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Jozue 5

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1 Stalo se pak, když uslyšeli všickni králové Amorejští, kteříž bydlili za Jordánem k západu, a všickni králové Kananejští, kteříž bydlili při moři, že vysušil Hospodin vody Jordánské před syny Izraelskými, dokudž ho nepřešli: zemdlelo srdce jejich, aniž zůstalo více v nich duše před tváří synů Izraelských.

2 Toho času řekl Hospodin k Jozue: Udělej sobě nože ostré, a obřež opět syny Izraelské po druhé.

3 I udělal sobě Jozue nože ostré, a obřezal syny Izraelské na pahrbku Aralot.

4 Tato pak jest příčina, pro kterouž je obřezal Jozue, že všecken lid, kterýž byl vyšel z Egypta, pohlaví mužského, všickni muži bojovní zemřeli byli na poušti na cestě po vyjití z Egypta.

5 Nebo obřezán byl všecken lid, kterýž byl vyšel, ale žádného z toho lidu, kterýž se zrodil na poušti, na cestě po vyjití z Egypta, neobřezali.

6 (Nebo čtyřidceti let chodili synové Izraelští po poušti, dokudž nezahynul všecken národ mužů bojovných, kteříž byli vyšli z Egypta, ješto neposlouchali hlasu Hospodinova, jimžto zapřisáhl Hospodin, že neukáže jim země, kterouž s přísahou zaslíbil dáti otcům jejich, že ji nám dá, zemi oplývající mlékem a strdí.)

7 Ale syny jejich, kteréž postavil na místo jejich, ty obřezal Jozue, že byli neobřezaní; nebo žádný jich neobřezoval na cestě.

8 Když pak byl všecken lid obřezán, zůstali na místě svém v ležení, dokudž se nezhojili.

9 I řekl Hospodin k Jozue: Dnes jsem odjal pohanění Egyptské od vás. A nazval jméno místa toho Galgal až do tohoto dne.

10 Když pak ležení měli synové Izraelští v Galgala, slavili velikunoc čtrnáctého dne toho měsíce u večer, na rovinách Jericha.

11 I jedli z úrod té země na zejtří po velikonoci chleby nekvašené, a pražmu téhož dne.

12 I přestala manna na zejtří, když jedli z obilé té země, a již více neměli synové Izraelští manny, ale jedli z úrod země Kananejské toho roku.

13 Stalo se pak, když byl Jozue na poli Jericha, že pozdvihl očí svých a viděl, an muž stojí naproti němu, maje v ruce meč dobytý. I šel Jozue k němu, a řekl jemu: Jsi-li náš, čili nepřátel našich?

14 I odpověděl: Nikoli, ale já jsem kníže vojska Hospodinova, a nyní jsem přišel. I padl Jozue tváří svou na zem, a pokloniv se, řekl jemu: Co pán můj chce mluviti služebníku svému?

15 Tedy odpověděl kníže vojska Hospodinova k Jozue: Szuj obuv svou s noh svých, nebo místo, na němž stojíš, svaté jest. I učinil tak Jozue.

   

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Exploring the Meaning of Joshua 5

Napsal(a) New Christian Bible Study Staff, Julian Duckworth

Joshua 5: The Circumcision and the Passover

In this chapter, the Israelites are now in the land of Canaan, and local Amorite and Canaanite kings lose heart to oppose them because of God’s miracle at the river Jordan.

God tells Joshua to circumcise all the men who were born since they left Egypt, because none were circumcised in the wilderness, and their fathers who were have now all died. So Joshua obeys, requiring circumcision of all the men of Israel.

As a result, God says to Joshua : “I have this day rolled away the stain of Egypt from you.” The place was therefore called Gilgal, which means “rolling”. The Children of Israel camped there till they were healed. They then ate the Passover using the food of the land for the very first time, and the daily manna, which had been provided by God every day in the wilderness, stopped.

Then, Joshua has an encounter with an angel:

When Joshua lifted his eyes he saw a man opposite him with a drawn sword in his hand. Joshua asked him, “Are you for us or for our adversaries?” The man answered, “No, but as Commander of the army of the Lord I have now come.” Joshua fell and worshipped and asked what he should do? The man said, “Take your sandal off your foot, for the place where you stand is holy”. And Joshua did so.

Note that this chapter is the very first one when the Israelites are in Canaan, and straightaway two important Jewish rituals are carried out – circumcision and the Passover. Circumcision is the cutting off of the foreskin. It means to become purified from loving oneself and the world, and the outer things of life, and to be righteous before God inwardly. (See Arcana Caelestia 2102.)

This meaning helps us see why elsewhere in the Bible it often talks about “circumcising your heart”. The circumcision in Canaan was to mark the new generation, which spiritually for us means that our regeneration always involves new states. (True Christian Religion 601)

The Passover was originally a meal to mark leaving slavery in Egypt, so it is very appropriate for celebrating entering the promised land. The spiritual meaning of the Passover is rich and complex, but, put simply, it is about the presence of the Lord with us, especially when we attribute life’s good events and blessings to the presence of God. “The Lord has done this for me… The Lord has done that for us.” (Arcana Caelestia 7902) The reason that it is a meal is that we share meals together, often in families, and spiritually everything in us comes together to be joyful and thankful.

The first camp of the Israelites in Canaan was at Gilgal, a place close to Jericho, the name of which means “rolling”. We’ve looked at its connection with circumcision but more generally, to ‘roll’ is to move forward, move on, keep going. This is a powerful early-in-the-story description of our regeneration, with its trials and blessings, both of which aim to keep us moving forward to be evermore in the life the Lord wants us to have. (Arcana Caelestia 8911)

With all this early first feeling of having finally got to Canaan, the land which God had always promised to give them, it is so very appropriate that Joshua is met by a militant angel of the Lord, the Commander of the army of the Lord. (Arcana Caelestia 7277). Note carefully that when Joshua asks if he is for us or for our enemies, the Commander says “No.” Spiritually this is very significant because the Lord uses everything – good and evil – peace and temptation – to lead us towards heaven.

The Commander declares that Joshua is to remove his sandal from off his foot because where he stands, this is holy ground. Spiritually, “holy ground” is the whole sweep of life, and our sense that all of it is the Lord’s gift to us. (See Arcana Caelestia 566, 1585)

Ze Swedenborgových děl

 

Heaven and Hell # 487

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487. The only way to know the kinds and qualities of the spiritual pleasures into which natural pleasures turn after death is through a knowledge of correspondences. This teaches in general that there is nothing natural to which something spiritual does not answer, and it teaches specifically the identity and nature of whatever does so correspond. This means that people who are engaged in this knowledge can recognize and know their state after death provided they know their love and how it relates in its nature to the universally dominant love to which, as we have just stated, all loves go back.

However, people who are involved in self-love cannot know what their dominant love is because they love whatever is theirs and call their evils good. They also call false things true, the false notions that support them and that they use to rationalize their evils. If they were willing, though, they could still know [their dominant love] from other people who are wise, because these latter see what they themselves do not. This does not happen, though, in the case of people who are so enmeshed in their self-love that they have nothing but contempt for any teaching of the wise.

[2] On the other hand, people who are in heavenly love do accept instruction and do see the evils into which they were born when they are led into them. They see them from truths because truths make evils obvious. Anyone can in fact see what is evil and the distortion it causes by seeing from the truth that arises from what is good; but no one can see what is good and true from an evil standpoint. This is because the false notions that arise from evil are darkness and correspond to it. So people who are caught up in false notions that arise from evil are like blind people who do not see things that are in the light, and they avoid them the way owls avoid daylight. 1 On the other hand, the true perceptions that arise from good are light and correspond to light (see above, 126-134). So people who are focused on the true perceptions that arise from good are sighted and open-eyed and can differentiate between things that are in light and shade.

[3] I have been granted confirmation of this too by experience. The angels who are in the heavens both see and grasp the evil and false promptings that well up in them from time to time; and they can also see the evil and false promptings that engage the spirits in the world of spirits who are in touch with the hells, though the spirits themselves cannot see their own evil and false promptings. They do not grasp what the virtue of heavenly love is, what conscience is, what is honest and fair (except as it is to their own advantage), or what it means to be led by the Lord. They say these things do not exist and therefore make no difference whatever.

All this has been presented to encourage people to examine themselves and to identify their dominant love on the basis of their pleasures, so that according to their grasp of the knowledge of correspondences, they may know their state of life after death.

Poznámky pod čarou:

1. [Swedenborg's footnote] By reason of correspondence, darkness in the Word means falsities, and dense darkness or gloom means falsities that stem from evil: Arcana Coelestia 1839, 1860, 7688, 7711. Heaven's light is darkness to evil people: 1861, 6832, 8197. People who are in the hells are said to be in darkness because they are engrossed in false notions that stem from evil; with some discussion: 3340, 4418, 4531. In the Word, "the blind" means people who are engrossed in false convictions and do not want to be taught: 2383, 6990.

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