Son Of My Right Hand

by I.H. Stewart, Glasgow | Category: General | Jun 1973

Sad indeed were the words of Rachel in the day of her departure, when knowing she had borne a son she called him Benoni the son of my sorrow. The vision that Jacob saw was clear, though doubtless through the mist of tears, when in such tragic circumstances he named the child Benjamin - the son of my right hand. Often in the years that ensued as he remembered that desolate road between Bethel and Bethlehem and saw the development of his son, with an eye more tender than Leah's, his soul was knit with the lad.

How appropriate the words with which Moses the man of God blessed his posterity!

"Of Benjamin he said,

The beloved of the LORD shall dwell in safety by Him; He covereth him all day long, And he dwelleth between His shoulders" (Deut. 33:12).

Such words seem in retrospect an apt description of the life of Israel's youngest son, who knew many years of sweet fellowship with his father in Hebron. There were no long years of separation such as Jacob knew. Nor was his experience like that of Joseph who was sorely tried in an alien land and whose feet they hurt with fetters. Yet interwoven through a life of safety and security there were days of sorrow. Terror must have struck his breast when Joseph's cup was found in his sack (Gen. 44:1-6). With what sudden fear he fell before Joseph and heard Judah's touching appeal on his behalf, "His father loveth Him"! It would have been fitting had he then cried, as did Asaph

in his generation, "Let Thy hand be upon the man of Thy right hand, upon the son of man whom Thou madest strong for Thyself" (Psa.80:17).

Precious as such glimpses of the Lord's dealings with the patriarchs are to all who read them, they become more dear to those who discern in them shadows of the operation of the hands of The Mighty One of Jacob with The Shepherd, the Stone of Israel. Whilst never presented in the Scriptures as the Son of God's Sorrow (for He did always the things that were pleasing to the Father) the Lord Jesus was graphically described by Isaiah as a "Man of Sorrows". With grief He was familiar, for he was despised and rejected of men. He must have felt keenly the rejection of those in Nazareth to whom in infinite love He had come to release from captivity. They cast Him forth out of the city! Luke tersely records, He "went His way". Yes, onward He went setting His face to go to Jerusalem. Oftentimes early in the morning the inhabitants of the city of the Great King came to the temple to hear Him who spake as no man ever spake, and it was theirs to sit under His shadow with great delight. Of an evening when all returned to their own homes, He crossed no threshold, but in the growing darkness ascended the Mount of-Olives and there He "offered up prayers and supplications with strong crying and tears unto Him that was able to save Him out of death (Heb. 5:7 RVM). Deep as were the sorrows that the Saviour then knew, they are eclipsed by those He experienced when in the garden to the faithful few He confided, "My soul is exceeding sorrowful, even unto death". Forsaken though He had often been of men, always He had known sweet fellowship with His Father. "The hour... is come," He declared, "that ye shall be scattered, every man to his own, and shall leave Me alone: and yet I am not alone, because the Father is with Me" (John 16:32). But now as the power of darkness was so fully to be made manifest, in agony He prayed alone, knowing that those precious sheep whom He had called by their names would so soon be scattered abroad and He, the Shepherd, would be smitten. Then it was that the heavenly messenger appeared and strengthened Him. What words did he bring? Perhaps then were whispered such words as the promise of the Father, "Thou art the same, and Thy years shall not fail" (Heb. 1:12).

Well did the poet write,

"Low on the ground, the Lord of Glory lies,

Around Him surge death's sorrows like a flood,

Forth from His heart prayer pours with tears and cries,

Falls to the ground His sweat like drops of blood;

That awful cup He takes, submissive still,

To drink the last dark dregs, it is the Father's will."

And so forward He went, for had He not earlier said, "I have a baptism to be baptized with; and how am I straitened till it be accomplished!"? (Luke 12:50). Thus did He come to the cross. and there in matchless love was crucified in weakness. The full significance of the heavenly messenger's words were then realized by Mary as a sword pierced through her own soul; that thoughts out of many hearts might be revealed. Not even then, grief-stricken though she was, could she repeat Rachel's words, Benoni - Son of my Sorrow.

Soon after these sacred scenes, to the risen, glorified Son of God the words came, "Sit Thou at My right hand, until I make Thine enemies Thy footstool" (Psa. 110:1). All heaven was filled with His praises, and there were those who re-echoed the glorious strain. To this fact the apostles words bear witness, when in Jerusalem they announced "The- God of our fathers raised up Jesus, whom ye slew, hanging Him on a tree. Him did God exalt at His right hand to be a Prince and a Saviour" (Acts 5:30,31 RVM). It is gloriously true that the Man of Sorrows is the Son of God's right hand. Whether the Father speaks to the many on Jordan's banks, or to the few in the holy mount, from the excellent glory the testimony is the same, "In Him I am well pleased"!

May the Lord give us grace in these evil days, when the love of the many waxes cold, to "lay aside every weight, and the sin which doth so easily beset us ... looking unto Jesus the Author and Perfecter in our faith, who for the joy that was set before Him endured the cross, despising shame and hath sat down at the right hand of the throne of God" (Heb. 12:1,2).

I.H. Stewart, Glasgow | Jun 1973
General