ADMINISTRATION (7)
[p. 382] ADMINISTRATION (7)
2 Chronicles 1:13 - 17; 2 Chronicles 2:1,2; 1 Kings 4:1 - 20; 1 Kings 8:1 - 21; 1 Kings 10:1 - 13
JT We have read from the first chapter of 2 Chronicles and it is proposed that we should proceed further in our consideration of the history of Solomon, particularly as it is recorded in 1 Kings.
I am sure the reading of the Scriptures has been heard with pleasure, and I hope, instruction, too, but it seemed impossible to avoid the reading of this number of passages, considering the nature and extent of Solomon’s reign. It was thought that the last scripture read, which records the visit of the queen of Sheba, was needful so that we might have in our minds the effect of Solomon’s administration on the gentiles, the queen being representative of them. We have Solomon’s request for wisdom at the beginning of 2 Chronicles, and there is also the recording of his multiplication of horses, silver and wives, all of which were forbidden in Deuteronomy 17:16,17. These forbidden things were the seeds of Solomon’s downfall, and therefore they are intended to affect us now, that in the service of God we should see to it that we avoid what would become seeds of trouble and damage. The book of Kings especially mentions that there were forty thousand stalls of horses. Then there was a great quantity of silver, and besides this he multiplied wives, as remarked, all of which were forbidden, and proved peculiarly damaging to the king and his rule. On the other hand, the account in Chronicles is peculiarly attractive, because it has a certain touch that may be regarded as derived from the fact that Ezra had to do with writing the books of Chronicles. He was a man of peculiar interest in the testimony of God. We have the allusion to the house immediately, in chapter 2, where Solomon purposed to build [p. 385] a house for the name of Jehovah. “And Solomon purposed to build a house [p. 383] for the name of Jehovah, and a house for his kingdom”. And then is given the great number of workers which were needed for this great undertaking. “And Solomon numbered seventy thousand men to bear burdens, and eighty thousand stone-masons in the mountain, and three thousand six hundred to superintend them”,
CAM Ezra would be a link with the glorious reign of Solomon and the day of small things, as is suggested in the books of Ezra and Nehemiah.
JT Well, I think he was a servant whom God used to link up the testimony from the outset. Chronicles begins with the name Adam; and then at the end, there is a link between 2 Chronicles and the book of Ezra.
ANW The last two verses of 2 Chronicles are the same as the first three verses of Ezra.
JT That is what I was thinking and it is important to take note of this. It is intended that we should be intelligent as to these things, and the links that bind Scripture together as one whole. Chronicles, Luke’s gospel and the book of Acts form a great continuance of thought throughout the Scriptures in a historical way ending in Paul’s position in Rome. You feel that it is fitting that there should be a link between Ezra and Paul; and accordingly, between the books of Chronicles and the book of Acts. Luke, who is the author of the Acts and the gospel that bears his name, was a man who carried the thought of thorough sympathy with the testimony in what he wrote.
AR Does Paul in his own hired house in Rome link on with Ezra? He “received all who came to him”. Ezra, also in captivity, had similar liberty, did he not?
JT Yes; it is a very fine thought that Paul “received all who came to him”. It must have entailed great labour to see people as they came to him, he having so much to do, because he must have written a large proportion of the epistles in the prison at Rome. We [p. 384] get the greatest results from him, in that sense, in those epistles. But you can see how Solomon’s regime gave way to the greater, as the Lord says, “Behold, more than Solomon is here”, (Matthew 12:42). The idea is that “more than Solomon” was there. It contemplates the kingdom of our Lord Jesus Christ.
I thought that before we entered on the positive side, which is presented in Kings, we would do well to note the failure; the king’s transgression of Deuteronomy 17.
JTJr Would it help us, in reviewing this subject, to see that in order to administer properly, we need to know what we must not do?
JT There are special things mentioned through Moses, by the Spirit of God, that are prohibited to the king, and he should pay attention to them, whereas, they are the very things that Solomon ignored.
AR Is the idea of multiplying horses like forcing a matter in the care meeting?
JT Well, we must make allowance for the war horse, because he is a useful horse. You need to take up the battles of the testimony even in a care meeting. He smells the battle afar off, we are told — “the thunder of the captains, and the shouting”. I mean to say, he represents that side in a person who does not shirk the responsibility of war if needed.
RWS According to Deuteronomy the king was to write for himself a copy of this law in a book. Did Solomon fail in that?
JT Apparently. It would be disregard of what the Scripture prohibits in a servant’s way and relations. Surely it is taken notice of in heaven, for it is so manifest that these things were forbidden. But then we are immediately ushered into the glory that marked Solomon’s reign and the great results, in the sense of building; because building is the great feature of his reign.
JTJr Are you alluding to chapter 2, “a house for the name of Jehovah, and a house for his kingdom”?
JT Yes. They are introduced immediately.
ANW He had already prayed a model prayer and now desires and purposes to build a house. And in between, Solomon made these errors of which we have been speaking. All this shows the variableness that may mark us.
JT But if we go to 1 Kings 4 we see the public side of Solomon’s reign in the sense of benefit for the people, and what order marked his reign. He was king over all Israel; and then his princes and their names are given, verses 2 - 6. And Solomon “had twelve superintendents over all Israel; and they provided food for the king and his household: each man his month in the year had to make provision”, verse 7.
And then, “Judah and Israel were many, as the sand which is by the sea in multitude, eating and drinking and making merry. And Solomon ruled over all kingdoms from the river to the land of the Philistines, and as far as the border of Egypt: they brought presents, and served Solomon all the days of his life. And Solomon’s provision for one day was thirty measures of fine flour, and sixty measures of meal, ten fatted oxen, and twenty oxen out of the pastures, and a hundred sheep, besides harts, and gazelles, and fallow deer, and fatted fowl. For he had dominion over all on this side the river, from Tiphsah as far as Gazah, over all the kings on this side the river; and he had peace on all sides round about. And Judah and Israel dwelt safely, every man under his vine and under his fig tree, from Dan even to Beer-sheba, all the days of Solomon”, verses 20 - 25. There seems to be a remarkable link between him and his people and he has favour with God, so that he affords a foreshadowing of Christ in a very peculiar and special way. At the same time he prefigures what should be seen in our own services. Those who serve should be moving in happy relations with each other and [p. 386] with the brethren. The saints are to prosper through the servants, especially in regard of food. In Matthew 24:46 we are told, “Blessed is that bondman whom his lord on coming shall find doing thus”, referring to the matter of ministering a portion of meat to the household. That is real food for our souls. These meetings are to provide food for the brethren, not simply to enjoy each other’s company and then leave, but to have spiritual food.
ABP Is there any link between the monthly food supply here and the tree of life in Revelation 22?
JT One has often thought of “the tree of life, producing twelve fruits, in each month yielding its fruit”. The leaves are for the healing of the nations, but the fruit of the tree of life is for the heavenly saints, showing how we rise in the New Testament to the celestial side of things. I think Solomon, in Chronicles, is a figure of the earthly side of assembly conditions; but 1 Kings would treat of his administration more in relation to heaven, typically. He built the house of God and his own house, and the other houses that are so great and varied, including the house of the forest of Lebanon. These would all point to the magnificence of the present time as seen in the assembly in its heavenly relations, but Chronicles would, I believe, point to the service of God maintained on earth, because we have the veil instead of folding doors. Solomon as a type also refers to the millennial glory of Christ in the future.
CAM Would the fruit yielded in each of the months allude to what the heavenly saints will be enjoying in relation to what is happening on earth?
JT The months are referred to in the blessings of Joseph, showing that the heavens and the heavenly bodies — the sun and the moon — are involved in the months here. The idea would be, I suppose, Solomon’s ability to arrange all these things and co-ordinate them so that they bear on each other. It is a great matter that [p. 387] each other, that we are not isolated as having particular lines independently. There may be particular lines, of course, but they should bear on each other, and I think the numerals twelve and twenty-four in David’s regime, but particularly in Solomon’s, would be the administrative side, but each bearing on the others. Those of us who are engaged in the administration of things should not be isolated in our thoughts toward one another. Neither should we promote special lines but should promote the truth in general, according to what the Lord says of the Spirit, “he shall guide you into all the truth”, (John 16:13).
JHE David provided for the house of God, but he told Solomon to add to it. Would that be the thought?
JT It would; Solomon was to add to what was there.
AR What you say about 1 Kings suggesting the heavenly side of the administration is very interesting.
JT Well, it is; of course there is hardly time to touch on it because the subject is so large. The intent today is that we each may take it on ourselves, and look into it as we have time for it. We can only touch on things in the merest way, now.
JTJr Would you say that we should see the difference between the presentation of things in Kings and in Chronicles, so that we might understand what is going on now, and what will be in the millennium?
JT I think there is important guidance in that.
EAL Would you say verse 27 is very important in this connection? “And those officers provided food for king Solomon, and for all who came to king Solomon’s table, every man in his month: they let nothing be wanting”. Some do not come to king Solomon’s table and do not get the good food.
JT Well, if we do not appropriate what Solomon is typical of we will come short of the great thoughts [p. 388] of God as to the magnitude and glory that Christianity is capable of, and what there will be in the millennial reign, too. These scriptures record the glory and magnificence of Israel under Solomon, and are typical of Christianity. “Things which eye has not seen, and ear not heard, and which have not come into man’s heart, which God has prepared for them that love him, but God has revealed to us by his Spirit; for the Spirit searches all things, even the depths of God”, (1 Corinthians 2:9,10). The depths of God would bring out the depths there are in the present dispensation.
RWS Will you say more about the difference between the administration in Chronicles and Kings?
JT I think Kings is the heavenly side, because the study of it directs your mind to the heavenly side of things, and the inside conditions of the house are more characterised by family relations. There are folding-doors instead of a veil, and also half-open flowers. These things suggest that there is no distance. All that tends to touch the affections family-wise. The house of God is implied in it, in that sense. It is that one is to know how to behave oneself in the house of God, which is the assembly of the living God, the pillar and base of the truth. But the character of the house of God is heavenly although it is on earth. It comes out of heaven, like the sheet that Peter saw that came down knit at the four corners, pointing to Christianity instead of Judaism. It came down to be noticed and observed and thought over, but it was taken up to heaven again. The idea is to show that Christianity is a heavenly thing. It is down here for the moment, provisionally, that everything might be set out in the best way, as in Luke 15. The best things are there; the best robe, the ring and the shoes, and the house with the music and the dancing. All this is to indicate the wealth of heaven, and how it is to be appropriated down here, and then caught up again.
[p. 389] ANW That would be confirmed in the reference to the ascent in chapter 10. The queen of Sheba observed the ascent by which Solomon went up to the house of Jehovah.
RWS What about Chronicles?
JT Chronicles has the veil and the altar, which refers more to the earth and the order of the service of God down here. Distance is implied in the veil.
RWS Do we fit more into the side set out in 1 Kings?
JT I think so; it affords a type of Christianity; whereas the books of Chronicles bear on the earthly side in so far as the house of God is made available to us at the present time.
FHL It is only in Chronicles that Solomon is said to kneel on his knees on the platform of bronze.
FNW Would the princes mentioned at the beginning of chapter 4 emphasise that it is the heavenly side? It is not a prince from each tribe, for example; also a priest is mentioned first; then later, two priests are mentioned together.
JT Just so; the word prince has a great place in the future in Ezekiel, showing that the future will have an official under that head, and David is usually in mind in Ezekiel. I think all that bears on the heavenly side.
JTJr We do not get this personal side in Chronicles as we have it in chapter 4 of 1 Kings. Do you not think it emphasises that the heavenly side is seen in persons now; and that will come out in display, as linked up with the house, later on?
JT The reference to the queen of Sheba helps as showing the effect it had on her. She tells of it herself in chapter 10: “And when the queen of Sheba saw all Solomon’s wisdom, and the house that he had built, and the food of his table, and the deportment of his servants, and the order of service of his attendants, and their [p. 390] apparel, and his cupbearers, and his ascent by which he went up to the house of Jehovah, there was no more spirit in her. And she said to the king. It was a true report that I heard in mine own land of thine affairs, and of thy wisdom, but I gave no credit to the words, until I came and mine eyes had seen, and behold, the half was not told me: in wisdom and prosperity thou exceedest the report that I heard. Happy are thy men! happy are these thy servants, who stand continually before thee, who hear thy wisdom! Blessed be Jehovah thy God, who delighted in thee, to set thee on the throne of Israel! Because Jehovah loves Israel for ever, therefore did he make thee king, to do judgment and justice”, verses 4 - 9. I thought her testimony would show the effect of the heavenly reign of Christ. It is what is current even now. Preceding this, in chapter 8, it says, “Then Solomon assembled the elders of Israel, and all the heads of the tribes, the princes of the fathers of the children of Israel, unto king Solomon in Jerusalem, to bring up the ark of the covenant of Jehovah out of the city of David, which is Zion. And all the men of Israel assembled themselves to king Solomon at the feast in the month Ethanim, that is, the seventh month”, verses 1, 2. The seventh month points to the richness of the agricultural year, as we call it. It is the richness that flows out. The allusion to the corn of wheat falling into the ground and dying points to the richness belonging to the agricultural year.
WWM Do you think that the months referred to in chapter 4 would have any relation to Exodus 12:2? “This month shall be unto you the beginning of months”. Would this be a further thought in the service?
JT Just so. And then, the agricultural thought involves the number seven. The beginning of months is in the passover and the seventh month is the feast of tabernacles.
WWM So that a servant that would minister food [p. 391] to the saints, as is suggested here, would not forget the passover in his ministry.
JT Quite so. You must carry the young people, and there can be no doubt that the passover and the Lord’s supper developing out of it, would mean that the young are taken account of. And so, as to the agricultural year, you are enabled to tell where you are in it on account of the various cereals as they come up out of the ground. It is not simply the guidance of the sun in the heavens, but guidance implied in vegetable growth. Therefore we are to take account of the growth of the saints. It would be what can be seen in them, things that are apparent, denoting that there is advance spiritually.
CAM So the twelve months are stressed. Would the twelve months or solar year fit in with Matthew’s gospel, and the seven months, or the agricultural year, with John’s gospel?
JT Matthew shows how the public side goes on to the end both as to the assembly and Israel and the nations; so that the solar year would be Matthew, for it is a question of actual time. John would be the spiritual side which is suggested in the agricultural year so that we get the feast of tabernacles in John. The beginning of the agricultural year would be in Exodus 12, as remarked, running on to the seventh month, that is the development of the crop.
JHE The Lord corrects the disciples in John 4. “Do not ye say, that there are yet four months and the harvest comes? Behold, I say to you. Lift up your eyes and behold the fields, for they are already white to harvest”, verse 35. They had miscalculated.
JT Yes; they were governed in what they said by the literal side, but the Lord says, “Lift up your eyes and behold the fields, for they are already white to harvest”. So that you are guided by the state of the saints; as you may say, the state of the crops. [p. 392] It indicates to the understanding person where we are in our souls.
ABP It says as to Ruth that she came in barley harvest and continued through to the end of wheat harvest. These two harvests would have a spiritual meaning?
JT Just so. The wheat harvest, I think, would be the saints. The barley refers to the Lord Himself personally. We get a reference to the state of the crops in Egypt also after the plague of hail. “For the barley was in the ear, and the flax was boiled”, (Exodus 9:31). They ripened earlier than the others mentioned. We have, therefore, a double way of reckoning: by the sun, and by the state of the crops, which would be the state of the saints, as we have already said. God would say, Unless there is something to take to heaven — unless the crops are ready, so to speak — the time of the ascension or the coming of the Lord has to be deferred.
RWS Would it be right for each one to soberly consider what month he is in before God as to his own spiritual history?
JT I think so, so that in a certain sense we look into ourselves. Each one of us affords history which can be taken account of; and if that history is not existent there is something wrong; there is some stunting influence. In that case the state of the crop is poor and there is not the yield for God that there should be.
AR Colossians speaks of bearing fruit and growing. Is that the same idea?
JT Quite so.
RWS And again Paul says to Timothy, “Occupy thyself with these things; be wholly in them, that thy progress may be manifest to all”, (1 Timothy 4:15).
JT This assembling of Israel leads up to the great result in the ark. It says, “And the priests brought in the ark of the covenant of Jehovah to its place, into the oracle of the house, into the most holy place, under the wings of the cherubim; for the cherubim stretched [p. 393] forth their wings over the place of the ark, and the cherubim covered the ark and its staves above. And the staves were long, so that the ends of the staves were seen from the holy place before the oracle, but they were not seen without. And there they are to this day. There was nothing in the ark save the two tables of stone which Moses placed there at Horeb, when Jehovah made a covenant with the children of Israel, when they came out of the land of Egypt. And it came to pass when the priests were come out of the holy place, that the cloud filled the house of Jehovah, and the priests could not stand to do their service because of the cloud; for the glory of Jehovah had filled the house of Jehovah”, (1 Kings 8:6 - 11). So that the installation of the ark points to the Person of Christ. Certain wilderness circumstances are not noted, for it is more the heavenly side that is in mind; Christ in heaven.
JTJr The staves would be the evidence of what had gone before, I suppose; the carrying service. They are there to be seen, but everything that is connected with their journey is not brought up. Is that what you mean?
JT Quite. Why should certain things be omitted? The manna, for instance, is omitted. Why should not the pot of manna be there? We are not thinking of the wilderness. In Solomon’s regime we have reached the heavenly side of things.
AR Is it Christ dwelling in the heart by faith?
JT Quite so.
ANW The staves drawn out would indicate that the carrying time is over.
JT That is the idea. We have the beautiful expression: “The ark was in rest”, (1 Chronicles 6:31). Therefore, the importance of Solomon is most evident. It is the culmination of all that there was in Israel before God had recourse to the nations. There is not time to go into Solomon’s failure, but he broke down [p. 394] seriously, and hence, in time, the kingdom was given up, and God had to revert to the gentile nations to carry on His government. But the four monarchies are very poor as compared with the glory of Solomon. God would call our attention to Solomon. He is not calling our attention to the glory of Nebuchadnezzar’s kingdom, or that of the Persian kingdom, or of Alexander, or of the Romans. God would say that these are only provisional things and will all disappear. Whereas, the kingdom that He is going to set up will be for ever and ever.
CN What place does the ark have in assembly administration?
JT Well, it is a question of whether we are dealing with Colossians or Corinthians. Generally, we have to revert to the two epistles to the Corinthians incur difficulties, because they refer to the earthly side of our position. It is the wilderness side, whereas what we are dealing with now is the heavenly side. It is what is possible in the reign of Solomon.
ABP What is the import of the oracle?
JT I suppose it is that God speaks. The place of it was inside a cube. It was twenty cubits every way. It was a cube, pointing to the assembly, which is also a cube. (Revelation 21:16). The assembly will come out thus according to Revelation. It is said to grow into a holy temple in the Lord. The oracle therefore will be in the millennium and all inquiries will have to be made there. All inquiries will come to the assembly, finally, in the millennial day. The light will radiate from the heavenly city.
ABP What is the difference between the oracle and the expression of the mind of God in the covenant, in writing?
JT Well, the covenant is on a lower level. It has come up many times and we have had some light as to it. Whilst the mind of God is in it, I would say in general it is for the young Christian. It is what is available to the [p. 395] young Christian, in the sense of God committing Himself to us, that we can rely on what God promises. But you get very little of that in Ephesians, Philippians and Colossians. I think therefore that the covenant is intended for the young Christian. Take for instance, Hebrews 6:18, where it is said that God intervened with an oath, that by two unchangeable things in which it was impossible that God should lie, we might have a strong encouragement, who have fled for refuge to lay hold on the hope set before us. I think young people especially need that. There is something they can rely on in the sense of promise, and they can cling to that to carry them through; whereas the epistles to the Ephesians, Philippians and Colossians, I would say, are on higher levels. Under these circumstances, we do not need a covenant from God. We do not need a committal from God. We know God and love Him because we know Him.
JTJr That would link on with the thoughts we had at our last reading in regard to the two altars. The altar of earth was compulsory, but the other altar was, “if thou make me an altar of stone”. The heavenly side would link on with the altar of stone.
JT Yes; the elder brethren ought to be able to supply what the ‘if’ calls for. There is an ‘if’ about it; whereas the altar of earth must be available. It is imperative.
APT Solomon seems to be restful himself here. He is free and happy.
JT Just so. His name would signify that he was a man of peace, and the conditions described point to that.
APT Does the administrative service change in this chapter, in that it is more Godward? “I have indeed built a house of habitation for thee, a settled place for thee to abide in for ever”, verse 13. And then the next verse seems to indicate the full height of administrative service: “And the king turned his face, and blessed the whole congregation of Israel; and the whole congregation [p. 396] of Israel stood. And he said: Blessed be Jehovah the God of Israel”, verses 14, 15.
JT It is the very acme of things in the Old Testament, involving Christianity. Solomon is the full thought and really a counterpart of David.
JAP There would be a link here with “accepted in the beloved” in Ephesians 1. Solomon was named “Beloved of Jehovah”, (2 Samuel 12:24).
RWS Is the point that while this position of glory does not last long, it was actually reached?
JT That is the idea; it shows what God can do, and how everything is brought through according to God’s mind. And, on the other hand, how things left to man’s responsibility so rapidly degenerate. It is very humbling that it should be so, but in Solomon’s reign God is showing what He can do. And so it was at the beginning, in Paul’s ministry, after the twelve. God showed what He could do, and hence the wonderful epistles that we have — Colossians, Ephesians and Philippians. It is what can be reached and Paul is particular that the Ephesians should understand his knowledge of the thing. There was at least one man that knew, and could effect the mind of God.
EEH Is the king a priest here?
JT He is; he is acting as priest.
FHL He stays in; when the glory comes in and the priests go out, Solomon is seen inside still (see 1 Kings 8:10,11). Is it a higher thought than the end of Exodus when Moses had to go out?
JT You mean that Solomon and David combined exceed the ministry of Moses, which we have already touched on earlier. “When Israel went out of Egypt ... Judah was his sanctuary”. We are dealing now with Judah, not Aaron, or Levi. It is the glory of Christ, because it is said expressly, “Our Lord has sprung out of Judah”, (Hebrews 7:14). Therefore all the glories are to be looked for in Him.
[p. 397] SF The king stands to pray, here. Would that be in the consciousness of sonship?
JT The kneeling position is also seen in (1 Kings 8:54). Both postures are priestly. “Behold, bless Jehovah, all ye servants of Jehovah, who by night stand in the house of Jehovah”, (Psalm 134:1) Standing is an attitude in which Eli failed, for he atin the house. In the instructions to Moses there was no provision made for sitting in the tabernacle. The priests were to stand in the house of the Lord to keep the charge of the Lord, and I think Solomon is on that line here. He is a priest in that sense, keeping the charge. Things are being looked after. Kneeling is more urgent and supplicatory. Sitting, in a priestly sense, is also noted in Scripture, as in 2 Samuel 7:18 and Zechariah 6:13 although no provision is formally made.
CAM The question may be raised, Where is the evidence of His glory at the present time? Would it be right to say that we could not have the ministry and the food that is afforded to the saints, were this not a reality in the faith of our souls?
JT Well, the revival in which we have part is the answer to that. The leaders in Christendom do not know anything about the revival, but we do, for the revival has brought back all these things. The heavenly side as in Ephesians has especially been recovered to us.
ABP Was this in the soul of Moses by faith when he uttered his song in Exodus 15? “Thou shalt bring them in, and plant them in the mountain of thine inheritance, the place that thou, Jehovah, hast made thy dwelling, the Sanctuary, Lord, that thy hands have prepared”, verse 17.
JT Just so, and then the allusion in the Psalms, “When Israel went out of Egypt, the house of Jacob from a people of strange language, Judah was his sanctuary, Israel his dominion”, (Psalm 114:1, 2). That would mean that David and Solomon were the full [p. 398] thought. What we are dealing with now is the full thought in Israel, and typically, the full thought is in Judah which is Christ. Judah means ‘praise’. It is the service of God, and this has been recovered to us.