THE ASSEMBLY (5)
THE ASSEMBLY (5)
JT We should revert again to chapters 29 and 30 to enlarge further on Leah particularly, and also on Rachel. What is particularly in mind as to Leah, in addition to what has been said, is that she names her children. Usually the wives named the children, and Leah, in naming her children, refers to certain changed attitudes toward her on the part of her husband. First, although he had hated her, he would love her; and then he would be united to her; and then he would dwell with her. All these facts are to be linked up with the truth with which we are dealing; that is, the types of the assembly. Leah fills out her part in this sense; she became the fruitful mother of children, whereas Rachel was barren, at first, but she also had children; and what has to be commented about her is that Jehovah remembered her, pointing to what Israel will come into in a later day; Israel will be recalled or remembered by God. They have been long set aside, for God has hid His face from the house of Jacob, but in due time He will remember His promises to the fathers, and that is worked out in Rachel. But particularly we should note what has been remarked as to Leah, because what we have previously touched on works out in her, namely, that her husband (that is to say, typically, those who are representative of Christ or of the saints in a responsible sense) comes to love her, as suggested in Reuben — the thought of the assembly became loved by the saints. And then the thought of being united comes in as Levi is born — the responsible element recognising union; and then finally, dwelling is suggested in Zebulun, for Leah said that her husband would dwell with her. These are great facts that will work out in our souls, if we pay attention to them, in addition to what we have already had as to Leah — that she represents the gentile spouse [p. 591] of Christ; that is, the gentiles viewed as the assembly, which is a fact today. There are very few Jews in the assembly; mostly all are gentiles. And these thoughts are well worth thinking over; first, the idea of loving the feminine element representing the assembly, and then being united to it, and then dwelling, for that is what Leah said, that her husband would love her and be united to her and that he would dwell with her. Each of these statements was based on the desired result from the birth of the children, and their names express what was in mind.
ANW Does not sonship come out in a very strong way in that fourfold progeny, the four children, as linking on with the assembly — the first meaning, ‘See, a son’, the second ‘hearing’, the third ‘united’, and the fourth ‘praise’?
JT I think that what was said this afternoon is quite suggestive and could be easily enlarged on in addition to what we have already said, if the brethren are free to make further inquiry, especially as to those thoughts just mentioned. As to loving, Leah says that her husband will love her; and then he will be united to her; and that he will dwell with her. These are features that belong to the young christians specifically.
JHE Ruth says, “Where thou lodgest I will lodge”. She desired to be in the gain of this.
JT That is good, that is one of the features. I think the order of the truth comes out well in what we have said; first, that her husband would love her. He would represent the Lord Himself, or more particularly the responsible element amongst the brethren — those who lead or govern in the assembly. And then, following the thought of loving is the thought of being united, the idea of union, the same order of persons; and then, dwelling.
CAM Would it be right to say that as we progress in these steps assembly-wise it is all in the spirit of [p. 592] sonship? Those two matters run parallel in the epistle to the Galatians. Would not this paragraph help us to put the thought of the assembly, as to affection, unity and praise, side by side with the spirit of sonship?
JT Well, I should think so; sonship is really the highest relation in which we stand to God. It is pre-eminently so in the only-begotten Son; the supreme thought of it is there. But sonship, of course, applies to ourselves, and it comes in in the order in which we have been mentioning it.
AR Is it important to see the place Jehovah has from verse 31 to the end of the chapter? I was wondering if we should recognise the place heaven has in the Acts of the Apostles. God takes a hand in the matter so that the responsible element in Jerusalem is affected by His going out to the Gentiles.
JT Very good; if we look into it more closely we shall see how the responsible element recognised what God is doing. It is seen especially at the council at Jerusalem in Acts 15; showing how the thing was worked out, how the brethren came to the truth.
FNW In Acts 11, before the formal decision of chapter 15, the apostles and the brethren heard that the nations had received the word of God and certain of the circumcision contended, but after Peter spoke of God’s work in Cornelius and others, it says, “And when they heard these things they held their peace, and glorified God, saying, Then indeed God has to the nations also granted repentance to life”, verse 18. Would that fit in with your thought?
JT Yes; way is made for the nations; that is the idea. And that is what Leah represents, although we shall see perhaps, briefly, later on, that Asnath also represents a similar thought. But I think we should keep to the 29th and 30th chapters for the moment in regard to these great points that have been mentioned. The Acts shows how God worked in order that they [p. 593] should come about. And God worked here; God worked with Leah and with Rachel. He interfered to adjust everything. And the great thing for us is that there is adjustment going on, and God interferes to effect it.
WWM Would you say that verse 35 would suggest the service of God? She says, “This time will I praise Jehovah”.
JT Very good; that is, you might say, the prime thought.
ABP Would that bring in Philippi? Would Leah’s exercise as to Judah be seen in the service of praise being established under prison conditions there, in the gentile area?
JT Very good, I would say that.
BW Would these four features be peculiar to the assembly at the present time?
JT I think that is the truth if we are all able to take it in.
SW Are they the outcome of exercise, thus representing fruitfulness?
JT Well, exactly; what comes out is that Leah was fruitful; she was the fruitful mother of children. It would be well to have the passage read.
ANW It is striking that she should be loved because of her fruitfulness, because sonship was there fruitfully with her. The passage reads: “Leah conceived, and bore a son, and called his name Reuben; for she said, Because Jehovah has looked upon my affliction; for now my husband will love me. And she again conceived, and bore a son, and said, Because Jehovah has heard that I am hated, he has therefore given me this one also; and she called his name Simeon” (meaning ‘Hearing’). “And she again conceived, and bore a son, and said, Now this time will my husband be united to me, for I have borne him three sons; therefore was his name called Levi” (meaning ‘United’). “And she again conceived, and bore a son, and said, This time will I [p. 594] praise Jehovah; therefore she called his name Judah” (meaning ‘Praise’). “And she ceased to bear”.
JT That is very striking; the order is very good and instructive.
EAL Lydia seems to come in as one bearing Simeon-like character. It says of her, in Acts 16, that she heard, as if she were taking on this principle.
JT Very good.
DP Would Leah, in coming into prominence through fruitfulness, overcome her earlier defects?
JT Well, exactly; love replaces hatred, that is an immense triumph.
ABP Would features of sonship be seen in Antioch? The saints were first called christians there, as though they had taken on the family features. And also, the Spirit says, “Separate me now Barnabas and Saul ...” as though the saints were united there.
JT “Separate me now Barnabas and Saul for the work to which I have called them”. The Spirit of God comes into great prominence there. And that is what is coming before us now — the prominence of the Spirit.
Ques Would this hatred be our natural propensity as opposed to the assembly?
JT Exactly; hateful and hating one another, as it says in Titus; that is the idea.
Rem But then when we come into the assembly we love what is spiritual.
JT That is so, love replaces hatred. “But when the kindness and love to man of our Saviour God appeared, ... according to his own mercy he saved us through the washing of regeneration and renewal of the Holy Spirit”. That is the point in Titus 3: 4, 5.
SJM In verse 32 Leah says, in naming Reuben, “Because Jehovah has looked upon my affliction”. In the early Acts, when pressure was brought upon the disciples, it says that the word of God grew and spread itself. God got something [p. 595] from the pressure that was brought upon His people in the assembly.
JT And therefore she says, “Now my husband will love me”. Very good; so that affliction should lead to loveable conditions. It produces love.
AMacD Does Paul refer to the responsible element in Ephesians 5 when he speaks of loving their own wives, bringing in the standard of Christ loving the assembly?
JT You are stressing the point of “your own wives”. Paul says that we are to love our own wives?
AMacD I am sure that is in it too, but you spoke earlier in the reading about the responsible side, and I wondered if Paul was bringing that in in Ephesians 5. It seems to be a cardinal thought, as it says, “Husbands, love your own wives, even as the Christ also loved the assembly”.
JT So that the love is to be pure and unadulterated; that is what I would say.
ANW Perhaps what we have before us here calls forth the additional words in Colossians 3: 19: “Husbands, love your wives, and be not bitter against them”.
JT Yes, that is on a lower level than Ephesians.
JAP I think you have remarked that in Ephesians 5 where Paul says, “Husbands, love your own wives”, the word would apply to Jacob, that he was to love Leah; she was his own wife.
JT That is quite true; and to fill it out would save many a sorrow. Husbands should be loyal to their wives and wives loyal to their husbands.
AR The last verse in Ephesians refers to loving our Lord Jesus Christ in incorruption. I have often wondered as to the quality of such love and how it would work out in our relationship with the brethren.
JT Well; it involves that we allow no corrupt thoughts, no special friendships and that kind of thing. How much of that there is and what damage can be done by it amongst [p. 596] the brethren!
ABP When Paul took Titus up to Jerusalem, was he, in principle, bringing Leah’s son into the matter with a view to bringing about unity amongst the brethren?
JT Just so; of course. Levi means united; and unity must enter into all our ministrations to the levites, that is to say, our special collections, which is a very important matter, too, and has often caused much trouble.
ABP Well, would not the apostle introduce Titus as representing the idea of sonship — his son, the product of Leah, so to speak, in order to help bring about this unity?
JT Well, quite so. And a beautiful thought comes in, in relation to Titus. Paul, in writing to him refers to “the kindness and love to man of our Saviour God” having appeared “not on the principle of works which have been done in righteousness”, Titus 3: 4, 5.
EAL The servant in Genesis 24 asks the blessing of Jehovah when seeking a wife for Isaac. Jacob does not seem to have viewed things in that way; it would look as if it were natural selection with him.
JT He was hardly as spiritual a man as Abraham. Another point that should come into this instruction is that Abraham is the father of us all.
SW What is the force of Leah ceasing to bear after she had borne Judah? Is praise perfected in the incoming of Christ?
JT Well, but she had recourse to what her great grandmother Sarah had done. She brought in her maidservant to bring about children. These things have to be noticed. Where did that idea come from? It came from Sarah, the mother of us all. It shows how these things are liable to come in and we should learn to judge ourselves as to them.
ANW What phase of the Lord’s service would you point to as answering to the word as to Jacob in Hosea, which says, “for a wife he kept sheep”?
JT Oh, the idea of the shepherd came down from the early believers; it is an early thought; it began with Abel and it runs down through the book of Genesis. And so it is that the Hebrews were despised in Egypt; the children of Israel were despised because they were ‘men of cattle’.
ABP That feature comes out in Peter, does it not? The Lord says to him, “Shepherd my sheep”.
JT Quite so; the Lord is the great Shepherd of the sheep, as it says in Hebrews 13: “the God of peace, who brought again from among the dead our Lord Jesus, the great shepherd of the sheep”. So that the Lord Himself is the Leader in all this.
SJM He said, “My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me”.
JT Quite so.
EAL One like Joseph would not hide this characteristic of shepherding; he told his brethren to tell Pharaoh that they were shepherds-that was their occupation.
JT Just so, and it gave them a status with Pharaoh; he suggested to Joseph that if there were men of activity among them that they should take care of his cattle. He would use them.
AR Do we have much the same thing in Acts 20, where Paul sends for the elders of Ephesus and exhorts them to shepherd the assembly of God?
JT “Shepherd the assembly of God”. Quite so; that is a very important matter.
AR That chapter seems to suggest the idea of purity of affections. Paul embraced the Ephesian brethren at the beginning of the chapter, then he embraced Eutychus, and finally, he is embraced at the end of the chapter.
SW Rachel, as a member of the spiritual family, is referred to as being a shepherdess.
JT And another thing about Rachel is that God [p. 598] remembered her. It is a beautiful touch, because she has a great place; I mean, of course, that the remnant of Israel will have an immense place with God, presently, in the millennial day. It is said that when Rachel bore Joseph, Jacob wanted to go back to his own land. It is a spiritual thought; he began to be spiritual as soon as Joseph was born. His name was called Joseph, meaning ‘He will add’. God will add to the remnant of Israel.
ABP Does the apostle Paul remember Rachel, in that sense, in Romans 9, when he says, “whose is the adoption, and the glory, and the covenants, and the lawgiving, and the service, and the promises”, and then goes on to say, “... of whom, as according to flesh, is the Christ”.
JT Yes, “who is over all, God blessed for ever. Amen”. Quite so; it is a beautiful ending. That whole parenthesis, including chapters 9, 10 and 11, shows that all Israel shall be saved. They are beloved for the fathers’ sake.
ABP It is remarkable that the one who really brought Leah to light in his ministry should remember Rachel in that beautiful way.
RWS But she is not really remembered by God until after Leah’s experience in verse 20: “God has endowed me with a good dowry; this time will my husband dwell with me, because I have borne him six sons”. Is that thought of the husband dwelling a sort of final thought — an end reached — before the remembering of Rachel is brought in? We have had the thought of love, and union, but dwelling seems a more fixed matter.
JT Quite so, it is an eternal thought. There are shakeable things; things that are shaken, and then there are things that cannot be shaken, and these are eternal; and dwelling is an eternal thought.
WAT Leah seems to be very jealous for the affections of her husband. She said to Rachel, “Thou hast taken my husband”. Should the thought of my husband be developed in the assembly at the present time?
JT Well, that is the idea; love for Christ. It all should converge that way. The love of the assembly should converge towards Christ; the assembly loves Him, and He loves the assembly. Leah is concerned that her husband should love her. We would do well, perhaps, to analyse these things. It is not easy to see how all these details fit, but I am sure they all do fit. So that the great point therefore is to promote love among the saints, in the feminine sense. Paul said, “I have espoused you unto one man”. Well, that is all the saints; they are viewed as a feminine unit. It is “to one man”; love converges there.
RWS In chapter 29 there are numerous reasons given: “Because Jehovah has looked upon my affliction”, and “Because Jehovah has heard that I am hated”, and, “... for I have borne him three sons”, and again, in verse 20 of chapter 30, “... because I have borne him six sons”. Is there a suggestion that there is a moral reason for certain matters coming to pass?
JT I am sure the Lord is always ready to take account of these exercises. If there is a good basis for things, the Lord will attend to them and see that they come about.
WWM The fifth son is called Issachar, and the note says that it refers to hire. Would that suggest the compensation that we have now in christianity?
JT As John says, “... but may receive full wages”, 2 John 8. It is the same thing.
ANW Rachel says, “Give me children, or else I die”. Is that a good assembly feature?
JT Well, it shows how urgent the matter was with her. God remembered her in due time.
AEW In regard to Leah and Rachel, the scripture says, “... which two did build the house of Israel”, Ruth 4: 11.
JT The thought of the two building the house is a good point; they are linked together.
AEW I had in mind particularly that it involves the thought of dwelling which was before us just now in connection with Zebulun. These two builded the house.
JT Yes; it supposes dwelling. A great deal is made of David’s house, too.
ES Is the same thought expressed by the Lord in John 14: 23, where He says, “we will come to him and make our abode with him”?
JT Well, very good; the Lord Jesus and the Father will make their abode with him.
DP Would this rival jealousy between the two wives be seen in Acts 17 when the Jews stirred up hatred against Paul when the Greeks believed the preaching in Thessalonica and Berea?
JT Yes; and it was really active at the time the epistle to the Hebrews was written. After the Hebrew epistle was written there was a clear division made as to the gentile assembly. In Acts 28: 28 the apostle says, “this salvation of God has been sent to the nations; they also will hear it”. The dividing character of things that comes in amongst the saints has to be guarded against.
EAL Does the mention of Rachel weeping for her children and refusing to be comforted, give her a status as being the more spiritual of the two wives?
JT Well, it is remarkable that that is quoted in Matthew’s gospel which is the assembly gospel; it gives her a place there. She would not be comforted because her children were not.
RWS Does not Rachel suggest the millennial side of things?
JT I think so; that is what I understand.
RWS [p. 601] Then Leah is really a greater type than Rachel?
JT Leah is a greater type. It is a question of what God sets up. God gave Leah this place, and He honoured her in giving her children; she was a fruitful mother of children. Well, that is the history of the assembly among the gentiles. The number of Jews to come into blessing has gradually become less; there are hardly any now. So that the Leah character of the assembly is what is now before us, we are dealing with that now; we belong to it. Of course, it has taken a remnant character, but the light is still there for us.
RWS Is there a certain distinctiveness as to Leah, then, which may be seen in Asnath also?
JT Well, I do not think we should go on to Asnath because there is not sufficient time now; but the prominence is more with Joseph there; he represents spirituality in Genesis. As soon as he appears on the scene the spiritual element is there; as soon as Rachel bore him, Jacob wanted to go back to his own country; he wanted to go back home to his proper sphere.
DMacd What is there for us in the fact that Leah’s name means ‘weariness’?
JT Oh, I think it is that she was objectionable to the natural mind, that is all. She was a wearisome person, whereas it is said that Rachel was beautifully formed.
TEH Would it be like the gentiles being without God and without hope in the world?
JT Well, that would fit.
CAM Would it also suggest the reproach attaching to the assembly at the present time?
JT That is what I think; the weariness would mean that she was under reproach as over against Rachel, who represents the peculiar education and history of the Jews. They had a great place religiously, you might say, as over against the gentiles.
SJM There was rivalry between [p. 602] Hannah and Peninnah, but Hannah confided in Jehovah and hence there was fruitfulness; Samuel was born.
RWS Why did you suggest Genesis 41 — what is in mind in bringing in Joseph?
JT Just to touch on the spiritual side; he comes into Genesis in youthful spirituality; that is the point with Joseph. He was thirty years of age when he was made ruler of Egypt, but we meet him first when he was seventeen years of age, in chapter 37.
ABP Would you say that the viewpoint is changed when we come to Joseph? Jacob seems to have been remiss in having his affections so definitely upon Rachel and not on Leah; he missed the dispensation, in a sense. But Joseph seems to be a more perfect type.
JT Quite so.
CFE Joseph is said to be a fruitful bough?
JT “Joseph is a fruitful bough; a fruitful bough by a well”. There is the idea of the well again.
Ques Why does Joseph take the lead in naming the children; Leah and Rachel named their children, not Jacob.
JT Because Joseph is prominent as representing the masculine or responsible side. That is a point to see. The feminine side is prominent in chapters 29 and 30, whereas the one we are dealing with now, finally, is Joseph and he represents the masculine side; he is the ruler; he is Zaphnath-paaneah; he is the revealer of secrets and saviour of the life of the world. A great personage is in mind, and he gives names to his children. We learn what his history was by the names which he gave his children.
ABP Would Joseph exalted in Egypt be a Colossian setting; Christ glorified among the nations?
JT Very good; quite so.
ABP And chapters 29 and 30 fit into the Acts, where the historical side of the changeover from the Jews to the gentiles is [p. 603] recorded.
AR The patriarchal side does not seem to be so prominent in our meetings as it used to be. Room is being made for younger brothers everywhere; Josephs are coming forward.
JT As you say, more room is made for the youthful side; we must rely on the youthful side; these are the ones that are coming on. One generation passes away, and another comes.
WAT Is it not a question of men of activity? Pharaoh says to Joseph: “If thou knowest men of activity among them” (his brethren), “then set them as overseers of cattle over what I have”. Should not that activity mark us whether old or young?
JT Joseph represents that, he was a man of activity.
TEH When Joseph is first mentioned at seventeen years of age, it says of him that he fed the flock.