There is a passage in Chap. xxv. which I purposely passed over, in

order to take it up here, so that we might have the truth in reference

to Jacob fully before us. "And Isaac entreated the Lord for his wife,

because she was barren; and the Lord was entreated of him, and Rebekah

his wife conceived. And the children struggled together within her: and

she said, If it be so, why am I thus? And she went to inquire of the

Lord. And the Lord said unto her, Two nations are in thy womb, and two

manner of people shall be separated from thy bowels; and the one people

shall be stronger than the other people; and the elder shall serve the

younger." This is referred to in Malachi, where we read, "I have loved

you, saith the Lord; yet ye say, wherein hast thou loved us? Was not

Esau Jacob's brother? saith the Lord: yet I have loved Jacob and hated

Esau." This is again referred to in Rom. ix.: "For the children being

not yet born, neither having done any good or evil, that the purpose of

God according to election might stand, not of works, but of him that

calleth; it was said unto her, The elder shall serve the younger, as it

is written, Jacob have I loved, but Esau have I hated."

Thus we have very distinctly before us, God's eternal purpose according

to _the election of grace_. There is much involved in this expression.

It banishes all human pretension from the scene, and asserts God's

right to act as he will. This is of the very last importance. The

creature can enjoy no real blessedness until he is brought to bow his

head to sovereign grace. It becomes him so to do, inasmuch as he is a

sinner, and as such utterly without claim to act or dictate. The great

value of finding oneself on this ground is, that it is then no longer a

question of what we deserve to get, but simply of what God is pleased

to give. The prodigal might talk of being a servant, but he really did

not deserve the place of a servant, if it were to be made a question of

desert; and therefore he had only to take what the father was pleased

to give,--and that was the very highest place, even the place of

fellowship with himself. Thus it must ever be. "Grace all the work

shall crown through everlasting days." Happy for us that it is so. As

we go on, day by day, making fresh discoveries of ourselves, we need to

have beneath our feet the solid foundation of God's grace: nothing else

could possibly sustain us in our growing self-knowledge. The ruin is

hopeless, and therefore the grace must be infinite: and infinite it is,

having its source in God himself, its channel in Christ, and the power

of application and enjoyment in the Holy Ghost. The Trinity is brought

out in connection with the grace that saves a poor sinner. "Grace

reigns through righteousness, unto eternal life, by Jesus Christ our

Lord." It is only in redemption that this reign of grace could be seen.

We may see in creation the reign of wisdom and power; we may see in

providence the reign of goodness and long-suffering; but only in

redemption do we see the reign of grace, and that, too, on the

principle of righteousness.

Now, we have in the person of Jacob a most striking exhibition of the

power of divine grace; and for this reason, that we have in him a

striking exhibition of the power of human nature. In him we see nature

in all its obliquity, and therefore we see grace in all its moral

beauty and power. From the facts of his remarkable history, it would

seem that, before his birth, at his birth, and after his birth, the

extraordinary energy of nature was seen. Before his birth, we read,

"the children struggled together within her." At his birth, we read,

"his hand took hold on Esau's heel." And, after his birth,--yea, to the

turning-point of his history, in Chap. xxxii., without any

exception,--his course exhibits nothing but the most unamiable traits

of nature; but all this only serves, like a dark back-ground, to throw

into relief the grace of him who condescends to call himself by the

peculiarly touching name, "the God of Jacob,"--a name most sweetly

expressive of free grace.

Let us now examine the chapters consecutively. Chap. xxvii. exhibits a

most humbling picture of sensuality, deceit, and cunning; and when one

thinks of such things in connection with the people of God, it is sad

and painful to the very last degree. Yet how true and faithful is the

Holy Ghost! He must tell all out. He cannot give us a partial picture.

If he gives us a history of man, he must describe man as he is, and not

as he is not.

So, if he unfolds to us the character and ways of God, he gives us God

as he is. And this, we need hardly remark, is exactly what we need. We

need the revelation of one perfect in holiness, yet perfect in grace

and mercy, who could come down into all the depth of man's need, his

misery and his degradation, and deal with him there, and raise him up

out of it into full, unhindered fellowship with himself in all the

reality of what he is. This is what scripture gives us. God knew what

we needed, and he has given it to us, blessed be his name!

And be it remembered that in setting before us in faithful love all the

traits of a man's character, it is simply with a view to magnify the

riches of divine grace and to admonish our souls. It is not by any

means in order to perpetuate the memory of sins forever blotted out

from his sight. The blots, the failures, and the errors of Abraham,

Isaac, and Jacob, have been perfectly washed away, and they have taken

their place amid "the spirits of just men made perfect;" but their

history remains on the page of inspiration for the display of God's

grace, and for the warning of God's people in all ages; and, moreover,

that we may distinctly see that the blessed God has not been dealing

with perfect men and women, but with those of "like passions as we

are;" that he has been walking and bearing with the same failures, the

same infirmities, the same errors, as those over which we mourn every

day.

This is peculiarly comforting to the heart; and it may well stand in

striking contrast with the way in which the great majority of human

biographies are written, in which, for the most part, we find not the

history of men, but of beings devoid of error and infirmity. Such

histories have rather the effect of discouraging than of edifying those

who read them. They are rather histories of what men ought to be, than

of what they really are, and they are therefore useless to us,--yea,

not only useless, but mischievous.

Nothing can edify save the presentation of God dealing with man as he

really is; and this is what the word gives us. The chapter before us

illustrates this very fully. Here we find the aged patriarch Isaac,

standing as it were at the very portal of eternity, the earth and

nature fast fading away from his view, yet occupied about "savory

meat," and about to act in direct opposition to the divine counsel, by

blessing the elder instead of the younger. Truly this was nature, and

nature with its "eyes dim." If Esau had sold his birthright for a mess

of pottage, Isaac was about to give away the blessing for a mess of

venison. How very humiliating!

But God's purpose must stand, and he will do all his pleasure. Faith

knows this; and, in the power of that knowledge, can wait for God's

time. This nature never can do, but must set about gaining its own ends

by its own inventions. These are the two grand points brought out in

Jacob's history,--God's purpose of grace on the one hand; and, on the

other, nature plotting and scheming to reach what that purpose would

have infallibly brought about without any plot or scheme at all. This

simplifies Jacob's history amazingly, and not only simplifies it, but

heightens the soul's interest in it also. There is nothing, perhaps, in

which we are so lamentably deficient, as in the grace of patient,

self-renouncing dependence upon God. Nature will be working in some

shape or form, and thus, so far as in it lies, hindering the outshining

of divine grace and power. God did not need the aid of such elements as

Rebekah's cunning and Jacob's gross deceit, in order to accomplish his

purpose. He had said, "the elder shall serve the younger." This was

enough,--enough for faith, but not enough for nature, which must ever

adopt its own ways, and know nothing of what it is to wait on God.

Now, nothing can be more truly blessed than the position of hanging in

child-like dependence upon God, and being entirely content to wait for

his time. True it will involve trial; but the renewed mind learns some

of its deepest lessons, and enjoys some of its sweetest experiences,

while waiting on the Lord; and the more pressing the temptation to

take ourselves out of his hands, the richer will be the blessing of

leaving ourselves there. It is so exceedingly sweet to find ourselves

wholly dependent upon one who finds infinite joy in blessing us. It is

only those who have tasted in any little measure the reality of this

wondrous position that can at all appreciate it. The only one who ever

occupied it perfectly and uninterruptedly was the Lord Jesus himself.

He was over dependent upon God, and utterly rejected every proposal of

the enemy to be any thing else. His language was, "In thee do I put my

trust;" and again, "I was cast upon thee from the womb." Hence, when

tempted by the devil to make an effort to satisfy his hunger, his reply

was, "It is written, Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every

word that proceedeth out of the mouth of God." When tempted to cast

himself from the pinnacle of the temple, his reply was, "It is written

again, Thou shalt not tempt the Lord thy God." When tempted to take the

kingdoms of the world from the hand of another than God, and by doing

homage to another than him, his reply was, "It is written, Thou shalt

worship the Lord thy God, and him only shalt thou serve." In a word,

nothing could allure the perfect man from the place of absolute

dependence upon God. True, it was God's purpose to sustain his Son; it

was his purpose that he should suddenly come to his temple; it was his

purpose to give him the kingdoms of this world; but this was the very

reason why the Lord Jesus would simply and uninterruptedly wait on God

for the accomplishment of his purpose, in his own time and in his own

way. He did not set about accomplishing his own ends. He left himself

thoroughly at God's disposal. He would only eat when God gave him

bread; he would only enter the temple when sent of God; he will ascend

the throne when God appoints the time. "Sit thou at my right hand,

_until I make_ thine enemies thy footstool." (Ps. cx.)

This profound subjection of the Son to the Father is admirable beyond

expression. Though entirely equal with God, he took, as man, the place

of dependence, rejoicing always in the will of the Father; giving

thanks even when things seemed to be against him; doing always the

things which pleased the Father; making it his grand and unvarying

object to glorify the Father; and finally, when all was accomplished,

when he had perfectly finished the work which the Father had given, he

breathed his spirit into the Father's hand, and his flesh rested in

hope of the promised glory and exaltation. Well, therefore, may the

inspired apostle say, "Let this mind be in you, which was also in

Christ Jesus; who, being in the form of God, thought it not robbery to

be equal with God; but 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: that at

the name of Jesus every knee should bow, of things in heaven, and

things in earth, and things under the earth; and that every tongue

should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the

Father." (Phil. ii. 5-11.)

How little Jacob knew, in the opening of his history, of this blessed

mind! How little was he prepared to wait for God's time and God's way!

He much preferred Jacob's time and Jacob's way. He thought it much

better to arrive at the blessing and the inheritance by all sorts of

cunning and deception, than by simple dependence upon and subjection to

God, whose electing grace had promised, and whose almighty power and

wisdom would assuredly accomplish all for him.

But oh! how well one knows the opposition of the human heart to all

this! Any attitude for it save that of patient waiting upon God. It is

almost enough to drive nature to distraction to find itself bereft of

all resource but God. This tells us in language not to be misunderstood

the true character of human nature. In order to know what nature is, I

need not travel into those scenes of vice and crime which justly shock

all refined moral sense. No: all that is needful is just to try it for

a moment in the place of dependence, and see how it will carry itself

there. It really knows nothing of God, and therefore cannot trust him;

and herein lies the secret of all its misery and moral degradation. It

is totally ignorant of the true God, and can therefore be naught else

but a ruined and worthless thing. The knowledge of God is the source of

life,--yea, is itself life; and until a man has life, what is he, or

what can he be?

Now, in Rebekah and Jacob, we see nature taking advantage of nature in

Isaac and Esau. It was really this. There was no waiting upon God

whatever. Isaac's eyes were dim: he could therefore be imposed upon,

and they set about doing so, instead of looking to God, who would have

entirely frustrated Isaac's purpose to bless the one whom God would not

bless,--a purpose founded in nature, and most unlovely nature, for

"Isaac loved Esau," not because he was the first-born, but "because he

did eat of his venison." How humiliating!

But we are sure to bring unmixed sorrow upon ourselves when we take

ourselves, our circumstances, or our destinies, out of the hands of

God.[17] Thus it was with Jacob, as we shall see in the sequel. It has

been observed by another, that "whoever observes Jacob's life, after he

had surreptitiously obtained his father's blessing, will perceive that

he enjoyed very little worldly felicity. His brother purposed to murder

him, to avoid which he was forced to flee from his father's house; his

uncle Laban deceived him, as he had deceived his father, and treated

him with great rigor; after a servitude of twenty-one years, he was

obliged to leave him in a clandestine manner, and not without danger of

being brought back or murdered by his enraged brother; no sooner were

these fears over, than he experienced the baseness of his son Reuben,

in defiling his bed; he had next to bewail the treachery and cruelty of

Simeon and Levi towards the Shechemites; then he had to feel the loss

of his beloved wife; he was next imposed upon by his own sons, and had

to lament the supposed untimely end of Joseph; and, to complete all,

lie was forced by famine to go into Egypt, and there died in a strange

land. So just, wonderful, and instructive are all the ways of

providence."

This is a true picture, so far as Jacob was concerned; but it only

gives us one side, and that the gloomy side. Blessed be God, there is a

bright side likewise; for God had to do with Jacob; and in every scene

of his life, when Jacob was called to reap the fruits of his own

plotting and crookedness, the God of Jacob brought good out of evil,

and caused his grace to abound over all the sin and folly of his poor

servant. This we shall see as we proceed with his history.

I shall just offer a remark here upon Isaac, Rebekah, and Esau. It is

very interesting to observe how, notwithstanding the exhibition of

nature's excessive weakness, in the opening of this 27th chapter, Isaac

maintains by faith the dignity which God had conferred upon him. He

blesses with all the consciousness of being endowed with power to

bless. He says, "I have blessed him; yea, and he shall be blessed....

Behold, I have made him thy lord, and all his brethren have I given to

him for servants; and with corn and wine have I sustained him; and what

shall I do now unto thee, my son?" He speaks as one who by faith, had

at his disposal all the treasures of earth. There is no false humility,

no taking a low ground by reason of the manifestation of nature. True,

he was on the eve of making a grievous mistake,--even of moving right

athwart the counsel of God; still he knew God, and took his place

accordingly, dispensing blessings in all the dignity and power of

faith. "I have blessed him; yea, and he shall be blessed." "With corn

and wine have I sustained him." It is the proper province of faith to

rise above all one's own failure, and the consequences thereof, into

the place where God's grace has set us.

As to Rebekah, she was called to feel all the sad results of her

cunning actings. She no doubt imagined she was managing matters most

skilfully; but alas! she never saw Jacob again: so much for management!

How different would it have been had she left the matter entirely in

the hands of God. This is the way in which faith manages, and it is

ever a gainer. "Which of you, by taking thought, can add to his stature

one cubit?" We gain nothing by our anxiety and planning; we only shut

out God, and that is no gain. It is a just judgment from the hand of

God to be left to reap the fruits of our own devices; and I know of few

things more sad than to see a child of God so entirely forgetting his

proper place and privilege, as to take the management of his affairs

into his own hands. The birds of the air and the lilies of the field

may well be our teachers when we so far forget our position of

unqualified dependence upon God.

Then, again, as to Esau, the apostle calls him "a profane person, who

for one morsel of meat sold his birthright," and "afterwards, when he

would have inherited the blessing, he was rejected; for he found no

place of change of mind, though he sought it carefully with tears."

Thus we learn what a profane person is, viz. one who would like to hold

both worlds; one who would like to enjoy the present, without

forfeiting his title to the future. This is by no means an uncommon

case. It expresses to us the mere worldly professor, whose conscience

has never felt the action of divine truth, and whose heart has never

felt the influence of divine grace.

FOOTNOTES:

[17] We should ever remember, in a place of trial, that what we want is

not a change of circumstances, but victory over self.

CHAPTER XXVIII.

We are now called to trace Jacob in his movement from under his

father's roof, to view him as a homeless and lonely wanderer on the

earth. It is here that God's special dealings with him commence. Jacob

now begins to realize, in some measure, the bitter fruit of his

conduct, in reference to Esau; while, at the same time, God is seen

rising above all the weakness and folly of his servant, and displaying

his own sovereign grace and profound wisdom in his dealings with him.

God will accomplish his own purpose, no matter by what instrumentality;

but if his child, in impatience of spirit, and unbelief of heart, will

take himself out of his hands, he must expect much sorrowful exercise

and painful discipline. Thus it was with Jacob: he might not have had

to flee to Haran, had he allowed God to act for him. God would,

assuredly, have dealt with Esau, and caused him to find his destined

place and portion; and Jacob might have enjoyed that sweet peace which

nothing can yield save entire subjection in all things to the hand and

counsel of God.

But here is where the excessive feebleness of our hearts is constantly

disclosed. We do not lie passive in God's hand; we will be acting; and,

by our acting, we hinder the display of God's grace and power on our

behalf. "_Be still_ and know that I am God," is a precept which naught,

save the power of divine grace, can enable one to obey. "Let your

moderation be known unto all men. The Lord is at hand. ([Greek: engys])

Be careful for nothing, but in every thing by prayer and supplication

with thanksgiving, let your requests be made known unto God." What will

be the result of thus acting? "The peace of God, which passeth all

understanding, shall garrison ([Greek: phrouresei]) your hearts and

minds by Christ Jesus." (Phil. iv. 5-7.)

However, God graciously overrules our folly and weakness, and while we

are called upon to reap the fruits of our unbelieving and impatient

ways, he takes occasion from them to teach our hearts still deeper

lessons of his own tender grace and perfect wisdom. This, while it,

assuredly, affords no warrant whatever for unbelief and impatience,

does most wonderfully exhibit the goodness of our God, and comfort the

heart even while we may be passing through the painful circumstances

consequent upon our failure. God is above all; and, moreover, it is his

special prerogative to bring good out of evil; to make the eater yield

meat, and the strong yield sweetness; and hence, while it is quite true

that Jacob was compelled to be an exile from his father's roof in

consequence of his own restless and deceitful acting, it is equally

true that he never could have learnt the meaning of "Bethel" had he

been quietly at home. Thus the two sides of the picture are strongly

marked in every scene of Jacob's history. It was when he was driven, by

his own folly, from Isaac's house, that he was led to taste, in some

measure, the blessedness and solemnity of "God's house."

"And Jacob went out from Beersheba, and went toward Haran. And he

lighted upon a certain place, and tarried there all night, because the

sun was set; and he took of the stones of that place and put them for

his pillows, and lay down in that place to sleep." Here we find the

homeless wanderer just in the very position in which God could meet

him, and in which he could unfold his purposes of grace and glory.

Nothing could possibly be more expressive of helplessness and

nothingness than Jacob's condition as here set before us. Beneath the

open canopy of heaven, with a pillow of stone, in the helpless

condition of sleep. Thus it was that the God of Bethel unfolded to

Jacob his purposes respecting him and his seed. "And he dreamed, and

behold a ladder set up on the earth, and the top of it reached to

heaven: and behold the angels of God ascending and descending on it.

And behold the Lord stood above it, and said, I am the Lord God of

Abraham thy father, and the God of Isaac: the land whereon thou liest,

to thee will I give it, and to thy seed. And thy seed shall be as the

dust of the earth, and thou shalt spread abroad to the west, and to the

east, and to the north and to the south: and in thee and in thy seed

shall all the families of the earth be blessed. And, behold, I am with

thee, and will keep thee in all places whither thou goest, and will

bring thee again into this land; for I will not leave thee, until I

have done that which I have spoken to thee of."

Here we have, indeed, "grace and glory." The ladder "set _on the

earth_" naturally leads the heart to meditate on the display of God's

grace, in the Person and work of his Son. On the earth it was that the

wondrous work was accomplished which forms the basis, the strong and

everlasting basis, of all the divine counsels in reference to Israel,

the Church, and the world at large. On the earth it was that Jesus

lived, labored, and died; that through his death he might remove out

of the way every obstacle to the accomplishment of the divine purpose

of blessing to man.

But "the top of the ladder reached to heaven." It formed the medium of

communication between heaven and earth; and "behold the angels of God

ascending and descending upon it,"--striking and beautiful picture of

him by whom God has come down into all the depth of man's need, and by

whom also he has brought man up and set him in his own presence

forever, in the power of divine righteousness! God has made provision

for the accomplishment of all his plans, despite of man's folly and

sin; and it is for the everlasting joy of any soul to find itself, by

the teaching of the Holy Ghost, within the limits of God's gracious

purpose.

The prophet Hosea leads us on to the time when that which was

foreshadowed by Jacob's ladder shall have its full accomplishment. "And

in that day I will make a covenant for them with the beasts of the

field, and with the fowls of heaven, and with the creeping things of

the ground: and I will break the bow, and the sword, and the battle,

out of the earth, and will make them to lie down safely. And I will

betroth thee unto me forever; yea, I will betroth thee unto me in

righteousness, and in judgment, and in loving-kindness, and in mercies;

I will even betroth thee unto me in faithfulness; and thou shalt know

the Lord. And it shall come to pass in that day, I will hear, saith the

Lord, I will hear the heavens, and they shall hear the earth; and the

earth shall hear the corn, and the wine, and the oil; and they shall

hear Jezreel. And I will sow her unto me in the earth; and I will have

mercy upon her that had not obtained mercy; and I will say to them

which were not my people, Thou art my people; and they shall say, Thou

art my God." (Hosea ii. 18-23.) There is also an expression in the

first chapter of John, bearing upon Jacob's remarkable vision; it is

Christ's word to Nathanael, "Verily, verily, I say unto you, hereafter

ye shall see heaven open, and the angels of God ascending and

descending upon the Son of man." (Ver. 51.)

Now, this vision of Jacob's is a very blessed disclosure of divine

grace to Israel. We have been led to see something of Jacob's real

character, something, too, of his real condition; both were evidently

such as to show that it should either be divine grace for him, or

nothing. By birth he had no claim; nor yet by character. Esau might put

forward some claim on both these grounds; i. e., provided God's

prerogative were set aside; but Jacob had no claim whatsoever; and

hence, while Esau could only stand upon the exclusion of God's

prerogative, Jacob could only stand upon the introduction and

establishment thereof. Jacob was such a sinner, and so utterly divested

of all claim, both by birth and by practice, that he had nothing

whatever to rest upon save God's purpose of pure, free, and sovereign

grace. Hence, in the revelation which the Lord makes to his chosen

servant, in the passage just quoted, it is a simple record or

prediction of what he himself would yet do. "_I_ am.... _I_ will

give.... _I_ will keep.... _I_ will bring.... _I_ will not leave thee

until _I_ have done that which _I_ have spoken to thee of." It was all

himself. There is no condition whatever. No _if_ or _but_; for when

_grace_ acts there can be no such thing. Where there is an _if_, it

cannot possibly be grace. Not that God cannot put man into a position

of responsibility in which he must needs address him with an "if." We

know he can; but Jacob asleep on a pillow of stone was not in a

position of responsibility, but of the deepest helplessness and need;

and therefore he was in a position to receive a revelation of the

fullest, richest, and most unconditional grace.

Now, we cannot but own the blessedness of being in such a condition

that we have nothing to rest upon save God himself; and, moreover, that

it is in the most perfect establishment of God's own character and

prerogative that we obtain all our true joy and blessing. According to

this principle, it would be an irreparable loss to us to have any

ground of our own to stand upon, for in that case God should address us

on the ground of responsibility, and failure would then be inevitable.

Jacob was so bad, that none but God himself could do for him.

And, be it remarked, that it was his failure in the habitual

recognition of this that led him into so much sorrow and pressure.

God's revelation of himself is one thing, and our resting in that

revelation is quite another. God shows himself to Jacob, in infinite

grace; but no sooner does Jacob awake out of sleep, than we find him

developing his true character, and proving how little he knew,

practically, of the blessed One who had just been revealing himself so

marvellously to him. "He was afraid, and said, How dreadful is this

place! This is none other but the house of God, and this is the gate of

heaven." His heart was not at home in the presence of God; nor can any

heart be so until it has been thoroughly emptied and broken. God is at

home, blessed be his name, with a broken heart, and a broken heart at

home with him. But Jacob's heart was not yet in this condition; nor had

he yet learnt to repose, like a little child, in the perfect love of

one who could say, "Jacob have I loved." "Perfect love casteth out

fear;" but where such love is not known and fully realized, there will

always be a measure of uneasiness and perturbation. God's house and

God's presence are not dreadful to a soul who knows the love of God as

expressed in the perfect sacrifice of Christ. Such a soul is rather led

to say, "Lord, I have loved the habitation of thy house, and the place

where thine honor dwelleth." (Ps. xxvi. 8.) And again, "One thing have

I desired of the Lord, that will I seek after; that I may dwell in the

house of the Lord all the days of my life, to behold the beauty of the

Lord, and to inquire in his temple." (Ps. xxvii. 4.) And again, "How

amiable are thy tabernacles, O Lord of hosts! My soul longeth, yea,

even fainteth, for the courts of the Lord." (Ps. lxxxiv.) When the

heart is established in the knowledge of God, it will assuredly love

his house, whatever the character of that house may be, whether it be

Bethel, or the temple at Jerusalem, or the Church now composed of all

true believers, "builded together for an habitation of God through the

Spirit." However, Jacob's knowledge, both of God and his house, was

very shallow, at that point in his history on which we are now

dwelling.

We shall have occasion, again, to refer to some principles connected

with Bethel; and shall now close our meditations upon this chapter with

a brief notice of Jacob's bargain with God, so truly characteristic of

him, and so demonstrative of the truth of the statement with respect to

the shallowness of his knowledge of the divine character. "And Jacob

vowed a vow, saying, If God will be with me, and will keep me in this

way that I go, and will give me bread to eat, and raiment to put on, so

that I come again to my Father's house in peace; then shall the Lord be

my God; and this stone, which I have set for a pillar, shall be God's

house: and of all that thou shalt give me, I will surely give the tenth

unto thee." Observe, "_if_ God will be with me." Now, the Lord had just

said, emphatically, "I _am_ with thee, and _will keep thee in all

places_ whither thou goest, and will bring thee again into this land,"

&c. And yet poor Jacob's heart cannot get beyond an "_if_;" nor, in its

thoughts of God's goodness, can it rise higher than "bread to eat, and

raiment to put on." Such were the thoughts of one who had just seen the

magnificent vision of the ladder reaching from earth to heaven, with

the Lord standing above, and promising an innumerable seed and an

everlasting possession. Jacob was evidently unable to enter into the

reality and fulness of God's thoughts. He measured God by himself, and

thus utterly failed to apprehend him. In short, Jacob had not yet

really got to the end of himself; and hence he had not really begun

with God.

CHAPTERS XXIX.-XXXI.

"Then Jacob went on his journey, and came into the land of the people

of the east." As we have just seen, in Chap. xxviii., Jacob utterly

fails in the apprehension of God's real character, and meets all the

rich grace of Bethel with an "if," and a miserable bargain about food

and raiment. We now follow him into a scene of thorough bargain-making.

"Whatsoever a man soweth, that shall he also reap." There is no

possibility of escaping from this. Jacob had not yet found his true

level in the presence of God; and therefore God uses circumstances to

chasten and break him down.

This is the real secret of much, very much, of our sorrow and trial in

the world. Our hearts have never been really broken before the Lord; we

have never been self-judged and self-emptied; and hence, again and

again, we, as it were, knock our heads against the wall. No one can

really enjoy God until he has got to the bottom of self, and for this

plain reason, that God has begun the display of himself at the very

point at which the end of flesh is seen. If, therefore, I have not

reached the end of my flesh, in the deep and positive experience of my

soul, it is morally impossible that I can have any thing like a just

apprehension of God's character. But I must, in some way or other, be

conducted to the true measure of nature. To accomplish this end, the

Lord makes use of various agencies which, no matter what they are, are

only effectual when used by him for the purpose of disclosing, in our

view, the true character of all that is in our hearts. How often do we

find, as in Jacob's case, that even although the Lord may come near to

us and speak in our ears, yet we do not understand his voice or take

our true place in his presence. "The Lord is in this place, and I knew

it not.... How dreadful is this place!" Jacob learnt nothing by all

this, and it therefore needed twenty years of terrible schooling, and

that, too, in a school marvellously adapted to his flesh; and even

that, as we shall see, was not sufficient to break him down.

However, it is remarkable to see how he gets back into an atmosphere so

entirely suited to his moral constitution. The bargain-making Jacob

meets with the bargain-making Laban, and they are both seen as it were,

straining every nerve to outwit each other. Nor can we wonder at Laban,

for he had never been at Bethel: he had seen no open heaven with a

ladder reaching from thence to earth; he had heard no magnificent

promises from the lips of Jehovah, securing to him all the land of

Canaan, with a countless seed: no marvel, therefore, that he should

exhibit a grasping, grovelling spirit; he had no other resource. It is

useless to expect from worldly men aught but a worldly spirit and

worldly principles and ways; they have gotten naught superior; and you

cannot bring a clean thing out of an unclean. But to find Jacob, after

all he had seen and heard at Bethel, struggling with a man of the

world, and endeavoring by such means to accumulate property, is

peculiarly humbling.

And yet, alas! it is no uncommon thing to find the children of God thus

forgetting their high destinies and heavenly inheritance, and

descending into the arena with the children of this world, to struggle

there for the riches and honors of a perishing, sin-stricken earth.

Indeed, to such an extent is this true, in many instances, that it is

often hard to trace a single evidence of that principle which St. John

tells us "overcometh the world." Looking at Jacob and Laban, and

judging of them upon natural principles, it would be hard to trace any

difference. One should get behind the scenes, and enter into God's

thoughts about both, in order to see how widely they differed. But it

was God that had made them to differ, not Jacob; and so it is now.

Difficult as it may be to trace any difference between the children of

light and the children of darkness, there is nevertheless a very wide

difference indeed,--a difference founded on the solemn fact that the

former are "the vessels of mercy, which God has afore prepared unto

glory," while the latter are "the vessels of wrath, fitted (not by God,

but by sin) to destruction."[18] (Rom. ix. 22, 23.) This makes a very

serious difference. The Jacobs and the Labans differ materially, and

have differed, and will differ forever, though the former may so sadly

fail in the realization and practical exhibition of their true

character and dignity.

Now, in Jacob's case, as set forth in the three chapters now before us,

all his toiling and working, like his wretched bargain before, is the

result of his ignorance of God's grace, and his inability to put

implicit confidence in God's promise. The man that could say, after a

most unqualified promise from God to give him the whole land of Canaan,

"IF God will give me food to eat and raiment to put on," could have had

but a very faint apprehension of who God was, or what his promise was

either; and because of this, we see him seeking to do the best he can

for himself. This is always the way when grace is not understood: the

principles of grace may be professed, but the real measure of our

experience of the power of grace is quite another thing. One would have

imagined that Jacob's vision had told him a tale of grace; but God's

revelation at Bethel, and Jacob's actings at Haran, are two very

different things; yet the latter tell out what was Jacob's sense of the

former. Character and conduct prove the real measure of the soul's

experience and conviction, whatever the profession may be. But Jacob

had never yet been brought to measure himself in God's presence, and

therefore he was ignorant of grace, and he proved his ignorance by

measuring himself with Laban, and adopting his maxims and ways.

One cannot help remarking the fact that inasmuch as Jacob failed to

learn and judge the inherent character of his flesh before God,

therefore he was in the providence of God led into the very sphere in

which that character was fully exhibited in its broadest lines. He was

conducted to Haran, the country of Laban and Rebekah, the very school

from whence those principles, in which he was such a remarkable adept,

had emanated, and where they were taught, exhibited, and maintained. If

one wanted to learn what God was, he should go to Bethel; if to learn

what man was, he should go to Haran. But Jacob had failed to take in

God's revelation of himself at Bethel, and he therefore went to Haran,

and there showed what he was,--and oh, what scrambling and scraping!

what shuffling and shifting! There is no holy and elevated confidence

in God, no simply looking to and waiting on him. True, God was with

Jacob,--for nothing can hinder the outshinings of divine grace.

Moreover, Jacob in a measure owns God's presence and faithfulness.

Still nothing can be done without a scheme and a plan. Jacob cannot

allow God to settle the question as to his wives and his wages, but

seeks to settle all by his own cunning and management. In short, it is

"the supplanter" throughout. Let the reader turn, for example, to Chap.

xxx. 37-42, and say where he can find a more masterly piece of cunning.

It is verily a perfect picture of Jacob. In place of allowing God to

multiply "the ringstraked, speckled, and spotted cattle," as he most

assuredly would have done, had he been trusted, he sets about securing

their multiplication by a piece of policy which could only have found

its origin in the mind of a Jacob. So in all his actings, during his

twenty years' sojourn with Laban; and finally, he most

characteristically "steals away," thus maintaining in every thing his

consistency with himself.

Now, it is in tracing out Jacob's real character from stage to stage of

his extraordinary history, that one gets a wondrous view of divine

grace. None but God could have borne with such an one, as none but God

would have taken such an one up. Grace begins at the very lowest point.

It takes up man as he is, and deals with him in the full intelligence

of what he is. It is of the very last importance to understand this

feature of grace at one's first starting; it enables us to bear with

steadiness of heart the after discoveries of personal vileness which so

frequently shake the confidence and disturb the peace of the children

of God.

Many there are who at first fail in the full apprehension of the utter

ruin of nature as looked at in God's presence, though their hearts have

been attracted by the grace of God, and their consciences tranquillized

in some degree by the application of the blood of Christ. Hence, as

they get on in their course, they begin to make deeper discoveries of

the evil within; and, being deficient in their apprehensions of God's

grace and the extent and efficacy of the sacrifice of Christ, they

immediately raise a question as to their being children of God at all.

Thus they are taken off Christ and thrown on themselves, and then they

either betake themselves to ordinances in order to keep up their tone

of devotion, or else fall back into thorough worldliness and carnality.

These are disastrous consequences, and all the result of not having

"the heart established in grace."

It is this that renders the study of Jacob's history so profoundly

interesting and eminently useful. No one can read the three chapters

now before us and not be struck at the amazing grace that could take up

such an one as Jacob; and not only take him up, but say, after the full

discovery of all that was in him, "He hath not beheld iniquity in

Jacob, neither hath he seen perverseness in Israel." (Numb. xxiii. 21.)

He does not say that iniquity and perverseness were not in him. This

would never give the heart confidence,--the very thing above all others

which God desires to give. It could never assure a poor sinner's heart

to be told that there was _no sin in_ him; for alas! he knows too well

there is; but to be told there is no sin _on_ him, and that, moreover,

in God's sight, on the simple ground of Christ's perfect sacrifice,

must infallibly set his heart and conscience at rest. Had God taken up

Esau, we should not have had by any means such a blessed display of

grace; for this reason, that he does not appear before us in the

unamiable light in which we see Jacob. The more man sinks, the more

God's grace rises. As my debt rises in my estimation from the fifty

pence up to the five hundred, so my sense of grace rises also, my

experience of that love which, when we "had _nothing_ to pay," could

"frankly forgive" us all. (Luke vii. 42.) Well might the apostle say,

"it is a good thing that the heart be established with grace: not with

meats, which have not profited them that have been occupied therein."

(Heb. xiii. 9.)

FOOTNOTES:

[18] It is deeply interesting to the spiritual mind to mark how

sedulously the Spirit of God, in Rom. ix. and indeed throughout all

scripture, guards against the horrid inference which the human mind

draws from the doctrine of God's election. When he speaks of "vessels

of wrath," he simply says, "fitted to destruction." He does not say

that God "fitted" them.

Whereas, on the other hand, when he refers to "the vessels of mercy" he

says, "whom _he_ had afore prepared unto glory." This is most marked.

If my reader will turn for a moment to Matt. xxv. 34-41, he will find

another striking and beautiful instance of the same thing.

When the king addresses those on his right hand, he says, "Come, ye

_blessed of my Father_, inherit the kingdom _prepared for you_ from the

foundation of the world." (Verse 34.)

But when he addresses those on his left, he says, "Depart from me, ye

cursed." He does not say, "cursed of my Father." And, further, he says,

"into everlasting fire, prepared," not for _you_, but "for the devil

and his angels." (Verse 41.)

In a word, then, it is plain that God has "prepared" a kingdom of

glory, and "vessels of mercy" to inherit that kingdom; but he has not

prepared "everlasting fire" for men, but for the "devil and his

angels;" nor has he fitted the "vessels of wrath," but they have fitted

themselves.

The word of God as clearly establishes "_election_" as it sedulously

guards against "_reprobation_." Every one who finds himself in heaven

will have to thank God for it; and every one that finds himself in hell

will have to thank himself.

CHAPTER XXXII.

"And Jacob went on his way, and the angels of God met him." Still God's

grace follows him, notwithstanding all. "Nothing changeth God's

affection." Whom he loves, and how he loves, he loves to the end. His

love is like himself, "the same yesterday, to-day, and forever." But

how little effect "God's host" had upon Jacob may be seen by his

actings as here set before us. "And Jacob sent messengers before him to

Esau his brother, unto the land of Seir, the country of Edom." He

evidently feels uneasy in reference to Esau, and not without reason. He

had treated him badly, and his conscience was not at ease; but instead

of casting himself unreservedly upon God, he betakes himself to his

usual planning again, in order to avert Esau's wrath. He tries to

_manage_ Esau, instead of leaning on God.

"And he commanded them, saying, Thus shall ye speak unto _my lord_

Esau; _thy servant_ Jacob saith thus, I have sojourned with Laban, and

stayed there until now." All this bespeaks a soul very much off its

centre in God. "My lord," and "thy servant," is not like the language

of a brother, or of one in the conscious dignity of the presence of

God; but it was the language of Jacob, and of Jacob, too, with a bad

conscience.

"And the messengers returned to Jacob, saying, We came to thy brother

Esau, and also he cometh to meet thee, and four hundred men with him.

Then Jacob was greatly afraid and distressed." But what does he first

do? Does he at once cast himself upon God? No; he begins to manage. "He

divided the people that was with him, and the flocks, and herds, and

the camels, into two bands; and said, If Esau come to the one company

and smite it, then the other company which is left shall escape."

Jacob's first thought was always _a plan_; and in this we have a true

picture of the poor human heart. True, he turns to God after he makes

his plan, and cries to him for deliverance; but no sooner does he cease

praying than he resumes the planning. Now, praying and planning will

never do together. If I plan, I am leaning more or less on my plan; but

when I pray, I should lean exclusively upon God. Hence, the two things

are perfectly incompatible; they virtually destroy each other. When my

eye is filled with my own management of things, I am not prepared to

see God acting for me; and in that case prayer is not the utterance of

my need, but the mere superstitious performance of something which I

think ought to be done, or it may be asking God to sanctify my plans.

This will never do. It is not asking God to sanctify and bless my

means, but it is asking him to do it all himself.[19]

Though Jacob asked God to deliver him from his brother Esau, he

evidently was not satisfied with that, and therefore he tried to

"appease him with a present." Thus his confidence was in the "present,"

and not entirely in God. "The heart is deceitful above all things, and

desperately wicked." It is often hard to detect what is the real ground

of the heart's confidence. We imagine, or would fain persuade

ourselves, that we are leaning upon God, when we are in reality leaning

upon some scheme of our own devising. Who, after hearkening to Jacob's

prayer, wherein he says, "Deliver me, I pray thee, from the hand of my

brother, from the hand of Esau; for I fear him, lest he will come and

smite me, and the mother with the children," could imagine him saying,

"I will appease him with a present." Had he forgotten his prayer? Was

he making a god of his present? Did he place more confidence in a few

cattle than in Jehovah, to whom he had just been committing himself?

These are questions which naturally arise out of Jacob's actings in

reference to Esau, and we can readily answer them by looking into the

glass of our own hearts. There we learn, as well as on the page of

Jacob's history, how much more apt we are to lean on our own management

than on God; but it will not do; we must be brought to see the end of

our management, that it is perfect folly, and that the true path of

wisdom is to repose in full confidence upon God.

Nor will it do to make our prayers part of our management. We often

feel very well satisfied with ourselves when we add prayer to our

arrangement, or when we have used all lawful means and called upon God

to bless them. When this is the case, our prayers are worth about as

much as our plans, inasmuch as we are leaning upon them instead of upon

God. We must be really brought to the end of every thing with which

self has aught to do; for until then, God cannot show himself. But we

can never get to the end of our plans until we have been brought to the

end of ourselves. We must see that "all flesh is grass, and all the

goodliness thereof is as the flower of the field." (Isa. xl. 6.)

Thus it is in this interesting chapter; when Jacob had made all his

prudent arrangements, we read, "And Jacob was left alone; and there

wrestled a man with him until the breaking of the day." This is a

turning-point in the history of this very remarkable man. To be left

alone with God is the only true way of arriving at a just knowledge of

ourselves and our ways. We can never get a true estimate of nature and

all its actings, until we have weighed them in the balance of the

sanctuary, and there we ascertain their real worth. No matter what we

may think about ourselves, nor yet what man may think about us; the

great question is, What does God think about us? And the answer to this

question can only be heard when we are "left alone." Away from the

world; away from self; away from all the thoughts, reasonings,

imaginations, and emotions of mere nature, and "alone" with God,--thus,

and thus alone, can we get a correct judgment about ourselves.

"Jacob was left alone; and there wrestled a man with him." Mark, it was

not Jacob wrestling with a man; but a man wrestling with Jacob; this

scene is very commonly referred to as an instance of Jacob's power in

prayer. That it is not this is evident from the simple wording of the

passage. My wrestling with a man, and a man wrestling with me, present

two totally different ideas to the mind. In the former case I want to

gain some object from him; in the latter, he wants to gain some object

from me. Now, in Jacob's case, the divine object was to bring him to

see what a poor, feeble, worthless creature he was, and when Jacob so

pertinaciously held out against the divine dealing with him, "he

touched the hollow of his thigh; and the hollow of Jacob's thigh was

out of joint as he wrestled with him." The sentence of death must be

written on the flesh,--the power of the cross must be entered into

before we can steadily and happily walk with God. We have followed

Jacob so far, amid all the windings and workings of his extraordinary

character,--we have seen him planning and managing during his twenty

years' sojourn with Laban; but not until he "was left alone," did he

get a true idea of what a perfectly helpless thing he was in himself.

Then, the seat of his strength being touched, he learnt to say, "I will

not let _thee_ go."

"Other refuge have I none:

Clings my helpless soul to thee."

This was a new era in the history of the supplanting, planning Jacob.

Up to this point he had held fast by his own ways and means; but now he

is brought to say, "I will not let _thee_ go." Now, let my reader

remark, that Jacob did not express himself thus until "the hollow of

his thigh was touched." This simple fact is quite sufficient to settle

the true interpretation of the whole scene. God was wrestling with

Jacob to bring him to this point. We have already seen that, as to

Jacob's power in prayer, he had no sooner uttered a few words to God

than he let out the real secret of his soul's dependence, by saying, "I

will appease him (Esau) with a present." Would he have said this if he

had really entered into the meaning of prayer, or true dependence upon

God? Assuredly not. If he had been looking to God alone to appease

Esau, could he have said, "I will appease him by a present?"

Impossible: God and the creature must be kept distinct, and will be

kept so in every soul that knows much of the sacred reality of a life

of faith.

But, alas! here is where we fail, if one may speak for another. Under

the plausible and apparently pious formula of using means, we really

cloak the positive infidelity of our poor deceitful hearts; we think we

are looking to God to bless our means, while, in reality, we are

shutting him out by leaning on the means, instead of leaning on him.

Oh, may our hearts be taught the evil of thus acting. May we learn to

cling more simply to God _alone_, that so our history may be more

characterized by that holy elevation above the circumstances through

which we are passing! It is not, by any means, an easy matter so to get

to the end of the creature, in every shape and form, as to be able to

say, "I will not let thee go except thou bless me." To say this from

the heart, and to abide in the power of it, is the secret of all true

strength. Jacob said it when the hollow of his thigh was touched; but

not till then. He struggled long ere he gave way, because his

confidence in the flesh was strong. But God can bring down to the dust

the stoutest character. He knows how to touch the spring of nature's

strength, and write the sentence of death thoroughly upon it; and until

this is done, there can be no real "power with God or man." We must be

"weak" ere we can be "strong." "The power of Christ" can only "rest on

us" in connection with the knowledge of our infirmities. Christ cannot

put the seal of his approval upon nature's strength, its wisdom, or its

glory: all these must sink that he may rise. Nature can never form, in

any one way, a pedestal on which to display the grace or power of

Christ; for if it could, then might flesh glory in his presence; but

this, we know, can never be.

And, inasmuch as the display of God's glory, and God's name or

character, is connected with the entire setting aside of nature, so,

until this latter is set aside, the soul can never enjoy the disclosure

of the former. Hence, though Jacob is called to tell out his name, to

own that his name is "Jacob, or a supplanter," he yet receives no

revelation of the name of him who had been wrestling with him, and

bringing him down into the dust. He received for himself the name of

"Israel, or prince," which was a great step in advance; but when he

says, "Tell me, I pray thee, thy name;" he received the reply,

"Wherefore is it that thou dost ask after my name?" The Lord refuses to

tell his name, though he had elicited from Jacob the truth as to

himself, and he blesses him accordingly. How often is this the case in

the annals of God's family! There is the disclosure of self in all its

moral deformity; but we fail to get hold practically of what God is,

though he has come so very close to us, and blessed us, too, in

connection with the discovery of ourselves. Jacob received the new name

of Israel when the hollow of his thigh had been touched. He became a

mighty prince when he had been brought to know himself as a weak man;

but still the Lord had to say, "Wherefore is it that thou dost ask

after my name?" There is no disclosure of the name of him who,

nevertheless, had brought out the real name and condition of Jacob.

From all this we learn that it is one thing to be blessed by the Lord,

and quite another thing to have the revelation of his character, by the

Spirit, to our hearts. "He blessed him there;" but he did not tell his

name. There is blessing in being brought, in any measure, to know

ourselves, for therein we are led into a path, in which we are able,

more clearly, to discern what God is to us in detail. Thus it was with

Jacob. When the hollow of his thigh was touched he found himself in a

condition in which it was either God or nothing. A poor halting man

could do little: it therefore behoved him to cling to one who was

almighty.

I would remark, ere leaving this chapter, that the book of Job is, in a

certain sense, a detailed commentary on this scene in Jacob's history.

Throughout the first thirty-one chapters, Job grapples with his

friends, and maintains his point against all their arguments; but in

Chapter xxxii. God, by the instrumentality of Elihu, begins to wrestle

with him; and in Chapter xxxviii. he comes down upon him directly with

all the majesty of his power, overwhelms him by the display of his

greatness and glory, and elicits from him the well-known words, "I have

heard of thee by the hearing of the ear: but now mine eye seeth thee.

Wherefore I abhor myself, and repent in dust and ashes." (Chap. xlii.

5, 6.) This was really touching the hollow of his thigh. And mark the

expression, "mine eye seeth _thee_." He does not say, "I see myself"

merely; no; but "thee." Nothing but a view of what God is, can really

lead to repentance and self-loathing. Thus it will be with the people

of Israel, whose history is very analogous with that of Job. When they

shall look upon him whom they have pierced, they will mourn, and then

there will be full restoration and blessing. Their latter end, like

Job's will be better than their beginning. They will learn the full

meaning of that word, "O Israel, thou hast destroyed thyself; but in me

is thine help." (Hosea xiii. 9.)

FOOTNOTES:

[19] No doubt, when faith allows God to act, he will use his own

agency; but this is a totally different thing from his owning and

blessing the plans and arrangements of unbelief and impatience. This

distinction is not sufficiently understood.

CHAPTERS XXXIII. XXXIV.

We may here see how groundless were all Jacob's fears, and how useless

all his plans. Notwithstanding the wrestling, the touching the hollow

of the thigh, and the halting, we find Jacob still planning. "And Jacob

lifted up his eyes, and looked, and, behold, Esau came, and with him

four hundred men. And he divided the children unto Leah, and unto

Rachel, and unto the two handmaids. And he put the handmaids and their

children foremost, and Leah and her children after, and Rachel and

Joseph hindermost." This arrangement proved the continuance of his

fears. He still anticipated vengeance from the hand of Esau, and he

exposed those about whom he cared least to the first stroke of that

vengeance. How wondrous are the depths of the human heart! How slow it

is to trust God! Had Jacob been really leaning upon God, he never

could have anticipated destruction for himself and his family; but

alas! the heart knows something of the difficulty of simply reposing,

in calm confidence, upon an ever-present, all-powerful, and infinitely

gracious God.

But mark now the thorough vanity of the heart's anxiety. "And Esau ran

to meet him, and embraced him, and fell on his neck and kissed him; and

they wept." The present was quite unnecessary,--the plan useless. God

"appeased" Esau, as he had already appeased Laban. Thus it is he ever

delights to rebuke our poor, coward, unbelieving hearts, and put to

flight all our fears. Instead of the dreaded sword of Esau, Jacob meets

his embrace and kiss; instead of strife and conflict, they mingle their

tears. Such are God's ways. Who would not trust him? Who would not

honor him with the heart's fullest confidence? Why is it that,

notwithstanding all the sweet evidence of his faithfulness to those who

put their trust in him, we are so ready, on every fresh occasion, to

doubt and hesitate? The answer is simple: we are not sufficiently

acquainted with God. "Acquaint now thyself with him and be at peace."

(Job xxii. 21.) This is true, whether in reference to the unconverted

sinner, or to the child of God. The true knowledge of God, real

acquaintance with him, is life and peace. "This is life eternal, that

they might know thee, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom thou

hast sent." (John xvii. 3.) The more intimate our acquaintance with

God, the more solid will be our peace, and the more will our souls be

lifted above every creature dependence. "God is a rock," and we only

need to lean our whole weight upon him to know how ready and how able

he is to sustain us.

After all this manifestation of God's goodness, we find Jacob settling

down in Succoth, and, contrary to the spirit and principles of a

pilgrim life, building a house as if it were his home. Now, Succoth was

evidently not his divinely-appointed destination. The Lord had not said

to him, "I am the God of Succoth;" no; but "I am the God of Bethel."

Bethel, therefore, and not Succoth, should have been Jacob's grand

object. But alas! the heart is always prone to rest satisfied with a

position and portion short of what God would graciously assign.

Jacob then moves on to Shechem, and purchases ground, still falling

short of the divine mark, and the name by which he calls his altar is

indicative of the moral condition of his soul. He calls it

"El-elohe-Israel," or "God, the God of Israel." This was taking a very

contracted view of God. True, it is our privilege to know God as our

God; but it is a higher thing to know him as the God of his own house,

and to view ourselves as part of that house. It is the believer's

privilege to know Christ as _his_ head; but it is a higher thing to

know him as the head of his body the Church, and to know ourselves as

members of that body.

We shall see, when we come to Chap. xxxv. that Jacob is led to take a

higher and a wider view of God; but at Shechem he was manifestly on low

ground, and he was made to smart for it, as is always the case when we

stop short of God's own ground. The two tribes and a half took up their

position on this side of Jordan, and they were the first to fall into

the enemy's hand. So it was with Jacob. We see, in Chap. xxxiv., the

bitter fruits of his sojourn at Shechem. There is a blot cast upon his

family, which Simeon and Levi attempt to wipe out, in the mere energy

and violence of nature, which only led to still deeper sorrow; and

that, too, which touched Jacob still more keenly than the insult

offered to his daughter: "And Jacob said to Simeon and Levi, Ye have

troubled _me_, to make _me_ to stink among the inhabitants of the land,

among the Canaanites and the Perizzites: and _I_ being few in number,

they shall gather themselves together against _me_, and slay _me_; and

_I_ shall be destroyed, _I_ and my house." Thus it was the consequences

in reference to himself that affected Jacob most. He seems to have

walked in constant apprehension of danger to himself or his family, and

in the manifestation of an anxious, a cautious, timid, calculating

spirit, utterly incompatible with a life of genuine faith in God.

It is not that Jacob was not, in the main, a man of faith; he assuredly

was, and as such gets a place amongst the "cloud of witnesses" in Heb.

xi. But then he exhibited sad failure from not walking in the habitual

exercise of that divine principle. Could faith have led him to say, "I

shall be destroyed, I and my house?" Surely not. God's promise in

Chapter xxviii. 14, 15, should have banished every fear from his poor

timid spirit. "I will keep thee.... I will not leave thee." This should

have tranquillized his heart. But the fact is, his mind was more

occupied with his danger among the Shechemites than with his security

in the hand of God. He ought to have known that not a hair of his head

could be touched, and therefore, instead of looking at Simeon and Levi,

or the consequences of their rash acting, he should have judged himself

for being in such a position at all. If he had not settled at Shechem,

Dinah would not have been dishonored, and the violence of his sons

would not have been exhibited. We constantly see Christians getting

into deep sorrow and trouble through their own unfaithfulness; and

then, instead of judging themselves, they begin to look at

circumstances, and to cast upon them the blame.

How often do we see Christian parents, for instance, in keen anguish of

soul about the wildness, unsubduedness, and worldliness of their

children; and, all the while, they have mainly to blame themselves for

not walking faithfully before God in reference to their family. Thus

was it with Jacob. He was on low moral ground at Shechem; and, inasmuch

as he lacked that refined sensibility which would have led him to

detect the low ground, God, in very faithfulness, used his

circumstances to chastise him. "God is not mocked, for whatsoever a man

soweth that shall he also reap." This is a principle flowing out of

God's moral government,--a principle, from the application of which

none can possibly escape; and it is a positive mercy to the children of

God that they are obliged to reap the fruits of their errors. It is a

mercy to be taught, in any way, the bitterness of departing from, or

stopping short of, the living God. We must learn that this is not our

rest; for, blessed be God, he would not give us a polluted rest. He

would ever have us resting _in_, and _with_ himself. Such is his

perfect grace; and when our hearts wander, or fall short, his word is,

"If thou wilt return, return _unto me_." False humility, which is

simply the fruit of unbelief, would lead the wanderer or backslider to

take lower ground, not knowing the principle or measure of God's

restoration. The prodigal would seek to be made a servant, not knowing

that, so far as he was concerned, he had no more title to the place of

a servant than to that of a son; and, moreover, that it would be

utterly unworthy of the father's character to put him in such a

position. We must come to God on a principle and in a manner worthy of

himself, or not at all.

CHAPTER XXXV.

"And God said unto Jacob, Arise, go up to Bethel and dwell there." This

confirms the principle on which we have been dwelling. When there is a

failure or declension, the Lord calls the soul back to himself.

"Remember therefore _from whence thou art fallen_; and repent and do

_the first works_." (Rev. ii. 5.) This is the divine principle of

restoration. The soul must be recalled to the very highest point; it

must be brought back to the divine standard. The Lord does not say,

"remember where you are;" no; but "remember the lofty position from

whence you have fallen." Thus only can one learn how far he has

declined, and how he is to retrace his steps.

Now, it is when thus recalled to God's high and holy standard, that one

is really led to see the sad evil of one's fallen condition. What a

fearful amount of moral evil had gathered round Jacob's family,

unjudged by him, until his soul was roused by the call to "go up to

Bethel." Shechem was not the place in which to detect all this evil.

The atmosphere of that place was too much impregnated with impure

elements to admit of the soul's discerning, with any degree of

clearness and precision, the true character of evil. But the moment the

call to Bethel fell on Jacob's ear, "Then Jacob said unto his

household, and to all that were with him, Put away the strange gods

that are among you, and be clean and change your garments, and let us

arise and go up to Bethel; and I will make thee an altar unto God, who

answered me in the day of my distress, and was with me in the way which

I went." The very mention of "the house of God" struck a chord in the

soul of the patriarch; it carried him, in the twinkling of an eye, over

the history of twenty eventful years. It was at Bethel he had learnt

what God was, and not at Shechem; hence he must get back to Bethel

again, and erect an altar upon a totally different base, and under a

totally different name, from his altar at Shechem. This latter was

connected with a mass of uncleanness and idolatry.

Jacob could speak of "El-elohe-Israel," while surrounded by a quantity

of things utterly incompatible with the holiness of the house of God.

It is important to be clear in reference to this point. Nothing can

keep the soul in a path of consistent, intelligent separation from evil

save the sense of what "the house of God" is, and what becomes that

house. If I merely look at God, in reference to myself, I shall not

have a clear, full, divine sense of all that flows out of a due

recognition of God's relation to his house. Some there are who deem it

a matter of no importance how they are mixed up with impure materials

in the worship of God, provided they themselves are true and upright in

heart. In other words, they think they can worship God at Shechem; and

that an altar named "El-elohe-Israel" is just as elevated, just as much

according to God, as an altar named "El Bethel." This is evidently a

mistake. The spiritually-minded reader will at once detect the vast

moral difference between Jacob's condition at Shechem and his condition

at Bethel; and the same difference is observable between the two

altars. Our ideas in reference to the worship of God must, of

necessity, be affected by our spiritual condition; and the worship

which we present will be low and contracted, or elevated and

comprehensive, just in proportion as we enter into the apprehension of

his character and relationship.

Now, the name of our altar and the character of our worship express the

same idea. El-Bethel worship is higher than El-elohe-Israel worship,

for this simple reason, that it conveys a higher idea of God. It gives

me a more elevated thought of God to speak of him as the God of his

house than as the God of a solitary individual. True, there is

beautiful grace expressed in the title, "God, the God of Israel;" and

the soul must ever feel happy in looking at the character of God, as

graciously connecting himself with every separate stone of his house,

and every separate member of the body. Each stone in the building of

God is a "lively stone," as connected with the "living stone," having

communion with the "living God," by the power of "the Spirit of life."

But while all this is blessedly true, God is the God of his house; and

when we are enabled, by an enlarged spiritual intelligence, to view him

as such, we enjoy a higher character of worship than that which flows

from merely apprehending what he is to ourselves individually.

But there is another thing to be remarked in Jacob's recall to Bethel.

He is told to make an altar "unto God, that appeared unto thee when

thou fleddest from the face of Esau thy brother." He is thus reminded

of "the day of his distress." It is often well to have our minds led in

this way to the point in our history in which we found ourselves

brought down to the lowest step of the ladder. Thus Saul is brought

back to the time when he was "little in his own eyes." This is the true

starting-point with all of us. "When thou wast little in thine own

eyes," is a point of which we often need to be reminded. It is then

that the heart really leans on God. Afterwards we begin to fancy

ourselves to be something, and the Lord is obliged to teach us afresh

our own nothingness. When first one enters upon a path of service or

testimony, what a sense there is of personal weakness and incapacity!

and, as a consequence, what leaning upon God! what earnest, fervent

appeals to him for help and strength! Afterwards we begin to think

that, from being so long at the work, we can get on by ourselves,--at

least there is not the same sense of weakness or the same simple

dependence upon God; and then our ministry becomes a poor, meagre,

flippant, wordy thing, without unction or power,--a thing flowing, not

from the exhaustless tide of the Spirit, but from our own wretched

minds.

From ver. 9-15, God renews his promise to Jacob, and confirms the new

name of "prince," instead of "supplanter;" and Jacob again calls the

name of the place "Bethel." At verse 18 we have an interesting example

of the difference between the judgment of faith and the judgment of

nature. The latter looks at things through the hazy mist with which it

is surrounded; the former looks at them in the light of the presence

and counsels of God. "And it came to pass, as her soul was in departing

(for she died), that she called his name Ben-oni: but his father called

him Benjamin." Nature called him "the son of my sorrow;" but faith

called him "the son of the right hand." Thus is it ever. The difference

between the thoughts of nature and those of faith must ever be wide

indeed; and we should earnestly desire that our souls should be

governed only by the latter, and not by the former.

CHAPTER XXXVI.

Furnishes a catalogue of Esau's sons, with their various titles and

localities. We shall not dwell on this, but pass on to one of the most

fruitful and interesting sections in the entire canon of inspiration,

viz.:--

CHAPTERS XXXVII-L,

On which we shall dwell more particularly. There is not in scripture a

more perfect and beautiful type of Christ than Joseph. Whether we view

Christ as the object of the Father's love,--the object of the envy of

"his own",--in his humiliation, sufferings, death, exaltation, and

glory,--in all, we have him strikingly typified by Joseph.

In Chapter xxxvii. we have Joseph's dreams,--the statement of which

draws out the enmity of his brethren. He was the object of his father's

love, and the subject of very high destinies; and, inasmuch as the

hearts of his brethren were not in communion with these things, they

hated him. They had no fellowship in the father's love, and they would

not yield to the thought of Joseph's exaltation. In all this they

represent the Jews in Christ's day. "He came to his own, and his own

received him not." He had "no form nor comeliness in their eyes." They

would neither own him as the Son of God, nor King of Israel. Their eyes

were not open to behold "his glory,--the glory as of the only begotten

of the Father, full of grace and truth." They would not have him; yea,

they hated him.

Now, in Joseph's case, we see that he, in no wise, relaxed his

testimony in consequence of his brethren's refusal of his first dream.

"And Joseph dreamed a dream, and he told it to his brethren," and they

hated him yet the more.... "And he dreamed yet another dream, and he

told it to his brethren." This was simple testimony founded upon divine

revelation; but it was testimony which brought Joseph down to the pit.

Had he kept back his testimony, or taken off aught of its edge and

power, he might have spared himself; but, no: he told them the truth,

and therefore they hated him.

Thus was it with Joseph's great Antitype. He bore witness to the

truth--he witnessed a good confession--he kept back nothing--he could

only speak the truth because he was _the_ truth, and his testimony to

the truth was answered, on man's part, by the cross, the vinegar, the

soldier's spear. The testimony of Christ, too, was connected with the

deepest, fullest, richest grace. He not only came as "the truth," but

also as the perfect expression of all the love of the Father's heart;

"grace and truth came by Jesus Christ." He was the full disclosure to

man of what God was. Hence man was left entirely without excuse. He

came and showed God to man, and man hated God with a perfect hatred.

The fullest exhibition of divine love was answered by the fullest

exhibition of human hatred. This is seen in the cross,--and we have it

touchingly foreshadowed at the pit into which Joseph was cast by his

brethren.

"And when they saw him afar off, even before he came near unto them,

they conspired against him to slay him. And they said one to another,

Behold, this dreamer cometh; come now, therefore, and let us slay him,

and cast him into some pit; and we will say, some evil beast hath

devoured him; and we shall see what will become of his dreams." These

words forcibly remind us of the parable in Matthew xxii. "But, last of

all, he sent unto them his son, saying, They will reverence my son. But

when the husbandmen saw the son, they said among themselves, This is

the heir, come let us kill him, and let us seize on his inheritance.

And they caught him, and cast him out of the vineyard, and slew him."

God sent his Son into the world with this thought, "They will

reverence my son;" but alas! man's heart had no reverence for the

"well-beloved" of the Father. They cast him out. Earth and heaven were

at issue in reference to Christ; and they are at issue still. _Man_

crucified him; but _God_ raised him from the dead. Man placed him on a

cross between two thieves; God set him at his own right hand in the

heavens. Man gave him the very lowest place on earth; God gave him the

very highest place in heaven, in brightest majesty.

All this is shown out in Joseph's history. "Joseph is a fruitful bough,

even a fruitful bough by a well, whose branches run over the wall. The

archers have sorely grieved him, and shot at him, and hated him; but

his bow abode in strength, and the arms of his hands were made strong

by the hands of the mighty God of Jacob; (from thence is the shepherd,

the stone of Israel;) even by the God of thy father, who shall help

thee; and by the Almighty, who shall bless thee with blessings of

heaven above, blessings of the deep that lieth under, blessings of the

breast and of the womb; the blessings of thy father have prevailed

above the blessings of my progenitors, unto the utmost bounds of the

everlasting hills; they shall be on the head of Joseph, and on the

crown of the head of him that was separate from his brethren." (Gen.

xlix. 22-26.)

These verses beautifully exhibit to our view "the sufferings of Christ

and the glory that should follow." "The archers" have done their work;

but God was stronger than they. The true Joseph has been shot at and

grievously wounded in the house of his friends; but "the arms of his

hands have been made strong" in the power of resurrection, and faith

now knows him as the basis of all God's purposes of blessing and glory

in reference to the Church, Israel, and the whole creation. When we

look at Joseph in the pit and in the prison, and look at him afterwards

as ruler over all the land of Egypt, we see the difference between the

thoughts of God and the thoughts of men; and so when we look at the

cross, and at "the throne of the majesty in the heavens," we see the

same thing.

Nothing ever brought out the real state of man's heart toward God but

the coming of Christ. "If I had not come and spoken unto them, they had

not had sin." (John xv. 22.) It is not that they would not have been

sinners. No: but "they had not had sin." So he says in another place,

"If ye were blind, ye should have no sin." (John ix. 41.) God came near

to man in the person of his Son, and man was able to say, "this is the

heir;" but yet he said, "come, let us kill him." Hence "they have no

cloak for their sin." Those who say they see have no excuse. _Confessed

blindness_ is not at all the difficulty, but _professed sight_. This is

a truly solemn principle for a professing age like the present. The

permanence of sin is connected with the mere profession to see. A man

who is blind and knows it, can have his eyes opened; but what can be

done for one who thinks he sees, when he really does not?

CHAPTER XXXVIII.

Presents one of those remarkable circumstances in which divine grace is

seen gloriously triumphing over man's sin. "It is evident that our Lord

sprang out of Juda." (Heb. vii. 14.) But how? "Judas begat Phares and

Zara of _Thamar_." (Matt. i. 3.) This is peculiarly striking. God, in

his great grace, rising above the sin and folly of man, in order to

bring about his own purposes of love and mercy. Thus, a little farther

on, in Matthew, we read, "David the king begat Solomon, of her that had

been the wife of Urias." It is worthy of God thus to act. The Spirit of

God is conducting us along the line through which, according to the

flesh, Christ came; and in doing so he gives us as links in the

genealogical chain, Tamar and Bathsheba! How evident it is that there

is nothing of man in this! How plain it is that when we reach the close

of the first chapter of Matthew, it is "God manifest in the flesh" we

find, and that, too, from the pen of the Holy Ghost! Man could never

have devised such a genealogy. It is entirely divine: and no spiritual

person can read it without seeing in it a blessed exhibition of divine

grace in the first place, and of the divine inspiration of Matthew's

gospel in the second place,--at least of his account of Christ's

genealogy according to the flesh. I believe a comparison of 2 Sam. xi.

and Gen. xxxviii. with Matt. i. will furnish the thoughtful Christian

with matter for a very sweet and edifying meditation.

CHAPTER XXXIX.-XLV.

In perusing these interesting sections of inspiration, we perceive a

remarkable chain of providential actings, all tending to one grand

point, namely, _the exaltation of the man who had been in the pit_; and

at the same time bringing out by the way a number of subordinate

objects. "The thoughts of many hearts" were to be "revealed;" but

Joseph was to be exalted. "He called for a famine upon the land: he

brake the whole staff of bread. He sent a man before them, even Joseph,

who was sold for a servant; whose feet they hurt with fetters; he was

laid in iron; until the time that his word came; the word of the Lord

tried him. The king sent and loosed him; even the ruler of the people,

and let him go free. He made him lord of his house, and ruler of all

his substance; to bind his princes at his pleasure, and teach his

senators wisdom." (Psalm cv. 16-22.)

It is well to see that the leading object was to exalt the one whom men

had rejected; and then to produce in those same men a sense of their

sin in rejecting. And how admirably all this is effected! The most

trivial and the most important, the most likely and the most unlikely

circumstances are made to minister to the development of God's

purposes. In Chapter xxxix. Satan uses Potiphar's wife, and in Chap.

xl. he uses Pharaoh's chief butler. The former he used to put Joseph

into the dungeon; and the latter he used to keep him there, through his

ungrateful negligence; but all in vain. God was behind the scenes. His

finger was guiding all the springs of the vast machine of

circumstances, and when the due time was come, he brought forth the man

of his purpose, and set his feet in a large room. Now, this is ever

God's prerogative. He is above all, and can use all for the

accomplishment of his grand and unsearchable designs. It is sweet to be

able thus to trace our Father's hand and counsel in every thing. Sweet

to know that all sorts of agents are at his sovereign disposal; angels,

men, and devils--all are under his omnipotent hand, and all are made to

carry out his purposes.

In the scripture now before us, all this is seen in a most remarkable

manner. God visits the domestic circle of a heathen captain, the

household of a heathen king, yea, and his bed-side, and makes the very

visions of his head upon his bed contribute to the development of his

counsels. Nor is it merely individuals and their circumstances that we

see thus taken up and used for the furtherance of God's ends; but Egypt

and all the surrounding countries are brought into the scene; in short,

the whole earth was prepared by the hand of God to be a theatre on

which to display the glory and greatness of the one "who was separate

from his brethren." Such are God's ways; and it is one of the happiest

and most elevating exercises for the soul of a saint to trace thus the

admirable actings of his heavenly Father. How forcibly is God's

providence brought out in this profoundly interesting history of

Joseph! Look, for a moment, into the dungeon of the captain of the

guard. See there a man "laid in iron," charged with a most abominable

crime--the outcast and offscouring of society; and yet see him, almost

in a moment, raised to the very highest eminence, and who can deny that

God is in it all?

"And Pharaoh said unto Joseph, Forasmuch as God hath showed thee all

this, there is none so discreet and wise as thou art: thou shalt be

over my house, and according unto thy word shall all my people be

ruled: only in the throne will I be greater than thou. And Pharaoh said

unto Joseph, See, I have set thee over all the land of Egypt. And

Pharaoh took off his ring from his hand, and put it upon Joseph's hand,

and arrayed him in vestures of fine linen, and put a gold chain about

his neck. And he made him to ride in the second chariot that he had:

and they cried before him, Bow the knee: and he made him ruler over all

the land of Egypt. And Pharaoh said unto Joseph, I am Pharaoh, and

without thee shall no man lift up his hand or foot in all the land of

Egypt." (Chap. xli. 39-44.)

Here, then, was exaltation of no ordinary kind. Contrast this with the

pit and the dungeon; and mark the chain of events by which it was all

brought about, and you have, at once, a marked exhibition of the hand

of God, and a striking type of the sufferings and glory of the Lord

Jesus Christ. Joseph was taken from the pit and the dungeon, into which

he had been brought by the envy of his brethren, and the false judgment

of the Gentile, to be ruler over the whole land of Egypt; and not only

so, but to be the channel of blessing, and the sustainer of life, to

Israel and the whole earth. This is all typical of Christ; indeed, a

type could hardly be more perfect. We see a man laid, to all intents

and purposes, in the place of death, by the hand of man, and then

raised up by the hand of God, and set in dignity and glory. "Ye men of

Israel, hear these words: Jesus of Nazareth, a man approved of God

among you by miracles, and wonders, and signs, which God did by him in

the midst of you, as ye yourselves also know; him, being delivered by

the determinate counsel and foreknowledge of God, ye have taken, and by

wicked hands have crucified and slain: whom God hath raised up, having

loosed the pains of death, because it was not possible that he should

be holden of it." (Acts. ii. 22-24.)

But there are two points in Joseph's history which, together with what

has been noticed, render the type remarkably perfect; I allude to his

marriage with a stranger in Chapter xli, and his interview with his

brethren in Chapter xlv. The following is the order of events. Joseph

presents himself to his brethren as one sent by the father; they reject

him, and, so far as lies in them, put him in the place of death; God

takes him up from thence, and raises him to a position of highest

dignity: thus exalted, he gets a bride; and when his brethren according

to the flesh, are thoroughly broken and prostrate before him, he makes

himself known to them, tranquillizes their hearts, and brings them into

blessing; he then becomes the channel of blessing to them and to the

whole world.

I shall just make a few remarks on Joseph's marriage and the

restoration of his brethren. The strange wife shadows forth the Church.

Christ presented himself to the Jews, and being rejected, took his seat

on high, and sent down the Holy Ghost to gather out an elect Church,

composed of Jew and Gentile, to be united with him in heavenly glory.

The doctrine of the Church has already been dwelt upon in our remarks

on Chapter xxiv., but one or two points remain to be noticed here. And

first, we may observe that Joseph's Egyptian bride was intimately

associated with him in his glory.[20] She, as being part of himself,

shared in all that was his. Moreover, she occupied a place of nearness

and intimacy known only to herself. Thus it is with the Church, the

bride of the Lamb. She is gathered to Christ to be the sharer, at once,

of his rejection and his glory. It is Christ's position which gives

character to the position of the Church, and her position should ever

give character to her walk. If we are gathered to Christ, it is as

exalted in glory, and not as humbled down here. "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. v. 16.) The Church's

gathering-point is Christ in glory. "I, if I be lifted up from the

earth, will draw all men unto me." (John xii. 32.)

There is far more of practical value in the clear apprehension of this

principle than might, at first sight, appear. It is ever the aim of

Satan, as it is the tendency of our hearts, to lead us to stop short of

God's mark in every thing, and specially in the centre of our unity as

Christians. It is a popular sentiment, that "the blood of the Lamb is

the union of saints," i. e., it is the blood which forms their centre

of unity. Now, that it is the infinitely precious blood of Christ

which sets us individually as worshippers in the presence of God is

blessedly true. The blood, therefore, forms the divine basis of our

fellowship with God. But when we come to speak of the centre of our

unity as a church, we must see that the Holy Ghost gathers us to the

Person of a risen and glorified Christ; and this grand truth gives

character--high and holy character--to our association as Christians.

If we take lower ground than this we must inevitably form a sect or an

_ism_. If we gather round an ordinance, however important, or round a

truth, however indisputable, we make something less than Christ our

centre.

Hence, it is more important to ponder the practical consequences which

flow out of the truth of our being gathered to a risen and glorified

Head in the heavens. If Christ were on earth, we should be gathered to

him here; but, inasmuch as he is hidden in the heavens, the Church

takes her character from his position there. Hence, Christ could say,

"They are not of the world, even as I am not of the world;" and again,

"For their sakes I sanctify myself, that they also might be sanctified

through the truth." (John xvii. 16, 19.) So, also, in 1 Peter, we read,

"To whom coming, as unto a living stone, disallowed indeed of men, but

chosen of God and precious; ye also, as lively stones, are built up a

spiritual house, an holy priesthood, to offer up spiritual sacrifices,

acceptable to God by Jesus Christ." (Chap. ii. 4, 5.) If we are

gathered to Christ we must be gathered to him _as_ he is, and _where_

he is; and the more the Spirit of God leads our souls into the

understanding of this, the more clearly we shall see the character of

walk that becomes us. Joseph's bride was united to him, not in the pit

or the dungeon, but in the dignity and glory of his position in Egypt;

and, in her case, we can have no difficulty in perceiving the vast

difference between the two positions.

But farther we read, "And unto Joseph were born two sons, _before the

years of famine came_." There was a time of trouble coming; but

previous thereto the fruit of his union appeared. The children whom God

had given him were called into existence previous to this time of

trial. So will it be in reference to the Church. All the members

thereof will be called out, the whole body will be completed and

gathered to the Head in heaven, previous to "the great tribulation"

which shall come upon all the earth.

We shall now turn for a little to Joseph's interview with his brethren,

in which we shall find some points of resemblance to Israel's history

in the latter day. During the period that Joseph was hidden from the

view of his brethren, these latter were called to pass through deep and

searching trial,--through intensely painful exercises of conscience.

One of these exercises is poured out in the following words: "And they

said one to another, _We are verily guilty_ concerning our brother, in

that we saw the anguish of his soul, when he besought us, and _we would

not hear_; therefore _is this distress come upon us_. And Reuben

answered them, saying. Spake I not unto you, saying, Do not sin against

the child; and ye would not hear? therefore, behold, also, _his blood

is required_." (Chap. xlii. 21, 22.)

Again, in Chap. xliv. we read, "And Judah said, 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." None can teach like God. He

alone can produce in the conscience the true sense of sin, and bring

the soul down into the profound depths of its own condition in his

presence. This is all his own work. Men run on in their career of

guilt, heedless of every thing, until the arrow of the Almighty pierces

their conscience, and then they are led into those searchings of heart,

and intense exercises of soul, which can only find relief in the rich

resources of redeeming love. Joseph's brethren had no conception of all

that was to flow to them from their actings toward him. "They took him

and cast him into a pit ... and they sat down to eat bread." "Woe to

them ... that drink wine in bowls, and anoint themselves with the chief

ointments; but they are not grieved for the affliction of Joseph."

(Amos vi. 6.)

However, God produced grief of heart, and exercises of conscience, and

that in a most wonderful way. Years rolled on, and these brethren might

have vainly imagined that all was right; but, then, "seven years of

plenty, and seven years of scarcity!" What did they mean? Who sent

them? And for what were they designed? Admirable providence!

Unsearchable wisdom! The famine reaches to Canaan, and the calls of

hunger actually bring the guilty brethren to the feet of the injured

Joseph! How marked is the display of God's own hand in all this! There

they stand, with the arrow of conviction thrust through and through

their consciences, in the presence of the man whom they had, "with

wicked hands," cast into the pit. Surely their sin had found them out;

but it was in the presence of Joseph. Blessed place!

"Then Joseph could not refrain himself before all them that stood by

him; and he cried, Cause every man to go out from me. And there stood

no man with him, while Joseph made himself known unto his brethren."

(Chap. xlv. 1.) No stranger was allowed to witness this sacred scene.

What stranger could understand or appreciate it? We are here called to

witness, as it were, divinely-wrought conviction in the presence of

divine grace; and we may say, when these two come together there is an

easy settlement of every question.

"And Joseph said unto his brethren, _Come near to me_, I pray you. And

they came near. And he said, I am Joseph your brother, whom ye sold

into Egypt. Now therefore be not grieved, nor angry with yourselves,

that you sold me hither; for God did send me before you, to preserve

life.... And God sent me before you, to preserve you a posterity in the

earth, and to save your lives by a great deliverance. So now it was not

you sent me hither, but God." This is grace indeed, setting the

convicted conscience perfectly at rest. The brethren had, already, most

thoroughly condemned themselves, and hence Joseph had only to pour in

the blessed balm into their broken hearts. "This is all sweetly typical

of God's dealings with Israel, in the latter day, when they shall look

upon him whom they have pierced, and mourn." Then they shall prove the

reality of divine grace, and the cleansing efficacy of that "fountain

which shall be opened to the house of David, and to the inhabitants of

Jerusalem, for sin and for uncleanness." (Zech. xiii. 1.)

In the third chapter of Acts, we find the Spirit of God in Peter

seeking to produce this divine conviction in the consciences of the

Jews. "The God of Abraham, and of Isaac, and of Jacob, the God of our

fathers, hath glorified his son Jesus; whom ye delivered up, and denied

him in the presence of Pilate, when he was determined to let him go.

But ye denied the holy One and the just, and desired a murderer to be

granted unto you; and killed the Prince of life, whom God hath raised

from the dead, whereof we are witnesses." These statements were

designed to elicit from the hearts and lips of the hearers the

confession made by Joseph's brethren--"We are verily guilty." Then

follows the grace. "And now, brethren, I wot that through ignorance ye

did it, as did also your rulers. But those things, which God before had

showed by the mouth of all his prophets, that Christ should suffer, he

hath so fulfilled. Repent ye, therefore, and be converted, that your

sins may be blotted out, when the times of refreshing shall come from

the presence of the Lord." We here see that, although the Jews really

carried out the enmity of their hearts in the death of Christ, as did

also Joseph's brethren in their treatment of him, yet, the grace of God

to each is seen in this, that all is shown to be decreed and foreshown

of God for their blessing. This is perfect grace, surpassing all human

thought; and all that is needed in order to the enjoyment thereof, is a

conscience truly convicted by the truth of God. Those who could say,

"We are verily guilty," could rightly understand the words of precious

grace, "It was not you, but God." Thus it must ever be. The soul that

has thoroughly pronounced its own condemnation, is prepared to

understand and appreciate God's pardon.

The remaining chapters of this book are taken up with the removal of

Jacob and his family into Egypt, and their settlement there; Joseph's

actings during the remaining years of famine; Jacob's blessing the

twelve patriarchs; his death and burial. We shall not dwell in detail

upon these things, though the spiritual mind may find much to feed upon

therein.[21] Jacob's groundless fears dissipated by the sight of his

son alive, and exalted,--the peculiar grace of God seen in its

overruling power, yet evidently mingled with judgment, inasmuch as

Jacob's sons have to go down into the very place whither they had sent

their brother. Again, Joseph's remarkable grace throughout: though

exalted by Pharaoh, he hides himself, as it were, and binds the people

in abiding obligation to the king. Pharaoh says, "Go to Joseph," and

Joseph, in effect, says, "all you have and all you are belong to

Pharaoh." This is sweetly interesting, and leads the soul on to that

glorious time when the Son of man shall take the reins of government

into his own hand, by divine appointment, and rule over the whole

redeemed creation, his Church--the bride of the Lamb--occupying the

nearest and most intimate place, according to the eternal counsels. The

house of Israel, fully restored, shall be nourished and sustained by

his gracious hand; and all the earth shall know the deep blessedness of

being under his sceptre. Finally, having brought every thing into

subjection, he shall hand back the reins of government into the hands

of God, that "he may be all in all." From all this we may form some

idea of the richness and copiousness of Joseph's history. In short, it

sets before us distinctly in type the mission of the Son to the house

of Israel,--his humiliation and rejection,--the deep exercises and

final repentance and restoration of Israel,--the union of the Church

with Christ,--his exaltation and universal government, and, finally, it

points us forward to the time when "God shall be all in all." It is

quite needless to remark, that all these things are largely taught and

fully established throughout the entire canon of inspiration: we do not

therefore build their truth upon Joseph's history; still it is edifying

to find such early foreshadowings of these precious truths: it proves

to us the divine unity which pervades holy scripture. Whether we turn

to Genesis or to Ephesians,--to the prophets of the Old or those of the

New Testament,--we learn the same truths. "ALL SCRIPTURE IS GIVEN BY

INSPIRATION OF GOD."

FOOTNOTES:

[20] Joseph's wife sets forth the Church as united to Christ in his

glory; Moses' wife presents the Church as united to Christ in his

rejection.

[21] The close of Jacob's career stands in most pleasing contrast with

all the previous scenes of his eventful history. It reminds one of a

serene evening, after a tempestuous day: the sun, which during the day

had been hidden from view by clouds, mists, and fogs, sets in majesty

and brightness, gilding with his beams the western sky, and holding out

the cheering prospect of a bright to-morrow. Thus is it with our aged

patriarch. The supplanting, the bargain-making, the cunning, the

management, the shifting, the shuffling, the unbelieving selfish

fears,--all those dark clouds of nature and of earth seem to have

passed away, and he comes forth in all the calm elevation of faith, to

bestow blessings, and impart dignities, in that holy skilfulness, which

communion with God can alone impart.

Though nature's eyes are dim, faith's vision is sharp. He is not to be

deceived as to the relative positions assigned to Ephraim and Manasseh

in the counsels of God. He has not, like his father Isaac, in Chapter

xxvii., to "tremble very exceedingly," in view of an almost fatal

mistake. Quite the reverse. His intelligent reply to his less

instructed son is, "I know it, my son, I know it." The power of sense

has not, as in Isaac's case, dimmed his spiritual vision. He has been

taught in the school of experience the importance of keeping close to

the divine purpose, and nature's influence cannot move him from thence.

In Chapter xlviii. 11, we have a very beautiful example of the mode in

which our God ever rises above all our thoughts, and proves himself

better than all our fears. "And Israel said unto Joseph, I had not

thought to see thy face; and, lo, God hath showed me also thy seed." To

nature's view, Joseph was dead; whereas in God's view he was alive, and

seated in the highest place of authority, next the throne. "Eye hath

not seen, nor ear heard, neither hath it entered into the heart of man,

the things which God hath prepared for them that love him." (1 Cor. ii.

9.) Would that our souls could rise higher in their apprehension of God

and his ways.

It is interesting to notice the way in which the titles "Jacob" and

"Israel" are introduced in the close of the Book of Genesis; as, for

example, "One told _Jacob_, and said, Behold thy son Joseph cometh unto

thee: and _Israel_ strengthened himself, and sat upon the bed." Then,

it is immediately added, "And _Jacob_ said unto Joseph, God Almighty

appeared unto me at Luz." Now, we know, there is nothing in scripture

without its specific meaning, and hence this interchange of names

contains some instruction. In general, it may be remarked, that "Jacob"

sets forth the depth to which God had descended; "Israel," the height

to which Jacob was raised.

* * * * *

Transcribers notes:

Maintained original spelling and punctuation.

Greek and Hebrew transliteration is enclosed in brackets i.e.[Greek:]