SONSHIP AND LEVITICAL SERVICE
[p. 240] SONSHIP AND LEVITICAL SERVICE
2 Peter 1: 17, 18; 1 Chronicles 23:1-6 1 Chronicles 23:24-32
JT The enlargement of the thought of sonship as in Christ, which He has given us tends to enlarge and to increase the number of Levites as viewed in this chapter in Chronicles. The chapter explains in type how this comes about, namely, that as the Son is in power, in evidence, the spirit of sonship becomes more intelligible, for the idea is seen in the radiation of affection between the Father and the Son. David and Solomon are seen on the throne here, as we may say, together. There would be a greater sense of equality between them as Solomon is made king, and the reciprocation of affection between them, as before the people, would correspond in type with that which appears in the New Testament in Christ. So Peter tells us about what they saw; the ‘we’, I believe, is emphatic, that is, they were witnesses of what they saw and heard. There was a voice from the excellent glory which, it says, “we heard”, and instead of “Hear him”, it is, “This is my beloved Son, in whom I have found my delight”. That is, what Peter had in his mind was the relation between the Father and the Son of which they were witnesses, and which they would enjoy and take on themselves and pass on to others. So we learn from John’s gospel that the thing was more or less continuous. “We have contemplated his glory, a glory as of an only-begotten with a father”. Colossians says we are translated into the kingdom of the Son of the Father’s love, so the thought is before us, and the intent, among other things, is to enlarge those who take part in the service of God, in the priesthood, not merely to increase them as of the family of Levi, but to show that they were taking part in the most holy things in relation to the priesthood. That is what I had in mind; we might ponder over it so as [p. 241] to make it clear as to the enlargement of the Levites. First of all it is said (in verse 3), “And the Levites were numbered from thirty years old and upward”, but when we come down to the other passage read, we find (in verse 25) David saying, “Jehovah the God of Israel has given rest to his people”, and they were numbered from twenty years old and upward. The age is reduced so that the number is increased.
SV That brings more younger ones into it.
JT That is, I think, the point now, to bring the young men and women into the service. The more we get into the spirit of sonship, the more fit we are; in fact, we are not fit otherwise, and the thing has to be seen. Peter speaks of it as seen, and so does John, and Paul says we are translated into the kingdom of the Son of His love, which would mean that the Father and the Son are known in that way.
Rem There was no upper limit, and as they apprehended the thought of sonship in that connection, so the enlargement of levitical service would go on.
JT There is no limit mentioned. We get the number from twenty years old and upward; they were numbered, it says, man by man, thirty-eight thousand. There would be a greater number according to the last words of David.
WW Is your thought that as sonship becomes better known amongst us, the liberty and dignity of it would take earlier results in the lives of the saints?
JT I think it does, and the children, brought into spiritual meetings, although their intelligence may not be very great at the beginning, begin to drink into the spirit of them and come into the spirit of sonship, and so can take part more readily in the assembly.
FSM Is there a significance in the fact that Peter emphasises that they were with Him on the holy mount — we know from the gospels that at that [p. 242] moment Peter was not very intelligent, but, as being with Him, he gained spiritual intelligence, and in his epistle he speaks of it from a much higher platform with greater dignity.
JT That is suggestive. I think it ought to help us that he does not allude here to the hesitancy he had and what he said and how unsuitable his remarks were on the mount. He had said, “It is good for us to be here; and let us make three tabernacles, one for thee, and one for Moses, and one for Elias: not knowing what he said” (Luke 9: 33). If we look back on our histories, I suppose many of us would have to admit that we took much part, not knowing what we said. I do not think young people should be discouraged by that. Peter came into the good of what was there, although at first he knew not what he said. We were noticing this morning how Peter said, “When we were with him”. How often he would regret his inefficiency at the moment, but then how he would rejoice in what the Lord had brought him to. We may all have that before us, that the Lord will bring us to it; we are not to give up. It was “as he was saying these things”. Sometimes there is a divine intervention because things are not right, and at other times there is a divine intervention because things are right. In Luke 24 the Lord appears because things were right; they were saying, “The Lord is indeed risen and has appeared to Simon”, and others were saying that He was made known to them in the breaking of bread. He appeared at that moment, as if it was a suitable time, things were favourable. But on the mount the intervention was when things were not right, and, as Peter was saying what was not right, the bright cloud appeared and the voice was heard. So, even if we say things that are not right, the divine intervention is to enable us to say things that are right. We shall come to it in time if we [p. 243] are patient.
WJH He does not mention that he was asleep. Do you think there is evidence that, when glorious matters are to be seen and heard, some of us are asleep, insensible to them?
JT A very remarkable thing one observes in our meetings for ministry is how ready people are to tell you they did not hear. Do you find that? I should be ashamed to say I did not hear: if I do not hear I do not get any good, and I am responsible to hear. If I go to sleep I do not get any good.
Ques What is the import in verse 25, where David says, “Jehovah the God of Israel has given rest to his people, and he will dwell in Jerusalem for ever; and the Levites also have no more to carry the tabernacle”?
JT Well, David and Solomon represent the assembly more from the heavenly side when things are reached finally. Moses, of course, deals with the wilderness, the carrying period; not that that is over or does not exist today, but we have to take the two ministries as running together, and David is occupied typically with the heavenly side, the assembly answering to it as convened. It is when we are together in assembly that this applies fully, and that is what is so needed now, the understanding of being together in assembly and of taking part in it in freshness and youthfulness; because that is the one thing that dominates this section, the idea of youthfulness in sonship. The idea began early, that is, in 2 Samuel. When Solomon was born his name was Solomon according to David, but he was Jedidiah according to Jehovah (2 Samuel 12: 24, 25), Jehovah loved him — He loved him as a babe. The suggestion is that it is not simply the babe state in Christ, but our apprehension of Him in that He is lovable even in the small apprehension we may have of Him. There could not be much there in a babe; the name Jedidiah was, therefore, prophetic — that is, the full [p. 244] thought of it was not there yet. It was sent by the hand of Nathan; it was a prophetic matter, but the time would come when that would show itself, that Jehovah loved him. Now we have arrived at a time when he is a young man, and David says, “Young and tender”, giving the thought of freshness, a period of freshness when we come into the apprehension of Christ in a fuller sense than in the babe state.
Rem There seems to be a double thought in “This is my beloved Son, in whom I have found my delight”. He is the beloved Son, then God finds His delight in that One.
JT Yes. The point with Peter here is, not that He is to be heard (that is found in the gospels) but it is what God finds in Him; and what a radiation there was, so to speak, what a sense you would have of the Father’s affection and how the Lord answered to it!
Ques He gives Matthew’s account, omitting the words, “Hear him”. Does that go with your thought of sonship?
JT Yes, I think Matthew deals with it in relation to the assembly more than the others, that is what he has in mind. So that in Matthew 17 the thought of sonship is developed after they come down from the mount; Peter had to be instructed in it.
PH It says the voice was “uttered to him by the excellent glory”, not merely a voice from the glory, but a voice uttered to him by the glory.
JT Quite. Very much like the idea of the greatness in Hebrews and the fulness in Colossians. It is a way Scripture has of presenting Deity — Fulness, Greatness, Excellent Glory; the glory itself is personified, as you might say.
PH Do you carry that thought into the suggestion in 1 Chronicles? Is it all covered by a sense of the glory of [p. 245] that relationship?
JT I think that is what runs through all these chapters, the richness of thought, and Israel would have opportunity to see David and Solomon on the throne, as it were, together. In the last chapter Solomon is made king a second time, and he sits on the throne of Jehovah, as if the idea is to bring to our view the relations of father and son, that we might become conversant with them, and understand what the spirit of sonship is.
Ques Is the Levite to serve in the joy and light and intelligence of sonship?
JT That is the idea, I think. It says, “David was old and full of days, and he made Solomon his son king over Israel” — he is still alive himself.
Ques What sphere of service would the Levite cover?
JT Well, you have the things here that they had to do with (read verses 28 - 32). That is a wonderful list applied spiritually, as set over against the carrying side that David refers to — that had ceased.
Ques In what sense would you say that for us the carrying side has ceased?
JT I think when we are together in assembly; it has not ceased otherwise, for Numbers applies today also.
Ques Does the carrying side obtain in the reading meetings and in ministry?
JT Well, it certainly would if you have any responsibility in it.
Ques Would it suggest being more occupied with the service of sonship rather than with what is seen outside the tabernacle?
JT Yes, it is what is inside, I think, where the young brothers learn to take part in these holy things, and are gradually set free from legal restraint. The governing principle ought to be love in the assembly,
[p. 246] not legal fear. Most of us are hindered by legal fear, afraid to stand up and afraid to speak. Others, of course, may be forward — that is not of any value. But the Spirit of adoption releases us from legal restraint or limitations, and we come to be governed by our own minds in what we say and by our own spirits. “I will sing with the spirit, but I will sing also with the understanding” (1 Corinthians 14: 15). We learn to be brief, but we learn to be free in what we say; we are sure of our ground, and we are governed by our minds and by our spirits.
FSM You would distinguish between the work of God, and the work of the service of God?
JT You mean the work would be the external side?
FSM Yes. I wanted help on it, for “the work” is an expression that occurs throughout Scripture.
JT Yes, and there are two words in the Old Testament: one is the ordinary one for worship, referring to your affections towards the Person you worship; the other involves service, but service Godward, that is, as it were, the public carrying on of the service of God as may be seen at any time when we are together in assembly. And I think that is what is in mind here, that the service of God goes on, as Paul says, “We are the circumcision, who worship by the Spirit of God” (Philippians 3: 3). We carry on the service of God by the Spirit, and I believe the young amongst us, and perhaps some who are older, are restrained by legal fear and the state we may get into through carelessness. And what the knowledge of sonship does is to set us free so that we take part in the assembly by intelligence, by our minds which ought to regulate us, in brevity and conciseness, but nevertheless your spirit is in it. “I will sing with the spirit”, that is, your own spirit. You are regulated by the mind, but you are feeling, all the same, and [p. 247] people are moved by what you say, because you have feeling.
FSM Would the work of the service include many activities that are contributory to the major service of God? Tomorrow, for instance, many services will be rendered of a levitical character which are contributory to the assembly, and the young Levites will be encouraged to have their part in it.
JT Very good. So there is nothing common, all is working to one end, and we have more and more to do with what is spiritual as we come together. Preliminary matters have to be attended to, but it is all to the end of what is spiritual.
Ques Is that why the sons of Aaron are mentioned so often in Leviticus in regard to the service of God?
JT You might regard the “sons of Aaron” as a technical reference to spirituality amongst us; the anointed priest is more what is official.
Ques Would that be the confirmation of the thought that God will have sons, for Jehovah, addressing Moses, says, “Speak unto Aaron and to his sons”? Is sonship in view there all along?
JT Sonship in that sense as involving spirituality, for Galatians is the great general thought of sonship applied to us. “Because ye are sons, God has sent out the Spirit of his Son into our hearts” (Galatians 4: 6), and “So thou art no longer bondman, but son”. But without Colossians and Ephesians and those other richer epistles, much richer in thought than Galatians, you will not have the idea of the sons of Aaron. You want spirituality, you want substance, and that is what there is in the assembly, there is not only intelligence, but substance in spirituality.
Ques Do we have to understand that it was David who made Solomon king, not the people?
JT Yes, it is David here. Later the people say, ‘We are so well-pleased, we will make you king a second time:’ that is to show how the thought [p. 248] grows; Christ grows on you, so that the idea becomes more and more delightful as you fall in with it and take part in it.
Ques The place of the sons of Levi was by the side of the sons of Aaron; would that give dignity and character to the service?
JT Yes, it shows the lesser is linked with the greater. The sons of Aaron are the spiritual; these young men are alongside; they are drawn into the thing. We are drawn into what is in the assembly. It was richly inaugurated as the Spirit of God came down; all adding since is that we come into that — but what do you come into? See how great it is. But you are spiritual yourself, however little, and, coming into it, you become greater and greater.
Ques Would that be seen with Paul and — a son with a father?
JT Quite so. See how great was Timothy’s privilege of being taken on by a man like Paul. If you heard Paul pray or speak to God, you would never forget it; and you would gradually get into that thought. That is how we get into things.
Ques Is there any sense in which the two thoughts, the truth setting us free, and the Son setting us free, would correspond with these two?
JT That is very good. The idea of sonship is effective. Peter presents it as an objective thing; so does John, “We have contemplated his glory”, he says, and so does Paul: it is an objective thing, and the result is you are affected in your heart. You get a glimpse of the Son and of the radiation of affection between the Father and the Son — you cannot but be attracted by that. The next thing is, how to regulate myself in relation to that, and I believe 1 Corinthians helps there as to how you are in the assembly; how you use your mind, and how the mind of the Christian is the dominating thing. The spirit is the feelings.
They might say, ‘You might go on and on, because there is so much to say, so much to affect you’, but the mind says, ‘Do not say too much’.
WC Would you say the last words of David refer to the Supper itself, as it bears on the service Godward?
JT You mean applying it to the Lord? Yes, the last words of David may be worked out in John 14 - John 17. What a regulation in principle there is there, and how the Lord would increase the service! He speaks of “the men whom thou hast given me”, and the prayer embraces all that should believe on Him through them. What a number He had in mind! So that we have the two thoughts in Scripture; the many brethren and the many sons; many, in God’s mind means many.
Rem The line you are speaking of would encourage all to participate in the work of the Lord and the service of the saints, in however small a measure, and it leads on from that — “and for all manner of measure and size” as if to indicate that there is room for all in the service.
JT Yes, “all measure of capacity and size”. Well, an aged brother, of course, ought to have both capacity and size. God is the God of measure, according to Corinthians, and the Levite here is to be versed in that so that he knows what is needed. When Paul was taken there must have been a great sense of loss in the spiritual, a great void. What they must have felt at Philippi when they heard the apostle was gone! What a capacity there was with him! He said to Timothy, ‘Bring the cloak’ (2 Timothy 4: 13); that would be his capacity, his size, his measure. Timothy would be reminded of what was needed, and, being a humble brother, he would say to himself, ‘I can never fill that’. But the more you accept your measure, the more the Lord helps you.
FSM As to the “nail in a sure place”, it says, “They shall hang upon him all the glory of his father’s house, the offspring and the issue, all the small vessels, as well the vessels of cups, as all the vessels of flagons” (Isaiah 22: 24). Does not that encourage us that in the work of the service all the vessels, whether small or great, can hang on Him and prove the sufficiency of Christ in the assembly?
JT A very good thought. So that, if the older brothers are removed, as they are constantly being, we ought to feel it. Young men have to think of measure — what was our brother’s measure? Well, that has to be met, for the void is there. There is a continual moving up, so to speak.
Ques After the account of the transfiguration in Matthew, the Lord says, “Then are the sons free”. Is that the idea of liberty?
JT That is the word, exactly — the sons are free. Peter was almost as remiss down below as above. You would think he would have known better than to tell the people the Lord was subject to tribute. Having heard the voice from the excellent glory should have settled the matter for ever in Peter’s mind as to who the Lord was. Zacchaeus wanted to see Jesus “who he was”. Well, no one had a greater opportunity of seeing who He was than Peter on the mount, yet when he came down he did not carry it out. “Does your teacher not pay the didrachmas?” they say. Well, the Lord anticipated what was in his mind; He said, “the kings of the earth, from whom do they receive custom or tribute? from their own sons or from strangers? Peter says to him, from strangers”. And the Lord said, as it were, ‘You know that, yet you do not understand what you saw on the mountain. You know the sons are free’. If you heard that voice from above, you would know the sons are free — wonderful thought! Then He tells him how to meet the obligation, to remove from his mind any legal thought. He says, “Go to the sea and cast a hook, and take the first fish that comes up, and when thou hast opened its mouth thou wilt find a stater; take that and give it to them for me and thee”. That is, it is a legal matter in your mind, but you can be free; be sure that you remain in liberty.
Ques Would you get that in John 8: 35, “The bondman abides not in the house for ever: the Son abides for ever”?
JT It is the same thought. There are the two thoughts: our brother alluded to the truth setting you free, that is, you are set free in detail by the truth; but the Son deals with your heart, the heart would be free in His presence; the nearer you get to the Lord the freer you are, and He would have it so, because He would relieve Peter of the legal anxiety he had, telling him to settle the matter — “Give it to them for me and thee”. Be free.
Rem The intention being that the sons should be free. It is a great matter for each brother and sister to realise he or she is one of the sons.
JT Galatians gives you the light of that. Colossians, Ephesians and Philippians and other scriptures bring out the richness of what you are brought into. In this chapter you are greatly impressed with that. Then David calls for his son, that is, he brings him into that.
Ques What is the material the Lord builds into His assembly?
JT That is what we are speaking of. David speaks here of what material he had provided before his death. Solomon is to put it into the assembly. In chapter 22 you will be impressed with the immensity of the material there was; then he calls Solomon into it in this chapter, and puts Solomon on the throne. Now He will control you. You cannot say, ‘It is optional whether I come to that meeting or not;’ or ‘It is optional whether I read the ministry or not;’ you cannot say that, because Solomon is on the throne.
Rem It is a realm of love, but there is authority behind it.
JT Yes. So the book of Proverbs is the thing opened up in detail; the son is constantly addressed: “my son”.
Ques Speaking of the state, it is encouraging that Peter says they were with Him on the holy mount. Is not the assembly really the environment in which we learn how to speak and how to do things?
JT It is so here; the young Levites are all serving by the side of the priests. There is spiritual wealth and intelligence in the assembly and we are brought into it.
PH The end of John 17 would enlarge on this, the love of the Father for the Son, as the Lord says, being “in them and I in them;” would you connect those two thoughts with what you had in mind?
JT I should. Chapter 13 is the initial thought. One said, “Thou shalt never wash my feet” — well, he is shutting himself out; will shuts you out of the whole matter. The Lord said, “Unless I wash thee, thou hast not part with me”, not, ‘If you are not washed’ — but ‘If I do not do it;’ meaning it is such an important matter. It is not a question, as elsewhere, of your looking after yourself; the thing is, the Lord must do it, and, if you do not let Him do it you have no part in it. Then the last part of chapter 17 brings us into the fulness of it, the same love with which the Father loves the Son is in us, the most exalted kind of love. We are in no way behind now, we are at the top, and I suppose that will be our place eternally; there will be no discrepancy there at all, no fear there at all, we are up at the top in every way. We begin with the love of Christ to the assembly, then the covenant love of God, and then the Father’s love to the [p. 253] Son.
Ques What would you say about “I in them”?
JT I think the Lord is there complacently; He is with us as with the Father; He finds the same kind of love.
PH It is the Son who says “I”, like Solomon.
JT I think He is as restful in the assembly from that point of view as He is with the Father; it is the same thought of love, and I think that gives you eternity really — there is no discrepancy at all.
Ques Is the washing a process? I was thinking that on the mount Peter had come to the thing himself in a living way.
JT Yes, he would give a good idea of the washing in John 13. He tells us about what happened on the mount, but not about his discrepancy. How fully he would understand the idea of the washing when he does that in his second epistle.
WJH In the liberty of all this now known in Peter’s soul, what an excellent Levite he was, right to the day of his death, and how helpful to the younger brethren. Mark came into his ministry.
JT How little Peter speaks about sonship, and I think the meaning of that must be, not that he did not know sonship, but that sonship properly belonged to Paul. It is the truth that goes with the ministry of the assembly, and it is remarkable that Peter and the other Jewish apostles just leave it; knowing it, as Peter did, yet they could keep such a treasure in their hearts and wait with true levitical skill for the moment that was suited for that ministry. I think it brings out the perfect unison in the apostolic service that they knew that truth belonged to a more exalted ministry and they waited for that. You may be sure that in their own individual relations with God they enjoyed it. Do you not think so?
WJH I thought that. The reference in Peter to “such a voice” seems to be Peter’s apprehension of what was there; not His voice, or His words, but [p. 254] something that lay behind both, as a father would intone his voice to his son.
JT Yes. And it would look as though he fully drank in the thought. He refers to what was said at the Jordan, and repeated on the mount. What the voice said was what Peter carried in his soul. What we were noticing this morning is, I think, apropos here; we reach a point where we are with Him: we begin with His being with us, but we reach a point where we are with Him.
Rem In Colossians we are said to be “buried with him in baptism, in which ye have been also raised with him through faith”, then we are “quickened together with him”.
JT It is a very precious word. Then if we have spiritual power and intelligence enough, we rest on that point, for there is a definite change. He is with us, according to His own words, “I am coming to you”, and “I will not leave you orphans”. He comes to us, but when we are with Him, we are on new ground: it is no longer a question of Christ personally being the object of our address, but the Father, for that is the trend of John 14 - John 17, the Father.
Ques Are you linking these thoughts with the word in Chronicles in relation to the service of the assembly in its most exalted character?
JT I think that is the thought we have before us, for it is a question of leading, the effect of seeing sonship objectively expressed before our eyes, for there Solomon was on the throne in chapter 22. David seems to love to say, “Solomon my son”. He had said it about Absalom most distressfully — “Absalom, my son, my son”, but not so here; this is, “Solomon, my son”, a type of Christ; chapter 22 is full of that. Well, the people were all there and the king was there before their eyes, typically set before our eyes. In the gospels and in the epistles and at the mount of transfiguration it is supremely so; and the [p. 255] intent was that the three disciples should bring that down to the assembly. So Peter emphatically says, “We were with him”. Now the thing is to be brought into all that wealth and to grow in it.
FSM Does chapter 29 show that? Because Solomon is on the throne, David is able to gather up the affections of all the people and lead them to God. When Solomon is on the throne headship is introduced and the whole service of worship is seen effectively.
JT Yes. It says in verse 20, “David said to all the congregation, Bless now Jehovah your God. And all the congregation blessed Jehovah the God of their fathers, and bowed down their heads and did homage to Jehovah and the king. And they sacrificed sacrifices to Jehovah ... And they ate and drank before Jehovah on that day with great joy. And they made Solomon the son of David king the second time, and anointed him to Jehovah to be prince, and Zadok to be priest”. We have a wonderful state of things now fixed; they are committed to Solomon morally now as proving what sonship was.
Rem These young Levites had a lot of work to do alongside the sons of Aaron.
JT Well, I think the meaning is that you become gradually spiritual as having to do with these things. Their place was by the side of the sons of Aaron for the service of the house of Jehovah, “Over the courts, and over the chambers, and over the purifying of all holy things, and for the work of the service of the house of God; and for the loaves to be set in rows, and for the fine flour for the oblation, and for the unleavened cakes, and for what is baked in the pan, and for that which is saturated with oil, and for all measure of capacity and size; and to stand every morning to thank and praise Jehovah, and likewise at even” (1 Chronicles 23: 28 - 30). Anyone can see that occupation in this way, in an antitypical sense, will lead us gradually [p. 256] more and more into spirituality and occupation with the most precious things.
Rem This is not exactly labour connected with the tabernacle system, but in relation to sonship.
JT That is it; I think particularly in relation to the assembly, a scene of rest.
Rem So the “thirty years old” will remain in connection with the carrying side, but this refers to what is spiritual.
JT Yes, it does, to what any young brother can have part in. How delightful it is to hear a young man speak for the first time in the assembly! It brings great freshness; we love to hear them.
Ques What about the doorkeepers?
JT The doorkeepers are to keep out what is extraneous, as in John 20, to keep out what is outside. There is much legal feeling amongst us; it just means that in your heart you keep out the Jewish element. It is “the doors” in John 20. But every christian has a door. We are to be delivered from the religious ideas around us.
WW Is that how you become trustworthy? In reference to the paradise of God, the cherubim are guarding the position which the Lord had brought about, which Adam failed to guard.
JT Yes, they were vigilant to keep out mischievous elements. It is not seen much that all that is of God here is in the saints; we do not find anything in the meeting-room, everything is in the saints. It is what God effects, and everything that goes on in the assembly is a question of what is in it. So the number of doorkeepers is exactly the same as the number of singers here, and they would keep the singing pure.
Ques Would the service in connection with the rest be seen in verse 25 where it says, “Jehovah the God of Israel has given rest to his people”?
JT Yes, David, I think, expresses typically there the thought of the saints as convened in the [p. 257] assembly: God has given us rest; now there is opportunity to carry on all this. There is room for young brothers and sisters as to the spiritual side. In fact, in Psalm 89: 19, sonship is applied to David himself as a type of Christ, and it says, “I have exalted one chosen out of the people” — it was literally so with David. He was a delightful young man. God dwells on his very appearance to indicate what is in His mind.
Ques Do you think that normally there should be no silent brothers?
JT It is a distressing thing if there is a silent brother. The Lord was praying in a certain place and a disciple said, “Lord, teach us to pray”, and the Lord immediately taught them. Then He proceeds to tell them about asking, and He goes on to the supreme thought of the Spirit, “How much rather shall the Father who is of heaven” (for that is the idea — it is the heavenly brought down here) “give the Holy Spirit to them that ask him?” (Luke 11: 13) — that is the acme of the thought. Then it says, “He was casting out a demon, and it was dumb”. He was doing it — it is not a completed action. Then it says, “The dumb man spoke”. That is what is needed. Very often among us, especially in small meetings, you find there are persons who never open their mouths, and I believe the devil gets a very great advantage thus in our prayer meetings; it is distressing. I think that is what the Lord has in mind; He is casting out dumb demons, and, as soon as they are out, the men begin to speak.
Ques Would the position Samuel had illustrate the thing for the young — lying in the temple where the ark was, then called into the service?
JT Quite so. He lay in the temple first — it is not good to lie there. There was never any thought primarily of any beds or sitting places in the temple; it is a question of being on the alert. I shall not be [p. 258] dumb if I am on the alert. It is really a mark of a low state of things that in the early chapters of 1 Samuel it is said that he lay in the temple. It is also said of Eli that he sat upon the seat by the doorpost of the temple, and, finally, that he was sitting upon the seat by the wayside (1 Samuel 4: 13), whence he fell backward and died. Apparently he was a very fat man. But God spoke to Samuel in spite of all those conditions. He had to speak several times, but that shows the persistency of God to get us.
Rem The culmination of the Songs of degrees is that there are those who stand by night.
JT Yes, that is the culmination there — those that stand by night in the house of Jehovah. The Lord was standing as He appeared in the midst too; it is a time of vigilance, of readiness for service. The book of Proverbs is like the opening up of the kingdom of the Son of the Father’s love.