THE FEMININE FEATURES OF THE TRUTH
[p. 438] THE FEMININE FEATURES OF THE TRUTH
1 Samuel 25:1-19; 1 Samuel 25:32,33; 1 Samuel 25:39-44
JT The proposal is to speak, as we are together, of the truth as apprehended in the feminine feature of it, and therefore we have read from 1 Samuel 25, because it speaks of one of the leading types of the assembly; and, of course, if we are to apprehend the feminine side of the truth, we have to consider the types, beginning with Eve. But this chapter is chosen because it presents such an important type, and one that bears on assembly service, and particularly on procedure. The book of Samuel affords opportunity, as we have said, to speak of the truth from the feminine standpoint, and Abigail comes in as a leading type; but then she has to be regarded as associated with David, therefore our subject is Abigail and David combined. The next thing to consider is the fact that Samuel is said to have died. That is to say, there is a circumstance of serious occasion in Israel, and the question is as to how it is to be met. We have the fact of Samuel’s death, and then immediately it is said in the first verse, that “David arose and went down to the wilderness of Paran”; and we are told about Nabal in order to bring out the facts relative to Abigail. Abigail is in mind to indicate to us how the assembly is to have its place with us in all crises or difficulties, the assembly is to have the first place in regard to procedure generally. So that we err greatly unless we take into account the saints as a whole in all matters, bringing in the assembly; she must be regarded in all matters. What is called a care meeting can hardly in itself be regarded as a means for dealing with matters finally; for finality, matters have to come to [p. 439] the assembly.
AED It says in verse 14, “And one of Nabal’s young men told Abigail”. Are we to learn to tell Abigail, in that sense?
JT That is just the thought that I have in mind, that if a matter is serious enough to acquaint all the saints with it, then Abigail is the type. This young man is said to be one of Nabal’s young men, but Abigail was Nabal’s wife, and so the young man belonged to the household; he is said to have “told Abigail, Nabal’s wife”. That is to say, he put the information where it should be; it was a serious matter, because Nabal had insulted David, and anything that tends to an insult to Christ, or the assembly, or the truth, has to be told to the assembly. It cannot be treated secretly or held to be treated secretly; it must be spoken of openly.
JP So that in the New Testament, Matthew 18 would answer to this. “Tell it to the assembly”.
JT That is the word exactly, the word that bears directly on our scripture, “Tell it to the assembly”; significantly it is in Matthew’s gospel.
FW Would the young men indicate that there are persons who are intelligent as to whatever may be in hand?
JT Yes. If it is a matter of information, I would say it is to be in the mouth of two or three witnesses. If it is a matter of implicating anyone criminally, so to speak, or in any sense that involves discipline, then it has to be told by two or three witnesses.
EDL “Tell it to the assembly”; is that because the assembly knows what to do? We read of Abigail here as being a woman of good understanding. David also says later, “Blessed be thy discernment”, before he speaks of her beauty in other ways.
JT Very good. Therefore we are instructed as to her immediately in the chapter. It says in verse 2, “And there was a man at Maon, whose business was [p. 440] at Carmel; and the man was very great, and he had three thousand sheep and a thousand goats; ... And the name of the man was Nabal, and the name of his wife Abigail”; she is brought in immediately. And so in verse 14, “one of Nabal’s young men told Abigail, Nabal’s wife”. We may easily introduce the book of Revelation to amplify this passage, because we are told of the Lamb’s wife, that is to say, she is in that relation with Christ.
AED Is that why this chapter is largely in a militant setting?
JT Just so. David is a military man; it is what characterises him. But then the wife is what is in our minds, we are told about her early, “The name of the man was Nabal, and the name of his wife Abigail”, and then we are told as to her character, her qualities; she was of good understanding and of a beautiful countenance, then we are told about Nabal; but the point is to bring out Abigail.
CPF Everything in the house is under her hand?
JT Clearly; she does not consult him, showing that she was such a woman as that, she knows exactly what to do; and although there is no evidence that David knew her earlier, he tells her here in verse 32, “Blessed be Jehovah, the God of Israel, who sent thee this day to meet me”, that is to say, she is under Jehovah’s hand. It is a question therefore of the assembly being available in these matters.
EESL Would the reference in Romans 7 to the two husbands have a bearing on this? Abigail acted anticipatively, did she not? Her husband was still alive, but she recognised in David the man of God’s choice.
JT Quite so. She was thoroughly in the mind of God, and hence the importance of sisters knowing things as they happen, and in their conversation in a godly way dealing with these things, so [p. 441] that the brothers do not assume to be in a position to handle matters solely. There are other scriptures, of course, that bear on sisters, such as the statement that they are to be silent in the assembly, but at the same time they are to ask their husbands at home, they are to be conversant with what is current in the history of the saints.
JP You have mentioned that what is in mind is to view Abigail and David as combined. Is it right that David is viewed in this earlier part of the chapter as not rising to a full type of Christ?
JT He is not a full type; he is needing correction, really. So that we have to discriminate, and not always deal with things as if everything were the same; there are differences, and therefore David here is not a full type of Christ. Abigail is a full type of the assembly, however, and that is the point that is before us now, that the assembly is trustworthy, even viewed in the sisters it is trustworthy, and, of course, that means that the sisters are to be sure that they are speaking facts, if they are extending information. “In the mouth of two or three witnesses shall every word be established”, 2 Corinthians 13: 1.
DJM She is able to name things, “For as his name is, so is he: Nabal is his name, and folly is with him”?
JT Just so. Very important; the idea comes in early in Scripture. Adam was designated to name the creatures, and then he was able to name Eve. And so he says to Jehovah, “This time”, as if to allude to what he had been dealing with, that is the cattle, but now it is another being altogether, and he says, “This time it is bone of my bones and flesh of my flesh, this shall be called Woman, because this was taken out of a man”. That is, he gives the reason for it; he is intelligent as to [p. 442] the names.
ET Is the stress on the importance of the assembly today linked with the fact that we have not any apostles or apostolic delegates? Does that link on here with “And Samuel died”?
JT Quite so, but even when they had apostles the assembly had its place. I mean to say, Paul links himself up with the assembly in the discipline of 1 Corinthians 5. The assembly was the assembly from the start, from the time the Spirit of God came down.
FW So is it upon her, so to say, to safeguard the interests of Christ?
JT Exactly, so that the book of Proverbs would say, “Her husband is known in the gates”. That is to say, what the assembly is, reflects what Christ is. She is here on His behalf; that is one of the most important things we can keep in our minds.
JP So that while Samuel dies, and he would have been, perhaps, the most spiritual man in Israel at that time, yet as the assembly is brought forward and given her place, things are held and go on.
JT That is the idea exactly. There is no great dislocation of anything now, even though Samuel had died. If he had died earlier it might have been different, but he did not. Things happen because God orders them.
AED So it says in verse 17, “And now know and consider what thou wilt do”.
JT It further adds, “for evil is determined against our master, and against all his household”; and then we are informed that “he is such a son of Belial, that one cannot speak to him”. So that he comes under the direct dealings of God, and we are told that he died; in about ten days he died. David awaits that before his next movement, but still that was important. That is to say, God acts with us in our exercises, in the government of His house here [p. 443] God acts with us, incidents occur and we are guided by them.
AC I was wondering whether Nabal would not answer to the responsible element of christendom, for it says in the footnote speaking of his name that he was not only a fool, but he was ungodly and impious, and whether Abigail would be an outward link with this responsible element?
JT And so the first and second epistles to the Corinthians treat of the assembly more fully than any other passages, especially in the government of it. Hence the assembly is regarded as including brothers and sisters.
LBG Do temple conditions enter into that, that the saints, brothers and sisters together in assembly conditions, secure temple light?
JT They do. We can count on the Lord to give us light, too. “Think of what I say”; that is the apostle’s word in 2 Timothy 2: 7. “Think of what I say, for the Lord will give thee understanding in all things”. That would apply to all of us, that first we consider what is said authoritatively, and then the Lord will give us understanding in all things.
Ques Does the apostle bring these features to bear upon the Corinthians when he says, “I speak as to intelligent persons, do ye judge what I say”?
JT It is significant that that is brought in in connection with the Lord’s supper, too. That is to say, we are regarded as intelligent, and it really becomes the beginning of the divine services, whatever they may be, even if they be disciplinary; we have to consider the intelligence of the assembly.
CPF Is that why she gives these gifts to her young man, to go on before her?
JT Well, I would say she is indicating her authority, her place, her power to do these things. She is the mistress, as you might say, of the house. That is to say, the Lord’s authority is carried out [p. 444] down here, the saints are regarded as trustworthy, and He commits things to us.
EESL Is that why we are told that the wives should rule the house (1 Timothy 5: 14).
JT The wives rule their husbands’ houses, you mean? That is because they have authority to do it, and they are supposed to have skill, too. God has given them skill as wives, to know what to do.
AG As Abigail is informed, is the matter urgent with her?
JT Well, clearly; and with the young man, too; he understands the urgency of it.
EESL Would not unmarried women have a part in this, too, as subject?
JT Certainly. They have the Holy Spirit. What could be greater in a sense than that? And so it is not for young wives to depend wholly on their husbands. Of course they do depend on them, but they have to look into the Scriptures for themselves, because certain things will be required of them. They do not always have their husbands by their sides to ask them, although they are told to ask them, but at the same time they are themselves to judge, too. Abigail herself judged what to do. In fact, it is urged upon her, in that the young man said to her in verse 17, “Now know and consider what thou wilt do, for evil is determined against our master”. It is put upon her by this young man to consider as to what she should do, showing how we are to be subject to one another. Even a young person may give a word to an old one as to what should be done; a sister may give it, too, as to what should be done. So that we are a community, in that sense, set up here according to Acts 2, and the Lord is with us and in us. So as things arose from time to time, from the time the Spirit of God came in, what was needed was supplied. If there were deacons, if the food question had to be handled, well,
[p. 445] there were certain men, seven men, chosen among the brethren, who were full of the Holy Spirit, and they were set over the business, as was said, “whom we will establish over this business”.
WHF You referred to the matter being put back on Abigail in verse 17. I was wondering whether in bringing matters to the assembly, it affords an occasion to show what great resources are already there?
JT Quite so. We are to know each other, really; of course, in a large number as we have it in this city, it is somewhat different from what is usual, but the brethren here ought to be able to know each other, to be conversant with each other; we should know what we are equal to. That is very important, and visiting each other’s houses enters much into it, so we converse with each other, having, as it were, equality.
GWB Is there significance in the fact that though this is one of Nabal’s young men, he says “our master”?
JT Yes, he is respectful, which is very important.
AED Have you in mind in all this, the danger of matters getting perhaps into the hands of a few, or of being handled in such a way that the assembly is disregarded?
JT That is just the point, and it is a question whether we are not exposed to worldly methods in appointing committees to look after matters. We are dealing with holy things. We are to know each other, and the resources we have in each other, and to use each other accordingly. It is a question of using each other in a wise sense.
WR Would Abigail’s discernment here be consequent upon her coming to a judgment as to this man [p. 446] Nabal?
JT Yes, apparently she did, and God acted with her discernment; so that, as we were saying, it is not simply mere circumstances; it is a question of God acting with us in the circumstances, and using what there is in any locality. God knows what there is and He uses it accordingly.
EESL She had a judgment, too, about Saul: “If a man is risen up to pursue thee”, she says.
JT Quite so.
JP Your remark as to our knowing one another seems to be important as underlying all this. That involves the whole truth of the assembly, does it not? It is composed of men and women who are set together in relation to one another, as of the body.
JT Quite so. God has overruled things for us, I think, in the last, say, twenty-five years, in the two wars we have been through. I think God has helped us in putting us into touch with each other — I mean the brethren as a whole — so that the saints know each other better than they used to; they know each other’s circumstances, and God knows them too, and takes account of them, and so we are dealing, as we said, with a community. We are a community knowing each other, and knowing the resources that there are; and then the Spirit is assisting in all that, so that the matter of distance is not allowed to weigh too much with us, because after all we are brethren, we are all brethren. We never forget that. We are apt to let national feeling arise, and the like, and circumstances and distances, whereas God has overruled things for us so that we know each other better than we used to.
DJM Is that resulting in increased confidence among the brethren?
JT I think it is. I certainly feel it in myself. The first time I came down to these parts, I was not so conversant with the circumstances as I am now;
[p. 447] I feel more liberty among the brethren than I did then. And I believe it should be so as God overrules things for us. He takes account of circumstances as they arise and uses them, so that we might know each other better, because we are presently going to dwell with each other for ever. It is important to get accustomed to each other’s ways so that we are not strangers to each other, “no more strangers and foreigners, but fellow-citizens with the saints, and of the household of God”.
DJM Is that the thought in being “bound in the bundle of the living”?
JT Exactly; that is what Abigail had in mind, showing what a woman she was, she was of good understanding. She was not a woman that was making too much of her appearance; she had a good appearance, but she had a good understanding, which is more important.
HSD Have you in mind that this matter of knowing each other develops in a constitutional way that respect for the assembly which is to be brought to bear on all our matters?
JT ‘Constitutional’ is good. You mean it bears on what we are, because we have, ultimately anyway, to think of ourselves as a whole. I mean that the assembly has to learn to think of itself as a whole, because it is an immense thought. Revelation 21 shows how immense it is; it is a regular cube of persons. It is difficult to lay hold of it in a natural sense, but these are the facts.
FW Is it in that sense that the discernment really operates and manifests itself?
JT That is what David notices. “Blessed be thy discernment”, he says. It is beautiful phraseology. In verse 32 David said to Abigail, “Blessed be Jehovah, the God of Israel, who sent thee this day to meet me. And blessed be thy discernment, and blessed be thou”, and then he says, “who hast kept [p. 448] me this day from coming with bloodshed, and from avenging myself with mine own hand”. So that David is learning too; we could never bring that thought in as to Christ, that He is learning from the assembly. He is not. So that we have to be discerning, too, in our judgment of Scripture, and use of it, to compare spiritual with spiritual.
FW Does this in christianity involve the known presence of the Spirit?
JT That is the point, I am sure, and we can hardly say it too often that the Spirit of God is here, and remains here. He remains here from the time He was sent down; “sent from heaven”, as the scripture says. The Spirit of God remains here, and He will remain until we are taken up. He does not take us up. The Lord takes us up, but the Spirit remains with us until the time of our taking up or translation.
JC As to matters requiring to be told to the assembly, how far is it permitted for us to carry them in care? Are we to form any temporary judgment as to them prior to telling it to the assembly, or is it to be purely deliberative?
JT Well, it is a question of being able to visualise what the Spirit of God means in these expressions. We suppose one hundred, two hundred or five hundred brothers sitting together, they have intelligence. As a thing arises, we have intelligence and speak of it in an intelligent way; so we have, as it were, to discern what the Spirit of God means when He says, “Tell it to the assembly”. Well, facts would mean that we may tell it to each other as brethren; we may tell it to a few as brethren, but in due time we have to tell it to the whole company, the whole assembly has to be informed, and informed in an orderly way, in a holy way, too; not simply as men do in a parliamentary sense, for we are dealing with holy [p. 449] things.
JP So that in any matter, particularly a matter involving discipline, brothers together as having the mind of Christ and able to form a moral judgment about a matter, could not help but arrive at a judgment, but that would only be tentative in any matter.
JT Quite so. Tentative is the best word that one can use, and a very important word. We await the completion of the matter, but much has to be done tentatively. We know each other, and speak freely to each other, have confidence in each other, and believe each other, and the Spirit of God joins His help to our weaknesses too, so that presently things happen according to God; so that what is done on earth is done in heaven; it is in agreement with heaven.
RSD You said elsewhere that these matters should be resolved quickly, did you not?
JT Just so. I think that is important, but if we are dealing with the truth of the assembly from Matthew’s standpoint, perhaps we would make more allowances and wait longer, and give opportunity for everybody to be informed, and to think, and weigh over the thing; if we are dealing with Mark, we are dealing with gifted men as it were, the leading men are involved, men that are gifted by the Lord and used by the Lord, and they are able to do things more rapidly. We should not from that point of view have to wait too much because their minds are able to act quickly, and if they are heavenly, as we would suppose the case, it should not be held over for months because it will deteriorate if it is, if it is held too long. We should apply the principle in our time, and have the thing done quickly.
EDL I think you mentioned once in connection with this matter, that when things are clear, they should be done at [p. 450] once.
JT That is just what I would say, if they are clear.
EDL Would that be suggested in the way in which Abigail is mentioned three times as hasting?
JT Very good. There is certainly a great shortage of time. I do not know of anything shorter in these days than time. I speak especially of those who are in the Lord’s service immediately. We should learn to do things quickly, and in the gospel of Mark it is one of the leading thoughts, that things are done immediately.
Rem The informing of the saints that you speak of has action in view? It says, “Know and consider what thou wilt do”.
JT Quite so; “consider what thou wilt do”; very good.
FW You have spoken about the feminine side. Is the idea in mind that she is acting for David, and the assembly is acting for Christ?
JT Quite so. And then another thing arises; that is, that the marriage comes into view, that union comes into view, and how are we to act in that? How are we to follow on in that line? That is the end of the chapter, the idea of union. We must dismiss mere natural thoughts and get spiritual thoughts in this chapter. What is meant by this union?
AED You referred to Revelation. The whole system of Babylon comes down quickly, just prior to the mention of the marriage of the Lamb being come. “In one hour she has been made desolate”. I was thinking as to the matter of our judgment being judged on that system, that we would have learned to come to things quickly, so that in the actual destruction of the system, it only takes one hour. The urgency of the marriage of the Lamb is in mind?
JT Quite so.
[p. 451] AC What is the thought when it says in verse 38, “It came to pass in about ten days that Jehovah smote Nabal, and he died”?
JT I think it is God coming in, to act with the assembly; that is, He is supporting, as you might say, Abigail. He is supporting what she is doing and saying, and she discerns it quickly. It is said, “And when David heard that Nabal was dead, he said, Blessed be Jehovah, who has pleaded the cause of my reproach from the hand of Nabal, and has kept back his servant from evil; but Jehovah has returned Nabal’s evil upon his own head. And David sent and communed with Abigail”; there is no delay; “David sent and communed with Abigail, to take her as his wife. And the servants of David came to Abigail to Carmel, and spoke to her, saying, David has sent us to thee, to take thee as his wife. And she arose and bowed herself on her face to the earth, and said, Behold, let thy handmaid be a bondwoman to wash the feet of the servants of my lord. And Abigail hasted, and arose”. She did not delay, but it is not only the thought here of doing things, but of doing things in an orderly sense, you might say, as they should be done. That is to say, there should be no failing of feelings; we should be real and simple as to everything. So then we come to the full thought of Christ and the assembly; we are now on sure ground.
Ques Does the death of Nabal, as seen in the first epistle to the Corinthians, make room for the apostle to bring in the espousal to one man in the second? Would that be seen here?
JT Quite so; there is room for that. If we consider that particular section of Scripture, and the much that Paul has to relate, we can see how important it is that things should be done quickly.
DJM “His wife has made herself ready”. Is Abigail on that line here, taking these five [p. 452] damsels?
JT Yes, quite so. All that would fit in with the Lord’s own thoughts. And so in Revelation 19: 7, it says, “The marriage of the Lamb is come, and his wife has made herself ready”, and then again in the last chapter, “the Spirit and the bride say, Come”. That is to say, the Spirit and the bride are saying the same thing; a wonderful suggestion, that of the Spirit and the bride. God Himself really in the Spirit, the Spirit of God being there, and the bride saying the same thing. It is very remarkable. I would say that perhaps it is where the assembly comes nearest to Deity, to divine Persons, in saying the same thing.
JP In order that matters may be clear in the minds of all, it would be right to say that David is now looked at in these last verses as a type of Christ?
JT I think he is. You feel the Spirit of God would not leave him without bringing that in. But Abigail is true to herself, she is true to what she is; I mean to say the assembly is true to her constitution. She knows when the Lord says, “I am the root and offspring of David, the bright and morning star”; she says, “Come”. The assembly says, “Come”, but it is the Spirit and the bride that say, “Come”.
JP So throughout what you have had in mind, you would have us to realise that the emphasis is on the assembly.
JT It is, and I hope every brother and sister will understand that that is the cause of this meeting; that each will know that he or she is part of the assembly, and act in it, and know what to do and say in all circumstances.
CEJ Would that be emphasised in the last part of verse 35? “Go up in peace to thy house; see, I have hearkened to thy voice, and have accepted thy person”. Does it show that the assembly has the confidence of Christ, in [p. 453] that way?
JT It is wonderful to think of it, that we are sitting here, a goodly number of us in these southern parts, that we have part in all this; no less than that; what we are doing and saying now is just what is in the spirit of this chapter.
GCS “We have the mind of Christ”. Is that individual, or does it refer to the assembly?
JT The “mind” is the faculty, the thinking power of Christ really. It is a question of the faculty, the means of thinking which He has, and I would say it is collective.
WHF In that passage you referred to in Revelation 22 regarding the Spirit and the bride, the Lord says in verse 16, “I Jesus, have sent mine angel to testify these things to you in the assemblies”. That is a peculiar word to the saints as in the light of the assembly.
JT Quite so. “Testify these things to you in the assemblies”, as if the Lord is finishing the great subject in mind. He is saying all that He intended to say, but He is saying it quickly and fully and with great feeling, if one may speak thus of the Lord.
FW So you would impress upon us the necessity for our understanding the idea of the woman.
JT We begin with that in Genesis 2; we begin there. Adam is alone, and he is conscious that there is none his like, and God knows it too; God uses the word ‘counterpart’. And then a sleep follows, Adam is caused to sleep, and in the meantime, God built the woman out of a rib that He had taken from Adam; a remarkable fact; and Jehovah does not say anything, but He brings her to the man. God does not say anything, but Adam does, and what he says indicates that he knows, and although he was asleep when she was formed, yet he knows all about her, about what is happening, showing how intelligent he was, and we may say, speaking with reverence, this applies to Christ. He knows the formation, He [p. 454] knows what we are; and how we are formed. He loves us, “Christ also loved the assembly, and has delivered himself up for it”. He loves us from this point of view.
FW Does the idea of the assembly as one entity, the woman, need to be borne in upon our spirits? Because we may think that the assembly is simply the aggregate of a large number of persons who have known Christ as Saviour, but it is the divine operation of the Spirit to bring about an entity. Is that right?
JT Quite so; and then to follow up the instruction of the Spirit in Genesis 1, He made them male and female, He created them both, but the second chapter is what we are dealing with, and then to follow that line throughout the Scriptures. And so we come on to Eve as having sinned, but she is the “mother of all living”, and Adam knows that. It is to bring out what he knows. Then we come on down to the next great figure of the assembly, Sarah, her name means “princess”; how dignified she is in the house of Abraham. It is to keep up the line of thought right through scripture, and be nourished in the thing, so that we are livingly of the assembly, acting in it, and able to act in it too.
FW In this administrative setting of 1 Samuel 25, that you have been emphasising, have we the idea of “let them have dominion”, that is, Adam and the woman?
JT Just so. That is how the matter is to be seen, that in the coming age especially, in what we call the millennium, the assembly will be seen here giving effect to everything, giving right names or right understanding of everything. I believe that is the way things will go until we all merge into the eternal state of things. There is much to be said about that, but I believe that is the way the thing will go for [p. 455] us.
Ques Is that secured through the ministry?
JT It is. The idea is just there, that God is helping us through the ministry; through one and another. He is putting us into circumstances where we get taught, and then the Spirit operates in these thoughts so that they take form in us.
Ques I was thinking of the messengers bringing her to David here. Would that have the ministers in view?
JT Just so.
DJM “Head over all things to the assembly”. Would that come in?
JT It does come in, and that is the idea. He is Head over all things to it, not of it, but to it. That is to say the assembly is in mind in the headship. He is Head over all things to her.
DJM And that in view of universal dominion?
JT Exactly. So that things are set up in intelligence and in feeling and in right affection too, all leading on to the eternal state of things which God has in His mind. We are in the forming time now, it is a question of whether we are taking hold of what is available to us, as of the thing, not viewing it objectively, but as of the thing itself, we are essentially of it.
FRH Would “two of you” be in that way two of the assembly (Matthew 18: 19)?
JT That is what I understand. “Two of you”.
AED You referred to the matter becoming established; she became his wife. Is there a great need that the establishment of the thing should be reached in our minds?
JT Quite so. It is remarkable how that comes in here in David’s case and Abigail’s. The word is she “became his wife”.
AED Would that as understood, induce more holy emotions in the [p. 456] service?
JT I would think that. God is endeavouring to bring us all into it, to make us all consciously of it.
DJM It is said of Rebekah, too, “she became his wife, and he loved her”. Should we be conscious of union?
JT Quite so. And another thing here is the way the feminine side comes in; it comes in here as well as in Rebekah’s case. It is said of Abigail in verse 41, “She arose and bowed herself on her face to the earth, and said, Behold, let thy handmaid be a bondwoman to wash the feet of the servants of my lord. And Abigail hasted, and arose, and rode upon an ass, with five damsels of hers”. That is to say the feminine side is emphasised or enlarged, because that is the idea, the feminine side becoming involved in intelligence, five damsels. The same thing is seen in Rebekah.
AE What is in mind in Abigail desiring to wash the feet of David’s servants?
JT Humility. The same thing is seen in Rebekah; it is a question of humility. We are to bind it on.
FW And yet eventually the assembly reaches the point where she is spoken of as the fulness of Him that filleth all in all?
JT Quite so.
GCS Does the assembly qualify for union in the sphere of administration?
JT Quite so. We must have union; we must keep in mind that it is not a mere ideal, it is an actual thing, union is an actual thing. It is worked out especially in Colossians, but the great end is in Ephesians.