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1 Samuel 2

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1 And Hannah prayed, and said: My heart exulteth in Jehovah; My horn is exalted in Jehovah; My mouth is enlarged over mine enemies; Because I rejoice in thy salvation.

2 There is none holy as Jehovah; For there is none besides thee, Neither is there any rock like our God.

3 Talk no more so exceeding proudly; Let not arrogancy come out of your mouth; For Jehovah is a God of knowledge, And by him actions are weighed.

4 The bows of the mighty men are broken; And they that stumbled are girded with strength.

5 They that were full have hired out themselves for bread; And they that were hungry have ceased [to hunger]: Yea, the barren hath borne seven; And she that hath many children languisheth.

6 Jehovah killeth, and maketh alive: He bringeth down to Sheol, and bringeth up.

7 Jehovah maketh poor, and maketh rich: He bringeth low, he also lifteth up.

8 He raiseth up the poor out of the dust, He lifteth up the needy from the dunghill, To make them sit with princes, And inherit the throne of glory: For the pillars of the earth are Jehovah's, And he hath set the world upon them.

9 He will keep the feet of his holy ones; But the wicked shall be put to silence in darkness; For by strength shall no man prevail.

10 They that strive with Jehovah shall be broken to pieces; Against them will he thunder in heaven: Jehovah will judge the ends of the earth; And he will give strength unto his king, And exalt the horn of his anointed.

11 And Elkanah went to Ramah to his house. And the child did minister unto Jehovah before Eli the priest.

12 Now the sons of Eli were base men; they knew not Jehovah.

13 And the custom of the priests with the people was, that, when any man offered sacrifice, the priest's servant came, while the flesh was boiling, with a flesh-hook of three teeth in his hand;

14 and he struck it into the pan, or kettle, or caldron, or pot; all that the flesh-hook brought up the priest took therewith. So they did in Shiloh unto all the Israelites that came thither.

15 Yea, before they burnt the fat, the priest's servant came, and said to the man that sacrificed, Give flesh to roast for the priest; for he will not have boiled flesh of thee, but raw.

16 And if the man said unto him, They will surely burn the fat first, and then take as much as thy soul desireth; then he would say, Nay, but thou shalt give it me now: and if not, I will take it by force.

17 And the sin of the young men was very great before Jehovah; for the men despised the offering of Jehovah.

18 But Samuel ministered before Jehovah, being a child, girded with a linen ephod.

19 Moreover his mother made him a little robe, and brought it to him from year to year, when she came up with her husband to offer the yearly sacrifice.

20 And Eli blessed Elkanah and his wife, and said, Jehovah give thee seed of this woman for the petition which was asked of Jehovah. And they went unto their own home.

21 And Jehovah visited Hannah, and she conceived, and bare three sons and two daughters. And the child Samuel grew before Jehovah.

22 Now Eli was very old; and he heard all that his sons did unto all Israel, and how that they lay with the women that did service at the door of the tent of meeting.

23 And he said unto them, Why do ye such things? for I hear of your evil dealings from all this people.

24 Nay, my sons; for it is no good report that I hear: ye make Jehovah's people to transgress.

25 If one man sin against another, God shall judge him; but if a man sin against Jehovah, who shall entreat for him? Notwithstanding, they hearkened not unto the voice of their father, because Jehovah was minded to slay them.

26 And the child Samuel grew on, and increased in favor both with Jehovah, and also with men.

27 And there came a man of God unto Eli, and said unto him, Thus saith Jehovah, Did I reveal myself unto the house of thy father, when they were in Egypt [in bondage] to Pharaoh's house?

28 and did I choose him out of all the tribes of Israel to be my priest, to go up unto mine altar, to burn incense, to wear an ephod before me? and did I give unto the house of thy father all the offerings of the children of Israel made by fire?

29 Wherefore kick ye at my sacrifice and at mine offering, which I have commanded in [my] habitation, and honorest thy sons above me, to make yourselves fat with the chiefest of all the offerings of Israel my people?

30 Therefore Jehovah, the God of Israel, saith, I said indeed that thy house, and the house of thy father, should walk before me for ever: but now Jehovah saith, Be it far from me; for them that honor me I will honor, and they that despise me shall be lightly esteemed.

31 Behold, the days come, that I will cut off thine arm, and the arm of thy father's house, that there shall not be an old man in thy house.

32 And thou shalt behold the affliction of [my] habitation, in all the wealth which [God] shall give Israel; and there shall not be an old man in thy house for ever.

33 And the man of thine, [whom] I shall not cut off from mine altar, [shall be] to consume thine eyes, and to grieve thy heart; and all the increase of thy house shall die in the flower of their age.

34 And this shall be the sign unto thee, that shall come upon thy two sons, on Hophni and Phinehas: in one day they shall die both of them.

35 And I will raise me up a faithful priest, that shall do according to that which is in my heart and in my mind: and I will build him a sure house; and he shall walk before mine anointed for ever.

36 And it shall come to pass, that every one that is left in thy house shall come and bow down to him for a piece of silver and a loaf of bread, and shall say, Put me, I pray thee, into one of the priests' offices, that I may eat a morsel of bread.

   

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Apocalypse Explained # 257

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257. Since in this prophetical book numbers are often mentioned, and no one can know the spiritual sense of the things contained therein unless it is known what the particular numbers signify (for all numbers in the Word, like all names, signify spiritual things), and since the number "seven" is often mentioned among others, I will here show that "seven" signifies all persons and all things, likewise fullness and totality; for that which signifies all persons and all things signifies also fullness and totality, for fullness and totality are predicated of the magnitude of a thing, and all persons and all things are predicated of multitude. That "seven" has such a signification can be seen from the following passages. In Ezekiel:

They that dwell in the cities of Israel shall set fire to and burn the arms, and the shield, and the buckler, with the bow and with the arrows, and the hand-staff, and the spear; and they shall make a fire with them seven years. And they shall bury Gog and all his multitude, and they shall cleanse the earth seven months (Ezekiel 39:9, 11-12).

Here the desolation of all things in the church is treated of: "those that dwell in the cities of Israel" signify all goods of truth; "to set fire" signifies to consume by evils. "The arms, the shield, the buckler, the bow, the arrows, the hand-staff, the spear," are all things pertaining to doctrine; "to make a fire with them seven years" means to consume them all and fully by evils. "Gog" signifies those who are in external worship and in no internal worship; "to bury them and cleanse the earth" means to destroy all such, and completely purge the church of them.

[2] In Jeremiah:

The widows shall be multiplied more than the sand of the seas, and I will bring to them upon the mother of the youths the waster at noonday. She that hath borne seven shall languish, she shall breathe out her soul (Jeremiah 15:8-9).

"The widows," that shall be multiplied, signify those who are in good and who long for truths, and in a contrary sense, as here, those who are in evil and desire falsities; "the mother of the youths" signifies the church; "the waster at noonday" signifies the vastation of that church, however much it may be in truths from the Word; "she that hath borne seven shall languish, she shall breathe out her soul," signifies that the church, to which all truths were given because the Word was given to it, is to perish; for "she that hath borne seven" signifies to whom all truths were given. This was particularly said of the Jews.

[3] Likewise in the first book of Samuel:

They that were hungry have ceased; the barren hath borne seven, and she that hath many children hath failed (1 Samuel 2:5).

"They that were hungry," who have ceased, are those who long for the truths and goods of the church; "the barren bearing seven" signifies those who are outside of the church, and are ignorant of truths, because they have not the Word, thus the Gentiles, to whom all things will be given; "she that hath many children failing" signifies those who have, from whom will be taken away. In David:

Render unto our neighbors sevenfold into their bosom (Psalms 79:12).

And in Moses:

That the Jews should be punished seven times for their sins (Leviticus 26:18, 21, 24, 28);

"seven times" here signifying fully.

[4] In Luke:

If thy brother sin against thee seven times in the day, and seven times in the day turn again to thee, saying, I repent, thou shalt forgive him (Luke 17:4).

"To forgive seven times, if he should turn again seven times," means to forgive as often as he turns, thus every time. But lest it should be understood to mean seven times, the Lord explained his meaning to Peter, who supposed seven times to be meant, in Matthew:

Peter said, Lord, how often shall my brother sin against me and I forgive him? Until seven times? Jesus saith unto him, I say not unto thee, until seven times, but until seventy times seven (Matthew 18:21-22).

"Seventy times seven" means always, without counting.

In David:

Seven times a day do I praise thee for the judgments of righteousness (Psalms 119:164).

"Seven times a day" means always, or at all times.

[5] In the same:

The sayings of Jehovah are pure sayings, as silver refined in a crucible purified seven times (Psalms 12:6).

"Silver" signifies truth from the Divine; "purified seven times" means wholly and fully pure.

[6] in Isaiah:

The light of the moon shall be as the light of the sun, and the light of the sun shall be sevenfold, as the light of seven days (Isaiah 30:26).

"The light of the sun" signifies Divine truth from Divine good; that "this light shall be sevenfold, as the light of seven days," signifies that Divine truth in heaven shall be without any falsity, thus altogether and fully pure.

[7] In Matthew:

The unclean spirit shall take seven other spirits more evil than himself, and shall dwell there (Matthew 12:45; Luke 11:26).

Here profanation is treated of, and "the seven unclean spirits" with which the unclean spirit would return, signify all the falsities of evil, thus a complete destruction of good and truth.

[8] The "seven times" that were to pass over the king of Babylon have a like meaning, in Daniel:

His heart shall be changed from man, and a beast's heart shall be given unto him, while seven times shall pass over him (Daniel 4:16, 25, 32).

"The king of Babylon" signifies those who profane the goods and truths of the Word; that "his heart should be changed from man, and a beast's heart be given him," means that nothing spiritual, which is the truly human, should remain, but instead there should be the diabolical; "the seven times which were to pass over him" signify profanation, which is the complete destruction of truth and good.

[9] Because "seven" and "seven times" signified all things and fullness, the following commands were given:

Seven days the hands [of Aaron and his sons] should be filled (Exodus 29:35).

Seven days [the altar] should be sanctified (Exodus 29:37).

Seven days Aaron should be clothed with the garments when he was to be initiated (Exodus 29:30).

For seven days Aaron and his sons were not to go out of the tabernacle when they were to initiated into the priesthood (Leviticus 8:33, 34).

Seven times was the altar to be sprinkled for expiation upon its horns (Leviticus 16:18, 19).

Seven times was the altar to be sanctified with oil (Leviticus 8:11).

Seven times was the blood to be sprinkled towards the veil (Leviticus 4:16, 17).

Seven times was the blood to be sprinkled with the fingers eastward, when Aaron went towards the mercy-seat (Leviticus 16:12-15).

Seven times was the water of separation to be sprinkled towards the tent (Numbers 19:4).

Seven times the blood was to be sprinkled in the cleansing of leprosy (Leviticus 14:7, 8, 27, 38, 51).

The lampstand was to have seven lamps (Exodus 25:32, 37; 37:18-25).

For seven days were the feasts to be kept (Exodus 34:18, Leviticus 23:4-9, 39-44; Deuteronomy 16:3, 4, 8).

For the seven days of the feast there was to be a burnt-offering of seven bullocks, and seven rams daily (Ezekiel 45:23).

Balaam built seven altars, and sacrificed seven oxen and seven rams (Numbers 23:1-7, 15-18, 29, 30).

They numbered seven weeks of years, seven times seven years, and then they were to cause the trumpet of the jubilee to be sounded in the seventh month (Leviticus 25:8, 9).

From the signification of the number "seven" it can be seen what is signified:

By the seven days of creation (Genesis 1);

Also by the fact that four thousand men were satisfied by seven loaves and that seven basketful remained (Matthew 15:34-38; Mark 8:5-9).

From this then it is evident what is signified in Revelation:

By the seven churches (Revelation 1:4, 11);

By the seven golden lampstands, in the midst of which was the Son of man (Revelation 1:13);

By the seven stars in His right hand (Revelation 1:16, 20);

By the seven spirits of God (Revelation 3:1);

By the seven lamps of fire before the throne (Revelation 4:5);

By the book sealed with seven seals (Revelation 5:1);

By the seven angels to whom were given seven trumpets (Revelation 8:2);

By the seven thunders which uttered their voices (Revelation 10:3, 4);

By the seven angels having the seven last plagues (Revelation 16:1, 6);

And by the seven vials full of the seven last plagues (Revelation 16:1; 21:9);

and elsewhere in the Word, where "seven" is mentioned.

  
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Thanks to the Swedenborg Foundation for their permission to use this translation.