2 CHRONICLES 8 (NOTES OF A READING)
2 CHRONICLES 8 (NOTES OF A READING)
Ques Have you any thought as to the two hundred and fifty superintendents? It speaks of those “which have the rule over you” in Hebrews 13: 7 (A.V.).
CAC Yes, I was thinking of that scripture; I think that is right.
Ques How would you regard the daughter of Pharaoh?
CAC It would appear that it was hardly a spiritual act to bring an Egyptian princess into the city of David. I think we should gather that Solomon entered into alliance with Pharaoh in the marriage of his daughter at a time when he did not sufficiently value the ark. It is just at the time, we are told, that the children of Israel were worshipping on the high places and that Gibeon was the chief high place, rather intimating that Gibeon where Solomon worshipped at that time was tinged with an idolatrous influence. I think it suggests to us that Solomon had been increasing in his appreciation of the holiness of the ark and of the places where the ark came, so that now he thinks quite differently about the suitability of Pharaoh’s daughter being in the city of David. He thinks about it in reference to the holiness of the ark which should have been his first consideration, as it was with his father, but he does not seem to have come to it very quickly.
Ques Does that mean that we need to review things and change our mind?
CAC Yes, I think so. Solomon may represent those who have come here positionally to the ark, without any sense of the holiness of the ark. I think that is possible. Everything connected with the house, and its service, and surroundings and associations, was intended to be governed by the holiness of the ark. If we thought just of what was suitable to Christ, it would help us in our associations, would it not?
Rem It is well to get corrected if we have not been right.
CAC Yes. I think there was gain in this adjustment. There is always gain in spiritual adjustment. The whole service of God should be taken up in an orderly way when this matter has been adjusted.
Rem At the same time it shows it was a mistake on the part of Solomon, for she could not share in his highest services. This book was written for the remnant after Ezra’s time and Nehemiah speaks of Solomon’s failure in this way.
CAC Quite so. It is good to see that as we exercise ourselves in relation to the house of God and His service we become more sensitive. We develop sensibilities; so that what pains at one time has to be dealt with in severity at another. You can hardly think that Pharaoh’s daughter would enter much into the life of Solomon or the things connected with him. There is almost an intended contrast between her and the queen of Sheba who comes with a remarkable appreciation of Solomon and all that stands in relation to him.
Rem It is not safe ground till Christ has the first place.
CAC The ark getting its place is a very important matter. It was brought to its place, which means that Christ secures the place that is due to Him in all our hearts. It would appear that this was true with Solomon. The sense of the holiness of the ark was greatly intensified,
so that he realised that there was something unsuitable about Pharaoh’s daughter coming even into the place where it had been. We need this intensified in our souls for He is “the holy one of God”. It is the only thing that will give us true sensibilities and the great instruction of these historical books is that we may get a right thought of Christ as the ark of the covenant.
Rem The apostle Paul said, “I pursue, looking towards the goal, for the prize of the calling on high of God in Christ Jesus” (Philippians 3: 14).
CAC It meant a clear cut for Paul. “On account of whom I have suffered the loss of all, and count them to be filth” (verse 8). It cost him something; there had been a severance of the things that had held him. He suffered the loss of all for Christ; they found their proper place. It is beautiful to see, after this adjustment of things, that Solomon takes up the complete service of God. The word “completion” is used in verse 16. The service of the house is brought to completion.
Ques What is the great importance to ourselves of that?
CAC There is an order of service in the assembly which is pleasing to God, and it should be our great concern that every part of it should be brought to completion. So that the offering service and the service of song go on. What we find in this section is that every detail of it is carried out according to the commandment of David, the offerings and set feasts of Jehovah and everything desired; there was not a missing link. It took a year for the whole course to be gone through by them. We are better off; we have the privilege of carrying the service through every week.
Rem This is the highest level.
CAC I think we should have that before us. The set feasts would apply to when we are together, do you not think?
Rem “As the duty of every day required” is stressed more than once.
CAC Yes, it is very interesting, and carries us back to Numbers 28, Numbers 29 where Jehovah calls upon His people to bring His bread and His offering. It is not to be wanting on any occasion whatever — “day by day”. “My bread for my offerings”, as though He fed upon it and looked to His people to supply Him with bread, that is, some presentation of Christ. There is a fulness of things now that goes beyond what could be presented typically. All the offerings present to God something of Christ, Christ viewed as the acceptance of His people. We need to carry with us daily the sense of our acceptance in Christ. Nothing we can do will give Him pleasure if we leave that out.
Ques “All the day shall he be blessed” (Psalm 72: 15). It seems to cover all the commandment of Jehovah here; so should the saints have in mind the whole sphere of service, beginning with the thought of redemption to the highest point?
CAC That is what I thought. The feast of unleavened bread is the first of them and that is the state of soul in which we eat the Supper, that is, the judging of all connected with the flesh, a very important element in the service of God that everything of that sort should be judged. There seems a distinct progress in the feast of unleavened bread. After that there are seven weeks of exercise before we come to the feast of weeks. It seems to bring us more to what is spiritual, would you say? It is fifty days thinking about Christ as risen and our association with Him as risen. Fifty days spent like that would do us good, and we move on from the exercise brought in by the Supper. It is brought in as a corrective matter. We move on to the spiritual side of the service, which has to do with our association with Him as risen; it is Pentecost really. The feast of weeks supposes a spiritual order of things, a new kind of fruit for God; it is “first fruits”, and the Spirit of God is connected with it, giving it all a spiritual character.
Ques The spiritual side was hardly reached by the Corinthians, would you say? It says, “Let us celebrate the feast” (1 Corinthians 5: 8).
CAC There were conditions there that required the feast of unleavened bread to put them right. It is only as we have eaten this that we can eat the Supper. But then in our service we travel over all the ground each time we eat the Supper.
Ques What of the feast of tabernacles?
CAC Is that not the climax of the year? It is the “ingathering”. It is the fruition of all the thoughts of God, and is for us set forth in Christ glorified. These set feasts are connected with Moses; the service of song comes in in connection with David. If we do not reach the crown and climax, we do not really serve God according to His pleasure. There is an order in the service which we need to be exercised about. We ought to know at any particular point in the meeting what we are occupied with, what we are doing, so that there is no disparity in the service. We ought to listen and know what we have come to in the service. I think that is rather the bearing of Solomon. He has now become spiritual and has sensibilities so that he can take the whole round of the service and there is not a stitch dropped, you might say.
Rem In verses 12 - 16 Solomon is on a very high spiritual level.
CAC Yes, I think so.
Rem So that, the set feasts and the service of song having their place with us, the priests can function.
CAC Yes, the priests and Levites fall into their appointed place; there is an order about it. It all becomes an evidence of the headship of Christ.
Rem David is only called “the man of God” in this connection, as he is in Nehemiah.
CAC Yes, he had the understanding of the service in a special way. “They did not depart from the commandment of the king ... concerning any matter”, it says. The service in that day was only a shadow; it was not anything to compare with the service today.
Ques In what way do you mean?
CAC It was only typical; in itself it did not afford God any pleasure, only by speaking of Christ. But we have to do now with the reality of things, the actual preciousness of Christ.
Ques How would you apply the thought of “treasures” in verse 15?
CAC I think they refer to things that have accumulated from the past, things come down to us. They all stand related to the service of God and have come down to us through past ministry and past conflicts, and the assembly is the storehouse where a vast amount has accumulated for the pleasure of God. It is wealth Godward; it is the whole truth of the assembly as far as it has come to us. It is there in the house as treasure and God is served in relation to it. And there is a suggestion of wealth coming in from the gentile world at the end of the chapter. God has been pleased to place great spiritual wealth amongst the gentiles. This scripture speaks specifically of the wealth of the nations.
Rem In Colossians 2: 2 we have, “In which are hid all the treasures of wisdom and of knowledge”.
CAC It all contributes to the wealth that is available in connection with the service of Solomon. Every spiritual thought that God has planted in gentile hearts is all additional to the work. More has come in from the gentile than God ever got from the Jew. A great store of gold is found in Edom, as in store in the gentile world. God had it always in His mind that there should be great spiritual wealth found among the gentiles. And I suppose that is why the queen of Sheba comes in at this point, showing the great spiritual wealth with the gentile, for she comes up with great wealth. She was needed as completing the divine thought, that there was not only found one in Solomon that could build the house and carry on the service and bring all to completion, but there is a woman found who can appreciate it all; she can estimate it all in reference to Jehovah. The setting out of God’s mind would not be much for His pleasure if there were no hearts to appreciate it.
Rem It is normal for appreciation to increase all the time.
CAC It is delightful to think of every word that contributes to the service of God.