READING ON EXODUS 3
READING ON EXODUS 3
JT The chapter is significant for it opens with the relationship of ‘in-law’, the father-in-law of Moses; it is one of the features of Exodus; it implies that this relation to Moses scarcely bore on the relationship of love, and yet was legal, so that the service of Moses was thus handicapped from the outset, as is often the case with gatherings and with servants, calling for a special intervention of God to put things right if administration is to be in mind. Had you thought of that?
Rem No; we had not that thought.
JT It is a great administrative book, and typically involves much in the ways of God with His people in government; so we need to take up all these things to understand what is in mind. There is the adverse attitude of Pharaoh, the attitude of the king to Moses himself, and how it is to be met; also his wife, as well as his father-in-law; and also that God had a mind to slay Moses, according to the next chapter. We need to take account of all these facts to see how God is seen in the book.
Rem The answer in the midwives was that they feared God.
JT Yes; that is a keynote in the book; they had much to fear according to man, but not according to God; so faith is needed.
Rem You have said, ‘Fear not!’ Quite. Abraham was a great personage, and God says to him, “Fear not”, Genesis 15: 1. In Hebrews 11: 27 it says, “By faith he left Egypt, not fearing the wrath of the king”. So now there is much to fear publicly, politically and socially, and the word “Fear not” is to be thought of. The position calls for courage: “not fearing the wrath of the king”; and yet it seems he did fear, and fled because of it.
Rem He was here in the ordering of God, and accepted the position.
JT That is the thing to see, to get the right point of view at the beginning in the reading of the book. So the circumstances in Midian bring out the position of Moses in a striking way; it says, “And Pharaoh heard of this matter, and sought to slay Moses. But Moses fled from before Pharaoh, and dwelt in the land of Midian. And he sat by the well. And the priest of Midian had seven daughters” (Exodus 2: 15, 16); he sat by the well. You will have seen that?
Ques Do you think that these early chapters of Exodus have a parallel in that the Lord is about to take the assembly out of the world? So in Exodus 1: 8 - 14, Pharaoh spoke roughly, and made the difference between the Egyptians and the children of Israel.
JT I think so. It is also a type of millennial times, as well as our going out of Egypt; that is the moral phase, when we go out of the world through the Red Sea; and secondly, when we go from the wilderness into Canaan, which is a spiritual thought. They involve the dual phase of our position. Morally we are out of the world now; baptism and the Lord’s supper suggest the means by which we go out; the heavenly side is seen in the Jordan.
Rem I am thinking of the aspect these things have in the world, and the parallel in spoiling the Egyptians of clothing, silver and gold; so we leave the world divested of all that is of value.
JT It is a question of how we get at things morally; how do we ask for vessels and clothing? And then they have “favour in the eyes of the Egyptians”, as it says in Exodus 12: 35, “And the children of Israel had done according to the word of Moses,
[p. 153] and they had asked of the Egyptians utensils of silver, and utensils of gold, and clothing. And Jehovah had given the people favour in the eyes of the Egyptians, and they gave to them; and they spoiled the Egyptians”. It seems to me all this is likely to affect us on the moral line; involving also the political situation, and the industrial and its many complications, and how the rights of God are to be asserted we must assert them. So the plagues become the opening up of God’s moral rights over the Egyptians, as well as over His people.
Rem He said, “Let my son go, that he may serve me”, Exodus 4: 23.
JT Yes; it would be on this particular mountain, God had said to Moses. Has the world any moral right to interfere? There is not much opposition to what the brethren are doing.
Rem This chapter is between God and Moses alone.
JT Clearly; it was a question of the mediator, and what he had to learn, and that these external matters must be faced.
Rem It was not yet the public side; Moses would have all this in his soul.
JT Yes; but we must see that he was an administrator already; he led his father-in-law’s flock “behind the wilderness”. So God is the Father, and the Lord Jesus is Father in Isaiah 9: 6; we have a double thought of fatherhood; the Father in Christianity, and in the Messiah in view of the millennium. The father-in-law has to be considered; he is not with Moses, and yet not against him. Later on he had the offer of being eyes to the people, but he was not ready for it. We have to face things inwardly as well as things externally. So the thorn-bush is a precious point to consider; it really involves John’s ministry.
Rem Moses’ first difficulty was the possibility of the extrication of the people from Egypt (verse 11).
JT Take one step at a time in Exodus, as in all these books. So we pick our way in them; we are not at the ‘in-law’ position, but the public profession, we cannot ignore them.
Ques What are we to see in Moses sitting by the well?
JT It is very beautiful, and one of the leading thoughts in the book. How lowly he was! It is the well.
Ques Does the great house of 2 Timothy 2: 20 correspond to the ‘in-law’ position?
JT I would think that, and it must involve the whole of Christendom, the obligations that are there, and how the saints are to be brought out in spite of the difficulties.
Ques How does it work out, and how are we to be undeterred in the presence of the opposition?
JT It is worked out for one thing in the young brothers in the army; it is not very conducive to love, but it is in the will of God; it is a terrible time for them, and now it is a double dose for them, as it were, for this second war is like an addition to what has been before, and the ‘in-law’ position enters into it.
Ques Pharaoh took up a certain attitude towards Moses which God in His power completely reversed, and later Moses tells Pharaoh what to do; Exodus 9:19. In the end — not roughly, but in the night (Exodus 12: 31) — Pharaoh begs him to go out. How does this work out?
JT The moral side must enter into it. Pharaoh has to do with God though Moses; a system was set up, and Moses was God to Pharaoh, and Aaron his spokesman; Exodus 7: 1. There must be some moral quality in Moses, and thus this system is set up on moral lines; ultimately they will come out on top.
[p. 155] Ques You are speaking of Moses getting free of the ‘in-law’ position, and then wanting to go back and take up things for God?
JT Well; he has to go through considerable suffering in chapters 2, 3 and 4, and yet in chapter 7 he is in a deified position. How could it be unless on moral lines? It is not so much to get free, but to be quietly accepting it at the well; then we have the father-in-law, and the flock, and then this secret matter, which God is carrying on; it is the ministry of John, really.
Ques Does it lead to the ‘speaking well’ of the word of God?
JT It would be there. Moses was the law-giver; he is not in the ‘in-law’ position now, but he is the law-giver, as when Israel sang to the well; Numbers 21: 17, 18.
Ques Was he fortified against what is adverse by what he had seen at the mountain of God?
JT Very good; and there is what we were saying as to the well, and the quiet stability Moses had in sitting there. All these thoughts run together.
Rem There is a basis for God to approach.
JT Yes; there must be that for the revelation that was made; but it is here, and the disclosures that were made: “And the Angel of Jehovah appeared to him in a flame of fire out of the midst of a thorn-bush: and he looked, and behold, the thorn-bush burned with fire, and the thorn-bush was not being consumed”. Now it is a question as to whether we can have a meeting like this without fear; “And Moses said, Let me now turn aside and see this great sight, why the thorn-bush is not burnt. And Jehovah saw that he turned aside to see, and God called to him out of the midst of the thorn-bush and said, Moses, Moses! And he said, Here am I”. And he was afraid; it was wholesome fear; we have here the thought of sitting down quietly, and not being afraid [p. 156] of the facts of the revelation of God, and all that there is for us; and it is for us to pursue these things. There is wholesome fear and yet liberty of soul to draw near.
Rem He was moving with the flock.
JT Yes; it is the place the flock has with us; how long did he lead the flock?
Rem It says, “And Moses tended the flock of Jethro his father-in-law”; he did what was necessary, where it was necessary.
JT Yes; he was qualifying for administration. We must have that in the service of God.
Ques What is implied in his sitting by the well?
JT These things run together; it is what he had in his soul as he advanced in years, “when he had become great”, as it says in Hebrews 11: 24.
Ques What does the thorn-bush signify?
JT A weak and lowly position, yet it is not burnt, though God is in it. The power of life is in it. It is not only the incarnation, but God’s presence with His people.
Ques Is it comparable to Acts 2, the fire there; the Holy Spirit coming down, and the saints outwardly defenceless?
JT Well, let us look at it: “And when the day of Pentecost was now accomplishing, they were all together in one place. And there came suddenly a sound out of heaven as of a violent impetuous blowing, and filled all the house where they were sitting. And there appeared to them parted tongues, as of fire, and it sat upon each one of them. And they were all filled with the Holy Spirit, and began to speak with other tongues as the Spirit gave to them to speak forth”, Acts 2: 1 - 4. There must be something in the ‘fire’.
Rem There was no fear on their side.
JT It does not say so. The crowd spoke in folly, but Peter explains the position to them.
Ques Does Moses’ reference to “the good will of him that dwelt in the bush” (Deuteronomy 33: 16) refer to this?
JT Surely.
Ques Is the incarnation linked with the burning bush?
JT Yes.
Ques As to Moses’ language here, “Let me now turn aside and see this great sight”; was it moral formation in his soul?
JT Yes; notwithstanding the fear he had, too; there was this other element; it was not curiosity, but something going on in his soul.
Ques What would the object be for the servant?
JT It is all there in the book. We must get all the elements. We are coming to the system. It is a question of Christianity, really.
Ques Is it “we have contemplated his glory”?
JT Yes; John says that; John 1: 14.
Rem Moses is urgent, “now”, he says.
JT Yes; God is answering by calling. In choosing Barnabas and Saul it says, “Separate me now” (Acts 13: 2); so it is here. Moses is full of enquiries, and God would be pleased with that. Now God is speaking, not from heaven, but by the Spirit in the assembly.
Ques Would “Moses, Moses!” here be like Barnabas and Saul, the persons named?
JT Very beautiful; doubling of the name; it would greatly emphasise the person.
Ques What about the bush burning but not being consumed?
JT Moses was struck with that; and then the idea of Being, linked with “I AM THAT I AM”.
Rem “God is a spirit” (John 4: 24) is seen now in smallness.
JT Yes.
Ques Would lowly and reverent inquiry lead [p. 158] to more disclosures as to the truth of divine Persons and the assembly?
JT Yes; hence let us go back over the ground covered, and one wonders if the brethren are covering the truth. The Lord says, “But when he is come, the Spirit of truth, he shall guide you into all the truth” (John 16: 13); there is much as to the Lord’s supper and the knowledge of divine Persons; it is a question of the Being of God. In Colossians 1: 19 it says, “for in him all the fulness of the Godhead was pleased to dwell”, but in Colossians 2: 9 it reads, “For in him dwells all the fulness of the Godhead bodily”; hence it is brought into our range, while in chapter 1 it is the Being, the fulness of the Being of God is there.
Ques Is Colossians 1: 19 the Lord here, and Colossians 2: 9 the Lord on high?
JT Let us read it. Verse 18 says, “And he is the head of the body, the assembly; who is the beginning, firstborn from among the dead, that he might have the first place in all things: for in him all the fulness of the Godhead was pleased to dwell”. It is not saying what, but in the second chapter it is ‘bodily’.
Ques In Colossians 2 it is all that is to be known in Christ above, but is it historical in chapter 1?
JT Yes; it is the incarnation; in chapter 1 it is “was pleased to dwell”.
Ques Is “I AM THAT I AM” inscrutability?
JT Yes; we have been speaking of the Being, involving the “not being consumed”, the thorn-bush is subsisting by the power of God, and we must work out the truth in the following verses 5 - 9, “And he said, Draw not nigh hither: loose thy sandals from off thy feet, for the place whereon thou standest is holy ground. And he said, I am the God of thy father, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob. And Moses hid his face; for he was afraid to look at God. And Jehovah said, I have seen [p. 159] assuredly the affliction of my people who are in Egypt, and their cry have I heard on account of their taskmasters; for I know their sorrows. And I am come down to deliver them out of the hand of the Egyptians, and to bring them up out of that land unto a good and spacious land, unto a land flowing with milk and honey, unto the place of the Canaanites, and the Hittites, and the Amorites, and the Perizzites, and the Hivites, and the Jebusites. And now behold, the cry of the children of Israel is come unto me”; God is compassionate for His people and wants Moses to understand. We should see the system, not yet unfolded; it is a question of God in His compassions for His people, and of Moses himself being brought to this. Then it says, “and I have also seen the oppression with which the Egyptians oppress them. And now come, and I will send thee unto Pharaoh, that thou mayest bring forth my people the children of Israel out of Egypt. And Moses said to God, Who am I, that I should go unto Pharaoh, and that I should bring forth the children of Israel out of Egypt? And he said, For I will be with thee; and this shall be the sign to thee that I have sent thee when thou hast brought forth the people out of Egypt, ye shall serve God upon this mountain” (verses 9 - 12). God had not changed His mind as to where the service should be carried on: “And Moses said to God, Behold, when I come unto the children of Israel, and shall say unto them, The God of your fathers hath sent me unto you; and they shall say, What is his name? what shall I say unto them?” (verse 13). Now we come to revelation, “I AM THAT I AM”, it is God’s Being. “And God said to Moses, I AM THAT I AM. And he said, Thus shalt thou say unto the children of Israel: I AM hath sent me unto you” (verse 14). We have first the thought of Being, and then the Being is acting on behalf of His people. It is John, and Ephesians, and Colossians, and Hebrews. The truth of Christ’s Person has been before us many years, and eternal life, and the service of God, but there needs to be a reviewing of things as to divine Persons, and how They are to be addressed.
Ques Is this God in the absolute?
JT “I AM THAT I AM” is absolute; it is not in relation to anything; but “I AM hath sent me unto you” is not absolute, but God in relation to His people. We must keep this before us; let us repeat it, that “I AM THAT I AM” is absolute and not in relation to anything, whereas “I AM hath sent me unto you” is God in relation to His people, and all our hopes are bound up in that. The abstract idea is God; not three Persons. Again to repeat, “I AM THAT I AM” is God in the absolute. So we have here the absolute idea of God, not in relation to anything or any other being; but the second reference is relative to His people.
Ques Would these be the depths of God which the Spirit searches?
JT That is a relative thought; no matter how deep you go into it, the more you find out what He is.
Ques Would you say more as to God in a relative place, and the need for reviewing?
JT Well; so much has come before us, and perhaps irregularly, that we need to review things. The Spirit guides us.
Ques Do we learn in parts?
JT Yes; particularly at the readings. God has made more of them possible than at the beginning; it is like Acts 20, the brethren in love together in conversational thoughts.
Rem Certain things are emphasised at certain times; the idea of the well is needed, so as to come at them in an orderly way.
JT I see it more and more; the Lord says, “By this shall all know that ye are disciples of mine, if ye have love amongst yourselves”, John 13: 35.
[p. 161] Ques Is there a correspondence between Moses and John?
JT There is a great likeness between them, and the Lord likens Moses to Himself in John 5: 46, 47.
Rem In Malachi 3:16 it speaks of them that feared Jehovah speaking “often one to another”.
JT So also Balaam says of Israel, “What hath God wrought!” (Numbers 23: 23). God is working to bring out the truth; “the truth shall set you free” (John 8: 32), the Lord says.
Ques How far does “the full knowledge of him” go in Ephesians 1: 17?
JT The note to the word ‘know’ in Matthew 11: 27 will help, where it says, “no one knows the Son but the Father”; the note says it is ‘real knowledge, not a mere objective acquaintance with a person’; so we have the saints arriving at “the knowledge of the Son of God, at the full-grown man, at the measure of the stature of the fulness of the Christ” (Ephesians 4: 13); that is full knowledge.
Ques Can there be anything greater than God known in the economy? Is “I AM THAT I AM” greater than that?
JT We have the real knowledge of God as revealed.
Ques Does the whole system depend on what is in verse 14?
JT John’s gospel greatly enlarges on that; the three Persons are seen acting together. The Son is seen acting objectively in 1 Corinthians 1: 1 - 9; it implies the objective knowledge the Corinthians had in the abstract seen in that chapter; it is the objective idea of the truth; the apostle is accrediting the Corinthians with being in everything enriched in Christ, “in all word of doctrine, and all knowledge”, 1 Corinthians 1: 5.
Ques Is the “temple of God” (1 Corinthians 3: 16) another great abstract [p. 162] thought?
JT Yes; they had to learn that.
Ques Does all this involve stability in our souls?
JT Yes, exactly.
Ques Is that implied in Psalm 90, where Moses says, “Lord, thou hast been our dwelling-place in all generations. Before the mountains were brought forth, and thou hadst formed the earth and the world, even from eternity to eternity thou art God” (verses 1, 2)?
JT You wonder at what is said of Moses.
Ques Is the spirit of enquiry right, “they shall say, What is his name”?
JT It will take time, the scripture is ‘unfolding’ the truth; Deuteronomy 1: 5 uses this word; the fulness comes out in the New Testament. “This is my name for ever, and this is my memorial unto all generations”; it had to be disclosed.
Ques The disclosure to Moses was in answer to an enquiry; are we to experience that?
JT We need that, too, as we are together in love as we dig into the deepest matters.
Rem Are we to know the reality of God bringing His people out of Egypt “unto a land flowing with milk and honey” (verse 8)?
JT Yes; it is the abstract idea, and Moses brings it out. He is the first to use the word ‘Jah’, Exodus 15: 2. Numbers 12: 8 helps as to what Moses had; “the form of Jehovah doth he behold”, He says of Moses. So Paul speaks of “my intelligence in the mystery” (Ephesians 3: 4); he had a wonderful knowledge of God. So we have two men that have extraordinary knowledge.