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in like manner also a scrip”. Every one of us has to have

something and has to bring it into the house of God, that there

may be food. And so it is lovely to see these three men having

something.

The first has three kids; I think that means fresh impressions of

Christ. Three kids—that is something youthful, something

fresh; he brought it, into the house of God. The second one

had bread; that points to food. The third had a flask of wine;

that is a wonderful feature; we should bring our joy into the

house of God. Everybody brings something, and in the house

of God it is all to be collected, and it makes for richness and

fulness of blessing in the house.

Well, the young believer, suggested in Saul, comes into

connection with it, and he gets something. It is not expected

from the very young believer that he gives something at once;

he must receive something first, and then, after receiving, he

will carry it up, and then he will be giving. It is a feature of the

house of God. We find it in 1 Timothy. There we have the

house of God in its proper setting, “the pillar and base of the

truth”. But what follows here is something which has to be

taken into account as well—“the hill of God, where are the

outposts of the Philistines”. I think this would be found in 2

Timothy. That is largely what we see in Christendom today in

this time of ruin and decline. The Philistines are people who

reign over the area of Christendom. They are men who have

all in the head and nothing in the heart. They have a mental

knowledge of

the truth. ‘That is a very dangerous feature, and it is

dangerous in the sense that it easily besets us. Each of us has

a tendency to have this Philistine feature, to have something in

our head, without the heart being affected by it. Well, that is

what obtains in Christendom. It is a very sad feature, but it is a

fact; and that must be taken account of; it is something that

must be realized.