MEETINGS OF THE SAINTS IN WHICH THE LORD HAS PART
[p. 183] MEETINGS OF THE SAINTS IN WHICH THE LORD HAS PART
JT This chapter reminds us of an ordinary meeting of the saints in which the Lord has His part, and yet we blunder. There are times of negative questions until the Lord comes in: then there is something positive. So here in our chapter there was nothing positive until David was brought in. There is no meeting until the Lord comes in, who orders all our procedure. It is important to pay attention to what the Lord has told us today.
Here you see Samuel started with the wrong man. Big brothers do not always guarantee big meetings. The Lord sometimes stays away to test our hearts as to what is really before us.
JOS You think Samuel had not learned the lesson of Saul’s rejection?
JT He had not the rejection of Saul before his soul, he remembered he was anointed.
FJD We often have the light of things.
JT We often admit the wrong man. Why should Samuel say “Surely the Lord’s anointed is before him” on looking at Eliab. And the Lord has to say the same thing — that he has rejected Eliab, Abinadab, etc. — to each of the seven. We ought to know whom the Lord had rejected, 1 Corinthians is the initial regulation which we are apt to miss. The directions are very important, as they are here, for the Lord shows us exactly what to do.
JOS I was wondering as to the heifer which you mentioned in your prayer, if it was the thought of bringing in death.
JT It is doing away with the man in rejection. It is what we may have to do. Saul is a good illustration — he represents the objective side — what we may have — without any corresponding subjectiveness, like the [p. 184] Corinthians — the apostle gives them credit for coming behind in nothing. There was no idea of the heifer except in the house of Chloe, they were all wanting in responding to the death of Christ. It was a red heifer — red marks off; so Christ was marked off. The heifer is what is brought about in us. So here Samuel should not have been looking for big men, men comparing themselves among themselves.
— L. I was asked the other day whether we had any big men amongst us. I asked him what he meant; he said, doctors, etc.
JT In 1 Chronicles it says headmen not big men — it is a question of spiritual men, as we get in the Galatian epistle “Ye who are spiritual”, The heifer is not a question of big persons, but what is subjective in big persons — it is affection.
FJD What does Saul suggest?
JT He was a Philistine but he was anointed. He was a big man and Samuel was not delivered from him, because we find him mourning for him.
FJD How would that contrast with the mourning of David?
JT That is his comeliness; he could not rejoice over his enemy. It could not be in the heart of David; that is you do not throw an Edomite’s stone at him. He did not rejoice in his calamity. That is the fine kind of sentiment you see brought out in Ephesians. It also says “Tell it not in Gath”.
JOS If a spiritual man like Samuel went astray, we could not claim to be so spiritual in regard to the Lord’s interests. Samuel apparently knew the character of Saul yet he was mourning for him.
JT It is very incongruous.
JOS We ought to be afraid of ourselves. In Corinthians it says “If anyone think himself to be ... spiritual, let him recognise ... the Lord’s commandment”, (1 Corinthians 14: 37); that is, discern the will of God.
[p. 185] Samuel missed it here but he is adjusted and comes round to it, and now he is waiting for the Lord. He says, “Neither hath the Lord chosen these”.
FT He is able to discern the Lord in the meeting.
JT A wrong step in the meeting puts you off. You go through long heart-searching until the Lord does come in. There was nothing of Christ to help in saying, ‘The Lord has not chosen this or that’ — it is negative.
JOS You may take a prominent part in the meeting but that may not be the last word from the Lord.
JT I have rejected him from reigning over Israel. “Fill thine horn with oil” — now horn is taken from an animal in death — “and go ... I have provided me a king amongst his sons”. It is all in God’s hands, and all hinges on that, but it is not enough, you must wait on the Lord. The Lord has something to communicate, “Whom I name unto thee”. We must wait for the Lord to name. Samuel kept all the instructions but he must wait for God to do something. He must move next; that is how the assembly stands. While we keep all the directions, which is important, God has a right to say something. It is a question of God naming the thing, and you may be sure God will bring Christ in. He has Christ in His heart, therefore He will name Him.
Rem I was thinking, Saul was anointed but not with a horn. Not through death.
JT That is very important. There is a right order, directions must be kept. In 1 Corinthians the apostle tells them certain things and says ‘when I come, there will be more’.
JOS Do I understand then that directions are connected with public order when assembled together?
JT Yes.
— M. Would you say it was the beginning of Saul’s downfall by not waiting, and then he goes from bad to worse?
JOS Samuel, a spiritual man, fails in the same thing.
[p. 186] JT That is very solemn and important — not waiting — Christ has not been called in. There may be singing of hymns, everything outwardly correct, and yet Christ may not have had His place.
JOS The Philistines were in the land but they had not passed by way of death.
JT In speaking to Samuel the Lord says, “I have rejected him” (Saul) “from reigning over Israel”. It is Israel now; when Saul was called to be king it was to reign over My people.
— L. I was wondering whether the Lord would bring this before us in view of preservation. We should not like to be like Saul, who went from bad to worse.
JT Even men like Samuel, Paul and Peter needed adjusting.
FT Samuel proved he was spiritual because he was quickly adjusted.
JT We might be looking at the flesh. In Peter, it might be looking at the Jew instead of the gentile — Simon. When the sheet was let down it was the turning point for Peter for he went down nothing doubting.
I thought that Samuel was not in the attitude of making any suggestion but Jesse makes the suggestion of the sons. Then Samuel has to say at the end there must be another son, so that Jesse also needed to be adjusted. He had to say there was the youngest who was minding the sheep. Jesse was the worst for why should David have been left out? It was not fair; there was a total neglect of Christ. In every case up to the present Samuel has to say, “Neither has the Lord chosen this”.
JOS Had Samuel had the mind of the Lord he would not have had to have the seven sons to pass before him.
JT If you miss the mind of the Lord, if the natural mind pushes out a man before God, you will have to go through this exercise.
JOS Is there a tendency to put aside a person in a meeting, whom the Lord would have put forward?
JT [p. 187] I have often seen in meetings, one and another put forth and yet Christ is not in activity. And now here Samuel did not know the name of the Lord’s anointed. He had missed it seven times. But Samuel says we will not sit down till he comes. Samuel is on spiritual ground now. He says to Jesse “Send and fetch him”; that is a humiliating spectacle because there had not been the spiritual waiting ‘till Christ come in!’ So Jesse sent and brought David, “Now he was ruddy, and withal of a beautiful countenance, and goodly to look to”. And the Lord said, “Arise, anoint him”. God has His man now, and we shall have a good meeting. It is all negative and humiliating work until Christ is brought in. Jesse has proved himself quite unspiritual up to this time but now he is not so far gone that he cannot be used to send out for David. He brought him in. Jesse made allusion to his employment — he was keeping sheep; that was a good remark.
— R. When Eliab was rejected it said “Look not on his countenance”, yet when the right man is brought in his countenance is the first thing to be mentioned.
JT In Eliab there was something that appealed to Samuel naturally, showing he was not delivered from Saul. ‘Ruddy’ implies energy of life. Three things are said of David, but nothing about height or stature, nothing to correspond with Goliath the Philistine — nothing big or powerful; but what is said of David refers to moral qualities. When we shall see Christ there is no lordliness we shall desire in Him. There was nothing in Christ outwardly to attract you or me to Him, but there are all the moral qualities in David.
JOS When the brothers see him on another occasion they say ‘He has only come to see the battle’, but there was none to see. They followed Saul but David did not.
— M. What is the force of Saul seeking the asses and David minding [p. 188] the sheep?
JT It was a moral discrepancy in the asses being lost: why were they lost? The maidens in the city knew more than Saul and could tell him what he did not know. It is the subjective side coming into prominence. Saul did not know where the prophet was. God has His part now.
— W. You were likening this chapter to one of our meetings — the whole company standing at one point, and David brought in, for the Lord says, “Arise, anoint him”. Is that process always in our meetings?
JT Yes, God has His part when He can bring His Man in. Some reference to Christ is made, then God has His part. And all voices are hushed when God is brought in. What would God say to us with regard to Christ?
JOS “We will not sit at table;” is there some significance in that?
JT How can you sit down when David’s place is empty. Here the point is, it cannot be empty. There is dignity in sitting down. Lazarus was one who sat at table — a place of dignity. We do not want David’s seat to be empty but I am afraid His place is empty in many a place where the Lord’s supper is supposed to be celebrated.
JOS The spiritual element does not sit down, but you can with Samuel, the prophetic element.
JT It is to Jesse’s credit that he sent and brought him in. There is subjection in that.
JOS It is a very happy thing when we are prepared to be adjusted. There is a tendency to cling to a thing if we have said it.
JT They could not sit down. We must make room for Christ. There were parties in Paul’s time — some of Paul, some of Cephas, some of Christ. Heads of parties — that does not belong to Christ. Peter fails the same way; he says “let us make three tabernacles; one for thee, and one for Moses, and one for Elias”, Mark 9: 5. But the Lord says as it were ‘Behold the One whom I have named — anoint Him; anoint Him in the midst of his brethren; if they are spiritual they will accept Him’. Samuel took the horn of oil. It is all over with Samuel now, he does not minister now; the prophetic ministry is not needed, it is all David now. Samuel judged Israel all the days of his life. It is only when Samuel dies that the church comes to light and that in Abigail. We ought to accept everything that comes to us in the death of Christ. We want to reach Christ first, then the church comes to light in Abigail.
Served in his generation under the will of God is a greater thought. What you come into in reading this book after this chapter is, David is admired after his victory over Goliath; the maidens praise him, which is the subjective side brought into evidence.
The Church of Rome and the Church of England are intent on doing damage, not by immediate rejection but by Satan — damage to Christ. Saul was intent on doing damage to David. We must be on our guard against that; that cannot be, ‘being espoused to Christ’ if we seek to damage Him. So Abigail comes to light.
JOS Abigail, it is said, “was of good understanding”, 1 Samuel 25: 3. David missed it in a way. It must be to bring out the excellency of the church. Abigail knows what to do when she hears the result from the young men.
FJD When Christ comes in all the differences disappear.
JT David is anointed in the midst of his brethren. You can quite understand the rivalry amongst these young men, but when Christ gets His place there becomes subduedness, we become brethren.
JOS The Lord Jehovah being the hope of Israel, Samuel should not have been looking for man as such in hope.
JT They might have known that if God has [p. 190] rejected a man. He is not going to take up another man of that order.
JOS We have to learn in our local setting that God has refused man in the flesh, so we have to look out for spirituality in the saints.
JT A young man has got in and it is not easy to reject him.
FJD The chapter would suggest that even Samuel found a difficulty.
JT The apostle Paul’s ministry was to keep that man of flesh out. He says “I determined not to know any thing among you, save Jesus Christ and him crucified”, 1 Corinthians 2: 2. So that is what we have to have before us.
JOS David is prepared to do menial service, he is prepared to play before Saul, although he knows that Saul is set aside.
JT Personal features and the power against wicked spirits have to be put forth. David had more than Saul for he had much more than Samuel. One of Saul’s young men says “I have seen a son of Jesse ... who is skilled in playing”. Here is a young man observing spiritual intelligence. He takes account of him, skilled in playing, which is the key to David’s ministry for he found spiritual healing for the people of God; and this young man took account of it. It is a fine thing to be able to take account of Christ. Behold I have seen, shewing how observant he was.
The Lord said to His disciples when here on earth, “Who do ye say that I am”, Matthew 16: 15. It was the Lord’s challenge. This young man could say he had seen David.
FJD Do you think 1 Corinthians 13 shows how far we can go on without love?
FT David being skilled in playing helped Saul.
JT It brings out his better feelings.
I suppose this young man would be John in giving [p. 191] such a beautiful contemplation of Christ, a full account of the Person.
“I am the root and offspring of David”.