Table of Contents

Abraham

Abigail

Elijah: "A Prophet of the Lord"

Elisha: "The Man of God."

Joseph

Samuel the Prophet

Guidance in a Day of Ruin

Hamilton Smith - Old Testament Character Studies

Hamilton Smith

This document may be found online at www.stempublishing.com

You are welcome to freely access and use this material for personal study or sending to other Bible students, compiling extracts for notes etc, but please do not republish without permission.

With the prayerful desire that the Lord Jesus Christ will use this God-given ministry in this form for His glory and the blessing of many in these last days before His coming. © Les Hodgett (contact@stempublishing.com)

Reproduced in this format by kind permission of the publisher appointed by Mr. Smith:

"An Outline of Sound Words", 74 Granton Road, Edinburgh, EH5 3RD.

Abraham - The Friend of God

Abigail: "cause of delight"

Elijah: "A Prophet of the Lord"

Elisha: "The Man of God"

Joseph - Revealer of Secrets, Saviour of the World

Samuel the Prophet

Guidance in a Day of Ruin - Rehoboam, Jeremiah and Daniel

Abraham

Abraham.

by Hamilton Smith.

Contents

Foreword

On the Other Side of the River

The Call of God

Faith and Unbelief

Refusing and Choosing

Victory and Defeat

Sonship and Inheritance

The Flesh and the Law

The Almighty God and the Everlasting Covenant

Blessings and Privileges

Friendship With the World

The Works of the Flesh

The Birth of the Heir

The Offering Up of Isaac

The Death of Sarah

The Call of Rebekah

Foreword

It would hardly be possible to overestimate the importance of a knowledge of God's dealings with Abraham and his seed for a proper understanding of the Bible. To him the Lord said, "I will bless them that bless thee, and curse him that curseth thee: and in thee shall all families of the earth be blessed" (Gen. 12: 3). From Galatians 3: 16 we learn that that seed was "Christ," and in Him alone are all the blessings of the covenant realized.

Abraham is also one of the most interesting characters of Bible history. There are few people mentioned so frequently in the Scriptures. Concordance pages show that besides the many, many places where his name appears in the Old Testament, he is mentioned more than seventy times in eleven books in the New Testament. He has the distinction of being called "The Friend of God" (James 2: 23).

To fit Abraham for the place God had purposed for him, the God of glory appeared to him (Acts 7: 2) and gave him wondrous visions — visions of the Lord Jesus (John 8: 56) and visions of a heavenly city "which hath foundations, whose builder and maker is God" (Heb. 11: 10).

The practical lessons we learn from his life are emphasized in Mr. Hamilton Smith's book — Abraham, the Friend of God. We trust it may be blessed of the Lord as have been his former books, including those on Joseph, Elijah and Elisha.

The Publishers February, 1957

The God of Abraham praise,

Who reigns enthroned above;

Ancient of everlasting days

And God of love:

Jehovah, great I AM,

By earth and heaven confessed,

I bow and bless the sacred Name,

Forever blessed.

The God of Abraham praise

At whose supreme command

From earth I rise to seek my joys

At His right hand.

He calls me to forsake

Earth's wisdom, fame and power,

And Him my only portion make,

My shield and tower.

The God of Abraham praise,

Whose all-sufficient grace

Shall guide me all my pilgrim days,

In all my ways.

He calls a worm His friend,

He calls Himself my God,

And He shall save me to the end,

Through Jesus' blood.

He by Himself hath sworn,

I on His oath depend,

I shall, on eagle wings upborne,

To heaven ascend:

I shall behold His face,

I shall His power adore)

And sing the wonders of His grace

For evermore.

— T.Oliver.

On the Other Side of the River

Genesis 11: 27-30

To understand and profit by the history of Abraham it is necessary to realize the character of the world in which he lived, and from which he was called.

The Background of His Life

The Apostle Peter refers to the time before the flood as "the world that then was." The Apostle Paul speaks of "this present evil world" (Gal. 1: 4); and finally, he speaks of "the world to come" — "the Millennial world" (Heb. 2: 5). There is, then, the world that then was, the world that now is, and the world to come.

The world before the flood was ruined at the fall, and became utterly lawless. For sixteen hundred and fifty years God bore with the increasing wickedness of men, until the whole world having become corrupt before God and filled with violence, judgment fell and "the world that then was, being overflowed with water, perished" (2 Peter 3: 6).

After the flood the world that now is had its commencement. It was marked by entirely new elements. Government was introduced so that, in the mercy of God, wickedness should not go unpunished. Man was made responsible to curb evil by exercising judgment on the wicked. Noah was told, "whoso sheddeth man's blood, by man shall his blood be shed." But as man had failed in innocence and ruined the world before the flood, so man failed in government and ruined the present world. As ever, when man is set in responsibility, he fails, and that from the outset. Noah, who was set to govern, fails to govern himself. He gets drunk and is mocked by his son. In the main these things, alas, have ever marked the government of the world. Those put in authority fail to govern, and those in opposition mock at their failure. Moreover, we see that, as time passes, men misuse government to exalt themselves, and act in independence of God. They say, "Let us build us a city . . . and let us make us a name." Finally the world became apostate and fell into idolatry, for we read, "Thus saith the Lord God of Israel, Your fathers dwelt on the other side of the river [Euphrates] in the old time, even Terah, the father of Abraham, the father of Nahor: and they served other gods" (Joshua 24: 2).

As a restraint upon man's evil, the world was separated into different families, with distinct nationalities, and divers tongues.

Such then, was the commencement, and such the character of the present evil world which is fast ripening for judgment. A world in which government is constituted by God, but ruined in the hands of men, who act independently of God, exalt themselves and finally apostatize from God, falling into idolatry.

The Turning Point in His Life

For over four hundred years God bore with this world and then the God of glory appears to a man on earth and commences to act on an entirely new principle — that of the sovereign call of God. It does not set aside the government of the world; it makes no suggestion as to improving or reforming the world, or correcting its evil. It leaves the world just as it is, but it asserts God's paramount claim upon an individual, who is elected in sovereign grace, and called out of the world.

We cannot but realize the importance of this great truth, when we see from the New Testament that it is still the principle on which God is acting today. The Church is entirely composed of individuals that are called by grace. The Apostle Paul clearly states that God has not only "saved us" but also "called us"; and that this calling is "an holy calling . . . according to His own purpose" (2 Tim. 1: 9). Again, in his epistle to the Romans we are reminded that believers are "the called according to His purpose" (Rom. 8: 28). So in writing to the Hebrew believers, the Apostle appeals to them as "partakers of the heavenly calling" (Heb. 3 :1). The Apostle Peter tells us we are "called . . . out of darkness into His marvellous light," and, he adds, "the God of all grace . . . hath called us unto His eternal glory" (1 Peter 2: 9; 1 Peter 5: 10).

It is clear then that believers are not only "saved" but "called." Naturally the first concern of an anxious soul is, like the jailer of old, "What must I do to be saved?" Having found salvation through faith in Christ and His finished work, we are too often content to rest in the knowledge that our sins are forgiven and that we are sheltered from judgment and saved from hell. We are slow to see that the same gospel that brings the good news of salvation from judgment proclaims the call of God to the glory of Christ. The Apostle can not only say to the Thessalonian believers that "God hath from the beginning chosen you to salvation," but immediately adds that "He called you by our gospel, to the obtaining of the glory of our Lord Jesus Christ" (2 Thess. 2: 13, 14).

These different passages clearly show that if God calls us it is because He has a purpose in His heart which He desires to gratify. Moreover we learn that the "call" involves that we are called out of one world lying in darkness, or ignorance of God, to come into the marvellous light of all that God has purposed for Christ in another world. Further, if we are called to heaven, it is that we may obtain the glory of our Lord Jesus Christ. The prize of the calling on high is to be with Christ and like Christ.

Our Interest in His Life

These then are some of the blessed truths that are connected with the call of God and illustrated in the life of Abraham. The practical importance of the story of Abraham's life lies in the fact that this great truth of the calling of God is brought before us, not by a doctrinal statement, but as exhibited in the life of a man of like passions with ourselves, and therefore in a way that the simplest can understand.

What powerful, mighty Voice, so near,

Calls me from earth apart —

Reaches with tones so still, so clear,

From th'unseen world my heart?

'Tis solemn: yet it draws with power

And sweetness yet unknown:

It speaks the language of an hour

When earth's forever gone.

It soothes, yet solemnizes all!

What yet of nature is,

Lies silent, though the heavenly call;

No earthly voice like His.

'Tis He. Yes, yes; no other sound

Could move my heart like this:

The voice of Him that earlier bound

Through grace this heart to His.

In other accents now, 'tis true,

Than once my spirit woke,

Through life and peace, through which it grew

Under His gracious yoke.

Blest Lord, Thou speak'st, 'twas erst Thy voice

That led my heart to Thee —

That drew me to that better choice

Where grace has set me free!

Then wouldst Thou that I should rejoice,

And walk by faith below —

Enough, that I had heard Thy voice,

And learnt Thy love's deep woe.

Thy glory, Lord — this living waste

Thenceforth no rest can give:

My path was one with earnest haste,

Lord, in Thy rest to live.

Yes! then 'twas faith — Thy Word: but now

Thyself my soul draw'st nigh —

My soul with nearer thoughts to bow

Of brighter worlds on high.

And oh! how all that eye could see

To others now belongs!

The eternal home's enough to me —

My soul's eternal songs.

For Thou art near: Thou call'st me now

In love I long have known,

While waiting on Thy will below —

Till Thou my hopes shouldst crown.

And Thou wouldst have me soon with Thee;

Thou, Lord, my portion art:

Thou hast revealed Thyself to me —

Thy nature to my heart!

My happiness, O Lord, with Thee

Is long laid up in store,

For that bless'd day when Thee I'd see.

And conflict all be o'er.

Yes! love divine in Thee I know;

The Father's glories soon

Shall burst upon my ravished view —

Thyself my eternal crown!

Thou makest me brighter hopes to prove,

Because nearer Thou art;

With secrets of eternal love

Thou fillest my longing heart.

How shall I leave Thee, Lord?

This joy is from Thyself: it is

My brightest hope without alloy,

My pure, eternal bliss.

With Thee, O Lord, I all things have, —

Unclouded joy divine

In Thee, who first these "all things" gave

Forever to be mine.

Yet I will wait, in labour still

In Thy blest service here:

What Thou hast given me to fulfil

Thy will — to me is dear!

I well can wait! Thou waitest yet,

The word of that dread hour,

Which shall Thy foes forever set

As footstools of Thy power.

Yet, Lord! were once Thy will fulfilled,

How better far with Thee,

With Thee, my joy, my strength, my shield,

In cloudless light to be?

O endless joy! how shall my heart

Thy riches all unfold:

Or tell the grace that gave me part,

In bliss no tongue hath told?

Lord! Let me wait for Thee alone:

My life be only this —

To serve Thee here on earth, unknown;

Then share Thy heavenly bliss.

The Call of God

Genesis 11: 31 to Genesis 12: 3

In the first portion of the life of Abraham there passes before us the path of faith that answers to the call of God; the hindrances to the path; the faith that takes the path; and the blessings in the path as well as the failure, temptations, and conflicts in the path.

THE CHARACTER OF THE CALL

A Divine Call

The first great truth we learn in the opening portion of Abraham's history is the blessed character of the call of God. From Stephen's address, recorded in Acts 7, we learn that "the God of glory appeared unto our father Abraham, when he was in Mesopotamia." Here then we discover that which distinguishes the call from every other call, it comes from God — the God of glory. In this world with its cities and towers reaching up to heaven here is nothing that speaks of God, but only that which exalts and displays the glory of man. "The God of glory" speaks of another scene in which there is nothing of man but everything that displays God. This is the God who, in wonderful grace appears to a man who was living in a world estranged from God and sunk in idolatry. It is then the glory of the One that appears to Abraham that gives such importance to the call, and gives faith its authority and power to answer to the call.

A Separating Call

Secondly, we learn that the call is a separating call. The word to Abraham is, "Get thee out of thy country, and from thy kindred, and from thy father's house." Abraham is not told to remain in the city of Ur and deal with man's wickedness, or attempt to improve its social condition, or reform its domestic ways, or attempt to make it a better and a brighter world. He is called to come out of it in every form. He is to leave the political world  -  "thy country"; the social world — "thy kindred," and the family world — "thy father's house."

The call today is no less definite. The world around us is a world that has the form of godliness without the power  -  the world of corrupt Christendom; and the Epistle that tells us that we are partakers of the heavenly calling exhorts us to separate from its corruption. We are to "Go forth therefore unto Him [Jesus] without the camp, bearing His reproach" (Heb. 13: 13). It is not that we are to despise government — it is still God's appointment. Nor can we neglect family ties — they are ordered of God. Nor are we to cease to be courteous, and kind, and do good to all men as we have opportunity. But, as believers we are called from taking part in political activities of the world, the social round, and the whole sphere in which unconverted members of our families find their pleasure without God. We are not asked to reform the world or seek to improve its condition, but to come out from it. The word is still, "Come out from among them and be ye separate, saith the Lord, and touch not the unclean thing; and I will receive you, and will be a Father unto you, and ye shall be my sons and daughters, saith the Lord Almighty" (2 Cor. 6: 17, 18).

An Assuring Call

Thirdly, if the call of God separates Abraham from this present world, it is in view of bringing into another world "a land," that God says, "I will show thee." If the God of glory appears to Abraham it is in order to bring Abraham into the glory of God. Thus the wonderful address of Stephen that commences with the God of glory appearing to a man on earth, ends with a Man appearing in the glory of God in heaven. In closing his address, Stephen looks up stedfastly into heaven and sees the glory of God, and Jesus standing on the right hand of God, and he says, "Behold, I see the heavens opened, and the Son of Man standing on the right hand of God." Looking upon Christ in the glory we see the wonderful purpose that God has in His heart when He calls us out of this present world. He has called us to glory, to be like Christ and with Christ in a scene where everything speaks of God and all that He is in the infinite love of His heart.

God does not say to Abraham, "If you answer to the call I will immediately give you possession of the land," but God says, "I will show thee the land." So God gives us with Stephen, if we answer to His call, to see the King in His beauty and the land that is very far off. We look up and see Christ in the glory.

An Advantageous Call

Fourthly, there is great present blessing for the one who answers to the call. As separated from this present evil world, God says to Abraham, "I will make of thee a great nation, and I will bless thee, and make thy name great." The men of this world seek to make a great name for themselves; they say, "Let us make us a name." But God says to the separated man, "I will bless thee and make thy name great."

The tendency of our natural hearts is always to seek to make a name for ourselves, and the flesh will seize upon anything, even the things of God, to exalt itself. This tendency was seen even among the disciples of the Lord when they had a strife as to which of them should be accounted the greatest.

The scattering of man at Babel, and the divisions of Christendom, as well as every strife among the people of God, can be traced to this one root — the vanity of the flesh seeking to make itself great.

The lowly mind of the Lord Jesus was to make Himself of no reputation. "Wherefore God also hath highly exalted Him and given Him a Name which is above every name." God has made His Name great, and to the one that has His lowly mind and follows Him outside the camp in answer to the call, God says, "I will make thy name great." God can make a much greater name for the believer in His world of glory than we can make for ourselves in this present evil world.

If honestly confessed, it would be found that the true motive for many remaining in a false position, is the secret desire to be great, and thus they shrink from the path of obscurity outside the religious world of the day. Can we not see in Scripture, as in daily experience, that those who have been spiritually great among the people of God have ever been separated men — men who have answered to the call of God; while any departure from the separated path has led to the loss of influence and all true spiritual greatness among the people of God.

A Beneficial Call

Fifthly, God says to Abraham, "Thou shalt be a blessing." In the outside path, not only would Abraham, himself be blessed, but, he would be a blessing to others. We do well to mark the import of these words. How often a believer remains in an association which he would admit is not according to the Word of God on the plea that he will be more useful to others than in the outside place of separation. However, God does not say to Abraham, "If you stop in Ur of the Chaldees, or in the halfway house It Haran you will be a blessing," but, answering to God's call he is told, "Thou shalt be a blessing."

A Preserving Call

Sixthly, Abraham is told that in the outside place he would have the preserving care of God. He may indeed have to face opposition and trial, for it is ever true that 'he that departeth from evil maketh himself a prey" (Isa. 59: 15), but God says to the separated man, "I will bless thee, and curse him that curseth thee." The separated man is preserved from many a trial that overtakes the believer who remains in association with the world. The mercy of the Lord saved Lot from the doom of Sodom, but, in that false association he lost everything — wife, children, wealth, and name.

An Effectual Call

Seventhly, acting in faith in God's word Abraham is old, "In thee shall all families of the earth be blessed." Me know the use that the Spirit of God makes of this promise. He says, "The scripture foreseeing that God would justify the heathen on the principle of faith, preached before the gospel unto Abraham, saying, In thee shall all nations be blessed" (Gal. 3: 8). Abraham did not, and could not foresee the far reaching effect of the principle of faith on which he acted in answering to the call of God, but God foresaw that it was the one way of blessing for all the families of the earth. So now in our little measure, none but God can foresee the far reaching effect in blessing for others that may result from one soul that in simple and whole-hearted faith, answers to the call of God.

The Hindrance to Answering the Call of God

We have seen the blessed promises that are connected with the call of God, and we shall learn how faith responds to the call. First, however, in this deeply instructive history, we are permitted to see how often the man of faith may be hindered for a time from answering to the call.

From Stephen's address, recorded in Acts 7, we learn that the call came to Abraham, "when he was in Mesopotamia, before he dwelt in Charran." In answering to this call he is hindered by the ties of nature. The call came to Abraham, but nature apparently can at times profess great zeal in answering to the call, and even take the lead, for we read, "Terah took Abram . . . and went forth from Ur of the Chaldees, to go into the land of Canaan." Nature may essay to tread the path of faith, and, at the start, do the right thing with the best of intentions; but in its self-confidence nature always undertakes to do more than it has the power to accomplish. Thus it comes to pass that while Terah leaves Ur "to go to the land of Canaan," he never reaches the land. Nature stops halfway at Haran, and there he dwells to the day of his death.

But what of Abraham, the man of God? For a time he allows himself to be hindered from fully obeying the call of God. It was not simply that his father was with him but he allows himself to be led by his father, as we read, "Terah took Abram." The result being that he stops short of the land to which he is called. So we read, in Stephen's address, he came "out of the land of the Chaldeans, and dwelt in Charran: and from thence, when his father was dead, he removed into this land."

How many of us have been hindered for a time from taking the separate path, consistent with the call of God, by some loved relative. The call reaches the believer; he acknowledges the truth, but delays to answer to it because some near relative is not prepared for the outside place. The soul clings to the hope that by waiting a little the relative will be brought to see the call, and then both can act together. Faith, however, cannot lift nature up to its own level, though, alas, nature can drag down and hinder the man of faith. Many pleas can be raised to excuse this halfway halt, but in reality it is putting the claims of nature above the call of God. Then, as in Abram's history, God may have to roll death into the family circle and remove the one that we allowed to hinder us in obeying God's call. Thus it was not until his Father was dead that Abram fully answered to the call of God.

To walk with God! Oh fellowship Divine!

Man's highest state on earth — Lord, be It mine!

With Thee may I a close communion hold,

To Thee the deep recesses of my heart unfold:

Yes, tell Thee all — each weary care and grief

Into Thy bosom pour, till there I find relief.

Oh! let me walk with Thee, Thou Mighty One!

Lean on Thine arm, and trust Thy love alone;

With Thee hold converse sweet, where'er I go;

Thy smile of love my highest bliss below;

With Thee transact life's business, doing all

With single aim for Thee, as Thou dost call.

My every comfort at Thy hand receive,

My every talent to Thy glory give.

Thy counsel seek in every trying hour,

In all my weakness trust Thy mighty power.

Oh! may this high companionship be mine

And all my life by its reflection shine.

My great, my wise, my never-failing Friend,

Whose love no change can know, no turn, no end!

My Saviour-God! Who gav'st Thy life for me,

Let nothing come between my heart and Thee!

From Thee no thought, no secret would I keep,

But on Thy breast my tears of anguish weep.

My every wound to Thee I take to heal,

For Thou art touched with every pang I feel

In Thee, and Thee alone, I now confide

And Thee I'd follow, as my Lord and Guide.

Thy Holy Spirit for my guide and guest.

Whate'er my lot, I must be safe and blest.

Wash'd in Thy blood, from all my guilt made clean,

I in Thy righteousness alone am seen:

Thy home, my home — Thy God and Father mine!

Dead to the world — my life is hid with Thine;

Its lightest honours fade before my view —

Its pleasures, I can trample on them too.

With Thee, by faith I walk in crowds alone,

Making to Thee my wants and wishes known:

Drawing from Thee my daily strength in prayer,

Finding Thine arm sustains me everywhere:

While through the clouds of sin and woe, the light

Of coming glory shines more sweetly bright;

And this my daily boast, my aim, my end,

That my Redeemer is my God — my Friend!

Faith and Unbelief

Genesis 12: 4-20

Abraham has been set free from the ties of nature, though at the painful cost of death coming into the family circle. After his father was removed by death, Abraham obeys the call, as we read, "So Abram departed as the LORD had spoken unto him."

He takes Lot, his nephew, with him, and Lot, with his worldly-mindedness, will prove an encumbrance to him. In the case of his father, Abram who was called allowed nature to lead, for "Terah took Abram," and this became a deadly hindrance. In the case of the nephew, Abram takes the lead, for we read "Abram took... Lot," and therefore, while this may become a weight, it cannot hinder faith answering to the call.

When nature took the lead, we read, "They went forth. . . from Ur of the Chaldees, to go into the land of Canaan." But they never reach the land under the leading of Terah. Now, when faith takes the lead we gain read, "They went forth to go into the land of Canaan; and into the land of Canaan they came" v. 5).

A Contrast

Arriving in Canaan, they find "the Canaanite was then in the land." This is deeply significant. Of Abraham, God had said, "I will bless thee." Of Canaan, God had said, "Cursed be Canaan." If God brings Abraham — the man of blessing — into the land of promise, he at once discovers that the Devil has already brought into that very land the man of the curse. In this way the Devil seeks to thwart the purpose of God, and hinder the man of faith from entering into possession of the land.

A Comparison

So with the Christian, he is called out of the present world, he is a partaker of the heavenly calling, he is blessed with all spiritual blessings in heavenly places. But, answering to the call and leaving the world, he finds that he is opposed by "spiritual wickedness in high places" (Eph. 6: 12). The believer that seeks to enter into his spiritual blessings will find there is arrayed against him spiritual wickedness seeking to prevent him taking the heavenly ground that is the only true and proper portion of the Church.

For Abraham, Ur of the Chaldees was in the past; the possession of the land was yet future. In the meantime he had neither the world that he had left, nor the better world to which he was going. This, too, is the position of the Christian who answers to the call of God. He has left this present evil world and he has not yet reached the world to come.

What then, we may ask, is the portion of the one who answers to the call, and what will sustain him in this outside position? Here the story of Abram is rich with instruction and encouragement.

Obedience of Faith

First, be it noted, that the great principle on which Abraham acted was the principle of faith. Obviously, if he has left one world, and has not reached the other, he has nothing for natural sight. It is not that he did not see, but, what he saw was by faith. Thus we read, "By faith Abraham, when he was called to go out into a place which he should after receive for an inheritance, obeyed"; and, again; "By faith he sojourned in the land of promise." He, and his, lived by faith, and finally we read, "These all died in faith" (Heb. 11: 8, 9, 13).

Path of Faith

Secondly, answering to the call of God on the principle of faith, Abraham, and those with him, became 'strangers and pilgrims." As the Holy Spirit, in the New Testament, can say of them, they "confessed that they were strangers and pilgrims on the earth" (Heb. 11: 13). This comes before us very strikingly in his history. In Haran, where Abraham was detained for a time, we read, he "dwelt there"; but, arrived in the land, we read he "pitched his tent" as one that had no certain dwelling place. Moreover, we read that he "passed through the land." As a stranger he had but a tent in his world; as a pilgrim he was passing through to another world.

Portion of Faith

Thirdly, we learn what sustained Abraham in this pilgrim path. We are told, "The LORD appeared unto Abram, and said, Unto thy seed will I give this land." Mark well these two things. First, the twice repeated statement "the LORD appeared" unto him; secondly the land is set before him as a future possession. He sees the King in His beauty and the land that is very far off. He pursued his journey as a stranger and a pilgrim in the light of the glory of the God who had called him, and the blessedness of the land to which he was going. So we read in the New Testament, "He looked for a city which hath foundations," and again, He looked for "a better country, that is, an heavenly" (Heb. 11 :10, 16).

Nor is it otherwise with ourselves. It is only as we have Christ Himself before us in His glory, and the blessedness of the heavenly home to which we are going that we shall, in any little measure, bear the stranger and pilgrim character. It is not enough to know the doctrine of Christ, and that heaven lies before us at the end of the journey, but, like the Apostle, the desire of each heart should be, "That I may know Him," and "apprehend that for which also I am apprehended of Christ Jesus" (Phil. 3: 10, 12).

Taking a place outside this world in answer to the call, it is possible to grow in personal acquaintance with the Lord Himself, for He has said, "He that hath My commandments, and keepeth them, he it is that loveth Me: and he that loveth Me shall be loved of My Father, and I will love him, and will manifest Myself to him."

Response of Faith

Fourthly, After the LORD appeared to Abraham, we immediately read, "There builded he an altar." This surely speaks of worship. In the Epistle to the Hebrews those who "go forth" unto Christ without the camp, not only take up their pilgrim character, as having no continuing city, but they become worshippers who "offer the sacrifice of praise to God continually" (Heb. 13: 13-1 5).

Abraham not only realized something of the glory of the land in the far future, but he caught a glimpse of the glory of the One that had appeared to him. The gift of the land might well call forth his thanksgiving, but the blessedness of the Giver made him a worshipper. It is ever thus, for worship is the outflow of a heart that is filled with the glory of the Person we adore.

Resource of Faith

Fifthly, Abraham "called upon the Name of the LORD." This speaks of dependence upon the Lord. Whatever his needs, whatever the privations of his pilgrim journey, whatever opposition he may have to meet, whatever temptations might cross his path, he had an unfailing resource —  he could call upon the Name of the Lord.

In every day of difficulty the godly find their resource in the Lord. In the day of ruin before the flood there were those who, like Cain, "went out from the presence of the LORD"; but, there were also the godly who "began. . . to call upon the Name of the LORD" (Gen. 4: 16, 26). So in the dark days of Malachi the godly found their resource in the LORD, for we read, they "thought upon His Name" (Mal. 3: 16). In the early days of the Church, believers were known as those who "called on this Name" (Acts 9: 21). In the midst of their persecutions it was to the Lord that they turned. And in the midst of the ruin of these last days, we are assured that there will be still those "that call on the Lord out of a pure heart" (2 Tim. 2: 22).

However striking the faith of Abraham, we are made to realize that he is a man of like passions with ourselves. No one takes the path of faith without being tested. The test is allowed to discover, on the one hand our weakness, and on the other the grace and faithfulness of God.

The Faithlessness of Abraham

In Abraham's history the test came in the form of a famine. It was a severe test for "the famine was grievous in the land." If the LORD allows the famine, the LORD can surely meet the needs of His own in the famine. However, under the pressure of his need, Abraham allows the circumstances to come between his soul and the LORD. Instead of calling upon the LORD, he followed the dictates of mere reason, or common sense, and, for a time, stepped out of the path of faith and "went down into Egypt." Instead of counting upon God to sustain him he goes down to the world for help.

Having taken this false step, he finds, that though his immediate needs are met, he is faced with fresh difficulties occasioned by his false position. He fears that he will be killed in order to satisfy the lusts of Egypt.

Having taken a position in which he can no longer count upon God to preserve him, he is left to his own resources to meet this fresh difficulty. Left to his own devices he sinks below the level of the world and acts a lie. With this equivocation he seeks to protect himself at the expense of his wife.

Unbelief, carrying its own judgment, constantly leads into the very evil, one seeks to avoid. As it has been said, "The sons of men would build a tower lest they should be scattered abroad, and the Lord scattered them because they built it. Abram, fearing lest Pharaoh should take his wife, says she is his sister (as if God would not preserve him), and therefore Pharaoh takes her into his house" (J.N.D.). So again, at a later day in similar circumstances, Elimelech leaves the land of God in order to escape the fear of death by famine, only to find that death awaits him in the land of Moab (Ruth 1 :1-3).

Abraham finds indeed, by this false step, relief from his immediate need, and even acquires riches, but at what a cost. For, in Egypt, he can pitch no tent and raise no altar, nor call upon the Name of the LORD.

The Faithfulness of Abraham's God

Yet, in spite of all failure, God is faithful to His own. The gifts and calling of God are without repentance. God does not give up His people when they break down. He acts on our behalf, though in His governmental ways we have to suffer for our folly. Thus it was that God acted on behalf of his failing servant. So we read, "the LORD plagued Pharaoh and his house with great plagues because of Sarai Abram's wife."

In result, when the deceit is discovered, Abraham is dismissed by the world, for, Pharaoh says, "Behold thy wife, take her, and go thy way." And Pharaoh takes care that he does go, for he "commanded his men concerning him: and they sent him away, and his wife, and all that he had." Alas, when the world dismisses the people of God, not because of their faithful witness to God, but, because of their own shameful conduct!

Thus, in the goodness of God, His poor servant is set free from a false position, but not without reproach and shame.

Lord Jesus, Thou who only art

The endless source of purest joy,

Oh! come and fill this longing heart;

May nought but Thee my thoughts employ.

Teach me on Thee to fix my eye,

For none but Thee can satisfy.

The joys of earth can never fill

The heart that's tasted of Thy love;

No portion would I seek until

I reign with Thee, my Lord, above,

When I shall gaze upon Thy face

And know more fully all Thy grace.

When from Thy radiant throne on high

Thou didst my fall and ruin see,

Thou cam'st on earth for me to die,

That I might share that throne with Thee.

Loved with an everlasting love,

My hopes, my joys are all above.

Oh, what is all that earth can give?

I'm called to share in God's own joy.

Dead to the world, in Thee I live,

In Thee I've bliss without alloy:

Well may I earthly things resign;

"All things" are mine, and I am Thine!

Till Thou shalt come to take me home,

Be this my one ambition, Lord,

Self, sin, the world, to overcome,

Fast clinging to Thy faithful Word:

More of Thyself each day to know,

And more into Thine image grow.

Refusing and Choosing

Genesis 13

The reality of Abraham's restoration to the path of faith is speedily put to the test. Circumstances arise that manifest he is once again living in the light of the heavenly country, and can therefore afford to refuse the well-watered plain that is chosen by his worldly-minded nephew.

Recovery from Failure

Abraham has been dismissed from Egypt. Where he goes is a matter of indifference to the world. Abraham however, was a true man of faith, though, like ourselves, he at times breaks down in the path of faith. Having tasted the blessedness of the outside place, nothing will satisfy his soul but getting back into the place of blessing from which his feet had strayed. So we read, "Abram went up out of the land of Egypt. . . into the south . . . and he went on his journeys from the south even to Bethel, unto the place where his tent had been . . . unto the place of the altar."

As with every truly restored soul he retraces his path step by step until, once again, he is found in his stranger and pilgrim character with his tent, as a worshipper with his altar, and as a dependent man calling upon the Name of the Lord.

Result of Failure

The restoration of Abraham is complete; but the result of Abraham's failure is seen in others. A saint never fails without affecting others for evil, though he himself may be restored. The effect of his failure upon Lot at once comes to light. In Terah we have seen the man of nature who can make a fair profession, but cannot take the path of faith that leads outside the world. In Abraham, we have seen the man of faith who, acting according to the word of the LORD, takes the outside place, though at times he may fail in this path. In Lot we see a true believer, who takes the outside place, not in faith in God, but under the influence of man. Already we have read that when Abraham departed from Haran, "Lot went with him" (Gen. 12: 4). Again, when Abraham went up out of Egypt, we read, "Lot went with him" (Gen. 13: 1). Now, for the third time Lot is described as the man "which went with Abram."

Lot represents a large class who take up a right position outside the world, but do so under the influence of a friend or relative rather than from personal exercise and faith in God. From the beginning of his path Lot was characterized by walking in the light of another. Alas! in different ways, and measures, how often we may, like Lot, act with those who have faith without having it ourselves, only to find that we shall not stand when tried by temptation.

When the test comes, believers who walk in the light of another will break down and give up a path which has no attraction for the flesh, about which they never had any exercise, and for which they have no personal faith.

The Snare of Riches

How often, too, the test today takes the form that it did in the story of Abraham and Lot. As we read, "there was strife." We learn further that the immediate cause of the strife was their possessions. We do well to notice the twice-repeated statement that they were not able to dwell together, and the deeply significant cause of the division, "for their substance was great." How often, since then, believers have been divided by jealousy of one another's spiritual gifts or temporal riches. The abuse of spiritual gifts was a source of division in the assembly at Corinth. The apostle can say to this assembly, "In everything ye are enriched by Him, in all utterance and in all knowledge." But these very riches became a cause of strife and division, for, says the apostle, "There is among you envying and strife, and divisions"; and he adds that they were "puffed up for one against another" (1 Cor. 1: 5; 1 Cor. 3: 3; 1 Cor. 4: 6). Poverty might have led them to cling to one another; their riches became a cause of division.

In the case of Abraham and Lot their temporal riches became the occasion of division. We may well ask, 'Where were these temporal riches acquired?" When first Abraham entered upon the path of faith, and Lot went with him, they took "all their substance." But it was no cause of strife (Gen. 12: 5). In Egypt, however, Abraham acquires great wealth so that after his restoration we read, "He was very rich in cattle, in silver, and in gold."

The wealth that he acquires through turning aside from the path of faith becomes a cause of strife and division between brethren. Striving together these brothers cease to be a witness to God before the Canaanites and the Perizzites that dwelled in the land

The Position of Faith

Nevertheless, Abraham is a restored man in a true position with a right motive; whereas Lot, though in a right position is only a follower of others. Therefore, while strife becomes the sad occasion of revealing the worldly-mindedness of Lot, it also brings to light the heavenly-mindedness of Abraham, who can renounce things seen. Abraham says, "Let there be no strife, I pray, between me and thee. . . for we be brethren." The man which is in a position for which he has not faith will in the end become a source of strife among brethren and had better separate from the man whose faith he cannot follow.

Abraham, with the heavenly country before him, can afford to renounce the present world with its prospect of ease and plenty. Lot can choose, and if he takes the best according to nature and sight, Abraham will be content to take the path that God chooses for him, be it rough or smooth, knowing that it will end in the land of promise with all its blessedness.

The Choice of the Flesh

Under the influence of others, Lot had accepted the outside path: left to his own choice he shows that the world is in his heart (vv. 10-13). Without seeking direction from God, he chooses his path according to sight. "Lot lifted up his eyes and beheld the plain of Jordan." It was an alluring sight and had promise of present ease and plenty. Everywhere there was water for his flocks, without the labour of digging wells. So fruitful was the plain that it was "even as the garden of the LORD." Most significant of all, it was "like the lend of Egypt." Alas! Lot having followed Abraham into Egypt had acquired a taste for Egypt's pleasures and thus had strengthened the desire for worldly ease and plenty.

So Lot chooses all the plain of Jordan, gives up the separate path, for which he never had personal faith, and forever leaves the land of Canaan. There was nothing gross or wrong in choosing a well-watered plain; but it proves that the heart is not set on the unseen land of God's promise. Moreover, the real danger of the well-watered plains is that Satan had reared Sodom in their midst.

Abraham remains in the land of Canaan, and Lot dwells in the cities of the plain. Having left the path of faith and chosen the path of sight, and worldly ease, his way is ever downward, for we next read that he 'pitched his tent toward Sodom." Of this city we are told "The men of Sodom were wicked and sinners before the Lord exceedingly." We shall yet learn that for Lot there is no recovery. Lower and lower he sinks, until at last he passes from the scene under a cloud of shame and dishonour.

The Confession of Faith

Abraham, freed from the encumbrance of his worldly-minded nephew, receives fresh communications from the LORD. Lot had allowed himself to be guided by the sight of his eyes apart from the direction of the LORD. The result being that the sight of his eyes stirred the lust of his heart, and his feet followed the choice of his heart.

Now Abraham uses his eyes, but at the direction of the LORD, for, when Lot was separated from him, the LORD said, "Lift up now thine eyes, and look from the place where thou art." He is to look in every direction at the land which the LORD has given him. And well for us, when freed from the weight of those who have no faith for the outside path, if we too set our minds on things above and "look not at the things which are seen, but at the things which are unseen," and seek to enjoy every part of the revelation that God has given to us of the world to come, the heavenly country with its city which hath foundations.

In this sense, we can still answer to the LORD'S direction to Abraham when he said, "Arise, walk through the land in the length of it and the breadth of it, for I will give it unto thee." Set free from mere followers, rising above all petty strife and allowing the LORD to choose his path, Abraham enjoys a rich unfolding of the world to come for which in patience he waits. In the meantime he moves through the land with his tent and his altar.

This world is a wilderness wide,

I have nothing to seek or to choose;

I've no thought in the waste to abide;

I have nought to regret nor to lose.

The Lord is Himself gone before;

He has marked out the path that I tread:

It's as sure as the love I adore;

I have nothing to fear nor to dread.

There is but that One in the waste,

Which His footsteps have marked as His own;

And I follow in diligent haste

To the seats where He's put on His crown.

'Tis the treasure I've found in His love

That has made me a pilgrim below;

And 'tis there, when I reach Him above,

As I'm known, all His fullness I'll know.

Till then, 'tis the path Thou hast trod,

My delight and my comfort shall be:

I'm content with Thy staff and Thy rod,

Till with Thee all Thy glory I see.

— J.N.D.

Called from above, and heavenly men by birth

Who once were but the citizens of earth)

As pilgrims here, we seek a heavenly home,

Our portion, in the ages yet to come.

There all the saints of ev'ry clime shall meet,

And each with all shall all the ransomed greet,

But oh! the height of bliss, my Lord, shall be

To owe it all, and share it all, with Thee.

Thou wast "the image" in man's lowly guise,

Of the invisible to mortal eyes;

Come from His bosom, from the heavens above,

We see in Thee Incarnate, "God is love."

Thy lips the Father's name to us reveal;

That burning pow'r in all Thy words we feel,

Then to our raptured hearts we hear Thee tell

The heavenly glories which Thou know'st so well.

No curse of law, in Thee was sov'reign grace,

And now what glory in Thine unveiled face!

Thou didst attract the wretched and the weak,

Thy joy the wand'rers and the lost to seek.

That precious stream of water and of blood

Which from Thy pierced side so freely flowed,

Has put away our sins of scarlet dye,

Washed us from ev'ry stain, and brought us nigh.

We are but strangers here, we do not crave

A home on earth, which gave Thee but a grave;

Thy cross has severed ties which bound us here,

Thyself our Treasure in a brighter sphere.

As I bid adieu to the world's fancied pleasures

You pity my weakness. Alas! did you know

The joys of salvation, that best hidden treasure,

Would you have me forsake them? Ah never, ah no!

In the gay scenes of life I was happiness wooing,

But ah, in its stead I encountered but woe;

And found I was only a phantom pursuing,

I never once found it. Ah never, ah no!

How bright now the sunbeams of glory are shining

Around my sweet path as to heaven I go;

With Christ in my heart on His promise reclining,

Shall I yield up my treasure? Ah never, ah no!

But now in the path which you call melancholy,

I drink of the joys that the world does not know;

Come taste them and try them, you'll own your past folly,

Nor again bid me flee them. Ah never, ah no!

By the counsels of Jesus my feet are directed,

My faithful Companion, we intimate grow;

With His love I am blest, by His arm I'm protected;

Would you have me forsake them? Ah never, ah no!

Victory and Defeat

Genesis 14

In Genesis 12 we have traced the blessedness of the path of faith in answer to the call of God, and how our steps can slip unless held by the power of the Lord.

In Genesis 13, we have seen the renunciation of the world by the believer who reads the path of faith; and, in contrast, the sorrowful choice of the world by the reliever who allows himself to be governed by sight.

Genesis 14 presents the conflicts of the world  -  nations warring against nations  -  during which the believer, who has refused the world, obtains the victory; while the believer, who walks by sight, falls under its power. Further we learn that the world's conflicts will finally issue through the judgments of God in the deliverance of God's people and the establishment of the reign of Christ as Priest and King. This is typically set forth in Melchizedek, king of Salem.

Conflict (vv. 1-11)

The chapter opens with a solemn picture of this present evil world. It is a scene in which the nations form themselves into groups, and enter into alliances to carry out their schemes of aggrandizement, and to defend themselves from attacks.

Moreover, it is a lawless world where men are forced to serve governments against their will, or rebel against governments to obtain their liberty (v. 4).

Thus the whole world, whether in high places or in its lower spheres — the mount or the wilderness (v. 6) —  becomes a scene of warring interests, and selfish conflicts.

Capture (v. 12)

The account of these world conflicts leads to what is so deeply instructive — the contrast between the believer who is governed by sight, and the one who walks by faith. In the course of these conflicts, Lot, the man of sight, falls a captive to the world; Abraham, the man of faith, is victorious over the world.

Thus we read that the victorious kings "took Lot, Abram's brother's son, who dwelt in Sodom, and his goods, and departed." It is significant to notice that Lot, of whom we read in a former chapter, who chose all the plain of Jordan, and "pitched his tent toward Sodom" (Gen. 13: 12), has now taken a further step on his downward course; for here we read, he "dwells in Sodom." We may be sure that it was never Lot's intention to dwell in Sodom, when he pitched his tent toward Sodom. But one false step leads to another. Drawing near to the world, he is soon in the world; and dwelling in the world he becomes involved in its conflicts, and falls a captive to its power.

It is still true that the believer who settles down in the world, has no power against the world. Where there is not the faith that keeps the coming of glory in view, there is not the faith to overcome the present evil world. This is the case of Lot. He never overcame, but was constantly overcome by one evil influence after another. He accepted the outside path under the leading of Abraham rather than of faith in God. When the test comes he falls under the influence of fair prospects that appeal to the sight of the eyes. Having drawn near to the world he falls still further under its influence, and settles down in Sodom. Finally, dwelling in Sodom, he finds in the day of conflict he is a lonely man. without strength, without friends to help, and unable to count upon the support of God. Powerless in the day of battle, he falls a captive to his enemies.

Contrast (vv. 13-16)

In contrast to Lot, who chose the world, and becomes its captive, there is presented before us the man who renounced the world and is victorious over it. Lot, as we have seen, is unprepared in the day of battle; Abraham, dwelling as one apart, is ready for conflict. He has in his household those who have already been trained for conflict, and he is ready to fight the good fight — not, indeed, Like the world for personal aggrandizement, or to obtain the riches of this world, but to rescue a brother who has fallen under its power.

The weapons of our warfare are not carnal, and we lo not wrestle against flesh and blood. None the less the Christian conflict is very real. We contend for the truth, and seek to deliver those who are in danger of falling into the religious world, or have already been taken captive in its toils.

Paul, living in the light of another world and glorying in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ by whom the world was crucified to Paul and he to it, fights the good fight and escapes the snare of those who would be rich whereby they pierce themselves through with many sorrows. Se has great conflict for those who were in danger of falling under the power of the religious world (Col. 2: 1).

Likewise Jude, in the spirit of Abraham, hating even the garment spotted by the flesh, is ready earnestly to contend for the faith, can have compassion on those believers who have been taken captive by the world, and seek to pull them out of the fire (Jude 3, 22, 23).

Compensation (vv. 17-24)

Moreover, Abraham is not only victorious over the hostility of the world, but he is proof against its horrors and its gifts. We may rise above the world's enmity, and yet fall beneath its kindness. And we are never more in danger of a fall than in the moment of a victory. This the enemy knows full well and so comes with his temptations at a moment when we may be off guard. Thus with Abraham, "the king of Sodom went out to meet Abram after his return" from his triumph over the opposing kings.

But if the king of Sodom comes to tempt Abraham, the king of Salem is there to support him.

In the Epistle to the Hebrews, the Holy Spirit has given us the spiritual significance of this fine scene. There Melchizedek is introduced as a type to set forth the glories of Christ. His name, and that of his country, signify that he was King of Righteousness and King of Peace. Moreover, he was "the priest of the Most High God" (Heb. 7: 1-3). As a king, he brings righteousness and peace to his subjects; as a priest, he leads the praises of his people to God. As the representative of God before man, Melchizedek blessed Abraham on behalf of God; as the representative of man before God, he blessed the Most High God on behalf of Abraham.

Thus, in the coming Millennial days, God will be known as the Most High, who will deliver His earthly people from their enemies and deal in judgment with every hostile power. Then, indeed, Christ will shine forth as King and Priest. So we are told by direct prophecy, "He shall bear the glory, and shall sit and rule upon His throne: and He shall be a priest upon His throne; and the counsel of peace shall be between them both" (Zech. 6: 13). He will be the true King of Righteousness, the King of Peace, and the Priest of the Most High God.

Melchizedek having brought forth bread and wine, the needs of Abraham are met and his joy secured, and thus he can dispense with the gifts of this world. Abraham has lifted up his hand unto the Lord, the Most High God, the one who possesses all the fulness of heaven and earth. Blessed by God, he will take nothing from the world lest it should say, "I have made Abram rich."

Blessed with all spiritual blessings in heavenly places, and enriched with the unsearchable riches of Christ, the believer can rise above the seductions of this world, refuse its gifts and honours, and pursue in peace the life of faith in the path of separation. And faith treads this path in the light of the world to come. Faith knows that all the conflicts of this world will come to their end in the glorious reign of Christ, when His poor failing people will be delivered from all their enemies and righteousness and peace will be established, as we read, "He shall judge the people with righteousness and thy poor with judgment. The mountains shall bring peace to the people" (Ps. 72: 2, 3).

Father, Thy sovereign love has sought

Captives to sin, gone far from Thee:

The work that Thine own Son hath wrought

Has brought us back in peace and free.

And now as sons before Thy face,

With joyful steps the path we tread,

Which leads us on to that bright place

Prepared for us by Christ our Head.

Thou gav'st us in eternal love,

To Him to bring us home to Thee,

Suited to Thine own thought above,

As sons like Him, with Him, to be

In Thine own house. There love divine

Fills the bright courts with cloudless joy;

But 'tis the love that made us Thine,

Fills all that house without alloy.

O boundless grace! what fills with joy

Unmingled all who enter there,

God's nature, love without alloy,

Our hearts are given e'en now to share.

God's righteousness with glory bright,

Which with its radiance fills that sphere,

E'en Christ, of God the power and light,

Our title is that light to share.

O mind divine, so must it be

That glory all belongs to God:

O Love divine, that did decree

We should be part, thro' Jesus' blood.

O keep us, Love divine, near Thee,

That we our nothingness may know,

And ever to Thy glory be

Walking in faith while here below.

Sonship and Inheritance

Genesis 15

In Genesis 11 to 14 we have seen the public witness of Abraham before men. In the second portion of his history, presented in Genesis 15 to 21, we have the personal exercises of his soul before God. It is clear that Abram's departure from Haran, his tent, his altar, his renunciation of the world, and his victory over the kings, were all matters of public knowledge, setting forth the Life of faith and the glorious end to which it leads. Now we are to learn his inner exercises that lie behind his pubic testimony.

It is of the deepest moment to realize we are not merely called to be witnesses of facts that are true, but to testify of truths that have affected our own souls.

In these marvellous scenes there is personal intercourse between God and a man of like passion with ourselves. God appears to Abraham in visions and by personal visits, in which He talks with Abraham and even accepts his hospitality. In these communications God reveals the purpose of His heart concerning Abraham and his posterity, and treating him as a friend, discloses His mind concerning the world.

Revelation of God (v. 1)

Abraham, on his side, can with full confidence spread out his needs before God, tell out his difficulties and lead for others. Such condescending grace on the part of God, and confiding trust on the part of Abraham, is deeply instructive to ourselves. In the light of the full revelation of God as our Father, it is possible for believers to enjoy yet greater intimacy with God, though in a less familiar manner. We may well challenge our hearts as to how much we know of this blessed intimacy that, in all the sweet confidence of children, can bring every difficulty to God, spread out our needs before Him, and, in the confidence of love, plead on behalf of others. We are at least encouraged by these lovely scenes to cultivate this intimacy with God.

The occasion of these fresh communications is deeply instructive. Abraham had just refused this world's gifts and honours. Now we read, "After these things the word of the LORD came to Abram in a vision, saying, Fear not, Abram: I am thy shield, and thy exceeding great reward." Having aroused the enmity of the world, over whom he had gained a victory, he will need a shield. Having refused the gifts of this world he will have the rewards of God. And God's protection, and God's rewards, far exceed all that this world can offer. With God for our shield we need not fear the reprisals of defeated enemies: with God for our reward we can dispense with this world's gifts.

Response of Faith (vv. 2, 3)

The response to this communication is beautiful in its simple trust. God had said, "I am . . . thy exceeding great reward." Abraham with the utmost confidence, taking God at His word, asks, If this be so, what wilt Thou give me? Moreover, he spreads out his need before God. He says, as it were, "You have spoken of my seed, You have promised me the land, but I go childless and all my possessions will pass to my servant, Eliezer. You have given me the land and spoken about my seed, but, behold, to me thou hast given no seed, and a servant is my heir."

Reward of Grace (v. 4)

In reply the word of the LORD came to Abraham and, IS ever with God, His gifts exceed our requests. Abraham ad asked for a son, and, in reply, God promises him not only a son but also an inheritance for the seed. Sonship and inheritance are the two great themes of God's reply. The word to Abraham is, "He that shall come forth of thine own bowels shall be thine heir," and, "I am the LORD that brought thee out of Ur. . . to give thee this and to inherit it." The whole scene illustrates the truth of Romans 8: 17, "If children then heirs." Sonship and m inheritance, whether for the earthly people of God or the heavenly, are inseparably connected. Our future prospects are connected with our character as sons. If we are sons, then we must be heirs. God does not have sons without providing for them an inheritance.

Reckoning of Righteousness (vv. 5-7)

But this beautiful picture illustrates a further truth, that believers are "all the sons of God by faith in Christ Jesus" (Gal. 3: 26). Faith existed before, but this is the first time that we read that a man "believed in the LORD." We see, too, this faith illustrated in all its simplicity. Abraham is brought forth from his own circumstances, and all that he is asked to do is to look, and listen, and believe. He is to look away from Sarah, himself, the earth, and everything of nature, and says the LORD, "Look now toward heaven." And as he looks to the stars, he is to listen to what God says, "So shall thy seed be." Then we read, "He believed in the LORD; and He counted it to him for righteousness."

We know how the Spirit of God has used this picture in Romans 4, to set forth the way the believer in Christ is accounted to be in a righteous condition before God. To us sinners, Christ is presented, and God says, as it were, "look" and "listen." Look toward heaven and fix your eye on Christ in glory, and listen to what God says about Christ. That He has died for all, that God is satisfied with Jesus and His work. Looking to Jesus, and listening to what God says, the needy soul believes in Jesus as the One that has died for him, and God says of the one that believes, he is reckoned by God to be clear of all his sins and in a righteous condition before God, and further, he is a child of God, and if a child then an heir.

Remission of Sins (vv. 8-10)

Moreover, Abraham learns that the ground of all blessing must be sacrifice. So we have ever to remember that the everlasting basis of our blessing is the great sacrifice of Christ. "Without the shedding of blood there is no remission." There may be very different measures of appreciation of the sacrifice of Christ, probably set forth by the different animals that Abraham was told to offer, but sacrifice alone can secure the blessing.

Seeing that all blessing for us depends upon the great sacrifice of Christ, it will ever be the effort of the enemy to attack and belittle His mighty work. It is ours to contend for the truth and drive away every unclean bird that would deny the sacrifice and trample underfoot the blood of Christ.

Moreover, if the sacrifice is the ground of all blessing there must be on our side the individual appropriation by faith of the death of Christ. The "sinking sun," the "deep sleep," and the "horror of great darkness," all speak of the exercises of soul in entering into the deep meaning of the Cross. Did not Paul know something of these experiences when, after he had seen Christ in the glory, "he was three days without sight, and neither did eat or drink" (Acts 9: 9)?

Further, Abraham has to learn that the road to the glory is a pathway of suffering. His seed would assuredly enter the Promised Land, but they will first pass through affliction. Thus the four truths of Romans 8: 17, that we are sons of God, heirs of Christ, suffering with Christ, and going on to the glory, are exemplified in the story of Abraham, who learns that beyond the furnace of affliction there is the light of the glory.

Beyond the storms I'm going,

Beyond this vale of tears,

Beyond the floods o'erflowing,

Beyond the changing years;

I'm going to the better land,

By faith long since possessed:

The glory shines before me,

For this is not my rest.

The glory shines before me,

I know that all is well;

My Father's care is o'er me,

His praises I would tell:

The love of Christ constrains me,

His blood has washed me white;

Where Jesus is in glory,

'Tis home, and love, and light.

O Lord, we would delight in Thee,

And on Thy care depend;

To Thee in every trouble flee,

Our never failing Friend.

When human cisterns all are dried,

Thy fullness is the same;

May we with this be satisfied,

And glory in Thy name.

No good in creatures can be found,

All, all is found in Thee;

We must have all things and abound,

Through Thy sufficiency.

Thou who hast made our heaven secure

Wilt here all good provide;

While Christ is rich, can we be poor?

Christ who for us has died!

O Lord, we cast each care on Thee,

And triumph and adore;

Oh, that our great concern may be

To love and praise Thee more!

The Flesh and the Law

Genesis 16

In Genesis 15 we have learned that the blessing has been definitely promised to Abraham, in sovereign grace, on the ground of sacrifice; thus setting forth the great truth that every blessing, whether for God's earthly or heavenly people, comes to them in sovereign grace, and yet perfect righteousness, through the death of Christ.

In this chapter we have the account of Abraham's attempt to secure the promise of the heir, through the flesh on the ground of works, or his own efforts.

The Test

God has promised Abraham a son, and Abraham had believed God (Gen. 15: 4-6). But His patience is put to the test, for we read, "Now Sarai, Abram's wife bare him no children." How then is he to obtain the heir? Under the test, his patience broke down: instead of waiting God's time he attempts to obtain the promised blessing by his own efforts. In the epistle to the Hebrews, Abraham is brought forward as the great example of those who "through faith and patience inherit the promises" (Heb. 5: 12-15). In his history, as so often with ourselves, we see that on occasions he breaks down in the very things of which, in the main, he is a striking example. In Genesis 12, as we have seen, his faith failed when put to the test. Here, in Genesis 16, his patience breaks down under a fresh test.

The Temptation

As in the former case, Egypt was at hand to tempt him from the path of faith by relieving him of all the exercises that such a path entails, so now the Egyptian maid is at hand to suggest relief from further waiting. Though himself restored, the result of his lapse into Egypt is still manifest. Something of the world had been introduced into his household which, if he acts in the flesh is ready to be used. How true it is that what a man soweth that shall he also reap. Through careless walk we can easily introduce something of the world into our homes, which in due time will give the flesh an opportunity to manifest itself.

In Galatians 4: 21 to 26 the Apostle Paul refers to this incident and gives us its spiritual meaning. He reminds the Galatian Assemblies that Abraham had two sons, one by a bondmaid, the other by the free woman, and that the son of the bondwoman was born after the flesh, but the son of the free woman was by promise.

The Teaching

Then he tells us that these things are an allegory setting forth the two covenants — the covenant of law connected with Sinai, which leads to bondage, set forth by Hagar and her son; and the covenant of grace, connected with Jerusalem which is above, leading to liberty, set forth by Sarah and her son.

The Tendency

The Galatian believers, though truly converted and having the Spirit, were turning back to the law as a rule of life, and were thus, in practice making their blessing depend upon their own efforts. To use the language of the allegory they became the children of Sinai, and developed a character marked by the traits of the flesh. If connected with the liberty of Jerusalem above, which sets forth sovereign grace, they would have set forth the character of Christ. Instead of this they were, as the result of putting themselves under law, manifesting a proud, rain-glorious spirit which led to envy, so that they were biting and devouring one another, and being drawn into he world (Gal. 4: 21; Gal. 5: 15, 26). The apostle longed that Christ might be formed in them, so that the beautiful character of Christ might shine forth from them (Gal. 4: 19).

Turning then to the story of Abraham, we see that the only result of seeking to obtain the heir by his own fleshly efforts is to introduce into his household that which has the character of the flesh, "That which is born Of the flesh is flesh." Nature can only produce nature. So Abraham's natural efforts only produce the natural man that in due course will persecute the spiritual seed.

The Tragedy

In the meantime a jarring element is brought into the family. The one who represents the efforts of the flesh despises the one through whom the blessing will come (v. 4). Sarah and Hagar, setting forth what is of the flesh and what is of the Spirit, cannot agree, "for the flesh lusteth against the Spirit and the Spirit against the flesh: and these are contrary the one to the other" (Gal. 5: 17). Moreover the man that is brought into his household gravitates toward the world, for he is found in the wilderness of Shur on the borders of Egypt (v. 7). He is, moreover, a hard character who is against every man, and stirs up every man against himself (v. 12).

The Type

The application of these truths to ourselves is plain. We may, like Abraham be true believers, and like the Galatians have the Spirit, and yet, in our daily life, we may make the law our rule of life. We may thus allow the thought that our being in the favour and grace of God our Father depends upon our own good walk and legal efforts. The results will be twofold. First, we develop a hard and self-righteous character that is proud of itself and jealous of others. Secondly, we shall fail to enjoy the liberty wherewith Christ has made us free, and so lack grace and love, and entirely fail to produce the fruit of the Spirit that sets forth the character of Christ (Gal. 5: 1-6, 22).

The Interpretation

The interpretation given in Galatians shows that what is set forth in the allegory is not a sinner seeking justification by his works, but rather a believer, who is already justified, seeking holiness of life by his own legal efforts and in his own strength.

It is evident that Christendom has fallen into this Galatian legality. It is not that Christian truths have been entirely given up, but that the legal system set forth by Hagar, has been introduced into the Christian profession, so that there are very many true Christians kept in bondage of soul through seeking to regulate their lives by the law in order to walk well, and thus obtain the favour of God, instead of seeing that right walk flows from the blessed fact that through the death of Christ they are already in the everlasting favour of God, and can only walk rightly in the strength of Christ.

Typically, the story may set forth the history of Israel under the law seeking to obtain the promises by their own works. In result they find themselves, like Hagar, cast out of their land and wanderers in a wilderness world in which they are contrary to all men and every man against them. Nevertheless the nation is beloved or the father's sake, and hence the providential care of God is never withdrawn from them, even as Hagar found that in the wilderness there was a well and the angel of the LORD, and that God saw all her distress.

Child of God, by Christ's salvation,

Rise o'er sin and fear and care —

Joy to find in ev'ry station,

Something still to do or bear;

Think what Spirit dwells within thee!

Think what Father's smiles are thine!

Think that Jesus died to win thee,

Child of God, wilt thou repine?

Haste thee on from grace to glory,

Armed by faith and winged by prayer,

Heaven's eternal day's before thee,

God's right hand shall guide thee there;

Soon shall close thine earthly mission,

Soon shall pass thy pilgrim days,

Hope shall change to glad fruition,

Faith to sight, and prayer to praise.

— H.L.

Lord, Thou hast drawn us after Thee,

Now let us run and never tire;

Thy presence shall our comfort be,

Thyself our hope, our sole desire.

Our present Saviour, while no fear

Nor sin can come if Thou art near.

What in Thy love possess we not?

Our star by night, our sun by day,

Our spring of life when parched with drought,

Our wine to cheer, our bread to stay,

Our strength, our shield, our safe abode,

Our robe before the throne of God!

Unchangeable, Thy gracious love

Our earthly path hath ceaseless viewed;

Ere knew our beating heart to move,

Thy tender mercies still pursued;

Ever with us may they abide,

And close us in on every side.

The Almighty God and the Everlasting Covenant

Genesis 17

Listening to God's Revelation of Himself (vv. 1, 2)

In the Epistle to the Hebrews, we read of Abraham hat "after he had patiently endured, he obtained the promises" (Heb. 6: 12-15). The story of Hagar and Ishmael has shown that, under pressure he failed in patience. That story closed with the statement that "Abram was fourscore and six years old, when Hagar bare Ishmael to Abram." Now we read, "When Abram was ninety years old and nine, the LORD appeared to Abram." For thirteen years he patiently endured. During these years there is no record of any communications to Abraham. God waits until all hope is over to obtaining the blessing by the efforts of the flesh.

Having experienced the futility of his own efforts to obtain the promised heir, and having been kept waiting until he is ninety and nine, and thus realized his utter weakness, the LORD appeared to Abraham and revealed Himself as "the Almighty God." This, as it has been pointed out, was a great advance upon former communications. In Genesis 15, we have read that God revealed Himself to Abraham as his shield and exceeding great reward. There it was a revelation of what God was for Abraham; here it is a revelation of what God is in Himself.

Connected with this revelation, the LORD said to Abraham, "Walk before Me, and be thou perfect." As we have seen, Abraham's way had not been altogether perfect. Though he was a man of true faith and patience, in the matter of turning aside to Egypt he had failed in faith; in the matter of Hagar, he had failed in patience. Now, having learned his weakness, he learns that God is Almighty. If then, God is Almighty, God's purposes and promises will surely come to fruition, however impossible their fulfilment may appear to nature, and sight, and the flesh. Abraham only has to remember that God is Almighty and at once every difficulty will disappear, every obstacle will be surmounted, and in quiet faith and patience he will be enabled to wait for God to act in God's own time. No longer is Abraham to expect anything from nature. Everything depends upon God from first to last. So God can say, "I will make My covenant between Me and thee, and will multiply thee exceedingly." We can say, "If God will"; who but the Almighty God can rightly say, "I will"?

Falling on His Face Before God (v. 3)

The effect of this fresh revelation on Abraham is striking. When the word of the LORD came to Abraham in a vision revealing what God was for Abraham, at once Abraham thought of himself, and, in happy confidence speaks to God, spreading out his needs, and stating his difficulties before God. Here, when God personally visits Abraham, revealing who He is in Himself, Abraham falls upon his face as a listener, and God speaks to him. He realizes his own nothingness in the presence of God's greatness, and at once he takes the lowly place on his face. The former communications led Abraham to think of himself, and his need. This revelation leads him to think of God, and forms in him a character that is consistent with the One that meets his need: He walks before God and is perfect.

How beautiful are these practical examples of the blessed intimacies between God and the believer! God so inspires Abraham with the confidence that He is for Him that Abraham can speak with God; then Abraham is brought into the lowly place before God so that God can speak with him.

In our present day we require and have these different revelations of God. We need to know all that God is for us in His grace and love; and such knowledge leads to sweet intimacy and communion with God by which we can pour out our needs before Him, as to all our difficulties and trials. But we also have the revelation of all that God is in Himself as the Father. This revelation leads to a true sense of our nothingness before Him, while at the same time the heart delighting in its Object is formed into the likeness of the One upon whom we gaze. "We are changed into the same image from glory to glory." Thus whether in Abraham's day or in ours, the right appreciation of the revelation of all that the Lord is would lead to likeness to Himself. In this sense, we should walk before the Lord and be perfect.

Receiving Communications from God (v. 4)

Then we are permitted to hear the blessedness of these communications as God talks with Abraham. First, Abraham is told that the grace of God would flow out to the nations. If God is Almighty He can overcome every barrier and bless the Gentiles.

Secondly, in connection with the revelation of God as the Almighty, Abram's name is changed from Abram to Abraham, meaning "father of a multitude." Thus God puts honour upon His servant.

Thirdly, Abraham is told that he would be exceedingly fruitful. Not only through Abraham would nations be blessed, but through him there would be fruit for God upon earth.

Fourthly, while the nations would be blessed, yet Abraham and his seed would be in the closest relationship with God. "I will establish My covenant," said God, "between Me and thee and thy seed after thee." And that covenant will be an everlasting covenant by which God covenants to be the God of Abraham and his seed after him.

Fifthly, God not only makes an everlasting covenant, but secures to Abraham and his seed, "an everlasting possession.

Responsibility Towards God (vv. 9-13)

These then are some of the blessings of the everlasting covenant that God makes with Abraham. The covenant presents God's settled purpose to bless, for seven times, in the course of this communication God says, "I will." Now Abraham learns that God looks for an answer in the believer's life to His own grace. Abraham is to walk before God and be perfect.

As Christians we are not asked, even as Abraham was not asked, to walk well in order to obtain the blessing, but to walk in a way suited to God because we are blessed. To thus walk and be perfect before God, calls for dependence upon God and His Almighty power. But this involves the entire refusal of the flesh. To this end circumcision was introduced, as a sign that the flesh is to be mortified, if the walk is to be perfect before God. In Genesis 15, death was brought in as the ground of justification; here the refusal of the flesh, by that which speaks of death to the flesh, is in order to holiness of walk.

If God covenants to bless by His Almighty power, here must, on our side, be no confidence in the flesh or allowance of its activity. For the believer today, circumcision is, we know, "of the heart, in the spirit, and not in the letter; whose praise is not of men, but of God" (Rom. 2: 29). The refusal of the flesh is not to be merely an outward neglecting of the body of which the world can take account, but the refusal of She flesh in all its inward workings in the heart — its self-confidence, self-righteousness, vanity and lusts  - as that which has been condemned in the cross (Col. 2: 11).

There is the solemn reminder that the allowance of the flesh in the believer will lead to governmental judgment even to cutting off from God's people.

Sarah is blessed with Abraham and is ennobled with i change of name. In the presence of these communications Abraham is filled with joy: for, doubtless, in this passage the laughter speaks of joy, not unbelief.

Pleading With God (vv. 18-21)

Abraham pleads for Ishmael, and God hears his prayer. Nevertheless, twice over Abraham is reminded that the covenant is established in Abraham's promised son who is to be called Isaac.

From Romans 9: 6-9, it would seem that Ishmael sets Forth the unbelieving mass of Israel. There we read, 'They are not all Israel, which are of Israel: neither because they are the seed of Abraham, are they all children: but, In Isaac shall thy seed be called." The unbelieving mass of the nation are children of Abraham according to the flesh; but only the believing remnant are the true seed according to promise. Nevertheless, even the children according to the flesh would be great upon the earth.

Keeping the Covenant With God (vv. 22-27)

Having finished this great communication God left off talking with Abraham. The self-same day Abraham is careful to keep the covenant by performing the rite of circumcision. He puts into practice the word that he had heard, and acts consistently with the revelation that God has made of Himself.

* * * * * * *

Lord! be it soon! Thou know'st our heart,

In this sad world, no rest

Can find nor wish but where Thou art:

That rest itself possessed!

Soon shall we see Thee as Thou art:

O hope for ever blessed !

Thou'lt call us, in our heavenly part —

The Father's house to rest.

O rest! ineffable, divine,

The rest of God above:

Where Thou forever shalt be mine;

My joy, eternal love!

His counsels, all fulfilled in Thee;

His work of love, complete: —

And heavenly hosts shall rest, to see

Earth blest beneath Thy feet.

— J.N.D.

God's Almighty arms are round me,

Peace, peace is mine!

Judgment scenes need not confound me,

Peace, peace is mine!

Jesus came Himself and sought me;

Sold to death He found and bought me;

Then my blessed freedom taught me,

Peace, peace is mine!

While I hear life's surging billows,

Peace, peace is mine!

Why suspend my harp on willows?

Peace, peace is mine!

I may sing with Christ beside me,

Though a thousand ills betide me;

Safely He hath sworn to guide me!

Peace, peace is mine!

Every trial draws Him nearer,

Peace, peace is mine!

All His strokes but make Him dearer,

Peace, peace is mine!

Bless I then the hand that smiteth,

Gently and to heal delighteth,

'Tis against my sins He fighteth,

Peace, peace is mine!

Welcome every rising sunlight,

Peace, peace is mine!

Nearer home each rolling midnight,

Peace, peace is mine!

Death and hell cannot appall me,

Safe in Christ whate'er befall me,

Calmly wait I till He call me,

Peace, peace is mine!

Jesus, the Lord, our righteousness!

Our beauty Thou, our glorious dress!

Before the throne in this arrayed,

With joy shall we lift up the head.

Bold shall we stand in that great day,

For who ought to our charge shall lay,

While by Thy blood absolved we are

From sin and guilt, and shame and fear?

Thus Abraham, the Friend of God,

Thus all the saints redeemed with blood,

Saviour of sinners Thee proclaim,

And all their boast is in Thy name.

This spotless robe, the same appears

In new creation's endless years;

No age can catch its glorious hue,

The robe of Christ is ever new

Till we behold Thee on the throne

In Thee we boast, in Thee alone

Our beauty this, our glorious dress,

"Jesus, the Lord, our righteousness."

Blessings and Privileges

Genesis 18

In Genesis 17 we learned how God revealed Himself to Abraham as the Almighty — the One who can and will fulfil His promises of blessing in spite of every difficulty. In the light of this revelation Abraham is to walk before God and be perfect, having no confidence in the flesh.

In Genesis 18 we are permitted to see the blessings and privileges of one whose walk is consistent with the revelation of God as the Almighty. The chapter unfolds four great privileges that such an one can enjoy. First he has the personal manifestation of the LORD to him (vv. 1-8). Secondly, he has the assurance of the coming blessing through the promised heir (vv. 9-15). Thirdly, he is treated as a friend to whom God confides what He is about to do (vv. 16-21). Fourthly, in confidence and nearness to God he can intercede on behalf of others (vv. 22-33).

Divine Visitation (vv. 1-7)

The first great privilege that the believer enjoys, who walks before God in the light of the revelation that God has given of Himself, and who has no confidence in the flesh, is the personal manifestation of the LORD.

The chapter opens with Abraham sitting at his tent door. As a stranger with his tent he is at rest outside the strife of this world. Is there not a danger, in this our day, of believers being distracted and excited by over-occupation with the events taking place in the world? Would that we knew more of the rest of spirit that is the outcome of answering to the call of God and taking the outside place in confidence in God and having no confidence in the flesh! To such an one God comes, as in the case of Abraham, to commune in the most intimate way. The manner of His coming is striking. Abraham looks up and sees that "three men stood by him." As the story develops we learn that two were angels who in due course appear as such in the gate of Sodom (Gen. 19: 1). The other, we know, was none less than the LORD, Himself, appearing in human form, a foreshadowing of the time when the Son of God becomes Incarnate and dwells among the children of men.

Divine Ministry (vv. 6-8)

Apparently there was no outward token by which Abraham, or others, could have discerned the presence of Jehovah. All that the world would have seen were three men appearing at his tent door. Abraham, with the spiritual discernment of a man of faith walking in nearness to God, distinguishes the LORD from the two angels, and in reverence bows himself to the ground and addresses Him personally, for he says, "Lord, if now I have found favour in Thy sight, pass not away, I pray Thee, from Thy servant." He asks to be allowed to wash their feet, and invites them to rest under the shadow of the tree while he sets refreshment before them.

Abraham is permitted to do as he had said. A meal is prepared and set before them, "and he stood by them under the tree, and they did eat." Today, if walking in the yet deeper knowledge of God revealed as Father, is it not possible for believers to enjoy this sweet and intimate fellowship with Divine Persons. Not, indeed, in the particular manner in which the LORD appeared to Abraham: but, by the Spirit, Who has come from the Father, can we be led into the most blessed communion. Little, indeed we may know of it, but, nonetheless it can be known. On that last night, in the Upper Room, the Lord intimates that when He left the disciples it would still be possible for them to enjoy in the power of the Spirit, an intimacy far deeper than any they had known while the Lord was present with them. Having spoken of the Spirit that the Father would send, He says, "At that day," the day in which we live, "he that hath My commandments, and keepeth them, he it is that loveth Me: and he that loveth Me shall be loved of My Father, and I will love him, and will manifest Myself to him," and again the Lord adds, "If a man love Me, he will keep My words: and My Father will love him and We will come unto Him, and make Our abode with him" (John 14: 16-25).

Here, too, for the first time we have the mention of feet washing in Scripture. Here as elsewhere the thought of feet washing is to refresh the one whose feet are washed. Abraham has the high privilege of washing the feet of the One who, in the years to come, will become flesh and, in the greatness of the love that delights to serve others will, in His condescending grace, wash His poor disciples' feet.

Divine Communication (vv. 9-15)

The Lord takes this occasion by this moment of holy intimacy to confirm the faith of Abraham by assuring him of the coming birth of his son. This concerns Sarah, 50 the LORD asks, "Where is Sarah thy wife?" Then the LORD says, "I will certainly return unto thee at this time of the year; and lo, Sarah thy wife shall have a son" (N. Tr.). For any but a Divine Person to have spoken thus would have been mere presumption. We cannot count upon a day. God can say, "I will certainly return." Thus the faith of Abraham is confirmed by the assurance of the LORD'S own words. And still the Lord delights to assure our trembling hearts with the certain word of the One who can say, "I will." "I will come again, and receive you unto Myself." "I will not leave you comfortless: I will come to you" (John 14: 3-18).

Abraham hears this great promise with the full realization of the glory of the One who speaks, and therefore expresses no astonishment, raises no difficulties, and expresses no doubt. In marked contrast Sarah's faith and discernment is not equal to her husband's She hears what is said, but has little realization of the glory of the Speaker. She doubts what is said because of what she finds in herself. She is old and her body worn out, therefore she argues that what the Lord has said cannot come true, and in her heart she laughs in unbelief at the very suggestion of having a son. She is rebuked for her unbelief and Abraham is reminded that, however impossible the fulfilment of the promise on the ground of nature, there is nothing too hard for the Lord.

Charged with her unbelief, Sarah is ashamed to own the truth. As so often, fear of consequences leads to lying and deceit. She "denied, saying, I laughed not." It may have been true that she did not laugh aloud; but she laughed in her heart and has to learn that she is in the presence of One who can read the heart and see behind tent doors.

Divine Prophecy (vv. 16-20)

Very blessedly, in the years to come, God speaks through the prophet Isaiah of Abraham as "My friend" (Isa. 41: 8). In this scene we see God treating Abraham as a friend. Truly, as it has often been said, to a servant we speak of things that concern his work, to a friend we speak of that which we may be about to do, though it may have no direct concern with our friend. Here then Abraham is treated as a friend, for God says, "Shall I hide from Abraham that thing which I do?" The reason that God treats him as a friend is very blessed, for, the Lord says, "I know him, that he will command his children and his household after him, and they shall keep the way of the Lord, to do justice and judgment." The one that the Lord treats as a friend is not only one that believes in the Lord, but also orders his household in the fear of the Lord.

To us the word of the Lord is, "Ye are My friends, if ye do whatsoever I command you"; and He adds, 'Henceforth I call you not servants; for the servant knoweth not what his Lord doeth: but I have called you friends; for all things that I have heard of My Father I have made known unto you" (John 15: 15).

Treating Abraham as a friend the Lord tells him of the judgment that He is about to bring upon the cities of the plain. But let us remember that these communications come to the man who, as we have seen, lives apart from the world, has renounced the world, and gained the victory over the world. Unless we escape the corruptions of the world we shall be saying with the mere professor, "Where is the promise of His coming?" The Apostle Peter warns us not to be in ignorance of the solemn fact that the day of the Lord will come as a thief in the night bringing judgment upon an ungodly world.

Already we have learned that "the men of Sodom were wicked and sinners before the Lord exceedingly" (Gen. 13: 13). Now we learn that their sin cried out to the Lord for judgment, for it was "very grievous." God waits and bears long with the wickedness of men, but He is not indifferent to sin. It cries out to Him until at last it is ripe for judgment. But, even so, the Lord is slow to judge. First we read of the two angels, that they "rose up from thence, and looked toward Sodom" (v. 16); then they "went toward Sodom" (v. 22); finally, we read, "there came two angels to Sodom at even" (Gen. 19: 1).

Intercession (vv. 22-33)

Two angels have passed on to execute the judgment of the Lord on the doomed cities. Abraham is left alone standing before the Lord. At once he takes the place of the intercessor. He intercedes on the ground that it is impossible to destroy the righteous with the wicked. Therefore he pleads with God to spare the city if there are found therein fifty righteous men. Then he pleads for it to be saved if there are forty-five righteous men; then he comes down to forty, thirty, twenty, and at last he pleads if there be only ten men. Each time God, in His grace, grants his request; until, at last, it is Abraham's faith fails to draw upon that grace of God that, where sin abounds, grace does much more abound.

At a later date God could say to Jeremiah of the doomed city of Jerusalem, If you can find a man, if there be any that executeth judgment, that seeketh the truth; and I will pardon it" (Jer. 5: 1). We know that Man has been found: Christ is the "One mediator between God and men, the Man Christ Jesus who gave Himself a ransom for all." Through this Man we are bidden to intercede for all men ( 1 Tim. 2: 1-6).

What is the garish world to me —

Its tinsel and its joys?

Thy glory and Thy grace I see,

My soul is satisfied with Thee,

And earth no more annoys.

Thou hast the Father's name declared,

The Father's love hast shown;

And I Thy heavenly voice have heard,

Thy powerful life-imparting word

My inmost soul hath known.

Thou art my shelter, loving Lord,

The bread on which I feed,

My rock with living water stored —

Forever be Thy name adored,

My soul can know no need.

Yea, Thou art everything to me,

Star of the morning bright;

Thy love declared in death I see,

Thy glory and Thy victory

In resurrection light.

Love not the world: its smiles, its hopes

May lure thee on;

But cup of joy, and dream of bliss,

Will soon be gone.

Those dreams will fade, as mist in morn;

Those hopes will die;

And in that cup of seeming joy,

Deep sorrows lie.

Love not the world: it, with its lusts,

Must pass away;

Its pleasures sweet, its hopes so bright,

Must all decay.

Its glories, too, must have an end,

Must pale and die,

And all its empty bubbles burst;

They're Satan's lie.

But he who does the will of God,

For aye will live,

And drink the streams of heaven's delights,

Which Christ will give.

He'll weep no more on that blest shore;

No marvel this,

For joys well up, and fill his cup,

There's naught but bliss.

Dear fellow-pilgrim in the path,

Look up! look on!

There waits above, a home of love,

Where Christ is gone.

And pleasures bright in courts of light

Will satisfy

A heart at rest, supremely blest,

With Jesus nigh.

Friendship With the World

Genesis 19

In Genesis 18 we have seen the blessings of a believer whose walk is consistent with the revelation of God as the Almighty.

In Genesis 19 there comes before us the sorrows of a believer who has given up the separate path, and walks in association with a judgment-doomed world. We shall see, indeed, that he is saved, but so as by fire, and passes out of the story under a cloud leaving behind him the memory of a life of shame.

A Striking Contrast

The opening verses of these two chapters evidently set Abraham and Lot in striking contrast. In Genesis 18: 1, Abraham comes before us as sitting in his tent door. In Genesis 19: 1, Lot is seen sitting "in the gate of Sodom." One believer is outside the world in his true pilgrim character, with his tent; the other is, not only in the world, but, he is actually taking part in its administration; he sits in the gate — the place of judgment.

The End of a Downward Path

Once Lot was in the outside place, that answers to the call of God — but there only as a follower of others. A little trouble arises and at once he gives up the path of faith and separation, and chooses the well-watered plain, and "pitched his tent toward Sodom" (Gen. 13: 12). Next we learn that he "dwelt in Sodom" (Gen. 14: 12). Now, at last, we read, "Lot sat in the gate of Sodom."

But the city in which Lot has an honoured place as a magistrate, is a judgment-doomed city, and the time has come when the city is ripe for judgment. From the Lord's own words, in Luke 17, we know that this solemn scene is a foreshadowing of the judgment about to fall on this present evil world. There we read, "As it was in the days of Lot . . . thus shall it be in the day when the Son of Man is revealed" (Luke 17: 28-32).

We are living in the days just before the Son of Man is about to be revealed, and we are warned by the Lord Himself, that in these our days we shall find a terrible condition similar to that which existed in the days of Lot. This makes this chapter of immense practical importance, as presenting the true character of the world around us, and, above all, as setting forth conditions so hateful to God that at length He has to intervene in judgment.

The Breakdown of Testimony

What then were the conditions in Sodom that brought down the judgment of God? Two things characterized the city. First, the men of Sodom were "wicked and sinners before the Lord exceedingly" (Gen. 13: 13). Secondly, a true believer was holding a place of honour in the city, associated with sinners in seeking to judge and maintain order in the world. It was then a city characterized by the association of sinners before the Lord with believers in the Lord. It is this condition, so hateful to God, that marks the world of today, and that will very soon bring the present period of grace to a close. It is not simply the wickedness of the world that ends the day of grace. The wickedness of the world may show itself in different forms at different times, but it cannot be greater today than when it perpetrated the crowning sin of crucifying the Lord of glory. It is rather the breakdown of the Christian profession whereby even true believers are found in the world, not as witnesses to the grace of God, but in closest association with the world, that God will lot tolerate and that makes the judgment so imminent. When those who were left to be a witness to the grace of God settle down in the world and cease to be any witness for God, the end is not far off.

The Message of Warning

We have the warning challenge of the apostle in clear and unmistakable words, "Be ye not unequally yoked together with unbelievers: and what fellowship hath righteousness with unrighteousness: and what communion hath light with darkness? And what concord hath Christ with Belial? Or what part hath he that believeth with an infidel?" (2 Cor. 6: 14, 15).

In spite of these plain words, what do we see on every hand today? Not only a world filled with violence and corruption — this has ever been — but, on every hand we see true believers, in flagrant disregard of the Word of God, associated with unbelievers and those who mock at divine things. It has been truly said, "Evangelical leaders even, can now take their places openly on public platforms with Unitarians and sceptics of almost every grade; and societies, secret or public, can link together all possible beliefs in the most hearty good fellowship. It is this that marks the time as so near the limit of divine long-suffering, that the very people who are orthodox as to Christ can nevertheless be so easily content to leave Him aside on any utilitarian plea by which they may have fellowship with His rejectors."

When those who profess to be ministers of Christianity cease to be witnesses for Christ and, sinking down to the level of the world, become themselves the leaders in all worldliness, then, indeed the salt has lost its savour, and the Christian profession, having become nauseous to Christ will be spued out of His mouth and the judgment will fall upon the world.

Surely, then, the destruction of Sodom should speak to every conscience, and lead us to take heed to that word which says, "Come out of her my people, that ye be not partakers of her sins, and that ye receive not of her plagues" (Rev. 18: 4).

The Ministry of Angels

There are, moreover, other lessons for us to learn from this solemn scene. In the preceding chapter the LORD appeared to Abraham accompanied by two angels. Here it is only the angels that come to Sodom. Abraham, in the outside place with his tent, enjoys sweet communion with the LORD. Lot, sitting in the gate of Sodom, will have no visits from the LORD. His soul may be vexed with the filthy conversation, and unlawful deeds of the wicked, but he will enjoy no communion with the LORD.

Furthermore, while the LORD came to Abraham in the full light of day, the two angels come to Sodom "at even." They come, not to give a public witness to Sodom, but, as it were, in the secrecy of the evening gloom to pull a falling saint out of the fire of judgment (Gen. 18: 1; Gen. 19: 1).

We may gather from Scripture that the service of angels has a twofold character. On the one hand they are the executors of judgment; on the other hand they are "ministering spirits sent forth to minister for them who shall be heirs of salvation" (Ps. 104: 4; Heb. 1: 14). We see them in this twofold service at Sodom. In judgment they had come to destroy the city: providentially, they were there to rescue a true believer from a false position! Good to know that, in our day, though judgment is about to fall on Christendom, every true believer will be saved From judgment, even though, with many, it may be like Lot, their works destroyed but they themselves saved yet so "as through the fire'' (1 Cor. 3: 15, N.Tr.).

Lot's Inconsistency

Further we see that Lot, being a true believer, recognizes the heavenly visitors, treats them with due reverence, seeks to honour them, and shelter them from the insults of the men of the world. Alas! only to find that he as no power to restrain their wickedness. In his extremity he is even prepared to sink to the vile expedient of abandoning his two daughters to their lust in order to quell the disturbance. His efforts only arouse the anger of the men of Sodom. They tell him to "stand back." They argue that this man, who came into their midst as an alien, now takes upon himself to act as their judge. With these threatening words they press sore upon Lot who is only saved from the violence of the mob by the providential action of the angels.

Lot's Failure

The angels' directions to Lot to warn his relatives that the LORD is about to destroy the city, brings to light the solemn fact that the believer in a false position has no power in testimony. Lot "went out and spake to his sons in law," warning them of the coming judgment. "But he seemed as one that mocked." It was indeed a witness to the truth, but it condemned himself. Had he not professed to be a righteous man, and yet had he not been so attracted to Sodom that he had chosen to dwell there, and even take a leading part in its affairs? Did he then really believe that the LORD was about to destroy the city? His whole life was a flat contradiction to his testimony. Little wonder that he seemed as one that mocked to the men of Sodom.

Nor is it otherwise today. Can we wonder that the world pays little heed to any warnings uttered by the professed ministers of religion who themselves are leaders in worldliness.

Lot's Hesitation

Even while warning others, Lot is loath to leave Sodom; for when urged to haste from the doomed city, we read "he lingered." Nevertheless, the mercy of the LORD "brought him forth and set him without the city." His wife and two daughters are brought out with him but all his possessions are left behind. He is saved so as through the fire.

Delivered by the mercy of God he is told to "escape to the mountain." He admits the mercy that has saved him, but he has little faith in the preserving care of the One that directs him to the mountain. Moved by fear and unbelief, he pleads that the little city of Zoar may be spared for a place of refuge. His prayer is granted; and as the sun rises Lot enters Zoar.

How solemn are these words, "The sun was risen." It speaks of a cloudless day with no sign of the coming judgment. As the Lord tells us of the men of Sodom, "they did eat, they drank, they bought, they sold, they planted, they builded." All went on as usual, "But the same day that Lot went out of Sodom it rained fire and brimstone from heaven and destroyed them all." The Lord adds the solemn words, "Even thus shall it be in the day when the Son of Man is revealed" (Luke 17: 28-30). So, at a later day, the Apostle can write "that the day of the Lord so cometh as a thief in the night. For when they shall say, Peace and safety; then sudden destruction cometh upon them, as travail upon a woman with child; and they shall not escape" (1 Thess. 5: 2, 3).

Lot's Wife

Lot's wife looked back. Lot personally was a righteous man, though caught in the toils of the world. His wife was a mere professor who, though she leaves the city, has her heart still there. She looks back to the place of her affections and becomes an everlasting warning to professors who, in a moment of fear may separate from the world, but have never known the call of the LORD. How solemn are the Lord's own words, "Remember Lot's wife" (Luke 17: 32).

In contrast to Lot, saved through fire, and his wife who looked back, we have a glimpse of the separate man who looked on to the city which hath foundations. Abraham was in "the place where he stood before the LORD." He sees from afar the destruction of the cities of the plain. Then we learn what is so highly instructive, that if Lot is saved from the overthrow of the cities it is because "God remembered Abraham." Lot, as he sat in the gate of Sodom, might have said, "What good is Abraham to the world dwelling apart in his tent?" Yet it is of Abraham, in the separate path, that God had said, "Thou shalt be a blessing." So it came to pass; for if Lot is saved it is because God remembered Abraham.

Lot's Fear

Though saved from the doom of Sodom, poor Lot is still the victim of fear. The very city of his choice he ears to dwell in, so he falls back on the mountain to which he had been told to flee. But even so, he goes to he mountain driven by fear of men rather than led by faith in God. There he becomes involved in the infamy of his daughters to pass from the history with no record of his end, leaving behind a posterity that becomes the constant enemy of God's people.

How solemn and searching to all our hearts is this history of a believer who, though once in the path of separation from the world gave it up to sink into association with the world, there to find that he could have no communion with God; no power to restrain the evil of the world; no power to witness to the truth, and no confidence in the preserving care of God: finally to pass from the scene under the dark shadow of great shame. Well indeed, if the story leads us to feel our own weakness, and casts us upon the One Who is able to keep us from falling and present us faultless before the presence of His glory with exceeding joy.

Farewell to this world's fleeting joys,

Our home is not below;

There was no home for Jesus here,

And 'tis to Him we go.

To Him in yonder world of love,

Where He has gone before:

The home He changed for Calvary's cross,

Where all our sins He bore

He bore our sins that we might be

His partners on the throne!

The throne He'll shortly share with those

For whom He did atone

Up to our Father's house we go,

To that sweet home of love:

Many the mansions that are found

Where Jesus dwells above

And He who left that home above,

To be a sufferer here,

Has left this world again for us

A mansion to prepare.

His errand to the earth was love,

To wretches such as we!

To pluck us from the jaws of death,

Nailed to th'accursed tree.

Th'accursed tree was the reward

Which this sad world did give

To Him who gave His precious life

That this lost world might live.

And has this world a charm for us,

Where Jesus suffered thus?

No! we have died to all its charms

Through Jesus' wondrous cross.

The cross on which our Saviour died

Has won the crown for us!

In thankful fellowship with Him

We bear our daily cross.

Set free in grace — He vanquished him

Who held us in his chains —

But more than this, He shares with us

The fruit of all His pains.

To all His ransomed ones He'll give

(To us amongst the rest):

With Him to dwell, with Him to reign,

With Him forever blest

Farewell, farewell, poor faithless world,

With all thy boasted store;

We'd not have joy where He had woe —

Be rich where He was poor.

The mists hang dank, on front and flank,

My straining eye can naught discover;

But well I know that many a foe

Around that path doth hover.

Nor this alone would make me groan —

Alas, a traitor dwells within me;

With hollow smile and heart of guile,

The world without, too, plots to win me.

Thus I'm beset with foes, and yet

I would not miss a single danger:

Each foe's a friend that makes me wend

My homeward way — on earth a stranger.

For never haze dims upward gaze —

Oh, glorious sight! for there above me

Upon God's throne there sitteth One

Who died to save — who lives to love me!

And like the dew each dayspring new

That tender love shall onward lead me:

My thirst doth slake, yet thirst awake

Till every breath shall pant, "I need Thee."

No wisdom give; I'd rather live

In conscious lack dependent on Thee:

Each parting way I meet this aye

Then proves my claim to call upon Thee.

No strength I ask, for Thine the task

To bear Thine own on Shepherd-shoulder

Then faith may boast when helpless most,

And greater need makes weakness bolder.

Then, Lord, Thy breast is, too, my rest;

And there, as in my home, I'm hidden,

Where quiet peace makes groanings cease,

And Zion's songs gush forth unbidden.

Yes, e'en on earth may song have birth,

And music rise o'er nature's groanings,

Whilst Hope new born each springing morn

Dispel with joy my faithless meanings.

— F.C. Jennings.

The Works of the Flesh

Genesis 20

In Genesis 19 we have seen Abraham in the high places "where he stood before the LORD," outside the world and preserved from the hour of trial that came upon them that dwelt upon the earth.

An Old Repeated Sin

In Genesis 20 Abraham is once again journeying toward the south country, and dwelling upon the border land of Egypt. In this doubtful position he again acts in a way that brings him under the rebuke from the man of the world.

Abraham fails in the same way that he had done some twenty years before, though the circumstances are somewhat different. Then, under the stress of famine, he had turned aside from the land and slipped into Egypt. Here, without any such trying circumstances, but simply from the fear of man, he denies the one through whom God had definitely assured him the promised heir would come (Gen. 18: 10). In one case he gives up the testimony of the inheritance; in the other he beclouds the testimony to the heir. As then, so now, behind every failure of the people of God, the enemy is attacking some great truth connected with their calling. Today, he is specially attacking the truth as to the true relationship of the Church to her Head in Heaven.

The fact that after so many years Abraham should fail in the same way, only aggravates the offence. For now it is no mere novice in the path of faith, but one who has walked long in the outside place of separation from the world who breaks down.

Another great lesson that we can learn from this sad episode is that the flesh in God's people never changes. This is a solemn truth that we are slow to realize, but that we all have to learn, and at times through bitter experience. There is, indeed, grace to deliver us from the power of the flesh, and to keep us from its evil; but the evil flesh from which we are kept never changes. The flesh may tend to show itself in different forms in different individuals; but, whatever form its evil may take, that is the form of evil it will retain from the beginning of our history to the end.

This twice repeated failure on the part of this man of God is surely recounted, not to discourage us, or turn us back on our weakness, but, rather, to cast us upon the true source of all confidence and strength. One has truly said, it is only when we have learned that we are "unable to do without God for a moment that we find that He is for us moment by moment." But it is easy to say that we cannot do without God; it is a harder thing-to learn experimentally, perhaps by repeated failure, that we are dependent upon God moment by moment.

With the fear of man before him, Abraham loses faith in God. Failing in faith, he falls back on his own resources and acts in the duplicity of the flesh. He says of Sarah, his wife, "She is my sister." He tells the truth to hide the truth, and again exposes his wife to shame to preserve his own life.

A God Ever Faithful

Nevertheless, however great their failure, God does not give up His people. He will never cast away His pearls because of some grit that attaches to them. He will deal with all in us that is contrary to Himself — it may be at painful cost to ourselves — in order to make us partakers of His holiness. And not only does God deal with, but He acts for His poor failing people. So in this scene God intervenes in a marked way to preserve Sarah from the shame to which Abraham's duplicity had exposed her. Abimelech is kept from wronging Abraham, and is even warned that Abraham is a prophet, and that unless Sarah is at once restored to Abraham, death will surely come upon his household. Further, Abimelech is told that the very man who had so wronged him, is one who is in such a position of nearness to God that he can pray for him. In spite of his failure, he is a prophet and an intercessor with God: and God does not deny these high privileges because of his failures.

A Rebuke Justified

Nevertheless, the privileges of being a prophet and an intercessor, only increase the evil of his duplicity. This the world is not slow to appreciate; for at once Abimelech calls Abraham, and challenges him as to what he has done. In plain language Abimelech truly says, "Thou hast done deeds unto me that ought not to be done." Not only had Abraham failed in faith in God, not only had he wronged his wife, but he had wronged the man of the world. Abraham had sunk, not only beneath the height of his calling, but beneath the conduct of a decent man of the world.

Further, Abimelech challenges Abraham as to what led him to do this thing. Abraham answers, "I thought, surely the fear of God is not in this place; and they will kill me for my wife's sake." How low this man of God has fallen. Carried away by his own thoughts, thinking only of himself and his safety, he acts with a duplicity that clearly shows that at that moment he himself had not the fear of God before him, however much he may charge others with the lack of the fear of God.

A Lame Excuse

Moreover, as so often when a believer fails there is the effort to palliate the failure, instead of the honest confession, "I have sinned." No three words in human language are so hard for either a sinner or a saint to utter as the words, "I have sinned." So Abraham seeks to excuse his duplicity by explaining that it was quite true that Sarah was his sister, even though he had held back the truth that she was also his wife.

An Unjudged Root of Unbelief

Moreover, it comes out that this failure has an unjudged root of unbelief far back in his history. In a false position he lowers the testimony of God to the apprehension of the world, by saying, "When God caused me to wander from my father's house." He does not say, "When God called me to a heavenly country and a city which hath foundations," but he would give the impression that, like any mere prodigal, God had caused him to wander from his father's house. In these circumstances he and his wife had entered into a compact of unbelieving duplicity.

A Conduct Unbecoming

In spite of Abraham's failure, Abimelech, man of the world though he is, acts in a righteous and even liberal way that is in striking contrast to Abraham's conduct. In the day of power and victory over the enemy Abraham refused to take "from a thread even to a shoe latchet" from the king of Sodom. In the day of weakness and unbelief he will accept sheep, and oxen, and menservants, womenservants, and a thousand pieces of silver, from the king of Gerar.

Nevertheless, though giving gifts to Abraham, Abimelech does not hesitate to reprove his wife in terms of contempt, for he says, "Behold, I have given thy brother a thousand pieces of silver: behold, he is to thee a covering of the eyes." Had she been rightly veiled, as Abraham's wife, she never would have been seen by Abimelech or taken into his house. The veil speaks of the women being exclusively for the one to whom she belongs.

As believers, if it were seen that we were exclusively for Christ, the world would not wish to have us in its company. Paul could say, "For me to live is Christ;" and, as a result the world was crucified to him, and he was crucified to the world. Failing to maintain this single-hearted devotedness to Christ, we shall, like Sarah, lose the respect of the world and come under its just reproof.

The root of their failure being exposed, Abraham once again resumes his true place in reference to the world as an intercessor (vv. 17, 18).

God moves in a mysterious way,

His wonders to perform;

He plants His footsteps in the sea,

And rides upon the storm.

Deep in unfathomable mines.

Of never-failing skill,

He treasures up His bright designs,

And works His sovereign will.

Ye fearful saints, fresh courage take,

The clouds ye so much dread

Are big with mercy, and will break

In blessings on your head.

Judge not the Lord by feeble sense,

But trust Him for His grace:

Behind a frowning providence

He hides a smiling face.

His purposes will ripen fast,

Unfolding every hour;

The bud may have a bitter taste,

But sweet will be the flower.

Blind unbelief is sure to err,

And scan His work in vain;

God is His own interpreter,

And He will make it plain

The Birth of the Heir

Genesis 21

In Genesis 17 and Genesis 18 God has been revealed as the Almighty — the One who carries out His promises in spite of the weakness of His people and the wickedness of the world.

In Genesis 19 the evil of the world is fully demonstrated; while, in Genesis 20 the evil of the flesh and the weakness of God's people are manifested.

The world and the flesh having been exposed, we learn in Genesis 21 that God's set time has come and the long promised heir is born (vv. 1-7); the bondwoman and her child are cast out (vv. 8-21); and the world has to own that God is with the man of faith (vv. 22-34).

The Birth of Isaac (vv. 1-5)

Everything on man's side having broken down, we learn that the "set time of which God had spoken" has come and the promised heir is born. He is called Isaac, meaning "laughter," and in due time circumcised in accordance with the directions and commands of the Lord. Everything takes place in God's set time," and according to God's Word.

In the birth of Isaac we have a striking type of Christ, of Whom we read, "When the fulness of the time was come God sent forth His Son" (Gal. 4: 4). Christ is the One through whom all the blessings promised to Abraham are secured, whether for Israel, the direct seed, or for the Gentile nations.

The Effect of That Birth (vv. 6-9)

In the two incidents that follow we see the effect of the birth of the heir. In the one scene there are those who rejoice; in the other there are those who mock. Again, do not these two incidents strikingly bring before us the twofold effect of the birth of Christ? Sarah said, "God hath made me to laugh, so that all that hear will laugh with me." Time was when her laughter was the expression of her unbelief; now it is the overflow of the joy of her heart. Moreover, her faith recognizes, and owns, that the birth of the son is so wholly of God, and lies so entirely outside the thoughts of man, that she asks, "Who would have said unto Abraham, that Sarah should have given children suck?" So impossible was this to nature, that no man would have said it. Only God would have said it; and only One who is Almighty could carry out what He said.

So when at last the Christ of God became Incarnate there were those who, in harmony with heaven, recognized the intervention of God and could rejoice over the birth of the long promised heir. With joy Mary delights to own, "He that is mighty hath done to me great things." Zacharias sees that God hath visited His people, "To perform the mercy promised to our fathers, and to remember His holy covenant; the oath which He swore to our father Abraham" — these and all "that looked for redemption in Jerusalem" (Luke 1: 49, 68-73).

But if there were those who rejoiced at the birth of Isaac, there were also those who mocked, and we see what calls forth their enmity. There came a day when "a great feast" is made in honour of the heir. This honour put upon the heir arouses the jealousy and enmity of those who had long held a position in the household of Abraham.

So in the history of our Lord, it was the recognition of His supreme and unrivalled place that drew forth the jealousy and enmity of religious flesh. The wise men from he East worship Him as the King of the Jews and immediately all Jerusalem is troubled, and Herod, the false king, seeks to kill the holy child.

The Lesson for Us (v. 10)

There are, however, other lessons for us in this deeply instructive scene. In the Epistle to the Galatians the apostle quotes the words uttered by Sarah to Abraham, "Cast out the bondwoman and her son: for the son of the bondwoman shall not be heir with my son, even with Isaac." In this passage the apostle uses Isaac, not as representative of Christ, but of believers — those who are the subjects of sovereign grace. He says, "We, brethren, as Isaac was, are the children of promise." Moreover, as he uses Isaac to set forth all that we are as born of the Spirit, go he uses Ishmael to set forth our old man — all that we are as born after the flesh. He shows, too, that the man that is after the flesh is entirely opposed to the man that is after the Spirit. "As then he that was born after the flesh persecuted him that was born after the Spirit, even so it is now" (Gal. 4: 28-31).

The True Character of the Flesh (vv. 11, 12)

Even as the coming of Christ into the world exposed all that man is after the flesh, and awakened the enmity of the flesh, so, in the history of our own souls, the more Christ has His true place in our affections, the more we discover the true character of the flesh that is still in us. if we make Christ a feast — if we give Him His true place in our hearts, we discover there is present with us that old man that ever seeks to intrude and exalt self. This raises the great question, Am I going to spare the flesh by gratifying, indulging and exalting self, or am I going to refuse the flesh that Christ may have the supreme place in my life?

The Corinthian believers were indulging the flesh in a worldly form; the Colossian saints were in danger of ministering to the flesh by religious ritual; while the Galatian assemblies were giving place to the flesh by legality. They were putting themselves under law as a rule of life. But so far from producing a Christlike life they only developed the fleshly life with its vain glory, and envy, and strife. So the apostle says, "Cast out the bondwoman and her son." We are to refuse the law as a rule of life and the flesh which it stirs up. It is not that the believer slights the law, or is indifferent to its moral requirements. Far from this; but he is to refuse to put himself under the principle of law. Christ hath made us free from the law as a means of obtaining blessing; and we are to stand fast in the liberty wherewith Christ hath made us free, looking to Him to keep us moment by moment. How truly this was the experience of the Apostle Paul. Christ had the supreme place in his affections, for he could say, "For to me to live is Christ." The result was he refused his own righteousness which was of the law, and had no confidence in the flesh (Phil. 1: 21; Phil. 3: 3). He cast out the bondwoman and her son.

To refuse the flesh will call for self-denial, and this involves suffering. So to cast out the bondwoman was "grievous in Abraham's sight." He is reminded, however, that all blessing is connected with Isaac. To deny oneself and follow Christ will entail a cross — or suffering, but it will lead to great blessing in association with Christ.

The Picture of Israel

Hagar and Ishmael as wanderers in the wilderness, with he water spent, may set forth typically the present position of Israel, as a result of seeking to obtain the blessing under law, and so rejecting Christ the promised seed. The earthly people of God are cast out of their land and have become wanderers in the world. Yet, as cast out of the and, Israel is still the object of God's providential care even as God provided for Hagar and her son.

The Testimony of the World (vv. 22-24)

In the closing scene of the chapter the man of the world owns that God is with the man of faith that walks in separation from the world. Time was when the man of faith slipped, and acting in unbelief, came under the reproof of Abimelech. Now the promised heir has come and is given his rightful place by Abraham, and the bondwoman and her son have been cast out. What is of God is owned as supreme and all that is of the flesh has been refused, with the result that Abimelech has to acknowledge, "God is with thee in all that thou doest." Instead of reproving Abraham, as in former lays, he is reproved by Abraham. Nor is it otherwise today.

If Christ has His true place in our lives, if we refuse the flesh, and by faith walk in true separation from the world, the result will be that the very world will see and admit that God is with us.

The True Character of the World (vv. 25-34)

Nevertheless, while the world may have to admit that God is with His people who walk in separation, nonetheless, it will seek to deprive the people of God of their means of spiritual refreshment. It will seek to stop our wells. Like Abraham, we may well resist the world's efforts and reprove the world; but, like Abraham, let us seek to mingle with our reproofs the spirit of grace that seeks to impart to the world something of our blessing as represented by the seven ewe lambs.

The closing verses would appear to present the climax of Abraham's spiritual history. We have seen that the world has to acknowledge that God is with him; now we see that Abraham is with God. He calls on the name of the Lord, the everlasting God, and he lives as a pilgrim in the land.

God's ways are not like human ways,

He wears such strange disguises;

He tires us by His long delays,

And then our faith surprises.

While we in unbelief deplore,

And wonder at His staying,

He stands already at the door,

To interrupt our praying.

He takes a leader from the Nile,

Where mother hands have laid him;

Hides him in palaces the while,

Till He has right arrayed him.

He sends him to the desert's hush,

With flocks and herds to wander;

Then meets him in the burning bush,

New mysteries to ponder.

Why should we doubt His care and grace,

As though He had forgotten?

As though time's changes could efface

What love had once begotten?

As though He'd lost us from His thought

And moved on now without us,

Whose love has always goodness wrought,

And constant been about us?

— J.E.R.

Oh, what a voice was that which once the patriarch Abram heard,

"Take now thy son, thine only son, thine Isaac, so endeared,

And unto far Moriah's land at once arise and go,

Offer him, a burnt offering, there, on a mount that I shall show."

That voice he knew and lingered not — his inmost soul obeyed,

Counting that God could raise him up, though even from the dead.

He took his son, the fire, the knife, with two at his command;

Three days they journeyed on, until they saw th' appointed land.

Then as they trod the way alone, their converse none might share,

The father laid the wood he clave upon the son to bear.

The fire, the knife, were Abraham's part, by faith obedient still,

Assured that God who gave the word, would all His word fulfil.

They reached the spot — his son he bound, and on the altar laid;

He took the knife to slay his son, when lo! the hand was stayed;

A voice from heaven arrests the stroke — another victim bled.

And Abraham received his son as risen from the dead.

Fair picture of a mightier love that gave the Son to die!

A holier sacrifice, whose place none other could supply.

The two who "both together" went until the work was done

Which glorifies for ever more the Eternal Three-in-one.

— E.H. Chater.

The Offering Up of Isaac

Genesis 22

We have seen that the first portion of Abraham's life presents his public testimony as a man of faith walking in separation from the world, in answer to the call of God (Genesis 12 to 14). In the second part of his history, commencing with the words, "After these things," we learn the inner exercises of his soul in his personal relationships with God (Genesis 15 to 21).

The Last Phase of Abraham's Life

With the twenty-second chapter of Genesis we enter upon the last phase of his life. It also commences with the words, "After these things." In this, and the following chapters, there passes before us certain incidents which, in a very distinct way, set forth in type the ways of God in carrying out His purposes for the glory of Christ and the blessing of man.

In Genesis 21 we have seen in the birth of Isaac at "the set time" a foreshadowing of that great moment of which we read, "when the fullness of the time was come, God sent forth His Son made of a woman" (Gal. 4: 4). In Genesis 22 we shall see a type of the death and resurrection of Christ — the Lamb of God's providing. In Genesis 23 the death and burial of Sarah sets forth in type the setting aside of Israel, the Genesis bride, in consequence of the rejection of Christ. In Genesis 24 while Israel is set aside we have the calling out of the Church — the heavenly bride, set forth in Rebekah.

While we seek to profit by the typical aspects of these striking incidents, we must not overlook their moral bearing. If this twenty-second chapter is a marvellous presentation of the love of God in giving the Son, morally it sets forth in a striking way the faith of Abraham.

The Supreme Test

The moral teaching comes before us in the opening words: "And it came to pass after these things, that God tried Abraham" (N. Tr.). In that great chapter in the Epistle to the Hebrews which presents before us those who have trodden the path of faith, we find that Abraham has an outstanding place. It is not only that he is presented as one who by faith answered to the call of God, but he is highly privileged as having his faith tested beyond that of any man before or since. In the history we read that God said to him, "Take now thy son, thine only son, whom thou lovest, Isaac, and get thee into the land of Moriah: and offer him there for a burnt offering." The inspired comment in Hebrews is, "By faith Abraham, when he was tried, offered up Isaac," the very one in whom all the promises centred, and of whom it was said, "That in Isaac shall thy seed be called." He was told to do that which to sight and natural reason would make the fulfilment of the promises of God impossible. But, we learn, that he acted, not according to mere reason, but, "by faith . . . accounting that God was able to raise him up, even from the dead; from whence he received him in a figure."

The Act of Obedience

When the children of Job were taken from him, he very blessedly submitted to what God had allowed, for he said, "The Lord gave and the Lord hath taken away." But Abraham's faith is tried with a much severer test, and rises to a far higher level. He is not simply asked to submit passively to the will of God, but, he is called to take part actively in that which was contrary to nature, anguish to a father's heart, and, apart from God's direction, in outrage against the laws of God and man. But, Abraham, with God-given faith, answers to the test. With calm deliberation, he rises up early in the morning, saddles his ass and taking two young men and Isaac his son, he "went unto the place of which God had told him."

For three days he travels on his way. Time and opportunity was thus given to thoroughly enter into what he was called to do. For three days this terrible trial was before his soul. During these days he had to face the agony of offering up his son. It was not an act hurriedly done under some momentary impulse. It was deliberately done after having entered into all that it cost him. His love to his son, the feelings of Isaac and his love to his father, God's promise that "in Isaac shall thy seed be called" — all was fully faced, but faith triumphed.

Had unbelief been at work there was time given to turn back. But faith persevered, and on the third day, the place having come in sight, he "said unto his young men, Abide ye here with the ass; and I and the lad will go yonder and worship, and come again to you." Faith, accounting that God can raise from the dead, can say with the utmost confidence, we will "come again."

We are not tested in the same manner as Abraham, but good for us, when our loved ones are taken, if we can say, "If we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so them also which sleep in Jesus will God bring with Him." Faith knows that though for a time they are taken from us — and have gone yonder to worship — they will "come again."

Father and Son

Isaac inquires, "Where is the lamb for a burnt offering?" In faith Abraham replies, "My son, God will provide Himself a lamb"; and without further word, they pass on "both of them together." Without resistance or complaint, Isaac submits to be bound to the altar, and Abraham "stretched forth his hand to slay his son.

Then the angel of the Lord intervenes. Abraham's hand was withheld from plunging the knife into his son. Abraham's faith has answered to the test and God says, "Now I know that thou fearest God, seeing thou hast not withheld thy son, thine only son from Me." Acting in the fear of God, he overcame the fear of man in doing that which man would have utterly condemned.

Another Father — Another Son

Viewing this remarkable scene in its typical bearing, there rises up before us the greatness of the love of God in giving His Son to die for us. The word to Abraham is "take now thy son," telling us that God "spared not His own Son, but delivered Him up for us all" (Rom. 8: 32). Then Abraham is told that he is to take his "only son." Three times in the chapter is it emphasized that Isaac is his "only" son (vv. 2, 12, 16). Again this speaks of the love of God by which "He gave His only begotten Son" (John 3: 16). Further, Abraham is reminded that the son he is to offer up is one "whom thou lovest," speaking to us of the fact that Christ is the One of whom it is said, "The Father loveth the Son" (John 3: 35). It is significant that this, the first mention of love in the Bible, is in connection with a scene that speaks of the love of God, the Father, for the Son.

Perfect Obedience

Moreover, if the scene brings before us the love of God in giving the Son, so also it presents the perfect submission and uncomplaining obedience to his father's will. In all this there is the bright foreshadowing of the perfect obedience of Christ to the Father which led Him to say in view of death, "Not My will, but Thine, be done" (Luke 22: 42).

Further, during the three days' journey the wood of the burnt offering is borne by Isaac, while the fire and he knife are in the hand of Abraham. Throughout the years of His ministry the Lord bore the knowledge of His coming death. Over every step of His way there was the shadow of the Cross. The crowds may wonder at "all things which Jesus did," but He knew that the won of Man would be delivered into the hands of men Luke 9: 44). The apostles may follow Him to Jerusalem with visions of the Kingdom being set up in power, and Christ reigning on a throne of glory, but He knew that He was moving on the shameful Cross.

Nevertheless, if men are allowed to crucify the Lord, the fire and the knife, speaking of judgment and death, were in the hands of God. Men may think that they van crucify, or release the Lord according to their will, But the Lord can say to Pilate, "Thou couldest have no power at all against Me except it were given thee from above" (John 19: 11). No eye could pierce the darkness of that great scene when the fire and the knife fell upon Christ. But all that took place then was taken from God's hand, for Christ could say, "Thou hast laid Me in the lowest pit, in darkness, in the deeps. Thy wrath lieth hard upon Me, and Thou hast afflicted Me with all Thy waves" (Ps. 88: 6, 7).

Perfect Communion

Then there comes a moment when the "young men" are left behind and Abraham and his only son go up alone to the mount. This surely speaks to us of that great moment of which the Lord has to say, "Whither I go thou canst not follow Me now" (John 13: 36). And yet the Lord can say, "He that sent Me is with Me: the Father hath not left Me alone" (John 3: 29). Thus, of Abraham and Isaac we twice read, "They went both of them together" (vv. 6, 8), speaking to us of the perfect communion of the Father and the Son presented so blessedly in the Gospel of John as the Lord Jesus moved forward to the Cross to become the great burnt offering by which God is perfectly glorified. The Lord could say, "My Father worketh hitherto and I work"; again, He could say, "I seek not Mine own will, but the will of the Father which hath sent Me." Later He can say, "I do always those things that please Him"; and again, "I and the Father are one" (John 5: 17, 30; John 8: 29; John 10: 30).

Perfect Submission

Arriving at the place, Isaac is perfectly submissive to the one that acts. Abraham builds the altar; Abraham laid the wood in order: Abraham bound Isaac, his son; Abraham laid him upon the altar, and Abraham stretched forth his hand and took the knife to slay his son. So of Christ we read, "He opened not His mouth: He is brought as a lamb to the slaughter, and as a sheep before her shearers is dumb, so He openeth not His mouth . . . Yet it pleased the Lord to bruise Him; He hath put Him to grief" (Isa. 53: 7-10).

Comparison and Contrast

It is significant that in all the offerings the victim was first killed, and then laid upon the altar. Here the offering becomes a more striking type of Christ in that he is first bound to the altar before the knife is taken to slay him.

But every type must fall short of the reality. In the type the angel of the Lord arrests the hand that held the knife, and Isaac is spared. At the Cross no hand was put forth to stay the power of death. The love of the Father spared not the Son, and the love of the Son submitted to the Father's will in going into death. An angel may strengthen the Lord in the Garden, but there was no angel to shelter from judgment at the cross.

In a figure, Abraham receives Isaac from the dead (Heb. 11: 19). But if Isaac is to go free, death must come on the ram caught in the thicket — a further type of the Lamb of God's providing. In the course of this wonderful scene Abraham utters the two prophetic statements; first, "God will provide Himself a Lamb for a burnt offering"; secondly, "In the mount of the Lord it shall be provided" (N. Tr.). As the Lord could say, 'Abraham rejoiced to see My day: and he saw it, and was glad" (John 8: 56).

God renews His promises to Abraham on the ground of sacrifice, and confirms His promise of blessing to all the nations of the earth through the risen seed. Here we know, from the Epistle to the Galatians, that the seed is Christ, for, says the apostle, "To Abraham and his seed were the promises made. He saith not, and to seed, as of many; but as of one, and to thy seed which is Christ" (Gal. 3: 16).

The genealogy of the closing verses seems purposely given at this point to introduce Rebekah, the one that so blessedly sets forth the heavenly bride of Christ.

O blessed Lord, what hast Thou done!

How vast a ransom paid!

God's only well-beloved Son

Upon the altar laid!

The Father in His willing love

Could spare Thee from His side;

And Thou couldst stoop to bear above,

At such a cost, Thy bride.

While our full hearts in faith repose

Upon Thy precious blood,

Peace in a steady current flows,

Filled from Thy mercy's flood.

What boundless joy will fill each heart,

Our every grief efface,

When we behold Thee as Thou art,

And all Thy love retrace.

Unseen we love Thee, dear Thy name!

But when our eyes behold,

With joyful wonder we'll proclaim,

"The half hath not been told!"

For Thou exceedest all the fame

Our ears have ever heard;

How happy we who know Thy name,

And trust Thy faithful Word!

The Lamb of God to slaughter led,

The King of Glory see!

The crown of thorns upon His head,

They nail Him to the tree!

The Father gives His only Son;

The Lord of glory dies

for us, the guilty and undone,

A spotless Sacrifice!

Thy Name is holy, O our God!

Before Thy throne we bow;

Thy bosom is Thy saints' abode,

We call Thee Father now!

Enthroned with Thee now sits the Lord,

And in Thy bosom dwells;

Justice, that smote Him with the sword,

Our perfect pardon seals.

Eternal death was once our doom;

Now death hast lost its sting;

We rose with Jesus from the tomb,

Jehovah's love to sing.

— R.C. Chapman.

I'm a pilgrim and a stranger,

Rough and stormy is my road,

Often in the midst of danger;

But it leads to God.

Clouds and darkness oft distress me:

Great and many are my foes;

Anxious cares and thoughts oppress me:

But my Father knows.

Oh, how sweet is this assurance,

'Midst the conflict and the strife!

Although sorrows past endurance,

Follow me through life.

Home in prospect still can cheer me;

Yes, and give me sweet repose,

While I feel His presence near me:

For my Father knows.

Yes, He sees and knows me daily,

Watches over me in love;

Sends me help when foes assail me,

Bids me look above.

Soon my journey will be ended,

Life is drawing to a close;

I shall then be well attended:

This my Father knows.

I shall then with joy behold Him,

Face to face my Saviour see;

Fall with rapture and adore Him

For His love to me.

Nothing more shall then distress me

In the land of sweet repose;

Jesus stands engaged to bless me:

This my Father knows.

The Death of Sarah

Genesis 23

In the twenty-third chapter we have the record of he death and burial of Sarah. As so often, in these Old Testament histories, the facts related have a typical as well as a moral significance. That this is no fanciful conclusion is clear from the twofold interpretation of these events given to us in the New Testament.

An Allegory

In the Epistle to the Galatians the apostle gives us the allegorical significance of Hagar and Sarah. Hagar and her son represent the law and those who are seeking blessing under law; while Sarah and her children represent the unconditional promises of God and those who ire blessed in sovereign grace (Gal. 4: 21-26). The people of Israel, having put themselves under law, sought to obtain blessing on the ground of their own efforts; the result being they only brought forth the evil works of the flesh, and rejected Christ who was presented to them in grace, and through whom they could have received blessing on the ground of the promises made to Abraham. Peter, addressing the nation after the death and resurrection of Christ, can say, "Ye are the children of the prophets, and of the covenant which God made with our fathers, saying unto Abram, And in thy seed shall all the kindreds of the earth be blessed. Unto you first, God, having raised up His Son Jesus, sent Him to bless you, in turning away every one of you from his iniquities" (Acts 3: 25, 26). This offer of grace was rejected by the nation, and as a result, for the time being, God's earthly people are set aside.

Christ's Earthly Bride

The death of Sarah following upon the offering up of Isaac, would seem to bring before us this setting aside of the nation of Israel, that followed upon their rejection of the grace offered to them on the ground of the death and resurrection of Christ. Sarah, type of Christ's earthly bride, passes from the story, and Rebekah, type of the heavenly bride, comes into view.

A Plain Declaration

Such then would appear to be the typical meaning of the death and burial of Sarah. There is, however, the moral significance of these incidents, so clearly brought before us in the Epistle to the Hebrews. There we learn that these saints of old not only lived by faith but they "all died in faith, not having received the promises, but having seen them afar off and were persuaded of them, and embraced them, and confessed that they were strangers and pilgrims in the earth. For they that say such things declare plainly that they seek a country" (Heb. 11: 13, 14).

Here, then, we see the faith of Abraham in the presence of death; the confession that he is but a stranger and a pilgrim, and, by his actions, declaring plainly his pilgrim character before the world.

Faith's Prospect

Abraham's faith had received Isaac at the word of the Lord, when his own body was as good as dead. His faith had offered up Isaac, at the word of the Lord, accounting that God was able to raise him up even from the dead. Now, in like faith, he buries Sarah in the sure and certain hope of resurrection. In faith he had ascended Mount Moriah to offer up his son. In like faith he now races the cave of Machpelah to bury his wife. The moment has come when he has to bury his "dead out of sight," but his faith knows that his loved one will come again and have her part in that better, and heavenly, country to which his faith was looking on.

The God of Resurrection

God had revealed Himself to Abraham as the Almighty, and as the God of resurrection, and had assured him that the land wherein he was a stranger —  all the land of Canaan — was given to him for an everlasting possession (Gen. 17: 8). All was his by promise, though not yet in possession. In the faith of God's promise he was careful to lay the body of Sarah to rest in the Promised Land. In the land of Canaan she had lived with Abraham as a stranger and a pilgrim; "in the land Of Canaan" she had died; and "in the land of Canaan" she was buried (vv. 2, 19). In the same faith, at a later date, the sons of Isaac bury their father at Hebron, in the land of Canaan (Gen. 35: 27-29). So, too, in due time, Jacob, though he dies in Egypt, is buried in faith by his sons in the land of Canaan, in the cave of Machpelah (Gen. 50: 13). In the like fine faith, Joseph when he came to die, takes an oath of the children of Israel that they shall carry his bones from Egypt to the land of Canaan (Gen. 50: 25, 26; Ex. 13: 19).

Godly Sorrow

If, however, in these scenes we see shining examples of the faith of God's elect in the presence of death, we also learn that faith does not set aside natural Affection. Thus we read, "Abraham came to mourn for Sarah, and to weep for her" (v. 2). Full well faith knows that our loved ones that die in the Lord will rise again, and that for them death is gain, but nonetheless we rightly mourn and feel their loss. Our sure and certain hope of resurrection tells us indeed, as the apostle reminds us, that our sorrow is not the sorrow of those who have no hope. But there is no word to say we are not to sorrow. None could know the power of resurrection like the One who is Himself the resurrection and the life, and yet He wept at the grave of Lazarus.

A Promise Fulfilled

Furthermore, we see that in the presence of death, Abraham still acts as becomes one that is a stranger and a pilgrim. He confesses before the sons of Heth, "I am a stranger and a sojourner with you." As such he gains the respect of the world, for they say, "Thou art a prince of God among us" (v. 6, N.Tr.). How striking the contrast to poor Lot — the believer who gave up his pilgrim character to dwell in Sodom. Such an one the world treats with well-merited contempt, for in the day of his trouble they say, "Stand back. . . this one fellow came in to sojourn, and he will needs be a judge" (Gen. 19: 9). Sixty years before this God had said to Abraham that one result of answering to the call of God, and taking the outside place, would be that God would make his name great (Gen. 12:2). Here we see this word fulfilled, for the very world has to own that this separate man is "a mighty prince of God." Poor Lot who sought to make himself great in the world, as a judge in the gate, has to "stand back" and take a place of contempt in the eyes of the world.

A Lowly Mind

Nevertheless, Abraham does not presume upon the high respect in which he is held by the world, in order to exalt himself. He does not speak of his dignities, of his high calling, or of the glories that lie before him. In the days of the Lord, when the careless world would make Him a King, He makes Himself of no reputation and departs into a mountain alone (John 6: 15). In like spirit, Abraham refuses to magnify himself. He does not seek that the world should bow to him as a mighty prince, but rather he is marked by the lowly mind, for twice we read, he "bowed himself to the people of the land" (vv. 7-12).

A Righteous Character

The kindness of the world would press upon Abraham a burying place as a gift. True to his pilgrim character he refuses to take the place of a prince that receives gifts, and is content to be the stranger that pays for his wants. He refused to use the praise of the world to exalt himself, and he will not let the kindness of the world move him from the path of strangership. As before he had refused he gifts of the king of Sodom, so now he declines the gifts of the children of Heth. He buys the burying place, and, as becomes a stranger, in all his dealings with the world, he acts in strict righteousness paying "four hundred shekels of silver, current money with the merchant."

In all these ways we see that Abraham in his day was one that called upon the Lord out of a pure heart, and followed righteousness, faith, love, and peace.

The Bride

Midst the darkness, storm and sorrow, one bright gleam I see:

Well I know the blessed morrow Christ will come for me.

Midst the light and peace and glory of the Father's home,

Christ for me is watching, waiting — waiting till I come.

Long the blessed Guide has led me by the desert road;

Now I see the golden towers — City of my God.

There amidst the love and glory, He is waiting yet;

On His hands a name is graven He can ne'er forget.

There amidst the songs of heaven, sweeter to His ear

Is the footfall through the desert, ever drawing near.

There, made ready are the mansions, glorious, bright and fair;

But the Bride the Father gave Him still is wanting there.

Who is this who comes to meet me on the desert way,

As the morning star foretelling God's unclouded day?

He it is who came to win me on the cross of shame

In His glory well I know Him, evermore the same.

Oh, the blessed joy of meeting, all the desert past!

Oh, the wondrous words of greeting He shall speak at last!

He and I together ent'ring those bright courts above;

He and I together sharing all the Father's love.

Where no shade nor stain can enter, nor the gold be dim;

In that holiness unsullied I shall walk with Him.

Meet companion then for Jesus, from Him, for Him made;

Glory of God's grace forever there in me displayed.

He who in His hour of sorrow bore the curse alone

I who through the lonely desert trod where He had gone.

He and I in that bright glory one deep joy shall share:

Mine, to be forever with Him; His, that I am there.

The Call of Rebekah

Genesis 24

In the offering up of Isaac, recorded in Genesis 22, we cannot fail to see a striking type of the death and resurrection of Christ. Then, in Genesis 23, the death and burial of Sarah would typify the setting aside of Israel — God's earthly people — that followed upon their rejection of Christ. In this chapter there is a beautiful picture of the calling out of the Church that takes place during the time lsrael is set aside.

Three Great Truths

We know that after the death and resurrection of Christ, He ascended to glory and took His place at the right hand of God. Then, there followed that great event, he coming of the Holy Spirit — a divine Person, to dwell with and in believers on earth. These three great truths mark the day in which we live; first, that there is a Man in the glory — Christ Jesus; secondly, there is a divine Person on earth — the Holy Spirit; thirdly, the Holy Spirit has come to form the Church, guide her through this world, and present her to Christ in the glory.

A Comprehensive View

These are the great truths that pass before us in type in the twenty-fourth chapter of Genesis. The immense importance of the chapter lies in the fact that it presents in a picture what each divine Person in the Godhead is engaged in during the day in which we live. As we look around we see the increasing wickedness of the world, and the increasing failure and weakness of the people of God. Looking upon all this confusion we can easily become depressed and cast down. When, however, we look at the picture presented in this chapter we see in a comprehensive view what God is doing to carry out His own purposes. Other Scriptures may bring into prominence the faith as well as the failure of believers, for our encouragement and warning; but here there comes before us in all its blessedness what God is effecting for the glory of Christ, in spite of every adverse influence, whether in ourselves, the world, or the devil. Seeing then what God is doing, and the object that He has before Him, and knowing that all that God has purposed He will assuredly carry out, will keep the soul at rest in the midst of a scene of turmoil. Moreover, it will make us intelligent in the mind of God and save us from disappointment from false expectations. Further, we shall be saved from expending our energies in so many activities that, while they have the benefit of the world in view, are wholly outside the purpose of God.

In the course of the story there comes before us three main subjects: First, the directions of Abraham to his servant (vv. 1-9). Secondly, the mission of the servant in Mesopotamia (vv. 10-61). Thirdly, the meeting between Isaac and Rebekah in the land of Canaan (vv. 62-67).

The Father's Purpose

Abraham's directions very blessedly set forth the counsels of God the Father concerning the Son, and what God is doing in the world today by the Holy Spirit in carrying out His purposes.

First, we learn that the great object of the servant's mission was, as Abraham said, to "take a wife unto my son." The servant was sent to Mesopotamia with this single object in view. Having found the bride and brought her to Isaac his mission would be accomplished. It was no part of the servant's work to interfere with the political or social interests of Mesopotamia. The Holy Spirit is not here to improve or reform the world, or bring peace to the nations, or even convert the world. He is not here to right the wrongs of the poor, or remove oppression, and relieve man from disease, and want, and misery.

There is One that in due time will, indeed, bring peace and blessing to the world. One who has been here and proved that He had the power and grace to relieve man of every pressure. Alas! we nailed Him to a cross, and He is gone, and so the misery of the world remains. Nevertheless, He is coming again to bring in the blessing; but, in the meantime Jesus is in the glory and the Holy Spirit is down here to obtain the bride for Christ — the heavenly people — and conduct her to Christ in the glory.

Christendom, alas, has so entirely missed the mind of God that it looks upon Christianity as merely a religious system for the improvement and uplift of man, in order, as it is said, to make the world a better and brighter place. If this is all that people see in Christianity little wonder that they are giving up its profession, for it is evident that after nineteen centuries the world grows worse rather than better, and today it is filled with increasing violence, and corruption, and men's hearts are failing them with fear of things coming upon the earth.

It is true that God, in His providence cares for His poor creatures and can, and does, restrain the evil of men, and that where the truth is received it will certainly bring a measure of improvement in temporal circumstances, but with our thoughts formed by the Word of God we shall see that the Holy Spirit is here to take a people out of the world for Christ in glory.

Then the servant is told that the bride for Isaac is "not to be of the daughters of the Canaanites." Abraham says she is to be of "my kindred." The Canaanites were under the curse and devoted to judgment. There can be no link between Christ in the glory and a world under judgment. Isaac's bride was not to be a stranger but one that already belonged to Abraham's family. So the Church is formed not of unbelievers, nor of a mixture of believers and unbelievers, but wholly of the family of faith.

Further, the servant is warned that in no case is he to bring Isaac back to Mesopotamia. During the time that the servant was in Mesopotamia, Isaac was in Canaan, and there was no link between Isaac and the people of Mesopotamia. So, we know, today there is no direct link between Christ in the glory and the world as such. Failing to see this, the efforts of Christendom, as well as of many sincere Christians, are entirely directed to doing the very thing that the servant is twice warned not to do. The attempt is made, in a variety of different forms, to bring Christ back to the world and attach His Name to benevolent schemes for the reformation and improvement of the world. Such efforts are entirely outside the work of the Spirit who is here, not to bring Christ back to the world, but to take a people out of the world for Christ. It is true that in due time Christ is coming back to the world, but let us not forget that the last time the world saw Christ was upon the cross to which they had nailed Him. The next time they see Him will be when He comes "in flaming fire taking vengeance upon them that know not God, and that obey not the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ" (2 Thess. 1: 7-9).

Finally the servant is told that God's angel would go before him. We know that the angels are "ministering spirits sent forth to minister for them who shall be heirs of salvation." Their service ever seems to be of a providential and guardian character. The Holy Spirit deals with souls, while the angels would seem to act in relation to circumstances. An angel may direct Philip as to the way he should take; but the Spirit directed him in dealing with a soul (Acts 8: 26, 29).

The Servant's Mission

This portion of the story is rich with instruction for our souls seeing that it typically presents, not only the object of the coming of the Holy Spirit, but also the way the Spirit takes to carry out this object.

The servant comes to Mesopotamia well equipped for is service, for we read, "All the goods of his master were in his hand," reminding us that the Holy Spirit has come to teach us "all things," to guide us into "all truth," and show us "all things that the Father hath" (John 14: 26; John 16: 13-15).

The servant's work in Mesopotamia has a fourfold character: First, he finds the bride appointed for Isaac (vv. 10-21); secondly, having found the bride, he distinguishes her from all others (v. 22); thirdly, he weans her heart from Mesopotamia, and attaches her affections to Isaac (vv. 23-53); finally, he leads her across the desert to Isaac (vv. 54-61).

The Bride Found

First, then, we learn from the prayer of the servant, the great purpose of his mission. He does not pray for the men of the city, or their daughters; he is engrossed with one object, to find the one appointed for Isaac. The Holy Spirit has come, not to convert the world, but to bring to light the elect of God — the bride appointed for Christ.

Moreover, we see that the infallible sign of the appointed bride will be that she is marked by grace. The servant prays, "Let it come to pass, that the damsel to whom I shall say, Let down thy pitcher I pray thee that I may drink; and she shall say, Drink, and I will give thy camels drink also: let the same be she that thou hast appointed for thy servant Isaac." From these words it is clear that the servant was not sent to select a bride from the daughters of men for Isaac, but to find the appointed bride (v. 14), and that grace would be her characteristic mark.

The prayer is granted, for when Rebekah comes upon the scene and is put to the test, she answers to the servant's request, and says, "I will draw for thy camels also." In all this we are reminded of the Spirit working in grace in those who are the "elect according to the foreknowledge of God the Father through sanctification of the Spirit" (1 Peter 1: 2).

The Bride Adorned

Secondly, the servant, having found the appointed bride is not content with a work of grace which he can see, but, he publicly distinguishes the bride from all others by adorning her with the golden earrings and the bracelets of gold, which others can see. Not only is the Spirit here to produce a work of grace in the believer, but there is to be seen in the believer the fruits of being sealed by the Spirit  -  love, joy, peace, longsuffering, kindness, goodness, fidelity, meekness, and self-control. These precious jewels would become a witness to others, and distinguish the believer from the world around.

The Story Told

Thirdly, we see the pains that the servant takes to link the affections of Rebekah with Isaac. Again, this sets forth the work of the Spirit whereby believers are strengthened in the inner man in order that Christ may dwell in their hearts by faith. This part of the servant's work is introduced by the question, "Is there room in thy father's house for us to lodge in?" Very blessedly Rebekah's answer again goes beyond the servant's request. He only asks for "room;" she says there is "provision" as well as room (v. 25). Laban, too, can say to the servant, "Come in, thou blessed of the Lord." So we read, "The man came into the house" (vv. 31, 32). The Holy Spirit has come to take of the things of Christ and show them unto us (John 16: 14). But we do well to take home to ourselves this great question, "Is there room?" Are we prepared to put ourselves about to make room for the Holy Spirit? The flesh and the Spirit "are contrary the one to the other" (Gal. 5: 17). We cannot entertain the Spirit if ministering to the flesh. To make room for the Spirit, and to be minding the things of the flesh is impossible. Are we prepared to refuse the indulgence of the flesh in the passing things of time, in order to make room for the Spirit to lead us into the deep and eternal things of God? Are we making room and provision for the Spirit? "Room" and "provision" were made in the house of Bethuel for the servant of Abraham, with the result that the servant is able to speak of Isaac, to engage the affections of Rebekah with Isaac, and lead her to Isaac.

The Bride Won

Having been warmly welcomed into the house, at once the servant bears witness to Isaac. He reveals the mind of his master concerning Isaac, and so doing he takes of the things of Isaac and shows them unto Rebekah. He speaks of the wealth of his master, and shows that all is given to Isaac — "Unto him hath he given all that he hath." So the Lord, Himself, tells us that "All things that the Father hath are Mine," and that the work Of the Spirit will be to take of His things and show them unto us (John 16: 15).

The Response

Having spoken of Isaac and the purpose of Abraham for the blessing of Isaac, the servant pauses to see the effect of his message. Does not the Spirit deal with us in like manner? Does He not wait to see if we respond to His unfoldings of Christ, before He makes us the public witness to Christ? In the picture there is a ready response, with the result that at once "the servant brought forth jewels of silver, and jewels of gold, and raiment, and gave them to Rebekah." In like manner if we respond to the unfoldings of the Spirit concerning Christ, will He not make us the witnesses of redeeming love — the jewels of silver; the witnesses of divine righteousness  -  the jewels of gold; and the witnesses of practical sanctification — the raiment.

The Decision Made

Finally, having engaged the affections of Rebekah with Isaac, the servant's one great aim is to lead Rebekah to Isaac. The servant says, "Send me away to my master." He had come to find the bride, and having accomplished that end, he would fain be away. He had not come to find the bride and settle her in her old home, but to lead her into a new home.

The relatives would detain Rebekah at least ten days. The servant's desire is to be away, and by his report of Isaac, he forms the same mind in Rebekah. If we allow the Holy Spirit to have His way with us — if we hinder Him not, He will form our minds according to His mind, to think as He thinks about Christ, to detach our hearts from the things where Christ is not, and to engage our affections with Christ where He is. Too often we hinder the work of the Spirit by clinging to the world, its politics, its pleasures, and its religion. But the world cannot hinder if our hearts are set upon reaching Christ in glory. The brother and mother may seek to detain Rebekah, but after all, the decision rested with her. They said, "We will call the damsel and inquire at her mouth." So the great question for Rebekah is, "Wilt thou go with this man?" This is still the question for each one of us. Do we recognize the presence of the Holy Spirit, and are we prepared at all cost to follow His leading?

Christendom has almost entirely ignored the presence of the Spirit, with the result that the great profession has settled down in the world that has rejected Christ and from which Christ is absent. It is a great moment when our hearts are so attached to Christ in the glory that, like Rebekah of old, we say, "I will go."

A Pathway Followed

The immediate result of her decision was that "they sent away Rebekah their sister, and her nurse, and Abraham's servant and his men." If we let it be known that we are forgetting the things that are behind and are set for heavenly things, it will not be simply a question of our giving up the world, but the world will give us up; we shall be "sent away."

Then we read that "Rebekah arose. . . and followed the man; and the servant took Rebekah, and went his way." Believers, oftentimes, while gladly submitting to God's way of salvation, would fain go their own way to heaven. Our exercise should be to know "His way" and to follow as He leads. To follow the Spirit will not be to follow some inner light, as men speak, but will ever be to walk according to the Word of God; and the Spirit, using the Word of God will always gather to Christ.

Thus Rebekah, following the man, finds herself on a wilderness journey. For the moment she has neither the home of Laban, nor the home of Isaac. So if we follow the leading of the Spirit, we shall find, as one has said, that, "We have neither the earth in which we are, nor heaven to which we are going." Nevertheless, as Rebekah travelled the four hundred miles of desert journey, she has a bright prospect before her, for at the end, Isaac, to whom her heart has been attached, is waiting to receive her. In like spirit the Apostle Paul, with Christ in the glory at the end of his pilgrim path, can say, "One thing I do, forgetting those things which are behind, and reaching forth unto those things which are before, I pursue, looking towards the goal for the prize of the calling on high of God in Christ Jesus" (Phil 3: 13, 14, N.Tr.).

The Goal Reached

The mission of the servant in Mesopotamia ever had in view the great day when the bride, having been guided across the desert, is presented to Isaac. In all these scenes Isaac had taken no active part, nor had he left the land of Canaan. All was left in the hands of the servant. Nevertheless, Isaac was far from indifferent to the mission of the servant, and the coming of the bride. At eventide Isaac comes from the way of the well Lahai-roi to meet the bride. The significant meaning of the well is said to be "the well of him that liveth and seeth." If this is so, it would suggest the undoubted truth that all through our wilderness journey we are under the eye of One who lives and sees. As the Apostle says, "He is able also to save them to the uttermost . . . seeing he ever liveth to make intercession for them (Heb. 7: 25).

The Coming

Further we see that Isaac definitely comes to meet the bride, for Rebekah enquires, "What man is this that walketh in the fields to meet us?" The picture presents Isaac as one who is waiting for and wanting, his bride. Our desires after Christ may often be feeble, but He ever longs for the moment when His bride will be presented to Him. Ere He went away, He could say to His disciples, 'If I go . . . I will come again, and receive you unto Myself; that where I am, there ye may be also" (John 14: 3).

The Marriage

When at last Rebekah sees Isaac, "she took a veil and covered herself." Immediately, the marriage follows, for we read, "Isaac took Rebekah . . . and she became his wife and he loved her." So, too, after our wilderness journey, when the great work of the Holy Spirit is accomplished, and for the first time we see the Lord Jesus face to face — when He receives us to Himself — then at last these wonderful words will be fulfilled, "The marriage of the Lamb is come, and His wife hath made herself ready."

When creation was completed, Eve was presented to Adam as his bride, the first type of the great mystery which from the beginning of the world hath been hid in God, and which tells of God's eternal purpose to secure a bride for His Son. Through the long centuries, and amidst all changing dispensations, God has ever kept in view the great day of the marriage of the Lamb. God's people may fail and break down, as they have done in every dispensation; the world, increasing in violence and corruption may tempt and often overcome the people of God; the devil may oppose and set up the false woman who becomes drunk with the blood of saints. Nevertheless, in spite of the failure of God's people, the efforts of the devil and the temptations of the world, God never turns aside from His great purpose to secure a bride for His Son. At the end of God's Book we are permitted to see in vision the great day of the marriage of the Lamb, and at the very close we have a beautiful presentation of Jesus waiting for the bride, and the bride, in her true attitude, as led by the Spirit, looking for the coming of Jesus. "The Spirit and the bride say, Come." His answer is, "Surely I come quickly," and the bride responds, "Even so, come, Lord Jesus."

The Incentive for Us

How much disappointment we should be saved if, in all our service we ever had before us the great object that is ever before the Spirit of God — the presentation of the Church to Christ without spot or wrinkle or any such thing on the great day of the marriage of the Lamb. Our view, and our service, is too often narrowed down to a small locality and our little day; then when everything seems to fail locally, and generally, we are broken-hearted and disappointed. If, however, our great object is to gather souls to Christ in view of the marriage of the Lamb we shall not be disappointed, whatever the sorrow and failure by the way. There will be no broken hearts, no regrets, no disappointments when at last we hear the voice of a great multitude, as the voice of many waters, and as the voice of mighty thunderings, saying, "Let us be glad and rejoice, and give honour to Him: for the marriage of the Lamb is come." Let us then press forward through sorrows, through trials, through weakness, through every kind of opposition, knowing that at the end there is the great day of the marriage of the Lamb.

The typical teaching of these chapters closes with the account of Abraham's children by Keturah, given in the first six verses of chapter twenty-five. These children, from whom many Eastern nations have their origin, receive "gifts," and thus come in for blessing through their connection with Abraham. Nevertheless, Isaac is placed in striking contrast to the other sons of Abraham. To others he may give gifts; to Isaac he gives all that he has.

This may set forth in type the great truth that Christ, Is risen from the dead, is the Heir of all things, and that after receiving His heavenly bride, He will enter upon the earthly inheritance in connection with restored Israel, while the nations of the earth will also receive blessing.

The deeply instructive history of Abraham closes with the brief record of his peaceful end at "a good old age," and the burial by his sons Isaac and Ishmael in the cave of Machpelah. Thus in striking contrast to poor Lot, Abraham finishes his pilgrim path with the respect and honour due to one who was "the friend of God," and "the father of all them that believe."

Memorials of Abraham

by Horatius Bonar

Only a tomb, no more,

A future resting place

When God shall lay thee down and bid

All thy long wanderings cease.

This cave and field — no more

Canst thou thy dwelling call

That land of thine, plains, hills, woods, streams,

The stranger has it all.

Thy altar and thy tent

Are all that thou hast here.

With these content thou passest on.

A homeless wanderer.

Thy life unrest and toil,

Thy course a pilgrimage,

Only in death thou goest down

To claim thy heritage.

A heritage of life

Beyond this guarded gloom,

A kingdom, not a field or cave,

A city, not a tomb.

Abigail

Abigail.

1 Samuel 25.

Hamilton Smith.

Edification Vol. 7, 1933, page 35.

Interwoven in the story of David's chequered life, there are many fine characters, of whom, Jonathan, the three mighty men that drew water from the well, Mephibosheth, and Ittai, are bright examples. Among these friends of David, there is not one, perhaps, that wears a more beautiful character than Abigail, the Carmelitess. Very significantly her name means "source" or "cause of delight;" and surely her story proves that she was a source of delight to the heart of David.

At the moment that she comes upon the scene, David, though the anointed of the Lord — the coming king, and the man of God's heart — is seen as a hunted man, in the place of reproach, hiding in the caves of the earth; a needy wanderer in desert places; surrounded by a band of faithful followers, who had gathered themselves unto him (1 Sam. 22: 1, 2). In the course of his wanderings, he, and his followers, went about doing good; for the shepherds of one Nabal have to own that David and his men "were very good unto us." They protected the shepherds and their flocks night and day; so that, as long as David and his men were in their neighbourhood, they lost nothing.

This Nabal, who had received such benefits from David and his men, comes before us as a man of substance and high social position. He was in the eyes of the world, a "very great" man — one who could entertain in royal style. (verses 2, 3, 36.) He was, however, in God's sight, a churlish man and "evil in his doings;" one that would brook no interference from others (3, 17). He professes to have no knowledge of David; for he asks, "Who is David and who is the son of Jesse?" Doubtless he knew of David's great victory over the giant, and how the women had sung his praises; but probably he looked upon David as one whose head has been turned by his great deeds, and the songs of women, and, aspiring to the throne had become a rebellious servant who had broken away from his master, king Saul. If any rumour of Samuel having anointed David to be the king, had reached his ears, he evidently treated it as a matter of complete indifference. He paid no heed to such reports; to Nabal, David was only a runaway servant.

Thus it comes to pass when David appeals to Nabal, in a day of plenty, to make some recompense for benefits received, that David's young men are driven away with insults (4-12). David, incensed by such treatment, prepares to take vengeance (13).

This brings Abigail to the front. She is described as a woman of a beautiful countenance, and, moreover, "of good understanding." She had evidently considered the people and events of her day, and the Lord had given her understanding according to that word of an Apostle, uttered so long after, "Consider what I say, and the Lord give thee understanding." She hears from one of the young men of her husband's folly, and immediately acts in faith, and hence, without consulting her husband. Nature could only see in David a runaway servant: faith, not looking at mere outward circumstances, sees, in the hunted and needy David, the coming king. Thus she takes her place as a subject of the king, and acts with the deference that is becoming in the presence of a king. She prepares her present and, having met David, she fell at his feet, bowed herself to the ground, and owned David as her lord. She takes sides with David against both her husband and king Saul. She owns that Nabal, though her husband, and a great man in the world, is acting in an impious and foolish way; and that Saul, though the reigning king, is but "a man" that is opposing God's anointed, She sees that David, though hunted and in poverty, is "bound up in the bundle of the living," and coming into a glorious inheritance.

Like Jonathan she had a high position in this world, as the wife of a "very great" man; in contrast to Jonathan she was not hindered, by her social position, from identifying herself with David in the day of his poverty and reproach. Very blessedly she looks beyond the day of David's suffering, and sees his coming glory. In view of that glory, and in confidence in the king, she can say, "When the Lord shall have dealt well with my lord, then remember thy handmaid;" words which cannot but recall that far greater scene, when a dying thief discerned, in a crucified Man, the Lord of glory, and the King of kings; and, looking beyond the awful circumstances of the moment to the coming glory, in confidence in the King, could say, "Lord, remember me when Thou comest into thy Kingdom." Thus the high-born Abigail and the low-born thief, with the same faith, look beyond the present, and act and speak in the light of the future; and the future justifies their faith.

David, though in wilderness circumstances, rightly acts with royal dignity, as a king with a subject. He dismisses Abigail with his blessing after having accepted her present, hearkened to her requests, and accepted her person (32-35).

Returning to her husband, Abigail finds him debasing himself at a drunken feast. When sober he is informed of what has taken place, and at once "his heart died within him, and he became as a stone." About ten days after the Lord smote him, and, to use Abigail's figure, he is flung aside in judgment even as a stone is slung from the middle of a sling (29, 36-38).

Having obtained her freedom by death, Abigail becomes the wife of David. She leaves her high position, and the ease and comfort, that was naturally the lot of a woman of substance, to associate herself with David in his sufferings and wanderings. In this new path she will indeed know suffering and privation, even to being taken captive by David's enemies in the day of Ziklag; but she will also share his throne in the day of his reign at Hebron (1 Sam. 30: 5; 2 Samuel 2: 2).

Have we not in this touching story, a foreshadowing of David's greater Son? Do we not see in the rejected and hunted David a picture of the One who was despised and rejected of men? Granted there is much in David that betrays the man of like passions with ourselves, yet, as a type how strikingly he sets forth the One who, in all His path of rejection, was absolutely perfect. David may, in a rash moment, gird on his sword to take vengance upon his enemies; Peter, in like spirit, will draw his sword to defend his Master; but, Christ, Himself, in the presence of His enemies, will say, "Put up again thy sword into his place." In every type there are these contrasts, only serving to show that no type can fully set forth the perfection of Jesus. Others may give us, at times, a very blessed foreshadowing of the coming One, but they are but shadows: Christ is the substance, and He alone is perfect.

If in David we can see a type of Christ, the King of kings, can we not see in Nabal a picture of the world's attitude towards Christ, whether in the days of His flesh, or during His present session at the right hand of God? Nabal-like the thoughts of the world do not travel beyond the present time. As then, so now, it is a world bent upon present gain, feasting and pleasure. By such a world Christ is a despised and rejected Man; One in whom it sees no beauty; One whom it sets at nought; a world that has no sense of its need of Christ. It may indeed put on a Christian profession, yet, even so, it is so well satisfied with itself, that it can say, "I am rich, and increased with goods, and have need of nothing" — not even "need" of Christ. Thus though it puts on the name of Christ, it puts Christ, Himself, outside its doors. Yet, such is the long-suffering grace of Christ that, as David appealed to Nabal, even so He stands at the door of the professing Church, and knocks.

If, however, in the midst of this Christ-rejecting Christendom, there are any that hear His voice, and open the door to Christ, how rich will be their blessing. In the present such will know sweet communion with Christ in the day of His rejection, for the Lord can say to the one that opens the door to Him, "I will come into him, and will sup with him, and he with Me." In the future, the one that has supped with Christ in the day of His rejection, will reign with Him in the day of His glory, for the Lord can say, "To him that overcometh will I grant to sit with Me on my throne."

Of all this was not Abigail a bright example? When the world of her day slammed the door in David's face, she opened her door, and put her bounty at his disposal; and she had her bright reward. She enjoyed sweet communion with David, as his wife, in the day of his reproach; she sat with him on his throne, in the day of his glory.

Happy for us if we take warning by Nabal, and follow the example of Abigail. Happy indeed if we whole-heartedly separate from the corruptions of the Christian profession in order to gather to Christ in the outside place of His reproach. Christendom is putting forth vast efforts to bring about an unholy unity, in which every vital truth of Christianity will be denied, or lost in a mist of speculation, which Christ, Himself, will be outside; only to find, at last, that they have united to be spued out of Christ's mouth. Well then for the true saints to be awakened to the solemnity of the day in which we live, and hear the voice of the Lord as He says, "Come out of her, My people, that ye be not partakers of her sins, and that ye receive not of her plagues." (Rev. 18: 4).

Those that obey the words of the Lord will find, even as Abigail in her day, that the ties of nature, social position, and worldly religious authorities, will have to be overcome. If, however, like Abigail we are overcomers, we shall find the outside place with Christ one of deepest present blessing and highest future glory.

HAMILTON SMITH.

Elijah: "A Prophet of the Lord"

Elijah: "A Prophet of the Lord"

"Wot ye not what the Scripture saith of Elias" (Rom. 2: 2)

Hamilton Smith.

Contents

Preface

1 Ahab: The Message from God

2 Cherith: The Brook that Dried Up

3 Zarephath: The Widow's Home

4 Obadiah: The Governor of the King's House

5 Carmel: The Fire from Heaven

6 Carmel: The Coming of the Rain

7 Jezebel: The Flight into the Wilderness

8 Horeb: The Mount of God

9 Ahaziah: The Message of Death

10 Jordan: The Chariot of Fire

PREFACE

Meditating upon the path of Elijah through the apostate world of his dark day, we may well exclaim with another, "What a course was thine, Elijah! fraught with trials and death-struggles, but still more fraught with instruction in the heart of Him whom to serve was thy joy and glory; a course entered on in secret prayer and waiting on God, and ended in a chariot of fire to bear thee to Himself!" As we move on to glory, through a world already darkened by the lengthening shadows of the great apostasy, may we too catch the spirit of Elijah and learn to walk in separation from evil, in dependence on God, and devotedness to God; while waiting to be rapt to glory at the coming of the Lord. H. S.

1 AHAB: THE MESSAGE FROM GOD (1 Kings 17: 1)

It was the darkest day in Israel's history when Elijah — the prophet of the living God — entered upon his public ministry. The special work of the prophet is to arouse the consciences, and comfort the hearts of God's people in a day of ruin. First to awaken the failing people of God to their responsibilities by applying the word of God to their consciences, and second, to encourage the faithful by lifting their thoughts above the ruin in which they find themselves, and comforting their hearts with the glories yet to come.

It must be manifest that such ministry is eminently suited to a day of ruin. When all is in order amongst God's people there is neither need nor scope for the prophetic gift. It has been pointed out that in the day of Solomon's glory there was no occasion for the prophet. All was in order; the king administered justice from the throne; the priests and Levites waited upon their service, and the people dwelt in peace. But when, through the failure and disobedience of God's people, all has fallen into disorder, then, in the mercy of God, the prophet is brought upon the scene. The evil of God's people must call forth His judgment, for God will be true to Himself and vindicate the glory of His name. But, as another has said, "Whatever their iniquity may be, God does not smite a people who have forsaken His ways, until He has sent them a testimony. He may chastise them previously, but will not definitely execute His judgment upon them." Hence it is the very mercy of God that raises up the prophet in a day of ruin.

Nor is it otherwise in the ways of God today. In the minds of many, the prophetic gift has been limited to foretelling future events, and thus it has been concluded that the gift of prophecy has been withdrawn. It is true that the revelation of God is complete, and apart from the Word of God, none but an impostor would profess to unfold the future with a "Thus saith the Lord," but it is very far from true that the prophetic gift has ceased. It is evident from the New Testament that this gift holds a very high place in the estimation of God. In 1 Cor. 14 we read: "Follow after love and desire spiritual gifts, bat rather that ye may prophesy," for "he that prophesieth speaketh unto men to edification, and exhortation and comfort." What more important in this day of ruin, of weakness and of failure, among the people of God, than to arouse the consciences of believers to their low spiritual condition, to comfort their hearts by unfolding the coming glories, and to engage their affections with the coming One. He will be a true prophet who can thus speak "unto men to edification, and exhortation, and comfort."

Elijah in his day was a true prophet of the Lord. Never before had the condition of God's people sunk to such depths of degradation. Fifty-eight years had passed since the kingdom had been rent in twain upon the death of King Solomon. During this period seven kings had reigned, all, without exception, wicked men. Jeroboam had made Israel to sin with the golden calves. Nadab, his son, "did evil in the sight of the Lord and walked in the way of his father." Baasha was a murderer; Elah his son was a drunkard, Zimri was a traitor and murderer. Omri was a military adventurer who seized the throne and did worse than all that were before him. Ahab, his son, did worse than his father: he married the vile and idolatrous Jezebel and became the leader in apostasy. In his day all trace of the public worship of Jehovah vanished from the land. Idolatry was universal. The golden calves were worshipped at Bethel and Dan; the house of Baal was in Samaria; groves of Baal were on every side, and prophets of Baal publicly conducted their idolatrous rites. Apparently Baal lived and Jehovah had ceased to be.

In the midst of this scene of darkness and moral degradation, there appears upon the scene, with dramatic suddenness, a solitary but striking witness to the living God. Elijah the Tishbite publicly confronts the king with a message of coming judgment: "As the Lord God of Israel liveth, before whom I stand, there shall not be dew nor rain these years, but according to my word." The first words of the prophet inform the king that he has to do with the living God, and moreover he is faced by a man who has no fear of him, king though he be. Elijah is called to deliver a most obnoxious message to the most powerful man in the land. Standing consciously before the living God, he is delivered from all fear when standing before the apostate king.

Long years before Jehovah had said to Israel by the mouth of Moses, "Take heed to yourselves, that your heart be not deceived, and ye turn aside and serve other gods, and worship them, and then the Lord's wrath be kindled against you, and He shut up the heavens, that there be no rain" (Deut. 2: 16, 17). This solemn warning was unheeded. Idolatry had been almost continuous from the time of Moses, now at length it had become universal. God had borne long, but at last the idolatry of the land provoked "the Lord God of Israel to anger." (1 Kings 16: 33), and the judgment long foretold was about to fall. There should be no "dew nor rain" but according to the word of the prophet. God will thus vindicate His word, maintain His glory, bring idolatry into contempt, and honour the man who witnesses to Him.

We may well enquire, What was the secret of Elijah's boldness in the presence of the king — the assurance with which he foretells the coming judgment, and his confident assertion that all will take place according to his word?

First, to him Jehovah was the living God. On all hands the public recognition of God had entirely ceased. So far as appearances went, there was not a soul in the land that believed in the existence of Jehovah. But in this day of universal declension, Elijah stands boldly forward as one who believed, and publicly avowed, that God lived.

Moreover, he can say of Jehovah that he is One "before whom I stand." Not only he believed in the living God, but, in all that he said and did, he was conscious of being in the presence of God. In result he is delivered from the fear of man, he is kept in perfect calm in the midst of terrible circumstances, and he is conscious of the support of God.

Furthermore, in the New Testament we learn another truth concerning Elijah. James brings the prophet forward as an illustration of the mighty things that can be accomplished by the earnest prayer of one righteous man. Prayer in private was another great secret of his power in public. He could stand before the wicked king because he had knelt before the living God. And his was no mere formal prayer that avails nothing, but an earnest prayer that availeth much. A prayer that had the glory of God in view as well as the blessing of the people, and therefore, "he prayed earnestly that it might not rain." A terrible prayer to have to put up to the living God about the people of God! And yet as Elijah surveyed the condition of the people, and could see no recognition of God throughout the breadth and length of the land, he realized it was better for them to suffer the years of drought, if this would turn them to God, than to enjoy prosperity in defiance of God and pass on to a worse judgment. Zeal for God and love for the people were behind this solemn prayer.

Moreover James reminds us that Elijah was "subject to like passions as we are." Like ourselves he was encompassed with human weaknesses and human infirmities. What a comforting lesson this fact may teach us! We too, like him, can be men of power, if we, in spite of the evil around us, walk in the consciousness that God is the living God, if we seek more constantly to move and speak and act in His presence as standing before Him, and if we are more often found before Him in earnest Spirit-led prayer.

2 CHERITH: THE BROOK THAT DRIED UP (1 Kings 17: 2-7)

The prophet has been alone with God in the secret place of prayer. Then for a brief moment he witnesses the good confession in the presence of the apostate king. The future, however, holds a far greater service for Elijah; the day will come when he will not only witness for God in the presence of the king, but he will discomfit the assembled hosts of Baal, and turn the nation of Israel to the living God. But the time is not yet ripe for Carmel. The prophet is not ready to speak, the nation not ready to hear. Israel must suffer the years of famine ere they will listen to the Word of God; Elijah must be trained in secret before he can speak for God. The prophet must take the lonely way of Cherith and dwell in distant Zarephath before he stands on the Mount of Carmel.

The first step that leads to Carmel in the west, must be taken in another direction. "Get thee hence and turn thee eastward," is the word of the Lord. In God's due time He will bring His servant to the very spot where He is going to use him, but He will bring him there in a right condition to be used. To become a vessel fit for the Master's use, he must dwell for a time in solitary places and travel by rough ways, therein to learn his own weakness and the mighty power of God.

Every servant of God has his Cherith before he reaches his Carmel. Joseph, on the road to universal dominion, must have his Cherith. He must pass by way of the pit and the prison to reach the throne. Moses must have his Cherith at the backside of the desert before he becomes the leader of God's people through the wilderness. And was not the Lord Himself alone in the wilderness forty days tempted of Satan, and with the wild beasts, before He came forth in public ministry before men? Not indeed, as with ourselves, to discover our weakness and be stripped of our self-sufficiency, but rather to reveal His infinite perfections, and discover to us His perfect suitability for the work which none but Himself could accomplish. The testing circumstances that were used to reveal the perfections of Christ, are needed in our case to bring to light our imperfections, that all may be judged in the presence of God, and we may thus become vessels fitted for His use.

This indeed was the first lesson that Elijah had to learn at Cherith — the lesson of the empty vessel. "Get thee hence," said the Lord, "and hide thyself." The man who is going to witness for God must learn to keep himself out of sight. In order to be preserved from making something of himself before men, he must learn his own nothingness before God. Elijah must spend three and a half years in hidden seclusion with God before he spends one day in prominence before men.

But God has other lessons for Elijah. Is he to exercise faith in the living God before Israel? Then he must first learn to live by faith from day to day in secret before God. The brook and the ravens are provided by God to meet His servant's needs, but the confidence of Elijah must be in the unseen and living God, and not in things seen — in brooks and ravens. "I have commanded," said the Lord, and faith rests in the word of the Lord

Moreover, to enjoy God's provision the prophet must be in the place of God's appointment. The word to Elijah is, "I have commanded the ravens to feed thee there." It was not left to Elijah to choose his hiding place, he must submit to God's choice. There only would he enjoy the blessings from God.

Moreover, implicit obedience to the word of the Lord is the only path of blessing. And Elijah took this path, for we read, "He went and did according to the word of the Lord." He went where the Lord told him to go, he did what the Lord told him to do. When the Lord says, "Go and do," as to the lawyer in the Gospel, unquestioning and immediate obedience is the only path of blessing.

But the brook Cherith had a yet harder and deeper lesson for the prophet — the lesson of the brook that dried up. The Lord had said, "Thou shalt drink of the brook;" in obedience to the word "he drank of the brook;" and then we read, words which at first sound so passing strange, "the brook dried up." The very brook that the Lord had provided, of which He had bid the prophet drink, runs dry. What can it mean? Has Elijah after all taken a wrong step, and is he in a false position? impossible! God had said, "I have commanded the ravens to feed thee there." Was he doing the wrong thing? Far from it; had not God said, "Thou shalt drink of the brook"? Beyond all question he was in the right place, he was doing the right thing. He was in the place of God's appointment; he was obeying the word of the Lord — and yet the brook dried up.

How painful this experience, how mysterious this providence. To be in the place of God's appointment, to be acting in obedience to His express commands, and yet suddenly to be called to face the complete failure of the provision that God has made for the daily need. How testing for faith. Had not Elijah boldly said before the king that he stood before the living God? Now he is confronted with the drying brook to test the reality of his faith in the living God. Will his faith in the living God stand firm when earthly streams run dry? If God lives, what matter if the brook dries? God is greater than all the mercies He bestows. Mercies may be withdrawn, but God remains. The prophet must learn to trust in God rather than in the gifts that He gives. That the Giver is greater than His gifts is the deep lesson of the brook that dried up.

Is not the story of the brook that dried up told in a different setting when, at a later day, sickness and death invaded the quiet home life at Bethany? Two sisters bereft of their only brother came face to face with the brook that dried up. But their trial turned to the "glory of God, that the Son of God might be glorified thereby." That which brings glory to the Son, carries blessing to the saints. If Lazarus was taken, Jesus the Son of God remained, taking occasion by the failure of earthly streams to reveal a fountain of love that never fails, and a source of power that has no limit. So, too, in the prophet's day, the brook that dried up became the occasion of unfolding greater glories of Jehovah, and richer blessings for Elijah. It was but an incident used by God to take the prophet on his journey from Cherith — the place of the failing brook — to the home at Zarephath, there to discover the meal that never failed, the oil that did not waste, and the God that raised the dead. If God allows the brook to dry up, it is because He has some better, brighter portion for His beloved servant.

Nor it is otherwise with the people of God today. We all like to have some earthly resource to draw upon; yet how often, in the ways of a Father that knoweth we have need of these things, we have to face the brook that dries up. In different forms it crosses our path: perhaps by bereavement, or by the breakdown of health, or by the sudden failure of some source of supply, we find ourselves beside the brook that has dried up. It is well if, in such moments — rising above the ruin of our earthly hopes, the failure of human props — we can by faith in the living God accept all from Him. The very trial we shall then find to be the means God is using to unfold to us the vast resources of His heart of love, and lead our souls into deeper, richer blessing than we have ever known.

3 ZAREPHATH: THE WIDOW'S HOME (1 Kings 17: 8-24)

The brook had failed, but the Lord remained. His servant was not forgotten. He knew his need and had seen the drying of the brook. But no word of warning came, and no fresh direction, until the brook had dried. The love of the Lord will meet the need of His saints, but the way His wisdom takes will keep them in the path of faith.

Moreover, the plan the Lord unfolds is so remarkable, so contrary to all that the prophet could have conceived, so opposed to his religious training, his natural thoughts and spiritual instincts, that had the plan been unfolded to the prophet before the drying of the brook, possibly he would not have yielded so ready an obedience. Like the prophet of a later day, when sent to another Gentile city, he might have fled in an opposite direction. Elijah was a man of like passions with ourselves, and it may be, even as we, he needed the pressure of circumstances to make him willing to obey, and take a path so distasteful to him as a natural man.

For, strange as it may seem, the prophet is told to arise and go to Zarephath and dwell there. He is to leave the promised land and go to a city of the Gentiles, and of all cities, a city that belonged to Zidon — the home of Baal, whose worship had brought ruin on the land — the home, too, of the wicked Jezebel, who had introduced the worship of Baal and murdered the prophets of the Lord. And, stranger still, arrived in that foreign land, the great prophet was to be dependent upon a widow woman for his daily sustenance. For, said the Lord, "Behold, I have commanded a widow woman there to sustain thee." Had the Lord commanded the prophet to sustain the widow woman we might think it more fitting. But no, God's plan is that the widow woman is to sustain the prophet. There were other cities and other lands that surrounded Israel far less guilty than Zidon. There were "many widows" in Israel in as sad a plight, but they will not suit God's plan. As ever, God has Christ in view. A thousand years thence, in the city of Nazareth, the Lord would require an illustration of sovereign grace, and therefore to a needy widow in the thrice guilty land of Zidon the prophet Elijah must go. God has a purpose in every detail of the path He plans for His servants, though a thousand years may pass before that purpose is disclosed.

The faith of the prophet yields unquestioning obedience to the word of the Lord. "He arose and went to Zarephath." Moved by faith, urged possibly by the untoward circumstances, he obeys the Lord and takes his solitary way to the distant city of Zidon, across —

A barren thirsty ground

With thorns and briars overspread,

Where foes and snares abound.

Arrived at the city gate the prophet is confronted by the widow. To natural sight and human reason it seems impossible that this can be the widow by whom he is to be sustained. In absolute poverty, this desolate and starving woman has reached the end of her resources. With only a handful of meal and a little oil in a cruse, she is gathering a few sticks to prepare one last meal for herself and her son, and then to wait for death to end their sufferings. With only sufficient for one more meal, how can she sustain the prophet? The widow speaks indeed of the living God, but it is Elijah's God, for she says "thy God," not "my God." She had no personal faith in the living God: her hopes were connected with the barrel of meal and the cruse of oil, and, as they are failing, there is nothing before her but the gates of death. God, however, has mother way than death for the widow. His sovereign grace has purposed that life — resurrection life — shall fill her home with blessing. As for Elijah, in God's due time he shall pass into the glory, not through the gates of death but by a chariot of fire and horses of fire. Meanwhile he must dwell for a time at Zarephath. Now Zarephath signifies the place of the smelting furnace. The prophet has passed the test of the failing brook at Cherith, he must now face the furnace of trial at Zarephath. But this is God's road to Carmel. Is he to call down fire from heaven? Then indeed he must pass through the fire on earth. Is he going to stand for the living God before all Israel? Then first he must learn in secret the sustaining power of God in the furnace of trial. The failing brook at Cherith, and the refining fire at Zarephath, are steps in the journey to Carmel and the chariot of fire.

Yet how humbling to pride to be sustained by a widow woman; how withering to all self-confidence the distressing circumstances. But the desolate widow, the handful of meal, the cruse of oil, and death hovering over all, only serve to unfold the resources of the living God. And, the utter weakness and hopelessness of the circumstances being revealed, God is free to unfold the resources of grace. Elijah's request for "a little water" and "a morsel of bread" bring to light the condition of the widow woman. And truth being maintained, grace can be displayed. How rich the grace that filled the widow's home! All fear was banished, for the first words of grace were "Fear not."

Then follows the provision of grace. "The barrel of meal shall not waste, neither shall the cruse of oil fail." Their needs are met and death is driven from the door.

Further, in this fine scene we have the teaching of grace, for not only does grace bring salvation to the needy, but it teaches us how to live. The life given by grace is a dependent life. It was not a barrel of meal or a cruse of oil that was promised. The supplies of grace are indeed unlimited, but grace gives no store in hand such as nature delights to possess. The promise was that the handful of meal should not waste nor the oil in the cruse grow less. There would be sufficient for each day but no store for the morrow. Grace teaches us to live in dependence on the Giver of the grace.

Lastly, there is the hope of grace, for grace holds out a blessed prospect. "The day," the great day, the happy day, was coming, when the Lord would send rain upon the earth. How happy the home, be it but a widow's cottage, that is fed by the provision of grace, directed by the teaching of grace, and cheered by the hope of grace.

In far greater fulness this same grace has been revealed in this the day of grace. In the widow's home we move amongst the shadows, but now we have the substance, since the One has come who is full of grace and truth. Throughout all the days of our pilgrim journey in this world of need we, too, have the barrel of meal that shall not waste, and the cruse of oil that never fails. Does not the meal —  the fine flour — speak to us of Christ, of whom it is said, "THOU REMAINEST," and "THOU ART THE SAME"? (Heb. 1: 11, 12). Others may fail us, but He remains. Others may change, but He is the same. And does not the oil speak of that other Comforter — the Holy Spirit — who has come to abide with us for ever? (John 14: 16). Earthly streams run dry, but with the living Christ in the glory, and the indwelling Spirit on earth, the Christian possesses never-failing resources.

Moreover, the grace that has brought salvation to us, teaches us to live "soberly, righteously, and godly in this present world." Such a life can only be lived by daily dependence upon Christ in the power of the Holy Spirit.

And the grace that has brought salvation, and teaches us how to live, has set before us that blessed hope, the appearing of the glory of our great God and Saviour Jesus Christ. The appearing of grace leads on to the appearing of glory (Titus 2: 11, 13). Then indeed the needs of the saints will be met, their trials for ever past, and earth's famine for ever ended. Well may we sing: —

He shall come down like showers

Upon the new-mown grass,

And joy, and hope, like flowers,

Spring up where He doth pass:

Before Him on the mountains,

Shall peace the herald go;

And righteousness, in fountains,

From hill to valley flow.

But further revelations of the glory of the living God await the household at Zarephath. God has other lessons for Elijah, and deeper exercises for the widow. God would reveal Himself not only as the Sustainer of life, but as the Giver of life. To be equipped for the great day of Carmel, Elijah must know God as the God of resurrection. To be established in peaceful relations with God, the widow must know God as the God of truth as well as the God of grace, and for this conscience must be awakened, her sin recalled, and her sin judged.

With these high ends in view the shadow of death is allowed to fall upon the widow's home. Her only son falls sick and dies. For a full year the widow has enjoyed in simple faith the mercies that God has provided, but at length in the presence of death her conscience is awakened and she remembers her sin, for death is the wages of sin. As long as life flows quietly and our daily needs are met, we may live with little exercise as to much that, in God's sight, calls for self-judgment. But under the exercise of some special trial, conscience becomes active, the vision is cleared, and much that may have been wrong in the past in thoughts, words, habits and ways, is seen, dealt with, and judged, in God's presence.

Elijah, too, has lessons to learn in this great trial. It becomes a fresh occasion for the exercise of his faith in the living God. Very beautifully he looks beyond the disease and the power of death, and sees in the evil that has come upon them the hand of the living God. In his view it is not disease that has killed the child, not death that has struck him down, it is God that has slain the widow's son. If it is the work of disease and death there is no hope, for they could take the child away but they cannot bring him back. But if God has slain the child, then God can recall the child to life.

The faith of Elijah keeps God between himself and the sorrowful circumstances. But Elijah recognizes that in himself he has no power. This may be signified by the act of stretching himself on the child, or, as the margin reads, he "measured" himself. He thoroughly identifies himself with the dead child; he takes his measure and realizes that, like the dead child, he has no strength. Elijah is powerless in the presence of death. But if the child is dead, God is living. If Elijah has no power, Elijah can pray. By the act of stretching he identifies himself with the powerlessness of the child; by the act of prayer he puts himself in touch with the mighty power of the living God.

The man of like passions with ourselves again draws down the power of God by prayer. "O Lord my God, I pray thee let this child's soul come into him again." As One with whom he is in conscious relationship, and well known and proved, he can say with great confidence, "My God." His faith recognizes that it is within the power of the living God to raise the dead child, and with yet greater faith he prays that it may come to pass. Did ever man, before or since, ask a greater request of God in language so simple and in a prayer so brief. Very evident is it that the effectual fervent prayer is neither elaborate nor lengthy.

The prayer is heard and the request is granted. God reveals Himself as the God of resurrection. Not only is God the living God; not only is He the Source of life, and the Sustainer of life; but He can impart life to the dead. He breaks the power of death and robs the grave of victory by the mighty power of resurrection.

Elijah laying no claim to the risen child delivers him back to the mother. The woman at once discerns that he is a "Man of God." We know also that Elijah was a "Man of like passions." And the man of like passions was transformed into a man of God by the fact that he was a "Man of prayer."

4 OBADIAH: THE GOVERNOR OF THE KING'S HOUSE (1 Kings 18: 1-16)

At last the years of famine draw to their close, and again the word of the Lord comes to Elijah saying, "Go, shew thyself unto Ahab; and I will send rain upon the earth." In the beginning of the years of drought the Lord had said to Elijah, "Get thee hence, and hide thyself;" now the word is, "Go, shew thyself." There is a time to hide ourselves and a time to show ourselves; a time to proclaim the word of the Lord from the housetops, and a time to draw "apart into a desert place and rest a while." A time to pass through the land "as unknown," and a time to mingle with the crowd "as well known" (2 Cor. 6: 9). Such changes are the common lot of all true servants of the Lord. The Baptist, in his day, was in the desert "as unknown" till the day of his showing to Israel "as well known;" only to withdraw again from the public gaze in the presence of One of whom he could say, "He must increase, but I must decrease." This grace, which knows when to come forward and when to withdraw, finds its most perfect expression in the Lord's own path. He can gather all the city at the door of His lodging as One that is "well known," and rising a great while before day, He can depart into a solitary place "as unknown."

But such changes in the path of the servant, if they are to meet with a ready obedience, demand low thoughts of self and great confidence in God. This high quality of faith was not wanting in Elijah. Without raising a single objection he "went to shew himself unto Ahab." His secret training had fitted him for the demands of the occasion. In the eyes of the king, Elijah was an outlawed man, a troubler of Israel, and to show himself to the monarch would be simple madness in the light of human reason. Could not God bring rain upon the earth without exposing His servant to the wrath of the king? Doubtless He could, but this would by no means meet the circumstances of the case. The rain had been withheld at the word of Elijah in the presence of the king, and the coming of the rain must also depend upon the intervention of God's prophet in the presence of the king. Had the rain returned apart from the public testimony of Elijah, he would at once have been set down as a false prophet and a boaster, and still worse, the deliverance would have been attributed by the prophets of Baal to their idol.

We are not left in any doubt as to the moral condition of the king. While Elijah journeys from Zarephath at the word of the Lord and for the glory of the Lord, the king takes a journey prompted by pure selfishness and with no higher object than the preservation of his stud. For three and a half years neither rain nor dew has fallen — the famine is sore in the land — king and people are proving that it is "an evil thing and bitter" to forsake the Lord God and worship idols. But what of the king? Has this sore calamity softened his heart, and wrought repentance before the Lord? Is he journeying through his kingdom seeking to alleviate the distress of his starving people and calling upon all to cry to God? Alas! his thoughts are occupied with his horses and mules rather than his starving people; and so far from seeking God he is merely seeking grass.

A weak, self-centred, self-indulgent man, controlled by a strong-minded idolatrous woman, he has become the leader in apostasy, and the avowed enemy of the man of God. And now, unmoved by the terrible visitation of the drought and the famine, the universal misery finds him still pursuing his selfish and frivolous life, alike indifferent to the sufferings of his people, and to the claims of God. Such is the picture of human depravity presented by the king.

But at this point another and a very different character passes before us. Obadiah was one who feared the Lord greatly, and who, in times past, had wrought a very signal service for the prophets of the Lord, and yet, strangely enough, he is the governor of the king's house. What an anomaly that one who fears the Lord greatly should be found in intimate association with the apostate king. "It was not," as one has said, "that he was betrayed at times merely, nor was it that his way was stained at times, but his whole life evinces a man of mixed principles."

Both Elijah and Obadiah were saints of God, but their meeting is marked by reserve rather than by the communion of saints. Obadiah is deferential and conciliatory, Elijah cold and distant. What fellowship can there be between God's stranger and Ahab's minister? Another has truly remarked, "We cannot serve the world, and go on in the course of it behind each other's backs, and then assume we can meet as saints and enjoy sweet communion."

Obadiah tries to escape from a mission which in his sight is fraught with danger. "What," he exclaims, "have I sinned, that I should be sent to the king?" But Elijah had said nothing about sinning. Then Obadiah pleads his good deeds. Had not Elijah heard of his kindness in times past to the prophets of the Lord? However, it was no question of bad deeds or good deeds; the source of all Obadiah's trouble was the false position he was in. He was a man of the unequal yoke.

The Spirit of God takes occasion by this scene to depict the solemn results of the unequal yoke between righteousness and unrighteousness, light and darkness, Christ and Belial, he that believeth, and an infidel (2 Cor. 6: 14-18).

1. Obadiah takes his orders from the apostate king. Elijah takes his directions from the Lord and moves and acts according to the commands of the Lord. Obadiah, though indeed he may fear the Lord, is not used in the service of the Lord, and gets no directions from the Lord. Ahab is his master, Ahab he has to serve, and from Ahab he takes his directions. Thus in this time of natural calamity he fritters his time away in the trivial work of seeking grass for his master's beasts.

2. He lives at a low spiritual level. Being in the way on his master's errands, "Behold Elijah met him." In the presence of the prophet, Obadiah falls on his face addressing him as "My lord Elijah," indicating that he is conscious of the lower level on which he lives. Obadiah may dwell in the palaces of kings; Elijah in the lonely places of the earth, companion of the widow and the fatherless; nevertheless Obadiah knows full well that Elijah is the greater man. The high positions of this world may carry with them earthly honours, but cannot impart spiritual dignities. Elijah will not even recognize that Obadiah is a servant of the Lord. To him he is only a servant of the wicked king, for he says, "Go, tell thy lord, behold Elijah is here."

3. Obadiah's sad reply clearly reveals that he lives in craven fear of the king. The servant of a selfish autocrat, he shrinks from a mission which may incur his wrath and summary vengeance.

4. Not only does this unhallowed association keep Obadiah living in fear of the king, but it destroys his confidence in God. He recognizes that the Spirit of the Lord will protect Elijah from the king's vengeance, but, for himself, he has no faith to count upon the protection of God. A false position and an uneasy conscience have robbed him of all confidence in the Lord.

5. Lacking confidence in the Lord, he is not ready to be used by the Lord. He shrinks from a mission in which he can see danger and possibly death. Three times he repeats that Ahab will slay him. He seeks to be excused the mission, pleading the wickedness of the king on the one hand, and his own goodness on the other.

How different the attitude of Elijah. Walking in separation from evil, he is filled with holy boldness. Not, however, that his confidence was in himself, or his separate walk, but in the living God. He can say to Obadiah, "As the Lord of Hosts liveth, before whom I stand, I will surely show myself unto him today." How solemn, that Elijah is compelled to address a saint of God in the very terms in which he had addressed the apostate king (1 Kings 17: 1; 1 Kings 18: 15). Obadiah, standing before the king; is filled with the fear of death; Elijah, standing before the living God, is filled with calm and holy confidence. In faith in the living God he had warned the king of the coming drought; in faith in the living God he had been sustained in secret during the years of drought; in faith in the living God he can once more face the king, saying without a trace of fear, "I will surely shew myself unto him today."

Obadiah had passed through no such training. His had been the path of ease rather than the path of faith. He had moved in the crowded scenes of the city as the head official in the court of the king and not in the solitary places of the earth as the faithful servant of the Lord. His sphere has been the king's royal palace rather than the widow's humble home.

In the eyes of the natural man, how desirable the position of Obadiah with its ease, and wealth, and exalted station, and how distressing the lowly path of Elijah with its poverty and privations. But faith esteems the reproach of Christ greater riches than the treasures in Egypt. Elijah found greater riches amidst the poverty of the widow's home than Obadiah enjoyed amidst the splendours of the king's palace. May we not say that, at Zarephath, there were unfolded before the prophet's vision "the unsearchable riches of Christ," the meal that never wasted, the oil that never failed, and the God who raised the dead? No such blessings fell to the lot of Obadiah. Truly he escaped the reproach of Christ, but he missed the unsearchable riches of Christ. He escaped the trial of faith and lost the rewards of faith.

Of Moses, in a yet earlier day, it could be said, "By faith he forsook Egypt, not fearing the wrath of the king, for he endured, as seeing Him who is invisible." So here we may surely say of Elijah, he turned his back on the world of his day, not fearing the wrath of the king, and, with his vision of the living God, he endured as seeing Him who is invisible. All this was wanting in Obadiah. He may have feared God in secret, but he feared the king in public. He never broke with the world, and he had no vision of the living God.

Apart from the world, in holy separation to God, the prophet Elijah is in touch with heaven, and sees unfolded before his eyes the wonders of grace and the power of God. To these heavenly wonders Obadiah is a complete stranger: identified with the world and associated with the apostate king, he can only mind earthly things, and thus, while Elijah is seeking the glory of God and the blessing of Israel, Obadiah is seeking grass for horses and mules.

Having delivered Elijah's message, Obadiah drops out of the story, while Elijah passes on to fresh honours as a witness of the living God, to receive at last a passage to glory in a chariot of fire.

5 CARMEL: THE FIRE FROM HEAVEN (2 Kings 18: 16-40)

Obadiah having delivered his message, King Ahab went to meet the prophet and at once charges him with being the troubler of Israel. The land may be filled with idols and idol temples; idol groves and idolatrous altars, served by idolatrous priests, may stand on every side; the people may have forsaken the Lord and followed Baalim; the king may be the leader in apostasy, and his wife a heathen murderess; these accumulated evils are no trouble to the king. But is there a drought in the land, and a famine in Samaria which interferes with his pleasures and endangers his stud? — then indeed it is a grievous trouble, and the man at whose words the heavens are shut is, in the sight of the king, a troubler. In touch with the power of the living God, Elijah may raise the dead and command the rain; but does he denounce sin and warn the sinner? — then forthwith he is a troubler.

The presence of the man who lays sin upon the conscience and brings the sinner into the presence of God, is ever troublesome in this world. At the coming of Christ Himself into the world, Herod "was troubled and all Jerusalem with him." And in a still later day, Paul and his companions were looked upon as troublers, for the enraged citizens of Philippi could say, "These men . . . do exceedingly trouble our city."

The worldly Christian will not be viewed as a troubler, even as Obadiah, in his day, so far from being a troubler, was looked upon as an extremely useful member of society and accordingly made governor of the king's household. It is the man of God as he stands apart from the course of this world — while witnessing to its evil and warning of coming judgment — who will ever be a troubler, even though he proclaims grace and points the way of blessing.

With great boldness and plainness of speech the prophet throws the charge back upon the king, "I have not troubled Israel, but thou and thy father's house." In faithfulness he explains how they have done so, and brings home Ahab's personal sin: "Ye have forsaken the commandments of the Lord, and thou hast followed Baalim."

Having charged him with his sins, he shows the king there is but one possible way to end the famine and reach the day when the Lord will send rain upon the earth. The sin that has brought the judgment must be dealt with in judgment. To this end Ahab is told to gather all Israel to Carmel, together with the prophets of Baal four hundred and fifty, and the prophets of the groves four hundred, which eat at Jezebel's table. All that have been concerned in this great sin must be present. The leaders and the led are to gather to Carmel. No privileges that any may enjoy, no position, however exalted, they may fill, will be allowed as a plea for absence. Those who feast at the royal table, and those who minister to Baal, must be present with all the people.

Even the abandoned king realizes the desperate condition of the land, and hence, without further remonstrance, he carries out Elijah's demand. All Israel and all the idolatrous prophets are gathered to Carmel.

This great host having assembled, Elijah came forth and addresses himself "unto all the people." He makes three distinct appeals. First he seeks to arouse the conscience of the people. He says, "How long halt ye between two opinions? If the Lord be God, follow Him; but if Baal, then follow him."

The audience in whose hearing Elijah makes this powerful appeal was composed of a degraded king, a corrupt company of prophets, and a fashionable crowd of undecided triflers. Passing by the king and prophets, Elijah speaks directly to the people. The king was the leader in apostasy, and already had been charged with his sins. The prophets of Baal were the avowed opponents of God, and were about to be exposed and judged. But the vast mass of the people were undecided, halting between two opinions. By profession they were the people of Jehovah, by practice they were the worshippers of Baal. Appealing to their conscience, he says, "How long halt ye between two opinions?"

Today we are faced with the representatives of these three classes. There are the leaders in apostasy; men who have made an outward profession of Christianity, but who deny the Lord that bought them, and have turned back to their wallowing in the mire. Then there are an increasing number in Christendom who make no profession of Christianity, who zealously propagate their false religious systems, and are the avowed enemies of God the Father and God the Son. But there is another class, the vast mass of nominal Christians who "halt between two opinions." Alas, they have no personal faith in Christ, nothing but "opinions." With them, God and His word, Christ and His cross, time and eternity, heaven and hell, are merely matters of opinion — opinions that result in no settled convictions, for in regard to these solemn realities they have "TWO opinions." They would not oppose Christ, but they will not confess Christ. They have no wish to fall out with God, but they would fain keep in with the world. They would like to escape the judgment of sin, but they are bent upon enjoying the pleasures of sin. They would like to die as saints, but they prefer to live as sinners. At times they will talk of morality, discuss social and religious problems, or join in theological controversies. But they carefully evade all personal dealing with God, decision for Christ, and confession of His Name. They halt, they hesitate, they procrastinate, they practically say, "Some day we will turn to Christ, but not yet; some day we will be saved, but not yet; some day we will face our sins, but not yet."

Let such pay heed to Elijah's conscience-reaching question, "How long?" How long will sinners leave unsettled the great question of their soul's eternal destiny? How long will they waste their lives, play with sin, neglect salvation, and trifle with God? Let such remember that God has an answer to this question as well as men, and that God's disposals are usually very different to man's proposals. The rich man of the Gospel story proposed to answer this question according to his thoughts, and God called him a fool for his pains. "How long shall I live?" said he. And for answer he promised himself "many years." But very different was God's answer, "This night thy soul shall be required of thee."

This solemn question "How long?" brooks no delay. True the grace of God is without limit, but the day of grace wears to its end. For long centuries the sunlight of grace has shone upon this guilty world; now the shadows lengthen and the night draws on. The sun of grace is setting amidst the gathering clouds of judgment. Let triflers beware lest when God says "How long?" men halt too long, only to hear at last those terrible words, "Because I have called, and ye refused; I have stretched out My hand, and no man regarded; but ye have set at nought all My counsel, and would none of My reproof; I also will laugh at your calamity; I will mock when your fear cometh; when your fear cometh as desolation, and your destruction cometh as a whirlwind; when distress and anguish cometh upon you. Then shall they call upon Me, but I will not answer; they shall seek Me early, but they shall not find Me" (Prov. 1: 24-28).

In Elijah's day men were silenced by this appeal. They "answered him not a word." Every mouth was stopped. They stood before the prophet a silent, conscience-stricken, self-condemned people.

Having convicted the people of their sin, the prophet makes his second appeal. He reminds the nation that he alone is the prophet of the Lord, but Baal's prophets are four hundred and fifty men. How evil the time when there is but one true prophet to stand against four hundred and fifty false ones. There were indeed seven thousand who had not bowed the knee to Baal, nevertheless there was only one man left to witness for the Lord. It is good to refuse to acknowledge Baal, but there is a vast difference between not bowing down in worship to Baal and standing up to witness for the Lord. Obadiah may fear the Lord greatly, but his unhallowed association has closed his mouth. We hear no word of him on Carmel. The fear of God may lead seven thousand to mourn before God in secret, but the fear of man withholds them from witnessing for God in public. In all that great company the prophet stood alone. And let us not forget that with all his holy boldness, he was a man of like passions with ourselves. The living God before whom he stood was the source of his power.

Alone though he be, Elijah does not hesitate to challenge the crowd of false prophets. He has rebuked the king; he has convicted the nation of trifling indecision; he will now expose the folly of these false prophets and the vanity of their gods. Who is the God of Israel? is the momentous question. Elijah boldly proposes that this great question shall be submitted to the trial by fire. "The God that answereth by fire, let him be God." The appeal is to God. The decision shall not rest with the solitary prophet of the Lord or the four hundred and fifty prophets of Baal. It shall be no question of man's reasonings or of the opinion of one man against four hundred and fifty. God shall decide. The prophets of Baal shall prepare one altar, Elijah shall rebuild the altar of the Lord, and the God that answereth by fire shall be God.

This appeal to reason meets with the immediate and unanimous approval of Israel: "All the people answered and said, It is well spoken." The prophets of Baal are silent, but in the face of the people's approval they cannot evade the issue. They prepare their altar, dress their bullock, and call upon their god. From morning until noon they cry to Baal. It was in vain, there was no voice nor any that answered. Until mid-day Elijah is a silent witness of their futile efforts; then at length, for the first and only time, he speaks to these false prophets, and now it is only to mock them. Lashed by the scorn of Elijah they redouble their efforts. For three hours longer — from noon until the time of the evening sacrifice — they cry aloud and cut themselves with knives until the blood gushed out. Still it is all in vain, "There was neither voice nor any to answer, nor any that regarded."

The discomfiture of the false prophets being complete, Elijah makes his third appeal to the people. He has spoken to their conscience, he has appealed to their reason, now he will speak to their hearts. He gathers them around him with the gracious invitation, "Come near unto me." In response "all the people come near unto him." In silence they watch the prophet as he repairs the altar of the Lord. Having thrown down the altar of Baal, he sets up the altar of the Lord. It is not enough to expose the false; the truth must be upheld.

To maintain the truth he builds his altar with twelve stones. In spite of the divided state of the nation, faith recognizes the unity of the twelve tribes. Every tribe must be represented in the altar of the Lord. Faith sees that the day is coming when idolatry will be judged and the nation will be one, with God in the midst. Such is the word of the Lord by Ezekiel: "Behold, I will take the children of Israel from among the heathen, whither they be gone, and will gather them on every side, and bring them into their own land; and I will make them one nation upon the mountains of Israel; and one King shall be king to them all: and they shall no more be two nations, neither shall they be divided into two kingdoms any more at all: neither shall they defile themselves any more with their idols . . . but I will save them . . . and will cleanse them: so shall they be my people and I will be their God" (Ezek 37: 21-23).

The altar erected, the victim laid thereon, all being thrice drenched with water, and the time of the evening sacrifice being come, the prophet turns to God in prayer. In his prayer, Elijah makes nothing of himself but everything of God. He seeks no place for himself; he has no desire to exalt himself before the people; he would be known only as a servant carrying out the commands of the Lord. His one desire is that God may be glorified. To this end he would have all the people know that Jehovah is God; that Jehovah is doing "all these things"; that Jehovah is speaking to their heart to turn the people back to himself.

The prayer of Elijah receives an immediate answer: "The fire of the Lord fell, and consumed the burnt sacrifice." How wonderful is this scene. A holy God who must deal with all evil by the consuming fire of judgment, and a guilty nation steeped in the evil which the holy God must judge. Surely the fire of the Lord must fall, and equally surely, the nation must be consumed. How can they escape? How are their hearts to be turned back to the Lord? Here is an issue that no fervent prayer of a righteous man can meet. If the guilty nation is to be spared, then the altar must be built, and a sacrifice provided that will represent the guilty nation under the eye of God and on which the judgment they have merited can fall. And thus it came to pass, for we read, "The fire of the Lord fell and consumed the burnt sacrifice." The judgment falls upon the victim, the nation goes free.

"And when all the people saw it, they fell on their faces, and they said, 'The Lord He is the God; the Lord He is the God.'" In the marvellous provision of the sacrifice, the righteousness of God finds a way whereby justice is satisfied, judgment is borne, and the heart of the nation is won.

Who can fail to trace in this scene a bright foreshadowing of the sacrifice of the Lord Jesus Christ, when, by the eternal Spirit, He offered Himself without spot to God? Yet, withal, it has its striking contrasts, for while on Carmel the fire of judgment consumed the burnt sacrifice, at Calvary, may we not say, the sacrifice consumed the fire of judgment. Similarly, the Jewish sacrifices were oft repeated and could never take away sins. In their case the judgment was always greater than the sacrifice, but at Calvary One is found Who, as the Sacrifice, is greater than the judgment. There the storm of judgment that was over our heads burst on His head, and was spent; the judgment He bore He exhausted. Resurrection is the everlasting proof of this. He was delivered for our offences and raised again for our justification.

But what will all this avail unless by faith we see it? "When all the people saw it, they fell on their faces" and worshipped. In our case, too, faith's sight of the dead and risen Christ will bow our hearts in worship. The very sacrifice by which God has cleared His people from all judgment has so manifested His love that He has won our hearts. "The love of God is shed abroad in our hearts by the Holy Ghost which is given unto us." Truly we may say of God's people today, He has "turned their heart back again," and, like Israel, there is nothing left for His people but to fall on their faces in adoring worship.

CARMEL: THE COMING OF THE RAIN (1 Kings 18: 41-46)

Judgment prepares the way for blessing, and thus the fire from heaven is followed by the rain from heaven. The opened ear of Elijah catches "a sound of abundance of rain." A going in the tops of the trees, trouble on the waters — the low moaning of earth — told the listening ear of Elijah that at last the day was at hand when the Lord would send rain upon the earth.

If by a closer walk with God our ears were more attuned to catch His faintest whispers, and our minds were more enlightened to interpret them aright, should we not often, in the low sad moans that rise from this troubled world, hear His voice telling of coming blessing? In the sigh from some sick bed, or the wail of a bereaved one, or the cry of a disappointed heart, should we not discern the sound of coming blessing for the grief-stricken soul?

No such sounds reached the ear of King Ahab. Absorbed with his own selfish pleasures, his heart was waxed gross, and his ears dull of hearing. Only faith can read the signs of the times and enter into the secret of the Lord. When all seems dead among the people of God, when there is no apparent result from the preaching of the Gospel, when there are Few conversions among sinners, and little growth among saints, it needs indeed a close walk with God to see His hand at work.

However, when God's voice is heard and His hand seen, it produces immediate results. Is the rain coming? then Ahab will go up to eat and drink, while Elijah — the man with the opened ear — will go up to the top of Carmel to pray.

For three and a half years the rain has been withheld and the famine has been sore in the land. Now the rain is coming, the famine is over. Surely Ahab will turn to God with thanksgiving. He has seen the vanity of idols, the exposure of the false prophets, the fire from heaven, and the awful judgment of the prophets of Baal. Alas, no impression is made on the king; God is not in all his thoughts. Little he cares for Jehovah or Baal, for the prophet of the living God or the four hundred and fifty prophets of Baal. His one thought is: "This tiresome famine is over, the rain is coming; I can now enjoy myself without hindrance." So he goes up to eat and drink, celebrating the occasion with a feast. It is ever thus with the world. God lays His hand upon men in government and, for a time, they are afflicted with war, or famine and pestilence. No sooner is relief afforded than they return with renewed zest to their feasting, drinking, and pleasure, and God is forgotten.

How different is the effect upon the man of Gods He hears the sound of coming rain and he knows it is no time for feasting with the world, but for drawing apart from men — to get alone with God at the top of the hill. When the world goes up to feast it is the time for God's people to go up to prayer. Nature might say, if there is the sound of abundance of rain there is no need to pray, but for the spiritual man it is a divine summons to prayer.

For prayer to be effectual, however, there are certain conditions with which we must comply. These come before us in this great scene. First, effectual prayer demands that we withdraw from the hurry and press of this world into holy retirement with God. Like Elijah we must go up to the top of the hill. As the Lord Himself instructs us, "When thou prayest, enter into thy closet, and when thou hast shut thy door, pray to thy Father" (Matt. 6: 6). How often our prayers are unavailing for the lack of the "shut door." To be consciously in the presence of God we need to compose our spirits, call in our wandering thoughts, and shut the door on the world. Holy separation and retirement is the first great requisite for effectual prayer.

Then, again, we must take our true place in the dust before God, and this we see strikingly set forth in the prophet. Arrived at the top of the hill he goes down into the valley of humiliation. "He cast himself down upon the earth, and put his face between his knees." A few short hours before he had stood for God in the presence of the king, the false prophets and all the people of Israel, and the people had fallen upon their faces. Now, the false prophets are dead, the crowds have dispersed, and Elijah is left alone with God. At once he casts himself down upon the earth and hides his face. Before all Israel God will support and honour His servant, but, alone with God, he must learn his own nothingness in the presence of God's greatness. Then, he was witnessing for God before sinners, commanding king, prophets and people; now he is alone waiting upon God as a suppliant, and, as such, he, too, must remember that he is but dust, entirely dependent upon the mercy of God. "Behold, now," says Abraham, "I have taken upon me to speak unto the Lord, which am but dust and ashes" (Gen. 18: 27). An old divine has said, "The lower the heart descends the higher the prayer ascends. God accepts broken expressions when they come from broken hearts."

The story discloses to us another of the secrets of effectual fervent prayer. We must not only pray but "watch and pray." As the apostle exhorts us, "Persevere in prayer, and watch in the same with thanksgiving" (Col. 4: 2). Again we read, "Praying always with all prayer and supplication in the Spirit, and watching thereunto with all perseverance" (Eph. 6: 18). In Elijah's prayer we see this watching, for he said to his servant, "Go up now look toward the sea." And he went up and looked and said, "There is nothing." He watched, but at first he saw nothing. He heard the sound that summoned him to prayer, and he prayed, and he watched, but at first he sees nothing. How often it is thus with God's people today. They pray and watch thereunto, but for a time God sees fit to keep them waiting. God has lessons to teach us, and so for a while He may keep us waiting at His door We watch to see God's hand at work, and lo, we see nothing. Is it not to teach us that nothing of God is seen because something of self fills our vision? We must learn our own nothingness before we see God at work. We think God will hear us because of the urgency of the case, the fervency of our prayers, the justness of our cause. But God keeps us waiting until we are conscious that, though before men we may indeed have a just cause, before God we are unworthy supplicants, having nothing to claim, but only God's grace to plead. Moreover, God will teach us that prayer is not some secret charm that we can use at any moment and forthwith obtain our requests, but that the power of prayer lies in the One to whom we pray.

But apart from cause of delay in ourselves, God has His time and His way of answering prayers. If then we pray and watch, and yet have to own with Elijah's servant, "There is nothing," what more can we do? This question receives a very definite answer from Elijah. He says, "Go again seven times." In other words, we must persevere. Not only does the apostle exhort us to pray, but to watch thereunto "with all perseverance." We cannot hurry God. We think of what is agreeable to ourselves; God thinks of what is for His glory and our profit.

In the light of this scene we may well challenge our hearts as to whether we are near enough to God to hear His summons to prayer, though all the world may be feasting? And are we prepared for the holy separation for prayer, for humiliation in prayer, and for watching thereunto with all perseverance?

These conditions complied with, may we not count upon an answer to prayer, even though to sight there is little or no sign of the coming blessing? It was thus with Elijah; his perseverance was rewarded. He knew his prayer was about to be answered, though to sight there was but "a little cloud" and that no bigger than "a man's hand." But behind the likeness of a man's hand faith could discern the hand of God. With the greatest confidence Elijah at once sends a message to Ahab saying, "Prepare thy chariot and get thee down, that the rain stop thee not." To natural sight there was no sign of rain: the sky was perfectly clear save for a little cloud no bigger than a man's hand. But faith knew that God was behind the cloud, and when God is working a little goes a long way. A handful of meal and a little oil with God, can feed a household for a full year. Five barley loaves and two small fishes with God can feed five thousand people, and a little cloud with God behind it can cover the whole heavens. So it came to pass that while Ahab was preparing his chariot "the heavens were black with clouds and wind, and there was great rain."

"And Ahab rode and went to Jezreel." But "the hand of the Lord was on Elijah." The hand of the Lord was with the man who had been with God on the top of the hill. And when the hand of the Lord is upon a man, he will do all things rightly and at the right time. Guided by the Lord, Elijah had stood before the king to rebuke him for his idolatry, and now, still guided by the Lord, the prophet runs before the king to honour and maintain the authority of the king in the eyes of the people. Elijah is instructed to maintain what is due to God while showing the proper respect to man. In season he will manifest his fear of God, and in season he will honour the king.

7 JEZEBEL: THE FLIGHT INTO THE WILDERNESS (1 Kings 19: 1-7)

Elijah had witnessed the good confession before the wicked king, the false prophets and the idolatrous nation; now he is called to face the opposition of a very different character, that of the wicked Jezebel. The king was selfish and indolent, seeking only the gratification of his lusts and pleasures and quite indifferent to religion. Jezebel, on the contrary, was a woman of intense energy, a religious fanatic, pursuing idolatry with untiring zeal, protecting the priests of Baal, and persecuting the servants of the Lord. In order to attain her religious ends she sought to wield the secular and regal power of her weak husband.

For this reason Jezebel is used by the Spirit of God as the impersonation of a corrupt religious system, energized by Satan, pursuing its way with intense and persistent zeal, always persecuting or endeavouring to seduce the servants of God, and seeking to wield the secular power for its own ends. And just as Jezebel sought to gratify the whims and lusts of Ahab in order to bring him completely under her power, so the papal system, for which Jezebel stands, has sought throughout the centuries to gratify the lusts of kings and statesmen, as well as the mass of men, pandering to their avarice, vanity, and pride, in order to bring both States and individuals under its power. Just as the alliance of Ahab with this wicked woman wrought such trouble in Israel, so, too, the union of Church and State has wrought ruin in that which professes to be the Church of God on earth today (Rev. 2: 20-23).

It was the persecuting zeal of this terrible woman, that Elijah had now to meet. His courage failed before the threat of her vengeance, and he fled for his life. Passing through the land of Judah he came to Beersheba, in the extreme south, on the edge of the wilderness. Hitherto he had moved at the word of the Lord, as indeed he could say on Mount Carmel, "I have done all these things at Thy word." On this Journey, however, he was moved by no directing word from the Lord, but rather by a threatening word from a woman. For the moment Elijah had allowed the wicked and powerful Jezebel to come between himself and God. Thus it comes to pass that the man who had stood for God before the king, the false prophet and all Israel, now flees before the threat of a woman. Truly James may say he was a man of like passions with ourselves. In all this Elijah is not thinking of God, or the people of God, but simply of himself. God had led Elijah into the place of public testimony, but for the moment his faith quailed before the opposition that the place entailed. He abandons the path of faith and walks by sight. We read, "When he saw that, he arose, and went for his life." Hitherto Elijah had been sustained in the great dramas in which he had taken part, by faith's clear vision of the living God, but under this fresh trial his failing faith loses sight of the living God and he sees only a violent woman. In the presence of her murderous threat, the God that had led and preserved him, the meal that never wasted, the oil that never failed, the power of God that had raised the dead, that brought down the fire from heaven, and that sent the rain, entirely pass from his mind. All is in a moment forgotten, and the prophet can only see an enraged woman and the immediate prospect of a violent death. "And when he saw that, he arose, and went for his life." Peter in his day, "when he saw the wind boisterous, was afraid," and began to sink. Walking by sight the greatest of the apostles sinks, and the greatest of prophets flees. Looking at things seen, the man of God is weaker than the man of the world. Only as we walk by faith that sees Him that is invisible, shall we endure amidst the increasing difficulties and the terrifying circumstances of the day in which we live.

"He went for his life." It was not for his God, or for the people of God, or for the testimony of God — but for his life he went. Having only himself in view he fled as far as possible from the place of testimony. He leaves the land of promise, turns his back on the people of God, and flees to Beersheba.

Alas! in the presence of a trial, how quickly we, too, can forget all that the Lord has been for us in the past. The way He has led us, the grace that has preserved us, the heart that has loved us, the hand that has held us, the word that has directed us, all are forgotten in the presence of a trial that is so very real to sight and sense. We see the trial, we lose sight of God. Instead of standing before the living God we flee before some passing trial. We seek to escape the trial, rather than seek the grace of God to sustain in the trial, and to learn God's mind through it.

Arrived at Beersheba, Elijah left his servant and went a day's journey into the wilderness. In this solitary place he betakes himself to prayer. But how different this prayer from his former requests. Before, he had prayed for the glory of God and the blessing of the nation; now "he requested for himself." And what a request! He cries out, "It is enough; now, O Lord, take away my life; for I am not better than my fathers." He has only himself before his eyes. His flight from Jezebel, and his prayer in the wilderness, are full of self. It is "his life" for which he fled, it is "himself" for whom he prays.

All this speaks of the intense despondency of the prophet. He had seen the magnificent display of the power of Jehovah on Mount Carmel, he had seen the people with their faces bowed to the earth owning "the Lord, He is the God." He had executed judgment on the prophets of Baal, he had seen the coming of the rain in answer to his prayer, and doubtless he had expected a great revival of the worship of Jehovah and blessing to Israel, through his ministry. Apparently it had all come to nothing. Elijah was not prepared for this. He had thought that he was better than his fathers, and that under his powerful ministry there would be a true and widespread turning to the Lord, but such was not the case. The years of famine, the destruction of the prophets of Baal, the rain from heaven, all appear to be in vain; so much in vain, indeed, that Elijah — the man that has stood for God — has to flee for his life. Poor Elijah, he could face the king, the prophets of Baal, and all Israel, but he was not prepared to face the failure of his mission. His supreme effort to recall the people to God had been in vain. There was nothing further to be done, his life was a failure. The happiest thing, therefore, would be to die. Thus might he find some rest from fruitless toil and hopeless conflict.

How good to turn from the servant to the perfect Master, and to see His infinite perfection shining out in the day of His rejection. After all His miracles of grace, His words of love, His acts of power, He is despised and rejected, called a gluttonous man and a wine-bibber, and counsel taken to kill Him. In that moment of utter rejection and the apparent failure of all His ministry, He turns to the Father and can say, "I thank thee, O Father . . . even so, Father: for so it seemed good in Thy sight."

Elijah did not die, and never has died. God had another plan for His beloved servant. It was no part of that plan to let His servant pass from this world a disappointed man, under a cloud of depression, dying in some lonely desert. His passage to heaven shall be very different. God's chariot is waiting God's due time to carry him to heaven with glory and honour. In the meantime he is the object of God's tender care. He giveth his beloved sleep; angels shall wait upon him; food shall be provided for him, and his thirst shall be quenched.

In the day of faith, the ravens can feed him, and the widow sustain him; in the day of his depression angels wait upon him and God Himself shall feed him. What a God we have to care for us. "His compassions fail not." "Though He cause grief, yet will He have compassion according to the multitude of His mercies" (Lam. 3: 22, 32). And this was Elijah's experience; awakened by the angel "he looked and behold, there was a cake baken on the coals, and a cruse of water at his head." Moreover, Jehovah of Elijah's day is Jesus of the gospel day, and in like circumstances the wandering disciples may turn aside to fish all night and catch nothing, only to find in the morning the Lord of glory waiting on the needs of His failing servants with the fire of coals, and fish laid thereon, and bread, and a loving invitation to "come and dine."

Thus, too, it is with ourselves. Our faith may grow dim; we may be downcast by reason of the apparent failure of all our service, and in our moments of depression and disappointment we may lose heart and think bitter thoughts, pray unadvisedly, and even murmur at our hard lot, yet God's tender care never ceases; His mercies never fail. Well may we sing:

"O hope of every contrite heart,

O joy of all the meek,

To those who fall how kind Thou art,

How good to those who seek!"

Having refreshed His servant with sleep and food, the Lord gives him fresh directions. He learns that he is on a journey, but, says the Lord, "the journey is too great for thee." What a journey was Elijah's through this world. Cherith, Zarephath, Carmel, Horeb, mark the stages of his journey, and the chariot of fire is ready to end it in power and glory, but every stage was "too great" for Elijah. The power displayed, the courage demanded, the faith required, the opposition to be encountered, the privations to be endured — all were too great for a man of like passions with ourselves. If for one moment Elijah loses sight of the living God; if he fails to walk in daily dependence upon God, immediately he will find that he is no better than his fathers and that the journey is "too great" for him.

It is good for us, as Christians, when we see that our rest is not here. We, too, are on a journey that ends in glory, but a journey in which there are trials to meet, difficulties to overcome, testimony to be borne, and opposition to be faced. For ourselves, also, we may say the journey is "too great" and we are too small for the journey.

But if the journey was too great for Elijah, it was not too great for Elijah's God. In tender love God provides for the need of His servant; and "in the strength of that meat" — the meat that God had provided — he went on his journey of forty days and forty nights unto Horeb the mount of God.

With God all things are possible. As we view the greatness of the journey and our own littleness, we may well cry out, "Who is sufficient for these things?" But at once the answer comes, "My grace is sufficient for thee: for my strength is made perfect in weakness." And so, if all the grace and power of the risen Christ are at our disposal we may well press on "STRONG IN THE GRACE THAT IS IN CHRIST JESUS" (2 Tim. 2: 1).

8 HOREB: THE MOUNT OF GOD (1 Kings 19: 9-18)

Arrived at Horeb, the Mount of God, the prophet seeks a hiding place in a mountain cave. Again the word of the Lord comes to him with the searching question, "What doest thou here, Elijah?" The prophet had fled from the place of public testimony and active service — fled at the threat of a woman, fled for his life. He had left the path of service with its suffering, opposition, and persecution, and sought a place of safety amidst wilderness solitudes and mountain caves. Now conscience must be probed and account rendered to the Lord for his actions. One has well said, "At Horeb, the Mount of God, all things are naked and open; and Elijah has to do with God, and with God alone."

How hard it is to continue in the path of service when all apparently ends in failure. When there are no immediate results from our labours, when ministry is neglected, the servant slighted and even opposed, then it is we are ready to flee from our brethren, give up active service, and seek rest under some juniper tree, or retirement in some lonely hiding-place. But the Lord loves us too well to let us rest in quiet places of our own choosing. He raises the question in our conscience, "What doest thou here?"

No such question was raised in the solitudes of Cherith, or in the home at Zarephath. The prophet was led to the lonely brook and the widow's home at the word of the Lord; he had fled to the cave at Horeb at the threat of a woman.

Elijah gives a threefold reason for fleeing to the cave. First, he says, "I have been very jealous for the Lord God of hosts." He implies that his zeal for the Lord was all in vain, and hence he had given up all public testimony. Occupation with our own zeal will ever lead to disappointment and discontent with the danger of giving up the path of service.

Then he complains of the people of God. They have forsaken God's covenants, thrown down His altar, and slain His prophets. This implies that the hopeless condition of the people of God made it useless to continue labouring in their midst.

Lastly, he says, "I, even I only, am left; and they seek my life to take it away." The prophet pleads that he is left alone and the very people before whom he had given such a mighty testimony had turned against him. Hence he had turned his back on them and sought rest and shelter in the lonely cave.

The Lord's question brings to light the true condition of the prophet's soul, but the prophet has yet to learn the real motive for his flight. It was not at all because his zeal had failed to effect any change; nor was it because of the terrible condition of God's people, nor yet because they sought his life.

Never was zeal like the zeal of the Lord. He could say, "The zeal of Thine house hath eaten Me up," and yet He had to say, "I have laboured in vain, I have spent My strength for nought and in vain." Never, too, was the condition of Israel more terrible than when the Lord laboured in their midst. Again, how truly the Lord could say in the day of His humiliation, "They seek My life to take it away." But in spite of His zeal and His labour being in vain, in spite of the condition of the people, and though again and again they sought to take His life, yet He never for an instant swerved from the path of perfect obedience to the Father. He never sought the safe retreat of some lonely cave. He held on His perfect way in the path of obedience to the Father, and unselfish service to men. Do we wish to know the secret of that lovely life? We learn it when we hear Him say, "I have set the Lord always before me: because He is at my right hand I shall not be moved" (Ps. 16: 8). Moreover He looked not at the rough ways He had to tread, but at the glorious end of the journey. "My flesh also shall rest in hope . . . Thou wilt show Me the path of life; in Thy presence is fulness of joy; at Thy right hand there are pleasures for evermore."

Elijah had fled, therefore, just because he had failed to keep the Lord always before him; and he looked at the roughness of the way rather than to the glorious end to which it was leading. The failure of his devoted life to effect any change, the evil condition of the people, and the persecution to which he was subjected, would never have moved him from the path of service had he kept the Lord before him. And what matter the roughness of the journey if it ends in being rapt to heaven in a chariot of glory!

So the Lord again speaks to Elijah, "Go forth, and stand upon the Mount before the Lord." These words disclose the secret of his failure. Elijah may give many plausible reasons for fleeing to the cave, but the true reason is that he had failed to keep the Lord before him. The secret of the bold witness before Ahab, his power to raise the widow's son, the power to bring down fire from heaven and command the rain, was simply that he moved and acted in faith before the living God. The secret of his flight, on the other hand, was that he acted in fear before a dying woman. When addressing the apostate king he can say, "The Lord before whom I stand;" when he contemplates the wicked queen it is rather, Jezebel before whom I flee.

Elijah has to learn another lesson if he is to be consciously brought into the presence of the Lord. He had seen the fire descend on Carmel, he had seen the heavens "black with clouds and wind" at the coming of the rain, and Elijah had connected the presence of the Lord with these terrifying manifestations of nature. He had thought that, as a result of these mighty displays of the power of God, the whole nation would turn to God in deep repentance, and for the moment, indeed, they did fall upon their faces and own, "The Lord, He is the God." But no real revival had taken place. Elijah has to learn that wind and earthquake and fire may indeed be God's servants to awaken men, but unless the "still small voice" is heard, no man is really won for God. The thunder of Sinai must be followed by the still small voice of grace, if the heart of man is to be reached and won. God was not in the wind, the earthquake, or the fire, but in the still small voice.

"And it was so when Elijah heard the still small voice he wrapped his face in his mantle and went out and stood in the entering of the cave." Elijah is in the presence of the Lord, with the immediate result "he wrapped his face in his mantle." Away from the Lord he talks about himself, in the presence of the Lord he hides himself. But there is still pride, bitterness, and anger in his heart, so again the Lord searches him with the question, "What doest thou here, Elijah?" God will have everything laid bare in His presence. Elijah again unburdens his spirit. All that he says is true as to fact, but the spirit in which it is said is wholly wrong. It is easy to discern the wounded pride, the embittered spirit, that lurk behind his words and lead the prophet to speak well of himself and nothing but evil of God's people.

The prophet, having repeated his complaint and shown what is in his heart, has to hear God's solemn judgment.

First the Lord says, "Go, return on thy way." The prophet must retrace his steps. Then he is to appoint other instruments to carry on the work of the Lord. Had Elijah complained of the evil of the people of God? Now it shall be his sorrowful mission to appoint Hazael king over Syria — an instrument to chastise the people of God. Had Elijah fled from before the threat of the wicked Jezebel? Then he must appoint Jehu to be king over Israel — the instrument to execute judgment upon Jezebel. Had Elijah spoken well of himself, and thought that he only remained? Then he must appoint Elisha to be prophet in his room. Had the prophet, in his complaint, so forgotten God, and all that God was doing in Israel, that he thought he alone was left and that he was the only man by whom God could work? Then he has to learn that God had seven thousand who had not bowed the knee to Baal. Elijah had indeed been very jealous for God, but he had not been able to discover God's seven thousand hidden ones. He could see the evil of the mass, he could see what God was doing in judgment, but he was unable to discern what God was doing in grace.

In the presence of this solemn message the prophet is reduced to silence. He no longer has a word to say for himself. On Carmel he had said before the king and all Israel, "I, even I only, remain a prophet of the Lord;" on Mount Horeb he had twice said in the presence of the Lord, "I, even I only, am left." But at last he has to learn the wholesome lesson that he is only one amongst seven thousand.

Finally we may notice another touching feature in this incident, and that is the considerateness of God's dealings, even at the moment of rebuke.

Another has said, "God acted towards Elijah as towards a beloved and faithful servant, even at the moment in which He made him sensible of his failure in the energy of faith; for He did not make others aware of it, although He has communicated it to us for our instruction."

9 AHAZIAH: THE MESSAGE OF DEATH (2 Kings 1)

As the public ministry of Elijah had opened with a message of judgment to King Ahab, so it closes with a message of death to his wicked son King Ahaziah. Of this man we read, "He did evil in the sight of the Lord, and walked in the way of his father, and in the way of his mother, and in the way of Jeroboam the son of Nebat, who made Israel to sin" (1 Kings 22: 52). His character combined the self-indulgence of his father with the fanatical idolatry of his mother. The three and a half years of famine, the exposure of Baal on Mount Carmel, the judgment of the false prophets, the solemn dealings of God with his father, all must have been well known to Ahaziah, but, as far as he was concerned, were all in vain. Heedless of all warnings, "he served Baal, and worshipped him, and provoked to anger the Lord God of Israel, according to all that his father had done."

It is, however, impossible to harden oneself against God and prosper. Troubles gather around the wicked king. Moab rebels, and he himself is prostrated by a fall from an upper chamber in his palace. Will this sickness sober the king and turn his thoughts to the Lord God of Israel? Alas! in prosperity he had lived without God, and in trouble he despises the chastening of the Lord. In health he had served idols with all the fanatical zeal of his mother, and in sickness his depraved mind is unable to escape from their demoniacal power. Instead of turning in contrition to the Lord God of Israel, he inquires of Baal-zebub, the god of Ekron, whether he will recover.

Ekron was the great heathen oracle of that day — the shrine of the Sidonian god Baal-zebub, literally the god of flies. By his devotees he was reputed to possess power to heal diseases and to cast out demons. Hence, in New Testament times, the Pharisees accuse the Lord of casting out demons by the power of Beelzebub. Generations before, Saul, in his extremity, had turned to demons, only to hear his immediate doom pronounced by the prophet Samuel. Ahaziah, in his day, repeats the awful sin of King Saul. Overwhelmed by troubles, he too, in the most blatant and public way, affronts the living God by craving the help of demons, and in like manner hears his doom pronounced by the prophet Elijah.

Alas, the men of our day and generation have not taken warning by the solemn example of these royal sinners. On every hand, in the midst of their sore troubles and overwhelming calamities, men are once again stretching out their hands to demons. Having lived without God in the days of their ease and prosperity, unrepentant and refusing to own God in the days of their calamity, they fall under the power of demons. Scientists, novelists, and religious professors are eager in their pursuit of spiritism. Neither intellect, imagination, nor human religion can save from falling under the spell of demons, only to find once again that to trifle with the devil is to seal their doom. "The mystery of lawlessness doth already work." Men, having abandoned God and despised the gospel, are preparing to range themselves under the leadership of "him whose coming is after the working of Satan, with all power and signs and lying wonders, and with all deceivableness of unrighteousness in them that perish; because they received not the love of the truth, that they might be saved. And for this cause God shall send them strong delusion, that they should believe a lie, that they all might be judged who believed not the truth, but had pleasure in unrighteousness."

Apostasy is making way for spiritism, and spiritism is preparing the way for the man of sin whose coming is after the working of Satan.

But men forget, even as Ahaziah forgot, that our God is a consuming fire, and that, if men despise His grace and affront His majesty, He will at length bring them into judgment and vindicate His own glory. Ahaziah finds this out to his cost. Instructed by the Angel of the Lord, Elijah intercepts the servants of the king with a message from Jehovah that pronounces his doom. The king shall not rise again from his bed "but shall surely die." As another has said: "Death must vindicate the truth and existence of God when unbelief disowns and disallows all other evidence."

This, then, is Elijah's last message before he is taken from a scene of guilt to a scene of glory. To the humble widow in her lonely home he had been a "savour of life unto life;" to the apostate king in his godless palace he was a "savour of death unto death."

Having delivered his message he retires to the top of a hill. In moral separation from the guilty world of his day, and spiritually above it, he was unassailable by the hatred of men and the power of demons. Holy, happy separation that witnesses how completely the man of like passions with ourselves has been restored to that quiet confidence which is the proper portion of the man of God. Apostate kings, persecuting Jezebels, Captains and their fifties no longer have any fear for Elijah, as, in calm confidence in the living God, he sits on the top of the hill, waiting for the last great scene in which he shall pass to a home of glory.

How blessed the position of those who in the midst of the fast-approaching apostasy of Christendom can, like Elijah in his day morally apart from this present evil world, calmly rest waiting the great moment when, at the shout of the Lord, they will pass into a scene of glory to be for ever with the Lord.

In this position of moral separation Elijah is not only unassailable by his enemies, but the fire of God is at his disposal for their destruction. He finds in very truth that the Angel of the Lord who sends a message of judgment to the godless king is also the Angel of the Lord who "encampeth round about them that fear Him and delivereth them" (Ps. 34: 7). Accordingly, two Captains and their fifties are destroyed by the fire from heaven. The king, realizing that he has to do with a man of no mean power, sends his captains well equipped to make one man comply with his peremptory command. Perfectly unmoved by this military parade and display of numbers, Elijah calmly replies: "If I be a man of God, then let fire come down from heaven and consume thee and thy fifty." If Elijah is a man of God, then God is with Elijah, and Ahaziah has to learn that kings, with all their hosts, have no power against one man if God be with him.

There is, however, a deeper lesson in this great scene. Twice in Elijah's history the fire descends from heaven, but how different the occasions. At Carmel "the fire of the Lord fell and consumed the sacrifice." The fire fell upon the victim as an atonement for the sins of the guilty people, and the people go free — not an Israelite was touched by that fire. In result the people were brought to God; "They fell on their faces: and they said, The Lord He is the God." A foreshadowing of that transcendent moment when Christ also "suffered for sins, the Just for the unjust, to bring us to God." Years have passed since the fire fell on the victim at Carmel, and the grace of God that provided a sacrifice, and sheltered the guilty people from the fire of judgment, has been forgotten. The sacrifice has been despised, and now, once again, the fire falls on the hill top. God will again vindicate His glory by the consuming fire. But this time there is no victim between a holy God and a sinful people. The sacrifice has been neglected, and instead of the fire falling upon the victim it falls upon the guilty people in overwhelming destruction.

This indeed is but the dim foreshadowing of the doom that awaits this guilty world. For long centuries the good news of forgiveness of sins has been proclaimed through the mighty sacrifice of the Lord Jesus Christ. Men have despised it, until at length, in these favoured lands of Christendom, it is held in all but universal contempt. God is not to be thus mocked; if men despise the judgment of the cross and trample underfoot the Son of God, "there remaineth no more sacrifice for sins, but a certain fearful looking for of judgment, and fiery indignation, which shall devour the adversaries" (Heb. 10: 26, 27). If men will not learn, through the judgment that fell upon Christ when He made the great sacrifice for sin, that God is a God of grace who can forgive, they will have to learn through the judgment that falls upon themselves that God is a consuming fire who takes vengeance upon all those who despise His Son. Yes, let despisers remember that the One who bore judgment upon the Cross, is the One who will be revealed from heaven with His mighty angels in flaming fire taking vengeance on them that know not God and that obey not the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ.

Well indeed, if in the presence of the warnings of God's word, men will follow the example of the third Captain who pleads for mercy and finds it.

In this last scene, God publicly owns and uses His restored servant, who fearlessly witnesses for God, and that too in the very city from which he had fled at the threat of a woman. In obedience to the word of the Lord, without trace of fear, this solitary man, escorted by the host of the hostile king, goes down into the stronghold of the foe, there to vindicate the glory of God by repeating the message of death. The apostate king is there, the wicked Jezebel may be there, but no hatred of kings, or threats of violent women, awaken any fear in this restored man who once again walks in confidence in the living God with the world behind him and the glory before him.

Centuries later this last public act in the history of Elijah is recalled by the disciples of the Lord Jesus (Luke 9: 51-52). His earthly pathway drawing to its close, the time came that Christ should be "received up." Setting His face stedfastly toward Jerusalem, His road lay through the land of Elijah, and, just as of old these Samaritans had rejected the Lord's servant about to be received up, so now, in like circumstances, they reject the Lord Himself. The everlasting doors were about to open to the King of glory. From the victory of the Cross heaven was ready to receive the Lord mighty in battle, but on earth, we read, "they did not receive Him." The disciples resent the insult put upon their Lord and Master. Little they realized the height of glory into which He was going, little could they see the vista of blessing opened out by His new place in glory. But they loved the Lord, and, as Elijah called down fire from heaven on the insulting Captains, so they would destroy with the fire from heaven these insulting Samaritans.

Their request was not morally wrong; affection for the Lord prompted it; righteousness towards Christ's rejectors demanded it, and indeed, as we have seen, the time is coming when the Lord shall be revealed from heaven in flaming fire taking vengeance on a Christ-rejecting world. But that time is not yet; between the day when the Lord is received up to heaven and the moment when He comes from heaven in judgment there exists the most wonderful period in the history of the world  - the period during which God dispenses grace to this same Christ-rejecting world. It was of this the disciples knew little or nothing. They could understand judgment meted out on earth, but they could not rise to the thought of grace dispensed from heaven. Such, however, is the glorious truth; through the risen Christ, God is proclaiming grace to a world of sinners. "Through this Man is preached . . . the forgiveness of sins" (Acts 13: 38).

10 JORDAN: THE CHARIOT OF FIRE (2 Kings 2: 1-15)

In this strange eventful life Elijah passes from wonder to wonder, and the closing scene is the greatest wonder of all. There is no journey more remarkable than his last day's pilgrimage from Gilgal to Jordan. Led by the Spirit of God he visits places which speak in a striking way of Jehovah's dealing with Israel.

We may first notice that the prophet is accompanied by Elisha, who had been anointed in his room. The time had now come for Elijah to ascend to heaven, leaving Elisha behind to represent on earth the man who is taken to heaven. The starting point of Elisha's ministry is an ascended man. He is to be the witness on earth of the power and grace that can righteously put a man in heaven in spite of sin, death, and all the power of the enemy.

Next we may notice that if the man on earth is to fitly represent the man in heaven he, too, must travel the road that leads by Gilgal, Bethel and Jericho to the banks of Jordan, there to have his vision filled with the glory of the ascension.

In these great mysteries we have a striking picture of the true position of the Christian while journeying through this world. If for a while we are left an earth it is that we may represent the Man who has gone to heaven — Christ Jesus, the Man in the glory. What high honour has been put upon us! to remain awhile, as witnesses for Christ, in the world from which He has been rejected. We may fill but a lowly and obscure position in this world, but we are here for a high purpose. Nothing less than to represent Christ in the common round of life. This indeed will brighten the dullest life, and sustain in the saddest life.

Now, in order to be adequate witnesses, we must, in the experience of our souls, know something of the great truths shadowed forth on this last day's journey. We too must travel from Gilgal to Jordan and catch the vision of the ascended and glorified Man, before we can in any measure set forth His graces and excellencies in a world from which He has been cast out.

Gilgal was the starting place on this memorable day. At Gilgal Israel were separated unto God by circumcision, and there, when circumcised, God could say to the people, "This day have I rolled away the reproach of Egypt from off you" (Joshua 5: 9). There the flesh was cut off, and there the reproach of Egypt was rolled away. At the Red Sea they were delivered from Egypt, but not until they were circumcised on the banks of Jordan was the reproach of Egypt rolled away.

We know from the Epistle to the Colossians that circumcision is typical of the "putting off the body of the flesh." We have been delivered by death from that evil thing which the Word of God calls the flesh. But that deliverance is in the death of Christ, and faith accepts that we have died with Christ. Based upon this great fact we have the exhortation, "Put to death therefore your members which are upon earth" (Col. 3: 5). The Apostle at once tells us what these members are: "fornication, uncleanness, vile passions, evil lusts, and covetousness which is idolatry." Then too, we are to put off "anger, wrath, malice, blasphemy, filthy communications and lying." It is important to remember that these are not the members of the body, but the members of the flesh. The members of the body we are to yield to God (Rom. 6: 13); the members of the flesh we are to put to death. Again it is not the flesh that we are exhorted to mortify, but the members of the flesh. The flesh has been dealt with at the cross. This faith accepts, but in our daily walk we are to cut off every evidence of the flesh — those ugly and evil things in which we lived when we were in the world. In the measure in which these things are still seen in us, to that extent the reproach of Egypt still clings to us. For all these things proclaim, not only that we have been in the world, but the manner of life we lived in the world, and therefore become a reproach to us. But if these evidences of the flesh are cut off and no longer seen, then the reproach of Egypt is rolled away, for if these things are gone, no man can tell what manner of men we were when living in the world. This putting to death of the members of the flesh is the Christian's Gilgal, and just as Joshua, in the course of his victories, returned again and again to Gilgal, so the Christian, after every fresh victory, must beware of the manifestation of the flesh and unhesitatingly refuse it. This is the first stage of the journey and its importance cannot be overestimated. If we are to represent the Man who has gone to heaven, how necessary that very manifestation of the flesh should be absolutely judged and refused.

Bethel is the next stage. The deep significance of this famous place is supplied by the history of Jacob. On his journey from Beersheba to Haran, he lighted on a certain place where he tarried all night. With the earth for his bed and the stones for his pillow, he lay down to sleep. The Lord appeared to him in a dream giving three unconditional promises to this wanderer. (Gen. 28: 10-15).

1. As to the Land. It would be given to Jacob and his seed. Israel took possession of the land, and lost the land, on the ground of responsibility. They have never yet possessed it according to this promise on the ground of sovereign grace.

2. As to Israel — the seed of Jacob. They will increase like the dust of the earth and spread abroad to the West and to the East, to the North and to the South, and through Israel all the families of the earth shall be blessed.

3. As to Jacob himself. For twenty years he will be a wanderer facing hardships and dangers, but he is assured by the Lord that He will be with him, and keep him, and bring him again into the land. "I will not leave thee," says the Lord, "until I have done that which I have spoken to thee of."

Thus Bethel testifies to God's unchangeable faithfulness to His people in securing a place for them, in securing them for the place, and in so keeping and caring for each one that none shall perish, however rough and however long the journey may be.

As we Christians take our pilgrim journey through this world, how blessed to have the assurance that the home to which we are going is secured to us by the same unchanging faithfulness of God. The Apostle can remind us we are going "to an inheritance incorruptible and undefiled, and that fadeth not away, reserved in the heavens for you." Israel has a land secured on earth, and the Christian a home reserved in heaven.

But more, just as Israel is kept for the land, so, too, the Christian is "kept, guarded, by the power of God through faith unto salvation ready to be revealed in the last time."

And when at last we are gathered home it will be found that not one of His own will be missing. The journey may be long, the way may be rough the opposition great, the conflict fierce — we may often stumble and fall — but the Lord's words to Jacob are applied by the Apostle to ourselves: "I will never leave thee, nor forsake thee." If Gilgal tells of the unchanging evil of the flesh, every activity of which is to be refused, Bethel speaks of the unchanging faithfulness of God in which our souls can rest in perfect confidence.

But in the prophet's day the witness of Gilgal and Bethel to Jehovah's relationship with Israel was but a memory only recalled by faith. To sight, Gilgal and Bethel had become the witness of the people's sin. Amos, the herdsman, charges the people with transgression at Bethel and multiplying transgression at Gilgal. Bethel, as the seat of one of the golden calves, was a centre of idolatry; and while the transgression with idols was universal, at Gilgal it was multiplied. The faith of Elijah looks beyond the awful sin of the nation and recognizes that it is God's purpose to have a people set apart for Himself and brought into blessing on the sole ground of His unchanging faithfulness and unconditional grace.

Similarly in the last days of the Christian dispensation, the cross, which on God's side is the witness of the judgment of the flesh, has become in man's hand an object of universal idolatry, and thus the witness of his sin. How many worship the cross who reject with loathing all that the cross signifies, and hate the Christ who suffered on the cross. Bethel, too, — meaning the house of God — the place of blessing for the display of all that God is in His unchangeable faithfulness, has been degraded into a building of wood and stones to display the pride and glory of man. Nothing either in Elijah's day or our own, so conclusively proves the utter ruin of that which professes the name of God as the corruption of that which is divine. For such there is no hope, and nothing remains but judgment.

This is brought before us in the next stage of Elijah's journey. The prophet is sent to Jericho, the city against which God had pronounced the curse. In defiance of God man had rebuilt the city, only to bring judgment upon himself. Thus Jericho becomes the witness of the judgment of God against those who oppose His people and rebel against Himself. The faith of Elijah foresaw that the rebellious nation was going on to judgment, just as faith today discerns that professing Christendom fast hastens to its doom.

From Jericho Elijah takes his journey to Jordan. As a type Jordan is the river of death. Through it Israel had passed dry shod into the land, and now once again Elijah and Elisha pass over on dry ground, but for them it is a way of escape from the land that was under judgment. This passage through Jordan becomes the witness that all links are severed between God and Israel on the ground of their responsibility. Judgment is upon them, and faith recognizes that death is the only way of escape from the coming judgment.

Gilgal tells us that the flesh must be refused and the reproach of Egypt rolled away if Israel is to inherit the land.

Bethel speaks of the sovereign purpose of God to bless His people on the ground of His unconditional grace.

Jericho witnesses that on the ground of responsibility the nation is under judgment.

Jordan, that the only way of escape from judgment is by death.

In this mystic journey can we not see the foreshadowing of the perfect path of the Lord Jesus in the midst of Israel? No reproach of Egypt was seen in Him. He walked and lived in the light of the unchanging faithfulness of God to His promises. He warned the nation of coming judgment, and took the way of death which broke all links with Israel after the flesh, and opened a door of escape for His disciples from the judgment that was coming upon the nation.

But if, in Elijah, we see shadowed forth the path of the Lord Jesus through this world to heavenly glory, and that by way of death, we see also in Elisha, a picture of the believer who wholeheartedly identifies himself with Christ; who in spirit takes the journey which leads outside this world and who, having seen Christ ascend through the opened heavens into that new place in glory, comes back into a world that is under judgment to witness in grace for the Man that has gone to glory. In Elijah's day there were many sons of the prophets at Bethel and Jericho, but only one man took the journey with the prophet. The sons of the prophets were exceedingly intelligent, they could tell Elisha what was about to happen, but they had no heart to follow Elijah. And many today know a great deal about Christ, are well instructed in Scripture, but they are not prepared to accept the outside place with Christ and they know little of their place with Christ in heaven.

By what power then, we may well ask, is a soul enabled to take this journey? The story of Elisha discovers to us this secret. Another has pointed out some of the steps by which he was led to accompany Elijah. First he was attracted to Elijah. There came a day in his history when Elijah "passed by him" and cast his mantle over him. And was it not a great day in our history when the Lord Jesus drew near to us and we came under the power of His grace and with delight we "ran after" Him? But like Elisha, though we were attracted to Christ there were natural links that held us. Our need and His grace made Christ very attractive but He did not have the first place with us. However, in Elisha's history there came a time when the natural links were broken and then we read, "He arose and went after Elijah and ministered unto him." It is one thing to be saved by Christ — as it were to be under the shelter of His mantle — but it is another stage in our history when we definitely go forth to serve Him — to minister unto Him. Does this mean that we give up our callings to follow Him, that we turn our backs on home and wife and children? Not necessarily. But it does mean that whereas once we pursued our callings simply with some selfish object, now Christ becomes our object Whereas an unconverted child might obey the parents because it is right to do so and out of natural affection, the converted child will obey because it is pleasing to Christ. And when Christ thus becomes the object it can be truly said we have gone after Him and minister unto Him.

But as we follow Christ we grow in the knowledge of Christ, and this leads to a further stage in the history of our souls, we become attached to Him. This is touchingly illustrated in the history of Elisha. Three times on this last day's journey, he can say to Elijah, "I will not leave thee." This is the language of a heart that is held by affection. And love is put to the test. At Gilgal, Bethel, and Jericho, Elisha is tested by the words of Elijah, "Tarry thee here, I pray thee," only to be met by the thrice-repeated response, "I will not leave thee." Though Elijah's journey leads to Bethel, the city of the golden calf, to Jericho, the city of the curse, and to Jordan, the river of death, yet Elisha will follow in the power of love. So Ruth could say in an earlier day, "whither thou goest, I will go;" and the twelve could say in a later day, when many turned back and walked no more with Him, "Lord, to whom shall we go?" Grace had drawn them after Christ, and love held them to Christ.

Moreover, attachment of heart leads to full identification with Elijah. Three times on this last day's journey the Spirit of God uses the words "They two," speaking of identification. At Jericho "They two went on." At the river "They two stood by Jordan," and when the waters were smitten, "they two went over on dry ground." Love delights to accept the fact that we have been identified with Christ in the place of judgment and at the waters of death.

But more, if we have been identified with Christ in death it is in order that we may hold sweet communion with Him in resurrection, and this too is shadowed forth in this lovely story, for having passed on to new ground through the river of death we read, "They still went on and talked." We may have been converted long years ago, but do we still walk with Christ and talk with Christ as we pass along our way?

How blessedly Elisha points the way by which the believer is led to follow Christ outside this judgment-doomed world into His new place of resurrection glory. Attracted to Him in grace, attached to Him in love, identified with Him in death and enjoying fellowship with Him in resurrection.

Arrived on the other side of Jordan, outside the land, all is at once changed. Not until then does Elijah say, "Ask what I shall do for thee." Grace puts all the power of a risen man at the disposal of Elisha. Death has opened the way for the outflow of sovereign grace. Alas! how little we realize the profound fact that all the grace and power of the risen Christ are at our disposal. What an opportunity for Elisha; he has only to ask to obtain. Does he ask for long life, or wealth, or power, or wisdom? Ah! no; his faith rising above all that the natural heart might covet, at once asks for a double portion of Elijah's spirit. He realizes that if he is to remain on earth in the place of Elijah, he will need the spirit of Elijah. Does not this scene carry our thoughts to the Upper Room of John 14? The Lord was about to leave His disciples and ascend to glory, and though He does not say, "Ask what I shall do for thee," yet He says, as it were, "I will make a request for you." "I will pray the Father and He shall give you another Comforter that He may abide with you for ever." How slow we are to realize that a divine Person has gone up to heaven and a divine Person has come down from heaven to dwell in believers. And the Person who has come down is as great as the Person who has gone up. If we are left on this earth to be descriptive of Christ as the exalted Man, we shall need, as one has said, "a power commensurate with Himself."

Elisha had asked a hard thing, nevertheless it shall be granted if, says Elijah, "thou see me when I am taken from thee." "And it came to pass, as they still went on and talked, that, behold, there appeared a chariot of fire, and horses of fire, and parted them both asunder; and Elijah went up by a whirlwind into heaven, and Elisha saw it." He sees Elijah ascend into glory, but on earth he sees him "no more." "Yea," says the Apostle, "though we have known Christ after the flesh, yet now henceforth know we Him no more." And what is the result for the Apostle of seeing Christ in the glory? He answers, "If any man be in Christ he is a new creature, old things are passed away; behold all things are become new." And this, too, is told out in this wonderful story, for we read that Elisha "took hold of his own clothes and rent them in two pieces." But further, not only does he part with the "old things," but he makes them useless. He did not carefully fold and lay them aside, ready to be taken up again at some future time, but "he took hold of his own clothes and rent them in two pieces." He has done with them for ever. Henceforth he is clothed in the mantle of Elijah. But it is the mantle of the man who has gone to heaven by way of Jericho and Jordan. In figure he has gone through judgment and death, and as a result God is free to send back Elisha with a message of grace to a nation that is under judgment. But for this witness to have any power, he must be a true representative of the man in heaven. How blessedly this was so in Elisha's case, for on his return to Jericho from the scene of the rapture, the sons of the prophets at once exclaim, "The spirit of Elijah doth rest on Elisha. And they came to meet him, and bowed themselves to the ground before him."

In like manner, having seen Christ on high, and our vision being filled with new creation glories, it is our privilege to part company with the "old things," and in the power of "the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus" so to represent the Man that has gone to heaven, that the very world is constrained to note that we have been "with Jesus," even as in Elisha's day they said, "The spirit of Elijah doth rest on Elisha."

Elisha: "The Man of God."

Elisha: "The Man of God."

Hamilton Smith.

Contents

Introduction

1. The Call of Elisha 1 Kings 19: 14-21

2. The Servant's Training 2 Kings 2: 1-14

3. The Sons of the Prophets 2 Kings 2: 15-18

4. The Men of the City 2 Kings 2: 19-22

5. The Mockers of Bethel 2 Kings 2: 23-25

6. The Kings and Their Armies 2 Kings 3

7. The Widow's Oil 2 Kings 4: 1-7

8. The Shunammite 2 Kings 4: 8-37

9. The Time of Dearth 2 Kings 4: 38-41

10. The Multitude Fed 2 Kings 4: 42-44

11. The Healing of the Leper 2 Kings 5: 1-19

12. The Servant of the Prophet 2 Kings 5: 20-27

13. The Borrowed Axe 2 Kings 6: 1-7

14. The Syrian Raids 2 Kings 6: 8-23

15. The Siege of Samaria 2 Kings 6: 24-7

16. The Seven Years' Famine 2 Kings 8: 1-6

17. The King of Syria 2 Kings 8: 7-15

18. The Anointing of Jehu 2 Kings 9

19. The Death of Elisha 2 Kings 13: 14-25

PREFACE

The meaning of the name Elisha is "God the Saviour;" and, in conformity with his name, he was used, above all prophets in Old Testament days, to set forth the sovereign grace and mercy of God to a guilty people. In his day the Rulers, and institutions of the land in the hands of the Priesthood, had entirely failed to maintain the people in relationship with God. The warnings of Elijah had failed to recall the people to God. Thus, the utter ruin of God's people being manifested, God falls back upon His own sovereignty and raises up a man who, independent of the sacred and divinely appointed temple, and the official and divinely appointed Priesthood, goes through the Land of the apostate ten tribes performing miracles of mercy, and dispensing the grace of God to all who have faith to avail themselves of it.

Thus, in the history of Elisha, we see an illustration of the important principle that though God appoints institutions for His people to observe, He is not bound by them, nor limited to them, if man fails in his responsibility. In all these ways of sovereign grace Elisha has the high honour of foreshadowing the coming of Christ, the Anointed of God, who, in His day, went about doing good, apart From the authority of Priests and Rulers, asserting the sovereign right of God to rise above the institutions of the law, such as the Sabbath, in order to show grace to sinners.

INTRODUCTION

Never, in the course of Israel's history, had the moral condition of the nation been so low as in the reign of king Ahab. Of this weak and wicked man we read, that he "did evil in the sight of the Lord above all that were before him." The law was broken. The worship of idols was all but universal: men bowed down to the golden calves at Bethel and Dan: false prophets conducted their idolatrous rites in Jehovah's land. Under the leadership of the king, and his idolatrous wife, the nation had apostatized from Jehovah, and proved itself ripe for judgment.

Nevertheless, God lingers over this judgment-doomed nation. Instead of overwhelming the people with the judgment they deserve, God sends His prophet Elijah to expose their true condition and recall them to Himself. The life and miracles of Elijah had been one long witness against the nation's utter apostasy from the moral law and the worship of Jehovah. The years of drought, the fire from heaven, the destruction of the prophets of Baal, the judgment of the Captains and their Fifties, the doom pronounced against the king in the vineyard of Naboth, and the letter to the apostate king of Judah, foretelling a coming plague, were all solemn denunciations of prevailing evils.

Alas! the ministry of Elijah only brought to light the utter ruin of the nation in responsibility. It clearly showed that, not only the nation had broken the law, and sunk into idolatry, but that prophecy — which recalls a failing people to God — was entirely powerless to effect any restoration. In spite of a ministry accompanied by the warning signs of a famine on earth, and fire from heaven, the prophet of God is rejected by a blinded and idolatrous nation. Having fulfilled his ministry, the faithful but rejected prophet forsakes the land of Israel by way of Jordan — the river of death — and is taken to heaven by the whirlwind.

Thus as far as Israel is concerned, all is over. The nation has utterly failed to secure, or maintain, the blessing of God on the ground of the fulfilment of its responsibilities. Apparently nothing remains but the execution of the judgment they deserve. Here, however, we are permitted to see the wonders of the ways of God. For God uses the wickedness of man to disclose the resources of His own heart. Man had utterly failed, and God had shown that He is not indifferent to sin, and in His own time must act in Judgment. Nevertheless, God is sovereign, and reserves to Himself His sovereign rights of grace. Thus it comes to pass, that instead of cutting off the nation in judgment, God falls back on His sovereign grace. On the one hand He secures for Himself a remnant that have not bowed the knee to Baal; on the other hand He sends to a guilty nation a ministry of grace for every one who has faith to avail himself of grace. This ministry, being a ministry of grace, cannot be confined to the bounds of Israel. Its source lies outside the land, and, while sent to Israel, is available to the Gentile.

Elisha is the chosen vessel to carry this new ministry of grace to a ruined world. As one has said Elisha "completes by a ministry of grace in the power of life, what Elijah had begun in righteousness against idolatry." Elisha returns to the land that Elijah had left. The curse was there; widows are in need; hunger and famine are in the land; enemies oppose and death is over all. Into this scene of sin and ruin Elisha comes with power from on high, to display, in the midst of a dark world, the grace of heaven that can meet the need of man. Thus it comes to pass as Elisha passes on his way, the curse is removed; the needs of the widow are met; the barren woman becomes fruitful; the dead are raised; evil is averted; the hungry are fed; the leper is healed; enemies are baffled and defeated; earth's famine yields before heaven's plenty, and out of death there comes forth life.

Thus it becomes manifest that the ministry of Elisha wears an entirely different character to that of his great forerunner. Moreover, the manner of life of the two prophets, while in keeping with their respective ministries, was of necessity wholly different. Elijah led a life, for the most part, remote from the haunts of men: Elisha moved among the masses, on familiar terms with his fellow-men. Elijah was found by lonely streams, in desert ways and mountain caves: Elisha is found in the cities of men, and the camps of kings. Elijah is entertained by a humble widow of Sarepta: Elisha is the guest of the rich woman of Shunem.

These differences of life and manners were right and beautiful in their season. It was fitting that the one who has been rightly described as "the sworn enemy of all persons and institutions which interfered with the honour of the Lord God of Israel," should lead a life of strict separation from the nation that he so sternly condemned. Equally right that the one whose great mission is to declare the mercy of God to a guilty world, should freely move amongst his fellow men.

Nevertheless, the prophets were alike in their holy separation from the evils of the times. If Elisha moves amongst his fellow men as the intimate of kings and, at times, the companion of the great of the earth, he is wholly apart from the evil of their lives. He brings mercy to the guilty but walks apart from their guilt. He enriches others with the blessings of heaven, though content to remain a poor man on earth. As another has so truly said ," It was for others he occupied his resources and strength in God. He was rich, but not for himself. Thus — he meets the inconveniences of nature; — without a purse he relieves the poor; — without a commissariat he feeds armies — the deadly thing he makes harmless; — without bread he gives food to a multitude, and gathers fragments; — without medicine he heals disease; — without armies or soldiers, he defeats enemies; — in famine he supplies a nation; — though dead he communicates life."

May we not add that, in all these shining ways of grace, Elisha is leading our thoughts to that far greater One who became poor that we through His poverty might be rich. In the spirit of Elijah, the great forerunner of Christ had dwelt in desert places, there to bring to light a godly remnant, and there to denounce the evils of a wicked and adulterous generation. Thus he prepared the way of the Lord, who, as the Son of Man, came "eating and drinking" with the children of men, as He moved amongst the needy crowds, dispensing the grace of God in a ruined world.

1. THE CALL OF ELISHA 1 Kings 19: 14-21

Elisha is first brought to our notice in the Lord's charge to Elijah, in the day of the prophet's despondency. Disappointed at the failure of his mission, embittered against the professing people of God, and occupied with himself, Elijah had, with a wounded spirit, spoken well of himself and nothing but evil of God's people. He imagined that he alone was standing for God, and that the entire nation was against him, seeking his life to take it away.

Elijah has to learn that the Lord has other instruments to carry out His government; other servants to maintain a witness for Himself; and, amongst the people of God, seven thousand that have not bowed the knee to Baal. Thus it comes to pass that Elijah has to retrace his steps from Horeb and anoint Elisha, the son of Shaphat, as prophet in his room.

How often in our own day, with its increasing corruption, we, with our limited outlook, may be led to imagine that the work of God depends upon one or two devoted and faithful servants of the Lord, and that with their removal all testimony for the Lord will cease. We have to learn that though servants pass God remains, and that God has other servants in preparation for His service, and, unknown to us, God has His hidden ones who have not bowed down to prevailing evils.

In obedience to the Lord's word, Elijah departs from Horeb to seek Elisha. The one chosen to take the place of the prophet is not found amongst the great men of the earth. God is no respector of persons, and in choosing His servants God is not restricted to the great and noble. He may indeed employ the rich and the learned, kings and priests, as He sees fit. But at times He pours contempt on all our pride by taking up a man from the humblest walks of life to perform the highest spiritual service. He can use a little maid to bless a great man; He can take a lad from the sheepfolds to be the leader of His people Israel; He can use the betrothed of a carpenter to bring into this scene the Saviour of the world; and having brought the Saviour into the world, He can use some lowly fishermen to turn the world upside down. Thus it comes to pass, in the days of Elijah, He calls a simple husbandman from following the plough to be the prophet of his age.

Moreover, those that God calls to His service, are not the idle and ease-loving men of the world. Elisha is patiently pursuing his calling "ploughing with twelve yoke of oxen before him, and he with the twelfth," when the call comes. So David, in an earlier day, was keeping the sheep when called to be the king. And the disciples of a later day were casting their nets into the sea, or mending nets, when called to follow the King of kings.

It is upon this busy man that Elijah casts his mantle, an act that may signify that Elisha is called to take the place, exhibit the character, and act in the spirit of its owner. And thus the spiritual instincts of Elisha would appear to interpret the act, for we read, "He left the oxen and ran after Elijah." If, however, there is a divinely given readiness to follow Elijah, there is a natural reluctance to leave his loved ones. So he can say, "Let, me, I pray thee, kiss my father and my mother, and then I will follow thee." Elijah's answer throws the responsibility of responding to God's call entirely upon Elisha. "Go back again," he says, "for what have I done to thee?" He will use neither force nor command. No pressure shall be put on Elisha: he is left to discern the import of Elijah's action, and he is free to "go back" to his loved ones, or go forward with the rejected and persecuted prophet.

If Elisha's actions betray some looking back to the things that are behind, they also prove him to be an overcomer that celebrates his surrender of his things by providing a feast for others. In his day and measure, as one has remarked, he sold what he had and gave to the poor. Having thus finished with his earthly calling, "he arose, and went after Elijah, and ministered unto him." The man that had hitherto patiently pursued the daily round, toiling in the field, is now to be prepared to set forth the wonders of God's grace by following Elijah as his servant and companion.

2. THE SERVANT'S TRAINING 2 Kings 2: 1-14

We hear nothing of Elisha from the time of his call, until the day when Elijah is translated. This we can understand, seeing that Elisha was anointed to be the prophet in the room of Elijah. The two ministries could not co-exist. When, however, the end of Elijah's pilgrimage is reached, Elisha comes to the front as the companion of his last journey and the witness of his rapture. As we follow these men of God in these mystic scenes, does it not become clear that the circumstances connected with Elijah's translation to heaven, become Elisha's preparation for service on earth?

How often we are permitted to see, in Scripture, that God trains in secret those whom He purposes to use in public. Joseph has his secret training with God in prison, before he can be a public witness for God in the palace. For forty years Moses keeps the flock of Jethro at the back of the desert, before he becomes the leader of God's flock through the desert. Unknown to others, David overcomes the lion and bear, before he publicly enters into conflict with the giant. So Elisha must have his training as the servant and companion of Elijah, before he can take his place as the prophet of God and the witness of grace. Thus only will he be a vessel and fit for the Master's use and prepared unto every good work.

In this last journey there are scenes to be visited, tests to be faced, and lessons to be learnt. The places visited, so famous in Israel's history with God, must surely have had deep significance for Elisha as indeed for all who would serve the Lord.

Gilgal, the starting point of their journey, was the place of Israel's first encampment in the land, after their passage of the Jordan. There the people were circumcised, and there the Lord could say to Joshua, "This day have I rolled away the reproach of Egypt from off you" (Joshua 4: 19; Joshua 5: 2-9). In the light of Christianity we are privileged to enter into the spiritual meaning of circumcision. From the Epistle to the Colossians we understand that this rite sets forth the judgment of the body of the flesh in the death of Christ, and the believer's practical mortification of the flesh (Col. 2: 11; Col. 3: 5). Not only has God dealt with the believer's sins, but, at the cross, God has dealt with the old man that produced the sins. God's abhorrence of the flesh, His judgment upon the flesh, and His sentence of death against the flesh, have all been expressed in, and borne by, Christ on the cross. So the believer can say, "Our old man has been crucified with Christ." On the ground of what God has wrought through Christ, the believer is exhorted to "mortify" every form in which the flesh may seek to show itself. We are to treat every expression of the flesh as a member of that "old man" upon which death has been executed. If the flesh is thus judged the reproach of Egypt will be rolled away from us. It will no longer be manifest that we have ever been in the world; the manner of life we lived when in the world will no longer be allowed or seen. How deeply important that we should learn, and put in practice, this first great lesson, if we, in our day, are to be, in any sense, in the room of the glorious Man that has gone to heaven.

Bethel was the second stage of the journey — a place famous in the history of the patriarch Jacob (Gen. 28: 15-19). There the Lord appeared to poor failing Jacob in the dreary place where his sin had cast him, and in sovereign grace blessed him unconditionally. For twenty years Jacob was to be a wanderer in strange lands; but he is assured that God will be with him, God will keep him, God will bring him again to the Land, and that God will be true to His word. Thus Elisha, at the commencement of his ministry, is assured, like Jacob of old, that he is blessed by the sovereign grace of a faithful God of which he is to become the witness. Good too if we take our pilgrim journey in all the blessed assurance that God is with us, will support us, and bring us at last to see for ourselves that what His love has purposed for us is the only thing worth living for.

Jericho is the next halting place in this remarkable journey. It was by Jericho that Joshua had the revelation of the Captain of the host of the Lord, with the drawn sword. At Jericho, too, the people first encountered the enemy that barred their entrance to the Land; there to learn that the Captain of the Lord's host was mightier than all the power of the enemy (Joshua 5: 13-15: 6). Good for the man who is going to witness before kings and face their murderous hatred, to be reminded that in fighting the Lord's battles he will be supported by the Lord's host directed by the Captain of the host. And so, in after years, Elisha found, when besieged in Dothan by a host with horses and chariots, that the power for him was greater than the host of the Syrians that encompassed him, for "Behold, the mountain was full of horses and chariots of fire." In this the Christian day, it is still our privilege to take our journey to glory, and face every enemy, that disputes our present possession and enjoyment of God's purpose for us, under the leadership of the Captain of our salvation (Heb. 2: 10).

The last stage of this notable journey is reached at Jordan, the river that is such a constant type of actual death by which all links with the world are broken. Both Elijah and Elisha cross it, indeed, dry shod; but typically they pass through death, one to ascend to heavenly scenes, the other to witness of heavenly grace in a world to which in spirit he is dead.

Thus, may we not say, that through these notable places, Elisha is reminded, and we are to learn, at Gilgal the holiness of God that demands the judgment of the flesh; at Bethel the unchanging grace of God which blesses us, keeps us, and secures to us the end of our journey; at Jericho the mighty power of God by which we are sustained; and at Jordan, of separation from the world that we may enter upon heavenly ground and become the witnesses of a heavenly life that, setting forth the grace of God, can say, "Is it a time to receive money, and to receive garments, and oliveyards, and vineyards, and sheep, and oxen, and menservants, and maidservants?" (2 Kings 5: 26).

Furthermore, not only is Elisha reminded of great truths at the different stages of this last journey, but his affections are put to the test by Elijah's thrice repeated words, "Tarry here, I pray thee." The instructions to go forward to these different places were given to Elijah. No command was given to Elisha to accompany him. If then he follows Elijah it is wholly a question of affection. And the test draws out his affection, for three times Elisha replies, "As the Lord liveth, and as thy soul liveth, I will not leave thee."

Has this no voice for believers in this our day? Is it not by affection for Christ that we are moved to learn the lessons that come before us in the different stages of this striking journey? The doctrine of God's judgment on the flesh, must first be learned as the starting point of our identification with Christ; for who can walk with Christ with unjudged flesh? But can it be learnt otherwise than by hearts that are set upon Christ? Then, too, the truth of the House of God, set forth by Bethel, discovering to us the purpose of God, can only be learnt by a heart that longs to know the mind of Christ. Further, God's judgment on the world system, set forth in Jericho, can only be entered into by one, who in mind and affection is set upon another world. Lastly, the lesson of Jordan — the waiving and setting aside of the earthly order in favour of a present heavenly order of things, calls for a love that can overcome the land that flows with milk and honey, by being set upon the Man, that has gone to heaven.

Moreover, there were those who twice reminded Elisha that the Lord was about to take away his master. These sons of the prophets, with more knowledge than heart, would only hinder Elisha's communion with his master, by occupying him with himself and his loss. Elisha silences these intrusions upon his soul's communion by saying, "I know it; hold ye your peace." He says, as it were, "Why should I not go with my lord Elijah and learn what it means to be in his company at Gilgal? Why should I not learn with him the lesson of Bethel? Why should I be parted from him, when passing through Jericho? Why should I not be identified! with him in his passage through Jordan, even if it means leaving behind the earthly blessings of the Land, to be found with him in the outside place of reproach; for beyond the place of reproach there is another scene, a heavenly scene, and my affections are captured by the one that is going into that new scene?"

Thus the last stage of the journey is reached. Intruders have been silenced, affections have been kindled, leading Elisha to cleave to his master through all these changing scenes. The parting moment has come; Elijah is about to be rapt to heaven; Elisha, bereft of his master, is to be left behind in an apostatizing religious nation, who once were Jehovah's people. In this solemn moment Elijah utters his final word, "Ask what I shall do for thee, before I be taken away from thee." Could this offer have been made before? Is it not, as it were, the supreme test for Elisha? Will not the answer make manifest whether Elisha has entered into the spirit of his call? Whether he has profited by his companionship with Elijah? Whether, above all, he has learnt the lessons of Gilgal, Bethel, Jericho, and Jordan? Will it not make manifest whether Elisha has before him earthly gain, fleshly ambition, and worldly power, or is his sole purpose henceforth to be in the prophet's room, and witness to the sovereign grace of God as the representative of man that has gone to heaven?

Very blessedly Elisha's answer discloses his single-hearted devotedness. He asks for neither long life, nor earthly riches, nor worldly fame. He covets none of those things the natural man values, but rather that which the spiritual man needs; for he says, "Let a double portion of thy spirit be upon me." This by no means implies that he asks for twice as much gift, or power, as Elijah possessed. The Hebrew word implies the double portion of the elder son (Deut. 21: 17). Only Elisha asks not for a double portion of material wealth, but for a double portion of spiritual power. Other prophets will need spiritual power, but, if Elisha is anointed to take the place of Elijah — to be in his room — then, indeed, he will require a spiritual power twice as much as that of any other prophet.

Elijah replies, "Thou hast asked a hard thing." To gain riches, and fame, and worldly power, may entail toil and vexation of spirit, but they are not "hard" things, for men of the world can obtain these material advantages. To obtain, or confer, spiritual power is entirely outside the capabilities of the natural man. Nevertheless, says Elijah, "If thou see me when I am taken from thee, it shall be so unto thee; but if not it shall not be so." The granting of his request for a double portion of spiritual power, is made to turn upon Elisha seeing Elijah in his new position as the ascended man. The sight of Elijah in heaven will be the secret of Elisha's power on earth.

Herein, surely, are mysteries of which Christianity has revealed the spiritual meaning. For do we not know that faith's vision of Christ in the glory is the secret of power for the Christian on earth? Was it not strikingly so in the case of the first Christian martyr, for looking up steadfastly into heaven he could say, "Behold, I see the heavens opened, and the Son of Man standing on the right hand of God." In the light of that vision Stephen was so endued with power from on high that, like his Master, he can pray for his murderers, and, amidst the falling stones, calmly commit his spirit to the Lord Jesus. So, too, the Apostle of the Gentiles, commences his Christian career with the sight of Christ in the glory; and in the light of that vision he walked as a witness for Christ on earth through all the years of his devoted life. For ourselves does not the same Apostle tell us that, "We all looking on the glory of the Lord with unveiled face are transformed according to the same image from glory to glory" (2 Cor. 3: 18)? We must catch the vision of the Lord in glory, if in any sense we are to represent on earth that blessed and perfect Man who has gone to glory.

So it came to pass, "as they still went on and talked, that, behold there appeared a chariot of fire, and horses of fire, and parted them both asunder; and Elijah went up by a whirlwind into heaven." Elisha saw it, and cried, "My father, my father, the chariot of Israel and the horsemen there

Nothing quite like this great scene had ever taken place on earth. As one has said, "It is far above the silent removal of Enoch, and far below the calm majesty, of the ascension, when no chariots of fire were needed to sweep the Risen Body of the Redeemer from the earth: when as they beheld, He was taken up, and a cloud received Him out of their sight."

If, however, Elisha sees his master ascend to heaven, we also read, "He saw him no more." He sees him in the heavens to which he had ascended, but on earth he sees him no more. Has this no voice for the Christian? Does not the Apostle say, "Henceforth know we no man after the flesh: yea, though we have known Christ after the flesh, yet now henceforth know we Him no more" (2 Cor. 5: 16)? Words that by no means imply that we are not to consider Christ in His path through this world, and learn of Him, as we delight our souls in His lowly grace, His tender love, and infinite holiness. They plainly tell us, however, that we are no longer to know Him in connection with Israel and this world. We are, rather, to know Him as the Leader of a heavenly band, and in heavenly relationships. Devoted but ignorant disciples, may say, "We trusted that it had been He which should have redeemed Israel." Corrupt Christendom may attempt to connect the Name of Christ with their schemes for the improvement of man and the betterment of the world; but the Christian taught in the mind of the Lord will take his place outside the world, while pressing on to Christ in glory, refusing to connect Christ with a world that nailed Him to the cross.

The result of thus knowing Christ in His new place in heaven is very happily set forth in picture in the case of Elisha. The vision of the ascended Elijah leads to a twofold action on his part. First "he took hold of his own clothes, and rent them in pieces"; an act that signifies the laying aside of one character in order to exhibit a character that is entirely new, for the garment speaks of the practical righteousness of the saints and the character they exhibit before the world. Elisha did not simply lay them aside to be taken again on certain occasions; he made them useless for future wear by rending them in twain. Then, secondly, "He took up also the mantle of Elijah that fell from him." Henceforth he will exhibit the character of the man that has gone to heaven. So, too, the Apostle after saying we know Christ no more after the flesh, can go on to say, "Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: old things are passed away: behold, all things are become new."

At once Elisha acts in the power of the new life. He comes back into a ruined nation, guilty of having broken the law, defiled by idolatry, and apostate from Jehovah, and in the midst of this scene of wretchedness and desolation he presents the sovereignty of God rising above all man's sin, and acting in the supremacy of grace for those who have faith to avail themselves of blessing on the ground of grace.

3. THE SONS OF THE PROPHETS 2 Kings 2: 15-18.

The blessed effects of Elisha's training are now made manifest to others. He becomes a witness before the world of the one that has gone to heaven. The sons of the prophets take note of his new character; for, looking upon Elisha, they say, "The spirit of Elijah doth rest upon Elisha." They look at a man on earth, and they see the spirit and character of a man in heaven.

Has this no voice for us in this Christian day? Does this not set forth in picture our highest privilege and responsibility as Christians? For are we not left on earth to represent the Man in the glory? Paul could speak of the Corinthian saints as being "Christ's epistle" known and read of all men. The Spirit had written Christ in their hearts, and, in the measure in which the Spirit read Christ in their hearts, the world read Christ in their lives.

Alas! are we not too often like the sons of the prophets, who could appreciate the spirit of Elijah in another, though exhibiting little of this spirit in themselves? They had a measure of knowledge, for they knew when the moment had come for Elijah to be rapt to heaven, but they had no heart to follow in that last journey. They stood to view "afar off"; they watched the prophet go down to Jordan, they never, like Elisha, went through Jordan. They never walked and talked with Elijah beyond Jordan. They never beheld the chariot of fire, and horses of fire, nor did they see the prophet rapt to heaven by a whirlwind.

Nevertheless they recognise, with a measure of appreciation, the blessed effects upon the man that has seen these wonders. They bow themselves to the ground before him, and thus show that they see, in Elisha, one who moves on a higher spiritual level than themselves. They are willing to take the place of servants to one whom they recognise as servant of the Lord.

Are we not oftentimes like these men? We see that Christ has died for us; we are slow to accept His death as our death. We know perhaps little of a walk in communion with Him on resurrection ground, and what it is to behold Him as a living Man in the glory. Yet we can appreciate in others the effect of this personal intimacy with Christ. For there is no gainsaying the man who is characterized by the spirit of the Man that has gone to heaven. The world could take knowledge of Peter and John, "that they had been with Jesus "; and looking upon Stephen they "saw his face as it had been the face of an angel," and "were not able to resist the wisdom and the spirit by which he spake" (Acts 4: 13; Acts 6: 10, 15).

Not only, however, were the sons of the prophets dull of heart, but they were slow of apprehension, and worse they were marked by unbelief. And yet withal they had a great show of natural strength: they have their "fifty strong men." But the thoughts of nature cannot rise above the mountains and valleys of earth. Only faith's trans-piercing gaze can see the vision of the man in heaven.

Thus unbelief is the first characteristic of the sphere in which Elisha is to be a witness; and this is found in those who make a religious profession. Nature cannot believe that the grace of God can take a man to heaven, though ready to suggest that the Spirit of God can take a man up to cast him down to earth. They knew, indeed, that Elijah was to be taken away, but apparently they did not believe that he was taken to heaven. They had knowledge, but they lacked faith. Elisha, ashamed of their unbelief, allows them to prove the vanity of their natural resources, by sending their fifty men on a fruitless three days search

4. THE MEN OF THE CITY 2 Kings 2: 19-22.

The world in the midst of which Elisha is a 1 witness to the grace of God is not only an unbelieving world, but, as the result of its unbelief, is a world under the curse. Very fittingly then Elisha's mission of grace commences at Jericho, the place of the curse. Joshua had said, "Cursed be the man before the Lord that riseth up and buildeth this city of Jericho: he shall lay the foundation thereof in his firstborn, and in his youngest son shall he set up the gates of it." So it came to pass, for in the days of Ahab, a man arose who defied the Lord by building Jericho, with the loss of his two sons "according to the word of the Lord that he spake by Joshua" (Joshua 6: 26: 1 Kings 16: 31).

The situation was pleasant, but the water was bad and the ground barren. Such is this world; at times outwardly fair, but over all the blight of the curse. Its sources of refreshment fail to satisfy. It promises much but brings nothing to fruition. It cannot meet the needs of man.

Elisha, however, is present with healing grace; a beautiful picture of Christ who, having nothing of this world's goods, yet dispenses blessing on every hand, using His grace for the good of others. The men of the city have faith to avail themselves of the grace that is in Elisha. They come to him with their need. The prophet asks for a new cruse and salt therein, speaking of the preserving character of grace linked, not with the flesh, but with a "new vessel." Was not Christ the "new vessel" filled with the preserving grace of God?

Then we read, Elisha "went forth unto the spring of the waters, and cast the salt in there, and said, Thus saith the Lord, I have healed these waters; there shall not be from thence any more death or barren land." So will it be in the days yet to come: in the very scene where the curse was pronounced, where the curse has fallen, there the curse will be removed. God will dwell with men — new vessels, made like to Christ filled with preserving grace. Then indeed there will be no more death nor curse, for the former things will have passed away.

5. THE MOCKERS OF BETHEL 2 Kings 2: 23-25.

In reading the story of Elisha it must ever be remembered that his mission was to present the grace of God to a guilty nation. For this reason his miracles are almost without exception miracles of grace. The three exceptions — the mocking youths who are cursed, Gehazi who is stricken with leprosy, and the death of the lord on whose hand the king leaned, are in perfect keeping with the prophet's mission. In every case the judgment is the direct outcome of slighting grace.

Thus while witness is given to God's sovereign grace in a number of striking miracles, there is also a witness to the inevitable judgment that will overtake those who reject, or falsify, or slight, the grace of God. At the beginning of his ministry Elisha has to learn that if he brings grace and blessing into the scene of the curse, he will be confronted by those who reject grace, and mock at the vessel of grace. Thus it comes to pass as the prophet went up to Bethel, he is met by a band of youths who mock at the ascension of Elijah. In derision they say to Elisha, "Go up, thou bald head; go up, thou bald head.

The sons of the prophets betray ignorance and unbelief as to the ascension. The "men of the city" may be indifferent to ascension, but the children of Bethel mock at ascension. In Bethel, the place that was distinguished in the history of Israel as the house of God, we find a band of mockers. Nor is it otherwise in this day of grace. There is still ignorance and unbelief in the religious circle, and indifference among the men of the world, but the most terrible mark of the last days will be the appearance of scoffers in the Christian profession — that which professes to be the house of God. For such there is nothing but judgment, — a judgment that begins at the house of God (2 Peter 3: 3: 1 Peter 4: 17).

Thus it was in the day of Elisha. The ascension of Elijah to heaven, the double portion of the spirit that rests on Elisha, the activities of grace for the blessing of man, are merely subjects for sport. The solemn result is that the one who is the minister of grace invokes the judgment upon those who reject it.

6. THE KINGS AND THEIR ARMIES 2 Kings 3

Hitherto Elisha has been the minister of grace in a limited circle: he now commences his public ministry in connection with the apostate nation. Through his intervention, three kings and their armies are saved from destruction, and a great victory gained over the enemies of God's people.

The whole scene vividly portrays the low and humiliating condition of the professing people of God. Jehoram, the king of the ten tribes, though putting away certain idols, wrought evil in the sight of the Lord, and departed not from the sins of Jeroboam which made Israel to sin. In the government of God, Moab is allowed to rebel. To quell this rebellion Jehoram seeks the aid of the king of Judah. Jehoshaphat, himself a God-fearing man, falls into the snare. He abandons godly separation, enters into an unholy alliance with Jehoram, and thus sinks to the level of this wicked king. He joins with him to fight his battles, saying, "I will go up, I am as thou art, my people as thy people, and my horses as thy horses."

Moreover, both these kings — who profess the worship of Jehovah — are found in alliance with the heathen king of Edom, an enemy of God. Thus we have the strange alliance of a wicked king, a God-fearing king, and a heathen king.

Without thought of God or reference to God, these three kings make their plans, and proceed to put them into practice. All seems to promise well until, at the end of seven days, they are confronted with circumstances that threaten their destruction, not by hand of the enemy, but from lack of water.

Stirred by an uneasy conscience, the king of Israel sees in these circumstances the hand of the Lord, who, he assumes, has called together these three kings to deliver them into the hands of Moab. If, however, the trial arouses the guilty fears of the apostate king, it also manifests the God-fearing character of the king of Judah. Both kings think of the Lord; one can only see in the trial that the Lord is against them in judgment; the other sees in the trial an occasion to turn to the Lord as their only resource. Jehoshaphat says, "Is there not here a prophet of the Lord, that we may enquire of the Lord by him?" Far better had he enquired of the Lord before starting on this expedition in company with the king of Israel. However, faced with the terrible circumstances, he is recalled to the Lord.

This enquiry brings Elisha to the front. The prophet's first words bear a bold witness against the wicked king of Israel, with whom he refuses to be associated, for, he asks, "What have I to do with thee?" This question is not only an exposure of the apostasy of the king of Israel, but a rebuke to the king of Judah, Jehoshaphat, a true saint, but who, walking according to the flesh, had formed an unholy alliance with Jehoram, and said, "I am as thou art, and my people as thy people." Elisha, walking according to the spirit of Elijah, refuses all association with Jehoram, saying, "What have I to do with thee?"

Doubtless, the king of Judah would never have consented to bow down with Jehoram before the golden calves. Nevertheless, he is ensnared into joining with one to fight the Lord's enemies with whom he cannot worship. Alas! how often in Christian days, has this scene been re-enacted. Under the plea of love, and helping in the service of the Lord, the believer has been drawn into association with those with whom he could not join in worship before the Lord. Such alliances set the blessing of men above the honour of the Lord. Are we not thus warned against the easy-going kindness of human nature that can at times betray us into thoughtlessly saying to those who are in a false position, I am as thou art, my people as thy people"? Again does not this scene warn us to "Watch and pray, that ye enter not into temptation"? Not only to "watch" against the snares of the enemy, but to "pray," so that every step is taken in dependence upon God. It is well that we turn to God when a false step has plunged us into difficulty; but better far to walk in the spirit of prayer and dependence, and thus escape every crooked path.

Elisha, while refusing all association with Jehoram, and indirectly rebuking Jehoshaphat, does not hesitate to link himself with what is of God, and with the man that is in any little measure standing for God. He thus regards the presence of Jehoshaphat; otherwise he would not have looked toward the king of Israel, nor seen him.

None the less, the confusion caused by this unholy alliance between the two kings, is so great, that Elisha is hampered in discerning the mind of the Lord. Hence he calls for a minstrel. His mind must be diverted from all that is around him, and put in touch with heavenly scenes to know the Lord's mind. No minstrel was needed to condemn the apostate king of Israel, nor rebuke the folly and weakness of the king of Judah; when, however, it is a question of discerning the mind of heaven, then at once there is the need of the minstrel. The man of God must have his mind diverted from the utter confusion around, the destruction with which God's people are faced, and the consequent distress into which they are plunged. He cannot learn the mind of the Lord by dwelling upon the sorrowful circumstances. He is not indifferent to them; he does not ignore them; but if he is to learn how the Lord would have him to act he must be lifted above the distressing circumstances of an earthly scene into the serene calm of that heavenly scene into which Elijah had ascended, and from which Elisha had come forth to minister the sovereign grace of God in the midst of a ruined people.

In our own day, do we not at times need the minstrel - or that which the minstrel signifies? Are we not often faced with circumstances in which the evil is so apparent that it is easily detected, and condemned without any great call upon our spirituality? To discern, however, the mind of the Lord in the circumstances, demands far greater spirituality. For this we need to have our spirits withdrawn from the things of earth so that, undistractedly looking to the Lord, we may be able to see the condition of His people as He sees it, and thus gain His mind. The fact that it is easy to expose the evils that afflict the people of God, but difficult to find the remedy, only proves how much we need the minstrel — the abstraction of spirit from the confused issues amongst the people of God, that will alone enable us to learn the mind of the Lord.

Had Elisha only taken into account the wickedness of Jehoram, the failure of Jehoshaphat, and the distressing circumstances into which they were brought by this unholy alliance, he might have argued that the kings were only reaping what they had sown, and that evidently it was the Lord's mind that they should suffer a great defeat.

By the minstrel Elisha is lifted above the circumstances of God's people on earth into the calm of the Lord's presence in heaven, there to learn that the mind of the Lord is very different from what the mind of nature might expect. Elisha discovers that the Lord was going to use the occasion of His people's failure, and distress, to vindicate His own glory and magnify His grace. Not only would He preserve His people from the destruction that their own folly merited, but He would grant them a signal victory over their enemies. And thus it came to pass, the kings and their armies are saved, by God's gracious and miraculous intervention, and a great victory is gained over their enemies.

Nevertheless, it is well for us to note that, in spite of God's grace delivering His people from destruction, and giving them a victory over their enemies, there is no revival Godward. In Judah, there are indeed revivals Godward, as well as victories manward; but in all the sad history of Israel, though God may come to their help in their distress, there are no recorded revivals toward God.

7. THE WIDOW'S OIL 2 Kings 4: 1-7.

The God that "telleth the number of the stars," and "calleth them by their names," is the God that "healeth the broken in heart." The stars are too high, and the sorrows of a broken heart too deep, for us to reach: but the God that can count the myriad stars of heaven, can stoop to heal one broken heart on earth (Ps. 147: 3, 4). The grace of God that has saved kings and their armies from destruction, is able to meet the need of one desolate widow. Elisha, too, the minister of this grace, is as ready to come to the help of this lowly widow as before he had been the willing servant of kings. If he saves the great ones of the earth in their difficulties, he will also save the poor in their distress.

The widow of a son of the prophets — one who feared the Lord — is threatened with the loss of her two sons to meet the claims of her creditor. That the widow of a prophet could be reduced to such straits is surely a solemn reflection on the low condition of the nation.

However, the woman has faith to avail herself of the grace that is ministered by Elisha. She spreads out her case before the prophet. He enquires, "What shall I do for thee? Tell me, what hast thou in the house?" Thus she is not only a woman with deep need, but it becomes manifest that her own resources are utterly insufficient to meet the need.

This surely is in harmony with the way of the Lord; for in His day, when the disciples tell Him of the need of the multitude, before exercising His grace, He makes manifest their utter inability to meet the case by asking, "How many loaves have ye?" The Lord's question brings to light that they had but five loaves and two small fishes. But what are they among so many? So Elisha's question brings to light that the widow has nothing in her house "save a pot of oil." But how can that save her from the claims of the creditor?

Such questions, whether on the part of the Master or the servant, prepare the way for the display of the grace of God. The Lord takes the five loaves and the two fishes and looking up to heaven blesses them. Thus having brought the disciples' little in touch with heaven's plenty, it more than meets the needs of the multitude. So with the widow's pot of oil: when brought into touch with the power of God in grace, it will more than meet her need.

Nevertheless, Elisha uses the pot of oil, even as the Lord uses the loaves and the fishes. In both cases they are provisions of God, and as such are not ignored. Another has said, "God does not allow us to be placed in circumstances which bear no evidence of His providing mercies. They may be very small and scanty, yet faith appropriates them, and encouraging the soul in God proclaims, 'The Lord is my helper,' not outside His mercies, but through them." God had provided the widow with the personal means to meet her need, though she had to be directed how to use the means in dependence upon God. The neighbours can only provide the occasion to use the means at her disposal. Again it has been said, "The testimony in asking the loan of an empty vessel was that she, who was known to be in such abject circumstances, had something to put into them. She might doubtless have been taunted that her poverty was notorious, and that it was folly to borrow empty vessels. She had only boldly to say, 'The Lord is my helper.'" In using the means she must, however, shut the door upon all outside influences, and thus express her dependence upon God. Thus, while the grace of God comes in to meet her need, God does not ignore the gift with which she was endowed, small though it may be. In using it in dependence upon God she finds that it increases, with the result that her debts are paid and means provided for her living. Such is the mercy of God and the way it takes to meet our necessities. It was thus with the multitude in the Lord's day: their need was fully met, but the mercy of God was greater than their need. When all were filled there were still twelve baskets of fragments gathered up.

Moreover, has not this mystic scene an underlying spiritual meaning for believers? Here was one who wanted a blessing from God, and yet had nothing in her house save a pot of oil. Nevertheless, in the pot of oil there was the potential means provided by God to meet all her needs, and sustain her life. However, in order that God may use the oil, He needs empty vessels. The woman's part was to provide the empty vessels, God will fill them. There was no lack in the supply of oil. The lack came on the woman's side. The oil stayed because there was not a vessel more.

Thus it is with the believer to-day who desires that all his spiritual needs may be met, and that he may enter upon the fulness of life. He has the power for this life in the gift of the Holy Spirit, of whom oil in Scripture is the constant type. There is the exhortation, "Be filled with the Spirit." However, to be filled with the Spirit, God must have empty vessels. There is oftentimes with us the allowance of unjudged flesh. The heart is filled with so much that is not Christ. The world in different degrees, and the flesh in varied forms, is allowed, and thus there is little room for the oil. We need to shut the door upon the world, and the flesh, in order that the Spirit that we possess may fill our hearts and, thus walking according to the Spirit and minding the things of the Spirit, we may find life and peace, "for the mind of the flesh is death; but the mind of the Spirit life and peace" (Rom. 8: 6, N. Tr.).

"What is our work when God a blessing would impart?

To bring the empty vessel of a needy heart."

Nor is the application of this incident limited to the individual. The Church, widowed by Christ's absence, fails to meet her responsibilities. Yet the Holy Ghost abides, and as we recognise His presence, and are subject to His ministry, we are enabled to face all our responsibilities, and as a result of God's operation live of the rest. All the fulness of the Godhead, as set forth in Christ in glory, is available for us.

8. THE SHUNAMMITE (2 Kings 4: 8-37).

The beautiful story of the Shunammite was cast in a dark day in the history of Israel. The king of Israel "wrought evil in the sight of the Lord." The idols set up by Jeroboam were still worshipped by the people. The morally decadent nation was moving on to judgment.

In spite of the low state of the professing people of God, we are permitted to see that God was working in sovereign grace, through His servant Elisha, bringing to light a remnant that God had reserved to Himself, of whom the Shunammite is a shining example. Her story cannot fail to encourage believers who find themselves living in a yet darker day. On every hand the corrupt systems of Christendom are seeking to unite in a great worldly union in which every vital truth of Christianity will be lost, only to end in uniting into a lifeless mass to be spued out of Christ's mouth. Yet how good to know that in such a day God is working in sovereign grace, and still has His elect; little known by the world, but well known and recognised by God. As it was in the days of Elisha, and in the days of Malachi, so it has been in every dark day, and still is in these the darkest of all days — the closing days of Christendom.

In such days God observes, and listens to those who fear His name, and speak often one to another; and He keeps a book of remembrance for those that fear the Lord, and think upon His name. Thus it is that God has kept in remembrance for His praise, and our encouragement, the beautiful traits in the character of the Shunammite, that witness to the reality of her faith, and mark her off as one of God's elect.

She comes before us as a great woman of Shunem — a woman of wealth and position. None the less she was not ashamed to constrain a humble ploughman to enter her house to eat bread. She was not forgetful to entertain strangers. Her faith in God was proved by her hospitality to the servant of God, and she had her reward.

Moreover, there was with her spiritual discernment. She can say to her husband, of Elisha, "I perceive that this is an holy man of God." Blessed, indeed, that there should have been in Elisha the display of a character which marked him, in the eyes of others, as "an holy man of God;" blessed, too, that in the great woman of Shunem there was an appreciation of such a character. We may well covet both things — the Christian life so lived that all men can discern that we are disciples of Christ; and the deep appreciation of such a life when set forth in others. Does this not again bespeak the faith of God's elect? As we should say, "Whosoever believeth that Jesus is the Christ is born of God: and every one that loveth Him that begat loveth him also that is begotten of Him" (1 John 5: 1).

Furthermore, her faith leads to practical service. It was no part of her work as a woman to go forth in public service, but she did what she could. She uses her means to make provision in private, for one that God was using in public. Moreover, she does so in a way that proves she had right spiritual instincts. She knew what was suited to one who witnessed against the wickedness of men, and testified to the grace of God. Therefore it is that she does not make provision for the prophet according to the resources of her wealth, and the rich appointments that would be natural to a great woman. She only provides that which would be suited to the simple tastes and needs of "an holy man of God." "A little chamber" with simple furnishings — a bed, a table, a stool, and a candlestick — she felt would be in accord with the mind of one who was apart from the world and its ways, and who had been in touch with heavenly scenes.

Thus it is she meets the need of the prophet; but she does so without ostentation. She entertains according to the needs and tastes of her guest, and with no thought of exalting herself in the eyes of her guest by making a parade of her wealth. In the "little chamber" there was no provision to meet the lust of the eye, the lust of the flesh and the pride of life; but there was all necessary provision to meet the need of a heavenly stranger.

And this perception of his tastes, and provision for his needs, is duly appreciated by the prophet, who gladly avails himself of her kindness. Furthermore, Elisha will show that he is not unmindful of her goodness, and would fain make some recompense. He has just been the instrument of saving kings, captains, and their armies from an overwhelming catastrophe, and doubtless, at the moment, could have obtained favours from high quarters. Would then this great woman like Elisha to speak to the king, or captain of the host, on her behalf? Her answer is very beautiful, and gives further proof that she is imbued with the spirit of God's elect. She says, "I dwell among mine own people." She is satisfied to be outside the high circles of a corrupt world, and has no desire for its distinctions and favours. She would fain pursue her retired way with her own people, content to be unknown by the great ones of the earth. Happy for us, if belonging to that privileged heavenly company, that the Lord recognises as "His own" we take a place outside this world, not fearing its frowns, nor courting its favours, and whole-heartedly identify ourselves with that company as our "own company" (John 13: 1: Acts 4: 23).

Elisha, however, has other resources to draw upon than the kings and captains of this world. He is in touch with higher powers and heavenly courts. He can draw upon the mighty power of God "who quickeneth the dead." Blessing from this heavenly source the woman will not refuse, though, at the moment, what Elisha proposes, seems almost beyond her faith. However, in due time, she learns like the wife of Abraham, in a day that was past, and the wife of Zacharias, in a day yet to come, that God can quicken the dead, and that what He has promised He is able to perform. So it comes to pass; in due season, she embraces a son.

There is, however, another and a deeper lesson she has to learn. Through experience, trying indeed to the flesh, she will discover that the life-giving God is also the God of resurrection. Had not Abraham to learn this lesson on Mount Moriah? And have we not also to learn that God is not only the Quickener who gives life, He is also the God of resurrection that can give back life when death has shown its power? To learn this lesson, Abraham, in his day, had to bind Isaac to the altar on Mount Moriah, and the woman must face the death of her beloved child. So it came to pass when the child was grown, there came a day when he was stricken down in the field and was carried to the mother to die in her arms.

This sore trial very blessedly brings out the faith of the Shunammite. In perfect calmness she lays the dead child on the bed of the man of God, and shutting the door upon him went out. She utters no word of what has happened to her husband, but simply calls upon him to supply her with a young man, and one of the asses, to go to the man of God. The one who was the instrument to give life is the one to whom she turns in the presence of death.

Her husband, ignorant of what has happened, asks, "Wherefore wilt thou go to him to-day? It is neither new moon, nor sabbath." If he thinks of the man of God, it is only in connection with new moons and sabbaths. Like many another, in this day, his only thought of God is connected with a religious festival, or the outward observance of a day. The links that faith has with God are matters of life and death. Faith, however, may not be able to argue with unbelief, or meet the questions raised by mere reason; but faith can say in the darkest moment, "It is well" (N. Tr.). Thus the faith of the Shunammite, rising above the sorrow that filled her mother's heart, knowing that the dead child is lying in the prophet's chamber, and in the face of all the questions of unbelief, can say, "It is well."

Having obtained the servant and the ass, she hastens to the man of God. Elisha, seeing her coming, sends Gehazi to meet her. To all his enquiries she has but one answer, "It is well;" but she will not unburden her heart to the servant. Pressing on to the man of God she flings herself at his feet uttering a few broken sentences that reveal to Elisha the cause of her trouble.

Immediately Elisha sends Gehazi with his staff to lay upon the face of the child. However, this does not satisfy the woman: her faith clings to the man of God. Her faith refused to be hindered by her husband, with his talk of new moons and sabbaths, from going to the man of God; and now that she has come she will not leave the man of God by reason of Gehazi and the staff. Thus it is she says, "As the Lord liveth, and as thy soul liveth, I will not leave thee." She rightly feels that servants and staves will be of no avail. Nothing but the power of God brought in by one who is in touch with God will restore the dead child.

Her spiritual instincts are right. The prophet goes with her, and on the way the servant meets them with the news that the staff has accomplished nothing. — "The child is not awakened." Arrived at the house, the prophet finds that "the child is dead, and laid upon the bed." He went into the chamber of death and "shut the door upon them twain and prayed unto the Lord." It was a solemn moment in which the prophet felt his utter dependence upon the Lord; and more, he felt the deep necessity of being alone with the Lord. The husband, with his talk of new moons and sabbaths; the servant, with his staff, and the woman with her sorrow, must all be shut out. Religious observances will not bring the child back; the staff, that may meet every day circumstances, will be of no avail in this sore strait; grief, however real will not recall the child. It must be the Lord alone who can raise the dead. Thus it is that Elisha, "shut the door . . . and prayed unto the Lord."

Furthermore) the prophet identifies himself with the one for whom he prays. He "lay upon the child, and put his mouth upon his mouth, and his eyes upon his eyes, and his hands upon his hands: and he stretched himself upon the child."

Do we not see in this fine scene, the effectual fervent prayer of a righteous man? Prayer which rightly excluded everything of man and his efforts prayer that looks only to the Lord, and wholly identifies itself with the need of the one for whom prayer is made. Such faith has its reward — the prayer is answered, for we read, "the flesh of the child waxed warm." Yet, even so, it was not without the wrestling of faith, and the agony of prayer, for we read that the prophet "returned, and walked in the house to and fro; and went up and stretched himself upon him." Then the child opened his eyes.

The prophet having sent for the Shunammite says, with becoming calmness, "Take up thy child." The woman on her part, expresses no amazement, but, in thankfulness "fell" at the prophet's feet, "bowed herself to the ground, and took up her son and went out."

God is not unmindful of this simple, unquestioning faith that clings to God, even when death has closed all earthly hopes, and put the child beyond all human aid. Thus it comes to pass, that amongst God's worthies, who have obtained a good report by faith, we read, "Women receiveth their dead raised to life again" (Heb. 11: 35).

In answer to the faith of the woman, and the prayers of Elisha, God reveals Himself as, not only One who gives life where life had never been before; but also as the God who quickens and calls back to life one who has been into death. So, too, it is our high privilege to know God, revealed in Christ according to the Lord's own words, "I AM THE RESURRECTION AND THE LIFE."

9. THE TIME OF DEARTH 2 Kings 4: 38-41

Each changing scene in Elisha's eventful history increasingly discloses the ruin of Israel, only to make manifest that where sin abounds grace does much more abound. Already we have seen the curse at Jericho, scoffers at Bethel, Moab in rebellion, widows in need; and now we find "there was a dearth in the land."

In this time of famine Elisha comes to Gilgal. The sons of the prophets are found sitting before Elisha; suggesting that in their dire need they are waiting upon the man of God to bring relief. They rightly assume that the one who had saved armies from destruction, and raised the dead child of the Shunammite, had resources to meet their need in a time of famine. With the sons of the prophets there was faith to use the grace of God ministered through the prophet. God delights to answer faith, however feeble, and will never fail those who wait upon Him: though He may take a way which, while meeting our needs, will disclose to us our weakness.

Thus it comes to pass that Elisha instructs his servant to "set on the great pot and seethe pottage" for those who were looking to him for provision. It would seem that, in this time of dearth, they had been naturally husbanding their slender resources by using some smaller vessel. Nature would argue that the prevailing dearth would only require a little pot. Providence would suggest that a wise economy demanded the little pot. With God, however, there is no lack of supply; and faith, bringing God in, calls for "the great pot: heaven's plenty is only met by "the great pot." We can count upon great things from a great God.

The directions to seethe pottage were given by the prophet to his servant. However, there was one present to whom no directions were given, and who must needs intermeddle with the servant's work: one who was not content, as were the sons of the prophets, to sit before Elisha, but with restless activity must go "out into the field" at his own charges, and seek to help in meeting the common need by adding his contribution to the pot.

If we are to partake of heaven's provision we must needs be in quiet rest in the presence of Christ, like the sons of the prophets sitting before Elisha. So in later days the place of rich provision was found by Mary sitting at the feet of Jesus, rather than by Martha with her restless activity. Doubtless the man who "went into the field to gather herbs," was a very sincere man and thought, as Martha in her day, that he was contributing to the general good. It was, however, the intrusion of the flesh in Gilgal, the very place that signified the cutting off of the flesh. The result was that through the fleshly zeal of one man, death is brought into the pot.

This man, leaving the presence of Elisha, goes out into the field to gather herbs. He thought to add something from the field to the supply that Elisha was drawing from heaven. The field in Scripture is ever used as a picture of the cultured world. The culture of this world can add nothing to the food from heaven. The Colossians, in their day, were in danger of seeking to supplement Christianity by the addition of human eloquence, human philosophy and human superstition. They were adding wild gourds to the heavenly pottage. Instead of bringing the soul into closer relationships with God, such efforts end in separating the soul from God.

Moreover, there is no difficulty in securing wild gourds. It was a time of dearth, and yet with the greatest ease this man gathered "his lap full." There may have been a dearth of wholesome life-sustaining food, there was no dearth of wild gourds.

The mischief is at once detected when the pottage is poured out. All the company detect the poison. Had it been one man who complained of the pottage, it might have been suggested that his taste was at fault. But we read, "As they were eating of the pottage, that they cried out, and said, O man of God, there is death in the pot. And they could not eat thereof." That which should have been a source of supply to maintain life, had become, by one man's act, a means to destroy life. They may not know how to meet the difficulty; but at least they are alive to the trouble, and, moreover, they rightly turn to the man of God for guidance.

Their appeal to Elisha is not in vain, for he has resources to meet this fresh need. He has an antidote for the poison. His simple instructions are, "bring meal," which at once is cast into the pot with the result there was no longer any harm in the pot. Does not this meal speak of Christ? The thoughts of nature, the philosophy of man, the elements of the world, the religion of the flesh — things by which man seeks to add something to God's provision to meet His people's need — are all exposed and corrected by the presentation of Christ. It was thus the Apostle met the attempt to introduce wild gourds that threatened the Colossian saints. The Apostle detects the poison — the enticing words of the moralist, the philosophy and vain deceit of the world, the insistence of the holy days, of the new moons, and of sabbath days, by the ritualist; and the worshipping of angels by the superstitious. To meet these poisonous influences that are destructive of the true life of Christianity he presents Christ. He says all these things "are not after Christ." They may be served up with "enticing words" and much shew of wisdom "and apparent" humility, but they "are not after Christ." Then he presents Christ in all His glory as the Head of the Assembly — His body. As it were, he casts the meal into the pot. He tells us that we have all we need in Christ, for "in Him dwelleth all the fulness of the Godhead," and further, "we are complete in Him." "Christ is all and in all" (Col. 2, 3).

10. THE MULTITUDE FED 2 Kings 4: 42-44.

In this time of dearth, a man comes from Baal-shalisha with twenty loaves of barley, and full ears of corn in a sack, as a gift of firstfruits to the man of God. Immediately Elisha says, "Give unto the people, that they may eat." Freely he had received and freely he gives. He does not keep for his own use that which had been freely given to him. In giving the gift increases, so that, not only his own need is met, but the needs of one hundred men are met, and more than met.

The servant of the prophet cannot understand how twenty loaves can meet the need of one hundred men; but again Elisha's word is, "Give the people that they may eat." He says, as it were, if you will but give in accordance with the word of the Lord, you will find there will be enough to meet the need of the people and to spare. Nature raises questions and says, How can this be? It is told not to reason but only obey and all will be well.

So, in the day of the Lord, the natural reasoning of the human mind in Judas, can ask, "How is it?" in the presence of communications that transcend all human thought. Such reasoning is met, not with any explanation that would gratify human reason, but with the Lord's words that "If a man love Me he will keep My words"; and this would lead to the realization of things that are beyond human explanation. Judas would fain reason in order to understand, but is told to obey in order to realize. In like manner Elisha meets the "how" of the amazed and reasoning servant. He must act upon the word of the Lord, and he will realize the blessing of the Lord, even if he cannot explain the power and grace of the Lord.

So it came to pass; "he set it before them, and they did eat, and left thereof, according to the word of the Lord." The prophet gives of that which had been freely given to him, the servant obeys, the need is met, and the gift has so increased that after every need is met there is "left thereof, according to the word of the Lord."

For we must share, if we would keep,

That good thing from above;

Ceasing to give, we cease to have —

Such is the law of Love.

11 THE HEALING OF THE LEPER 2 Kings 5: 1-19.

Hitherto Elisha has been the minister of the grace of God in the midst of Israel; now he becomes a means of blessing to one outside the nation. Grace is extended to a Gentile.

The whole scene would seem to be a foreshadowing of the present dispensation, in which Israel is set aside and governmental power is given to the Gentiles. The times of the Gentiles are prefigured by the fact the Lord had given deliverance to the Syrians — the open enemy of Israel, and that captives had been taken from Israel. The power had passed to the Gentile, and an Israelitess is in captivity. During this time the Lord shows grace to the Gentile.

In Naaman we see man at his best estate. Socially he was "a great man "; officially he was a successful man; personally he was a brave man. Such was Naaman before the world. Nevertheless, the one who is the favourite of the king, and the hero of the people, is pronounced by God to be a leper. In a twofold way leprosy is a fitting type of sin. The loathsomeness of the disease sets forth the defiling character of sin, constituting man a sinner in nature. The incurable character of the disease, sets forth the hopeless condition to which sin reduces a man. As fallen men we are not only sinful in nature, but also without strength to change our state. If we are to be blessed, we are shut up to the grace of God. Thus the word runs, "By grace are ye saved, through faith . . . not of works" (Eph. 2: 8).

Thus his disease, coupled with his helpless condition, constituted Naaman a fitting object for God's sovereign grace and mercy. That which gave Naaman such a great place before the world had no value in God's sight. The Lord, who, in His day (Luke 4: 27), uses Naaman as an illustration of grace reaching a Gentile, does not say there were many great men, and honourable men, and men of valour. None of these qualities would have made men suited objects for grace: therefore He says, there were many lepers.

Further, in this fine scene, we see not only the activity of grace to a sinner, but the way God takes to make known this grace. He takes a way that pours contempt on all our pride. He has "chosen the foolish things of the world, that He may put to shame the wise; and God has chosen the weak things of the world, that He may put to shame the strong things; and the ignoble things of the world, and the despised has God chosen, and things that are not that He may annul the things that are; so that no flesh should boast before God." In consistency with these ways of God we pass at once from "a great man" to "a little maid" — a stranger in a strange land, and in the lowly position of a slave to Naaman's wife. God is going to bless one who, in the sight of the world, is "a great man," and hence He will use in this work of grace "a little maid." However, if her position in this world was insignificant, if she was "little," her faith was great. For she can say, "Would God my lord were with the prophet that is in Samaria! for he would recover him of his leprosy." This surely is the language of faith. There is no suggestion that he might be able to ameliorate the trouble, and possibly effect a cure; but with the boldness and certainty of faith she says, "He would recover him of his leprosy." She speaks as one who knows the healing power of grace. Naaman, as it has been said, may feel the sore; the little maid knew the healing. Her confidence is the more remarkable since she could not, in her experience, have seen any case of the healing of the leper; for the Lord, Himself, says, that in the time of Elisha, there were many lepers but "none of them was cleansed" saving Naaman the Syrian.

The word of the little maid does its work. It awakens the desire for the blessing in the heart of the needy Naaman. However, the ways of grace cannot be understood by the natural man. Filled with his own thoughts, he pays but little heed to the word of the little maid. She with her knowledge of the grace and power of God speaks of the prophet in Samaria; he, following his natural thoughts, turns to the king of Syria, thinking that the coveted blessing can be secured through the great ones of the earth, aided by the payment of a great fee.

The king of Syria sets forth man in his self esteem. He is only too pleased that his servant Naaman should have the blessing, but he would fain be the channel by which he obtains the blessing. So he says, "Go to, go, and I will send a letter to the king of Israel." One king will write to another king. But God does not require, and will not brook the patronage of kings. Grace is available for the guilty, whether that guilty one be amongst the exalted in the land or among the lowly — "a great man" or "a little maid" — but the patronage of kings cannot secure it, and gold cannot buy it.

However, Naaman has to prove that all these human efforts to secure the blessing leave him in a worse plight. So he comes to the king of Israel with his gifts and the letter from the king of Syria. The king of Israel realizes that this is a case for God alone, but he is ignorant of the man of God through whom the grace of God is being ministered. Without faith in God, and ignorant of the man of God, he can only conclude that the king of Syria is seeking an occasion for a quarrel by demanding that which is beyond the power of man to grant. Naaman discovers the hopelessness of turning to a man of the world, but, even so, it does not occur to Naaman to go to the prophet. It would seem then that all is over, and Naaman must return to Syria uncleansed and unblessed.

At this juncture, however, Elisha acts, and it becomes plain that if Elisha had not spoken, Naaman would never have come to the prophet, even though at the outset he had heard of the prophet. Nor is it otherwise with the sinner and Christ. We may indeed hear of Christ, but it is written, "No man can come to Me, except the Father which hath sent Me draw him" (John 6: 44): and again, "No man can come unto Me, except it were given unto him of my Father" (John 6: 65).

As a result of Elisha's intervention, Naaman, earnestly desiring the blessing, comes to the prophet. At last he has come to the right man; but he has come in the wrong way. He is not yet in the right condition to receive the blessing. He comes with his horses and chariots and stands at the door of the house of Elisha. Horses and chariots speak of the pomp and pride of man. Naaman has found that the might of kings can effect nothing, that money and gifts are of no avail; he must now learn that his own greatness and importance will not secure him the slightest notice on the part of God, with whom there is no respect of persons. Hence while he hears the message that, if received and obeyed, will bring salvation to him, yet no account is made of the greatness of Naaman. Elisha does not look at him as a great man, or honourable, or valiant; he simply sees in him a leper that needs cleansing. Elisha makes nothing of all the pomp and grandeur of Naaman; nor does he seek to exalt himself by this important visitor. He simply sends a message. This, indeed, is still the preacher's work, to deliver a message.

Nature, however, rebels against such treatment. The pride of man would like to have some consideration. But if Naaman is to receive the blessing it can be only on the ground of grace, and grace recognises no merit in the recipient of grace, otherwise it would not be grace. Hence it is that sovereign grace is so offensive to the natural man. "Naaman was wroth," and the real hindrance to his receiving blessing is discovered to be that he had thoughts of his own. "I thought" is the trouble. He thought he would only have to sit in his chariot and that Elisha would come and stand before Naaman, and add dignity to the scene by calling upon the name of the Lord his God, with a few passes of his hand up and down, and lo, he would be healed.

Further, Naaman objects to washing in Jordan. If it is a question of washing in a river, surely the larger rivers of his own country — Abana and Pharpar — are better than all the waters of Israel. Thus it is with many a sinner to-day, who admits the need of a moral change in the life, but not of a new birth. Men will submit to reformation effected by human means, but are not prepared to be set aside in the death of Christ. Naaman had expected some dramatic scene — to have some fuss made over him — and lo, this prince among men, is put off with a curt message. He is told, as any poor man might be, to go and bathe seven times in the public stream of Jordan. The whole thing appeared too commonplace for the high and mighty Naaman. The message ignored all his greatness; placed him on a level with the most insignificant person in the land, and told him to take a course that was open to any peasant. Elisha could not have treated the lowest in the land with less consideration. Such treatment) and such a message, were intolerable to the great man. "So he turned and went away in a rage."

Well, if he must go away, it is better to go in a rage, for at least it shows he was deeply stirred. Better thus than those who politely refuse God's grace with a "Pray Thee have me excused." For such there is no hope; God excuses them, and it is all over with the man that God excuses. For the man that goes away in a rage there is hope that he will return in more chastened mood, for at least he is in earnest.

Naaman had expected some great display, and nature craves for the dramatic, the sensational and the emotional; but Naaman must learn, as every sinner, that the mighty power of the gospel is not in "the earthquake, nor in the fire, but in the still small voice" of the word of God speaking to the conscience.

Happily for Naaman there were those around him who could plead with him and convince him of his folly. The little maid had borne her witness, the prophet had delivered his message — so simple and definite; now "his servants come near" and plead with him about the message. There are those to-day who do the work of the little maid — they invite to the preaching. There are those who deliver the message — the proclamation of the gospel. There are those who plead with the anxious soul individually, so that difficulties and hindrances to receiving the gospel may be removed. Thus with affectionate interest the servants plead with their master. "My father," they say, "if the prophet had bid thee do some great thing, wouldest thou not have done it? how much rather then, when he saith to thee wash and be clean?" How well these servants knew their master; he was a great man, and all his life had been doing great things. He had acquired a great position in the kingdoms of men by doing great things; but if, as we should say, he is to enter the kingdom of heaven, he must be converted and become as a little child. And thus it came to pass: the pleadings of the servants prevail, for we read, "Then went he down." His pride, his greatness, his valour, all that he was as a natural man is given up as a means of obtaining the blessing. Kings and their great gifts are left behind: Abana and Pharpar are forgotten, and, in the obedience of faith, he went down and dipped seven times in Jordan "according to the saying of the man of God." Such an act m the eyes of the world would seem the height of folly, even as the preaching of the Cross is foolishness to the wise men of this world. Jordan signifies death, and is used, in this scene, as a type of the death of Christ meeting the holiness of God. If the sinner is to be cleansed from his guilt it can only be on the ground of the death of Christ. In type Naaman owns this perfectly, without reserve, by dipping seven times in Jordan. He owns there is no cleansing except through the waters of death under which he is brought by the obedience of faith.

Thus it is with the sinner to-day. The blessing can only come to us in grace through the death and resurrection of Christ, and we pass under the efficacy of that death through faith in Christ. The Israelite, like Naaman, was originally "a Syrian ready to perish" (Deut. 26: 5), and for him Jordan meant the close of one phase of life (wilderness life), and the introduction to another sphere of life. The Jordan was the boundary of Syrian territory. Death ends the link with the Syrian. By dipping in Jordan Naaman in type ends the old life, and begins an entirely new life; his flesh becomes as the flesh of a little child. His former state as a leper, in which corruption and death were operating, was wholly unsuited to God; debarring him from God's presence. This was met by the waters of death. An evil nature cannot be forgiven, it must be ended by death. So with the believer, the old nature is condemned and done with in the death of Christ. The soul that, in the obedience of faith, submits to God's way of deliverance enters upon a new life.

The prophet emphasises the importance of this lesson by prescribing it seven times, setting forth how thoroughly we need to learn the lesson of our death with Christ, so bringing to an end the state in which we lived to ourselves in order that, in newness of life we may live to God.

The result for Naaman was that his flesh came again like unto the flesh of "a little child." What a marvellous change! The man who at the beginning of the story is described as "a great man," in the end becomes like "a little child." Moreover, a new spirit possessed him. The pride of a great man has given place to the lowliness of a little child; for, we read, "He returned to the man of God, he and all his company, and stood before him." He is no longer a great man sitting in his chariot, but a humble man standing before the prophet.

This, however, is not all. He has believed in his heart; now he confesses with his mouth, "There is no God in all the earth, but in Israel." Not only is he cleansed, but he is brought to know God." "I know" he can say. The gospel that meets our need, reveals God to our souls.

Then he would fain express his gratitude to the one through whom he has been so richly blessed. Elisha refuses the gift lest in any way he might appear to falsify the grace of God in the eyes of this Gentile, who had received the blessing without money and without price. Naaman, the possessor of great wealth, had doubtless acquired the habit of thinking that anything could be purchased with the power of money. He has to learn, even as the sinner to-day, that there are blessings beyond all other blessings, and joys beyond all earthly joys, and the life that is eternal, that all the riches of this world cannot purchase; though alas! they may block the way that leads to life and blessing.

Furthermore, the heart of Naaman goes out in worship to the Lord. He says, "Thy servant will henceforth offer neither burnt offering nor sacrifice unto other gods, but unto the Lord."

Lastly the change in his life is shown by his exercised and tender conscience. He at once felt that the worship of the Lord was wholly inconsistent with bowing down before an idol in the house of Rimmon. Yet his official position would possibly require that he should enter the idol's house. In answer to this difficulty Elisha's word is "Go in peace." This by no means implied that Elisha sanctioned Naaman's bowing down to the idol in the house of Rimmon. He saw that Naaman was exercised before the Lord, and without anticipating the difficulty, he knows he can safely leave Naaman with the Lord. We may be sure that Naaman never entered the house of Rimmon.

12. THE SERVANT OF THE PROPHET 2 Kings 5: 20-27.

Now and again there pass before us in Scripture those who lie and deceive: but there is no more deliberate liar than Gehazi. As with Ananias and Sapphira, so with Gehazi, covetousness was the root of the lying.

The wealth of Naaman — the ten talents of silver, the six thousand pieces of gold, the ten changes of raiment — had stirred up the unjudged covetousness in the heart of Gehazi. The need of Naaman drew forth the grace of God in the prophet; the wealth of Naaman drew forth the covetousness of his servant. The grace of God had brought blessing to Naaman; the covetousness of Gehazi would belie the grace of God. A rich man willing and delighted to bestow a handsome gift, was too good an opportunity for a covetous man to let pass.

To gratify his greed, Gehazi does not hesitate to act lies as well as tell lies. He runs after Naaman and says, "My master hath sent me." This was the first lie. Then he invents the story of the visit of the two young men of Ephraim — a second lie. Having obtained two talents of silver, and two changes of raiment, he returns with two of Naaman's servants to help him carry the gift as far as the hill (not "tower" as in the Authorised Version). To go further would be to come into view of Elisha's house; so he pauses at the hill, and lets the men go. Having hidden the goods in the house, "He went in, and stood before his master" as if nothing had happened. He acts a lie. When asked by Elisha, where he had been, he attempts to cover his former lies by telling another lie, "Thy servant went no whither." One lie leads to other lies.

Then follows the solemn exposure. The whole terrible sin, in all its detail, was known to the prophet: but more, the motive that prompted the sin was known. Hidden in Gehazi's heart was the desire to acquire social position as a possessor of oliveyards, vineyards, sheep, oxen, menservants and maidservants.

Lastly the exposure is followed by the judgment. If Gehazi had taken of Naaman's wealth, he must also take Naaman's disease. He had acquired two changes of raiment from Naaman by lying and deceit; he also obtains a change of skin by the judgment of God. And the leprosy that he acquires will cling to him all the days of his life. The wealth he has obtained will soon be spent, the leprosy will abide. No waters of Jordan will cleanse Gehazi.

He came in before his master as a liar; he went out from his presence a leper as white as snow. In grasping at the wealth of Naaman, he inherits the disease of Naaman, and loses his place as the servant of the prophet. Once more he appears in the court of the king, but no more as the servant of Elisha.

In estimating the sin of Gehazi, the prophet first looks at it in connection with God and His grace. How will his act affect the testimony of God? He sees that Gehazi's sin presents an entirely false view of the grace of God. Elisha had been careful to refuse Naaman's gifts, lest this Gentile should think that the blessings of God can be obtained by gifts. Gehazi's sin would tend to nullify this testimony to the freeness of the grace of God. It was no "time" to receive gifts.

Are we not warned by this solemn scene that if we allow unjudged lust or covetousness in our hearts, we shall be ready to fall into temptation when it crosses our path. Further, one sin leads to another. We cannot stop just according to our own will in the path of sin. As one has said, "A man cannot stop his boat at will in the strong currents just above Niagara, though he might have avoided them altogether."

Then it is obvious that great religious advantages will not, of themselves, protect against grievous sin. Who could have had greater advantages than Gehazi? He lived with one of the greatest prophets the world has known — one who, again and again, is described as a man of God — and yet Gehazi fell. "Let him that thinketh he standeth, take heed lest he fall."

Finally we learn that the pursuit of sin destroys all sense of the presence and power of God. Gehazi must have had repeated experiences of the power of the man of God to read men's hearts and discern the motives of their actions. No one knew better than Gehazi this power of God that was with the prophet. Nevertheless, while Gehazi is seeking to gratify his covetous heart, it is so absorbed with the overruling passion of greed that, for the time, he entirely loses all sense of the presence of the omniscient God.

Thus, with the judgment of God upon him Gehazi goes out from the presence of the prophet, as in the day to come a yet greater sinner will go out from the presence of the Lord into the night and Ananias and Sapphira will fall dead under the judgment of the Holy Spirit.

13. THE BORROWED AXE 2 Kings 6: 1-7.

Once again the story of Elisha passes from kings and great men, to a simple domestic scene connected with the building of a dwelling place for the sons of the prophets. The incident very happily displays the simplicity and lowliness of life that marked this man of God. He is ready to meet the difficulties of kings and their armies, and, in due season, can concern himself with felling a tree and building a house. With the utmost ease he can deal with a great man of the world, and with like ease he can accommodate himself to the simple affairs of the lowly sons of the prophets. In the greatness of his way he can stoop to small affairs and walk with humble folk.

In like spirit the great Apostle, of the Christian day, can carry the burdens of the Church and work at making a tent; can save hundreds of souls from a watery grave, and help to pick up sticks to make a fire. And may we not say, that both these great servants are but showing forth the spirit of their yet greater Lord and Master, who, while bearing up the whole universe, can take a little child into His arms, and, though dwelling in the bosom of the Father, can enter the humble home of a fisherman.

Moreover, in the simple acts of these servants it is made manifest what power was at their disposal. Contrary to all human experience, the venomous beast that attacks the Apostle when picking up sticks, is shaken into the fire without resulting harm. And contrary to all natural laws the axe head is made to swim upon the waters. Thus the very laws of nature are reversed, or held in abeyance, in order to relieve the distress of the man with the borrowed axe. God, the Creator of the laws that govern creation, can alter His laws in order to manifest the grace that enables Peter to walk upon the water in the day of the Lord, and the iron to swim upon the water in the day of the prophet.

The very way in which the iron is made to swim makes manifest the power of God; for what relation can we see between cause and effect — between casting a stick into the stream and the swimming of the iron? May there not be underneath this simple story some deeper spiritual lesson? We see the power of the river overcome by the piece of wood cast into the waters. Seeing that Jordan is a type of death this striking incident may well signify the power of death overcome by the Cross, and the House of God built by that which comes out of death.

14. THE SYRIAN RAIDS 2 Kings 6: 8-23.

Elisha, having used the grace of God to relieve a distressed individual, now becomes the instrument of grace to save a guilty nation. The prophet, who had rebuked the king of Israel for his unbelief in connection with the letter from the king of Syria, now warns the king of the secret plans by which the king of Syria seeks his destruction. Thus the grace of God intervenes to save the king of Israel, "not once nor twice," by the hand of one who knows how to rebuke and when to warn.

The king of Syria, learning that his plans are frustrated, not by any traitor, but, by Elisha, sends horses, chariots and a great host, to take him captive. The fact that he sends a great host to take one man, proves in a striking way that the ungodly realize their weakness, and helplessness, in the presence of one man sustained by the power of God. So the wicked Ahab felt in an earlier day, when he sent his captains with their fifties to take the solitary Elijah; as even so in a later day, when the Jews sent a band of officers and men to take the Lord of glory. The world instinctively knows that one man, if God is with him, is stronger than a great host without God.

To natural sight Elisha's case seemed hopeless. The Syrians had taken every precaution. The great host had exercised all care by approaching Dothan under cover of darkness, and had succeeded in compassing about the city. There seemed no way of escape for the prophet. Thus the servant of Elisha, looking at things seen, exclaims, "Alas my master! how shall we do?"

Elisha quietens the young man's alarm. He says, "Fear not: for they that be with us are more than they that be with them." The young man is walking by sight: Elisha is walking by faith. The prophet anticipates the experience of the Apostle who can say, "If God be for us who can be against us?"

Elisha, however, is not content to rest in quiet faith himself, nor seek only to comfort others. He would fain bring the young men to his own spiritual elevation. Realizing that only God can accomplish this, he prays to the Lord to open his servant's eyes. His prayer is answered; "The Lord opened the eyes of the young man." There was no need for Elisha to have his eyes opened. He had already seen the chariots of Israel and the horsemen thereof waiting upon Elijah as he ascended from earth to heaven. The faith of the prophet realizes that the same chariots and horses of God accompany him as he takes his journey through the earth. The young man has seen the horses and chariots, with the great host, that encompassed the city, now he sees the mountain "full of horses and chariots of fire round about Elisha." The Syrian host may be round about the city, but what can they do if God's high host is round about Elisha? Paul may be surrounded with enemies who would kill him, and a raging storm that would engulf him, but what harm can touch him if the angel of the Lord stands by him? (Acts 27: 23). The host against Elisha may be mighty, but the host of God is mightier. "The chariots of God are twenty thousand, even thousands of angels." Good too for us if we take our journey, through a hostile world, in the blessed consciousness of faith that One is with us who has said, "I will never leave thee, nor forsake thee:" and that we are in the providential care of those angel hosts who have been "sent forth to minister to them who shall be heirs of salvation."

Further, we are permitted to see that Elisha deals with the enemies of God according to the ways of grace, while, at the same time, manifesting that they are completely in his power. Thus it comes to pass that while the young man had his eyes opened, the enemies of God's prophet will now have their eyes blinded. It was so spiritually when the Lord was here, for He came "that they which see not might see; and that they which see might be made blind" (John 9: 39). To own one's blindness and submit to God is the way to sight, as the blind man of John's Gospel found.

These blinded Syrians come completely under the power of Elisha, who leads them into Samaria. Then, when their eyes are opened, they discover they are captives — led captive by the very man they had set out to take. But if Elisha is in touch with the power of God, he is also the exponent of the mercy of God. The Syrians realize that as far as they are concerned their case is hopeless. They who once had encompassed the little city of Dothan are now themselves surrounded in the stronghold of their enemy. When it is thus made manifest that nothing but mercy can save them from destruction, they become the recipients of mercy. Not only are hey saved but "great provision" is set before them; and when they had eaten they are sent away to their master. They are brought to realize that, "It is of the Lord's mercies that we are not consumed" (Lam. 3: 22). Such are the blessed ways of God's grace.

The man who has for his protection a mountain full of horses and chariots of fire — who is encompassed about with the mighty power of God — can afford to show mercy to those who are completely in his power. The man of nature, with no such resources of power, cannot risk showing mercy. Finding the enemy in his power the king would have smitten them. Elisha, using the power of God, dare not neglect the mercy of God; and this mercy is as great as the power. If the power of God secures a complete victory over "a great host," the mercy of God will provide for the defeated foe "great provision." Again, we say, such are the ways of grace of a great God.

15. THE SIEGE OF SAMARIA 2 Kings 6: 24-7.

The record of the mercy shown to the Syrian raiders closes with the statement, "So the bands of Syria came no more into the land of Israel." Nevertheless, the hostility of the Syrians to God's people remained. Thus we read, "It came to pass, after this, that Benhadad the king of Syria gathered all his host, and went up, and besieged Samaria" — the very city where such signal mercy had been displayed.

The siege makes manifest the depths of evil to which the nation had sunk, and further displays the height to which the grace of God can rise through this, the last public service of Elisha.

Jehoram, the apostate king, was already beholden to Elisha for having saved his life, and rescued his army from destruction. Apparently this great mercy had affected no change either in the king or nation Now, in the government of God the enemy is allowed to besiege Samaria, leading to "a great famine" in the city. In the fearful straits to which the inhabitants are reduced, the solemn prophecy uttered more than five hundred years before, is fulfilled. Moses had warned the people of God, that if they departed from God, the time would come when, besieged by their enemies, they would be reduced to such straits, that tender, delicate women would secretly eat their young children (Lev. 26: 21-29; Deut. 28: 49-57). This abomination had at last come to pass.

This terrible act instead of turning the king to God, becomes the occasion of revealing the enmity of his heart. Hearing of this horror the king rent his clothes in agony, disclosing that "he had sackcloth within upon his flesh." Thus, combined with his evil ways, there was a profession of religion. Alas! men in their distress may, like Jehoram, turn to some religious device, but they do not turn to God. Thus, the king, in spite of the sackcloth on his flesh, vents his rage against God upon the person of the man of God. He says, "God do so and more also to me, if the head of Elisha the son of Shaphat shall stand on him this day." In the presence of this fresh trouble all past mercies are forgotten, and the desperate king threatens the life of the man of God. He lays the blame on the head which alone was free from the sin. Thereupon he sends a messenger to Elisha's house, where the elders were assembled in the presence of the prophet.

Elisha, apparently forewarned by God, says, "This son of a murderer hath sent to take away my head." He tells them to shut the door upon the king's messenger, for the sound of his master's feet is behind him. Arrived at the door the king dares to say, "Behold this evil is of the Lord; what should I wait for the Lord any longer?"

The awful condition of the nation and the wickedness of the king are thus thoroughly exposed. The people of Samaria are struggling to obtain an ass's head, or a piece of dove's dung. Women are eating their children; the king is raging up and down on the wall; but Elisha is sitting quietly in his house waiting upon the Lord. Then comes the messenger followed by the king charging the Lord with all the evil. The king says as it were, "What is the good of Elisha sitting in his house doing nothing? He delivered me once before from destruction, why does he not act now? What is the good of his professing to wait upon the Lord? Nothing happens. I will give up all thought of the Lord, and I will take off the head of Elisha the prophet of the Lord."

This son of a murderer, who himself has just sworn that he will commit murder, charges the Lord with being the author of all the evil that has come upon the guilty city. Thus the guilt of the nation, in the person of their king, has risen to its height.

Does not this solemn scene foreshadow the yet greater solemnities of the Cross, where the evil of the world rose to its height in condemning the One who, alone of the whole human race, was free of all condemnation? If, however, in the siege of Samaria the sin of the nation is allowed to reveal itself in all its horror, it is that the grace of God may be displayed in all its fulness. Where sin abounds grace does much more abound, thus again foreshadowing that supreme display of grace which, rising above all man's sin at the Cross, takes occasion by that Cross, to proclaim forgiveness and blessing to all the world.

Thus it comes to pass — when the king has thoroughly exposed himself — Elisha, who hitherto had "sat in his house," keeps silence no longer God's due time had come, for we read, "Then Elisha said, Hear ye the word of the Lord." We have heard that what man says exposes the sin of his heart: we are now to hear what God says reveals the grace of His heart. So we read, "Thus saith the Lord, To-morrow about this time shall a measure of fine flour be sold for a shekel, and two measures of barley for a shekel, in the gate of Samaria."

In this message of grace there is not a word said about the abominations that had taken place in the city — not a word about the daring wickedness of the king. There is only the unconditional announcement of blessing, in pure sovereign grace, to the very city in which sin had risen to its height; for all this blessing would be seen "in the gate of Samaria."

So again we are reminded of that far greater announcement of grace that sends a message of repentance and forgiveness, to be preached in the name of Christ among all nations; but that message is to begin "at Jerusalem." It is to all nations, for all are guilty, but it begins at the blackest spot in all the world. There is no word of the awful guilt of the city, no word of the daring and blasphemous enmity of the leaders, but, in sovereign unconditional grace, forgiveness is proclaimed in the Name of Jesus to the very city that nailed Him to the Cross.

"The very spear that pierced His side

Drew forth the blood to save."

Thus the ruin of the nation had been made manifest, and the grace of God announced. We are now to see how man treats God's grace. First, the nobleman, on whose arm the king leaned, treats the message with mocking unbelief, only to hear his doom. "Thou shalt see it with thine eyes, but thou shalt not eat thereof." Not many of the rich and great of this world are called.

Then there come before us, four leprous men — convicted sinners as we should say. They realize, what the nobleman did not, that it is either certain death, or the grace of God. The Syrian host is before them, and death surrounds them. They rise up and face death, to find that if their desperate need has driven them into the place of death, it has driven them into a place where the Lord has gained a mighty victory. They find the Lord had been before them; "The Lord had made the host of the Syrians to hear a noise of chariots, and a noise of horses, even the noise of a great host." The chariots and horses that had waited upon Elijah at his translation, that had surrounded Elisha for his preservation, are now dealing with the enemies of the Lord in righteous judgment. If grace is to be shown to guilty sinners, the enemy must first be met and vanquished in righteous judgment.

If, however, the enemy is to be vanquished, it must be the work of the Lord. No one was with the Lord when He annulled the power of the enemy. The city is in desperate need, and can do nothing. The Lord does all the work; and the city, in sovereign grace, partakes of the blessing. There was no man with the Lord of glory when He went to the Cross. Alone He anticipated the terror of Calvary; alone He met the enemy; alone He suffered on the Cross; alone He endured the forsaking; alone He bore the judgment. But guilty sinners, who believe, share in the spoils of His victory. And this we see in picture, for the lepers "did eat and drink" and find silver and gold and raiment.

Further, they spread the "good tidings." They say, "If we hold our peace . . . some mischief will come upon us." The selfishness of our nature would keep quiet, thus bringing mischief upon ourselves. It may be that we have so feebly tasted of the grace of God, and so little apprehended how greatly we have been enriched with silver and gold and raiment of divine providing, that we have little to say, and hence remain silent, with the result we are in danger of slipping back into the world, and some mischief coming upon us. It is well when, like the blind man of the Gospel, we confess the little we do know, so that we not only retain what we have, but increase our light and blessing.

These four men make a bold confession. They commence with the porter of the city — a very humble man. He tells the porters of the king's house, and they, in turn, tell the good news to the king's house within; and at last it reaches the king's ears. Thus the good news spread from the lowest to the highest in the land.

The king is a very different character from the lepers, and represents a different state of soul. He is not indifferent, for he arose in the night. Still less is he a rejector of the good news, like the nobleman; but he is not a simple believer like the four leprous men. He does not in bold unbelief refuse the good tidings, but he reasons about them. Faith is a matter of the conscience and the heart, not a matter of reasoning. The word runs, "If thou shalt believe in thine heart." Some like the lepers readily believe in the heart, others like the king are slow of heart to believe. Behind the slowness of heart is a reasoning mind and a lack of sense of need. The reasoning mind of the king says, "I will shew you what the Syrians have done." However, as in the case of Naaman there were some wise servants who pleaded with him, so now there is a wise servant ready to meet the king's reasonings. He will put them to the test by sending out two witnesses. In result they trace the evidences of the enemy "unto Jordan." We can trace all our enemies to the Cross, there to see them no more. In the death of Christ every enemy was dealt with for the believer.

So the messengers return, and the slow-hearted king enters into the blessing as much as the wholehearted lepers, and starving people of the city. The only man who missed the blessing is the infidel scoffer - the lord on whose arm the king leaned. In the crush at the gate of the city he was trodden upon and died. It might appear as an unfortunate accident, but the government of God was behind it, and the word of the prophet was fulfilled, "Behold, thou shalt see it with thine eyes? but thou shalt not eat thereof." Nor is it otherwise in our day for those who reject the grace of God. For such the word says, "Behold, ye despisers, and wonder, and perish."

16. THE SEVEN YEARS' FAMINE 2 Kings 8: 1-6.

The siege of Samaria with all its horrors, and the grace of God in all its fulness, were soon forgotten. Neither misery endured, nor mercy received, turned the nation to the Lord their God. Nevertheless, God does not abandon His people. He still acts on their behalf, even though it may be in the way of chastening because of their evil. Thus we find Elisha saying, "The Lord hath called for a famine." It is not only revealed to the prophet that a famine is coming, but, that it is sent directly by the Lord, proving the truth of that word which says, "Surely the Lord God will do nothing, but He revealeth His secret unto His servants the prophets."

Further, it is revealed to Elisha that if God chastens His people, He also sets a limit to the trial. The famine in Israel shall come upon the land for seven years. Nor is it otherwise in the history of the Church, and of individuals, in this present day. Of the Church in Smyrna we read, "Ye shall have tribulation," but it is limited to "ten days." So, too, if there is a needs be for God's people, individually, to pass through manifold trials, they will last but "for a season" (1 Peter 1: 6).

Moreover, we learn that if the Lord calls for a famine because of the low condition of the nation He will also provide for the godly during the time of famine. Thus, once more, we see the grace of God to the Shunammite. This godly woman, who had cared for the prophet in days of prosperity, is now warned and instructed by the prophet in days of adversity. Her circumstances apparently have changed. It would seem she is now a widow with her only son. She is told to leave the land during the years of famine.

At the end of the seven years she returns to the Land and appeals to the king for the restoration of her house and land. The king is talking with Gehazi, who is identified as the servant of the man of God. His circumstances also appear to have changed. Years ago he had coveted "oliveyards and vineyards, sheep, oxen, menservants and maidservants," and now, by means of his possessions, he has climbed the social ladder until he has become the associate and companion of royalty. The king would fain beguile an hour by hearing of the "great things" that Elisha had done. Gehazi is in company with the great men of the world, but if he would speak of "great things" he must needs go back in thought to other days when he companied with the lowly man of God. The "great things" that Elisha did are only a recollection with Gehazi.

It may, however, be that there was a work of grace in the heart of Gehazi leading his thoughts from the earthly riches he had gained, to the spiritual blessings he had lost. Be this as it may, he certainly becomes a witness before the king of the grace of God as seen in the "great things that Elisha had done." Moreover, the Lord uses Gehazi to restore house and lands to the Shunammite, as before He had used Elisha in warning her to leave them. But how different the way in which these men are used. Elisha is used as one who is in the intimacy of a friend with the Lord, enjoying the confidences of the Lord. Gehazi is used as the friend and intimate of a wicked king. Elisha speaks as one who is intelligent in the mind of the Lord. Gehazi speaks as circumstances and coincidences dictate. For, as he is recounting his reminiscences in the service of Elisha, behold, the woman and her son, who had part in the greatest of the "great things," appears before the king. This apparently strange coincidence is used by the Lord to restore the Shunammite's possessions.

Nor will it be otherwise with the God-fearing remnant of Israel, in a day yet to come, of whom possibly the widowed Shunammite is a figure. Like this woman who had known the grace of God, the godly remnant, on the ground of grace, will be brought back to the inheritance of their Land, and receive, in the excess of blessing, all that they have lost during the time of exile from the Land of their fathers.

It is happy thus to trace the hand of the Lord using men — whether prophets, servants, or kings — and behind every circumstance and coincidence, making all things work together for good to them that love Him.

17. THE KING OF SYRIA 2 Kings 8: 7-15

Elisha's service is not confined to Israel and the Land. Thus we read he "came to Damascus," and is found amongst the Gentiles. Benhadad, the king of Syria, is sick. In his sickness he recognises and honours the man of God. In his prosperity the king had sent a great host to capture him: in his sickness he sends a great gift to honour him. In health he seeks to encompass him for his destruction: in sickness he seeks to propitiate him for his assistance. Driven by need he recognises and owns the God that hitherto he had despised. Such is man, and such our hearts. The world, when faced with some dire calamity, will, in an outward way, recognise and turn to God. Alas! even the believer may walk carelessly, with little reference to God, when all things run smoothly, and circumstances are prosperous, and health is good. But in our troubles we have to turn to God, and well it is that we do turn to God and have such a God of grace to turn to; though far better, like Enoch of old, to walk with God, and thus, like the Apostle be able to say, "I have learned, in whatsoever state I am, therewith to be content. I know both how to be abased, and I know how to abound: everywhere and in all things I am instructed both to be full and to be hungry, both to abound and to suffer need."

Elisha was evidently one who, in his day, walked with the Lord, and received communications from the Lord. Thus he can say, in answer to the messenger, "Thou mayest certainly recover." There was nothing fatal in the disease. Howbeit, the prophet adds, "The Lord hath shewed me that he shall surely die." Thus Elisha intimates that Benhadad is going to die, though by other means than the sickness.

As he delivers this message the prophet is visibly affected. Foreseeing all the misery that is coming upon the people of God, he weeps. Hazael, contemplating the murder of his master, feels uneasy in the presence of the man of God. His conscience makes him ashamed. He enquires, "Why weepeth my lord? Elisha's answer clearly shows that he is not moved to tears by the illness of the king, or the wickedness of Hazael, but on account of the suffering that God's people will endure at the hands of Hazael. Elisha closes his public ministry by weeping over a people who were unmoved by all his miracles of grace. Thus he foreshadows his far greater Master who, in the closing days of His ministry of grace, wept over the city that had rejected His grace and spurned His love. One, too, who could say to the women of Jerusalem, "Weep not for Me, but weep for yourselves, and for your children. For, behold, the days are coming, in the which they shall say, Blessed are the barren, and the wombs that never bare, and the paps which never gave suck."

In like spirit, Elisha, knowing the future career of Hazael, foretells the depths of evil and cruelty to which he will sink. "I know," says the prophet ''the evil thou wilt do unto the children of Israel: their strongholds wilt thou set on fire, and their young men wilt thou slay with the sword, and wilt dash their children, and rip up their women with child."

Hazael protests that he is not a dog that he should act with such callous brutality. Probably his protest is entirely sincere. Such deeds might have been foreign to his thoughts, and even abhorrent to his feeling at the moment. He did not know his own heart. He was not aware that the heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked. As with ourselves, too often, he little realized the depth of wickedness and cruelty in the heart that is held in check by many a safeguard until, suddenly aroused by circumstances which give the occasion, it blazes forth in all its horror. Instead of asking, "Is thy servant a dog?" far better would it have been for Hazael, as for ourselves, to take the ground of the Syrophenician woman who owned that she was indeed a dog, only to discover that there is grace in the heart of God even for a dog (Mark 7: 24-30).

In Hazael's history the immediate circumstances were ripe to manifest the wickedness of his heart. Thus Elisha simply answers, "The Lord hath shewed me that thou shalt be king over Syria." Without further word, Hazael "departed from Elisha, and came to his master." He acts the hypocrite before the king, giving part of Elisha's message, but keeping back the fact that he would surely die. The opportunity has come for this murderer. As prime minister he has access to the king, and the illness offered a favourable opportunity to an unscrupulous man to usurp the throne. The idea of wielding great power, as the reigning monarch, had such irresistible attraction to Hazael that he is ready to contemplate even murder to gain his end. The sickness and weakness of the king made murder appear so easy. The sickness would be such a simple way to cover the murder. All would know that the king was ill, and fearing he might not recover had sent a prime minister to the prophet to enquire if he should die. No one need know what Elisha had said to Hazael. What more easy than to take a thick damp cloth and suffocate the helpless king, already weakened by sickness, and then give out to the world that the sickness had terminated fatally.

So it came to pass; the prime minister becomes a murderer, and the murderer a usurper of the throne. The man that reaches a throne by murder will not hesitate to seek to maintain that throne by violence and cruelty. As Elisha foresees Hazael will carry the fire and the sword among the people of God.

18. THE ANOINTING OF JEHU 2 Kings 9

The mighty miracles of Elisha — the witnesses of the grace of God to a guilty nation — have all been in vain. Israel refuses to turn from idols to the living God. The prophet may weep over the sorrows coming upon the nation, may foretell their miseries, be used to appoint the instruments that will be used to execute judgment, but, though he lives to a ripe old age, we hear of miracles no more.

Thus it comes to pass that Elisha sends one of the children of the prophets to anoint Jehu to be king, by the word of the Lord. The young man is to carry out his commission in a way that will clearly show Elisha has nothing in common with Jehu; for, having delivered his message, he is to "open the door, and flee, and tarry not."

The young man had two announcements to make to Jehu; first, that the Lord had anointed him to be "king over the people of the Lord, even over Israel." Second, he was to smite the house of Ahab, and thus avenge the blood of the servants, and prophets, of the Lord, shed by the wicked Jezebel.

To reach the throne was entirely in accord with the ambitions of Jehu. To smite the house of Ahab would appear to Jehu a sound policy to establish himself as king. Hence he carries out the directions of the Lord with greatest possible energy and zeal. However, God's motives were not Jehu's. God was dealing with evil, avenging the blood of his servants, and maintaining His own glory. Jehu was getting rid of all those who could oppose his ambitions. Jehu is very zealous in dealing with evil when it suits his own purpose, but quite indifferent to evil when he concludes it is politic to leave it alone. So it comes to pass he ruthlessly avenges the sins of the house of Ahab, while leaving untouched the sins of the house of Jeroboam. He destroys the worship of Baal; he preserves the golden calves. His hand was ready to use the sword against the enemies of the Lord, when it suited his own ends; his heart was utterly indifferent to the law of the Lord. So we read, "Jehu took no heed to walk in the law of the Lord God of Israel with all his heart" (2 Kings 10: 28-30).

God, in His righteous judgment, while using Jehu to deal with the wicked house of Ahab is not unmindful of the mixed motives that energised Jehu, and the fact that in carrying out the vengeance of the Lord, he was simply indulging his own cruel heart for his own ends. If God has to deal in judgment, it is His strange work. If Jehu undertakes to deal with evil, it is to him a congenial task. Hence it is that while God uses Jehu to execute judgment on Jezreel, yet He says, by the prophet Hosea, "I will avenge the blood of Jezreel upon the house of Jehu; and will cause to cease the kingdom of the house of Israel" (Hosea 1: 4).

19. THE DEATH OF ELISHA 2 Kings 13: 14-25.

Elisha, at the direction of the Lord, had sent a young man to anoint Jehu as king. The young man having carried out his errand was instructed to flee, and not tarry with Jehu. The prophet thus clearly showing that between himself and this violent and unprincipled man there was nothing in common. Jehu, on his side, while willing to carry out instructions that accord with his ambitions, had no regard for the man of God. Thus during his reign, and that of his son, the prophet is entirely ignored. For a period of forty-five years we hear nothing of Elisha.

During these years the kings and the people depart from the Lord and pursue an evil course. Jehu took no heed to walk in the law of the Lord, the sins of Jeroboam are not departed from. His son, Jehoahaz, did that which was evil in the sight of the Lord. In consequence the anger of the Lord was kindled against Israel, and they are delivered into the hands of their enemies (2 Kings 10: 31-33: & 2 Kings 13: 1-3).

In the reign of Joash, the succeeding king, the long life of Elisha came to its close. Joash, wicked man though he was, could appreciate godliness in others. Doubtless he felt that the presence of Elisha in the land was a real power for good. Therefore, he was genuinely troubled at the approach of the prophet's death. The king weeps at the death-bed of Elisha, and appears to realize that the chariots of Israel and the horsemen thereof, that had rapt Elijah to heaven, were now waiting upon Elisha in his closing moments.

Joash, like his father and grandfather, had neglected the prophet in his life; and yet, when at length he visits him, he finds, even in the prophet's dying moments, that Elisha is strong in the delivering grace of the Lord. The king is told to take bow and arrows; to put his hand on the bow. Then Elisha put his hand on the king's hand, whereupon the king is bidden to shoot. Elisha interprets the act as symbolizing that the king's hand, strengthened by the hand of the representative of the Lord, would bring deliverance from his enemies.

Is not the king thus reminded of how much he had lost by his neglect of the man of God? Had he but turned to the prophet before, would he not have found the power and mercy of God with him to deliver him from all his enemies? Has the king even yet learnt his lesson? Elisha will put him to the test. The prophet seems to say, "I have shewn you the significance of this arrow — that it means a victory over your enemies now take arrows and smite upon the ground."

Alas! The faith of the king falls short of the resources of God. The king smote thrice and stayed. Had his faith been more simple would he not have emptied his quiver of arrows? There was power at his disposal to effect complete deliverance from the enemy; there was neither faith nor spiritual discernment to use it. How often, like the king, we are brought into circumstances in which only faith and spirituality will know how to act. Alas! Too often such circumstances discover our low condition. The king is rebuked for his lack of faith; though he is told that the mercy of the Lord will be exercised three times on his behalf. Thus the last utterance of this honoured servant of the Lord foretells the delivering mercy of the Lord, and is in keeping with the ministry of the grace of God that had characterised his long life.

It would seem by the allusion to "the chariot of Israel, and the horsemen thereof" that king Joash anticipated that Elisha would be rapt to heaven after the pattern of Elijah. When, however, we come to the actual account of his end, there is no outward display of supernatural power. In striking contrast to the close of Elijah's path, we have only the simple record, "Elisha died, and they buried him."

None the less, God will honour his devoted servant in His own way and time. God put great honour upon Moses by giving him a private burial. Perhaps, however, the greatest honour is reserved for Elisha, for, in keeping with his ministry of grace, God uses his death to illustrate the greatest of all the wonders of grace, the bringing life out of death. Thus, at the coming in of the year a dead man is buried in the sepulchre of Elisha, and, we read, touching the bones of Elisha, "he revived and stood upon his feet."

"When thou shalt make his soul an offering for sin, he shall see a seed," is written of the One of whom Elisha was only a type. When the Lord Jesus goes into death, He secures a seed. "Except the grain of wheat fall into the ground and die, it abideth alone: but if it die; it bringeth forth much fruit." Is not this great mystery foreshadowed in this fine scene? The enemy held the people of God in bondage, death was upon them, and all man could do was to bury his dead. But when death comes in contact with one who typically had gone into death in grace — one who, as we might say, had refused to pass to glory by the chariot of horsemen, and had chosen the way of the grave — there is, as the glorious result, life and resurrection. The man revived and stood upon his feet. And, further, if there is life from the dead, there is also deliverance from the enemy; for we read, The Lord was gracious unto His people and "had compassion on them, and had respect unto them, because of His covenant with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, and would not destroy them neither cast He them from His presence."

Thus closes the marvellous history of this man of God, whose high privilege it was to be an exponent of the grace of God in the midst of an apostate nation, and before an evil world.

Like a heavenly stranger he passes on his way morally apart from all, while in grace the servant of all, accessible alike to rich and poor. He is found in every condition of life; he comes into contact with every class of men; he moves at times within the land of Israel, and at times he passes beyond its bounds. But, wherever he is, in whatsoever circumstances he is found, with whomsoever he comes in contact, his one unvarying business is to make known the grace of God.

At times he is mocked; at times he is ignored and forgotten. at times men plot to take his life; but in spite of all opposition he pursues his service of love, removing the curse, preserving the lives of kings, feeding the hungry, helping the needy, healing the leper and raising the dead.

He allows nothing in his ways and manner of life that is inconsistent with his ministry of grace. He refuses the riches of this world, and the gifts of men, content himself to be poor that others may be enriched.

Thus he becomes a fitting type of that far greater One by whom grace and truth came into this world; who dwelt among us full of grace and truth; who became poor that we might be rich; who endured the contradiction of sinners, and who, at last gave up His life that grace might reign through righteousness.

Further, if Elisha is a type of the Christ who was to come, he is also the pattern for every believer in Christ, teaching us that, amidst all the circumstances of life, we should be the exponents, in a needy world, of the grace that has reached us in all our degradation in order to have us at last with, and like, the Man in the glory, where for ever we shall be to the praise of the glory of His grace.

Joseph

Joseph

Hamilton Smith.

Contents

1. LOVED AND HATED  Genesis 37: 1-11

2. REJECTED AND SOLD  Genesis 37: 12-36

3. SUFFERING AND SUPPORTED  Genesis 39, 40

4. EXALTATION AND GLORY Genesis 41

5. THE YEARS OF FAMINE  Genesis 41: 53-57; 42

6. THE BRETHREN TESTED  Genesis 43, 44

7. RECONCILIATION  Genesis 45: 1

8. SERVICE  Genesis 45: 9-24

9. GLORY AND BLESSING  Genesis 45: 25 to 47: 31

10. THE VISION OF FAITH  Genesis 50: 15-26

1. Loved and Hated — Genesis 37: 1-11

LOVED

To all who love our Lord Jesus Christ there is an abiding charm in the histories of the Old Testament saints, for therein can be traced bright unfoldings of the glories and excellencies of Christ. Such foreshadowings of things to come are doubtless hidden to the natural man, but plainly discerned by those who, through the Spirit, seek "in all the Scriptures the things concerning Himself."

Of all Old Testament histories none presents a richer or more distinct picture of Christ than the touching story of Joseph. Other lives may give in greater detail personal experiences and human failure, teaching many a wholesome lesson; but as the story of Joseph is unfolded we feel that the Spirit of God keeps in view the display of the glory of Christ, and all that pertains to the weakness and failure of a man of like passions with ourselves has little or no place. And yet, however rich the picture, we soon recognize that the life of no single saint could adequately set forth the fullness of Christ. In common with Joseph, other saints of God, as Isaac in his day, and David and Solomon in a later day, have their tale to tell concerning the glories of Christ. Moreover, there is no mere repetition, each has some special glory to disclose. Isaac tells of the sufferings and affections of Christ whereby He gains His bride; David of His sufferings and victories whereby He gains His kingdom; Joseph of His suffering and supremacy by which He administers His kingdom. Solomon takes us a step further and unfolds the glories of His kingdom when He is supreme.

HIS SERVICE

The story opens with Joseph, as a lad of seventeen, feeding the flock with his brethren and "doing service" with the sons of Bilhah and with the sons of Zilpah. He who will yet be supreme must first be a servant. The place of supremacy is only reached by the path of service, according to the word of the Lord: "Whosoever will be great among you, let him be your minister, and whosoever will be chief among you, let him be your servant" (Matt. 20: 26, 27). In this the Lord Himself is the perfect example of His own teaching, for He can say, "I am among you as He that serveth" (Luke 22: 27). And because He "took upon Him the form of a servant . . . and became obedient unto . . . the Cross.... God also hath highly exalted Him, and given Him a Name which is above every name." Thus at once in this history we see that shadowing forth of One that is greater than Joseph.

HIS SHEPHERDING

But there are other ways in which the opening history of Joseph will speak of Christ. Like Moses and David in a later date, Joseph is a leader of sheep before he becomes a leader of men. For forty years Moses must be content to lead a flock of sheep at the back of the desert before he becomes the leader of God's people through the desert. And of David, is it not written that Jehovah "chose . . . His servant and took him from the sheepfolds . . . He brought him to feed Jacob His people, and Israel His inheritance" (Ps. 78: 70, 71)? Thus not only in the fact of service but in the manner of service these saints of old prefigure the great Shepherd of the sheep.

HIS SEPARATION

Service with his brethren, however, does not necessarily imply fellowship with their evil. As the obedient servant he is very near them; as a man of integrity he is entirely apart from them. His service brought him into the company of others, his character made him a man apart from others, his very presence exposing their wickedness, so that he can but bring to his father "their evil report." And thus it was with Christ the perfect Saviour; His grace brought Him very near to us in all our need, His holiness kept Him entirely apart from all our sin. Our desperate needs, and His infinite grace, made Him a Servant moving amidst the needy crowds, and yet our sin and His holiness made Him a lonely Stranger in the land. As the perfect Servant He was accessible to all, as a holy Man He was apart from all. His service of love took Him into many a needy home, His holiness left Him without a home.

HIS SUPERIORITY

If, however, the character of Joseph set him apart from his brethren, the love of his father gave him a distinguished place above his brethren, for we read "Israel loved Joseph more than all his children." Moreover Israel bears witness to this place of distinction by clothing Joseph with a coat of many colours — a public testimony to the delight of the father in his son. At once our thoughts travel from Joseph to Christ and the unique place He had in the Father's affections, and the Father's pleasure in bearing witness to His delight in His Son. The very chapter that tells us, "God so loved the world," also tells us that "the Father loveth the Son." A measure is given to the love of God for the world, infinite though it be, but no measure is, or can be, given for the Father's love to the Son. The announcement stands in all its majestic dignity. "The Father loveth the Son," and faith delights to accept it. But if the Father can furnish no measure for this love, He can bear witness to His love for the Son. Joseph's coat of many colours, the public testimony of his father's love, has its bright counterpart in the opened heavens of the New Testament. Never are the heavens opened apart from Christ, and when opened they always bear some fresh witness to the Father's delight in the all-varied graces of the Son. No sooner has Christ taken His place on earth as the Servant of Jehovah than at once "the heavens were opened unto Him" that the host of heaven might look down on a Man on earth of whom the Father can say: "This is my beloved Son in whom I am well pleased" (Matt. 3: 16, 17). A little later and again the heavens are opened, that a man on earth may look up and bear witness to "the Son of Man" in heaven (Acts 7: 55, 56). Again, the day is not far distant when the heavens will be opened to let the Son of Man come forth in glory as the victorious "King of kings, and Lord of lords" (Rev. 19: 11-16). Having come forth as King of kings the heavens will again be opened that ascending and descending angels may bear witness to the Son of Man reigning in glory on the earth (John 1: 51). On these bright occasions we see our Lord Jesus invested with the coat of many colours. In other words, we see in the opened heavens the Father's delight in Christ as His beloved Son in humiliation as the Son of Man in heavenly glory, and as the King of kings and Lord of lords, coming forth to reign on the earth as Son of Man in supreme power and glory.

HIS SUPREMACY

Furthermore, the One who is loved by the Father, and marked out as the special object of His delight, is the One who is destined to universal supremacy. This great truth is brought before us in Joseph's dreams, both setting before us the supremacy of Joseph. One dream might have sufficed to foretell the glories of Joseph, but would be wholly inadequate to shadow forth the glories of Christ. For His supremacy will have a twofold character. He will yet be supreme on earth, and many passages tell of this earthly glory. The dream of the sheaves making obeisance to Joseph's sheaf may well speak of this excellent supremacy over all the earth which Christ is destined to wield. Yet this first dream fails to set forth the supremacy of Christ in all its vast extent, for He is destined not only to be supreme on earth, but to hold universal sway over heaven and earth. The Father according to His good pleasure, has purposed in the fullness of times to head up, "all things in Christ, both which are in heaven and which are on earth" (Eph. 1: 9, 10). And this second dream speaks of this heavenly supremacy by presenting heavenly bodies — the sun, the moon, and the stars, making obeisance to Joseph. The two dreams thus set forth the supremacy of Christ over things on earth and things in heaven to the remotest bounds of the created universe.

HIS SUFFERINGS

Thus the Spirit of God delights to exalt Christ by Presenting His universal supremacy as the leading thought in the history of Joseph even though it is the path of suffering by which the place of pre-eminence Is reached. There are the graces and excellencies of character that the sufferings call forth, as well as the heartlessness of His own and the evil and indifference of the world.

HATED

If Joseph has a unique place in his father's affections, and if he is destined in the counsels of God to the place of supremacy, he will, in the meantime, have to face the hatred of his brethren. This must be so if, in any measure, his story is to shadow forth that far greater hatred which Christ was called to endure at the hands of men. The One whom God has destined to the place of universal dominion is the only one that is hated by every natural heart. Why does the natural heart bear such hatred to Christ? Was there any cause of hatred in Him? Surely not, for in Christ there was an entire absence of the cruelty and violence, the lust and covetousness, the pride and arrogance, the meanness and selfishness, which in other men give such occasion for hatred. In Him there was everything to call forth love. While others went about doing evil, He "went about doing good" (Acts 10: 38). Man's mouth may be full of cursing and bitterness, but at least man must bear witness to "the gracious words which proceeded out of His mouth" (Luke 4: 22), and the officers who were sent to take Him said, "Never man spake like this man" (John 7: 46).

HATED BECAUSE THEY WERE EVIL

And yet in spite of His acts of love, and His words of grace, they rewarded Him evil for good, and hatred for His love (Ps. 109: 5). Truly He could say, "They hated me without a cause." Alas! plenty of cause of hatred, but no cause in Him. No cause in man to call forth Christ's love, and no cause in Christ to call forth man's hatred. But why should the evil heart of man hate the One whose whole life was spent in showing love to man? Let Joseph's history supply the answer. Why was Joseph hated by his brethren? Was he not in their company as one that served? Truly, but they were evil and hence, however desirable his service might be, his presence exposed their evil, and called forth their hatred. And for a like cause, and in far deeper measure, the world hated Christ, as He could say, "Me it hateth, because I testify of it, that the works thereof are evil" (John 7: 7).

HATED BECAUSE THEY WERE ENVIOUS

There were other causes for the hatred of Joseph's brethren. When they "saw that their father loved him more than all his brethren, they hated him, and could not speak peaceably unto him." And so with Christ confessing His unique place with the Father, He can say, "My Father worketh hitherto, and I work" (John 5: 17). Immediately the hatred of the Jews is called forth and "they sought the more to kill Him," and at once the Lord declares that "the Father loveth the on, and sheweth Him all things." The Beloved of he Father is hated by man.

HATED BECAUSE OF HIS DREAMS

Further, the dreams that speak of Joseph's future supremacy are a fresh motive for the envy and hatred of the brethren. He had been a witness against them of their evil, now he is a witness to them of his future glory. They will have neither one nor the other. Even so when the Lord witnessed against the evil of the world, and bore witness to His coming glories, like Joseph, He drew upon Himself the hatred of the world. Before the assembled leaders of Jerusalem the Lord speaks of His coming glories: "Hereafter," He can say, "shall ye see the Son of Man sitting on the right hand of power," a confession that is followed by a furious outburst of hatred, priests and elders uniting to spit in the face of the Son of God.

HATED BECAUSE OF HIS WORDS

Lastly, the brethren of Joseph hated him for his words. As we read: "They hated him yet the more for his dreams and for his words." Nor was it otherwise with the Lord. Men heard the words of Him that spake as never man spake, and some believed, but "many of them said, He hath a devil, and is mad; why hear ye Him?" The hatred could not be hid. So too Christ is still the object of a hatred that men cannot conceal, try as they will. A constant stream of abuse of His Name, denial of His Person, and refusal of His work, issues from apostate pulpits, and an infidel press, often masquerading under the cloak of religion. It is still His professed brethren that cannot speak peaceably of Him. But let us never forget that behind all the "hard speeches which ungodly sinners have spoken against Him" there are the "ungodly deeds which they have ungodly committed." The evil lives of Joseph's brethren were behind the hatred in their hearts, and the evil words of their lips. It is so today, the ungodly deeds in men's lives lead to the 'hard speeches which ungodly sinners have spoken against Him" (Jude 15).

But who Thy path of service,

Thy steps removed from ill,

Thy patient love to serve us,

With human tongue can tell?

Midst sin, and all corruption,

Where hatred did abound,

Thy path of true perfection

Was light on all around.

In scorn, neglect, reviling,

Thy patient grace stood fast;

Man's malice unavailing

To move Thy heart to haste.

O'er all Thy perfect goodness

Rose blessedly divine;

Poor hearts oppressed with sadness,

Found ever rest in Thine.

Love, that made Thee a Mourner

In this sad world of woe,

Made wretched man a scorner

Of grace — that brought Thee low.

Still, in Thee, love's sweet savour

Shone forth in every deed;

And showed God's loving favour

To every soul in need.

— J. N. Darby.

2.  Rejected and Sold — Genesis 37: 12-36

Jacob may have special affection for his son Joseph, nevertheless his other sons have a real place in his affections, and Joseph is to become the witness of the Father's love to the brethren. Accordingly Jacob desires that Joseph shall leave the home in the vale of Hebron and journey to distant Shechem, there, as the sent one of the father, to enquire of his brethren's welfare and bring Jacob word again. Joseph on his part is ready to obey, though he has experienced the hatred of his brethren. Jacob's request meets with Joseph's immediate response, "Here am I." So we read Israel "sent him out of the vale of Hebron" and Joseph "came to Shechem.''

THE SON RESPONDING

In this journey there is a foreshadowing of that far greater journey undertaken by the Son of God when, leaving the Father's home of light and love, He came into this world of death and darkness, well knowing the evil into which He came. And yet He turned not back. Even as at the cross we read, "Jesus therefore knowing all things that should come upon Him went forth" (John 18: 4). If the love of the Father would send Him, then the love of the Son is ready to do the Father's bidding. "Lo, I come to do Thy will, O God." He comes as the sent One of the Father to declare the Father's love.

THE SON REJECTED

Joseph's touching story foreshadows too what manner of reception the world has given to the sent One of the Father. Having no heart for their father, these men of evil ways have no eyes to discern the sent one of his love. For them Joseph is only a dreamer whose dreams they would fain frustrate by conspiring to slay him. Even so of Christ, His people said, "This is the Heir, come let us kill Him." And how eager man is to express his hatred. "When they saw him afar off . . . they conspired against him to slay him." But God's thoughts are not our thoughts, nor His ways as our ways. If it is a question of the Son of the Father's love drawing near to men, then indeed He will be rejected while yet afar off. But if it is a question of a sinner being drawn to the Father, then we read while "yet a great way off his father saw him, and had compassion, and ran, and fell on his neck and kissed him."

THE SON REPROACHED

The evil heart of man is marked by corruption and violence. Not only are the brethren ready to rid themselves of Joseph by violent acts, but they were prepared to cover their violence by corrupt and lying words. "Let us slay him," they say, "and we will say, Some evil beast hath devoured him." Violence and corruption are the outstanding marks of fallen man who is shameless in his violence and corruption. He is not simply overcome by some sudden temptation; but, as with Joseph's brethren, they can deliberately plan their violent act and corrupt lies. Man had not progressed far on his downward course before "the earth was filled with violence" and "all flesh had corrupted his way upon the earth." In spite of laws and treaties, moral training and codes of honour, and notwithstanding prisons and reformatories, violence and corruption are rampant in every part of the earth.

THE SON REBUFFED

Nothing brings man's evil into evidence like the presence of goodness. It was the presence of Joseph that called forth the violence and corruption of his brethren; even as the presence of perfect goodness in the Person of the Son of God became the occasion of the most furious outburst of man's evil. At His birth the enmity of man is ready to kill the child Jesus, and to cover its murderous intent with lying words (Malt. 2: 8, 16). But at the cross goodness is displayed as nowhere else only to call forth the greatest expression of man's evil that the world has ever seen. There goodness rises to its supreme height, and evil sinks to unutterable depths. The cross is the display of "hatred against God and good . . . the truest friend denies, the nearest betrays, the weaker ones who are honest flee the priests, set to have compassion on ignorant failure, plead furiously against innocence; the judge, washing his hands of condemned innocence; goodness alone and the world mean, universal enmity; against it. Perfect light has brought out the darkness; perfect love, jealous hatred."

THE SON REVEALED

Man vainly imagines that corruption and violence will prosper, even as the brethren of Joseph, having counselled to slay their brother, and designed to cover their act with lying, can with the utmost confidence say, "We shall see what will become of his dreams." They will indeed see. And alas for the rejecters of Christ, they too will see, for is it not written, "Behold, He cometh with clouds; and every eye shall see Him, and they also which pierced Him; and all kindreds of the earth shall wail because of Him"?

THE SON REVILED

Perfect goodness brings out the universal guilt of men, but though all are guilty, there are different measures of guilt, and of this the Judge of all the earth will take account in due time, rendering to one few stripes, and to another many stripes. Of these different degrees of guilt we have intimations in the story of Joseph. All the brethren were guilty, but not in the same degree. Reuben, though unstable, and morally corrupt as we know from his history (Gen. 35: 22; Gen. 49: 3, 4), was not necessarily cruel. In common with his brethren he has wronged his father, but all human affection is not extinguished in his heart. He would have spared Joseph's life, and his father's feelings. Judah, too, may be covetous, but he also has some compunction as to laying hands upon his brother. And these differences we see in the way men treat the Christ of God. All verily are guilty, but there are degrees of guilt. Herod, vile and pleasure-loving man that he was, would mock the Lord and set Him at nought, but he finds nothing worthy of death in Him. Pilate will go further than Herod, and yield up Christ to the murderous hatred of the Jews; but he has no personal enmity, and will at least make some feeble effort to preserve from death One that he knows to be innocent. But of the Jews Peter has to say, "Ye delivered (Him) up and denied Him in the presence of Pilate, when he was determined to let Him go . . . and killed the Prince of life" (Acts 3: 13-15).

THE SON REFUSED

And still there are the pleasure-lovers, strangers to all religious convictions, who have no good word for Christ and yet will not oppose. But there are others yet more guilty concerning Christ. They profess to admire His moral excellencies. Pilate-like they find no fault in Him; yet to retain their popularity with the world, they stifle their convictions, decide against Christ, and range themselves with that thrice-guilty class whose active enmity never ceases to attack His glorious Person and trample under foot His precious blood. There are the careless and indifferent, there are the fearful and fainthearted, and there are the furious haters — open and avowed enemies of Christ. But all unite in the rejection of Christ.

THE SON REPUDIATED

Thus it was in Joseph's history. His brethren stripped him of his coat of many colours and cast him into the pit. The father had distinguished him by a coat of many colours, the brethren degrade him by stripping him. So on many illustrious occasions when Christ is distinguished above all others by some special display of divine power, wisdom and grace, man will at once strip Him of His coat of many colours and seek to degrade Him to the level of a mere man by asking, 'Is not this the carpenter's son?" or "Is not this the carpenter?" As in the case of Joseph, the stripping was only the prelude to the pit, so with Christ, the rejection of every witness to His glory, led man at last with wicked hands to deliver Him to death.

THE SON RESCUED

There is however a significant difference between the type and the antitype. Isaac in his day very blessedly brings the death of Christ before us. He may be bound upon the altar, Abraham may stretch forth his hand and take the knife to slay his son, but at once the angel is present to stay his hand. Joseph may again take up the story of the cross, as his brethren cast him into the pit, but for him "the pit was empty, there was no water in it." How different the cross of Christ. The same God at whose bidding "Abraham stretched forth his hand, and took the knife to slay his son," can now say, "Awake, O sword, against the Man that is My fellow," and though twelve legions of angels await His commands, yet not one is bidden to hold back the sword of judgment. It is no empty pit into which He must go. He can say, "Thou hast laid me in the lowest pit, in darkness, in the deeps. Thy wrath lieth hard upon me, and Thou hast afflicted me with all Thy waves" (Ps. 88: 6, 7).

THE SON REWARDED

While the sufferings of Isaac and Joseph both point to the cross, yet each portrays a different aspect of that great mystery. Isaac goes up to the mount to be offered up. Joseph goes down to the pit. And the mount speaks of the glory of the Person offered up. The pit tells of the misery and degradation of those for whom He is offered up. He is the son, and more, the only son, and yet more he is the promised heir, Isaac, and the beloved of his father. But when Joseph goes down to the pit, while it is true his moral excellence cannot be hid, yet it is not his personal glory that is prominent but rather the evil and corruption of those who surround Joseph. If at last his brethren are to be brought into blessing and share in the glory of Joseph, then Joseph must take their place of distance and degradation as set forth in the pit. "Without the shedding of blood there is no remission," and "except a corn of wheat fall into the ground and die it abideth alone."

THE SON REVEALING

Having cast Joseph into the pit, his brethren "sat down to eat bread." Nor was it otherwise at the cross. The presence of Joseph only serves to reveal the evil of his brethren, just as the cross becomes the occasion to expose the depth of corruption in the heart of man. The leaders of Israel yield up the true Passover Lamb to death, and calmly sit down to eat the passover feast — an evil and adulterous generation, like the adulterous woman of Proverbs, of whom it is written "She eateth, and wipeth her mouth, and saith I have done no wickedness."

The company of merchant men on their way to Egypt at once suggest to Judah the opportunity of making profit out of their brother. Why not sell Joseph and make a little money? If they are not going to gratify their hatred by killing Joseph, why not gratify their covetousness by selling Joseph? Hence they gave their brother up to the Gentiles, and gave themselves up to money making. And what Judah did a thousand years before Christ came, His descendants have done for nearly two thousand years since His rejection. At the cross the Jews abandoned their Messiah to the Gentiles and ever since they have abandoned themselves to the worship of mammon. "Profit" is the word that governed the actions of Joseph's brethren. Judah asks the question for the covetous heart — not "Is it right?" or "Is it wrong?" but "What profit is it?" And "profit" has governed the policy of the Jew throughout the long centuries since that sad day when their Messiah was sold for thirty pieces of silver.

THE SON REMOVED

Thus Joseph passes into the land of the Gentiles and is "brought" into Egypt. Egypt was a snare to Abraham, and his sojourn in Egypt brought him only sorrow and shame. With Joseph, however, it brought blessing and glory. Why this difference? Is it not that in Abraham's case he "went down into Egypt to sojourn there" (Gen. 12: 10); but Joseph was "brought" into Egypt. One went there in unbelief and self-will. The other was brought there according to the determinate counsel and foreknowledge of God.

Having practiced a heartless piece of deceit upon their father, which plunges the old man into the deepest sorrow, these hypocrites gather round to comfort him. While none can excuse the wickedness of his sons, yet we cannot but see in this scene that Jacob is only reaping what he had already sown. Thirty years before Jacob had deceived his father with "the skins of the kids of the goats," and now after long years, he himself is deceived by his sons with "a kid of the goats." There may be long years between the sowing and the reaping, but at last the reaping time comes. The mills of God grind slowly, but they grind exceeding small.

THE SON RESURRECTED

We need hardly wonder that Jacob "refused to be comforted" by such comforters, but in the presence of what to him was the actual death of his son, his faith seems to have grown exceeding dim. How different the behaviour of David in the presence of the death of his son. Jacob says, "I will go down into the grave unto my son in mourning"; but of David we read he "arose . . . and came into the house of the Lord and worshipped." Both men are in the presence of the death of a child, but one says, "I will go down into the grave mourning," the other, "I will go up to the house of the Lord and worship." Yet both were true saints, but one looked no further than death and the grave, the other looked beyond death to resurrection, into a scene where there is "no more death, neither sorrow, nor crying nor pain."

O bright and blessed scenes, where sin can never come,

Whose sight our longing spirit weans, from earth where yet we roam!

And can we call our home our Father's house on high,

The rest of God our rest to come, our place of liberty?

Yes! in that light unstained, our stainless souls shall live,

Our heart's deep longings more than gained, where God His rest shall give.

His presence there, my soul, its rest, its joy untold,

Shall find when endless ages roll, and time shall ne'er grow old.

— J. N. Darby.

3. Suffering and Supported — Genesis 39 & 40

The history of Joseph already considered presents in type the rejection of Christ by the Jew. The history that follows gives the experience of Joseph in the hands of the Egyptians, speaking to us of the rejection of Christ by the Gentiles. At the hands of his brethren Joseph is consigned to the pit. In the hands of the Gentiles he is bound in the prison. We need both pictures to adequately set forth the truth, for the coming of the Son of God into the world cannot be confined to the Jew. Truly He was sent by the Father to His own, but equally true He came that the world through Him might be saved. Alas! He was rejected by both Jew and Gentile, "He was in the world . . . and the world knew Him not. He came unto His own and His own received Him not" (John 1: 10, 11).

TWOFOLD SUFFERING

While, however, both Jew and Gentile joined in rejecting Christ, there was a difference in the way they treated Him; a difference that was foreshadowed in he history of Joseph. With the brethren the leading motive for their rejection of Joseph was envy and hatred. However, in the house of the Gentile, though we see corruption and injustice at work, and in the prison of the Gentile selfish indifference, yet in neither case was there actual enmity to Joseph. And these differences between Jew and Gentile are strikingly seen at the Cross. Cross injustice and callous indifference may mark Herod and Pontius Pilate, the representatives of the Gentiles, but envy and deadly hatred mark the Jews — such envy that it is even discerned by the Gentile, and such hatred that it blinded them to every appeal of reason, every demand of justice, and to all sense of shame.

PROLONGED SUFFERING

Returning to the story of Joseph in Egypt we have other lessons to learn. Cut off from his own people in a strange land he becomes a slave in the house of the Egyptian; falsely accused by a wicked woman, and under the stigma of a great sin, he is cast into prison. There treated with base ingratitude, he is left to languish, a forgotten man. Suffering dishonour upon dishonour, his path is ever downward. The clouds gather round him and his way grows darker, until apparently his sun has set in hopeless gloom.

CRUEL SUFFERING

But behind all that is apparent to nature, faith can discern the purpose of God to exalt Joseph to a position of supremacy and glory. If God is set upon the fulfilment of His purpose, Satan will put forth every effort to thwart God's purpose. Satan uses the wickedness of the brethren to banish Joseph from house and home; he uses Potiphar's wicked wife to bring Joseph into prison; and he uses Pharaoh's ungrateful butler to keep him there. Every step in the downward path is an apparent triumph for Satan, and would seem to make the fulfilment of God's purpose more remote. To the natural view Satan's plans appear to prosper, and God's purposes suffered apparent defeat.

NECESSARY SUFFERING

Faith, however, can discern the hand of God behind the wiles of Satan. If Satan is using man to hinder God's purposes, God is using Satan to carry them out. Every kind of agent is at God's disposal. Angels and archangels, saints and sinners, the devil and his demons, all serve to carry out God's plans. The very elements — fire and hail, snow and vapours, and stormy wind — are "fulfilling His word" (Ps. 148: 8). Nor is it otherwise with the circumstances of life, as we see in the story of Joseph. The trials he passes through, the treatment at the hands of his brethren, the bondage in the house of the Egyptian, the false accusations of Potiphar's wife, the prison of Pharaoh, and the neglect of Pharaoh's butler, are only so many stages in the path that leads to glory. His labours as a shepherd, his mission to his brethren, his services in Potiphar's house and in Pharaoh's prison are preparing for the exercise of power in the day of his glory. The service in the trials prepares for the right use of glory.

TYPICAL SUFFERING

In all this Joseph is but a type of One whose sufferings were far deeper even as His glory is far greater. He, too, in the days of His flesh was amongst us as One that serves, for He could say, "Man acquired Me as bondman from My youth" (Zech. 13: 5, N . Tr.) . He, too, suffered under the false accusations of the wicked, for again He can say, "They laid to My charge things that I knew not" (Ps. 35: 11). He, too, was led to prison and to death; and in a full measure He had to meet the base ingratitude of those who had received only good at His hands, so that, with a heart broken by unrequited love, He cries, "I am forgotten as a dead man out of mind" (Ps. 31: 12).

PREPARATORY SUFFERING

But as with Joseph in type, so with Christ the glorious antitype, every downward step in the path of suffering was but a further stage on the way to glory. His service in the days of His flesh prepares for His rule as King of kings and Lord of lords. The false witnesses that rose up against Him will bow down before Him when every knee shall bow and every tongue confess that He is Lord to the glory of God the Father. The day is not far distant when the "poor wise Man" that no man remembered shall be "in everlasting remembrance" (Ecc. 9: 15; Ps. 112: 6).

SUBMISSIVE SUFFERING

But not only does this portion of the history of Joseph supply a beautiful type of Christ, but it is rich with practical instruction for the saint in his individual path. First, we cannot read the story without being impressed with the fact that he was a submissive man. His circumstances were hard and his position trying. Cut off from his kindred, a stranger in a foreign land, he had passed from the love of his father's home to the bondage of the Egyptian's house, yet there is no repining. He harbours no bitter thoughts against his brethren, utters no complaints as to his hard lot, nor a single rebellious word against the ways of God. His spirit was kept in beautiful submission. Had not God revealed to him his high destiny  - and faith, resting in quiet confidence in God's word looks on with clear vision to the glorious end (see 2 Cor. 4: 17, 18). Faith kept God and His word between himself and his circumstances. In the path of God's purpose he submits to God's ways. So Paul, another prisoner of the Lord in another day, in like spirit of submission, writes from his prison, "the circumstances in which I am have fallen out rather to the furtherance of the gospel."

PROFITABLE SUFFERING

As a result, "the Lord was with Joseph and he was a prosperous man" (verse 2). The submissive man will ever be a prosperous man. Nature would say that slavery and prosperity must be an impossible combination, but if we submit to His ways, the presence of the Lord can turn days of adversity into days of prosperity. All the world would admit that Joseph was a prosperous man in the day of his exaltation, jut faith sees, and God declares, that he was a prosperous man in the day of his humiliation. He will, in due time ride prosperously as the ruler of Egypt, but first he must live prosperously as the slave of an Egyptian. The prosperity of the prison must precede The prosperity of the palace. The trials and the sorrows, the losses and the crosses, the rough ways and the dark valleys, will all become occasions of the greatest soul prosperity if we remember that God has a settled purpose for us in glory, and in the meantime all His ways with us are in view of His purpose for us. In the light of His purpose we shall be able to submit to His ways, and submitting we shall find the Lord with us, and if the Lord is with us we shall prosper with that prosperity that is above all — the prosperity of the soul. "Beloved," says the aged apostle, "I wish above all things that thou mayest prosper, and be in health, even as thy soul prospereth" (3 John 2).

PATIENT SUFFERING

Moreover, being a prosperous man Joseph became l witness for the Lord in the house of bondage. We read, "His master saw that the Lord was with him" (v. 3). His testimony, too, was the testimony of his life rather than his lips. Potiphar was impressed by what he "saw" rather than by what he heard. "His master saw that the Lord was with him, and that the Lord made all that he did to prosper in his hand." Had Joseph been for ever complaining of his hard lot, or enlarging upon his high destiny, he would have been no witness for the Lord in the house of Potiphar. The Egyptian cared nothing about his past, and, even if set before him, would comprehend nothing of his future, but his daily life of wholehearted attention to his duties Potiphar could see and appreciate. Nor is it otherwise today. For a Christian servant to be often grumbling at his lot before his unconverted master, and saying that the day is coming when he will judge the world and even angels, would be wholly out of place. To an unconverted master it would not only be the wildest folly but also the grossest impertinence. To speak to the world of the glorious purposes of God is only to cast pearls before swine. These are things totally beyond the comprehension of the natural man. But to see a Christian servant living a quiet, consistent, uncomplaining life, in the faithful discharge of daily duties, is indeed a true witness for the Lord, and is something that the unconverted master can appreciate.

REWARDED SUFFERING

Thus it was In the history of Joseph, with the result that the one who was a witness for the Lord was respected and trusted by man. So we read, "Joseph found grace in his sight . . . and he made him overseer over his house, and all that he had he put into his hand" (v. 4). The Lord was not only with Joseph, but He was for Joseph, disposing the heart of the master in favour of his servant.

It follows that Joseph became a source of blessing in the house of the Gentile: "It came to pass from the time that he made him overseer in his house, and over all that he had, that the Lord blessed the Egyptian's house for Joseph's sake, and the blessing of the Lord was upon all that he had in the house, and in the field" (v. 5). The Christian is not only called to blessing but, as he passes along his way, to be a blessing.

MEEK SUFFERING

Viewing Joseph as a type of Christ, it is important to remember that it was God's purpose to set Joseph in the place of supremacy, and hence every one who submits to his supremacy is blessed. Thus Potiphar gives Joseph a place of supremacy in his household, and immediately Potiphar is blessed. A little later the jailer makes Joseph supreme in the prison and blessing follows. Just as in the day of his universal supremacy all submit to him, and all are blessed. The world will be compelled to submit to the supremacy of Christ in the day of His manifested power, but faith delights to anticipate that day and own His supremacy in the day of His rejection. And in the measure in which we yield ourselves, our lives, our all, to the supremacy of Christ, we too shall be blessed, even as the world will be blessed when it submits to His universal sway. The supremacy of Christ demands the submission of man, and the submission of man leads to the blessing of man, though in the day of His rejection that blessing is spiritual rather than material.

Thus we have seen that in the house of the Gentile Joseph was a submissive man, a prosperous man, a witness for the Lord, a respected and trusted man, and a centre of blessing. Such characteristics constitute a very complete life, and hence we are not surprised to read that "Joseph was of a beautiful form and of a beautiful countenance" (v. 6, N. Tr.). The life that is beautiful before God and man is exemplified in this Old Testament saint.

TRIUMPHANT SUFFERING

It is not, however, to be expected that the devil will leave unmolested a life that is beautiful in the sight of God and man. Devotion to the Lord exposes Joseph to the hatred of the devil. Having entirely failed to overcome Joseph by the frowns of the world and the trials of hard circumstances, the devil alters his tactics and seeks to overcome Joseph by the pleasures of sin. In the person of Potiphar's wife he has a ready instrument whereby to tempt Joseph, combined with circumstances that favour her evil designs. In result the temptation only serves to bring out the moral excellence of Joseph. He escapes the snare through maintaining his faithfulness to his master and his tear of God. "Behold," says Joseph, "my master . . . hath committed all that he hath to my hand . . . how then can I do this great wickedness and sin against God?" (vv. 8, 9). Here is the secret of Joseph's consistent life before his master. He served faithfully in the presence of man, because he walked continually in the presence of God; and walking in the fear of God he was kept in the hour of temptation. Well for each one of us, if the moment of fierce temptation finds us walking so near to God, that at once we ask, "Can I do this great wickedness and sin against God?" To ask that question is to escape the snare. The only thing we have really to be afraid of is fearing anything, or anyone, more than God.

PROLONGED SUFFERING

The devil, however, is not content with isolated attacks upon the children of God. He will wage a continual warfare. It was so with Joseph. The temptation came "day by day" (v. 10), and the attacks more persistent until Joseph "flees" from the temptation and the devil is foiled. But having failed as the tempter, he now becomes the persecutor (vv. 13-18). The woman who formerly had cast her evil eyes upon Joseph now witnesses with lying tongue against him, as an old divine has said, "Those who have broken the bonds of modesty will never be held by the bonds of truth. It is no new thing for the best of men to be falsely accused of the worst crimes by those who are themselves the worst of criminals." In result Joseph escapes from a bad woman and retains a good conscience. But to retain a good conscience may cost much. Joseph has to exchange the comfort of Potiphar's house for the hardships of Pharaoh's prison.

Here Joseph must pass through a new testing. In the house of Potiphar he has borne a bright witness for God, he has overcome temptation, and endured persecution. In the prison of Pharaoh he must learn not only to witness for God, but to wait for God. This as we well know, is one of the hardest lessons for the saint to learn. It is one thing to witness for God in the busy world, it is a very different thing to wait for God in the lonely prison; in fact it is impossible to nature. Saul the natural man, lost his kingdom because he could not wait for God (1 Sam. 10: 8; 1 Sam. 13: 8-14). But while it is impossible to nature it is a sore trial for the man of faith. Abraham in his day must earn to wait for God. Under the stress of waiting he yields to the suggestion of nature and unbelief and attempts to obtain the promised seed by fleshly means, only to find that he is shut up to God, and must wait thirteen long years to reach God's due time. So, too, at a later date no one could have given a bolder witless than John the Baptist in the day of Bethabara; in the presence of the assembled crowd, he exclaims, 'This is He of whom I said, After me cometh a Man which is preferred before me; for He was before me." But when John finds himself within the prison walls, when the crowds have gone, when the witnessing time is over, and the waiting time has come, then under the stress of this new trial he exclaims, "Art Thou He that should come?" (John 1: 30; Matt. 11: 3).

UNRELIEVED SUFFERING

Thus Joseph, in his day, finds the waiting time in prison a testing time for faith. He, too, seeks deliverance by an arm of flesh. Having befriended the king's butler, he naturally concludes the butler will intervene with Pharaoh to obtain his release. "Think on me," says Joseph, "when it shall be well with thee, and show kindness, I pray thee, unto me, and make mention of me unto Pharaoh, and bring me out of his house." Joseph must not only learn that the help of man is vain, but that God is his only resource. 'God is our refuge and strength, a very present help in trouble." But to receive this "help" we must learn to "be still" and know that God is God (Ps. 46: 1, 10). God has His time as well as His way to bring His purposes to pass.

RELIEF IN SUFFERING

In the meantime, if man forgets to show Joseph Kindness, God will not forget to show him mercy. As we read, "The Lord was with Joseph and showed him mercy." Joseph may fail, just as we may and do, but the Lord's "compassions fail not, they are new every mornings great is thy faithfulness. The Lord is my portion saith my soul; therefore I hope in Him" (Lam. 3: 22-24). The devil may tempt us day by day, and God may test by keeping us waiting from day to lay, nevertheless His mercy will be renewed every lay. Thus though we oft-times have to wait for the Lord's deliverance, yet "The Lord is good unto them that wait for Him," and on our side we learn that "It is good that a man should both hope and quietly wait For the salvation of the Lord" (Lam. 3: 25, 26). Forgotten by man Joseph is remembered by the Lord, until in God's due time he learns that "those that wait upon the Lord . . . shall inherit the earth" (Ps. 37: 9) .

Commit thy way to God,

The weight that makes thee faint;

Worlds are to Him no load,

To Him breathe thy complaint.

He, who for winds and clouds

Maketh a pathway free,

Through wastes and hostile crowds,

Can make a way for thee.

Hope, then, though woes doubled;

Hope and be undismayed;

Let not thy heart he troubled,

Nor let it be afraid.

This prison where thou art —

Thy God will break it soon,

And flood with light thy heart

In His own blessed noon.

— Paul Gerhardt

4. Exaltation and Glory — Genesis 41

In this portion of Joseph's history we reach the period in which God unfolds His plan for the glory and exaltation of Joseph as well as the government of Egypt. And as this fine story is developed we see therein a picture of God's purpose for the exaltation of Christ and God's plan for the government of the world.

GOD'S INSTRUMENTS

God's plans, however, must be carried out in God's time, by God's instruments, and in God's way. Joseph had probably looked forward to an immediate release when the butler was restored to his position in Pharaoh's household. But two full years must pass before God's time is reached. The due time having come, the last instrument in the hand of God is ready to complete the work that leads to the exaltation of Joseph. Already God had used the king's captain, the king's jailer, and the king's butler, now He will use the king himself. Moreover, it must be in God's way. It will be "a dream, a vision of the night," by which He will trouble the spirit of Pharaoh and awaken the slumbering memory of Pharaoh's butler (vv. 8, 9).

MAN'S INTELLECT

First God reveals what He is about to do; but even so man cannot profit by the revelation. God will speak in a vision to Pharaoh by writing on the wall in Belshazzar's day, by "great plainness of speech" In our day, but, as in the days that are past, so now, the wise men of this world are utterly at fault in their efforts to interpret the Word of God. Thus Pharaoh appeals to the "magicians of Egypt and all the wise men thereof," only to find "there was none to interpret" his dreams (v. 8). Man's natural pride of intellect blinds him to the simple fact that communications from God can only be interpreted by God.

FAITHFUL INTERPRETATION

Having thus destroyed "the wisdom of the wise" and brought "to nothing the understanding of the prudent," God falls back on the man of His reserve, "a man in whom the spirit of God is." But God's man is always of little account in the eyes of the world. The man who is destined to wield a power that no mortal, before or since, has ever exercised, is for the moment languishing in a prison and reckoned among "the base things of the world and things which are despised." Nevertheless, he is the chosen of God to "confound the mighty" and "bring to naught the things that are." So it comes to pass that Joseph is brought from the dungeon into the presence of earth's most powerful monarch. Pharaoh, speaking as a natural man, at once says, "I have heard say of thee, that thou canst understand a dream to interpret it." Joseph straightway confesses, "It is not in me." It was no more in Joseph than in the wise men of Egypt. They may indeed be learned in all the wisdom of the Egyptians, they may hold the very highest positions in the court of the king; Joseph, on the other hand, is "a young man, an Hebrew, a bondman," in a dungeon, but God being with him he can surpass the wisdom of the wise, stand without fear in the presence of the king, and with the utmost confidence say, "God will give Pharaoh an answer of peace." He does not say, "God can give Pharaoh an answer," however true that would have been, but faith passing beyond what God can do, definitely states what God will do.

CLEAR INSIGHT

It is still the possession of the Spirit of God that makes the immeasurable difference between the children of God and the wise men of the world. Many indeed may possess giant intellects, well stored with such learning as this world can afford, holding, too, high rank in the religious world, but unless born again they are mere natural men, without the Spirit, and cannot even see the things that belong to the kingdom of God, much less enter that fair kingdom.

DIVINE INTELLIGENCE

Having heard Pharaoh's account of his dream, Joseph proceeds to give the king a threefold message from God. First he twice repeats that "God hath showed Pharaoh what He is about to do" (vv. 25, 28). The wise men of Egypt doubtless had their theories as to the future of Egypt, and shaped their policies and made their plans in accordance with their own ideas — even as today the leaders of this world, whether political, religious, intellectual, capitalist, or labour, have their various theories of future government of the world. But from the most exalted imperialist through all shades of thought to the most degraded Bolshevist, there is one thing in common — all the theories of men leave God out of God's world. Men will not own God as "the God of heaven and earth." God is welcome to heaven, about which man knows nothing and cares less, but as for earth, the centre of all man's affections, it must be governed according to man's ideal, an ideal which enthrones the will of man as supreme to the total exclusion of God. Nevertheless, God has His plans for the future government of the world, and of these plans He has not left us in ignorance. In Pharaoh's day, "He showed Pharaoh by a dream what He was about to do. In our day He has shown us still more plainly by direct revelation "what He is about to do." God was going to govern Egypt by one who had been rejected by his brethren, cast out, and forgotten by the world. And God has disclosed to us that according to His good pleasure He has purposed to head up all things in Christ, both which are in heaven, and which are on earth. The One, who, when He entered the world, found "no room" even in a wayside inn, who, as He passed through it, was "a stranger in the land" and a "wayfaring man" with not where to lay His head, who when He went out of the world was nailed to a cross between two thieves, is the One of whom God has decreed, "The government shall be upon His shoulder; and His name shall be called Wonderful, Counsellor, Mighty God, Father of Eternity, Prince of Peace" (Isa. 9: 6, N. Tr.).

HUMAN INSTABILITY

Moreover, Pharaoh learns a second truth at the lips of Joseph. Not only has God a plan for the government of Egypt, but "the thing is established by God" (v. 32). The ingenuity of man can evolve a bewildering succession of theories and plans, but over all there is the fatal stamp) of utter instability. One generation unfolds its theories and pursues its plans with immense energy, only to have them entirely flung aside by a succeeding generation. But God only can declare "the end from tie beginning, and from ancient times the things that are not," and He can say, "My counsel shall stand and I will do all my pleasure" (Isa. 46: 10).

DIRECT INTERVENTION

Then a third truth is proclaimed to Pharaoh. Not only "the thing is established boy God," but "God will shortly bring it to pass" (v. 32). God has a revealed plan. God has established His plan, and what God has planned and established, God will bring to pass. Men dream of bringing about a millennium after their own thoughts and by their own efforts, through education, civilization, disarmament, leagues and confederacies, but all will be in vain. God has made it perfectly clear that His millennium will only be Drought about by the direct intervention of God Himself. As in Joseph's day, so in our day, "God will bring it to pass." Has He not said by the mouth of the prophet, "I have spoken it and I will bring it to pass; I have purposed it, I will also do it" (Isa. 46: 11)? Moreover, "God will shortly bring it to pass." The time may seem long, for God has lingered in longsuffering grace, not willing that any should perish, but as in Pharaoh's day so in ours, it has been given to the One who is going to be supreme, "to show unto His servants things which must shortly come to pass" (Rev. 1: 1).

EXPLICIT INSTRUCTION

In accordance with God's settled plan, Pharaoh is also instructed as to the way God will take to carry out His plans. Seven years of plenty will be followed by seven years of famine, and Pharaoh is told to "look out a man discreet and wise, and set him over the land of Egypt" (vv. 21-33). Two things mark this plan. First, God ordains that only one man shall be over the land, second, God will so order circumstances that all will be brought under the sway of this man. Joseph was to be set over all, and all would be brought under Joseph by the seven years of plenty followed by the seven years of famine. The circumstances and the man would combine to bring about God's purposed plan.

PROPHETIC INSIGHT

This, too, is God's plan for the future government of the world. Not by parliaments, or cabinets, not by counsellors and ministers, will God govern, but by "a Man discreet and wise" set over all. And all will be brought under His sway either by the day of grace or in the day of judgment — the years of plenty or the years of famine. For nearly two thousand years God has been meeting man's deepest need according to the riches of His grace, and many have thus been brought under the sway of Christ by confessing Him as Lord to His glory and their blessing. But the world at large that has neglected God's grace and rejected the claims of Christ will be brought to bow in the day of judgment that will follow the years of grace. "When thy judgments are in the earth, the inhabitants of the world will learn righteousness" (Isa. 26: 9).

OUTSTANDING IMPORTANCE

All being good in the eyes of Pharaoh, he proceeds to carry out the God-given counsels of Joseph. Thus it came to pass that the man "who was separated from his brethren" is exalted to a place of supremacy "over all the land of Egypt." The rejection by his brethren, the humiliation he had borne, the lowly positions he had filled, and the sufferings he had endured, all led to the place of exaltation, and have an answer in the varied glories that fall to him as lord of all. Moreover if the days of his sorrows were a foreshadowing of the yet deeper sufferings and rejection of Christ, so too the supremacy of Joseph foreshadows the still greater glories of Christ as the exalted Man. In story after story of great saints of old the Spirit of God delights to anticipate the supremacy of Christ; by glowing Psalms and thrilling prophecies His exaltation is foretold, and when at last — His sufferings all fulfilled — He is glorified at God's right hand, with yet greater delight the Holy Spirit takes of the things of Christ and unfolds before us His varied glories as the One exalted over all.

WORTHY PRE-EMINENCE

In Ephesians we learn that the counsel of God has purposed the exaltation of Christ, for there we read that, "according to His good pleasure which He hath purposed in Himself," He is going to head up all things in Christ, "both which are in heaven and which are on earth," and in accord with this purpose He has already "set Him at His own right hand in the heavenly places far above all principality, and power, and might, and dominion, and every name that is named, not only in this world but also in that which is to come; and hath put all things under His feet."

In Colossians we learn that the glory of His Person demands the place of exaltation. If He is "the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of all creation," the One by whom all things were created, who is before all, and sustainer of all, then indeed He must "in all things" have the preeminence.

In Philippians His lowly grace secures His exaltation, for there we read that "He made Himself of no reputation, and took upon Him the form of a servant, and was made in the likeness of men, and being found in fashion as a man, He humbled Himself and became obedient unto death, even the death of the cross, wherefore God also hath highly exalted Him, and given Him a Name which is above every name."

In Hebrews His sufferings prepare Him for His exaltation. The One who is set over all — crowned with glory and honour — was first made perfect through sufferings.

In Peter we learn that His preciousness in the eyes of God is witnessed by His exaltation. The "stone, cast away indeed as worthless by men," but with God 'chosen" and "precious," has been made the head of the corner.

Moreover, John tells us that if others are to share in the blessings and glory of His exaltation, then suffering and death must be the pathway to exaltation. When the moment had arrived that the Son of Man should be glorified, then the time had come when that corn of wheat must fall into the ground and die, or  ever abide alone.

CONSISTENT INVESTMENT

But if Joseph is set in a place of supremacy he must needs be there in a condition suited to the place. The prison garments are put off with the passing of prison circumstances. The royal ring, the fine linen, and the chain of gold betoken his high estate, and in a yet deeper and more spiritual way is this true of Christ in His exaltation. The garments of humiliation and poverty by which in grace He clothed Himself, or man in scorn placed upon Him, are forever laid aside. The crown of thorns is exchanged for a crown of glory, the reed for the royal sceptre, and the seamless robe for the shining raiment exceeding white as snow. On earth He appeared as the poor Man, in heaven the glory of God is shining in His face. Not only is He in glory but He is glorified.

REASONABLE INFERENCE

As exalted and vested with glory, all are called to "bow the knee" to Joseph and no man is to act independently of him "Without thee," says Pharaoh, 'shall no man lift up his hand in all the land of Egypt." If Joseph is supreme, all are called to submit. And so today, if God has exalted the Lord Jesus and given Him a Name which is above every name, it is "that at the Name of Jesus every knee shall bow." The Christian delights to bow during the plenteous years of grace; the world will be compelled to bow in the years of famine.

SHARED INHERITANCE

In the day of his exaltation Joseph is proved to be a true Revealer of Secrets or Zaphnath-paaneah. The wise men of Egypt, with all their learning, could not interpret mysteries or unroll the future. God, too, has His mysteries unknown and unuttered by prophets, priests, or kings. Glorious things they had to say of Christ, but there were secrets that awaited the coming of Christ — the Revealer of Secrets. Then indeed, when Christ is exalted, the greatest mystery of all is disclosed — the mystery of Christ and the church, of which, now that it is revealed, we can see a dim shadow in Joseph and Asenath, his Gentile bride. Rejected by his brethren who are left in far off Canaan, he is, unknown to them, exalted to a place of highest supremacy, there to receive a Gentile bride to share his place of glory. So Christ, rejected on earth by Israel, leaves them under guilt of their sin, and takes a place in heaven, and during His session at the right hand of God the church is called out from the nations and presented to Him to share His kingdom glories.

GREAT INGATHERING

During the years of plenty Joseph uses his place of exaltation to reap a great harvest for Egypt. He deals with the harvest of Egypt during the years of plenty, he will deal with the men of Egypt during the years Of famine (vv. 36-49). In this day of grace the world is passing through its "seven plenteous years," when the grace of God is bestowing blessings by "handfuls." The men of the world may entirely neglect the blessings that grace brings to their door, and pursue their way quite heedless of the future. Apparently the men of Egypt took no advantage of the years of plenty to lay up for the years of famine. We do not read that they gathered up any food. It was Joseph that went throughout the land, and gathered up corn. And so today it is the exalted Christ who is reaping a harvest of souls during the day of grace. He is going through the world gathering His people out of the world. But when the days of grace have run their course He will deal with the men of the world.

PERFECT SATISFACTION

The two sons that are born to Joseph will also bear their witness to Christ. Manasseh, as we know, signifies "forgetting," and Ephraim "fruitful." Rejected by his brethren, his path had been one of suffering and toil, but Joseph has his great reward and becomes fruitful in the land of his affliction. Nor is it other wise with Christ. His ancient people may despise and reject Him, they may number Him with the transgressors, but in the day of His rejection, when His soul is made an offering for sin, then "He shall see His seed," yea, "He shall see of the fruit of the travail of His soul, and shall be satisfied." Israel could say, "His blood be on us and on our children," and they will drink to the dregs their cup of guilt, but Christ has not lost by their rejection. His "toil" has its glorious answer in a great harvest of souls gathered out of the world during the time of His rejection by Israel. The time when He is "forgotten" by Israel is the time when He gathers fruit among the Gentiles.

Lord, we joy, Thy toils are ended,

Glad Thy suff'ring time is o'er.

To Thy Father's throne ascended,

There Thou liv'st to die no more.

Lord, we worship and adore Thee

For Thy rich, Thy matchless grace;

Perfect soon in joy before Thee,

We shall see Thee face to face.

5. The Years of Famine Genesis — 41: 53-57; 42

We have traced Joseph's path to a position of exaltation and power, and we have seen how he used that tower during the years of plenty. But "the seven years of plenteousness, that was in the land of Egypt, were ended. And the seven years of dearth began to come" (vv. 53, 54). How will Joseph act in the years of dearth? His brethren had consigned him to the pit, the Gentiles had flung him into prison. Will Joseph take occasion by the world's extremity, and his brethren's need to use his power in taking vengeance? Nature might act thus, but grace will take another way. Joseph will use his place of supremacy and power for universal blessing. But while showing grace he will maintain righteousness, hence a cry of need will be wrung from the Gentiles and they must submit themselves to Joseph before the blessing is received. So too repentance must precede blessing in the case of the brethren.

NEED AWAKENED

During the days of plenty the world paid little heed to Joseph. Of his brethren we hear nothing, they were wholly indifferent to him. When, however, the dearth set in, need is awakened; "the land of Egypt was famished" (v. 55); and Jacob and his sons are faced with starvation and death (Gen. 42: 1, 2). The need calls forth a cry for bread, and the Gentiles have to learn, and the brethren discover, that none can meet the need save the one that once they scorned and rejected. The Gentiles must "go to Joseph," and the brethren must bow themselves before him with their faces to the earth (Gen. 41: 55; Gen. 42: 6). The once rejected but now exalted man is alone the resource alike for Gentile nations as for Jacob and his sons.

THE ONE RESOURCE

All this, however, speaks plainly of things to come. There fast approaches "the hour of temptation (i.e. trial) which shall come upon all the world, to try them that dwell upon the earth" (Rev. 3: 10), and for the Jew the time of "great tribulation, such as was not since the beginning of the world" (Matt. 24: 21). "Alas!" says the prophet Jeremiah, "for that day is great, so that none is like it: it is even the time of Jacob's trouble" (Jer. 30: 7). And in that day of unprecedented trial the one resource will be the exalted Christ, who, in the days of His humiliation, was rejected and crucified by Jew and Gentile.

THE STOREHOUSES OF BLESSING

Both Jew and Gentile will pass through seas of misery in their attempts to bring about prosperity and peace in a world from which God and His Christ are excluded. But not until the Gentile submits to Christ as King of kings and Lord of lords, and the Jew at last confesses, "Blessed is He that cometh in the name of the Lord," will the time of blessing be reached. Then the exalted Christ will, like Joseph of old, open "all the storehouses," of blessing.

DEEPER TRIBULATION

There is, however, in the story of Joseph, a great difference in the treatment meted out to the Gentiles and in his dealings with his brethren. The Gentiles have truly to learn their need and submit to Joseph before the storehouses of blessing are opened. The guilt, however, of the brethren was far greater than the guilt of the Gentiles, and the exercises must be correspondingly deeper that bring them to repentance Deform they obtain the blessing. And so, too, Scripture makes it abundantly plain that the Jew, with the deeper guilt of having crucified their own Messiah will pass through far deeper tribulation than the Gentile before obtaining the millennial blessing under Christ.

DEEPER EXERCISES

These deeper exercises of the Jew are foreshadowed in Joseph's dealings with his brethren, as detailed in the chapters that follow. Under the stress of famine Jacob has to say to his sons, "Why do ye look one upon another?" They are in desperate plight, and this much they realize, there is no help in one another. If help is to come it must be from one outside themselves. Hence the ten brethren come to Egypt and present themselves before Joseph.

CHANGED CIRCUMSTANCES

Time was when Joseph was a weak and helpless youth in the hands of his elder brethren. What could a youth do in the power of ten men? And in those far-off days they were not slow to use their power to gratify the hatred and envy that filled their hearts. Twenty years have rolled by; circumstances have changed; Joseph is exalted; his brethren bow before him — ten helpless, needy men. What can ten strangers do in the presence of the all-powerful governor of Egypt? The day of humiliation is past, the day of power has come. How will Joseph use his power? Will he condemn his brethren to hard bondage even as he had suffered bondage at their hands? Human nature might prompt such a course, vengeance might delight in it, justice might be pleaded for it. On the other hand, nature might suggest a very different course; could not Joseph act with generosity and entirely overlook the sin of his brethren, even as Esau. the man of nature, overlooked his brother's wrong in an earlier day? Nature can often talk in an airy way of letting bygones be bygones and seek to exalt itself by a show of generosity. Joseph, however, will take another way. The conduct that seems so highly commendable in the eyes of the natural man has no attraction for the man that fears God.

LOVE DIRECTING

This was the secret of Joseph's life. Through all the vicissitudes of his path from youth to old age he was governed, not by the dictates of nature, but by the holy fear of God. Thus it is in the presence of his brethren he can say, "I fear God" (v. 18). This is the secret spring of all his actions. His thoughts, his words, his ways, were governed by the fear of God. Nature leaves God out and thinks only of self-vindication, self-gratification, or self-exaltation. Faith thinks of God and what is pleasing and due to God. Joseph seeks to "serve God acceptably with reverence and godly fear" (Heb. 12: 28). In the day of his temptation he was kept from the path of evil by the fear of God, for he could say, "How can I do this great wickedness, and sin against God?" In the day of his exaltation he is kept from taking vengeance on his brethren by the fear of God. No sorrows in the day of his humiliation, no glories in the day of his exaltation are allowed to move his soul from the fear of God. He knew how to be abased, and he knew how to abound. Be the circumstances sad or bright, he ever kept God between himself and his circumstances. Thus walking in God's fear he takes God's way with his brethren, and God's way was a way of love, and yet not the way of mere human love, which is often a feeble and failing thing, even as men say, "Love is blind." Divine love with its clear vision is not blind to the faults in the objects of love, but rather, in full recognition of all that is contrary to itself, it sets to work to remove every blemish, so that at length it can rest with satisfaction in its object.

LOVE DISCERNING

Moreover, love is quick to discern. Multitudes from surrounding nations were driven by need to the feet of Joseph, but directly these ten men appear before him love discerns that they are his brethren, as we read, "Joseph saw his brethren." For twenty years he had not seen them, but with love's quick perception he sees in those ten needy men the brethren from whom he had so long been parted. And love "knew them." "Joseph knew his brethren, but they knew him not" (v. 8). Love knew their past history and the present need that brought them to his feet.

LOVE REMEMBERING

And love knew, because love "remembered." "Joseph remembered the dreams which he had dreamed of them" (verse 9). The dreams of the past, the anger and scorn with which they had been received by the brethren, the treatment they had meted out to him, all is remembered, but remembered by one that loves them, for, as Joseph speaks with them "He turned himself about." Time will come when ail the pent-up affections of Joseph will flow out without restraint as he weeps before them, but ere that moment comes he has other work to do. Love will set itself to work to win their hearts and set them in perfect ease in the presence of the one against whom they had so greatly sinned. To reach this end love will find a way whereby, in righteousness, every stain on the past can be wiped away, so that with every question entirely settled nothing will remain to hinder its outflow between Joseph and his brethren. There is, however, only one way whereby the heart can be set at perfect ease in the presence of one that has been offended. All must be brought to light and fully confessed. The slumbering conscience must be aroused, the sins recalled, and the sins confessed. It is only through the conscience that the heart can be reached and set at ease. Moved by love, Joseph will et himself to reach their consciences. He "made himself strange unto them, and spake roughly unto them" (v. 7).

LOVE ALLURING

Christ after the same fashion made Himself strange in the day when a Gentile woman was driven by her need into His presence and was met by silence, for we read, "He answered her not a word." And when He does speak, is it not, for the moment, "hard things" that she has to hear? But we know it was the way of perfect love that led to blessing. So too in His future dealings with the Jew, Christ will make Himself strange when according to the prophet He will say, "I will hedge up thy way with thorns, and make a wall that she shall not find her paths"; and says the Lord, "I will take away my corn in the time thereof." The Lord will bring famine upon the Jew, in order to bring the Jew into the wilderness, where they have no resources but God. In that wilderness place the Lord can say, "I will speak to her heart" (Hosea 2: 6, 9, 14).

LOVE TESTING

The brethren protest that it is their need that brings them into Egypt. "We have come to buy food" (v. 10). They have indeed come to the right person, but they have come with a wrong plan and with a wrong plea. Their plan is to buy, and their plea, "We are true men" (v. 11). As yet they know neither the love of Joseph's heart, nor the evil of their own hearts. They must learn that Joseph is too rich to sell to his own, and that they have nothing in themselves to plead. Their money shall not buy corn, and of merit they have none whereby to claim it. They must learn that while Joseph is ready to bestow every blessing, he is one upon whom they have forfeited every claim. Love is a giver when worthlessness has nothing to plead. The love of Joseph's heart will shut out all mere barter, and the evil of their hearts exclude all plea of merit. If they think they are true men then Joseph will put them to the test.

LOVE TEACHING

Moreover Joseph's brethren must learn that all their blessing depends upon the man of whom they say "one is not" (verse 13). They say, as it were, "We have not seen him for twenty years; he has entirely passed out of our lives, as far as we are concerned 'He is not.'" So, too, in a day to come the Jew will have to learn that all their blessing depends upon One that they have set at naught. "This is the stone which was set at naught of you builders, which is become the head of the corner. Neither is there salvation in any other; for there is none other name under heaven given among men, whereby we must be saved" (Acts 4: 11, 12).

LOVE CONVICTING

The brethren have condemned themselves out of their own lips. They have protested that they are true men, and in the same breath they say, "one is not," knowing full well that if Joseph has passed out of their existence it is entirely owing to their own wickedness. They stand in the presence of the one that they had rejected with unrepentant hearts, and yet protest they are honest men. Joseph now takes the first step to convict them of their sin, by putting them into prison. The fear of losing their lives had brought them in Egypt, with the result that they lose their liberty. For three days they are left in prison that they may learn in some measure what their sins merit. Joseph had been thrown into prison unjustly, but they are justly brought into the same condemnation. The result is conscience begins to work, for they say. "We are guilty concerning our brother — (verse 21). Conscience connects their present trouble with their past sin. The prison has so far done its work. They not only say, "We are verily guilty," but "We are verily guilty concerning our brother." We saw the anguish of his soul, but we hardened our hearts. He besought us but we stopped our ears to all his entreaties, "Therefore is this distress come upon us." They rightly connect their present distress with the past sin of twenty years ago.

LOVE WEEPING

But all this awakening of conscience, while so far good, is only amongst themselves. It must all come out before Joseph if they are ever to be happy in the presence of Joseph. Hence Joseph will keep his hand upon them. Simeon is bound before their eyes, but it is love that binds the cords round Simeon, for even as he does so he turns aside to weep. The cords that bound him were cords of love. Moreover, he commanded that their sacks be filled with corn. He is not unmindful of their needs and thus grants a measure of relief; none the less Simeon is held in bondage. And in the way Joseph meets their needs he is still leading his brethren a further stage in their restoration, for while supplying them with corn he returns every man his money. Had they eyes to see they would learn in this that Joseph was a giver. But in their condition gifts bestowed only arouse deeper fear. Their hearts fail them at the discovery of their money. "What is this that God hath done unto us?" (verse 28). They have recalled their sin, now they see that God is dealing with them. The fear of God is arising in their souls. Not indeed that holy fear that marked Joseph. "They feared because they were offenders; he feared lest he should offend." So again when they had returned to Jacob, and each finds his money in his sack, "they were afraid." The goodness of Joseph should have gladdened their hearts, but they are miserable and afraid in the presence of a goodness that their guilty consciences tell them they do not deserve.

LOVE MISUNDERSTOOD

Jacob is not guilty, like his sons, but his feeble faith can see no trace of the hand of God in all these circumstances. As he hears the story of his sons' experiences he can only say, "All these things are against me." How different the language of faith which can say, "All things work together for good to them that love God." The very things that to sight and nature were against him were the very means that God was taking for his blessing. "Joseph is not, and Simeon is not, and ye will take Benjamin away." These are the things that were for him. Joseph lost to his father, rejected and sold, imprisoned and exalted, Simeon held in bondage, Benjamin taken from his father, were all stages in the pathway to blessing, and means used by God to restore Joseph to his father and to bring Jacob and his sons into richer blessing. Yet Jacob is saying to his sons, "Then shall ye bring down my grey hairs with sorrow to the grave." At the very moment when Jacob could see nothing in the future but sorrow and the grave, God was about to bring him into joy and blessing. Had Jacob been able to persist in his thoughts he would have thwarted God in His ways of blessing, for says Jacob, "My son shall not go down."

There is a need-be for each pain,

And He will one day make it plain

That earthly loss is heavenly gain.

Like as a piece of tapestry,

Viewed from the back appears to be

Naught but threads tangled hopelessly.

But in the front a picture fair

Rewards the worker for his care,

Proving his skill and patience rare.

Thou art the workman, I the frame;

Lord, for the glory of Thy name,

Perfect Thine image on the same.

6. The Brethren Tested — Genesis 43 & 44

The sin of Joseph's brethren has been recalled; their conscience has been awakened; the fear of God has arisen in their souls. There are, however, other experiences they must pass through before Joseph can reveal himself in all the love of his heart, and ere his brethren can be at perfect ease in his presence.

A GROSS DECEPTION

In the past they had sinned, not only against Joseph, but also against their father. They had been "reckless of a brother's cries and of a father's grief." They had sinned as brethren before their brother, they had sinned as sons before their father. One they had treated with the utmost cruelty, the other with the grossest deception. Both as sons and as brethren they had revealed the evil of their way and the hardness of their hearts. The time has come when they will be tested, and Joseph will prove how far any real change has been wrought in them. They have said, "We are true men." Joseph will therefore place them in circumstances that will reveal whether at last they can let as true brothers, and true sons. With the utmost wisdom Joseph will re-enact the past. Once again ten men will have to act in regard to a younger brother. Once again they shall have to face an aged father with his great love for the younger son.

A GREAT QUESTION

Times have changed and circumstances have altered; the setting of the picture is entirely new, but in principle the story of the fields of Dothan is to be enacted in the land of Egypt. Will those ten men once again abandon their brother, and invent some story to deceive their father? Has true repentance been wrought in the hearts of those brethren? This is the great question that Joseph will solve in their second visit to Egypt.

A GRACIOUS PURPOSE

Again it is their desperate need that brings them into Egypt. Before starting they make their plans to appease the Governor of Egypt and to secure the safety of Benjamin. Judah undertakes to be surety for Benjamin, and the present is arranged for the Governor. The former goodness of Joseph in returning their money is looked upon as a possible "oversight" (v. 12). All shows how impossible it is for nature to understand the ways of grace. "Why," says Jacob, speaking after the manner of the natural man, "tell the man whether ye had a brother?" (v. 6). Their reply shows the way that grace had taken, "The man asked very closely after us, and of our kindred" (New Tr.). Grace can forgive all, but grace will have all brought to light (v. 7).

A GENERAL PROPOSITION

Then Israel unfolds his plan. And, man of faith though he was, he speaks now according to the man of nature. "If it must be so, do this." Jacob's plan depends upon man's doings. He needs corn, he would fain obtain the release of Simeon and secure the safety of Benjamin, and he proposes a way whereby all shall be brought about by their own doings. And this is still the way man takes, and has ever taken, to obtain blessing from God. Cain took this way when he brought the firstfruits of his own labours as an offering unto the Lord. Israel took this way when they said, "All that the Lord hath spoken we will do." The lawyer of New Testament times would take this same way when, in the presence of the Lord, he said, "Master, what shall I do to inherit eternal life?" And after nineteen hundred years of grace man still clings to this fatal way, for, in the closing days of Christendom, there are still those of whom we read, "They have gone in the way of Cain."

A GENEROUS PRESENT

Occupied thus with their own doings, Jacob unfolds his plan. "Take," says he, "a present" to appease the man. "Take double money" to buy the corn. "Take also your brother, and arise, go again unto the man." Nature cannot think of God as a giver, or man as a receiver. Nature has no true knowledge of God or man. It cannot conceive of God so rich in sovereign grace that He can only give, or man so helplessly ruined that he can only receive. But this Jacob and his sons must learn, for all their plans entirely fail to secure the blessing at the hands of Joseph.

A GRAVE MISTAKE

Furthermore, we learn in the story that not only are man's plans utterly futile but that occupation with our plans blinds the soul to the grace of God. Jacob, as he thinks of the goodness of Joseph that had returned their money, can only imagine "it was an oversight." There is, however, no oversight with God. The oversight is all on man's side. Blinded by his own doings he overlooks what God is doing (11-23)

A GLOOMY UNCERTAINTY

Having made all his plans, Jacob finally commends is sons to the mercy of God Almighty. He puts his  plans first and God Almighty second. If there is anything lacking in his plans he expresses the pious hope that the mercy of God will make up the deficiency. And thus it is that men treat God and Christ today. God in mercy sent His Son, Christ accomplished the mighty work of redemption, but still man clings to his own doings and looks upon the mercy of God and the work of Christ as mere make-weights to fill up any little shortcomings in man's endeavours. But as with Jacob, so with men. Their own plans leave them in hopeless uncertainty. Jacob had to confess that after all he is quite uncertain of the results. "If I be bereaved, I am bereaved" (14). What a picture of man's way of seeking to obtain blessing from God. Do your best, look to the mercy of God to make up For any failure in your efforts, and then hope for the best in the future, and if you are saved you will be saved, and if you are condemned you will be condemned.

A GRAND RECEPTION

The brethren of Joseph proceed to act upon their father's plan only to realize its utter futility. They took the present, they took double money, and Benjamin, rose up and went down to Egypt and stood before Joseph (15). Joseph pays not the slightest heed to their gifts, he does not touch their money, he will not accept Benjamin as a ransom. He entirely ignores their plan and commences to act according to his own heart. First, he says, "Bring those men home, and slay and make ready; for these men shall dine with me." Is this not an anticipation of that far greater message that God sends to a world of sinners, "Come, for all things are now ready"? The purposes of Joseph far transcend the plans of his brethren. Their plan was simply to obtain a blessing from Joseph; his purpose was to bestow a blessing, but a blessing that they should enjoy in his company and in his home. Their plan was to buy corn to make a feast among themselves, his plan to spread a feast to be enjoyed with him. "These men," he says, "shall dine with me" (v. 16). Like the brethren of Joseph we are equally slow to take in God's thoughts of blessing. We would be content to obtain the forgiveness of sins, and salvation from hell. But how far short of God's thoughts! His thought is to have us with Himself to feast with Him in His home. The prodigal was driven by his need, and some small sense of grace, to return to the father, hoping to get his need met and possibly the place of a servant in the father's house. But no servant's place will suit the father's heart. The prodigal must be brought into the father's home as the father's son, there to feast and make merry with the father. If God sends out the Gospel it is to secure a vast host of redeemed sinners to be in His presence holy and without blame before Him in love.

A GUILTY SUSPICION

But we are slow to take in the greatness of God's grace. Even as Joseph's brethren, who "were afraid" when they were brought into Joseph's house. They could only think they were brought in to be condemned, they could not imagine they were brought in to be feasted. Thus they said, "It is because of the money that was returned in our sacks . . . are we brought in," They looked upon Joseph as against them, as one that must be appeased. They had yet to learn that he is making all things work together for good. Instead of judging themselves they are judging Joseph. In all these marks of favour they can only imagine that Joseph is seeking occasion against them — is going to fall upon them and make them bondmen (vv. 17, 18).

A GROUNDLESS EXPLANATION

They explain to the steward that they have brought double money. But though knowing all about it he sets all on one side and brings Simeon to them (vv. 19, 23). Still clinging to their own efforts they make ready their present "against Joseph came at noon," only to find that Joseph in his turn sets it all aside. The money and the present entirely fail to effect anything (vv. 25, 26).

A GRIEVOUS EXPERIENCE

Joseph speaks kindly to them, yearns in love over is younger brother, weeps in love in secret, but restrains himself in love, for love's time to reveal itself has not yet come. Even so, in perfect wisdom does the Lord deal with the woman by the well. He does not reveal Himself until her conscience is reached and is out, and she discovers that she is in the presence of One who, knowing her whole history, yet loves her with such a love that He can say to her, "Come hither.'' Then she can say, "Is not this the Christ?" Joseph will anticipate these perfect ways of grace with a poor sinner. He too speaks words of grace, but restrains himself in the presence of his brethren. He will feast them, but in such a way that they cannot but see their history is known. They are set before him, "the firstborn according to his birthright and the youngest according to his youth." In the enjoyment of all this favour, "they drank and were merry with him," but they must learn other lessons before he can be merry with them. They are rejoicing in his gifts, but they have yet to rejoice in himself (vv. 27, 34). However, before Joseph can be revealed to them they must be exposed before Joseph. To this end Joseph's cup is placed in Benjamin's sack. The brethren having departed are pursued by Joseph's steward, and charged with having taken the cup. They protest their innocence. "God forbid that thy servants should do according to this thing." Then they profess their honesty. "Behold, the money which we found in our sacks' mouths we brought again . . . how then should we steal?" Is it likely that men who deal so honestly in money matters would be guilty of a paltry theft? It must be remembered that these are the men who once sold their brother into slavery for twenty paltry pieces of silver. Surely men who had acted thus would be quite capable of stealing a silver cup, in spite of all protestations to the contrary. The charge is not therefore so unreasonable, unless indeed full repentance for the past has been wrought in their souls. That they are innocent of the matter of the cup, Joseph knows full well, but have they repented of the past? This Joseph will find out. In the past they had been neither true sons nor true brothers. Has repentance done its work? Has the heart of stone been changed to a heart of flesh?

GRUELLING TEST

Benjamin stands in the place that once had been Joseph's — the youngest and best-loved son of his father. Benjamin shall pass into bondage, as once Joseph had filled the place of a slave. The ten brothers are perfectly free, as once before, to return to their father in peace. What will they do in these circumstances? Will they again act as in the days of old in the fields of Dothan? Will they abandon their brother to slavery knowing him to be innocent? They had acted thus with Joseph; will they do so with Benjamin? Will they return to Jacob to face his grief with some false story to account for the absence of Benjamin as once they had accounted for the loss of Joseph? Ah, no! grace has wrought in these men, repentance has done its work. Under the searching questions of Joseph the whole truth is confessed. Joseph can say, "What deed is this that ye have done?" "Wot ye not that such a man as I can certainly make trial?" (6-15, marg). And this is ever the way grace takes. Thus it was the Lord dealt with a sinful woman "near to the parcel of ground that Jacob gave to his son Joseph." "Go call thy husband" was only another way of saying, "What deed is this that ye have done?" and how truly He made Himself known to that guilty sinner as the One that can "certainly divine," for she said, "He told me all things that ever I did." And none can be happy and at home in the presence of the Lord of glory until such times as they have learnt that the Lord knows the very worst thing bout them, and yet loves them.

A GENUINE CONFESSION

This too, is the way Joseph takes, and with what blessed results! No longer do they justify themselves. They exclaim, "What shall we say unto my lord? What shall we speak? or how shall we clear ourselves? God hath found out the iniquity of thy servants: behold, we are my lord's servants!" They no longer attempt to justify themselves as to the present, they do not attempt to clear themselves as to the past. They are convicted sinners "found out" by God; and they entirely submit to Joseph, "we are my lord's servants," they say (16).

A GRIPPING APPEAL

This indeed is excellent, but these are words and may be but empty profession. Words must be proved by deeds. Judah, therefore, comes forward on behalf of the brethren, and proves the reality of their words by what they are prepared to do. He can say, "Let thy servant abide instead of the lad a bondman to my lord; and let the lad go up with his brethren." More over, the pleading love that breathes throughout Judah's touching appeal proves how deep the repentance that has been wrought in their souls. The heart of stone has indeed been changed into a heart of flesh. As a son he pleads for Jacob. He is our father, he is an old man, he loves Benjamin (20), "his life is bound up in the lad's life" (30). How can "I see the evil that shall come on my father"? (34). As a true brother he pleads for Benjamin. He is "a lad," "a little one" (v. 20), "our youngest brother." But this appeal to Joseph shows that not only repentance has been wrought but confidence has been in measure won. A beautiful picture of that "repentance toward God, and faith toward our Lord Jesus Christ" which always accompanies a true work of grace.

Listen, oh, listen, my Father, all holy,

Humble and sorrowful, owning my sin,

Hear me confess in my penitence lowly

How in my weakness temptation came in.

Pity me now, for, my Father, no sorrow

Weighs on my soul like the pain that I know,

Trembling and fearing that all thro' the morrow

Missing the light of Thy love I may go.

Father, I know for the grace I am seeking,

Nothing or mine can I offer to Thee;

Thou to my sinful and sad spirit speaking,

Giving forgiveness — giv'st all things to me.

Thoughts of my sinfulness contrite shall make me,

Thoughts of Thy favour shall humble me more;

So keep me lowly until Thou shalt take me

Where sin and sorrow forever are o'er.

Anon.

7. Reconciliation — Genesis 45: 1

Hitherto Joseph has made himself strange, spoken roughly, and dealt grievously with his brethren, for here was conscience work to be done and repentance to be wrought. But love's strange work being accomplished, Joseph can no longer refrain from making himself known. Having exposed the guilt of their hearts, he must make known the love of his heart. Have they discovered the evil of their hearts, then he sill disclose the yet greater grace of his heart, that, knowing all their evil, can rise above it in full, free forgiveness.

THE REVELATION OF JOSEPH

Joseph must make "himself known" (v. 1). Nothing less will satisfy his heart; nothing less will give rest to their hearts. And this is still the way of the loving Saviour with the anxious sinner. Nothing will roll away the burden of guilt but the discovery that all is fully known, and fully forgiven, by the One against whom we have sinned. The knowledge of our hearts, however necessary, will bring no rest to the soul. We may mourn over the past, and weary ourselves with our sins, but no discovery of evil in our hearts, no repentance, however real, no sorrow for sin, however sincere, will bring comfort to the soul. For rest and peace Jesus must make Himself known. Then we discover with great delight that His heart is full of grace for man that is full of sin. That with the full knowledge of all our sins there is nothing but love in His heart towards us. Then we can rest but we rest in what He is and not in anything we find in ourselves. For such discoveries of His heart we must be alone with Him. Even so Joseph, before he could make himself known, has to say, "Cause every man to go out from me" (verse 1). Wonderful moment in the history of our souls when all men fade from view and we see "no man any more save Jesus only"; when alone with Him in the consciousness of our sinfulness, we discover that He knows us through and through, and yet knowing us, He loves us. The woman of Sychar finely illustrates such a moment. Alone in His presence He revealed all the sin of her heart — told her all things that ever she did — and then disclosed Himself as the Christ full of grace and truth, for a sinner full of sin. He knows all that she ever did, but, He says, "I that speak unto thee am Christ." She finds herself a sinner exposed in the presence of the Christ of God, but instead of repelling her He can say, "Come hither." He seems to say, "I know the worst about you, and though your sin has made you a lonely woman — though it makes you shrink from the company of your fellow-women — yet you are welcome to Me — Come hither."

THE RECEPTION OF HIS BRETHREN

Such ways of grace are blessedly foreshadowed in the history of Joseph. Alone with his brethren he at once declares, "I am Joseph." And as the Lord could say to the woman, "Come hither," Joseph can say to his brethren, "Come near to me" (verse 4). It is not only that Joseph is ready to forgive, but he desires the company of those he forgives. We rejoice in the grace that meets our need, but how slow to realize that the One who has removed our guilt desires our company; Christ has come near to us that we might come near to Him. When passing through this world "He ordained twelve, that they should be with Him." When He left the world, He "died for us that whether we wake or sleep, we should live together with Him"; and when He comes again to receive us unto Himself it is that we may for ever be "with the Lord." If love makes us suited to His company, love will not be content without our company.

THE REMOVAL OF FEAR

Moreover, if the brethren are to be in the company of Joseph for the satisfaction of his heart, they must be there without a trace of fear, without a single regret, and without a shade of care. No regrets for the past, no fears in the present, no anxieties for the future must rise up to mar the joy of communion between Joseph and his restored brethren. With infinite skill Joseph will remove their fears, banish their regrets, and relieve their anxieties.

THE REASSURANCE OF LOVE

That they did fear is evident enough, for we read, "they were troubled at his presence" (verse 3). Joseph, however, draws them to himself with the cords of love; "Come near to me," he says. "And they came near." And having drawn them to himself, he seeks to remove every fear by reminding them he is still their brother, "I am Joseph your brother.'' He says, as it were, "I know full well how you treated me in the days that are past, you hated me, you spurned me, you sold me, but fear not, I am Joseph your brother. I know, too, that the day of my exaltation is come, and though you see me — the very one you rejected — in the lace of power, fear not, for though I am supreme, I m still Joseph your brother."

THE REMEMBRANCE OF THE PAST

Moreover, as to the past, Joseph cannot allow that any regrets should rise up to mar their enjoyment of his love. Now therefore, says Joseph, be not grieved nor angry with yourselves, that ye sold me hither" (verse 5). The sin had been confessed, and Joseph will not only forgive, but he will remove all lingering regrets and self-reproaches. He will assure them that behind their sin, yea, by means of their sin, God was working out His purposes of blessing. It is true, "You sold me hither," Joseph has to say, but he adds, "God sent me before you to save your lives by a great deliverance." Thus he delivers his brethren from occupation with themselves by engaging their thoughts and affections with himself, his glories, and the blessings that flow to them through his exaltation.

THE RELIEF FROM ANXIETY

Then as to the future no care or anxiety need cloud their horizon, for Joseph can say, in the message he sends to his father, "Thou shalt dwell in the land of Goshen, and thou shalt be near to me, thou, and thy children and thy children's children, and all that thou hast, and there will I nourish thee" (v. 10).

THE REALIZATION OF LOVE

Thus with marvellous skill and infinite love, Joseph makes himself known to his brethren, dispels their fears, delivers them from self-occupation, and relieves them from anxiety, by filling their vision with himself and his glories, and engaging their thoughts with his gracious words. "Behold," says Joseph, "your eyes see . . . that it is my mouth that speaketh unto you" (v. 12). Fear dispelled, grief assuaged cares banished, love can flow without hindrance — "He kissed all his brethren"; "and after that his brethren talked with him" (v. 15). But their eyes have seen his glories, their ears have been charmed with his words of grace, their hearts have been warmed with his love and, in the warmth of love, they are set free to talk with him. No shade remains to hinder the communion of love between Joseph and his brethren. Perfect love casts out fear. All this foreshadows the yet future dealings of Christ with His earthly people who rejected Him in the days of old. But more, the story tells us the say Christ takes to teach us the evil of our hearts, and then to dispel all fear by making Himself known in the love of His heart.

THE RECALLING OF HIS DEALINGS

Moreover, we do well to remember that before Joseph "made himself known" to his brethren, "he made himself strange unto them" (Gen. 42: 7). That they might learn the evil of their hearts, he "made himself strange"; that they might learn the love of his heart he "made himself known." Cannot many Christians recall a time in the history of their souls when Christ appeared to make Himself strange and deal roughly with them as they were left to travel through some dark valley of soul exercise, there to discover the evil of the flesh within? In such moments many a dark passage in life's history will rise up to confront the soul in all its hideousness and hatefulness, until the cry is wrung from the soul, "Behold I am vile" (Job 40: 4). But even so this is not enough, for, as Job found, there is a deeper lesson to learn, and for this we must travel back outside the range of our personal experience until we reach the solemnities of the cross. There may have been plenty of evil in the lives of Joseph's brethren, but if they are to learn the depth of evil in their hearts, they must go back over twenty years of history to recall their treatment of Joseph, when in the face of his love as a brother, they hated him, cast him into a pit, and sold him into Egypt. So with ourselves. Truly, we have to learn that in the flesh is no good thing — that it is irremediably bad — we must go to the cross. At the cross there was the display of perfect goodness in God and perfect goodness in a Man — the Man Christ Jesus. At the cross grace and love, and goodness shone out in all their splendour. How did the flesh act in the presence of perfect goodness? It utterly refused the One in whom goodness was displayed. It rejected Him, spat in His face, mocked Him with a crown of thorns, nailed Him to a cross, and cast Him out of the world. Every one of us was represented at the cross, for every class of man was there, religious and godless, educated and ignorant, refined and rough, all were there, and all rejected the Christ of God. Each can say, "There I see my flesh — myself — brought face to face with perfect goodness, and without hesitation my flesh — whatever form it takes — declares its utter hatred of goodness." As one has said, "The sight of a rejected Christ has discovered myself to myself, the deepest recesses of my heart are laid bare, and self, horrible self is there." Learning the flesh experimentally, 1 discover its lusts and covetousness, its pride and vanity. In a word, I discover by bitter experience that the flesh loves evil. But when I come to the cross I learn more terrible phase of its character, for there I discover that the flesh within hates good.

THE REFUSAL OF SELF

Moreover, in result, the difference is great between learning the character of the flesh experimentally and learning it in the light of God revealed at the cross. If I only know the flesh as I discover it in myself, I may be left with the thought that it can be improved. I may admit that it is vile — that it loves evil — but I may say, "Is it not possible to improve and reform it?" It is possible to do a great deal for man in the flesh in the way of cultivation and reformation, but in the end it is farther from God than ever. This great lesson I learn at the cross. There Christ was not only the song of the drunkard but the sober men — the men who sat in the gate — "speak against Him." Drunk or sober the flesh hates God, and Christ in whom God was expressed. Thus the cross proves the flesh to be irremediably bad. A man that loves sin might be improved, but a man that hates perfect goodness is beyond improvement. When we reach this point, we can say with Job, not only "I am vile," but "I abhor myself." We do not abhor a man, however vile, if he is endeavouring to overcome his evil, we rather admire such an one, but when a man is proved to be bad beyond all hope of improvement we rightly abhor him. To this Job had to come, and we, too, in the light of the cross must reach this point when we give ourselves up as hopelessly bad.

THE REST OF COMMUNION

But when like Job in his day, and the brethren of Joseph in their day, we have learned the evil of our own hearts — the utter corruption of the flesh — with what relief we turn from self to Christ, and how He delights to set us free by making Himself known in all the grace of His heart. We may well be appalled as we discover the evil of our hearts. But as Christ reveals to us His heart and tells us that He loves us, though knowing all the evil of our hearts — as He draws us to Himself and discloses to us the desire of His heart to have us in His company as He gives us to behold His glory and to hear His voice — then the torments of fear are ended by perfect love — the love that casteth out fear — and no more the soul turns in upon itself to grieve over the evil within, the future is no longer dark with dismal forebodings, but in the consciousness of His love we can hold sweet communion with Him, after the manner of Joseph's brethren who "talked with him,"

8. Service — Genesis 45: 9-24

Joseph has made himself known to his brethren. He has dispelled their fears, dealt with their past, and secured their future. The love of Joseph has brought his brethren into sweet communion with himself, as we read, "He kissed all his brethren . . . and after that his brethren talked with him" (v. 15). Now we are to learn that the intimacies of love prepare for the service of love. Those whom Joseph has won for himself he will enlist in his service. His brethren shall become his witnesses.

THE PREPARATION FOR SERVICE

In like manner the Lord deals with the demoniac of the Gospel story. Clothed, in his right mind, and brought to sit at the feet of Jesus — set free by the Word of the Lord — he is prepared for the service of the Lord by the directions from the Lord, for the Lord can say, "Return to thine own house and shew how great things God hath done unto thee" (Luke 8: 29, 35, 39). So too, the Lord deals with His disciples on the evening of the resurrection day. As the true Joseph in the presence of His brethren He makes Himself known to the terrified and affrighted disciples. He speaks to their troubled hearts the word of peace. Then it is He gives them the great commission and speaks of the high privilege of being His witnesses (Luke 24: 48; Acts 1: 8).

THE PATTERN OF SERVICE

As with the brethren of Joseph, the demoniac of a later day, and the disciples of the resurrection day, so with ourselves, preparation for service must precede service. We are oftentimes more anxious to be used than exercised to be "meet for the Master's use, and prepared for every good work." Further, our preparation for service is only gained as we are found alone with Christ learning His mind in communion with Him and in the realization of His love. How touchingly is this prefigured in the fine scene between Joseph and his brethren, when, apart from all others, "he kissed all his brethren . . . and after that his brethren talked with him" (v. 15). The measure of holy separation to the Lord is the measure of our preparation for His service. They who would serve acceptably must first sit at His feet and hear His Word. There only, in the secret of His presence, can we learn His mind and thus serve under His directions. It was thus with the brethren of Joseph; all their directions as to service came from Joseph. Not one of the brethren suggested service. And when Joseph speaks of service, they do not set one another to serve, nor decide how to serve, to whom they shall go, or where they shall go, or what they shall say. The commission to serve, and every detail of the service, they receive from the lips of Joseph.

THE PROMPTNESS IN SERVICE

First, Joseph presses upon them the urgency of their mission. "Haste ye" is the word with which he sends them forth, and in like manner the exhortation for these days — the last days — is "Proclaim the Word, be urgent in season, and out of season" (2 Tim. 4: 2).

THE PLACE OF SERVICE

Second, not only are they told how to go, but they are instructed where to go. The word is "Go, get you into the land of Canaan" (v. 17). They were to be witnesses for Joseph in the very land where, in the days of his humiliation, Joseph received only evil for good and hatred for his love: where he had been stripped of his honours, flung into a pit, and sold for twenty pieces of silver. And thus it was in that last parting scene between the risen Lord and His glad disciples. They not only receive a commission to preach repentance and remission of sins among all nations, but they are instructed where to begin. The Lord's word is "beginning at Jerusalem" (Luke 24: 47). The witness was to begin in the blackest spot on earth, and amongst the worst of sinners, in the place where the Lord had been sold for thirty pieces of silver, stripped of His robe, mocked with a crown of thorns, and nailed to a cross between two thieves. As an old servant of the Lord had said, it is "As if the Lord had said, 'Tell them though they have gainsaid My doctrine, blasphemed My divinity, taken away My life, . . . endeavoured to murder My reputation, too, by making Me an impostor, go to Jerusalem, and by beginning there, show them such a miracle of goodness and grace that they themselves must confess that nothing can be greater than their sin except this mercy and grace of Mine which where their sin abounded grace does much more abound.... Begin at Jerusalem, and after the saving efficacy of My grace appears there, no one will question the possibility of their salvation.'"

THE PLAN OF SERVICE

Third, they learn from the lips of Joseph to whom they are to carry the message. "Go up to my father" is the direction of Joseph (v. 9). The one they had so grossly deceived, and before whom they had denied all knowledge of Joseph, is the very one before whom they are to bare witness of Joseph. Nor is it otherwise with Christ and His disciples. The woman of Sychar goes back to the men of the city to bear a bright witness for Christ before those who well knew the manner of her life. In the very place of her sin she is to bear witness to the One who has set her free from sin (John 4: 28, 29). Peter, too, bears witness to Christ before those in whose presence he had once so shamefully denied Christ. Moreover, it is not only to the father that Joseph's brethren are sent, but to the father's children and the children's children, indeed, says Joseph, tell him the good news is for "All that thou hast" (v. 10). And the message is still, "Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved and thy house."

THE PERSUASION IN SERVICE

Fourth, the brethren of Joseph are sent back with a very definite message to be delivered with all the authority of Joseph's word. It was to be introduced with a "Thus saith thy son Joseph" (v. 9). We do well to remember that the power behind the Gospel message is the authority with which it is proclaimed. It roes forth with a "Thus saith the Lord."

THE POSITIVENESS IN SERVICE

Fifth, the great theme of the message was Joseph and his glory. Tell my father, Joseph can say, that "God hath made me lord of all Egypt" (v. 9). And he adds, "Ye shall tell my father of all my glory, and of all that ye have seen" (v. 13). This is still the message that alone will meet the world's famine. Peter preached it with no uncertain sound in the ears of the Jews when, on the day of Pentecost, he said, "Let all the house of Israel know assuredly that God hath made that same Jesus, whom ye have crucified, both Lord and Christ." And again before the Gentiles he can say that Christ "is Lord of all" (Acts 2: 36; Acts 10: 36). Moreover it is still our privilege to declare the glories of the One who is Lord of all, whether it be His personal glories as the eternal Son, His moral glories as the One who is altogether lovely, or His official glories as King of kings and Lord of lords.

THE PROCLAMATION IN SERVICE

Sixth, the message that Joseph sends to Jacob is "Come down unto me" (v. 9). If Joseph is lord of all with the riches of glory at his disposal for all yet it is only those who "come" who obtain the blessing. If all power is in his hands to bless, all grace is in his heart to attract to himself — the blesser. Joseph says in effect to his father, "I want you," for it is not only "Come," but "Come down unto me."

THE PURPOSE IN SERVICE

Seventh, the message speaks of the blessings that await those who "come" (vv. 10, 11) . If Jacob will but come the days of his wandering will be past, for, says Joseph, "Thou shalt dwell in the land of Goshen", distance and estrangement will be no more, for "thou shalt be near unto me"; care and want will be banished, for "there will I nourish thee." Still the Lord of glory can say, "Come unto Me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest." The soul that comes to Him will find the days of the wandering feet are over, the loneliness of the desolate heart is ended, and the famine of the distant land is met. In the company of Christ there is rest for the conscience. satisfaction for the heart, and food for the soul.

THE POINT IN SERVICE

Finally, the message carries with it a word of warning. There is untold blessing for those who come, there is imminent danger for those who delay. Hence Joseph's word is "Tarry not . . . lest thou, and thy household, and all that thou hast, come to poverty" (vv. 9, 11). How far greater the danger if we trifle with that far greater message that comes from the Lord in glory! Well may the apostle ask, "How shall we escape if we neglect so great salvation?" And again, "If they escaped not who refused Him who spake on earth, much more shall not we escape, if we turn away from Him that speaketh from heaven" (Heb. 2: 3; Heb. 12: 25). If the message of grace opens up a vista of glory with its rest, and satisfaction, and plenty, it also warns those who reject the message that there is nothing before them but the poverty of hell where there is no God, no Christ, and no hope.

THE PLATFORM IN SERVICE

Such is the message that Joseph sends to his father foreshadowing the Gospel message which the believer carries to the world from Christ the Lord of all.

It is an urgent message, "Haste ye."

It is a message that proclaims the exaltation and glory of the Lord of all.

It is a message of grace that says, "Come."

It is a message that tells of the blessings for those who "come."

It is a message of warning to those who refuse to come.

THE POWER FOR SERVICE

Continuing the story of Joseph we discover further rich instructions for the servant of the Lord. The message is full and clear, but it is not enough to be entrusted with a message, the messenger must be fully equipped to deliver the message. The disciples whom the Lord commissioned to preach had to tarry until endued with power from on high. And again the Lord can say, "Ye shall receive power after that the Holy Spirit is come upon you, and ye shall be witnesses unto Me" (Luke 24: 49; Acts 1: 8). The power in which they are to serve comes from the Person who lives them their commission, and from the place of Exaltation in which this Person is. Is this not foreshadowed in the story of Joseph? For the word is, "Take you wagons out of the land of Egypt for your little ones and for your wives, and bring your father and come" (v. 19). They were provided with a newpower to journey on their way. And the power that took them back to Canaan was the power in which they were to bring their father to Joseph. Thus we read, "Joseph gave them wagons" (v. 21).

THE PROVISION IN SERVICE

Further, Joseph can say, "Regard not your stuff," or according to a better translation, "Let not your eye regret your stuff" (v. 20). There are things that belong to us naturally — the eloquence of man, and the wisdom of man, and there are carnal means and methods that appeal to the natural man. But, says the apostle, "my speech and my preaching was not with enticing words of man's wisdom, but in demonstration of the Spirit and of power," and again he can say, "we do not war after the flesh; for the weapons of our warfare are not carnal" (1 Cor. 2: 4; 2 Cor. 10: 3, 4). In the service of the Lord that which is merely natural is neither to be regarded nor regretted. The Gospel that we carry is too great and serious for the feebleness of carnal methods and the levity of natural eloquence.

THE PROVISION FOR SERVICE

Moreover, had the brethren fallen back on their own "stuff" to support them in their service they would have slighted the provision of Joseph. Their action would have said, "Joseph's provision is not sufficient for Joseph's commission." Joseph, however, can say, "The good of the land of Egypt is yours," and, in accord with this, he "gave them provision for the way" (vv. 20, 21). In carrying out their service for Joseph they were sustained by the good of the land from which they came, received from the hand of the one that sent them. Nor is it otherwise in the service of the Lord in this day of His grace. We have received full provision to carry out His service, and hence to import human methods into this service is to cast a slight upon His provision. By so doing we say the Holy Spirit, and spiritual means, is not sufficient for the service of the Lord. Let us then beware of regarding our "stuff' and neglecting His provision. May we ever remember the words of one who, though in the world's sight an "unlearned and ignorant" man, could say, "His Divine power hath given unto us all things that pertain unto life and godliness" (2 Peter 1: 3).

THE PROHIBITION IN SERVICE

Another lesson we may learn is that, in the service of the Lord, the servant is not only spiritually equipped, but he is dependent upon the Lord for his temporal needs. From the moment Joseph's brethren set forth in their path of service until the day of their return, they were sustained by the provision of Joseph. They were not provided for by the people to whom they were going, but by the person from whom they had come. Apparently they were not to take of Jacob's things to carry out Joseph's work. So in the New Testament we read of those who "for His name's sake . . . went forth taking nothing of the Gentiles" (3 John 7).

THE PRIVILEGE OF SERVICE

But blessed as all this is, it is not enough for the service of the Lord. If the service is to be effectual the life of the servant must be in harmony with the message that he delivers. This important truth is strikingly set forth in the dealing of Joseph with his brethren. Not only did he give them provision for the way, but we read, "To all of them he gave each man changes of raiment" (v. 22). They were not only to deliver a message concerning the glory of Joseph, but they themselves were to be witnesses of the change that the glory effected. And, as we have seen, not only were the apostles sent forth to preach Christ but they themselves were to be witnesses to Christ — "ye shall be witnesses unto Me." "Having put off the old man with his deeds, and having put on the new, renewed into full knowledge according to the image of Him that has created him," it is our privilege and responsibility to display the change of raiment by expressing the character of Christ in all His lovely traits — compassion, kindness, lowliness, meekness, longsuffering, forbearance, forgiveness and love.

THE PERIL IN SERVICE

Finally, Joseph sends forth his brethren with the warning word, "See that ye fall not out by the way" (v. 24). And in those last words of the upper room, when the Lord is equipping His disciples to be His witnesses, He thrice exhorts them to love one another (John 13: 34; 15: 12, 17). Alas! we have fallen out by the way. The Galatians by their legality fell out by the way, for the apostle has to say, "Ye bite and devour one another" (Gal. 5: 15). The Corinthians by their carnality fell out by the way, for the apostle writes, "There are contentions among you" (1 Cor. 1: 11). And as in the beginning so it has ever been through the long history of that which professes to be a witness for Christ in the earth. Had love prevailed there would have been no room either for legality or carnality to divide the servants of Christ and mar their service to the Lord.

We will love with tender care —

Knowing love to Christ —

Brethren who His image bear —

When there's love to Christ.

"Jesus only" shall we know,

And our love to all shall flow,

In His blood bought church below,

For the love of Christ.

Wm. E. Reed

9. Glory and Blessing — Genesis 45: 25 to 47: 31

The brethren of Joseph fulfil their mission according to the directions of Joseph. They "came into the land of Canaan unto Jacob their father, and told him, saying, Joseph is yet alive, and he is governor of all the land of Egypt" (vv. 25, 26). They witness to a living and exalted Joseph, even as today it is the privilege of the believer to witness to the risen and exalted Saviour. A testimony so incredible to the natural mind that it is received with unbelief. Thus it was with Jacob. The exposure of his unbelief was the first result of hearing the good news. Twenty years before these same men had brought a lying report to Jacob with evidences to support their lie. And without a question Jacob believed the lie. "Without doubt," he said, "Joseph is rent in pieces." Now his sons bring a true report of Joseph with evidences to support the truth, and at once Jacob doubts. His "heart fainted, for he believed them not." Ever since Adam gave his ear to the devil's lie it has been natural for fallen man to believe a lie. Only a work of grace enables men to believe the truth. Hence we read that those who believe on the Name of Christ are born "not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God."

THE CONFESSION OF FAITH

Thus with Jacob, grace overcomes his unbelief. His sons repeat "all the words of Joseph, which he said unto them." Moreover, they show Jacob "the wagons which Joseph sent to carry him." The grace and goodness of Joseph breaks down the unbelief of Jacob. When he saw the wagons which Joseph had sent to carry him, the spirit of Jacob their father revived: and Israel said, "It is enough; Joseph my son is yet alive." This is the confession of faith. He believed with his heart and confessed the truth with his lips. Nor is there any other way of blessing for a sinner today. We may indeed at first listen to the good news with unbelief, but as we hear the grace of the words of Christ, and see that all has been done that we might be blessed, our hearts are won — the goodness of God leadeth to repentance — we believe in our hearts. Just as Jacob sees that Joseph has made every provision that he might personally be blessed, so we see that Christ has done a great work that we individually might be saved, and that God is satisfied with that work, for He has raised Christ from the dead. We believe in our hearts and confess Jesus as Lord with our lips, and we are saved (Rom. 10: 10).

THE LANGUAGE OF LOVE

It was Jacob — the man so often marked by unbelief and crooked ways — that could not believe the good news; but directly he uses the language of faith, God gives him his new name "Israel." Jacob expressed all that he was by nature, Israel all that he was by grace. But not only is faith kindled in the heart of Jacob, but love goes out in longing to Joseph — "I will go and see him before I die." This is the language of love that is satisfied with nothing less than the one that is loved. The heart that has been won by the grace of Christ will not be satisfied at a distance. The test of love is — does it desire the company of the one that is loved? Are we content to say, "we shall see Him when He comes, or when we die," or do we say "I will go and see Him before I die." Do you know what it is to seek His company, and taste the joy of His presence before we die?

In order to reach Joseph, Israel had to take his journey (Gen. 46: 1). He had to leave the scene of all his natural affections. And so with ourselves, if we are to reach Christ where He is, we must forget the things that are behind. Thus Israel comes into the new land — the land of Goshen, and there meets with his son Joseph, and Joseph "presented himself unto him" (v. 29). If on the one hand Israel longs for the company of his son, Joseph on his side is delighted to present himself to Israel. Are we set for the company of Christ, we shall find that Christ is delighted to reveal Himself to us. Do we seek like the two disciples of John 1 to know Christ in His own dwelling, we shall be welcomed by the gracious words of the Lord, "Come and see" (John 1: 38, 39).

THE REMOVAL OF FEAR

Then Israel can say, "Now let me die, since I have seen thy face, because thou art yet alive" (v. 30). The man who had always been speaking of death and dreading the grave has now no more fear of death because Joseph is alive. It is as we see that Christ is risen, and as we gaze upon His face and learn His love, our souls will be delivered from the fear of death.

THE PURPOSES OF GOD

Thus Israel and all that he had came to Joseph in exaltation. God's purposes as set forth in Joseph's dreams, are brought to pass. What follows will show how Joseph uses his place of universal supremacy For the blessing of those who submit to him.

THE INSTRUMENTS OF GRACE

It is deeply instructive to trace the hand of God in every step of Joseph's path, from the days of his youth when feeding the flock in Canaan, to the day of his glory when set over all the land of Egypt. The varied characters that crossed his path — the father that loved him, the brethren that hated him, the merchants that carried him to Egypt, the captain that promoted him, the woman that traduced him, the jailer that showed him favour, the butler by whom he was forgotten, and the king by whom he was exalted — all were the unconscious instruments to carry out God's purpose for him.

THE WAY OF PREPARATION

So, too, the changing scenes of his life — the fields of Dothan, the empty pit, the house of Potiphar, the prison and the palace — were all stages on his way to glory, even as his varied pursuits, as shepherd, slave, overseer of Potiphar's house, and keeper of Pharaoh's prison, prepared him for the use of glory.

THE POSITION OF GLORY

It is this use of glory — the way he uses his place of supreme power — that comes before us so strikingly in this portion of Joseph's story. We see this mighty power put forth in a threefold way —

First, Joseph uses his position of supremacy to bring everything into absolute subjection to himself. All the wealth of Egypt passes into his hands: "Joseph gathered up all the money that was found in the land of Egypt and in the land of Canaan" (vv. 13, 14). Then when the money failed, Joseph claims their cattle. He said, "Give your cattle," and we read, ''They brought their cattle unto Joseph" (vv. 15-17). Then, the money spent, the cattle gone, they say there is nothing left but "our bodies and our lands" and so they add "buy us and our land for bread." So we read Joseph "bought all the land of Egypt," and "as [or the people, he removed them to cities from one end of the borders of Egypt even to the other end thereof" (vv. 19, 20) .

THE SUBJECTION OF THE EARTH

Thus all passes under the absolute control of Joseph — money, cattle, the land, and finally the people themselves. The words of Pharaoh are literally fulfilled: "Without thee shall no man lift up his hand or foot in all the land of Egypt" (Gen. 41: 44). Joseph uses his power to bring all into subjection. Never, before or since, have such claims been made by any earthly king. Apart from its typical teaching, the historical fact is without parallel in the history of the world. Many a potentate has made crushing claims, but not one has ever dared to claim all after the manner of Joseph. Moreover, those who have made large claims upon their subjects have been unable to make good their claims; or in the attempt to do so have provoked rebellion and revolution. Joseph, however, not only makes unheard of claims, but he makes good his claims without a voice being raised in rebellion.

THE SOVEREIGNTY OF THE THRONE

Furthermore, a second great fact is noticeable, that in claiming all, Joseph does so for Pharaoh. If Joseph gathers up all the money, we read he "brought the money into Pharaoh's house" (v. 14); again, if the land comes under Joseph's sway, we read he "bought all the land of Egypt for Pharaoh" (v. 20). So, too of the people Joseph can say, "I have bought you this day and your land for Pharaoh." Thus Joseph uses his supreme power, not for his own advancement, but for the glory of Pharaoh.

THE SATISFACTION OF THE PEOPLE

Finally, a third striking fact remains to be noticed. If on the one hand Joseph's power is used to subdue all for Pharaoh, on the other hand his universal supremacy is used for the blessing of the people. If Pharaoh's glory is maintained the people's blessing is secured, but only as they unreservedly submit to Joseph.

THE SUPREMACY OF CHRIST

In all this Joseph is a striking type of Christ in exaltation. If we are to be saved from the present power of evil, nothing can be of greater importance than to realize that Christ is in the place of supreme power, and to submit to Him. There are great powers in heaven — angels, principalities and powers; there are great powers in the world — kings and all that are in authority; there are great powers in the lower world —  the devil and his angels; but the Lord Jesus is set in a place of absolute supremacy over every power. He Is set "far above all principality, and power, and might, and dominion, and every name that is named, not only in this world but also in that which is to come." But if the Father has glorified the Son, it is that the Son may glorify the Father, as the Lord can say in His great prayer, "Father, the hour is come; glorify Thy Son that Thy Son may glorify Thee" (John 17: 1). Moreover if the Father is glorified, His people are blessed. So we read, "As Thou hast given Him power over all flesh, that He should give eternal life to as many as Thou hast given Him." The glory which the Father has given to the Son is used for the glory of the Father and the blessing of His people.

THE DAY OF POWER

Nor will it be otherwise in the day to come, when Christ will put forth His subduing power, as King of kings and Lord of lords for the glory of God and the blessing of men under His Millennial reign. And so finally "He must reign till He hath put all enemies under His feet. The last enemy that shall be annulled is death." "And when all things shall be subdued unto Him, then shall the Son also Himself be subject unto Him that put all things under Him, that God may be all in all." This will introduce the new heavens and the new earth, where God will dwell and men be blessed.

Whether we think of the present day of grace, the Millennium for which earth waits, or the new heavens and the new earth that stretch far into eternity, all depends upon the supreme glory and power of the One who was once rejected of man.

THE CENTRE OF PRAISE

And the One who has secured all for the glory of God and the blessing of man will be the centre of heaven's praise. As in the days of old, those who had been blessed by Joseph come to Joseph saying, "Thou hast saved our lives" (Gen. 47: 25). They recognize that they owe everything to Joseph. So, too, the great throng of the redeemed delight to say, "Thou art worthy . . . for Thou wast slain, and hast redeemed us to God by Thy blood out of every kindred, and tongue, and people, and nation."

THE BLESSING OF SAINTS

But not only were people saved by Joseph, but they prospered under Joseph. This we see set forth in the history of Israel and his sons. The Lord Jesus does a great deal more for His people than save them from the world's famine. He brings us into a good land, a heavenly country, and blesses us with spiritual blessings and as we enter into those spiritual blessings we shall grow in grace and in the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ.

Trembling, we had hoped for mercy —

Some lone place within the door;

But the crown, the throne, the mansion,

All were ready long before.

And in past and distant ages,

In those courts so bright and fair,

Ere we were, was He rejoicing,

All He won with us to share.

— Mrs. Bevan

10. The Vision of Faith — Genesis 50: 15-26

The last two scenes in the history of Joseph present a striking contrast between the unbelief of the brethren and the dying faith of Joseph. If the first scene, described in verses 15 to 21, presents a sorrowful picture of unbelief of the brethren, it also brings into display the perfect grace of Joseph. A crisis in the history of the brethren makes manifest that they had no true knowledge of the heart of Joseph and therefore no real confidence in him.

THE PAST REVIEWED

Joseph had saved their lives with a great deliverance (Gen. 45: 7); he had put them in possession of "the best of the land" of Egypt, and he had nourished them with bread (Gen. 47: 12). For seventeen years their had been the recipients of Joseph's bounty, and the special objects of his loving care, and yet — when a crisis arises — it becomes manifest that they have no personal knowledge of Joseph. They know something of his greatness and glory; they know the great work he has accomplished, they know that every blessing they enjoy is owing to his position and work, but they had no personal acquaintance with his mind and heart. It is as if they said, "WE know what he has done for us, but we do not know how he feels about us."

And not knowing his mind, when the crisis arises it becomes manifest that they have no confidence in him, with the result that they conclude that he will think and act towards them according to the way they had thought and acted towards him.

THE HEART REVEALED

They remember that when Joseph was but a lad of seventeen "they hated him and could not speak peaceably unto him," and now they conclude, "Joseph will peradventure hate us." Conscience recalls how wickedly they had acted in regard to Joseph, and now they say, "[He] will certainly requite us all the evil which we did unto him." They judge of his thoughts by their thoughts, of his heart by their hearts, and of his acts by their acts.

THE CONDITION REALIZED

Alas! are not we Christians today oftentimes like Joseph's brethren of old? We know something of the glory of the Person of Christ, we know something of the efficacy of His work, we enjoy the benefits that flow from His finished work on the cross and His present service in the glory, but when some little crisis arises in our history it becomes manifest how little we know of His heart, and therefore what little confidence we have in Himself. We lack that personal intimate acquaintance with Christ, by which alone His mind is learned in such fashion that we can say not only "I know what He has done for me," but "I know how He feels about me." The result is that in the presence of some special trial we are, like Joseph's brethren, greatly distressed in soul. One has truly said, "Nothing has contributed more to the present distraction of saints than the lack of personal intercourse with the Lord. There has been a great and increased zeal to acquire knowledge of the Scriptures, but personal acquaintance with the Lord has not been correspondingly sought after."

THE KNOWLEDGE OF SCRIPTURE

The brethren of Joseph had heard the gracious words of Joseph when alone with him, but, not knowing his heart, they had little entered into the full, deep meaning of his words. So with ourselves it is possible to have great knowledge of the words of Scripture and yet be ignorant of the great truths the words convey. A true understanding can only be obtained by the knowledge of Christ. Hence the apostle prays "that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ the Father of glory, may give unto us the spirit of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of Him." The knowledge of the schools — the knowledge of Greek and Hebrew — however useful in its place, will never give us the spirit of wisdom and revelation. Such knowledge may give In understanding of the letter of revelation, but not the spirit of revelation. We must know the mind of Christ to understand the words of Christ.

THE KNOWLEDGE OF CHRIST

Scripture speaks of external knowledge which a person may acquire by hearsay or sight, and also of conscious knowledge  -  that personal acquaintance by which we can know a person's mind. It is of this latter knowledge Paul speaks, when he says, "That I may know Him," and it is this knowledge we so often lack. We know and rejoice in the glorious things He has done, but do we know the heart of the One who has done so much for us, in such fashion that we can say, ''I know how He feels about me"?

THE LACK OF CONFIDENCE

The lack of true knowledge of Joseph's heart, and the consequent lack of confidence in Joseph is revealed in the message that his brethren sent to him. And worse, they attempt to hide their own unbelief and mistrust of Joseph, by pretending they are only carrying out the dying commands of Joseph's father. It is impossible to believe that Jacob left any such command. In total forgetfulness of Joseph's forgiveness of all their sad past they now pray to be forgiven. In spite of all the manifested grace and love of Joseph their uneasy conscience leads them to harbour the thought that Joseph still has something against them. And even so, if not living in nearness to Christ — if we have not made acquaintance with His heart — we may, through sin, failure, and a careless walk, still think, when conscience begins to work, that Christ is against us for something we have done, and, like Joseph's brethren, ask for forgiveness. And yet however great the failure of a true believer, Scripture never suggests that he should plead for forgiveness as if that question were not fully and eternally settled, but rather he is exhorted to confess his sin that communion may be restored.

THE BRETHREN REASSURED

This lack of confidence, after all the love that had been lavished upon them, broke the heart of Joseph. He "wept when they spake unto him" (v. 17). The saddest thing in all this sad world is unrequited love. But though his tears showed how deeply he felt he utters no word of reproach. The very tears would surely be sufficient to wither up their unbelief. But Joseph leads them into personal acquaintance with himself by letting them know there is nothing but love in his heart towards them, though he fully knows the evil of their hearts towards him.

THE FEAR REMOVED

"As for you," he can say, "ye thought evil against me," but he can add, "Fear ye not." He says as it were, "I know all the evil of your hearts toward me, but there is nothing to fear, for there is nothing but love in my heart toward you." And thus once again he removes all fear as to the past and all anxiety as to the future, for he adds, "I will nourish you and your little ones. Thus It was "he comforted them and spake to their hearts" (margin). Perfect love casts out all fear.

THE CONFIDENCE RESTORED

What a difference this interview must have made to these brethren. After this did any one seek to cast a doubt upon Joseph's love they would surely say, "We have been in his presence, we have made personal acquaintance with himself, we know his mind. We not only know what he has done for us, but we know how he feels towards us.

THE FAITH RISING

In the final scene between Joseph and his brethren, the faith of Joseph rises above all the glories of this passing world and looks on to a better and brighter world that is yet to come. He thinks and speaks no more of the things that he had suffered, the power he had wielded, or the good he may have done. He forgets the things that are behind and reaches out to the things that are before.

THE THINGS TO COME

Isaac, in his day, when he "was old and his eyes were dim, so that he could not see," looked on with faith's clear vision to another world and spake "concerning things to come." Jacob at a later day, when dying, with like faith catches a glimpse of the glories on before, and worships, leaning upon the top of his staff. And now Joseph, about to take the passage through the valley, catches sight of the hills that are beyond, and rising above all passing things, lays hold by faith of the world to come.

THE END REACHED

And God is not slow to mark His approval of the faith of these dying saints, shining in its greatest strength in the moment of nature's greatest weakness. It is not the great deeds they may have wrought in the course of their active lives, but the faith, shining amid the feebleness of age and the weakness of their lying moments, that has secured them a place in God's list of worthies of other days. The faith of other saints may shine in overcoming the difficulties of the way, in escaping the snares of the enemy, and triumphing over the temptations of the world, but the faith of these three saints is distinguished in that it forgets all seen and passing things, be they good or bad, great or small, and looks on to another world. And this is the more striking in the case of Joseph, seeing he had filled a place of such vast importance before the world in his day and generation. He realizes that all the glory of Egypt ends at last in a coffin in Egypt. He lad worthily filled a place of great power and glory in this world, such as no man before or since has ever had, but the end of all Egypt's glory is reached in these significant words, "He was put in a coffin in Egypt."

THE LIVING GOD

Thus it is he speaks no more of man, and man's mall world, but of God — the living God, of the faithfulness of God, of the power of God, and the land of God. "I die," says Joseph. The life of the man who lad saved other lives by a great deliverance (Gen. 15: 7) is fast slipping away, but if Joseph dies, God lives; if Joseph departs, God remains. And into the lands of the living and unchanging God he commends his brethren. Though he may be taken from them, yet he can say with the utmost assurance of faith, "God will surely visit you." The living God is their unfailing resource in the presence of the dying Joseph.

THE CLEAR VISION

Furthermore, God will act in mighty power on behalf of His people, for, says Joseph, He will "bring you out of this land." Joseph had been long in Egypt; he saw Ephraim's children of the third generation (v. 23). They were thoroughly established in the land of Egypt. To nature nothing looked more unlikely than that a time would ever come when they would leave the land of Egypt for a land they had never seen, but faith, rising above things seen, and refusing to reason according to the mind of nature, sees with clear vision that, though the people of God may sojourn for a time in the land of Egypt, yet it is not the land of rest that God has promised for His people. Strangership in the land of Egypt may form part of God's ways with His people, but it has no place in God's purpose for His people.

THE FAITHFUL GOD

Thus the faith of Joseph passes on to the land of promise. As surely as God will visit His people in grace to bring them out of Egypt, so surely He will stretch out His hand in mighty delivering power to bring them into the land of His purpose — "a good land and a large . . . a land flowing with milk and honey." Moreover this good land, with all its blessing and glory, which is unrolled before the faith of the dying Joseph, is secured by the unconditional promise of God, made to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. Joseph is dying, but no shadows darken the hour of his passing, for he sees in faith that all blessing to a far future rests upon the faithfulness and power of the living God.

A DEATH REMEMBERED

So it comes to pass in the power of faith's vision of the living God he gives directions concerning his bones. They are not to be left in Egypt. What a witness to the Israelites must the coffin of Joseph have been through the long centuries, forever reminding them that not even death itself can hinder the living God from fulfilling all His pleasure, and carrying out His purpose for His people. So in accord with the oath made to Joseph, when at last they leave the land of Egypt, "Moses took the bones of Joseph with him" (Ex. 13: 19), still to be a witness to faith in God, throughout the forty years of wilderness journeyings. And when at last they reach the land of promise, his body is buried in the "parcel of ground which Jacob bought of the sons of Hamor" (Joshua 24: 32), there to sleep in the dust of the earth until he awakes to everlasting life and stands in his lot at the end of days.

THE SAVIOUR RISEN

Nor is it otherwise with the people of God today. Faith still looks beyond the valley of the shadow of death, to the home of God's eternal purpose. In the presence of death faith, as of old, still rests on the God of resurrection, but with yet clearer vision, for we see Christ risen from among the dead, seated at God's right hand of power, holding in His hand the keys of death and the grave. As our faith looks up to the risen Man in the glory, may the passing glories of this dying world become small in our esteem so that, forgetting the things that are behind, we reach out to the things that are before, while waiting for the moment when the Lord will surely visit His people — when He "Himself shall descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel, and with the trump of God: and the dead in Christ shall rise first: then we which are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds, to meet the Lord in the air: and so shall we ever be with the Lord."

Thus while to sight all may seem to end in a coffin in Egypt, faith has in view that glorious moment when we shall be caught up together to be forever with the Lord. "Wherefore comfort one another with these words."

THE END

Samuel the Prophet

Samuel the Prophet.

1 Samuel 1 - 7.

Hamilton Smith.

1. The Purpose of God 1 Sam. 1-2: 10

2. The Failure of the Priest 1 Sam. 2: 11-36

3. The Establishment of the Prophet 1 Sam. 3

4. The Judgment of the People 1 Sam. 4

5. The Maintenance of God's Glory 1 Sam. 5 and 6

6. The Restoration of the People 1 Sam. 7

Extracted from Scripture Truth magazine, Volumes 21 & 22, 1929 & 1930.

Historically the first book of Samuel is the continuation of the book of Judges. There we have the history of a people whose course was ever downward, in spite of occasional revivals. It closes with the solemn statement that, "In those days there was no king in Israel: every man did that which was right in his own eyes." Israel had lost all true sense of God as their King, with the result they ceased to be a united people. They broke up into mere units acting independently of one another, each doing his own will and walking according to the sight of his eyes rather than by faith in God.

Nor is it otherwise with the people of God today. The same cause produces the same result. Failing to hold the Head in heaven, the people of God fail to maintain unity and fellowship among themselves on earth. Fellowship being lost, they drop into mere individualism in which each walks according to his own will independently of others.

In the opening chapters of the first book of Samuel (1-7) we have depicted one of the darkest periods of Israel's history. The downgrade movement of the book of Judges was continued until the condition of the nation was not only evil but desperate. Such was their iniquity that it became impossible for God to continue His outward links with Israel without sanctioning their sin or sullying His glory. Thus the people enter that solemn period in their history in which God withdraws the symbol of His presence, and all outward relations with God are ended.

There is, however, another side to this dark picture; for, if we are permitted to see the utter failure of God's people in responsibility, we are also privileged to see the grace of God in sovereignty. If the story probes the depths of man's sin, it carries us also to the height of God's grace. We are thus taught, once again, that where sin abounds grace does much more abound.

As the story opens, there are not wanting ominous signs of the coming storm; as it proceeds the shadows lengthen and the darkness deepens, but amidst the increasing gloom we learn the truth of that sure word which says, "It shall come to pass, when I bring a cloud over the earth, that the bow shall be seen in the cloud."

Briefly, then, we may say that the first seven chapters of the first book of Samuel present the total failure of the people of God in responsibility, and the ultimate triumph of the grace of God in sovereignty.

This section of the book may be divided as follows: —

(1) 1 Sam. 1 to 2: 10. The sovereign grace of God working, in spite of nature's weakness and man's failure, for the fulfilment of God's settled purpose to maintain His own glory, and secure His people's blessing, under the reign of Christ as King.

(2) 1 Sam. 2: 11-36. The failure of God's people in responsibility, through the breakdown of the priest, with warnings of coming judgment.

(3) 1 Sam. 3. The climax of evil with the consequent setting aside of the priest, and establishment of the prophet.

(4) 1 Sam. 4. The governmental judgment that falls upon the people of God, whereby they come into bondage to their enemies, and the outward sign of God's presence is withdrawn.

(5) 1 Sam. 5. and 6. God acting to vindicate His holiness and maintain the majesty of His Name in a day when the people of God have ceased to be a public witness for God.

(6) 1 Sam. 7. God in sovereign grace restoring His people, and renewing His relations with them through the prophet.

1. The Purpose of God (1 Sam. 1-2: 10).

In this opening section of the first book of Samuel we have a very blessed anticipation of the word which speaks of "the power of God; who hath saved us and called us with an holy calling, not according to our works, but according to His own purpose and grace, which was given us in Christ Jesus" (2 Tim. 1: 8, 9). In the end of Hannah's song we reach the ultimate purpose of God to establish blessing under Christ as King. In the story of the birth of Samuel we see the grace of God at work to bring about His purpose, in spite of the weakness and failure of man, and hence not according to our works.

We learn, moreover, that grace foresees every crisis that arises among the people of God, and, not only overcomes the crisis, but quietly works to make provision for the crisis before it comes.

The commencement of the story presents a God-fearing Levite with two wives; one fruitful and the other barren. The barren woman mourns her condition before the Lord and is persecuted by the fruitful wife. Elkanah goes up yearly to worship and to sacrifice before the Lord at Shiloh. There we find Hophni and Phinehas, two wicked men, as we know from 1 Samuel 2: 12, officiating as priests of the Lord. Eli, the high priest, with much personal piety, comes before us as an enfeebled old man sitting by a post of the temple (verse 9) and mistaking the exercises of a godly soul for the vagaries of a drunken woman (13). Sitting where God had provided no seat would indicate a lack of spiritual energy; his mistake in regard to Hannah, a lack of spiritual discernment.

There is thus brought before us the barren wife, the persecuting woman, two worthless men as priests, and a feeble and failing old man as high priest. In such circumstances we are permitted to see the sovereign grace of God passing by the strength of nature in the fruitful woman, working through the weakness of nature in the barren woman, and abounding over the sin of man in the priests. In the son given to Hannah we see the foresight of the grace of God making provision to renew His relations with His people in the day of their coming breakdown.

The three great offices by which relationships between God and man are maintained are those of Priest, Prophet and King. THE PRIEST maintains relations with God by drawing near to God on behalf of the people, and for this, in association with the priest, there must of necessity be the Ark of the Covenant and sacrifice — the Ark signifying the presence of Jehovah, and sacrifice the way of approach. THE PROPHET renews relations with God by appealing to the conscience and heart of the people with a message from God. When the priest fails and the people cease to draw nigh to God by means of priesthood, then God, in His sovereign grace, draws nigh to the people by the prophet. THE KING: maintains relations between the people and God by ruling and leading the people under the authority of God; When the king is established God no longer rules and leads directly, but acts through the king, and the blessing of the people depends upon the personal faithfulness of the king to God.

The first book of Samuel records the failure of the priest, the prophet, and 'he king of man's choice, making way for the sovereign grace of God to bring man into blessing by establishing His anointed Man — the Christ — as King, of whom David is a type. Thus at last it will be made manifest to the whole universe that all blessing for Israel, and the nations, will depend upon the faithfulness of Christ as King. Man will be blessed, but all the glory of the blessing will rest upon Christ. The glory of Christ is the end of the purpose of God.

Furthermore the story of Hannah not only sets forth the great principles by which God is carrying out His purposes of grace, but it gives rich moral instruction to every tried and sorrowing child of God. How striking the contrast between Hannah unable to eat, and weeping sore in bitterness of soul, as stated in verse 7, and Hannah when she "went her way and did eat and her countenance was no more sad," as recorded in verse 18. How came this difference? Was it change of circumstances or the removal of that which caused the sorrow? Not at all; the circumstances had not altered; she was still the barren woman. The secret of the change is found in the fact that she had poured out her soul before the Lord. The persecution of her adversary, the fretting of spirit, the bitterness of soul — she had poured it all out with weeping before the Lord. Having poured out her sorrow, the word came to her, "Go in peace." Her sorrow is poured out and God's peace is poured in. A striking illustration of the exhortation which bids us "Be careful for nothing; but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known unto God. And the peace of God, which passeth all understanding, shall keep your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus" (Phil. 4: 6, 7).

How often we carry our sorrows instead of pouring them out before the One who came into this world of weeping, to bear our griefs and carry our sorrows. Have we a secret sorrow; have we an adversary that sore provokes (verse 6); anything or anyone that causes our spirits to fret (verse 6); anything that grieves our hearts (verse 8); anything that fills the soul with bitterness, and the eyes with tears (verse 10)? Then let us pour out our souls before the Lord and He will pour in His peace. And a glad heart will make a glad face, as we read, "Her countenance was no more sad." The heart at peace, and filled with the gladness of the Lord, is the heart that worships; thus with Hannah, we read, she "worshipped before the Lord" (verse 19).

Then having learned that the Lord is able to sustain in the circumstances, and make her a worshipper in spite of them, the mercy of the Lord alters the circumstances by granting her request. She had prayed, "O Lord of hosts . . . remember me" (11); now we read, "the Lord remembered her" (19). She obtains a son — the man-child she had asked for. The child that she receives from the Lord she gives back to the Lord. "For this child I prayed; and the Lord hath given me my petition which I asked of Him; therefore also I have lent him to the Lord; as long as he liveth he shall be lent to the Lord."

The gift of the child very naturally calls forth the thanksgiving of Hannah (1 Sam. 2: 1-10). Hannah had poured out her soul in prayer for a son, and now that her request is granted she does not forget to pour out her heart in praise, for thus she commences this second prayer, "My heart rejoiceth in the Lord" (1).

Recognizing that all blessing depends on God, she rightly begins by celebrating His glories. God is holy — "There is none holy as the Lord." God is omnipotent — "There is none beside Thee." God is eternal — "Neither is there any rock like our God." God is omniscient — "The Lord is a God of knowledge" (2, 3).

Then she celebrates the sovereign grace of God that picks up, for blessing, the weak, the needy, and the unfruitful. Those who have "stumbled," and are "hungry," and "barren." God passes by the wise, the mighty, and the noble, and takes up the base, and the despised of the world, that no flesh should glory in His presence (4, 5).

Moreover, God has His own way of dealing with us to make us conscious of our need. He rolls in death upon the soul in order to make alive. He brings us nigh to the grave that we may learn our utter weakness. He strips us of all that wherein we trust, thus making us poor to make us rich. He brings us low in our thoughts of self, in order to lift us up (6, 7).

Having shown us our nothingness' He unfolds to us His fulness — the purpose of His heart. Not only does He meet our need but He changes our condition — the beggar becomes a prince. Further He gives us a new position suited to the new condition. From "the dust" and "the dunghill" we pass to "the throne of glory." In all these blessed ways He acts as sovereign. The One to whom the pillars of the earth belong, and who has set the world upon them, can set a poor and needy soul among princes on a throne of glory (8).

Moreover, not only is there a glorious inheritance before the people of God, but they are kept by the power of God for the inheritance. "He will keep the feet of His saints." In their own power they cannot stand against "the wicked" and "the adversaries of the Lord," for "by strength shall no man prevail." In the Lord's safe keeping they need not fear, for He will silence the wicked and brake in pieces His adversaries (9, 10; cf. 1 Peter 1: 3-5).

Finally the prayer of Hannah discloses to us the ultimate purpose of God to establish Christ as King and glorify His Anointed. Thus in the revealed purpose of God we are carried on to a glorious time when the people of God will be blest, every enemy destroyed, and the ends of the earth brought under the beneficent sway of Christ as King.

From the closing verse of the book of Judges we learn there was no king in Israel. Now, through the revelation made to a woman, we learn the settled purpose of God's heart to establish His King, and in sovereign grace to call the weak and needy to share the throne of glory with His King.

In the wisdom and perfection of God's ways, this glorious revelation precedes the darkest period in Israel's history. Thus we are assured, ere ever the storm bursts, that in the end grace will triumph, for God is sovereign. The storm may come, but truly the bow is in the cloud. Our way may lie through a dark valley, but our faith is sustained by a glimpse of the sunlight that shines on the hills beyond.

2. The Failure of the Priest (1 Sam. 2: 11-36)

The song of Hannah assures us of the ultimate triumph of grace Under the reign of Christ. In the light of this assurance we are prepared to face the complete breakdown of man in responsibility.

The evil condition of the professing people of God under the priesthood of Eli is manifested by three fearful evils. The priesthood was defiled (12); the offering of the Lord was despised (17); and the tabernacle was desecrated (22). We have already learned from 1 Samuel 1: 3, that the sons of Eli were priests of the Lord, now we are told that they "were sons of Belial," and that "they knew not the Lord." The very men whose office was to represent the people before the Lord, were themselves ignorant of the Lord and using their position to enrich themselves at the expense of the people (12-16) The greatness of their sin before the Lord is seen in that their conduct led to the offering of the Lord being despised by the people. They became instruments for the corruption of the professing people of God (17). Finally through their evil conduct the house of God, at Shiloh, became the scene of wickedness that shocks the natural conscience (22).

Alas! is not this an exact picture of what is taking place in Christendom in our day? This condition has, indeed, been found in Christendom throughout the centuries though becoming more painfully evident in these last days when many, who publicly avow they are priests of the Lord, are strangers to the Lord. Like Hophni and Phineas of old, such use religion to serve themselves and their own ends, at the expense of the people of God. Through such the atoning sacrifice of Christ is being despised, and wickedness and worldliness of such a gross character are being introduced into that which professes to be the house of God, that the natural mind is shocked and turns with righteous disgust from that which is a mere travesty of religion. Thus leaders of Christian profession, like the priests of old, become the main instruments of corruption and apostasy.

Such was the terrible condition of Israel; and yet, as we see the storm gathering, we are again reminded of God's own words, "When I bring a cloud over the earth . . . the bow shall be seen in the cloud." In the midst of the gathering gloom the Spirit of God again and again sustains faith by giving us the vision of the bow. Thus we read, "the child did minister unto the Lord" (11). Then the sky darkens as we have the awful disclosures concerning the sin of the priests (12-17); but again we catch sight of the bow, for we read, "But Samuel ministered before the Lord, being a child . . . and the child Samuel grew before the Lord" (18-21). Nevertheless the darkness grows yet deeper as we read of the desecration of the house of God (22-25); but once again the bow is seen in its beauty, for we read, "The child Samuel grew on, and was in favour with the Lord, and also with men" (26).

Does this not assure our hearts that, however dark the day, God will maintain a testimony for Himself, and sustain the faith of His true people? Moreover the constant mention of "the child" would indicate the way God takes to maintain His testimony in a day of ruin. He passes by the self-accredited religious officials and takes up "the child" to be a witness to Himself.

Thus when the priests break down in Eli's day the child comes into prominence, and always in association with the Lord, "The child did minister unto the Lord"; "Samuel ministered before the Lord, being a child"; "the child Samuel grew before the Lord"; "The child Samuel . . . was in favour , . . with the Lord"; "the child ministered unto the Lord" (1 Sam. 2: 12, 18, 21, 26; 1 Sam. 3: 1)

{*It appears to be an unvarying principle of the ways of God, again and again illustrated in Scripture, that in a day of ruin God passes by those who assume to be His official representatives and uses, as witnesses for Himself, those who are little and of no account in the eyes of the world.

Again, at a later day, amidst the desolations of Israel Isaiah could say, "Behold I and THE CHILDREN whom the Lord hath given me are for signs and wonders in Israel from the Lord of Hosts" (Isa. 8: 18). Seven centuries later, when the nation was "in darkness and in the shadow of death," and God visited His people to tell them of the coming King, it was through THE CHILD of She barren woman — a child that was called the prophet of the Highest" — that this witness came.

Again, a little later, when at last the "Saviour, which is Christ the Lord" came into the midst of the guilty nation, it was in the lowliness of a child that He entered the world for, said the angel, "this shall be a sign unto you, Ye shall find THE BABE wrapped in swaddling clothes, lying in a manger," and the godly could say, "Unto us A CHILD is born, unto us a son is given: and the government shall be upon His shoulder: and His name shall be called Wonderful, Counsellor, the Mighty God, the Everlasting Father, the Prince of Peace" (Luke 2: 11, 12; Isa. 9: 6).

Thus, too, in that yet darker day in Israel's history, when the Lord, a despised and rejected Man, stood in the midst of a corrupt nation fast hastening to apostasy, He could say, "I thank Thee, O Father, Lord of heaven and earth, because Thou hast hid these things from the wise and prudent and hast revealed them UNTO BABES" (Matt. 11: 25).

Furthermore, in the day of Christ's exaltation, those who maintained a bright witness for the Lord in the presence of the religious officials of corrupt Judaism, were "unlearned and ignorant" fishermen — those whom the world would esteem as children of no account (Acts 4: 13).

Nor is it otherwise in the midst of corrupt Christendom, for, in the midst of the ruin of the church, those who are marked out for the Lord's special approval, like the little child, have but "a little strength" (Rev. 3: 8).}

Thus we have God's disclosure of the terrible condition of Israel — a solemn forecast of the condition of Christendom — and the gracious way God maintains a testimony for Himself in the day of ruin.

Moreover we see a further great and encouraging principle of the ways of God, that at the very moment when the people of God are entering upon evil times, through their own folly, God in secret is preparing a vessel for their ultimate deliverance. As one has said, "In all the seasons of man's destruction of himself, there has been another thing going on in the plans of the blessed God.... While his brethren are filling up their sins and sorrows in Canaan, Joseph, unknown to them, is growing up in Egypt for their help. While Israel is in the heat of the furnace, Moses is preparing to be their deliverer in the distant solitudes of Midian.... When the priesthood was defiled, and the glory gone into the enemy's land, Samuel the child is brought forth to raise the stone of help.... When Saul and the kingdom are bringing ruin on themselves, David, 'the secret of God,' is under preparation to set the throne in honour, and the kingdom 'in order and strength.'"

A further truth comes before us in the closing verses of the chapter — that God will not allow the evil condition of His professing people to go unjudged though, as ever, He warns before He judges. Thus a man of God is sent with a solemn testimony, and warning, to the aged Eli. He is first reminded of the high privileges of his office. He was chosen, says the Lord, to be "My priest to offer upon Mine altar . . before Me." His offence is then plainly stated. "Wherefore," says the Lord, "do ye trample upon My sacrifice and upon Mine offering, which I have commanded in my habitation; and honourest thy sons above Me" (N. Tr.). Actually the sons were the guilty persons, but, inasmuch as Eli took no action against them, he is charged with their offence. It is true he had raised protest, but the evil was of such a character that to protest and yet continue with those against whom the protest was made was to sanction their evil. The secret motive that governed Eli is disclosed in the words, thou "honourest thy sons above Me." The relationships of nature, and the friendships of life, were set above the claims of the Lord. He was chosen to walk before the Lord, but having honoured his sons above the Lord, he has to hear the solemn word, "Them that honour Me I will honour, and they that despise Me shall be lightly esteemed."

Has not the solemn failure of this pious old man a warning voice for God's people in all ages? In very different circumstances, and in varying degrees we can easily slip into the snare of honouring our brethren, our friends, our kindred, above the Lord. Again and again has the truth of the Lord's words been proved, "Them that honour Me I will honour, and they that despise Me shall be lightly esteemed." If God in His grace has chosen us to walk before Him, we shall only be kept in safety as we act upon the word of the Psalmist, "I have set the Lord always before me" (cf. 1 Sam. 2: 30, and Ps. 16: 8).

Having been reminded of his privileges, and charged with his offence, Eli has to hear of the judgment that is about to fall. Eli had sinned through his family, and upon his family the judgment would come. The increase of his house would die in the flower of their age; Hophni and Phinehas would meet their death in one day. Every one left of his house would be thrust out of the priest's office to beg their bread. The after history gives the solemn fulfilment of these predictions. Hophni and Phinehas are slain in the conflict with the Philistines (1 Sam. 4: 11); sixty years later the increase of Eli's house was cut off by King Saul (1 Sam. 22: 18); and one hundred years after the prediction the last of Eli's house was thrust out from being priest by King Solomon (1 Kings 2: 27).

Moreover the failure of the priest becomes the occasion for indicating the great change about to take place in the ways of God. Because of the unfaithfulness of Eli, his house would be cut off, and a faithful priest would be raised up that would act according to the heart and mind of God. His house would be established; nevertheless henceforward the priest would no longer occupy the first place before the Lord, but would walk before the Lord's anointed. Already we have learned from Hannah's song that the Anointed is the King. The high priest is thus set aside, as the immediate link between the Lord and His people. He falls into a secondary place, there being another anointed greater than he. Thus through the failure of the priest the way is being prepared to fulfil God's purpose to establish Christ as King with a faithful priest walking before Him for ever.

We may note that in a day of official failure God uses a woman to declare His purpose; a child to bear testimony to Himself, and a nameless man of God to warn of coming judgment, and tell of final blessing.

3. The Establishment of the Prophet.

The nameless man of God, having rendered his testimony, and pronounced the doom of Eli's house, passes from the narrative. Henceforth the Lord will speak more directly through Samuel who is "established to be a prophet of the Lord" (20).

The opening verses of 1 Samuel 3 indicate the low condition of the people of God. Ignorance of the mind of the Lord prevailed, for the word of the Lord was rare; the eyes of the priest were dim, and the lamp of God was going out (1-3)

Solemn indeed for the people of God as a whole, or for any company of His people, when there is little ministry from the Lord to feed their souls; when they themselves lack spiritual discernment, and when the testimony to God amongst them is dying out. Such was the condition of Israel in the days of Eli. However, God is not unmindful of His people whatever their condition. Hence we find the Lord begins to act from Himself in sovereign grace, "to give light to them that sit in darkness and the shadow of death." We might have thought that, in such a low condition, the people — or the priest on behalf of the people — would have called upon the Lord. It was the Lord, however, who "called Samuel" (4-10).

This is deeply significant, for in the end of the chapter we read "that Samuel was established to be a prophet of the Lord." This emphasized the difference between the priest and the prophet. This office of the priest is to draw near to the Lord on behalf of the people, and thus maintain relations with the Lord. The prophet is one through whom the Lord draws near to the people when relations with the Lord have broken down through the failure of the people. For this reason the prophet comes to the front in a day of ruin.

It is also significant to notice the character of the one that the Lord uses for the prophetic office. He is one who had been devoted to the Lord as a Nazarite (1 Sam. 1: 11), and who, again and again, is spoken of as the child. He is separate from the evil against which he testifies, devoted to the interests of the Lord, and, like a child, conscious of his own weakness and lack of wisdom. Thus he is dependent upon the Lord and drawing all his resources from the Lord. Such is the one the Lord uses to reach the consciences of His people.

His call becomes the occasion of emphasizing the lack of spiritual discernment on the part of the priest, for not until the Lord had spoken for the third time does Eli discern the voice of the Lord.

The first message of the Lord (10-14) to Samuel is of intense solemnity. Already Eli had heard the sentence passed upon his house. Now Samuel is prepared for his prophetic office by being definitely told of the judgment coming upon the priest, and the reason of that judgment. All Israel is to be concerned in the judgment that comes upon the priestly family, for what the Lord was about to do will take place "in Israel," and make both the ears of everyone that heareth it tingle. The Lord Himself is about to act. He says, "In that day I will perform against Eli all things which I have spoken concerning his house; when I begin I will also make an end."

Moreover we are explicitly told the reason that leads to the Lord's direct dealings with His people. It is solely because they themselves refuse to deal with existing evils. Very evil things had been done amongst the people of God: yet the evil in itself did not call forth the governmental dealing of God. No amount of evil would call forth God's government if the evil is dealt with and judged by the people of God. The Lord intervenes in judgment because the evil was known and not dealt with.

Solemn indeed is the condition of the people of God, if evil arises in their midst, whether against the person of Christ, or disobedience to the principles of God's house, or lapses from the path of moral rectitude, and the evil is known and not restrained.

It may indeed be truly said that Eli did raise some protest; that he judged the course of his sons to be evil; but evidently he took no steps to restrain them. So to-day people may indeed protest that they do not agree with erroneous doctrines, that they regret the course some are taking; but what avail is such feeble protest if no steps are taken to restrain the evil and those who protest associate, as if all were well, with the wrong-doers?

Samuel exhibits a natural and proper shrinking from imparting this solemn word to the aged Eli, and at the same time faithfulness to the Lord in telling "every whit" of the Lord's message. It is ever right for the younger to show respect to the elder, but neither youth nor age are to stand in the way of faithfulness to the Lord (15-18).

Having answered to the call of the Lord, and faithfully delivered his first message, we learn "the Lord was with him." The solemn word concerning the priest was, "I will perform against Eli all things which I have spoken" (12). The Lord was against the priest, He was with the prophet. The Lord being with him none of his words were allowed to "fall to the ground." Inasmuch as his words did not fall to the ground it is made manifest from Dan to Beer-sheba that he is "established to be a prophet of the Lord." To him the Lord appeared, and to him the Lord revealed Himself by the word of the Lord.

4. The Judgment of the People.

In 1 Samuel 4 we have the solemn record of the complete failure and ruin of God's people. Israel is smitten before the Philistines, the ark is taken, the priests are slain, and the high priest is removed by death. Thus every outward link with God is broken.

The nation enters upon a period of bondage to their enemies which lasts for twenty years (1 Samuel 7: 2). During this period it is significant that the name of Samuel is not once mentioned. For twenty years the people neglect the man the Lord is with.

The Spirit of God has given us His commentary on this solemn time in Ps. 78: 56-64. From this passage we learn that the secret of their low condition, and consequent defeat at the hands of their enemies, is found in their disobedience and idolatry. They "kept not His testimonies." "They provoked Him to anger with their high places, and moved Him to jealousy with their graven images." Then follows the solemn statement, "When God heard this, He was wrath and greatly abhorred Israel." From 1 Samuel 2: 17 we learn that "man abhorred the offering of the Lord"; now we learn that the Lord abhorred idolatrous Israel.

The low condition of the people of God becomes the occasion for their enemies to acquire power over them. The particular enemy at this juncture was the Philistine within the land. The people of Israel were indeed surrounded by enemies without — the Egyptians, Syrians and others; but they also had enemies within their borders, and of these the most inveterate were the Philistines. It is the enemy within the circle of God's people that will ever be to the front when the people of God are in a low condition. Opposition from without may be the result of a bright testimony; but in every age corruption from within has always been the result of a low spiritual condition.

Degraded by idolatry, and without reference to the Lord, or the man the Lord is with, Israel attempts, in their own strength, to join battle with their enemies, only to suffer a serious defeat (1, 2). Following upon their defeat they hold a council to enquire "Wherefore hath the Lord smitten us to-day before the Philistines?" The elders, who should have known the mind of the Lord, reveal their low spiritual condition by the counsel they give. They say, "Let us fetch the ark of the covenant of the Lord out of Shiloh unto us, that when it cometh among us, it may save us out of the hand of our enemies." They could have said much in favour of this counsel. They could appeal to their history and plead that precedent was on their side. Did not the ark lead them to victory in the days of Joshua when the city of Jericho fell before Israel? One thing, however, they forgot, and it was their undoing; they overlooked the majesty and holiness of God that will not, and cannot, brook iniquity in His enemies, still less among His people. It is true that in the day of Joshua the ark had led them to victory, but not without the leading of the Captain of the Lord's host. Moreover the capture of Jericho was preceded by circumcision at Gilgal. The people who used the ark in Joshua's day were a people in whom the flesh was judged, and who were under the leadership of the Captain of the Lord's host. When the condition of God's people is right the ark of the Lord, speaking of the presence of the Lord, must be a centre of blessing for His people. To invoke the presence of the Lord without the judgment of their condition is to call down the governmental judgment of the Lord.

In any age the opposition that arises from corrupting influences working within the circle of God's people can only be met by first dealing with the low condition amongst the people of God that has given occasion for the existence of the opposition.

Following the advice of their leaders, and without any judgment of their condition, the people send to Shiloh, and bring thence the ark of the covenant of the Lord of hosts. We are solemnly reminded that the Lord "dwelleth between the cherubims," and then that "Hophni and Phinehas were there with the ark." The Lord of hosts is there and the sons of Belial are there (1 Sam. 2: 12), a sure presage of coming judgment, for "what concord hath Christ with Belial?" (2 Cor. 6: 15). The people of God may show themselves indifferent to the glory of Christ and the holiness due to His name, but God will be no party to man's indifference. He cannot deny Himself. He will ever vindicate His own glory even though it involves defeat and disgrace for His people.

The ark is brought into the camp and received "with a great shout, so that the earth rang again." The great shout has a triumphant sound and the appearance of power, but in reality only manifests their lack of faith on the one hand, and their carnal confidence on the other. Faith moves quietly and moral power makes no noise.

However, nature is easily moved by a great shout, and thus the Philistines, when they "heard the noise of the shout," and understood that the ark of the Lord had come into the camp, "were afraid." Their fear was rightly based upon a sense of the true significance of the ark for they said, "God is come into the camp." Such was the terrible effect upon the people of God of having allowed unholiness to be linked with the ark of God, and so hardened were they by sin, that they had become less sensitive to the presence of God than their enemies. They had said of the ark, "When it cometh among us, it may save us out of the hand of our enemies" (3). When the ark did come into their midst, their enemies rightly said, "God is come" (7).

Under such circumstances the fear of the Philistines is as vain as the shout of Israel. The Philistine need have no fear of the ark when polluted Israel brings it into camp, as a sanction for their iniquity. The condition of Israel was such that God could not defend them, and, in such circumstances, to fall back on the symbol of His presence was to call down judgment upon themselves. So it came to pass; the people of God are slain, the ark passes into the hands of the enemy and the two sons of Eli are killed. "He delivered His strength into captivity, and His glory into the enemies' hands. He gave His people over also unto the sword; and was wroth with His inheritance."

The last touching scene in the chapter makes manifest the personal piety of Eli, in spite of his failure to deal with the evil in his sons; and also shows that God had a godly remnant in Israel, represented by the wife of Phinehas, who set the glory of God above the claims of nature.

Israel was in combat with the enemy, Hophni and Phinehas are in the battle; nevertheless the heart of Eli trembled for the ark of God (13). His first thought was the ark. When the news of Israel's defeat reaches the aged priest, he hears in silence of the great slaughter among the people, and of the death of his two sons, but at the mention of the taking of the ark of God he fell back a stricken man.

So with the wife of Phinehas; her first thought was not for her husband, herself, or her child, but for the glory of God. They seek to arouse the dying woman by speaking of the son that is born, "But she did not answer, neither did she take it to heart" (N. Tr.). She is fully aware that a son has been born, for she gives the child a name, but the name shows that her thoughts centre in the ark of God. Her last words are, "The glory is departed from Israel: for the ark of God is taken."

5. The Maintenance of God's Glory (1 Sam. 5 and 6).

The section of the Book of Samuel covered by chapters 5 and 6 deals with the solemn period of Israel's history during which all outward links with God are broken. We are permitted to see that in this sad time God Himself maintains the majesty of His great name.

The people of God had entirely failed to maintain the honour of God; nay, worse, they had attempted to identify the symbol of God's presence with their own sinful condition, and hence God, acting in judgment, had withdrawn His presence from their midst. In these circumstances, while the godly may well be humbled because of the unfaithfulness of God's people, they need not fear for the honour of God. Quite apart from His people, God is able to vindicate His holiness and maintain His majesty.

The Philistines had trembled when they heard that the ark had come into the camp of Israel. Now that the ark has been delivered into their hands, with bold daring they place it in the house of their idol, as if to celebrate its capture as a victory for their god Dagon over the God of Israel. Their former trembling was as needless as their present daring is misplaced.

God has shown, by the withdrawal of His presence, that He will not sanction the guilt of His people. Now He will make manifest that He will not suffer the eclipse of His glory by His enemies. The enemies of God's people have to learn that if, in His governmental ways, He may permit a triumph over His people, yet He Himself will suffer no defeat.

The ark of God having been placed in the house of Dagon, it becomes no longer a question between the Philistines and Israel, but an issue between Dagon and the God of Israel. There can be but one end to this contest. Dagon is flung to the earth before the ark. To prove this is no mere coincidence, Dagon is set in his place again only to make more manifest the majesty of God and the futility of an idol. Dagon not only falls to the ground but is broken to pieces, so that henceforth the house of Dagon becomes a place of reproach amongst men.

Nor is this the only means whereby God maintains His majesty. He has poured contempt on the idol; He will now deal in judgment with the idolaters. "The hand of the Lord was heavy upon them of Ashdod." Many are destroyed and others are smitten with disease. In their distress the Philistines of Ashdod seek the counsel of their lords, who advise them to send the ark to Gath.

The city of Gath was famous as the dwelling place of the last of the Anakims — a race of giants (Joshua 11: 21, 22; 1 Sam. 17: 4). However, the might of man proves to be of no avail against the power of God, for we read, "The hand of the Lord was against the city with a very great destruction: and He smote the men of the city, both small and great" (1 Sam. 5: 9).

Finally the ark is sent to Ekron, the seat of their idol Baalzebub — a god that was credited with the power to heal diseases — in the hope, it may be, that their god can bring relief from the scourge. Vain hope, for here again God's judgment falls with increased severity, for we read, "There was a deadly destruction throughout all the city: the hand of God was very heavy there." Thus God maintains His glory and manifests the impotency of demons to relieve men of chastisements.

How solemn the divine commentary of Psalm 78 on the events of this chapter. Having said of Israel, "Their priests fell by the sword; and their widows made no lamentation," the Psalmist states, "Then the Lord awakened as one out of sleep, and like a mighty man that shouteth by reason of wine. And he smote His enemies in the hinder parts: He put them to perpetual reproach." If man, in his folly, seeks to identify the glory of God with idols, God will maintain His glory by judgment. Nevertheless, in judgment God remembers mercy, God is the Creator, and though His creatures may be sunk in darkness and idolatry, yet when they cry to Him in their distress, their cry will reach "up to heaven." Yet how often man takes occasion, by the providential character of God's dealings in judgment, to harden his heart against God. It was thus with the Philistines. Seven months are allowed to pass until, compelled by their desperate straits, they seek for some deliverance. Not only are the people smitten with disease but their land is marred with a plague of mice.

They turn for advice to their diviners, for which the Philistines were famed (Isa. 2: 6). The diviners, apparently, discern that in these judgments Jehovah is maintaining His own glory, and they counsel the Philistines to give glory to the God of Israel; to return the ark to Israel accompanied by a trespass offering. Moreover, they suggest that the ark should be returned in a way that would clearly demonstrate that what had happened was from the hand of God, and no mere coincidence.

Accordingly the ark is placed upon a new cart drawn by two milch kine, their calves being taken from them. Contrary to nature the kine leave their calves and, without any promptings from man, take the ark to Beth-shemesh, lowing as they go, thus giving proof that they acted by some power above the instincts of nature. Thus God stoops to meet these heathen in their distress, and at the same time vindicates His glory in the sight of His enemies. God makes manifest that the victory of the Philistines over transgressing Israel was no victory over Him. Their trespass offering, however ignorantly made, is a recognition that the capture of the ark has only brought judgment from a God whom they now seek to propitiate.

The scene now changes, and the ark is once again found amongst the people of God at Beth-shemesh. They receive it with joy and offer sacrifices unto the Lord. It appears, however, to be the carnal joy of hearts unbroken by a sense of sin. They were glad to have the ark back, in anticipation of the blessing that they rightly associated with it, but, apparently, there is no sense of their sin which had involved the loss of the ark. They had yet to learn the glory due to God and the humbleness that becomes those whose condition was so low.

The levity of their hearts is made manifest by some of their number looking into the ark of the Lord. In a moment the Lord resents this wickedness, and maintains His glory by a judgment that smites seventy of their number. The men of Beth-shemesh immediately say, "Who is able to stand before this holy Lord God?" With great certainty we can answer, No one of all Adam's sinful race can stand before the holy Lord God, apart from the blood of Christ. To look into the ark these men, of necessity, had to remove the mercy seat, on which was the sprinkled blood. At once they stood as naked sinners before a holy God. Judgment must be the result. From Genesis to Revelation — from the moment the Lord God clothed our fallen parents with coats of skin ere they were driven out of Paradise, to that last great passage in Revelation that declares that only those who have washed their robes have right to the tree of life, and can enter in through the gates of the city — the Book teaches one great lesson, that without the shedding of blood there is no remission.

Alas! the modernists of our day are once again, like the men of Beth-shemesh, with daring effrontery, trampling under foot the blood of Christ, and attempting to stand before the holy Lord God on the ground of their own works and apart from the work of Christ. Corrupt Christendom has gone in the way of Cain, and to such God says, "Woe unto them."

6. The Restoration of the People (1 Sam. 7).

The seventh chapter presents the Lord in sovereign grace re-establishing relations with His people through Samuel the prophet; and the people drawing near to the Lord through Samuel as priest.

Before, however, the Lord renews His relations with His people they have to learn by bitter experience their need of the Lord. In the past they valued His presence so lightly that they turned aside to idols. His presence being withdrawn they begin to realize that without the Lord there can be no deliverance from their enemies. For twenty years they have been in bondage to an enemy within their borders. At length the time comes when "All the house of Israel lamented after the Lord."

A sense of need having been awakened, the Lord, who had not been indifferent to the cry of the heathen (1 Sam. 7: 2), at once answers to the lamentation of His people. Samuel, of whom there has been no mention for a period of twenty years, again comes upon the scene. The Lord was thus drawing nigh to the people through the prophet. Samuel's last utterance had warned the people of coming disaster, and "what Samuel had said happened to all Israel" (1 Sam. 4: 1). Then for twenty years no word comes from the Lord through the prophet. Faith can wait the Lord's time. At length that time has come: there is a movement of God among the people awakening a sense of need, and again Samuel speaks "unto all the house of Israel." It is significant that it is not the people who appeal to Samuel; it is Samuel — the man that the Lord is with — who draws nigh to the people. This emphasizes the fact that all true restoration is dependent upon the sovereign grace of the Lord. Restoration, whether for the individual or the people of God as a whole, commences with the Lord. Only the Lord can restore His wandering people.

In this fresh message to the people Samuel clearly shows that, in turning to the Lord, all depends upon the way in which they take this great step. He says, as it were, "If you are to be restored to blessing, 'return unto the Lord with all your hearts."' A half-hearted return will not avail. It is useless for the people of God to turn to the Lord with a partial condemnation of themselves accompanied by excuses. If we turn to the Lord there can be no compromise as to our sin and failure. If, however, the people return unto the Lord with all their hearts, three things will mark them: —

First, Separation. There must be separation from the evil that led to their departure from the Lord. Idolatry must be judged and "put away." This is more than a protest against evil; it involves dealing with the evil. We are often willing to protest against evil, while shrinking from dealing with it. We may plead the difficulty of dealing with it; we may fear the result of dealing with it; we shrink from any odium that may attach to dealing with it; and thus, under one plea and another, shirk our plain responsibility. Nevertheless, the Word plainly declares it must be "put away."

Second, Preparation. It is not enough to separate from evil. Separation from evil must be accompanied with preparation of heart. The Word through Samuel is, "Prepare your hearts unto the Lord." The preparation of the heart implies a moral condition brought about by self-judgment, producing a lowly and contrite spirit — the true accompaniment of separation from evil. Without such preparation of the heart, separation would only minister to the pride of the flesh. On the other hand, to aim at preparation of the heart without separation from evil will lead finally to indifference to the evil.

Third, Devotedness. The true end of separation from evil, and preparation of heart, is devoted service to the Lord. It is that we may "serve Him only" (verse 3). Thus it is in our own day; for the separation from vessels to dishonour, enjoined upon us in 2 Timothy 2: 21, is, as the same passage tells us, in order that we may be "meet for the Master's use, and prepared unto every good work." Particular circumstances may change with the changing years, but the great principles of God remain the same through all time. Thus it is still true in our day that "separation" and "preparation" are in view of the Master's service.

If, then, there is this true-hearted return, it will be marked by separation, preparation, and devotedness. And where there is a movement among God's people having these marks we may look for the Lord's deliverance of His people out of the hands of their enemies. If, says Samuel, "Ye do return unto the Lord," and "put away the strange gods," "and prepare your hearts," and "serve Him only," "He will deliver you out of the hand of the Philistines."

The result of this appeal shows that God was evidently working with His people, for they not only listen to Samuel but they obey his words. They first clear themselves from their evil associations (verse 4). They do not content themselves with protesting against evil, but they deal with the evil. They "put away" Baalim and Ashtaroth. Without this first step all else would have been in vain. God's order is, "Cease to do evil" before learning to do well.

Having taken this first step, Samuel again speaks in order to lead them on to the second step — the preparation of heart. He urges them to gather all Israel to Mizpeh and, says he, "I will pray for you unto the Lord." The place at which they are to gather is significant for the meaning of Mizpeh is "watch-tower." It suggests that through lack of watchfulness the enemy had gained a footing amongst the people of God and brought them into bondage. Nor has it been otherwise in the church of God. The apostle warned the early church that "grievous wolves" would enter in, not sparing the flock, and that men would arise within the Christian circle speaking perverse things. In view of this two-fold danger, he says, "therefore watch" (Acts 20: 19-31). The leaders in the church, like the leaders in Israel of old, should have kept upon the watch-tower. Alas! both failed to watch. Instead of watching men slept, and the enemy took occasion to do his work.

In any revival it is of the first necessity to get back to the place of departure. We must get back to the watch-tower. Thus we find with Israel, "they gathered together to Mizpeh." Being gathered in the right place, they own their utter weakness and helplessness, and they confess their sin. They "drew water, and poured it out before the Lord." There could be no greater expression of weakness than water poured out. Not all the wisdom and power of man combined could gather up water spilt upon the ground (2 Sam. 14: 14). This action was a true confession of their condition before the Lord By their own folly they were utterly weak and helpless to deliver themselves from their enemies. Further, they own that their weakness was the result of their own sin. They said, "We have sinned against the Lord."

Having separated themselves from evil and prepared their hearts, the Lord intervenes for their deliverance. They have cleared themselves from evil, they have mounted the watch-tower, they have owned their utter helplessness, they have confessed their sin. Having thus taken their true place "before the Lord,'' they are in a position and condition in which the Lord delights to act for His people.

Having heard that the children of Israel are "gathered together at Mizpeh," the opposition of the Philistines is at once aroused. Nothing will so stir the enmity of the devil as the sight of the people of God on their watch against the enemy, and in prayer and confession before the Lord.

Having learnt something of their own weakness, the children of Israel are rightly "afraid of the Philistines" (verse 7). In their last encounter with the Philistines, twenty years before, Israel, away from God in the confidence of the flesh, took the offensive and "went out against the Philistines to battle" (1 Sam. 4: 1). Now that Israel is restored co the Lord, we read, "The Philistines went up against Israel." On the former occasion Israel, with confidence in themselves, "shouted with a great shout" and "the Philistines were afraid" (1 Sam. 4: 5, 7). Now Israel, distrustful of themselves, are "afraid," and the fleshly confidence is with the lords of the Philistines. In the day of their self-confidence they had neglected Samuel, the man that God was with. In the day of their felt weakness they gladly turn to Samuel and say, "Cease not to cry unto the Lord our God for us, that He will save us out of the hand of the Philistines" (verse 8). They recognize that the man through whom the Lord had approached His people is the one through whom the people can approach the Lord. They own that Jehovah is their God, and that He alone can save them from their enemies. No longer do they trust in the ark of God, but rather in the God of the ark of the covenant.

At once Samuel responds to their cry. The one through whom God had re-established relations with His people as prophet, now turns to God on behalf of the people as priest. Having the mind of God he takes a "lamb, and offered it for a burnt offering wholly unto the Lord." He approaches God on the ground of sacrifice. Separation from evil, preparation of heart, repentance, however deep, confession of sin, however real, though necessary and right, do not form the righteous ground upon which God can bless His people. The solid and unchanging ground of all God's actings in grace must ever be Christ and His sacrifice on the cross. Samuel's "sucking lamb" speaks of an innocent victim; the "burnt offering wholly unto the Lord" speaks of the sacrifice which meets the glory of God. On the ground of the burnt offering "Samuel cried unto the Lord for Israel," and on the ground of sacrifice "the Lord heard him."

Here, then, we have a people humbled, broken-hearted, trembling before their enemies, pleading the sacrifice, and crying to God. With such God has no controversy, and for such God can act. It is no longer a question between Israel and the Philistines, the issue is between Jehovah and the Philistines. Thus we read, "As Samuel was offering up the burnt offering, the Philistines drew near to battle against Israel: but the Lord thundered with a great thunder on that day upon the Philistines, and discomfited them; and they were smitten before Israel." Samuel's sacrifice was followed by Samuel's cry to the Lord, but God's intervention was on the ground of sacrifice, and commenced during the sacrifice, and before the cry. The cry was right, and we are told the cry was heard, nevertheless the ground of intervention was the sacrifice. God delights to honour Christ. What will not God do in blessing His people for Christ's sake? "He that spared not His own Son, but delivered Him up for us all, how shall He not with Him also freely give us all things."

The Lord has intervened for His people in delivering them from their enemies, and Samuel, who had prayed to the Lord in their distress, does not forget to praise the Lord in their deliverance. He raises a stone and calls it Ebenezer, saying, "Hitherto has the Lord helped us." This was in reality an act of praise — an acknowledgment of the goodness of the Lord.

The Philistines were subdued, and the ground that had been lost to them was recovered. All the days of Samuel the hand of the Lord was against the Philistines. The Lord had re-established relations with Israel, and now through one man the enemy is kept at bay during that man's life. How often, since the days of Samuel, has God used one man to stand in the breach and hold back the enemies of God's people (verses 13, 14).

The chapter closes with an account of the circuit that Samuel took from year to year. If we seize its spiritual significance we must admit that it will be good for us all to take this circuit.

First, Samuel went to Bethel, meaning the house of God. Here it was that God revealed Himself in sovereign grace to Jacob, the wanderer. There God revealed His settled purpose to bless Jacob; and there God promises that, in all Jacob's wanderings, he will be kept and brought back to the place of blessing. God will be true to His own word, as He says to Jacob, "I will not leave thee, until I have done that which I have spoken to thee of." Well for us to visit Bethel, and remind ourselves of the sovereign grace that has secured our ultimate blessing, according to God's faithfulness to His own Word. (Gen. 28: 16-22)

Second, Samuel went from Bethel to Gilgal. This we know was the place of circumcision. It means "rolling away," for at Gilgal, when circumcised, the reproach of Egypt was rolled away from Israel. If at Bethel we have learnt what God is for us in sovereign grace, and according to His own faithfulness, at Gilgal we recognize that God cannot sanction the flesh in His people. Accepting God's judgment upon the flesh, the reproach of Egypt would be rolled away (Joshua 5: 2, 9).

Third, from Gilgal Samuel journeyed to Mizpeh. If Gilgal speaks of the judgment of the flesh within, Mizpeh indicates the need for watchfulness against the enemy without for the meaning of the word is watch-tower.

Lastly, Samuel's return was to Ramah. The meaning of this name is "height." The man of God lives above this world on the heights. For the Christian, his blessings are spiritual, in heavenly places. The home of his affections is above. Bethel, Gilgal, and Mizpeh, are but stages on the road to the heights at Ramah. The sure purpose of God, the judgment of the flesh, and watchfulness against the enemy, will prepare us for heavenly ground.

Samuel may visit Bethel, Gilgal, and Mizpeh, but of Ramah we read, "There was his house; and there he judged Israel; and there he built an altar unto the Lord." Good, too, if we, having made this circuit, return to the height of our calling. If we accept our portion as a heavenly people, outside this present evil world, and in spirit and affection in another world, then, indeed, we shall find our dwelling there; and there from the top of the rocks we shall form a true estimate of God's people; and there we shall have our hearts drawn out in worship.

Guidance in a Day of Ruin

Guidance in a Day of Ruin.

Hamilton Smith.

Rehoboam

Jeremiah

Daniel

We may be assured there will never come a day in the history of the Church on earth, however dark and difficult, when there will be no light in God's Word to guide the believer who desires to walk in the path of obedience. Through ignorance or self-will we may miss the path, through lack of devotedness we may be indifferent to it, for want of faith we may shrink from it, but none the less light for the path is there for those who seek it and desire to walk in obedience to the Word.

Moreover this light will not only be found in the New Testament in the form of instruction, but will also be found in the Old Testament by way of illustration. We purpose therefore to look at three Old Testament scenes that will help us to seize the great unchanging principles of God that should guide us in the day of division and scattering among the people of God.

REHOBOAM (2 Chronicles 11)

Until the days of Rehoboam the people of Israel had been united in one kingdom; with the commencement of his reign they were divided. Does the story of this division afford any light as to the terrible divisions that have scattered the people of God in our day? We believe it does.

First we may enquire, What was the root of this division? The actual division took place in the days of Rehoboam but to discover its root we must go back to the days of Solomon. So with every division among the people of God, the true cause is often far removed from the actual division. The tenth chapter of the First Book of Kings, verses 26 to 29, together with chapter eleven, will bring before us the root of this great division in Israel. All is traced back to loss of devotedness to God, and departure from the Word of God. In order to seize the true character of this failure we must remember that the law of Moses gave very definite instructions for the King. In Deuteronomy 17: 14 to 20, the King is warned against worldliness on the one hand, and disobedience to the Word on the other. The king was not to multiply horses; he was not to cause the people to return to Egypt, for the Lord had said, "Ye shall henceforth return no more that way." He was not to multiply wives to himself, nor greatly multiply to himself silver and gold. On the other hand he was to write a copy of the law and "read therein all the days of his life," to learn the fear of the Lord, and to keep all the words of the law.

Turning to the tenth and eleventh chapters of the First Book of Kings we find that in every particular King Solomon breaks down. He multiplies horses, he causes the people to return to Egypt; he multiplies wives to himself, and greatly multiplies silver and gold. Moreover, while much is written of Solomon's riches, wisdom, and magnificence, we are never told that he read the law of the Lord. Thus at length the Lord has to say to him "thou hast not kept my covenant and my statutes which I have commanded thee" (1 Kings 11: 11).

Here then we discover the root of division in Israel and, may we not say, the root of all divisions that have taken place among the people of God. First, unjudged worldliness that robs the people of true devotedness, and second disobedience to the Word of God.

Because of these things God tells Solomon that the kingdom will be rent in twain. We must remember, however, that the division will not be simply because of the failure of the King, but also on account of the failure of the people. When the prophet Ahijah tells Jeroboam that the Kingdom is going to be divided, he says nothing about the failure of Solomon, but speaks only of the failure of the people. The division will come says the Lord "because they have forsaken Me; and have worshipped Ashtoreth . . . and have not walked in my ways, to do that which is right in mine eyes, and keep my statutes and my judgments" (1 Kings 11: 31 -33).

Here again we find the root of division to be worldliness that turns aside to other gods, and disobedience to the Word of God, but now connected with the people. The folly and failure of the leaders however great would not necessarily cause division were it not for the low condition of the people of God generally. "This is done of thee" condemns the individual; "they have forsaken Me," reveals the low condition of the people, that is behind the failure of the leaders (cf. verses 11 and 33).

Such was the root of division, but how was the division actually brought about. The history is given in 1 Kings 12 and 2 Chronicles 10. King Solomon dies and his son Rehoboam comes to the throne. Immediately a crisis arises. There had been a long history of harsh actions, and grievous bondage, during the preceding years, and now a portion of the people rise up in protest. How is this met by the leader of the day? Rehoboam is counselled by the old men, who are rich in experience, that all will be well if he will "be kind to this people, and please them, and speak good words to them" (2 Chron. 10: 7). Does not this carry our thoughts to Romans 15: 1 to 4? In the first verse of this passage we have the "kindness" that bears "the infirmities of the weak" rather than putting grievous yokes upon them; in verses 2 and 3 we have the pleasing one another for "good to edification," rather than pleasing ourselves; and in verse 4 we have the "good words" of Scripture for our comfort and hope.

Such is the spiritual advice of the old men; very different however is the counsel of nature, as given by the "young men". They advise Rehoboam to take a course which appears highly commendable to nature as taking a strong line, and as maintaining authority and the majesty of the kingdom. Alas Rehoboam follows advice of nature. He assumes an overbearing and unreasonable attitude and threatens the protesters with violent and extreme discipline (1 Kings 12: 12-15). The violence of the King is met by the violence of the people who stone the King's officer, and, in result, division is consummated (1 Kings 12: 16-19).

However to judge of the division simply by the folly of Rehoboam would have been to entirely miss the mind of God. People of that day, looking at the bare facts of the case, might have concluded that the division was wholly owing to the folly of Rehoboam. They might have argued, 'Had it not been that Rehoboam took such an overbearing and unreasonable attitude, threatening to bring us all into bondage by exercising a violent discipline upon the people of God, there would have been no division." But however reasonable such arguments might appear to the natural mind they would have been false. It was true that Rehoboam's folly was the immediate cause of the division, but the word of God in judgment had gone forth long before the violent words of the King, and the mighty hand of God in discipline was behind the feeble hand of the King. The holy government of God was rending the kingdom, and behind the discipline of God was the low condition of the people.

The division having taken place, the further history of Rehoboam is exceedingly instructive, warning us of the snares to avoid, and instructing us as to the course to take, in the presence of divisions.

Rehoboam at once sets to work to bring the people of God together again, and, using the methods suited to the dispensation, he gathers together an army for this purpose. There is no question that it was in accord with God's thoughts that the people should be one. They had been one in the commencement of God's ways with them, and in the day to come they will be one according to the word of the prophet, "I will make them one nation in the land upon the mountains of Israel; and one King shall be king to them all: and they shall be no more two nations, neither shall they be divided into two kingdoms any more at all" (Ezek. 37:22). It might thus appear that Rehoboam was justified in his efforts to end the division and unite the people of God.

However he has to learn, and all Israel with him, that in spite of the division the ten tribes are still their "brethren," and they are not to "go up nor fight against" them. Moreover Shemaiah, the man of God, tells Rehoboam why they must desist. It is because God says "This thing is done of Me." God had rebuked Solomon for his worldliness and disobedience to the Word of God, and said to him, "Forasmuch as this is done of thee . . . I will rend the kingdom from thee." Now that the blow has fallen, God can say to Rehoboam "This thing is done of Me." To seek to undo the evil of Solomon may be right; to ignore the governmental acts of God is certainly wrong. (cf. 1 Kings 11: 11 and 2 Chron. 11: 4). Rehoboam and those with him have to learn, as indeed we all have to learn in the divisions that our own folly has brought about, that the government of God cannot be lightly ignored.

Very wisely Rehoboam, and the two tribes desisted from their efforts, as we read, they "obeyed the words of the Lord" (2 Chron. 11: 4 ff). They accept the humiliation and sorrow of the division and bow under the chastening hand of the Lord.

Henceforth Rehoboam remains within the restricted sphere that the division has brought about, for we read that "he dwelt in Jerusalem." Does this however mean that he settles down to a life of quiet ease and inaction? Does he no longer concern himself with the interests of the people of God? Far from it, for at once we read he becomes a builder; he "built cities for defence in Judah" (vv. 5-10). As we might say in our day, he "strengthened the things that remained." Moreover he provided "store of victual, and of oil, and of wine" (v. 11). He provided food for the people of God.

What was the result? Judah became a refuge for the people of God: as we read "the priests and the Levites that were in all Israel resorted to him out of all their coasts," and "out of all the tribes of Israel such as set their hearts to seek the Lord God of Israel came to Rehoboam." "So they strengthened the kingdom of Judah" (vv. 13, 16, 17).

For three years this prosperity continued; then alas! Rehoboam forsook the law of the Lord (2 Chron. 12: 1) and disaster speedily followed. Had he only continued in obedience who can say how much further prosperity might have been known?

Has this no voice for us in the presence of the divisions amongst the people of God in our day? Have not great efforts been put forth to end the divisions among the people of God, ending too often in adding to the confusion. Would it not be our wisdom to recognize the governmental hand of God upon us because of our worldliness and departure from the Word; to bow under the chastening hand of God; to accept the reproach and sorrow of division; to remain in quiet obedience to the Word, on God's ground for His people, seeking to strengthen the things that remain, and feed the people of God? And would not those who in devotedness and faithfulness to the Word, resolutely acted in this way, become a refuge for the distressed people of God from every quarter?

JEREMIAH (Jeremiah 42, 43: 1-7)

Four hundred years had passed since the great division in Israel when the events recorded in this chapter transpired. At this date we find the people of God not only divided but scattered. One hundred and thirty years before, the ten tribes had passed into captivity to become lost among the nations. Repeated captivities had thinned the ranks of Judah, until at length the kingdom, as such, had ceased to exist.

However a remnant of God's people are still found in God's land. In the opening verses of the forty-second chapter of Jeremiah they came to the prophet professing to seek light from the Lord for their path in the day of scattering. "All the people from the least even unto the greatest, came near." Counting, however, the least with the greatest, they have to own they are but a remnant, for they say "we are left but a few of many (v. 2). Their desire is, as they say, that the Lord "may shew us the way wherein we may walk, and the thing that we may do" (v. 3).

They recognise the ruin of the nation; they own they are but a few. In the midst of the ruin, and in confessed weakness, they meet together to enquire of the Lord the path He would have them to take and how He would have them to act. What course could be more fitting than for a little company of God's people, under such circumstances, to turn to the Lord for guidance?

Jeremiah accordingly undertakes to pray to the Lord on their behalf, and to declare to them the Lord's mind, keeping nothing back (v. 4). This leads this remnant to make the most solemn protestation, that whatever the Lord's answer may be, they will "obey the voice of the Lord;" they rightly recognise that, doing so, it will be well with them. However dark the day, however great the ruin, it will still be well with those who obey "the voice of the Lord" (vv. 5, 6).

One thing, however, spoilt these fair words. As we shall see the after history discloses that underneath their good words self-will was at work. They had already determined to take their own course. The selfwill of the flesh betrays itself by their too self-confident protestation of readiness to obey the voice of the Lord. How often since that day has the flesh shown itself by the self-confident word that betrayed the self-will of the heart. Are there not those who say, after the manner of this remnant, "Give us Scripture — give us the word of the Lord — and we will bow to it!" We may well fear that self-will lies behind such fair words.

However Jeremiah turns to the Lord, receiving an answer after ten days. During these days apparently he has no communications with the people. He will not venture an opinion of his own, as to the way in which they should walk and act. He will wait for clear directions from the Lord (v. 7).

The Lord's way is very plain. If this little remnant desire to be built up, and established; if they are to enjoy the Lord's presence with them, and the Lord's mercies, there is one condition they must comply with. They must "still abide in this land." However great the failure, however complete the ruin, there would still be blessing for a little remnant — a few of many — so long as they remain on God's ground for God's people Their King and leaders may have fled, the house of the Lord be burned to the ground, and the walls of Jerusalem be broken down (Jer. 52: 7, 8, 13), nevertheless there would still be blessing for those who remained in the land. The Land was the place for all Israel, but alas! the great mass had passed into captivity and were lost among the nations, but all blessing, for the few who remained, depended upon their still abiding in the Land (vv. 9-12).

We may well pause in considering this story of people and events of a long past day, and ask ourselves, Has this story any lesson for those who in this present day, in great feebleness and weakness, seek to know "the way wherein we may walk, and the thing that we may do," in the midst of the division and scattering that has taken place among the people of God? Is not the great lesson this, that, however great the ruin, however divided and scattered the people of God, blessing will be found by those who still remain on God's ground for all God's people. In other words, the way of blessing, in spite of all failure, is still to walk in the light of what is true for the whole Assembly of God, and to refuse all other ground.

No failure on our part can relieve us from the responsibility of walking and acting according to the truth of the Assembly of God whether viewed locally or collectively. The principles that should guide the Assembly still remain with all their force unfolded for us in the First Epistle to the Corinthians. It is true as one has said,

"We are not to imitate those chapters, or play the part of Corinthians, as though we had all the gifts of Corinthians. Nor are we to assume to be the only light in our place, as the Church then was at Corinth. But we must have faith to know this, that the scattering of the lights or the judgment of the candlestick is not the withdrawal of the Spirit . . . We must hold to God's principles in the place or the scene around us . . . We are not to expect, it may be, such corporate power as would have been, had no divine judgment come upon the candlestick . . . Again as we are not to surrender principles to the corruptions around, neither are we to give them up because of some disappointing efforts in asserting them. 'Let God be true but every man a liar.' We are not to give up principle because it is hotly assailed, neither are we to do so because it has been poorly and faintly illustrated. The principle outlives a thousand disappointing attempts to exhibit it. The light is not to be judged because of the soiled lamp through which it may shine . . . I may be grieved and disappointed that the candle has been, as it were, under a bushel, but I am to remember that it is a candle still, able to give light to all that are in the house" (J. G. B.).

Returning to the story of the remnant in Jeremiah's day, we shall find it has warning as well as instruction for us. Having given them the word of the Lord as to the way of blessing, Jeremiah proceeds to utter the word of the Lord in the way of warning (vv. 13-17). If the remnant say "We will not dwell in the land," we fear if we do it will mean conflict, and continual warnings by the sound of the trumpet, and possibly even lack of bread, and so we propose to leave the Land and seek escape from these things in another land, — if they speak and act thus — they are warned, that the very things they seek to escape will overtake them. Moreover, the most solemn thing of all will be, that instead of having the Lord with them in blessing, they will have the hand of the Lord upon them in government. They shall not escape says the Lord "from the evil that I will bring upon them" (vv. 13-17).

Has this no warning voice for us today? Are we not at times tempted to weary of God's path, and seek in some man-made system an easier path — some system in which, by the introduction of worldly principles and methods, we shall escape the continual call for the exercise of faith? Do we not at times weary of the continual conflict in seeking to maintain the truth, and shrink from being disturbed by trumpet calls as to dangers that assail; are we not tempted to say, 'if we have to continually face conflict we fear we shall suffer spiritual starvation?' Are we not thus at times fiercely assailed by the tempter to give up God's truth for God's Assembly? In the presence of such arguments, whether arising in our own hearts. or whether suggested to us by others, let us remember the warnings of the Lord to the remnant of Jeremiah's day.

Firstly, to take a false step to escape trouble is the surest way to fall into the trouble we seek to escape. To leave God's ground to escape the difficulties of the path of faith, will entangle us with the world and overwhelm us with difficulties in the path of selfwill. Secondly, the remnant are warned that those who take such a path will fall into reproach, and "see this place no more" (v. 18). It is a solemn consideration that those who have walked for a time in the light of the truth for God's Assembly, and have then given it up for an easier path in some man-made system have seldom if ever been recovered. They "see this place no more." When God in His government says "no more" there is an end of the matter.

Alas! those to whom Jeremiah spoke refused the instruction, and heeded not the warnings of the Lord. Jeremiah is not ignorant of the reason. He says, "Ye dissembled in your hearts," or according to a better translation, "Ye deceived yourselves in your own souls" (v. 20). The self-will that was determined to take a certain course deceived them. Nothing will so warp the understanding, and hinder the apprehension of the truth as self-will. It will not see what it does not want to see. And, as ever, behind the self-will there was pride that would not admit they were wrong, as we read, "All the proud men" came to Jeremiah saying, "Thou speakest falsely: the Lord our God hath not sent thee to say, Go not into Egypt to sojourn there" (Jer. 43: 3).

Moreover they tell Jeremiah that he is not governed by the word of the Lord, he is simply repeating man's word. They practically say, We asked you for the word of the Lord, and you have simply told us what Baruch says, and if we follow what you say it will simply bring us all into bondage (Jer. 43 1-3).

Thus with hearts deceived by self-will and pride they turn from the instruction of the Lord and miss His "way." They leave God's ground for His people, take a path of their own choosing, and "see this place no more."

Would we know "the way wherein we may walk, and the thing that we may do" let us obey the Lord's word and "abide in this land." Let us take heed to His warning, lest turning aside to some other path we too "see this place no more."

DANIEL (Daniel 9)

The abandonment of God's land by the remnant of Jeremiah's day, completed the scattering of God's people. Fifty years passed away and then God intervenes in His grace and grants a revival, under which a few of His people are set free from the captivity to return to the land. The experiences proper to those affected by this movement and the principles that should have guided them are set forth in the prayer and confession of Daniel. And therein we shall find much that is instructive to those who in our day have been set free from the systems of men to walk in the light of Christ and His Assembly.

The day in which we live is dispensationally very different to the day in which Daniel lived, and yet morally there is much that corresponds between the two periods.

In the first place, Daniel, in his day, could look back over one thousand years of failure amongst the professing people of God, for in his confession he goes back to the time when God brought Israel out of Egypt, and from that time he says, "We have sinned, we have done wickedly" (9: 15).

Secondly, in the seventh and eighth chapters of Daniel he is permitted to look into the future and still he sees that failure and suffering await the people of God. He sees that the Gentile powers would make war against the saints and prevail against them; the daily sacrifice would be taken away; the truth would be cast down to the ground; the sanctuary trodden under foot; and that the enemy would prosper and destroy the mighty and holy people (Dan. 7: 21, Dan. 8: 11, 12, 13, 24).

Thirdly, he sees there will be no deliverance for God's people from this long history of failure, until the Son of Man comes and sets up His kingdom (Dan. 7: 13, 14).

Thus Daniel, in his day, sees the past marked by failure, the future dark with predictions of deeper sorrows and greater failure, and no hope of deliverance for the people of God as a whole until the King comes.

In the presence of these things Daniel was deeply affected, his thoughts troubled him, his countenance was changed, and he fainted and was sick certain days (Dan. 7: 28, Dan. 8: 27).

We can hardly fail to see there is that which corresponds to these experiences of Daniel in our day: for we too look back over nearly two thousand years of failure amongst the professing people of God, and we too have learned that the little while that may yet remain, will be marked by increasing failure amongst the professing people of God. "In the last days," says the Apostle, "difficult times shall come," "evil men and seducers shall wax worse and worse;" again he says, "the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine . . . they shall turn away from the truth." Peter also warns us that "There shall be false teachers" among the people of God, who "privily shall bring in damnable heresies, even denying the Lord that bought them." Furthermore the third thing that Daniel saw is equally plain to us, for we also see from Scripture, that there will be no recovery for the people of God as a whole, until Christ comes.

But this is not the only correspondence between our day and that in which Daniel lived. For Daniel made another discovery. He learned from Scripture that, in spite of all past failure, and in spite of all future disaster, God had foretold that there would be a little reviving in the midst of the years. He discovers by "the word of the Lord" to Jeremiah that after seventy years there would be some recovery from the desolations of Jerusalem. So we have learned from Scripture that in the midst of the corruptions and deadness of Christendom, as set forth in Thyatira and Sardis there would again be a revival in the midst of the years as set forth in Philadelphia.

This revival has four outstanding characteristics, for to Philadelphia the Lord says, first "Thou hast a little strength." second, Thou "hast kept My word;" third, Thou "hast not denied My name;" and fourth, "Thou hast kept the word of My patience." In a day when religious flesh is displaying itself in power as great Babylon, those under this revival would be marked by a position of outward weakness; when on every hand the Word is being belittled, they keep the Word in its purity and integrity; and when the Person of Christ is being attacked, they do not deny His Name. Moreover, when men are making desperate efforts to heal the divisions of Christendom, they keep the word of His patience. They wait the coming of Christ to heal the divisions and bring His people together in His presence.

Now obedience to the Word and the refusal to deny the Name of Christ will involve a great deal. To those who obey the Word, and give Christ His place it means the recovery of the truth of Christ and His Church, the heavenly calling, the coming of Christ and other related truths.

Moreover such are exposed to the constant danger of giving up the truths that have been recovered, and hence the warning to such is, "Hold that fast which thou hast, that no man take thy crown," and the exhortation is to "overcome."

How then are we to "Hold fast," and how are we to "overcome?"

It is evident we can neither "hold fast" nor "overcome" in our own strength. We can only "hold fast" and only be overcomers, as we are strong in the grace that is in Christ Jesus. Hence we must look to the Lord, and this calls for prayer. Then if we pray to the Lord, if we seek His grace, it is necessary that there should be a moral condition suited to the Lord, and this calls for confession. And in respect of these two things, prayer and confession, we can learn much from Daniel. As we have seen he had looked back, and he had looked on and as he saw the condition of things amongst the people of God he was greatly distressed, and in his distress he did two things: — First he looked away from man to God, as he says in Daniel 9: 3, "I set my face unto the Lord God" to seek Him by prayer. Second, not only did he pray, but he adds, I "made my confession" (v. 4).

Now mark the result of this prayer and confession. The first result of turning to God is that he gets a great sense of the greatness, holiness and faithfulness of God. Man is very small, and Daniel may be fainting but the Lord is "great." Moreover he realises that God is true to His word and that if only His people will cherish His Name — if they will love Him — and keep His Word, in spite of all their failure they will find mercy.

The second result of turning to God, in prayer and confession, is that he gets a deep sense of the total ruin of God's people. He recognises that the low condition of God's people lies at the root of all the division and scattering that has come in amongst the people of God. He does not seek to place the blame for the division and scattering upon certain individuals, who may indeed have acted in a high-handed manner, and have perverted the truth and led many into error; but, looking beyond the failure of individuals he sees and owns the failure of God's people as a whole. He says, "We have sinned," "Our kings, our princes, our fathers, and all the people of the land" (Dan. 9: 5, 6). Personally Daniel had no direct part in bringing about the scattering that had taken place seventy years before, but the absence of personal responsibility, and the lapse of time, does not lead him to ignore the division and scattering or seek to place the blame for it upon individuals long since passed from the scene; on the contrary he identifies himself before God with the people of God; he says "We have sinned."

In the history of Israel the people failed and in their low condition insisted upon a King, then the kings led them astray. So in the history of the Church. In the third and fourth chapters of 1 Corinthians the Apostle Paul traces all division back to the low carnal condition of the people that led them to range themselves under certain leaders; and the Apostle foresees that after his decease leaders would arise that would bring about open division, for he can say, "I know that after my decease . . . of your own selves shall men arise, speaking perverse things, to draw away disciples after them."

Hence it would appear that the root of all division whether in Israel or the Church, can be traced back to the low moral condition of God's people as a whole, and not simply the wrong doing of individuals. Hence true confession must have in view all the people of God. Daniel does not think of one city only, (though that city may have taken the lead in failure), but, with Jerusalem, he links "all Israel;" nor does he confine his thoughts to all Israel that may be "near" at hand, for he takes in all "that are near and that are far off" (9: 7). With this example before us we may well ask what should be our great aim in confession and humiliation? Should it be simply that the breaches might be healed? Surely not — this must be left in the hands of the One before whom we have so grievously failed. Our end should be that we might be restored morally to the height of our calling from which we have departed.

A third result of Daniel's prayer and confession is that he recognises the hand of God in government upon His people. He lays hold of this deeply important principle that when division and scattering have occurred these evils must be accepted as from God. acting in His holy discipline, and not simply viewed as brought about by particular acts of folly, or wickedness, on the part of individual men. This is clearly seen in the great division that took place in Israel. Instrumentally it was brought about by the folly of Rehoboam, but says God, "This thing is done of Me" (2 Chron. 11: 4). Four hundred and fifty years later when the people of God were not only divided but scattered among the nations, Daniel very clearly recognises this great principle. He says, "O Lord righteousness belongeth unto Thee, but unto us confusion of faces, as at this day; to the men of Judah, and to the inhabitants of Jerusalem, and unto all Israel, that are near, and that are far off, through all the countries whither Thou hast driven them." Then again he speaks of God "bringing upon us a great evil," and yet again, "the Lord watched upon the evil and brought it upon us" (Dan. 9: 7, 12, 14). Thus Daniel loses sight of the wickedness and folly of individual men. He mentions no names. He does not speak of Jehoiachin or "his abominations which he did," nor of Zedekiah and his folly, nor does he refer to the ruthless violence of Nebuchadnezzar, but, looking beyond all men, he sees, in the scattering, the hand of a righteous God.

Thus too a little later Zechariah hears the word of the Lord to the priests, and all the people of the land, saying, "I scattered them with a whirlwind among all the nations whom they knew not" (Zech. 7: 5, 14).

So too Nehemiah, later still, in his prayer recalls the words of the Lord by Moses saying, "If ye transgress I will scatter you abroad" (Neh. 1: 8).

There is no attempt with these men of God to modify their strong statements of God's dealing in discipline. They do not even say that God has "allowed" His people to be scattered, or "permitted" them to be driven away, but they plainly say that God has driven the people away and brought the evil.

Fourth, another great principle that flows from turning to God in prayer and confession is, not only that we recognise God's hand in dealing with us in discipline, but, that we have turned to the One who alone can gather and bless His people. So that in the acknowledgement of God's hand in discipline lies the only hope of any reviving or any measure of recovery, for in setting our faces toward God we are looking to the One who can not only divide but unite, not only scatter but gather, not only break up but heal. (Hosea 6: 1). Man indeed can scatter, and divide, and break up, but he cannot again gather and unite, and heal. God can do both and do both righteously. This is clearly seen in Daniel's confession, for he says, "O Lord righteousness belongeth unto Thee . . . Thou hast driven them etc;" then again he says, "The Lord watched upon this evil, and brought it upon us: for the Lord our God is righteous in all His works which He doeth" (vv. 7, 14). Then for a third time he appeals to the righteousness of God; but this time it is to bless and shew mercy, for he says, "O Lord according to all thy righteousness, I beseech Thee, let thine anger and thy fury be turned away" (v. 16).

Daniel bases his appeal upon the fact that however much the people might have failed, and God may have had to discipline them, yet they are His people. It is, says Daniel, "Thy city Jerusalem," "Thy holy mountain," "Thy people" that are in reproach, "Thy Sanctuary that is desolate," and it is "Thy servant that prays" (vv. 16, 17). Then he pleads that the blessing might be granted 'for the Lord's sake" (v. 17). Thirdly, he pleads the Lord's "great mercies;" and finally, he pleads the Lord's Name, for he says, "Thy city and Thy people are called by Thy Name" (v. 19).

Here then we have portrayed some of the great principles that should guide us in a day of confusion and ruin.

First, to turn to God in prayer and confession, and in His presence to get a fresh sense of His greatness, holiness, and mercy to those who are prepared to keep His word (vv. 3, 4).

Second, to confess our failure and the totality of our ruin (vv. 5-15).

Third, to recognise and own the righteousness of God in dealing with us in His government (vv. 7, 14, 15).

Fourth, to fall back on the righteousness of God that can act in mercy and grant some reviving.