Devotion by Vow
Ministry by G. R. Cowell
– Memorials: Volume 5

G.A R.

Ques. Is it experience with God, accompanied by light, which causes us to make a vow?

G.R.C. So Jacob’s pillar would suggest experience.

Ques. Is it right for every Christian to make a vow?

G.R.C. I thought so. Perhaps you would say what you think.

Rem. I think it is right for every Christian to make a vow. When once you have experience with God, you commit yourself by a vow.

G.R.C. Very good – I am very thankful for your confirmation.

Ques. Is it remarkable that the first vow in scripture should be connected with such a man as Jacob? Would it follow on what has just been said about every Christian making a vow? I was thinking of all that Jacob represents in his history, and of his name being changed to Israel.

G.R.C. That is very encouraging. It says in Romans 9, referring to Jacob,

• “And not only that, but Rebecca having conceived by one, Isaac our father, the children indeed being not yet born, or having done anything good or worthless

• (that the purpose of God according to election might abide, not of works, but of him that calls),

• it was said to her, The greater shall serve the less: according as it is written, I have loved Jacob, and I have hated Esau”, Romans 9: 10-13.

• It is a wonderful thing to understand the sovereign love of God. It was not based on anything in Jacob, because God’s election was before he had done anything good or bad, but nevertheless it says,
  • “The greater shall serve the less … I have loved Jacob”.

• And so we have this bedrock to go on – the sovereign love of God. That is why we can say, ‘such a man as Jacob’, because we are all Jacobs. There was nothing in us by nature to commend us to God, but we are,
  • “elect according to the foreknowledge of God the Father”, 1 Peter 1: 2;

• and therefore nothing that happens in the responsible path can turn God aside. It was before we did anything good or bad that He chose us, and that gives great stability to the soul.

• He is going to carry out His purpose; He is going to make Israel of every Jacob, and so He is called –
  • “The mighty God of Jacob”.

• Think of what God can do!

Ques. Is that set out in verse 15 of our chapter?

• “And behold, I am with thee, and will keep thee in all places to which thou goest”.

G.R.C. It is a question of the faithfulness of God. The promise is unconditional,

• “I am with thee, and will keep thee in all places to which thou goest, and will bring thee again into this land; for I will not leave thee until I have done what I have spoken to thee of”.

• It is unconditional committal on God’s part to this man Jacob, and that is how God is committed to each of those who are elect according to His sovereign purpose and love.

Ques. Would you say why, on Jacob’s side, it is conditional?

• “If God will be with me, and keep me on this road that I go”.

G.R.C. We may say Jacob’s vow was not on a very high level, but I think he said what was right.

• The “if” is not from the standpoint of doubt.

• In the sense of our own weakness, we can only make a vow as contingent upon what God has committed Himself to.

• I do not think the “if” meant to imply doubt as to whether God would do it, but to indicate the basis on which Jacob could commit himself.

• There is no other basis on which we can commit ourselves to God. The flesh profits nothing.

• It is in the light of God’s committal to us, and contingent upon His faithfulness which we know will ever be true, that we can commit ourselves to Him.

Ques. In that sense is the vow made with the greatness of the whole divine system in mind?

• There may be guidance from the Spirit as to the way in which the vow works out practically in detail, but do we begin with the glory of the whole system – the heavens and the earth as Jacob viewed them?

G.R.C. It is true that Jacob was not yet at home with God; there were things to be settled, as there are with all of us.

• We need not wait for everything to be settled before we make our vow; God will see to the settlement. So that Jacob was not happy in this place; he says,
  • “How dreadful is this place! this is none other but the house of God, and this is the gate of heaven”.

• But, nevertheless, wonderful light comes into his soul as to the whole system:
  • “And behold, a ladder was set up on the earth, and the top of it reached to the heavens. And behold, angels of God ascended and descended upon it. And behold, Jehovah stood above it”.

• There is, no doubt, much to learn in those statements.

Rem. It was an operating system, the angels of God ascending and descending.

G.R.C. Yes. The first thing to note, considering this is light as to the house of God, is God’s supreme interest in man. We do not read of God dwelling with angels.

• God purposes to dwell with men, and He has a supreme interest in the men whom He has foreknown. He has set His love upon them, and nothing will ever turn Him aside –
  • “Jacob have I loved”.

• Of course Jacob early began to justify the Divine choice, no doubt because of the operation of the Spirit in him. The Spirit often begins to work early in those foreknown of God.

• With John the Baptist the work appeared before natural birth, and Paul said he was separated from his mother’s womb; so that God’s sovereign choice early begins to justify itself.

• It says of Jacob that he was a homely man, and God loves a homely man. Jacob was a homely man dwelling in tents,
  • and Esau a man of the field, a man of the world;

• and you can understand that if God is going to have a house, and dwell with men, He would dwell with homely people.

• Homely people are easy to live with; a man of the world is not at all easy to live with.

• A man of the world does not shine at all at home, but the features proper to home life appeared early in Jacob, with a view to God’s house.

Ques. Do you see something significant in the expression,

• “And behold, Jehovah stood above it”?

• The word “stood” here signifies ‘stationing Himself’. Does that mean that for the moment all operations proceed from God, and again lead back to God, God taking the chief place there?

G.R.C. And does it not confirm the fact of His interest being in man? He stations Himself in this position.

• His attention is concentrated at this point upon one man, a lonely man who had left home in awkward circumstances, and who had only a stone for a pillow.

• He had nothing of this world’s goods, and yet God’s attention was concentrated upon him. He was stationing Himself, and He had sent out His angels.

• Hebrews has in mind the house of God in its present aspect as the tabernacle of witness, and also in its final aspect; and it is that epistle which says as to angels,
  • “Are they not all ministering spirits, sent out for service on account of those who shall inherit salvation?” Hebrews 1: 14.

• The view of the angels here is that they are sent out. They are concentrating on Jacob, ascending from Jacob and descending to him, because they are already sent out.

• It does not view them in heaven as waiting to be sent out, but they are viewed as already sent out for service on account of this heir of salvation.

Ques. Would Jacob’s vow correspond with the believer’s history as seen in Romans 12? He is moved by the compassions of God, and presents his body a living sacrifice.

Rem. I think so. I am very thankful for the remark that every Christian should make a vow. We should all be definite in our committal, and the body presented involves that.

Ques. Does the ladder suggest to Jacob his way of approach? The ladder is not necessary for angels.

G.R.C. I should like more help as to the ladder. When moral questions are settled, and Jacob returns to Bethel, there is not a ladder.

• Chapter 35: 13 implies that God is down alongside him, because it says,
  • “And God went up from him in the place where he had talked with him”.

• So that God was there in His house, and Jacob was on happy terms with God. It was no longer a dreadful place to Jacob; it was a delightful place, a place where God talked with him.

• In our early history we are apt to think of God as far off; we think of Him in heaven, which is, of course always true.
  • But it dawns on us as time proceeds that God is dwelling in His house down here, a wonderful thing.

• So even in our first impression of the house of God it may be that we are still thinking of God as at a distance.

• A young believer thinks of God in heaven; in prayer he prays to God in heaven;
  • but it is another thing to pray in the consciousness that God is dwelling among us, and walking among us,

• that we are speaking to One who is very close to us and that He would have us form His habitation, though the heaven and the heaven of heavens cannot contain Him.

Ques. Does the ladder involve a step at a time, and thus bring in the thought of facing certain exercises which may arise in view of arriving at the end God has in mind for us?

G.R.C. Jacob needed putting right in his business, and, as he approached Bethel, he realised that his family was not right.

• Also he needed putting right in relation to his brother, and all that involved being put right as to Himself.

• It was particularly in regard to relations with his brother that he was brought to the point of wrestling with God to get right himself.

• But even then he was not right in his family. It shows what a process is needed to get right.

• God disciplines us in our business, but it is to put us right with Him in business matters; and then He disciplines us in our relations with our brother. It says,
  • “Wherefore, having put off falsehood, speak truth every one with his neighbour”, Ephesians 4: 25.

• Have we always been absolutely transparent with our brother in Christ? We have all got to face getting on with our brother, especially the awkward brother.

• Esau, and later Edom, represents the awkward brother; and getting on with him is a very important exercise, because it is that which brings us to an end of ourselves.

• How can we be happy in God’s house if we are not right with our brother? It is impossible! How can God have dwelling conditions if we are not right with one another?

• That is the exercise which brings us to the brazen serpent – going round the land of Edom; and thus it brings us to an end of ourselves.

• But even then we may still be weak in our homes. They may be the last things to be thoroughly put right.

• But when Jacob made his final move he cleansed his house of idols, and the household washed their garments.

• So there was a protracted process before he was in liberty with God in His house. How encouraging, however, that God was with him all through those exercises.
  • “I am with thee, and will keep thee in all places to which thou goest, and will bring thee again into this land; for I will not leave thee until I have done what I have spoken to thee of”.

• In all those exercises God is graciously with us and keeps us. If not, where should we be?

Ques. Do you think the ladder, from a certain point of view, is God’s consideration for Jacob? It was not let down from heaven:

• “And behold, a ladder was set up on the earth, and the top of it reached to the heavens”.

• Was it His consideration for Jacob in indicating a step at a time, but always towards heaven, God Himself the objective?

• I was following up your remark about getting adjusted in the various circles of influence in our circumstances. It is not hopeless; we do not give up. Things are faced a little at a time.

G.R.C. How patient God is, the mighty God of Jacob! How David clung to Him, and how we should cling to Him.

• But then the fact that the ladder is set up on earth is very interesting. What God is concerned with at the present time is something set up on earth.
  • It is a great thing for the believer to realise that God has something established on earth.

• When we are young we think so much of God in heaven, and what God has in heaven, but the vow stands related to what God has set up on earth.

Ques. Is that why the ascending comes before the descending?

G.R.C. Yes, because the angels are already sent out. They are already commissioned in relation to what God has set up on earth.

Ques. When Jacob sets up a stone as a pillar, he sets it up on earth. Would that represent himself as linked with what God has set up on earth?

G.R.C. He grasped the idea that the mind of God is to have something set up on earth for Himself. He grasped the idea, too, that what God sets up on earth for Himself is to be a testimony. The pillar conveys the idea of testimony.

Ques. Would that be connected with the one body in Christ in Romans 12?

G.R.C. I think it would, showing that committal, if it is intelligent, has in mind what God has established on earth.

• It is our “intelligent service”, Romans 12: 1.

• As presenting our bodies “a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable to God”, we know what we are presenting our bodies for.

• We are presenting them with a view to functioning in the one body. The one body in Christ is the foundation of all that God has on earth at the moment.

• Unless the one body in Christ is functioning, Christ will not have His bride or His wife, nor will God have his house in practical expression, at the present time.

• So that the believer presents his body in the light of what God has now established on earth. His body is necessary for it.

Ques. Is that why God emphasises,

• “thy seed shall be as the dust of the earth”;

• the heavenly side does not come in?

G.R.C. No doubt in the literal interpretation it is referring to Israel, the earthly seed.

• We know that we belong to the heavenly seed, but nevertheless, although a heavenly vessel, the assembly is on earth at the moment in testimony – the house of God, the assembly of the living God, the pillar and base of the truth. So it says,
  • “thou shalt spread abroad to the west, and to the east, and to the north, and to the south”.

• We need to learn to take account of God’s habitation, spread abroad to the furthermost comers of the earth, so that no part of it is overlooked in our Levitical service and in our prayers.

• Our vows should have in mind caring for God’s house, God’s habitation in the Spirit, spread out to the furthermost corners of the earth; no outpost should be overlooked.

Ques. Do you think the way Jehovah speaks to him in verse 13 would be a very great encouragement to Jacob. He says,

• “I am Jehovah, the God of Abraham, thy father, and the God of Isaac”.

• He speaks to Abraham as the Almighty God, but here He says,
  • “I am Jehovah”.

G.R.C. It is most encouraging – Jehovah, the covenant-keeping God.

• He refers to the west, the east, the north and the south. It is remarkable that God starts with the west, because the sun had just set on Jacob;
  • he had reached the west, his earthly hopes and ambitions had come to nothing.

• That is where God begins. He tells you about another system which He has set up on the earth.

• You say, ‘Well if I have no hopes here, it is a wonderful thing to have hopes in heaven’. That is true. There is a hope laid up for us in the heavens.

• But God would tell us also that, if our natural hopes have sunk down in the west, He will begin there; and He will give us a sphere of heavenly interests on earth, which is superlative.

Ques. Is it important that Jacob not only set up the pillar, but poured oil on it?

• God refers to that in chapter 35, does he not?
  • “Arise, go up to Bethel”, verse 1, “where thou anointedst the pillar”, chapter 31: 13.

• If there is to be something here on earth for God, both for His pleasure and in testimony, it must be characterised by the Holy Spirit, must it not?

G.R.C. It must; Jacob’s intelligence typically is wonderful.

• Although he had yet to wrestle with God to learn the value of the Spirit experimentally, yet he had light that
  • if there was to be anything for God on earth it must be in the power of the anointing.

Ques. Does that go along with his setting up the pillar? Was it truly the Spirit that was in mind, but just now instinctive with Jacob; he was not fully in the intelligence of it?

G.R.C. Why should he set up a pillar? It shows there is instinctive intelligence with one in whom God is working.

Ques. Why does the anointing of the pillar precede the making of the vow?

G.R.C. Would not the setting up and the anointing of the pillar show the apprehension Jacob arrived at in his soul through the vision?

• He had apprehended that God was setting up something on earth, His house, but that it was to be a testimony.

• The testimony of God goes out from His house; so the house of God is said to be,
  • “The assembly of the living God, the pillar and the base of the truth”, 1 Timothy 3: 15.

• This would, I take it, be Jacob’s apprehension of that up to this point; he had not got far, it was only his pil1ow which he made a pil1ar here.

• That is, his personal testimony could not go further than his experience at this point; but then the fact is
  • he had apprehended that there was to be a pillar of testimony here for God, and God’s house was to be the pillar,

• and that the testimony was to be maintained in the power of the Spirit.

Ques. You spoke earlier of God working things out in one man, in Jacob, as if to set before us His interest and concern after man.

• I wondered if Paul’s history would give us a touch of this in our own dispensation? He speaks of himself as a delineation of those about to believe.

• When the Lord first touched him He sent him into the city to be told what he should do; He immediately left with him a sense that there was something He had in testimony here.

G.R.C. That is very helpful, because would it not be right to say that Jacob gives us the delineation, in the Old Testament, and in the way of a full length portrait,

• of a man with whom God was dealing to bring him to His own end;

• and is not Paul the one in whom we have that in the New Testament? We have his exercises, told us in the most intimate way as a delineation of all who were to follow.

• So Jacob is a great delineation, David returning to it – the Mighty God of Jacob. What a comfort it must have been to David in all his experiences to think that the Mighty God of Jacob was his God!

Ques. Would you say that the continuation of the line is indicated in verse 15, where Jehovah refers to,

• “the God of Abraham, thy father, and the God of Isaac”?

G.R.C. That should be a concern to all who are younger. I trust we shall all take heed to our brother’s remark that God looks for each one of us to make a vow.

• What use will you be to God if you do not make a vow, and a vow relative to what God has set up on earth?

• It is a very practical matter. It means that you vow to set yourself for the prosperity of what God has here on earth.

Ques. Would you say something about the house of God being the gate of heaven? It seems that it is only the gate. We know something, through grace, of the blessedness of God’s house, yet that is only the gate of heaven.

G.R.C. I am not sure that I would put it that way, that it is only the gate of heaven.

• The gate is the place of administration and of judgment, and I would say it means that the administration of the wealth of heaven is in the house of God on earth now.

• It is the very gate of heaven. Heaven’s administration is not far away; we are not thinking of heaven a long way off; heaven’s administration is set in what God has set up on earth.

• It is in the house of God. And heaven’s judgment about matters is there too.

Ques. It is remarkable that Jacob’s first thought on awakening concerned the house of God and the gate of heaven. Is it establishing for young and old to get that into their souls?

G.R.C. It is God’s intention that we should lay hold of the fact that He has set up something on earth unspeakably precious to Him – His house; and that is to eclipse all else.

• Just as Jerusalem became the centre for men later, where God had set His name and where His house was, so now God has something here on earth –
  • “the assembly of the living God, the pillar and base of the truth”,

• and that is to eclipse everything else for us.

Ques. Is it a sense of that in the soul which enables us to make the vow, because here it says as to Jacob,

• “he called the name of that place Bethel”,

• and this was before he made the vow? It had another name to begin with.

G.R.C. It is very interesting that Jacob names it, showing what his appreciation of it was. It was not just a vague impression. He says,

• “this is none other but the house of God, and this is the gate of heaven”.

• We ought to be able to name what God has here, as finding it a supreme object of value to us.

Ques. Was this administration of heaven seen in Jerusalem in Acts 2? Peter says,

• “God has made him, this Jesus whom ye have crucified, both Lord and Christ”, verse 36.

• The administration of that blessed Man was flowing out in Jerusalem.

G.R.C. Yes, so the gate of heaven was there in Jerusalem. The apostle says,

• “he has poured out this which ye behold and hear”, Acts 2: 33.

• There it was on the earth, but it was the administration of heaven.

Ques. Would the gate of heaven be connected with the dispensation of God which is in faith?

G.R.C. It certainly would. The word dispensation could be translated administration.

• It is the economy, or administration, of God, which is in faith; and that is what you get in Acts 2 in principle.

• It was God unfolding the fulness of His heart in the gift of the Spirit, the administration of God Himself.

Ques. How do you understand the fear setting in here? A kind of wholesome fear rightly begins here, would you think,

• and continues all the time on account of the great change which is necessary in those who form the house of God, which is the gate of heaven?

G.R.C. So that this fear did not mean that he desired never to come back. It was not fear in the sense of terror, because his vow shows that he counted on God to bring him back in suitability. Does not fear, in the sense of piety, remain all through?

Ques. In Hebrews 12, for instance, where we are set free in grace to serve God acceptably, it speaks also of fear, God being a consuming fire. Does that mean we may be conscious in ourselves, at any point, of things which still have to be adjusted or got rid of?

G.R.C. I would think so. There was much that had to be dealt with in Jacob, and that must have been underlying in his soul when he says,

• “How dreadful is this place!”

• He would be conscious of how little he was in accord with it; but then God had undertaken to be with him in view of bringing about suitability.

Ques. Is the anonymous psalmist of Psalm 116 an example to us? He says,

• “I will walk before Jehovah in the land of the living”, verse 9.

• Does not that answer to piety? Then he goes on to say,
  “I will perform my vows unto Jehovah yea, before all his people”, verse 14.

G.R.C. The Psalms help much in these matters, and we know that the psalmist always had in view God’s habitation at Jerusalem; the vows stand in relation to that.

• “I will walk before Jehovah in the land of the living”

• would involve the true fear of God. We belong to the assembly of the living God; and the word of God is living and operative; it searches us.

• But then there are the vows; and they are to be performed, not only to be made, but performed,
  • “before all his people. In the courts of Jehovah’s house, in the midst of thee, O Jerusalem. Hallelujah!” verses 18-19.

• That is where the vows are performed. It was said at the beginning of this reading that the vow would be the result of experience and light.

• Perhaps we could have another word as to experience; we have been talking a good deal about light.

Rem. Jacob had experience in his dream. His first experience of God was fear in his soul; it is right to fear God.

• Proverbs says, “The fear of Jehovah is the beginning of wisdom”, Proverbs 9: 10;

• it also says it is the beginning of knowledge. Jacob’s first experience of God was fear; it is right that it should be so.

Ques. In chapter 31: 13 God says,

• “I am the God of Bethel”,

• the place which apparently Jacob had named. Is that encouraging?

G.R.C. It is. In chapter 31 Jacob was a long way from Bethel, but God says, “I am the God of Bethel”.

• And God had taken account of everything, for He says,
  • “where thou anointedst the pillar, where thou vowedst a vow to me”.

• God never forgets acts like those of Jacob – anointing the pillar and vowing a vow.

Ques. Why is he told to go to his kindred –

• “return to the land of thy kindred”.

• Is that a link with chapter 28 in the instruction which Isaac gave to him as to taking a wife?

G.R.C. Yes, he had been obedient as to his marriage; he had taken a wife of his own kindred, so that there was no link of a kind which would be out of keeping with the house of God.

• But then in saying, “return to the land of thy kindred”, God knew he had got to face his brother.

• He had been disciplined as to his business, God had been with him through it all; now he had got to get right with his brother.

• We cannot be right in the house of God if we are not right with our brother. It does not do to write any brother off and say I cannot get on with him.

• Because a brother is awkward, we may act towards him in a way which is not right, and it is not easy to confess that to an awkward brother.

• But brotherly relations must be right if we are to be in accord with God in His house.

Rem. There cannot be unity without true brotherly relations.

Ques. Were there greater things revealed to Nathanael because he was right? The Lord says to him

• “truly an Israelite”, John 1: 47.

G.R.C. Quite so; the Lord commends Nathanael in that way, an Israelite indeed.

• The word Israelite is interesting in connection with what we are dealing with. Jacob’s name was changed to Israel.

• The Lord then speaks to Nathanael of the greater things,
  • “the angels of God ascending and descending on the Son of man”, verse 51.

• Here we have them ascending and descending relative to Jacob, which goes with Hebrews, where they are sent out for service on account of those who shall inherit salvation.

• God is so concerned about His house, and those who are called to have part in it, that He has sent out the angels for service. It is a wonderful thing.

• How it should encourage us in making a vow, that angels are sent out for service relative to us.

• But then, “on the Son of man” involves that the whole attention of heaven is concentrated upon the Son of man. It is a most extended view.

Ques. You were speaking about an awkward brother. Would you make a difference between awkwardness and naughtiness? Sometimes a brother is very naughty.

G.R.C. What do we do then? That would not excuse us in being naughty to him, would it? Is not that where we need special help with one another?

• If our brother is awkward, it needs much grace; but if he is naughty, does it not need much grace to handle the matter faithfully without doing anything wrong on our side? What care and wisdom too we need!

Rem. It may involve the truth, and we have to stand for the truth.

G.R.C. So that in Timothy, which deals with the house of God in testimony, the word to Timothy is,

• “Those that sin convict before all, that the rest also may have fear”, 1 Timothy 5: 20.

• That is not a personal matter; it is a matter which affects God and His rights in His house.

Rem. You suggest that Jacob’s being told by God to depart and return to the land of his kindred would include his meeting with Esau a little later, but apparently he had to go through still more experience before he could meet him properly.

G.R.C. Yes. He had to flee. He fled from Esau, but it involved fleeing from the land of his kindred;

• and getting back meant that the matter with Esau had got to be settled; he had got to face him.

• I am not suggesting that Esau ever repented about his own conduct, but Jacob had got to face Esau, and that cast him on God, so that first of all he faced God.

• He had seen God face to face he said. He had to do with God in a most personal way.

Ques. Do you link El-Bethel with the thought of Son over God’s house and the Minister of the holy places?

G.R.C. El-Bethel is a great statement which would signify that Jacob had changed his centre.

• In spite of the vision he had had at the beginning, in spite of the help he received from God in his business, in spite of the help received through wrestling with God and in meeting his brother,
  • yet after all that, he builds an altar and calls it, El-Elohe-Israel.

• Jacob was still his own centre; himself, his blessing and his house were still his centre, and therefore his house was not right.

• If I am my own centre and my house is my centre, my house will never be right; but when I move towards the house of God, then I am searched as to my own house.

• He had previously been searched personally in his relations with his brother, but now there was the searching as to the whole question of his house –
  • whether there were any idols there at all, anything which would stand between the making of a vow and the performance of it.

• Are there idols in our houses? Or are our houses truly hallowed, truly held for God?

• Are our houses such that the assembly could meet in them at any time – the assembly in the house? Is there anything in the house out of accord with the assembly of the living God?

• That is the thing to see to; to cleanse our houses of everything out of keeping with the house of God.

Rem. That may involve other persons in the house besides Jacob: that is where the difficulty comes in sometimes.

G.R.C. Jacob personally was beyond his household at this point; he had had to do with God in a personal way,

• but now we can see what moral power he had in his house as his face was set towards Bethel.

• Previously, in settling down, what sorrow came into his home! Who of us is free altogether of this kind of thing, shame coming upon us in connection with our own houses. Even David said,
  • “Although my house be not so before God”, 2 Samuel 23: 5.

• And so, through Jacob settling down, with himself and his house as his centre – though acknowledging God in it, El-Elohe-Israel – shameful things happened – chapter 34.

• But now, with his face towards Bethel, he had moral power, and said to his household and to all that were with him,
  • “Put away the strange gods that are among you, and cleanse yourselves”.

• There, was the movement up to Bethel; the idols were buried, and
  • “the terror of God was upon the cities that were round about”.

• And so he came to Bethel, and he built there an altar and called the place El-Bethel.

• Now he had got a right centre – God and His house. The God of the house of God was the centre of Jacob’s life.

• Therefore, as coming to Bethel, he not only set up a pillar, after God had talked with him, but he poured a drink-offering on it, and then poured oil on it.

• I believe Jacob was now performing his vow; he had made a vow, but now he performs it in pouring the drink-offering on the pillar.

Ques. Does that mean that he is entirely and unreservedly committed now to God and His house?

G.R.C. That is what I thought. Is not the drink-offering in a sense the crown of the offerings?

• When a burnt-offering or a peace-offering was offered, the offering was offered, and the proportion of the oblation was offered with it,
  • and then there was a drink-offering of strong drink which, it says, was poured out in the sanctuary.

• What an appreciation Jacob now had typically of the assembly as the pillar and base of the truth, so much so that he pours the drink-offering! He really pours himself upon it.

Rem. I think you have helped us in regard to making the vow, not to wait until everything is right, but to make the vow, and then God will come in and help us in all our movements;

• and if we are conscious of anything wrong, He will put it right, so that we may be brought to this point.

G.R.C. As you say, we would encourage one another not to delay to make the vow.

• God is faithful, and it is in the light of God’s faithfulness and His full committal to us that we make the vow,
  • and then we rely upon His faithfulness to bring us to the point when we shall be able to perform it.

• Really Jacob performed it here, and he went beyond his vow in a way; and that is what God would expect us to do.

• We make a vow in early days, and we do not understand the full implications at the time, but God will bring us to it,
  • so that we go beyond the literal vow which we made, in the full committal suggested in the pouring out of the drink-offering.

Ques. And God being down close to him, speaking to him, is not that a touching thing? It is not God on top of the ladder now, but God speaking with him and appearing to him.

G.R.C. That is what we need to know more about experimentally.

• “I will dwell among them” and, “walk among them”.

• How much do we know of God dwelling down here?

Now in Leviticus much more light had come in as to the house of God, and the book opens with God speaking to Moses out of the tent of meeting – not speaking from heaven, but out of the tent of meeting.

• God was very near. In grace He was actually dwelling amongst His people. How much do we know of God speaking to us as dwelling amongst us?

• God had not made His dwelling conditional. His covenant at that time was conditional, but that He should come and dwell was His own suggestion, again the fruit of sovereign love.

• God’s desire is to dwell with men, and not to postpone this until conditions are perfect, as in the eternal state. His love is so great that He comes to dwell amongst men now.

• So the idea of a vow is introduced into Leviticus. It stands related to God having taken up His abode amongst His redeemed people, and to the way He counted upon them to desire to draw near to Him,
  • not only to draw near to Him in thanksgiving, but in definite committal to Him, and also to the wonderful habitation He had established.

Ques. Is there some significance in the fact that it says in the first chapter that God called to Moses, as well as spoke to him out of the tent of meeting, as though He was suggesting at once the idea of approach on the part of the people?

G.R.C. That is very affecting is it not? God having come down to dwell, He immediately called and spoke with a view to men drawing near to Him in His abode.

• I wondered whether the peace-offering bears, in a peculiar way, on the question of vows.

• A peace offering could be presented for a thanksgiving, according to Chapter 7: 12, but according to verse 16 of that chapter it might be a vow or voluntary.

• Later, in chapter 22, it indicates that a burnt-offering also could be for a vow. Chapter 22: 18 refers to a burnt-offering,
  • but verse 21 goes on to the peace-offering.

• That chapter gives the quality required in the offering, that it had to be a male, and if it was for a vow there was to be no defect whatever.

• An offering which had a member too long or too short could be offered as a voluntary offering, but not as a vow – verse 23.

• I wondered whether we might get help first of all on the idea of the burnt-offering and the peace-offering, but especially the peace-offering, because it seems to me that
  • the true index of our appreciation of the sacrifice of Christ lies in the peace-offering we bring.

• Indeed I would say that the true index of our appreciation of Christ as the burnt-offering would lie in the quality of the peace-offering which accompanies it,
  • because normally, in the actual working out of the service, burnt-offerings were accompanied by peace-offerings.

• In all the feasts, and in the daily burnt-offerings and so on, the burnt-offerings which were essential were prescribed, but peace-offerings were not prescribed except on two occasions.
  • Peace offerings were left to the affections of the people.

• There was room for abundant excess in burnt-offerings over and above what was prescribed;
  • but the idea of what was voluntary, and what was connected with a vow, specially linked with peace-offerings, because so few were prescribed.

• And yet the prosperity of the people depended on the number of peace-offerings brought.

Ques. Is there any link between the drink-offering, the peace-offering and the burnt offering?

G.R.C. According to Numbers 15 every burnt-offering and peace-offering had to be accompanied by the appropriate oblation and drink-offering.

• “When ye come into the land of your dwellings, which I give unto you, and will make an offering by fire to Jehovah, a burnt-offering or a sacrifice for the performance of a vow”

• – when scripture speaks of a sacrifice it normally refers to a peace-offering –
  • “or in your set feasts”, verses 2 and 3;

• then it prescribes the size of the oblation which was to accompany each offering and also the size of the drink-offering.

• It seems to me that where things are right, the drink-offering will always crown the matter.

• We bring our offering with its oblation, but the crown of the matter is the pouring out of the drink-offering, as it says of the Lord,
  • “he hath poured out his soul unto death”, Isaiah 53: 12.

Ques. Would you mind distinguishing for us between the burnt-offering and the peace-offering?

G.R.C. Is not the burnt-offering that aspect of the death of Christ in which He devoted Himself entirely to God and His will?

• But is not the peace-offering that aspect of His death in which He loved us and gave Himself for us?

• The offering of the body of Jesus Christ once for all involves all four offerings, but they are separated in the type to help us to understand their significance.
  • On the one hand Christ devoted Himself wholly to God;

  • but then, it was God’s will that He should devote Himself to us, and so He loved us and gave Himself for us.

G.R.C. That is especially the peace-offering. The kidneys, the net above the liver, and the fat that covered the inwards, were burnt on the altar,

• so that it was an offering and sacrifice to God.

• I think the whole verse has in mind the peace-offering, because it is exhorting us to walk in love, and it means that our walk is to be one of devotion in the appreciation of the way Christ has devoted Himself.

• What lies behind everything is devotion to God; but devotion to God will manifest itself in devotion to the saints, and that is the principle of the peace-offering.

• A man may say that he loves God, but then it says,
  • “that he that loves God love also his brother”, 1 John 4: 21.

• That is how we prove our love for God.

Ques. Does the peace-offering involve that there is a certain communion between the soul of the offerer and God Himself, in relation to Christ?

• Even a burnt-offering in a sense has our side of things somewhat in view; it speaks of complete acceptance, does it not?

• I wondered whether the peace-offering involves that, apart from any question of our side of things, we bring forward that in which we delight, and in which God Himself delights.

G.R.C. That is very good, because the peace-offering supplied food, did it not?

• The burnt-offering was God’s bread, of course. It went up on the altar as a sweet odour to God.
  • But the peace-offering supplied food for God and for all the people.

• The fat was for God, the wave-breast and the heave-shoulder were for the priests, and the remainder of the offering provided food for every clean person – chapter 7: 19.

• The peace-offering provided sustenance for the people before God. They were feeding on that which is precious to God.

Ques. Would the energy of affection, which is seen suggested in the vow, provide for prosperous and happy conditions?

G.R.C. It would, and you can see the force of it in this book. How were the people to be sustained before God when they came up to His habitation?

• It would be by the peace-offerings which were brought. Chapter 23 speaks of the feasts when, three times a year, all the males appeared before God.

• What sustained the people in Jerusalem for the seven days of the feast, or whatever the time might be? It was the peace-offerings.

• The burnt-offerings which were to be offered were prescribed; the priests would see that those were offered. There was also scope for further voluntary burnt-offerings.

• But what would sustain the people would be the peace-offerings; and therefore you can understand an Israelite, before leaving his home to go to Jerusalem with his family
  • – Elkanah took his wife with him, and I suppose others did –

• would look round his flock, and say to his wife, We must take the very best.

• It was for God, of course – God was the motive – but it was for all to feed upon.

• The Israelite would be thinking of the vast number at Jerusalem, and how much was needed to sustain them in joy and gladness before God at the place where He had put His name.

• Without that sustainment God would not have His portion.

Ques. Could I make a reference to Hezekiah in 2 Chronicles?

• “And also the burnt-offerings were in abundance, with the fat of the peace-offerings, and with the drink-offerings for the burnt offering. And the service of the house of Jehovah was set in order”, chapter 29: 35.

• The house of God was set in order.

G.R.C. That is very beautiful. All that was for God; the burnt-offerings and the fat of the peace-offerings were all offered on the altar for God, and the drink-offerings were poured out in the sanctuary,

• and “the house of Jehovah was set in order”.

• But then, the flesh of those peace-offerings was the means of sustaining the people before God.

Ques. Would you say why the thought of sacrifice is particularly connected with the peace-offering?

G.R.C. I would say this as to the offerings generally, that I believe God expects the offerer to be in keeping with his appreciation of the offering he is bringing.

• My appreciation of Christ as the burnt-offering may not be very large, but if I bring my appreciation to God, and express it, God expects a corresponding answer in me, in keeping with what I have expressed.

• In the burnt-offering I express an appreciation of Christ in His devotion to God. It may not be easy for others to assess how much I am in accord with this.

• But my burnt-offering should be accompanied by a peace-offering, and you can easily test a man’s peace-offering.

• If I bring my appreciation of Christ as the One who loved us and gave Himself for us, it immediately raises the question of what I am doing for my brother and that is where practical sacrifice comes in.

• That is why, I think, our peace-offering becomes an index as to the true measure of our burnt-offering. How much practical sacrifice am I making?

Ques. Does Hebrews 10: 9 cover the burnt-offering aspect –

• “Then I said, Lo, I come to do thy will”;

• then “let us approach with a true heart”, verse 22 –

• and then “let us consider one another for provoking to love and good works”, verse 24?

• Would that be the answer on our side?

G.R.C. It would; and while the Lord said,

• “Lo, I come to do thy will”, the apostle goes on to say immediately, verse 10,

• “by which will we have been sanctified”.

• That is, He gave Himself for us. He devoted Himself to God, but the very devoting of Himself to God involves that He gave Himself for us;
  • so that if I profess to be devoted to God, the test of it is, How much am I sacrificing for my brethren?

• How much is there with me of the sacrifice of peace-offering – and that sacrifice on the basis of a vow, which cannot be withdrawn?

Ques. Paul says of Himself,

• “I live by faith, the faith of the son of God, who has loved me and given himself for me”, Galatians 2: 20.

• Would that be the practical side?

G.R.C. I think that would be like Paul appropriating the peace-offering to himself;

• “the Son of God, who has loved me and given himself for me”.

• But then, as you say, in the light of that he lived by the faith of the Son of God. His life was also a sacrifice.

Ques. When Moses sent the youths in Exodus 24,

• “they offered up burnt-offerings, and sacrificed sacrifices of peace-offerings of bullocks to Jehovah”, verse 5.

• Am I right in supposing that that seemed to set God free, and also set the people free, because, after that,
  • “Moses and Aaron, Nadab and Abihu, and seventy of the elders of Israel went up”, verse 9.

• Did those offerings, as it were, pave the way for their liberty in the service of God?

G.R.C. I would say so. If they had all been burnt-offerings, there would still have been an abundance for God, as we might say; but what would have sustained the people? Where would the food of the people have come in?

• That is why normally, in the practical working out of things, burnt-offerings and peace-offerings are offered together. There is God’s side, and also the people’s side.

• When Solomon brought up the ark, it says he sacrificed a sacrifice of twenty two thousand oxen and a hundred and twenty thousand sheep; that would be the peace-offering.

• That was not prescribed, but it was what he gave in the largeness of his heart to support the vast concourse, to sustain them before God in the joy and liberty of the house of God.

Ques. On this occasion, when Moses took the blood, they said,

• “all that Jehovah has said will we do, and obey!” Exodus 24: 7.

• Were they moved and sustained typically in the excellence of Christ?

G.R.C. And surely the peace-offering would give strength to go up, would it not? In a way we begin at the supper with the peace-offering,

• “This is my body, which is for you”, 1 Corinthians 2: 24; but the Lord also says,

• “Take, eat; this is my body”, Matthew 26: 26.

• What food and what strength it gives! It is the peace-offering character at that point.

You may depend upon this, any service which is of real value must be based on sacrifice, and we need the peace-offering to accompany the burnt-offering.

• I may claim that I have much love for God, but how am I to prove it?
  • By my love for the people of God. What am I prepared to sacrifice?

• It is sacrifice that brings spiritual prosperity. The peace-offering might be called, so I am told, the prosperity-offering.

• It is a question of how much we are prepared to sacrifice for God and for His house.

Ques. Would you say something about the things which are mentioned in verse 12 in relation to the sacrifice? It says,

• “he shall present with the sacrifice of thanksgiving unleavened cakes mingled with oil, and unleavened wafers anointed with oil, and fine flour saturated with oil, cakes mingled with oil”.

G.R.C. Then in addition, in verse 13 he is to present his offering of leavened bread with his sacrifice.

• The earlier items would be an appreciation of Christ, His perfect humanity, the way He was devoted all through His course to God and to God’s people.

• But then the offerer, in a way, brings what represents himself. He presents his offering of leavened bread;
  • that is, he is in keeping, so far as he can be, with the One of whom he is expressing the appreciation of his heart.

• He recognises that he, the offerer, is in accord with the offering, as far as that is possible.

Ques. You are seeking to make things practical for us?

G.R.C. Now the peace-offering was that which established the fellowship.

• The only times it was prescribed were at the feast of Pentecost in Leviticus 23: 19, and the typical establishing of the fellowship in Israel in Leviticus 9: 4.

• On all other occasions the wealth of the fellowship was left to the affections of the people to provide.

• Christ has given Himself, and all, of course, depends on Him. So in the law of the peace-offering – chapter 7: 12 – it says first of all,
  • “If he present it for a thanksgiving”.

• Now the first thing that would lead us to bring a peace-offering is thanksgiving. The soul begins to give thanks to God in Romans,
  • “I thank God, through Jesus Christ our Lord”, chapter 7: 25;

• and in the spirit of thanksgiving to God the apostle exhorts us to present our bodies – chapter 12.

• Now how can I show my gratitude to God? First by bringing verbally and vocally, if I am a brother, my appreciation of Christ in public thanksgiving, because this moves others; it gives all something to feed upon;
  • it is primarily for God, but there is something in it for all to feed upon, that is why we give thanks vocally.

• God would hear if I gave thanks quietly, but the fact that I give thanks vocally is a sacrifice, if I am doing it truly.

• To give thanks vocally, acceptably to God, cannot be without sacrifice, because it means self-judgment and exercise.

• So we bring our sacrifices of thanksgiving, expressing them vocally so that all should hear and get food from them, and thus the service of God would be enriched amongst all the saints.

• That is the sacrifice of thanksgiving in its verbal expression.

• But God expects me, as the offerer to be in practical accord with what I am saying, not only on the Lord’s Day, but on Monday and Tuesday and all through the week.

• I may express my gratitude to God in thanksgiving for what He has done, but God would say to me, Express that practically by devoting yourself to my children.

Ques. Would that be seen in Hebrews 13 where it says,

• “By him, therefore let us offer the sacrifice of praise continually to God, that is, the fruit of the lips confessing his name.

• But of doing good and communicating of your substance be not forgetful, for with such sacrifices God is well-pleased”, verses 15-16?

G.R.C. I believe there we get combined the burnt-offering and the peace-offering. It says,

• “By him therefore let us offer the sacrifice of praise continually to God”.

• That would include the burnt-offering; that is our appreciation of it, and our appreciation, too, of the peace-offering.

• But then it goes on to work out the practical side of the peace-offering – to do good.

• We may have told God in a meeting how we appreciate Christ’s sacrifice; but God would say to us, as it were, Prove your gratitude every day in the coming week by what you are doing. Do good and communicate of your substance.

• There is the peace-offering working out in practice. My appreciation of Christ as the peace-offering works out in practice in that I do good and communicate of my substance.

• And the sisters, who cannot be vocal in the assembly, have a special part to fill in doing good and communicating.

Ques. Would the spirit of the peace-offering be seen in Abigail when David sends to her to bring her to him as wife?

• She says, “Behold, let thy handmaid be a bondwoman to wash the feet of the servants of my lord”, 1 Samuel 25: 41.

G.R.C. Very much so. The Lord washed the disciples’ feet, and He said,

• “I have given you an example … If ye know these things, blessed are ye if ye do them”, John 13: 15, 17.

• The appreciation of the peace-offering would lead us to do these things.

Ques. Would the eating on the same day, in verse 16, give strength, because it says,

• “When thou vowest a vow unto God, defer not to pay it”, Ecclesiastes 5: 4?

G.R.C. The eating, I am sure, would give strength. I would like to encourage the sisters, because there is special scope for them in doing good – 1 Timothy 2: 10.

• “With such sacrifices God is well-pleased”.

Ques. Is the basis of it all in John’s epistle,

• “Hereby we have known love, because he has laid down his life for us; and we ought for the brethren to lay down our lives”, 1 John 3: 16?

G.R.C. That is just it. I think John’s epistle helps greatly as to the peace-offering.

Ques. It is said of the believers at Ephesus that they had love towards all the saints; would there be a basis there?

G.R.C. Yes, and what scope for sacrifice if you love all the saints! It means you are thinking of them in British Guiana, in Persia, and in every place. All saints come into view. What scope for doing good!

Ques. Should not our prayer meetings be extended to take in all God’s activities and interests in the earth?

G.R.C. If we are on the line of the sacrifice of peace-offerings, the saints will be fed.

• We all know by experience what food for the soul there is when someone does something sacrificial for us.

• If a brother or sister does something sacrificial for me, my soul is thoroughly lifted up; I am really fed, and the priest in me is fed, and thus there is more for God from me. That is what happens generally as we move on this line in a mutual way.

• Everyone’s soul is being lifted up and fed and strengthened, and everyone is being helped as a priest, and that would help the prayer meeting.

• Our prayer meetings are so narrowed up because there are not enough peace-offerings to feed the priest; and so we get narrow, like the Corinthians.

• There was very little in the way of sacrifice of peace-offering at Corinth, one would judge, and therefore the saints narrowed up, and Paul does not even ask them to pray for him. He knew it was no good at that time.

• If our souls are nourished, we shall be strengthened to take in God’s outlook in our prayers; we shall be strengthened to serve at God’s altars which are square – universal.

G.R.C. That is why, I believe, the word in Ephesians,

• “be filled with the Spirit, speaking to yourselves in psalms and hymns”, etc – chapter 5: 18 –

• involves the peace-offering in this sense, that we are speaking intelligibly for the sake of others.

• All that we are saying in the service is for God, as all the inwards of the peace-offering were for God.

• If God is our object, our motive, we are speaking to ourselves, that is, speaking audibly so that others may be edified.

Ques. Would you add a word as to the repeated suggestions of the Spirit in verse 2, the mingling with oil, the anointing with oil and the saturating with oil?

• Would the last suggestion, which surely suggests the permeation of the Spirit into every part, help us to see how all that you are speaking of comes about as the Spirit personally is given room?

G.R.C. We need to make way for the Spirit. Mingling with oil means that the Spirit is the source of all energy. Anything of natural energy is of no value to God. But the Spirit would fill us with energy. That is the idea of oil in the bread: it produces energy.

Ques. There is a footnote on ‘mingled with oil’ in chapter 2 on the oblation; it says,

• ‘It is not merely anointed as consecration, but his whole system is invigorated and strengthened by it; it formed his strength’.

• Does that not enter in a practical way into the service, as we are speaking of it – not only what we may say but what we may bring, that which is a part, we might say, of ourselves?

G.R.C. Yes. So that David says,

• “I shall be anointed” or mingled – see footnote “with fresh oil”, Psalm 92: 10.

G.R.C. Should we not be exercised to be able to say, like David, I am mingled with fresh oil, a green olive tree in the house of God?

• We should come to all occasions mingled with fresh oil – full of spiritual energy. How this tests our relations with the Spirit!

Ques. Would all this be borne out in 1 Chronicles 29 where David says,

• “And now, our God, we thank thee, and praise thy glorious name”, verse 13;

• and then we get the abundance of the sacrifices in verses 21 and 22?

G.R.C. You are thinking of David’s heart going out to God firstly, and then the corresponding answer to that in the sacrifices –

• “and they sacrificed sacrifices to Jehovah, and offered up burnt-offerings to Jehovah, a thousand bullocks, a thousand rams, a thousand lambs, with their drink-offerings, and sacrifices in abundance for all Israel”.

• That is, there was food for the whole of Israel.

• But then we were speaking about the peace-offering of thanksgiving. I would think Exodus 24, where the youths offered up, would be on that line.

• But the vow is something more than that; it is something more even than a voluntary offering.

• The vow stands out; God would bring us to the point of the vow, that we are not only glad to do anything we can to express our thankfulness, but we are committed by a vow;

• we are committed, in so far as our measure permits, to serve as Christ served.
  • “Walk in love, even as the Christ loved us, and delivered himself up for us”, Ephesians 5: 2;

• that is going all the way – giving Himself.

• I believe if we understood the Lord’s Supper properly, we would regard our partaking of it as a re-dedication,
  • a renewal of our vow week by week, because it is the fellowship or communion of the body of the Christ.

• The communion of the body of the Christ not only means that we are thankful, but that we are holding our bodies as He held His.

Ques. In that way would you look for increased devotedness as entering more fully into the truth and enjoyment of the Supper?

G.R.C. I would. I suppose each one of us begins on the line of the peace-offering of thanksgiving, and that is quite right.

• But God would have us move on quickly, I am sure, to the idea of the peace-offering for a vow – that we have an appreciation of Christ as the One who was fully committed, and we want to be in that communion.

Ques. So that he said,

• “I love my master, my wife, and my children, I will not go free”, Exodus 21: 5.

• That was absolute, was it not? And that was the first of the ordinances given to Israel, I think.

Ques. Could we have a word on the animal with a member too long or too short, which could be accepted for a voluntary offering but not for a vow?

G.R.C. First of all that section makes it clear that anything that is for a vow, or voluntary, must be a male.

• We must not apply male and female in a natural way, because in Christ Jesus there is neither male nor female.

• I think the male suggests the best of our energies, the best of a sister’s energy as well as the best of a brother’s energy.

• God will accept a lower level of things for thanksgiving, but for a vow it must be a male, the best of our energies. God says,
  • “Yea, cursed be the deceiver, who hath in his flock a male, and voweth and sacrificeth unto the Lord a corrupt thing”, Malachi 1: 14.

• In verse 23 we find the requirement for the vow is even more stringent than for the voluntary offering. If the victim had a member too long or too short it must not be offered as a vow.

• I think the idea of a vow is such calculated devotion that the person concerned must see to it that he is holding the truth in balance.

• If a person is committed to God in a vow, it is his business to see that he is cutting in a straight line the word of truth, even in his thanksgiving; no member too long or too short, no item of the truth stressed at the expense of another!

G.R.C. That is why one referred this morning to misguided zeal and misdirected devotion.

• How much there is of it around in Christendom, devoted souls whose devotion may put us to shame, but it is misdirected.

• The vow stands related to God dwelling in His house down here; it is what will promote His service in His house, and support those who comprise it in relation to it.

• It is to that end that God looks for devotion. The gospel is needed, of course, but in its proper setting.

• The evangelist is for the edifying of the body of Christ, just as much as the prophet or teacher; so that
  • there is plenty of scope for devotion in the gospel as long as it is held in its proper setting in relation to the house of God.

• No free-lance devotion is in accordance with the teaching as to the vow in scripture.

Rem. In a way the behaviour of Ananias and Sapphira at the beginning, in what appeared to be a great sacrifice to benefit the saints, was a very grave matter.

G.R.C. The inwards were not for God, and that is a solemn thing. We have to watch that all the time.

• Barnabas sold what he had and laid it at the apostles’ feet, and it was evidently entirely acceptable; his motives were pure.

• But then you have Ananias and Sapphira. A peace-offering is no peace-offering at all unless the kidneys and the net above the liver and the fat that covers the inwards are all for God.

Ques. You made some remark about chapter 7: 13 about the leavened bread. Would you mind repeating it?

G.R.C. I said the leavened bread makes way for the offerer himself. We could not apply the leavened bread to Christ. The earlier verse would be his appreciation of Christ.

Ques. Is this confined to the thanksgiving offering as it would appear in verse 13?

G.R.C. I would not think so; I would think that is a general direction. I would think that kind of thing should also accompany the vow, perhaps in a larger way.

• True assessment of ourselves is always wholesome.

Rem. It is not leaven, it is leavened bread. It has been baked.

G.R.C. Quite so, so that the offerer himself is acceptable, which is a wonderful thing.

Ques. Would the house of Stephanas be an example of the true vow?

G.R.C. I would think so,

• “They have devoted themselves to the saints for service”, 1 Corinthians 16: 15.

• That was the principle of the peace-offering, but the inwards would be for God.

Ques. Is it not interesting that Hannah vowed a vow, and later she is wealthy enough to bring three bullocks, one of which was offered. I was thinking of the spiritual progress which she made; she was a wealthy woman.

G.R.C. That is very interesting, and the fact that she vowed a vow relative to her son shows what an influence mothers can have –literal mothers and also “mothers in Israel”.

Rem. I was thinking particularly of the offering she brought, not only the bullocks, but the vow and also the flask of wine.

Ques. Do Psalms 132 and 137 express divinely-directed energy in relation to vows?

• Psalm 132 is David’s vow in relation to the ark and dwelling-place; Psalm 137 is a person’s vow in relation to Jerusalem –
  • “If I forget thee, Jerusalem”, verse 5.

G.R.C. They are rightly directed vows, as you say. Now we ought to refer to chapter 27, where we have persons valued.

• We have to keep this in the setting of this book, God dwelling among His people; and so the valuation is according to the shekel of the sanctuary.

• God is there, His sanctuary is there; and, according to this valuation, it does not appear that anybody qualifies for valuation at all except as having made a vow.

• If we look at other scriptures, every believer is of value, the brother for whom Christ died; you cannot measure the value of every believer to God from that standpoint.

G.R.C. The mind there refers, does it not, to the bent of mind?

• The mind which is in Christ Jesus is a different idea from, “we have the mind of Christ”, which is the thinking faculty, giving us the ability to think the thoughts of Christ, and of God by the Spirit.

• But the mind which is in Christ Jesus is another word, meaning the bent of mind; and the bent of Epaphroditus’ mind is the same as that of Christ, according to his measure.

• He was prepared to lay down his life for the brethren.

Ques. What have you in mind in regard to the valuation?

G.R.C. Would we not like to qualify for valuation in this respect, according to the shekel of the sanctuary?

• There is the redemption money where all paid a half-shekel,
  • but surely we would like to be of some account relative to God’s habitation here on the earth.

• I do not think we come up for valuation at all in this connection unless we have made a vow.

Ques. Do you think we might get some suggestion in Romans 16 of those who made a vow? I was thinking of the apostle’s valuation of the work of God in Phoebe,

• “who is minister of the assembly”, verse 1;

• and Prisca and Aquila, “my fellow-workmen”, verse 3.

G.R.C. I think so. When you think of God, in grace and love coming down to dwell with us here in our mixed conditions,

• not waiting till a later day, but coming down to dwell among us now just where we are, how touching it is – dwelling on His own terms, it is true, but never leaving us!

• Even to the Corinthians Paul does not say, God has left you; he just quotes,
  • “I will dwell among them, and walk among them”, 2 Corinthians 6: 16,

• and he speaks of the Spirit of God dwelling in them. In spite of their state, think of God dwelling among them like this!

• Can you not understand that He would expect devoted persons to come to light, and not a few?

• He would expect, with such grace and love on His part, to bring about this spirit of devotion in Israel generally, so that there would be many persons to be valued, not just one here and there.

Ques. In Ezra’s day, the giving of the chief fathers included one hundred priests’ coats.

• In Nehemiah’s day the giving was much greater, and the number of priests’ coats was increased.

• Does it have in mind looking for additions in the way you were saying, the swelling of the company?

G.R.C. You mean it would increase God’s portion? There would be the increase in the priesthood; that is the great aim of devotedness.

Ques. There did not seem to be many persons mentioned in 1 Corinthians, as I believe you said, but is Paul encouraged towards the end of his second letter, especially when he speaks about

• “the communion of the Holy Spirit be with you all”, chapter 13: 14?

• Were there more priests on the horizon, so to speak?

G.R.C. I would say that, and that is what we need today.

Rem. I was thinking of the local companies, of which Corinth was one.

Ques. Would we be enlarged in our valuation as we take account of those who are prepared to support what is local?

G.R.C. I think we would. It speaks in Acts of men who had laid down their lives for the name of the Lord Jesus.

• What a valuation! They would be something like the full valuation here, fifty shekels of silver.

• We must not limit, as you say, the idea of valuation to men who move about. Those men were going to move with Paul for the time being, but
  • in a basic sense the prosperity of God’s habitation and service on earth depends on local men,

• men who are prepared in obscurity to devote themselves and all they have to the testimony of God; and thank God, there are many of them!