"FOOD WHICH ABIDES" (2)
“FOOD WHICH ABIDES” (2)
JT The book of Genesis affords much instruction as to food. All creatures have to be sustained by the Creator, and so in chapter 1 we are told that God, having created man, cattle, fowl, etc., provided food for them. To man He gave “every herb producing seed that is on the whole earth, and every tree in which is the fruit of a tree producing seed” (verse 29); and to the cattle, fowl and creeping things He gave “every green herb for food” (verse 30). The entire provision was vegetable; the carnivora were not recognised, being notably a development after sin entered into the world.
After the fall we get the death of animals, implied in the skins by which God clothed Adam and Eve, and seen definitely in Abel’s offering to God; but only after the deluge is flesh allowed as food for men. This would enhance man’s dominance in the creation, and strengthen him in the heavier responsibilities now placed upon him; not only over the lower creatures, but also in regard to his own race, this domination was to be maintained. The section of Genesis 41 - Genesis 47 now before us presents the subject of food in the most general bearing.
AMH And it would indicate that the present period is the greatest day of food, corresponding with the “seven years of great plenty”, (chapter 41:29). There has never been such bounty in the history of God’s dealings with the world, and I suppose there never will be again. The Spirit’s day would exceed all in this respect.
JT Food puts great moral power into the hands of him who controls it. The present time is, therefore, one of the exercise of moral power in Christ.
AP How do you apply “the seven years of famine” today; and in what sense do we go to Joseph for food?
AMH They go along with the years of plenty which result from the Lord being exalted and the Spirit being sent down from heaven. At Pentecost three thousand souls were brought to the Lord. What an abundant pouring out of supply from heaven there was on that day! It was adequate to satisfy every living thing. Parallel with that there was the fact that man, in himself, is without supply, and that will work out in its full character when the Spirit is withdrawn.
FL Would the moral power of which you spoke be seen in Paul? Would the ministry of the assembly be in line with the richness and abundance administered in the day of the Spirit?
JT It would, I am sure. It is Christ exalted among the Gentiles, as typified in Joseph. It is through Paul’s ministry that He is known thus, and in this position the food supply is in His hand, and it is administered to Israel and to all.
WGT There was plenty in Egypt, but God brought it under control.
JT There is no control of the food in Genesis 1 and 9. It is a question of what there was. There was, no doubt, plenty of it growing up out of the earth. Then in chapter 9:3 it is said, “Every moving thing that liveth shall be good for you”. But in the chapters before us all is in control. This involves power wielded by Joseph through which his brethren are brought to light and set up in relation to himself and to each other.
WB-w Is it the dispensing of food under control? Is it dispensational in that sense?
JT Yes, it is the day of the Spirit. There was a wonderful supply at Pentecost, but then what we have here typifies all that being under the control of [p. 5] Christ not only in heaven, but among the Gentiles. At Pentecost the supply was at Jerusalem, but what is before us contemplates Israel having to go down to Egypt to get the food from Joseph.
AP Do you connect the idea of control in chapter 3 with the tree of life?
JT The tree of life was prohibited there. The idea of the control of food is that it is there to be administered according to wisdom.
AMH It has to come through certain channels to which God would call attention. It is delightful to think of the Lord as the One to whom all attention is drawn through the very want in the world.
JT One great thought stressed in this typical instruction is that universal attention is called to Christ. He is rejected by the Jews, but they and all are compelled to go to Him for the means of sustenance.
WGT So that the control of food enhances His position.
JT It affords Him great moral power. Chapter 47 shows the result of this; not only is need met, but the Egyptians and their land were bought for Pharaoh.
FL Would the idea of control be that it is made available and put into the right channels?
JT That is the thought, and the first salient result is to bring the brethren of Joseph to light, to put them together and show their relation to him. Then all the Egyptians are brought directly under Pharaoh through it. The instruction in all this, as applied at the present time and in the future, is very evident.
ANW The food is under control during the seven years of plenty as well as during the seven years of [p. 6] famine.
JT You mean that it has been gathered up and cared for; though it came up in handfuls, it was not wasted.
AR It was stored “in the cities”.
JT The cities are suggestive of safe-keeping and of the means of administration locally. But, generally, the food was administered according to the wisdom of Joseph, for his position was based on the fact of his great wisdom, as able to reveal the secret of Pharaoh’s dreams. The instruction brings out what Christ is, typically; because the advent of Joseph in Genesis is spiritual. As soon as Joseph was born, Jacob proposed to leave Padan-Aram. That is the idea. Joseph causes movement out of the world; and in the presence of Esau he has precedence over his mother (Genesis 33:7); then he is specially loved by his father. So that his is a history which in its very inception is spiritual, and causes movement out of the world; accordingly he acquired immense moral power in his father’s house, and in the prison; and now, as in the house of Pharaoh, he has it universally.
AMH These are the lines upon which he is advanced: “Shall we find one as this, a man in whom the Spirit of God is?” There has to be care to apprehend what the Lord is giving and to gather it up; and then the administration of it has to be governed by wisdom from Himself.
JT It says, “In the seven years of plenty the land brought forth by handfuls. And he gathered up all the food of the seven years that was in the land of Egypt, and put the food in the cities; the food of the fields of the city, which were round about it, he laid up in it. And Joseph laid up corn as sand of the sea exceeding much, until they left off numbering, for it was without number”. There was volume, but great care is shown in gathering it up and placing it in the cities.
AMH The corn grown in a field should be laid [p. 7] up in the nearby city. That suggests that what God effects as food in a particular place is intended to be available to that place and centred there. It is to distributed from that point. That helps us in seeing the importance of the boundary question. The Lord would have the food gathered in the place where He has produced it. He would have it gathered so that administration of it might go out in that particular area.
FL “He laid up in it”.
JS So that in the seven years of plenty we have great spiritual movement, but it takes seven years of famine to bring about appreciation of it on our side.
AMH You have the giving from heaven, which is so wonderfully abundant; and on the other hand, there has to be the process of appropriation with each one of us.
JT We should notice the care shown here; although there was such abundance, nothing was to be lost. All was garnered. If the Lord is pleased to give volume, it ought not to be treated lightly; it ought to be garnered. If it is not needed now, it will be later on. You get times of plenty and times of famine.
FL What would be the idea of garnering now?
JT I was thinking of Samuel. “Jehovah ... let none of his words fall to the ground” (1 Samuel 3:19) Scripture says. I think there is a principle there. His words must have been of value; and if they did not fall to the ground, they must have fallen into some hearts. It is a question of whether we retain in our hearts the things ministered, or let them go.
AFM In John 6 they gathered up the fragments and filled twelve baskets.
JT That would show that what was left over was not treated lightly.
FL Referring to Samuel, when he first comes on the scene, Scripture says, “The word of Jehovah was rare in those days” (1 Samuel 3:1) and that when he develops, it says, “Jehovah ... let none of his words fall to the ground”. This would suggest garnering.
JT Yes. The idea of “the faith” (Acts 16:5) is that the hearts of the saints are receptacles for what God affords. “The faith” is that which is treasured and held in our souls by faith.
EB Would you say that the seven plenteous years were the result of the exaltation of Joseph?
JT They were determined. Everything that has come out in Christ was determined, including His death. All is a question of divine determination; here the matter was revealed to Pharaoh. Joseph came into general evidence by the wisdom that God gave him to reveal the secret. The whole mind of God began to take form as Christ became man.
AMH There is not merely the fact of His exaltation, but the path of moral worth whereby He reached it. What comes down is really what has been displayed in the Lord from the manger to the cross and to the glory. He is the fruitful field whence all comes.
JT All came out in Christ. So we read, “There are also many other things which Jesus did, the which if they were written one by one, I suppose that not even the world itself would contain the books written”, (John 21:25). The idea is that all the fulness of Christ is now in the Spirit, and He brings it to the remembrance of the brethren from time to time. The Lord says to His disciples, “The Comforter, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, he shall teach you all things, and will bring to your remembrance all the things which I have said to you”, (John 14:26).
WB-w The dreams of Pharaoh suggest that what came out was determined beforehand.
JT The fact that the dream was doubled made it sure. The determinate counsels and foreknowledge [p. 9] of God enters into everything; and then there is an idea of the immense greatness of Christ — one here great enough to set all that out in principle, and then to make it effective. This is now brought to pass by the Spirit.
AJD So that the bountiful supply that we get today is the unfolding by the Spirit of all that was in Christ down here.
AMH I have been wondering with regard to the abundance of the ministry of the present day, whether we might not be forewarned as to a possible day of leanness, and hence in knowing what is ministered there should be the formation of it in our hearts, as having received it in faith.
FL Everything in principle was true in Christ when He was here.
AFM John 6:35 would amplify that: “I am the bread of life: he that comes to me shall never hunger, and he that believes on me shall never thirst at any time”.
AJD The garnering of which you were speaking, is it brought about on the principle of fully following up?
JT Yes. The Lord has been very good to us; the windows of heaven have been opened, and we have perhaps more than we can contain; but it should not be neglected nor treated lightly. There may be need for it later on, if not now.
JS Hence the need of being enlarged in heart and mind to contain what God gives. There is no other place in which to store the divine bounty, is there?
JT It ought to be in the hearts of the saints that is the idea. The receptacle is to be great enough to contain all that there is.
AMH The idea of cities suggests something ordered and organised. I was thinking of the value of the assembly in that way, that it is not merely a [p. 10] collection of individuals who have received something in their hearts, but there is a much larger receptacle produced by recognising the commandments of the Lord and taking account, collectively, of what He approves, so that you get a company to whom the Lord would commit more than to any individual.
AP Joseph was put over Pharaoh’s house. It says, “Thou shalt be over my house, and according to thy commandment shall all my people regulate themselves”.
AMH If we gave more heed to His word in detail, as to regulating ourselves in the assembly of God, the Lord would entrust more to us.
JT At our care meetings the brothers together rightly talk things over, but there is not power there to dispense, all is tentative; but as you get the saints together in assembly (under the control of the Lord, regulated by His word) you have the idea of a city. The feature of administration is present, and is exercised without partiality and without hypocrisy. Deborah says, “Let them that love him be as the rising of the sun in its might”, (Judges 5:31). Normally, this appears in the assembly.
HSD So that an assembly in a locality would be the means of supply which we can draw upon for our food.
JT The city here corresponds with the idea of the assembly. A city is an ordered place, as has been remarked. In civil matters, as soon as you get the municipal council, mayor, etc., functioning, you have far more power than you could have with the same number of persons unorganised.
AP When you come from the field to within the boundary of a city you know it.
JT You are over the line. The “it” here involves its boundary. As soon as you get over the line you have a sphere where there is authority and order distinct from the field. There is far more [p. 11] power in a few saints in the light of the assembly than there could be in the same number simply as units. Spiritually, the assembly is the most highly organised thing conceivable.
W.G.T. What is the field?
JT The fields would be the areas influenced by the cities.
JS They are productive areas.
JT They are thus the saints viewed individually; that is to say, we bear fruit severally. The aggregate is seen in the assembly, so that it is under control; and I think, therefore, that gift, however great it may be, even an apostle, is under control. Ephesians 4:8) says that Christ “has given gifts to men”, but 1 Corinthians 12:28 says, “God has set certain in the assembly”, this would imply obligation to the saints on their part, as we see at Antioch.
AMH The assembly in that way makes room for the body. The idea of the city, as typical of the assembly, is to protect and preserve so that we may cultivate family relations and affections.
JT We all ought to appreciate the assembly as an ordered sphere. It is a protection, and the less individual we are in that respect the better.
FL We used to hear it said by those who were designated evangelists, that they were free, and responsible only to the Lord. I fully agree with what you were saying, that every gift, no matter how great, while subject to the Lord is also responsible to the assembly.
JT That is worked out in the most striking way at Antioch. The greatest gift that the church has had was Paul; he went out with Barnabas and ministered most successfully, and then they came back, having fulfilled the work they had undertaken. They returned to Antioch, and “they stayed no little time with the disciples”, (Acts 14:28). And Peter [p. 12] and John, the greatest in the Pentecostal church, laboured most effectively, as seen in Acts 3 and 4, but they came to their own company; then we read, “And with great power did the apostles (not Peter and John only) give witness of the resurrection of the Lord Jesus”, (Acts 4:33).
WGT So that a brother who has gift should not move around if his local brethren are not free about him.
JT It is a question of right judgment. If I have a judgment I ought to be able to give a reason for it. A jury, so as to render a true verdict, must obtain from the judge the law governing the case in question. If I have a judgment I ought to be able to furnish the law governing it.
AR Does the idea of cities apply peculiarly to Paul’s ministry?
JT I think so. So that you get two things in that respect — elders were chosen in each assembly, and elders were established in each city. The Spirit of God is concerned with rule and order, and so you have the two ideas.
WB-w What is the difference between the two?
JT In cities where you have subdivisions of the assemblies the need for eldership is more apparent. The ministry of an elder in a city, even though there may be a dozen subdivisions, refers to all the saints in that city.
AFM You get here the word ‘overseers’. “Let Pharaoh do this: let him appoint overseers over the land” (verse 34). That would be akin to eldership. The garnering was not done promiscuously.
JT We see that during the seven years of plenty Joseph valued every bit of food there was and garnered it; and then the years of famine brought out the advantage that would centre in Joseph. But we read, “And all the land of Egypt suffered from the dearth. And the people cried to Pharaoh for bread”
([p. 13] verse 55). This seems to be a slight on Joseph. There was not the recognition of the constitution of the dispensation — that Joseph was over it.
Ques . Does that suggest that there must be the full recognition of headship?
JT Rather lordship. It is a question of authority. The people cried to Pharaoh. Now Pharaoh had already ordered that everything should be regulated by Joseph; that was a change of affairs, but apparently it had not taken effect. People are often loose in their prayers; they speak to God about things when they should speak to Christ about them; that is to say, we need to be intelligent as to the economy of Christianity. As the people cried to Pharaoh for bread, he said, “Go to Joseph” (verse 55). That is an important word.
FL Would you say that in matters of administration the voice of God would be, Go to Christ?
JT That is the point. I think that gives distinctiveness to the economy of the dispensation. Administration is in the hands of the Lord, so that we should understand that the Lord is the One to whom to go in regard to spiritual matters.
WB-w The Lord said, “Ye believe on God, believe also on me”, (John 14:1). They had believed on God, but the One who was there in humiliation was going to be in the supreme place. It ought to encourage our hearts to believe also on Him.
AR In his first letter to the Corinthians, the apostle seems to be constantly impressing upon them the authority of Christ.
JT Exactly. This phase of the food question is calculated to afford great moral power to Christ. We shall find in our experience, that as soon as we begin to realise the need of food, Christ gets a greater place of moral power over our souls. Therefore Pharaoh said, “Go to Joseph; what he says to you, that do” (verse 55). It is really a repetition of what [p. 14] was already ordained, but now the people are feeling the pinch of the dearth, and are more amenable to impressions. This is the point where Christ begins to acquire power over our souls, as you feel you are wholly dependent on Him. You get no food if you do not go to Him.
AFM The Egyptians learned that lesson. They refer to Joseph all through afterwards. It is a good example for ourselves. I was wondering whether we sometimes do not go to the Lord for things instead of going to God. Is not that also true? In material things, for instance, we rightly refer to God; whereas in administrative things we refer to Christ.
JT I think so. The end is: “Let us find favour in the eyes of my lord, and we will be Pharaoh’s bondmen”, (Genesis 47:25). This shows typically, that as we own Christ in the place of administration He brings us into entire subjection to God.
FL The whole universe of God will live in and through Christ — wonderful thought!
JT That is the meaning given to the name “Zaphnathpaaneah” — ‘Saviour of the world’ or ‘Sustainer of life’.
WB-w When Joseph’s brethren went down to Egypt he commanded that their sacks be filled, and the second time he added, “As much as they can carry” (Genesis 44:1); and their money was put in their sacks on both occasions.
JT In that, there is indicated the liberality of the dispensation. You not only get food, and as much as you can carry, but your money is given back to you. There is a word to be noted in chapter 42:1: “Jacob saw that there was grain in Egypt”. He saw what existed. Then he says to his sons, “Why do ye look one upon another?” That is a great hindrance in obtaining spiritual food — looking one on another.
Ques What is the suggestion in [p. 15] that?
JT There is a lot of that kind of thing going on. The brethren are looking at one another, and talking about one another instead of going for the food. “Why do ye look one upon another?” Jacob knew where the grain was, and says, “Behold, I have heard that there is grain in Egypt; go down thither and buy grain for us from thence, in order that we may live, and not die”, (Genesis 42:2). We may be looking one on another while the saints are starving.
AMH It is a question of going down. The food is easily got if we go down, instead of looking one upon another. If we go down, we reach ground upon which the Lord can own us.
GMcP That is what they were doing at Corinth, comparing themselves one with another.
JT Exactly; and there was very little food there.
WGT Would Jacob represent the experiences of a man of God?
JT I think so. He knew what existed. He had family and felt the need of his family, so he says, “Go down thither and buy grain ... in order that we may live, and not die. And Joseph’s ten brethren went down”. They obeyed the word of their father. All these circumstances culminate in true brethren being brought to light. “A brother is born for adversity”, (Proverbs 17:17). Christ, typically, comes to light in a new way in chapter 45.
FL However far they went down, Joseph had gone further — even into the pit. I was thinking of Christ. “But that he ascended, what is it but that he also descended into the lower parts of the earth?” (Ephesians 4:9).
JEH In that connection we are exhorted to, “Let this mind be in you”, (Philippians 2:5). Will you enlarge on the thought of brethren being brought to light?
JT The need of our souls forces us to Christ.
[p. 16] What we are considering indicates the wonderful way in which God makes things work out, creating need in our souls in famine, so that we may seek the Lord. Joseph had his brethren in mind from the very outset; and after the spirit of a son and a brother is seen in Judah’s touching appeal, it is then that Joseph cries, “Put every man out from me!” (Genesis 45:1) and makes himself known to his brethren. This shows that they with Judah had judged their sin against Joseph.
FL It would be interesting to distinguish between light and food.
JT Jacob had light as to the food, but then he and his house could not live on that. Light indicates to you things as they are; you see all things clearly, but you have to move if you are to enjoy what light indicates as available.
WB-w Jacob says, “That we may live, and not die”. The sustenance of life is to be had by going down.
ABP We get provision for a new crop in chapter 47:23 — seed is given to the Egyptians with which to sow the land.
JT As all the Egyptians are secured for Pharaoh they are henceforth to be profitable to him.
ABP Applying this now, it would be that what has been ministered is to spring up in the hearts of the saints.
JT “And it shall come to pass in the increase that ye shall give the fifth to Pharaoh, and the four parts shall be your own, for seed of the field, and for your food, and for them of your households, and for food for your little ones” chapter 47:24. Figuratively the saints are now set up under God and Christ with a means of fruitfulness in which God has part with them. Here a fifth part goes to Pharaoh and the other four parts are for the people. There is an order of things brought about in which God is supreme and [p. 17] His people continue in life before Him. They have got the means of sustenance. The land was to be held for Pharaoh who was to share with them the produce of it. Spiritually, it is a happy state of things, brought into effect through the administration of Christ. Their bodies, cattle, and land are yielded to Pharaoh, corresponding with the teaching of the epistle to the Romans. There, we are said to be bondmen to God, and to yield obedience unto righteousness; and we have our fruit unto holiness.
WB-w In chapter 47:21 the idea of cities is continued: “And as for the people, he removed them into the cities, from one end of the borders of Egypt even to the other end of it”. The idea of the city continues right through.
JT “Only the land of the priests he did not buy; for the priests had an assigned portion from Pharaoh, and ate their assigned portion which Pharaoh had given them; so they did not sell their land” (verse 22). There is a place where the priests are specially cared for. In this chapter there is set up an order of things which grew out of the years of plenty and the years of famine; it is in a people who have gone through the unexampled experience depicted. Typically it shows how God takes occasion through our need to come into our souls through Christ, and to acquire a dominant place with us. We are to yield ourselves to Him as alive from among the dead, and our members as instruments of righteousness to God.
AFM Romans 12 further enters into this: Our bodies are presented a living sacrifice, and we prove what is the good and acceptable and perfect will of God.
JT We are thus brought into the divine economy where God reaps from us the fruit of the Spirit. We are in happy fixity and security. We are in the kingdom of God, which is “righteousness, and peace, and joy in the Holy Spirit”, (Romans 14:17).