HOW BRETHREN ARE BOUND TOGETHER

J. Mitchell

Genesis 37: 2–8; 1 Samuel 25: 23–29; Acts 28: 1–5

You may have noticed, dear brethren, that in each of these passages there is a suggestion of binding or of a bundle, and I seek grace to say a word about that, because I feel that this activity of binding is needed at the present time. Joseph says, “Behold, we were binding sheaves in the fields”. It tells us a little earlier in the chapter the character of his brethren with whom he was doing service, and that he brought an evil report of their conversation to his father. One of Nabal’s young men acts similarly, he knew where to tell things. There is a place where it is perfectly right to tell things so that evil is contained, “tell it to the assembly”, Matthew 18: 17. The matter as to Joseph is always attractive to the saints. He is a most attractive character, but one thing about him is that he is resolute in maintaining the rights of God. When he was in Potiphar’s house Potiphar’s wife tempted Joseph day by day but he refused to yield to her. That is a word for us, especially our young people, because the enemy is constantly seeking to divert us from the pathway of what is right and what is due to God.

Joseph absolutely refused the appeal of the enemy to attract him out of the pathway of righteousness, and he says, “how should I do this great wickedness, and sin against God?”, Genesis 39: 9. What was before Joseph was God, and the rights of God, and he would not be detracted from that in any way whatsoever. He was a young man, and that should give encouragement to our younger brothers and sisters.

He was seventeen years of age when he served with the sons of Bilhah and the sons of Zilpah in caring for the sheep, and his characteristics are brought out. He dreamed this dream, and he says, “Behold, we were binding sheaves in the fields”, and if you look at the history of Joseph you will find that all his activities were governed by that. Everything that he did had the character of binding sheaves. He was not scattering. The enemy is always active to scatter the people of God. Here it was Jacob’s family, and they were a pretty mixed lot, but it was typically the family of God. As the chapters go on we are given an insight as to the character of Jacob’s sons, but that never hindered what was in the mind of Joseph in this matter of binding sheaves, and he says, “my sheaf ... remained standing”. I wonder if we are concerned about that. There is great opportunity among the saints at the present time for this kind of service of binding sheaves that will remain standing. Such sheaves will go through no matter what may come against them, and that is seen in Joseph. Although he was a young man loved of his father, he was hated by his brethren. The very persons he sought to gather together into one, were the persons who hated him and could not greet him with friendliness.

You can hardly credit the murderous activities in the hearts of these men. They would have murdered him, but instead they sold him down to Egypt. What they did in selling Joseph down to Egypt, was not only cruelty towards their brother, but they broke in upon what was in the divine mind in relation to the twelve. Additionally they had no regard for the feelings of the father. When they came down to Egypt, and Joseph was seeking to bind these sheaves to get them together, to restore the idea of the twelve, he first has to get them to come to a judgment of themselves and he enquires about their father.

What was in Joseph’s mind was the feelings of the father. Think about the sheer callousness of their actions in killing a goat and taking Joseph’s coat and dipping it in the blood, then not even taking it to Jacob, but sending it to him, saying, Look yourself and you will see that this is the garment of your son. Can you think of anything more callous and void of sympathy than that? They had no respect whatsoever for the feelings of the father. I would like to press upon

you that in everything that you do you should have respect to the feelings of God, the feelings of the Father, and look at things from the divine standpoint. What effect is this going to have on God Himself? What result is it going to have in the working out of what is in His mind?

But despite their utter callousness, God Himself was operating, but not before Joseph went through the suffering. I suppose most of us think of that psalm where it says, “his soul came into irons”, Psalm 105: 18. What suffering Joseph went through. He was but a young man. Never once did he complain about the circumstances in which he was or the treatment that was meted out to him. He was a righteous man in every setting in which he is viewed and he shines in moral beauty. In the butler’s dream a vine was before him. I think the vine that was before him looked forward to the life of Jesus which was represented in Joseph; it was what was precious to God. The butler says that he pressed the grapes into Pharaoh’s cup. That was the symbol of the spirit of Christ wrought out in the suffering Joseph went through without one word of complaint or recrimination.

All through that suffering it was in the heart of Joseph that he was binding sheaves in the field. He carried that exercise with him all the way through, and God brought about his exaltation, and he became the Saviour of the world. Pharaoh called him Zaphnath-Paaneah, which means ‘Saviour of the world’ (Genesis 41: 45). But what was immediately in his mind was to be the saviour of his brethren. So in due course, having suffered the famine, they came down and Joseph recognised them. They did not recognise Joseph, but from the very outset of their coming into Joseph’s presence he had in mind the restitution of the twelve. That was what was in his heart. He spoke roughly to them. Love does not tolerate evil. Love in Joseph’s heart would not tolerate the evil that his brethren had done. He works with them in such a way to get them to come to a conviction in themselves of what they had done, and that they might judge their own hearts; that is the way he binds the sheaves and his sheaf remains standing. Let me say this, dear brethren, if matters are not cleared in righteousness the sheaf will never remain standing. There will never be any unity among brethren if evil is allowed unjudged. Evil needs to be dealt with and it tells in the narrative that Joseph spoke roughly to his brethren; but behind the rough speaking was his weeping chamber. That was the real feelings of Joseph. The speaking roughly was necessary in order to bring in conviction upon his brethren in view of them being restored to the idea of the twelve.

I wonder sometimes in crises among the saints how many tears we shed. I have no doubt there are tears that have been shed, and I have no doubt our beloved sisters come very much into that category. It tells us that God has a bottle in which He stores up the tears of the saints (Psalm 56: 8). It would help us in whatever we may undertake in the way of seeking to serve the saints if there is the proper feeling that goes along with it. Joseph was a feeling man—he wept in his chamber. But then he works with his brethren. He takes Simeon and separates him from the rest. Jacob says in his blessing of the tribes, “Simeon and Levi are brethren—Instruments of violence their swords”, Genesis 49: 5. You think of a brotherly link in violence. They had to be divided, and the first thing Joseph did was that he separated them.

The Lord will have to say to any link that has cruelty as its basis. He will have to say to it severely. So Simeon was put in custody, but when they came down the second time Simeon was brought out to them. One thing about Joseph was that he always made sure that the sacks were filled. If you want what is true among the saints, you might have to speak roughly to persons, maybe we even have to bring in discipline upon persons, but what goes alongside that is making sure that the brethren are fed.

He had a real concern about them, and he says at the end, “God sent me before you to preserve life”, Genesis 45: 5. A true priestly person will always be operating on the line of preserving life whatever may have to come in on the way.

He insists next that Benjamin is brought down. Benjamin is the guiltless one. He had no part in the selling of Joseph. In protracted exercises among the saints what is needed is the skill of Joseph and the spirit of Judah, and the guiltlessness of Benjamin. In difficulties, if you look deep enough you will find there is among the saints that which is of God that really has no part in the difficulties. Additionally Benjamin is really the overcomer, and that is something that is needed. Joseph worked to bring the overcomer to light, therefore he insisted that on their next visit that Benjamin had to be there, and when Benjamin was there he distinguished him. But then the cup was found in Benjamin’s sack, and Joseph said that Benjamin would have to remain there.

With what skill he brought this round so that it came home to Judah. Judah shone in this matter. He says, I will take responsibility for it; I could not have my father brought down to the grave. The very thing that marked them was absolute callousness to the feelings of the father, but Joseph works in such a way that he brings out in Judah feelings for the father.

There is a great need of that, beloved brethren, to really touch what is vital, what is under the surface, but it is there to be brought out into expression; that really involves the salvation of the whole position. Reuben was not of much moral value at all, but Judah takes the whole matter upon himself, and he says he is prepared to remain a bondman for the rest of his days; that brought out the feelings of Joseph. When it came to that point, Joseph could not refrain from allowing his affections to flow out unhinderedly. How beautiful that is. These brothers had had nothing in their heart but hatred towards Joseph, but when Judah takes responsibility the feelings of Joseph are unrestrained, and he wept upon their neck and kissed them. You can see he was binding sheaves in the field and his sheaf remained standing. This is the way that our sheaves can remain standing. There is great need of persons who are binding sheaves in the field, not scattering them, but holding the brethren together in righteousness so that the sheaf will remain standing.

Now I come to Abigail, who is a product of the ministry of Samuel, and represents the feminine counterpart of David. She was David all over again, the same spirit, the same character. I believe the Spirit of God is working among the saints, to bring out the character of Christ in them. David said, “blessed be thy discernment”. If there is any need among the saints, more than another, it is that of right discernment. It is a priestly feature. There is a tendency to allow natural feelings and natural thoughts to come into matters. The great need is to have discernment according to God. Although she was Nabal’s wife, she had a thorough judgment of him, typical of what is opposed to Christ. She actually names it, saying, “Nabal is his name, and folly is with him”. She discerned the character of Nabal as typical of what is against Christ. He had no appreciation of the mind of God in regard to David. He was shearing sheep, that means he is considering for himself, whereas David was a true shepherd.

Even though in this chapter David was not at the height of his moral career, nevertheless he was a shepherd at heart, and the young man told Abigail that while David was there they never suffered any loss whatsoever. We have some very sentimental ideas about what a shepherd is. David was the greatest shepherd in scripture, but he was also the greatest warrior. Maybe you have not associated the idea of a warrior with a shepherd, but they go together. So as long as David and his men were there, Nabal’s servants never suffered any loss whatsoever. That is the character of the shepherd. He is prepared to take on the enemy even as David did with his bare hands, to prevent him ravaging the flock.

Abigail is like him; she says, “the souls of thine enemies, them shall he sling out from the hollow of the sling”. That links with David going down into the valley to fight Goliath. Our weapons are not carnal, they are spiritual, and Abigail had the same character as David. The reference to the sling shows that, but she also says, “the soul of my lord shall be bound in the bundle of the living with Jehovah thy God”. What a thing it is to be in the bundle of the living, and to be seeking to protect the bundle of the living. That, beloved, is really what we have, the fellowship is “the bundle of the living”. Abigail’s exercise was that he should be preserved in the bundle of the living, that there would be nothing against David, nothing against his character or history, that would prevent him from being bound in the bundle of the living. Well, let us serve one another to that end so that we shall all, every one of us, be preserved in the bundle of the living.

Now I pass to Paul. In this section you get Paul firstly as the apostle when he has to say to the men, “Ye ought, O men, to have hearkened to me, and not have made sail from Crete”. Our safety lies in hearkening to Paul. Paul was given a special commission, and he says, “If any one thinks himself to be a prophet or spiritual, let him recognise the things that I write to you, that it is the Lord’s commandment”, 1 Corinthians 14: 37. So that we need to hearken to Paul in every matter that comes up. Then, a little later on, you get Paul in his moral beauty, moral power and moral influence when he says, “Wherefore I exhort you to partake of food, for this has to do with your safety”. That is a man who in a crisis can influence the saints in view of their protection. He had this vision that everyone who sailed with him would be preserved. It is a great matter to sail with Paul. Though the ship was broken up, and that of course speaks very largely in a dispensational way of the present time when publicly the assembly is in ruin, yet what is of Paul goes through.

In Acts 28 he “gathered a certain quantity of sticks together in a bundle”. There are three ideas— gathering—together—in a bundle. You might say that is quite unnecessary. You could say, “gathered a certain quantity of sticks” might be enough; but Luke says he “gathered a certain quantity of sticks together in a bundle”. That is to emphasise what we commenced with, binding sheaves in the field. If we give heed to Paul, that would be our activity at the present time, that we are gathering a certain quantity of sticks together in a bundle. Paul put it on the fire, that is that he might promote warmth among the saints. It was a difficult time. They had got safe to land, and there they were on this island called Melita, and it says, “having kindled a fire, they took us all in because of the rain that was falling and because of the cold”. It would have been a very unhealthy atmosphere in which to be, but this great apostle was not above gathering this quantity of sticks together in a bundle and laying it on the fire that he might promote warmth. There is always a need of such persons. They do not bring in what will scatter the saints. Here Paul is gathering a certain quantity of sticks together in a bundle.

You might say, the quantity is small these days. It was small then. The matter of numbers is in the Lord’s hands, and we leave it there. It says in 2 Timothy 2, “The Lord knows those that are his”, and we can leave things there. He knows who are His and He knows about numbers.

Not that I am saying we should not be on the outlook for recoveries, but what I am saying is that we can leave certain matters in the hands of the Lord. He has these things in hand. Let us go on with those that He has given us, and let us be on the line of gathering together a certain quantity of sticks. You might have said it was not necessary to put it in a bundle, indeed wood burns better if it is not in a bundle. Physically the wood actually burns better if it is loose, but he gathered it together “in a bundle and laid it on the fire”. The thought there was to rally the saints together and promote warmth.

Immediately he laid it on the fire “a viper coming out of the heat seized his hand”. The enemy is always active. A certain quantity of sticks being gathered together in a bundle is too much for the enemy. That is the kind of thing he cannot stand and he will attack unquestionably, so it says, “a viper coming out from the heat seized his hand”. The hands are what you need in service to do things. You can do very little without your hands, and the enemy is seeking to restrict what is Pauline in these closing days. I believe that is what the enemy is always against. He will occupy us with a number of things. Mr. Stoney said that the enemy is not out to unchristianise anyone; what the enemy seeks to do is to get us down from the high level of the truth. What he is against is what is of Paul. It is the heavenly side of the truth, the great truth of Christ and the assembly, as Paul says, “I speak as to Christ, and as to the assembly”, Ephesians 5: 32. That, I think, is what the enemy was at when he seized him by the hand; but it says that he shook him into the fire. What is needed among the saints for preservation from the activities of the enemy is this kind of warmth that Paul would produce.

The viper is shaken into the fire, the fire will deal with it. In John 13 there was an atmosphere of love when the Lord was with His own, and Judas was there in that very atmosphere of affection, but he went out. He had to go out, he could not stand that atmosphere. The way in which the enemy can be dealt with is the promotion of an atmosphere of affection among the saints; that he cannot cope with, he has to go. May the Lord bless the word to us, for His name’s sake.

Address at Aberdeen, Scotland
5 May 2001