The Bible

 

اشعيا 61:1-3 : To Heal the Broken-Hearted

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1 روح السيد الرب عليّ لان الرب مسحني لابشر المساكين ارسلني لاعصب منكسري القلب لانادي للمسبيين بالعتق وللماسورين بالاطلاق.

2 لانادي بسنة مقبولة للرب وبيوم انتقام لالهنا لأعزي كل النائحين

3 لاجعل لنائحي صهيون لأعطيهم جمالا عوضا عن الرماد ودهن فرح عوضا عن النوح ورداء تسبيح عوضا عن الروح اليائسة فيدعون اشجار البر غرس الرب للتمجيد

Commentary

 

To Heal the Broken-Hearted

By New Christian Bible Study Staff

This scene is depicted in a Vatican manuscript (Vatican, Biblioteca. Codex Gr. 1613, p.1)

In the 61st chapter of Isaiah, there is a beautiful prophecy of the Lord's advent, and of the impact that it would have. It begins this way:

“The Spirit of the Lord God is upon Me, Because the Lord has anointed Me To preach good tidings to the poor; He has sent Me to heal the brokenhearted.... (Isaiah 61:1)

In the New Testament, in Luke 4:14-22, we see confirmation of this prophecy, in this story:

"14 And Jesus returned in the power of the Spirit into Galilee: and there went out a fame of him through all the region round about.

15 And he taught in their synagogues, being glorified of all.

16 And he came to Nazareth, where he had been brought up: and, as his custom was, he went into the synagogue on the sabbath day, and stood up for to read.

17 And there was delivered unto him the book of the prophet Esaias. And when he had opened the book, he found the place where it was written,

18 The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he hath anointed me to preach the gospel to the poor; he hath sent me to heal the brokenhearted, to preach deliverance to the captives, and recovering of sight to the blind, to set at liberty them that are bruised,

19 To preach the acceptable year of the Lord.

20 And he closed the book, and he gave it again to the minister, and sat down. And the eyes of all them that were in the synagogue were fastened on him.

21 And he began to say unto them, This day is this scripture fulfilled in your ears.

22 And all bare him witness, and wondered at the gracious words which proceeded out of his mouth. And they said, Is not this Joseph's son?"

In this passage, who are the poor, and the brokenhearted? They are people who do not yet know enough real truth, or who therefore are not yet able to receive real good. They are people who "are ignorant of truth and who desire it." (Inner Meaning of the Prophets and Psalms 61).

Here's another source:

"These things (above) are said of the Lord. 'The poor' to whom Jehovah has anointed Him to preach good tidings, refers to those who are in few truths, and yet desire truths that their soul may be sustained by them. The 'broken in heart' stand for those who as a consequence are in grief." (Apocalypse Explained 811[17]).

Every person has two spiritual faculties that work together -- a will (the things we love), and an understanding (the things we know and believe in). We're born with both, and they gradually develop. Our original will is mostly selfish, and it needs to be gradually expunged, and replaced by a new unselfish will that the Lord wants to implant and develop in us. On our personal spiritual journeys, that's the the big thing that needs to happen.

Our understanding, at some points in that process, needs to step out ahead of the will, and learn true ideas, and construct them into a framework. There has to be a part of the will that directs the understanding to make this effort, and wants to use the framework. There's another part of the will that says -- no, not interested, don't bother, maybe later. But it's the unselfish part - the good part - that feels this driving need for truth. It's people who are in this state that are poor (needing to learn truth), and brokenhearted (in grief, and therefore wanting to learn truth, so that they can be good, and receive the Lord's love). See Arcana Coelestia 6854[3] and its related cross-references for an interesting discussion of this process.

From Swedenborg's Works

 

Arcana Coelestia #3493

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3493. 'And his eyes were becoming dark so that he could not see' means when the Rational wished to enlighten the Natural from the Divine. This is clear from the meaning of 'the eyes' as interior or rational sight, dealt with in 2701, and from the meaning of 'seeing' as recognizing and understanding, dealt with in 2150, 2325, 2807. Consequently when 'the eyes' are said 'to be becoming dark' the meaning is that no discernment exists any longer, in this case no discernment of the things present in the natural. This being the meaning of these words, the fact that the Rational wished to enlighten the Natural from the Divine is meant. What this implies may be seen from the following things stated and shown already about the rational and the natural with man when he is being regenerated: The rational is regenerated before the natural, for the reason that the rational is interior and so closer to the Divine, and also is purer and so more suited to receiving the Divine than the natural is; and for the further reason that the natural has to be regenerated by way of the rational, see 3286, 3288, 3321.

[2] When therefore the rational has been regenerated but not the natural the former in that case seems to itself to be made dark, for no correspondence exists between the two. Actually the rational receives its sight from the light of heaven, whereas the natural receives its sight from the light of the world; but unless a correspondence exists between the two the rational is unable to see anything that is in the natural. Everything there is like shadow or even like thick darkness. But once a correspondence does exist, things that are in light in the natural are then apparent to the rational, for things that belong to the light of the world are then enlightened by those that belong to the light of heaven, which are so to speak shining through. But these matters are more clearly evident from what has been stated and shown already about correspondence see 2987, 2989-2991, 3002, 3138, 3167, 3222, 3223, 3225, 3337, 3485. Through what is stated and shown in these paragraphs one may grasp to some extent that the words 'Isaac's eyes were becoming dark so that he could not see' mean that the Rational wished to enlighten the Natural from the Divine, that is to say, to make even the Natural Divine, for the subject in the highest sense is the Lord. Light is thereby shed on this matter by what occurs with man when he is being regenerated and which has been described already; for man's regeneration is an image of the Lord's glorification, 3043, 3138, 3212, 3296, 3490.

  
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Thanks to the Swedenborg Society for the permission to use this translation.