士师记2:以色列的不顺从和约书亚的死亡。

本章以耶和华的天使的训斥开场。以色列人曾被命令不得与迦南人签订任何条约，并拆毁他们的祭坛。天使警告说，以色列人违背了他们对耶和华的盟约，所以耶和华不会赶走那地的其他居民；他们会成为以色列人的荆棘，他们的神会成为陷阱。以色列人哭了，向耶和华献了祭。

在以色列人去了他们指定的领土之后，书中提到了约书亚的死亡和埋葬（然而约书亚在《约书亚记》的结尾已经死亡！）。在约书亚的时代，所有的以色列人都跟随了耶和华，并明白耶和华为以色列所做的一切。但老一辈人去世了，新一辈人出现了，他们不认识耶和华，也不知道耶和华为以色列做了什么。

本章接着阐述了以色列人民所陷入的可怕困境。他们开始敬拜迦南人的神巴力和亚斯达罗，他们背离了为他们做了很多事的主。因此，耶和华允许他们的敌人攻击他们，而以色列人无法抵挡他们。这种偏离耶和华，反过来受到惩罚的主题，将在接下来的几章中再次出现。

在这中间，经文说，耶和华兴起了拯救以色列的法官。然而，当每个法官死后，人们又恢复了对其他神的崇拜。这似乎预示着《士师记》中未来的事件。

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本章真正标志着以色列人在士师记中所犯的许多过错中的第一个。本章前三节的主角是耶和华的天使，他在整个圣经中多次出现，原因很多：有时是为了祝福，但在本章中是为了告诫以色列人的不顺从。主的天使立场坚定，态度坚决，代表着来自主的真理在我们的心灵中得到启示（见瑞典堡的作品。 天命96[6]).

哭泣 "的属灵含义可以有多种含义，取决于上下文。在这里，人们因为天使的警告而哭泣，在瞬间认识到他们的错误行为。这不是真正的悔改（"心灵的改变"），而是伴随着我们自爱意识的恐惧，这可能导致我们更多的不顺从（见瑞典堡的作品。 天堂和地狱153).

老一代人的死亡和新一代人的崛起代表了我们的状态变化。老一辈人--约书亚和长老们--作为人民和主之间的联系，因为他们在自己的时代看到了主对以色列的祝福。然而，当我们失去这种联系时，我们对顺服的热爱和对我们为什么必须顺服主的理解都会下降。

我们的状态变化通常发生得很快；我们突然生气，感到恐惧，变得自私。当我们在这些时候向主求助时，我们很快就会进入一种谦卑的状态，在这种状态下，主可以接触我们（见瑞典堡的 新耶路撒冷教义之生命篇21).

约书亚死后，以色列人开始敬拜其他神，耶和华惩罚了他们。在我们的生活中，这就像背弃对主的奉献，转而关注世俗的东西，随心所欲。没有来自主的惩罚，只有我们行为的后果。我们变得软弱，容易成为怀疑和焦虑的猎物，完全受地狱的摆布（见 天国的秘密7373).

虽然耶和华兴起了法官来领导人民，但一旦法官去世，以色列人就会回到他们的老路上去。这给了我们一个宝贵的属灵真理，即即使在我们自我利益的遗憾状态下，我们有时仍然能够看到我们所处的困境。我们可能会有一段时间感到惊慌，但这种情况会消退，我们会再次变得自满。主兴起了法官，使我们能够对自己负责任。

3928. 'And she called his name Naphtali' means the essential nature of it, that is to say, of the temptation in which one overcomes and also of the resistance offered by the natural man. This is clear from the meaning of 'name' and of 'calling the name' as the essential nature, dealt with in 144, 145, 1754, 1896, 2009, 2724, 3421. The particular nature is that which is meant by 'Naphtali', for the name Naphtali is derived from the word 'wrestlings'. And for the same reason 'Naphtali' represents this second general truth of the Church. Temptation is the means by which the internal man is joined to the external, for they are at variance with each other but are made to agree and to correspond by means of temptations. The external man is indeed such that of itself it does not desire anything except bodily and worldly things; these are the delights of the natural man's life. But the internal man - when opened towards heaven and desiring the things of heaven, as is the case with those who are able to be regenerated - takes delight in heavenly things. And when a person undergoes temptations these two types of delight conflict with each other. The person is not directly aware of the conflict, because he is not aware of what heavenly delight is and of what hellish delight is, let alone that they are so utterly contrary to each other. But celestial angels cannot be present at all with a person in his bodily and worldly delight until this has been made subservient, that is to say, until bodily and worldly delight is no longer regarded as an end in itself but something which is meant to be subservient to heavenly delight, as shown above in 3913. Once this has been achieved the angels are able to reside with that person in both; but in this case his delight becomes blessedness, and at length happiness in the next life.

[2] Anyone who believes that the delight of the natural man prior to regeneration is not hell-like, and that devilish spirits are not in possession there, is much mistaken. He is unaware of what the situation is with man - that prior to regeneration genii and spirits from hell have possession of his natural man, no matter how much he seems to himself to be like any other person, and also that he is able to participate with everybody else in what is holy and to reason about the truths and goods of faith, indeed is able to believe that he has become strong in these. If this person does not feel within himself some measure of affection for what is right and fair in his daily work, and for what is good and true in society and in life, let him recognize that his kind of delight in things is the kind that exists with those in hell, for his delight entails no other love than self-love and love of the world. And when these constitute his delight no charity or any faith is present within it. The only means that will weaken and dispel this delight once it has become predominant is the affirmation and acknowledgement of the holiness of faith and of the good of life, which is the first means meant, as shown above, by Dan, and after this by temptation, which is the second means and is meant by Naphtali; for this second means follows the other. Indeed people who do not affirm and acknowledge the goodness and the truth which constitute faith and charity are unable to enter any conflict brought about by temptation as there is nothing within to oppose the evil and falsity towards which natural delight gravitates.

[3] In other places in the Word where Naphtali is mentioned he means a person's state following temptations, as in the prophecy of Jacob, who by then was Israel,

Naphtali is a hind let loose, giving beautiful words. Genesis 49:21.

'A hind let loose' stands for the affection for natural truth in a state that is free, which arises following temptation. This state is also what is at stake within temptations, which are meant by 'Naphtali', for the battle fought in temptations is a struggle for freedom. Likewise in Moses' prophecy,

To Naphtali he said, Naphtali, satisfied with favour, and full with the blessing of Jehovah, will possess the west and the south. Deuteronomy 33:23.

For the representations of Jacob's sons, and of the tribes, depend on the order in which they are mentioned, 3862. And in the prophecy of Deborah and Barak,

Zebulun is a people that consigned its soul to die, as did Naphtali, on the heights of the field. Judges 5:18.

This too refers in the internal sense to the conflicts brought about by temptations, and to a person's presence among those who do not fear anything evil because they are rooted in forms of truth and good, meant by 'being on the heights of the field'.