HOUSEHOLDS IN THE NEW TESTAMENT (2)
[p. 155] HOUSEHOLDS IN THE NEW TESTAMENT (2)
Hebrews 11:7; 1 Samuel 1:20; 1 Samuel 1:23-28; 2 Kings 4:1 - 7
JT The burden that is on the hearts of many parents, which I gather from one and another, is how young ones are to merge in the assembly. They come along in the truth and then desire not to go further. The thought is what instruction Scripture gives, where the responsibility lies when it descends particularly on children. It would seem as if Noah in this respect would fit in as a man who appeared in a crisis. The world of that day was at its worst, and judgment was in the mind of God for it. What exercises he had! He was moved with fear. That is the comment of the Spirit of God, in the New Testament, and in the end of chapter 6 and 7 of Genesis. He was moved with fear and prepared an ark for the saving of his house. His exercise was for his house. And then another thing is the number of households that are headless, in the sense of the man being head: some not in the truth, others not living; how the wife may act, and how she would be responsible so that the gain of the household should not be lost to the children, and correspondingly, that the assembly should not suffer. In the case of Hannah we have the husband living, but the exercises are all hers as regards the child and the desire then reached.
AL Is Noah a type of what we had in the previous reading? It says that he walked with God.
JT That is right. The carrying out of what we had. The need was in his house. He had come into it already.
Rem Would you say in Hannah’s house the husband’s affections were divided? He had two [p. 156] wives.
JT Quite. He had a great opinion of himself, too. He said, “Am not I better to thee than ten sons?”
AR In reference to the first scripture that was read in Hebrews, do you think the possibilities of the household are very great? Noah judges this world in the building of the ark, but it is a generation for another world coming up.
JT Quite so, and if that is to be there must be a going in. The word was to him. The ark should be built and then Jehovah says to him, “But with thee will I establish my covenant; and thou shalt go into the ark, thou, and thy sons, and thy wife, and thy sons’ wives with thee”. That is an understanding between a head of a house and God. There is no command directed to the children. It is all to Noah, and then it says in verse 7 of the next chapter, “And Noah went in, and his sons, and his wife, and his sons’ wives with him, into the ark”. And then it is said in verse 13, “On the same day went Noah and Shem and Ham and Japheth, the sons of Noah, and Noah’s wife, and the three wives of his sons with them, into the ark”; and then in verse 16, “and Jehovah shut him in”. These verses show that there is a going in to be there. The ark may be taken to be a type of the assembly as going through, carrying the precious things of God, the persons, to establish another world. There is to be a going in each by himself, all under the command given through the head.
APT Following out the thought of going in, in verse 7; in chapter 8: 18 they go out. Is that your thought: the positive result of going in?
JT Well, exactly. They go in and they go out.
The going out is under the Lord’s direction, too. On the renewed earth, not to seek one’s pleasure but into a new world.
AFM Look at that verse in John 10, “I am the [p. 157] door: if any one enter in by me, he shall be saved, and shall go in and shall go out and shall find pasture” (verse 9).
JT The idea is there. There is the thought of going in. The point is the door. “If any one enter in by me, he shall be saved”. Christ is the door. Well, that fits in with Genesis 6 and 7. Salvation depended on going in.
BP Would you say that Jacob as a young man learned that it was the gate of heaven?
JT That is good.
CAM I was struck with the expression used. It was really of the nature of a crisis. Our protection in a crisis would be our going in. There is a tendency in a crisis to be occupied with all kinds of things outside; whereas, really, the only safe place is inside.
JT Quite so. The Lord alludes to it. In the day that Noah entered into the ark. That was an epoch. That is really a crucial matter. Young people go on to a point and then determine they will not go in. They want to retain their liberty, but the enemy only seeks to get them into bondage.
Rem It says they go into the city in Revelation and after that it says “without are dogs”. Would that correspond with what we have to deal with today? What is inside and what is outside.
JT “Without are dogs”. “Blessed are they that wash their robes, that they may have right to the tree of life”.
Rem A person may be in the room, but you speak of being in the thing experimentally. In fellowship would be the step inside, would it?
JT Exactly. Paul says, what have I to do with judging those outside? It is what is inside. You get it running through Scripture, and with Noah you get the thought not only of his house. “They went to Noah into the ark”. They all looked up to Noah. It is the work of God. We have to reckon on that.
You might think Noah would say, ‘Well, look at these creatures. How are they going to come?’ He cannot sit somewhere to catch them. Well, you must trust to God to move in them or they will not come. That is a word to the parents. It says in verse 8, “Of clean beasts, and of beasts that are not clean, and of fowl, and of everything that creeps on the ground, there came two and two unto Noah into the ark, male and female, as God had commanded Noah”. How did that happen? It was God.
Rem There was a period of seven days in verse 4. Jehovah says, “For in yet seven days I will cause it to rain on the earth ...”. It was a very short time for that whole creation to get in.
JT Quite so.
Rem That seven days would be a period, would it not? A period of time in which the Lord would work.
JT Quite so. You can count on that. Noah would know them. He did not name them. He might think, how can I expect them to come? They are not said to be wild or carnivorous, but what a test that would be to him. He says, not one of the men around will come. But the beasts and fowl and creeping things came, God saw to that.
JS It is a very great encouragement to faith, to see the movements of the creatures to the ark. Two by two, male and female.
JT Quite so. It casts you upon God. If He does not do that, you cannot expect it. There are no young people mentioned in connection with the ark. They are all mature. He could not say to Shem, ‘Do this or that’. Yet Shem was amenable. He did exactly as he was told, and in regard to the cattle, they all came. Noah, you may be sure, would be very much cast on God.
JS He who gave them being worked in them.
[p. 159] JT Quite so.
JTJr Why do the sons of Noah come first?
JT They are next to him in intelligence. Their names are given. They are in separate households and yet he is head of them. But they come nearest to him in intelligence.
ANW Are you implying that he had more to do with God about Shem than Shem had direct?
JT I should think so. We read of the God of Shem later. Doubtless, he was a godly man, but it was all put on the head. The direction was to Noah.
BP Noah found favour.
JT Quite so.
Rem So there is fruit Godward. His sons come into view.
JT Quite so. In chapter 9 they are blessed, so that there is a link with God, but all issuing from Noah’s personal exercise. He walked with God, and he was perfect amongst his generations.
TH Would you mind helping me in that he was warned oracularly?
JT That is a credit to him. The word ‘oracular’ would mean that he was a man capable of receiving it in that way; God did not have to go out of His way. Samuel did not discern God’s voice at the outset, but Noah did. It is an honour.
APT Is there any thought of headship in John’s gospel? In verses 38 and 39 of chapter 1 it says, “Rabbi, ... where abidest thou? He says to them, Come and see. They went therefore, and saw where he abode; ..” and in chapter 4 you get the same thought with the woman. I was wondering if there was any thought in the gospel.
JT That is right. You get so many examples of persons in whom Christ was. If Christ is in me, He is my Head. He was in John the baptist sacrificially, and that is how he spoke of Him. He says, “Behold the Lamb of God!” And the two disciples heard him speaking, and followed Jesus, and they say to Him,
“Rabbi, ... where abidest thou?” They called Him Teacher. John called Him that. They did not call Him Lamb. They spoke rightly. They said, We need to be taught, we need more teaching. They called Him Rabbi. We are told in the scripture that that is what is meant. They needed teaching, and, of course, there is not one here who would say he did not need to be taught.
AR In Genesis 7 the great feature of headship is seen in Noah.
JT Quite so.
AR He is head of his wife and all the creatures are coming to Noah.
JT There is no suggestion of rebellion at all in the ark, nor is there a suggestion of children. When we think of the young people merging in the assembly we must not think of them as children. No one has a place in the assembly except a man. The idea must be in the man. Maybe the brethren do not think that is right. What do you say about that, Mr. W.?
ANW I think that is right. They are not in view in Jordan, whereas in crossing the Red Sea Moses says, “We will go with our young and with our old”.
JT When we come into fellowship in the book of Numbers it is from twenty years old and upward. All in fellowship are to be men.
Rem They are supposed to be able to think for themselves and do for themselves.
JT So that we do not say, He is a wonderful boy. If he is in fellowship he must be a man.
JS Is that what in meant in John 1? “Thou shalt be called Cephas”.
JT Quite so.
JTJr The babes were in Corinth.
JT Paul says, “I ... have not been able to speak to you as to spiritual, but as to ... babes in Christ”.
HAS What about the lambs [p. 161] in John 21?
JT John in his epistle classifies us as children, that is, when he says,”My children”. It is a dignified thought. They are little ones, but not in the sense of being unable to speak for themselves. The principle is, “He is of age”. Twenty is of age. He is of age spiritually. He might be only thirteen, but he may be of age.
TH So, in the house some of our offspring take their place with us in fellowship — it would be quite different from those who have not taken their place.
JT They are brethren now, and it is to be understood that they are brethren. Samuel, in the second reference to his ministry, wore a linen ephod. That would not suit at the football game.
Rem He would have to take it off or not go to the football game.
APT It requires great spiritual ability to sit down at the table with your wife and your daughter but at the same time they are your sisters. It requires great spiritual power to understand that.
JT A man does not look at his wife in the assembly as his wife, she is his sister. “Let them ask their own husbands at home”, where the relationship belongs.
ANW Six of the apostles were brothers, that is, three pairs of brothers.
JT So that spirituality was required if they were to answer to the mind of God.
AR You would expect young people to speak for themselves.
JT In New Zealand we had great difficulty because the brethren in one place were all composed of one family, and in due time the sons had to deal in discipline with their father.
CAM That is a very interesting thing. It seems to involve this matter of headship, the atmosphere of a house. If the work of God in the child is not properly recognised, and you have a kind of domineering [p. 162] condition there, disaster will come to that house; and it will take place just as you say. It seems as if the work of God in the child must be greatly respected.
JT Quite so. Genesis 6 is to show us that of every creature, two and two came into the ark. They came to Noah.
Rem The official priesthood was breaking down in Samuel.
JT That is the next thing to look into; I can see in Noah’s case, how God worked with him; the Lord worked with the creatures, we can reckon on that. Aside from it nothing can come about for God. In Hannah’s case we have a household. The head is really not head, although he loved Hannah, which is to his credit; but then the exercise was all hers. He did not discredit it, but the exercise was all hers. And the instruction now is for sisters who have husbands who are not in fellowship; as to how they are to work the thing, and as to whether they are able to contribute to the house of God through their families.
HAS That is a very important question with us in Chatham. Some of our sisters feel it very keenly that their husbands are not with them, and how can they carry on and win their children when their husbands are opposed to them?
JT Do you not think the instruction in Samuel helps?
HAS Very much.
JT The official priesthood was corrupt, but in this first chapter that was not noted. Things were outwardly normal. They all went to the special meetings at Jerusalem for the sacrifices, and the sons of Eli were there. They are even called priests of Jehovah, for God is not yet exposing him. What He is showing us here is the exercise of a parent. Whether it touched the state of things or not, her exercises were intended to meet the great end in [p. 163] the service of God.
JS She was evidently with God.
JT Evidently.
AR Throughout the occasion in Shiloh, the Spirit of God is pleased to single out one sister.
Ques How many do you think were at Shiloh?
JT A large number.
Rem Our numbers are not so very large.
JT Quite so. There is one woman among all that large number. Her exercises were calculated to meet the current need.
CAM It says in Corinthians, “For what knowest thou, O wife, if thou shalt save thy husband?” As if it would be a sort of constant exercise. I would like to ask about the very last sentence of this first chapter of Samuel, as to the pronoun used. It says, “And he worshipped Jehovah there”. Are we right in thinking that that is to indicate that Hannah’s godliness had the most wonderful result in the man?
JT I think it shows what an influence she had. She was the real priest in Shiloh. I think what is meant is that she influenced Eli. He was a man of that kind. She came up to Shiloh with the boy and the bullocks and the wine and told him she was the woman that prayed. She influenced Eli, so that her influence led to worship.
RWS She did not have in mind the Sunday-school idea, or the young peoples’ meetings. She wanted to present him before Jehovah.
JT She brought him up with offerings that referred to full manhood; not a pigeon or a turtledove, but it says, “she took him up with her when she had weaned him, with three bullocks, and one ephah of flour, and a flask of wine, and brought him to the house of Jehovah to Shiloh; and the boy was young”. But she was thinking of manhood. She had a man in her mind.
Rem I heard a brother say that the reason the young people were not getting on in their souls was [p. 164] because they did not have young peoples’ meetings. This would offset that.
JT The Lord is helping on that point. The idea of separating children negates the manhood thought. Manhood is shut out for the moment. I have been where they had young peoples’ meetings and the assembly meeting next door. Manhood is shut out. The boy is young, but in Hannah’s mind, she has great, mature thoughts. How is he to be in the house of God save in view of being a man?
Rem In the wilderness it was one omer of manna every day. There was no division of the manna.
JT The youngest child got the same amount as the father, showing that the divine thought is the same for all.
AR This woman starts at the highest offering and brings three of them.
JT Quite so. And a bottle of wine. She has the right thought. It really refers to Christ. It stimulates God, speaking reverently.
TH I thought Zacchaeus would be that kind of man. He had a little wine. He received him joyfully.
Rem One bullock was offered.
JT Quite so. What is to be dwelt upon here is what was going on in her mind, what that boy was in her mind. That child brings out her priestly mind.
TC How do you account for its being called the house of Jehovah? I was wondering whether it was still the tabernacle.
JT Oh, it was. The tabernacle was set up in Shiloh.
ANW In connection with the manhood thought, can you not recognise it with the growth?
JT She had man in her mind. One day she would have to make a great suit for him. He was to be a man; so that the Lord says that a woman has joy because a man is born.
McC As a parent, my exercise ought to be to [p. 165] furnish material for the assembly instead of giving them an education in the world.
JT Quite so. And that your children are not any different from others. There are those who think their children are swans, when they are only ducks. They all have to come in for the governmental dealing of God. There is no use in anyone thinking that his child is any different. “That which is born of the flesh is flesh”. And here Samuel did not know the Lord.
Rem In connection with our children: they need to be converted even though they are brought up in christian households.
JT Certainly. Samuel did not yet know the Lord; so that a child may serve but God says, ‘He does not know Me’. You must look for God dealing with the child. The best training will attain the desired end.
Ques Would you say the child recognises God’s voice?
JT She had to wait for that.
WN The Lord says in the gospels, “lead them to me”. She brought him there.
JT Yes, and she had weaned him first. She never claimed to influence him there. She brought him to the house of Jehovah. She says, he is lent; but she meant that he was never to be recalled, and yet she is always accredited with him in Jehovah’s mind. She is never lost sight of.
Rem Say more about not knowing the Lord, when he appeared to be such a wonderful boy.
JT It is to show that the child was taken up in relation to the faith of the parent, and that his service is taken up from that point of view. There is nothing different, nothing incongruous about him. In chapter 3: 1 the boy ministers to Jehovah before Eli, as recognising the order that is still there. In verse 18 of the previous chapter Samuel ministered [p. 166] before Jehovah, a boy girded with a linen ephod; and in verse 26, “And the boy Samuel grew on, and was in favour both with Jehovah and also with men”. In chapter 3: 1, “And the boy Samuel ministered to Jehovah before Eli”. Then in the end of chapter 3 we have the man. It says in verse 19, “And Samuel grew, and Jehovah was with him, and let none of his words fall to the ground. And all Israel, from Dan even to Beer-sheba, knew that Samuel was established a prophet of Jehovah”.
AR Confirming what you said, the idea of the coat was that there was growth, whereas with the linen ephod there was no growth.
JT Quite so. There is no idea of it being too big for him, or too small for him. A priest must be a man.
Rem It is remarkable that Eli says to him to say, “Speak, Lord; for thy servant heareth”. He earlier did not know the Lord.
JT Quite so. Eli put words into his mouth, but he does not completely use them.
Rem In Samuel’s time a vision was not frequent, and things were going out. Is that not in utter contrast today?
JT You mean that there are communications now?
Rem Yes.
JT Quite so. A vision was not frequent, the word of Jehovah was rare.
APT Is it important to read the Scriptures in the morning? There is a necessity for morning reading and prayers. It is a fine thing. These cases are due to a lack of this.
JT That may be. Where the word of God is brought in in the house by the head the household takes on a character in which God is honoured. Every creature of God is good, and you are impressed as you start the morning with the idea of God in creation and in redemption. It is a very great thing to start [p. 167] with reading and prayer. It says the creatures are sanctified by the word of God and prayer. It is delightful to God in a man of faith.
Ques How far would we go in giving the child an opportunity in the midst of such conditions? Samuel did something.
JT Give him scope. Do not say to him, ‘It is not for you to speak’. Samuel acted as priest before he knew the Lord, but he is coming into it. As soon as Jehovah speaks to him, He tells him about Eli and the terrible condition in the priesthood. He does not treat him as a boy.
Rem That is very helpful, because sometimes in a wilderness setting, the tendency is to keep things from our children; but we could well understand that in the tests of the wilderness, when the fathers were going to war, that matter would be discussed.
JT Quite so. The children ought to be brought up as men. Do not make them believe they are too little, because they know that well enough.
McC If a brother gets on his feet the first time and makes a mistake in addressing divine Persons, would you rebuke him?
JT You would show him the way of the Lord more perfectly. You would not rebuke him.
McC There is a way to do it.
JT Do not tell him not to do that again. Instruct him.
Rem And in that there is a stimulus to the saints.
JT Samuel has been ministering. He ministered to Jehovah, yet he did not know Jehovah. That is he is allowed to do that, as before Eli. And then the next thing, he speaks to Jehovah and receives a communication. Now notice, it is not the boy Samuel, it is Samuel. That is the well-known man. Remember, this is written long after. It is the man now, but then he is still a boy, but he has got an [p. 168] ephod on. That is in the mind of God about him.
You are to think of him as a man.
EB Would you say that Samuel was more priestly than Eli?
JT Well, yes. But Eli is not exposed yet. He is still the high priest.
McC So that I have small children, but my vision is to see them men, mature, for the assembly.
JT The first child born into this world is called a man. And that is intentional, that is the idea. “I have acquired a man with Jehovah”. A woman rejoices that a man is born into the world (John 16: 21).
APf I would like to ask a question with regard to children in one family being brought up the same way, and yet coming out so differently; some have taken their place and others are going into the world.
What is the reason?
JT You might say that is true in almost every family. In almost every family there is one child that seems to cause more concern than others, and it is to turn the parents more to God. Hezekiah turned his face to the wall. ‘Jehovah, I can do no more. It is You now, or nothing’. That is what God is looking for. You can do nothing, but God can do everything. If we just say, ‘Let it go at that’, nothing happens. But when you take it up with God, God will hear and will do something for you.
BP Job says, “I know that thou canst do everything”.
JT Quite so.
APT David had to feel the trial of a wayward son. The most attractive is usually the worst.
JT This one is not coming along, God has something to say to me in that. The great point is, let the parent take it to heart and get to the Lord about it, and some day God will give you the feeling that He has heard you. In regard of Mr. Pf.’s remark, Hannah knew that the Lord heard her. It says in [p. 169] chapter 1: 17, Eli said to her, “Go in peace; and the God of Israel grant thee thy petition which thou hast asked of him. And she said, Let thy bondwoman find grace in thy sight. And the woman went her way, and did eat, and her countenance was no more as before”. She was conscious that God had heard.
Ques Would you mind saying what the setting of Exodus 2 is?
JT You mean Moses’ mother and father? How far they went to preserve the child! And God sent a saviour, for really, Pharaoh’s daughter is a saviour. She was not a characteristic daughter of Pharaoh. She was a saviour, answering to the exercises of Moses’ mother. God provided her.
-McC. I suppose every one in this room prays. You were speaking of God hearing our prayers. Is that normal? Should we have that consciousness normally?
JT I cannot say that I can say that. There are many things that you ask for and ask for and ask for. God encourages you to keep on asking; but a moment comes when you say, ‘I am heard this time’. Now, Hannah had this in mind when she named her child. She says, “Because I have asked him of Jehovah”, and his name means, as we know, ‘heard of God’, or, ‘asked for of God’. It is one of the most comforting things I know of: the sense that God hears you.
Rem Praying with prayer would be a special kind of prayer.
JT Quite so.
AR You are not only thinking of the boy in praying, you are thinking of God.
JT Quite so.
Rem Abraham said, “Oh that Ishmael might live before thee!” That would have been a poor thing if it had been answered.
JT Think of a man like that being thrust into the presence of God! Sarah says, ‘Cast him out’. She had a right thought.
Ques What have you to say about Eli’s looseness? He restrained them not.
JT That is a sorrowful thing. It was too late now; he came too late. He said to his sons in chapter 2: 24, “No, my sons, for it is no good report that I hear: ye make Jehovah’s people transgress. If one man sin against another, God will judge him; but if a man sin against Jehovah, who shall intreat for him? But they hearkened not to the voice of their father, for Jehovah was minded to slay them”. But then before Eli said this, it says, he “was very old”. Why did he not say it earlier? Why did the parent leave it so long? The children grew hardened.
Why did they not hear it before? Where were his eyes? He is an object lesson for parents in letting things go too long. If we are right with God, they will not become hardened. That is an outcome of a long course — Jehovah was minded to slay them. Now we come to the sons of the widow, they help her with the vessels.
AFM Do you think that they were encouraged to help with the vessels as under Elisha?
JT You notice that they go in and shut the door. The prophet says, “shut the door upon thee and upon thy sons, and pour out into all those vessels, and set aside what is full. And she went from him, and shut the door upon her and upon her sons”; that is, we get them inside with her. This is a spiritual transaction.
AR He says to her, “what hast thou in the house?” That would correspond with what we had this afternoon.
AFM It is a contrast to what we had this afternoon.
JT She had the Spirit in principle, but did not value it. She did not realise how the children might [p. 171] be brought into it; the development of the Spirit in the house. She shut the door and they are shut in together, and the vessels are filled in that setting.
Ques What does that mean?
JT Shutting out all else.
Rem Like the ark.
JT That is right, shutting out all else.
TH Would the idea of a prophetic word coming to us be helpful as to the door being closed?
JT The idea of closing the door is shutting those in who are to be helped spiritually. “The doors shut ... through fear of the Jews”. It runs through Scripture. It shuts out what is inimical.
JH This house seems to be in order. “What hast thou in the house?” She has nothing save a pot of oil; the house seems to be in order.
JT Quite so. She had influence with her sons. They were carried with her in what she was doing.
Ques Is there anything in the thought of the neighbours? She was able to go to the neighbours and borrow their vessels.
JW She did not do them any harm. The fact is, she had an asset, and that was capable of being enlarged itself. The process is shutting the sons in with yourself and the vessels. The idea is eliminating fleshly things, it is Romans 8.
JS It was really empty vessels that she borrowed.
JT Quite so.
AR What about her debt? She has a creditor to pay. She is to pay all her debt with this.
JT It is the righteous requirement of the law.
Rem When the vessels are filled, the Spirit of God dwells in them.
JT They are able to pay all the debts and live besides.
JS So that she becomes morally wealthy here.
JT Quite so. The rich woman [p. 172] in Shunem.
APT There are two prophetic words to her one for the borrowing, and the other for the selling. I suppose we get more help as we go along.
JT Quite so. So that the opening up of this is Romans 8.
AFM We might help our children on this line, not only in praying but in leading them on in their exercises as to what is of the flesh and what is of the Spirit. In helping them, we help ourselves. We help our children in bringing these things before them.
JT Bring them into the thing, into spiritual enlargement. Children are usually not very happy to be shut in with their mother, but they are here.
AD Elisha says, “thy sons”, the woman said, “my two children”.
GW Is it right for us to have debts; to buy on credit, on the instalment plan?
JT This is a parable. It is a type of a christian as seen in Romans 7, unable to meet his obligations; in Romans 8 he is able to meet them in the Spirit.
It is a type. Scripture says, “Owe no one anything”.
APT You would not want your children to sit down to a meal if you did not pay for it. It is the practical side as well as the spiritual touch.
Rem The neighbours might be the other meetings enlargement comes from visiting other meetings.
JT Quite so, linking on with the neighbouring meetings.
NW So the young men in the house would be impressed with the continuity of that pot of oil.
JT They would never forget this transaction. See how little you have spiritually become enlarged.
NW The riches of God’s inheritance in the saints.
BP Would it be right for the sister to have reading and prayer with the children if her husband is not with her?
J.T. Why should she not?
[p. 173] Rem Children might attempt to bring in something. She is told to shut the door; the parents shut the door, not the children.
FC Does the head of the house enter into this?
JT Well, he was a prophet, she makes a point of that. “A woman of the wives of the sons of the prophets cried to Elisha saying, Thy servant my husband is dead, and thou knowest that thy servant feared Jehovah”; so that he is honoured by her.
FC I was wondering if the husband would have an effect on the wife.
JT It would seem so. She speaks well of him. She says, “thou knowest that thy servant feared Jehovah”. He is mentioned in this way to show that he was a godly man. Probably she profited by that.
JH She knew the good qualities.
EB It would appear that this woman was a bankrupt, but apparently she was not.
JT She had some assets, and she is enlarged. If we are with God we will not be bankrupt. She had found Christ.