UNDER ORDERS
[p. 399] UNDER ORDERS
Genesis 28:1 - 5; Genesis 29:1 - 12
I would like to say a few words especially to call attention to Jacob as under orders in regard to his marriage. He was under orders — we might say from above. One of the expressions of love and fellowship that our young brother and sister, who have just been married, received today, quoted the last verse of Matthew’s gospel in which the Lord says, “... teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have enjoined you. And behold, I am with you all the days, until the completion of the age”. How applicable is this verse — at all times, of course — but particularly at such a time as the present, when will is apt to be active in these natural things.
The marital relation tends, at times, to bring out the working of the will, sorrowfully. The gospel by Matthew treats the marital relation with a certain liberality which is not found in the other gospels; but of all the gospels, it specifically enforces the will of God. It is, therefore, significant and in keeping with the teaching of the book, I that Matthew should close with these words from the Lord Jesus: “Teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have enjoined you. And behold, I am with you all the days”. The presence of the Lord with His people — a most precious fact — is known to those who are regulated by His will. The promise of His presence is given. It is a most comforting and most necessary, thing whilst we are in this wicked world.
The disciples received their commission from the, Lord according to this chapter. They were under His orders, and their converts are to be under His orders, I also. Matthew, above all other parts of Scripture; abominates man’s will in the things of God. Modern history reveals the most sorrowful outcomes of marriages arising out of the action of the will. Thus it seemed that [p. 400] the message referred to is very appropriate and no doubt our dear brother and sister will remember it. If the Lord is with them, as He promises, they must not forget “whatsoever I have enjoined you”.
And so these thoughts link up peculiarly with the passage in Genesis, for Jacob is seen as directly under orders from above; that is, from his father, who is representative of God. He is under orders to procure a wife. That is the principle. In this case he is to go to find her. The servant of Abraham was to go and find a wife for Isaac. He, too, was under orders — explicit orders from Abraham as to the wife he was to procure. But here Jacob is to go himself. It is said, in Hosea: “Jacob fled into the country of Syria, and Israel served for a wife, and for a wife he kept sheep”. The names used there are: Jacob fled, and Israel served. Jacob fled! That is a state of things that is not to be overlooked, for he was in danger of his life from his brother. Jacob is the responsible man. But the name is changed. Israel is the man who has become spiritual, “for thou hast wrestled with God, and with men, and hast prevailed”. So it says, “Israel served for a wife, and for a wife he kept sheep”. So that there is nothing unseemly or unmanly in keeping sheep for a wife. It was Israel; he who had triumphed, acquiring power with God and men. He could well afford to humble himself in order to find a wife. In truth he hired himself to obtain her; but he was under orders. And that is just the point. We are not to exercise our own wills. If we do there will be trouble. Thus we have in the New Testament the word governing marriage, that it is only in the Lord (1 Corinthians 7:39). That means that all is under His orders and that the exercise of our wills is shut out.
We have in Jacob the example of the husband making little of himself in order to have a wife: “For a wife he kept sheep”. Most of us will be well aware that Genesis 28 brings in the fact that God met Jacob as he [p. 401] was on his way for a wife. That is a very remarkable thing. As he was going out to Padan-Aram for a wife God met him. In his dream Jacob beheld a ladder which was set up on the earth and the top of it reached to the heavens. And angels of God ascended and descended upon it. And Jehovah stood above it. And as he was coming back from Padan-Aram, still afraid of his brother Esau, God met him again: “The angels of God met him”. He said, “This is the camp of God”. But I have in mind particularly the first occasion Jehovah stood above the ladder and the angels of God ascended and descended upon it; a most remarkable thing that a man in this employ — in the path of obedience in relation to a wife — is so regarded by heaven. Is it too much to say that the marriage relation requires this? It requires that the brother entering into the relation should be in direct touch with heaven. Heaven here shows itself to be in direct touch with Jacob.
And then the house of God is mentioned. The truth of the house of God comes into Jacob’s mind. Indeed, it is in this relation that it first appears in Scripture. Surely it is not too much, dear brethren, to say that the marriage relation requires recognition of the house of God. We are apt to be disregardful of the house of God. Let everyone know that we are not speaking of a building made with hands. The house of God is a spiritual matter. Since the temple at Jerusalem was destroyed no such building of stone and mortar can have the place of the house of God. The people of God are His house: “Whose house are we”, (Hebrews 3:6). And again, “In whom ye also are built together for a habitation of God in the Spirit”, (Ephesians 2:22). And so the house of God comes into Jacob’s mind and he says, “This is none other but the house of God, and this is the gate of heaven”, (Genesis 28:17). Here God met him. Here he is conscious of the interest of heaven. It is none other than the house of God; far transcending any natural joy.
[p. 402] The house of God affords far more for us than any natural relationship here below. In the house of God we are to be made superior to all that. We enter from the natural into the spiritual. That is the point of the house of God. We are lifted up to heaven, as it were, and only then can we rightly take up marital relations. “This is none other but the house of God”. Jacob is on his way for a wife; the thought is that one is made superior to the natural in the house of God. That is the principle governing us today and it bears particularly on our brother and sister.
We read in the next chapter: “And Jacob continued his journey”. It is a definite matter; he is under orders to procure a wife, but see the great things that come in on the way — heaven; the angels; the house of God. The marriage tie is only for a time but our chapter conveys that we are brought into the great things of God so that we may come out in the natural relationships as superior to them. We can be in them according to God. We are above the sorrows as well as the joys. One is superior as in the new heavenly relation. That is the principle; as obedient, we are lifted into the divine realm in order to come out and shine for God in what is natural — ordained of God, but in itself transient. I believe that the whole married life is to be carried out as adorned with the heavenly, with the sense of the greatness and blessedness of the heavenly; that we are the house of God.
And then, finally, the wife comes into view. How practical she is! What is a wife worth unless she is practical? Rachel is occupied in a practical way; with useful things. Already a title is attached to her. The proper rendering of the passage is “for she was a shepherdess”. She had acquired a title through her practical application. She was not dependent upon the marriage relation for her occupation; she was already occupied profitably; she had acquired a title which dates [p. 403] back to the beginning, for we are told that Abel was a keeper of sheep.
It is most important that a wife be able to look after things and to function in her own house when her husband is not present. Rachel was a keeper of sheep — a shepherdess. Indeed, all the community was similarly engaged. And they know one another. They know Laban; they know that he is well. It is a profitable conversation — not mere society gossip. And as soon as Rachel comes into view Jacob rolls away the stone and waters the flock. But she is the shepherdess; she is profitably engaged.
And so I thought these scriptures would help at this time. We love our dear brother and his wife, our sister. We want to see that the new start which has begun for them today contributes to the house of God. They know something of it and of heaven’s interest in them personally, and as with Jacob, so with them; they may contribute to the house of God.