PRINCIPLES OF RECOVERY (4)
[p. 352] PRINCIPLES OF RECOVERY (4)
Genesis 37: 1 - 11; Genesis 42: 1 - 24; Genesis 43: 16 - 24; Genesis 44: 18 - 34; Genesis 45: 1 - 15
In Jacob we have recovery to the house of God. This section is recovery to the state of brethren; Joseph’s brethren talked with him, as having been kissed. Joseph is here as a type of the Lord. It is a Jewish scene dispensationally; but for us, a church scene, for those who form the assembly. It is not the house of God, but brethren, as assembling in relation to Christ. The house of God is in relation to God; this is our relation as brethren. (Compare Psalm 133).
Declension having taken place, what has come about in our time is the proper relation as brethren. Joseph kissed Benjamin, then all his brethren; then they talked with him. Before this, their conversation had been consultation; but now, as having been kissed, they talk with him.
The first passage gives the clue to what follows; all is bound up in Joseph. It is our own period, really. He has all the light in his soul. In chapter 37 he is a lad of seventeen years, he is doing service as a junior. The other sons of Jacob were older; but Joseph is acting according to his age. (See note to verse 2 in the New Translation).
Joseph was hated with a double hatred, personally, and as to his testimony. He was doing service with the sons of Bilhah and Zilpah, whose mothers were not such as would afford a right moral training. The people of God now are not well mothered; they are suffering from their mothers, in the systems around us. Joseph brought his father an evil report of them, their evil discourse. Such was not surprising in the children of such mothers. It is what the people of God are suffering from, who are not in the light of the assembly; they are not properly mothered; they use bad language. Jerusalem above is our mother.
[p. 353] Joseph is a type of the Lord, as a vessel prepared for service. The Lord acted most fittingly. Luke gives facts of the Lord’s history as a youth; it was comely. He was hearing and asking questions of the teachers (Luke 2: 46, 47). The young have to learn to act in a comely way.
Rachel was a true wife; Joseph and Benjamin were her children. When Joseph sees Benjamin, his mother’s son, his heart is deeply moved. Joseph had the advantage, we may say, of a good mother. “Hear, my son, the instruction of thy father, and forsake not the teaching of thy mother; for they shall be a garland of grace unto thy head, and chains about thy neck”, Proverbs 1: 8, 9. Solomon’s word was, “I was a son unto my father, tender and an only one in the sight of my mother”, Proverbs 4: 3. Timothy had a mother and grandmother who were faithful to God.
“And Israel loved Joseph more than all his sons”. Here the father’s love is spoken of. He made him a vest of many colours, he was distinguished by his father; he comes under the father’s eye, loved above all, indicating the varied glories and virtues of Christ. One feels the heinousness of the crime, in the murder of such an One. John 1: 14 says, “And the Word became flesh, and dwelt among us (and we have contemplated his glory, a glory as of an only-begotten with a father), full of grace and truth”. How perfectly what is indicated in Joseph here came out in Christ! It was fitting that these moral qualifications should appear, before the light comes out as to the place he is to occupy. Joseph’s dreams involve the testimony, the place Christ has.
The brothers are filled with hatred and envy: “They hated me without a cause”. The testimony Joseph rendered brought out their hatred (chapter 37: 8): “Wilt thou indeed rule over us? And they hated him yet the more for his dreams and for his [p. 354] words. And he dreamed yet another dream, ... And he told it to his father ... And his father rebuked him, ... And his brethren envied him; but his father kept the saying”. The sheaves would indicate the earthly company and the stars the heavenly. Our mother now is Jerusalem which is above. Only those who have come to recognise the assembly have the right discourse. Even those who have turned aside from time to time do not have the right form of conversation.
Those who are in human organisations do not understand serving with the brethren; the clerical garb is not in keeping with this. Paul says of Timothy, “I expect him with the brethren” (1 Corinthians 16: 11), not the brethren with him. We learn to serve as least among the brethren. Timothy learned how to serve from Paul. “My children, of whom I again travail in birth until Christ shall have been formed in you” (Galatians 4: 19); Paul travailed; it is a maternal exercise. It is important to notice the principle of serving with the brethren. “For also the Son of man did not come to be ministered to, but to minister”. The Lord was distinguished, according to Mark’s gospel (chapter 10: 45) on that principle. Paul discloses the secret of his levitical service in 2 Corinthians 11; and in Colossians 3: 12 we have, “Bowels of compassion, kindness, lowliness, meekness, long-suffering”.
Joseph’s coat was made by Jacob. It would reflect what he was, the man’s moral character. Clothing distinguishes a person. It was a cruel act to take that coat back to their father. It shows the awful state of these men, his brothers. See the process through which they have to go, to come to the full acknowledgment of the guilt. Joseph spake roughly to them: “Ye are spies”. Joseph remembered his dreams (chapter 42: 8, 9,16). “Send one of you, that he may fetch your brother, but ye shall be imprisoned, ...
[p. 355] And he put them in custody three days”. That should be specially noted, his rough speaking to them, and putting them in prison. The brethren who are guilty in regard of Christ need to be put into confinement to begin with. It was love that did it. Joseph turned himself away from them, and wept (verse 24). But he had to resort to measures that would bring out their guilt, and arouse their consciences; they were to realise what the iron entering into his soul meant. This was to bring them to the thought of brethren; even in speaking roughly, he was acting for God, without any feeling of resentment. In persons being recovered, we must act for God. We may seem harsh; but it is in love. Everything works out accurately according to Joseph’s intent. The kingdom of God cannot be maintained without a prison house. This is practically unknown to those who do not recognise the house of God.
Benjamin is not there yet; Joseph had a longstanding account with them to be straightened out. Benjamin had no part in the crime; he is the overcomer. The Lord has His eye on the overcomer. When Benjamin comes in, all is changed. Persons in the state of these brothers should not be at large; they should be restricted, 2 Thessalonians 3: 14 shows that a brother may be restricted: “Do not keep company with him, that he may be ashamed of himself”.
They did not appreciate Joseph’s place in his father’s affections; but now they are obliged to recognise him as the lord of all Egypt. If you resort to will and violence, you find the Lord has another position, He is Lord. Saul had to do with the Lord. He was breathing out threatenings against the disciples of the Lord.
In chapter 42: 1 Jacob says, “Why do ye look one upon another?”. There was food only in Egypt, and they had to go for food to the last place they [p. 356] wanted to go to. Their consciences were beginning to work here.
Then in chapter 43: 16 “Joseph saw Benjamin with them”. Benjamin is most interesting, as he corresponds with the overcomer. The Lord has peculiar interest in the overcomer. These ten brothers with murder in their hearts were not fit for Joseph’s house; but when Benjamin comes with them they are taken into Joseph’s house.
Joseph has a man over his house; his home was well ordered. This was a man, too, with great sympathies, “They came up to the man ... And he said, Peace be to you, fear not: your God, and the God of your father”. He is a most interesting man!
This is the first word as to their relation with God, but now Benjamin is there. The man is the sympathetic element in the house of God, he says “peace”, and speaks of their God and their father’s God. All this is on the line of recovery. This man recognises that they are connected with God.
Joseph would receive nothing from them until they were right, not even their money. Benjamin has to suffer with his brethren, though not in the crime. Directly Joseph sees Benjamin, he says, “Make ready”. You see the grace of Christ; the overcomer characterises them all.
How do you connect the overcomer with Benjamin? He had not part in the crime; he had been with his father. The overcomer is one who had no part in the defection. Philadelphia is owned in that position.
Benjamin is the son of his father’s right hand, where power is. The ten brothers refer to the responsible element in the assembly; the overcomer is the one who accepts it. It is Thyatira. Ten represents those who are responsible, who have part in the guilt.
[p. 357] The man brought Simeon out to them. Simeon would contribute something that would help them to judge themselves, through his own prison experience. This man over Joseph’s house is the element of sympathy among brethren; he is intelligent in the Lord’s things.
Benjamin has five times as much as the others; the overcomer gets that, it is something special; the Lord emphasises that. Benjamin had a good appetite; “Benjamin — as a wolf will he tear to pieces”; he evidently ate the portion given him. He does not take the lead. Jerusalem properly belongs to that tribe and we never hear of Benjamin complaining because he did not possess it. In Deuteronomy 33: 12 Jehovah was to “dwell between his shoulders”; but Jerusalem was given to Judah.
The overcomer is the link with God. He stands for what the assembly is, unassumingly, and he brings all the others. Believers were not brought into the house at the Reformation. The overcomer does not complain; he is set for the salvation of all. He feels the situation intensely but he would bear it, as going to his Father with it.
Joseph was a man of affairs, coming home at noon. It speaks of the Lord as a Man of immense affairs; Joseph comes home at noon and they join him there. Little Benjamin, the youngest, gets five times as much; the little one gets the blessing. In chapter 45: 4, “Joseph said ... Come near”; but not until after their confession. There must be full, unqualified confession: “God bringeth back again that which is past”, Ecclesiastes 3: 15. God relinquishes nothing.
The cup was put into Benjamin’s sack; it was Joseph’s cup. It was the next great thing after his house; it was that by which he discerned; the thoughts of their hearts were brought out. The striking thing is, that it was put into Benjamin’s [p. 358] sack. He had to go through all that sorrow with them, but he does not complain. Judah brings out from Joseph that word, “Put every man out from me!”. Everyone that loves the Lord feels everything that happens. The cup is put in Benjamin’s sack, so he has to feel it. The word “Does my father yet live?” is filial and brotherly affection.
“Judah came near”, chapter 44: 18. Judah was representative. He came to Joseph’s house; that was the place to come to, and Joseph was still there!
Joseph could not control himself; for the time had come now to make himself known. He put the servants all out; this is a family affair: “Tell it not in Gath”; we do not publish these things. How plain the way is for recovery if we are seeking it. Christ assures our hearts that He is like Joseph, the brother. It is the time of famine yet.
Joseph kisses Benjamin first; the Lord is sure to recognise the overcomer. Mary Magdalene and Mary of Bethany represent the overcomer. We see the great importance of Benjamin. The overcomer will hold things for Christ, and for the brethren too. The kiss indicates unchanged affection. In regard of Benjamin, Joseph fell on his neck and Benjamin on his neck; it does say that of the others too; but there was a depth of feeling the others did not share, and it was mutual too.
Dispensationally, Benjamin represents the remnant, but this applies to us. The great result is that Joseph’s brethren talked with him. One is not in the assembly rightly unless one can talk with the Lord, near enough to take the words from His mouth. The whole wealth of the land lay open to them. Benjamin would have remained in obscurity; but they had to go back and get him.