Fourth reading
A.J.G. This passage has an important application to the present time, Joseph’s wife being a figure of the assembly as being needed by the Lord in the administration of food. There is an abundance of food under the hand of Christ; all the fulness of the Godhead dwells in Him bodily, but effectively, there is no administration of food if there is not a recognition of the truth of the assembly. That it why it is necessary to remark that, while Joseph is placed by Pharaoh in the place of administration, he does not enter upon this administration until his wife has been given to him. His wife is mentioned as being the daughter of Potipherah, the priest in On, that is to say that his priestly character is emphasised. It is an allusion to the truth in 2 Timothy, where it speaks of what is due to the Name of the Lord; and on account of His Name, and in separating from iniquity, we come rightly to the truth of the assembly. It is on this line of thought that the truth of the assembly has been recovered in our day, and what goes with that is the thought of the administration of spiritual food. All around us there is a great famine spiritually; nevertheless, there is an abundance of food in the hands of Christ—food administered
practically where the truth of the assembly is known. It is in light of this that Joseph’s wife typifies the assembly. With that, we have mention of two sons, and what they are to Jospeh. Evidently it is an allusion to the consolation that the Lord finds now when as compensation for all His work and also giving Him double fruitfulness—for that is the significance of the name Ephraim—that is to say that in the assembly, the Lord assures more for the heart of God than all that has been secured before in Israel. There is great significance in the fact that Pharaoh gives Asnath to Joseph, as being the daughter of Potipherah the priest in On. It is not spoken of on the side of affection; it has only in view what was necessary for Joseph in the position in which he was placed, and in the development of this chapter, it is clear that this is what is seen in localities, because Joseph gathered the food supplies and put them in cities. As we go on,
and in the measure in which needs become manifest, he opens the places in which the provisions are found, hence the importance of meeting in our own localities, because if the truth of the assembly is included, there has to be in each place what corresponds to the temple where the light of God is found, in the Spirit, and also the truth of the body in effective
expression. It is according to God’s mind that food should be administered.
Rem. The food supplies that were around each city were placed in the city.
A.J.G. That shows that our exercises in our homes, in our business, or elsewhere, all have in view to contribute to the spiritual richness of the assembly; that is in view of making us grow in the knowledge of God.
Rem. In the divine mind, all were to come to benefit from what there was.
A.J.G. That is the whole question; there is abundance of food, but that has to be obtained in the way God indicates, and it is thus that God is leased to use the assembly.
Ques. It seems that the nature of this food is especially wheat. Is that a reference to Christ?
A.J.G. I have no doubt about that. The wheat is the best there is for food.
Ques. Would you say what the conditions are to have an assembly in a locality?
A.J.G. There has first of all to be separation from all that is not suited to the Lord. If there are two persons or more who are exercised to take part, who pursue righteousness, faith, love and peace, who call upon the Lord with a pure
heart, these two people, or more, can surely continue together. If two believers walk together, the only truth by which they can regulate themselves is the truth of the assembly, because there is no other truth which must regulate the saints in their movements. It is on these lines of moral thought that the truth of the assembly has been recovered. Then, what is needed is that we should continue to recognise practically the places of Head that Christ occupies, and the presence of the Holy Spirit; there must also be love among us. If these conditions are furnished, then you have what answers to the assembly in a locality.
Rem. Pharaoh said to all the Egyptians, “Go to Joseph; what he says to you, that do”. It is a question of obedience to the Lord.
A.J.G. All that underlines what we have been saying, to grasp that God is pleased that the administration of food should be by means of the assembly.
Ques. Would the beginning of our passage correspond with Acts 2, where we have Peter who speaks with emphasis of the Lord, then there are those who led to be added to the assembly?
A.J.G. Exactly so. There is the exaltation of Christ in Acts 2, and all the food was in the
company that recognised Him as such. When Paul’s ministry is introduced, all that had taken form in localities. It is very touching to see that God is pleased to place the food within the range of man, so that Joseph did not have to concentrate the food in the same city, but he put the food supplies in diverse cities.
Rem. In chapter 47: 21, it is said, “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”.
A.J.G. That would indicate that the Lord exercise His own sovereignty so that the brethren sometimes have to change their residence, in their circumstances, without their being any will on their part. That might indicate that the Lord desires that the food should be available by this means in a new locality.
Ques. Is that what we have in Antioch?
A.J.G. It is a little like that. After the persecution which took place in the days of Stephen, the saints had been dispersed and the assemblies have increased in number.
Rem. As to what relates to our relations together, we have to be regulated by the truth of the assembly.
A.J.G. That is very important, so that it is remarkable that Joseph’s wife is always mentioned as being a priest’s daughter, that is to say that if we do not consider first what is due to the Lord, we will never have the spiritual food. But in considering first what is due to the Lord, we will find that there are others who do the same thing. Then we can walk with them, pursuing righteousness first, then faith—because it is a path of faith, not having any visible support, —then love which must come in, and finally peace. If these conditions are assured, the Holy Spirit is not grieved and food is available, but there cannot be spiritual food otherwise, and that is what is evident otherwise among believers.
Ques. Do we have in the seven years of plenty and the seven years of famine the side of privilege and the side of responsibility?
A.J.G. Not exactly privilege and
responsibility, but it seems to me that the seven years of plenty and the seven years of famine in a sense come together spiritually, that is to say that there are no limits on spiritual abundance which is at our disposal, and on the other hand we are conscious that there is a lot of spiritual famine around us. I think that it is a spiritual exercise for us that what the Lord has given us in ministry should be established in our souls,
as being in the assembly. That is the question raised: is the ministry in our souls? Is it found in love of the brethren, in every locality, so that spiritual food is available for all those who hunger?
Rem. All that began in Europe in the heart of Lydia.
A.J.G. Lydia was attentive to the things spoke by Paul, so that the truth could take form at Philippi. All those who had felt the need of food at Philippi had been directed by the Lord to find food where it was.
Rem. At Philippi, we have what would correspond to the well we had this morning, with the river, because they sat by the river.
A.J.G. It is the suggestion that the Spirit is recognised as being at our disposal, but the food in every locality depends on the fact that Christ is recognised as Head, and also the presence of the Holy Spirit. Having arrived at those conditions in a practical way, the Lordship of Christ has to be recognised, and what is due to His Name.
Rem. We must be sensitive when one cries “Abrec”1
A.J.G. You would say that that implies practical submission to Christ.
Ques. You have said that Asnath had been given by Pharaoh. What difference is there with the Father giving the bride to the Son, as we had this morning?
A.J.G. It is different: there is not the side of divine affections, nor the service of the Holy Spirit, but simply this great question of the administration of the food placed in the Lord’s hands, the assembly being necessary for that.
Ques. Would you add that the assembly being nourished in such a way, it is possible to bear fruit, because we have two sons here?
A.J.G. It is very interesting to see that these two sons are introduced and it is said a second time that Asnath was a priest’s daughter. It emphasises what is possible on the lines of moral thought, of the assembly in the [present time as furnishing compensation to Christ for all His labour and also as giving a double fruitfulness during the time of His rejection.
Ques. I am wondering if the thought of double fruitfulness is an evangelical thought. 7
A.J.G. That could well be so. It refers for me to the fact that the assembly has a richer character of fruitfulness, under the hand of Christ, for the heart of God, than all that has been assured or could have been assured in Israel, even in the best days as those of David and Solomon.
Ques. In chapter 48, Israel reclaims the two sons for himself; is God’s pleasure found in the two sons?
A.J.G. It is interesting to see in chapter 48, as you have said, that Israel who represents the Father reclaims the two sons as being his own sons, and embraces them.
Rem. These conditions are maintained normally by the service of the gospel.
A.J.G. That could be so, indeed, but the scene that we have to contemplate is in a time of famine; famine turns our souls to God. This is not a time that souls are searching for others but feeling the need to be led to Pharaoh; it is the lack of food. In that sense, it is perhaps a figure not so much of the work of the gospel among those who do not know God, but rather the state of spiritual famine that exists among the greater number of true believers.
Ques. Do the disciples express this thought when they say, “to whom shall we go? thou hast words of life eternal”, John 6: 68?
A.J.G. Exactly so. They knew that there were words of eternal life in Christ and they could not find them elsewhere. It is striking here that, although they went to Pharaoh to ask for bread, he said to them, “Go to Joseph: what he says to you, that do”. It is the secret to getting food, that is to say, obedience to the Lord’s commandments.
Ques. Would you say that these circumstances correspond to the governmental circumstances that exist today?
A.J.G. That is indeed what was actually in my mind, and it is what gives us the feeling of the great importance of the local position. It is not simply what we can retain, or even what according to this chapter what is found in God, but it is as a foundation for the administrative operations for food in the midst of where the need is felt. There is no doubt that there is famine at the present time, expect where the truth of the assembly is recognised. One hears say from all parts the Christians do not have spiritual food.
Ques. What difference do you make between the food stored in the cities and the hidden manna in Revelation?
A.J.G. The hidden manna in Revelation is the promise made to the overcomer in Pergamos; it is a secret between the overcomer’s soul and the Lord. In this assembly in Pergamos, there were certain evil doctrines that were maintained secretly, the held the doctrine of Balaam but they did not teach it openly, so that the evil worked in a secret way. In contrast with that, the overcomer is sustained in a hidden way, and fed on the hidden manna, and he is given a white stone on which a name is written that nobody knows but he who receives it. What is secret for the overcomer is put in contrast with what operated secretly that was evil.
Ques. Do we have the thought of administration with the virtuous woman of Provers 31? She gives food to her household.
A.J.G. Exactly. That actually goes well with our subject, because the virtuous woman is another type of the assembly, and her household would represent the saints individually. It is said that she brings her food from afar, which signifies that she recognised the Holy Spirit; bread is brought from affair, would you say, so that it is constantly fresh.
Rem. We have a contrast there with Laodicea, which says I have need of nothing.
A.J.G. It is sad to think that this condition should be possible. The Lord being outside, she says, “I am rich … and have need of nothing”. The Lord says, “knowest not that thou art the wretched and the miserable, and poor, and blind, and naked”. Such conditions are not considered here, but the food and the distribution to all that have need, and all under the hand of Joseph who put the supplies into cities.
Ques. What would you say about the name that Pharaoh gave to Joseph in verse 45?
A.J.G. We are told what its significance is: Saviour of the world, or Sustainer of life. That is in view, do you not think? The knowledge of all true food comes from Christ. It is a thought that affects us particularly, to know that he administers nothing directly, but one must have the assembly to this end. Thus when Saul had been converted, he was told he had first to go into the city.
Rem. It is important to recognise that the assembly must have its part in the distribution of food.
A.J.G. That is why it is said that in Him—Christ—all the fulness of the body dwells
bodily; and “ye are complete in Him”, Col 2: 9. As we mentioned yesterday, the epistle to the Colossians says, “and not according to Christ, chap 2: 8. “See that there be no one who shall lead you away through philosophy or vain deceit, according to the teaching of men, according to the elements of the world, and not according to Christ”. That is the important point; that is the whole question, that we should be “according to Christ”. I believe that it is important to be on our guard about the truth of the local assembly according to the epistle to the Corinthians. The two great features are the temple and the body, that is to say that in recognising the presence of the Holy Spirit, it is always possible to have light from God. But this light must be shed in an atmosphere of mutual love among the saints, so that the whole position is altogether attractive. What the Lord has in view is that the administration should not be done by a single brother—which would be a tendency to clericalism—but rather the saints as being set together, in love, recognising what is available in the Spirit.
Ques. What is thought about Joseph’s chain and gold ring?
A.J.G. It is a special distinction.
Ques. What do you think about chapter 47: 26?
A.J.G. I have not gone that far in my mind. It vis nevertheless very interesting in relation to our subject to see that chapter 47 extends the thought of the administration of food supplies extend the thought of Joseph’s administration. The result of the constant administration of supplies that the people come to belong entirely to Pharaoh, what they have and what they are is entirely maintained at Pharaoh’s disposal. It is indeed what the Lord seeks in the present time. All the spiritual food that we receive has in view to secure us more for God, for His will and for His service.
Ques. In connection with the food, could we make an application to what is said in Ephesians 4: 8, “Having ascended up on high, he has led captivity captive and given gifts to men”?
A.J.G. It is not exactly that He has given gifts, but rather what is found in each local company. The gifts are given in view of helping the saints as to the truth of the assembly, but the assembly will remain when the gifts cease. God’s great thought is that our souls should be drawn to the assembly and find their part there.
Ques. What are we to think of the fact that the two sons of Joseph were born before the year of famine came?
A.J.G. That indicates what is there for the heart of Christ and for the heart of God before the necessity arises to face the needs of souls. If souls feel their need of spiritual food, what will attract them is that they are to be found in a place where Christ is served and where God is served; I think that is what is represented by the two sons, that is to say there is a compensation for Christ’s heart, and under His hand, a double fruitfulness in God’s service. The Lord draws attention to that, although other conditions exist. There are spiritual sensibilities that true believers will appreciate, and in line with that, the administration of food.
Rem. And so after David had danced before Jehovah, he returns to bless his house and distributed food.
A.J.G. That is most significant.
Ques. What does the fact suggest that the food is bought in the last two verses of our chapter?
A.J.G. Well, we have to buy the truth and sell it not. Growing in the truth always implies sacrifice in one way or another. Generally, we appreciate things more if we buy them.
Ques. In such conditions, could they be maintained in a locality where the brothers are in a great state of weakness? We read in
Proverbs 30: 25, “the ants, a people not strong, yet they provide their food in the summer”.
A.J.G. So long as there are two or three persons who go on in the ways of the assembly, there is no reason why spiritual food cannot be dispensed to them.
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