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彌迦書 1

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1 猶大約坦、亞哈斯、希西家在位的時候,摩利沙人彌迦得耶和華的默示,論撒瑪利亞耶路撒冷

2 萬民哪,你們都要和其上所有的,也都要側耳而耶和華從他的殿要見證你們的不是。

3 看哪,耶和華出了他的居所,降臨步行處。

4 在他以必消化,諸必崩裂,如蠟化在中,如坡。

5 這都因雅各罪過以色列家的惡。雅各罪過在哪裡呢?豈不是在撒瑪利亞麼?猶大的邱壇在哪裡呢?豈不是在耶路撒冷麼?

6 所以我必使撒瑪利亞變為田野的亂堆,又作為種葡萄之處;也必將她的石頭倒在谷中,露出根基來。

7 她一切雕刻的偶像必被打碎;她所得的財物必被燒;所有的偶像我必毀滅;因為是從妓女雇價所聚來的,後必歸為妓女的雇價。

8 先知說:因此我必大聲哀號,赤腳露體而行;又要呼號如野狗,哀鳴如鴕鳥。

9 因為撒瑪利亞的傷痕無法醫治,延及猶大耶路撒冷我民的城

10 不要在迦特報告這事,總不要哭泣;我在伯亞弗拉滾於灰塵之中。

11 沙斐的居民哪,你們要赤身蒙羞過去。撒南的居民不敢出來。伯以薛人的哀哭使你們無處可站。

12 瑪律的居民心甚憂急,切望得處,因為災禍從耶和華那裡臨到耶路撒冷的城

13 拉吉的居民哪,要用快馬套車;錫安民(原文是女子)的由你而起;以色列人罪過在你那裡顯出。

14 猶大啊,你要將禮物送摩利設迦特。亞革悉的眾族必用詭詐待以色列

15 瑪利沙的居民哪,我必使那奪取你的到你這裡;以色列的尊貴人(原文是榮耀)必到亞杜蘭。

16 猶大啊,要為你所喜愛的兒女剪除你的頭髮,使頭光禿,要大大地光禿,如同禿,因為他們都被擄去離開你。

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Exploring the Meaning of Micah 1

Napsal(a) New Christian Bible Study Staff

The prophet Micah lived in the days of Hezekiah, the King of Judah, and the kings that preceded him. In 722 BC, in the fourth year of Hezekiah's reign, Shalmaneser, the King of Assyria, conquered the kingdom of Israel. This was the northern kingdom that had begun with Jeroboam, after Solomon's death, based around Samaria. The Assyrians led away its people, as described in 2 Kings 18:9.

Perhaps the Assyrian victory and the dispersal of the 10 lost tribes are related to Micah's prophecy, but - as in the other books of prophecy - at heart Micah is predicting broader spiritual events, especially the Lord's advent.

In Micah 1:1, 2, Micah starts out by proclaiming that the Lord is coming down as a witness against the people of the earth. Here the earth, internally, means the church - the Lord’s church which forms a connection between God and man. 1

Micah 1:3 says that Jehovah Himself will come down and restructure the church (meant by the earth) and will form a new heaven for that church. 2

In Micah 1:4-7 shows us an internal picture of the judgment on the Israelitish and Jewish churches. Mountains, valleys, fire, and water are all mentioned; all are representations of spiritual realities. When people of the church remember what those realities are, they will come to mind when they worship on a mountain, or treat the fire on the altar as holy. But when the spiritual meanings are forgotten, the representative things are done away with. This was true of both Samaria and Judah (Micah 1:5). 3

Verses 6 and 7 show the wickedness of Samaria, and what will happen to the idols there. 4 From its inception, the northern kingdom of Israel never had a good king. It had, as idols, the two golden calves that Jeroboam set up. All this will be destroyed.

Micah 1:8, 9 tell of the mourning of the people who love what is good, as far as Judah and even Jerusalem, which represents heaven.

However, in Micah 1:10-11, there's a mourning over the punishment as witnessed in some cities, which mean those doctrines that are used to try to justify the idolatry. But the anger is misdirected: people are angry with Jehovah, and not with the sins of idolatry that cause the punishment.

Micah 1:12 describes the mourning about the devastation of the church, which extends through all the heavens, even up to the highest.

In Micah 1:13-15, he's saying that the sins that were widespread in Israel, or Samaria, have also spread to the kingdom of Judah. To come to Adullam means to turn oneself towards evil.

Finally, in Micah 1:16, baldness means a lack of truths. Delightful sons are truths from God. Making yourself bald by shearing off your hair means you are spiritually denying the truths from God, i.e. that you are exiling yourself from your delightful sons. Consequently, everyone suffers deprivation. 5

To apply this to our lives... here's what it looks like:

1. We should turn away from evil and actively seek spiritual truths.

2. We shouldn't set up false gods in our lives, e.g things that we "worship" that really aren't useful.

3. We should try to look for the Lord in the Word, and to connect with Him.

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Arcana Coelestia # 2284

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2284. 'Perhaps ten will be found there' means if remnants were still present. This is clear from the meaning of the number 'ten' as remnants, dealt with in Volume One, in 576, 1738. What remnants are however has been stated and shown in various places already, as in 468, 530, 560, 561, 660, 661, 1050, 1738, 1906, namely that they are all the good and all the truth with a person which lie stored away in his two memories and in his life.

[2] It is well known that there is nothing good nor anything true except that from the Lord; also that what is good and true is flowing in constantly from the Lord into man, but it is received in varying ways, and that in fact it is received according to the life of evil and according to the false assumptions in which the person has confirmed himself. These are what either annihilate, or stifle, or pervert the goods and truths flowing in constantly from the Lord. To prevent goods being mixed with evils therefore, and truths with falsities - for if they were mixed a person would perish for ever - the Lord separates them, and stores away within his interior man the goods and truths he receives. From there the Lord will never allow them to come forth as long as that person is governed by evil and falsity, except at those times when the person has entered some state that is a holy state, or when deeply and anxiously concerned about something, or in times of sickness, or other similar circumstances. These things which the Lord has so stored away in the person are what are called remnants, and of which very much mention is made in the Word, though nobody as yet knows that this is what they mean.

[3] It is according to the nature and the amount of the remnants, that is, of the good and truth residing with him, that a person experiences blessedness and happiness in the next life, for, as has been stated, such remnants are stored away in his interior man and are laid bare when he leaves things of a bodily and worldly nature behind him. The Lord alone knows the nature and the amount of remnants a person has. The person himself cannot possibly know this, for at the present day man is such that he is able to counterfeit what is good while within there is nothing but evil. A person can also appear to be evil and yet may have good within. For these reasons one is never allowed to judge the nature of another person's spiritual life; for the Lord alone, as has been stated, knows this. But one is allowed to judge the nature of another person's life, private and public, since this is of importance to society.

[4] It is very common for those who have adopted an opinion regarding any truth of faith to sit in judgement on others and to say that they cannot be saved unless their beliefs coincide with their own - a judgement which the Lord has forbidden, in Matthew 7:1-2. Yet from much experience I have been led to know that members of every religion are saved provided that they have received through a life of charity remnants of good and appearances of truth. This is what was meant by 'if ten were found [there] they would not be destroyed for the sake of the ten', that is, that if remnants were present they would be saved.

[5] The life of charity consists in thinking what is good in regard to another, and in willing for him that which is good, and in feeling joy within oneself that others as well are saved. But those people do not possess the life of charity whose will is that no others should be saved than those whose beliefs coincide with theirs, especially those who are indignant that the situation is otherwise. This becomes clear solely from the fact that more gentiles are saved than Christians. For people who have thought what is good in regard to their neighbour and have willed for him that which is good accept the truths of faith in the next life more readily than those who called themselves Christians; and they acknowledge the Lord more than Christians do. Indeed nothing gives angels greater delight and happiness than to be teaching those who pass from the world into the next life.

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