God of your father spoke to me last night, saying, Take care that thou speak not to Jacob either good or bad”.
JT That is very beautiful. God is bettering the whole position. He is helping Laban.
RWS Laban is not getting help, is he?
JT He is appeased to some extent. He was intending to do him hurt. It was in his power to do him hurt, and God saw that and prevented it in a dream, and one is greatly impressed; if one is returning to God, God is helping him. This is written down to show that a man that is at all sincere will get help from God.
CAM It is remarkable how a christian affects everybody around him for good or otherwise. If he is with God even the worst kind of person will benefit by it.
JT Yes. We may safely say Laban got some gain out of this, but what use he made of it we have to leave; but he is entering into contract with Jacob according to verse 50. He says to Jacob, “This heap is a witness between me and thee this day. Therefore was the name of it called Galeed — and Mizpah; for he said, Let Jehovah watch between me and thee, when we shall be hidden one from another” (verses 48, 49). There was a heap of stones which is a poor affair, but nevertheless, there was a sort of covenant. There would be no war; that is something, anyway.
WB-w In verse 24 God came to Laban in a dream, and put things right in verse 29, “Take care that thou speak not to Jacob either good or bad”. He gets the right impression from God.
JT I think the whole scene is bettered. There is an element of betterment all around in these dreams, but you can see God is helping Jacob. He has His eye on this erring child, and He is going to see him through. And in chapter 32 it is said, “And Jacob went on his way; and the angels of God met him. And when Jacob saw them he said, This is the camp of God. And he called the name of that place Mahanaim” (verses 1, 2). So we have a landmark, which is always remarkable in these cases. If we get a landmark, there is some point reached. If he names it, it means there is light in his soul. The angels of God met him.
WB-w Another thing comes to light on mount Gilead. He explored and found idolatry there. God in His government was causing that to come to light.
JT Quite so. That would be a help to Rachel, no doubt.
AR Why does he call it Mahanaim, two camps?
JT It is double witness. “And Jacob went on his way; and the angels of God met him”. “And when Jacob saw them he said, This is the camp of God. And he called the name of that place Mahanaim”. It was greater than he thought it was. When you decide on giving it a name, you are fair about it; you give it a proper name. Two is more than one, you know; it is witness.
JS Mizpah.
JT That means ‘watch-tower’, but Mahanaim is much greater, the two camps of God, but there is such a thing as that to be counted on.
CAM That would be a sort of confirmation that the thing was going right. That is, angels intervening would confirm it.
JT You can understand how favourable angels are if you are an erring one, and you are getting back, you are getting right in your household; how comforting it is, because angels know how to make you feel right. They are very considerate. Take the angels that fed Elijah. He was on the wrong line, but an angel made two breakfasts for him. “The journey is too great for thee”. It is one of the worst wildernesses in the world down there by Sinai, and the angel [p. 217] took sympathetic account of the traveller. There was a man called Barzillai, who was a great man, a great friend of David’s, and he did him a great service at Mahanaim. There is a strong link in the landmark. These landmarks are very interesting in Scripture. Jacob says, “This is the camp of God”. That is one idea, but when he decides to name it he uses the plural, two camps. The Song of Songs speaks about “the dance of two camps”, spiritual liveliness, buoyancy, and no doubt Jacob felt that he was surrounded by friends when he saw those angels there.
Ques Did he need this stabilising in regard to Esau?
JT God anticipated that, quite so. Now the next difficulty is not Laban, but Esau, an offended brother, and a brother who had murder in his heart, too. How are you going to overcome him? I am sure God had that in mind. He is going to support him. ‘Depend on Me; there is plenty of support for you’; but instead of that he drops down to the level of what he had. It says in verse 3, “And Jacob sent messengers before his face to Esau his brother, into the land of Seir, the fields of Edom”. (Notice these remarks about Edom.) “And he commanded them, saying, Thus shall ye speak to my lord, to Esau: Thy servant Jacob speaks thus” (it is a very formal word), “With Laban have I sojourned and tarried until now”; that would remind Esau that when Jacob left he was intending to murder him. This is not a spiritual speech at all. He says, “and I have oxen, and asses, sheep, and bondmen, and bondwomen”; he tells Esau what he had acquired, which in no way would draw Esau to him or placate him at all. That would rather produce a spirit of rivalry. It is the inclination or disposition in us. We are all conscious that in spite of favours, in spite of advantages, in spite of ministry, there is the tendency to drop to the natural man, even after we are favoured with impressions from the Lord. He drops down to [p. 218] the level of a man like Esau himself. When I left, you, were about to kill me; but now this is what I am.
FHL Would it be too much to say that in the reference in Hebrews he is much greater than the cattle or the sheep or Esau or any of these things? Finally Jacob reaches that point.
JT That is the thing to keep before us. And when we come to chapter 37 it says, “These are the generations of Jacob, Joseph ...” (verse 2), and that is all you get. Joseph is now filling the scene. And then you get Joseph’s dream. He is filling the whole scene, and the touch is in the verse read from chapter 30: “And it came to pass when Rachel had borne Joseph” (verse 25), and then the second touch is in chapter 33: 7, when the wives and children were brought before Esau; it says, “And lastly Joseph drew near, and Rachel”. Joseph is put before his mother. There is nothing like that in any of the other families. So that it is like the young man coming into view.
AR We will never get to that point until we have a wrestling. In chapters 31 and 32 there are angels appearing, but later on what we get is an angel wrestling with him.
JT The whole of chapter 32 should be commented on if we had time, but as to this message he sends to Esau, the messengers come back; that is a sorrowful thing. So that there is nothing gained there. And then we have the principle which begins in verse 7: “Then Jacob was greatly afraid, and was distressed; and he divided the people that were with him, and the sheep and the cattle and the camels, into two troops. And he said, If Esau come to the one troop and smite it, then the other troop which is left shall escape. And Jacob said, God of my father Abraham, and God of my father Isaac, Jehovah, who saidst unto me, Return into thy country and to thy kindred, and I will do thee good, I am too small for all the [p. 219] loving-kindness and all the faithfulness that thou hast shewn unto thy servant; for with my staff I passed over this Jordan, and now I am become two troops. Deliver me, I pray thee, from the hand of my brother, from the hand of Esau; for I fear him, lest he come and smite me, and the mother with the children”. Well, he lodged there that night, and there is the well-known story of the wrestling. Instead of his meeting Esau, he meets God. God is saying virtually, ‘You have Me to do with; I am more important than your brother’. And God helped him to overcome. That is a great thing, when God gives you to feel you are overcoming spiritually.
Ques Is there some moral suggestion in the separation of the great gift he sends on and his great wealth, whether what you remarked about God coming in is a great point in my recovery, as to whether I have power with God or whether a gift I might bring. He intended his worldly possessions to have power with Esau?
JT Quite so. And instead of telling Esau what he had in the first message, now he is going to give him something. That is another story altogether, and Esau finally takes it: “Two hundred she-goats, and twenty he-goats; two hundred ewes, and twenty rams; thirty milch camels with their colts; forty kine, and ten bulls; twenty she-asses, and ten young asses” (verses 14, 15). That is a big present for a man like Jacob: hard-earned, you might say. He is sacrificing now. He did not say a word about giving him anything in his first message. Now he is softened; his heart is softened and he is going to make a sacrifice.
Rem Gift is not sufficient; the prayer would have to be there, too.
JT Prayer first and wrestling, then the gift. It says in verse 24, “And Jacob remained alone; and a man wrestled with him until the rising of the dawn”. It is a crucial matter. Instead of being afraid of Esau, is he afraid of God? A man wrestled with him until the rising of the dawn, and he allowed him to prevail. It is very touching, it seems to me, that God gives you to understand that you are making headway with Him. It is much better to make headway with God, ‘If you are to present a testimony to Esau at all, you must have to do with Me first, and that is what happened’. And so when the wrestling with God is over, he is evidently crippled, but greatly empowered inwardly. And that is how he meets his brother. So that chapter 33 says, “And Jacob lifted up his eyes and looked, and behold, Esau was coming, and with him four hundred men”. Sure enough, there they were. And he distributed the wives and children, and, it says, “bowed to the earth seven times, until he came near to his brother”. That is remarkable. What Esau saw in that brother, bowing himself seven times! How did it affect his lameness? Did his lame leg interfere? It is remarkable. That would be a touch. He had to do with God. How can I influence the brethren, especially if they are to be reconciled, except I am humble? It is only as I am alone with God that I get this power with a brother. That was what was needed, although that is mentioned afterwards, the order of his family, the order of his house.
JH Do you think he instinctively puts Joseph hindmost at first?
JT It does not mean he is the least; it means he is the greatest.
JH I wondered if he was really guarding the Person of Christ.
JT Undoubtedly he was concerned about Joseph. It says Joseph was after the others in verse 7: “And lastly Joseph drew near”.
ABP When Jacob sent the message to Esau he made no reference to the children at all. The [p. 221] children seemed to impress Esau most. And Jacob answers, “The children that God has graciously given thy servant”. Is there some point in that?
JT I think so. The children are really the inheritance of God. Cattle, of course, are important for sacrifice, but the children are suggestive of the family, and God has graciously given them, as the Lord Jesus says through the Spirit in the prophets, “Behold, I and the children that Jehovah hath given me”, Isaiah 8: 18. What a well-ordered family! It is how the Spirit of God puts the matter. “He distributed the children to Leah, and to Rachel, and to the two maidservants: and he put the maidservants and their children foremost, and Leah and her children after, and Rachel and Joseph hindmost. And he passed on before them, and bowed to the earth seven times, until he came near to his brother”. That is a good way to come near, not keep at arms’ length, but come near in bowing down to the earth. I suppose the number seven would mean there is real humility. He had just come from the presence of God. You might say he had been in the arms of God; it was a wrestling matter.
So that Jacob is clearly the greater of the two, and he is humbling himself, which you can always afford to do if you are greater, and I think that is how he secured his brother. He came near to his brother and Esau ran to meet him. “And Esau ran to meet him, and embraced him, and fell on his neck, and kissed him; and they wept”.
WB-w Would there be some correspondence between Naaman the Syrian and Jacob? Naaman plunged himself seven times in Jordan.
JT That is a token of humility, plunging into Jordan seven times.
WB-w Once was not enough. It is quite a test to do it seven times.
JT It was God’s doing. God had crippled him.
[p. 222] Rem It is the complete opposite of what we have in the previous chapter. Jacob was making much of the natural side, now he is making much of what he has acquired from God.
JT I am sure Esau never saw a man like him.
FHL Often a brother is so concerned with his relations with the brethren and how he can make things right with them, but if he reaches this point all is settled.
JT God settled the matter by meeting him Himself, and in a very powerful way, and yet He allowed him to prevail, ‘You have prevailed against Me; now prevail against your brother’. He did it by humiliation, bowing seven times, and he came nearer and nearer each time he did it.
Ques You mentioned transparency at the outset of the meeting in regard to recovery. Is that involved in this seven times?
JT The thing is completed. It is the thing fully, what should be done in a full way. Do not go half-measure; go the whole way. So that he came nearer and nearer as he bowed.
AR The new man, we might think, is strictly a formation, but the features must display themselves.
JT They do. That is the idea. It is the humility that brought him near to his brother.
FSC Did he wrong his brother? Did Jacob wrong Esau at the outset?
JT Well, did he wrong him? Esau said he did, but did he wrong him? He made a bargain with Esau. Esau proposed it. He bought the birthright from him. But he deceived his father. I suppose Esau was particularly angry because he put on clothes to deceive his father, and get away the blessing from his father, but the basis of all that was that Esau sold his birthright, so that he had really no claim at all. He had no right to any blessing especially. He had already sold [p. 223] his birthright.
RWS Do Laban and Esau seem to be agencies, not particularly helped in themselves, but designed by God to help Jacob?
JT I would say God gave him a victory over Laban, too, for, after all, they did part in a brotherly sort of way, and now he appeases Esau, so that brotherly relations are established. Jacob had made a covenant with Laban; he had reached that point with him, and left him in victory. He did not leave him an enemy. And now he appeases Esau. So that the whole position is bettered. God is helping a man that is seeking to be right. If I am seeking to be right, I will not only help others, but get help myself.
JS Would the matter of wrestling allude in some sense to Gethsemane?
JT The Lord agonised there; in the sense of agonising, of course.
Rem Wrestling is at close quarters with God Himself; it required handling. He comes from that to Esau. Esau was his great threat. God is setting him up now to meet Esau and he does it well.
WB-w Perhaps you would tell us something more about the Esau element and the Laban element. Esau was a longer-standing element to be met. The Laban element comes in more by the way, God’s government.
JT It is a question of what each man may be. Laban has a history. He had a history in regard of Rebecca. He was a man that would take things into his own hands; like a brother, sometimes, in a meeting taking things into his own hands. He had more power in the house than his father, according to chapter 24. Esau, on the other hand, is a profane man that sold his birthright for a mess of pottage. He is likened to a man that never gets a blessing at all. He sold his birthright and found no place for repentance [p. 224] though he sought for it with tears; a very sorrowful thing.
WB-w And Jacob has to be reconciled to it?
JT Well, he is. That is another testimony to Esau. Is he going to help him during his life? God intended to give him an opportunity. Here is a real brother. He has his family set out in an orderly way, and the younger son was put before his mother. He was tested by the spirituality presented by Jacob and his family.
Rem A further testimony seems to be in Deuteronomy; they were to go again by way of mount Seir, as going towards Kadesh-barnea. The tribes were all to pass by way of mount Seir.
JT Grace was shown to Esau there, and this is grace shown, too.
TH Wrestling would help him to be a testimony to his brother.
JT That is how the matter stands.
WB-w Does this all lead on to the service of God? Jacob ends as a worshipper.
JT Clearly. It runs right through to the last chapter of the book.
RWS I just want to read of the pleasure God has; it says in Hosea, “He took his brother by the heel in the womb, and in his strength he wrestled with God. Yea, he wrestled with the Angel, and prevailed; he wept, and made supplication unto him; he found him in Bethel, and there he spoke with us — even Jehovah, the God of hosts — Jehovah is his memorial”, Hosea 12: 3 - 5.
JT It shows how the history of Jacob runs on to the history of the assembly, to us.