THE WARS OF THE LORD (4)
[p. 289] THE WARS OF THE LORD (4)
Numbers 31:1-12; Numbers 31:21-24; Numbers 31:48-54
JT At our last reading in this book, we came to the end of chapter 21, in which the title of our readings appears, namely, “The Wars of the Lord”. We considered the overthrow of Sihon and Og, that is typically Romans 8, which contemplates the believer as in Christ and as having a new state in the Spirit, so that the big “I” is overthrown. Whilst one may be delivered from sin in the flesh, he may still be clothing himself with his gift, his means, or his ancestry, etc.; thus increasing his distinction in his own mind. The overthrow of these things is seen in Og, and it was noted last time that his sons also were smitten; (chapter 21:35). Therefore the way is now clear for the believer, as thus freed of himself to say, “I am crucified with Christ”, (Galatians 2:20). The “I” now is gone from one’s vision. No one can withstand Israel in an open battle now.
In chapter 22 a new and hidden attack is introduced in the form of accusation. For this purpose Balaam is employed by the king of Moab to curse Israel. Balaam was a man with a religious reputation, being regarded as a prophet; but amenable to hire, and ready to curse the people of God if he could. This is a new mode of attack — a hidden conflict in which the people have no part, for God takes the matter up, and lets us into the blessed secret that He is for us. “If God be for us, who against us?” (Romans 8:31). Then when the effort to curse fails, Balaam’s counsel is used of Satan to corrupt the people of God, and that leads to this war with Midian in chapter 31, which is now before us. Many of the saints may not be conversant with this feature of warfare, this hidden effort of the devil in using persons who do [p. 290] not come out openly, but who are, nevertheless, opposers and would like to see things amongst us weakened and corrupted.
ANW Balaam would seem to be dismissed at the end of chapter 24, and yet according to this chapter he is involved in the matter of Peor.
JT That is right. We are told in Revelation 2 that he taught Balak to cast a stumbling-block before the children of Israel. It was a matter of teaching, and what is stated in our chapter shows that his counsel caused Israel to sin; hence Balaam was slain in the battle against Midian, with the five kings of Midian.
AFM How is it that in enumerating the kings of Midian, Balak is not mentioned? He had set Balaam on to curse the people of God.
JT He was the king of Moab, of course. The Midianites are more in mind in this war. They were, as descended from Abraham, more nearly related to Israel than Moab, and social equality, as entering into the corruption, is in mind. God, in chapter 25, directs that Israel should harass Midian, and now they avenge themselves on him. So that we are to understand what Midian means. Moab represents the pride of man, but Midian is a power that is allied with Moab, but more religious and showy. In fact, it is the social element in Christendom as allied with the religious.
CAM The fact that this war came at the end of Moses’ career would show that this is one of the last enemies dealt with.
JT It is the last wilderness enemy.
AP Would you say something more about Balaam? In Revelation 2 it speaks of his doctrine, and those who held it at Pergamos.
JT Well, he taught Balak to cast a snare before Israel, to eat things sacrificed to idols, and to commit fornication; it was idolatry and social relations with [p. 291] ungodly people. It was a doctrine. Where you have teaching you have what satisfies your conscience, although the conduct flowing from it is wicked. Your conscience is quite satisfied because of the teaching. If I accept it as right, my conscience is at ease, although I am guilty of the grossest evil.
ANW Is there a reason why Balaam’s counsel should be stated in verse 16 of our chapter, and not in chapter 25?
JT I think it is to show that no one guilty of wickedness escapes. Balaam was well hidden in his profession of godliness. The ordinary eye could scarcely discern that there was any hostility to Israel. He would not do anything without Jehovah, and yet if you closely read chapter 22 you will see that he really did wish to curse them in order to get the reward of unrighteousness, and he was ready to go to Balak as soon as he was released. Balaam said at first, “Jehovah refuses to give me leave to go with you”, but then he wanted to go, and as soon as released he went with the princes of Moab without having the least conscience that God had told him at the outset that His people Israel were blessed. An undiscerning eye would not suspect anything in Balaam but a fair man. He only wanted to do what Jehovah wished him to do; but God had told him that the people were not to be cursed, for they were blessed, and yet he goes to Balak, who sent for him expressly to curse them. The second message is sent to him, which brings the matter up again, and there is more honour given, and increased reward offered. Yet Balaam says, “I shall know what Jehovah will say”, but it does not say he went to Jehovah. God came to him in each case, for He knew what was in his heart, and that explains why He stood in the way to resist him, for God was angry with him, because of his going. In chapter 22 the enemy is hidden, he assumes that he will not be detected, but the facts [p. 292] show that he is detected, that Jehovah knows well what he is at heart. He therefore stood in his way to prevent his going, but he is determined to go. Yet his ass was more discerning than he: “the dumb ass speaking with man’s voice forbad the folly of the prophet”, (2 Peter 2:16).
AFM There are three steps in that journey: The ass, seeing the angel, turned aside out of the way into the field; then Balaam’s foot is crushed against the wall in a hollow of the vineyard; then the ass lay down under him. Was that a restrictive means that God used to withstand him?
JT It makes plain how undiscerning he was, how little sensitiveness he had. The ass was wiser than he. That is what chapter 22 brings out; that after all, he is not really disguised. With this peculiar kind of opposition, Balaam was outwardly in favour but secretly desirous of changing the position. In chapter 31 he is thoroughly exposed; not only himself, but his teaching; so he falls by the sword.
WB-w He would not only curse them, but would corrupt them: “Lo, these, through the counsel of Balaam, caused the children of Israel to commit sin against Jehovah in the matter of Peor”. He had in mind to corrupt them, had he not?
JT That is what the Lord Jesus says to Pergamos. The doctrine of Balaam implied this corrupting teaching that the people could do the thing and have a good conscience in doing it, showing that Christians may form associations with ungodly people on social grounds and do the worst kind of things with a good conscience.
JS Would he be a type of clericalism as it is seen today as thoroughly entrenched in the religious world, but assuming to be in the service of God?
JT I think so. Balaam had a great reputation. Balak brought him from “the mountains of the east”, showing what a far-reaching reputation he [p. 293] had. He is a type of some great religious power with a corresponding reputation. It is not difficult to determine what this is today; there is great pretence in it to be representative of God, with great antiquity behind it, with ramifications without any parallel, so that the princes of this world seek its counsel. The leaders of this system will not come out and say that they are against Christianity, but they are corrupting it. That is the point to see.
AP Balaam views the people of God, and prophesies from four positions.
JT Balak and Balaam began with great outward show of perfection — seven altars, seven bullocks, and seven rams, but then God was intervening. That is what we need to see; this system has come down to our day, but God has taken charge of the whole matter. We should have no Christianity today were it not that God intervened, as we see in the addresses to the assemblies. The Lord says, “I know”. He speaks of “Antipas, my faithful witness”, (Revelation 2:13) being slain, as at the time of Balaam’s teaching. God takes charge in every case. He does not allow Balaam to do anything except what He permitted him to do; He would not allow him to say a word before Balak except what He put in his mouth. This is very encouraging for us to see, that if God had not taken the matter in hand at the time of Balaam’s teaching, which had become prevalent in Christendom, there would be no Christianity; it would be utterly corrupt. God has the matter in hand today; His eye and mind are everywhere.
CAM The word “avenge” is characteristic in Numbers 31. Do you think it would imply that the damage done has been taken account of by God in this way?
JT Yes. That will come in its time upon Christendom. God is waiting His time, so that several chapters intervene from the manifestation of [p. 294] the corruption until Balaam is exposed and slain; the war singles him out.
WB-w It says, “Harass the Midianites”, (chapter 25:16). What does that mean?
JT It was to weaken them, for the moment, as we have today God weakening the apostasy until the time comes when the avenging takes place. The way in which God takes the matter in hand is affecting; in each of Balaam’s prophecies, there is increase, something fresh. First, Israel was to dwell alone. God compels him to say that. Israel is not to be reckoned among the nations. The Vatican has made great efforts to be recognised among the nations, showing great zest for political power; but Israel was to dwell alone, not to be reckoned among the nations yet, “Who can count the dust of Jacob, and the number of the fourth part of Israel?” (chapter 23:10). There will be a large number, notwithstanding the separation.
CAM The more extreme things become, the more wonderful is the result which God brings out. The further Balaam went, the results were more spiritual and glorious.
JT Quite so. He is compelled to say these great things concerning God’s people. The second blessing speaks of the power that is in Israel — the power of God in the very people that the enemy would curse. Then the order and beauty of Israel is seen in their goodly tents, like valleys spread forth, like gardens by the riverside, like aloe trees which Jehovah hath planted, like cedars beside the waters. Finally, the prophet sees a Star coming out of Jacob and a Sceptre arising out of Israel. So we are carried along to the millennial day. It is really the assembly that is in mind in all this, but linked up with the great end at the close of the chapter where Amalek “the first of the nations” is appointed to destruction.
[p. 295] That is the light we have in the presence of all this hidden opposition to the Israel of God.
AFM It would appear that Balaam reversed his first parable in respect to Israel. God said they “shall dwell alone”. Balaam said to Balak, Invite them to your sacrifices — mix them.
JT The corrupting teaching is to mix, to set aside this great principle of separation on the part of the people for God. Balaam’s teaching was to make room for alliance with the world, which is the very opposite to the fellowship into which we are brought.
JS The present teaching of religious amalgamation is on that line.
JT Yes; they do not like you to dwell alone. That is what is hated. Sanballat and Geshem said to Nehemiah, “Come, let us meet together in the villages in the plain of Ono” (Nehemiah 6:2), but Nehemiah says, “they thought to do me mischief”. Modern apostates are likened to him; Jude likens them to Cain, Balaam, and Core. Those are the great sinners that are brought forward as types of apostasy in Christendom.
WB-w Tell us what part Phinehas has in the war of our chapter.
JT Well, he is the spiritual leader in this war, and is the first to have part in it. Hitherto it was a matter between God and the devil. In chapters 22 - 24 God is fighting for us, resulting in a complete victory. But now when the teaching of Balaam comes into evidence, the saints are brought into it, having in Phinehas a priestly leader. It is quite obvious that when teaching is promulgated God meets it mediately. He will take up someone to meet it. In our own time, J.N.D. and others took the sword and attacked the evil openly, and gave a lead, too. Phinehas led in this war which began in chapter 22, but now openly in chapter 25; it is one of the most important wars to [p. 296] be considered.
ANW Have you not previously placed Rome with Jezebel in Thyatira rather than with Balaam in Pergamos?
JT Well, Pergamos is a stepping stone to Thyatira. “I know where thou dwellest, where the throne of Satan is”, (Revelation 2:13). Satan’s throne, the very centre of satanic operations, and “Antipas, my faithful witness ... who was slain among you, where Satan dwells”. “Among you” meaning that the assembly, the public body, was there; popery had begun.
CAM If I understand you, you said this war started between God and Satan, and the people are brought into it as the result of teaching.
JT That is right. As soon as you have the teaching you have something tangible. Before that the opposition was hidden, but known to God and frustrated by Him. But the effect of the teaching soon became manifest, and it was met through Phinehas, who took the javelin at once, used it, and the plague which had begun was stayed from Israel. As you get the teaching you can deal with it.
CAM It gives great importance to the character of the moment if one can detect the evil, and meet it in this way.
WB-w Chapters 22 - 24 would be like “the mystery of iniquity”; what is secretly going on.
JT Quite so; it is already working; (2 Thessalonians 2:7).
ABP It would seem that Phinehas apprehended the root evil in chapter 25:15. “And the name of the Midianitish woman that was slain was Cozbi, the daughter of Zur; he was tribal head of a father’s house in Midian”. Zur is numbered among the five slain kings of Midian in chapter 31.
JT That gives a clue. It was a social matter. I believe the Anglican system is the best illustration of it, because it is patterned on the world’s system [p. 297] from the most humble curate up to the archbishop. It is a great parallel with the world’s social relations right up, and that is, I think, what is in mind in Midian, with its number of kings, great amount of jewellery, and outward show.
CAM The Anglican system in that way makes much more of the social status than the other religious systems.
JT Yes, much more. Rome goes further in claiming sovereignty for its head, but the correspondence between the political system and social scale in England and the religious scale is remarkable. Even the seat of the archbishop is a throne.
FHL In the days of Gideon the Midianites destroyed the produce for seven years. Does that not show us what these enemies can do?
JT Quite so. That was a later event. This great war aimed at Midian’s overthrow. It was a peculiar war, the last in the wilderness, and the word “war” appears fourteen times in the chapter, showing that the idea is greatly stressed.
AP Would you say that many Christians stop when they come to this point of spiritual history?
JT I think they do. Unless Midian is overthrown the saints will never go into Canaan. When once it is overthrown we are ready to enter Canaan. For most Christians the social world is a most difficult obstacle to overcome.
AFM Would you say the exercise the saints passed through in the early part of the last century involved the overthrow of Midian?
JT I think so. It is a great war, the end of which is the overthrow of the religious systems in the hearts of the saints and the recovery of the things of the assembly. The spoil mentioned here is enormous.
AFM What would that be?
JT I think it is first the terms relating to [p. 298] the assembly and the service of God; they have been used in the profession, but properly they belong only to those who have the Spirit. The full significance of this involves that their true value is restored through warfare. The metals are first mentioned: Gold, silver, copper, iron, tin, lead, in verses 21, 22. “Everything that passeth through the fire, ye shall make it go through the fire, and it shall be clean”, (verse 23).
AFM Would these metals refer to the terms that you spoke of, but needing to go through the fire because unclean?
JT Yes, the names of holy things are found in the creeds and ecclesiastical formulas, in some cases quite related to evil things. Well, this war was to detach all these things, purify them, and put them into their proper settings; in result they came into “the tent of meeting, as a memorial for the children of Israel”.
JS One would hold all these things in relation to the death of Christ.
JT Exactly.
AFM Why was there the purifying by fire and then this passing through the water of separation?
JT The water is definitely the death of Christ. “Everything that passeth through the fire, ye shall make it go through the fire, and it shall be clean; only it shall be purified with the water of separation”. Notice it is “the water of separation”, not the fire of separation. The fire is a drastic thought, but the water of separation has a special spiritual status, see chapter 19; and then it goes on to say, “and everything that cannot pass through the fire ye shall make go through the water. And ye shall wash your garments on the seventh day, and ye shall be clean”. The water of separation has a spiritual setting. It is what came out of the side of Christ.
JS Would this teaching run parallel with the teaching in John’s gospel where you have the religious man and the opposition, and then much made of the water?
JT Quite so, a great deal is made of the water. It is to detach the saints and the things of God from the world. All these metals represent what is of God, but all have been in wrong hands; they are now brought back and caused to go through the symbol of the death of Christ, so that they might be in their proper setting in the house of God.
WB-w At Jericho the gold and silver were preserved also. It works out on the same principle there.
JT Just so, what is of God. I believe the gold, silver, copper, iron, tin, and lead have each a spiritual meaning, and have to be detached from what is evil, and set up in their own places by the Spirit of God.
JS It seems there is a double cleansing, so to speak. That is, the things of God have to be detached from the captivity and again set in relation to true Christianity.
JT I think the last verse of our chapter is a clue to the present position. “Moses and Eleazar the priest took the gold of the captains of thousands and of hundreds, and brought it into the tent of meeting, as a memorial”. The house of God is thus replenished; these things belong to Christianity proper. They never should have been elsewhere. It was unfaithfulness on the part of those responsible that allowed them to get into other hands.
WB-w There was a statute about it, too. “And Eleazar the priest said to the men of war that had gone to the battle, This is the statute of the law of which Jehovah hath commanded Moses”. It is important to have a statute.
JT It is, indeed. It is a fixed matter, but this process has to be gone through. I believe that is what has been going on all these years and in all [p. 300] our meetings; the detaching of these holy things of God from human settings and placing them where the Holy Spirit is.
JEH Those marvellous holy utterances from the lips of Balaam were in the wrong setting as on his lips; the Lord has seen to it that they are treasured by the saints today.
JT Some of the most precious things in the treasury of God are these utterances of Balaam. They are strikingly illustrative of what we are saying. They are put now in their right setting; the Holy Spirit has given them a place in the record of Scripture. They are thus in the treasury of God.
JHE When the children of Israel were leaving Egypt, they asked the Egyptians for utensils of silver and gold; these, not having been cleansed, were put to a wrong use in making the calf; but later on these metals, including copper, were given and dedicated to the tabernacle.
JT That is a similar thing. They put them to the wrong use, but ultimately they came into the tabernacle. They asked from the Egyptians. There are things among men that belong to God, and He has a right to them. It is a question of God’s rights.
AR Is there anything in the fact that “The men of war had taken spoil each one for himself”? Evidently each man that goes into the conflict acquires something himself.
JT Yes, and the spirit of sacrifice is seen in giving them up. I think the parenthesis, verse 53, is to show the captains were unselfish like Noah in Genesis 8:20; they gave up what they took in spoil.
FHL The spoil is handed to Moses and to Eleazar the priest.
JT It was now in right hands; and was set in the tent of meeting as a memorial before Jehovah. Eleazar is the official priest, typical of Christ as over the house of God. We have also Phinehas here. It says in verse 6: “Moses sent ... Phinehas the son of Eleazar the priest, to the war, and the holy instruments, even the alarm trumpets in his hand”. Moses is the authority, of course, but Phinehas is the characterising man, making it a priestly war.
CAM Is the fact that it is a priestly war the reason why there were no casualties?
JT I think so. I believe where we are governed by priestly instincts and intelligence, there are no casualties. The brethren are preserved.
JS Much spoil but no casualties.
JT Quite so; enormous spoil.
NMcC I would like to ask as to verse 7. It says, “they slew all the males”. Would there be encouragement for us, that in the Lord we can attack that which is strong?
JT If we do not overcome them the human systems will go on. The males here represent the intelligence and the strength of the opposition. God said to Moses, “Go unto Pharaoh ... take thy stand ... in front of him”, (Exodus 7:15). That is a corresponding thought. If you look at the literature of those who fought for the truth in the last hundred years, you will be impressed with this very thing; they attacked and overthrew the enemy in his stronghold.
JTJr Would you say that all the tribes being brought into the war through Phinehas would show that it is universal in character?
JT Quite so. I believe that was one great feature of the beginning of the revival; it was not a local or sectional movement, it referred to the whole assembly. All the saints of God are challenged by it. Jehovah said to Moses: “Avenge the children of Israel upon the Midianites; afterwards shalt thou be gathered unto thy peoples. And Moses spoke to the people, saying, Arm from amongst you men for [p. 302] military service, that they go against Midian to execute Jehovah’s vengeance upon Midian. Of every tribe a thousand, of all the tribes of Israel, shall ye send to the war. And there were levied out of the thousands of Israel, a thousand by tribe, twelve thousand armed for war. And Moses sent them to the war”. You will notice that the appeal is to arm men — not simply choose them as at Rephidim. The point is, they are to be armed, and they are to be from every tribe. It is not Moses choosing the army; he appeals to the people to do that — to arm a thousand of each tribe; then next is Phinehas, but he is not said to be the general, as Joshua was at Rephidim; they are going with him. In all these conflicts there must be the priest, and he having full place; and then “they warred against Midian, as Jehovah had commanded Moses, and slew all the males. And they slew the kings of Midian, besides the others slain, Evi, and Rekem, and Zur, and Hur, and Reba, five kings of Midian; and Balaam”. They aimed at the leaders. It is the leaders and the males — the intelligent powerful side. That is what God has done for us. The whole ecclesiastical system is exposed, and if it is exposed, it is overcome morally.
JS The material that Satan was using is overthrown.
JT Yes; the women that corrupted are also slain, but those that did not corrupt, that is, what is pure, is preserved; it is brought through and used, that is the principle.
AP Is it not interesting to see where it is “brought to”? “They brought to Moses and Eleazar, the priest, and to the assembly of the children of Israel”.
JT That is another point: “And the children of Israel took the women of Midian captives, and their little ones, and took for a spoil all their cattle [p. 303] and all their flocks and all their goods; and all their cities in their settlements and all their goodly dwelling-places they burned with fire. And they took all the booty, and all the prey, of man and of cattle; and they brought to Moses and Eleazar the priest, and to the assembly of the children of Israel, the captives and the prey and the booty, to the camp in the plains of Moab, which are by the Jordan of Jericho”. That is the position. All is brought through to Moses and Eleazar in the camp, the last encampment in the wilderness. This is the finishing thing if we are to go over. That is what God has been doing all these years, to overthrow in our hearts all this great showy system in the world, in order to lead us into the light of Ephesians, having in view the coming of the Lord.
CAM Would you say it throws wonderful light on the last hundred years? As I understand it, previous wars in the history of the assembly might have other characters, but this last one is a priestly war.
JT That is what is going on today. How great a thing to have part, in a priestly way, in what God is doing!
ANW When you cite Anglicanism, you do so as a sample of what is also going on in this country, do you not?
JT The correspondence in England between the religious and the political is very remarkable, as we have said. And then it may be followed into the Dominions and also to this country.
AFM Phinehas would strike at the root of these corrupt associations with the javelin. In Numbers 10, in relation to the holy instruments, it says, “And if ye go to war in your land against the enemy that oppresseth you, then ye shall blow an alarm with the trumpets; and ye shall be remembered before Jehovah your God, and ye shall be saved from your enemies”. It was entirely a spiritual war with spiritual results.
JT Quite so; sounding out the testimony on these holy instruments is most effective.
AR Is that asserting the rights of God on earth?
JT Yes; in what is ministered. Our salvation really lies in that sense in hearkening to the testimony that is sounded out. The ministry is the saving element.
ABP Would you say that in John’s gospel the “systems” are seen in a five-headed way? The woman of Samaria had five husbands, and in John 5 there are five porches. Would it correspond to Midian with its five kings?
JT Yes, their ineffectiveness in meeting human need is exposed.
AR Is there any significance in the fact that the assembly gets such a large portion of live stock, especially sheep? There were six hundred and seventy-five thousand sheep. The total is enormous. They are counted and divided between those who conducted the war and the assembly, Jehovah obtaining a certain portion; also the Levites. What is living including “human persons” is counted; also the gold.
APT With what epistles in the New Testament does this type correspond?
JT The epistles to the Romans and Corinthians.
ANW Would the antitype of the end of Numbers be seen in Romans 8:39, nothing “shall be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord”?
JT Yes. God for us is seen in that Balak’s effort to curse Israel is frustrated and turned into blessing. Then the apostle goes on to show that nothing “shall be able to separate us from the love of God”. In the apostle’s instructions to the Corinthians [p. 305] concerning evil associations as in chapter 10, the teaching of Balaam is in view. Fellowship is the great thing to protect us from such associations. As Paul proceeds, he opens up the truth of fellowship and so makes way for the Lord’s supper. Then the assembly as an organism is spoken of and the gifts in view of public ministry. All that is included in the war we are contemplating; because clericalism being set aside, room is made for all the saints and the gifts to function.
ANW Say one word again as to the slaying of Balaam “with the sword”. The kings were slain, but Balaam was slain with the sword.
JT I think it is to show that the word of God was used. You have to bring that in to deal with evil doctrine — “the word of God is living and operative, and sharper than any two-edged sword”, (Hebrews 4:12).
JS Is that the word of God as in public ministry?
JT I think it comes out in 1 Corinthians 14:25. It is the prophetic ministry, which causes a man to fall down and own that “God is indeed amongst you”. It sets aside all mere assumption of power on official ground, since it is the word of God.
CAM I was struck with that because when God avenges, He does it very thoroughly. The weapons He uses and the results obtained are perfectly in accord with His government.
WB-w When the war is over and the officers are returning, Moses was wroth with them because they saved certain corrupting elements. The enemy would get in again through them.
JT Quite so. I suppose that might point to Bethesda principles.
WB-w In victory we have to be alert to see that there are no corrupting elements remaining among the brethren.
ANW Verse 21 would show how this is presented.
Eleazar moves by himself: “And Eleazar the priest said to the men of war that had gone to the battle, This is the statute of the law which Jehovah hath commanded Moses ... everything that passeth through the fire, ye shall make it go through the fire ... and everything that cannot pass through the fire ye shall make go through the water”. It is Eleazar, the priest, by himself acknowledging Jehovah’s commandments to Moses.
JT That is very good. It is the priestly side. In conflict you feel the need of that at every turn.
RDG In connection with the spoil being for God in this war, I was wondering whether if later, in connection with the war with Midian, this thing does not come out, that Gideon fails in that he takes the booty, makes an ephod of it, and puts it in his city instead of holding it for God.
JT Yes, you see great failure there, which is very humbling, and it is well to bring it in now because it is the opposite of what we have in this chapter — the spoil enriching the tabernacle.
AP Referring to the priestly side here, I notice in the days of Ezra that in going up to Jerusalem the silver, gold, and the vessels were put in the hands of the twelve chief priests; (Ezra 8:24 - 30).
JT Quite so. They were counted and weighed. That is all very interesting; the priestly side especially, for you have to consider that the conflict is largely with the great hierarchical system; an embellished system, to say nothing about priestcraft. The true priesthood is needed to overthrow all that. That is what the Holy Spirit undertook to do in the great recovery, and to rescue all the beautiful adornments that belong to the assembly only, for those that have the Holy Spirit. The spoil is very largely that, these metals and the other things that went through the water, can now be used aright. All living creatures of the spoil are not said to be cleansed;
[p. 307] abstractly those born of God are pure. Think of that vast number of sheep! God has the saints in His mind in the living creatures, I believe. He knows them all. Although the cattle of the spoil are not said to have been cleansed, those of Israel who went to the war and became defiled had to be cleansed, also their captives.
AR The sheep might represent persons recovered out of it all.
JT You have persons mentioned, too, but women only, those that are uncorrupted; thirty-two thousand — they are usable; all others are slain. The Lord speaks of those in Thyatira who “have not this doctrine, who have not known the depths of Satan”, (Revelation 2:24). There were those that were morally clear of the teaching of Jezebel, and hence owned by the Lord.
WB You mean every man or woman who corrupts himself or herself is slain?
JT Yes, today they are morally judged; it is moral judgment, soon to be actually executed.
AR With regard to the cleansing in verse 19, it says that after they were cleansed, they had to stay seven days outside of the camp. Is there something suggestive in that?
JT It is a spiritual matter. Seven denotes in this sense that you are fully restored to, or set up in, the spiritual realm.
APT Do you have this positive side in 1 Corinthians 14:37: “if any one thinks himself to be a prophet or spiritual”? It seems to be a question of coming into what the apostle had in his mind throughout the whole epistle. Earlier he says, “If any one corrupt the temple of God, him shall God destroy”, (chapter 3:17). Would chapter 14 be like the gold here that would come to light, it is brought to the tent of meeting?
JT Yes. “If any one thinks himself to be a prophet or spiritual”. The test is that what the apostle wrote is the Lord’s commandment; in the recognition of this the spiritual are brought to light. You can see this at Corinth, saints such as Stephanas; how they would rally to that epistle! The test being that what he wrote was the commandment of the Lord, and it is the test today.
AP The first epistle in that way is like a washing.
ANW Is it not a striking term, “human persons”, in verse 40?
JT That is to stress humanity, I suppose.
JTJr In connection with “human persons” in our chapter, the apostle speaks about fighting “with beasts in Ephesus”. That element is gone here; these persons spoken of are human.
JT Quite so; men were like beasts really, but as cleansed they have ceased to be that, and are men according to God.