MOTHERLY FEATURES AMONG THE SAINTS
[p. 214] MOTHERLY FEATURES AMONG THE SAINTS
1 Samuel 1: 24 - 28; Genesis 21: 9, 10; Genesis 27: 13; Judges 8: 18, 19
These scriptures are familiar to us, I am sure, and the subject I purpose to treat of from them is also familiar to all, that is motherly features. The New Testament has these scriptures in view when it speaks of our mother — the mother of Christians. What is presented in these scriptures, viewed spiritually, converges on the assembly; indeed, it is said that the ends of the dispensations come to us; the scriptures have the assembly in view; its calling out, its formation and the duration of its testimony on earth being unique and more extended than any other testimony. Its place too in the divine scheme which is about to be unfolded is unique. It has a place that no other family of God has or could have, and hence the numerous allusions to it throughout the Scriptures, as we now can understand them by the Spirit sent down from heaven; and not the least side is that which alludes to its motherly functions. So that the apostle says, as you will remember, “Jerusalem above is free, which is our mother” (Galatians 4: 26). Although not yet literally above she is regarded as above. It does not say in that passage that Jerusalem is in heaven, but above, involving moral elevation and superiority which ought to have its effect upon us as in this world. God’s intent is that this moral elevation should be with us, and it should affect particularly all who are mothers literally, as well as all local companies of God’s people, for the idea works out in this latter connection. The need of mothering is very great at this time, more particularly as the enemy knows that the Lord is intent on assembly formation at the end, that there should be something of it, however obscure or small, and [p. 215] without motherly qualities and instincts among the saints it is impossible that this formation should continue and reach its desired end. The end is in view and the Lord is intent on reaching it, so that the Spirit and the bride will be in unison to say, Come, as indeed they are in measure now.
Now it is helpful to learn by contrasts, and in regard of this subject one may point out what was not motherly in persons who were literal mothers. For instance, the mother of Zebedee’s children, for that is how the Spirit of the God regards her, but it is hardly to her credit that she was the mother of his children without saying that she was his wife, although she was his wife. It may be inquired, why it was not to her credit that she was the mother of his children. Well, the sequel shows. We have to go by results, as I hope to show in a positive way in the book of Judges. She brought her sons to the Lord, which you would all say was very good, and she made a prayer for them. But we may ask amiss; we may move to the Lord in a selfish way to gratify natural ambitions. It is not at all uncommon to find persons who, although they make much of the Lord and are perfectly orthodox, yet underneath they have ambition to shine amongst the people of God, instead of shining in the world, the idea being to be prominent. But the normal motherly instincts in a local company of Christians will never promote that principle.
In the case of the mother of Zebedee’s children, she brought her two sons to the Lord and made a prayer that they should each have a place, one on His right hand and the other on His left hand in His kingdom. I merely refer to that. You will all remember the incident. It does not set forth a spiritual motherly quality; it is a quality, alas! often found in mothers, which works damage in the assembly. It did, indeed, on that occasion, for you will remember the ten disciples were indignant with [p. 216] the two. It does not say they were indignant with her, for in truth any indignation should have been directed against her, but they were indignant with the two — ten against two, that is to say, division in a meeting brought about by the ambition of a mother.
Then we get another case in Leah, the wife of Jacob. We only read of one daughter of Jacob, and Leah was her mother. Jacob built a house at Succoth and settled down; he made booths for his cattle, and we are told that Dinah went out to see the daughters of the land. There is not a word about the mother granting her permission to do so or of her asking her mother’s permission to do so. It is most dangerous for mothers to allow such liberty to their daughters: to go out as they wish to see the daughters of the land. No spiritual mother would permit of it. I need not enlarge on the results. They were very disastrous. The motherly qualities were not in evidence in Jacob’s house.
Then again with Hagar, who is over against Sarah in Galatians; although she was an Egyptian handmaid, she had a place in the household of faith; she had thus great spiritual opportunities, but she selected a wife for her son out of Egypt. That was not spirituality. It is most damaging for mothers to look abroad in the world for advantages for their children. On the other hand, Rebecca was grieved because Esau had married the daughters of the land. She was unable apparently to forbid it, but she felt it, and God has respect even for feelings. We may be unable to carry them into effect, but God has respect for right feelings. Well now, I have spoken of these illustrations of unspiritual motherhood. Better have no mothers at all if they are unspiritual, having a status of faith and yet wanting in faith. These are practical matters and most important.
Now in regard of the qualities I have in mind, I think the best example of motherhood (at least [p. 217] initially) is seen in Hannah. She appeared in a dark day; that is where faith shines. The darker the day the more brilliant is faith, where it exists, and the more insistent too. Faith sees what is needed; it will never quail before difficulties. Whatever is needed — that is the point, and what was needed then was a prophet. The word of the Lord was rare in those days. We cannot say that it is rare in our day, thank God, but there may come a day when it will be rare and we ought to be on the watch. In the days of Amos there was a famine of the word of God. Hannah sees the position, and what we find is that after obtaining her desire she weans the child. Now this is a further matter of importance. She did it. She fed the child normally until it was time to wean him, that is to say, she was a true mother from the outset; and then she weaned him, meaning spiritually that the child is detached from the natural. She remained at home until that time, and when the right moment arrived, she weaned the child. Fathers and mothers and all of us have to learn that the time comes when the children are to stand on their own feet; they must stand in direct relation with God themselves, each one of them, and that was what Hannah had in mind when she weaned the child, and she had great thoughts.
There are no people in the whole universe like members of the assembly; they are brought into such relations with God and Christ that their thoughts are great. Hannah had great thoughts. The child had not come to greatness. There was no faith in Samuel as he was taken up to Shiloh; and it is said that he was young. We are explicitly told later that he did not know the Lord, but Hannah did, and that is the point in the passage; she knew the Lord. I suppose one of the finest features in the whole realm of creation is a woman of faith, a woman who knows God. Scripture makes a great deal of it. Hannah [p. 218] was one of those. She knew the Lord, she knew how to pray, she knew how to wait for the answer to her prayer, and she knew what to do with the answer to her prayer — that there must be a return. Faith never thinks otherwise. Faith is imbued with the idea of circulation — that there must be a return to God, and there was a return to God, and such a return as you rarely find. We have here a lone woman, for although she had a husband, she is acting. She weans her child. She takes three bullocks — she has great thoughts, as I said, for these three bullocks denote great spiritual thoughts of Christ as the Offerer — the One who offered Himself. We have to regard our Lord in many aspects, especially as having offered Himself without spot to God. He offered Himself; think of that! Think of what is in that word ‘Himself’ — “who himself bore our sins in his body on the tree” (1 Peter 2: 24); and “who by the eternal Spirit offered himself spotless to God” (Hebrews 9: 14). How great are these thoughts!
Hannah took with the child three bullocks, and an ephah of flour, and a flask of wine; spiritually Hannah was going to provide something for God in the house of God at Shiloh. Typically Christ is seen as having a great place in her heart. She was not going to enter God’s house in poverty — with small thoughts of Christ, but with great thoughts of Him. That is what makes up the wealth of the assembly; it really lies in the great thoughts we have of Christ by the Spirit, and then there is the stimulation — the flask of wine. How intelligent she is! What a model mother! What are the advantages of the university and the social status, what are the advantages of the games like Esau went in for, the man of the field, what is all that, beloved mothers and fathers, compared with the greatness that is in the house of God?
As she reached Shiloh they slaughtered a bullock;
[p. 219] the definite article is there in the new translation — the bullock. There were three, there was abundance, but one was slaughtered, suggestive of one great idea; and then the child is presented, showing the great potentialities of a child in the mind of faith — potentialities for God, so that we may understand how the Spirit of God enhanced the faith and intelligence of this great woman. We are told explicitly that Samuel did not yet know the Lord. There was nothing in him yet in the way of greatness. It was a question of her faith. The Spirit of God occupies us with the boy Samuel — (five times he is referred to as the boy). We have to wait for the greatness of Samuel, and it came. But the Holy Spirit would detain us with the greatness of his mother — a woman of faith. Look at her prayer! It is called a prayer in the next chapter, but there is not a word of need in it. It is the intelligent outgoing of a great priest to God, in regard of Himself, His things and His Anointed. Now, that is Hannah. Is there not need for Hannahs? If we are to have great things in the assembly we must have Hannahs, beloved sisters, and so much depends upon the latent wealth of the assembly which is in the sisters.
Now I want to go on to Sarah, who is also signalised indeed, she is alluded to in Galatians in this very connection — she is the free woman, typifying “the mother of us all”. The scene is different. Abraham makes a feast as the child is weaned. We are not told who weaned him, the idea being that this principle of the household of faith was there — the principle of detaching the children from the natural and linking them on to the spiritual. On that day there was a great feast — an auspicious time. I have no doubt the Lord alludes to it when He says, “Abraham exulted in that he should see my day, and he saw it and rejoiced” (John 8: 56). It was Christ’s day in type — looking on to the day when He will be everything. We anticipate that now [p. 220] in the assembly as we make everything of Him. He is “everything and in all”. He is everything in the assembly. Any company of people that is not making everything of Christ discredits itself and disqualifies itself for any claim to have part in the assembly. So there is a great feast, and Ishmael mocks.
I only touch on that to show you the instincts of the mother — the free woman in the house, for she is that; she shines. She speaks in a seemly way; she respects her husband; she asks him to do the work of casting out the handmaid and her son — it was Abraham’s part to do that — “for the son of this handmaid shall not inherit with my son”. She reserved the right of selecting companionship for her son. It is the kind of company that is in view. What company do we permit for our children? What kind of society do we seek for them? That is what we learn from Sarah. She will not have a mocking companion. In truth he was a persecutor, an you may be sure that however nice people may be in their outward relations to us, if they have not the Spirit of God they will mock at Christ — they will despise Christianity. Hence the importance of making a right selection of companionship for our children and watching over them. Sarah says, “Cast out the handmaid and her son”. She rises here to a great level, for the Holy Spirit calls her words scripture in the epistle to the Galatians. How great a dignity to put on a mother, that her very words convey the mind of God!
Now in Rebecca we again have a mother of faith. Much is said about this distinguished woman, some things merely typically spiritual and others substantially so. She was a woman of faith. She had early learned to ask God as to herself and her motherhood and God answered her. Then she was a woman who could discriminate between what was of God in her children and what was not of God, for after all “that [p. 221] which is born of the flesh is flesh”. Unless God works there is nothing. We may cultivate the flesh, educate it, think for it, plan for it, but all in vain, that which is born of the flesh is flesh and it cannot please God. And so we are told that while Isaac loved Esau, Rebecca loved Jacob. How much there is in that! Isaac becomes a poor expression of fatherhood; he loved Esau.
Now at the present time Esau has a great place in the world, even amongst the people of God. I am not speaking of Ishmael — Ishmael the mocker is cast out. Esau is not said to be a mocker; he is, as it were, more respectable; but he is a man of the field. Now I speak feelingly. I would not convey to anyone that we are under law, for we are not under law, we are under grace. It is said, “sin shall not have dominion over you, for ye are not under law but under grace” (Romans 6: 14). Thank God, it is the dispensation of grace — grace reigns. But it reigns “through righteousness”, and it has a great end in view, viz, eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord. But then, while we are under grace, and grace will do its best for us, it will never promote men and women of the field — never. It is not the time of the field. Mark tells us there were two, after the Lord died and rose, going into the country. Luke says they were going to a village called Emmaus, but Mark says they were going into the country. We have to watch this going into the field. It is not a time of the field. The time of the field is the millennium. Men of the field will be all right then, but not now. Jacob, we are told, “was a homely man dwelling in tents”. He was no athlete.
I am speaking of very simple things, often said before, but they are most practical if we are to reach on to the perfecting of the saints, for that is the end the Lord has in mind for us in the mother. And so we are told that Rebecca loved Jacob — that kind of [p. 222] man. You say, he was a crooked kind of man. Never mind, Rebecca loved Jacob instead of Esau, and we are told that God loved Jacob. I am not astray when loving the person whom God loves. I want you to take that in — Rebecca loved Jacob, and the Spirit of God says in the last book of the Old Testament, “I loved Jacob, and I hated Esau” (Malachi 1: 3). Rebecca was in line with God. You may say, See how crooked these people are. Well, there may be some truth in that, but it says of Abraham that he dwelt in tents with Isaac and Jacob. There was, we may be assured, something in that boy (Jacob was only about fifteen when Abraham died) that Abraham loved. One often sees the work of God in young people — younger than fifteen.
Abraham was a man of faith; he had the right kind of taste. Isaac did not have the taste of Abraham. I have no doubt Abraham had real satisfaction in the boy Jacob, he lived with him in tents, and then, as I said, Rebecca loved him. It is a question of apprehending the work of God in the saints. It may be beclouded at times, but it is there. Never lose sight of that. Rebecca saw that; indeed, she had a prophetic word about it. I suppose God took account of the faith that was in her, when He acquainted her with the fact that “the elder shall serve the younger”, nor shall we be wanting in the mind of God as to those with whom we have to do; if we are right, God will not leave us in the dark about anybody. I believe it is good to pray about everyone in the local company in which one may be, and to ask God to help him to have right thoughts about them. There may be very little of the work of God manifest, but He knows and He will give you right thoughts about them.
Rebecca had right thoughts about Jacob and God helped her. Esau comes in hungry, after some hunting exploit, and Jacob had cooked a dish. It [p. 223] says he was a homely man and the dish was plain. I do not think he would go in for anything very savoury, anything that appealed very much to the flesh; the Spirit of God would have us to understand this. It was just a dish of lentils — very plain fare, in keeping with the man. Esau says, in his natural way of speaking, “Feed me, I pray thee, with the red — the red thing there”, give me that. It was just a dish of lentils, and Jacob did not pretend it was anything else. Esau sold his birthright for that! See what the flesh is in the household of faith! He sold his birthright for that. It was not that Jacob schemed in this particular instance. He had the dish. Had he thought of buying the birthright from Esau, no doubt he would have had something very fine, but he did not scheme, as far as Scripture shows. It brings out the plainness of Jacob and the naturalness of Esau, and Esau loses his birthright and Jacob gets it. It is God taking the thing which He designed for Jacob and placing it in his hands. That is what God does, and Rebecca knew; she was in accord with that.
Now we come to Isaac again. He says to Esau, take thy weapons. How people love a gun, and all those weapons and implements in connection with sportsmanship. Esau had these, and Isaac did not seem to resent it — a humbling thing about one who was, at times, typical of Christ, the heavenly Man. We have to read things in their context. So he says to Esau, “Take thy weapons, thy quiver, and thy bow”. He knew he had them, he had also fine clothes, he would, so to speak, go to the best tailor, get the best-cut suits, the best collars, the best ties, etc. Rebecca knew all that. Not exactly that she kept his wardrobe; she knew the fine things were there in the house, and those weapons which Isaac did not seem to resent. Isaac tells Esau to take them and go to the field and hunt venison, as if appealing to the natural. How dangerous it is in parents to [p. 224] appeal to the natural, to minister to the natural in their sons and daughters. They will never shine in the house of God on those lines.
Rebecca says, I have heard the conversation between your father and Esau. She had a keen ear, faith always has like the ears of the assembly; Acts 11. We have to watch for the enemy’s workings, and Rebecca listened, and heard and acted — she is a woman of faith and a woman of action — and she told Jacob what to do. I do not go into that well-known story. What I want you to notice is that Rebecca says, “On me be thy curse, my son!” She has the spirit of Christ, she is ready to go to the extreme to save her son, to secure the blessing of God for him. She knew he could not afford to be without it. What disaster if Esau had secured it! — It would indeed have been impossible with God, but she did not leave it at that; she took methods to secure it. I do not go into the details. Much might be said about it, but she was a woman ready to go to the utmost limit to save her son and secure the blessing of God for him — a most important lesson. We cannot afford to let our children miss the blessing of God. She said, “On me be thy curse”. She was exposing herself for her son.
Now in closing I would refer to Gideon’s mother. We have no history of her at all, that is to say, there are thousands and thousands of mothers the results of whose faith will be seen when the time comes. We need not have any anxiety as to the praise that will be given to us. Let us judge nothing before the time; when the Lord comes everything will be manifested and the results of every devoted mother will be seen, and every bit of service rendered will come to light. Gideon says, “What sort of men were they that ye slew at Tabor?” These men had suffered at the hands of those who were Satan’s tools. They were at Tabor. Tabor has a place in the book of [p. 225] Judges. I suppose it was the position of the testimony then; they were there and they were slain there. We need not have any fear if we are where God has placed us; even if we are slain, what we are will come to light in due course. Gideon was cognisant of what had happened, and he says to those men, “What sort of men were they that ye slew at Tabor?” Well, they say, they were like you — “As thou art, so were they; each one resembled the sons of a king”. The idea is plural; the great thought is that they were the sons of a king. What a beautiful description of the children of faith! God’s ideal is Christ; that is what enters into this remarkable passage. It does not say each one resembled the sons of a queen, but each one resembled the sons of a king. That is the idea of the assembly viewed maternally, for she has no other thought normally than Christ. Christ is the great dominant thought in the assembly. All must be in accord with that pattern, it must be worked out, and the mother sees to that — the mother is by the side of the children. It applies to local companies of Christians walking in the light of the assembly. It is that spirit that watches over what comes in — it has nothing but Christ in view; everything must come up to that standard. It is a question of Christ. All will be conformed to Him — conformed to the image of God’s Son, who is the firstborn among many brethren. That is the assembly’s great thought normally.
And so Gideon inquires what they were like, and they tell him they were like him — every one like the sons of a king. He says, “They were my brethren, the sons of my mother”. How the Lord regards the mothering amongst the saints! The book of Judges makes a great deal of this. Deborah is one great feature of a spiritual mother; she says, “I arose”. A sister may say, I am of very little account.
[p. 226] People do not notice me. But what about your arising? It is not that Deborah was raised up; she says, “I Deborah arose, That I arose a mother in Israel”. It is a question of moral power. Her dwelling-place denoted it. She dwelt under her own palm-tree — she had moral weight and power. Such sisters are most valuable and greatly needed at the present time — persons who arise — that is to say, they come up themselves and use the latent power which God has given them. The saints are bound to recognise you as they did Deborah. She was a mother in Israel, and so was Gideon’s mother, too. We have no history of her beyond this, but we have results, and every one of us may be sure that the results will be manifested, and what greater results can there be than that the fruit of our labours is like Christ. Are we aiming at one thing, that the fruit of our labour is like Christ? Nothing but Christ will be prominent throughout eternity. All will be like Him, and that is the work that is going on now, and the result will be seen — all will be like the sons of the King.