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如申命记 15

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1 每逢年末一年,你要施行豁免。

2 豁免的定例乃是這樣:凡債要把所借給鄰舍的豁免了;不可向鄰舍和弟兄追討,因為耶和華的豁免年已經宣告了。

3 若借給外邦人,你可以向他追討;但借給你弟兄,無論是甚麼,你要鬆豁免了。

4 你若留意聽從耶和華─你的話,謹守遵行我今日所吩咐你這一切的命令,就必在你們中間沒有窮人了(在耶和華─你所賜你為業的上,耶和華必大大賜福與你。)

5 a

6 因為耶和華─你的必照他所應許你的賜福與你。你必許多國民,卻不至向他們貸;你必管轄許多國民,他們卻不能管轄你。

7 耶和華─你所賜你的上,無論那座城裡,你弟兄中若有個窮人,你不可忍著心、揝著不幫補你窮乏的弟兄。

8 總要向他鬆開,照他所缺乏給他,補他的不足。

9 你要謹慎,不可心裡起惡念,第七年的豁免年快到了,你便惡眼看你窮乏的弟兄,甚麼都不他,以致他因你求告耶和華,罪便歸於你了。

10 你總要他,他的時候心裡不可愁煩;因耶和華─你的必在你這一切所行的,並你裡所辦的事上,賜福與你。

11 原來那上的窮人永不斷絕;所以我吩咐你說:總要向你上困苦窮乏的弟兄鬆開

12 你弟兄中,若有一個希伯來男人或希伯來女人被給你,服事你年,到第七年就要任他自由出去。

13 你任他自由的時候,不可使他空手而去,

14 要從你羊群禾場、酒醡之中多多的他;耶和華─你的怎樣賜福與你,你也要照樣他。

15 要記念你在埃及作過奴僕,耶和華─你的將你救贖;因此,我今日吩咐你這件事。

16 他若對你:我不願意離開你,是因他你和你的家,且因在你那裡很好,

17 你就要拿錐子將他的耳朵在上刺透,他便永為你的奴僕了。你待婢女也要這樣。

18 你任他自由的時候,不可以為難事,因他服事你年,較比雇工的工價多加一倍了。耶和華─你的就必在你所做的一切事上賜福與你。

19 牛群羊群中頭生的,凡是公的,都要分別為,歸耶和華─你的牛群中頭生的,不可用他耕地;羊群中頭生的,不可剪毛。

20 這頭生的,你和你的家屬,每年要在耶和華所選擇的地方,在耶和華─你面前

21 這頭生的若有甚麼殘疾,就如瘸腿的、瞎眼的,無論有甚麼惡殘疾,都不可獻給耶和華─你的

22 可以在你城裡;潔淨人與不潔淨人都可以,就如羚羊與鹿一般。

23 只是不可他的血;要倒在上,如同倒一樣。

   

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Arcana Coelestia # 922

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922. 'He took from every clean beast, and from every clean bird' means goods that stem from charity, and the truths of faith. This has been shown already; 'beast' means goods that stem from charity, 45, 46, 142, 143, 246, 'bird' the truths of faith, 40, 776. Burnt offerings were made from cattle, from lambs and goats, and from turtle doves and young pigeons, Leviticus 1:2-17; Numbers 15:2-15; 28:1-end. These were clean beasts, each one of them meaning some particular heavenly quality. And because they meant these things in the Ancient Church, and in subsequent Churches represented them, it is clear that burnt offerings and sacrifices were nothing else than representatives that go with internal worship, and that when they had been divorced from internal worship they became idolatrous. This any mentally normal person can see, for what is an altar but merely something made of stone? And what is a burnt offering and a sacrifice but the slaughtering of an animal? For worship to be Divine it has to represent some heavenly quality which the worshippers know and acknowledge and from which they worship the One they are representing.

[2] Nobody except the person who does not wish to understand anything at all about the Lord can be ignorant of the fact that these things were representatives of the Lord. It is the internal things, namely charity and faith deriving from charity, through which the One who is being represented has to be seen, acknowledged, and believed, as is quite clear in the Prophets, for example in Jeremiah,

Thus said Jehovah Zebaoth, the God of Israel, Add your burnt offerings on to your sacrifices, and eat the flesh. I did not speak with your fathers and I did not command them on the day I brought them out of the land of Egypt on the matters of burnt offering and sacrifice. But this matter I commanded them, saying, Obey My voice, and I will be your God. Jeremiah 7:21-23.

Hearing or obeying His voice is obeying the law, the whole of which focuses on the one command that men should love God above everything else and their neighbour as themselves, for on these depend the Law and the Prophets, Matthew 22:37-40; 7:12. In David,

O Jehovah, sacrifice and offering You have not desired; burnt offering and sin-sacrifice You host not sought. I have delighted to do Your will, O my God, and Your law is within my heart. 1 Psalms 40:6, 8.

[3] In Samuel, who said to Saul,

Has Jehovah as great delight in burnt offerings and sacrifices as in obeying the voice of Jehovah? Behold, to obey is better than sacrifice, to hearken than the fat of rams. 1 Samuel 15:22.

What obeying His voice involves is apparent in Micah,

Shall I come before Jehovah with burnt offerings, with calves a year old? Will Jehovah be pleased with thousands of rams, with tens of thousands of rivers of oil? He has shown you, O man, what is good; and what does Jehovah require of you but to carry out judgement and the love of mercy, and to humble yourself by walking with your God. Micah 6:6-8.

These are the things that burnt offerings and sacrifices of clean beasts and birds mean. In Amos,

Though you offer Me your burnt offerings and gifts, I will not accept them, and the peace offering of your fatted ones I will not look upon. Let judgement flow like waters, and righteousness like a mighty stream. Amos 5:22, 24.

'Judgement' means truth, and 'righteousness' good. Both stem from charity and are the burnt offerings and sacrifices of the internal man. In Hosea,

I desire mercy and not sacrifice, and the knowledge of God rather than burnt offerings. Hosea 6:6.

From all these quotations the nature of sacrifices and burnt offerings when charity and faith are not present is clear. It is also clear from them that because 'clean beasts and clean birds' meant the goods that stem from charity and faith they also represented them.

Poznámky pod čarou:

1. literally, in the midst of my viscera

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