MOTHERS IN ISRAEL
MOTHERS IN ISRAEL
Judges 5: 6, 7; Judges 4:4-7; 2 Samuel 20: 16 - 22
JT I thought it would be helpful to pursue the subject of mothers in Israel. Deborah and the wise woman of Abel seem to represent the thought. No others are called mothers in Israel, though Scripture furnishes us with many examples of those who could be so styled. The maternal side works out in the formation of the assembly, and the thought goes so far as to appear in connection with “the city of the living God, heavenly Jerusalem”, Hebrews 12: 22. “The Jerusalem above is free, which is our mother”, Galatians 4: 26.
The beginning of the subject is found in Eve’s remark when she “bore Cain, and said, I have acquired a man with Jehovah” (Genesis 4: 1); that is to say, with the help of Jehovah. Perhaps the word “babe” had not yet come into the human vocabulary, but the use of the word “man” is of spiritual significance. It is indicative of what is potentially seen in a babe, in a male child. The Lord spoke of it Himself — “she no longer remembers the trouble, on account of the joy that a man has been born into the world”, John 16: 21. There are those who speak of preserving a child as a little child, with its more pleasing traits, but the potentiality of the male child is what should be in mind; and if that is applied to the babe spiritually, the same is true. The important thing to bear in mind is that each should be a man, no longer a babe but full-grown, for the assembly can only be maintained by such. The maternal thought worked out leads to what is collective. Each of us is to be nurtured in view of manhood, otherwise it will be with us as Deborah describes the condition in Israel, “The roads were unused, and the travellers on highways went by crooked paths. The villages ceased in Israel”, Judges 5: 6, 7. The word “villages” is suggestive of assemblies, or meetings. Without men, we cannot have these. The [p. 154] babe condition, abnormally continued, disintegrates and tends to make the thought of an assembly to cease.
In Exodus 16, immediately after “the whole assembly of the children of Israel came into the wilderness”, the manna is spoken of, and it is stipulated that each member of the household in Israel was to be provided with an omer of manna, the divine thought for each being the same. God has no other thought but that we should be men, and hence a babe is viewed in the light of what he is potentially. God has no thought of the little ones remaining little ones.
HWR Is your thought that if there be no mothers in Israel, the assembly will not prosper?
JT Yes; manifestly it cannot. In her song. Deborah looks back to the days of Shamgar, and the thought of the assembly typically is not there. The roads were unused, the spiritual highways were not used, people went along byways, and villages ceased in Israel.
JHH Had the Lord this thought in mind in speaking to the Father of “the men whom thou gavest me out of the world”, John 17: 6?
JT Men — they were not men spiritually when they were given, but in His mind they were so regarded. In Matthew 11: 25, the Lord calls them babes. “I praise thee, Father, Lord of the heaven and of the earth, that thou hast hid these things from the wise and prudent, and hast revealed them to babes”. This would be relative to “the wise and prudent”. They were the wise, spiritually. On leaving the world and going to be with the Father, the Lord regards them as men. Yet they were to need much from the Father, for much was to be put upon them. The weight of testimony was such as only men could bear; men only would be eligible for such a charge. The term “men”, while conveying an order of being, is also used to signify fully developed christians, and is inclusive of sisters. When the Lord arose, it was to women that He first appeared.
HWR Is He not still hiding things from the wise [p. 155] and prudent? From that point of view, we would desire to be babes.
JT Yes. The allusion there is to what we are from the standpoint of men in the world, from that of their religious leaders. Matthew’s idea carries with it the thought of impressionableness of what is of God. Peter exhorts us in his epistle to “desire earnestly the pure mental milk of the word” (1 Peter 2: 2) as “newborn babes”. Viewed thus we absorb what is spiritual, and are open to receive divine impressions.
RB In relation to the assembly, should we not be as the little child whom the Lord set in their midst in Matthew 18?
JT The Lord had in mind there the thought of simplicity and transparency. He “set it in their midst” — to present forcibly to them His idea for the kingdom, that there should be transparency and simplicity. We always should retain these traits, even as advanced christians.
LW Solomon prayed to Jehovah, “I am but a little child: I know not to go out and to come in”, 1 Kings 3: 7. Should not that mark us?
JT That is the thought. Solomon was perhaps farther on than any in Israel at that time, but his was the attitude of mind that God would honour. How soon he had the divine answer!
CCE What would you say are the features of a mother in Israel?
JT I think one would have a sense of the need for men in the sense of which we have been speaking. Deborah has to make the move herself to get Barak who, though he stood out well afterwards, was somewhat wanting at this juncture. “She sent and called Barak ... and said to him, Hath not Jehovah the God of Israel commanded?” Judges 4: 6. That is the state of her mind in view of the need in Israel. “And the children of Israel again did evil in the sight of Jehovah”, Judges 4: 1. For twenty years had Sisera mightily oppressed Israel [p. 156] with his nine hundred chariots of iron. That was the situation. What could meet it? That would fill her mind. To lead an army against the powerful oppressor was a serious matter. We have the description of Deborah in Judges 4: 4, “a prophetess, the wife of Lapidoth, judged Israel at that time. And she dwelt under the palm-tree of Deborah between Ramah and Bethel in mount Ephraim; and the children of Israel came up to her for judgment”. That is how the matter stood. She was serving profitably even in days of oppression, but could she overthrow this oppressor? “Hath not Jehovah the God of Israel commanded?” Is anyone able to take it up? Was Barak? One can understand the yearnings of a mother’s heart with regard to the terrible oppression under which Israel had laboured for twenty years. Her exercise would be as to how that could be met. Adverse things are always happening around us; the mother-heart is concerned. What has Jehovah commanded? Can we carry it out? Paul wrote to the Corinthians, “If anyone 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. “And I, brethren, have not been able to speak to you as to spiritual, but as to fleshly; as to babes in Christ”, 1 Corinthians 3: 1. Paul could not talk to them as to men. How would they meet the enemy that was coming in like a flood? Paul would exercise the assembly in Corinth with the thought of how the enemy was working and how he was to be met.
WS There was need for men to quell the inroads of the enemy.
JT “There is not a wise person among you”, Paul had to tell the Corinthians. The incestuous person had been left untouched; the matter was unjudged for want of a man. Is there no man? God said, “Wherefore did I come, and there was no man? I called, and there was none to answer?” Isaiah 50: 2. Deborah says, “Hath not Jehovah the God of Israel commanded?”
HWR It takes a mother in Israel to feel the situation.
JT It is symbolic of spiritual feeling in the assembly.
JHH Did not the apostle himself set forth that element?
JT He spoke of the Galatians in chapter 4 as “my children, of whom I again travail in birth until Christ shall have been formed in you”. That is to say, until they were as fully developed men. It is a most crying need. In moving about, one is made conscious of it; troubles drag on because Christians have come under the influence of darkening thoughts which would never have had admission to their minds had they been men.
What is presented to us here is a collective thought which you will find worked out in Galatians. “The Jerusalem above is free, which is our mother”, Galatians 4: 26. Not in heaven, but above; it is the thought of moral elevation belonging to the spiritually fully-developed man, who is above bias and natural feeling.
PG Hannah was before Jehovah that He would “give unto thy handmaid a man child”, 1 Samuel 1: 11.
JT Hannah had before her the thought of the house of God and of the conditions existent there. Eli thought she was drunken (1 Samuel 1: 13). He was not a man according to God, or he would have discerned that she was a woman who felt things before God. She understood what was suitable; and although Eli came round to her thought, he was not able to give a lead to the people of God. What disintegration there would be under such a man! Samuel was a beautiful contribution to the house of God, even in childhood. “And the boy Samuel grew on, and was in favour both with Jehovah and also with men”, 1 Samuel 2: 26.
JHH Such men are to be produced by the maternal element in the assembly.
JT Yes, and the assembly being always under pressure they are always needed. The situation is [p. 158] always militant; it is the present position. Who can carry on, except men? We must promote that thought, and be no longer babes.
FJF Jael also took action against Sisera.
JT Deborah alludes to her in her song by way of contrast to her own service; but now she acted under a maternal influence. She was in the spiritual current of the moment. One may compare this with the way in which the Corinthians developed and became more than they had seemed to be. Jael, although wanting earlier, now takes a triumphant part, and Barak became a mighty warrior. The Corinthian saints, through the apostle’s faithful efforts, come into line with him. He had urged them to quit themselves like men.
CMM What do you consider had been lacking in the days of Shamgar?
JT Shamgar had acted individually, but he was a mighty man. “He smote the Philistines, six hundred men, with an ox-goad. And he also delivered Israel”, Judges 3: 31. He represents an individual acting by himself. Many such have arisen, for example, Luther and Calvin, who give no evidence of ever having understood the assembly. They never moved on assembly lines, and so the highways of God were not taken. Now God comes in. He brought in the collective thought which requires men in this sense to maintain it, for a tremendous struggle was involved. It is a conflict that has continued ever since and it requires the constant power of manhood to maintain the collective thought. The word is, “Hath not Jehovah the God of Israel commanded?” The Lord says, “He that has my commandments and keeps them, he it is that loves me”, John 14: 21. Paul’s first epistle to the Corinthians corresponds to Deborah’s word to Barak. There was oppression in Corinth. Paul says, “For this reason I have sent to you Timotheus, who is my beloved and faithful child in the Lord, who shall put you in mind of my ways as they are in Christ”, 1 Corinthians 4: 17. This is as much as to say, ‘I set a man in your midst, one like myself’.
HWR The first step in recovery is obedience to the commandment of the Lord.
JT Anyone who takes that up shows his manhood. As soon as we act on the commandment, the Lord is with us and makes use of us.
RD It should be encouraging to each of us to see that Timothy was naturally a timid man, but nevertheless was greatly used in the conflict.
JT He was the one set down in the midst of the Corinthians.
CCE Paul addresses Timothy as “man of God”, 1 Timothy 6: 11.
JT The only one so called in the New Testament.
RB Paul knew Timothy cared with genuine feeling. He had the maternal spirit, also.
JT So had Deborah. Of her it might have been said, “What she could she has done”, Mark 14: 8. She sat under her own palm-tree, indicating that she had secured the victory over herself. She is in a fine spiritual setting; there is nothing unseemly about her. She did not act to make a show of herself. She was a wife — a woman prophetess, the literal Hebrew reads. That shows how womanly she remained while she was of necessity in prominence, and God was with her. They came to her for judgment, but there was no thought with her of interfering unnecessarily in every matter. “Hath not Jehovah ... commanded?” was her thought for Barak. She brought in the mind of God. “The villages ceased in Israel, ceased until that I Deborah arose”. It is not said that she was “raised”, but that “I Deborah arose”, Judges 5: 7. This has reference to great subjective powers in her! “I arose a mother in Israel”.
PG Esther cared for the people of God when she “put on royal apparel, and stood in the inner court of the king’s house”, Esther 5: 1.
JT She took her life in her hand then, but Mordecai [p. 160] had put it on her to do it. He was undaunted and had she failed him, he says, “then shall there arise relief and deliverance to the Jews from another place”, Esther 4: 14. That spirit is what is needed.
CMM A mother in Israel has the mind of God.
JT The important thing in prophecy is that one not only has the mind of God but has power to convey it. Meetings for ministry take on the nature of prophecy where brethren come together as feeling things, and are with God about them. They are thus enabled to convey His thought to the company generally, so that it is set in motion. They need regulating more than any other meeting.
JR How is the prophetic word given?
JT Under the impulse of the Holy Spirit; 1 Corinthians 14 deals with such meetings. It is preceded by the way of surpassing excellence, the way of love. If any desire gift, it is to be for the edification of the assembly. A prophet bringing in the mind of God affects people so that they fall down and confess that “God is indeed amongst you”, 1 Corinthians 14: 25. It is a great thing for a company of saints to have that public reputation.
NG How would a babe in Christ become a man?
JT “Be no longer babes” is imperative. Babes are carried along by any wind, everything that comes to their ear affects them; 1 Peter 2 and Ephesians 4 show the way of spiritual growth. Growth is by the knowledge of God. As in natural things, so in the spiritual: there must be family affection and also good food and appropriation of it; besides, Christ as the true Model must be before the mind and affections.
NG The man of God is complete, fully fitted to every good work through the Scriptures (2 Timothy 3: 17).
JT Scripture is the divine test, inspired of God and so profitable in every way. It testifies of Christ. In all matters the appeal must be to them: “To the law and the testimony!” One of the most important injunctions,
[p. 161] as bearing on constantly arising difficulties amongst the saints is, “In the mouth of two or three witnesses shall every matter be established”, 2 Corinthians 13: 1. Every matter. Go to the other person and see what he says. Instead of getting at the facts, babes are apt to listen to reports without proof, which may not be true at all.
WS Matthew 11: 28 is the line of true development in manhood. “Come to me, all ye who labour and are burdened, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you, and learn from me; for I am meek and lowly in heart; and ye shall find rest to your souls”. Learn from Me! That is the way to reach the rest of God and maturity according to Him.
JT “Learn from me” gives the complete idea, the complete thought of manhood. It is as having a Model before you. That was said at a crucial point in the Lord’s life, at a turning-point in the building as it were, where the greatest pressure was felt. “Take my yoke upon you, and learn from me”. Matthew 12 opens up what there is that has to be contended with — satanic pressure! As seen in the succeeding chapters, only what is set up in Christ meets that situation. In chapter 12 He walks through the cornfields: “At that time Jesus went on the sabbath through the cornfields; and his disciples were hungry, and began to pluck the ears and to eat”. The Lord did not tell His disciples to do that, but they did it and went even further. So they were brought under reproach, but it was He who brought them there. They were men, having learnt from Him and He defended them. God delights in it when you show you know what to do in a crisis and do it.
WS You suggest that they do that, as learning from Him?
JT What He does, they do. He is our Model in that way. “Behold, more than Jonas is here”, Matthew 12: 41. It is not so much who is here but what is here. Now this includes the saints, the Spirit being in them.
JMB It was the maternal element [p. 162] in the wise woman that met the crisis in 2 Samuel 20.
JT It is a question now of how to save the city from destruction. She said, “thou seekest to destroy a city and a mother in Israel”, 2 Samuel 20: 19. She calls herself that. How dreadful would such a destruction be. She calls to Joab, who is responsible, and he makes known what is needed; and she acts in wisdom to meet a situation thus made clear.
RB Does Joab represent the king’s requirements? — the commandments of the Lord?
JT Joab is acting for God, but evidently in a wrong spirit. Thus he may destroy what is of God. A man may come from another district and blunder in attempting to set right a difficulty. It were better to consult the local brethren first. Joab, as spoken to in wisdom, comes to this. He says, “I am listening”. If a man is wise he will want to know local conditions, so that he may not destroy the best elements in a place.
CCE Yes, indeed. We have known of that happening.
JT Even a spiritual man or woman may be put under a cloud by an influential brother acting unwisely. The thing is to inquire in Abel (verse 18).
RB “Then the woman went to all the people in her wisdom” (verse 22).
JT She spoke to Joab first. “Hear, hear: say, I pray you, unto Joab, Come near hither, that I may speak with thee”. Those are words addressed, as it were, to a visiting brother. Such should not take things into his own hands, but acting in wisdom, he can help. Gifts should be available to the saints, for they are not intended to be merely local. “Governments” are included (1 Corinthians 12: 28). They are always universal in aspect, having the whole assembly in view, but if they are wise, they inquire in Abel. The wise woman puts this on Joab. She delivers the city by her wisdom.
CMM Would you explain the difference between gift and [p. 163] eldership?
JT Eldership is not mentioned once in Corinthians, whereas gift is given a great place. “And God has set certain in the assembly”, 1 Corinthians 12: 28. Amongst them “governments” are mentioned. That is to say God has set in the assembly certain persons with ability to govern. They can give help in government, and such a gift is set in the assembly. For a meeting to refuse such help is to refuse divine provision.
CMM I was wondering if an elder in a locality would have gift?
JT Eldership is never viewed as gift. The bearing of it is local — that is, as seen in the assembly. An elder might have gift, and this, of course, may be exercised generally. Of course a brother may exercise eldership in a locality, and as having gift and moving about, he would work with elders in another locality, but never as in an official sense. An elder, as seen in the New Testament, has no jurisdiction outside his own city: but he certainly could aid as present elsewhere. One observes that independency — congregationalism — has much place among the saints. On the assumption that a matter is local, available help in another meeting is shut out.
HWR Who were the elders of Israel?
JT Persons who had rightly acquired prominence in the nation. In Acts you have them in our own dispensation in the provisional period; the metropolitan thought continued for a while in Jerusalem, but ceased with the destruction of that city and the dispersion of the Jews. The Pope of Rome still takes that ground, and the leaders of the Episcopal system also; but it is not scriptural. The metropolitan thought has ceased for God.
JHH You would expect a meeting in difficulty to avail itself of all helps in government?
JT It is not using what God in His grace makes available to us if a brother who could help is shut out.
JHH You would not like to be shut out of a care meeting where you may be visiting, I take [p. 164] it?
JT Most assuredly not. I should feel it; but then I would not be there in another locality as an elder, but as having something that God might apply universally. In such a case the importance of hearing is stressed. Twice the wise woman says, “Hear!” and then, “Listen to the words of thy handmaid”, also “Come near hither”. Joab might have destroyed the city if he had proceeded without hearing the facts of the case.
WS What difference is there in the thought of a “handmaid” and a “mother in Israel”?
JT The woman styles herself “handmaid” in humility. It was a customary formula often used, but she calls herself a mother in Israel because she is in danger of being destroyed. She points out that that would be a serious matter for Joab. Everything ought to be gone into first. Let things be sifted. Let action be taken on accredited evidence. A brother moving about is exposed to personal bias, and so it is important to hear the facts of the matter.
RD What is the thought as to enquiring in Abel?
JT It is a proverb. “They were wont to speak in old time saying, Just inquire in Abel, and so they ended” (verse 18). There must be some spiritual thought in Abel. This woman was not a biased person, but in keeping with ancient principles. I think Abel alludes to divine principles. Inquire there, and see what governs the present position.
DS What does the wall of the city represent?
JT Usually it alludes to fellowship. Joab’s position signifies that of a visiting brother who may have to do with a local difficulty, and the wise woman represents what is of God there. The state she represents is requisite to get at the facts of the matter, and then to find out the principles that govern the position. Scripture affords light as to every matter on hand. “And they cut off the head of Sheba the son of Bichri, and cast it to Joab” (verse 22). Joab declaring the matter to the woman says, “far be it from me, that I should swallow up or destroy.
[p. 165] The matter is not so; but a man of mount Ephraim, Sheba the son of Bichri by name, has lifted up his hand against the king, against David: give up him only, and I will depart from the city”. Joab was wrong in attacking the city before the facts were known. We read that “all the people that were with Joab sapped the wall, to throw it down” (verse 15). That was a great wrong. It is a warning to those not local. Listen to what the brethren in the city say, to those who are with God about the matter. Joab came to this, as we saw: “Hear, hear” is the appeal, and he says, “I am listening”.
HWR Divine principles were at stake. Sheba had lifted up his hand against the king. That had to be settled.
JT The man had to be dealt with. Evil springs up in some person, not out of the earth. The first thing is to convict him — the city should not be attacked before this is attempted, but here “they cast up a bank against the city, and it was raised in the trench” (verse 15). Of course we are viewing the matter in its typical significance.
HWR If the man were not judged, the whole city would be.
JT And the wise woman would accept that. Divine wisdom is seen in the assembly. The angels (principalities and authorities in the heavenlies) are looking down and seeing the all-various wisdom of God in the assembly (Ephesians 3). Even difficulties bring out what is latent for God, and angels see it.
NR Does it not expose what little discernment there is amongst us when we find ourselves unable to deal with a situation locally?
JT It does. This woman gets Joab’s ear, and thus facts become known. Then she goes back wisely amongst the brethren and puts before them what the man had done. It was some man with a head — wanting a place. We must get to the root of things. We shall find that ambition is at work through ability. Thus we must get that head and cast it over the wall.
WS Joab’s exercise was right, but he had acted in a wrong manner.
JT He was an able man, but wanting in right feeling. The incident brought out what he was. Such men are usually too severe in the exercise of discipline; but under the government of God they reap as they have sown.
JHH Would you say experience helps, but precedents do not?
JT Yes. We have to judge each case by the facts; and look all round them. This woman represents wisdom in maturity.
RB Paul had to tell the Corinthians that none of them were wise.
JT Doubtless there were right elements even there, in Chloe and Stephanas, but generally speaking the state in Corinth was not right. They were moving and acting as babes. “Each of you says, I am of Paul, and I of Apollos, and I of Cephas, and I of Christ”. You cannot get government in the assembly through partisans, and this comes up amongst us, especially as a crisis arises, but the wise woman wants the whole city saved. She is a true churchwoman!