THE SIGNS OF THE COVENANTS (3)
[p. 175] THE SIGNS OF THE COVENANTS (3)
Genesis 26: 23 - 33; Genesis 31: 44 - 55
JT Beer-sheba is the thought that I believe the Spirit would emphasise in this first scripture; it stands as witness to the idea of covenant. The intent of the sign given to Abraham is to produce a heavenly order of things, it is Colossian truth as to its concrete application to christians, and prepares the way for our heavenly position. Its place in the book of Joshua shows that it is preparatory to entrance into possession of the land, the reproach of Egypt rolled away, and what follows in Genesis 18, shows that this is what is in mind in circumcision, it marks a heavenly people. The rigid adherence to the sign in chapter 17 in Abraham’s house, is the background of the visitation in chapter 18. “God is not ashamed to be called their God” (Hebrews 11: 16), refers to such as Abraham consequent on the adherence to the command as to circumcision. That brings in the light of Isaac in chapter 18, and the instruction as to the judgment of the world to make room for the heavenly man. That is the setting, I believe, of the chapters. Isaac in chapter 22 is the heavenly man, not simply as born, but as raised from the dead. He is not said to have descended with Abraham or his young men from the mount where, he is offered up. Abraham went to Beer-sheba, but there is nothing said about Isaac going there; he sets forth Christ in heaven, that is the governing principle of these chapters — Christ in heaven, not only risen and remaining in that setting, not coming down. Rebekah is introduced in chapter 24, and now Isaac in chapter 26 is definitely in the land to stay there, he is not to leave the land, nor does he, and he reaps a hundred-fold from his sowing, and, thus recognised, he comes to Beer-sheba. I think that we may gather from the verses read that the link is with chapter 21 where the place is formally mentioned and [p. 176] named. Now it is a city, which is the sign of the heavenly position, and sustained, not simply by a well — they had been digging — but they “found water”, so that he calls it Shebah; now we are told that the city was called Beer-sheba, verses 32, 33. I think if we dwelt a little on these thoughts the Lord would help as to the heavenly position and the sign of it — the sign of it as a city; the name of the city comes down “to this day”. Beersheba is called a city here; allied with the idea of water, a city implies order and light, sustained alone by the Spirit of God.
WCG The heavenly portion is opened up to persons in whom the sign of circumcision is manifest.
JT That is what I thought. Divine visitation makes the thing very concrete. Jehovah came to Abraham; following on that the conversation between God and Abraham is broken off — “he left off talking with him; and God went up from Abraham”, Genesis 17: 22.
WCG Is that the reason of Paul’s conflict in Colossians 2? Was it that conditions might be found with the saints in which the heavenly portion could be revealed to them? If they did not continue in the faith grounded and settled, they might go back to conditions which were prior to the truth of circumcision.
JT That is the side that is stressed immediately in Colossians 2: 11, he says — “In whom also ye have been circumcised with circumcision not done by hand, in the putting off of the body of the flesh, in the circumcision of the Christ”. The conversation with Abraham was left off after the covenant was made in Genesis 17, as if God would leave him and see what he will do. Abraham immediately applies the thought of circumcision in the fullest way to his house and then he is at his tent door, the full position of a heavenly man, and the divine visitation confirms everything. He knows what to do, too, when the men come; if he knows how to behave on earth at the oaks of Mamre, he knows [p. 177] how to behave in heaven, he is shown to be fit for heaven by his behaviour.
HB Is that seen on the mount?
JT It is seen in chapter 18 in the way he entertains the heavenly Visitors, how perfectly he is in accord with the position. They do everything he suggests, they leave it with him and wait there till he finishes what he has in mind; that man is fit for heaven, he would not be out of place there.
HB It is possible for us to have conditions like this, where we may prove fit for heaven even now?
JT That is what is going on in the assembly — it is a question of how we behave in the assembly.
JC Do you connect the city intimately with the assembly? — Paul was told to go into the city.
JT Yes, it is a thought that runs through the Acts, and is seen fully in Galatians — “Jerusalem above is free, which is our mother”, Galatians 4: 26.
JMcCR You were referring to the bow in the cloud, the token of the covenant God had established with Noah, then the token as to circumcision, and then the heap of stones. Is there any moral order?
JT The first is a universal covenant, involving the governance of the world, the ordering of it so as to afford a theatre for the development of what God has in His mind eternally; it is just a temporary covenant “while the earth remaineth” Genesis 8:22. But what we are dealing with in connection with Abraham is eternal, we arrive there at the Eternal God; it is a question of love, of sovereign selection and purpose seen in one man, and the covenant of circumcision is to relieve us of all that hinders through the flesh, and all that dishonours and discredits us, so that all the reproach is rolled away. Jehovah going up from Abraham and leaving him gives opportunity to show how much he has taken it in. Being left to ourselves, as subjects of the work of God, the work of God manifests itself, it is true to itself, and in Abraham’s case it was manifestly so, because he carried out the thought of God fully at the end of chapter 17. In the beginning of chapter 18 he is sitting at his tent door in the heat of the day, and Jehovah comes to him, three men come to him — heaven came down in those Persons; it is a question of Persons, and he discerns one of them (without their announcing their names) to be the Lord, and proposes certain things, and they acquiesce in all that he said. There is no direction from them, it is just what Abraham does; he is proving himself to be a heavenly man, which is the point now. In 1 Corinthians we are left with the commandment; Paul says, “If any one 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. Recognising that, I qualify for heaven, I am spiritual. The visitation brings this out and Abraham knows what to do. Jehovah says afterwards, “Shall I hide from Abraham what I am doing?” Genesis 18: 17. In chapter 8: 21 God says certain things “in his heart”; that goes on, and God is pleased to disclose what is in His heart. He had come down to destroy Sodom; He would disclose it to Abraham.
Ques Are the experiences up to the 18th chapter to qualify us to take care of the house of God — the assembly — making room afterwards for the Spirit speaking expressly?
JT I think that is the way it works out. We are on new ground, Isaac is in view; the heavenly man is seen in Abraham in character now, and Isaac is introduced as prospective, as coming in. The new scene is to be filled with Christ, Isaac is to replace everything. Isaac is to be in the house, not only born into it, but as risen from the dead — that is the position, and I think chapter 26 links on with all that. These signs, the seven ewe-lambs, and the city, are all subsequent to the great thought of circumcision. The city Beer-sheba is the light and order of heaven known here on earth,
[p. 179] and the assurance that all is secured in a risen Christ, that everything is going through in a risen Christ.
TG Would you suggest, that, as behaving ourselves in the house of God, we are in accord with that?
JT That is right. While the apostle delayed, Timothy was tested and Paul said, “These things write I unto thee ... that thou mayest know how thou oughtest to behave thyself in the house of God, which is the church of the living God, the pillar and ground of the truth” 1 Timothy 3:15. That is the idea — to know how to behave oneself.
Then, to go on, the sign of the heap of stones called Galeed (chapter 31: 48), is to show how we may drop down from a heavenly level; that is often seen in the history of the assembly itself, and in the history of each of us. A local assembly is liable to drop from a heavenly level to a lower one; a level withal that God recognises, but a very much lower state of things. That is the order of these signs, so we have to be prepared presently for a very humbling consideration; but it is very exhilarating to get on the high level of Abraham and Isaac, and a city sustained by water — by the Spirit of God.
LDM Would that go as far as Ephesians?
JT I think so, that is the level on which christianity is introduced; then we get down lower in Jacob.
Ques “If we live by the Spirit, let us also walk by the Spirit” (Galatians 5: 25); does that cover it?
JT Well, yes. We have to apprehend the Spirit in Ephesians; He is hardly mentioned in Colossians, it is a question of the work of God there, and that must be recognised if we are to go over; that is why Abraham is left to work things out in Genesis 17. In other instances we are left, we are tested by the commandment, but in Ephesians the Spirit is very prominent, also in Romans and Corinthians, but not in Colossians. Ephesians is the great sphere for the work of the Spirit from the heavenly side, the fulness of the Spirit’[p. 180] s operations.
WSS We must be impressed with the great amount of preparatory work which had to be undertaken before Isaac came into view.
JT I think we can see the need of that. If it is not after Christ, that settles it; put everything aside but Christ is what Colossians means. Philosophy and ceremonialism may be very nice and very appealing to the mind, but turn it aside, it is “not after Christ” Colossians 2:8; that is what these chapters in Genesis mean, they bring in a heavenly Man, One having died and risen.
WSS Suggesting the work that needs to take place in our own souls that we may be able to apprehend this.
JT That is right. It is a long protracted process, but necessary, for the flesh is so hard to break away from, so tough.
WCG The material of which the assembly is built comes into full view in Colossians. “Rooted and built up in him” Colossians 2:7, and “in him dwelleth all the fulness of the Godhead bodily. And ye are complete in him”. Colossians 2:9 - 10 Yes, circumcision and the cross are the two things that are stressed in Colossians 2. It is a most drastic setting aside of all that is creditable in this world, whatever it be; whether it is refined philosophy, or refined ceremonialism. It is not the gross side of things, but the refined; they are ruthlessly set aside in the circumcision of Christ, and in the cross of Christ.
LDM So the thought in Colossians is, “Christ in you, the hope of glory” Colossians 1:27, not exactly the Spirit in you.
JT Quite so. We are to set our “mind on the things that are above” Colossians 3:2. Isaac does not come down from the mount in Genesis 22, the suggestion is that he remains there; resurrection is just a stepping-stone into heaven.
JG Would you say that Peter was tested on the mount of transfiguration in regard to the heavenly position and failed there in his conduct?
JT Yes, he was not fit for the place — that is the [p. 181] point. He was specially selected, but he was not equal to the place; he became equal to it later. The thing to see is the greatness of the place; it was not the Christ below that he saw, but the Christ above that was transfigured. It was not by an outward application of anything, but what He was personally, the coming out of something that had been hidden. The truth is expanded for us as we apprehend Christ in heaven. He is in His own domain, and we have to be prepared for it. John says, “it doth not yet appear what we shall be” 1 John 3:2. Although he had been on the mount of transfiguration, though he saw Christ risen too, yet he says, “it doth not yet appear what we shall be: but ... when he shall appear, we shall be like him; for we shall see him as he is”1 John 3:2, not as He was, but as He is. That is the greatness of Christ up there, the great expansion of His own domain.
HB Do we get in the apostle’s prayer in Ephesians 3, the development in us which would answer to that — being “strengthened with might by his Spirit in the inner man”? Ephesians 3:16 Quite so, those two prayers are to fit us for the inner domain; and I think that all enters, in type, into Beer-sheba here — it is called a city.
GAvS Do these qualifications and features go to bring in city conditions in accord with the thoughts of God, on earth as they are in heaven?
JT That is a good way of putting it — a reflection of heaven on earth. How great that is for God! — and it is to enter into every company of His people now as sustained by the well — that is the point, the servants came and said “We have found water”. Abimelech comes with Phichol and his friend, that is, the military man and the social man. The social side is so insidious, it is the danger for those who are heavenly, for there is refinement attaching to it; we make so much of refinement, and the devil uses it to replace what is heavenly; but Isaac is not caught by that — he sent them away. We do not cultivate or promote any bad feelings with [p. 182] people around us; we are heavenly, and we are not doing people any harm. But Isaac sends them away; his great dignity is seen in that.
GAvS We do not enter into those conditions at all. You can see that if you brought Abimelech and Phichol and his friend into the city, their thoughts would have been entirely different from Isaac’s, so he sends them away; they had nothing to do with Beersheba.
JMcCR I should like to ask if every believer has the Spirit? — that is a difficulty with some of us.
JT The Scriptures would lead us to think differently from that. They would lead us to connect the Spirit with the sign of circumcision; if a man has not that sign you cannot say he has the Spirit — he must have the sign. The Holy Spirit is characteristically given to believers, of course, but you cannot say from Scripture that every believer has the Spirit.
WCG Is not the word “believer” used in too general a sense? — you must enquire what they believe. They may not have believed that which is connected with the gift of the Spirit.
JT Yes, and even if they have believed everything, the gift of the Spirit is not automatic; it is a question of giving, and it is a question of the Giver’s privilege. Surely it is due to God that we should afford Him that liberty — what a great gift it is! — let Him give it when He pleases.
JW Could you form part of the assembly if you had not received the Spirit?
JT No, you are in the assembly by the Spirit. “In the power of one Spirit we have all been baptised into one body”, 1 Corinthians 12: 13. It seems to me, that the saints ought to be conversant with the truth of the Spirit. The Spirit is a gift, and the Lord says, “how much more shall your heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to them that ask him?” Luke 11:13 What has one without the Spirit?
JT [p. 183] Well, he may have justification and forgiveness of sins — in fact he must have these, if he is a believer at all.
FI Would it be right to say that in every believer there is a work of God by the Spirit, but every believer has not the Spirit as known power in his soul?
JT Quite so; and there are many like that, who have not the Spirit.
GAvS Have we not to consider the gift of the Spirit, as presented in 1 Corinthians 12, to apprehend that the gift of the Spirit is the result of a divine formation in connection with which the people of God are brought into divine incorporation with what is here on earth for God?
JT Yes. “In whom ye also trusted ...”. “In whom also after that ye believed, ye were sealed”. Ephesians 1:13 It is the order of one, two, three. “In whom also, having believed” — a past thought — “ye have been sealed”. One follows the other, but you cannot say it must be automatic, for the action of sealing must be God’s — He gives the Spirit. “We have found water”. There was water in the assembly at Ephesus, the Spirit was there. The twelve men we read of in Acts 19 received the gift of the Spirit at one time.
LDM John 3 gives subjection to Christ, then in John 4 you get the vessel carrying the water.
JT Just so; the Spirit is not given by measure to Him, the Christ.
LDM It is a suggestion of the Son.
JT Quite so, it is administration. John saw the Spirit as well as the Son in chapter 3 — all things are given into the hand of the Son — the Father loves the Son, and the Spirit is not given by measure to Him. The next chapter shows how the Spirit is administered — “If thou knowest the gift of God, and who it is that saith to thee, Give me to drink; thou wouldest have asked of him, and he would have given thee living water” John 4:10. You must bring in the administrative side, and [p. 184] surely it is left with Him as to when He gives it. So that I think the allusion to the Spirit in Ephesus, that they had received Him, is the water, the assembly has it. Paul is a witness to that; these twelve men got it at one time, therefore there is room for development of the great thoughts of God in that assembly.
Rem We have made it too automatic.
JT I think so, and we are on low ground; we ought to see this thought “We have found water”, and that enters into the thought of the city. Ephesians is the idea of the city and the heavenly thoughts here.
WSS Would you say that finding the water is a further thought to receiving the Spirit, finding the sphere in which the Spirit is free to move?
JT I think that is right. It stands in relation to the city, but the apostle, in speaking to the Ephesians, calls attention to the fact that they had the Spirit — he is not questioning their having it; the Spirit is there in the assembly.
Rem That question had been raised and settled.
JT That is right. “Did ye receive the Holy Spirit when ye had believed?” Acts 19:2 and now brethren are asking, Can we believe without the Holy Spirit?
GAvS New birth is the work of the Spirit from outside, whereas the reception of the Spirit is God sealing that work which has brought about faith, by giving the Spirit to those who have believed?
JT Yes, and you make room for the principle of gift, the Holy Spirit is a gift and may be asked for; we must make room too for the activity of faith, the work of God in us. In America, fifty or sixty years ago, a line of teaching was developed, and I believe has place still, that new birth implies everything; not only the initial work of God in a man’s soul, but everything — and that he gets the Spirit then. That is current, and it corresponds to the low state of things we are approaching in Genesis 3: 1, where people do not see things clearly. At Ephesus you are on the mountain tops, you see [p. 185] everything clearly. The man in Mark 8 “saw all things clearly”, not only all men, but “all things”.
HB It says they spake with tongues and prophesied, that is having found water.
JT That is right.
AN Is being born of water and of the Spirit, and having entrance into the kingdom of God, further than new birth?
JT Well, it is in John 3. First it is, “Ye must be born again” John 3:7; no part of the moral being of the man is excluded from this operation. Then the Lord enlarges on that in replying to Nicodemus by saying, “Except a man be born of water and of the Spirit, he cannot enter into the kingdom of God” John 3:5. The principle of cleansing would be there, of course, but you have to wait for chapter 4 to get the water. We have the water of cleansing in chapter 3 in the birth, in the operation; but in chapter 4 it is drinking.
Rem You have to come to the reservoir.
JT That is the thought in the persons. Then the idea carried into a city is an immense thought; things are compacted together and held for God.
Now in Genesis 31 we come to a lower state of things, and, alas, we have to do with such a state; we have to own, I think, that it is descriptive of present conditions. There are dear brethren who are mutually recriminative; there is a want of practical righteousness, there is a want of confidence, a speaking against one another. The chapter begins with Jacob hearing what the sons of Laban were saying about him, This brother has got all the glory at our expense — that sort of thing. Then another member of the family steals an idol; they would get away from one another secretly. There is the sign of sorrowful separation, the very opposite of what we have been speaking of, for the principle of the heavenly city is unity — “has raised us up together, and has made us sit down together in the heavenlies in Christ Jesus” (Ephesians 2: 6) — that is the principle of [p. 186] unity; we do not want to be separated, we want to be together; not to go by separate ways, there is only one way — we all must go up together. Here are brothers pulling away from one another.
GAvS Is that what we get in verse 1 of Proverbs 18? — “He that separateth himself seeketh his pleasure, he is vehement against all sound wisdom”.
JT Yes — “These be they who separate themselves” ... “having not the Spirit” (Jude 19); that is the kind of thing.
JW Would Abimelech and those with him represent those who want the benefits of the covenant, but are not prepared to walk in a separate path for the pleasure of God? Abimelech went back to his own land.
JT That is what we are speaking of, those who have not the Spirit, they can get along without the brethren. Laban can get along without Jacob, and Jacob without Laban — that is a “heap”, very different from a city in beautiful symmetry and order. They have no confidence in one another. If I am afraid a brother is going to hurt me, I have no confidence in him; but the covenant is to promote confidence and love.
Rem Paul spoke of grievous wolves coming in, and “also of your own selves shall men arise, speaking perverse things”, Acts 20: 29 - 30.
JT Yes, it is a state of things where separation from one another is accepted; we cannot afford to be separated from one another; it is abhorrent to the spirit of the assembly; unity is the principle, love of our brethren, we must have our brethren.
WSS They quarrelled about a matter that was hidden, it did not come to light — the teraphim. That is a serious matter that things do not come to light.
JT Yes. Well, you can see in reading this chapter and the preceding chapter, in fact from the time Jacob went to Padan-Aram, that it is one continuous struggle; the wages question comes up, and there is the difficulty [p. 187] with Rachel, and the differences between the wives, and the thing culminates in this chapter where they want to get away from one another. Then, over against that, is the remarkable fact that God is in all this, that is to encourage us — (it is like the ugliness of the Cushite wife of Moses) — in spite of all this, God is with him and helping him, though in a distant sort of way. It is the very opposite to Pentecost, when the barrier of language was broken down, where you get all speaking the same thing, the same language; it is the language of heaven, for that is how the Lord spoke to Paul, the pure language given to the saints so that we understand one another, love understands, it is the language of love.
GAvS Jacob was told to depart from Padan-Aram. Separation from Padan-Aram is right, but separation from our brother is not right; would that be the distinction?
JT That is the thing. What a sorrowful state of things, yet they are brethren; Laban was Rebekah’s brother.
E G. What a contrast this is to Psalm 133 “Behold, how good and how pleasant it is for brethren to dwell together in unity! ... there the Lord commanded the blessing, even life for evermore”.
JT Quite so. “With all lowliness and meekness ... endeavouring to keep the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace. There is one body and one Spirit, even as ye are called in one hope of your calling; one Lord, one faith, one baptism, one God and Father of all, who is above all, and through all, and in you all”, Ephesians 4: 2 - 6. What a bond of unity! And here are brethren saying, Well, this heap is to be between us. They are agreeing to differ, that is the principle of this heap, an agreement to be separated from one another.
Rem You might have these features in a gathering, but there is an opportunity for bringing in the features of the heavenly Man, humbleness and meekness and [p. 188] gentleness; it is an opportunity for us to work out those things together, even in the face of these characteristics.
JT Well, the comforting thing is that God is working in the face of all this in the history of Jacob; God is with him in spite of all the conditions. So that we may take courage in spite of our ugliness, and this bickering and speaking evil of one another, and these hidden things. Jacob says, “And now, come, let us make a covenant” — there is something in that, that is the proposal in verse 44 — “Let it be a witness between me and thee”. Then it says, “And Jacob took a stone, and set it up for a pillar”. Now this brother is doing something that is dignified; moral dignity is such a necessity, because we get down so low that we act like men. I believe Jacob is leading in recovery in taking a stone and setting it up as a pillar. He had done that before, at Bethel; there is one idea of Bethel here, setting up a stone pillar. But then he says to his brethren, “Gather stones”.
GAvS You mean he became an example to them in some little way.
JT No matter in how little a way a brother or sister acts on the principles of the house of God, let us take note of it, follow on that line. But then they made a heap — that does not belong to the house of God.
GAvS Is that what has happened to a large extent in christendom?
JT Yes, there is no heavenly thought at all in that; a heap is nothing at all for God, there is nothing in it suggesting heaven.
LDM It says, they “ate there upon the heap”.
JT Yes, they broke bread. The Lord’s supper is nominally gone on with, in all these heaps, but there is nothing dignified about it. One does not mention this to traduce others but to raise the question, Where are we in these low conditions? We do not have far to go to get them. Jacob is the leading man here, and it is [p. 189] important to get such a man in these circumstances, one who introduces a dignified thought, such thoughts as have a place in the house of God. The stone pillar is something. I believe there is recovery in Jacob’s action, first in verse 45 — he “took a stone and set it up for a pillar”, and then he invites his brethren to gather stones, but he does not tell them what to do with them. There is a sort of independent state of things; they did that, but then they made a heap; still the pillar was there, and we get Laban alluding to it (verse 51), “Behold this heap, and behold the pillar which I have set up between me and thee”. The pillar is there, whether it is the one that Jacob built or not, the idea is there.
GAvS Do you think Laban takes up the thought and gives his own interpretation to it?
JT Yes, I think that is how it stands. He associates it with the heap, as if they were on the same level, but I think Jacob had a more exalted thought than the heap, but, under these circumstances, he had no power to carry out the divine thought, which is so humbling. If you get a right thought, wait on God to help you to pursue the line of it, instead of having a heap. Jacob had light, he was going towards the house of God. I stress this section because we have not far to go to find these conditions, and how are we to get out of them? If a brother has any little suggestion of God’s house, take notice of that, do not turn it down and do not allow independent action; one brother doing one thing, and another brother doing another, so that you have nothing but a heap. The principle in Jacob’s action is to follow a line.
Rem At Corinth the apostle had to say as to their coming together “it is not to eat the Lord’s supper”, 1 Corinthians 11: 20.
JT Exactly, they were in coteries, and content to be thus — that is Galeed: it is a heap of witness sure enough, but what to? Division among the saints, and [p. 190] it is accepted as though it were a right principle that can be allowed. God hates that.
WSS The issue that was raised by Abraham, and then by Isaac, with the Philistines produced something spiritual in a well. There is no suggestion of what is spiritual being produced by this matter.
JT No, nothing at all. There is a suggestion in Jacob’s action if they had only followed it. “Gather stones” is good enough, but what will you do with them when you gather them? Stones are symbolically persons; “Yourselves also, as living stones, are being built up a spiritual house” 1 Peter 2:5, says Peter. They are being built up — living stones builded — there is regularity and order in them, not a heap.
HB-t What are we to understand by the next step, the angels of God meeting him?
JT Well, it shows that God is in all this, He does not forsake us because of these conditions, He is leading on to what the pillar ought to have suggested, that is, He is leading on to Bethel. All that follows (chapters 32 - 35), is to consummate in what is in the mind of God, to effectuate His own thoughts in Jacob. The two camps, here in chapter 32: 1, are an adequate testimony to divine care; in spite of this low state of things, God remains God, He is watching over us and doing all possible to steer us clear of all this, and lead us up to Bethel. “I am the God of Bethel, where thou anointedst the pillar” — it is anointing the pillar now, not simply setting it up.
WCG Jacob was a man of faith but he stopped in Syria for commercial purposes, though he went there to get a wife.
JT Yes. It was right enough to go there for a wife — that is as a type of Christ — but to remain there for worldly gain, commercial considerations, is another matter — that shows a low state of things.
HB Is verse 54 — “Jacob offered a sacrifice upon the mountain, and invited his brethren to eat bread:
[p. 191] and they ate bread and lodged on the mountain” — is that a more elevated state of things?
JT I think that is elevation. Jacob is the leading man — that is what we ought to notice, and we should look for a Jacob in these circumstances.
GAvS Is there any significance in, “The God of Abraham, and the God of Nahor, the God of their father, judge between us”; it goes on to say that “Jacob swore by the fear of his father Isaac”.
JT I think Jacob is rising here. Isaac is the risen man, so in chapter 46: 1 it also says, “he offered sacrifices to the God of his father Isaac” — it is the risen man, I think. Jacob is the leading man; God always provides a leading man in these circumstances. I believe the heap suggests independency.
GAvS The contrast would be for each to have his little niche in relation to the brethren, so that the true Isaac would be expressed.
JT Yes. What was in Jacob’s mind was right, but he had no power to carry it out; which is often the case because of the independent position taken up by certain persons, in saying this or that. The thing is to follow a lead, however small, and we will reach the end, and God is with Jacob in all this.
RKC Is not the great point for us to see how this is worked out amongst ourselves?
JT Certainly, that is the point of it for us.
Rem We sometimes get heaps in our care meetings.
JT Well, this applies. We may have care meetings and there are disagreements, but what is worse is, that there should be anything like this when we come together in assembly to carry out a judgment — that is a most serious matter!
Ques Should the judgment be formed in the care meeting?
JT The care meeting can never be more than tentative; it is in the assembly that things are final.
[p. 192] Ques Would you say a little as to offering the sacrifice on the mountain and inviting his brethren?
JT Well, as we have been remarking, that is elevation, but conditions did not warrant the opening up of these things. I believe God comes in the next chapter, to meet Jacob and to confirm all this, but all is on the road to Bethel, and for that, you must have a leader. If you get a leader, watch that man, and God will be with you; that is what the two camps of angels mean, I think.
Rem We should search our own hearts and see whether any of these unsuitable feelings to our brethren exist, that this condition of things may not go on.
JT That is the thing.
FI If we are not in the good of this, may the Supper become just a heap of stones to us, just a witness of what belongs to us, nothing more?
JT Well, Paul said, that such a condition is “not ... the Lord’s supper”, 1 Corinthians 11: 20.