THE SERVICE OF GOD (2)
[p. 78] THE SERVICE OF GOD (2)
Leviticus 8:13 - 36; Acts 13:1,2
JT My thought is to pursue the subject of service. These passages may be linked on, I believe, with the teaching of Colossians and Ephesians rather than with Romans. You will observe that in the New Translation Leviticus 8:13 reads, the sons of Aaron were brought near; and verse 6 says Aaron and his sons were brought near. The chapter is well-nigh a repetition of Exodus 29, with certain variations which fit in with the teaching of Leviticus, that is, the chapter fits in after the instructions furnished, which are to regulate the offerings of the people. The Lord called out of the tabernacle, we are told at the beginning of the book, having reference to any one who brought an offering, so that the earlier chapters are to regulate and govern the offerers and offerings. The believer is seen, therefore, in a certain advanced stage in his education, and thus is equal to the teaching of this chapter, which has reference to the consecration of the priests — typically Christ and the saints who form the assembly.
It may be well to point out that the subject of service is in view throughout the whole of Exodus: “Let my son go, that he may serve me”, Exodus 4:23. God having in mind that the service should be in His sons. So in that book, Aaron is introduced by God Himself first as the levite, meaning, I apprehend, that God in view of service first refers to secret history. He is the heart-knowing God. There is no public history in regard to Aaron prior to his introduction by God. There is much history in regard to Moses; from his birth we have a record, but we have nothing in regard of Aaron, although he was older than Moses. He is called “the Levite” Exodus 4:14 by God, meaning, I suppose,
[p. 79] that He knowing the end from the beginning names him. God alone can do that. Aaron was that potentially, but there was doubtless something in him that furnished a basis for the name. He was not simply a levite, but the levite, a term having its own spiritual significance as brought out later, and he was Moses’ brother. “Is not Aaron the Levite thy brother?” Exodus 4:14. We are reminded, therefore, that the service has that in view, that is, it is in one who is a brother, not only in name but in fact, for the Lord says of him, that not only can he speak well, but also “he cometh forth to meet thee” — “Aaron the Levite thy brother ... . And also, behold, he cometh forth to meet thee: and when he seeth thee, he will be glad in his heart”. Exodus 4:14,15. I think it is well to note these facts, because they underlie effective service. The servant is glad in heart, he takes a journey to meet his brother, and when he saw Moses when he met him on the mount of God he kissed him; that is to say, he carried with him the qualifications that ensure successful, effective service.
JJ That all came out when Moses told Jehovah that he was quite unequal to the service.
JT Quite; he told the Lord that he could not speak.
JJ What follows Moses telling Jehovah that he was unable to take on this service is like what was said about Paul at Damascus; he had to learn his own nothingness.
JT Moses was brought down by divine discipline; he was brought down to a very low ebb; in fact, after all the discipline, God met him on the way at the inn and sought to slay him, reminding us how serious it is to have to do with God in service, that He brooks nothing of the flesh. Even at the end of a long course of instruction, there may be elements of the flesh, and God will not suffer them, and so He sought to slay Moses. The thing was that circumcision [p. 80] had to be applied, and Moses acquires the title of “A bloody husband”, Exodus 4:25,26 denoting that the Lord has the right to insist on circumcision. Colossians goes with that. Romans does not develop the truth of circumcision. In Colossians you get “the putting off of the body of the flesh” Colossians 2:11, that is, every vestige of it, “in the circumcision of the Christ”. But Moses is brought to that point. Then Aaron is introduced, meaning that there was another history, a collateral history of which we have no record, but a history which God knows. Without that collateral history, whatever public history there may be, there is no real qualification for the service of God. “Aaron the Levite thy brother” Exodus 4:14 refers to a certain secret history allied with the spirit of a brother.
JJ The two are blended.
JT That is what I thought, so that God says, “Is not Aaron the Levite thy brother? I know that he can speak well”, Exodus 4:14. I have no doubt that he was accustomed to speak to God; God knew that he could speak. It is not so much speaking in ministry publicly, but ability to convey thoughts.
Ques Is that a divine principle?
JT I think it is. The secret history is of all moment. It is known to the heart-knowing God, That feature is brought out in the Acts; there was the open history of the twelve, the open history of Peter and the others, but in connection with the coming in of the gentiles, it is the heart-knowing God; Acts 1:24; Acts 15:8. We have to do with God, who knows the heart; He is not occupied with public history now, but with hearts; He knows hearts.
HH Would the apostle’s sojourn in Arabia answer somewhat?
JT No doubt the secret history went on there. I think it goes on with all of us if we are to have a part in the service. God alone knows what you have been through, and He gives you a name.
[p. 81] Rem David had a secret history before he came out to meet Goliath.
JT Exactly.
JJ Why do you connect that with Leviticus 8?
JT Exodus is the background of this chapter; it is the truth on the divine side in Exodus; Leviticus is more from our side; it is, If any one draw near to God. In Leviticus it is not God drawing near to us, whereas it is that in Exodus. If anyone draw near to God there is sacrifice; you have regulations, and then sacrifice comes in at the end of these regulations.
Rem The Lord commends Paul in that way, “Behold, he prayeth”. Acts 9:11.
JT Jehovah said to Moses, “I will be with thy mouth, and with his mouth”. Exodus 4:15. That is the next thing. He knew Aaron’s heart; He knew he could speak, but He would be with Moses’ mouth, and with Aaron’s mouth, and He would teach them what they should do. Then Moses was to be to him for God, that is to say, there is an element of divine authority in the service. “If any man speak, let him speak as the oracles of God”, 1 Peter 4:11. And He said, Aaron shall be to thee for a mouth. So that the servant carries authority in his ministry if it is rightly presented in an anointed mouth; but there is authority in it.
JJ Would you say there is sympathy in connection with Aaron?
JT Yes, “Aaron thy brother”; the mouth through which it comes is sympathetic, as the apostle in writing to the Corinthians said, “Paul, a called apostle ... and Sosthenes the brother”. 1 Corinthians 1:1. Authority is vested in Paul, but he joins himself to a brother, not simply a brother, but “the brother”, and so again in the second epistle we get “the brother Timotheus”. 2 Corinthians 1:1. These feature underlie this great subject of service. That section of Exodus underlies all, and after you have these facts presented, you have the effectiveness [p. 82] of the combination of Moses and Aaron in that they gather the people together and the people worship. Then later you have the genealogy of the tribes given until you arrive at Levi — Reuben, Simeon, Levi — and the Spirit of God stops at Levi because He wishes to bring out these servants, Aaron and Moses, “This is that Aaron and Moses” Exodus 6:26; they are the concrete expression of service. I do not think we shall have the service according to God either Godward or manward unless we understand the earlier chapters in Exodus, because they underlie the calling of Aaron to the priesthood in chapters 28 and 29. Aaron is to minister unto the Lord in the priest’s office.
JJ Would the rod of God in the hand of Moses suggest authority?
JT Quite. “Cast it on the ground”, Exodus 4:3 that is, as released from Moses’ hand it becomes a serpent, meaning that if I get out of the divine hand I am in the hands of Satan. That is another important and solemn matter. One getting out of the divine hand of authority becomes an agent of Satan. As taken back again by Moses it becomes a rod, which is a useful implement of authority. Then the hand put into the bosom becomes leprous, but when put in again and taken out of his bosom it becomes normal These are to teach us what good and evil are in the service of God; how that with the natural man there is nothing for God but satanic power and sin, whereas in Christ there is divine power and healing. In meeting with evil the Lord says, “Get thee behind me, Satan”. Matthew 16:23, Mark 8:33. That is authority, but based on moral grounds.
JJ Moses’ rod was really a shepherd’s rod; one who wields authority must be a shepherd, would you say?.
JT Undoubtedly it was a feature of those whom God used in the Old Testament.
ESH Would you say that the instincts of service [p. 83] were right with Moses, and that he thought the people would recognise that he was their deliverer?
JT Moses’ history helps us negatively as well as positively. One has often thought that Jacob’s history, Moses’ history, and David’s history are set down in full length so that we might be helped negatively and positively; negatively in Moses’ case so that we should not attempt to serve in natural energy; however conscious we may be of right motives, there must be the disallowance of the flesh.
JJ Why was Moses so timid at the start?
JT I think he had been so brought down after forty years of discipline.
CH You were saying that service was in view from the outset when God said, “Let my son go, that he may serve me”. Exodus 4:23. Do you connect that with the thought of “My son, give me thine heart”, Proverbs 23:26; and then, “Out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaketh”? Matthew 12:34.
JT We are set up in sonship as a matter of light. There was little or nothing to indicate sonship in Israel when God said, “Let my son go, that he may serve me”, but it was there potentially. God could speak thus. Sonship is a matter of light to start with, but unless the heart be yielded up, you cannot have sonship developed; so that the book of Proverbs is to develop the heart of a son.
HH And there is authority and power to meet what was on the side of evil in connection with Moses and the rod; the power of evil has to be met.
JT That is very important. It comes out in the letters to the Corinthians, having in view to banish all distance. There was power in the apostle to bring down everything that exalted itself against the knowledge of God; 2 Corinthians 10:5. Therefore the Lord’s example in meeting Satan in the wilderness is important for us, because it is a question of moral power. The enemy was completely overcome, and at the end the Lord could say, “Get thee hence, Satan”. Matthew 4:10. Overcoming is a matter of moral power.
Rem The apostle was taking up the rod again.
JT He challenged them as to whether he should go to them. He had the power to deal with evil. The Lord forewarns the apostles in regard of evil, and in Mark He gives them authority or power to deal with every form of it.
I thought we might see now in this chapter the relation of Aaron and his sons. It is not simply those who offer, though really the same persons as those who offer, but they are now seen in relation to Christ — Aaron and his sons are brought near.
ESH Being near to God would bring us into correspondence with Christ, would it not?
JT Being brought near is an allusion to the position in relation to the tabernacle where God was. We are not to serve at a distance, we are to be brought near.
Rem But with something to offer.
JT Yes; the required offerings were all there. We did not read the first part of the chapter, but the requirements were all there first; “Take Aaron and his sons with him, and the garments, and the anointing oil, and a bullock for the sin-offering, and two rams, and a basket of unleavened bread”. Leviticus 8:2. These are all understood if we have gone through the earlier chapters, so that we become intelligent in offering. We have the divine requirements of the offerings, and we have the requisites for sanctification, and consecration — that is, the consecration of those who were known in this relation, “Aaron and his sons with him;”
Then there are the baskets — the containing vessels; the requisites are all there as the consecration proceeds; they are known elements, the baskets of unleavened bread besides other varieties of confectionery.
JJ [p. 85] What is the thought in touching the ear, the thumb and the toe of Aaron with the blood? One could understand it in connection with the sons.
JT It is intelligible, I think. The earlier verses contemplate the personal dignity of Christ, He is anointed without blood. You have the general thought of bathing first; Aaron and his sons are bathed; but there is nothing said about blood in the earlier verses, meaning, I apprehend, that Christ, in becoming Man, indicates that for our consecration there must be the principle of cleansing. But the blood meets the claims of God; death must take place; so Aaron comes in in the second part in the sense that He has been through death — “who brought again from among the dead our Lord Jesus, the great shepherd of the sheep, in the power of the blood of the eternal covenant”, Hebrews 13:20; He stands on that basis.
JJ The ear, the hand, and the foot imply the whole body; the entire man is secured.
JT Yes. One would seek to make clear that as we progress in this great subject, as in others, we look for increased understanding and spirituality, so that we have these requisites at the outset, as if they were understood. They are all there now, but they are not all seen as ordinary individuals draw near with their offerings. In chapter 8 it is assumed that the offerings of the previous chapters are understood.
Rem In obedience; it would be according to the commandment that they brought these things.
JT But what was commanded was understood. It is one thing to act in obedience (it is always right to do so), but I am to act in spiritual intelligence, so that I understand the meaning of the things, and as we go through the earlier chapters we understand the things that are brought forward.
Ques Have you anything particular in mind as to the [p. 86] basket?
JT I think it alludes to a containing vessel in which things are kept. In having to do with spiritual things, there are no loose ends; nothing is loose or off-hand; everything is in its place. The idea of a containing vessel is important in Scripture, and the basket is that here, that is to say, its use is to contain certain things for the moment. The baker in Genesis 40 had three baskets of confectionery on his head and the enemy got at them. In our consecration we have to watch that things are contained, and are kept right. The enemy has no footing here, everything is under divine control.
TW Are you pressing that the divine requisites are still available?
JT The question is whether there is the basket — that containing vessel to keep things intact, because this principle of consecration, of keeping things, must proceed to the end of the dispensation.
Ques Do you suggest that the saints are the containing vessel?
JT That is the idea. What the basket contains has reference to Christ’s humanity, the truth of Christ’s humanity. It is a question of unleavened bread, oiled bread and wafers. You come to very fine spiritual distinctions and discriminations, and these are all in the basket, ready as they are needed.
JJ Would you say that in Acts 13 the assembly at Antioch was like the basket with all the requisites for the consecration of Barnabas and Saul?
JT That is the idea of it; the full thought of the assembly was there; in the assembly at Antioch, in the local company there, these elements were present.
Ques “Filled with the full knowledge of his will, in all wisdom and spiritual understanding” Colossians 1:9; is that the idea of the basket?
JT In Colossians 2 you have all the fulness of the Godhead dwelling in him bodily; that is, all that God is towards us is in Christ so as to be available in [p. 87] Him bodily. And then we are complete, and filled full in Him. The thought of filled full is that we have all that He is as man before God. What you would look for is the containing vessel, so that there are none of the requisites for consecration lacking. There they were in the basket, and as needed they were appropriated; they are essential to consecration — the truth of Christ’s humanity.
ESH It should be an exercise to have the basket in our hands. The baker in Genesis 40 had the basket on his head.
JT Quite; hence in the gospels you have the baskets to gather up the fragments. This is an important matter; secret soul-history goes on before, and now you are to have part in the service of God, but it must be with the confidence of the brethren. At Antioch you see how the brethren are brought into the service. “Separate me Barnabas and Saul for the work whereunto I have called them”. Acts 13:2. The saints are brought into the thing. What one is in service requires that you should be known to the saints. They are not likely to hear you unless they know you.
JJ I suppose that was true of Paul; what would you say marked Barnabas?
JT Energy and maturity. It is a question of manhood. “That ye may be no longer babes”. Ephesians 4:14. The teaching of the epistles to the Colossians and Ephesians was that they should not be babes. That is the thought in these two epistles. The Corinthians were that, and they were enjoined to be men. The Lord says, “The men whom thou gavest me”, John 17:6. You cannot serve God save in manhood in the sense of maturity as seen in Barnabas. The two rams here denote energy in maturity.
HH Speaking of Barnabas, it is interesting to see how after arriving at the Antioch assembly he went to seek his brother Saul and brought him to [p. 88] them, and they remained at Antioch twelve months. Barnabas sought his brother because he knew how valuable his service would be.
JT They remained at Antioch. Barnabas is spoken of as a Levite; he sold his lands; he acts with common sense. That is an element of importance; you are not to be extreme in your views, you are to use practical wisdom. He did not simply leave the lands, he saw that they could be sold and that the price could be used for the furtherance of the testimony, and thus he gets his name from the apostles, that is, from those who had authority. They named him “Son of consolation” Acts 4:36; he became, too, the link between what was at Jerusalem and what God was about to do among the gentiles. He was “a good man and full of the Holy Spirit and of faith”, Acts 11:24 so that he seeks out Paul, and they laboured together for a whole year in the assembly, and they taught a great crowd; Acts 11:26. The disciples were first called christians at Antioch.
Ques Do you suggest that every local company should be self-supporting?
JT So long as you do not make local companies congregational churches. It is all well in a way, but you can be self-supporting only in relation to the whole, because the local companies need the gifts, and the gifts are never given locally, they are always universal. So that there is an interdependence that maintains a catholic state of things, and you are conscious that you need all that God has provided for His people. The gifts that God has given to the assembly are for all; they are given “with a view to the edifying of the body of Christ, until we all arrive at the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God;” Ephesians 4:12,13. So we are never really independent or self-contained, we are always dependent on all that God has provided for the assembly.
JJ Would you say that these elements of [p. 89] consecration were lacking at Corinth to a large extent?
JT Well, it was so. Not that they did not know and have the right example put before them, for the Son of God was presented there. The Son is a full thought, a complete thought; it is not infantile. Paul said that the Son of God had been preached by him and by Silvanus and Timotheus. The Corinthians had had the full thought presented to them, but they were in the babe state, they had not gone on.
Ques Would Romans lay the basis for taking up service according to Leviticus?
JT Yes. We have here the thing in an advanced stage, so that you have Aaron and his sons. You now see yourself in relation to Christ, and you are consecrated according to what He is. The hands are filled with the excellences of Christ; it is a full-grown man that is in view for service.
Ques Would you say that the clothing mentioned in Leviticus 8 is now found in the assembly?
JT Clothing would refer to personal or official dignity. The anointing here is not on the ear, the thumb, nor on the great toe of the right foot, it is sprinkled on the persons and on their garments. The anointing of the leper after his cleansing is on his ear, his thumb and his toe, and all that is left over is poured on his head; and the oil is in the left hand of the priest. But here the anointing with the oil and the blood is on the persons and their garments. The blood alludes to the application of the death of Christ and the oil to the Spirit, not only to the individual, but to the saints together as priests, that is, in relation to the assembly. The anointing with these is the circumstances in which the service is to be carried on.
JJ What is the thought of the boiling of the flesh?
JT That comes in at the end, and alludes to Christ being made available as food. In the type the [p. 90] victim was already slain; but death alone is not sufficient in these circumstances; you have the thing made available as food by the process of boiling — not roasting. It is not here a question of the judgment of God, but of the food made available. The flesh is boiled, there is the indirect action of fire. It is that kind of food that sustains priesthood.
Ques Would you say that what took place at Antioch was a voice out of the tent of meeting?
JT The Holy Spirit said, “Separate unto me Barnabas and Saul”. But the voice from the tent of meeting in Leviticus is to call us in. It is an allusion to Corinthians, where we are “called saints” 1 Corinthians 1:2; God has called us out of the tabernacle, and then as we are there we are regulated by the law governing the offerings, and now we are ready for the consecration. We understand these requisites and what they mean, and we see it is not now simply an individual matter, but it is that we stand related to Christ; it is Aaron and his sons, and they are brought near. It is very touching, to my mind, that God would have us brought near and consecrated in that nearness, and then, as consecrated, to abide by the tabernacle for the whole period; we are never to go out; we are never to regard ourselves as separate from the tabernacle.
JJ What New Testament scripture do you connect with that thought?
JT At Antioch they ministered to the Lord and fasted. It is not that they were told to do that; Acts 13 agrees with this chapter; this type had been fulfilled.
Ques Would that be Colossians or Corinthians?
JT It would be Colossians and Ephesians.
HH Being consecrated for the priestly side of things is distinct from going out in service.
JT They are not the same thought. “Ministering to the Lord” is distinctly priestly. When I am [p. 91] ministering to man, I am more a Levite, but it is the same service; one is Godward and the other manward.
ESH “In the midst of the congregation will I praise thee” Psalm 22:22 — is that similar?
JT Quite. Aaron and his sons. “He that sanctifies and those sanctified are all of one”. Hebrews 2:11. You see here how they are brought near, and then the application of the blood of the bullock, that is to say, the full thought of the death of Christ apprehended, then the burnt-offering and then the consecration-offerings. So that I have all that Christ is in His intrinsic preciousness to God in my hands and I present it to God; it is waved before Him, showing how delightful the service is, the servants being viewed collectively as before God. And then, all is burnt “on the altar over the burnt-offering”; and then after the individual application of the blood (verse 24) you have the general application of it in connection with the Spirit, in the anointing oil and the blood being sprinkled. We are equal now to generalisation; we are not ambitious for personal distinction, we are merged, so to speak, in this anointing. If you have personal distinction it cannot be hidden, it is sure to show itself, but we are all merged as sprinkled with the same blood and with the same precious anointing oil, and not only ourselves but all our circumstances. All is merged in the same precious death and the same precious anointing, and thus we are in good company; we are not likely to quarrel at the door of the tabernacle of the congregation!
CH Is that the thought in the words of the hymn, ‘By the Spirit all pervading’ (14:5)?
JT Yes; but I suppose that alludes to eternity. We are dealing with the present time, where we are all merged in the one sprinkling, in the one anointing; and we are to abide at the door of the tabernacle of the congregation. We are thus set up in companionship, as all being merged in the same thing — the death [p. 92] of Christ, and the anointing of the Spirit; it is a very precious companionship. There is no room in the chapter for any kind of ambition or personal distinction, it is a question of what we are collectively as at the door of the tabernacle of the congregation, to keep the charge of the Lord for the whole period — “seven days”.
JJ What about the seven days?
JT They are a figure of the whole dispensation, of the assembly period. Chapter 9 is Israel; this chapter is exclusively Christ and the assembly.
Ques Would what Abigail said, “The soul of my lord shall be bound in the bundle of life with the Lord thy God”, 1 Samuel 25:29 be on this line?
JT There is the linking up with all. Here we have a company of persons in this wonderful relation, the sons of Aaron accepted in all the acceptability of Christ. They have been brought together in one double action — the death of Christ and the anointing of the Spirit, and then remaining for the whole period at the door of the tabernacle of congregation. It is a wonderful position to abide there; the nourishment is the boiled flesh, which is Christ, that is Christ made available as food for the priests. The basket containing these precious bake-meats is there; they are very suggestive as emblematic of the humanity of Christ. The wafer, a cake of oiled bread, and an unleavened cake are very fine distinctions, known alone to God and the priests.
FI Is the basket found in the local company?
JT We have to begin there; everyone who is converted is taken up locally. The book of Numbers is to emphasise that side of the truth; we are taken up locally in relation to the standard and the ensign of the father’s house. Whatever there is locally is available to you; you begin there, but you progress into the universal side. A brother told me lately that it was only recently that he had been able to [p. 93] pray for all saints. I was in a prayer meeting recently, and so far as I remember the prayers did not extend beyond what was local; whereas when we come to Colossians and Ephesians we are enlarged. It is a question of love to all saints and prayer for all saints, and correspondingly we are in the apprehension of what there is for all universally — the universal provision. Ephesians contemplates the universal provision for all, When He ascended up on high the Lord gave gifts to men, and He has given all that is necessary for all times. “Till we all come in the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God, unto a perfect man, unto the measure of the stature of the fulness of Christ”, Ephesians 4:8 - 13.
As we progress locally we begin to see that what is elsewhere belongs to us, too; we need to take it in. We should become accustomed to see what God is doing elsewhere, what He has provided everywhere, and that it is for all of us. You feel yourself responsible for everything that is of God; the charge in responsibility attaches to what there is down here.
JJ Some never move away from their local meeting.
JT Ephesians has the whole church in view — “Using diligence to keep the unity of the Spirit in the uniting bond of peace. There is one body and one Spirit”. Ephesians 4:3. It is a remarkable thing, as has often been noticed, that the body comes first; because to keep the unity of the Spirit I must be in right relation to those who are immediately near me. Then “one hope of your calling; one Lord, one faith, one baptism; one God and Father of all, who is over all, and through all, and in us all”, Ephesians 4:5,6. That is how I arrive at the universal thing; it all lies in the Spirit, and I do not need to travel for that. Take a bedridden brother or sister; they are often in the unity of the Spirit; if you talk to them, you find they know what is going on in connection with the Lord’s interests. An aged sister told me that she travelled over the world; this was said in reference to her service in praying for the people of God; and she added if people were asleep she did not disturb them, for her visits were often made in the night. “Bless ye the Lord, all ye servants of the Lord, which by night stand in the house of the Lord”, Psalm 134:1.
In the book of Proverbs we have, in a concrete way, the service of one who is called “a woman of worth” Proverbs 12:4, Proverbs 31:10; there is the element of priesthood there, for she is concerned about every interest of the Lord.
Ques Would you say a word about fasting?
JT There is a remarkable presentation of it at Antioch, as they ministered to the Lord and fasted. It was as they were doing that that the Holy Spirit said, “Separate me Barnabas and Saul for the work whereunto I have called them”, as if the Holy Spirit would honour that. There is not only the giving up of things that are in themselves, perhaps, objectionable, but also the giving up of things that are legitimate, denying myself of what is legitimate, so that the service should be unimpaired. The Holy Spirit attaches great value to that.
Ques The Lord says, “For their sakes I sanctify myself” John 17:19; would the saints at Antioch have the same spirit?
JT Quite. We see, too, how the services are transferred from Israel to the assembly. In Acts 13 the thing is formally recognised. In Romans it is the Jew first; it was still the transitional period and full provision is made for the Jew, so that the apostle says, “to whom pertaineth ... the service of God” Romans 9:4; it was his. But now at Antioch you see the service of God transferred from the Jew to the gentile. It was according to God that they ministered to [p. 95] the There is that which can only be done by prayer and fasting.
JT Prayer brings God in, and fasting shuts man out; the two things ensure power.
Ques What was in your mind as to the meeting-place of Moses and Aaron — “the mount of the Lord”?
JT The allusion is to Genesis 22:14, “On the mount of Jehovah will be provided”. Moses and Aaron met at the place of heaven’s provision.