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 I 
 

 TYPICAL FORESHADOWINGS 
 IN GENESIS. 
 
TYPICAL FORESHADOWINGS 
 
 IN GENESIS; f 
 
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 ®torl& ta Gtontr, stub iljr J9 tiring 
 |3 reparations for it. 
 
 jLtcL 
 
 BY 
 
 WILLIAM LINCOLN, 
 
 AUTBOE OB 
 
 “lECTBEES ON THE EEYELATION,” ETC. 
 
 “ Known unto God are all tjis works from the beginning of the world. ’—Acts xv. 13. 
 
 7 ravra 
 
 opi^ercu rco rekei. 
 
 LONDON: JOHN F. SHAW & CO., 
 
 48 . PATERNOSTER ROW, E.C. 
 
PREFACE. 
 
 The endeavour, in tlie following pages, is mainly to 
 draw out the teaching of this book viewed as a whole. 
 No doubt each of its many chapters abounds in instruc¬ 
 tion ; and inasmuch as it narrates the history of the 
 early patriarchs, one cannot but linger over the lessons 
 suggested by each inspired sketch successively presented 
 to us, and even by the various incidents of each several 
 life selected by the Spirit for our study. And this, as it 
 is the usual method of reading this book, so it is a very 
 profitable one. Nevertheless, since each book of God’s 
 Word is one only of God’s own divisions or chapters, 
 so it is surely well for us clearly to ascertain what He 
 would have us learn, from one such division or book of 
 His, regarded in its entirety. 
 
 For instance, there may be a parallel designed by 
 Him, and therefore to be reverently instituted by us be¬ 
 tween the account of God’s work in the Creation and 
 the Lord’s ways with the seven representative men of 
 this book. Thus as in Chapter I., so, too, in the body 
 of the book, the marked twofoldedness of the realms of 
 
 (^od to wit, in heaven and in earth—is seen in the 
 
 different call of Enoch on the one hand, from that 
 of Noah on the other. So likewise, also in Chapter I., 
 the call of God produces Light on the very first day. 
 
VI 
 
 PREFACE. 
 
 Yet the distinction is evident of this light from the Sun 
 itself, whose beams of glory shone out unhindered not 
 until the fourth day. 2 Cor. iii. 18 with iv. 6. For as 
 the Spirit was, in a certain sense, in the world even 
 before the man Christ Jesus was raised up and seated 
 upon God’s throne, yet is that Spirit fully now poured 
 out from the Son glorified ; so in the narrative, after the 
 picture of Abraham the believer, we are instructed as to 
 His way with Isaac the son. For it is because we are 
 sons, God has sent forth the Spirit of His Son into our 
 hearts. Or, once more, there is alike at the close of this 
 book, as well as at the end of the account of the Creation, 
 the Rule over all in the hands of a man. These are 
 fainter specimens in the first chapter, of what we find 
 to be much more distinctly foreshadowed in the course 
 of the entire panorama of the other forty-nine chapters. 
 They serve to premonish us that the book of Genesis 
 should be primarily regarded as connected in its lessons 
 from end to end. 
 
 It would seem as if the main lessons of the book are 
 two : one is, how the Rule erst entrusted to man, but 
 lost through sin, shall yet again, in an enlarged and uni¬ 
 versal form, be seen in Human hands. For contrast the 
 type of Joseph with that of Adam. And secondly, we 
 learn how God’s own people shall be blessed in that 
 coming Lord, some in the heavenlies, and some in the 
 earthlies, and in divers concentric circles of glory, as 
 displayed in His ways of grace with Enoch and Noah ; 
 and in his disciplinary dealings and training of Abra^ 
 ham, and Isaac and Jacob. 
 
CONTENTS. 
 
 PAGE 
 
 Introductory Remarks.. 
 
 The Lord’s Way with Adam, the Type of Him that is 
 
 to come.3 
 
 The Lord’s Way with Enoch, the Saint for Heaven . 14 
 
 The Lord’s Way with Noah, the Saint for the Earth 
 
 Section I. Noah, previous to the Deluge ... 21 
 
 Section II. Noah, subsequent to the Deluge . 34 
 
 The Lord’s Way with Abraham, the Believer 
 
 Section I. His call to Canaan. His blessing by 
 
 Melchisedek, after the slaughter of the kings 44 
 
 Section II. The training of the believer for the 
 
 inheritance.54 
 
 Section III. The Lord’s way with believing 
 
 Abraham, as a father . . . .79 
 
 The Lord’s Way with Isaac, the Typical Son . . 95 
 
 The Lord’s Way with Jacob, the Typical Servant 
 
 Section I. His absence from home, whilst engaged 
 
 in earning his two brides and his flock . . 106 
 
 Section II. His progress homeward to Bethel, and 
 guiding the family and flock thither . . 124 
 
CONTENTS. 
 
 vm 
 
 The Lord’s Way with Joseph, the Typical Euler 
 
 Section I. Edom in power; whilst the family of 
 this coming- Euler are strangers in Canaan. 
 
 Section II. He who is to rule typically according 
 to God, must first learn to obey. The 
 descent after the flesh, of the true king 
 
 Section III. Since all is light in the presence of 
 God, so there is His judgment seen by him 
 who, for obedience, is in the depths of this 
 world’s rejection and degradation 
 
 Section IY. The Appointment of the Euler . 
 
 Section Y. Joseph, the Euler’s behaviour towards 
 his brethren ...... 
 
 Section VI. Joseph the Euler’s service to Pharaoh, 
 in the full subjugation of all to his autho¬ 
 rity and in blessing to the whole land 
 
 Section VII. The Closing years of Jacob and of 
 Joseph. 
 
 PAGE 
 
 141 
 
 147 
 
 158 
 
 168 
 
 173 
 
 193 
 
 195 
 
 Conclusion 
 
 205 
 
TYPICAL 
 
 FORESHADOWINGS 
 
 IN 
 
 THE BOOK OF GENESIS. 
 
 Introiiucioin Hsntarha. 
 
 T T had been well if the first verse, and beginning of 
 the second, had been separated from the after verses, 
 and entitled chapter i. and thus seen to be distinct from 
 the narrative of God’s constituting the earth as a suit¬ 
 able abode for His creature man. The second verse says 
 that the earth, ere God began again to work upon it, 
 was “ toliu ,” rendered u without form.” But Isa. xlv. 
 18, asserts that God did not create it “ tohu.” And in 
 Isa. xxxiv. 11, the same two words occur precisely as we 
 have here, “tohu ,” “ bohu '—“confusiou and emptiness ” 
 as they are translated there. Compare also Jer. iv. 23, 
 and Rev. xvi. 18. From these four passages we are, 
 perhaps, led to infer that judgment had swept over this 
 planet ere man had aught to do with it. Curiosity 
 would here invite us to enter the realms of conjecture, 
 encouraged by the wise and foolish guesses of geology. 
 
 But let us from this singular opening of the book 
 learn one most valuable lesson, that the silence of Scrip¬ 
 ture is itself instructive. Let us therefore refuse to be 
 
 1 
 
2 
 
 Introductory Remarks. 
 
 wise beyond what is written. If it had pleased God that 
 at present we should know more certainly of the early 
 stages through which the earth has passed, He would 
 have told us more. But since He has not, let us bow 
 our heads and confess our ignorance. 
 
 It has been said that the Bible is the history of man. 
 Were this the fact, then it would inevitably follow that 
 the proper study of mankind is man. But this is an 
 atheistic sentiment. Better far to say that this Book 
 traces the pathway of God through the narrow isthmus 
 of time, and that it reveals His ways and His doings 
 towards His frail, and sinful, and erring subject, man. 
 
 How in the course of the fifty chapters of which this 
 book is composed, seven men, each one’of them a represen¬ 
 tative man, specially pass before our eyes. The account 
 of The Lord’s dealings with these seven men constitutes 
 the substance of this book. These seven of course are, as 
 is well known, Adam, Enoch, and Noah, Abraham, Isaac, 
 Jacob, and Joseph. Many other personages here appear. 
 Still in relation to one or another of these all may be 
 grouped. Therefore we may divide our remarks on this 
 book bv ranging what we are told under one or another 
 of these seven, and of God's action towards each of them. 
 
 Upon this most instructive Book of Genesis—the 
 Book of the germs or seeds of everything—writers have 
 been wont to direct their attention principally to the 
 first half thereof. This surely is a mistake and a defect. 
 Eor the main subject of this book is progressively and 
 regularly developed, even as the work in creation is 
 gradually unfolded in Chapter I. And accordingly, m 
 the following addresses, care has been taken to trace 
 this development, evidently designed, as well and as 
 much from Chapter XXY. to the end, as from Chapter 
 I. to Chapter XXY. 
 
®!j t Xnrifs tEtag tuitlj tlje ttm£ of 
 
 Hint tljat is to tomt. 
 
 Genesis i.—iii. 
 
 A T the outset it is advisable that we should state 
 ^ that the variation in the Name divine found in 
 these chapters is perfectly intentional. Fools may laugh 
 and cite this admitted variation as a proof that Moses 
 was a mere compiler, putting his narrative together from 
 various shreds of tradition extant in his day. We know- 
 better. We know that this is the Word of God. True, 
 that in chapter i. this name is Elohitn, or God ; that in 
 chapters ii.* and iii. it is Jehovah-Elohim; whilst in 
 chapter iv. it is Jehovah. This change of term to an in¬ 
 telligent reader of Scripture ought to be at once some 
 clue to the history itself. For Elohitn is His name as 
 Creator; Jehovah-Elohim is the revelation ol that 
 Creator in relationship with His creature; whilst His 
 name Jehovah reveals Him still, indeed, in relationship, 
 but no longer on the ground of mere creation. Surely 
 we may exclaim, “ How beautifully exact is all this !” 
 
 Chapter I. shows us God preparing a home, replete 
 with every comfort and blessing for His creature; and 
 
 ■* The word translated " generations/’ in chap. ii. 4, is ever 
 prospective, and never retrospective, as see chaps, vi. 9 and 
 
 xi. 17. 
 
4 Typical Foreshadow mgs. 
 
 then, secondly, His formation of that creature, and 
 His placing him in the home prepared for him. Even 
 for the very cattle the earth was suitably adapted, ere 
 those cattle were called into existence. It would be 
 quite foreign to the subject assigned me, and to the 
 limits within which it must be contained, to enlarge 
 upon every verse. All that is proposed is to present a 
 general survey of the entire book of Genesis as a whole. 
 Let it therefore be perfectly understood that I refrain 
 myself from remarking upon many expressions on which 
 one might easily dilate. Suffice it to say that the six 
 days’ work is subdivided into two threes, in which the 
 light, the waters, and the earth, are severally addressed 
 twice. 
 
 At length, since it is ever His wont to keep the best 
 till the last, and to reveal His deepest purposes at the 
 close, He forms man. There is here to be observed 
 a consultation held about the making of man, such as 
 there had not been of any other creature. And if it is 
 asked, “ With whom took He counsel? ’’ a full answer 
 is furnished us in Prov. viii. about Wisdom, who is the 
 Word ere He had come forth ; or, again, in John i., 
 about the Word, who is Wisdom after He had come 
 forth from God. Also compare Gen. i. 2 and Job 
 xxxiii. 4. And this very distinction, great and impor¬ 
 tant as it evidently is, proves the difference to be vast 
 indeed between man on the one hand, and all other ani¬ 
 mals on the other. To this add, that man was made in 
 the image and likeness of God, and that, in chap, ii., 
 we are told that the breath of Jehovah-Elobim was 
 breathed into him. Then we can see the folly of 
 those who would degrade man to the level of a brute, 
 or inaiutain that his existence did not differ funda¬ 
 mentally from the existence of the brute. Were there 
 
The Lord’s Way with Adam. 5 
 
 no such difference, what would have become of the breath 
 of God ? 
 
 I only add here, that in verse 28 Eve is seen to be 
 blessed in Adam ere she actually existed. This is a 
 most exquisite picture when viewed typically. Again, 
 even after his creation, and his being placed in Paradise, 
 Adam was not entitled to anything that he beheld. 
 Nothing was his until God had said to him, “ Behold, I 
 have given you,” etc. Once more, remark that the first 
 three verses of chapter ii. may be conjoined here.* 
 Then you hear of God at rest as to His creation work, 
 until the sin of His creature disturbed that rest, and led 
 Him to commence to work again, that He might rest in 
 redemption-rest, which rest none shall ever be able to 
 disturb, because it does not depend on any goodness of 
 the creature, as did that former rest (chap. i. 31). It 
 depends altogether on the finished work of the Son of 
 God upon the cross. Here, for the first time, we en¬ 
 counter that precious word “finished,” a word which 
 ever and anon crops up as the great work of God’s Son 
 looms more and more into view. So ot His Tabernacle 
 in Exod. xl., and of His Temple in 2 Chron. vii. 11, 
 this language is used, as well as by Christ in His address 
 to His Father in John xvii.; as also when about to de¬ 
 liver His Spirit up to His Father (John xix.). And 
 presently, when all is fulfilled ol that which He has 
 spoken to us in His Word, He will once more sound this 
 triumphant note (Rev. xxi.). 
 
 Chapter II. brings before us three things—(1) Man’s 
 relationship to God, with the duty incumbent on him ot 
 obeying implicitly that God in everything; (2) Also 
 woman’s relationship to man; and (3) the other crea- 
 
 * The word “thus,” in chap. ii. 1, is more exactly rendered 
 “ and.” 
 
6 Typical Foreshadowings . 
 
 tures’ relationship to man and woman. Thus through¬ 
 out God’s work there is seen to be due subordination ot 
 one above another ; also of God being over all, and of 
 man in authority, His representative on earth. Butman 
 failing to recognize God as his superior, the sceptre fell 
 Jrom his hands, and chaos and sin, both in the world 
 without and within, is the consequence. Instead of 
 the spirit ruling the soul, and the soul the body, the 
 flesh sways the soul; and the spirit of man, whereby 
 he may commune with God, is set aside, is dead. But 
 Christ, the Second Man, the Lord from Heaven, will yet 
 in His time show on earth what beautiful rule is (1 Tim. 
 vi. 13). Only Christ’s authority as Man shall extend 
 throughout the entire universe. For study how Psalm 
 viii. is expanded in a manner far beyond what the 
 Psalmist ever dreamt of in its application to Him by the 
 Holy Ghost, in Heb. ii. 8, 1 Cor. xv. 25, and Eph. i. 22. 
 Then shall be seen the heavens opened, and the angels 
 of God ascending as well as descending unto the Son 
 of Man. This is that reign of the Man of whom we 
 read in Dan. vii. And in all this glory Christ will still 
 act as the willing servant of God His Father. 
 
 The action of God, in bringing the animals to be 
 named by Adam, was designed to signify the delegated 
 ownership and authority over them entrusted to Adam 
 (compare Da. xliii. 1). But there was also another and 
 profounder object effected likewise thereby ; for thus was 
 Adam made to feel his loneliness. So after Adam, 
 created early on the sixth day, had been occupied in 
 naming the animals brought to him throughout the day, 
 then God caused a deep sleep to fall upon him. And 
 during that night a rib was taken from his side, and 
 “budded” (so Hebrew) into a woman. And thus was 
 a helpmeet found for him. Likewise, whilst as to this 
 
7 
 
 The Lord’s IVay with Adam. 
 
 world Christ appears to sleep, God is intent on building 
 the Church, taken from Christ’s body. A rib is taken 
 from his side, as if a cedar-plank had been taken from 
 the Temple, and formed into a splendid vessel for its 
 service. For we are members of His body—out of His 
 flesh, and out of His bones. 
 
 The falling asleep of Adam, and then awaking, and 
 finding his Eve, resemble the two Advents of the 
 Lord, and prove that only from a slain and (as faith 
 knows) a risen Christ can the Church be formed. And 
 though she was “ builded ” in the silence of the night, 
 yet in the morning did she appear in maturity, and in 
 resurrection beauty. And Adam gladly recoguized her. 
 His words, “ This is now,” etc., are equivalent to “ She 
 will do.” He saw the glad results of his sleep, and he 
 was satisfied. He was not ashamed of her, nor Christ 
 of us. But in all this the leading thought is evidently 
 not of Eve, but of Adam. She was necessary to him, 
 as we in resurrection (1 Cor. xv.) are the fulness of Him 
 that filleth all in all. “The woman is for the man ” 
 (1 Cor. xi. 9). God is preparing “a marriage for His 
 Son ” (Matt. xxii.). God’s consent to this marriage 
 was seen in bringing Eve,and. Eve’s incoming to Adam. 
 But in the divine reality His bride is not only taken 
 out of Him, but is presented by Hiinselt to Himself. 
 That is to say, Christ is not only the One from Whom 
 she is taken, and by Whom, as she comes into existence, 
 she is nourished and cherished, but also He is the God 
 Who makes the presentation, as well as the Man to \V horn 
 the presentation is made. 
 
 I am aware that some deny much of this. 1 am also 
 assured how futile their objection is. But, alas ! more 
 and more of truth is assailed every year. Am I told that 
 there is only one Scripture which seems to prove that the 
 
8 Typical Foreshadowings. 
 
 Church is Christ’s heavenly Bride, and that even it, when 
 examined does not assert this P My reply is, it has ever 
 been the custom, in all the centuries of this dispensation, 
 of those inclined to fritter away and to surrender the truth 
 of God, to attempt to weaken the force of any part of this 
 truth, by maintaining that only such and such Scriptures 
 appear to support it. The more vehement those men are 
 against any truth, the fewer Scriptures will they admit 
 to bear upon it. Thus, for instance, acts the Unitarian 
 with regard to the divinity of Christ. Such will tell 
 you that only John i. and Phil. ii. contain any semblance 
 of proof thereof. How many more could simple Chris¬ 
 tians quote than these! And I am clear that several 
 other Scriptures, besides Eph. v., teach the bridal rela¬ 
 tionship of the Church to Christ, and that other Scrip¬ 
 tures again assume it as a fact. But even if there was 
 only the one in Eph. v., this ought to be ample; and 
 would be, to one who had no pretty novelty to support. 
 Though the term Bride is not found in that pas¬ 
 sage, yet the sentiment is, very abundantly. It is 
 possible to be caught by a word, so as to overlook the 
 whole train of thought. Here the train of thought is 
 denied, for the lack of that single word. Dare any one 
 deny that the allusion throughout Eph. v. 23—32 is to 
 the taking of Eve out of Adam’s body, in order to the 
 building of a suitable bride for Adam thereupon ? Will 
 you maintain that the sentiment designed to be conveyed 
 is of the Church being the Body, and not of the Church 
 being the Bride of the Lamb ? As well might any one 
 dream of a man formally presenting his own body to 
 himself! But the explanation at the close, by the in¬ 
 spired writer himself, ought to set aside all such notions. 
 Eor he says, “ I speak concerning Christ and the 
 Church.” Now. were the leading thought in this Scrip- 
 
ri- 
 
 9 
 
 The Lord’s Way with Adam. 
 
 ture, of the Bride as Christ’s Body, what would be the 
 force of the word “and ?” It is utterly superfluous; in 
 fact, in another Scripture, where the same writer does 
 speak of Christ with His Church, as one Body, his lan¬ 
 guage is remarkably varied. Then his words are, “So 
 also is the Christ” (1 Cor. xii. 12). Here, you observe, 
 there is no “ and ” added. For the two are assumed as 
 one. But in Ephesians there is this “and,” for the one 
 is assumed to be two. I mean, in the one Scripture 
 (1 Cor. xii.), it is taught that the twain are one ; and 
 in the other (Eph. v.), that the one is twain. The fact 
 is, these two connected truths were designed to be 
 counter truths. For the one reveals rather the grandeur 
 of the Church’s position; the other, her subordination 
 and His affection. The one places her on the throne 
 with Christ; the other witnesses her as the leading, and 
 yet the humblest, worshipper at His feet. Take away 
 either truth, and you mar much the effect of the whole. 
 How can you gladly bend before Him, if you o?ly see 
 your oneness with Him ? How can you appreciate your 
 calling, your position, if only at His feet you are pro¬ 
 strate ? Revelation v. pictures to us the Church in both 
 her proper attitudes. Never there is she seen standing; 
 at one time she is sitting by Him, at another worship¬ 
 ping before Him. As some old writer has quaintly said, 
 “ Eve was taken not from the head of Adam, that she 
 might demean herself as lord ; nor yet from his feet, as 
 if she was to be trampled under foot; but from his side, 
 that she might be his fit companion, and that his affec¬ 
 tion might be set upon her.” 
 
 But now the perfect way of the heavenly Bridegroom 
 owards the Bride is set forth succinctly and yet most 
 fully in that said Scripture, where the scene here re¬ 
 ceives its inspired parallel and antitypical interpreta- 
 
io Typical Foreshadowings. 
 
 tion. Also, with great propriety this is traced out for 
 us in the epistle to the Ephesians. For that is 
 the one epistle which definitely treats of the cor¬ 
 porate standing of the Church as in the heavenlies. 
 And the notable passage there in Ephesians v. appears 
 to be a designed climax of the entire teaching of that 
 grand epistle. It is found here, indeed, in the midst of 
 a:i exhortation to husbands to love their wives. But 
 this apparently incidental way of its introduction is 
 quite m the style of new testament Scripture as regards 
 very many most important truths. And here we note 
 seven things predicated of the Lord as to His behaviour 
 towards His Bride. First , He loved her. Thus all His 
 subsequent action is traced up to and interpreted in the 
 light of its blessed source. For next to His love of the 
 Father, comes His love of the Church as His motive- 
 power in doing and suffering all for her that He has 
 done. He beheld that Church in the glass of Grod’s 
 decree, and His soul was enraptured with that sight. 
 Hence, secondly, He gave Himself for her. Aud love 
 beyond this is clearly impossible even for Him. Who 
 ever heard of a love like this? And His love is still the 
 same! He is risen, He is glorified. But unchanged, 
 persisting in His love He is engaged in its display though 
 now in other aspects. Having purchased her for Him¬ 
 self, He is intent on rendering her such an one as He 
 desires her to be, as His eternal companion and the 
 object of His love. Ho other bridegroom can render the 
 bride of his choice what he would like. But this is 
 precisely how the Lord is at present occupied with the 
 Church. And this is enlarged upon in the next four 
 particulars. For, thirdly , He sanctifies her unto the light 
 and purity to which she has been called. Fourthly, He 
 cleanses her from all iniquity, by the continually repeated 
 
'[lie Lord’s Way with Adam. 11 
 
 application through the Spirit, of the water of the word 
 of God. And these two—the sanctification and the 
 cleansing—must ever he combined. A heavenly mind 
 without simple, hearty obedience is of little value. 
 Hence as water acts on the body, so the word is to act 
 on the motives, thoughts, life, and walk by the energy of 
 the Holy Ghost. But if these two involve sorrow whilst 
 the work is only in process; so, fifthly and sixthly , the 
 other corresponding two, to wit, the “nourishing ” and 
 the “cherishing” furnish heavenly support and comfort. 
 In the Lord’s untiring attention to her sustentation 
 and growth is the cause traced of every atom of spiritual 
 strength she receives from the doctrines, the promises, 
 and the truths of Scripture. And in His “ cherishing 
 of her, and administration of warmth to her, is indicated 
 from Whom comes all increasing spiritual apprehension 
 and joy in God and in His love. And thus in process 
 of time does she corporately, and the several members 
 thereof individually, as they come into being during the 
 night of this dispensation, grow in grace and in the dis¬ 
 tinct perception of whose hand is at work upon her, and 
 of what He is doing with her. And, as morning neared, 
 Eve would become quite conscious ol her own actual 
 existence ; so the Church, after ages of slumber, is at 
 last awaking up to the grandeur and the bliss of her 
 calling, and to the imminence of her presentation in 
 person to her divine Bridegroom. 
 
 This, of course, is the ultimate issue of this amazing 
 and long-continued process in His work upon us now. 
 And accordingly the words in verse 27 should be thus 
 rendered“ that He Himself might present her to 
 Himself, the Church, glorious, not having spot, or 
 Avrinkle, or any such thing.” Compare Jude 24 And 
 when the Bridegroom and Bride at length meet, eac}^ 
 
i % Typical Foreshadowings. 
 
 we know, will be mutually “ satisfied ” with the other. 
 Isaiah liii. 11 ; Psalm xvii. 15. And the first to gaze at 
 ease and in full upon the unveiled glory and beauty of 
 incarnate Deity will be the Church of God. “ We shall 
 see Him as He is ” (1 John iii.) 
 
 And thus as the temple of God, this Church will have 
 God dwelling in her; and as His Body, will have God 
 above her; so as His Bride she will have Him with her. 
 For as the Temple, God, even the Father, will fill it and 
 every living stone thereof with Himself; and as the 
 Bride, she is Christ's; so as the Body she is filled with 
 the Holy Ghost from her divine Head. And whilst 
 these three combined , perfectly set forth her eternal 
 relationship towards the three-one God; her name as 
 the City, the New Jerusalem, sets forth her relationship 
 to the universe below her. 
 
 In my Lectures on the book of Revelation I have 
 already remarked on the two Trees of the knowledge and 
 of the life, now combined in Christ, and on the River 
 representing the Holy Ghost. For life from Him is 
 undivided in the garden whilst man is unfallen; but 
 outside thereof to man fallen it has four forms, as in the 
 four Gospels, or as in the four cherubim. 
 
 Chaptee III. Obedience that may not be tested is no 
 obedience at all. Here the question is simply one of 
 God’s authority, and of man’s ready subjection to Him. 
 The test was a perfect one. Had God made it to be in 
 some question of moral evil, such would not have so dis¬ 
 tinctly asserted the authority of God. But here the 
 partaking of the fruit was only evil, because God had 
 forbidden it. There was no reason why the fruit should 
 not be eaten, other than the plain command of God. 
 Many now likewise judge of obedience after the flesh 
 
The Lord’s IVay with Adam. i 3 
 
 likewise. They can see some reason why they should 
 live honestly; but such commands as relate to Baptism 
 or to the Supper of the Lord, for instance, are stigma¬ 
 tized as unnecessary. There is no real perception of 
 God, and of His will being supreme, in such cases. 
 
 Then Adam, having disobeyed God, the Lord begins 
 to unfold the resources of grace. Satan is here termed 
 “ the serpentfor the way of God is first to overcome 
 him, and then to expose him. And mention having been 
 made by God of the two seeds, and of their antagonism, 
 and of the results to each of that antagonism, Adam so 
 drinks in the truth conveyed in God’s announcement, 
 that he calls his wife’s name Eve, because she was the 
 mother of all living. He apprehended that he was to 
 live, as well as to die; but he also saw that this new life 
 was to come through the woman and her seed, and not 
 from himself. It is a truth to which all nature now 
 bears witness, that “ in the midst of life we are in death 
 but it is a truth which only God can reveal, and faith 
 can grasp, that in the midst of death we are in life. 
 His very raiment (for innocence was lost for ever) would, 
 in type, suffice to signify as well how his sin could be 
 covered, as how life and holiness could be obtained. 
 Meanwhile, better that the old Adam should die, than 
 that it should be perpetuated. It would appear to be 
 suggested as if access to the tree of life was even then, 
 as it is now, by means of the tree of knowledge. For 
 this is life eternal, to know God and Jesus Christ. 
 
®ljc TCor&’s Man hritlj ©nadj, ilje saint for 
 
 Ijralmt. 
 
 Genesis iv. and v. 
 
 /^HAPTER IV. Here at once we see the amazing 
 difference between the two seeds—the holy one 
 hated and murdered, and the wicked his murderer. We 
 are all aware that the fullest display of this hostility of 
 the wicked towards the righteous and the holy is beheld 
 in the Cross of the Son of God, and again in the rejec¬ 
 tion of the Holy Ghost by the world now. For through 
 that blessed Spirit Christ is formed in us ; and as the 
 new life is developed in us, so it is opposed still and re¬ 
 jected (Rom. viii. 36). 
 
 Of the seed'of Cain there are many on the list whose 
 names are identical with or similar to the sons of God 
 (professing) in the next chapter. Compare chap. iv. 
 17, 18, with those whose names we find in chap. v. It 
 is the same still. The greatest haters of God in the 
 world have, many of them, been those who once pro¬ 
 mised fair. But especially, as in chap, v., there seems 
 a sort of climax reached in what is recorded of Enoch, 
 and of his holy walk; so, conversely, here we have a 
 hellish climax reached in what is, recorded of the lust, 
 and murder, and scornful infidelity of Lamech, the 
 descendant of Cain. For the patience of God ripens 
 the saint and the sinner both. 
 
!5 
 
 The Lord's IVay with Lnocli. 
 
 Chapter \, Here we have traced for us the line of 
 the other seed. But whilst in chap. iv. Cain’s seed are 
 beheld busy, making this world their home, and as com¬ 
 fortable and as refined as, with skill in all arts, and the 
 production of all sweet sounds, they can render it; 
 albeit the blood of Abel, being left unavenged, was 
 itself a witness of the curse resting on it: here, on 
 the contrary, in chap, v., we have, indeed, the other seed 
 mentioned, though without any record of their doings. 
 Notwithstanding that their lifetime extended over seve¬ 
 ral centuries, little is told us of them beyond that they 
 lived, begat a family, and died. Surely this very silence 
 is most telling. Nowadays, with the world’s heroes, 
 three volumes are required for the narrative of one who 
 lived till seventy years; here three verses suffice for the 
 account of one who lived seven or nixie hundred ! As 
 if Cain’s descendants made up all the world’s history ! 
 But as to this other seed, it is implied that earth was 
 not their home. The patriarchal funeral bell, “ And he 
 died,” “And he died,” tolls eight times in this brief 
 chapter. None of them reach quite up to a thousand 
 years. For this we find is reserved for man on earth in 
 millennial times. And hence we see that, even from the 
 beginning, God had the end in view. Moreover, as we 
 read that Lamecli lived after he begat Noah five hun¬ 
 dred ninety and five years, whilst the flood was upon 
 the earth in the six hundredth year of Noah s life, 
 therefore Bamech lived within five years of that flood. 
 Further, since we read that Methuselah lived after he 
 begat Lamech seven hundred eighty and two years, 
 whilst Lamech begat Noah when he was a hundred 
 eighty and two years old, and therefore when Lamecli 
 had six hundred years more to live, it follows that 
 Methuselah died in the very year that the flood took 
 
16 Typical Foreshadowings. 
 
 place. How very nigh Scripture goes towards contra¬ 
 dicting itself, and yet without its actually doing this ! 
 Surely nothing but the truth, revealed by the Spirit of 
 God, preserved the inspired writer here from inaccuracy 
 of statement. 
 
 Above I have remarked that the patriarchal funeral 
 bell is heard to toll eight times in this chapter, and that 
 all of these, from Adam to Lamech, eventually passed 
 away hence. But there is one bright exception made in 
 the mode in which this was done. Enoch is taken to 
 heaven ere the deluge came; although whilst he pro¬ 
 phesied of the Lord’s advent, he may have eyed the deluge 
 impending as the precursor of a still more awful judg¬ 
 ment now so near (Jude 14 and 15). On the other hand, 
 Hoah passes quite through the deluge. Thus these two 
 men, of each of whom it is recorded that he walked with 
 God—as if it were one on each arm—these become a 
 designed type of God’s two callings: of the one now 
 being made, which is the heavenly calling, and to be 
 closed by the rapture of the entire Church into the im¬ 
 mediate presence of her Lord; the other, God’s earthly 
 call in the future of a remnant of Israel, and of a multi¬ 
 tude that no man can number out of all nations,* who 
 will be kept for the appearing of Christ safely through 
 the great tribulation presently to set in. How this walk¬ 
 ing with God, of which here we read recorded of Enoch, 
 denotes on God’s part, complacency, and on Enoch’s 
 part, ease and peace. Likewise in Ephesians, clear direc¬ 
 tions are afforded to us as to the heavenly character of 
 our present walk, in view of the sure prospect of soon 
 being called up on high. 
 
 * In my Lecture on Rev. vii. I have proved the amazing dif¬ 
 ference of the two classes of Jew and Gentile there from the 
 Church of God. 
 
*7 
 
 The Lord’s Way with Enoch. 
 
 Here, then, is our Hope set before us in figure. Like 
 Enoch, we are to disappear from this world’s scene. We 
 may be somewhat missed, but should be less desired. 
 Like our Master, for all our service in it we reap onlv 
 its hate and its contempt. It will be known that we 
 have gone, and where, for the Beast will, when he has 
 risen to power, turn into scorn the whole thing (Rev. 
 xiii. 6) ; also many professors will, when it is too late, 
 implore the Lord to open unto them (Luke xiii. 25). 
 The living saints, those here at any period ere He 
 returns, are they who are constantly represented in 
 Scripture as those who may be caught away. For the 
 Lord Jesus will descend from heaven with a shout of 
 triumph and of joy. The Holy Ghost, who is only down 
 here for a season, and in consequence of Christ’s supreme 
 exaltation there, in order that He may whisper to those 
 with listening ears of all that hidden glory of the Lord, 
 will at once lift the entire Church into the divine pre¬ 
 sence. His own know His voice now, and will recog¬ 
 nize His signal then. They are drawn close together 
 bv His wondrous story of the love of the uncreated Son 
 of God, and in their gathering themselves together 
 closely around Himself, are being thus formed into a 
 Body and a Bride, and are at last gathered home unto 
 Himself present still in their midst, as when down yonder 
 in the world. Then they believed in His presence, and 
 tasted somewhat of its sweetness; now He is visible 
 before their very eyes—He Who for them hung in agony 
 on the Cross. He has thus come on the road to meet 
 us because He loves us so much, and because on us His 
 heart is set. His prayer had proved the reality of His 
 love; His Cross had gauged its depth. He did not come 
 for Enoch j nor does He come when a believer dies. 
 Then that saint departed to be with Him. But He 
 
18 Typical Foreshadowings. 
 
 comes for the Church—for us altogether, those whose 
 bodies were held in the tomb, and for those who were 
 like caged doves in those bodies of humiliation when He 
 came. It is the will of God that all of us shall be glori¬ 
 fied together; and until that time has arrived, we are 
 sealed as God’s own, and have the earnest of the Spirit 
 in our hearts. We are not of the world any more than, 
 nay, not so much as, were those patriarchs mentioned 
 in this chapter; for not only are we called with a 
 heavenly calling, but more, we are the Church of the 
 living God. We have perfect peace now through His 
 finished work; we see Him representing us before our 
 God, and we have this Holy Spirit already with us. In 
 all these things our blessing very far exceeds that of 
 these early saints. 
 
 As to times and seasons, we know nothing, nor indeed 
 do we wish to know. It is designed as a proof of His 
 confiding love to us, that He has not made us acquainted 
 with the time of His arrival. No loving wife would like 
 the implication that she could not be trusted to be ready, 
 with the hand on the latch, for her husband at any time. 
 Besides which, this keeps us on the look-out from day 
 to day, which pleases Him very much. This He tells us 
 over and over again, as in Luke xii. 37. But though the 
 time be hidden, still surely we must be conscious that 
 the end of the Church’s course here has been nearly 
 reached. And what a view this opens to us ! At any 
 moment, the very next for aught we know, and we may 
 be gone, at once and right up into His immediate pre¬ 
 sence ; God Himself, the very next moment, engaged in 
 the act of presenting us faultless before Him with 
 exceeding joy. Here we may be at one moment in our 
 daily avocations, and, or ever we are aware all this work 
 of God’s fully accomplished. 
 
J 9 
 
 The Lord's Way with Enoch. 
 
 True, much has to be done down here before the Lord 
 can appear to the world. So the world ripened further 
 for judgment after Enoch was taken home, until the two 
 parties of religious and irreligious, both unsaved, became 
 amalgamated. The very word “ I will destroy,” was not 
 heard, nor a single timber of the ark placed with one 
 other, until a long period subsequent to Enoch’s trans¬ 
 lation. But this is not so material to us. Our home is 
 a heavenly one. We are not looking for the day, nor yet 
 for the appearance of the Sun of Righteousness, but for 
 the Morning Star, which shines for a while anterior to the 
 day, and which those who are up betimes and watching, 
 only see. Whilst the Old Testament is closed with a refer¬ 
 ence to the rising of the Sun of Righteousness, conversely 
 the Lord Jesus, in the New, speaks of Himself as the Morn¬ 
 ing Star. This distinction of itself reveals the difference 
 of our calling from Israel’s. Yea more, whilst Malachi 
 speaks of Israel treading the wicked under the soles of 
 their feet, the Church, whose home is above the stars, is 
 destined under its divine Archangel Michael to hurl Satan 
 and his host from heaven (Rev. xii.) All this goes to 
 show how in quite another sphere is our place and por¬ 
 tion than on this earth. No, here we are pilgrims and 
 strangers. And until we have left it, earth’s ripening in 
 wickedness, and next its judgment and blessing, are 
 delayed. The Holy Ghost Himself, who is our heavenly 
 guide and companion, hinders the development of the 
 man of sin and the full display of man’s apostacy (2 
 Thess. ii.) Satan needs not twenty centuries to produce 
 this coming man. But he has to wait till God’s purposes 
 concerning us, and our calling, and our training, and our 
 chastening here below are all completed. 
 
 It is not said here that Enoch ascended into Heaven, 
 nor do we find anywhere else that our rapture is so 
 
/ 
 
 20 
 
 Typical Foreshadowings ., 
 
 termed. This is only fully true of Christ’s own path to 
 His pristine home, denoting as it does majesty and 
 stateliness in the mode of His departure. Enoch was 
 «taken.” “We are to be caught up,” or rapt away by the 
 Spirit as Philip was, only in our case to our home and 
 to our God and Father and to the Lord Jesus. Some 
 object to the word “ rapture,” but it is the very word 
 used in the Greek to describe this thing. For rapture 
 is properly a Latin word formed by metathesis from this 
 word here. Thus we only keep close to Scripture in so 
 speaking. 
 
(Tbr ICorii's Wag hull) Utmlj. tiir saint 
 
 for tl)£ sartlj. 
 
 Section I. 
 
 Boah, preuiuus tu the Deluge. 
 
 Genesis vi.—viii. 19. 
 
 /^HAPTER VI., to Ver. 13. That which is bom 
 of the flesh is flesh. It does not follow because 
 one is a saint that his children are also and all of them 
 saints. Too well, alas ! we know the contrary. These 
 patriarchs, mentioned by name in chap, v., may have 
 been, and probably were, all truly acquainted with God 
 themselves ; but each of them begat children, and there 
 is no proof that their children all followed in their 
 parents’ faith. 
 
 It should be understood that at the beginning of the 
 world’s course, these two seeds, to wit, those of the 
 openly wicked (in chap, iv.), and those of the sons of 
 God, were not only separated as to the latter professing 
 godliness, and as to the former scorning it; but there 
 appears to have been a local distance maintained, for a 
 while, between the two parties. The one hovered still 
 on the outskirts of Eden, where were the Cherubim and 
 the Shechinah ; the other, even in Cain’s own time, “ went 
 out,” as the Scripture itself informs us, from the pre¬ 
 sence of the Lord. But in process of time, as the two 
 parties multiplied, and the seed of Cain and the seed of 
 Seth were each much increased, the advanced habita- 
 
 i 
 
22 Typical Fore shadowings. 
 
 tions of the one would approximate to the nearest dwell¬ 
 ings of the other. For it is not likely that Cain’s seed 
 went much further away than out of the view of Eden. 
 And then the one line, the sons of God professing, be¬ 
 held the daughters * of men that they were fair. Mes¬ 
 sengers,f or angels, would soon pass from the one party 
 to the other, and enticed by the beauty of their women, 
 abandon their own local nearness to Eden and to the 
 Shechinah, and fix their dwelling-place among their new 
 friends. The result is not left in doubt. Marriages of 
 these who had formerly been in separation the one from 
 the other prevailed at length, and to that extent, that 
 amalgamation of the two seeds, the Sethite and the 
 Cainite, followed. The one line thus proved that, how¬ 
 ever lineally descended from Seth, they were not spiritu¬ 
 ally his true seed. 
 
 But separation, as witness for God, abandoned, then 
 came the deluge. After that, corruption and violence J 
 had broken down all the barriers dividing between the 
 
 * The term “ men,” here is used in a bad sense, as the word 
 “ world ” is now. Cain’s seed were the “ men” ; they made up 
 all the world’s history. Their “ daughters ” are specially men¬ 
 tioned for the part they played in the sin that followed. 
 
 f Thus simply may be interpreted that somewhat obscure 
 passage in Jude 6. Then the “ angels ” here are identical with 
 “ the sons of God ” in Gen. vi. 2 Peter ii. 4 seems to confirm 
 this interpretation of the word “ angel,” since he goes on, 
 in the very next verse, to speak of the deluge. Now that these 
 “ sons of God ” were human, overwhelming evidence will be 
 afforded a little further on above. And as to the word “ angel,” 
 the English reader should be informed that this term is often 
 used in Greek where men are undoubtedly signified. Thus the 
 messengers that John sent to Christ are so named, in Luke 
 vii. 24. So the disciples that the Lord sent to a village of the 
 Samaritans, to make ready for Him, are such (see Luke ix. 52) 
 
 X Corruption and violence are the two'' forms that sin takes. 
 In Prov. i. wisdom warns of violence; chap, ii., of corruption. 
 
23 
 
 The Lord’s Way with Noah. 
 
 two parties; then God, in exact retributive judgment, 
 removed the barriers that restrained the flood of waters 
 from the earth. In the 12th and 13th verses of chap, 
 vi., this sin of men, and this consequent judgment of 
 Gfod, are linked together. The emphasis is lost in the 
 authorized Version through the one Hebrew word being 
 rendered in ver. 12 “ corrupt,” and in ver. 13, “ destroy.” 
 There is a striking allusion to this very passage, and to 
 this use of one and the same word for the sin of men and 
 for the judgment of God, in 1 Cor. iii. 17, where again, 
 most unfortunately, the idea suggested by the Holy 
 Ghost is lost sight of by two different renderings in Eng¬ 
 lish of one and the same Greek word : “ If any one mar 
 the temple of God ( [i.e ., by blending the two seeds to¬ 
 gether, or by upsetting God’s own order in His house), 
 “ God will mar him.” The one word in the two clauses 
 shows that the particular judgment is for that particular 
 sin. So here, “ all flesh had marred its way on the earth ” 
 (ver. 12), and God said, “ I will mar them with the 
 earth ” (ver. 13). 
 
 But some will have it that these sons of God were 
 celestial angels. Now, in proof that the true idea 
 suggested in the passage is the abandonment of sepa¬ 
 ration unto God of the Sethite seed, the whole of the 
 descendants of Adam becoming all united together; 
 and note that wherever a union based on compromises, 
 and then of amalgamation, is affected, this can only be 
 by the avowed witnesses for God forsaking their high 
 standing, for the other side have nothing to surrender— 
 in proof, I say, that these sons of God here spoken of 
 were human, I submit the following considerations. Let 
 them all be viewed as a whole, and surely conviction 
 ought to follow. 
 
 1. Turn to the last two verses of Luke iii. There 
 
24 
 
 Typical Foreshadowings. 
 
 you have the Sethite line traced backwards, “ Methuselah 
 was the son of Enoch, who was the son of Jared, who 
 was the son of Maleleel, who was the son of Cainan, 
 who was the son of Enos, who was the son of Seth, 
 who was the son of Adana, who was the son of God." 
 Thus the Sethite line is headed up by Adam as son of 
 God. In other words, here we have the line of the sons 
 of God. Cain’s line was the line of the children of men. 
 
 2. Matthew (xxii. 30) informs us that God’s angels are 
 incapable of marriage, as also the children of the resur¬ 
 rection will be. 
 
 3. Angels are spirits (ITeb. i. 7). But spirits have 
 not flesh nor bones either, as Christ explains in Luke 
 xxiv. 39. Now combine these Scriptures with proof 
 No. 2 above. Eor, putting these two passages to¬ 
 gether, we learn that angels have not flesh; and in 
 Matt. xxii. 30, that they have no sexes. Now, in proof 
 that the term “ angel ” is frequently used in the Greek 
 Testament, where men are certainly meant, I have quoted 
 two instances in a note at page 22. But because this 
 point is important, as conducive to a right understanding 
 of the subject, I cite here two more. In James ii. 25, the 
 messengers that Rahab received are called “angels.” So 
 again in the Greek of Matt. xi. 10, John the Baptist is 
 termed an “ angel.” Putting side by side all this Scrip¬ 
 ture evidence, it seems to me to sweep quite away the 
 argument, such as it is, drawn from the word “ other,” 
 or “ strange flesh,” in Jude 6 ; and the obvious meaning 
 is, that the professing sons of God left their own Sethite 
 side and place, allured by the daughters of the Cainite 
 or serpent race. 
 
 4. Matthew (xxiv. 38), speaking of the days before the 
 flood, states that they were eating and drinking, marry¬ 
 ing and giving in marriage. Here there seems a glance 
 
25 
 
 The Lord’s Way with Noah . 
 
 back to tbe account in Genesis, and to the various modes 
 of fleshly self-indulgence in which men spent their 
 days. 
 
 5. On a comparison of the last-cited Scripture with 
 Luke xvii. 27, contrasted with verse 28, the probability 
 ripens into certainty. Of those living in Noah’s days, it is 
 there said: “ They did eat, they drank ; they married, they 
 were given in marriage, until the day that Noah entered 
 into the ark,” etc. But in the next verse, the language is 
 varied, certainly not without design. For there, speak¬ 
 ing of the days of Lot, the Lord omits all reference to 
 the Sodomites’ marriages and of their being given in 
 marriage. Now this very variation as to how the men 
 of Sodom were occupied, as contradistinguished from 
 the manner of life of those in Noah’s time, Droves that 
 the Lord calls distinct attention to the crowning sin of 
 those antediluvians. But surely in neither Matt. xxiv. 
 38, or in Luke xvii. 27, is there the remotest thought of 
 angelic sin. 
 
 6. And what heavenly angels can here be alluded to? 
 Had they been the holy angels, they would not thus 
 have acted ; if the confederates of Satan, how could they 
 be called “sons of God”? Moreover, these “angels,” 
 Jude witnesses, are in prison for their sin; but the fallen 
 angels are still at large, and will not finally be cast out 
 of heaven until the rapture of the Church into heaven 
 (Rev. xii.). 
 
 7. Already I have shown above the connection between 
 the sin committed and the judgment inflicted by the 
 Holy Ghost, using one single word for these two in the 
 Hebrew of Gen. vi. 12, 13; and again, by a single word 
 for the parallel sin and punishment of Christendom, in 
 1 Cor. iii. 17. But if the guilty party were indeed 
 heavenly angels, either good or bad, then the wrong 
 
2 6 
 
 Typical Foreshadowings. 
 
 party was punished. For unquestionably it was the race 
 of men, as well the Sethites as the Cainites—Noah and 
 his family only excepted—that was swept away by the 
 deluge. But how likely, how righteous the judgment, 
 if by these professing “ sons of God ” be signified the 
 Sethites, who had become savourless salt. 
 
 8. I think it very probable, as Bunyan* suggests, that 
 Balaam hence got his idea as to how he would ruin 
 Israel, by inducing them to abandon their separation 
 through intermarriage with the Midianites. In his pro¬ 
 phecies to Balak he had testified of Israel’s grandeur in 
 testimony for God, by “ dwelling alone, and not being 
 numbered among the nations.” This silent witness for 
 their God he would set aside, and thus devote them to 
 destruction, which he had failed to accomplish by cursing 
 them. Traditionary relics of the deluge would still be 
 rife in his day, as even now among the heathen such are 
 found. 
 
 9. All this is often met by the scornful question, how 
 such marriages as of Sethite with Cainite would pro¬ 
 duce “giants.” It does not seem very wonderful that 
 the children of the holy and the chaste should have 
 healthier bodies than the impure should have. But I 
 might return the question, and ask how it can be proved 
 that the seed of angels aud of men should necessarily be a 
 race of giants. There is no Scripture in proof of this. Ou 
 the contrary, Matt. xxiv. 38, aud Luke xvii. 27, are quite 
 opposed, as we have seen, to such a view. In the anti¬ 
 type, now fulfilling before our eyes, the answer is very 
 clear j and the answer carries with it the proof that, in 
 our days, both parties are certainly human. For who 
 are the giants nowadays ? Those who pretend to be of 
 
 * See a long quotation from Bunyan on this point in the 
 ,f Javelin of Phinehas,” pp. 474, 475. 
 
27 
 
 The Lord’s IVay with Noah. 
 
 a more heavenly and holy line than the world to which 
 they are joined. Those who use a form of godliness to 
 help themselves on in this world. Those in whom much 
 of the hero-worship of the day is centred. Those who, 
 however great they are in the religious world now, their 
 names as “ men of renown ” had never been heard of, 
 but for their fleshly piety. Lastly, if these giants had 
 been really half-castes, partly angelic as to their origin 
 and partly human, how would they stand towards Him, 
 the Saviour of the world, who lays not hold of angels, 
 but of the seed of Abraham (Heb. ii.) ? 
 
 I have tarried somewhat on this passage, because of 
 its extreme importance, and have sought to remove from 
 the reader’s mind any bias in favour of an interpretation 
 which blunts its point, at a time, too, when its solemn 
 warning demands special attention. For Laodiceanism, 
 as we are expressly informed in Rev. iii., is the very last 
 guise that the nominal church assumes ere it is spued out 
 of Christ’s month. The commingling of hot water and 
 cold, the form of godliness without the power—-nay, 
 more, the denial of the power thereof, self-content and 
 self-complacency with one’s own state, albeit Christ is 
 shut out, as here in Genesis, God was esteemed a 
 stranger, and all witness for Him abandoned; these, 
 surely, are the marks of the religion of the day. And 
 thus the opening verses of Genesis vi., which trace 
 the real and proximate cause of the deluge, resemble 
 the inspired portraits of the present time, as in Rev. iii. 
 15, or 2 Tim. iii., and all contribute to prove how near 
 its end the age has come. As the Lord predicted, so 
 has it come to pass : “ As it was in the days of Noah, so 
 shall it be in the days of the Son of Man.” May we 
 be looking for Enoch’s God to take us to Himself, and 
 heed this warning, and be ready for His signal. So shall 
 
28 
 
 Typical ForeshadoivinQS. 
 
 we have disappeared hence, and have at last reached our 
 
 home yonder, and be shut in eternally with God, ere the 
 
 world’s sin has fully ripened, and the vials of His wrath 
 
 be at last poured out upon it! 
 
 % 
 
 Chapter YI. 14, to VIII. 19. But ISoah, who repre¬ 
 sents the saints to be preserved for the earth, finds 
 grace in the eyes of the Lord. God had looked out 
 upon the earth; and He who had once- seen all good, 
 now sees all to be evil. He is grieved at His heart. Let 
 this affecting remark penetrate us through and through. 
 However plenteous He is in goodness and mercy towards 
 them that fear Him, sin is eternally abhorrent to His 
 nature. But what had been said ot‘ Enoch is here repeated 
 of Noah. Never does He confound the righteous, however 
 few they may be, with the wicked. Only Noah, as the 
 type of the saints for the earth, is not removed from the 
 scene of judgment and taken up to God. He is to pass 
 through all that is impending, safely sheltered in the ark. 
 
 As for this ark, clearly it was God's own thought 
 alone. He likewise gave minute directions as to all its 
 details. Nothing was left for Noah’s ingenuity. It was 
 not we who found Christ as One who could save us. If 
 God had not told us, never should we have known that 
 He had a co-equal Son at all. He laid help on One 
 mighty ; and whatever Christ is now to us, is owing to 
 God’s provision and appointment. Eorinstauce: Was 
 the ark to be made of gopher or cypress wood? In 
 this very selection there is, I think, some reference to 
 the shelter to be found in Christ. I am more confirmed 
 in this by the fact that the word here twice rendered 
 “ pitch,” is called in the Hebrew “ copher!”* And then 
 
 * The word copher, inExod. xxi. 30, xxx. 12, and Isa. xliii. 3, 
 ie rendered ransom. It is found in the plural in Exod. xxix. 36, 
 
29 
 
 The Lord’s Way with Noah. 
 
 the passage reads, “ Make thee an ark of gopher wood ; 
 and thou shalt copher it within and without with copher.” 
 For these Hebrew words are allied to our English one 
 “cover.” And thus we are reminded of that precious 
 and frequent phrase in the New Testament—“in Christ.” 
 In Him only can we be sheltered from the wrath to 
 come. In Him only can we be carried through the 
 region of death and judgment into resurrection life 
 (John v. 24). 
 
 So when all was ready, after the exhibition of divine 
 patience and forbearance with the ungodly for a hundred 
 and twenty years, during which the preaching of Noah, 
 at least, in pictured action, as the ark was slowly fas¬ 
 hioned according as God had directed, then the Lord said 
 unto Noah, Come thou and all thy house into the ark. 
 Likewise, the Lord has called us who believe in Christ 
 and has safely sheltered ns in Christ, though as yet the 
 door is not closed. 
 
 In 1 Peter iii. 18—21 is a most remarkable passage, 
 drawing lessons from the scene before us, for our instruc- 
 tion. There three things are ascribed to God, as working 
 by His Spirit. (1) He spake by His Spirit in Noah to 
 the antediluvians, who, however some may have been 
 impressed with the sight of the huge vessel slowly 
 approaching completion, or others who mocked and said, 
 “ to-morrow shall be as this day,” all ultimately persisted 
 in disregarding the warning message, and are now for 
 their obstinacy consigned to prison, there awaiting their 
 final and terrible doom. (2) Again, by that same Spirit, 
 He quickened Christ who had been put to death. And 
 now again, (3) a similar message is sent to the world 
 
 xxx. 10, 16 ; Lev. xxiii. 27, xxv. 9, and is translated atonement. 
 In Exod. xxv. 17, xxx. 6, and xxxi. 7, the same word radically 
 is rendered mercy-seat. 
 
30 Typical Foreshadow lags. 
 
 through us who believe, as was sent of old through Noah, 
 and some by grace having been drawn by the Spirit are 
 saved in Christ and identified with Him, even as those 
 who in a ship go both down and up in it. Only in our 
 case, as we well know, the waves of wrath were poured 
 out upon Him alone. The waters of baptism into which 
 we descend testify of our death, burial, and resurrection 
 in Him. True, the corn of heavenly Wheat was alone 
 till It had died (John xiii. 24). But there in death, 
 though not before, It had reached us, particles as it were 
 of earthly mould. So It gathers us to Itself. Then in 
 Him we all rise together (see also Rom. vi.; and Col. ii., 
 iii.) And He who has called us to Himself, will perfect 
 that which concerneth us. His call of us is not by any 
 means a call for once and then over. We are to abide in 
 Him and to walk in Him. That is to say, His call is 
 continuous and daily. As He once said “ Light become, 
 and light became,” that call perpetuating light unto 
 this day; so that call of His to us is extending to our 
 affections, our hearts, even to our very eyes and hands. 
 And for our comfort let us remember that whilst the ark 
 rested on the bleak and craggy mountains of Ararat; 
 we have been already in spirit and shall be soon in body 
 brought home unto our Father and our God. 
 
 Hence, one window only was there to the ark, namely 
 at the top thereof. For now our eye is to be directed 
 upward unto God. Worship, praise, and thanksgiving, 
 with habitual living in His presence ; these are what 
 become us who are saved in Christ. For the deluge 
 imminent then and now are God’s own work. “ Behold, 
 I, even I, do bring a flood.” He that provided the ark 
 is the same as He who brought the deluge. He that 
 has found for us Christ, will presently pour out His 
 unmitigated fury on all unbelievers. Mercy and judg- 
 
3 l 
 
 The Lord’s IVay with Noah. 
 
 meat are each among His treasures. Most men now, as 
 of old, scorn God’s perfect way of salvation by death, 
 burial, and resurrection in Christ, and so by the passage 
 out of a doomed world into another, where there is no 
 condemnation, the judgment having been all expended, 
 exhausted for those in Christ, by Him. Nay, sad to say, 
 some of those who do believe, unwisely scorn the instruc¬ 
 tive figure—to wit, the baptism itself. 
 
 There is a singular coincidence here, but one on which 
 I may not tarry. I just mention it and pass on. Like 
 as God waited seven days after the door of the ark was 
 shut ere He let loose the waters of the deluge upon 
 men ; and again, as there was a like pause of seven days 
 between the warning to Pharaoh concerning the slaughter 
 of the first-born and that slaughter itself (compare Exod. 
 xi. with xii. 15) ; so there will certainly elapse seven 
 years, between the rapture of the Church to be with 
 Christ, and His subsequent appearing to execute judg¬ 
 ment on the world. This is that notable period of which 
 we read so much in the Revelation of twice twelve 
 hundred and sixty days. In fact, this said period is iden¬ 
 tical, as others have shown, with the last week of Daniel’s 
 severity weeks of years. 
 
 Regarding the completeness of the judgment, when at 
 last God arose to execute vengeance, surely such texts 
 as vii. 19, and viii. 5, are adequate testimony to those 
 who bow to the authority of Scripture. The waters 
 reached a height fifteen hundred feet higher than Mont 
 Blanc. Otherwise, had there been some parts of the 
 earth uncovered by the waters, thither could the birds 
 have retreated. Another proof of the universality of the 
 deluge we have in the designed inversion in the list of 
 all flesh slain in vii. 21, with 23. In the former verse, 
 the order followed in the account oi the animals that 
 
32 
 
 Typical Foreshadowings. 
 
 perished is thus given, “ fowl, cattle, beast, every creep¬ 
 ing thing, and every manbut in the latter verse the 
 order traced is, “ man, cattle, the creeping things and 
 fowl.” Here, surely, is a warning to every one great or 
 small, that there is only one shelter from the day of the 
 Lord’s anger. (Read here Rev. xx. 11—15.) 
 
 There seems no reason to doubt that the day of the 
 ark resting on the mountain of Ararat is identical with 
 the day on which the Lord rose from the dead. It rested 
 “ on the seventeenth day of the seventh month.” But by 
 the commandment of the Lord, given at the time of the 
 institution of the feast of the Passover, the seventh 
 month was changed into the first month. Then three 
 days after the Passover, which was on the fourteenth 
 day of the month, the Lord, having passed quite through 
 the waters of judgment, stood in resurrection in the 
 midst of His disciples, saying, “Peace be unto you.” 
 They, as well as Himself, had reached the haven of ever¬ 
 lasting rest. But though we now who believe are not 
 iu the flesh, yet is the flesh in us, and will be so until 
 we are changed, even as to our bodies to be altogether 
 like Him. Hence, sure as the unclean raven and the 
 pure dove both issued forth from this ark, so do the 
 motions of the flesh and those of the spirit proceed forth 
 from us. The two natures co-exist in every Christian. 
 But the dove returns with an olive branch. Oh, joy ! 
 the Earnest of the heavenly glory we do obtain, and 
 enjoy even now. When we live after the Spirit, and 
 walk in the Spirit, we constantly find that heaven 
 is far from being wholly a future thing. The Spirit of 
 God brings us even now foretastes of that new and better 
 world, into which by grace we have already been intro¬ 
 duced (see 1 Cor. ii. 9—12). Then at last God says to 
 Noah, “ Go forth of the ark.” This word it is most 
 
33 
 
 The Lord’s Way with Noah. 
 
 important we should observe. For much oftener do we 
 hear of being shut in and so sheltered from the wrath to 
 come, than of- having been brought forth, according to 
 the will of God, into this new, this heavenly region by 
 the Lord Jesus. And even still He is sitting, accord¬ 
 ing as the Lord bade Him sit at His own right hand, and 
 will do so till God shall bid Him rise. I mean that in 
 His continuous session at the right hand of God, His is 
 continuous persistent obedience. But when God’s time 
 has come, Christ will come forth and take us at last and 
 for ever to dwell yonder with our God and with His 
 blessed Son ! 
 
 3 
 
®Ij£ Xor&’s cfttan itritlj iioalj, tljr saint 
 
 for tljc rartl). 
 
 Section II. 
 
 detail, subsequent tu the deluge* 
 
 Genesis viii. 20, ix. 
 
 /'"'HAPTER VIII. 20, to end of IX. There can be no 
 question in the mind of a careful reader of this sec¬ 
 tion of Scripture, that these verses as thus specified ought 
 he kept together. For chap, ix., beginning where it to 
 does in the authorized translation, interferes greatly with 
 the full appreciation of the teaching herein conveyed. 
 That is to say, when Noah had builded the altar, and 
 had offered burnt-offerings, so that the Lord smelled a 
 sweet savour, then two verses at most suffice to set forth 
 what the Lord will not repeat in the way of judgment; 
 whilst all the first seventeen verses of the next chapter 
 are occupied with the declaration of what God now can 
 and will do in the way of blessing. And all this is shown 
 to be in consequence of the offering of sweet-smelling 
 savour! Here, too, it should not escape notice that the 
 voice of God alone is heard. Eor through Christ’s offer¬ 
 ing, God has all His own way in grace and mercy. Him¬ 
 self fills the entire scene. Hence He assigns the iden¬ 
 tical reason why He will not destroy the earth again by 
 the waters of a flood, as before He had given why He 
 must curse the earth (viii. 21, with vi. 5). So, likewise, 
 
35 
 
 The Lord’s PVay with Noah. 
 
 when presently the earth has been purged by fire, God 
 is heard soliloquizing complacently with Himself in Rev. 
 xxi. 5—7. And the fact that this close connection of 
 chap. ix. with the close of chap, viii., and the burnt- 
 offering of sweet-smelling savour is so continually missed, 
 as it has evidently been by those who inserted chap. ix. 
 in the middle of God’s utterance in response to that 
 odour which He smelled, affords another illustration how 
 Christians themselves often see little more, and are con¬ 
 tented to see no more, than the negative value of the 
 blood of Christ in lifting us from hell, than the negative 
 side of all God’s action in grace towards us. 
 
 Three points in these first seventeen verses of chap, 
 ix. demand each a word of remark. Here at the outset 
 of the post-diluvian world’s course, God establishes for 
 the “ good ” of His saints, the principle of government 
 (Rom. xiii. 4). And this, His own institution, He has 
 in mercy continued down to the present day. Viewed 
 in this light, it is a coincidence that quickly after the 
 rapture of the church into heaven, the Lord begins to 
 open the seals, causing the overthrow of the thrones of 
 the Roman empire, whereby fierce democracy and 
 anarchy prevail, and from which come forth the terrible 
 beast and his ten kings of the book of Revelation. For 
 it is well that the Jews and the world, having rejected the 
 true King, should know a little of the sort of rule 
 which they have preferred, and of the good time coming, 
 of which their infidel poets have sung. And thus this 
 present dispensation of rule as far as respects the world 
 dates from Noah. Never since that patriarch s day has 
 God once interfered with the course ol this age (Luke 
 xvii. 28). And right in between these two interferences 
 of God—on the one hand by the deluge of water, and on 
 the other by the Lord’s appearing in flaming fire—stands 
 
gfi Typical Foreshadowings. 
 
 the cross of the Lord Jesus Christ, a witness to all men, 
 that however patient God may show Himself to be, sin 
 cannot eventually go unpunished. 
 
 Secondly, we read here of His covenant which He 
 made with Noah, and which, in so far as there is aught of 
 grace in it, is taken from that far larger and better 
 covenant made with Christ, and which, through the 
 blood of His cross, has become to us a testament * of 
 fullest, richest grace. 
 
 And then, thirdly, we read of the token of that 
 covenant, “ the faithful witness in heaven,” as God’s bow 
 in the cloud is termed in Ps. lxxxix. 37. And now 
 in this symbol of that covenant, there is a hint of grace. 
 Por the bow is directed towards heaven, and arrow to 
 it there is none, as if it had been discharged heaven¬ 
 wards. Compare Gen. xlix. 23, referring to the 
 rejection of Joseph, the type of Christ, as king. And 
 surely we who are gathered to the Lord and to His 
 name every Lord’s-day, to break bread and to drink of 
 the cup which He enjoined us to do, cannot but recall to 
 mind that that cup is itself a token, and a precious one, 
 of the blood of the new testament shed for us. 
 
 The remaining verses of this ninth chapter afford us 
 ample evidence that fallen man is a total wreck—that 
 judgments, however awful and sweeping in their charac¬ 
 ter, may awe him, but do not change him, and that his 
 only resource and salvation is God Himself. He ever 
 fails in that which he has aught to do with. So Judges 
 
 ii. ; 1 Kings xi.; Acts xx. 29, 30; 2 Tim.; ltev. ii. and 
 
 iii. , all confirm the sad truth first found out in Eden, 
 that whenever God has set up aught for man’s blessing, 
 sure as its charge is committed to man, he ever spoils it. 
 
 * See my Leaflet on this subject of Covenant and Testament, 
 First Series, No. . 
 
The Lord's Way with Noah. 37 
 
 But God blesses Shem, and, through Shem’s seed, 
 Japheth also. “Blessed of the Lord God is Shem . . . 
 God shall enlarge Japheth, but He shall dwell in the 
 tents of Shem.” So Hebrew of verses 26, 27. He will 
 give deliverance, or redemption, to Japheth ; but He will 
 pitch His tabernacle with Shem. Compare Exod. xxv. 8 ; 
 Ps. cii. 13—16; John i. 14. 
 
 Chapters X. and XI. In casting our eye over chap. x. 
 we at once observe that the Holy Ghost tells us of the 
 descendants of Japheth and of Ham, ere He traces those 
 of Shem. This is His ordinary way, to keep the best 
 till the last. Precisely the same order will be found in 
 the opening chapters of the first book of Chronicles, 
 where the lists of divers genealogies are given us in full. 
 But we shall have a very vivid evidence of this way of 
 the Lord, when we come to consider chap, xxxvi. pre¬ 
 ceding chap, xxxvii. For the present, therefore, let us 
 pass from this subject. 
 
 The main lesson of this entire section is, that as God 
 proceeds to develop His plan for the blessing of man, 
 man, intent on present aggrandisement and power, ever 
 opposes Him. The key to what we read here is to be 
 found in Deut. xxxii. 8 , where Moses states what was 
 the design of God when He separated the sons of Adam, 
 according as we find unfolded here. See Gen. x. verses 
 5, 20, 25, 31. The passage cited from Deuteronomy tells 
 us that “when the most High divided to the nations 
 their inheritance, when He separated the sons of Adam, 
 He set the bounds of the peoples (Hebrew) according 
 to the number of the children of Israel. For the Lord’s 
 portion is His people; Jacob is the lot of His inherit¬ 
 ance.” For when Israel went into Egypt, the number 
 
 of souls was seventy (Gen. xlvi. 2/). So in Gen. x. 
 
 / 
 
38 Typical Foreshadowings. 
 
 there is mention of seventy nations, to wit: from 
 Japheth, fourteen ; from Ham, thirty 5 and from Shem, 
 twenty-six. The seventy disciples sent out by the Lord 
 Jesus may have an eye to this arrangement of His, which 
 shall yet obtain when His kingdom is set up in power, 
 in the millennium. For man may be allowed, apparently, 
 to retard the execution of His purpose, as he does here, 
 but never ultimately to defeat it. Now that this state¬ 
 ment in Heut. xxxii. is millennial, is evident from the 
 name God there takes of Most High, equivalent to the 
 new testament language of King of kings, and Lord of 
 lords (Rev. xix.). Hence, in Ps. Ixxxiii., Messiah, 
 after subduing the nations, and quelling all opposition 
 reigns as “ Most High over all the earth.” See, too, 
 Ps. xci., and what is said of Melchizedek, as in Gen. 
 xiv. 18, 19. Therefore, as we ponder this explanation of 
 a part of His ways, as revealed to us in these verses of 
 Deut. xxxii., we perceive that the will of God, in estab¬ 
 lishing the earth’s blessing, was to group the various 
 nations round Israel as a centre; only Israel, as the 
 medium of this blessing, and so the best, the favoured 
 nation, kept in reserve till the last, till all was ready. 
 And hence the line of the true Seed is traced on, at the 
 end of chap, xi., from Shem to Abram, from whom Israel, 
 and Israel’s king, Messiah, was to come. Hence, also, 
 special attention is called to the fact that Eber’s son was 
 called Peleg, because “ in his days was the earth divided.” 
 And so, too, at the close of the list of the sons of 
 Japheth, and of the list of the sons of Canaan, 3 on of 
 Ham, and of the list of the sons of Shem, e g., in verses 5, 
 18, and 32, this said division of the lands, and the bor¬ 
 ders thereof, are respectively marked out as appertaining 
 to the several families of Noah’s sons. How beautiful 
 and perfect this way of God! How thoughtful for 
 
39 
 
 The Lord's Way with Noah. 
 
 Israel, even ere it nationally existed, with tlie divine 
 smile resting finally on Israel’s future King! Yet 
 these chapters (x. and xi.) also witness how rebel man 
 was allowed to interfere, and to delay, the revelation of 
 God’s purpose. 
 
 Kor, now, observe how verses 8 to 12 of chap. x. are 
 inserted; as if what they narrated formed a block as to 
 the development of this counsel: so much so, indeed, 
 that if these verses are not read as a parenthesis, the 
 reader may fail to see the scope of these chapters. Then, 
 in the first nine verses of chap, xi., a continuation of 
 
 . 1 I 
 
 this parenthetic account of man’s wickedness is found. 
 So the two parentheses, to wit, chap. x. 8—12, with 
 chap. xi. 1—9, we had better combine. Outside these 
 said parentheses the chapters form a long-continued 
 line of the descendants of Noah down to the time of 
 Abram. 
 
 As to the former passage in chap. x. 8—12, revealing 
 the guilty way of ambitious man in obstructing earth’s 
 blessing from God, the ringleader is appropriately termed 
 Nimrod, or a rebel. This name seems evidently assigned 
 to him as the clue to his entire career. And here com¬ 
 pare a scripture or two which speak of the great rebel 
 at the close of this dispensation, “ whom the Lord shall 
 consume with the spirit of His mouth, and destroy with 
 the brightness of His coming.” He is called “ the law¬ 
 less one ” in 2 Thess. ii. 8, Greek; and “ the wilful 
 king ” in Dan. xi. 36. It is suggested that there is 
 something peculiar in his rise. “ He began to be 
 mighty.” So 1 Chron. i. 10. He struggled for pre¬ 
 eminence, and, by dint of indomitable will, he attained 
 it. In the passage in 1 Chronicles, and thrice here, he 
 is called “ mighty,” a word of evil omen when spoken 
 of men in opposition to Christ,’the most Mighty (see 
 
40 Typical Foreshadowings. 
 
 Gen. vi. 4). So of Goliath in 1 Sam. xvii. 51, Hebrew. 
 He shoots up above all his fellows, and spreads himself 
 like a green bay-tree in all directions, save only that 
 Babylon is the innermost circle of his power. In verse 10 
 mention is made of four of his cities, all in the land of 
 Shinar, with Babel by name put first. It reminds one 
 of the four Babylonish kingdoms in Dan. ii. and vii., 
 with which there is, no doubt, some designed prophetic 
 connection. Compare my remarks further on as to the 
 four kings whom Abram, the Hebrew, overcame and 
 slew in Gen. xiv. These last we shall quickly perceive 
 to be clearly representative of Babylon, Persia, Greece, 
 and Rome. Then from Shinar he, Nimrod, goes forth 
 unto Assyria, and builds Nineveh (see margin), and other 
 great cities. 
 
 “ He was a mighty hunter before the Lord.” Possibly 
 beginning with hunting the savage beast, his skill and 
 his renown here assist and incite him to subjugate his 
 fellows. The special opposition to the Lord’s will 
 throughout this dispensation, and fully developing as it 
 nears its close, is rendered easier in its winning over of 
 many souls by the plausible and specious pretexts of 
 necessity, or of advantage, by which it is defended. For 
 obedience certainly brings us into difficulties which wil¬ 
 fulness at once cuts through. Something singular and 
 bold in his defiance is certainly noted by the expression 
 “ before the Lord.” And the little Antichrists in the 
 church of God all through this age, who, wittingly or 
 unwittingly, constitute themselves the centre, and even, 
 to some extent, the object of the worship of their ad¬ 
 mirers, and that, too, where the name of the Lord alone 
 should be all—all the wickedness of these will reach its 
 apex in the worship of the beast of Rev. xiii. Begin¬ 
 ning with Babylonish apostasy, it culminates in open 
 
4i 
 
 The Lord’s Way with Noah. 
 
 opposition, and is only destroyed by the Lord’s appear¬ 
 ing. In verse 9 we find be made to himself a name 
 famous for many generations following, even as the 
 giants whom we have considered in Gen. vi. became 
 “ men of renown.” Likewise Dathan and Abiram were 
 “famous in the congregation” in their day (Num. 
 xxvi. 9) ; as also the two hundred and fifty princes in the 
 assembly were “ famous ” too, and “ men of renown ” 
 (Num., xvi. 2). Ab ! it is this terrible love of fame, it 
 is this unwillingness to be content with the Lord’s smile 
 here, and with the crown of glory when He comes, 
 which have led to so much striving and restless ambi¬ 
 tion even in the professing church itself, that has 
 wrought mischief irreparable. Hence, Babel is the pre¬ 
 sent result. See Micah v. 6, where Babylon is called 
 “the land of Nimrod.” 
 
 Then, in the second parenthesis in Gen. xi. 1—9, we 
 are instructed as to the mode by which Babel was built, 
 which Babel was the centre of those dynasties men¬ 
 tioned in chap. ix. 10—12, set up, be it remembered, in 
 opposition to the government which God had designed 
 through Israel and Israel’s future King. So in like 
 manner now there is a Babylon still, who has daughters 
 or religions confederacies many, more or less iufecttd 
 by the ecclesiastical virus that has come from Rome, 
 and all of whom must perish ere the true church of 
 God, with Christ at its head, can be displayed before 
 creation. 
 
 The builders of Babel, as again here most solemnly 
 we read, were actuated by the desire for a name, and to 
 avoid the being scattered, as to their carnal minds ap¬ 
 peared would be the case, unless they themselves and 
 their city became men’s centre. But every way that is 
 not God’s must end in utter confusion. He that gathers 
 
42 
 
 Typical Foreshadowings . 
 
 not with Christ, making Christ alone the attraction 
 whereby souls shall be drawn together, however in¬ 
 genious the method, and however the device may seem 
 to prosper for a while, in the end every such worker does 
 but scatter. Look at the church ; behold it, alas ! all 
 divided and broken up. The cause is easily traceable. 
 Under favourite leaders, men of renown, professing 
 Christians will range themselves. Then Clerisy—whether 
 avowed or unavowed is immaterial'—Clerisy begets Pre¬ 
 lacy, Prelacy leads to Popery, and Popery will end in 
 Antichristiani sm. 
 
 It is said that in every known tongue some Hebrew 
 can be found. This is not improbable. But certainly 
 in every sect there is some truth that is contended for ; 
 but these particles of truth all radiate from Christ. Tne 
 only divine mode of union is therefore by clinging alone 
 to Christ, the Truth. The builders of Babel, we learn, 
 journeyed from the East; that is to say, from whence 
 the Dayspring from on high doth visit men. Babel’s 
 builders cannot but err, whatever truth they hold; for 
 in their building, in their ecclesiastical organizations, the 
 name of the Lord is not esteemed as amply sufficient. 
 Hence, in their cleverness, they resort to brick for stone, 
 which is man’s work, instead of God’s; and, again, for 
 mortar they have slime, which in Hebrew denotes a com¬ 
 pound formed of the corruption of animal and vegetable 
 substances. In Babylon there is the semblance of the 
 church, and of the divine ordinances; but the whole is 
 corrupt, the whole must perish, however it may for the 
 present afford men tranquillity and security (chap. xi. 2). 
 Better now suffer with Christ, that when His kingdom 
 is established in joy and peace, we may, through grace, 
 be found worthy to reign with Him. It is to Him that 
 this very chapter goes on in the after verses to point. 
 
43 
 
 The Lord’s Way with Noah. 
 
 God cannot be baulked, nor Christ ultimately set 
 aside. All creative good can only come through Him. 
 Nothing but loss can ensue where Christ, who is 
 God’s one Centre in heaven and on earth, is unac¬ 
 knowledged. Put what you may instead of Him, and 
 you become a rebel, and your work Babylonish in its 
 aim and end. 
 
 l 
 
Itortf s Wan hritlj JUrraljant, t!j£ IBdteter, 
 
 Section I. 
 
 Abraham's call ta Canaan, His blessing bg fftel- 
 cbisedeh, after the slaughter af the kings, 
 
 Genesis xii.—xiv. 
 
 /CHAPTERS XII. to XIY. At the opening of my 
 remarks I stated that the entire history in 
 Genesis clusters round what is recorded of the Lord’s 
 dealings with seven representative men—Adam, figure 
 of Christ; Enoch and Noah, who set forth the two 
 distinctive calls of God, now of some to heaven, and 
 presently of others to earth; Abraham, the believer, 
 the father of believers; Isaac, the son; Jacob, the 
 servant; Joseph, the ruler. These seven men appear 
 subdivided into three and four. We have briefly 
 touched upon the way of God with each of the first 
 three. We come now to look at His varying action 
 with the first of the last four—varying according as 
 Abraham is trustful and obedient, or whether he gets 
 away from God, and falls into sin. And surely to study 
 how the Lord gradually led on Abraham step by step 
 from one degree of faith to another, culminating in his 
 ready obedience to offer up his only-begotten son, the 
 child of promise, at the call of God, seeing that we 
 too are exhorted to grow in the knowledge of God, that 
 we too are believers, who should be learning to trust 
 
45 
 
 The Lord’s JL^ay with Abraham. 
 
 Him more implicitly and more obediently every year and 
 month of our lives, surely in this growth of faith we 
 cannot but be much helped by carefully observing the 
 Lord’s way with Abraham. 
 
 The Lord’s call of Abram was “ alone.’’ It was a 
 personal call, as He Himself says in Isa. li. 2. Abram en¬ 
 deavoured to bring Terah, his father, with him, and suc¬ 
 ceeded in inducing Lot, his nephew, to be his companion. 
 It is quite in the style of Scripture to say that Terah 
 took Abram, rendering honour, of course, to the senior 
 (chap. xi. 31). But Terah seems to have been a weight 
 upon him, a hindrance to his own full obedience. For 
 Terah died in Haran; and though probably years were 
 spent in that half-way place between Ur and Canaan to 
 which he had been called out, he does not appear to have 
 heard any further word from God until that call of His 
 had been fully and quite obeyed. 
 
 This call of Abram was made by God’s revelation of 
 Himself as the God of glory. In Ur, where Abram 
 heard that call, he had been an.idolater, worshipping 
 probably the sun, moon, and host of heaven (Joshua 
 xxiv. 2). And notwithstanding that there were only ten 
 generations from Shem to Abram, and that Shem lived 
 four hundred years after he begat Arphaxad, and therefore 
 at least seventy years after Abram was born, still this 
 family, from which, too, the Messiah was to come, had 
 become sunk into pagan darkness. But the light of the 
 glory of God beams on Abram, whereby he at once dis¬ 
 cerns the vanity of idols, and the greatness of the living 
 God. That sight of God, and that electing grace and 
 call of God, start him. Thus too with us is faith pro¬ 
 duced, even by a sight of God in Christ. There is, there 
 can be, no other way for faith. 
 
 In the call of God to Abram there was the gospel; 
 
4 6 
 
 Typ ical Foresh ado wings . 
 
 for in Gal. iii. 8 this third verse of Gen. xii. is quoted, 
 and it is affirmed that the gospel is comprised in it. For 
 when all the families of the earth were to be blessed in 
 Abram, the Holy Ghost witnesses in Galatians that the 
 blessing is absolute and unconditional, apart from cir¬ 
 cumcision, or aught else of man’s merit. 
 
 Presently he arrives in Canaan. His foot is on the 
 land which is to be his “for a possession” (Acts vii.) 
 True, the Canaanite is still there, even as wicked spirits 
 are yet in those heavenly places to which we have been 
 called in Christ (Eph. vi.) But we w r ait God’s time for 
 the return of His Son, when we shall be put into ever¬ 
 lasting and complete enjoyment of our blessing. Even 
 now already there in heaven only can we worship (Heb. 
 x. 19), even as for the first time do we also now read of 
 Abram building an altar—that is to say, in Canaan. He 
 moves to and fro in this the land of promise; for, as w r as 
 said to Joshua at a later period, “ Every spot ” that the 
 sole of his foot rested on there, w r as his. If where Christ 
 now is—in the presence of God, in heaven—is our 
 place of blessing, there should we live and move, and 
 there, in spirit and affection, should we be daily— 
 despite of the foe, who will be turned out by Christ 
 as Michael with His heavenly saints, whose battle-cry, 
 as they hurl Satan down thence for ever, will be “ the 
 blood of the Lamb !” 
 
 The order carefully mentioned as to the “ altar,” 
 “tent,” and “altar,” in verses 7 and 8, deserves more 
 attention than it has generally received. Howard, the 
 philanthropist, was wont to say, “ Wherever I have a 
 tent, there God shall have an altar.” This was pious, 
 but it w T as not up to God’s mark. Christians now, who 
 know somewhat of the peremptory will of God as to 
 being gathered to the name of the Lord alone, will often, 
 
47 
 
 The Lord’s Way with Abraham 
 
 for earthly considerations, remove their dwelling beyond 
 the reach of their worshipping with the assembly of 
 God. First selecting some situation more advantageous, 
 as regards ease and comfort, they will then inquire 
 whether the assembly is gathered there to the One 
 Name. But here we have the way of faith : first the 
 altar, next the tent. Then soon in joy will the love 
 of God so fill the soul, as to constrain it to rear another 
 altar. On the other hand, those who walk in the path 
 of fleshly advantage, may obtain their desire, and get as 
 a consequence the leanness sent in their souls. 
 
 Whilst Abram adheres to the call of God, more and 
 more of joy, and more and more discoveries of the 
 Lord’s gracious will concerning him, does he find. On 
 the other hand, going down to Egypt—type of this 
 world—for a season, he has no altar there ; no voice of the 
 Lord comes to him there. After he is once off the line, 
 he gets more deeply involved in sin, one false step lead¬ 
 ing to another. Hence he not only lies himself, but even 
 acts the tempter to another, and she his wife. God, in 
 His providence, rescues him. For if we will not be 
 guided by His eye in love, we may have the bit and the 
 bridle put upon us. 
 
 At length Abram retraces his steps, returns to where 
 his tent had been at the beginning , and to the place of 
 the altar which he had made at the first. Then at once 
 can he happily worship again. God cannot lower His 
 standard nor abate His call. And it is a great mercy 
 for us, that He cannot. We are called to the fellow¬ 
 ship of His Son, and to walk in His light. In heeding His 
 blessed will, we shall have His presence, and not other¬ 
 wise. Bestored, Abram is stronger than ever. When¬ 
 ever we overcome temptation, the trial proves a blessing 
 to us, we perceive the snare from which w^e have been 
 
48 Typical Foreshadowings. 
 
 paved, and the grace that kept us. On the other hand, 
 if we fall, we are unhappy till we are restored. Con¬ 
 fession and judgment of the sin lift us above that from 
 which we have been delivered, and lead us more sted- 
 fastly than before, to depend on God, following Him in 
 the path of faith. Circumstances are sure quickly to 
 arise which, strengthened by God in trial, find us pre¬ 
 pared to meet. 
 
 So with Abram. He takes revenge on himself. Lot 
 and he have to part. It had been better for Lot to have 
 abandoned all his flocks than to have given up the com¬ 
 pany of Abram. However, the elder makes the offer to 
 Lot of the choice of the land, notwithstanding all was 
 his own. But he leaves his concerns in the hands of 
 the Lord. Lot, unable or unwilling to respond right¬ 
 eously to Abram’s noble offer, by leaving the choice to 
 bis uncle—induced by the lust of the eye, chooses the 
 plain of Sodom, even although as the history here sig¬ 
 nificantly informs us, “the men of Sodom were wicked, 
 and sinners before the Lord exceedingly.” He with a 
 bad conscience, by dwelling among them, can only have 
 his righteous soul vexed daily by their wicked deeds. 
 Their company he has chosen in preference to Abram’s, 
 in consideration of increased earthly prosperity. And 
 thus, outwardly at least, is commenced that declension 
 of Lot, which, as the narrative proceeds, is seen to be¬ 
 come increasingly grave and awful, until at chap. xix. 
 30—38, the Spirit draws the curtain over the close of Lot’s 
 downward career. Likewise, in 2 Peter, whilst of some 
 believers we read of their adding in their faith, manli¬ 
 ness, knowledge, etc., and. of their obtaining an abun¬ 
 dant entrance into the kingdom of our Lord and Saviour 
 Jesus Christ; of others, we read that they are blind, 
 shutting their eyes, forgetting that they have been 
 
The Lord’s IVay with Abraham. 
 
 49 
 
 purged, or profess they have, once from their old sins. 
 Such, mingled among the Christianized heathen, learn 
 their works, and lose much of the little portion of light 
 which once they enjoyed. For them the world, at least 
 in its religious side, which is by far the worst, has yet 
 much power, not obeying the clear word of God, “ from 
 such also turn away ” (2 Tim. iii. 5, Greek). It will 
 be well for such who do not at last prove to have been 
 quite hypocrites, by turning from the holy commandment, 
 to wit, the commandment to holiness delivered unto 
 them. For without holiness no man shall see the Lord. 
 
 But the Lori is no uninterested spectator of Abram’s 
 faith in Him. Hardly has Lot left him, ere the welcome 
 voice of the Lord greets his ear. Surely this of itself 
 was ample compensation to Abram for giving Lot the 
 choice of the land. Thus did the Lord cause Abram to 
 perceive that if he was now alone as to Lot, he was not 
 alone as to Him. The language of the Lord at this 
 time alludes, undoubtedly, to the choice of Lot. Lot 
 had “ lifted up his eyes” (ver. 10). Hence the Lord 
 bids Abram to C£ lift up his eyes” (ver. 14). Lot had 
 chosen to pitch his tent eastward ; but the Lord assures 
 Abram that the north and the south, the east and the 
 west, were all his own. And He directs him, as the pos¬ 
 sessor of the soil by the gift of God, to arise and walk 
 throughout its length and. breadth. Surely as we ponder 
 the account of this scene, we must be constrained to 
 acknowledge that ’the manifestations of God s favour 
 proceed still on the same principle as in Abram’s day ; 
 that God delights to respond to faith in Himself, that 
 those who trust iu Him shall enjoy the power of His 
 word and promise, and shall have their faith increased. 
 Compare John xiv. 21—23. How, likewise, Abram first 
 hears of the less comparison of his seed to the dust of 
 
 4 
 
50 Typical Foreshadowings. 
 
 the earth. Presently, as he goes on with God, he will 
 hear of his seed exceeding the stars of heaven in number 
 (xv. 5). For Abram is the father of the two seeds, of 
 the peoples of the two calls—the earthly and the 
 heavenly. They that he of faith are the children of 
 Abraham, and “ are blessed with him.” True, we get 
 not only the best of what was promised to Abraham, 
 but infinitely more besides, even union with the Son of 
 God. Still, also, “ the blessing of Abraham has come 
 on us Gentiles through Jesus Christ.” See Gal. iii. 7, 
 9, 14. And the new nation of Israel vrill be his true 
 earthly seed. Then, in Gen. xxii., after the offering up 
 of his son Isaac, the Lord conjoins these two promises 
 of his seed being multiplied as the stars of heaven and 
 as the sand upon the seashore. Thus God goes on in 
 grace with His people. Thus does faith, acting in 
 obedience, hear more and more of His blessed will, and 
 receive more and more from Him. One of these pro¬ 
 mises has been in the type and shadow already fulfilled 
 (1 Kings iv. 20). The latter promise of the heavenly 
 seed is being actually fulfilled now. And when the 
 children of God are removed to their final home yonder, 
 then will God remember His promises to Israel. 
 
 Hence, in Chap. XIV., we have a scene representing 
 millennial glory, and of the great, the true Melchisedek, 
 coming with blessing to u Abram the Hebrew” (ver. 13), 
 and so representing the remnant of Israel who shall be 
 saved at the appearing of the Lord. But let us look at 
 the chapter carefully, which may be profitably viewed, 
 both in its prophetic and in its didactic, or rather expe¬ 
 rimental aspect. Just a word on each of these two. 
 Then, at your leisure, you can ponder its teaching more 
 at length. 
 
 As to the prophetic picture here, the king of Sodom ? 
 
The Lord’s Way with Abraham. 51 
 
 with his confederates, are overcome by Amraphel, king 
 of Shinar, or Babylon ; Chedorlaomer, king of Elam— 
 which term Elam is the Hebrew for Persia ; Arioch, 
 king of Ellasar, i.e., Hellas, as in the Septuagiut, 
 Greece; and Tidal, king of nations, who here evidently 
 stands for the fourth kingdom of Dan. ii. and vii., 
 namely, Rome. For the Roman empire will yet again 
 be headed up under ten kings, with one imperial ruler 
 over them all (Rev. xiii. and xvii.) These last will, as 
 we are distinctly warned in Rev. xvii., sweep away quite 
 from off the face of the earth the corrupt, the unclean 
 Christianity that is left after the removal of the church 
 to heaven.* 
 
 But the Hebrew Abram proves too much even for such 
 potentates. So, in the antitype, first, a remnant in weak¬ 
 ness refuse to accept the worship of the beast, and to bow 
 down before his image, the abomination of desolation that 
 he will set up 3 and then subsequently, when the Lord 
 appears, the Jews will be delivered from all their ene¬ 
 mies, as prophetic Scriptures unitedly concur in declar¬ 
 ing. On these points I have the less need to tarry, having 
 fully gone into them in my published “ Lectures on the 
 Revelation.’’ Then, after the slaughter of the kings, and 
 of their armies, on the plain of Armageddon, the great 
 priest-king, Melchisedek, will bless and strengthen Israel. 
 He was priest of the most high God, which name of God 
 has been already expounded in chap. x. So Christ 
 brings down the blessing to Israel; for Israel is to be 
 blessed on the earth. The same Lord Jesus is also our 
 high Priest, but in this capacity His gracious work is 
 to lift us up to Himself where He is. But since God 
 is possessor of both “ heaven and earth,” as Melchise¬ 
 dek pointedly reminds Abram of, so God has not only 
 * gee niy Lecture on chap. xvii. of the Revelation. 
 
52 
 
 Typical Foreshadowings . 
 
 one blessing, though much the higher, for us, but also 
 another on earth for Israel. Therefore must He appear, 
 to bring down with Him that blessing from God. For 
 where this high Priest is at any given period, there is 
 then the place of God’s call, and of man’s blessing. In 
 fact, strictly, the Lord Jesus is not acting in this cha¬ 
 racter as Melchisedek at all at present (see Psalm cx.) ; 
 rather now He is as the antitypical Aaron, within the 
 holiest of all—this one day of grace and salvation. For 
 a reign implies the employment of force, and of the 
 sword, to subdue opposition; but in those supreme 
 heavens, where the Lord Jesus at present is “hid” 
 (Col. iii.), enemies cannot approach. There only His 
 wondrous merits are the delight of God; there His 
 precious blood and His all-prevailing intercession are 
 alone heard. On the other hand, Israel and the world 
 can only be blessed through judgment- 
 
 This chapter has been strangely appealed to by some, 
 in proof of the lawfulness of Christians becoming sol¬ 
 diers, and of their engaging in war. Such forget the 
 total change of dispensation since Abram’s call to in¬ 
 herit the land. For this church-period has been inaugu¬ 
 rated by One, who, when He had enemies, conquered by 
 suffering them to kill Him. Besides which, if any plead 
 this chapter as an excuse for their fighting, such, if 
 Christians, should remember that they fight unfairly. 
 These, killing their opponents, send them, if unsaved, to 
 hell; but if the opponents kill themselves who aie 
 Christians, these depart to be with Christ. 
 
 FTow it is time that we look at this chapter from 
 another point of view. It tells of three battles. The 
 first is preliminary to the second, in which the man of 
 faith, relying solely on God, goes forth to attack the 
 confederated hosts, and to deliver his nephew Lot. For 
 
53 
 
 The Lord’s l¥ay with Abraham. 
 
 Lot’s sin had already found him out; he has lost all his 
 goods, for the sake of which he parted company with 
 Abram, to whom now he owes, if not his life, at least 
 his liberty. Well would it have been for him to have at 
 last heeded the painful lesson which this was designed 
 to teach him when his nest was stirred up. For the 
 Lord could only by His providence address him as one 
 out of communion, and not like He did Abram, hold¬ 
 ing converse with him as a friend. Bat so persistent is 
 Lot in his sin, that he actually returns to Sodom for 
 sixteen years, and then he is scarcely saved from shar¬ 
 ing its destruction, partly through the intercession of 
 Abram (see Gen. xix. 29). 
 
 But, further, this second battle, important as it i3, is 
 still a preliminary to the third one, and in Abram’s case 
 the most important of all. How severe, to say the 
 least, it would have been in the soul of Abram we may 
 infer by the timely and signal interposition of Melchise- 
 dek. He strengthened him after the former battle with 
 bread and wine, and proceeds to remind him that his 
 God is the possessor of heaven and earth. And, re¬ 
 markably, of this title of God Abram makes prompt use 
 in his reply to the king of Sodom, when he made him 
 his dazzling, tempting offer of all the goods that he had 
 brought back for his own acceptance. Thus we perceive 
 that this confirmation of Abram’s faith in God was 
 vouchsafed in the nick of time, just when it was re¬ 
 quired ; for surely that strength is not supplied need¬ 
 lessly. And then he refuses to touch aught of what 
 was the king of Sodom’s. Only, with a fine sense of 
 perfect righteousness, he disdains speaking on behalf of 
 Aner, Eschol, and Mamre. For himself, his concern is 
 the glory of God ; for others, he states what is their 
 due who had helped him. 
 
®!j£ Htnrifs Mtau hritlj JUrraljam. 
 
 Section II. 
 
 The training of the belieuer for the inherit¬ 
 ance* 
 
 Genesis xv.—xxi. 
 
 /"''HAPTEKS XY. to XXI. These chapters might be 
 v ‘“"' summarized thus :—Chap. xv. Justification by 
 faith, and history of that nation which, stumbling at 
 God’s stumbling-stone, is set aside for a while for the 
 heavenly seed ; chap. xvi. Elesh active, and Hagar, or 
 law, resorted to ; chap. xvii. Grace judging the flesh; 
 chap, xviii. Communion; chap. xix. Judgment; chap, 
 xx. Man to the last unconfiding ; yet, chap, xxi., the 
 Lord faithful—the true Seed born, and the Millennium. 
 Obviously, it will be impossible in our rapid survey 
 
 to do more than touch on the salient points in this 
 summary. 
 
 In chap. xv. there are five scenes, together extending 
 over an entire night and day. It would likewise seem 
 as if only in the night-time did the Lord throughout 
 this chapter accost Abram. This probably may be ac¬ 
 counted for by the prophecies found here, all referring 
 to Abram’s seed during the night of their history. In 
 scene one, extending down the first six verses, the time 
 may be about midnight. The word of the Lord comes 
 to Abram in a vision, and, in reference to his self-denial 
 in refusing the goods of the king of Sodom, says, “ 1 
 
55 
 
 The Lord’s Way with Abraham. 
 
 am thy shield, and thy exceeding great reward.” For 
 God never lets His people lose in the long run for their 
 trust in Him. If Abram refused the spoil of Sodom, 
 he gained in increased joy in God. So it is ever. If 
 one, for Christ’s sake, abandons what God calls him 
 from, he not only has eternal life in the world to come, 
 but a hundred-fold more in the enjoyment of God’s pre¬ 
 sence than anything he has surrendered. But God con¬ 
 tinues with the assurance that Abram’s seed, old as 
 he is, shall be numerous as the stars of heaven. And 
 that this latter part of the promise is widely different 
 from that found in chap. xiii. 16, see the remarks 
 already made on that Scripture. Compare Jer. xxxiii. 22, 
 where, as further on in Gen. xxii., the two seeds, the 
 heavenly and the earthly, are each distinctly specified. 
 And well may the heavenly seed be glanced at here, 
 seeing that the precious truth of justification follows in 
 the next verse, and on which passage read the inspired 
 comment in Bom. iv. 3, 17—24. 
 
 Then, in scene two, occurring near the morning light, 
 from verse 7 to verse 10, Abram hears somewhat as to 
 the earthly seed which is to possess “ this land,” asking 
 for a sign, not in unbelief, but in the boldness of faith; 
 for communion with God increases faith, and renders it 
 bold. God gives him his desire. He is instructed to take 
 three animals, for the three kinds of offerings ; for Israel 
 can only be blessed through Christ’s sacrifice. Each of 
 the animals slain is to be three years old, signifying that 
 his earthly seed should be a sacrifice for three centuries, 
 but in the fourth should come safely out, as the birds. 
 
 Next, in scene three, Abram seems to pass the day in 
 standing by his sacrifice of animals cleft in twain. Thus, 
 too, did Balak by his ; and thus, too, the Christian should 
 by his identification with the Christ who died, is risen 
 
56 Typical For e shadow higs. 
 
 and glorified—the sacrifice is the plea of him who stands 
 by it. The sole occupation of Abram during the day is 
 to drive away the birds of prey. We, when we appear 
 before God, should have our eye on Christ, and thus be 
 filled with joy, delighting in Him, and in His finished 
 work. But, alas, wandering thoughts, and anxious cares, 
 and unbelief, will, unless they are watched against, ob¬ 
 struct all this peace and joy in Christ. In the type to 
 Abram, these fowls that come down on the sacrifices rent 
 in twain, signify of course the Egyptians, who would 
 fain have made Israel a prey for themselves. 
 
 Accordingly, in the fourth place, when the sun de¬ 
 clines, the Lord again speaks to Abram, first interpret¬ 
 ing to him, inverses 13—1G, the sign that He had given 
 to him ; and next, when the sun has set, that sign is 
 confirmed by the vision of the smoking furnace; and 
 then with the passing between the pieces of a burning 
 Lamp, symbol of the Shechinah ; the lamp is Christ, who 
 is salvation for Israel and for us (see in proof Ps. cxxxii. 
 17 ; Ezek. i. 13; and Isa. lxii. 1). 
 
 This term “Lamp” is not unfrequently found in the book 
 of Kings, and is there used to denote a son and successor 
 to David (see 1 Kings xi. 3G, marg.; xv. 4; and 2 Kings 
 viii. 19). The passing between the pieces of the sacri¬ 
 fice is explained in Jer. xxxiv. 18, to represent the entrance 
 into a covenant of the parties so passing. Wherefore 
 the passing of the lamp here signifies the Lord pledging 
 Himself in that striking way, to succour and to deliver 
 Israel, bringing them forth from the furnace in triumph, 
 and in plenty. And thus the issue of their bondage was 
 seen to by Him from the beginning. And then, as the 
 time for their deliverance drew nigh, He enlarges at 
 once on the minuter details of that deliverance, pro¬ 
 viding from the outset for their coming forth, not as 
 
57 
 
 The Lord’s IVay with Abraham . 
 
 beggars, but rather as princes, with silver and with gold 
 in plenty (Ps. cv. 37). They were to “ask” (Exod. 
 iii. 22), (Hebrew, not “ borrow ”) of the Egyptians. For 
 these wages for their hard work were of long date, and 
 had never been paid. But here God’s pledge of His 
 succour is unconditional, as seen by the fact that the 
 lamp alone and not Abram passed between the pieces. 
 But the morning cometh, according as we see is sug¬ 
 gested, in the fifth and concluding scene in this chapter 
 (verse 18). And there all that God had promised 
 Israel, that people shall yet possess. Never of old did 
 their territorial possessions actually extend to the great 
 river Euphrates, as is here promised should be the case, 
 because the real and full inheritance of the land can only 
 be obtained and enjoyed, when sovereign grace shall 
 have all its own way with them. By a covenant of 
 plaster, which the winds and storms could destroy, they 
 have as yet possessed only a part (Deut. xxvii. 4). At 
 the most a shadow of the truth passed for a moment 
 before their eyes in Solomon’s time (1 Kings iv. 21). 
 But God will yet remember every engagement which 
 He has made, and fulfil to the letter every part of His 
 word. Likewise will He act towards ourselves. Even 
 now we who believe are under grace. And ere Israel 
 obtains possession in full of the land promised to Abram 
 we shall have been brought safe home to our inheri¬ 
 tance reserved in heaven. The Earnest of that inheri¬ 
 tance is ours to be enjoyed now. Still, however, we 
 await Him who to us is the morning Star. Till then 
 our path is a chequered one, being alternated on the one 
 hand in the furnace of affliction, and on the other by the 
 shining of the light from above upon our souls. 
 
 Chapter XVI. On this chapter, the third and fourth 
 
5 8 Typical Foreshadowings. 
 
 chapters of Galatians should he carefully pondered. We 
 find here an illustration of what we are painfully con¬ 
 scious to be the case with ourselves, that unbelief can be 
 present and at work even in a believing heart. In chap, 
 xviii. we have further evidence of this. Abram and Sarai 
 were each of them believers, yet neither at this time 
 appears to have been in a condition of soul to wait 
 patiently on God. The Holy Ghost often in the Word 
 combines patience with faith. See, for instance, Kev. 
 ii. 19 ; 1 Thess. i. 3 ; Titus ii. 2 ; Heb. vi. 12. Nothing 
 tests faith like delay on the part of God ; for the flesh 
 will struggle to make itself heard, and will resort to 
 efforts that, at another time, the believer can see the 
 unbelief displayed thereby. For that text is still true, 
 <c He that believeth shall not make haste ” (Isa. xxviii. 
 16). No surer evidence of simple faith and obedience 
 can be named than patient continuance in well-doing. 
 Talking of faith is all very well; walking by faith is far 
 better. Observe the descending climax in Isa. xl. 31. 
 “ They that wait upon the Lord shall renew their 
 strength ; they shall mount up with wings as eagles 
 that is, comparatively easy ; “ they shall run, and not 
 be weary more difficult this, but the last named is the 
 hardest of all—“ they shall walk , and not faint.” Ex¬ 
 citement will carry one through much, but ordinary 
 plodding along in the path of duty, with little to en¬ 
 courage us beyond the consciousness that such is the 
 will of God, and the daily exercise of confidence in Him, 
 that in due season we shall reap if we faint not, no 
 wonder that flesh resists, and chafes, and works counter 
 to all this. Therefore in Abram and Sarai here we may 
 see something of what is in ourselves. Here the resort 
 is seen to be to nature and to law. Sarai is too pro¬ 
 minent in this picture ; and, out of our place, the readier 
 
59 
 
 The Lord’s IVay with Abraham. 
 
 are we to commit sin. Nay, she not only sins herself, 
 but invites her husband likewise, and then turns round 
 and blames him. It is a sure mark of a wrong state of 
 soul when one is ready to blame everybody except one¬ 
 self. God was not hurried, could not be hurried, by the 
 restlessness of unbelief. Possibly the blessing was 
 delayed. At all events, for fourteen years longer, Abram 
 had to wait ere the Lord fulfilled His promise. It is 
 a pithy saying of some one, “ Saints who will carve 
 for themselves are sure to cut their fingers.” Let us 
 believe God, that it shall be exactly and unreservedly as 
 He hath told us—in His time. The great promise to us 
 is found in John xiv. 3. Then let us recall to mind the 
 exhortation in view of this in Heb. x. 36, “ Ye have need 
 of patience, that, after ye have done the will of God, ye 
 might receive the promise.” Now that this promise here 
 spoken of refers to that in John xiv. is evident by the 
 next verse : “ For yet a little while, and He that shall 
 come will come, and will not tarry.” 
 
 In the first part of this chapter man is seen, as often 
 elsewhere, in failure and unbeliefand in abortive attempts, 
 to help himself. Indeed, all three here, Abram, Sarai, 
 and Hagar, are to be blamed. Of the three surely the 
 least part of the blame falls on Hagar. She ought to 
 have been helped, and not stumbled as she was by those 
 who knew the Lord better than she. But the ‘‘angel of 
 the Lord,” as He is called in verse 7, or “ Jehovah,” 
 and “ God,” as His name is (verse 13), finds her in her 
 distress and soul-sorrow, and sets her right again. She 
 was only, in man’s account, an insignificant servant 
 maid. Yet she was, as we behold, cared for and watched 
 over by Him that has ever proved Himself to be a friend 
 in need. He was not engrossed with the care of such 
 saints as Abram and Sarai. He knows everyone that 
 
6o 
 
 Typical Foreshadowings. 
 
 trusts in Him. Though she was in lowly life He knew 
 all about her. And that fountain of water, near which 
 He finds her, must have been a me norial place to her in all 
 after life. It was the fountain, as afterwards it came to 
 be called, “ of Him Who lives and sees me.’’ Jehovah, 
 who had appeared to her, she called, u Thou, God, seest 
 me.’’ Thus had He fixed her eye on Him Whose eye 
 was fixed on her. Their eyes had met; and in His look 
 there was forgiveness and restoration of her anguished 
 soul. How, as He had bidden her, she could return 
 happily to Abram’s tent and to Sarai’s rule. This had 
 He bidden her to do. Yea, by addressing her as Sarai’s 
 maid He implied that she was defrauding her mistress 
 in leaving her home. Thus did He cleanse her from all 
 unrighteousness, whilst He forgave her sin. Christians 
 have no right to leave the place where God has called 
 them, unless there is something necessarily sinful con¬ 
 nected with their continuance there. A Christian walk¬ 
 ing after the flesh is sometimes tempted to think of 
 himself as suffering for righteousness when he is suffer¬ 
 ing through sheer wilfulness, and through haste to 
 deliver himself out of an unpleasant or irksome position. 
 
 Thus this chapter is a very instructive and useful 
 chapter to us all. Such verses also as verses 13 and 14 
 show us what is true godliness. Finally we note that 
 in His word to Hagar, a prophecy as to how her off¬ 
 spring should fare, was uttered by this uncreated Angel 
 of the Lord, which has been fulfilling from that day even 
 down to the preseht. Still is it true of the Ishmaelites, 
 their hand is against every man, and every man’s hand 
 is against them. Yet they live, though the word con¬ 
 cerning them was pronounced three thousand years ago. 
 And if this be so, if God thus affords proof even in this 
 age, that His word cannot pass away ; so may we be 
 
The Lord’s Way with Abraham. 61 
 
 sure that, as respects the woe of the wicked and the 
 joy of the righteous alike, every jot of what is written 
 shall be fulfilled and fulfilling in its integrity, its entirety, 
 and for ever and ever (Matt. xxv. 46). 
 
 Chapter XVII. Thirteen years have elapsed since 
 man’s impatience led to the picture as displayed in the 
 last chapter. During this long interval, Abram would 
 have ample leisure to be ashamed of his own folly. And 
 he and we might at length understand w hy the Lord 
 appeared to delay the fulfilment of His promise. 
 Homans iv. is the divine clue to this chapter, as appears 
 by the reference there to the rite of circumcision insti¬ 
 tuted at this time. God waited till “Abram’s body ” 
 and “ Sarah’s womb ” were virtually “ dead.” Not till 
 then could He so act as to fill the scene entirely with 
 His own glory. There is a reason for all that God does 
 or delays to do, even though we may not understand it. 
 The same chapter (Rom. iv.) informs us that at this period 
 Abram was strong in faith, he staggered not, his being 
 kept waiting long had wrought its due effect on him, 
 he had seen his own folly in his incredulity and the 
 wisdom of trusting in God. Hence his “falling on his 
 face,” as we read in verse 3, was not in confusion, for 
 the identical expression is used again in ver.-*e 17, where 
 most certainly it was not so. Nay, rather at the contemp¬ 
 lation of the sovereign grace in the Lord again appearing 
 to him, notwithstanding his unbelief, he is overpowered 
 and he worships. And the Lord in a glance back at his un¬ 
 belief teaches him and us that the one all-potent remedy 
 for this sin is found in keeping the eye fixed on God. 
 
 This seventeenth chapter we may divide into two parts 
 — (1) God’s revelation of Himself; and (2) the re¬ 
 sponse which He demands in view thereof. Here, for 
 
I 
 
 6 2 Typical Foreshadowings. 
 
 the first time in the Bible, we encounter the name El 
 Shaddai —God, the all-sufficient One. The word “ Al¬ 
 mighty ” scarcely conveys the thought of the original 
 here. The Hebrew word comprehends this power too. 
 For nothing can occur in God’s creation .which shall 
 surprise Him, or place Him in a difficulty. If sinners 
 boldly and persisteutly defy Him, He is quite competent 
 to cope with their rebellion or their obstinacy. His 
 little finger will be more than a match, in power, against 
 all their attempts to thwart His purpose. But the 
 term El Shaddai may be used, as in fact it is here, in a 
 gracious sense. No strait, no trial, no trouble of His 
 people is such that He cannot triumphantly deliver 
 them from, or, if it please Him, carry them through. 
 Now this fresh and ampler discovery of His name, that 
 is to say of Himself to Abram, was beautiful in its sea¬ 
 son, when he must have abandoned all hope of an heir, 
 had he t( considered his own body.” Then in the next 
 verses the Lord proceeds to open out the import of this 
 unfolding of His name, in uttering seven “ I wills;” 
 wherein he evidently adverts to His promise, on which 
 Abram had yet failed to lean. See verses 6, 7, 8, 19, 
 21. In like manner, again, in Exod. vi., God makes 
 another and further discovery of His name as Jehovah, 
 to Moses, and explains to him its import, also, in seven 
 other “I wdlls,” in Exod. vi. 6—8. And once more the 
 Lord Jesus has declared unto us God’s name in full as, 
 the God and Father of Him, and therefore the God 
 and Father of us in Him. And, in my opinion, the 
 epistles of Paul to the seven Gentile churches of Home, 
 Corinth, etc., are designed to be the seven unfoldings of 
 this name. Well would it be if Christians in general 
 apprehended this truth ; and were not, alas ! often heard 
 to address Him as the Almighty, which is the term by 
 
6 3 
 
 The Lord’s Way with Abraham. 
 
 which the world is wont to speak of Him, thereby ex¬ 
 posing its ignorance, and yet terror, of God. True, in 
 the book of Revelation, this name of God does occur 
 frequently, because therein is displayed the execution of 
 judgment and wrath on all unbelievers; otherwise, only 
 in 2 Cor. vi., is this word to be found, and there, indeed, 
 only for a special and most precious reason. 
 
 How to this opening of His name to Abram, as the 
 All-sufficient One, God expects a hearty and entire re¬ 
 sponse. Hence the admonition, “ walk before Me, and 
 be thou perfect,”* by which it is signified that his heart 
 should correspondingly open and expand to receive these 
 overtures of sovereign grace. Hence, also, the change 
 of his name to Abraham, by which he would be reminded 
 constantly of the largeness of the blessing bestowed 
 upon him. And, once more, hence chiefly the institution 
 of the rite of circumcision with which, at this period 
 there was no connection as to law. The law was only 
 introduced at another epoch, through Moses, when this 
 rite concurrently received a legal tinge. See John vii. 
 22. But its obvious design here was that it might be to 
 him a seal of the righteousness of his faith (Rom iv.), 
 and thus serve as a mark, in the flesh, of separation 
 unto God, which he and his descendants might ever 
 carry. The flesh then not having shown out its enmity 
 to God in the murder of His Son, was cut or maimed, 
 and not adjudged as yet to be altogether bad. But now 
 the ordinance instituted by the Lord requires that the 
 flesh be buried, as that which is utterly corrupt. There¬ 
 fore, likewise, in the one case was the rite for the child¬ 
 ren of Abraham and his race after the flesh; whilst in 
 the other, it is for those who have a nature other than 
 
 * See explanation of this word “perfect,” in Remarks on the 
 Epistles of John, p. 127. 
 
64 Typical Foreshadowings. 
 
 the flesh; in other words, for the true children of God. 
 Only as then circumcision involved separation to God 
 alone, and was of no eternal value without it, so bap¬ 
 tism now is not mainly outward, but is only true when 
 the Holy Ghost appropriates us for God, as those who 
 are risen with Christ. See Col. ii. 11, 12; iii. 1—5. 
 In short, the further the discoveries of Himself in grace 
 to the souls which God is pleased to make, the simpler 
 should be the surrender of that soul to such a God, 
 taking sides with Him against nature, flesh and unbelief. 
 God wants us for Himself alone. 
 
 Chapter XVIII. Here, happily, follows a picture of 
 the Lord communing with Abraham, and of Abraham, 
 in that high and blessed communion, interceding for 
 others. But before Abraham is fit to enjoy this com¬ 
 munion, his heart must be set at ease before God. For 
 still his desire of an heir and God’s promise to him are 
 unfulfilled; and, naturally, the older he became, the 
 more solicitous would he be for the speedy accomplish¬ 
 ment of the promise. And the fact that God removed 
 his solicitude ere He took him into His secret counsel 
 argues that, otherwise, he would scarcely have been able 
 to attend upon the Lord without distraction. Accord¬ 
 ingly, we read here first of a feast provided by Abraham, 
 and partaken of by his heavenly Visitants; and, next, 
 of His assurance to Abraham tuat His promise to him 
 was about to be fulfilled. Sarah laughs, hearing of this 
 joyful news, as her husband, in chap. xvii. 17, had 
 laughed likewise. Here it is clear from the context that 
 there was incredulity in her laugh. Yet in Heb. xi. we 
 read that, through faith, she received strength to con¬ 
 ceive seed. But this apparent contradiction as to the 
 state of soul of Sarah contains nothing that needs to 
 
6 5 
 
 The Lord’s Way with Abraham. 
 
 perplex any Christian; for who of us is not conscious 
 of the presence of these two, of faith and unbelief, in 
 his own heart, and, consequently, of the struggle that 
 there takes place ? 
 
 Now Abraham, having heard the period definitely 
 named for that blessing which his heart had for so long 
 a while craved, would doubtless have been satisfied ; but 
 the Lord had, as we see, much more to say to him. He 
 delights to go on with us in the discoveries of His grace 
 when He has strengthened our hearts to be able to bear 
 them. Many now are content to know that they have 
 eternal life, and care not to inquire for what purpose 
 God had set His heart upon conferring on us this great 
 gift. Neither are such moved by the evident reply that, 
 by communicating to us of His own nature, and of His 
 own Spirit, we may be compelled in some measure to 
 understand Him, and able intelligently to worship Him 
 and hold communion with Him. Never can angels, 
 however exalted, adequately enter into His thoughts, 
 nor into His love. Still less was aught of this possible 
 for them, ere the twofold sight of Christ on the cross for 
 sinners, and of Christ on the throne for believers, had 
 been opened to creature view. Yet these are the two 
 great modes whereby alone God can be known. Let us 
 follow on to know the Lord ; so we please Him. 
 
 The two angels that accompanied the Lord, being now 
 about to depart towards Sodom, near to which Lot 
 descries them presently approaching (chap. xix. 1), the 
 Lord determines to inform Abraham of what He is about 
 to do, and thus to assure him of His friendship. He 
 also remarkably assigns His reasons for this, which 
 show that His secret is only with those who fear Him, 
 and not with the Lots who disobey Him. And blessed 
 it is to remember that all we who truly believe in Christ 
 
 5 
 
66 
 
 Typical Fore shadowings. 
 
 are lifted up into this place of intimacy, as the Lord 
 testifies in John xv. And as we abide in Him, so do the 
 eternal realities of the future become distincter unto us, 
 that we may live in the power of them. Who would 
 have thought that to Abraham, rather than to Lot, whom 
 it more immediately concerned, the impending doom 
 of Sodom should be thus at once revealed ? Likewise, 
 the godly are they who know not only their own portion 
 in Christ, but also the things that *are coming on the 
 earth; yea, and wherefore such judgments are so com¬ 
 ing. Such souls should particularly bear in mind what, 
 of all things in the character of Abraham, the Lord 
 singled out as that which specially met His approval. 
 “ I know him that he will command his children and his 
 household after him ; and they shall keep the way of the 
 Lord” (verse 19). Strange that, in the families of so 
 many of His own people nowadays, His instituted rule 
 is exactly inverted, and, first, the children lead the 
 mother, and the wife rules the husband. Nothing but 
 evil can accrue from such a state of things. 
 
 Then when Abraham on the mount of communion 
 with the Lord learns His mind, at once he commences to 
 intercede for Sodom’s inhabitants. When freed by 
 grace from all care as to harm happening to ourselves, 
 and when in the enjoyment of His smile, it is beautiful 
 to think of the welfare of others. Even in heaven the 
 Church has not only harps to praise Him therewith for 
 themselves, but golden vials full of odours containing the 
 prayers of the Jewish remnant. And these prayers the 
 great Archangel Himself then offers up to God. (Com¬ 
 pare Lev. v. 8, with viii. 3—5.) A certain timidity and 
 irresolution characterize the intercession even of an 
 Abraham here, as weakness marked that of Moses 
 against Amalek in Exod. xvii. 12 ; and as that terrible 
 
67 
 
 The Lord’s JVay with Abraham. 
 
 clause “ if not ” was heard in his entreaties of mercy 
 for Israel, who had sinned, in Exod. xxxii. 32. So too 
 Ananias speaks against Paul to the Lord in Acts ix. 13. 
 Few readers will need to he reminded of how all 
 this blessedly contrasts with the Lord’s intercession for 
 us as in John xvii., “ Father, I willor in Luke xxii. 
 32; Heb. iv. 15, vi. 25 ; 1 John ii. 1, etc. Here, like¬ 
 wise, we see that Abraham ceased pleading ere God 
 ceased giving. We dare not guess what other issue there 
 might have been for Sodom, had Abraham continued in 
 supplication, not only pleading for mercy for Sodom, if 
 fifty, forty, thirty righteous were found in it, but further 
 if twenty, ten, five, yea, one such soul were there. No 
 doubt we may infer from the Lord’s words : “ I wili go 
 down now and see,” as also from His action in taking 
 Abraham into His confidence as to Sodom’s condition, 
 that “judgment is His strange work.” If therefore 
 unto us He has shown Himself gracious in constituting 
 us as intercessors for our unsaved friends and relatives, 
 let us catch His mind, and not allow our uplifted 
 hands to flag in their behalf, until we have the answer 
 of peace for them. Study here, the connexion between 
 verses 12 and 13 of John xiv. In the former verse we 
 are said almost ourselves to work the miracle of grace; 
 in the latter, the same is ascribed to the Lord, in answer 
 to our prayer. 
 
 Chapter XIX. Here we see the last of Lot. And 
 to the end there appears something strangely unsatis¬ 
 factory about him. The Holy Ghost expressly states 
 that he was a righteous man, else we might almost have 
 concluded otherwise. By a sort of second-hand fear of 
 God, and influenced by Abraham, he had set out in his 
 company from his native land to the land of promise. 
 
68 Typical Foreshadowings . 
 
 And very remarkably from the commencement of Lot’s 
 history, even up to this chapter, where that history is 
 closed, we read not once of the Lord appearing to Lot, 
 or of His having a word to say to him. And even here, 
 if the angels do come into his house, it is only on his 
 pressing invitation. In the eighteenth chapter, they 
 needed no pressing on the part of Abraham. And there, 
 too, the Lord Himself was with them ; here the execu¬ 
 tioners of his vengeance are alone. And how had he 
 got to Sodom P Hirst, when Abraham had made him that 
 noble offer in chap, xiii., he had meanly and greedily taken 
 advantage of it; and then the inspired language as to 
 his course is traced in minute and painful distinctness. 
 First, he deliberately chooses Sodom, urged too by the 
 lust of the eye, xiii. 10, 11; next he pitches his tent 
 towards Sodom. After that he is found among the 
 captives of Sodom, indebted for his deliverance to 
 Abraham’s energy of faith. Unwarned, he returns to the 
 place of his choice and is now a dweller in Sodom, yea, 
 from being found sitting in the gate of Sodom, it would 
 appear as if he had risen to position and to prominence 
 therein, that is to say, to position and even to prominence 
 in that which was evil. Well might his righteous soul 
 be vexed in such company, which yet he had no inclina¬ 
 tion to forsake. Here he calls the men of Sodom his 
 brethren, and his children and himself are married to 
 Sodomites, whilst not a single hint is there of any inter¬ 
 course with Abraham during the many years that have 
 elapsed since they parted company in chap. xiii. And 
 even now at the last, if he is to be saved, he has to be 
 almost dragged out. The salvation itself is by the 
 Scripture said to have been partly attributable to 
 Abraham; I suppose to his intercessory prayer. And 
 that prayer could only be heard in bringing him out: 
 
6 9 
 
 The Lord’s Way with Abraham. 
 
 for out he must come, if he is to be saved at all. Lot’s 
 wife, who accompanied him on his departure, quickly 
 proved that though bodily she was separated, still in 
 heart she continued there. Therefore, as the Lord Jesus, 
 speaking of her, warns those who may happen provi¬ 
 dentially to he unconnected with some wickedness, but 
 who would gladly be in it if they could get or return 
 thither, if their step out was not taken in faith delibe¬ 
 rately, therefore are such warned, that her punishment 
 was sure, swift, condign, and terrible. When once the 
 Lord speaks out in judgment, there is no mistake as if 
 feebleness were in His arm, or as if hesitation were in 
 His purpose. Men may have thought there was whilst 
 He delayed His blow. They misunderstand His long- 
 suffering, even as they will to the end (2 Peter iii.). He 
 keeps silent, and they think wickedly that the “ I Am ” 
 is such an one as themselves. Let not readers now 
 forget the warning, for there is an antitype, as many 
 Scriptures testify, to the scene here. But on this 
 antitype I have already remarked, when considering 
 chap. xiii. 
 
 I only add here, therefore, that in 2 Peter we have 
 four classes of souls—two classes of saved in chap, i., to 
 wit, those increasing in the knowledge of God, and so 
 waxing stronger and stronger in their separation unto 
 Him; next, some others, converted indeed, but “ shut¬ 
 ting their eyes ” (see Greek! as to the evil with which 
 they are connected; and again, in chap, ii., we see 
 another class, false teachers, denying the Lord, and 
 making merchandise of souls ; and in chap. iii. their 
 religiousness is seen to be tending towards infidelity. 
 The several parties of 2 Peter are easily to be discerned, 
 each of them, at this very day. Then in Jude we read of 
 some who need to be pulled out of the fire. Here the 
 
70 Typical Fore shadowings. 
 
 allusion to this (chap, xix.) is obvious. And as the con¬ 
 nection of Jude with 2 Peter is admitted by all, so by 
 conjoining the warnings, and interpreting them in the 
 light of this our chapter in Genesis, they become most 
 vivid. Then, in Bevelation, all the several stages of th 
 apostasy which we behold all around us are traced in 
 their order by the Son of God. His own people, heeding 
 His call, are seen in obedience in Philadelphia, “ holding 
 fast His name, and keeping the word of His patience.” 
 On the other hand, some in Laodicea are urged to be 
 zealous, and repent. But our subject is Genesis, and 
 not Bevelation ; therefore I refrain myself from pursuing 
 further this solemn subject now. 
 
 Chapter XX. At the beginning of Heb. xii., the 
 path of the Lord through this world is set in contrast 
 by the writer of the Epistle with the flickering faith of 
 the saints enumerated in chap. xi. There the special 
 seasons when they displayed faith are pointed out to us. 
 But Christ was always ready for any trial. Hence, in 
 contradistinction with all those, He is termed, “ the Be¬ 
 ginner and Completer of the faith.” Wherever the true 
 path of obedience and of unswerving confidence in God 
 led Him, there He was sure to be. However arduous 
 the circumstances into which this steadfastness might 
 lead Him, thither and forwards He went, He ran. This 
 divine course could only terminate at the cross. There 
 He died. Then God raised Him from the dead, and 
 gave Him glory, that our faith and hope might, similarly, 
 be in God. Por this cause we are enjoined to “ look off 
 to Jesus.’’ His garments were as the pattern Servant 
 of God, seen to be so white in the light of Tabor’s 
 Mount, as that no fuller on earth could whiten them. 
 As for the holiest saints of old, their faith was weak, 
 
The Lord’s Way with Abraham. y r 
 
 and their exercise of it only, as it were, by fits and 
 starts. In rare cases, as of Abraham’s, where the faith 
 was more continuous, still there was failure over and 
 over again. Christ’s was one single “ work,” one perfect 
 whoie from end to end. Others’was mere patchwork, 
 of larger or smaller pieces. 
 
 Here we see Abraham again overcome, and by pre¬ 
 cisely the same sin through which he had diverged before 
 (chap, xiii.) Then he failed when in Egypt; now when 
 at G-erar, half-way between Egypt and Canaan. In full 
 communion and in full obedience only is there security. 
 Out and apart from these, even though by compromise 
 we are off the straight line, and further wrong we shall 
 quickly get. We might have imagined that, where once 
 he had got wrong, he had been made more strong, did 
 we not know ourselves. Besides which, there was that 
 amount of truth as to Sarah’s relationship, that might 
 render him more liable to convey an impression to 
 Abimelech which was foreign to the fact. Alas ! Abra¬ 
 ham desired to deceive Abimelech, and did deceive 
 him. He was guilty of a suggestio falsi , and an unfair 
 suppressio veri. And thus by a combination of error and 
 truth are we oft led astray. Only in God’s light can we 
 see light, and walk according to the will of God. As a 
 worldly man, Abimelech is here seen to be exhibiting 
 more integrity than a believer; and this, sad to say, is 
 not a rare sight. Abimelech seems to have had some 
 natural fear of God, and to deprecate like vengeance on 
 his nation as that which had alighted on Sodom. Hor 
 is there here any account of Abraham communing with 
 God, nor of God talking with Abraham. Surely the 
 believer in his experience is conscious of some parallel 
 to all this. Five hundred years after all this came to 
 pass, Moses was inspired to narrate it. And thus it is 
 
72 
 
 Typical Foreshadowings. 
 
 evident that the Lord notes oar conflicts, wounds, de¬ 
 pression, and subsequent victories. 
 
 For still, blessed be God, the broad fact after all re¬ 
 mains true, we are His people. Nor will He abandon us 
 to our foes. He will separate the sins which He hates 
 from the souls that He loves. “ No change Jehovah 
 knows.” Fickle we may be and are ; He sees us in 
 Christ. Hence beautiful it is to observe that at the 
 very time when Abraham was so thoroughly down, then 
 the Lord speaks of him as a prophet, and declares that 
 at Abraham’s prayer, Abimelech shall live. The allusion 
 here, doubtless, is to the grace by which Abraham had 
 been taken into the confidence of the Lord as to Sodom’s 
 doom, and to his intercession in its behalf. By a pro¬ 
 phet, I understand one who stands usually in God’s 
 light, and who therefore can shed light on the difficulties 
 of others which beset their path through not equally 
 dwelling in that light: and also one who, through abid¬ 
 ing with God and in Christ, prevails in prayer with 
 God (John xv. 16). This interpretation of this oft-used 
 term will, I believe, be found to be a clue to every pas¬ 
 sage wherein it occurs. In the case of the inspired 
 prophet, his light, of course, is so distinct and so purely 
 obtained from God, as to be the very judgment of God 
 Himself. In a secondary sense only, some nowadays 
 more continue in God’s light and know His will bettei 
 than others, and therefore are competent ofttimes to give 
 godly counsel to a “carnal” Christian (1 Cor. iii. 1). 
 But in this subordinate sense of the use of the word 
 “ prophet,” the light which such an one gives must be 
 brought to the searching test of the Word of God. 
 
 Abraham here speaks of himself to Abimelech as a 
 wanderer. The original Hebrew here is peculiar. “And 
 it came to pass when God, . . . they caused me to wander 
 
73 
 
 The Lord’s Way with Abraham. 
 
 from my father’s house,” etc. There may be some 
 allusion here to the truth of God being three-one. At 
 all events, he confesses himself a pilgrim and a stranger. 
 Conjoin with this what we have already heard as to his 
 being a prophet; then we have the double truth—one 
 brought out so much more vividly in the New Testa¬ 
 ment, viz., of separation—perfect both unto God and 
 from the world; or, as we are wont to say, “ inside the 
 vail and outside the camp.” There was surely the germ 
 of this twofold aspect of life in Abraham’s day. For 
 then, too, the world was a fallen world, and God was 
 the one Resort of His people. Only the depth of its 
 fall and the measure of its hostility had not been gauged; 
 it was the Cross of our Lord Jesus Christ that showed 
 all this. And Christ came to give us this life, in either 
 aspect “ more abundantly.” For through Him we ob¬ 
 tain power to become sons of God, and by the indwell¬ 
 ing of the Holy Ghost given unto us, we are made joint 
 heirs with Himself; but at the same time we, in this 
 day of His rejection, suffer with Him also. 
 
 Chapter XXI. This chapter, the last one in the 
 second part of Abraham’s life, has for its chief feature 
 the faithfulness of God in fulfilling His promise. It 
 reminds one of that passage in Habakkuk quoted in 
 Heb. x.: “ Though it (or ‘ He ’) tarry, wait for it (or 
 ‘Him’). He will surely come; He will not delay.’’ 
 The coming of Christ has ever been God’s grand pro¬ 
 mise, and at the same time the believer’s hope ever since 
 the scene in Gen. iii., even up to this day. Only in the 
 case of these patriarchs of old, they were looking for a 
 Christ who had not yet come ; but we look for One who 
 has already come and put away our sins, and now in 
 human form and in resurrection appears in God’s pre- 
 
74 
 
 Typical Foreshadouuings. 
 
 sence on our behalf. There, by faith, we behold Him. 
 Hence that word of Him, 6 e^o/xeros—the coming One. 
 Of old, in Adam, or in Abraham’s time, He was coming. 
 And now, though He has been and gone, He is still 
 nearer to us, even than when on earth He stood among 
 His little apostolic band. For now we are already one 
 with Himself in spirit, so as they certainly were not 
 until He had died and risen (John xii. 24). Now 
 His promise is, “I am coming again ” (John xiv. 3, 
 Greek). 
 
 Of this coming One, the Heir, the Son, Isaac became 
 at once, at his birth, the type. Whilst yet a child in 
 his parents’ house in this chap. xxi. ; and, again, when at 
 a later period, Abraham had died, he may in some re¬ 
 spects more resemble the Christ that is formed in us—in 
 other words, the sons in their state of. childhood as here ; 
 or in thei life of training and discipline as in chaps, 
 xxv.—xxvii. On the other hand, in the intermediate 
 chapters, to wit, chaps, xxii.—xxiv., when Isaac is fully 
 grown, whilst yet his father is still alive, he appears 
 rather to resemble the eternal Son, the second Man who 
 is the Lord from heaven. 
 
 At all events, the Lord did keep His promise to Abra¬ 
 ham. He kept it at the set time‘too. The emphatic 
 style of the language in it may probably be designed as 
 a glance at Abraham’s and Sarah’s former incredulity. 
 What a fine mode of rebuke of this is the keeping His 
 promise exactly and in all respects. In this way, too, 
 does He oft convince us where we had failed, and mani¬ 
 fest to us that we might have trusted in Him. And 
 this the more readily, seeing that this present period is 
 characterized by many “ haths ” of what God has already 
 done for us, perhaps even more so than by promises 
 awaiting fulfilment. In fact, we have little to look for 
 
75 
 
 The Lord’s IVay with Abraham. 
 
 now but His return, which is termed “ The promise” in 
 Heb. x. 36, 37. And as to this there is certainly a “set ' 
 time,” though it has not been so set as for us to know. 
 And if this be true of His great promise, let us rest as¬ 
 sured that His time for the fulfilment of any minor pro¬ 
 mise is the right time. Shall not the promises which 
 He has already fulfilled shame us out of our unbelief, 
 and strengthen us implicitly to believe Him for the 
 future ? 
 
 Legalism is natural to fallen men. Ishmael could only 
 be a bondman from his birth, for partus sequitur ventrem 
 —as is the mother, so is the child. Then Isaac born 
 draws out Ishmael’s latent hostility to what is of God, 
 Here we see again, as in the respective cases of Cain and 
 Abel, the antagonism of the two seeds (Gen. iii.) These 
 must be diverse, as flesh and spirit are opposed to each 
 other. It has been inferred from the names of his chil¬ 
 dren that Ishmael was a religious man. Three of these, 
 Misbma, Humah, Massa, may be rendered,, “hearing,” 
 “silence/’ and “patiently bearing;” equivalent to the 
 words in James i. 19, “ Swift to hear, slow to speak, slow 
 to wrath.” This only deepens the lesson. Ho hostility 
 is there to grace comparable with fleshly piety and 
 religiousness. All this was abundantly evident in Christ’s 
 own time here, and is still everywhere observable even 
 now. Ishmael “ mocked ” Isaac, or “ laughed ” at him. 
 (Hebrew). Strange that this curl of the lip is regarded 
 as “ persecution ” in Gal. iv. 29. Yet not strange when 
 we call to mind how much of malignity there may be in 
 a suppressed sneer, and of pain to him at whom it is 
 directed. The Lord knows all the wickedness in the 
 heart of man, and forgets nothing of what His people 
 suffer for His sake. Ho sorrow of theirs is beneath His 
 notice. But as Hagar’s seed represents not only all 
 
7 6 Typical Foreshadowings. 
 
 those “ born after the flesh,” but specially those “ under 
 law,” as the old nation of Israel was; therefore it, as 
 well as flesh in general, is set aside when grace reigns. 
 Hence, as it is true that the flesh profiteth nothing, so, 
 likewise, has the sentence gone forth on that nation, 
 a Lo Ammi ” (see Rom. ix. 6—8). To this day Israel 
 is a wanderer among the nations of the earth, though 
 preserved distinct from all. For there are deep counsels 
 of love to be fulfilled towards the remnant of Israel—the 
 nation bringing forth fruit, as Christ terms it in Matt, 
 xxi. 43. But then these people, like all others, can only 
 come into blessing on the ground of sovereign grace, 
 and as if they were Gentiles (Acts xv. 11). This is the 
 special line of teaching in the book of Ruth. And Sarah 
 was so far conversant in the ways of grace as to be able 
 to interpret the will of God, and that, too, to Abraham. 
 Thus, by the fulfilment of God’s promise to her, her soul 
 also had grown in divine knowledge, and was established. 
 For her words to Abraham at this time are called Scrip¬ 
 ture in Gal. iv. 30, and shown in chap. v. to be applic¬ 
 able in all directions. 
 
 This was the second time that Hagar found herself 
 alone, yet not alone, in the wilderness. It is worthy of 
 notice that, on each occasion, her eyes beheld a well of 
 water. Surely the frequency of this reference to a well 
 where grace is acting—as, when law has done its work, 
 grace loves to display its resources—all this suggests a 
 designed symbol. It was at a well that the wife for 
 Isaac, the typical son, and again a wife for Jacob, the 
 typical servant, were found (Gen. xxiv. 13 and xxix. 2). 
 Likewise it was at a well that Moses, the typical pro¬ 
 phet, found a bride, and a home, and a flock (Exod.‘ ii.) 
 Passing over such hints as we find in Joshua xv. 19, 
 with Judges i. 15, there is the case of that wretched 
 
77 
 
 The Lord’s IVay with Abraham. 
 
 woman who was found by the Lord whilst on His way 
 from Jewish rejection to Gentile mercy in John iv. To 
 her He speaks not of the kingdom, but about the wor¬ 
 ship of the Father, and of the water of life. For it is 
 His wont, when rejected in a lower glory, to retire into 
 a higher (John vi.) ;* wherefore does she much re¬ 
 semble in type the Church of God. But she, too, was 
 found at a well. Hagar, like the rest of us, by nature 
 unprepared for sovereign grace, eventually triumphing 
 over flesh, works, sin, and law, is in despair for her seed, 
 counting only on death ; then she descries a well, when 
 God opens her eyes. Yet we only read of her filling a 
 bottle. It is true that God is here in the wilderness, 
 and the Holy Ghost is so present as He has never been 
 before. Through Him there is even a well of water in 
 the believer, so that rivers of living water flow out from 
 him (John iv. and vii.) Alas ! how little contents us when 
 God would have us reckon on Him ; not according to our 
 need, as we often hear Christians in prayer request to 
 be supplied, but according to His own riches in glory by 
 Christ Jesus. He eyes our need, truly, but in supplying 
 it He deals with us according to what He is, not accord¬ 
 ing to the narrowness of our hearts. But how little are 
 we prepared for this abundance ! Do “ rivers of living 
 water” flow out from us ? Alas ! no. Where is our faith ? 
 For the promise is to him that “believeth.” The word 
 is in the present tense in John vii. 38, to signify that 
 faith should be in daily, present operation. A bottleful 
 of this water suffices us; yet what a blessing we might 
 be in a land barren and dry, if our faith were simpler. 
 
 The chapter, and the entire section,! closes with a 
 
 * See some instances of this His way cited in my Lectures 
 on Revelation, vol. ii., p. 107, note 2. 
 
 f See the remarks at the beginning of chap. xv. 
 
7 8 Typical Foreshadowings. 
 
 glance at the Gentile seeking Abraham. And why P 
 Because the son is born. A similar scene is found in 
 John xii., where, first, yon see the Church represented 
 by the family at Bethany; next, the Jew, in verse 12 ; 
 and, next, the Gentile, in verse 20. In like manner, the 
 same concentric circles are beheld here. For here we 
 have Christ and the Church—the Man-child of Rev. xii., 
 represented by Isaac, born after the Spirit; next we see 
 Israel after the flesh, as symbolized by Hagar and Ish- 
 mael, the bondwoman and her offspring—for we are the 
 true circumcision, and not they; and, lastly, in Abime- 
 lech and Phichol we see the Gentile world seeking the 
 friendship of Abraham the Hebrew, yet reproved by him, 
 who in proper season claims his rights, which had been 
 for a while allowed to remain in abeyance. For yet God 
 will gather together and head up all things in heaven 
 and on earth under Christ His Son. 
 
@lj£ fteifs ©tan imtlj JUrrafram. 
 
 Section III. 
 
 The lord's waij with hclinuing Jthraham as a 
 
 father* 
 
 Genesis xxii.—xxv. 10. 
 
 /CHAPTERS XXII.—XXY. 10. Inasmuch as the 
 design of these remarks is to present only a sum¬ 
 mary of the teaching of Genesis viewed as a whole, so on 
 such a chapter as the twenty-second, where one might be 
 inclined to linger longer, an outline must still suffice, even 
 though its filling up might render the same much more 
 vivid. However, happily there is the less need for much 
 enlargement here, inasmuch as most of us are familiar 
 with the contents of the chapter, whether regarded as a 
 narrative or as a type. 
 
 As for the former aspect the chapter is superscribed, 
 God’s temptation of Abraham. God and Satan each 
 tempt us. The difficulty is solved by the remembrance 
 of the diversity of object in view of God from Satan. 
 God never tempts us to evil, but to strengthen us in 
 what we know of Him, and in order that we may know 
 Him better. Our wilderness lessons, though they may 
 have been most painful to us, have yet been withal ex¬ 
 ceedingly profitable. Who of us would like to have 
 been without them P There is not a circumstance of 
 every-day life that does not contribute to test our con¬ 
 fidence in God. And if when the trial comes we con- 
 
80 Typical Foreshadowings. 
 
 tinue steadfast, we avouch that we esteem His favour 
 beyond everything. Thus do we daily win battles over 
 our sin, and over our unbelief. Then at the end of the 
 life-long struggle there is the crown of life which the 
 Lord has promised to them who, when tried, are found 
 to love Him (James i. 12). All of us have been broken 
 down at times. Still some are more on their guard than 
 others. Some are not so easily betrayed as others. That 
 trial which proves too much for one walking negligently 
 and not in the Spirit, or which might be overwhelming 
 to the same at another time, might only strengthen his 
 faith when abiding in Christ. Abraham had now grown 
 much through God’s patient leading and discipline. 
 Then at last came the great trial to display the reality 
 and moral grandeur of God’s own work of grace (James 
 ii. 21, 22). Nor was he found unprepared for this. By 
 the God that loved him the temptation was most lovingly 
 timed, when he had become much versed in experience 
 of the Lord’s tender mercy. Surely all of us could re¬ 
 call to mind periods in our wilderness experience when 
 we have found Him a very present help in trouble. And 
 though from all of us His children He demands the sur¬ 
 render of everything by faith at His call, yet to some 
 a crucial test such as this sore one may not be presented. 
 For why ? They give way at once and readily to a much 
 easier test. Thus life is developing our character which 
 God, if we will let Him have His own way with us, is 
 intent on forming. And the pleasure which the Lord 
 takes in our efforts to please Him, as He evidently did 
 in the case of Abraham here, should rouse us to the 
 fixed determination to yield ourselves unto Him with 
 full purpose of heart. This is to be done by taking up 
 the Cross and following the Lord Jesus every day of our 
 life. 
 
#• 
 
 The Lord’s Way with Abraham. 81 
 
 God speaks to Abraham, calling him by his name, as 
 his Friend and Lord. He, in peace and communion, 
 promptly replies, “ Behold, here am I.” It would seem 
 as if throughout this long and sore trial the soul of 
 Abraham was preserved in perfect peace. Thus in this 
 chapter we have this brief and ready answer to the call, 
 in ver. 1, of God ; in ver. 7, of his son; and in ver. 11, 
 of the angel. In each place the reply is the same in 
 Hebrew. A fiery trial like this would surely itself tend 
 in God’s hands to produce tranquillity of heart. It 
 would be felt to be a time of the special visitation of 
 God. 
 
 In the divine command now given to Abraham are 
 seven particulars, one after another leading towards a 
 purposed climax, in order that the full force of the trial 
 might be felt, and thus the faith, by obedience, be found 
 genuine. How the obedience rendered was unquestion¬ 
 ing; uncomplaining ; exactly according to the Word ; it 
 was prompt; it was deliberate; it involved the surrender, 
 at God’s call, of all possessed; it was to slay his son, 
 md it was to be done by himself. As for the son, as the 
 truth of the Lord’s will dawns on his mind gradually, 
 he appears to have bowed his head in hearty acquies¬ 
 cence to the will of God. At this time he must have 
 been old enough to have opposed himself with resolution, 
 had he been so minded. He was not less than twenty- 
 four years of age. Trained, as God had declared that 
 Abraham would train his family, in His fear, he is con¬ 
 scious that for true worship there must be a Lamb fot 1 a 
 burnt-offering, which is far more than many of our re¬ 
 ligious wiseacres of this day are aware of. And when 
 to'his question, “ Where is the lamb P” he has received 
 the suggestive reply, “ My son, God will provide for 
 
 Himself a lamb,” silence followed on either side, 
 
 6 
 
82 Typical Foreshadowings. 
 
 which appears to have remained unbroken by either till 
 they reach the place. As if each knew more about the 
 intended victim than they liked to tell the one to the 
 other. And each had leisure for reflection and for 
 drawing back, had either been so disposed. But each 
 remained stedfast in heart. It is well to notice this, 
 that we may learn, mutatis mutandis , to copy it. Doubt¬ 
 less, Abraham knew that God would, somehow or other, 
 give him back his son. His language in verse 5 implies 
 as much: “ I and the lad will go yonder and worship, 
 and we will come again to you” (so Hebrew). But in 
 what manner this would come to pass he knew not; he 
 left it to God. 
 
 So, when at last the crisis came, each continued firm. 
 No hesitation was there in the one, and no resistance by 
 the other. “ He took the knife to slay his son.” Here 
 I admire, not so much the unfaltering obedience of 
 Abraham, nor yet the perfect concurrence of Isaac in 
 that obedience to the divine will, as I wonder at the 
 grace of God that could take up a wretched idolater, so 
 as Abraham had been, and teach him His love, and train 
 him to this entire self-abnegation and self-consecration 
 unto God. A descendaut of rebellious Adam, as each 
 of these was by nature, had been so won over by 
 sovereign grace, that to do or to suffer the will of God 
 was preferred by them before everything. Now such 
 obedience we ought to be prepared gladly to render. 
 Yea, even from this example, bright as it surely is, we 
 are commanded to “ look off,” in order to contemplate 
 One whose path was infinitely more arduous and painful 
 still. And He it is who is our Exemplar. He has given 
 to us of His Spirit; and as many as are led by the Spirit 
 of God, so as He was led, they, and they only, are the 
 sons of God. Bail in detail and in practice we may, 
 
83 
 
 The Lord's Way with Ahraham. 
 
 and often do; yet our calling to association with Him¬ 
 self and to tread in His footsteps is unchanged. 
 
 But it remains for us to inquire, in the presence of a 
 type of far higher things, as we all feel sure we have 
 here, what is the great truth itself foreshadowed under 
 all this? Was the offering up by Abraham of his son 
 designed to be a picture, and a lesson to us as to what 
 it cost Him who spared not His own Son, but freely 
 gave Him for us all ? Or, on the other hand, are we 
 here taught that the sinner deserved death and must 
 have met it, had not a ram—a substitute—been found 
 instead ? It appears to me there is no need for these 
 two views to be regarded as antagonistic. Surely here, 
 as in many other Scriptures, we behold a double type of 
 Christ. For instance : we have elsewhere the burnt and 
 sin offerings : the two goats; the two birds, or sparrows; 
 —Moses with Aaron; David with Solomon ; Elijah with 
 Elisha, and divers others. 
 
 How, as to the former aspect, Isaac is termed Abra¬ 
 ham’s only-begotten, and is said to have been actually 
 “offered up ’’ (James ii. 21). “ In a figure,” too, Abraham 
 received him from the dead ; and, what is very remark¬ 
 able, after that he must have been accounted by him as 
 good as dead for three days—I mean, from the moment 
 when he heard God’s command, till the time when he 
 came down from the mount. The place, too, was “the 
 land of Moriah,” wherein David at a subsequent period 
 built an altar, and where Solomon reared the Temple, 
 and in which Calvary itself was situated. Again, if we 
 look at Isaac, we see depicted, in his carrying the wood 
 on which himself was to be slain, the voluntariness of 
 the sacrifice of Christ. He delighted to do the will of 
 God. That the world might know that He loved the 
 Father, and as the Father gave Him commandment, so 
 
84 Typical Foreshadowings . 
 
 He went onward up to the cross. Was the wood laid 
 on Isaac, and presently Isaac placed on the wood ? 
 Thus on the cross was sin laid on Christ, and He Him¬ 
 self was made sin for us who knew no sin. In fact, not 
 a single feature of importance in the history is there, 
 hut it finds its counterpart in some precious feature of 
 God’s and of Christ’s love. The shadow may, in many 
 respects, be faint, compared with the great sacrifice it¬ 
 self. For instance, on the cross of Christ the divine eye 
 had been riveted ere the world began. All through His 
 human life, too, the cross at the end of His path must 
 have weighed on Christ’s soul. When He read Isa. liii., 
 He would have no occasion to ask, as did the Ethiopian 
 eunuch, “ Of whom speaketh the prophet thus, of him¬ 
 self or of some other ? ” And of all that chapter, the 
 verse that might appear to have most keenly touched 
 Him was the clause, “ He was numbered with the trans¬ 
 gressors.’' For this sentence He specially singled out 
 for observation as the time of the cross drew nigh ; 
 whilst Abraham’s knowledge of what sacrifice was re¬ 
 quired of him extended, as we have seen, only over three 
 days, and Isaac’s acquaintance therewith for probably a 
 less period still. 
 
 On the other hand, the ram was caught, and Christ 
 was held fast by the horns of His strength and love. It 
 was not left to Abraham to find the 1 am, nor to the sin¬ 
 ner to procure a substitute. Neither Abraham in the 
 one case, nor we in the other, had any idea of such a 
 mercy. Nay, more; unless we had been distinctly cer¬ 
 tified thereof by God, never should we have known that 
 God had a Son, and that that Son could be, only could 
 be and would be, the Victim. God found us Christ, 
 and gave Him up expressly that He might die the Just 
 for the unjust. Then the soul, acquiescing in God’s way 
 
The Lord’s Way with Abraham . 85 
 
 of grace by the substitution of this Saviour for itself, 
 sees death to be its own desert, and bows to the 
 sentence, and at once obtains resurrection in Christ 
 risen. 
 
 As Isaac descended from the mount, not one scratch, 
 we may be sure, was to be found upon him. He stood, 
 “in a figure,” in resurrection, even as we in Christ are 
 beyond judgment, beyond the cross and the grave. We 
 are in Christ, but Christ is not dead. Christ is risen, is 
 glorified. There, then, likewise, is our standing. The 
 cross is not between the believer and his God, but be¬ 
 tween the believer and the world. The cross is behind 
 him, and by it he is crucified to the world, and it to him. 
 And now he belongs only to God and his Father, and 
 to the Lord Jesus Christ his Saviour. Henceforth such 
 a one is a saint, a separated man, a pilgrim and a stran¬ 
 ger in this world. He is only here at all through having 
 been first taken out of it by Christ his Lord, and then 
 sent back as a risen man to “ bear much fruit ” (see 
 Rom. vii. 4). For this cause this wonderlul chapter 
 closes with a list of children related to Abraham. And 
 likewise, in the promise of God to him here, we now 
 find conjoined the mention of the heavenly and of the 
 earthly seeds. Previously, the Lord had first assured 
 Abraham that his seed should be as the sand of the sea¬ 
 shore (chap. xiii. 16). Later on, the Lord had said that 
 his seed should resemble the stars of heaven in multi¬ 
 tude. But here the word is as to both of these fami¬ 
 lies ; to wit, of the earthly and of the heavenly. And, 
 lastly, we are instructed in that notable parenthesis of 
 Gal. iii. 15 to iv. 7, that the term “ seed,” which itself 
 may, of course, be either singular or plural, points 
 mainly to Isaac coming down from the mount as the 
 type of Christ in resurrection. He is the true Seed, the 
 
86 
 
 Typical Foreshadowings . 
 
 true Son, the only Head. Of Him “ every family in 
 heaven and earth is named ” (Eph. iii. 15, Greek). 
 
 Chapter XXIII. “ The God of glory gave to Abra¬ 
 ham no inheritance ” in Canaan ; “ no, not so much as 
 to set his foot on ; yet He promised that He would give 
 it to him for a possession.” Thus was he taught to trust 
 and to wait. He was “ a stranger in the land of pro¬ 
 mise” (verse 4). The Hittites claimed the soil on which 
 he stood ; yet was he “the friend of God.” Xo sign, 
 then, is it of a lack of His friendship to have little or 
 no portion here. Even if Abraham required a place for 
 sepulture, he must purchase it. Of all places in Canaan, 
 Hebron, where Sarah died, seems to have been the best 
 known to the Israelites, previous to their entering on its 
 possession iu Joshua’s time. It is particularly singled 
 out in Hum. xiii. 22, when the Spirit would show that 
 the whole laud belonged by gift to Israel ere that nation 
 weut down to Egypt. Hebron was built ready for them, 
 “ seven years,” a complete period, ere Zoan, in Egypt, 
 was. Yet it was here, of all places, that Abraham had 
 to buy land in which to bury his dead. Truly the ways 
 of God are wonderful. We may here well be reminded 
 of Another, who, when He came to His own property, 
 His own people on it received Him not. They said, 
 “ This is the Heir,” and they killed Him. All that He 
 had here was, as we say, a cross and a borrowed grave. 
 And now His own are surely taught to hold “ lands and 
 houses,” at most, with a light grasp (Acts iv. 34). Our 
 place of blessing is in the heavenlies, where all spiritual 
 blessings are by us to be enjoyed. On earth, having 
 food and raiment, let us, as blessed with believing Abra¬ 
 ham, be content. God will put all in their respective 
 places round His Son in His good time. If His Son 
 
The Lord’s Way with Abraham. 87 
 
 has been cast out and slain, and is Himself waiting for 
 His prayer to be answered (John xvii. 24), and expect¬ 
 ing till His foes are made His footstool, we cannot do 
 better than wait and suffer with Him. Faith knows, on 
 the warrant of God’s Word, that He is risen. The 
 Holy Ghost has come down to testify of His glory in the 
 highest heavens; but here below Satan reigns on suffer¬ 
 ance, and by usurpation. The Lord accepts for a while 
 His rejection, whilst a heavenly people are being drawn 
 to Him yonder. 
 
 Meanwhile, Israel is a widow. She has had a hand, 
 yea, and the chief hand, in the murder of her Husband. 
 Never in Scripture is the Church of God compared to a 
 widow. That one in Luke xviii. 5 cries for vengeance, 
 which assuredly is not the Church’s prayer, but Israel’s, 
 as in the Psalms. As yet, the Church has never been 
 married to the Lord; she is only betrothed; and this 
 present period is the interval between the betrothal and 
 the marriage, during which love-messages are sent by the 
 Bridegroom to the bride. The bearer of these to us is 
 the Holy Ghost (John xvi.) ; and the Lord and we are 
 each waiting for the nuptial day (John xvii. 24). 
 
 Israel as a nation is dead. It was consigned to the 
 grave by the Lord when He pronounced upon it the 
 sign of Jonas the prophet.* God can breathe upon the 
 slain, and cause them to live. The vision of a valley 
 full of dry bones that the prophet beheld, though it may, 
 
 * Jonas, like Israel, refused to witness for God ; and, like to 
 ourselves, he was disobedient, and sought to flee away from 
 God. Then Christ, taking the sinner’s true place, not under 
 mere water, but under the waves of God’s wrath, sinks into 
 death. Then, coming forth as the Resurrection and the Life, 
 first He gives life to us, and presently, as Isaiah, Ezekiel, and 
 Daniel, quoted above, show, He will revive Israel after two 
 prophetic days (Hosea vi. 2). 
 
88 Typical Foreshadowings. 
 
 perhaps, properly be used to illustrate the resurrection 
 of the body, or the divine quickening of the unregene¬ 
 rate, was primarily given to set forth the revival of “ the 
 whole house of Israel ” (Ezek. xxxvii. 11) ; and still do 
 these “ children of thy people,” as Daniel was told, 
 “ sleep in the dust of the earth” (chap. xii. 2). But 
 “ thy dead men shall live.” The earth shall “ cast out” 
 these dead. They shall “ awake and sing,” though now 
 they “ dwell in dust,” as Isaiah predicts (chap. xxvi. 19). 
 Thus, as the Church in the heavenlies, so Israel in the 
 earthlies, obtains the promise only in resurrection. 
 Hence it is that this sign of Jonas was uttered by the 
 Lord Jesus on two several occasions. When first He 
 spoke of this sign of death and resurrection. He next 
 proceeded to speak of the kingdom of heaven and its 
 mysteries, thereby signifying that His reign on earth, 
 and concurrently Israel’s time of blessing, were, through 
 that nation’s unbelief, delayed. Now Israel can only be¬ 
 come a witness for God, and a preacher to the world, as 
 Jonas in resurrection was. (Matt. xii. 40, with Matt, 
 xiii.) Then, shortly after, the Lord repeated this same 
 sign, when at once you hear of the Church, and of the 
 Rock on which that Church is built (compare Matt, 
 xvi. 4 with verse 18). Thus, whilst Israel, for not re¬ 
 cognizing her Messiah, is temporarily set aside, the 
 Church is called out and constituted during the Lord’s 
 absence, to he the heavenly witness for God in the 
 world. Even this very earth itself must pass through 
 a sort of regeneration, or resurrection (Matt. xix. 28). 
 And thus, whether it be of the Lord Himself, or of His 
 Church, or of Israel, or of the earth, God’s way is one, 
 even by that one, that no eagle’s eye has seen, namely 
 by death and resurrection. 
 
 But, in regard to all of this, each part in its own due 
 
89 
 
 The Lord’s Way with Air ah am, 
 
 season. Here in the type Israel dies— u For your ini¬ 
 quities is your mother put away ” (Isa. 1.) On Sarah 
 personally is bestowed this honour, that she only, of all 
 women in the Bible, has the number of her years re¬ 
 corded. But, typically, the Lord has deeper counsels 
 of love to unfold, while Israel acknowledges Him not. 
 
 Chapter XXIV. Though Israel for a time remains 
 in ignorance and in death as to her Messiah, yet Christ’s 
 resurrection is the secure guarantee that all promised 
 to that nation shall ultimately be fulfilled, and the nation 
 revived and restored (Acts xiii. 32, 33). Meanwhile, 
 that same resurrection is the occasion of the outflow of 
 grace to the world at large (Acts xiii. 34, with Isa. lv. 
 1—3). But Israel having rejected Him on earth, and 
 again in resurrection, the Lord has retired into deeper 
 glory, and has sat down at the right hand of God. 
 When the Jews murdered Stephen, and thereby con¬ 
 summated their rejection of Christ a second time, then 
 He raises up Paul to unfold the doctrine of the Church. 
 And in the Church there is neither Jew nor Gentile, but 
 Christ is all and in all. 
 
 Now, whilst the Church for the heavenlies is being 
 gathered out, the Lord has nothing to do with the earth 
 as such, save in a providential manner. He remains 
 hidden in the Father's house. She is brought thither to 
 Him by Another. Father, Son, and Holy Ghost are 
 equally God ; but officially, as Christ has been pleased 
 to act as the divine Servant of the Father, so the Holy 
 Ghost is engaged in acting as the divine Servant of 
 Christ. Hence, mark what emphasis is thrown again 
 and again in the type here, that the son Isaac, as if 
 risen from the dead since chap. xxii. is to remain in 
 the father’s house, whilst the servant comes forth to woo 
 
90 Typical Foresliadowwgs. 
 
 and to win a bride for him (cbap. xxiv. 6 — 8 ). No one 
 type of Christ in any character can be a complete 
 representation of the One so gloriously full. Hence, in 
 the case of Jacob the servant, he goes forth and serves 
 for a bride, and fairly earns her. For Christ loved the 
 Church, and gave Himself for it (Hosea xii. 12, with 
 Eph. v. 25). And the way of the Spirit of God in 
 sketching the types of Christ is sometimes, as here, to 
 put the higher aspect first; so similarly the account of 
 the burnt-offering precedes that of the sin-offering in 
 Leviticus. 
 
 So as we here see our calling is quite a heavenly one, 
 as is evidenced by where Christ continues during that 
 call of the Holy Ghost sent forth in person to tell of 
 the hidden glories of the Son, and of the priceless value 
 of His work and blood-shedding, as seen, and seen only, 
 in the uncreated light of God’s immediate presence. 
 It is impossible that anywhere else but there , for the fall 
 worth of His blood, and of His finished work, to be 
 seen. And there He is at present; and down here the 
 Holy Ghost is on purpose to tell us of these heavenly 
 glories. See especially John xvi. 13—15 ; 2 Cor. iii. 
 18; and Eph. i. 17. In the tabernacle of old, some 
 vessels were of brass or copper, and others of gold. 
 Those which were uncovered were of copper; at which 
 sin was dealt with and judged according to the divine 
 perfections. But those perfections are not fully revealed 
 by the somewhat negative way of coping with our sin. 
 Beyond all this, what God is in Himself, what are the 
 riches of His grace, of His love as in making us His 
 born sons and daughters, and in rendering us competent 
 for the inheritance of the saints in light and much more 
 to the same effect, on a like grand and infinite scale, all 
 this was borne witness to by some of the furniture in the 
 
The Lord’s Way with Abraham. 91 
 
 tabernacle being covered with pare gold. Now it was 
 on and before the mercy-seat, made of pure gold, that 
 the blood was sprinkled upon the day of atonement. 
 Therefore, during this age, antitypical of that day, God 
 is telling out the value of Christ’s blood, according to 
 His own estimate thereof, by His supreme kindness to 
 us who are the pretrusters in Christ, whilst that Christ 
 is in/tliere. On the mercy-seat of old, there was blood 
 —symbol of death—only ; but now, Christ, as the 
 mercy-seat, is “ placed forth ’’ outside, for any sinner at 
 once to approach (Rom. iii. 25) ; whilst, also, the living 
 Christ, His Son, is seated upon the throne within. 
 Being a man, he requires a throne, which the mercy- 
 seat is never once called. Being the Son of the living 
 God, as seen in there, the Church is in continuance of 
 being built upon Him (Matt, xvi.) Being our Life He 
 is “hid” in there (Col. iii.) ; and we, by the Holy Ghost, 
 are being drawn to Him, whom we have never yet seen. 
 Our affections are set, or should be, on things above, 
 where He is. Moved by the wondrous story as to who 
 He is and what is His love, and of the Bather’s coun¬ 
 sels concerning Him and in Him, about us, we have 
 been spoiled for all here that once our hearts had been 
 set upon. Those things have been set before us, of 
 which once we never had an idea ; they had never 
 entered our hearts. But now we, through the Spirit, 
 wait for the hope suited to such a righteousness as 
 ours is! 
 
 Like Rebecca, we have believed the word that the 
 servant of the risen Son has told us. It has sunk into 
 our hearts; it has detached us in spirit from the empty 
 scene all around us. We have set out on our pilgrimage. 
 The Holy Ghost Himself is our companion throughout 
 our journey. Thoughts, and vistas, and tastes of heaven 
 
9 2 
 
 Typical Foresliadowings. 
 
 He the Earnest gives to us whilst yet on the road. The 
 full certainty that we shall reach home at last, and see 
 Him that has loved us, and be with Him and like Him 
 for ever, animates us in our daily plodding along, which 
 is not without its difficulties. Though nothing is more 
 crooked or uneasy to ride upon than the camel, little 
 leisure would Rebecca have to be annoyed thereat, 
 through her companion’s solicitude, and her prospect at 
 the end. God, in His Word, oft points us to the end. 
 He contrasts, too, the “ end of the wicked,” and the 
 “ end of the Lord,” which He accords to His own. 
 
 So when her journey neared its termination, we may 
 note how on the alert Rebecca was. She felt that he 
 who was advancing was Isaac, the risen one, the son 
 of the father himself. Thus daily do we wait; aye, and 
 watch for Him. And he did come forth to meet and to 
 welcome her who bad come out to meet him. She 
 covered herself with a veil as he approached, and we 
 shall be self-hidden and abased adoring in His presence. 
 In the case of Isaac, he took the bride that the father 
 had chosen for him. On the other side of the double 
 type, to wit, Jacob, he got the wife of his heart’s choice. 
 The two together fully and blessedly set forth how that 
 the Father has given us as the Bride to His Son ; and how 
 that Bride is likewise she on whom His own heart had 
 been set. We are the eternal choice of both the Father 
 and the Son; “ And all mine are thine, and thine are 
 mine,” said Christ to that Father. 
 
 Lastly, we read that Isaac “ loved ” Rebecca, and was 
 comforted after his mother’s death. Christ loved us 
 ere the world began; He loves us now. He loves us to 
 the end. He will love us home; and when at last at 
 home with Him, He will still love us. Surely this fin¬ 
 ishing touch in the type is delightful! For a while He 
 has lost Israel, but He will provoke that people to 
 
93 
 
 The Lord’s Way with Abraham. 
 
 jealousy. But when these, His brethren after the flesh, 
 do at length come and bow themselves down to Him, 
 as they will do when as the antitypical Joseph He rules 
 over the world, such will discover that during their 
 rejection of Him, there is a Bride nearer to Him than 
 they, and she an Egyptian. But here I am anticipating 
 what we shall look at presently. 
 
 Thus have I briefly touched upon this most instruc¬ 
 tive and thrilling type. It is one which I trust we have 
 all often enjoyed and profited by. Hence if there had 
 been time for me to enlarge more fully, there is the less 
 need for this. Here we have a pilgrim’s progress, in¬ 
 deed, far more glowing with the light of heaven and 
 with the glory of the risen Son than Bunyan dreamt 
 of; and this account is traced with an inspired pen. 
 
 In the history there is little necessitating remark ; 
 to only one point do I advert. As the Holy Ghost has 
 been pleased to act as the great servant of the Lord 
 Jesus, so does He condescend to employ under-servants 
 many. These, whether in wooing the hearts of sinners 
 to Christ, or in urging the saints to come forth to meet 
 the heavenly Bridegroom, would do well to copy from 
 this Eliezer here. His whole work was carried on in 
 prayer. There is more about prayer in this chapter 
 than is to be found in the entire book. And when, in 
 view of the responsible character of our work, we pour 
 out our souls unto God, the Spirit Himself within us 
 helps our infirmities. Let us never forget this. 
 
 This last section of the life of our patriarch concludes 
 with a word as to his marriage with Iveturah, of his off¬ 
 spring by her, and then of his own death. How as 
 
 Hao’ar and Islimael, as we have seen from Homans and 
 © 
 
 Galatians, represent Israel according to the flesh, so 
 likewise here may be a glance at that Gentile world, 
 which with the Jew is to be blessed presently on earth; 
 
94 Typical Foreshadowings. 
 
 for the blessing of the nations in due time depends on 
 their connection with the Hebrew, and their subordina¬ 
 tion to Israel under its rightful King. Sebah and Dedan, 
 two of Keturah’s descendants, are especially mentioned 
 as opponents of Gog, in his disastrous march into 
 Canaan against Israel (Ezek. xxxviii. 13). And those 
 nations or Gentiles siding with Christ’s earthly brethren 
 during their great coming period of sorrow, are singled 
 our for favour by Him in Matt. xxv. 40. Viewed in this 
 light, it would appear that each of the women who pass 
 before us in this section is a representative character; 
 Sarah, as the mother of the true seed ; and Hagar, Ke- 
 turah, and Kebecca, Israel after the flesh, the Gentile 
 and the Church of God. Here compare a parallel type 
 in 1 Kings. After Solomon has built the temple, as 
 Christ is now engaged in building the Church, there is 
 His own house,* Israel, and next “the house of the 
 forest of Lebanon,” the last of these, an earnest of the 
 blessing of the nations in the millennium (1 Kings vii. 
 1, 2 ; Kev. xxi. 24). 
 
 Lastly, we read that Abraham died in a good old age, 
 and was “ gathered to his people.” Not so bright an 
 outlook for these saints of old, as is now the portion of 
 every Christian (see 2 Cor. v. 8, and Phil. i. 23). Luke 
 xvi. speaks of a pious Jew carried by angels into Abra¬ 
 ham’s bosom. And this, too, was ere Christ’s own death 
 and resurrection had wrought such mighty changes. 
 But now John xxi. 7, and 2 Cor. xii. 1—4, set before us 
 the former in symbol and the latter in plain statement, 
 the prospect of a believer on his death-bed. 
 
 * With the number of years (thirteen) during which Solomon 
 was building his own house, compare the number of bullocks 
 offered for Israel at the feast of tabernacles (Num. xxix.). And 
 see a suggestion thereon in my Lectures on Eevelation, vol. ii. 
 
 p. 182 . 
 
®lj£ j£or&’a (Kllair luxtlj Hfsaar, tlje ©epical 
 
 Genesis xxv. 11 to end of xxvii. 
 
 /'""'HAPTER XXV. 11. Xow the fifth of the seven 
 representative men of Genesis is fully before ns. 
 Here, it is submitted, we have the divine teaching 
 in the type of Isaac, as to a Christian’s standing 
 and’ son ship. For, on account of the reason already 
 assigned in chap, xxi., Isaac here seems rather to repre¬ 
 sent the sons, than the Sox. Only as an adult, and during 
 his father’s life, is he the type of the Son. And first, at 
 the very outset, and in a most marked and definite man¬ 
 ner, the proper status and dwelling-place of Isaac are 
 set before us. With designed prominence is the state¬ 
 ment in the text given, “Isaac dwelt by the well of the 
 living and seeing One ” (xxv. 11). When just now we 
 come to chap, xxvi., we shall have to revert to this im¬ 
 portant passage, as the clue to that entire chapter. But 
 I take occasion hence at once to call attention to the 
 place where a believer, as a risen son of God, is ulti¬ 
 mately to be brought, and where by faith he should 
 constantly abide, even now. I mean, of course, the 
 presence of God, and under the very eye of God. There 
 is no perfect, enduring rest anywhere else. Eph. v. 27 ; 
 1 John iii. 2 ; Jude 24; and especially for now, 2 Cor. 
 iii. 18. 
 
9 6 Typical Foreshadowings. 
 
 Next, according to the usual style * of the Holy 
 Ghost in the Word, ere aught more is said of the one 
 blessed of God, the account is furnished us of Ishmael’s 
 offspring, and of his death. He begat twelve princes, 
 according to the promise made by God to Abraham in 
 chap. xvii. 20. Since Hagar and Ishmael represent 
 Israel after the flesh, there may possibly be a shadow 
 here of the twelve tribes of Israel; “princes” and 
 ci thousands” being used interchangeably of that nation 
 (Micah v. 2, with Matt. ii. 6). Already reference has 
 been made to three of his sons, Mishma, Dumah, and 
 Massa, in chap. xxi. I may add that three others of 
 these sons are alluded to in Isa. lx., Kedar, Nebajoth, 
 and Adbeel, “ a cloud of God.” Then we are told that 
 Ishmael died in the presence of all his brethren. 
 
 Now we can, without distraction, attend to the type 
 of the sons risen in and with the Son. Here four points 
 of instruction demand our consideration. First, the 
 birth of the twins, Esau and Jacob, and the despising 
 of the birthright by Esau; secondly, Isaac’s departure 
 to and tarriance in Gerar ; thirdly, his return to Canaan, 
 and the prompt action of God towards him on that re¬ 
 turn of his; and fourthly, the blessing, despised on the 
 part of Esau, sought for, though with tears yet in vain, 
 when too late. 
 
 Now, inasmuch as the subject of the chapters which 
 we are considering is in type son ship, it has pleased God 
 first to place before us that sonship with Him ever 
 rests on His own free choice, and that He is a sovereign 
 God. This He had already affirmed in His attitude 
 towards Ishmael and Isaac. But now in these other 
 cases of Esau and Jacob, this affirmation is repeated 
 more distinctly and peremptorily. For whilst in the 
 
 * See further on, at chap, xxxvi. 
 
97 
 
 The Lord’s Way with Isaac. 
 
 ca«e of the former two, Isaac was the child of promise, 
 and not Ishmael; yet the force of this Scripture ruling 
 might seem to be weakened by the fact that though 
 their father was one, their mothers were two, and one a 
 bondmaid but the other a free woman. But here, on 
 the other hand, no scope for such an objection is possi¬ 
 ble. Their father is one and their mother is one j them¬ 
 selves are living, and ere they are born, or have done 
 good or evil, the divine choice is announced to Rebecca. 
 And then, in Bom. ix., the Scripture here is quoted and 
 dogmatically applied to ourselves. Only, be it ever re¬ 
 membered that whilst the choice was of God, ere the 
 children had come to the birth, yet the word as to the 
 “ hatred ” of which we read in the next verse, in Romans, 
 is a quotation, not from this passage in Genesis, but 
 from Malachi. That is to say, we hear first of the 
 “ hatred ” after the children have lived, and after the 
 natural wickedness in the heart of the one, unchecked 
 by divine grace as in the other, had developed itself 
 into a sinful course of life. The same way of God ob¬ 
 tains even now. If we be indeed His children, this is 
 owing to His own predestination and election (see 
 Eph. i.). On the other hand, we read of God’s harden¬ 
 ing men’s hearts. But when —at what period of their 
 life is He said to do this P After they have disdained 
 to receive the truth in the love of it, that they might 
 be saved (2 Thess. ii. 10—12). So in Romans ix., of 
 the vessels of mercy we read that He prepared them 
 beforehand for glory. But of the vessels of wrath, 
 they are only said to be fitted for destruction. It is 
 not said that He fitted them. It is implied that sin 
 did this, as a barrel of gunpowder is fitted to pro¬ 
 duce an explosion. In other words, the preparation 
 of some for glory is spoken of in the active voice, 
 
 7 
 
98 Typical Foreshadowings. 
 
 God being the agent. But the fitting for destruc¬ 
 tion is in the Greek in the passive voice, and is not 
 attributed, as is the other, to God. So Matt. xxv. 34 
 with 41. I might add, if more evidence on this impor¬ 
 tant distinction were needed, that hatred itself is often 
 spoken of in Scripture, when a less love only is meant. 
 Compare verses 30 and 31 of Gen. xxix. ; and again, 
 Matt. x. 37, with Luke xiv. 26. 
 
 Accordingly, when the boys Esau and Jacob reach 
 maturity, an occasion offers itself for the display of the 
 heart’s scorning of God, when uncontrolled by grace, 
 in the sale by Esau of his birthright to Jacob. I do not 
 assert positively that, at this early period, Jacob pos¬ 
 sessed the grace of God; still, attention is called in the 
 narrative to the pilgrimage style of life of Jacob, as 
 “ dwelling in tents,” with which marked feature of his 
 every-day life compare the emphatic comment on this 
 practice of the patriarchs in Heb, xi. Also, instead of 
 the clause, “ Jacob was a plain man, dwelling in tents,” 
 the Hebrew has it, “Jacob was a perfect man”—the 
 same word as is afterwards used of Job. Nor let any 
 of us forget that, of this very sin we ourselves are 
 admonished to see that none of us are found guilty as 
 Esau—“ who for a meal sold his birthright.” This, 
 in effect, we should be if we set anything in preference 
 before our hearts to His favour, whether it be a trifle, 
 or aught or all that the world has to offer. The time 
 came when Esau rued his bargain, a 3 we shall see. So 
 will sinners in eternity; but he and they rue it too late. 
 
 Chapter XXVI, Secondly, chap. xxvi. tells of Isaac 
 departing from the well of the living and seeing One in 
 Canaan, and presently settling down in Gerar. But 
 now, since some have denied the sin of Isaac in this 
 
99 
 
 The Lord’s Way with Isaac-r 
 
 matter, and because here certainly is represented in type 
 the standing of a son of God, and his failure often to 
 maintain that standing in the divine presence, and his 
 enjoyment of divine communion, to which in sovereign 
 grace, and by the blood of Jesus, he is ever entitled, 
 therefore it will be well here to call careful attention to 
 the exact words used by the Spirit of God. The Eng¬ 
 lish translation of certain terms in this passage by no 
 means comes up to the vividness and emphasis in the 
 Hebrew. All will note the injunction, “ Go not down 
 to Egypt,” and ponder the preposition “ down,” which 
 often has a. moral force in it, e.g., in Luke x. 30. But, 
 further, verses 2, 6, and 17 should be rendered thus 
 l< Sheehinah in the land,” etc. (verse 2); “ wander in 
 this land” (verse 3); u and Isaac settled in Gerar” 
 (verse 6) ; and again, “ Isaac settled there ” (verse 17). 
 The word for “ settle ” denotes properly to sit down at 
 ease. So in Luke xxi. 35 we read that f< that day shall 
 come as a snare upon all them that are settled on the 
 face of all the earth.” Thus this settling down of Isaac 
 is spoken of by the Spirit as if it were wrong, and it is 
 so spoken of twice. Moreover, this settling down was in 
 a border land, never a right thing for a saint to do (see 
 Song of Sol. iv. 8). In fact, Lebanon, spoken of in the 
 Song, is in the Holy Land, though at its outskirts. But 
 Gerar was not at all so situated. It is midway between 
 Canaan and Egypt. And all of us will have noticed 
 that never once did the Lord Jesus, when on earth, 
 pass the limits of the Holy Land. 
 
 Further, Isaac was to “ Sheehinah in” Canaan. This 
 suggestive word finds its interpretation, as we have 
 seen, in chap. xxv. 11. His proper abode was by “ the 
 well of the living and seeing One.” In the antitype the 
 matter is quite simple. We are called to abide in Christ, 
 
ioo Typical Foreshadowings. 
 
 and to walk in the light of God. There only can we 
 have fellowship with Him. All darkness, even the 
 least, is abhorrent to His nature ; there He cannot hold 
 communion with us. He can come down into our dark¬ 
 ness ; He has done so. The Lord Jesus thus came into 
 our place on the cross; but He did this to lift us up out 
 of it, and to lift us into association with Himself per¬ 
 petually and for ever. There by His blood we are ever 
 entitled to remain. It is by His blood-shedding it hath 
 pleased Him that He Himself should go in there ; and 
 this on purpose to show us where the blood entitles one 
 so entering into God’s presence to be. • Hence, whilst 
 in Heb. ix. 12 we read of Christ’s entering and con¬ 
 tinuance there on the ground of His blood-shedding, so 
 in Heb. x. we also read of our boldness to enter there 
 on that same ground. And therefore the Lord Jesus 
 Himself and the believer are before God on precisely 
 the same ground. If that ground can be weakened for 
 me, so likewise it can for Him. If on that footing He 
 remains there, so may I too. There, in that holy of 
 holies, the uncreated light of God shines on Him and 
 on us also. That Shechinah, bright as it is, only dis¬ 
 plays the richness of the blood of Jesus, and so the secu¬ 
 rity of my standing. Shame on me that I ever get 
 away in experience, and so, as far as I can, disparage 
 the blood of the Lamb. Let us daily dwell in the pre¬ 
 sence of the living, seeing God. So far from Isaac in 
 type doing this, he not only got away from that well, 
 but he settled down in Gerar. 
 
 The consequence of this heart-sin, we who know our¬ 
 selves might easily infer. Once get away from God, 
 and who can tell where we shall stop, unless grace keep 
 and restore us ? So Isaac in Gerar fails in the flesh in 
 the very way that Abraham his father had failed before 
 
101 
 
 The Lord's Way with Isaac. 
 
 him—he tells a lie to secure his quiet; as if this were 
 an equivalent to the furnace with the presence of God. 
 We too, or any of us, may prosper as to this world, 
 whilst our conscience is ill at ease, or was at the com¬ 
 mencement of our departure from the truth, and from 
 Scripture principles. Of course, all this wealth which 
 he acquired whilst out of Canaan is attributed to God, 
 for God is good to all. But if we have to choose be¬ 
 tween the presence of God as distinguished from earthly 
 blessing, all of us, I trust, would prefer the former. And 
 particularly in this dispensation of the Church, and of 
 the heavenly call, it is a common thing to see men with 
 very many earthly blessings, whilst yet they are in total 
 ignorance of Himself who gives them. Such will thank 
 God for a meal who never thanked Him for the gift of 
 His Son. Yea, more, even Christians in a declining 
 state may exhibit an ardour in their business transac¬ 
 tions such as they but little eventually display in the 
 things of God. The world is winding round their 
 hearts ; “ grey hairs are here and there upon them, and 
 they know it not.” 
 
 Then, as with Isaac as we see him here, such at these 
 times exhibit themselves as very wilful. Providences 
 may have a voice which yet they will not hear. The 
 A'bimelechs of the day may say to them, ie Go from us,” 
 and they still reply in act, as Isaac did, by continuing 
 “settled” where they ought not to be (Verse 17). 
 Scarcely will the bit and the bridle avail, where, if thev 
 were in the right path, the guidance of God’s eye would 
 be ample. So, again, we read here of contention taking 
 place as to whose were certain wells that Isaac’s ser¬ 
 vants had dug. With some readiness he surrendered 
 them one after another, after some show of contention ; 
 because, as we shall see directly, he is not at ease in 
 
102 
 
 Typical Foreshadowings. 
 
 conscience. It is impossible for a saint to pursue this 
 world with the same alacrity and constancy that the unre¬ 
 generate man exhibits. When off the divine ground of com¬ 
 munion, he may strive in measure with a worldly man, but 
 with the less inward ease as he is conscious of his false 
 position. A bread-living is all that God allows his saints 
 to seek for here. And this, with His own favour and 
 smile. He will give them. But if they covet more of the 
 former, more than proportionately they lose of the latter. 
 
 Hence, thirdly, we read in verse 23 that Isaac went 
 ujo to Beersheba. This statement is in singular conjunc¬ 
 tion with the verse before, where, as if at perfect ease, 
 he said, wdiilstyet in Gerar, “ The Lord hath made room 
 for us, and we shall be fruitful in the land.” Then if so, 
 wherefore this sudden change of purpose, involving the 
 loss of all these wells ? Because what he, talking piously, 
 had said w r ith his lips, as if to quiet his uneasy spirit, his 
 next action contradicted. He knew he was where he 
 ought not to be. His resolve to depart appears to have 
 been taken just at the time that everything appeared to 
 invite him to remain. Many Christians, in their Martha¬ 
 like bustle, and in their Demas-like declension, could 
 easily give passages from their past experience which 
 would form an apt commentary on all this. The verses 
 do not require any explanation ; we all know, probably, 
 the evil of departure from communion in the desire of 
 “ other things,” and our wretched state of soul, until 
 we returned to our God. 
 
 And this interpretation of verse 23 is confirmed by 
 the Lord’s instant action in verse 24. On the very 
 night of Isaac’s return to Canaan, the Lord appears to 
 him. Ho longer does He hide Himself, and address 
 Isaac providentially through Abimelech; but He Him¬ 
 self says, “ I am the God of Abraham thy father : fear 
 
 i 
 
103 
 
 The Lord’s Way with Isaac. 
 
 not, for I am with thee, and will bless thee, and multi¬ 
 ply thy seed, for my servant Abraham’s sake.” This is 
 a very different blessing indeed from what we had read 
 in verse 12. And oh ! the loving-kindness of God, not 
 to delay this restoring word ; no, not for one day, pro¬ 
 bably not for an hour ! And this is our God, who for¬ 
 gives us, and restores our souls. 
 
 Then we read of the altar and the tent, and each in 
 their due order; whilst of the former we read not a word 
 during Isaac’s being settled down in Gerar. Now, too, 
 we hear of a well, enjoyed as had not been the others 
 with the presence of God. And, finally, no longer does 
 Abimelech urge his departure from himself, but on the 
 contrary, now he seeks after Isaac. Thus all readily 
 falls into place, when we begin rightly with communion 
 with God, and obedience to His revealed will. One 
 blot we may notice in Isaac at this time, even as there 
 are spots in the sun and slips in every Christian. He 
 did not command his household, at least, Esau, in the 
 matter of his marriage, as he ought to have done. And 
 thereby he procures grief for himself and for his wife. 
 Eor sin or negligence ever brings sorrow. 
 
 Chapter XXVII. Fourthly, in this chapter xxvii., 
 we are taught that those who despise the grace and love 
 of God will bitterly rue their scorn when their loss is 
 irretrievable. God is not mocked ; what a man soweth, 
 that will he reap. If he sows to the flesh he will reap 
 corruption. So we see here. In chap. xxv. 33, we have 
 the commencement of such sowing ; here we behold the 
 speedy, the initial reaping; for some men’s sins go 
 beforehand to judgment. Even in this life they may 
 feel some of the effects of their sin. At the same time 
 there is forgiveness with God, that He may be feared. 
 
JQ4 Typical Foreshadowings. . 
 
 Well therefore is it for him whose consequent sorrow 
 leads to repentance of the sin that entailed it. True, 
 Esau, though he wept, found no place for repentance 
 and no forgiveness. But a little reflection will remove 
 this difficulty. For what was the cause of his tears ? 
 Not the sin which he had committed in despising God’s 
 mercy, but the loss of the blessing which he had in - 
 curred.* Who does not eventually grieve at loss 
 sustained? But is such grief, sorrow after a godly 
 sort? No such thing. His was like that of Judas— 
 remorse, not repentance (Matt, xxvii. 3, Greek). And 
 though in this scene Esau acted more uprightly than 
 any other who figures in it, still he had sown the wind, 
 and he was reaping the whirlwind. 
 
 Then after Esau’s vain efforts we can notice Isaac’s. 
 He was determined, if possible, to secure the blessing 
 for his favourite. This is seen in his haste to bless him, 
 as if he were already on his dying bed, whereas he lived 
 over forty years after this time.f But all was without 
 avail. God had purposed, and who could set aside that 
 purpose ? Rebecca’s pet was Jacob. But neither her 
 design nor Jacob’s craft could hurry God. Truly Jacob 
 got a blessing here at this time, but not the one—not 
 such an one as, when wholly cast on grace, we find in 
 chap, xxviii. 3, 4 as when the Lord appeared to him a 
 homeless stranger for his guilt, and gave him that long 
 string of promises and blessings, of which we find 
 mention there in verses 13—15. All that Rebecca and 
 he got through their not waiting patiently for God to 
 
 # Flevit quod perdidit, non quod vendidit.— Augustine. 
 
 f This blessing of Isaac’s sons was in the year b c. 1760. But 
 Isaac lived until the year b.c. 1716 (see Gen. xxvv. 28). Even 
 there the account of his death seems inserted anticipatively. 
 For Isaac was only 150 years old when Joseph was born. But 
 he lived 180 years. 
 
The Lord’s Way with Isaac. 105 
 
 interfere was that they were separated the one from the 
 other, and never saw each other’s face again. From 
 Heb. xi. 20, where we read that “ By faith Isaac blessed 
 Jacob and Esau,” it would appear that he was led to 
 pause in his endeavour to intercept the blessing for his 
 favourite Esau, and heartily to ratify the bestowal of the 
 greater blessing upon Jacob, which unintentionally, and 
 against his own wish, he had pronounced upon him. 
 Then the allusion in the passage in Hebrews will be of 
 course to the moment when he discovered his mistake, 
 and yet recognizing at length what was the will of God, 
 instead of further attempts to oppose it, exclaimed, 
 “Yea, and he shall be blessed.” Setting aside his own 
 inclinations, and shrinking from the brink of the precipice 
 of wilfulness, which in his blind infatuation for Esau he 
 had approached, he, triumphing over himself, acquiesces 
 in the will of God. What a mercy it is, if at any time w r e 
 have been determined to proceed to almost any lengths 
 in carrying out that on which we have set our hearts, 
 though yet against His will, God arrests us in our folly. 
 
 Grace does thus check erring saints when sometimes 
 they have appeared madly bent upon going further and fur¬ 
 ther in a wrong course. “ The Lord turned and looked 
 upon Peter.” What would that Peter have done next and 
 next, had it not been for that look of divine compassion P 
 
 It falls not within the design of these addresses to 
 attempt an exposition of all that is contained in this 
 chapter. My object the rather is to gather up the main 
 lines of thought in each section, and to place each dis¬ 
 tinctly in view. These being well apprehended by any 
 one, the various incidents and details of the narrative 
 will be seen to more advantage as grouped all round the 
 leading idea, and filling up perfectly the spaces in the 
 inspired picture. 
 
$b t Herb's Wap toitlj fareb, tb t ®tjpiral 
 
 ^rrbant 
 
 Genesis xxviii.—xxxv. 
 
 HAPTER XXVIII. When I speak of Jacob as the 
 
 typical servant, I by no means desire to imply that 
 he was a pattern one. Quite the reverse. As we are all 
 aware, much did he exhibit of craft, of distrust, and of 
 self-will; and much, consequently, did he suffer in being 
 broken in by his gracious God. But still, in outline or 
 shadow, he largely represents the character of true 
 service. Thus, for instance, after the typical son, 
 Isaac, we next read of the typical servant, Jacob. But 
 neither Isaac nor Jacob is once called a son of God. 
 Therefore, likewise, it is not suggested that Jacob was 
 in the highest sense a servant of God. Still the servant 
 came forth from the son ; yet the service was only typi¬ 
 cal, as was the sonship likewise. 
 
 But this is not all; only a certain period of Jacob’s 
 life is selected by the Spirit, in order, typically, to set 
 forth service. Eor many years subsequently he is 
 almost lost to view, though alive. The same had been 
 the Spirit’s style in the narrative of Isaac ; that is to 
 say, not much more of the history of either is given than 
 is sufficient to illustrate in the one, sonship, and in the 
 other, service. Now, Jacob’s service we shall find in the 
 following chapters to consist of two parts— 
 
The Lord's Way with Jacob. 107 
 
 (A.) His absence from borne whilst engaged in earn¬ 
 ing his two brides and his flock. 
 
 (B.) His progress homeward to Bethel, and guiding 
 the family and flock thither. 
 
 How as we saw, when considering Isaac’s life, that 
 there was one period in which he is rather a type of 
 Christ than of us—to wit, in chapters xxii. to xxiv.— 
 where he is beheld as an adult with his father Abraham 
 yet alive ; and, again, that in the other parts of his life 
 traced before us, he (Isaac) is rather a type of us, the 
 children ; a like distinction may be easily observed in the 
 case of Jacob. What I have termed above, Part One of 
 Jacob’s typical service, there surely may be seen the 
 shadow of Christ’s own work. On the other hand, in 
 the very full account that succeeds, I mean, of his lead¬ 
 ing a family and a flock back to Bethel, there he rather 
 resembles us. Iu the former part of his service—to wit, 
 that with Laban—he appears to have been singularly 
 faithful, as Hosea records (xii. 12). But, contrastedly, 
 in the latter part of that service, very much of failure 
 is he guilty of, even until he almost breaks down therein. 
 Of course, I am speaking of him as a servant. As an 
 individual saint, God could not give him up, nor did He. 
 On the contrary, as we shall see in chap, xlvi., God 
 quite broke him in, and made him obedient to His will. 
 So, too, in chap, xlviii. 17. Likewise is it with us. 
 Speaking generally, the Church, as set up by God to be 
 His servant and His witness, is, as to manifestation, a 
 wreck and a ruin. Because the Holy Ghost has been 
 set aside, and grieved and quenched. For whilst 
 Christ’s work He Himself does immediately, without 
 any instruments, the Holy Ghost is pleased to work 
 mediately through under-shepherds and others, and 
 wretchedly have they failed. Yet the Church, and 
 
T ' 
 
 08 Typical Foreshadowings. 
 
 every believer as such, are perfectly safe (Acts 
 xxvii. 44). 
 
 But, further, in the work of the mighty and uncreated 
 Son of God, His service was complete, from whatever 
 point of view it is regarded. Coming forth from God, 
 He would stand up for all the rights of God ; coming 
 down to men, He would meet in grace all the wretched¬ 
 ness of men. He knew all that was required of Him; 
 all this He could do; all this He delighted to do, and 
 all He did. But in the case of us, little children, way¬ 
 ward and having much yet to learn, our service is fitful, 
 piecemeal, and ofttimes accompanied by failure and by 
 sin. Still, where sin abounded, grace has much more 
 abounded. Can it be for this reason that we find him 
 selected as the typical servant, who appears in Part Two 
 of his service specially to have deserved to be set aside? 
 For so then, again, this Jacob very much resembles us 
 all who, indeed, are only sons or servants at all through 
 infinite grace, which was brought to us by Him who is 
 the divine One. I see in Scripture that sometimes the 
 Lord upbraids His servants for their unbelief, or for 
 their slowness to learn His mind; but yet without re¬ 
 moving them from their place of service, and of their 
 feebly followiog Hitn. Again, iu other cases, where He 
 has removed such from one service, He has given them 
 instead some other mode of service more exalted and 
 more self-emptying. The case of the disciples at His 
 resurrection, or of Ananias hesitating to go to Paul, 
 when the Lord bade him, are illustrations of the former 
 (see Mark xvi. 14, 15 ; Acts ix. 13, 15); whilst Paul in 
 prison, through his inattention to the Word of the 
 Spirit to him not to go up to Jerusalem, and yet in that 
 prison employed to write those epistles which have been 
 such a source of joy to all saints; or, again, of Mark set 
 
The Lord’s Way with Jacob. 109 
 
 aside for awhile for his half-hearfcedness,and then inspired 
 to track out in his gospel the path of the pattern Servant 
 Himself 5 these are instances of the latter. And thus, 
 these have had, through infinite grace, fuller opportunities 
 afforded them of serving heartily, and with vaster service, 
 somewhat more resembling His own. And hence, as the 
 type of service which we have in Jacob becomes, where it 
 is true in shadow, as in sonship, more like the Master’s 
 own ; and where the type fails, as fail it is sure to do 
 somewhere or other, when it is used to set forth His 
 person and work ; or, again, where the copy fails, as it 
 does constantly in all of us, such failure itself serves to 
 bring out into stronger relief the untiring, patient obe¬ 
 dience of the perfect One—perfect in everything, and 
 perfect in His service, too. 
 
 The hint that service must flow from sonship, accord¬ 
 ing as we are invariably taught in the New Testament, 
 naturally, and as we might expect, turns up here. 
 Jacob, who sprung from Isaac, had to earn a wife, and 
 to keep sheep (Hosea xii. 12). So at the beginning of 
 the gospel of Mark, the gospel of the Servant, atten¬ 
 tion is called at the outset to His being the Son of God. 
 And a magnificent quotation from the prophet Isaiah is 
 then given to clench this matter. With us, also, the 
 twofold motto, and in its due order must ever be, 
 “ Whose I am, and Whom I serve ” (Acts xxvii. 23). 
 Let us bear these things in mind as we briefly glance 
 at these next chapters ; so shall we obtain the main lesson 
 which each is designed to convey to us. 
 
 To Jacob were accorded three special manifestations 
 of the divine favour during the period of his typical 
 service: one at the very beginning of that service, at 
 the place which he most appropriately designated as 
 Bethel; the next was at the beginning of the second 
 
i jo Typical Foreshadowings . 
 
 part of his typical service, when, he was engaged in 
 leading a family and a flock homewards ; and the place 
 where this manifestation of divine favour was accorded 
 to him he, with equal aptness, felicitously termed 
 Peniel; and then a third, when, after much delay, he 
 arrived safely hack again at Bethel.^ Por the entire 
 -journey from Padan-aram, onwards and homewards 
 quite to Bethel, is regarded as one single journey in 
 chap. xxxv. 9, however long he may have allowed him¬ 
 self to tarry at Succoth (chap, xxxiii. 17). Now these 
 names—Bethel signifying, of course, “ the house of 
 God,” and Peniel “ the face of God ’’—are immediately 
 connected with the type which we have sought some¬ 
 what to draw out. Por hence we learn that, ere we 
 begin to serve God, we must have been to- Bethel; in 
 other words, we must ourselves form a part of the 
 household of God. And then the other term Peniel 
 impresses on us the important and slowly-learned lesson, 
 that to enjoy the presence of God, which, as His ser¬ 
 vants, we need, we must be obedient children, doing 
 even as He bids us (John xiv. 21—23). By that second 
 vision, being Jacob’s mercy whilst plodding along with 
 his charge, there may be heard the gentle whisper to us, 
 if we have the hearing ear, that it is not by jerks, or by 
 emotional impulses, that wo serve God and please Him, 
 but by being found daily occupied in our respective 
 spheres of service which He has assigned unto us, con¬ 
 tinuing without fretfulness at the post where He has 
 put us, and gladly performing our work, unobtrusively 
 and humbly. This is so contrary to the flesh ; but it is 
 
 * I do not here add to the list of appearances of the Lord to 
 Jacob, the vision at Beersheba in chap, xlvi., because it is of 
 another character of teaching altogether, as we shall see pre¬ 
 sently. 
 
 I 
 
111 
 
 The Lord’s Way ivith Jacob. 
 
 God’s way. el He who placed each star yonder in its 
 position,” we should be able to say, “ has located me 
 here, and here I stay till He removes me.” For it is 
 delightful to know we are where and at what He would 
 have us to be. This each one ought to be fully conscious 
 of. Then at length, when pilgrimage is ended, and obedi¬ 
 ence in suffering is finished, our final rest shall be under 
 His eye, and in His house for ever (Ps. xli. 13 ; xxiii. 6). 
 Already Christ, the divine Servant, has sat downin 
 that uncreated glory; and thither, too, we shall in grace 
 be brought (1 Peter v. 10). Peniel and Bethel shall be 
 found together (John xvii. 24). 
 
 Again, if we know aught of Bethel mercy in putting 
 us already among the sons of God, we shall feel our 
 strangership here. Surely the sense of loneliness must 
 have come painfully over Jacob as he gathered stones 
 together for his pillow ; but grace took him by surprise. 
 
 The four “ beholds ” which are found in the next 
 verses are each of them most instructive. The first 
 one occurs in reference to the wondrous Ladder which 
 extended all the way from earth to heaven, and by 
 which his attention was directed to the heart-cheering 
 truth, that if through sin we have forfeited this world, 
 and have come out from it through grace, yet are we 
 beckoned to another and brighter world above, even 
 unto heaven itself. The ancient name of Bethel was, 
 as we are here informed, “ Luz,” i.e ., “ separation.” But 
 separation of itself is of little or no value, unless it be 
 separation unto God. How gracious of the Lord by 
 His presence with Jacob, granted him at this time, to 
 constrain him, as overpowered by God’s loving-kindness, 
 to change that name. In like manner with ourselves, 
 never do we part from aught at His call but He far 
 more than makes it up to us with His own smile. 
 
II 2 
 
 Ttypical Foreshadowing a. 
 
 The second “behold” looks right on to the very end, 
 as, indeed, is the usual style of the Spirit in Scripture. 
 For “ if children, then heirs.” “ Begotten again to an 
 inheritance” (1 Peter i. 3). Nothing between us and 
 glory ! So here the time when the heavens and the 
 earth shall he united under one sceptre, held by a pierced 
 p an d—when both spheres shall be connected by one 
 divine-human Centre; to wit, Christ our Way, and 
 God our Endthis is the period here foreshadowed 
 in this second “ behold.” For see the glance back to 
 
 this identical scene in John i. 51. 
 
 Then the third “ behold ” proves the Lord’s way to 
 be one of free grace in that whilst Jacob, with all his 
 scheming, got not the blessing in its fulness whilst at 
 Isaac’s couch in chap, xxvii. ; here, without any effort 
 whatever, and unexpectedly, that blessing is pronounced 
 unto Jacob twice; first by Isaac, just ere he dismisses 
 him from his home, and then it is largely expanded by 
 the Lord Himself at this moment.* So likewise by no 
 merit nor attainments do we come into favour, but 
 merely because “ so it seemed good in His sight.” 
 
 The last of these four “ beholds ” adverts to the 
 Lord’s special presence with the typical servant during 
 his service in Syria. To the fact of this divine presence 
 with him there, we observe constant allusion made in 
 the subsequent chapters, and notably over and over 
 again in chap. xxxi. The same fact also explains the 
 reason of Jacob’s meeting with God’s hosts upon his 
 return from Laban’s service (see chap, xxxii. 2). But 
 Jacob, like ourselves, is slow to rise up to the ways of 
 
 * In the reference to this vision in chap. xxxv. 7, the lan- 
 o-ua^e is in style like what we have met with in chap. xx. 13. 
 There we read, “ God, they caused me to wander” (Hebrew). 
 And here likewise we have “ God, they appeared ” (Hebrew). 
 
The Lord’s IVay with Jacob . 113 
 
 grace, and gives vent to those wretchedly unbelieving 
 words in verses 20—22, with which this chapter closes. 
 Though we may be quite aware that we are loved, and 
 saved, and’blest, yet, alas ! how common it is for saints 
 to be anxious beyond all measure as to their daily bread. 
 We can trust Him readily with our souls, but scarcely 
 with our daily concerns ; whilst as to the former, we 
 may have peace of conscience , as to the latter, how often 
 are we needlessly agitated, lacking peace of heart ! How 
 few of us could,from Experience of God’s mercy, speak 
 out so boldly as did Paul—“ My God shall supply all 
 your need,” not according to your need, but “ according 
 to His riches in glory by Christ Jesus.” 
 
 Meanwhile, as we, whilst absent from home, are pain¬ 
 fully learning subjection, obedience, and true-hearted 
 service, we may see every day the infidel Esaus allying 
 themselves with the religious Ishmaelites, verse 9. 
 “ Mahalath ” which is the name of the daughter of 
 Ishrnael that Esau now married, signifies in Hebrew, 
 “ disease.” This same word is found in the inspired 
 heading of Ps. liii. which describes the morally diseased 
 state of the fool’s heart. Hence it may be hinted that 
 this daughter of religious Ishrnael was herself an infidel. 
 And this seems the more probable inasmuch as she is 
 called Bashemath, or “ pleasant smell ” in xxxvi. 3. For 
 the variation of the name cannot be without design in 
 Scripture. Then the idea would be similiar to that 
 which is suggested by chap. iii. of 2 Peter, wherein the 
 infidel spirit of the last days follows the tracing of the 
 worldly religious spirit described in 2 Peter, whilst as 
 for those imbued with the one evil spirit or with the 
 other, our time of sorrow is their time of merrymaking. 
 Such may have their differences ; still, they are but slight; 
 their hostility is reserved for those only who are Christ’s. 
 
 8 
 
ii4 Typical Foreshadowings. 
 
 Chapters XXIX and XXX. When on the twenty- 
 fourth chapter, we saw that the Bride is brought to 
 Isaac by Eliezer “the strength of God” (Zech. iv. 6) ; 
 whilst He, the once dead but risen Son, remains unseen 
 in the Father’s house. Here, conversely, the Servant- 
 Son Himself comes forth to earn His Bride. The two 
 together admirably set forth the two leading features in 
 Christ’s love of us. For there, yonder, as Son, He 
 awaits His Bride to be brought to Him, and will at the 
 end advance on the road to receive her to Himself, who 
 here, as Servant, toiled hard and perfectly (represented 
 by the number of years being “ seven ”) to claim her 
 righteously as His own. The two types combined set 
 forth that she who is now being brought to Him is the 
 purchase of His life’s blood. Again, in Joseph the 
 Ruler, we have the picture of the bridal pair united in 
 marriage by the supreme potentate; ere that ruler’s 
 brethren after the flesh, come to bow down to him. 
 Adam’s reign was very brief; but the rule over all is 
 to be restored. At the commencement of Genesis we 
 have human rule instituted of God; at the close of the 
 book we see that His purpose has not been frus¬ 
 trated, for here is human rule again righteously and 
 beneficently administered. Conjoining these three 
 types, and we then learn that this rule shall be of the 
 Son that died, and was dead three days, who is risen, 
 who is at present hidden in the Father’s house (chaps, 
 xxii.—xxiv.) ; that this Ruler is He who with sore 
 travail bought us (chap, xxix.), and to Whom on the 
 throne we are finally to be united (chap. xli. 45). Thus 
 the type of the bride of Adam finds its completeness at 
 the other end of the narrative ; whilst in between these 
 two ends, in Rebecca and Rachel, we have the Bride 
 led home, and the Bride purchased. The more advanced 
 
The Lord's Way with Jacob. 115 
 
 aspect of the truth is to be expected to he placed first 
 in Scripture. Thus in Hebrews ii. we read of Christ’s 
 dying in order to bring many sons to glory, before we 
 hear a word of His dying to deliver them from bondage, 
 death, the fear of death, and from Satan. It is impor¬ 
 tant to recognize this order of the Spirit of Grod. Then 
 further from the four types to wit, Adam, Isaac, Jacob, 
 and Joseph, and each one with his respective bride, there 
 remains not one main line of truth about “ Christ and 
 the Church,” which is without its foreshadow here. If 
 Jacob earns his bride through much toil and sorrow, 
 Isaac’s story whispers that that soul-sorrow was in the 
 death on Mount Moriah. Adam’s again represents that 
 the bride is taken from His side whilst He sleeps a “ deep 
 sleep.” Then the bride brought to the Bridegroom and 
 married to Him, He like as Joseph the ruler with His 
 bride for a companion commences His reign, some time 
 previous to His Jewish brethren seeking His favour, or 
 repenting of their causeless enmity towards Him. Then, 
 lastly, by Enoch, Hoah, and Abraham, the other three 
 representative men in this book, we all discern the two 
 callings, now to heaven and next to earth, and that the 
 response to each call is made by faith, as exemplified in 
 him who is the lather of each of the two seeds, compared 
 to the stars of heaven and the sand on the sea-shore. 
 All which naturally prepares us to hear of two brides, 
 Hachel and Leah, given to the Servant from the land 
 remote from his native home. 
 
 Jacob of course first meets his future wife at a well’s 
 mouth, even as the bondwoman and her son had there 
 been cast out. On the significance of this feature in the 
 type I have already remarked when on chap. xxiv. Its 
 occurrence as well here as there goes far to prove that 
 its presence is not undesigned. One, important touch 
 
ii6 . Typical Foreshadowings. 
 
 is added here to what is to be found there. Jacob has 
 first to roll the stone from the well’s mouth. This inci¬ 
 dent is in beautiful keeping with the whole colouring 
 in the picture. Tor the Lord. Jesus as the Servant 
 come forth into a strange land in quest of His bride, 
 must needs first remove the hindrances that sin has set 
 up, ere life more abundantly in resurrection could be 
 given to us. 
 
 Once more, Israel was first married to the Lord, albeit 
 the Church was most loved, and though, too, His love 
 to her was prior to His love of Israel. For Israel’s 
 blessing is stated to have been prepared “from the 
 foundation of the world ” (Matt. xxv. 34, Rev. xiii. 8) ; 
 but the church was chosen by the Father, and given 
 unto Him ere the world began. This difference of period 
 as to‘‘the time of love,” regards of course the place 
 of blessing to which each party respectively is called. 7 
 Since our fatherland and home are to a glory far beyond 
 where the sun ever shone, no wonder that God’s choice, 
 and Christ’s love of us, should be before time altogether. 
 Besides which, never did Israel in her palmiest days of 
 yore, never will she, never can she in any such yet to 
 come, hear language from the Lord at all commensurate 
 with this: “As My Father hath loved me, so haVe I 
 loved you; ” and, “ Thou hast loved them as Thou hast 
 loved me.” 
 
 As to the type in Leah’s first four sons, Reuben, 
 Simeon, Levi, and Judah; then of her two sons born 
 after the children of the handmaids, Issachar and Zebu- 
 Ion ; also to the handmaid’s children themselves, Dan, 
 Gad, Asher, and Naphtali; and, lastly, to the same type 
 in Rachel's children, Joseph and Benjamin, some clue 
 may be found to be traced in the table of Israel’s 
 history in chap. xiix. And as it is to be in the earth- 
 
The Lord’s Way with Jacob . 117 
 
 lies with Israel, so a like arrangement, it would seem, 
 will obtain in the heavenlies. I mean that whilst at 
 present seven is God’s perfect number, three the num¬ 
 ber for God, and four for earth, as in Rev. vii. 1, the 
 total signifying the connection of the divine dealings 
 with the world at* present; so, when God has quite won 
 His way, and comes forth in the plenitude of His glory, 
 then the heavens and the earth will each be blessed, 
 according as is shadowed forth in the larger number, 
 twelve ; that is, four, not added to, but multiplied by 
 three ; or, indeed, in one Scripture depicturing heaven’s 
 joy, twenty-four (Rev. iv. and v.) 
 
 To the fact of two brides for the Lord, the heavenly 
 and the earthly, the objection has been made that “ then 
 one would be for the parlour and the other for the 
 hall.” The answer is, in that day, heaven and earth 
 will each be so full of the glory, that neither sphere 
 will resemble u the hall.” That the glory of the 
 celestial should differ from and exceed the glory of 
 the terrestrial, is no wonder. And the type of Asenath, 
 the bride of the ruler, at the end of Genesis, with his 
 brethren at his feet, proves that where the heavenly and 
 the earthly are both represented, the heavenly one is 
 the Bride. 
 
 Chapter XXXI. to XXXII. 2. This chapter seems 
 specially designed to show us how God delights to be 
 with His servants in all their appointed toil. Be their 
 work what it may which He has assigned unto them, 
 however difficult or however humble, they may reckon, 
 if they will, on His presence in it. It is a strange 
 thing, in a world apostate from God, for God to be 
 obeyed, and served, and loved. But the great Servant 
 has shown us all what a blessed thing it is to serve 
 
118 Typical Foreshadowings. 
 
 Him, and in what manner likewise this is to he done. 
 And we who are God’s sons now are, with more or less 
 of spiritual intelligence, gradually apprehending the 
 grace of God in calling us to serve Him, in giving each 
 of us our work for Him to fulfil, in causing us to enjoy 
 His smile whilst engaged in it, and even in promising 
 us rewards hereafter corresponding with the faithful¬ 
 ness of our service now. The crowns of which He 
 makes mention must never he disparaged. Ignorance 
 alone can pretend to count these as of little value, see¬ 
 ing that they will be Christ’s public testimonials of His 
 approbation of our endeavours at pleasing Him in a world 
 that knew Hinrnot. Those rewards, placed by Himself 
 upon our brow, have an eternal character (1 Peter v. 4). 
 The service which He looks for at our hands is, in brief, 
 identification with Him here in His rejection, looking 
 at the world in the light of His cross, and at each one 
 of His people as so loved by Him, seeing Him in every 
 one of them, and therefore serving them, and not our¬ 
 selves ; and thus, by dying as He died, to bear much 
 fruit (John xi. 24). The religious world’s mode of 
 service is to seek after influence and position, and so to 
 bless inferiors ; the Christian’s is, by taking a lower 
 place to wash the feet of others. u Whoever,” says the 
 Lord, “ wishes to be great among you (not over you), let 
 him be your servant and whoever wishes to be first 
 among you, let him be your slave ” (see Matt. xx. 26, 
 Greek.) In like manner, pastoral work, too, which the 
 Lord specially calls and fits some to undertake, is con¬ 
 stantly spoken of as “ among ” the sheep, and not over 
 them (1 Cor. ii. 6 ; iii. 16 ; Acts xiii. 1). The peculiar 
 work of these pastors—not of the pastor ; the Lord 
 Himself is the Pastor, and nowhere in Scripture is any 
 other than He recognized as such—is to feed and to 
 
The Lord’s Way with Jacob . 119 
 
 lead the flock, though still taking a lower place as ser¬ 
 vants, and urging the Church into a higher one. Feed¬ 
 ing and guiding the flock are often conjoined in the 
 Word (as in Rev. vii. 17 ; John xxi., Greek; Heb. xiii.) 
 Still, some who cannot teach, and evidently are not 
 given by the Lord as teachers, have yet gifts of rule 
 (1 Tim. v. 17). And these it is incumbent on such to 
 exercise, though still among the flock. As for the cre¬ 
 dentials of their authority, they are in the hearts and 
 consciences of those whom they serve. And in the 
 assembly of God there must be scope for the exercise of 
 all that which is divine in its origin. Where there is 
 self-exaltation, as is often the case where there is open 
 ministry, there the flesh should be judged, for the flesh 
 is no better in a dozen than in one. The Church was 
 never designed to be the theatre for the display of man, 
 but of the grace of God. JSTo man has any right to do 
 aught there. The right is the Lord’s to minister through 
 whom He will. On the other hand, when the eye of 
 the flock rests on some gifted teacher, then is that 
 teacher placed in a false position, it may be, not by his 
 own seeking, but because souls like to have some one 
 whom they can see to lean upon, rather than on Him in 
 whose name they profess to be gathered together (see 
 that solemn Scripture, 1 John ii., last half of the chap¬ 
 ter). It is irksome for man to depend on God. 
 
 Say you, “ But this renders service, and particularly 
 pastoral service, very difficult, and, from a worldly point 
 of view, very thankless”? I might answer, Yes; of 
 all service, pastoral work, where Scripturally performed, 
 is the most arduous ; but look at the future reward 
 (1 Peter v.) But now I prefer to point your attention 
 to this chapter, and to ask you to note how constantly 
 God is spoken of as with Jacob whilst in his thankless 
 
i 20 Typical Foreshadowings. 
 
 shepherd work, and done, too, away from home (see, for 
 instance, verses 3, 5, 9, 11, 13, 24, 29, 42). And this 
 should be our consolation when the thought comes over 
 ns as to how unworthy we are, and how wretched we 
 were when grace found us. Therein we resemble Jacob. 
 At the outset he had had to flee from Esau, whom he had 
 wronged ; but yet, with untiring diligence, he had served 
 away from home faithfully. Such seems to be the gist 
 of that passage already cited in Hosea xii. 12, where 
 the prophet contrasts the conduct of their parent Jacob 
 with that of his degenerate descendants of the prophet’s 
 day. For God delights to make our very falls useful to 
 us, and as opportunities for the further display of His 
 grace. And so we find that here God could talk to him 
 about such minutiae in his shepherd work as we find 
 Him doing in verse 12. Likewise, again, God could 
 and did tell Jacob, when he had served long enough 
 with Laban. For though we may be sometimes incre¬ 
 dulous as to His watchful love, and forget that He 
 allows us to be encompassed with fiery trial, He mea¬ 
 sures with accuracy the time we are therein, .and will 
 not suffer us to be tempted above that we are able. 
 
 Then came the command, in due time, “ Return unto 
 the land of thy fathers, and to thy kindred, and I will 
 be with thee” (verse 3); and Jacob, we gladly perceive, 
 moved not until that command came. Hor did he tarry 
 long afterwards (verses 13—17). But in his obedience 
 to the word from the Lord, the second part of the type 
 is commenced; that is to say, his progress homewards. 
 Yet not alone, but guiding the family and the flock 
 there also. And on and on, though with faltering steps, 
 he proceeds, until ultimately he reaches Bethel. When 
 he first sets out, Laban, the worldly man, is his terror; 
 and when he has advanced far on the road he is still 
 
121 
 
 The Lord’s IVay with Jacob . 
 
 oppressed with dread of Esau. For the Lord’s servants 
 may be sure that the world will view with dislike' all 
 genuine separation from it; and much more, even when 
 they have come out, must they reckon on perils through 
 encounters with false brethren. Eut what we have re¬ 
 corded here was written for our admonition; and w r e 
 perceive how the Lord, in a more providential manner, 
 interposed to preserve him from much of the opposition 
 of the former; and accorded him that most gladdening 
 vision of Peniel to encourage his heart unto the latter. 
 And here we find that Jacob could himself acknowledge 
 that all the mercy in preserving him from the hostility 
 of Laban was extended to him by God, because that 
 God was in covenant with him as the God of his 
 father, Abraham (verse 42). Yea, and this was so 
 manifest, that Laban himself was constrained to ac¬ 
 knowledge it (verse 29) ; even as many are heard to do 
 now-a-days, and more feel this in their hearts. The 
 chief difference between these two men comes out at the 
 close of their last interview; when Laban, speaking 
 freely, betrays his Chaldean tongue, whilst Jacob, at the 
 same time, utters Hebrew (verse 47). For the servant 
 of God inhales the atmosphere of heaven ; thither tend 
 his thoughts and hope. To the end of the way here he 
 is a stranger, and increasingly, too, to its language, 
 schemes, and 'push; to its delights, its politics, and its 
 religions. 
 
 We know God as the God and Father of our Lord 
 Jesus Christ, and consequently as our God and Father 
 in Him. He is now for us, openly on our side. Then, 
 next, He is God in us by His Spirit. And then, when 
 we obey, and serve, and please Him, we even find, as 
 Jacob found in his twenty years in a foreign land, 
 that He is God with us ; and much more than Jacob 
 
122 
 
 Typical Foreshadoiuings. 
 
 found, for He who is with us is our own God and 
 Father. Observe that it is at the end of most of the 
 Epistles, where we read that the God of peace shall be 
 with us. As if, to enjoy His presence, we should heed 
 well His instructions. He wants our service indeed ; 
 hut better still. He is pleased to desire our companion¬ 
 ship. But this is only possible in His own light 
 (1 John i.) Yet to this are we called, even now, whilst 
 yet away from home as Jacob. For no place can shut 
 out God. All our service should begin with God, and 
 be continued in communion with Him. Such, indeed, 
 was the Lord’s own way of service, save only, of course, 
 during those terrible hours of darkness on the cross. 
 
 Even there and then, when God forsook Him for a 
 
 / 
 
 while, He maintained His stedfast confidence in Him 
 
 and in His love. And we have no curse, and no wrath 
 
 to bear, as then He had. Therefore let us work under 
 
 His eye, and with our ear opened, and circumcised, and 
 
 anointed. Singularly, this was the part of the body which 
 
 was first anointed in the case of Aaron and his sons (Lev. 
 
 viii. 24). Some now-a-days appear as if they would 
 
 prefer to have their foot anointed first; to run ere they 
 
 are sent; to do something or other, as a substitute for 
 
 simple, lowly obedience. But to obey is better than 
 
 sacrifice, and to hearken, than the fat of rams. Such 
 • 
 
 are in too great a hurry to be at work, ere they them¬ 
 selves are established in His love. Note-. God’s own 
 beautiful order: first. He causes us, as prodigals wel¬ 
 comed home, to sit at His table, and to hear Him say, 
 “ Let us be merry ” (Luke xv.). There is not a word 
 here of hastening the returned son to work. Time 
 enough for service when once the lesson has been 
 learned well, that “ the joy of the Lord is (our) 
 strength.” 
 
123 
 
 The Lord’s JVay with Jacob. 
 
 This passage is closed with the first two verses of 
 chap, xxxii., in which we have it narrated that the host 
 ot God met Jacob at Mahanaim. This was in Gilead, 
 on the eastern side of Jordan. The Lord had promised 
 him that He would be with him in all places where he 
 was going, and bring him again to the land which he 
 was then leaving (chap, xxviii. 15). And the Lord had 
 kept His word ; angelic hosts, “ two ” (see margin), as 
 if one on each side of him (see 1 Kings xxii. 19), these 
 he was permitted at length to see, that he might learn 
 the care that had been taken of him whilst away from 
 the land of promise. Would that we, too, fully con¬ 
 fided in His care, who has now sent forth, not “ two 
 hosts,” but His angels “ all,” even though they be 
 “ thousand thousands” to minister for them who are 
 about to inherit salvation, and who have the charge laid 
 on them to “ keep us in all our ways ” (Heb. i. 13 ; 
 Dan. vii. 10 ; Ps. xci. 11). For the Lord has taken us 
 out of the world, and has caused us to know His love ; 
 and then He has sent us back awhile into that world 
 as heavenly saints, that as such we may serve Him upon 
 earth. Compare verse 16 with 18 of John xvii. We 
 are not alone, any more than He Himself was in the 
 days of His flesh (John xvi. 32). And surely the 
 account of this angelic vision here, as well as that of 
 the vision of God which follows it in chap, xxxii., 
 should encourage us to reckon upon God, and upon 
 marked manifestations of His love, as we seek to go 
 on patiently at our work for God. Our path, if we go 
 on with Him, will wax brighter and brighter (Prov. iv. 
 18) ; our last days should be our brightest. Look at 
 the glowing words of Paul, the prisoner of Jesus Christ, 
 in view of the goal at last (2 Tim iv. 6—8). I speak 
 not of the path of our Master, all of which, from end 
 
124 
 
 Typical Foreshadowings. 
 
 to end, was irradiated with, glory, and where all was 
 perfection. Yet even He is heard to utter the note of 
 triumph oftener as His course nears its close (John xii. 
 28—31, xvi. 33, and notably xix. 30). And.if Jacob’s 
 service somewhat lacked this happy feature, then, as we 
 come now to observe, this was owing' to his own unbe- 
 lief and wilfulness. God was unchanged towards him. 
 God loved him ; and His love is ever unto the end. 
 
 Chapter XXXII. 3 to XXXI11. 16. We have now 
 to look at the way of the Lord, when at His bidding 
 Jacob proceeded on his journey homewards, not alone, 
 but as a father and a shepherd. And here we have 
 remarked, he speedily begins to break down. Whether it 
 is easier to reckon on God during times of open hostility 
 to our setting out, than when our further advance is 
 retarded by some obstruction in our path, and whether 
 one is more prone to be cast down at difficulties, start¬ 
 ing up in this way, it may be, from the religious than from 
 the irreligious, certain it is that Jacob, who had acquitted 
 himself so well with Laban, now acts quite unlike be had 
 done in his former achievements. It is possible to rest on 
 the memory of past victories, and so to cease to be on 
 our guard. If this be so with us, then may we be 
 drawn on and down into modes of self-help, and subter¬ 
 fuges quite unworthy of those who have God on their 
 side. Then the rapidity with which the fall, as here, is 
 made into gross unbelief is terrible. But this is not all. 
 When in the impending sore trial, and in which Jacob 
 demeaned himself so unworthily, he was delivered 
 from, then soon, alas ! he falls again in another direc¬ 
 tion; his unbelief takes another turn. For next he at¬ 
 tempts to nestle himself very snugly at Succoth, there¬ 
 by acting contrary to the heavenly calling (Heb. xi. 9). 
 
I2 5 
 
 The Lord’s IVcnj with Jacob. 
 
 »* 
 
 For he rears for himself a pleasant homestead, with 
 booths for his cattle, and in this manner continues, 
 though apparently with an uneasy conscience, as we 
 shall see presently. Hence we learn that the servant 
 of God, in his path of advance towards home and the 
 kingdom for which he suffers, and in his leading others 
 in that path, is beset with temptation on the right hand 
 and on the left. Then, as to the one temptation, he may 
 possibly not carry himself in a manner worthy of one 
 who has God with him, but may cringe, and compro¬ 
 mise, and flatter, where he ought to be ready and bold 
 as a lion. Or, on the other hand, he may be tempted 
 to settle down in worldly ease and sloth, ere yet his pil¬ 
 grimage has ended to that place whither God, “the God 
 of Bethel,” has called him (chap. xxxi. 13 ; see further 
 on, chap. xxxv.). For as all of us, I trust, know, God’s 
 first call of us involves everything in it. Bethel is sure , 
 eventually, to be followed by Peniel. If we are, indeed, 
 of the family of God, we must be brought home to God 
 and set before His face for ever. Only it should be our 
 ambition that this we should enjoy by faith, even now. 
 See how these two, Bethel and Peniel, are combined in 
 sentiment in Ps. xxvii. 4—8. Anyhow, not by attain¬ 
 ment, but by grace, shall we, because “ we are now the 
 sons of God,” presently “ see Him as He is.” The in¬ 
 heritance, all of it, we shall yet obtain ; but the earnest 
 thereof is for present strength. 
 
 Accordingly, since Jacob erred, now in the one direc¬ 
 tion and then in the other, God spake to Jacob in two 
 several ways. First, there was the vision at Peniel, to 
 encourage him to go straight on; but subsequently, for 
 his failure as to seeking worldly ease, there came “ judg¬ 
 ment,” “ Dinah,” accompanied with much loss. But let 
 us follow the narrative. First, Jacob sends messengers 
 
1 26 
 
 Typical Fureshadowings. 
 
 to Esau. Undoubtedly, this action was owing to bis 
 terror at bis having to encounter bis brother whom be 
 bad wronged, and therefore be thought it prudent to 
 propitiate him at a distance. The message itself is 
 abject and unbecoming ; yet it was not by any means so 
 abject in its tone as, even after the vision at Peniel, was 
 the language which he uttered to Esau’s face (chap, 
 xxxiii. 10). But the message failed in the effect in¬ 
 tended, and probably produced the reverse. Word, 
 is brought back to him that Esan is approaching him 
 with a band of four hundred men, as if to sweep him 
 and his from off the face of the earth. This result of 
 that first slip might have been sufficient to admonish 
 him that he had acted in an unbelieving manner. And 
 who of us does, not know what it is to be thwarted in 
 some object, when we have trusted in men, instead of 
 in the living God ? 
 
 Next, he drops upon his knees, which had been well 
 had he continued thus. We, too, know what it is to 
 look up to God for help, when we have failed in every 
 other resource; and wonderful it is that God will iuter- 
 pose for us, when we thus only give Him the leavings 
 of our confidence. Yea, despite the evil issue of his 
 message, anon he returns to the same wretched way of 
 unbelief. There is a certain freedom from the fear of 
 man, and a boldness of attitude towards him, which 
 being in the presence of God is sure to give us (see 
 1 Kings xviii. 15). On the one hand, if our hope- is 
 placed on man, we shall hang down our heads for shame 
 before God; but, on the other., if our eye be on God, 
 we shall be bold before men (Dan iii. 16). But Jacob 
 here is all for cringing and fawning upon his brother; 
 he prepares a magnificent present for him and then 
 gives vent to the thought of his heart. “ I will appease 
 
!27 
 
 The Lord’s Way with Jacob. 
 
 him with the present that goeth before me, and after¬ 
 wards I will see his face ; peradventure he will accept 
 of me.” These words seem to be midway in the de¬ 
 scending scale of degradation between his less cringing 
 tone in verses 4 and 5, and his ungrateful and ungodly 
 language in chap, xxxiii. 10. As if, notwithstanding 
 the very gracious interposition of the Lord, as found 
 at Peniel, in between these two utterances of Jacob, his 
 terror of his brother went on increasing, though yet, 
 through God’s unwearied love, needlessly. For, albeit 
 his unbelief, his deliverance was complete, as well as 
 that vision of God had for a while been consoling. 
 But alas! our flesh is vile to the end. Any mending 
 or improvement of it is impossible. There is some 
 parallel to this part of the histofy in 2 Cor. xii., where 
 we find that after a man in Christ had been caught up 
 to the third heavens, and then to paradise, he yet 
 needed and got a thorn in the flesh, “ lest he should be 
 exalted above measure.” 
 
 The appearance of the Lord to Jacob at this juncture 
 was evidently designed to turn his eye in the right 
 direction. Jacob had spoken of seeing Esau’s face; 
 God gives him to see His. How beautiful and perfect 
 is this action! Jacob was depending on his cleverness 
 in surprising Esau in the arrangement and largeness of 
 his present. God, in His wrestling with him, teaches 
 him that he should lean with his entire weight upon 
 Him. At the beginning of the contest, the victory was 
 permitted by God to incline to neither party (verse 25), 
 signifying the pains that God was taking with him to 
 bring him to a sense of where his real help was. Then, 
 presently, He touches the hollow of Jacob’s thigh. Now 
 the effect of this divine touch would be that whereas 
 previously Jacob was standing by his own strength and 
 
128 Typical Fore shadowings. 
 
 upon his own feet, then his weight woul 0 ne cessarily 
 thrown upon the Being who wrestled^ hnn, and 
 thus in Jacob’s arms did Omnipotence a v ^self to be 
 held fast. What a gracious lesson, and tender the 
 mode of its inculcation! “ He had p^ r over the 
 
 Angel, and prevailed ” (Hosea xii. 4). N ^is name 
 changed from Jacob to Israel, as marking T era j n hi s 
 spiritual lifetime. He is spoken of as a j ice having 
 power, and prevailing with God and witl^g^ >Ynd 
 the conviction pierces even the hard heart oi o* hin a t 
 he had beheld God face to face, and that his life him _ 
 served. Nothing of all this way in God’s guara’t of 
 his security, and in admitting him into such intish 
 had Jacob been at all prepared for. He had bead 
 surprising Esau; God had anticipated and surprised 
 him in giving him the consciousness that His infinite 
 love had made him a prince with God. The weakness 
 of his flesh—the thigh out of joint, and which probably 
 he carried with him unto the day of his death—would 
 have been cheaply bought if it had always availed as a 
 reminder of the grace of Peniel! It is still the same, 
 even now ; frequently does God combine these two in 
 those whom He loves. It is for their spiritual profit 
 that He should do so. How much more truth, in these 
 last days, has been brought to light from His Word, and 
 how much more has our joy been deepened in conse¬ 
 quence ! But, alas ! the pride of our hearts has often 
 seized upon this greater knowledge, insomuch that we 
 have been exalted above measure; and it has led us 
 into superciliousness and harsh judgment of other 
 brethren. But how is this F Ah, if we have had the 
 abundance of the revelations, yet, maybe, we have 
 lacked the thorn in the flesh and the thigh out of joint. 
 Therefore, let those thank God, to whom the one has 
 
The Lord’s IVay with Jacob. 129 
 
 not been given without the other. By dying, we live ; 
 when we are weak, then are we strong (compare 2 Cor. 
 i. 9, and iv. 8—11). God would have us to be wholly 
 cast upon Himself. But how slow are we to learn this, 
 even when in both ways—by revelations to our spirits 
 of His grace, on the one hand, and by writing death 
 upon all our fleshly might upon the other—He would 
 press home this salutary lesson. 
 
 Jacob holds, as he says, the amen of his God in the 
 hand of his faith. u My life is preserved,” he joyfully 
 exclaims. Then how does he demean himself as Esau 
 approaches ? By bowing himself seven times, and by 
 causing all his family to bow themselves to Esau too ! 
 And when Esau, rendered harmless, not by his present, 
 but by the God that loves Jacob, enquires as to the drove 
 which he had met and at first declines its acceptance, 
 Jacob replies, “ If now I have found grace in thy sight, 
 then receive my present at my hand, for therefore have 
 I seen thy face, as though I had seen the face of God, 
 and thou wast pleased with me.” What a wretched 
 return for Peniel! What base cringing to a mortal, and 
 addressing his brother here several times as his lord ! 
 Alas ! here we have a picture of the perverse froward- 
 ness in us all who are His servants, and whom He would 
 have to lean upon Himself alone. Then how clear, how 
 persistent, how uncompromising our testimony, and how 
 simple our lives. Men would wonder where the secret 
 of our strength lay. But if we do not walk in the 
 Spirit, if we are little with God, no wonder if we act 
 little before men. Oh ! to abide in Him ! 
 
 There is one touch added here, as to Jacob’s servant- 
 shepherd character, which is far too valuable to be 
 passed over in silence. He knew how to lead on the 
 cattle softly according as they and the children were able 
 
 y 
 
130 Typical Foreshadowings. 
 
 to endure. He took care lest, over-driving them one 
 day, all the flock should die. And this hint' we obtain 
 in the inspired picture of service and of shepherd work. 
 Well would it be if the under-shepherds, each and all, 
 pondered duly Jacob’s word. But whilst some will not 
 move at all, others impulsively hasten on after that which 
 not seldom turns out to be a will-o’-the-wisp, if not an 
 actual mistake, and they return wounded and broken to 
 the place whence they set out. This would have been 
 avoided, if each step of the way had been carefully felt, 
 and severally taken with God. They take a plunge into 
 some new Ism, and judge all others to be half-hearted, 
 who do not take precisely the same plunge. Then pre¬ 
 sently, finding out their error, and that all is not gold 
 that glitters, they come tumbling out again. Then such 
 proceed to impugn every atom of advanced truth which 
 in their heads they had learned ; and despise the others, 
 who when themselves go quite back, neither can follow 
 them in their retrograde course. 
 
 Chapter XXXIII. 17, XXXIV. Here it appears we 
 have the converse side of Jacob’s naughtiness,’ the ether 
 side of his tendency to failure, and consequently the 
 chastisement that came upon him from his loving God. 
 But the rod which God uses to correct His erring saints 
 with, invariably points to the sin which has brought it 
 upon them. Hence, by what quickly ensued after 
 Jacob’s action in chap, xxxiii. 17, we may not only be sure 
 that In# had sinned, but further, by his nest being so 
 thoroughly stirred up, we may perceive wherein it was 
 that he had sinned. As certainly as effect follows cause, 
 so does the disturbance in his household in chap, xxxiv., 
 and which made Jacob to groan so heavily as he does in 
 verse 30, naturally through the mercy of God, result 
 
The Lord’s JVay with Jacob. 131 
 
 from liis settling himself down so comfortably as he did 
 at Succoth, as if Snccoth had been identical with Bethel. 
 Bat God teaches him the difference, and that he had not 
 yet come to the rest of which He had spoken to him. 
 Therefore, in clear allusion to this failure of Jacob here, 
 when he had been rendered thoroughly uneasy in his 
 pause on the route, He bids him “ Arise go up to Bethel 
 and settle there ” (ck. xxxv, 1. Heb.) But these two carnal 
 though opposite proclivities of his, the one displayed in 
 his servile fear and flattery of his brother, and now the 
 other, in his endeavour to settle down whilst yet he was on 
 pilgrimage, correspond with the varieties of temptation 
 to which God’s servants may be subjected at different 
 periods in their lifetime. In their earlier days they may 
 seek in unrighteous methods to curry favour with those 
 who can help them, or to propitiate those who might, 
 humanly speaking, harm them ; and then again later on, 
 when their day declines, they may desire somewhat to 
 retire from the din and turmoil of active service, and to 
 ensconce themselves in pleasant quiet. 
 
 Here we find Jacob building a house at Succoth, with 
 booths for his cattle. And then, as if unquiet in con¬ 
 science as to what he had done, he appears to act pre¬ 
 cisely as his father had done before him—first making 
 himself comfortable at a place, and then suddenly leav¬ 
 ing it (chap. xxvi. 17—24). So next he passes on to 
 Shalem, where he buys a parcel of a field. True, he 
 erects an altar, but upon this God impliedly gives us 
 His judgment when, adverting to it in that verse just 
 quoted, directing him to “"settle at Bethel,” He adds, 
 “ and build an altar there.” For it is of no avail to 
 attempt to sanctify disobedience by prayer, though some¬ 
 times God’s children attempt this impossibility. Such 
 may cover their trangressions from themselves, or from 
 
132 Typical Foreshadowings. 
 
 others, but God is not deceived (Prov. xvi. 2). You 
 may have heard some speak in this style when defend¬ 
 ing aught which they have done, and yet which was 
 glaringly inconsistent with their profession : “ Oh, I 
 have made it a matter of prayer ! ” 
 
 However, all this course of folly by Jacob influenced 
 not His pure judgment who “ weighs the path of the 
 just” (Isa. xxvi. 7). The account of what befell Dinah 
 ( = “■ Judgment”), and himself too, through his suffering 
 child, and then the murder of the Shechemites through 
 his sons, Simeon and Levi,* caused Jacob, who evidently 
 throughout his life was a timid man, to feel that in that 
 neighbourhood he could remain no longer. He feared 
 lest the tribes around him should conspire together and 
 slay him and his. Nor are the cases even now rare to 
 behold, when saints have sought to make for themselves 
 a snug resting-place on this side of the grave, of God’s 
 interposition in some or other remarkable manner, 
 whereby bosom friends, or the property and accumulated 
 store on which the heart had secretly leaned, have been 
 withdrawn from them by Him at a stroke, awing some¬ 
 times the very onlookers. For He loves us too well ever 
 to consent that we should have our portion here, and to 
 leave us to our nest undisturbed. No by tender or by 
 sore dealings He will quite bend down, and ultimately 
 subdue our stubborn wills, and conform us to His 
 
 * Jacob refers to this period on his dying bed in chap, 
 xlix. 7, in language portraying bow deeply his spirit had been 
 moved by their deed of blood. Then judgment having begun 
 thus at the house of God, presently the Shechemites, too, for 
 the sin of Hamor with Dinah, are judged too (Psa. lx. 6; cviii. 7). 
 In Judges ix. there is murder again at Shechem, which place 
 was where the Lord went to in search of one to bless and to 
 save (John iv.) And then, too, Simeon and Levi, who together 
 imbrued their hands in blood, will apart repent (Zech. xii. 13). 
 
T 33 
 
 * / 
 
 The Lord’s Way with Jacob. 
 
 own holy and blessed will. Ah ! better anyhow now to 
 
 be chastened and corrected, than finally to be condemned 
 
 by Him with the world. This latter He cannot do. He 
 
 • 
 
 cannot give ns np, abandoning ns to ourselves (Hosea 
 xi. 7—9). Therefore the other, in mercy, He will con¬ 
 tinue to do u unto the end ” (John xiii.) 
 
 Chapter XXXV. In tracing through the previous 
 chapters the path along which Jacob was led, I have 
 necessarily somewhat anticipated this closing picture. 
 Here we have the goal reached whither, by the loving 
 hand of God, he had been patiently conducted. In 
 looking down the chapter we find the word Bethel occurs 
 seven times. We may profitably group our remarks 
 round the places where it is found. 
 
 It is mentioned first in God’s command to Jacob to 
 go up to Bethel, and settle there, and “ build an altar 
 there T The express direction that the altar is to be 
 there is certainly important, inasmuch as Jacob refers 
 to it in his announcement to his household as to where 
 he purposes going. He properly leaves the strange 
 gods and earrings, which his sons had taken from the 
 Shechemites, buried under an oak, ere he departs from 
 the place of his discomfiture. Assuredly the word of 
 the Lord has come with power unto him. All incum¬ 
 brances to obedience he would leave in the place where 
 he had been half-hearted, or rather double-minded. 
 How remarkable that idols and earrings should be here 
 conjoined! His leaving all these under an oak there 
 contrasts favourably with the conduct of the tribes at a 
 later period at the same place. When Joshua was about 
 to die, he assembled them at Shechem, and implored 
 them once and again to put away their strange gods 
 which were among them. But he implored them in 
 
134 Typical Foreshadowings. 
 
 vain, and was fain to be content witb burying a great 
 stone under an oak instead of their gods (Josh. xxiv. 
 14, 23, 26). Possibly this action of his was in allusion 
 to Jacob’s at this time. And then he and his household 
 obediently quit the place to go to Bethel. The case of 
 men going “up to Bethel” was also in Samuel’s time 
 an evidence that God was with Israel (1 Sam. x. 3). 
 And accordingly here we read of a gracious interposi¬ 
 tion of God in defending them from those who might 
 in vengeance have assailed them, so that “ none pursued 
 after the sons of Jacob ” (verse 5). 
 
 And now he comes to “ Luz—that is, Bethel.” Here 
 Luz (separation) again is mentioned (compare chap, 
 xlviii. 3). To begin with and to end with, these must 
 be combined. Yea, separation invariably precedes union. 
 An union to be real, must be an union according to 
 God’s Word and in holiness. And then at last Jacob 
 reaches Bethel again ! Home with God at last! Brought 
 safely back whence God had sent him forth. And now 
 God appears to him again. Our path of service ends, of 
 course, where it commences, with God in grace calling 
 us to Himself. It is impossible to mount higher than 
 where we have been already called in Christ. All our 
 failures in walk and in work are tumbles from the place 
 where God by His call has placed us, which is that we 
 should be before Him in His love as His sons. And 
 faithful is He that calleth us, who also will do. The 
 call from the beginning of our course unto the end 
 continues and is one. He who once called light out of 
 darkness is carrying on His work in us from day to 
 day. As His call continues the shining of the light; 
 so, likewise, does it His work in us (2 Cor. iv. 6). Only 
 when the archangel’s shout, in consummation of this 
 call, is heard by us. shall we perfectly, fully know its 
 
i35 
 
 The Lord's Way with Jacob. 
 
 vast import. For the sheep know the Shepherd’s voice, 
 and gladly shall we mount to Him, to dwell in the house 
 of the Lord for ever ; yea, to he His temple which with 
 the presence of His glory He will fill for ever. “For 
 ever with the Lord. Amen, so let it be.” 
 
 Some may experience a difficulty in accepting the 
 statement that Jacob’s home was at Bethel, inasmuch 
 as, towards the close of the chapter, our patriarch 
 journeys onwards to “the tower of Edar,” or, “tower 
 of the flock,’’ and thence farther to Hebron, where 
 Isaac was then dwelling (see verses 21 and 27). But 
 upon a little reflection we shall all, I think, perceive 
 that the mention of these stages after Bethel had been 
 reached, by no means militates against the above view, 
 but, indeed, much strengthens it. For, as we are care¬ 
 fully reminded in the prophets, “ the first,’’ or tip-top 
 dominion, is to “come to this same tower of Edar,” or, 
 “ of the flock ” (see Micah iv. 8). And again, Hebron 
 is the place whence Joseph, the typical ruler, departed 
 on his way to the viceregal throne (see chap, xxxvii. 
 14). In other words, the service ends in rule. “ If 
 we suffer ”—for true service will entail suffering, as the 
 path of the Lord has demonstrated to us—“ if we suffer, 
 we shall also reign.” Again, David’s course as a king 
 commenced at Hebron (see 2 Sam. ii. 1). Thus in this 
 very chapter xxxv. is terminated the account of typical 
 service, and in the next chapter the story of rule is 
 begun. Now to Bethel Jacob had to “ go up ” (ver. 1). 
 But Joseph departed from “the valley of Hebron.” 
 What I point to is that, to be the sons of God, to be at 
 home with God in His presence, to be ourselves the 
 very living temple of God is our very highest blessing. 
 To have our works looked at by the Lord, and to be 
 rewarded accordingly, can only be in another sphere. 
 
136 Typical Foreshadowings. 
 
 We all know that the judgment-seat of Christ follows, 
 and does not precede, our being received to Himself. 
 As now, we are first sons and next servants; so then, 
 we shall be first sons and next, under Christ, rulers. 
 And here, Jacob’s progress from Bethel to the tower of 
 Edar and to Hebron, teaches in type the same lesson. 
 Our service ends in rule. 
 
 In the next place, Jacob having arrived at Bethel, 
 builds, as he had been bidden, an altar there, and calls 
 it El-bethel. This altar seems somehow connected, yet 
 contrasted, with the altar that he had built at Shechem.^ 
 That he had named “ El, elohe—Israel,” which is, being 
 interpreted, “ God, the God of me, Israel,” or “ God, 
 the God of the prince with God ” ; but this other altar’s 
 name denotes, “ God of the house of God.” The former 
 term might suggest to us that at Shechem, Jacob was 
 consoling himself with past manifestations of divine 
 favour. Or, at least, it hints that he was living on the 
 blessed fact that God was his God. But this latter 
 term rather brings before us the more self-emptying 
 side of the same truth that he himself belonged to God. 
 That is to say, the name of the earlier altar witnessed, 
 “God is mine”; but that of the latter one, “I am 
 God’s.For the more His glory strikes our eye, the 
 humbler we shall lie. Surely by the selection of this 
 other word at this time by Jacob a glimpse is afforded us 
 of his state of soul, proving that he had grown in the 
 knowledge of the Lord. 
 
 The next verses inform us that Deborah, Hebekah’s 
 
 * So, likewise, in Solomon's Song, we read, in chap. ii. 16, 
 
 “ My beloved is mine, and I am His." But in chap. vi. 3, these 
 two clauses are inverted in their order. Then in chap vii. 10 
 we read, “ I am my beloved’s,” without the additional clause at 
 all. Thus the same sort of growth is seen here as in Jacob’s 
 experience. 
 
The Lord’s Way with Jacob. 
 
 13 7 
 
 nurse, died, and was buried at Bethel. Of the death of 
 Sarah, the wife of Abraham, we have already read in 
 chap, xxiii. ; of the death of Rachel we read in a verse 
 a little lower down in this very chapter (verse 19) ; and 
 of the burial of Leah we have a passing word by Jacob 
 in chap. xlix. 31 5 but of the death of Rebekah, the 
 beloved wife of Isaac, there is no account in Scripture. 
 But we are instructed to construe the very silence of 
 Scripture as itself significant. Thus Melchisedek’s 
 parentage, we are informed, is purposely concealed, in 
 order that in some respects, as a shadow, he might re¬ 
 semble the Son of God, who had no human father nor 
 divine mother (see Heb. vii. 3). Doubtless therefore a 
 lesson is to be drawn from the omission of all reference 
 to the death of Rebekah. And most strangely we have 
 here the death of her nurse recorded, but not her own. 
 The lesson to be derived we need not go far to seek, if 
 we have followed the line of teaching as traced in pre¬ 
 ceding chapters. For the Church, in her character as 
 the wife of the risen Son, never dies. The Servant's 
 office may expire when all rule, and all authority, and 
 all power have been put down, and therefore the Church’s 
 rule terminate in the same respect as His. # But not 
 so with her status as the wife of the last Adam, and as 
 the Bride of the Lamb, the Bride of the risen Son. 
 Never ! To all eternity she is His Bride still; for ever 
 and for ever her beauty, derived from Himself, is un¬ 
 fading and incorruptible as His own.f 
 
 But now we come, in the next place, to observe that 
 
 * In one sense His kingdom is for a thousand years, during 
 which all evil is being dealt with in judgment, and all oppos¬ 
 ing rule put down. Then, in another and far more glorious 
 sense, this throne of God will be established on the final sup¬ 
 pression of and victory over sin, which is shut up in hell for ever. 
 
 f See my Lectures on the Revelation, vol, ii., pp. 213, 214. 
 
338 Typical Foreshadowhigs. 
 
 Jacob, having been separated or delivered from his pre¬ 
 vious half-heartedness, and from his attempt to settle 
 down ere yet he had reached home, and having erected 
 the altar there at Bethel, according as he had been en¬ 
 joined to do, and himself now more abased and self- 
 emptied, God again at once appears to him. And as if 
 to impress upon our attention the fact that the entire 
 journey of Jacob from Laban the Syrian, until he came 
 to Bethel, was one single one only, however it might 
 have been broken, as at Succoth and Peniel, therefore 
 the language here used is remarkably precise upon this 
 point. For thus it is written : “ God appeared unto 
 Jacob again when he came out of Padan-aram , and 
 blessed him.” Now his new name Israel is a second 
 time given him by God, his old name being quite set 
 aside. Thus the blessing of Peniel and that of Bethel 
 are now combined. There is here a parallelism between 
 God’s dealings with Jacob and His dealings with us. By 
 the sight of Him we obtain a new nature, even eternal 
 life. By beholding in faith the glory of the Lord we 
 are being changed into the same image by the Spirit of 
 the Lord, in such a manner as only He could effect. 
 But then, when we have reached home, and at length 
 see Him as He is, we shall be made like Him. Our 
 very bodies will be “ changed ” also, so that the flesh 
 will trouble us no more. Like Him inside and outside, 
 and all together, His Bride, yea, and His body too, of 
 which He is the Head as the Christ, is His for ever. Oh, 
 what a prospect lies before us ! Then, as God had re¬ 
 peated to him his new name of Israel, so Jacob finds 
 that he anew has occasion to call that same place 
 Bethel (verse 15 ). And we too, in His time, shall fully 
 know the object of His call, for we “ shall know even 
 as also we are known.” 
 
The Lord’s Way with Jacob. 
 
 J 39 
 
 Next we are told that Jacob and his family journey’ 
 from Bethel towards Ephrath, or Ephratah, where 
 Bachel died in giving birth to Benjamin. And here, 
 again, Jacob appears to more advantage than Bachel, 
 being in a more spiritual frame of mind. Eor whilst 
 she calls her child Benoni, u son of my sorrow,’’ Jacob 
 names him Benjamin, u son of the right hand.” The 
 <3ne is the language of nature, the other that of faith. 
 Her death at this moment reminds us of her impatient 
 cry when, in chap. xxx. 1, we hear her exclaiming, 
 “ Give me children, or else I die ! ” Here we see that, 
 her desire being obtained, so she dies. Nor is this all. 
 Subsequently Jeremiah and Matthew poetically figure 
 her as weeping for her children, and refusing to be com¬ 
 forted, because they are not (Jer. xxxi. 15 ; Matt. i. lb). 
 May we not learn hence that it is well to submit our 
 desires to the will of God, and to acquiesce therein, 
 whatever that will may be. 
 
 Upon verse 21, about Jacob spreading his tent beyond 
 the tower of Edar, we have already heard from Micah, 
 the connexion of this place with the kingdom. So that 
 the whole of the inspired narrative of Jacob’s advance 
 when once he quits Bethel, resembles typically a royal 
 progress. Eirst he moves on towards Bethlehem 
 Ephratah, next to the tower of the flock and presently 
 reaches Hebron. This therefore seems all designed to 
 teach us that the servant who treads in the footsteps of 
 the Lord, shall reign with Him (see John xii. 26). But 
 now the typical ruler himself is about to appear. But 
 verse 22, with its commentary by the Spirit in xlix. 4, 
 makes it perfectly plain that the first-born after the flesh 
 is not the one who is destined to become ruler, accord¬ 
 ing to the mind of God. He who is in God’s purpose 
 about to be brought forth as such, is tempted, at a later 
 
140 Typical Foreshadowings. 
 
 period, in a manner not wholly unlike to that wherein 
 the first-born now fails. 
 
 The remaining verses of this chapter are supplemental 
 to the entire narrative of Jacob’s service and cause us to 
 feel that we are passing from that subject to the next. 
 Also we see Isaac disappearing from the scene, even 
 though as we here learn, he lived to a hundred and 
 eighty years of age, whilst yet he was only a hundred 
 and fifty when Joseph was born. Hence, remarkably, he 
 lived till the very year that Joseph, the ruler, sat down 
 on the vice-regal throne. How perfect is all this. The 
 ruler appearing in his might and glory after the son and 
 servant have been before us 5 and the sonship and service 
 are as it were merged in the rule. Surely we can all see 
 that this chapter is not only to be regarded as the 
 historical close of Jacob’s service, but as typifying the 
 rest, and introducing the rule of the servants and sons of 
 God, when once their toil and pilgrimage are ended. 
 May I not therefore add, what this chapter seems specially 
 to mark, that there is an order, a wondrous and perfect 
 order, in the Word of God, aye in its historic portions 
 too, even where the chronological order is not strictly 
 adhered to. There is, I repeat, an order, but it is God’s 
 own, which God’s children should carefully reflect upon. 
 
®lj£ IE aril’s Wag toitlj Joacplj, tlje QUjtptral 
 
 ilulcr. 
 
 Section I. 
 
 Edum in power, whilst the family. of this earning 
 ruler are strangers in Canaan, 
 
 Genesis xxxvi. to 1. 
 
 HAPTERS XXXVI. to XXXVII. 1, inclusive. Here 
 
 we have a long section of forty-four verses. 
 
 We cannot admit that no lessons for our instruction are 
 
 to be found herein. Already, in chap, xxxv., we have 
 observed that the Spirit has been leading us on towards 
 
 the subject of rule. Is it to be wondered at that He be¬ 
 
 gins by tracing, at great length, the succession of rule 
 in the family of Esau ? In several previous chapters 
 we have been taught a similar way of our God. The 
 best He is wont to keep until the last. The wicked 
 
 must first have their day. Thus the line of Cain is 
 
 traced in chap. iv.; but of Seth’s descendants, the pro¬ 
 fessing sons of God, in chap. v. Again, in chap, x., the 
 sons of Japhet, and of Ham, are mentioned before those 
 of Shem, from whom, according to the flesh, came 
 Messiah. Ishmael’s descendants are named ere the 
 account of Isaac’s, in chap. xxv. 12. So, likewise, here 
 we see Esau’s family great in the earth, whilst the rule 
 according to God, is not yet brought forth. Saul must 
 precede David. In this light, ver. 31 is a great help in 
 
142 Typical Fore shadowings. 
 
 '' \ 
 
 tlie survey of this chapter. Ere now, in chap, xxxii. 6, 
 we have seen Esau to be so great a man, as to be a 
 sheikh over four hundred men. Here bis descendants 
 have become greater still ; some of these are dukes, and 
 others are kings; and all these “ before there reigned 
 any king over the children of Israel.” Yet Jacob, that 
 is Israel, had the promise of kings, which Esau had 
 not. Yet here, strangely, we learn that many kings had 
 descended from Esau, ere one vestige of royalty appeared 
 in Israel. And a most pithy ending to this section is 
 the first verse of chap, xxxvii., which properly ought to be 
 the last verse of chap, xxxvi. For we can at once perceive 
 that the second verse of chap, xxxvii. is the true com¬ 
 mencement of the history of Joseph. And the first word 
 of the first verse, may as well be rendered, “but.” Then 
 the contrast is very striking to behold ; for not only are 
 there dukes and kings in Edom very many, ere one 
 such potentate appears in Israel, but, on the contrary, of 
 Jacob, the record here is that he merely “dwells in the 
 land wherein his father was a stranger,” even though 
 that land be “the land of Canaan.” And, further, by 
 a comparison of Exod. xv. 15, with Num. xx. 14, we 
 find another contrast, to wit, that the time of the change 
 from dukes to kings, by Edom, took place during the 
 period that Israel remained in the wilderness ! 
 
 But notwithstanding all this rapid rise and grandeur, 
 Edom is to perish, ere Israel, under its King of glory, be¬ 
 comes the first of the nations of the earth. The prophets 
 teem with passages predicting the thoroughness of Edom’s 
 destruction ; let two suffice, Is. lxiii. 1—6; Obad. 1—16* 
 So passes away the glory of the world ! Its supreme 
 prince and god is Satan (John xiv. 30 ; 2 Cor. iv. 4)! 
 Of its pomp, its politics, its might, and its religion, he 
 is the supreme head. The rule of kings was set up by 
 
*43 
 
 The Lord’s Way with Joseph. 
 
 God Himself; were this still in divine order, a Jew 
 would be over all. Of old, his throne is called by the 
 Holy Ghost, “the throne of Jehovah” (1 Chron. xxix. 
 23). This language of inspiration should be well 
 pondered. From the point of view in which it places 
 ns, we should understand how npside down, and down¬ 
 side up, is everything here at present. For Israel and 
 Judah sinned, and their kings were carried away into 
 captivity. Nebuchadnezzar is the first Gentile ruler 
 recognized of God; hence the later prophets, Haggai 
 and Zechariah, date their prophecies from the times of 
 the Gentile kings. For though a remnant of the Jews 
 returned, they were subject to foreign monarchs. God 
 did not undo what He had done in handing over for a 
 while the sceptre unto Gentile hands. Nebuchadnezzar 
 and his successors should have taken the kingdom with 
 a burdened heart, even as the glory had left Zion reluc¬ 
 tantly (Ezek. viii.). But the rule went on deteriorating. 
 This is represented in Daniel’s image of the head of 
 gold, of the breast of silver, of the belly and thighs of 
 brass, and of the legs of iron and clay. Nebuchad¬ 
 nezzar was appointed, in a certain sense, by God, 
 and his rule was an absolute monarchy, and his eye 
 should have been fixed upward for direction from 
 the living God. But the pride and autocracy of 
 Babylon’s kings were succeeded by the oligarchy of 
 Persia. For the king of Persia, as we read in the 
 book of Esther, had seven counsellors associated with 
 him in his rule. Then next, successful military 
 men wrested the kingdom from Persia, and obtained 
 it for Greece. As to Rome, which eventually subdued 
 Greece, her rule is still inferior, being more and more 
 mixed with the democratic element, “ the clay.” And 
 thus the rule becomes increasingly weak, and, in conse- 
 
 i 
 
144 
 
 Typical Foreshadowings. 
 
 quence, increasingly debased. It receives its inspira¬ 
 tion not from above—from God—but from beneath; to 
 wit, from the populace to be ruled. And when the true 
 King at length came, Jew and Gentile both desired as 
 quickly as possible to get rid of Him. Hence for all 
 this great contrariety of the world from the mind of 
 heaven, the world’s rule is only secure whilst the Kirlg 
 Messiah accepts His rejection. Besides, no one now 
 rules the entire old Roman world. The government of 
 Christendom is in the hands of many kings. And even 
 their little thrones will all and each, after the rapture 
 of the Church to heaven, be upset by the opening of 
 the sixth seal. For thus will the way be made open for 
 bolder impiety in the ruler, just as Belshazzar’s king¬ 
 dom was taken by Darius. The former, who made use 
 of the holy vessels for an unholy purpose, had to suc¬ 
 cumb" to him who prohibited prayer to God. And thus 
 “ the beast,” as is his name in the Revelation—the em¬ 
 peror of the revived Roman empire, as he will be re¬ 
 garded by the world, with his ten subordinate kings, 
 elected at the same time as himself by universal suffrage, 
 will first sweep away every vestige of the adulterated 
 Christianity that the kings of our day patronize, and 
 next try their hand at persecuting the Jews, with the 
 view of establishing the sole worship of the emperor 
 everywhere. Then will appear the King of the Jews with 
 all His mighty angels in flaming tire taking vengeance. 
 
 Meanwhile, the Christian’s part is to remember that 
 he is not of the world. He is dead, indeed, and risen 
 with Christ. He is to pray for the king of the land in 
 which he sojourns as a stranger, and to be subject, for 
 conscience’ sake, to his laws. It is possible that the 
 command of his Lord Jesus Christ may clash with the 
 law of the king of the land through which he is pass- 
 
145 
 
 The Lord’s IVay with Joseph. 
 
 ing. For instance, his Lord has said, swear not at 
 all.” The same Being has also said, “ Defraud not.” 
 Imagine that He had revealed His will concerning 
 oaths of all kinds simply in this style : “ Swear not.” 
 Then as “ Defraud not,” is His prohibition against all 
 unfair dealing at any time, so surely “ Swear not,” 
 would likewise he equally peremptory against all oaths. 
 But suppose that He had chosen to express His will 
 more strongly thus : “ Defraud not at all.” This lan¬ 
 guage would seem to preclude all false glosses that 
 might otherwise have been made, as to the lawfulness of 
 cheating occasionally, under special circumstances. But 
 men’s natural religion has rendered this emphatic style on 
 the eighth commandment unnecessary. But He has said, 
 “ Swear not at all.” Again His Lord has commanded 
 him : “ Resist not evil.” His Lord had enemies when 
 on earth, but He refused to fight (Johnxix. 36). What 
 He did instead was to suffer them to kill Him. Thus 
 his Lord not only by precept, but by example, has ex¬ 
 pressed to His followers His will. But never in the 
 Word is a Christian encouraged once to be disobedient. 
 Where he is compelled to disobey the law of the king 
 of the land wherein he is a resurrection*stranger, this 
 is only because a higher authority still he recognizes 
 as paramount. Peter did not say to the chief priests, 
 “We will disobey you;” his language is more pre¬ 
 cise—“ We obey God.” In all cases we must obey. 
 And here, as we cannot obey both God and you, “ we 
 must obey God rather than” you (Acts ii. 29). At 
 the same time, we ought to be thankful that our God 
 has fixed the bounds of our habitation, has given us to 
 live under such a mild rule as obtains in England. So 
 should we pray for the peace of the land until He come 
 to take us bodily out of it. 
 
 10 
 
146 Typical Foreshadowings. 
 
 One other reflection we may make ere we pass from 
 this chapter. Here we perceive that there were many 
 generations of rulers, and therefore of those ruled, ere 
 Israel, the earthly people of God, were brought to the 
 front. And so, too, as we are aware, there have been 
 more since Israel for a while has been set aside. But 
 yet here we have a list of all those dukes and kings of 
 old given ns by the Spirit of God ; and therefore we 
 may realize how easily an accurate list could be fur¬ 
 nished by anyone, were he inspired to do this, of all the 
 rulers of every country, and of all the generations of 
 the ruled which have existed in these last ages. Tea, 
 not only all of them, but all their actions, words, and 
 motives He is fully cognizant of. And most certainly 
 all of these He will in due time bring forth into the full 
 glare of day. More than this, we are told by the Lord 
 Jesus that in the judgment the light accorded to one 
 generation and to another will be contrasted, together 
 with the responsive action of the several souls in each. 
 Thus the people of Tyre and Sidon will fare better in 
 that day than those of Chorazin and Bethsaida. Sodom’s 
 judgment will not be so sore as that of Capernaum 
 (Matt, xi.) The men of Nineveh and the Queen of 
 Sheba will rise up in that judgment with the men of 
 Christ’s own day, and will condemn them. What a 
 scene before the great white throne ! But then it is the 
 Omniscient who sits thereon, and His judgment is the 
 “ eternal judgment ” (Matt. xii. 41, 42). 
 
®lje IE or t)’s Mtan tuitlj foarplj, ilje ttnpical 
 
 Hitler. 
 
 Section II. 
 
 $6 who is to rule ttjpicallp, according to blod, 
 must first learn to obeg* The descent, after 
 the flesh, of the true King* 
 
 Genesis xxxvii.—xxxix. 
 
 /CHAPTERS XXXVII. to XXXIX. The avenues 
 of temptation are twofold. Satan may seek to 
 get us to disobey God, either by deploying on the 
 soul the power of fear or the solicitation of pleasure. 
 As Augustine has expressed this, the temptation may 
 assail us either 11 per januam timoris ,” or i( per januam 
 voluptcitis ”—either through the door of fear, or through 
 the door of pleasure. Moses might have been called 
 and regarded as the son of Pharaoh’s daughter ; then 
 he would have been separated from the suffering people 
 of God. Later on, he might have allowed Pharaoh’s power 
 and frown to awe him. But by faith he overcame in the 
 one mode of trial and in the other (Heb. xi. 24, with 27). 
 Likewise did Joseph in each way come forth a victor also. 
 It has pleased the Spirit of God to place in the fore¬ 
 front of his history that apparently at first sight trifling 
 incident recorded in verse 2 : “Joseph, being seventeen 
 years old, was feeding the flock with his brethren, and 
 the lad was with the sons of Bilhah, and with the 
 
148 Typical Foreshadowings . 
 
 sons of Zilpah, his father’s wives, and Joseph brought 
 unto his father their evil report.” No doubt this is 
 intended to show that thus early in life he was 
 enabled by grace to stand fire. So here we see the 
 turning point in his life. He would not by his silence 
 connive at evil. Nay, more, whilst man’s motto is, 
 “ Out of two evils choose the less,” such was not his 
 course. He abhorred that which was evil. A youth of 
 his years, among brethren much older than himself, 
 might have been expected to be afraid of the hostility 
 of those with whom he daily was thrown in contact, 
 with whom in great part he was left alone, and there¬ 
 fore if he did not with some scruple countenance their 
 lawless acts, at least, to hold his tongue at what he 
 could not prevent. But though he must have been 
 aware that such an action would embitter his life among 
 his brethren, and entail upon himself much suffering 
 constantly, he made his father acquainted with their 
 evil deeds whatever they were. This would not be the 
 ordinary way with boys of tender years among their 
 companions ; it was contrary to nature, it was the 
 effect of grace. We must of course understand that 
 this determination on the part of Joseph to be on the 
 side of right, of truth, and of God, sprung, as a matter 
 of fact, from God’s own work in him : the consequence 
 of God’s free choice of him. If the path of Joseph was 
 towards the typical rule for God, this was in virtue of 
 God’s own sovereign will. For God’s way is first to 
 choose, and to assign a place, and next to qualify.. And 
 His choice, generally speaking, is not of the noble, the 
 mighty, or the prudent. For then flesh might appear 
 to have somewhat to glory in before God. Man, indeed, 
 very properly requires qualification as a first requisite, 
 for the obvious reason that man cannot qualify him 
 
149 
 
 The Lord’s IVay with Joseph . 
 
 whom he might otherwise select. Not however by- 
 Joseph’s own settled purpose did he reach the utmost 
 pinnacle of earthly glory under Pharaoh, but by God’s 
 own sovereign will. And he therefore so soon ' began 
 to lead him along the path of holiness, and of separation 
 from evil as His way thereto. In this manner He was 
 preparing for Himself the man whom presently He 
 would bring forth to rule and to bless the world. Also, 
 u The child is father to the man.” He who now refused 
 complicity with the sin of others, subsequently stood 
 firm when by Potiphar’s wife he was himself solicited 
 to sin. He who feared God rather than his brethren in 
 the one case, ten years later said, “ How shall I do this 
 great wickedness and sin against God ?” The living 
 God was so before his soul that fear of others was power¬ 
 less to drag him into association with evil in the one 
 case ; and likewise, yea most probably more so, that 
 same God he still kept before him when the oft-repeated 
 solicitation from Potiphar’s wife was presented to him, 
 and thus was he preserved in the other. “ The word 
 of the Lord tried him ” (Ps. cv. 19). 
 
 Early therefore had he to make his choice, whether 
 God should be his fear, his God or no. Ten years later 
 he had again deliberately to repeat that choice. Doubt¬ 
 less in the interim many occasions would occur to test 
 those principles which he had adopted, or rather the 
 life which He had begotten in him. Nor is it an unfair 
 surmise that the youth would usually be on his guard 
 against sin, preserved by the God that loved him. But 
 still these two extreme trials are selected by the inspired 
 writer to be inserted in the narrative. In early youth 
 fear of others tried its power over him, and under cir¬ 
 cumstances most calculated to prove too much for his 
 faith. Then in the hey-day of life, and when the passions 
 
150 Typical Foreshadowings. 
 
 of youth, are strong, was he again tempted, not as before, 
 but in the opposite direction, and that by one who was 
 his mistress. Thus there were crises in his lifetime, 
 as there are crises in the lives of us all. These test 
 ns. By them are we moulded in the one way of truth, 
 or into some or other of the many forms and characters 
 of wickedness. For actions repeated make practice ; and 
 practice persisted in leads to habit; and habits form the 
 character; and character eventually becomes eternal. 
 Now we sow ; then we reap. And either men become 
 increasingly devilish, or else, having been begotten of 
 Him as His children, that divine nature grows in them 
 as they believe. , To them that receive Him, to them He 
 gives power to become the sons of God. And thus, on 
 the one hand, suitable inhabitants for hell, and com¬ 
 panions for Satan ; or, on the other hand, living, grow¬ 
 ing, and established sons of God are being won from 
 this planet. What a tremendous reality, in view of this 
 alternative process, is one’s daily life ! 
 
 Visions of future greatness soon begin to be vouch¬ 
 safed to the God-fearing youth ; whilst conversely the 
 dungeon looms uncomfortably near the stedfast man of 
 faith. We know all of us that God has seen good to 
 combine these two in His dealings with us. Inside the 
 t vail our hope is fixed, and the Comforter gladdens our 
 hearts by revealing to us the glory of Him who is our head, 
 and showing us the things which are to come. These 
 glimpses and this earnest of the bright prospect before 
 us are for the purpose of strengthening us to be faithful 
 and decided for God in the day of trial. The crown 
 there and the cross here must never be dissociated by 
 us. Thank God our cross is very different to that which 
 was His. No curse, no wrath, no sin are in our cup, 
 as was in that which was presented to His lips. But 
 
The Lord’s JVay with Joseph. 151 
 
 still in an evil world that hates Him, if we will indeed 
 be on His side, we must be content to suffer with Him. 
 
 The persistency with which even a youth like Joseph 
 set himself resolutely to obey is remarkable. His prompt 
 obedience to his father, when he desired to send him to 
 inquire after hi3 brethren’s welfare, and his continued 
 search after them, although he must have been well aware 
 of their hatred towards him, are brought out in chap, 
 xxxvii. 12—17. An excuse, and a good one, if he had 
 desired this, in order to avoid his brethren, was fur¬ 
 nished him by their having departed from Shechem, 
 whither he had been sent to them. Without real ear¬ 
 nestness of purpose he would not have heard whither 
 they had gone, nor have gone further after them. So, 
 too, with Potiphar’s wife. Her solicitation of him ap¬ 
 pears to have been made many times, for which she 
 would have abundant and peculiar opportunities. And 
 these would render steadfastness on his part much more 
 arduous than ever. But whether from his own brethren 
 whom he was serving on the one hand, or from the 
 world , represented by Potiphar's wife, on the other, he 
 preferred to suffer in righteousness than to sin. The one 
 for his love returned hate, and sold him to strangers ; 
 the other for his very purity charged him falsely. So, too, 
 nowadays, under some more or less specious pretence, 
 the taking up the cross may be shirked, may be avoided 
 by us, if we have a mind to this. And even when we 
 have begun well, for instance, by being immersed, as 
 believers in Christ, into the name of the Father, and of 
 the Son, and of the Holy Ghost, we may, unless on our 
 guard, pause there. How many are sunk in worldliness, 
 or halt in their obedience, when they have taken this 
 step. Properly, this is only the first step in a long path 
 of suffering with Him, of which, if we could but 
 

 Typical Foreshadowing*. 
 
 reach it, a baptism of blood is the last (see Rev. iii. 10, 
 where death means by blood; Heb. xii. 4 ; also Luke 
 xii. 50, where the Lord conjoins in glance the two ends 
 of His service). But how is it that we all, every one, 
 fare here so much better, so very differently, to the way 
 in which He fared ? Is the world changed ? Or is it 
 that we, like Peter, follow Him only afar off, that we 
 are so little like Him ? But anything like full identifi¬ 
 cation with Him in His sufferings is only reached by a 
 long-continued course of struggling against the flesh 
 within us, that delights in ease, and against the world, 
 and specially the religious world, whose frown or re¬ 
 proach is dreaded by so many (read Phil, iii.) Ofttimes 
 the various Scriptures which' were evidently, from the 
 context, intended by the Spirit to console us under our 
 sufferings for Christ’s sake, because we experience so 
 little of those sufferings, are appropriated by ourselves, 
 and quoted as comfort for others, when merely suffer¬ 
 ing from natural sorrow, or from causes to which all, 
 believers or unbelievers, are alike liable to suffer. 1 say 
 not that we do wrong in seeking comfort at such times 
 from those passages; only let us not miss their obvious 
 and main purport. Advisedly, I refrain from quoting 
 any of these passages ; those will be enough which 
 occur to your own minds. Alas, that only in this sub¬ 
 ordinate sense can we apply them to our own cases ! 
 Alas, that the suffering for being quite out from the paths 
 of evil we are so little acquainted with ! The more we 
 trim in our obedience, the less shall we enjoy those 
 Scriptures, and realize their force. The more we are 
 mixed up with sin, or halt in our pathway of separation, 
 of obedience, and of testimony for Him, the more un¬ 
 easy will be our consciences at the first, until, by shutting 
 our eyes wilfully against the light given unto us, it is 
 
The Lord’s Way with Joseph. 153 
 
 withdrawn, and we fail to see onr foes; until even, it 
 may be, we come, as many others have done ere now, to 
 scorn the path of separation altogether, and to speak ill 
 of those who dare to tread it. 
 
 But “ God was with Joseph.” To this Stephen, 
 another suffering witness to the truth, calls attention in 
 his address to the infuriated Jews in Acts vii. 9. And 
 this fact the scene at the close of chap, xxxvii. suggests. 
 His brethren’s purpose of killing him is changed, so that 
 they sell him to the Midianites, who conduct him to 
 Egypt, and pass him on to Potiphar. And this altera¬ 
 tion of their original design, by God, in His providence, 
 leading the Midianites to pass where his brethren and 
 Joseph were at the nick of time, and then their disposal 
 of him to the Egyptians, is looked at from this very 
 point of view by Joseph himself, when at last he makes 
 himself known to his brethren in chap. xlv. “Now, 
 therefore,” says he, a be not grieved, nor augry with 
 yourselves that ye sold me hither, for God did send me 
 before you to preserve life. ... So now it was not you 
 that sent me hither, but God.” He looks back at all 
 that had befallen him from a divine rather than from a 
 human standpoint. He discerns God’s hand, and recog¬ 
 nizes His design in His allowing their wicked deed in 
 part to be accomplished, and in His suffering himself to 
 pass ten weary years in Potiphar’s house. For God’s 
 trial of faith is a real and ofttimes a long-continued 
 thing. And when Potiphar’s wife had procured his 
 imprisonment, then again, as we read in chap, xxxix. 21, 
 “ The Lord was with Joseph, and showed him mercy 5” 
 also in ver. 23, “ The Lord was with him,” though yet 
 from the dungeon he was not delivered for three more 
 painful years. Such is the divine mode of bringing us 
 up from the wilderness; not to shield us from suffering 
 
154 Typical Foreshadowings. 
 
 with Christ, quite the contrary; but to vouchsafe us 
 His presence in those sufferings. Here is why we know 
 so little of the consolation, even because we are conver¬ 
 sant so little really with cross-bearing. Listen to the 
 language of one who knew well both what suffering with 
 Christ was, and, withal, what consolation in Christ was 
 to be enjoyed too : “ Blessed be God, even the Father of 
 our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of mercies, and the 
 God of all comfort, who comforted us in all our tribu¬ 
 lation, that we may be able to comfort them which are 
 in any trouble, by the comfort wherewith we ourselves 
 are comforted of God. For as the sufferings of Christ 
 abound in us, so our consolation also aboundeth by 
 Christ. And whether we be afflicted, it is for 
 your consolation and salvation, which is effectual in 
 the enduring of the same sufferings which we also 
 suffer: or whether we be comforted, it is for your 
 consolation and salvation. And our hope of you is 
 stedfast, knowing that as ye are partakers of the 
 sufferings, so shall ye be also of the consolation ” (see 
 2 Cor. i.) 
 
 But it is time that our attention was directed to the 
 peculiar place of the narrative contained in chap, xxxviii., 
 as it is inserted in between the respective accounts de¬ 
 tailing the two forms of suffering to which Joseph was 
 exposed. The object of the chapter generally we easily 
 perceive. For it traces a step or two further in the line 
 of descent of Messiah after the flesh, for “ Judah be¬ 
 gat Phares of Thamar.” But why is the continuity of 
 the history interrupted, and this descent thus paren¬ 
 thetically inserted P Doubtless we may infer, in part, to 
 rebuke the arrogance of the Jews who boast of their 
 ancestry, and of their long line of kings. For though 
 Christ, even as to His flesh, was Himself through the 
 
i55 
 
 The Lord’s Way with Joseph. 
 
 miraculous operation of the Spirit, infinitely pure ;* 
 His moral glory ever shining out, notwithstanding this 
 His amazing condescension in becoming man, as a bright 
 ■ sunbeam on a filthy pool; yet here we see that those 
 from whom He thus sprung were anything rather than 
 immaculate. Again, there also may be a hint here 
 of the likelihood of Abraham’s seed intermarrying with 
 Canaanites, and thus to show cause why Joseph in being 
 delivered to the Egyptians, and ultimately, when he rose 
 to power sending for all his family to Egypt, was that thus 
 God was taking care that they might be kept a separated 
 people. Certainly this what we have here is an actual 
 picture of what the Jews’ condition is during the true 
 Joseph’s rejection by them. For so the prophets ; witness 
 Jer. iii. I, and Mai. ii. 11. Still, undoubtedly the main 
 purpose served by the insertion just here of the history 
 contained in this chapter, is that inasmuch as the typical 
 ruler, according to God, was becoming gradually mani¬ 
 fested by his sufferings for righteousness’ sake; so here, 
 God taking occasion now to reveal more as to the gene- 
 alogy of the real Ruler, prevents our eye from being 
 riveted upon the shadow that it may be directed onwards 
 unto Him who is figured thereby. For He whose per¬ 
 forated hand shall yet grasp and wield earth’s sceptre 
 righteously, was to spring out from Judah (chap. xlix. 
 10). And then we, too, being identified with him, 
 suffer with Him during His time of rejection, not only 
 for righteousness, but also for His sake. So, whilst He 
 
 * The Greek word used for His holiness in Heb. vii. 26 is a 
 very strong one— daios, which is much more than aytos. Yet note 
 that regarding the only women who appear in Matthew's list, 
 in chap, i., there is something bad about each one of them. 
 They are the Thamar of this chapter;—Eahab, the harlot; 
 Euth, the Gentile; and Uriah’s wife- 
 
156 Typical Foreshadoicings. 
 
 says, “ Blessed are they who are persecuted for righteous¬ 
 ness sake,” in the next verse He continues and shows 
 what is rather the character of our calling. For says 
 He, “ Blessed are ye when men shall revile you, and per¬ 
 secute you, and say all manner of evil against you, 
 falsely, for My sake. Rejoice and be exceeding glad,” 
 etc. And that God is with us when we thus suffer for 
 and with Him, may we each and all of us know even in 
 increasing measure (John xiv. 23 ; xv. 10). 
 
 Bat now that many features of the true Ruler may 
 be already discerned in Joseph his shadow is at once 
 evident, on even a cursory survey of these opening 
 chapters of his life. Thus (1) Christ is God’s own 
 well-beloved Son; (2) He was hated of His brethren ; 
 (3) yet He, for the joy set before Him, did more than 
 merely adventure His life in their behalf; for (4) both 
 He and His Father knew perfectly well the issue of His 
 search after His brethren, and yet He came, because both 
 His Father’s and His own heart yearned over them and 
 over us; (5) and as soon as He begins to suffer in re¬ 
 jection, He does not dream, indeed, as to future great¬ 
 ness, for to Him the future is bared, but He works 
 miracles, which symbolically foreshadow His kingdom, 
 and utters parables as to its mode of introduction; (6) 
 the very sun, and moon, and stars, shall yet all be wit¬ 
 nesses and contributors to His glory;* (7) also the 
 Lord, too, continued His search after His brethren— 
 He found them at last, not, indeed, in Dothan, but in 
 their sins, when He shed His blood upon the cross, 
 Luke x. 34, Matt. viii. 3 ; (8) He likewise was sold into 
 the hands of strangers; (9) especially in Joseph’s 
 brethren’s cruelty towards their brother, the Holy 
 Ghost reminds us of Christ in chap. xlix. 23; (10) 
 
 * See my Lectures on Revelation, chap. xii. 
 
J 57 
 
 The Lord’s Way with Joseph. 
 
 once more, with Christ, too, was God present in a man¬ 
 ner most intimate and full, save upon the cross (John 
 viii. 29). And as we proceed in onr study of the his¬ 
 tory, we shall find many more similarities between Him 
 the substance, and Joseph His shadow. 
 
®Ij£ l&oxh’z Wag ixrxtlj Jas^plj, iljt ®gptral 
 
 JUtlUr* 
 
 Section III. 
 
 Since all is light in the presence nf Hud, sn 
 there is fis judgment seen hg him who for 
 obedience is in the depths of this world’s 
 rejection and degradation. 
 
 Genesis xl. to xli. 33. 
 
 HAPTERS XL. to XLI. 33. This entire section 
 
 teaches ns the reverse lesson of that contained 
 in Judges xvi. 21. With God is the Fountain of 
 Life; and the Life is the Light of men; and the 
 Light shines in the darkness; but the darkness grasps 
 it not. Still, in His light, the children of the light 
 can see light; but God’s judgment differs utterly 
 from men’s. That which is high up amongst men is 
 abomination in the sight of God ; conversely, that which 
 God delights in, man has no heart for. Once the world 
 had to choose between the Son of the living God, and a * 
 robber called Barabbas ( i.e ., son of the father). Is it 
 to be wondered at that the world loved its own, and 
 that God proved by Christ’s resurrection and enthrone¬ 
 ment at His own right hand, that He loved His own. 
 
 I have said that the world once had thus to choose ; 
 but, indeed, the choice by the world is being repeated 
 every day. For still the Holy Ghost, Christ’s represen- 
 
1 59 
 
 The Lord’s Way with Joseph . 
 
 tative, is being rejected by the little Antichrists. And 
 when the man of sin is revealed at the close of this dis¬ 
 pensation, the whole world will welcome him with 
 plaudits and admiration (Rev. xiii. 3). But God so 
 stands to His delight in Christ, that daily for that One’s 
 sake He welcomes sinners vile, as His children dear 
 unto His heart. And soon He will gather together into 
 that uncreated light every one of these beloved ones, 
 and, seeing them in Christ, cause them to sit down on 
 thrones, and to be crowned in His presence. 
 
 Thus His and the world’s light and judgment are 
 essentially and diametrically at variance; nor is it hard 
 to assign a reason for this contrariety. The world has 
 got away from God; hence it esteems darkness to be 
 light, and light to be darkness. And then, further, those 
 high up in the world are hindered, by the glare of day, 
 from the view of heaven’s glory. As to that world yonder, 
 they are in total darkness, especially since as yet that 
 light can only at present be discerned by the telescope 
 of faith. But those down in a pit behold the starry ex¬ 
 panse when those high up see not anything. If we obey 
 God, we shall be sure to encounter the world’s hate 
 and scorn. But there, in that place of rejection, wonders 
 of glory burst upon our gaze. There we enjoy God’s 
 secret; for it is with those who fear Him; and Joseph 
 had shown that he feared Him. 
 
 He was now a separated man. First, he had been 
 separated and disowned by his brethren; then he had 
 been accused and cast forth by the world then he 
 found God to be with him. There, in a dungeon, he 
 discerns things in their true light. So to John was 
 given the revelation of Jesus Christ, whilst in the isle 
 that is called Patmos, and probably a toiling daily slave 
 in the mines there. First, he had leaned his head on 
 
160 Typical Foreshadowings . 
 
 i 
 
 the Son’s bosom, and there he had obtained strength to 
 confess His name. Daniel, too, was the man greatly 
 beloved; to him were granted visions of God. Yet 
 never let us forget how his prophecies are prefaced in 
 chap, i., by the story which, doubtless, his own modesty 
 would have led him to omit, but which the Spirit of 
 God caused to be put in the front, that we might know 
 that he to whom it was given to see the glory of the 
 world, as in chap, ii., and heaven’s judgment thereon, 
 as in chap, vii., refused to partake of the king of Baby¬ 
 lon’s dainties. 
 
 On the other hand, some, as Samson on the lap of 
 Delilah, have their eyes put out. His was the secret of 
 Nazarite separation unto God: as long as he kept that 
 secret he was valiant against the Philistines, and did 
 exploits; but when his secret was wrung from him by 
 the Philistines, who represent, in type, the religious 
 world in the possession of the ground belonging to the 
 people of God, then was he blinded. Only to think of 
 a band of men, mostly unregenerate, claiming for them¬ 
 selves the title of the Church of God ! And, alas! 
 Samson’s is by no means a solitary instance of one’s 
 delight in reposing on the world’s lap, ending in a 
 judicial blindness. On the contrary, the Holy Ghost 
 takes care to warn us that a like compliance with temp¬ 
 tation, and a like downward path into evil, and entail¬ 
 ing necessarily a like blindness, may be the experience 
 of a class of cases at the present day. For such an 
 one who is not adding unto his faith, bravery, know¬ 
 ledge, etc., but who lacks these things, He pro¬ 
 nounces to be blind, as of one wilfully shutting his eyes, 
 and forgetting that he was once purged of his old sins 
 (2 Pet. i. 9) ; and not to advance in the knowledge of 
 God, and in realization of the apostacy all around us, 
 
The Lord’s Way with Joseph. i6 r 
 
 is to recede. He that increaseth knowledge, increaseth 
 sorrow; but he who wishes to shirk suffering for Christ, 
 and with Him, will readily find excuses for so shrinking 
 from a path of sorrow. Then what he once did see, 
 he comes presently to wink at, and even to consent to; 
 so does he abandon his Nazariteship. As far as a saint 
 can, he forgets his heavenly calling, and his separation 
 unto God; and if you show him anything, evidently to 
 a child contrary to the written Word, his curt reply 
 will be, “ I do not see it.” But we are not to be judged 
 by the light which we have, but by the light which was 
 within our reach, and which possibly we refused (John 
 xix. 11). Our want of light obviously cannot change 
 that which is written. Our safe way is, whilst there 
 is time, to buy at any price the oil of purification (Matt, 
 xxv., with Esther ii. 12). He that hath clean hands shall 
 wax stronger and stronger. He that will do His will, 
 shall know of the doctrine. “ He that followeth Me,” 
 said Christ, “ shall not walk in darkness, but shall have 
 the light of life ” (John viii. 12). 
 
 The Lord Jesus is the true Nazarite. The secret, 
 and the full and unruffled communion between His 
 Father and Himself, were the elements of His life, and 
 the spring of all His actions. See, for instance, John 
 xi. 41—-43. And we who are His saints are associated 
 with Him; separated from the world, separated unto 
 God (John xvii. 14—19; Heb. ii. 11). The former 
 without the latter would be mere mockery ; the latter 
 without the former is vain pretension and hypocrisy 
 (Hosea ix. 7; Amos v. 14—20). The Lord’s way is ever 
 in the combination of these two. Now we are His 
 saints; but to sanctify, invariably, in Scripture, signifies 
 to separate, whether it be a pot or a vessel, a day or a 
 man. The saints, therefore, are God’s separated ones ; 
 
 11 
 
] 6 z Typical Foreshadowings. 
 
 they have been separated, according to the purpose of 
 God, by the blood of Christ, by the call of God (Rom. 
 i. 7), and by His sovereign grace in quickening and in 
 sealing them. In principle, they all and each, even the 
 youngest, or the most carnal,“ have the mind of Christ” 
 (1 Cor. ii. 1G). Not one child of God is there, but he 
 must know from the Word and from the Spirit within 
 him, far more truly as to the actual condition of things 
 around him, and as to the real hope set before the saint, 
 than all the world’s wise men unitedly could guess. 
 Though even they, some of them, have some vague and. 
 dim apprehensions of the things which are coming on 
 the earth. But some abide in Christ more than others. 
 And whilst all God’s own are aware of the world’s im¬ 
 pending doom, and of God’s present work, and of what 
 He is about to do in general; still a few more heavenly- 
 minded ones—that is to say, having the mind of heaven 
 more fully shed upon their souls—learn all these things 
 far more distinctly, possessing God’s own judgment, as 
 well of things here as of things there. And such as 
 are full of His Spirit can declare His present ways, 
 opening up His Word with power and clearness unto 
 others. 
 
 Now Joseph, by separation and by obedience, had, as 
 he grew in years, waxed stronger and more heavenly- 
 minded ; therefore the better could he see things from 
 a divine standpoint. So, when the secrets of God were 
 in due time revealed to His servant, as subsequently 
 they were also unto Daniel and unto John, and as pre¬ 
 viously had been the case with Enoch (Jude 13), then 
 and thus could he prophesy. And in the former in¬ 
 stance, he was enabled to tell out the mind of God in 
 regard to two individual men ; and in the latter, he 
 could al£6 unfold God’s will as to what He was about 
 
The Lord’s IVay with Joseph . 163 
 
 Himself to do towards the world at large. To the 
 chief butler, and to the chief baker, their dreams seem¬ 
 ingly so very alike, he could unravel, distinguishing 
 things that differed. There is no indecision in his style, 
 nor hesitation in his language. As if robed in celestial 
 ermine, he pronounced sentence, so tremendously dif¬ 
 ferent in the one case from the other, on the two 
 prisoners standing before him; and of this varied 
 judgment, one of them thus spake afterwards to Pha¬ 
 raoh, as if his very tone and look had thrilled him in 
 his soul: “And it came to pass, as he interpreted unto 
 us, so it was ; me he restored to mine office, and him 
 he hanged.’’ 
 
 Here then is God’s picture of what rule must be to 
 be in accordance with His mind. The eye of the ruler 
 must be upward towards Himself; his ear open, to re¬ 
 ceive His communications. So the ruler, according to 
 this kind of tracing, must be one who has first learned 
 to obey; in the case of others, of those who shall reign 
 by and by in His time, they have to learn obedience 
 who themselves erst were disobedient. And in the 
 case of our Lord Jesus, He, too, began to learn 
 it, when once He had assumed servant-form (Phil. ii.). 
 Prom eternity, He was above it; from our birth we 
 were beneath it; but He and we have all to learn it, 
 and learn it, too, by suffering. Of Him, as of a man 
 born to rule, it is thus written : u There shall come forth 
 a rod out of the stem of Jesse, and a branch shall grow 
 out of his roots ; and the Spirit of the Lord shall rest 
 upon Him, the spirit of wisdom and understanding, 
 the spirit of counsel and might, the spirit of knowledge 
 and of the fear of the Lord, and shall make Him of 
 quick scent in the fear of the Lord, so that He shall 
 not judge after the sight of His eyes, neither reprove 
 
364 Typical Foreshadowings . 
 
 after tlie hearing of His ears . . . And righteousness 
 shall be the girdle of His loins, and faithfulness the 
 girdle of His reins ” (Isa. xi. 1—5). And to this agree 
 the last words of David in his portraiture of the same 
 Euler: “ The God of Israel said, the Rock of Israel 
 spake to me, He that ruleth over men must be just, 
 ruling in the fear of God. And He shall be as the 
 light of the morning, when the sun riseth.” It is 
 evident, from David’s own description, that he himself 
 was not the man. And Joseph likewise failed, at the * 
 very moment, too, of his unfolding the fate of his 
 fellow-prisoners. For to the chief butler, he presented 
 his petition for his aid in bringing him forth out of the 
 prison. This surely was unworthy of one who had God 
 so manifestly on his side, and was conscious of it. Why 
 could he not wait, and trust still in the living God ? 
 
 One is worthy, and He alone ! One, we know, answers 
 perfectly the description given of Him by the two in¬ 
 spired witnesses cited above. Thus when He on earth 
 was judged by some, but not according to truth, so 
 He reproved them: “ Judge not according to sight, but 
 judge righteous judgment’’ (John vii. 24, Greek). 
 Whilst as for Himself, albeit He came not to judge the 
 world, but to save it; yet ever and anon occasions of 
 course turned up, by which it was manifested how easy 
 it was for Him to solve difficulties, remove perplexities, 
 brush aside specious sophistries, distinguish between 
 cases that actually differed, and mete out to all their 
 relative degrees of sin and of judgment. It was not His 
 way to condemn the unjust: rather,He made them to con¬ 
 demn themselves. See for instance Luke xix. 22. Again, 
 it was his wont, such was His perfect discernment, to 
 reply to the state of heart of each questioner, rather than 
 merely to his question. To one who pointedly asked his 
 
The Lord’s Way with Joseph. 165 
 
 judgment as to the division of an inheritance between 
 himself and his brother, He first replied, “ Man, who 
 made me a judge or a divider over you F ” and then He 
 added a warning against covetousness, not for him that 
 had all of it, but for him who only desired some part. 
 Even before Pilate, He weighed over the proportion of 
 guilt of him that had delivered Him up, compared with 
 Pilate’s own sin. Oh! if thus He acted when in His 
 humiliation, what infinite light and purity of judgment 
 will He not display when He shall come in the glory of 
 His Father ! And even now, He is “ ready to judge the 
 quick and the dead.” All the knotty points and ques¬ 
 tions raised in the world, and even among His own 
 saints, through their not abiding in His presence, and 
 in His light reading His Word, He will quickly, by re¬ 
 ference to His Father’s honour, and to His own person, 
 immediately disentangle. How Satan is allowed to work, 
 insomuch that light is ofttimes put for darkness, and dark¬ 
 ness for light. Yea, Satan Himself is transformed as 
 an angel of light; but all this, at most, avails only whilst 
 the King, the coming Melchisedek, has not arrived. 
 
 Melchisedek ! king of righteousness—a priest-king ! 
 Such a one, save in type, has never yet been seen. Pro¬ 
 phet-priests and prophet-kings there have been, but not 
 a priest-king. What is the peculiar thought here P 
 As a priest, He had to give up all. Speaking practically, 
 His priesthood commences at His resurrection (Heb. 
 v.—viii.) But yet He had to provide a sacrifice. Hence, 
 we may say that He began to prepare Himself for 
 priestly work when He was lifted up on the cross ; that 
 is to say, when quite separated from the earth. Just 
 as, during His service on earth. He had not where to 
 lay His head, so at His death He had not where to place 
 His foot. Now He is indeed king, though as yet on 
 
16<5 
 
 Typical Fore shadowings. 
 
 earth He reigns not. But He will sit as a priest upon 
 His throne. And we, too, taking our cue from Himself, 
 are priest-kings under Him. We, therefore, who are 
 personally to reign with Him are separated from this 
 world now. 
 
 Then on that cross judgment He still displays. Of 
 the two thieves hanging near to Him, and who had 
 been probably equally guilty, He took the one to Para¬ 
 dise, He left the other. Ho depth of ignominy into 
 which, in grace, He descended, could hide His glory. 
 Surely that thief forgiven v 7 ill be a trophy of His 
 matchless power, even in the hour of His greatest weak¬ 
 ness. He had read that little piece of God’s Word, 
 “ This is Jesus of Kazareth, the King of the Jews,” and 
 it had pierced his heart; he had turned to that King, 
 and found at once favour and acceptance. In the type, 
 Joseph presents foolishly his petition to the butler; in 
 the antitype, the robber recognizes the King, though 
 without any of the adjuncts of royalty, and notwith¬ 
 standing, too, the terrible accompaniments of His actual 
 position. And he avails himself of that King’s having 
 reached so low a place as where He then w T as, as to 
 grasp the opportunity by putting in his humble plea for 
 mercy. And who can tell how much this cry at such a 
 time, when His spirit was overwhelmed with sorrow, 
 may have contributed to His refreshing P 
 
 Then from the cross of Jesus there issues forth an 
 effulgence supreme of light divine, which makes it pa¬ 
 tent to all His saints what is God’s judgment of the 
 world. It tells, indeed, of grace, and mercy, and peace 
 in abundance for any and for all out of the world that 
 believe in His name, and come forth unto Him, bearing 
 His reproach. But since the world has cast Him out, 
 and stands to its rejection of Him, therefore the blessing 
 
The Lord’s Way with Joseph. 167 
 
 of the world as such is suspended. He alone could turn 
 its water into wine, and Him they have slain. How He 
 has no home here, save in the hearts of His little flock. 
 He rests as yet on the throne of God, from henceforth 
 expecting till His enemies be made His footstool. In 
 Joseph’s case, the years of plenty preceded the years of 
 famine. Then it was mercy first, and j udgment on the 
 world afterwards. So likewise now, in yonder glory He 
 is giving wine and milk, yea, heayen’s richest blessings 
 to all who come unto Him, without money and without 
 price. Peace and joy, yea, and the Holy Ghost Himself, 
 the Earnest of the inheritance are the present portion of 
 those who believe in Him, whilst all spiritual blessings 
 in the lieavenlies are treasured up in Him for them- 
 Such is the portion of any and of all who out of the 
 world receive Him and cling to Him now. The world 
 itself, indeed, and Israel as a nation likewise, shall also 
 be blessed eventually; but as these as yet persist in 
 their rejection of Him, such blessing can only be 
 theirs, when the judgments of the Seals and of the 
 Trumpets and of the Yials have first run their course. 
 Amos, in his sixth chapter, alluding to the forgetfulness 
 by the chief butler of Joseph and his wrongs, speaks of 
 the world’s luxury and pleasure-loving 'ease, whilst 
 caring not at all for Him who has been cast out and 
 slain. It is “ not grieved for the affliction of Joseph.” 
 It puts <<r far away the evil day.” May we have grace 
 to discern the time, and be preserved from its spirit and 
 its ways altogether ! May we, looking down from our 
 place in heaven, where in spirit we already are, and sur¬ 
 veying the scene on earth below, from which we have 
 been separated, rejoice that our name as known down 
 there is Gershom, which, being interpreted, is “a stran¬ 
 ger ’’-—not here, but “ there.” 
 
 O 
 
®ij£ lorii’a Wag taitlj fosiplj, tlje Inpical 
 
 ruder. 
 
 Section IY. 
 
 Tim appointment of the ruler. 
 
 Genesis sli. 37—57. 
 
 /CHAPTER XLT. 37—57. “The king sent and 
 loosed him, even the rnler of the people, and let 
 him go free. He made him lord of his house, and 
 ruler of all his possessions; to bind his princes at 
 his pleasure, and teach his senators wisdom ” (Ps. cv. 
 20—22), But “ the king’s heart is in the hand of the 
 Lord; as the rivers of water, He turneth it whither¬ 
 soever He will ” (Prov. xxi.) And what a reversal of 
 Potiphar’s ignorant unrighteous sentence did Pharaoh 
 accord to Joseph! Prom a prison to a throne, and at 
 a bound; from being the victim of the wife of Poti¬ 
 phar’s malignity, lifted at once to be Potiphar’s lord. 
 Yea, lord too he is constituted in Pharaoh’s own house, 
 and over all the land of Egypt, at that period the 
 granary and the metropolis of the world. He is 
 arrayed in ro^ al vestures, and by the oath of Pharaoh 
 everything is subjected to his -will. After his incarce¬ 
 ration of three years, his resurrection name is pro¬ 
 nounced as Zaphnath Paaneah, which may be trans¬ 
 lated, “ revealer of secrets,” but much better, “ saviour 
 of the world.” * And finally, to crown all, the grateful 
 
 * See note in Bagster’s Bible, in loco. 
 
169 
 
 The Lord’s Way with Joseph . 
 
 monarch bestows on Joseph a wife suitable for him in 
 his newly-acquired dignities, being one taken from the 
 highest caste in the land, to wit, the priestly; Asenath, 
 daughter of Potipherah, priest of On. 
 
 As for the abundance throughout all Egypt, which at 
 Dnce ensues after the appointment of Joseph, the in¬ 
 spired writer seems to labour to describe it. Two 
 children are born to him, the one Manasseh, or “ for¬ 
 getfulness,” by which name is implied his acquiescence 
 during God’s pleasure in the loss of his natural 
 kindred; the other Ephraim, or <f fruitfulness,” sig¬ 
 nifying his compensatory joy at others, nearer still 
 than those he had lost, being given unto him. And 
 then at length, when the famine commences, and the 
 people cry to Pharaoh, his ready answer is, li Go unto 
 Joseph.” 
 
 The beautiful type in all this it is easy for any believer 
 to trace out. I would only offer therefore a few help¬ 
 ing thoughts in this direction. I omit, of course, all 
 reference to the doctrines and fundamental truths con¬ 
 nected with Christ’s resurrection. Eor to touch on 
 them would lead us far away from what is designed in 
 these “ Typical Foreshadowings.” 
 
 The world—aye, and the religious world too—con¬ 
 demned the Son of God as unfit to live. It consigned 
 Him to a cross and to a tomb. It did all that was in its 
 power to keep Him there, even as in its heart still, it 
 believes Him dead and done with. Its real creed about 
 Him, if it dared to utter it, would still find expression 
 in the words of Festus, in Acts xxv. 19. But God has, 
 as faith knows, reversed the world’s verdict. Him 
 whom it placed in a tomb, He has placed on His own 
 throne. He is declared by His resurrection out of dead 
 ones to be the Son of God in power. The Son as in 
 
170 Typical Foreshadovuings. 
 
 lowly guise, and in shame, and suffering, and death, He 
 is no longer. As Isaac dies when Joseph is exalted, so 
 now to Him all power in heaven and in earth is given. 
 True, He still suffers in us His unworthy members. 
 But for all that He has sanctified Himself, taking the 
 place of exaltation in order that He may lift us up too 
 to where He is. Now, inasmuch as He is the uncreated 
 Son of God, He fills, as He alone is competent to fill, 
 many offices in a divine manner towards God His 
 Father, and towards His people, and to the world. Yet 
 even now, such is the perfection of His obedience, He 
 assumes no function, and fills no office, except those to 
 which He is formally appointed by God. Is He a 
 Saviour ? Learn Who it was that appointed Him, from 
 Ps. xl. 7, as quoted in Heb. x., 1 Cor. i. 30. Is He our 
 great High Priest ? To be this He has been duly called 
 by Him that said to Him, " Thou art my Son, this day 
 have I begotten Thee.” And God said this to Him, at 
 the time of His resurrection (Acts xiii. 33). In this 
 character He has been “ publicly greeted ” by God (Heb. 
 v. 10, Greek). A wife has been found for Him, because 
 it was not good that the man should be alone. To get 
 her l( He gave Himself.” And now because He has 
 said plainly—as plainly as ever He could say—that He 
 loved His Master, His wife and children, therefore His 
 ear has been bored, and since in resurrection He is a 
 man still, therefore He is God’s servant for ever (Exod. 
 xxi.) And over all in God’s house, which is the Church, 
 and in the heavens, and in the earth. He is appointed 
 Lord (Acts x. 36, Phil, ii.) And presently He will 
 receive His investiture as King of the earth, and King 
 of kings, at the hands of God (Rev. v.) Even “ the 
 things under the earth ” and hell shall own His power. 
 Only God proceeds in all this in an orderly way quite 
 
The Lord's JVay with Joseph. 171 
 
 His own. At present, Christ’s power * is being 
 exercised chiefly to bring unto heaven and unto God 
 those chosen in Him before the foundation of the world. 
 Then He will take up earth’s matters, and lastly those 
 of hell. Ultimately all things shall be subjected to His 
 sway. And then, when this has fully come to pass, He 
 will hand up the kingdom to God even the Father, that 
 God may be all in all. But here I am somewhat anti¬ 
 cipating. 
 
 Of course there is nothing in the history of Joseph to 
 parallel with Christ’s ascension. Because for the king¬ 
 dom that ascension is not necessary. He might, had 
 it so pleased God, have assumed the reins of govern¬ 
 ment over the world immediately on His resurrection, 
 and poured discomfit are on all His foes. But then 
 where had His Church been which was to be lifted up 
 to heaven, and to be united to Himself, and so its mem¬ 
 bers all to be united to each other ? Wherefore, for 
 this grand purpose, the Holy Ghost must come down, 
 by whom we are baptized into one body. But if the 
 Spirit was to descend, it was “ expedient ” that He Him¬ 
 self should depart (John xvi. 7). Hence, if there is 
 nothing in the narrative corresponding with Christ’s 
 ascension, it is, nevertheless, assumed as a fact. For 
 here the Church corporately is represented by Asenath, 
 and individually by Ephraim and Hanasseh. So, too, 
 in Leviticus, albeit, strictly speaking, there is no word 
 about the Church; still in Aaron’s sons, as in Lev. xvi., 
 may be seen a shadow of the same truth. For we all 
 are the children whom God hath given Him (Heb. ii.). 
 Corporately we are the Bride, the Lamb’s wife. 
 
 * In the epistle to the Hebrews over and over again we are 
 reminded of Christ’s ability, and how it is being exercised in 
 our behalf. 
 
172 Typical Foreshadowings. 
 
 Finally, if any are unsaved, and would be blessed 
 in Him, God’s word to such is, “ Come unto Him.” 
 Whilst, as for us who have come to Him, let the injunc¬ 
 tion ring in our ears, “ What He saith to you, do.” 
 “ This is my beloved Son, in Whom I am well pleased, 
 hear Him.” 
 
®Ij£ ®or&’a Mag tottlj JJosjplj, tlje ®jjpital 
 
 ilukr. 
 
 Section Y. 
 
 Joseph the ruler’s hehmriour towards his 
 
 brethren* 
 
 Genesis xlii.—xlv. 12. 
 
 H APTERS XLII. to XLY. 12. The chief feature in 
 
 all this section here to bear in mind is, that ere 
 anght is done by Joseph for his brethren, he is married. 
 
 And when his brethren come and bow down to him, 
 
 they find one nearer and dearer to him than themselves. 
 And, speaking after the manner of men, this bride he had 
 never obtained had they not sold him to strangers. In 
 chap. xlv. 4—9, four times over, Joseph assures his bre¬ 
 thren that it was God, whose purpose was achieved even 
 through their sin. It is not denied that they had much 
 to do with his sorrows; but he means emphatically to 
 say that whilst they had one object in view, God had 
 another. Precisely so was it the case with the Lord- 
 Men killed Him in their hate ; yet they only did what 
 God in His counsel had “ determined before to be done” 
 (Acts ii.) And of all His counsels in Christ, we know 
 who and what were the objects of His earliest ones, and 
 who will be seen nearest to Him in His glory, seated 
 with Him on His throne. We know well in kindness 
 to whom it is God will show out through Christ Jesus 
 the exceeding riches of His grace in the ages which are 
 
174 Typical Foreshadowmgs. 
 
 coming* on (Eph. ii. 7). We know, too, that all this 
 will only be according to the eternal purpose, “ which 
 He purposed in Christ Jesus our Lord,” and that even 
 “ now unto the principalities and powers in the heaven- 
 lies,” it is by the Church that He is making known His 
 “ manifold wisdom ” (Eph. iii. 10, 11). 
 
 But bearing this fact clearly in mind, we then can 
 look well upon another. If His Church He takes to 
 Himself, and makes her for beauty quite like Himself, 
 ere He takes up again the cause of Israel and of Judah 
 as a people. His kindred after the flesh, still that Church 
 may be regarded, and is so looked at in Scripture, not 
 only as a whole, but as to its members individually. 
 These in the type we have seen represented by Joseph’s 
 children, Ephraim and Manasseh. As Israel, and espe¬ 
 cially the Jews, are His brethren according to the flesh* 
 except only that He came “in the likeness of sinful flesh,” 
 so are we who now believe not only His Church in the 
 aggregate, but we are His brethren in resurrection. 
 With the single exception specified, He was to the Jews 
 bone of their bone and flesh of their flesh. But this 
 oft-repeated phrase in the Old Testament must be in¬ 
 verted when our relationship to Him as the sons of God 
 is considered. Eor we are declared to be “ members of 
 His body; out of His flesh, and out of His bones.” 
 There was consanguinity of the Lord with Israel and 
 with Judah ; there is oneness of spirit between the 
 Lord and ourselves (1 Cor. vi. 17). I mean that it is 
 in resurrection whereby we become associated with Him 
 (John xvii. 19 and Heb. ii. 11). He allied Himself with 
 Israel, and with “the children ” by becoming a “par¬ 
 taker of flesh and blood.” He unites us in spirit to 
 Himself as the risen Corn of Wheat. And when the 
 period fo? e&rtl^’s blessing has arrived, rank among the 
 
I 75 
 
 The Lord’s IVay with Joseph. 
 
 » * 
 
 nations of the earth will obtain, according to relative 
 nearness to Israel’s King; not again as to flesh and 
 blood, bnt yet as to flesh and bones. For in His 
 resurrection body there is no blood (Luke xxiv. 39, 
 with chap. xxii. 20, Greek). But who cannot see the 
 vastly higher dignity, the infinitely more wonderful 
 nearness accorded by Him to the Church of God, 
 when first even now we are all “ made to drink into one 
 spirit ”—one spirit with the Lord; and when further, 
 as will be seen in that day, our very bodies shall have 
 been fashioned like unto the body of His glory 
 (Phil, iii.) 
 
 Wherefore we may scripturally a ffirm that two diffe¬ 
 rent circles or classes of brethren He will then own as 
 His, the one in the heavenlies, and the other in the 
 earthlies. In these two varying senses is*the same word, 
 “brethren,” used by Himself in resurrection in John 
 xx. 17, as contradistinguished from Matt, xxviii. 10.* 
 (See also Matt. xxv. 40.) So conversely we may say in 
 view of the type of Jacob, and of his two wives, that 
 tlie brides will be two likewise (Rev. xix., with Ps. xlv.) ; 
 even as the Jerusalems are also two, the one termed the 
 “Jerusalem above,” and “the heavenly Jerusalem;” 
 and the other the Jerusalem of Old Testament prophecy, 
 as in the closing chapters of Isaiah (see Ixv. 18), and of 
 Ezekiel (see xlviii. 15), and Zech. xiv. Moreover, the 
 heavenly one of these will be, during the Millennium, 
 located in the air, immediately over the earthly one 
 
 * That the word “ brethren ” is used in a different sense in 
 the two passages in Matt, xxviii. and John xx. is confirmed by 
 the fact of the women being allowed to hold Him by the feet 
 in Matthew, as Israel will do on earth in that day; whilst in 
 John, Mary Magdalene hears Him say, “ Touch Me not, for I 
 am not yet ascended,” thus evidently pointing er mind to 
 .another and a far higher truth. 
 
176 Typical Foreshadowings . 
 
 (Heb. xii.; Isa. iv. 5), the Son of Man being the one 
 divine-human Centre of each sphere (John i. 51). 
 
 In this view of things it will be profitable to jot down 
 a few particulars which are indicated in this section of 
 Joseph’s life. May they thrill our hearts with joy as 
 we confess that “a greater than Joseph is here! ” As, 
 for instance, (1) Joseph has a brother’s heart. Not even 
 love for his bride so engrosses his attention as to hinder 
 his concern for his brethren, and his showing kindness 
 unto them. Everyone must admit that the people of 
 God in these last days have been so taken up with the 
 greatness of their own blessings as unfolded in the 
 Word, as almost at times to ignore the fact that there 
 are many promises which belong specially to Israel. We 
 may very properly, I think, feel that such promises in a 
 higher sense contain words of comfort to ourselves, in¬ 
 asmuch as all the promises are yea and amen in Christ. 
 Still, these cannot be literally fulfilled, according as 
 their language constantly implies must be the case, until 
 Israel as a nation is restored and blessed. 
 
 Besides which, there is profit for us in another aspect 
 of these two classes of brethren. For surely as Christ 
 loves the Church corporately, so does He love each mem¬ 
 ber thereof individually. For instance, that grand pas¬ 
 sage in Eph. v. 25—32, treating of His grace towards 
 the Church, Paul teaches us individually to appropriate 
 in Gal. ii. 20. For there the first two of the seven 
 things specified in the former passage he unreservedly 
 applies to himself. But if he, one member of His 
 Church, thus sets us this example, undoubtedly we may 
 do the like. We each may say, “ The Son of God loved 
 me, and gave Himself for me.” Now if we may in this 
 hearty manner appropriate the first two of those seven 
 clauses to ourselves, there can be no hesitation in like- 
 
177 
 
 The Lord’s Way with Joseph. 
 
 wise appropriating each, of the others. Wherefore we 
 may say, “ Christ loved me; He gave Himself for me ; 
 He sanctifies me; He cleanses me; He nourishes me; 
 He cherishes me; He will present me to Himself.” For 
 if the Lord can think of Israel, and of His brethren 
 after the flesh, as well as of the Church of God, how 
 much more than of His Jewish brethren can He love 
 and care for the individual members of the Church ? 
 Hence, whilst Eph. iii. treats of the Church’s corporate 
 blessing, Eph. i. treats of the individual’s blessing. In 
 grace the individual is put first, and the least before the 
 greatest. 
 
 2. When these brethren of his first came to seek his 
 help in their need, whilst they knew not the thoughts of 
 his heart, little did they seek from him. Bread for 
 their households, and temporal salvation for themselves 
 and their families, was the utmost desire which they 
 had. Is there not something similar in our own case 
 when we first come to the Lord Jesus ? To be saved 
 from hell, or at most to be saved from sin, is all that we 
 expect. As that wretched perversion of Phil. iv. 19 is 
 often heard put, we ask to be blessed “ according to our 
 need,” instead of our God supplying our need, indeed, 
 but according to His riches in glory by Christ Jesus. 
 That is. His blessing of us is to be proportioned to the 
 extent of His riches, and not of our poverty. He will 
 continue deepening our need, and the sense thereof, in 
 order that He may pour in of His riches all the more. 
 And yet ofttim.es it is difficult to bring Christians to see 
 that God never can content Himself in telling* out His 
 own infinite fulness, and the exceeding preciousness of 
 His Son, by meeting only our comparatively little need ? 
 When He saved us, did we need to be made the sons of 
 God ? Did we need to be made heirs of God and joint- 
 
 12 
 
178 Typical Fore shadowings. 
 
 heirs with Christ ? Most certainly not. Such things 
 
 had never entered our hearts to conceive. Yet it is in 
 
 \ 
 
 this way that He has blessed us. He delights to sur¬ 
 prise us giving us at once far more than we expect. We 
 implore forgiveness of sins ; and lo ! at the same time 
 that He gives us this He also gives us everlasting life, 
 and never one without the other ; as if the other were 
 too little a thing for Him to give by itself. And yet 
 that forgiveness cost the Son of God His life. Hut 
 constantly in Scripture it is represented that the gift of 
 God is eternal life. The forgiveness of sins removes 
 the hindrance on our part to the inflow of His gift 
 of life. Nor does He stop there. Then He gives the 
 Holy Ghost to dwell in us, and to lead us into all the 
 truth, and to show us the glory of the Lord and the 
 things to come, in order that He may create and fan in 
 our hearts the hope of our Lord’s return. Thus does 
 He continue to give us richer and richer discoveries of 
 His grace and love, ever keeping the best until the last. 
 And who can tell how He will proceed in glory when at 
 last, according to the long pent up desire of His heart. 
 He has us with Himself where He is (John xvii. 24). 
 
 3. The object that Joseph had in view in his sin¬ 
 gular dealings with his brethren was evidently to bring 
 them to a sense of their unrighteous hate of himself, 
 and to repent thereof accordingly. His measures soon 
 began to take effect. Thus look at Reuben’s appeal to 
 his brethren in chap. xlii. 22. And especially look at 
 that most noble and magnanimous offer of Judah to be 
 a bond-slave, instead of Joseph’s own brother Benjamin. 
 And I think that whilst that artless and telling story 
 was told to Joseph, ending with the offer itself to be 
 bound in Benjamin’s stead, the silence of the others 
 implied that what Judah had offered they assented to 
 
*79 
 
 The Lord’s Way luith Joseph. 
 
 in that degree, that any or all of them were willing as 
 well as Judah to be the. substitutes for the supposed 
 incriminated one. Verily they must bave been much 
 changed in regard to the offspring of Rachel, ere they 
 could thus all speak through Judah their mouthpiece. 
 In like manner, after Christ’s resurrection, the inspired 
 word of Peter to the Jews’ anxious inquiry, “ What 
 must we do ? ” His reply was brief: u Repent and be 
 baptized, every one of you, in the name of Jesus Christ.” 
 He had pressed home their guilt, and many were pricked 
 in their hearts at his words. Truly, then, the nation did 
 not repent. They stood to their sin, as was seen in their 
 murder of Stephen. But the time comes when yet 
 Israel shall be bowed down, and when the Jews shall 
 look on Him whom they have pierced, and mourn (Zech. 
 xii. 10). <f In that day there shall be a great mourning 
 in Jerusalem.” “Every eye shall see Him, and they also 
 that pierced Him; and all the tribes of the land shall 
 wail because of Him” (Rev. i. 7). These tears are 
 penitential ones, as is the mourning in Matt. xxiv. 30. 
 I refrain now from entering upon the prophetic ques¬ 
 tions as to the mode of the Jews’ restoration, and deliver¬ 
 ance from their oppressors, at the appearing of their great 
 Messiah. All such matters I have sought to bring out 
 the full teaching of Scripture on, in my Lectures on the 
 Revelation, to which I must refer you. Rom. xi., Dan. 
 xii., and the last chapters of Zechariah, are full of divine 
 teaching on these points. 
 
 But then, again, to us, His brethren in a higher 
 sense, when we have believed in Him, He does not in¬ 
 variably cause soul-anguish in order that we may be 
 cast on Him. Some very quickly find peace and joy in 
 believing. It is not essential that any preliminary work 
 should take place with souls ere they accept Christ 
 
i8o Typical Foreshadowings. 
 
 and His finished work. All is done, and His first word 
 to ns is, “ Come unto Me ; believe in Me.” But inas¬ 
 much as many are not disposed at once to drink wine 
 and milk without money and without price, therefore 
 they often go through a time of sorrow and of distress 
 of heart, through occupation with self and with their 
 own unworthiness. Hence He sa}^s, “ Come unto Me, 
 all ye that are weary and heavy-laden.” The jailer at 
 Philippi is an instance of God’s way in giving salvation 
 at once to faith. The case of Cornelius is a specimen 
 of the latter : of one being led on step by step until 
 the word of salvation is embraced. When the Gospel 
 is preached Sunday after Sunday, and heard by the 
 same people, the effect usually produced is, I think, 
 according to the latter mode. I mean that gradually 
 and noiselessly the word falls like dew upon the grass. 
 But when souls hear the word who never heard it be¬ 
 fore, and when the Gospel is carried into regions where 
 it had not previously penetrated, then I think souls are 
 often brought to the Lord at once on a single hearing 
 of it. But in all cases the delay in not grasping the 
 peace of the Gospel is not caused by the Lord, is not 
 according to His will; the hindrance is in men’s own 
 unbelief. Salvation is to hand on faith’s acceptance. 
 
 4. These brethren were for paying for all which they 
 obtained from Joseph. They brought money with them; 
 and when it was returned, and placed in their sacks’ 
 mouth, then the second time they brought double 
 money. They attributed the return of their first money 
 to oversight, and deprecated Joseph’s displeasure by 
 speaking to his steward about their departure from 
 Egypt without having paid their money. Thus, we see, 
 one mistake—or, rather, misapprehension—led on to 
 another. Hot knowing who he was, and his kindly dis 
 
The Lord’s Way with Joseph. 181 
 
 position, led them to imagine that he would haggle 
 with them about payment (chap. xlii. 35, xliii. 12, 22). 
 Alas ! alas ! legality is natural to all our hearts. How 
 slow we are to apprehend that all is of grace ; that 
 God’s glory is in giving and man’s blessing is in receiv¬ 
 ing what God gives. How difficult to submit to His 
 way of getting all for nothing, until we are saved, when 
 first He will accept our praise and worship, and when 
 first He makes us to know what rivers of living water 
 He can cause to flow out from us in doing good to 
 others. That word in Isaiah lv. 1, though full of con¬ 
 solation, surely contains indirect reproof. It assumes 
 that we think we must pay with our money and our 
 price for His wine and milk. But yet this is only one 
 side of the truth. God could not bless sinners and give 
 them salvation, except in a righteous way; whatever 
 God gave to sinners before Christ died, was on credit. 
 Thus the sins of Old Testament saints, He is said rather 
 to have “ passed over,” than to have forgiven, in Bom. 
 
 iii. 25, Greek. But now, everything we get, is freely 
 given through the Cross of our Lord Jesus Christ. 
 This very-earth is His. Those who refuse His grace, 
 but accept His earthly gifts, would otherwise be almost 
 like trespassers upon it. He is the Saviour of all men, 
 inasmuch as all receive daily mercies from Him (1 Tim. 
 
 iv. 10). He prefers to begin, by giving salvation and all 
 things therewith. But many refuse the former ; though, 
 they covet the latter and as much of His earthly gifts as 
 they can obtain. He is kind to the unthankful and to 
 the evil. Still, the point I press is this :—however little 
 all and everything of His costs us, it cost the Lord 
 much. Salvation is free, is given to us for nothing, but 
 it cost the Lord all He had. Peradventure, the truth 
 that salvation is given so heartily and so readily by God, 
 
I 
 
 182 Typical Foreshadowings. 
 
 is more apprehended by us than the counter truth that 
 all is done in righteousness. 
 
 5. Another singular feature in Joseph’s behaviour, we 
 must not omit to notice. As we might term Jeremiah 
 the weeping prophet, so might we speak of Joseph as 
 the weeping ruler. (1) He wept in chap. xlii. 24, when 
 he heard them say, “We are verily guilty,” a beautiful 
 picture of the state of the soul of the remnant in the 
 last days. (2) He wept when he beheld Benjamin, 
 representing the ten absent tribes (xliii. 80). (3) He 
 
 wept when he had ascertained that there was no reserve 
 in their repentance, as certainly as there was no reserve 
 of love on his part, in chap. xlv. 1. (4) He wept again 
 
 in xlv. r 14, when all together they were before him ; his 
 perfect love casting out fear. (5) He wept over his 
 father Jacob, on his beholding: him before him in the 
 land of Egypt. For then those who had been as good 
 as dead to each other, embraced again each other as if 
 in resurrection (chap. xlvi. 29). (6) He wept with 
 
 natural sorrow, on the death of his father Jacob (chap. 
 1. 1). And lastly, he wept in chap. 1. 15, when his love 
 was, after forgiveness and restoration, doubted. 
 
 Of the Lord when on earth we need scarcely, I trust, 
 to be reminded that He w'as a Man of sorrows, and 
 acquainted with grief. And twice particularly we are 
 told of His tears. . He wept some* tears at the grave of 
 Lazarus: not for Lazarus’ sake alone, for He knew He 
 was about to raise him. But there rose up before His 
 mind’s eye all the sorrows, and specially all such sor¬ 
 rows, of all His people, evidencing that in all their 
 affliction He is afflicted. But He burst into a flood of 
 tears * as He gazed upon Jerusalem, in its hardness and 
 
 '* In John xi. 35 the Greek word is Saxpucv, to shed a tear or two; 
 but in Luke xix. 41 the word is kAcuw, to weep with a flood of tears. 
 
The Lord’s Way with Joseph. 183 
 
 ignorance of its day of visitation; for He knew wliat 
 woes would shortly descend upon it. And forasmuch 
 as the time of that abundant weeping of His was almost 
 the same as when He pronounced those eight woes 
 Himself in Matt, xxiii., we learn, by placing the two 
 accounts in Luke and in Matthew side by side, in what 
 sort of spirit He uttered His denunciations. He spoke 
 as if with a broken heart. Their sins He spared not, 
 but yet He spoke in overwhelming sorrow. Am I asked 
 why He should weep more at the unbelief of the wicked 
 than at the many sorrows of His own people which 
 came up before Him as He stood at the grave of Laza¬ 
 rus ? The answer is at hand. Lor, apart from the 
 wrong done to God and to Himself by man’s unibelief 
 and rejection of Him, oh ! think of the inconceivable 
 and eternal anguish which must be the lot of those who 
 die in their sins. Already ere this we have seen that 
 the sins of the antediluvians so affected God, that He 
 was grieved at heart. Ho not let us attempt to tone 
 down aught of this sorrow of our God and of His 
 Christ; but let us imitate Him. And when we preach 
 the Gospel to the unsaved, and warn the unrepentant of 
 the wrath to come, let us do this as Paul did, with 
 “ sorrow of heartyea, and more, let it be evident that 
 our sorrow is great and unfeigned (Rom. ix. 2 ; Phil, 
 iii. 18). And, finally, let us be assured that when the 
 wicked are placed before the great white throne, and 
 judged according to the things written in the books, 
 though He will laugh at their calamities (Prov. i.), 
 still, this will not be owing to any present unreadiness, 
 to any want of will to save anyone now, but the cause, 
 is “I would,” but f ‘ye would not” (Matt, xxiii. 37). 
 Never will He relent, never can He, though unmitigated 
 and endless woe He will have to pronounce. Nay, more. 
 
184 
 
 Typical Foreshadowbigs. 
 
 His very breath will be the agency whereby all this shall 
 be inflicted (Isa. xxx. 33; Hey. xix. 15). But all these 
 tears and His precious hlood remain witnesses for ever 
 unto Him, that if the salvation of the righteous is of the 
 Lord, the damnation of the wicked is only their own fault. 
 
 6. Joseph tested his brethren well and perfectly ere 
 he revealed himself unto them. And between our first 
 coming to Him for salvation, and His unveiling Himself 
 to us up there, a space of time, and often a long time, 
 intervenes. He tests us, whether we love Him and do 
 cling to Him. He furnishes us with opportunities of 
 showing forth our love to Him. And by the trials 
 which He Himself doth send unto us, He teaches us to 
 cling to Him, to care for His smile, to esteem Him our 
 all. Then when we have learned our lesson, and our 
 work in suffering is past, “ our ever-loving Bather will 
 welcome every one,” and we shall see our Lord as He 
 is. Joseph said, “ I am Joseph your brother, whom ye 
 sold into Egypt.” But He does not want to upbraid 
 us. In many passages of the Word He instructs us 
 carefully how so to abide and walk in Him, how so to 
 please Him, that when He comes, we may be found of 
 Him in peace, without spot, and blameless (Luke xii. 
 32, 40). And this we know for our comfort, that “ He 
 is able to keep us from tripping, and to present us 
 faultless before the presence of His glory with exceeding 
 joy,” on His part, and with much even on our part. 
 (Jude 24). When He brings the sheep home, mark His 
 joy in Luke xv. 6. “ He will joy over us with singing ” 
 
 (Zeplr. iii. 19). The story of the prodigal son’s wel¬ 
 come back is scarcely finished : perhaps because it never 
 could be. The last words are, “ And they began to be 
 merry.” And so the curtain falls, as if the joy were, as 
 it is, unending. 
 
 The Jewish remnant, too, by means of the sorrows of 
 
The Lord’s Way with Joseph . T85 
 
 the great tribulation through which they must pass, 
 because of their rejection of Messiah, shall yet he 
 brought to hope for His return. Ps. xliv., Isa. lxiii. 15, 
 u Look down from heavenIsa. lxiv. 1, “ Come down.” 
 See also Rev. vii., xiii., xiv. 
 
 7. Meanwhile, He lives. We may not see Him, yet 
 He lives. Joseph was hidden for a while from his bre¬ 
 thren. They had one more that loved them, and whose 
 heart yearned over them, than they were aware of. Let 
 us, His brethren, never forget this. On the mountain- 
 brow He sees the ship tossed with the billows, and the 
 winds contrary, and ourselves toiling in rowing ; but we 
 are “not far from land.” He is coming, and we shall rise 
 to meet Him ; and so shall we be for ever with the 
 Lord, in His house eternally shut in. 
 
 Chapters XLY. 13 to XLYII. 12. Joseph’s work 
 for his brethren is not yet completed; his love is 
 yet unsatisfied. Every one of them, as well as their 
 wives and their children, as also Jacob, he desires, 
 and must have them all at home with himself. In 
 Goshen, the choicest part of the land of Egypt, he 
 will cause them to dwell. Then he will take care of 
 them all, and nourish them. Accordingly, preparations 
 are made for the journey in comfort of them all, and 
 specially of Jacob. He, when the news is first brought 
 to him that Joseph his son lives, and is governor over 
 all the land of Egypt, is amazed and incredulous. At 
 length, convinced, he prepares, as it would appear some¬ 
 what hastily, to set out, and soon reaches the confines 
 of the promised land at Beersheba. But there a thought, 
 which causes him a thrill of anguish, occurs to him. Is 
 he doing right in leaving Palestine, and journeying into 
 Egypt ? Both Abraham and Isaac had erred : Abraham 
 in going down to Egypt, and Isaac in settling at Gerar. 
 
186 Typical Foreshadowings. 
 
 He pauses. On the one hand, he is inclined to proceed, 
 in the hope of again beholding his son Joseph; but, on 
 the other, is he on the path to commit sin, as his fathers 
 had done ? Then he offers sacrifices to the God of his 
 father Isaac. Here we have a beautiful instance of fear 
 of committing sin, not of some sin of which the world 
 could take cognizance, but yet a step which he knew 
 might not be pleasing to God. Those who are God’s 
 saints are perfectly aware that there is much which the 
 world would see no harm in, but which one in God’s 
 light, or swayed by His fear, would know was disobe¬ 
 dient, or wilful, or unconfiding towards Him. Their 
 standard of purity is far higher than the world’s; it is 
 what is acceptable in the eyes of a holy God. And to 
 think that it was Jacob, the once froward, and who had 
 so signally, and over and over again, failed in the second 
 part of his service, that part of returning homewards, 
 wherein he more resembles us, the sons of God, that it 
 was he who was thus at length so broken in and sub¬ 
 dued : all this is most encouraging. The servant may 
 fail, but the erring child is restored. 
 
 We have another instance of this same holy fear and 
 jealous watch over his own proclivities in chap, xlviii. 14, 
 where, though Joseph sought to induce him to act other¬ 
 wise, he would not repeat his father’s blunder in attempt¬ 
 ing, contrary to the divine will, to give the larger bless¬ 
 ing to the elder born. So here, too, if through his 
 desire to gladden his eyes with a sight of his beloved 
 child Joseph, he had set out hastily, yet he stops himself 
 just in time. Far better, if we have begun aught in a 
 hurry, to pause awhile, unless we are quite sure we are 
 in the path of duty, and can go on in communion with 
 God. For “ whatsoever is not of faith is sin.” Hence, 
 he refuses to act, until he is clear as to the way in 
 
i «7 
 
 The Lord's Way with Joseph. 
 
 which he should go. He who is ever uncertain as to 
 which of two paths he should take to please God, should 
 take neither, should refuse to move at all, until the 
 faithful God has removed the perplexity. He may not, 
 He will not show us all the way at once unto the end of 
 our course, but He will guide us by one step at a time. 
 And our part is ever persistently to wait until He has 
 signified clearly to our souls what the next step should be. 
 
 Then God speaks to Jacob in the visions of the night, 
 calling him by his name, and so recognizing him as His 
 own, encourages him to go down to Egypt, and pro¬ 
 mises to go down with him into Egypt, and to bring 
 him up again. Now this God who appeared to His 
 servant, and directed him in his course, is our own God; 
 yea, and our most loving Father, a name that Jacob 
 knew nothing of as belonging to God. Nay more, even 
 the word Jehovah, which signifies His relationship with 
 Israel, is not found once throughout the history of 
 Joseph in Egypt until we come to chap. xlix. 18, wherein, 
 of course, the glance is at the future in regard to what, 
 as Jehovah, he was pledged to do, to deliver Israel from 
 Egypt. But yet in the wise counsels of God it was 
 proper that the nation of Israel, then in its infancy, 
 should go down to Egypt, and should even suffer 
 greatly there. Because it was necessary that the nation 
 should be preserved utterly distinct and separate from 
 all the tribes around. Bat as we have seen in chap, 
 xxxviii., there was danger, had the nation continued in 
 Palestine, of their intermarrying with the people there, 
 and who were doomed to destruction when their iniquity 
 was full. 
 
 2. We have in the next place to observe the tender 
 care by God of His people when they are away from 
 home, and when He leads them into times of trial and 
 
188 Typical Fore shadow'mgs. 
 
 of danger. So here we see that He counts them one by 
 one, and records also their names.* See Isa. xliii. 1, 2, 
 which is a striking commentary on, and explanation of, 
 the purport of this passage (chap. xlvi. 8—27). It is 
 important for us to let this blessed truth sink into our 
 hearts, for as long as our Lord tarries, trouble is our 
 lot. It may even be that some sore persecution may 
 yet await us for aught we can tell. For His sake we 
 are killed all the day long, and are accounted as sheep 
 for the slaughter. So He fared when He was here; 
 who of us would desire to fare otherwise, or to be 
 caressed by a world that cast Him out ? Still who 
 shall separate us from the love of Christ P Shall tribu¬ 
 lation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or naked¬ 
 ness, or peril, or sword P “ Hay, in all these things ” 
 —not in the avoidance of them—“in all these things 
 we are more than conquerors through Him that loved 
 ns ” (Rom. viii. 85—37). And something else we may 
 remember to encourage us. When Israel waxed a 
 greater people, they are always represented as counted 
 in their thousands, as Micah v.; but as for the Church 
 of God, every one member is spoken of as known by 
 the Good Shepherd (Luke xv.; John x. 3). The 
 reader will have remarked how much is made of indivi¬ 
 dual ones in the Gospel by John, as in chaps, iii., iv., 
 v., viii., ix., x. Even the invitation in John differs in 
 
 # In Gen. xlvi. 27, the number that came into Egypt is 
 stated to be seventy. But Stephen speaks of seventy-five in 
 Acts vii. 14. Yet there is no discrepancy. For if we look at 
 Gen. xlvi. 26, we find the number mentioned as sixty-six. To 
 which if we add Jacob, Joseph, and his two sons Ephraim and 
 Manasseh, we get seventy. On the other hand, if to this 
 sixty-six we add the nine wives of Jacob’s sons, we get seventy- 
 five. For Judah and Simeon had lost their wives (chap, 
 xxxviii. 12, with xlvi. 10). 
 
The Lord’s JVay with Joseph . 189 
 
 this particular from that in Matthew. For whereas in 
 Matthew it is worded, “ Come unto Me, all ye,” etc.; 
 in John it is expressed in the singular number, “ Him 
 that cometh unto Me I will in no wise cast out.” Yea, 
 Christ “ tasted death for every one ” of these (Heb. ii.) 
 And “ the very hairs of your head are all numbered.” 
 For whilst Israel is to be saved nationally, and Gentiles 
 likewise for the millennial earth are to be a “ multitude 
 that no man can number ” ; the Church is a little flock, 
 or rather, as it should have been rendered, “ a little, 
 little flock.” 
 
 But if the Church is passing through sorrow and 
 persecution throughout the entire period that it pleases 
 God to continue her down here, which is until the Lord 
 Jesus descends from heaven; still it is a distinct pro¬ 
 mise to her that from “the tribulation, the great one ” 
 which is now looming iu the distance, she shall be 
 “kept.” For, ere it commences, the Church is to be 
 removed to her heavenly home (Rev. iii. 10). But that 
 period is affirmed by the prophet to be “ the time of 
 Jacob’s trouble” (Jer. xxx. 7). And this important 
 distinction sheds most valuable light on Luke xxi. 36, 
 where the Lord warns His disciples to see that they 
 “ escape all the things which are to come to pass, and 
 to stand before the Son of Man.” But this word escape 
 imports a salvation only obtained by being preserved 
 in passing quite through the trial (1 Cor. x. 13). Hence 
 this warning was addressed to Jewish disciples as such. 
 For, indeed, the Church’s prospect is not finally to 
 “stand before the Son of Man.” We are to be “ pre¬ 
 sented ” indeed—to be “ manifested ” at the tribunal of 
 Christ (Rom. xiv. 10 ; 2 Cor. v. 10). But this moment 
 of the judgment of our works is subsequent to our being 
 received unto Himself. Our place in glory is to sit 
 
igo Typical Foreshadowings. 
 
 down with Christ upon His throne. But the Jews have 
 rejected Him their Messiah, and the mass of them will 
 receive the antichrist (John v. 43 ; Matt. xii. 45). Bor 
 this rejection of Him they must experience a taste of the 
 sort of ruler and of his sway which they have preferred 
 to His own. And whilst the two tribes are suffering in the 
 land under the antichrist, God will begin to conduct the 
 ten* tribes back thitherwards, and will plead with them 
 in the wilderness, as He did of old with their fathers, and 
 purge out the rebels from among them (see Ezek. xx. 
 33—40). And thus there will be a remnant saved in 
 each case : of the ten tribes as we read here, and also 
 of the two tribes tested by the great tribulation (Zech. 
 xiii. 8 ; Dan. xii. 1). Then after the sifting of the ten 
 tribes, and the regeneration of the remnant of these, 
 and when Christ has appeared for the deliverance of 
 the Jews, God will bring these ten tribes also unto the 
 laud of Palestine (Ezek. xxxvi. 24—37). The manner 
 of their arrival there is most touchingly depicted (Jer. 
 xxxi. 7—11, and in Isa. xlix. 20—23). And whilst the 
 mass of the old nation perishes, these two remnants will 
 be united into the one new nation of Israel (Ezek. 
 xxxvii. 1G ; Matt. xxi. 43). “It shall be accounted to 
 the Lord for a generation; and one King and one 
 Lord shall be over all ” (Zech. xiv.). Yes, the crucified 
 One is King of the Jews. 
 
 At length, Jacob, his children, and their families, 
 arrive all of them in Goshen. Jacob and Joseph, after so 
 
 * Where tlie ten tribes are at present, no one can tell. That 
 the English are the lost ten tribes, is one of the devil’s lies, 
 equally with another, that London is Babylon. Satan’s object 
 in misleading men in these ways, is to atte mpt to blunt the 
 force of Scripture. There is a pamphl et of Wilkinson’s, pub¬ 
 lished by Haughton, 10, Paternoster Bow, and entitled <f Eng- 
 lishmen not Israelites,” which the writer recommends. 
 
The Lord’s Way with Joseph, 19 r 
 
 many years of separation, behold once again each other’s 
 face. And thus God, showed Himself better not only 
 than their fears, but better, too, than all their hopes. 
 Jacob exclaims in his joy, “ How'let me die, since I have 
 seen Thy face, because Thou art yet alive ” (chap. xlvi. 
 30). But a little before he had plaintively uttered, 
 “ Joseph is not, and Simeon is not, and ye will take Ben¬ 
 jamin away ; all these things are against me ” (chap. xlii. 
 36). The aged patriarch seems to have been intensely 
 attached to each of his children. And we see evidence here 
 that whilst he was giving vent to his unbelieving sorrow, 
 God was working all things together for good unto them. 
 And this picture might serve as a lesson for us, who have 
 lost friends in Christ of whom we were fond. And we 
 have seen them waste away as to their flesh before our 
 eyes, and though we have cried unto the Lord to spare 
 them to us, they have departed from us. But not for ever 
 have we lost them. Another who loves them far more 
 than we, has them with Himself, who will soon gather 
 us all around Himself, and then shall our eyes again be¬ 
 hold those in Christ whom we loved on earth. Nor shall 
 we behold them again as before in their weakness and in 
 their pains, but with their brows irradiated with glory, 
 and themselves and us all with the Lord, and for ever. 
 
 3. All the family of Jacob were sent for into Egypt. 
 Provision was expressly made for the conveyance of 
 such as were weak and of tender years. How expres¬ 
 sive in the type is all this ! All, all that are God’s 
 saints must presently be gathered home into the pre¬ 
 sence of that Brother born for adversity, and Who sticks 
 « 
 
 closer than any brother ever did before, Who, though 
 separated from us for a while, has still a heart to love 
 us, to sympathize with us, and to desire that we should 
 be where He is. Nor do I now allude only to the 
 
192 Typical Foreshadow™gs. 
 
 Church of God; the Old Testament saints, though not 
 so one with Christ as we are, were yet called with a 
 heavenly calling (Heb. xi. 10, 16). Therefore all these, 
 too, must be there in that coming day of jubilee, and of 
 happy reunion. There ought not to be any question 
 that these Old Testament saints will be raised simul¬ 
 taneously v ’th us in view of such Scriptures as Heb. xi. 
 40, 2 Thess. i. 10, Matt. viii. 11. For that resurrection 
 morn is the moment of the resurrection of all “ the 
 just” (Luke xiv. 14). 
 
 4. Finally, Joseph presents, first, five of his brethren, 
 and afterwards his father* Jacob, to Pharaoh, as the 
 supreme potentate. By his will their place is assigned 
 them in the land of Goshen, the best part of the land 
 of Fgypt. And Christ will receive us unto Himself; 
 and not only so, but will reveal to us God in Him. Yes, 
 we “ shall see God our eyes shall behold the King in 
 His beauty (1 Johniii.). And whilst the Church, as the 
 eternal Bride of the Lamb, is caused to sit down with 
 Him upon His throne, the saints of the Old Testament 
 will have their own proper and exalted sphere likewise 
 (Heb. xii. 23). On earth Israel first, and then the 
 numbers numberless of the nations, are ranged before 
 His throne, clothed with white robes, and palms in their 
 hands (Rev. vii., xiv.) And the two nations which of 
 old gave Israel so much trouble shall have their ani¬ 
 mosity changed into intimate friendship, upon a true, 
 because a holy basis (Isa. xix. 24). 
 
 * In Jacob’s blessing of Pharaob, besides the obvious lesson 
 taught us, as in Paul’s wish that all his noble auditors were 
 like himself, there probably is the sentiment of gratitude. For 
 Pharaoh had been far kinder to his son Joseph than his own 
 brethren had been. It is ofttimes, alas ! the same thing still. 
 Worldly men behave more honourably, more kindly towards us 
 than those whom we trusted as brethren. 
 
®Ijf 'CnnVs Mag Until ]lor,rph. Uu' (Tnptnil 
 
 Haler. 
 
 , Section VI. 
 
 Joseph the ruler’s service to Pharaoh, in the full 
 subjugation of all to his authority, an4 in 
 blessing to the whole land* 
 
 Genesis xlvii. 13—26. 
 
 /"‘'HAPTER XLVII. 13—26. Already, in speaking 
 of Israel’s blessing under Messiah’s sway, I have 
 spoken of the saved Gentiles, and of the world’s bless¬ 
 ing, sufficiently to illustrate the picture which we have 
 here, and which is nearly all that these “ Typical 
 Foreshadowings” allow of my now doing. I content 
 myself, therefore, with calling attention to the type, 
 when Joseph, we find, obtains the land of Egypt for 
 Pharaoh, and disposes of the inhabitants in cities as he 
 judges good. In the antitype “ the field is the world,” 
 which has all been bought by the Man Christ Jesus (Matt, 
 xiii. 44). And He will have “ all the nations,” or “ all 
 the Gentiles,” gathered before Him, separating them as 
 a shepherd divideth his sheep from the goats, and 
 assigning to each individual his irrevocable, his eternal 
 condition (Matt. xxv. 31—46). Nothing is here said of 
 the judgment of the dead; for the saints that had died 
 had been raised ere this. And the wicked dead are 
 raised at a later period, when the heavens and earth flee 
 
 13 
 
194 Typical Foreshadowings . 
 
 away, and tliey stand before the great white throne 
 (Rev. xx.) Here is the judgment of those living on the 
 earth, when Christ has come down in behalf of Israel. 
 The destiny of each severally is meted out by Him 
 according to each individual’s attitude towards His 
 earthly brethren the Jews, during the great tribulation, 
 out of which they had been rescued by His appearing 
 in their behalf. Each one’s demeanour towards these 
 was constructively directed towards Himself. Then of 
 the Lord’s reign over the saved, many of the Psalms 
 abound in glowing words (see also Zech. xiv.) Then 
 the knowledge of the Lord shall cover the earth as the 
 waters cover the seas. 
 
I 
 
 ®!j£ Itcixb’s Wan toxtlj Jos^plj, tljt ®gpirai 
 
 itixkr. 
 
 Section YII. 
 
 The dosing ijears of Jacob and of Joseph* 
 
 Genesis xlvii. 27 to the end. 
 
 (CHAPTER XL YII. 27 to the end. The Lord 
 Jesus, as Son of Man, will reign for a thousand 
 years; yet of His kingdom there shall be no end. 
 His kingdom as the Lord is for ever and ever. Like¬ 
 wise, again, His saints reign with Him throughout that 
 thousand years (Rev. xx. 4) ; yet they, too, reign for 
 ever and ever (Rev. xxii. 5 ; Dan. vii.) Their service 
 in Rev. xxii. 3, under His eye according to verse 4, 
 partakes of a regal character, according to verse 5. But 
 how is this apparent contradiction as to the duration of 
 that reign to be cleared up P Easily. The reign over 
 evil, subduing it wholly, and over every foe, until each 
 one has been dealt with and judged, is during the Mil¬ 
 lennium ; but when at length there is no more any “ evil 
 occurrent,” His throne will be finally established in 
 righteousness. Then, before any evil can break out in 
 the reconciled heavens and earth (see Col. i. 20), His 
 throne must itself be overturned. Evil will then have 
 had its day, have done its worst, its all; and it has been 
 grappled with, overcome, and totally defeated. And 
 
196 Typical Foreshadowings . 
 
 then it is shut up, and sinners too, whether angels or 
 men, in hell for ever.* So when He hath at-last put 
 down all rule, and all authority and power, He will, as 
 Son of Man, hand up the kingdom in its entirety to 
 God, even the Father, that God may he all in all. Never 
 before was there seen such a vast, such an universal 
 sway. For realms and tracts of land, small potentates 
 on earth had often striven. Yea, even in Satan’s eyes 
 the earthly part alone of this immense rule was a 
 supreme attraction (Matt. iv. 8; Rev. xx. 8—10). But 
 Christ, the divine and perfect Servant-king, hands up 
 the whole unto God. To advert to the type here, the 
 typical servant Jacob, and the typical ruler Joseph, pass 
 from before our eyes. And whilst Christ, being raised 
 from the dead, dieth no more, the time arrives for Him 
 to surrender up this peculiar rule of His to God, and 
 naught remains but for God, Father, Son, and Holy 
 Ghost, to dwell in righteousness over a universe purged 
 and renewed, and over an earth reclaimed. What a 
 perfect Servant to the end is He ! And what a service, 
 perfect in all its parts, He has rendered unto God ! The 
 children all brought home to God, the righteous re¬ 
 warded, the “wicked punished, and opposition, every 
 breath of it, quelled for ever! 
 
 Now God can-have His own way unhindered in bless¬ 
 ing for ever. And so as well in Genesis as in Revela¬ 
 tion, or as in 1 Cor. xv., the curtain falls with divine 
 rule triumphant everywhere. What God will proceed 
 to do, what He will begin and go on with, when this 
 
 * In the passage quoted (Col. i. 20), we read of Christ recon¬ 
 ciling all things in two spheres ; hut in Phil. ii. 10 we hear of 
 all things subjected to Him in three spheres—to wit, in heaven, 
 and in earth, and under the earth. The exception of this third 
 realm from the reconciliation of Col. i. 20 is suggestive. 
 
I 97 
 
 The Lord’s IVay with Joseph. 
 
 preliminary dispensation which we call time is over, and 
 passed by for ever, what He will ultimately unfold as 
 “ the ages which are coming on ” run their course, is 
 nearly all unrevealed. Enough for us to know at pre¬ 
 sent that God wins the day, that they who trusted in 
 Him, and who obeyed Him, are blessed, and that the 
 wicked are accursed, and that of each class the lot is 
 fixed once and for ever. Then, judgment over, He rests in 
 His love. His “ tabernacle,” that is the Church of God, # 
 “ is with men.” To settle everything in heaven and in 
 earth, according to His mind, He had to come forth. 
 But all this perfectly attained, He retires to His rest. 
 Love divine, holy love; love in light, light in love, 
 shines down on all His reconciled creation, in its many 
 concentric circles, for ever. 
 
 With these few words I pass from the antitypical 
 converging lines of truth foreshadowed by these closing 
 chapters of Genesis. Those who may desire to study 
 more of what is revealed of the near future, of the ways 
 of God as displayed in Christ’s reign during the millen¬ 
 nium, and in that reign itself being followed by that 
 which is more glorious still, and in the mode of closing 
 that one period of glory, and in the mode of opening 
 the remoter eternal scene, or in the allowed irruption 
 in between these two glories, millennial and eternal, by 
 Satan, who is to be let out of his prison after the thou¬ 
 sand years have expired, and in the summary vengeance 
 inflicted by the living God upon him, and upon all the 
 remaining foes, and in the huge assembly before the 
 great white throne, and then in the new heavens and 
 new earth : such may find these matters enlarged upon 
 
 * Rev. xii. 6: “His tabernacle, those who dwell in heaven.” 
 For the word “ and,” in the authorized version, after the men¬ 
 tion of His tabernacle, ought to be omitted. 
 
198 Typical Foreshadow'™gs. 
 
 in my Lectures on the Book of the Revelation. In con¬ 
 clusion, therefore, there needs only that we tal<e a glance 
 at the other inspired touches in the narrative itself. 
 These may briefly be summed up thus: — 
 
 1. Jacob’s choice of Ephraim to Manasseh, in chap, 
 xlviii. 
 
 2. His blessing of the twelve tribes, and his death, iu 
 ' chap. xlix. 
 
 3. And lastly, Joseph’s death, in chap. 1. 
 
 Chaptee XLVIII. When looking at Jacob’s paus¬ 
 ing at Beersheba, after he had set out to behold Joseph’s 
 face in Egypt, the scene here was surveyed along with 
 that one there. The two were presented together in 
 order to show that the furnace of affliction, through 
 which Jacob had passed, had been of immense use to 
 him, as seen in chap, xlvi., by his trembling refusal to 
 move a foot forward until he was assured of the divine 
 sanction of hi3 step. And here, again, we have proof 
 of wilfulness subdued, and of his attentive ear to hear 
 what God shall say to him, and to do even as he is 
 directed. For the account of his blessing of Joseph’s 
 younger son in preference to the elder, notwithstanding 
 the objections of Joseph, is in beautiful contrast with 
 the obstinacy of Isaac, his father, on a similar occasion, 
 when he sought to act counter to the purpose of God, 
 and to secure the blessing to the child of his own pre¬ 
 ference, the elder-born, Esau. Doubtless, Jacob had 
 reflected much upon the evil consequences to himself, 
 and to all the parties concerned, through Isaac’s obsti¬ 
 nacy, and on the impossibility of thwarting the will of 
 the omnipotent God. . But Jacob’s own afflictions had 
 been sanctified to him. His sun was setting-, without 
 clouds, after a stormy day ! 
 
199 
 
 The Lord's IVay with Joseph. 
 
 Much more seems to be conveyed in verse 12 than at 
 once strikes the eye. The two children are there, being 
 so arranged by Joseph, that Jacob’s right hand might 
 the more readily be placed upon Manasseh’s head 5 and 
 his left, upon Ephraim’s. But whilst Joseph is thus 
 occupied, Jacob is listening intently for the divine 
 direction, as to which of the two is to be the pre¬ 
 eminent one. The signal from heaven he hears in his 
 spirit, and he “ bows himself,” in acquiescence, “ with 
 his face to the earth.” Therefore he, with prophetic 
 knowledge, crosses his hands, so that his right hand 
 may repose upon the head of Ephraim, who is placed 
 upon his left. The whole of his action at this moment 
 is done in faith. For so we read: “By faith, Jacob, 
 when he was adying, blessed both the sons of Joseph, 
 and worshipped, leaning upon the top of his staff’’* 
 (Ileb. ix. 21). And in this manner does he show his 
 estimate of all Egypt’s glory, when he, a dying man, 
 blesses the sons of Egypt’s viceroy.f But as for him¬ 
 self, his own glance is towards Bethlehem, where all his 
 former hopes had been buried with liachel, and whence 
 they were, as if in resurrection, to emerge, when He 
 “ whose going forth had been from of old, from ever¬ 
 lasting,” should be born there (Micah v. 2 ). 
 
 Chapter XLIX. Here we perceive the aged patri¬ 
 arch still continuing to look at everything in the light 
 that faith supplies, even as he had done in the preoed- 
 
 * On this passage, see my Lectures on the Epistle to the 
 Hebrews, p. 108. 
 
 t So, too, had Jacob, on a previous occasion, blessed Pharaoh 
 himself. He, a poor pilgrim, had blessed the mightiest and 
 wealthiest potentate on earth. For he was perfectly aware who 
 of them was the beloved of God, and 4 ‘ the less is blessed of 
 the better/' 
 
200 Typical Foreshadowings. 
 
 ing chapter. For here he distributes the possession of 
 Canaan among his sons, as if he himself were there 
 reigning in peace, and as if he and his family were not 
 all of them strangers in a strange land, and as if the 
 Amorite did not yet retain possession of the land which 
 was Israel’s own. But a great contrast is observable in 
 the blessing of Moses, in Deut. xxxiii., and that of 
 Jacob, as we find it recorded here. For there, no evil 
 of theirs is noticed at all, unless it be in the lawgiver’s 
 silence as to Simeon, whose then recent sin with the 
 Midianitish women had been so specially of a tribal 
 character.* But, with this exception, all the tribes are 
 as children. There all is of grace. Thus, of the first¬ 
 born, Moses says: “ Let Reuben live and not die,” ( i.e ., 
 for his sin). But here Jacob blesses his sons as heads 
 of tribes, and in reviewing their conduct severally in 
 the past, predicts their respective places when settled in 
 their land. 
 
 Once more, the entire spiritual history of Israel in 
 the past, and present, and future, may possibly be 
 traced here in Jacob’s blessing of these tribes, as 
 thus:— 
 
 I. Apostate Israel of Old. 
 
 1. Reuben = Israel of old, Grod’s “ son and firstborn ” 
 (Exod. iv. 22). “ Unstable.” 2 and 3. Simeon and 
 
 Levi = Israel, rebellious and murderous (Matt, xxiii. 
 29—36). This their way eventually filled up ; first, in 
 the murder of Christ, and next, of those whom He, 
 
 * On a comparison of the two numberings of Israel, the for¬ 
 mer one made on their entrance into the wilderness (Num. ii.), 
 and the latter, when they were about to emerge from it (Num. 
 xxvi.), we find that whilst in the interim all the other tribes 
 had either somewhat increased, or, at most, slightly diminished, 
 Simeon, which had been counted up to 59,000 on entering the 
 wilderness, had decreased to 22,000 ere it left it. 
 
201 
 
 The Lord’s hVay with Joseph. 
 
 when risen from the dead, sent unto them (Acts vii. 
 52 ; 1 Thess. ii. 15, 16). So, to be scattered and nation¬ 
 ally rejected. 
 
 II. Christ at His First Coming and Now. 
 
 4. Judah, tribal character and sceptre to be retained, 
 till the Lord came. Christ, the Lion and the Shiloh. 
 Then would He have gathered Israel, but “ He was de¬ 
 spised and rejected of men.” Therefore, Israel’s time 
 of mercy deferred. But verses 11 and 12 show what 
 shall yet be the state of things in the land, under 
 Christ’s millennial sway. 
 
 III. The Despised Nation Now. 
 
 5. Zebulun = Israel, a merchant. 6. Issachar = Israel 
 subject to Gentile rule. 
 
 IV. The Nation under the Wilful King and Antichrist. 
 
 7. Dan^. See Lev. xxiv. 11 ; Judges xviii. Mark, too, 
 the omission of the tribe of Dan in Revelation vii. Still, 
 he shall finally have a portion, as iu Ezek. xlviii. Here 
 may be hinted the future apostasy, and the mass of the 
 nation idolaters. See John v. 43 ; Matt. xii. 45. But 
 still an election, a remnant to be saved. Hence, 
 
 V. The Faithful Remnant saved, to be made into the 
 New Nation (Matt. xxi. 43). 
 
 8 . Gad = Victory at the end. 9. Asher = u blessed.” 
 10. Naphtali = freedom and worship. 
 
 VI. Christ the Coming One. 
 
 11. Joseph. Shot at by the archers, but His bow 
 abode in strength. All blessings His that was separated 
 from His brethren. Christ the Shepherd and Stone of 
 Israel. 
 
 VII. Christ the Reigning One. 
 
 12. Benjamin. Son of the right hand. It is a coin¬ 
 cidence, that when the Church has been removed to 
 heaven, as iu Rev. iv., the vision of the Being enthroned 
 
2C2 
 
 Typical Fore shadowings. 
 
 is compared to the sight of a jasper, and of a sardine 
 stone, the two stones which on the high priest-’s dress 
 represented Benjamin and Reuben. 
 
 Chapter L. Jacob had been very solicitous to be 
 buried in Canaan, and had caused Joseph his son to 
 swear that he would attend to that heart’s wish of his. 
 Previously, when Jacob had stood before Pharaoh, he 
 had not asked for anything; for in Egypt he was con¬ 
 tented to live a stranger. The world, of which Egypt is 
 the type, can only be a place of pilgrimage to a saint of 
 God ; and, accordingly, of the last seventeen years of 
 his life which he spent there, little is recorded. But of 
 his body being carried back to the land of his fathers, 
 the story is told us here in full detail; for resurrection 
 was his hope. As with his ancestors, so with himself; 
 he died in faith, not having received the promises ; but 
 having seen them afar off, was persuaded of them, and 
 embraced them, and confessed that lie was a stranger 
 and a pilgrim on the earth. Thus did he declare plainly 
 that he sought a country, a better country, that is, a 
 heavenly (Heb. xi. 13—16). He and the other patri¬ 
 archs did not receive the promise, because God had pro¬ 
 vided some better thing still for us, and because it is 
 His will that they and we should, being perfected to¬ 
 gether at the same time in resurrection, each get his 
 own blessing (Heb. xi. 39, 40). And, hence, in Heb. xii. 
 there is each party beheld in millennial glory : both the 
 spirits of those just men made perfect in resurrection 
 bodies, and we, the Church of the firstborn, whose 
 names are written in heaven; yet so distinctly two 
 separate companies, that God Himself is mentioned as 
 in between them (Heb. xii. 23). 
 
 Then, lastly, we read of Joseph’s own' death, which 
 
The Lord's Way with Joseph. 203 
 
 . took place about fifty-four years after Jacob’s, and a 
 hundred and forty-four years before the Exodus. It 
 would appear as if, even in the declining years of 
 Joseph’s own life, things had begun to look blacker for 
 Israel; for viceroy though he was, and withal such a 
 friend to Egypt and to its monarch as he had been, he 
 dared not to prefer the same request as to interment 
 in Canaan that Jacob had asked. Not that this matter 
 was immaterial to him. On the contrary, on his death¬ 
 bed he spoke of the time of Israel's departure, and gave 
 commandment concerning his bones. And these things 
 he did in faith.* He, too, had his heart elsewhere; he, 
 too, could trust in God ; and he, too, looked forward to 
 resurrection (Heb. xi. 22). And we find that his direc¬ 
 tions were remembered, and in due time carried out. 
 For thus we read : “ And Moses took the bones of Joseph 
 with him, for he had straitly sworn the children of 
 Israel, saying, God will surely visit you, and ye shall 
 carry up my bones away hence with you ” (Exod. xiii. 
 19). And presently, with all proper care, these were 
 interred in Canaan. “ The bones of Joseph, which the 
 children of Israel brought up out of Egypt, buried they 
 in Shechem, in a parcel of ground which Jacob bought 
 of the sons of IJamor, the father of Shechem, for a 
 hundred pieces of silver : and it became the inheritance 
 of the children of Joseph” (Josh. xxiv. 32). In the 
 New Testament the antitype of this carrying about of 
 Joseph’s bones is alluded to (see 2 Cor. iv. 10). “ Bear¬ 
 ing about always in the body the dying of the Lord 
 Jesus, that the life also of Jesus might be made mani¬ 
 fest in our body.” By dying, we live. We remember 
 that Jesus our Lord died. Thus are we delivered from 
 this present evil world without us, and from the flesh 
 which is within us. And thus are we free to live even 
 
204 Typical Foreshadowings. 
 
 here the very life of Jesus, Son of God. And now, 
 Lord, what is OUR hope ? We are Thy children, Thy 
 sons, Thy Bride, Thy Church. The earnest of the in¬ 
 heritance we have. What wait we for ? Truly our 
 hope is even in Thee. Amen, come, Lord Jesus, 
 come! 
 
(fottrlutitttg flemarks. 
 
 ND thus, as immediately subsequent to the narrative 
 
 1 of the six days’ Creation work of God, we have 
 the picture placed before us of that Creation blessed and 
 man its appointed ruler under God ; so, notwithstanding 
 the anarchy introduced by man’s own rebellion and dis¬ 
 obedience, yet at the close of the book, we again behold 
 the rule, and in human hands too, restored. Hence, 
 Joseph resembles, to some extent, Him who is the last 
 Adam; wherefore this book of Scripture proves to be, in 
 a peculiar sense, complete in itself. The divine plan, 
 which seemed to have been frustrated and set aside when 
 sin had paralysed Adam’s grasp of the sceptre entrusted 
 to him, is yet found to be carried out, in the type, in its 
 various details and ramifications. There is the man that 
 had been tried and had remained firm, and had suffered 
 unto prison three years in consequence, at length brought 
 out and seated on the vice-regal throne of the world ; 
 and that world blessed and sustained by him. The view 
 which we get of this seventh man, illustrates in no faint 
 manner, the grand prophetic truth that God’s kingdom 
 and rule will be, and in the very time appointed by God, 
 finally set up, all opposition being for ever quelled by 
 that Man whom He hath ordained. 
 
 Then further, the other representative men in between 
 Adam and Joseph are seen, when once the two ends of 
 this book are compared together, to appear each in his 
 
206 Typical Foreshadowings. 
 
 due and proper place in the divine panorama. For the 
 rule of the Lord Jesus will comprehend not only all the 
 earth, but also heaven. Throughout both of these 
 spheres will His sway utterly extend, that is to say, it 
 will comprise, not merely the whole area spoken of in 
 Psalm viii.; but according to its vast, its infinite enlarge¬ 
 ment in the pages of the New Testament, and notably 
 in Ephes. i. 21, 22. The victory in a most complete 
 manner, over all evil, finally and everywhere remains 
 with God. And therefore, the representative men of the 
 two callings of God, at one time as now to heaven and 
 at another to earth, to wit, Enoch and Noah, come next 
 in order after Adam. For sin having entered into the 
 world, it was not enough for Him to cope with that sin, 
 and to suppress it and put it away; but rather, taking 
 occasion from the exposure of creature vanity, He began 
 at once to come forth in rich displays of Himself and of 
 His eternal counsels to head up all as well in heaven 
 above, as in the earth beneath, under the one supreme 
 dominion of His Son, Christ Jesus our Lord (Eph. i. 10). 
 
 Accordingly, next in order we have brought before us 
 His dealings with Abraham, who is the father of the two 
 seeds: of the one that is to be like the sand of the sea¬ 
 shore 3 and the other as the stars of heaven in multi¬ 
 tude. Of these, believing Abraham is the one father. 
 For inasmuch as it is the part of God to give; so it is 
 the wisdom and the salvation of men to receive His gift. 
 God provides a ransom and finds a Redeemer ; and 
 the corresponding action of His saints all, whether 
 those for heaven or those for earth, is to take, is to 
 believe. Further, as it is necessary that the man of faith 
 should be trained and led on from step to step, in the 
 way of trust in God and of implicit obedience unto Him ; 
 so the various spiritual vicissitudes in Abraham’s life 
 
207 
 
 Concluding Remarks. 
 
 are traced for us by the Spirit of God, that we, by 
 unquestioning faith and obedience, may grow up in the 
 knowledge of God and of His ways. . 
 
 Then in Isaac and Jacob we have seen represented to 
 us, also in type, the Son and the Servant. I need not 
 here repeat what, when considering the lives of these 
 two, I have sought to trace, as regards the times and 
 occasions wherein they rather resemble Him, the divine 
 Son and Servant, and where, in other respects, we, as 
 the sons and servants of God, will do well to study His 
 ways with these patriarchs. But Isaac, as the son 
 offered up by his father, and offering up himself also on 
 the altar, and as if dead three days, and then as risen, 
 and in the father’s house, is certainly the type of Him 
 who yonder awaits a mystic bride, or people, to be 
 brought to Him from a strange land, whilst yet He con¬ 
 tinues hidden. But, on the other hand, Jacob represents 
 Him who Himself came forth into that strange land, in 
 order that He might, by laborious service, painfully earn 
 that bride. No wonder that the Servaut, being in this 
 type regarded as present down here, the people to be 
 blessed here in this world are also themselves seen to have 
 a certain nearness to Him, as well as that other people 
 far more dearly loved ; or, in other words, that the brides 
 of Jacob should be two, and not one ouly. And thus 
 we come to apprehend that the typical prophecy of this 
 book gradually expands before us as the purpose of God 
 is progressively unfolded, even as similarly the prospect 
 stretched out before the traveller opens out as he ad¬ 
 vances. When yet he has hardly begun his journey, the 
 mountains appear together, and seem almost to touch 
 each other ; but as he advances, the mountains divide, 
 and the valleys lying between them become visible. 
 
 Wherefore, lastly, in the account of His way with 
 
2c8 Typical Foreshadowwgs. 
 
 Joseph, these two peoples appear to be distinctly sorted, 
 and the one is evidently nearer far to the ruler than is 
 the other. The one, though of Egyptian extraction, is 
 beheld seated upon the throne with Him ; whilst those 
 of the inferior calling, though nearer to Him after the 
 flesh, are beheld bending at His feet. They are pro¬ 
 voked to jealousy as they perceive that, during their 
 long-continued rejection of Him, not only has His 
 worthiness been acknowledged in another region alto¬ 
 gether to that in which they lived, and by a Potentate 
 whose will is supreme, but that a bride has been given 
 unto Him. And thus is He consoled for the temporary 
 loss of His kindred. So much, indeed, does the glory 
 of the celestial transcend and eclipse the glory of the 
 terrestrial, that the former, notwithstanding the pre¬ 
 ceding instructive type of Jacob’s two wives, is here in 
 the account of Joseph’s joy so placed, that it might be 
 evident to us that those now clinging to the Lord Jesus, 
 and rejoicing His heart during the period of His rejec¬ 
 tion on the earth, shall yet have their own peculiar and 
 pre-eminent place in His affections and in His glory, 
 Whose hand, pierced by His brethren, shall yet wield 
 the sceptre of the entire universe.* We know some- 
 
 * A somewhat similar picture is presented to us in the 
 grouping of Exod. xviii. For there we see Zipporah, who had 
 first met Moses at a well’s mouth, and who, during the time 
 that his brethren rejected him, had been given to him by the 
 father to be his bride, and who had identified herself with his 
 lot. And here she is welcomed into Moses’ own tent, whilst 
 his brethren, whom he has delivered, are encamped round about. 
 Whilst he had been previously engaged in executing the judg¬ 
 ments of God upon Egypt, she had remained hidden in the 
 father’s house. But now at length she is publicly brought 
 forth by the father, and owned by Moses before his brethren, 
 as one nearer to himself than they. And the Church will be 
 in heaven ere the Lord begins to deliver His ancient people 
 
209 
 
 Concluding Remarks. 
 
 tiling of Hid real preciousness, as seen in the light of 
 God’s throne. We are learning to reckon everything in 
 heaven and earth, according to its reflection of the glory 
 of our Lord. So are we becoming heavenly-minded our¬ 
 selves ; and so shall we be, to the praise of His glory, 
 who, before that glory is openly displayed, hope in Christ 
 (Eph. i. 12, Greek). In the very first v.erse of this first 
 chapter of this book of Genesis, heaven had been care¬ 
 fully distinguished from the earth; and here, at the close 
 of this book, in the type of Joseph on the throne, we 
 may behold the relative positions of the two peoples lor 
 these two realms.* 
 
 To be seated with Christ upon His throne is the won¬ 
 derful view held out before those who now, in an evil 
 day, abide in Him, and overcome the world (Rev. iii. 21). 
 This soul-ravishing word of the Lord’s is evidently de¬ 
 signed by Him to be the climaxt of those seven promises 
 found in the epistles to the Churches of Rev. ii. and iii. 
 Only let it not pass unobserved that whereas Asenath in 
 
 Israel, and to pour out His fury upon the world through the 
 action of the seals, trumpets, and vials. And then, ultimately 
 appearing unto them who pierced Him, so that for sorrow they 
 wail before Him, these shall recognize the Church more beloved 
 than they, and in the same glory with Himself. 
 
 * I do not think it necessary here at length to trace the 
 difference, fundamental though it be, between the Church and 
 every other class of saints whatever, not excepting others called 
 with a heavenly calling, as Heb. xi. informs us those in patri¬ 
 archal times were. For we, who now believe on Christ through 
 His apostles’ word, over and above being thus called, are also 
 baptized into one body by the Holy Ghost sent down from the 
 glorified Lord Jesus yonder. The bride of the last Adam 
 is being taken during the night of this dispensation from His 
 pierced side, whilst as to this world He appears to sleep, accept¬ 
 ing His rejection for a while. 
 
 f See proof of this statement in Lectures on the Revelation, 
 vol. i., pp. 53—55. 
 
 14 
 
2 TO 
 
 Typical Foreshadowings. 
 
 the type shares all the ruler’s own glory with himself, 
 yet never once is she seen to ttie front in the narrative. 
 Whilst his affections she possesses, and hi3 exalted posi¬ 
 tion she shares, yet does the ruler himself alone till the 
 entire scene. She is identified with Joseph, yet is she 
 not identical. One is the blesser ; all the others are the 
 blessed. Christ is the Fountain; His people all are 
 vessels. Some, indeed, may be full to overflowing ; but 
 what have they which they have not received ? That 
 grave error which denies the Church to be Christ’s bride, 
 and admits her to be His body only, has arisen through 
 the attempt to bringdown and to scan divine realities by 
 human shadows. 
 
 Contrary to the opinion of many upon these very high 
 and sacred matters, I own myself to be compelled by 
 what appears to be the distinct leading of Scripture in 
 Ephesians, to accept the view that the position of the 
 Church as the Bride of Christ is higher than is her 
 position as the body of Christ; and that we are members 
 of His body, being taken out of His flesh and out of 
 His bones* in order to be formed into His Bride, as was 
 Eve for Adam. For I beg the reader carefully to 
 observe how the argument of Ephesians, and particularly 
 this line of things, are there unfolded step by step by the 
 inspired writer. In chap. i.,. he treats of God’s predes¬ 
 tination and calling of us individually to be His sons, 
 before Him and iu His love. Next in chap. ii. we are, 
 taught that we are being budded together for God’s 
 
 Eph. v. 30, has the word “out” in Greek before the men¬ 
 tion of His flesh, and again it is inserted ere we read of His 
 bones. And thus it is seen, that the sentiment in the first 
 clause is by no means the same as in the latter two. The first 
 clause refers to our oneness with Himself as His body ; the 
 other two look at our relationship to Him as His Bride formed 
 out of Him. 
 
Concluding Remarks. 21 1 
 
 o 
 
 habitation, so that we grow into a holy temple in the 
 Lord. Then in chap, iii., we hear that we are all being 
 formed into a body together, of which Christ Himself is 
 the Head. And lastly, in chap, v., we hear of the great 
 mystery of “ Christ, AND the Church,” so treated of, as 
 in evident allusion to the narrative in Gen. ii.; in other 
 words, of the Church as the Bride of Christ. And it is 
 very remarkable, that of the four similitudes of the 
 Church as such which are found in Scripture—to-wit, a 
 Temple, a Body, a Bride, and a City — each one of 
 the three first of these, which refer to her position God- 
 wards, as a temple or living house for the living God ; as a 
 body for the Spirit to fill, flowing down from the Head to 
 all the members ; and as a bride for Christ to love, are all 
 found in this single epistle and in this particular order 
 too, as if thus in the comparison of her to a bride, 
 the grand idea of God and her own climax of bless¬ 
 ing were indeed reached. If you inquire how can 
 these things be? lean only reply, such seems to be 
 the teaching of Scripture. But may there not be in 
 keeping this best and grandest similitude to the last, the 
 suggestion of the Church’s own self-consciousness, of 
 her own Entity. If she were the body only, how could 
 there be any intelligence of His love; any appreciation 
 of Himself? or how could there be any voluntary and 
 hearty reciprocation of that love ? And yet surely it is a 
 pleasure to Him, that His love is by us reciprocated ! 
 
 That it is indeed the bridal relationship of the Church 
 .to Christ which is contemplated in Eph. v. 25—32, is 
 evident from many considerations. I will specify three 
 of these: First, the allusion, all through the passage, to 
 the formation and presentation by God of Eve to Adam ; 
 only as all antitypical views of Christ transcend vastly 
 the type, so here we have the striking and grand differ- 
 
212 Typical Foreshadowings. 
 
 ence, that we, as the Church, are not only formed out 
 of the side of Christ, the last Adam, but by Himself 
 are presented to Himself, the Son of God. Secondly, 
 the sentiment of presenting one’s own body to oneself 
 is. derogatory to the correctness of Scripture simile 
 and style. And once more, as I have argued on chap, 
 ii., the very language itself—“ Christ akd the Church” 
 —ought to settle the matter. For when the thought is 
 of the Church, as the body of Christ, then the Spirit of 
 God speaks of the whole together as “ the Christ ” 
 (1 Cor. xii. 12, Greek). Hence it seems a very solemn 
 thing to deny this bridal relationship of the Church, 
 inasmuch as this line of thought is here, in this said 
 chapter, carefully traced out at length by the inspired 
 writer, in proof of the reality and greatness of Christ’s 
 love. And here, therefore, we have an instance that in 
 clinging to any one side of Scripture truth unduly, 
 
 which is done when occasion is taken therebv to dis- 
 
 * 
 
 parage and to deny any other side of that same truth, 
 we may be led into heresy, which means selected truth , 
 and much further on from the full truth of God than 
 one is aware of. 
 
 And now, as the morning must soon dawn, and the 
 Morning Star at last appear above the horizon, therefore 
 the true Church of God is awaking up, as Eve, to the 
 blessed consciousness of her own corporate existence, 
 and of His love >as her heavenly Bridegroom, and of 
 the glory awaiting her when He comes. So, too, now, 
 in an unprecedented manner, and in hundreds of places 
 in this and other lands, is this loved Church beginning 
 to own and to act on the attraction found in the one 
 Name, and to be assembled solely unto it as the true 
 Church ground, according to Matthew xviii., and by 
 that very action separating herself, as His mystic body 
 
Concluding Remarks. 213 
 
 and bride, from all defilement, and from tbe dead re¬ 
 ligious souls all around her, unto Him who Himself is 
 also raised from the dead ones by the glory of the 
 Father. Christ’s own body was raised iip in two literal 
 days; the mystic body of Christ will likewise be raised 
 up in two prophetic days. And then, on the third day, 
 the antitypical marriage will take place in Cana, “ pos¬ 
 session ” ; ere He presently comes down to Capernaum, 
 “ the place of repentance,” for Israel. Even now, in 
 many of these true assemblies of His people, the cry is 
 beginning to be heard : not her own cry, as of the Bride 
 only, but of the Spirit Himself within her; yea, con¬ 
 jointly, “the Spirit and the Bride say, Come.”* Where¬ 
 fore, as of old, creation was e£ avrov, and Si a vtov, and 
 eis avrov, = “ out of Him, and by Him, and for Him ” 
 (Rom. xi. 36; Col. i. 16); so in redemption, the like 
 will be seen again, only in a more stable way, as depend¬ 
 ing on the worthiness and goodness of Him, instead of 
 on its own. For if you look at heaven, there will be 
 seen the Church, His Body and His Bride there; or if 
 you look down on earth, yonder is Israel, His Body and 
 His Bride there (see Isa. xxvi. 19, and Ps. xlv.). Only 
 
 * See my Lectures on Revelation (vol. ii., pp. 276—281), where 
 it is shown that this cry of hers, “ Come; come, Lord Jesus! ” 
 is in response to the Lord’s presentation of Himself as the 
 Morning Star, and, therefore, most certainly is the cry of the 
 Church, as the Bride. For Christ, as the Morning Star, is the 
 Church’s hope; as the appearance of Him, as the Sun of Right¬ 
 eousness, is Israel’s. As for the false Church, she is everywhere 
 settled down here, and does not want Him. She is Babylon the 
 great, the mother of harlots. Since the Church is both a city 
 and a woman, so also is the counterfeit. But the one is a 
 great city, which the Church is not called (the word “ great,” 
 in Rev. xxi. 10, should be omitted). Contrastedly, she is “the 
 holy city.” And again, the one is a harlot; but the other is a 
 chaste virgin. 
 
2T4 
 
 Typical Foreshadowings. 
 
 as the glories of these two peoples are very diverse, so 
 upon His throne, seated with Him, is the one class, with 
 crowns all; whilst standing before Him, but with palms 
 only, is beheld obviously quite another (Rev. vii.). 
 Whilst in Himself, the man-God, the God-man, “the 
 Shepherd and Stone of Israel ” (Gen. xlix. 24), is the 
 rule over all, gathered up, and the world itself is blessed 
 at last. 
 
 Finally, as God will yet head up all things in Christ, 
 both which are in heaven, and which are on earth, even 
 in Him, so it would appear that “ God has centred in 
 His Son all the blessing that man has abused in all 
 dispensations. In Rev. iv. and v. we find the Lordship 
 of the Adamic dispensation; the Rainbow of the judged 
 and cleansed earth ; the glory of Israel that Ezekiel 
 had seen removed from Jerusalem, and the title to 
 Church blessing in the admitted worthiness of the only 
 worthy One.” * 
 
 All, all above— on earth below. 
 
 In wond’ring rapture fall; 
 
 Join in the universal song, 
 
 And crown Him Lord of All! 
 
 * Extracted from Lectures on the Revelation, vol. i., p. 76. 
 
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