THE PRESENT DISPENSATION AS SET FORTH IN JACOB AND JOSEPH (3)
[p. 139] THE PRESENT DISPENSATION AS SET FORTH IN JACOB AND JOSEPH (3)
JT The selections in the book of Genesis to be read at these meetings have in mind the service of God; also the various vicissitudes that God permitted to occur to bring out the peculiar kind of man that Jacob was, at the same time bringing out the basic facts as to him, that he fitted God’s purpose of setting forth what is in His mind in the present dispensation. This necessitates peculiarly this chapter. As the brethren will notice, there is in the chapter a certain repetition of what preceded it, but at the same time there is increase in the quality of Jacob himself, spiritual quality, which will be seen in certain facts that we shall note as we proceed. Then the thought is particularly to point out the administrative side which was provided for in his family.
Early in this chapter, as we shall see more fully later, the administrative side is provided for, but there is besides that the idea of the generations of Jacob. Generation is one thing, and spiritual administration is another. The administration in spiritual development that gave rise to the idea of generations in Jacob will be seen later, in chapter 37, in which particular chapter it appears that his generations are confined to Joseph; but then it is in mind that the subject should be resumed in Jacob, and it is resumed in chapter 46. I mention all this so that we should keep the items in our minds and see how administration is provided for in the service of God, also the idea of generation. And then later, so as to fill out the thoughts, we have Joseph’s history implementing the history of Jacob in a peculiar [p. 140] way because it brings out what we see so much in the service of God in our day, the idea of brethren of Christ, as to which we are perhaps somewhat defective; but it is mentioned now so that we should keep it in our minds. Then following upon that there is the idea of calling or occupation, linked on with Jacob himself in the position he is brought into through the instrumentality of Joseph. That is to say, Jacob is brought into prominence. Joseph is already in great prominence; and as regards him the various stages of his life that are mentioned should be noticed: first as to his birth; then as to his generation as representing the generations of Jacob when he is seventeen years of age; then when he is in the employ of Pharaoh, having risen up into such prominence, his age being given us again as thirty years. All that has to do with the service of God, that is, the idea of age, whether in the sense of being old or young.
Then the idea of occupation, what our occupation may be in the service of God and how selections may be made from the whole number in view of occupation and in view of previous experience. Then Jacob himself comes to the fore eventually in view of his age, as an old man, having acquired great experience which is working out in the thought of service, the service of God, especially in worship. The worship of God is most prominent in the end and it is linked up with the age of Jacob, so that we are to keep in our minds that the service of God in the sense of worship depends on experience, and conscious experience, even although there may be defects mentally or physically. Yet the experience is there that serves the purpose of God in His service, as we shall see in the last chapter. I venture to outline what is in mind so that the brethren will have it in their minds and that we all might get help together. Therefore in chapter 35 we are in the [p. 141] presence of certain things that had happened previously but are now enlarged on and developed, so that we get fuller thoughts and the service of God really set out on its proper level.
SMcC In view of the dignity that belongs to the service of God as you are referring to it and outlining certain features that stand connected with it, are these matters involving cleansing in the beginning of the chapter very essential with us at the present time?
JT I thought of that, because certain things have happened that emphasise it on both sides of the Atlantic and generally. What is in one’s mind especially is what has happened in Australia where a great deliverance has come in for the truth, and adjustment too; so that happier conditions have come about and there is more fellowship locally and universally in the truth. Then later in Toronto we have had an extraordinary situation that has involved the need of cleansing; and so it is here that the need of cleansing is referred to. Jacob is to go up to Bethel, as it says: “And God said to Jacob, Arise, go up to Bethel, and dwell there, and make there an altar unto the God that appeared unto thee when thou fleddest from the face of Esau thy brother. And Jacob said to his household, and to all that were with him, Put away the strange gods that are among you, and cleanse yourselves, and change your garments; and we will arise, and go up to Bethel; and I will make there an altar to the God that answered me in the day of my distress, and was with me in the way that I went. And they gave to Jacob all the strange gods that were in their hand, and the rings that were in their ears, and Jacob hid them under the terebinth that is by Shechem. And they journeyed; and the terror of God was upon the cities that were round about them, and they did not pursue after the sons of Jacob” Genesis 35:1 - 5.
PL [p. 142] After the introduction of the thought of the Lord Almighty in the end of 2 Corinthians 6, chapter 7 begins, “Having therefore these promises, beloved, let us purify ourselves from every pollution of flesh and spirit, perfecting holiness in God’s fear” 2 Corinthians 7:1. You spoke of holiness in relation to this matter.
JT The epistles to the Corinthians, especially the second, bring out what you say. Certain evil conditions had arisen at Corinth, and the dealing with them, the adjustment as to them was postponed because of the general state of defection of the saints; “having in readiness”, Paul says, “to avenge all disobedience when your obedience shall have been fulfilled” 2 Corinthians 10:6. That is to say, special difficulties arise and the adjustment of them becomes difficult because of the general state of the saints; so that the settlement of the evil conditions at Corinth had to be postponed because of the general conditions that were in the city. But Paul was in readiness to deal with them, they were not to be ignored. All these matters have to be dealt with, otherwise God will not be with us.
Ques Does cleansing begin in our households?
JT Clearly. The conditions that are spoken of in the earlier chapters, extending back in Jacob’s life, had to be dealt with, most serious conditions, fornication on the one hand and murder on the other; terrible conditions, yet God did not give up Jacob. He would go with him and cleanse him, and He did cleanse him.
JLP Why is God reminding Jacob at this particular point of the matter of fleeing from the face of Esau his brother?
JT Because it was an unbrotherly condition that had arisen. Jacob was at fault as to it, but then Esau was too; he was worldly. Jacob was the man that God had in mind, in whom He would work out His thoughts, and He never gives up His thoughts.
[p. 143] But Esau was a profane man. Jacob was not a profane man. Where there is a condition of profanity there must be adjustment in the relations that exist, even though they exist between brothers and sisters, or partners in business; whatever it be, there must be adjustment if God is to go on with us.
LES In the process of becoming spiritual, does it involve having respect for the brotherly covenant, right brotherly relations?
JT Quite so; God takes pleasure in right brotherly relations. We can see that in Cain and Abel at the beginning and all down the line to us. We see it especially in these two men, Jacob and Esau.
SMcC It says in Genesis 35:2, “cleanse yourselves, and change your garments”. In going through this searching process called for in the word of Jacob, it would not only involve cleansing ourselves and being right basically, but that externally we are different. Would it not mean, that in the changing of the garments you would look for a difference in what the garments would suggest, habits and associations and the like?
JT The facts would show what these external things were. We have God intervening, that is the first point to get before us in all these matters. God intervenes and He will carry the thing through to adjustment if we let Him, as in Australia, and here, too, in Toronto; and in other instances that one could mention. God intervenes; that is the great hope and consolation that we have, that He is faithful: “God is faithful, by whom ye have been called into the fellowship of his Son Jesus Christ our Lord”, 1 Corinthians 1:9. God is faithful, and that is where the faithfulness of God is seen, and He has called us into the fellowship of His Son. So that here we have God coming in. In 1 Corinthians the need for God coming in is seen peculiarly in the [p. 144] very first chapter. There we are given an outline of the truth which you might say is objective, that is to say, things in Corinthians were viewed as objectively right; but presently the apostle insists on the saints being united as to local matters. The first thing dealt with is that they are to be united.
CAM Speaking of 1 Corinthians, chapter 15 brings in both burial and the rising again. Would you say that that would be in line with the fact that Jacob was arising and coming into the good of burial? The triumph of 1 Corinthians 15 would be necessary before entering upon the good of 2 Corinthians that we were referring to. After all the inroads of the enemy at Corinth throughout the epistle in one way and another, chapter 15 would show that we are to live in the good of a resurrection world. I was wondering why the matter of burial comes so much into this chapter?
JT Burial does come into this chapter and also into 1 Corinthians 15. There it is enlarged on as to how we die and are buried and what we become as raised in power. The great power of resurrection is what marks those who are raised; they are raised in power.
TU Why did Jacob hide these things, the strange gods and the rings, instead of burying them, a matter of which so much is made in this chapter? It says that he “hid them under the terebinth that is by Shechem” Genesis 35:4.
JT It says, “And they gave to Jacob all the strange gods that were in their hand, and the rings that were in their ears” — these alluding to embellishment — “and Jacob hid them under the terebinth that is by Shechem” Genesis 35:4. Now your question is why these things should be hidden and not buried. The point is, I think, what is effective for the purpose in question, and it brings out that things were dealt with in a true root sense, and this is a point of [p. 145] great importance in these difficult matters, that things should be really dealt with.
CEB Why is it that God does not give instructions to Jacob as to this matter? It seems as though He would look for instincts that would know the requirements of Bethel.
JT The requirements of Bethel just so far; it is to be the house of God and is to be enlarged on.
CEB Does God look for spiritual instincts amongst the saints to deal with these things?
JT He does. It is the idea here of how these instincts are seen in Jacob. There is much that preceded all this, but these matters now in question are in our minds, in order that we should be corrected and more developed in the truth of the service of God, in view of the coming of the Lord, which is now very imminent as we understand.
SJH What form would strange gods take today?
JT It says, for instance, that covetousness is idolatry. It is a question of what is so extremely bad that it has to be dealt with, and the facts would show that the things were dealt with basically, in principle; so that in any matter that has arisen we can go on with the truth if things are dealt with basically.
PL Verse 5 says, “And they journeyed”. Would that be distinct from earlier journeyings where it says Jacob journeyed — that now a collective judgment of the evil has been reached and there can be a forward movement collectively into the mind of God?
JT Very good. You might say that is just what it is: “they journeyed” and God was with them, and “the terror of God was upon the cities that were round about” Genesis 35:5. In spite of the enemy God is acting so that a way through is made for them. A way is made for us though trade unionism is seeking to block it, and it is a question as to whether we are [p. 146] dealing with the matter and ready to face what is involved in it.
PL If things are settled with us inwardly in regard of holiness could we not count on this terror of God upon our enemies outwardly?
JT If God did that for them, why should we not count upon it?
PL I mean if things were right within in holiness, then we could count more on God to come in for us outwardly.
JT Quite so; and if He does not come in for us externally at once, why not continue to count on Him to do so? Our prayer meetings involve that.
PL If our relations are right together we can get His ear as to external opposition.
JT Even if He does not act at once against external opposition — and He has done so before — why should we not count on it in our prayer meetings that God will ultimately act in regard to external matters? The point is to go on and have God with us.
PL It is the cities, the entrenched positions of the enemy here; God’s terror was upon them.
JT Why can we not count on that? It was a real matter, they needed it. Their behaviour was dreadful and God knew it, and Jacob was brought into it and was directing that they should cleanse themselves. But what is more, God is acting of Himself, that is, in the way of terror against the enemy. Why should we not count on that, too? I certainly count on it.
EAL “Selfwill is as iniquity and idolatry” 1 Samuel 15:23. We might think we have a right to belong to a union, but if we do so that is the character of thing that marks us.
JT The point I think for us now would be what we may count on God to do for us in any emergency. That is what I think we should have in our [p. 147] minds as we proceed The passage indicates that God can be counted on for certain things and we should include all these things in our prayers.
ATD Jacob refers in verse 3 to “the God that answered me in the day of my distress” Genesis 35:3. He was speaking from experience, was he not?
JT Quite so. Therefore we can continue to ask God about things and experience would teach us we can count on Him for certain things.
WHC This man Jacob is a man that names things. He named Bethel, Peniel, Allon-bachuth and Mahanaim.
JT These are important matters; we should know what names to give, whether it be to persons or things. That began with Adam; he was deputed by God to name the creatures that God had made, and whatever names he gave, God accepted them, showing how God is counting on the intelligence of His people in naming things or persons.
SJH Paul named a man a “wicked person” 1 Corinthians 5:13.
JT Quite so. We have in 1 Corinthians 5 an incestuous person, and we have a similar thing here in verse 22: “And it came to pass when Israel dwelt in that land, that Reuben went and lay with Bilhah, his father’s concubine” Genesis 35:22. It was the same sort of thing, showing that the working of the enemy amongst the people of God in the earlier days was even as it is now, and we are to deal with such persons according to our experience and according to the light we have from God in the Scriptures.
EGMcA When Jacob first came to Bethel he erected a pillar, but in this chapter, verse 7, he erects an altar. In verse 14 it is again a pillar. What is the spiritual significance of a pillar and of an altar?
JT The altar is a symbol of sacrifice that costs us something. Then we have in verse 14 the drink offering which was poured upon [p. 148] the pillar.
EGMcA Would the drink offering on the pillar be something for God especially?
JT Quite so. There was increase in Jacob’s experience and ability, and God is counting on him to be more of a worshipper than he was, that his worship, his service, should be greatly increased. That is something we should all notice, as to whether our service to God is increasing in value and quality. I think what is said of Jacob here would show that his service Godward was increasing in value so that we have not only the altar but the pillar and the drink offering and the oil. The drink offering, I think, would point to something God is especially pleased with, a reconciliatory thought, that God is pleased with us.
ASB Is there a link between this section and Acts 5:12 in relation to Ananias and Sapphira? It says, “and they were all with one accord in Solomon’s porch, but of the rest durst no man join them, but the people magnified them”. Peter says in Acts 5:29, “God must be obeyed rather than men”, showing that the service of God is in mind.
JT Quite so. The servants are not afraid, as the Lord said in Matthew 10:28, “Be not afraid of those who kill the body”. There is no more they can do, He says, but I will tell you whom to be afraid of — Fear God. We are to be afraid of God in that sense. I think in that section in the Acts we have certain things happening which greatly enhance the service, and the brethren are prepared to suffer; and the people began to fear because God was amongst them. In that sense, if they did not fear God they would suffer, something would happen governmentally.
TU In Genesis 35:8 it says that Rebecca’s nurse died. I wondered, linking it with verse 9 where God appeared to Jacob, if it is essential that we learn to stand on our own feet and God will support us in [p. 149] it?
JT Very good. She is buried under the oak at Allon-bachuth, showing she was a lovable person in Jacob’s family. She represents a sister in the fellowship, one lovable; the Lord has taken her and we feel it.
RH What would you include in the term, ‘the service of God’, in connection with Jacob?
JT We may, of course, bring in classifications. Take the first day of the week for instance, it is a day that God has honoured, the day in which He raised Christ from among the dead. We start on the first day of the week with the Lord’s supper. That calls for priestly ability and sacrifice. Then we have the ministry of the word, whatever form it may take; that again is a question of the service of God and of how the word of God is applied. On the first day of the week it may come in at the Lord’s supper. Then we have Bible readings on the first day of the week and gift is made room for in Bible readings, the gifts God uses to open up the truth to us and to apply it. Then there is a preaching of the gospel on the first day of the week; this also, of course, requires ability or power. I just mention all these to give the thought of the service of God and what it implies. I am not sure if you are agreeing with that?
RH I thought we were accustomed to limiting it to the thought of worship, but I gather you have more than that in mind?
JT The service of God includes all I have mentioned. Take what Paul mentioned as to his service, I think we get all these things mentioned in it.
ASB Would it help us to see that what is liberated in verse 4 of our chapter is the hand and the ear? They are things most important in relation to the service of God, our hands and our ears; our activities and what we hear in the ministry, what we hear in relation to the Spirit speaking.
JT Very good; it says, “they gave to Jacob all the strange gods that were in their hand, and the rings that were in their ears” Genesis 35:4. Your point is that our hands and our ears are released for the service of God. That would imply that our hands and our ears are become holy and we are judging ourselves.
SW We understand that our households stand in close relation to the service of God. Now in verse 6 it says, “And Jacob came to Luz, which is in the land of Canaan, that is, Bethel, he and all the people that were with him” Genesis 35:6. Some of us have a difficulty in bringing all that we have with us, all the people, or all our children that are with us in our houses.
JT What is the difficulty in your house?
SW Well, quite a number of us have failed in getting the children to come with us. They have made confessions quite a number of years ago, but do not seem to follow on. They love the Lord but do not want to sever their links with the world.
JT It would show that the children are a real difficulty amongst us and the matter of their training. The mothers especially should see to it that they are trained properly, that they are brought up properly and trained in right feelings and principles and not allowed to have things that damage, such as are mentioned in Genesis 35:4: “they gave to Jacob all the strange gods that were in their hand, and the rings that were in their ears”. We are not to cater to the children in this sort of thing but we are to think of God and His rights. In relation to the things too that are being taught in the schools, we are to be alert so that the children shall be kept holy and pure.
SJH In that connection what is the thought of a ‘nurse’, verse 8?
JT Paul was a nurse in a spiritual sense. It is a question as to how sisters especially may be used,
[p. 151] and of course any of us, in nursing the youth, bringing them up in the truth. We have such allusions in Ephesians. There are none in Romans so far as I remember, but Ephesians mentions the households particularly.
RWT “And they gave to Jacob” — would that indicate a recognition on the part of the children or those in the household of authority in the head of the house?
JT I would say so. The persons yielded these things up and all would point to holiness promoted.
RH Would the thought of the nurse link with nourishment, the nurture and admonition of the Lord?
JT Quite so. 1 Peter 2:2 speaks of the pure mental milk of the word, mental milk meaning that the minds of the youth and of the saints generally are to be nourished, brought up in right principles and right feelings.
EGMcA Why is it Rebecca’s nurse? Why do we go back to Rebecca?
JT Because she had a distinguished place in the household, I would think. Think of who Rebecca was! She was Isaac’s wife, a matter which has a great place in the whole of chapter 24 of this book; it is almost all touching on Rebecca.
CHH I was wondering about Galatians: it speaks there of being under guardians and stewards until the time fixed by the father. Does that correspond with the nurse?
JT The allusion in Galatians is not to the children of God’s people but to Israel when they were in their infantile condition. That would mean that they were not in the full liberty of christianity that we have; we are dealing with the full thought of christianity and the liberty that belongs to it.
AL In Genesis 24 they sent away Rebecca their sister and her nurse and Abraham’s servant. The [p. 152] nurse seems to represent an element that has not independency but has usefulness for the testimony.
JT Very good, because she represents something in the family of God, really. That is the right way to look at it. Paul alludes to nursing in his own ministry.
TU Is there a period when the nurse is not needed? I was thinking of what followed in connection with Jacob having his name changed, and all that was said about his being fruitful and so on. Is there a period in the spiritual history of the saints when the nurse is no longer needed?
JT It is doubtful if you can specify it in that way, for the nurse is always needed, really. If older ones have advanced beyond the necessity for a nurse the younger ones have not. It is a general thought in the family of God. It says that every family in the heavens and on the earth is named of the Father: “the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, of whom every family in the heavens and on earth is named”, Ephesians 3:14,15. We are entitled to speak of families in that way. It is a very wide thought, not simply the families of the saints, but the family of God and a provision made in it for them.
RWS It says in Genesis 35:9, “And God appeared to Jacob again”. Is that something added to what we had yesterday as to the appearing at Peniel?
JT I think that God is very liberal, speaking reverently, in the idea of appearing, for in the early days of the people of God the appearings were necessary so that God should be apprehended; and I think that is the idea here. God is to be apprehended and He is apprehended in the appearings He makes among His people; and what can be more precious than God making Himself known in the sense of appearing or manifesting Himself? We have the word ‘manifest’ in John’s gospel, but here it is ‘appear’. Paul also speaks [p. 153] of appearings.
ASB Is there something too in the fact that it does not say ‘Jehovah’ but it says ‘God’ in verse 1 and again in verses 9 and 10? There seems to be an intimacy with divine Persons in that way.
JT God is prominent. In Genesis 1 we have ‘God’, it is ‘Elohim’ in the sense of supremacy; and immediately in chapter 2 we have a prefix to that, that is ‘Jehovah’, meaning that God is coming into more liberality and graciousness toward His people. That is what Genesis 2 really implies. It is remarkable how it appears there, while here it is not ‘Jehovah’, it is ‘God’. It is more the God of the first chapter, ‘Elohim’ meaning God in supremacy; for God must be supreme and that is what is in mind here.
Rem In Genesis 35:7 Jacob “called the place El-beth-el” meaning ‘God of the house of God’, the supremacy of God.
JT There are successive ideas that Jacob had in his mind; in Genesis 33:20 he sets up an altar and calls it El-Elohe-Israel, God being the God of Israel; in verse 7 of this chapter he called the place El-beth-el, God of the house of God. But the further or enlarged thought in verse 15 is that it is the house of God; not connected with Israel but just the house of God. It is a question of God.
SW Would greater spirituality lead to greater cumulative knowledge? Jacob’s experience with God led to greater cumulative knowledge so that he can name things in this way.
JT That is right. Now we might proceed to read further in the passage; Genesis 35:9 continues, “And God appeared to Jacob again after he had come from Padan-Aram, and blessed him. And God said to him, Thy name is Jacob: thy name shall not henceforth be called Jacob, but Israel shall be thy name. And he called his name Israel. And God said to him, I am the Almighty God: be fruitful and multiply;
[p. 154] a nation and a company of nations shall be of thee; and kings shall come out of thy loins. And the land that I gave Abraham and Isaac, to thee will I give it, and to thy seed after thee will I give the land” Genesis 35: 9 - 12. There is something here which is to be noted particularly in contrast to chapter 28; there God was at the top of the ladder, but now He has come down to where Jacob is. So it says, “And God went up from him in the place where he had talked with him. And Jacob set up a pillar in the place where he had talked with him, a pillar of stone, and poured on it a drink offering, and poured oil on it. And Jacob called the name of the place where God had talked with him, Beth-el” Genesis 35:13 - 15 — a fuller thought as to Bethel, and we might say God coming down in great familiarity to Jacob, and Jacob responding in the sense of service — “and Jacob set up a pillar in the place where he had talked with him, a pillar of stone, and poured on it a drink offering, and poured oil on it”. So that Jacob is now increasing in efficiency in God’s service. That is one of the points we are to get hold of clearly in what we still have to say.
SMcC Would the suggestion of pouring, both in the drink offering and in the oil, bring before us a certain spiritual fluidity in Jacob himself?
JT Very good; less niggardliness as to the tenth. There was nothing small now as to what he would give to Jehovah, he poured it out. The word ‘poured’ is used in the New Testament too; the Spirit being “poured out” abundantly upon us is a wonderful thought.
RH Why is it that God talked “with” him (verse 13)?
JT It is familiarity. You might say it is holy converse. In Acts 20 there are two words used: one refers to discourse, that is to say, a brother speaking on the principle of a discourse; the other is on the [p. 155] principle of conversation even as we are talking here this afternoon. We are dealing now on the principle of conversation, which is very happy, and God has made the ministry through conversation very precious to us in these recent times.
JK In Genesis 35:3 Jacob speaks of “the God that answered me in the day of my distress”. Now it is a question of God talking with him. That is something nearer, is it not, after all that had taken place?
JT It is very beautiful to see the whole passage as opening up the development in Jacob of spirituality, leading up to the service of God in the full sense of it.
ASB Does God going up from him indicate trustworthiness in Jacob now?
JT I think he can be left; he does not have to be watched. It is a poor thing if we have to be watched by the brethren, or by God Himself as being distrustful of us. So it says of Lazarus when he was raised, “Loose him and let him go”, John 11:44. You do not have to watch him, whereas the young man in Nain was delivered to his mother. He could not be trusted. Very often the state of things among the saints is such that the young people cannot be trusted.
JRH Does this show that we are entitled to look for greater intelligence and appreciation of God with recovered persons where there has been real self-judgment?
JT I think that is right, if a person has been really restored. Take the incestuous man we have already mentioned in 1 Corinthians: he was restored more quickly than Paul expected and apparently Paul had full confidence in him; the second letter would prove that Paul had full confidence in him. The Corinthians were rather hesitant about restoring [p. 156] him fully.
JRH You spoke of the brethren watching persons; evidently Paul was not in a position to watch that person.
JT That may be, but God will watch. God is faithful, but eldership is needed and nursing is needed; eldership particularly, for elders were appointed in every assembly and every city. It is a question of the government of God and things being watched and cared for.
SMcC In regard to what you were saying as to the man in 2 Corinthians, where self-judgment is present in persons it is important that the grace of the dispensation should be made way for, is it not?
JT ‘The grace of the dispensation’, that is a fine phrase. Tell us more about it.
SMcC The danger is sometimes, as you have said, of making the penalty fit the crime instead of seeing that we are dealing with persons, and that the grace of the dispensation enters into that as self-judgment is present.
JT Quite so. Now to proceed with the chapter, we have next the death of Rachel. These occurrences are very distressing because they often create voids. We have had it that Rebecca’s nurse died, but now Rachel also dies, Jacob’s beloved wife, first loved but second received; but she died. Therefore there would be a void. And then there is the naming of the child. It says, “The midwife said to her, Fear not; for this also is a son for thee. And it came to pass as her soul was departing” — this is a most touching matter — “her soul was departing — for she died —” a most solemn thing that comes home to all of us in some way or another. It is a very important thing to keep before us, so it says, “that she called his name Benoni” Genesis 35:17,18. Well, we have to see what this means; it is ‘Son of my affliction’; he was the son of her affliction. And it adds further,
“but his father called him Benjamin”, that is to say, the ‘Son of the right hand’. So we are here dealing with very important matters amongst the people of God. The mother calls him Benoni, but the father calls him Benjamin. He becomes one of the tribes with such a name as Benjamin, and much is made of Benjamin afterward in the Scriptures. Then we have further, “And Jacob erected a pillar upon her grave: that is the pillar of Rachel’s grave to this day” Genesis 35:20. We get it alluded to in the first book of Samuel and it comes into our ministry meetings and prophetic meetings where we get instruction in that particular chapter.
VCL Would you say one word more as to Jacob naming Benjamin, because is this not the first son that he named, and does it represent something arrived at in his soul with God?
JT Particularly expressed in the word “Benjamin”, son of his father’s right hand. There is this to be added, that with the birth of Benjamin the twelve sons of Jacob are already in view; that is to say, the administrative side in the service of God is provided for in the twelve sons of Jacob.
PL The elders were brought together at Miletus in a chapter that treats of the counsels of God and the service of God, and the assembly which He purchased with the blood of His own. Does the gathering together of the elders and the charge given to them there by Paul suggest that the administrative side is to be taken care of?
JT That chapter, Acts 20, is as you know very often spoken of. It is a love chapter: it begins with love, the middle of it is love and the end of it is love. It is all a love chapter, one that should be well looked into by us in view of the service of God.