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Rest, and the Rest-Giver · Israel: A Prince with God

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  Chapter fourteen of Israel A Prince with God by F. B. Meyer.
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  This LibriVox recording is in the public domain. Read by Marianne Chapter fourteen,
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  Rest and the rest Giver Genesis, chapter forty nine. Oh the little birds
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  sang east, the little birds sang west, and I said in under breath,
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  all our life is mixed with death, and who knows which is best?
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  Oh the little birds sang east, the little birds sang west, And
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  I smile to think God's goodness flows around our incompleteness, round our restlessness.
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  He's rest Missus E. B. Browning. There is much of interest in
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  these dying words of Jacob, through which Israel the Prince shines so conspicuously we
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  can but touch them as we pass, as the sea bird touches the wave.
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  For higher themes allure us. It would, for instance, be interesting
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  to mark their acttion curacy. Reuben, though the first born, never excelled,
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  no judge, prophet, or ruler, sprang from his tribe Simium,
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  was most absorbed in the nomad tribes of southern Palestine. The cities in which
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  the sons of Levi dwelt were scattered throughout all the tribes. Vestiges of terraced
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  vineyards still attest how well the hilly province assigned to Judah suited the culture of
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  the vine. Zebulin imbosomed the Lake of Galilee and stretched away towards the coast
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  of the Blue Mediterranean. Estreelan, the battlefield of Palestine, where Assyria from
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  the north and Egypt from the south often met in deadly feud lay within the
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  limits of Isakar. Dan was small as an adder, but like it he
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  could inflict dangerous wounds on any invader who had to pass by it. Toward
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  the heart of the country, Gad much pressed by border war, Asher notable
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  for fortility, Neftali famous for eloquists, Benjamin cruel as a wolf. All
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  these justified the prophecy of their dying ancestor. Whilst the mighty tribes of Ephrium
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  and Manassa sprang from the sons of Joseph, inherited to the full the blessings
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  of heaven above, blessings of the deep that lieth under, blessings of the
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  breasts and of the womb, blessings to the utmost bound on the everlasting hills.
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  It would be interesting also to mark the beauty of these dying words.
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  They abound in observation and description of animal nature, indicating the habits of the
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  shepherd's life with which from his earliest days Jacob must have been familiar. The
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  lion's whelp crouching in his lair, refusing to be roused up because satisfied with
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  the sufficient meal. The ass and her cold browsing on the young grapes of
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  the vine. The serpent lurking in the sand and springing out as the horse
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  passes him with a venomous sting. The wolf with stealthy tread, seeking his
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  prey at night. The slender, gentle hind, then, too, the
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  vineyards rich with grapes that stain the garments of the peasants with blood red juice
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  as they stamped them in the vats, The boughs running over the vineyard walls,
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  in rich bounty and giving refreshment to weary passers. By the bubbling waters
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  of the spring, the beach of the distant sea, the blue outlines of
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  the everlasting hills in the far distance. All these bespeak a mind that loved
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  natural beauty. It would be interesting also to mark the close connection between the
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  awards and the character of the bearded sons who stood around the withered, propped
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  up body of that dying man, whilst his spirit was flaming out in one
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  last splendid outburst of prophetic and princelike glory, too much for the frail tenement
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  to endure. Take for example, the case of Reuben. He had committed
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  a nameless sin years before. He might have hoped that it was all long
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  since forgotten. But no, here it reappeared, dragged into inevitable light,
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  as ours must be unless hidden beneath the blood of Jesus. That sin deprived
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  him of the primacy. That one sin was not this arbitrary, not so,
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  since it was the index of his character and was the unerring evidence of
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  an unstable nature. For sensuality and instability are one as sensual indulgence palsies the
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  nerves of the body, so it paralyzes the strength and decision of the spirit.
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  And there was this further dread effect of Reuben's sin. He not only
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  entailed a loss of position and prestige on his descendants, but he transmitted to
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  them his own character. On the threshold of Canaan, they asked for land
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  east of Jordan. They could not wait. They showed all the characteristics of
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  the man of appetite, who places the present above the future, and seen
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  above the unseen, and Deborah in her war song chanted the requiem of the
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  martial valor of the tribe. But amidst all this change of character, condition,
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  and estate, there comes in these dying words the announcement of a personality,
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  mysterious, ineffable, sublime, which dwarfs all others, as mont Blanc
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  the lesser elevations of his mountain realm, and before which the aged spirit bows
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  in worship, illuming the withered face with a light not born of earth.
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  What does he mean by those mystic words describing the Shiloh and his coming and
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  the gathering of the peoples to him. There is a power in them that
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  strangely stirs our spirits. We feel instinctively that we are face to face with
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  him, before whom angels bow, veiling their faces with their wings. Again
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  the words ring in our hearts. The scepter shall not depart from Judah,
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  nor a lawgiver from beneath his feet, until Shiloh come, and unto him
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  shall the gathering of the peoples be one. Let us try to understand them.
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  The primacy of Israel, forfeited by Reuben was transferred to Judah. The
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  scepter or staff surely indicates legislative authority, the law giver some kind of legislator.
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  And the drift of meaning in the verse is that Judah should retain the
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  primacy of the tribes, and should not fail to have some kind of government
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  and some kind of governor. Until one came of whom Jacob spoke as Shiloh.
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  And who is this Shiloh? The greatest modern Hebrew critics tell us that
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  it is like the German Frederick rich in peace, the rest giver, the
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  man of rest. And of whom can this be true? But of one
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  amid the vice and crimes of their trimes. An aged pair gave to their
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  new born son the name of Noah rest and hoped that he would live to
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  comfort them. It was alas a vain hope. The waters of the daily
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  were destined to sweep over their home and world. No man can give us
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  rest. He who shall give rest to the toiling populations of the earth must
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  be more than man, and must be superior to those changes that toss us
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  on their tumultuous billows. The true Shiloh can be none other than the Son
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  of God, who, standing amongst Earth's toiling millions, said, come unto
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  me, all ye that labor and are heavy laden, and I will give
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  you rest. I've sometimes wondered where Jacob learnt this most sweet and true name
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  of our Lord Jesus. Was it flashed into his heart at that moment for
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  the first time. It may have been, But there is another supposition which
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  has often pleased me. You will remember that at Peniel, Jacob asked the
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  mysterious combatant his name. What answer did he receive? When Manoah asked a
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  similar question, the Angel of the Lord told him it was secret. But
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  no such negative was spoken to Jacob. The angel simply said, wherefore is
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  it that thou dost ask after my name? And he blessed him there.
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  I have sometimes thought that as he blessed him, he whispered in his ear
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  this lovely title, which lingered in the old man's mind as the years went
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  on, and became invested with ever fuller and richer meaning, as he felt
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  to need more urgently the balm and strength which it contained to him, that
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  overcometh Christ's promises to give a white stone, and in that stone, a
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  new name is written, which is only known to him that receiveth it.
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  Why should he not have done as much for that old world patriarch who had
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  overcome in his defeat and had gone from wrestling in full strength to halting on
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  shrink and thigh. And it would only be natural that at the moment of
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  full surrender he should teach him the secret of rest. This is the universal
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  order of Christian living. First the resistance, then the shrinken sinou, then
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  the yielding and clinging, and finally rest. Jacob then believed that the rest
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  giver would come at length, and that when he came, people would be
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  gathered to him, not driven, as he had seen long strings of Nubian
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  slaves driven through the streets of Egyptian towns, but gathered as a hen gathers
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  her chickens beneath her wing, where as the magnet attracts steel filings to itself.
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  Two. Let us note also their literal fulfillment. For long centuries,
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  Judah held the proud position assigned by the dying chieftain. The line of the
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  tribe of Judah brooked no rival. Jerusalem lay in his territory. David sprang
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  from his sons. Throughout the long captivity, princes still claimed and held their
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  right, For we are told, when Cyrus issued the proclamation that gave them
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  liberty, there rose up the chief of the fathers of Judah and numbered unto
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  them she Bazaar, the Prince of Judah. It was Judah that returned from
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  captivity and gave the title jew to every member of the race. And even
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  up to the times of our Lord, there were vestiges of the ancient government
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  in the council before which he was arraigned. But the system had become decrepit
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  and showed signs of passing away. We are told, for instance, when
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  Odomian Herod was placed upon the throne, all Jewish patriots were in deep consternation.
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  Men with wild and haggard looks, their garments rent, and ashes on
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  their heads, went about in the streets crying, woe unto us, woe
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  unto us, For the scepter is departed from Judah and a law giver from
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  between his feet. Still, the complex machinery of inferior and superior courts lingered
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  on until that mighty explosion burst beneath the Jewish state, leaving not a single
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  Jew within fifty miles of Bethlehem, and making it utterly impossible for Shiloh to
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  come out of Judah. Before this entire break up of the Jewish system.
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  The Shiloh came when they were expecting him at the front door. He stole
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  in at the back, whilst they were expecting him with outward show. He
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  came as the spring comes and as day breaks. He had rest in himself.
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  What else could have kept him so calm amid the tumult of Nazareth,
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  and the raging of the storm on the Lake of Galilee, and the mob
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  in Goodsemone, And he gave rest, rest from weary years of pain,
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  rest from tears and heartache, rest from sin. And as he has spoken
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  through the centuries, his still small voice has been heard above the fevered throb
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  and pulse of human life, saying, come unto me, Come unto me.
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  And spirits have arisen and gone forth to him, drawn to him,
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  as the publicans and sinners were of old, gathering to him, as the
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  oppressed in the old Kingdom of Saul gathered to David in Adolam's cave, furnishing
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  material for a host which was to carry everything before its victorious arms, Thy
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  people shall be free will offerings in the day of Thy power. Three,
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  let us realize their truth. What a variety of weary eyes will read these
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  words? Weary eyes aching heads, tired body breaking hearts, Tired of sitting
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  at the task which barely suffices to get bread for hungry little ones, tired
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  of waiting for one who never comes, Tired of bearing the slow torture of
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  never ceasing pain, tired of the strain of competition, ever waxing, keener
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  and more merciless, tired of the conflict against the evil around, Tired of
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  the war with self and sin within, tired of life. Lord ofttimes,
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  I am a weary quite of my own self, my sin, my vanity.
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  Yet be not thou, or I am lost outright weary of me.
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  Would to God that each of these could understand that Jesus Christ, the true
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  Shiloh, is able to give them now and for evermore. Rest. Come
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  unto me, all ye that are heavy laden, and I will give you
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  rest. It is a royal word. If this were the only scrap of
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  his words, we should feel him to have been the most royal man that
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  ever trod our world. He knows exactly what men want, and he feels
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  that he has the secret, and is himself the universal and unfailing reservoir of
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  rest. What must not be the ocean fulness of his heart, which can
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  fill up every void and vacancy in all human spirits, as the tides of
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  the Pacific, the stormless, restless ocean, fill up all the myriad indentations
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  of every continent and coral reef and emerald isle washed by their waves. What
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  certainty is here? No doubt or question or fear of failure, No faltering
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  in that clear voice, no hesitancy in that decisive accent. We may trust
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  him, Brothers and sisters, He at least has learnt the law of equilibrium.
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  He speaks that which he knows. He has himself the rest he promises.
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  Put yourself into his hand. It will not take him longer to give
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  you rest than it took him to still the waves. They did not even
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  need to rock themselves to rest. Immediately there was a great calm. The
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  Shiloh rest is not for heaven. We need not ask for the wings of
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  a dove to fly away to it. We should not find it hereafter if
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  we did not first find it here, we which believe do enter into rest.
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  The rest remaineth only in the sense of being unexhausted by all who have
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  gone before. It awaits us in unstinted abundance. The Shiloh rest is not
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  in circumstances. That thought lies at the root of the teaching of the Epicurean,
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  the Oic, the worldly philosopher. But circumstances will never bring it any
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  more than change of posture will bring permanent relief to the pain racked body.
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  Here is a truer science. Rest within, rest, within the heart.
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  While storms and perplexities and trials are swirling through the world, as the ocean
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  depths are still enough to permit of perpetual deposits, while hurricanes sweep the surface,
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  and as there is a point of calm in the midst of the fiercest
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  whirlwind that ever marched across the desert stands, the Shiloh rest is not in
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  action. He invites us to no bank of roses, no elysium plane,
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  to no parade ground in heaven. Though they rest, yet they rest not.
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  They rest in their blessed service. They serve without breaking their rest.
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  There is the strenuous putting forth of energy, but no strain, no effort,
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  no sense of fatigue, And such is the rest he gives. Does
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  he not speak of a burden and a yoke in the same breath as he
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  speaks of rest? And it is not hard to get it? See,
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  he gives it, and it need not much effort to take a gift.
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  He shows just where to look for it, And it is easy enough to
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  find a thing if we know just where it lies. There seems to me
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  but three conditions to be fulfilled by us. One surrender all to Him.
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  As long as you try to wield that scepter, or permit your will to
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  be the law giver of your life, the Shiloh cannot come to you.
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  You must give up your own efforts to save yourself, your own ideas of
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  getting right with God, your own choice, your own way, your own
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  will. You must as absolutely cease from your own works as God did from
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  his on the sabbath of his rest. You must hand over your sinful spirit
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  to be saved by him. You must surrender the keys of every room in
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  your heart. You must be willing for Him to be supreme monarch of every
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  province of your being. You must lie naked and open to him, as
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  the victim before the priest. So only can you expect rest. And if
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  you cannot bring your nature into this posture, ask him to do it for
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  you. Let your will crown him as our own Alfred was crowned when the
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  most of England was still ravaged by the Danes. He will not fail nor
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  be discouraged till he have put down all rule and authority and power, and
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  made himself supreme throughout heart and life. Two, trust him by handing over
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  all to him. Hand over to him all your sins, and all your
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  sorrows. He taketh away the sin of the world. Do not wait till
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  sins have accumulated into a cloud or a mountain. Do not tarry till the
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  time has come for evening prayer. Do not delay till you are alone,
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  But as swiftly as you are, conscious of any burden, pass it on
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  to Jesus. Cast all your care upon him, For he careth for you.
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  His eye is quick to see each effort to believe, and his heart
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  is large enough to hold the troubles of the world. So soon as you
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  give, he takes, and what he takes he also undertakes, and will
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  see it made right. For you, to your rejoicing and to his glory.
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  This is the blessed rest of faith, the land of promise into which
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  Joshua waits to lead all who trust him. Three, take his yoke and
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  learn of him. In other words, do as he did? What did
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  he do? What was his yoke? A yoke means submission to whom did
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  he submit? Not to man, not even to his mother, not to
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  the suggestions of Satan, but to the Father's will. Whenever he saw the
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  handwriting of that will, he meekly yielded submission. This was the secret of
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  his rest to live in the will of God. This is rest. Be
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  ever on the lookout for it in every event, in every kindness or insult,
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  in every letter, in every new friendship, in every discipline of providence,
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  and in every text of scripture. And whenever you see it, take
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  it. Do not wait for it to be forced upon you, as a
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  yoke on a heifer unaccustomed to it, which struggles till a deep wound is
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  cut in its flesh. But take the yoke, Be meek and lowly imitate
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  him who said, the cup which my father hath given me, shall I
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  not drink it? The language which best befits such a one as that wonderful
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  sentence in which simplicity and sublimity struggle for mastery. Even so, father,
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  for so it seemed good in thy sight. A gentleman once visited a school
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  of deaf and dumb children, and was asked to write them a question on
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  the blackboard, and he wrote, why did God make you deaf and dumb?
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  While I can hear and speak? Tears filled their eyes, and after
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  a slight pause, a little boy stepped forward and took the chalk and wrote
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  beneath Even so, father, for it seemed good in thy sight. If
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  you can say that you have learnt the secret of rest, and Shiloh has
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  already come to you, and you are one of those that are being gathered
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  to him through the long, weary ages to share his ultimate triumph and reign.
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  End of chapter fourteen.