WELLS AND SPRINGS (6)
[p. 105] WELLS AND SPRINGS (6)
Genesis 41: 45 - 52; Genesis 49: 22
JT It is thought that we should look at Joseph’s history at this time. He, Joseph, is seen in Genesis as a type of Christ, not mainly in relation with Israel — although of Israel — but among the gentiles, and what He acquires there. The epistle to the Colossians has in mind this part of our subject; that is, “Christ in you” — Christ among the nations — “the hope of glory”. There is no other hope among the nations. However much has been among them since Nebuchadnezzar’s time, there is no “hope of glory”. What gives a clue to our subject, principally, is the verse in chapter 49, “Joseph is a fruitful bough; a fruitful bough by a well; his branches shoot over the wall”. The word for bough, as the note shows, is son of a fruitful tree. That is the general thought — a fruitful bough; and then, “by a well” is a second thought. Branches convey a feminine thought — daughters — shooting over the wall. Fruitfulness is thus linked with the well.
In chapter 41, we see how immense was the fruitfulness. In general, it is seen in the fruit of the land, prior to the famine; but also in his two sons, the name of the second meaning fruitfulness. He says, “God has caused me to be fruitful in the land of my affliction” (verse 52); therefore, the idea of fruit predominates in his history. Asnath is the link with our subject, as a type of the assembly. Our thoughts, under the Spirit’s guidance, should come under the teaching of Colossians — the assembly’s place seen there, and what Christ is as the Centre. His Person comes into great prominence even as to headship of the assembly, it is part of the glory of the Person of Christ that He is Head of the assembly. It is all of Himself, no augmentation from judaism at all; that is rather in the way. There is no idea of Sarah’s tent here; it is what arises from Joseph;
[p. 106] that is, Christ, in type, and what is from himself, rising, as he does, from the position of a slave to lord of all Egypt. It is what Christ is Himself; what comes out in Himself; His position among the gentiles by itself; nothing at all contributed from judaism. It is what arises from him in the land of his affliction.
AR Chapter 37 reads, “These are the generations of Jacob. Joseph ...” (verse 2). It would seem as if the Spirit of God wants to have the eye fixed on Joseph immediately, and then it says, “And Israel loved Joseph more than all his sons” (verse 3).
JT Quite so; the subject runs right on from chapter 37 to chapter 46; it is mainly Joseph right through. We do not get the other sons until Jacob goes to Egypt. It is the Egyptian position, and Joseph in it. The others are left out until they go to Joseph in Egypt.
CAM Your reference to Colossians seems to throw light on the line of thought. It says that when the gospel came among them it was bearing fruit and growing.
JT The name Zaphnath-paaneah is to bring out what he was to be. The idea conveyed, of the sustainer of life, would allude to the fruitfulness of the land which was administered through him; the bread that supplies life. Pharaoh therefore had the thought that was to come out in him; the one who could nourish or sustain the life of the world, as it seems to be. Joseph also says to his brethren, “God sent me before you to preserve life”, Genesis 45: 5. From Pharaoh’s point of view, he was sustainer of the life of the world, and that was through food. “Pharaoh said to his bondmen, Shall we find one as this, a man in whom the Spirit of God is? And Pharaoh said to Joseph, Since God has made all this known to thee, there is none so discreet and wise as thou”, Genesis 41: 38, 39. So we may connect him with Caiaphas, who, because of the position he held, came into prophetic light. Then he says, “Thou shalt be over my house, and according to thy commandment [p. 107] shall all my people regulate themselves; only concerning the throne will I be greater than thou”. That is all in accord with Jacob’s prophecies; the throne was the one thing that was denied Joseph. It was in the mind of God for Judah, who represents another phase of Christ’s glory. “And Pharaoh said to Joseph, See, I have set thee over all the land of Egypt. And Pharaoh took off his ring from his hand, and put it on Joseph’s hand, and arrayed him in clothes of byssus, and put a gold chain on his neck. And he caused him to ride in the second chariot that he had; and they cried before him, Bow the knee! and he set him over all the land of Egypt. And Pharaoh said to Joseph, I am Pharaoh; and without thee shall no man lift up his hand or his foot in all the land of Egypt. And Pharaoh called Joseph’s name Zaphnath-paaneah, and gave him as wife Asnath, the daughter of Potipherah the priest in On” (verses 41 - 45). Thus he is honoured, and given a wife by the king. He is second to him; equal to the king except in the throne; therefore, the position is typical of what we see in God and Christ. We cannot reverse the position of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. We must put the Father first, not the Spirit, nor the Son. The economy of christianity is seen thus; the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. That is the position now. The basis for fruitfulness is thus assured.
ABP Is the picture completed in chapter 47, in Jacob coming in as father? Pharaoh is seen as typical of God, but is not Jacob typical of the Father? So that the fruitfulness in Joseph’s sons becomes satisfaction to the heart of the Father.
JT That is right. The Father comes in first, really, in the full thought of our dispensation. “I ascend to my Father, and your Father”. That is the order of the truth in John 20; and then, “my God, and your God” is final.
ANW Are these statements in chapter 49 to be considered separately and distinctly? First of all, Joseph [p. 108] is a fruitful bough, and then a fruitful bough by a well, as linking him, apparently, with the Spirit; and then, the branches shoot over the wall, as the product of that, which might suggest a link between the Son and the Spirit.
JT That is the gist of the matter. It is a very short verse, but it is very full. The fruitful bough is one thing; that is his own distinction. And then, a fruitful bough by a well, is his relative position. Then the feminine idea is in the branches (the footnote says ‘daughters’) shooting over the wall. It is a sort of evidence of life, going over the wall.
FHL Is there any link with Luke 3 here? The Spirit comes down, and the Father’s delight is expressed; and then it says, Jesus began to be about thirty years of age.
JT I have no doubt Luke would help us. It is understood that he was a gentile. At any rate, his treatises develop the truth in relation to the gentiles. He pursues the history until he reaches Rome; Paul in his own hired house in Rome says, “this salvation of God has been sent to the nations; they also will hear it”, Acts 28: 28. It is the gentile position that is the great objective in Luke’s ministry; and it is for us to be simple and appreciative and appropriative of what relates to us and rise to it. It is what God has now among the nations.
WR Does not God hold the gentile world responsible as to what it has done with Christ? Pharaoh says here to all the Egyptians, “Go to Joseph: what he says to you, that do” (verse 55).
JT Yes; He is honoured among the gentiles, and this works out now in testimony; it is for us to understand. Of course, the four monarchies were ordained of God to govern the gentile world; that is, the whole world provisionally. The throne belongs to Christ, but that is secret, or mysterious. How He is honoured, according to this type, is for us now to understand,
[p. 109] and what part we have in the distinction He has — and the fruitfulness. Everything hinges on fruitfulness; so that we have the idea of the fulness of the gentiles coming in, in Romans. That means what Christ has effected among the gentiles. Romans does not develop the assembly, but it does mention the fulness of the gentiles. Christ, in the mysterious position He holds at the right hand of God, is operating here in view of fruitfulness.
AAT In Colossians, Paul speaks about “Christ in you the hope of glory”, Colossians 1: 27, as a mystery.
JT That is how the matter stands. It is a question of the mystery involving the assembly. The gospels speak of the mysteries of the kingdom of the heavens, but the passage in Colossians speaks of Christ and the assembly. Romans, as we have said, contemplates the fulness of the gentiles; we are finishing up in this dispensation among the gentiles. Colossians has the assembly in mind, and Asnath here corresponds as a type of the assembly. There is nothing special that is stated as to her personally, any more than in the case of Zipporah — unlike Rebecca or other types of the assembly. It is just that she is there, so that the marital position is present; and the well is essential; that is, the Spirit is necessary. Joseph is “a fruitful bough”, meaning, as the footnote indicates, son of a fruitful tree; but then he is that by a well, and his branches shoot over the wall. It is a living state of things because of the well.
CAM Would it not connect with one of our earlier readings when we were occupied with John 4?
JT Yes. Jacob and Joseph and the well are connected there. I suppose the woman of Samaria might be suggested in the daughters shooting over the wall.
ANW The men in John say, “We know that this is indeed the Saviour of the world”. They use the very title which is conveyed in the name Pharaoh gives to [p. 110] Joseph.
JT Yes. So that John 4 works out into the nobleman and sonship. The Samaritans made a place for the Lord and He abode there two days; and then we get the sign of the nobleman’s son, bringing out the development of the truth in the chapter. “Thy son lives”, the Lord says to the man. The nobleman had said, Come down ere my child die. He was not thinking of any dignity; he was just thinking of the child being restored, but the Lord says, “Thy son lives”. That is also the thought in the fruitful bough. It is the dignity coming out in the development of the truth. Then John 5 brings out the greatness of Christ in sonship, but in the sense of the dependent One. Much is made of the Son, and His equality with the Father, and yet He says He can do nothing without the Father.
JS Do John 3 and 4 fit in here? In John 3, in “The Father loveth the Son”; then in chapter 4 you have Him by the well.
JT That is right; you see how the truth works out from chapter 4 and how it develops through the nobleman’s family, because the Lord refers to the son at once; not that he shall live, but he lives. It is immediate; and then the nobleman goes down to Capernaum where he lived, and the servants having told him about the child, and the time of his recovery, he remarked that that was the hour in which the Lord said his son lived. Then it is said that he believed — by himself, as it were. There is the idea again; but the house believed, too. The conjunction ‘and’ is used — not ‘with’. The belief of the family is by itself as we might say. It is to show the working out of the truth of Christ among the gentiles.
RWS The Lord’s supper really belongs to the gentiles.
JT It is set down amongst them, according to Corinthians, you might say. The ark was set by itself without any accompaniments; the pot of manna and the book of the law were in it in the wilderness, but [p. 111] as placed in the house, by Solomon, there was nothing in it but the tables of the covenant. In this sense it was like the Lord’s supper as set down in Corinth. The eliminations bring it into a setting more precious and more fitting to the assembly.
AR Joseph calls his second son Ephraim, which means double fruitfulness.
JT It brings out, I suppose, what Christ is among the gentiles. There are two sons; the name of the first suggests elimination. Just as we have been saying about the Lord’s supper — Manasseh means forgetfulness — it is a negative thought. God, Joseph says, has made me to forget. This idea of elimination ought to have its place with us too. “For God has made me forget all my toil, and all my father’s house” (verse 51); that is the thought to start with. If we are to reach a refined position in relation to the Lord’s supper, there must be some elimination of ideas, so as to bring out its entire connection with the assembly. The positive side is double fruitfulness. You may be sure that if we do not understand elimination, we shall never get full results. Christendom has brought in so much that is not only extraneous, but corrupting, that we must understand the principle of elimination, so as to have holy conditions.
GVD Is that brought out in John 15 — in the purging of the branches?
JT That is the principle of it, to purge away what is dead; so that there might be more fruit. I do not know whether the brethren follow this thought of elimination, so as to be suitably in the assembly. We shall never reach the assembly without that negative principle.
ANW Do you mean the closed door idea in John 20?
JT Yes. That is shutting out the Jews — the Jewish element; but there is more than that to be [p. 112] shut out.
CAM The Lord allowed the truth of the Supper to be given in a setting which would show what had to be eliminated. It is remarkable that it should be given in an epistle to such an assembly as Corinth.
JT That is right, as to the things that are wrong. What we are dealing with now relates to things that, in themselves, are right; that is, what attached to Joseph’s father’s house, as he says, “God has made me forget all my toil, and all my father’s house”. That is the negative idea in Manasseh; and then the next is, “For God has caused me to be fruitful in the land of my affliction”. God had done both things; showing that what we are engaged with now, as among the gentiles, is the result of God acting for us negatively and positively, empowering us to eliminate what might hold us in a certain way. Years back many things were connected with the Lord’s supper — the forgiveness of sins, for example. The forgiveness of sins is connected with it in the gospels; so that we have to understand the difference between the original institution and what was given from above by the Lord to Paul, with which we are to conform in our assembly service. We often say a horse is a useful creature, or an ass; so they are, but not admissible as sacrifices. We have to learn how to eliminate things that in themselves are right, but unsuitable in certain circumstances. So Joseph, in view of fruitfulness, brings in the thought of elimination in Manasseh; that is, in relation to his father’s house. God had caused him to forget. It was an actual state brought about in him by God. How can I, therefore, be in the assembly without the Spirit? It is the power of God that enables me to disallow what hinders.
RWS The part of the meeting where we used to dwell on the covenant has been somewhat modified by the marital thought.
JT Yes. We have been helped to give more place to the latter. It is growing on us. Romans speaks of [p. 113] our bearing fruit unto God. Joseph has that in mind; and for this the Spirit must be there. The more I think of the service of God in the assembly, the more I see we must come in the recognition of the Spirit, not only to eliminate things mentally, but to do it in power. It becomes my actual state for the moment.
APT In John 20, Mary is told, “Touch me not”. What would there be in that?
JT That is elimination, referring to what the garden stood for. The garden will be all right by and by, but it was not the place for the Lord to be touched then. He was bringing in the heavenly side of the truth. He said, “I ascend to my Father and your Father”. The connection is to be up there. Christ’s brethren, or the assembly, answer to it here.
ARS Did Joseph learn the same as Abram? He was called out from his father’s house; then he was hindered a bit, because he waited until his father died.
JT That is the principle; whether we can leave things that are in themselves right; that is not merely a mental effort, but a matter of state for the moment. It is an actual state of fruitfulness, and God has done it. It is the Holy Spirit doing it, as we make room for Him. We want to learn how to be in a suitable state at a given time. The power of elimination is by the Spirit.
ARS Does the principle of elimination come in in the word, “that they who have wives, be as not having any”, 1 Corinthians 7: 29?
JT That is a general principle — in regard of service, but in the assembly, normally, our wives should be regarded as our sisters. And then in the assembly, on the wholly spiritual side there is neither male or female, bond or free. It is a question not only of a mental effort, but the Spirit of God has made me to do it.
JHE Paul says, “forgetting the things behind, and stretching out to the things before, I pursue”, Philippians 3: [p. 114] 13.
JT That is forgetting permanently, and most important, but we are stressing what is to be forgotten when actually in assembly.
ANW “Forget thine own people and thy father’s house: and the king will desire thy beauty”, Psalm 45: 10, 11.
JT That confirms what we are saying. It is said of Stephen that he was full of faith and the Holy Spirit. That is necessary for a state suitable for assembly service.
JTJr Would that state develop by feeding on the old corn of the land?
JT Exactly. Joshua 5 brings us into accord with the new place. I am sustained there by the old corn of the land; that is, food that is indigenous to the land; and I am built up constitutionally according to that, making me practically heavenly. Of course, the early disciples realised this. They came into the thing. John says, “I was in the Spirit”. Paul says that he was caught up into paradise.
ANW Is elimination brought about by reckoning?
JT We begin with that. Reckoning is an act of the mind, as in Romans 6: “So also ye, reckon yourselves dead to sin and alive to God in Christ Jesus”. In chapter 8 it becomes a real state in the soul, because it is by the Spirit: “but if, by the Spirit, ye put to death the deeds of the body, ye shall live” (verse 13). Romans 8 is a great point reached. It is God, by the Spirit, doing things.
AR Do you eliminate sins from your mind at the Supper, having in mind rather that the loaf suggests Christ’s love for the assembly?
JT That is the way we move on until we are in accord with Christ; the marital bond involves that we are in accord with Him; that we are outside of flesh and blood conditions; that we are in a deathless state of things, because the assembly never dies, never will die; it is a living organism. We are to reach that. The [p. 115] thing we are speaking about is, with us, largely light, in application, but there is such a thing as that, and the early christians arrived at it. The idea is in the assembly, that it is to be reached outside of flesh and blood conditions. It is the Eve condition — the primary thought — it is a sinless, deathless state; it never will die; sin will never be attached to it. Abstractly, there is no sin attaching to it.
JTJr In Exodus 24 God did not put His hand on those who went up: there was nothing to call attention to, that was obnoxious to Him; they went up and saw the God of Israel.
JT Quite so; they are called the nobles of Israel. It is in that elevated sphere.
JHE Would it be Ephesian altitude? They went through the upper districts (Acts 19: 1), and as in that setting, the Spirit is given through the laying on of Paul’s hands.
JT That is the idea. We often speak of the two levels — the Corinthian level is in chapter 18, and Apollos is there holding that lower level, which is our public position; but Paul reached Ephesus on the upper level, which is the heavenly side.
AR In our giving of thanks there is a tendency to go over past history.
JT Entering on full assembly state and position is a question of spiritual power; it is a question of what God does for you by the Spirit. He makes you to forget and brings you into what you are in the Spirit: “For God has caused me to be fruitful in the land of my affliction”. The conditions outside have not changed; the change is in Joseph — in the saints.
CAM Would you say that while Joseph’s wife is a type of the assembly here, yet on account of the setting, her importance really is in her fruit — in her sons?
JT That is the point that is made, because it fits into the Joseph type. It is fruitfulness; what God has effected among the gentiles. As we look across the field from Jerusalem “round about to Illyricum”, and now round about to Victoria, B.C. — the uttermost limit of the west — what gracious divine activities and results are suggested!
CAM The allusion to the west is very encouraging. It should give us rest in spite of all that is happening.
JT Quite so; God is having to say to the matter. God is stretching out His hand in all this war, and it is a question as to whether we can follow Him in faith. “Touch not mine anointed ones, and do my prophets no harm”, Psalm 105: 15. God is working out the fulness of the gentiles; He will not allow any power to interfere. It may bring out what is in the saints, but it will not obliterate what is there.
FNW Do the existing conditions require this power of elimination, that God may not be deprived of what is due to Him from His people?
JT Yes. Can we come into the current of God’s thoughts as to this great thought of the assembly as in Colossians 1: 27, “Christ in you the hope of glory”? That is the mystery; what He is bringing out in the gentiles; the whole field is in His mind. He is bringing out the fulness of it; whether it be Europe or this continent. We must enquire what God is getting out of it. God is overshadowing all this territory. He has property in it, and He is going to take it out of it presently, but He is going to keep it here as long as He needs to keep it here. He has caused fruitfulness in the land of Christ’s affliction. I think that is the thing to have before us in considering Christ as typified in Joseph; what He has in the whole gentile world. What He has in Australia, for instance — Australasia is really the south. I have been thinking about some whom God has taken up — persons of no account at all — in the cities of Europe and down in the Caribbean Sea. These lands are included in the fulness of the nations. God is there; He has something [p. 117] there, and He will see it through. It is a question of the fulness of the gentiles coming in.
JS Do you see that brought out in Acts 13?
JT Yes; I think the idea began at Antioch; that is where the disciples were first called christians; that is, entirely distinguished by themselves, no longer Jews.
FSC Is Joseph’s land in Deuteronomy 33 the same thought? It speaks there of the blessings of Joseph’s land.
JT Well, his land there would be his part in the inheritance among the tribes. The birthright was his. We are seeking to get at the foundational idea in Christ among the gentiles. It is a bough, a fruitful bough. He is a “son of a fruitful tree”; and then he is a fruitful bough by a well; and then his daughters are springing up as seen in the “branches”; the latter is the feminine idea developed. That all comes out in the assembly; the ministry of the assembly among the gentiles. This mystery is among the nations, and God is going to see it through; so that we want to be in the current of His thoughts.
RWS What do you think God has in mind in limiting our travelling now?
JT It is discipline. We all feel it. God is looking on, and He is sure to give relief. In view of complete fulness coming out. He is sure to give us relief in time. I do not see anything in it beyond discipline.
HGH In spite of the conditions the brethren are being brought very close together.
JT Yes; going over the wall would be the result of the well. The allusion is to a full well and the wall is around; that is, the power of life through the water causes the growth, causing the fruitfulness to go over the wall. Whatever the hindrance might be, or however high the wall might be, the growth of life goes over it. So that God will not shut us up to ourselves, I am certain, because the idea of oneness of the assembly requires that we should visit one another. I am [p. 118] certain He will not leave us shut up if He is to go on with His testimony. He will make a way for love. It is remarkable, in vegetable life, how you see the force of growth developed through an obstacle. If our affections move toward our brethren (we can keep on writing to them and sending them what we can). God will say, I will let you go there, too. God is fostering the development of life and will facilitate it.
ANW The word is, shoot over the wall.
JT That shows the energy of life.
CAM Your reference to the south was very interesting. In the beginning of the Acts a man comes from the south, and there was a queen of the south. There seems to be a correspondence at the end with what there was at the beginning of church history in fruit from the south. The Ethiopian eunuch came from the south. He had in mind the worship of God.
JT Quite so. The south would be Africa, primarily. Well, Africa has come around to this continent and the Aryan branch of the race has come around by the north. We are all here. God has brought us here. He is working out His great thoughts here. That indicates where America stands in the ways of God.
FHL Israel’s position is established in chapter 48.
JT Quite so. These two boys come under the hand of the father later, but Joseph is viewing them here as his own product; not helped by any other hand. It is what Joseph is — a fruitful bough. Ephraim is double fruitfulness. He comes in as the first-born in another way, linking on really with the double river in Ezekiel, because in Ezekiel, in that connection, Joseph is to have two portions in the future. But that is Joseph in the millennium, among the other tribes, but now we are dealing with him among the gentiles.
JS The springs are just as strong in the south as they are in the north.
JT That is right. I think it is remarkable that in the entrance of the gospel into Europe properly, it [p. 119] was brought to a colony. Philippi was a colony. Colonization has been a great feature of modern times and God has followed it up to work out His thoughts. Men went to New Zealand and Australia largely to get gold, but God has taken up many there. Thus, “the gold of that land” is not what has been found in the mines; God has taken up men, and it is what God is getting out of His people now.
CAM The treasure, over which the eunuch was placed, must have had a changed value in his eyes when he got back to Ethiopia. He had found greater treasure.
JT Quite so; he took it back in his heart. He went away rejoicing. We are not told what he did when he came to the end of his journey. God would say, You ought to know. He was a real christian. Well, I trust that the brethren will get the idea of the position we are in, and what God is doing this very minute; working out the fulness of the gentiles; each one yields to God as he is taken out from among the gentiles.