(2)
Before we consider further Jacob's dealings at Hebron, we need to point out the difference between transformation and maturity. The last stage of transformation is maturity. Maturity means the fullness of life. When one is mature, he has no shortage of life. The more life we have, the more mature we are. An infant is obviously not mature, but a grown man is mature. For a human being to be mature means that his life has come into fullness.
Transformation is a metabolic change in life. Thus, transformation is not a matter of fullness; it is a matter of change. Plants do not require transformation, because they are simply plants. But we, the children of God, need transformation. Only through transformation can we reach maturity. We have a natural life, but this life is not good for God's economy. Although our natural life does not need to be replaced, it does need to be metabolically changed. We must not only have an outward change in appearance, but also an inward change in nature. Although our human life is necessary for God's economy, it should not remain a natural human life; it should be a human life that has been transformed in nature so that the divine life may be mingled with the transformed human life to become one. This is a deep matter.
At least two verses in the New Testament unveil the matter of transformation. Rom. 12:2 says, "Do not be conformed to this age, but be transformed by the renewing of the mind." The Greek word translated "transformed" in this verse also appears in 2 Cor. 3:18. According to the Greek, this verse should be rendered, "And we all with unveiled face, beholding and reflecting as a mirror the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from glory to glory, even as from the Lord Spirit." The word "transformed" in these verses indicates that in our Christian life we need a metabolic change. We do not need outward correction and alteration; rather, we need an inward change in nature and in life.
This metabolic change begins with regeneration. When we were saved, we were not only justified and our sins forgiven; we were also regenerated. At regeneration a new life, the divine life, was put into our spirit. From the time of our regeneration, this life has been transforming our natural life. As the divine life changes our natural life, it imparts more and more of the divine life into our being. Therefore, transformation is the change of our natural life. When this change reaches the point of fullness, the time of maturity has come. To repeat, the last stage of transformation is maturity. Maturity is not a matter of our being changed; it is a matter of having the divine life imparted to us again and again until we have the fullness of life.
Let us now apply this matter to Jacob. Although Jacob underwent many changes between chapters twenty-five and thirty-seven, we do not see any further change in him after chapter thirty-seven. In chapter twenty-five Jacob was a supplanter, a heel-holder. As we read from chapter twenty-six to thirty-six, which covers a period of approximately twenty-five years, we see how Jacob changed. Everything that happened to him during these years was for his transformation. When in chapter thirty-seven Jacob lost his beloved son, Joseph, he was absolutely different from the person he was in chapter twenty-seven. In a spiritual sense, the Jacob in chapter twenty-seven had several hands to use in grasping whatever he wanted. He grasped what belonged to his father, to Esau, and, later on, to Laban. However, in chapter thirty-seven Jacob did not even use his own two hands. The Jacob in this chapter seems to have no skill or ability; instead, it seems that he is not able to do anything. This indicates that he has absolutely changed. From chapter thirty-seven until the end of this book, we do not see any further change in this man. In these chapters we see a person who has not only been changed; we see a person who is full of life. In chapter thirty-seven we see neither change nor the fullness of life. The change took place before this chapter, and the fullness of life was reached after it.
I would ask you to read chapters twenty-seven, thirtyseven, and forty-seven once again. In chapter twenty-seven we see a supplanter. He had many hands, he was able to do everything, and no one could defeat him. Whoever came in contact with Jacob — his father, his brother, or his uncle — was the loser. Jacob, on the contrary, always came out ahead. He made a gain from his brother, from his father, and from his uncle. He even made a gain from Rachel, Leah, and their two maids. However, at the time of Rachel's death, Jacob began to suffer loss. But even this loss produced a gain, and that gain was Benjamin. In chapter thirty-seven Jacob underwent another loss, the loss of Joseph. In this chapter Jacob did not gain anything. From this point onward, Jacob lost one thing after another. Eventually, in chapter forty-seven, he gained the fullness of life. The fullness of life is blessing, which is the overflow of life. When you are filled past the brim with life, this life will overflow into others. This overflow is the blessing. Therefore, in chapter twenty-seven we see a supplanter; in chapter thirty-seven, a transformed man; and in chapter forty-seven, a mature person. Jacob's transformation began at the time God came in to touch him (Gen. 32:25), and it continued until chapter thirty-seven, when the process of transformation was relatively complete. However, in this chapter Jacob did not yet have maturity, the fullness of life. In order to gain this, he had to experience the dealings in the last stage, the dealings at Hebron.
Now we must consider how Jacob, a transformed person, could be filled with life. Human beings are vessels. However, unlike jars and bottles, we are not vessels without feeling, sense, or will. If you want to fill a bottle with a certain liquid, the bottle has no opinion or feeling about it. There is no need to have the consent of the bottle before we fill it. But it is difficult to put something in us living vessels because we are filled with opinions, desires, and intentions. Parents know how difficult it is to put medicine into their children. Likewise, it is not an easy matter for God to put His life into us.
Now I want to point out a hidden matter in this book. Jacob's first dealing in the last stage was the loss of Joseph. Joseph was seventeen years old when he was sold (Gen. 37:2), and he was thirty years old when he stood before Pharaoh (Gen. 41:46). Following this, there were the seven plenteous years. It was probably one or two years later that Jacob sent his sons to Egypt to buy grain. Therefore, from the selling of Joseph to the sending of Jacob's sons to Egypt was a period of at least twenty years. The Bible does not afford us any record of what Jacob did during these years. It only gives us an account of what Joseph experienced. As far as the record of Jacob is concerned, this period of twenty years was a time of silence.
What do you think Jacob was doing during this time? If you had been Jacob, what would you have done? I have considered this matter very much, and I think I have discovered something. During these years Jacob had nothing to do. He had no lack and he had no ambition. Jacob had cared only for Rachel, not for Leah and the two maids. After Rachel died, Jacob's heart was set on Joseph, who was taken away from him about a year later. After Joseph was taken away, Jacob had virtually nothing left. Therefore, during these silent years he was a person without any ambitions, interests, or things to do. This must have been the time God imparted Himself into Jacob more and more. How different were these twenty years from the twenty years with Laban! During the twenty years with Laban (Gen. 31:41), Jacob had struggled against Laban and had been concerned about dealing with Rachel, Leah, the maids, and all his children. But in these twenty years at Hebron Jacob was released from any bondage or occupation. He was not only retired — he was free.
The only thing that could not be taken away from Jacob was God's presence. At Hebron Jacob constantly lived in fellowship with God. Through the loss of Joseph, Jacob became a jar that was absolutely open to God. Joseph's presence might have been a hindrance to Jacob's openness to God. But now, after the loss of Joseph, Jacob was free from every frustration and was completely open to the Lord. Undoubtedly, Jacob thought about Joseph day after day. He had concluded that Joseph had been devoured by an evil beast, but this had not been confirmed. Hence, Jacob might have thought that perhaps he would see Joseph again. This pressed Jacob to God and opened him up to God. The more he thought about Joseph, the more open he was. During all these years, Jacob was a jar open to the heavens, and the heavenly rain was continuously falling into him. In this period of time Jacob was daily in the presence of God, being filled with the divine life.
Suddenly, beyond Jacob's control, he was struck with famine, for "the famine was in the land of Canaan" (42:5). God used this famine to deal with Jacob and to lift up Joseph. We have seen that in the twenty years between the loss of Joseph and the coming of this famine, Jacob had nothing to do. He probably felt that his life was over and that he was waiting to go to his people, that is, to die. He never thought that he would go to Egypt to have another new beginning. Of course, he never considered that Joseph would be there waiting for him. Jacob might have thought, "What new thing can happen to me? I am old, I have had four wives, and I have many children and grandchildren. My life is over." But as he was thinking this, God's hand suddenly came upon him, and Jacob was stricken by famine. What an exercise this severe famine must have been to Jacob's entire being! Before the famine struck, he was at peace; he was not short of anything. But suddenly there was no food. As the head of such a large family, he was certainly exercised about what to do in the midst of this famine. God used it to press Jacob.
God also used this famine to uplift Joseph. To Joseph, the famine was a great thing. If there had been no famine after the seven plenteous years, Pharaoh would have said to Joseph, "Joseph, you have fooled me in interpreting my dream. After the seven years of plenty, the famine has not come." But the famine did come, and it was Joseph's power and authority. The seven years of plenty were a partial fulfillment of Pharaoh's dream, but Joseph's interpretation of that dream had not been completely confirmed. Pharaoh was probably waiting to see what would happen after the seven years of plenty. If the famine had not come, he might have executed Joseph. Thus, Joseph needed the seven years of famine in order to be uplifted. This famine was Joseph's glory. God used it to crown him. Joseph's reign was a type of the millennium, of God's heavenly reign over the earth.
Because of the famine, Jacob was forced to send his ten sons to Egypt to buy grain (Gen. 42:1-3). He had lost Joseph, and now he had to send away ten of his remaining eleven sons. In ancient times it was a long journey from Hebron to Egypt; it took about eight to ten days to travel this distance. After the ten sons had left for Egypt, only the youngest, Benjamin, who was in his early twenties, remained with Jacob. The ten sons must have been away from Jacob for nearly a month. This period of time was a great exercise to this old man. He might have thought, "Now my ten sons are gone. I wonder what will happen to them. Will they return safely? Will they be able to buy food and bring it home with them?" What an exercise this was to Jacob! This dealing was not for Jacob's transformation; it was for his maturity. God used it to fill Jacob with the very element of the divine life.
When Jacob's sons returned from Egypt with the grain, Jacob learned that Simeon had been detained in Egypt (Gen. 42:24, 36). This also was a suffering and an exercise to him. When we consider these chapters again on Joseph's side, the reigning side, we shall see how wise Joseph was. He did not keep the money, but rather had it put into the bags of grain (Gen. 42:25). When one of them discovered that his money had been put in the mouth of his sack, he told his brothers about it, "and their heart failed them, and they were afraid, saying one to another, What is this that God hath done unto us?" (Gen. 42:28). When they returned home and discovered "every man's bundle of money was in his sack," they all, including Jacob, were afraid (Gen. 42:35). Jacob seemed to say, "What is this? One of my sons has been detained, and you have brought back the grain, but the money is in your sacks. Suppose we finish this grain, and the famine continues. What shall we do then? We will have to go back to Egypt to buy more grain. But what shall we do with this money?" Jacob also learned the sad news that Benjamin had to go to Egypt. After he heard this, he said, "Me have ye bereaved of my children: Joseph is not, and Simeon is not, and ye will take Benjamin away: all these things are against me" (Gen. 42:36). Although Reuben promised to bring Benjamin back to Jacob, Jacob did not listen to him. Rather, he said, "My son shall not go down with you; for his brother is dead, and he is left alone" (Gen. 42:38).
Genesis 43:1 and 2 say, "And the famine was severe in the land. And it came to pass, when they had eaten up the grain which they had brought out of Egypt, their father said unto them, Go again, buy us a little food" (Heb.). At this point Judah reminded Jacob that in order to buy food again in Egypt, they had to take Benjamin with them. Thus, due to the severity of the famine, Jacob was forced to send his youngest son with his brothers to Egypt to buy grain (Gen. 42:4, 36; 43:1-15). What a suffering this was to Jacob! God was emptying this jar, taking everything away from him. After Benjamin went with his brothers to Egypt, Jacob was left alone without any of his sons. Joseph had been taken away, Simeon had been detained in Egypt, and now all the others had also gone down to Egypt. Perhaps that night Jacob said, "What do I have left? All my twelve sons are gone, and I don't know what will happen to them. On the first trip one of my sons was detained. I cannot say how many will be detained the second time." Although this was a great suffering to Jacob, the main point here is not his suffering — it is the fact that he was being emptied out by God. God took away everything that had previously filled him, and now Jacob was completely empty. But, as we shall see, on the day Jacob received the good news about Joseph, he was completely filled with the fullness of life.
God had taken away Rachel, Joseph, Simeon, and finally all the remaining ten sons, including Benjamin. When Benjamin was with his brothers in Egypt being reconciled to Joseph, Joseph was very happy. Jacob, however, was at home alone, being emptied out by the Lord. Night after night Jacob probably had the deep sense that he was an empty vessel. Everything that had once filled him had been taken away. This was altogether sovereign of the Lord. The Lord was preparing him to be filled with the divine life.
Let us now consider the situation from Joseph's point of view. The way Joseph dealt with his brothers was also sovereign of the Lord. Joseph detained Simeon and then had all the money bags returned to the others (Gen. 42:24-25). What was Joseph's purpose in detaining Simeon? Why did he not detain one of the other brothers? I believe that Simeon was the leader of the conspiracy against Joseph. Simeon was cruel. He and Levi had killed Hamor and Shechem and destroyed their city (Gen. 34:25-29). In 49:5 Jacob said, "Simeon and Levi are brethren; their swords are weapons of violence" (Heb.). I also believe that Simeon took the lead in proposing that Joseph be killed. Although Joseph's brothers did not recognize him, he was very clear about them. When he first saw them, he gave them a difficult time in order to touch their conscience. They said to one another, "We are verily guilty concerning our brother, in that we saw the anguish of his soul, when he besought us, and we would not hear; therefore is this distress come upon us" (42:21). Then Joseph "took from them Simeon, and bound him before their eyes" (42:24). This must have caused Simeon to consider what he had done to Joseph. During his imprisonment, Simeon might have thought, "Why am I the only one being detained? Oh, I never should have done that to Joseph." What Joseph did to Simeon was truly sovereign of the Lord.
Not even when the brothers came to Egypt the second time did Joseph reveal himself to them immediately. If I had been he, I would have said, "I am Joseph. How good it is that you have come back with Benjamin, my brother. Please return home and tell my father about me." Instead of doing this, Joseph had a feast prepared for his brothers (Gen. 43:16). This surprised them and caused them to be afraid. After the feast, Joseph commanded that his brothers' sacks be filled with food, that their money be put in the mouth of the sacks, and that his silver cup be placed in the sack of the youngest. Surely Joseph's brothers must have been happy to leave Egypt. But Joseph's steward overtook them and accused them of stealing his master's cup. When the cup was found in Benjamin's sack, the brothers "rent their clothes" and returned to the city (Gen. 44:13). They must have been terrified. Joseph, however, was not punishing them; he was touching their conscience. It was only after all this that Joseph made himself known to his brothers.
God sovereignly did not allow the good news about Joseph to reach Jacob at an early date. As Joseph and his brothers were happy together in Egypt, Jacob was suffering in Canaan, waiting for his sons to return. The longer Jacob's sons remained in Egypt, the more he suffered. But the more Jacob suffered, the better it was for him. Jacob's long wait for the return of his sons was surely a trial. This was under the sovereign hand of God to prolong Jacob's suffering that he might be emptied of everything. When the good news came to Jacob, he was absolutely empty.
Our preoccupations frustrate the growth of life. Due to these preoccupations, there is not much room in our being for the divine life. But when Jacob heard the news about Joseph in Egypt, he had been emptied of every preoccupation. Nothing was occupying his inner being. Rachel had died, his twelve sons had gone away, and Jacob had been utterly emptied out. He was so empty that when the good news came, he was not excited by it. In fact, his heart was even rather cold (Gen. 45:26, Heb.). When the news came regarding Joseph, Jacob had not only been transformed; he was completely filled with the divine life. He had become mature.
Jacob's history must also become our biography. We must believe that everything in our daily life is under God's sovereign hand. Everything that happened to Jacob was for his transformation and maturity. In order to be transformed, Jacob had to be pressed into situations that gave him no choice except to undergo a change. Like Jacob, after we have been changed, God will sovereignly use persons, things, and events to empty us of everything that has filled us and to take away every preoccupation so that we may have an increased capacity to be filled with God.
If we read the book of Genesis again and again, we shall see that the two main aspects of Jacob's experience are transformation and maturity. It is not simply a matter of being chosen, called, saved, and regenerated. We still need the process of transformation and the process of maturity. However, few Christians pay attention to these matters. For this reason, God's economy has been frustrated among His children. Because there is such a lack of transformation and maturity among God's people, we have not yet seen the accomplishment of His eternal purpose. But this lack is now being made up in the Lord's recovery, which today is the recovery of Christ as life and of the church as our living. In the coming days many saints in the Lord's recovery will be transformed. Even now, some are in the process of maturity. The Lord is working among us, on us, and in us to transform us and to cause us to mature.
When I was young, I read a number of books about overcoming sin, but I did not read one book about transformation. With us today it is not simply a matter of overcoming sin. Even if you overcome every sin, you still need to be transformed. If we are not transformed, the overcoming of sin does not mean very much for God's economy. For God's economy we do not merely need the overcoming of sin; we also need the transformation of our being and the fullness of His life. God is concerned about transformation and maturity. This is His need today.
Along with maturity, we also have the aspect of reigning. The mature life becomes the reigning life. We have pointed out that Jacob and Joseph should not be considered as two separate persons, but as two aspects of a complete person who has the fullness of experience. We all should have the aspect of maturity and the aspect of reigning. Actually, it was not Joseph who was reigning in Egypt — it was Jacob, Israel. If you could have asked an Egyptian who was reigning over him, he would have said that a Hebrew, an Israelite, was reigning. Israel was reigning in Egypt because Israel had matured in life. Only a matured life can be used by God for His kingdom, for His reigning.
From Jacob's experience we see that everything that happens to us is under God's sovereignty for our transformation and maturity. Nothing is accidental. God's eternal purpose can only be accomplished through our transformation and maturity. Jacob's experience is an excellent illustration of this.
Jacob actually did not react to all these dealings in the last stage for his maturity. He no longer had his own activity. Rather, without any struggle, he absolutely submitted to his circumstances. He took all the situations as they happened (Gen. 43:11, 13). Concerning the probable loss of his sons, he said, "If I be bereaved of my children, I am bereaved" (Gen. 43:14). What submission this was!
In his early days Jacob always trusted in his own skill and ability. However, after the dealings in the last stage, his trust was no longer in himself, but in God. Jacob had come to know God's mercy. In his experiences through all his life, he eventually realized that it was God's mercy, not his skill and ability, that had counted in his situations. And he had also learned that this merciful God is all-sufficient, not only almighty, to meet his needs in every kind of situation. Hence, Jacob said to his sons, "God all-sufficient give you mercy before the man" (Gen. 43:14, Heb.). Now his trust and rest are altogether in the mercy of his all-sufficient God, no longer in himself and in his ability. Here we see a man who has been fully transformed for maturity.
