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Joshua 21

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1 Siis astusid leviitide perekondade peamehed preester Eleasari, Joosua, Nuuni poja, ja Iisraeli laste suguharude perekondade peameeste ette

2 ja kõnelesid nendega Siilos Kaananimaal, öeldes: 'Issand on Moosese läbi käskinud anda meile linnu elamiseks ja nende juurde kuuluvad karjamaad meie karjade jaoks.'

3 Ja Iisraeli lapsed andsid leviitidele oma pärisosast Issanda käsu kohaselt need linnad ja nende karjamaad:

4 liisk langes kehatlaste suguvõsadele nõnda, et leviitide hulgast sai preester Aaroni poegadele liisu läbi Juuda suguharult, Siimeoni suguharult ja Benjamini suguharult kolmteist linna.

5 Ja teistele kehatlastele sai liisu läbi Efraimi suguharu suguvõsadelt, Daani suguharult ja Manasse poolelt suguharult kümme linna.

6 Geersonlased said liisu läbi Issaskari suguharu suguvõsadelt, Aaseri suguharult, Naftali suguharult ja Manasse poolelt suguharult Baasanis kolmteist linna.

7 Merarlased nende suguvõsade kaupa Ruubeni suguharult, Gaadi suguharult ja Sebuloni suguharult kaksteist linna.

8 Nõnda andsid Iisraeli lapsed liisu läbi leviitidele need linnad ja nende karjamaad, nagu Issand Moosese läbi oli käskinud.

9 Juudalaste suguharult ja siimeonlaste suguharult anti need linnad, mis on nimeliselt nimetatud:

10 Aaroni järglastele kehatlaste suguvõsadest, Leevi järeltulijate hulgast, sest neile kuulus esimene liisk,

11 anti Kirjat-Arba, anaklaste isa linn, see on Hebron Juuda mäestikus, ja selle karjamaad ümberringi.

12 Aga selle linna põllud ja külad anti omandiks Kaalebile, Jefunne pojale.

13 Preester Aaroni järglastele anti tapja pelgulinn Hebron ja selle karjamaad, Libna ja selle karjamaad,

14 Jattir ja selle karjamaad, Estemoa ja selle karjamaad,

15 Holon ja selle karjamaad, Debir ja selle karjamaad,

16 Aasan ja selle karjamaad, Jutta ja selle karjamaad, Beet-Semes ja selle karjamaad - üheksa linna neilt kahelt suguharult.

17 Benjamini suguharult Gibeon ja selle karjamaad, Geba ja selle karjamaad,

18 Anatot ja selle karjamaad, Almon ja selle karjamaad - neli linna.

19 Kõiki Aaroni järglaste, preestrite linnu oli kolmteist linna ja nende karjamaad.

20 Teistele kehatlastele, leviitidele ülejäänud kehatlaste hulgast, tulid nende liisuosa linnad Efraimi suguharult:

21 neile anti tapja pelgulinn Sekem ja selle karjamaad Efraimi mäestikus, Geser ja selle karjamaad,

22 Kibsaim ja selle karjamaad, Beet-Hooron ja selle karjamaad - neli linna;

23 Daani suguharult Elteke ja selle karjamaad, Gibbeton ja selle karjamaad,

24 Ajjalon ja selle karjamaad, Gat-Rimmon ja selle karjamaad - neli linna;

25 Manasse poolelt suguharult Taanak ja selle karjamaad, Gat-Rimmon ja selle karjamaad - kaks linna.

26 Kõiki ülejäänud kehatlaste suguvõsade linnu koos nende karjamaadega oli kokku kümme.

27 Geersonlastele leviitide suguvõsadest sai Manasse poolelt suguharult tapja pelgulinn Goolan Baasanis ja selle karjamaad, Beestera ja selle karjamaad - kaks linna;

28 Issaskari suguharult Kisjon ja selle karjamaad, Daaberat ja selle karjamaad,

29 Jarmut ja selle karjamaad, Een-Gannim ja selle karjamaad - neli linna;

30 Aaseri suguharult Misal ja selle karjamaad, Abdon ja selle karjamaad,

31 Helkat ja selle karjamaad, Rehob ja selle karjamaad - neli linna.

32 Naftali suguharult tapja pelgulinn Kedes Galileas ja selle karjamaad, Hammot-Door ja selle karjamaad, Kartan ja selle karjamaad - kolm linna.

33 Linnu, mis kuulusid geersonlastele nende suguvõsade kaupa, oli kokku kolmteist linna ja nende karjamaad.

34 Merarlaste suguvõsadele, ülejäänud leviitidele, said Sebuloni suguharult Jokneam ja selle karjamaad, Karta ja selle karjamaad,

35 Rimmon ja selle karjamaad, Nahalal ja selle karjamaad - neli linna.

36 Ruubeni suguharult Beser ja selle karjamaad, Jahsa ja selle karjamaad,

37 Kedemot ja selle karjamaad, Meefaat ja selle karjamaad - neli linna.

38 Gaadi suguharult tapja pelgulinn Raamot Gileadis ja selle karjamaad, Mahanaim ja selle karjamaad,

39 Hesbon ja selle karjamaad, Jaaser ja selle karjamaad - kokku neli linna.

40 Linnu, mis kuulusid merarlastele nende suguvõsade kaupa ülejäänud leviitide suguvõsadest, oli nende liisuosana kokku kaksteist linna.

41 Kõiki leviitide linnu Iisraeli laste omandi keskel oli nelikümmend kaheksa linna ja nende karjamaad.

42 Neiks linnadeks olid linn ise ja selle karjamaad ümberringi. Seesugused olid kõik need linnad.

43 Nõnda andis Issand Iisraelile kogu maa, mille ta vandega oli tõotanud anda nende vanemaile, ja nad pärisid selle ning elasid seal.

44 Ja Issand andis neile rahu ümberkaudu, nõnda nagu ta nende vanemaile oli vandega tõotanud; ja kõigist nende vaenlastest ei suutnud ükski neile vastu seista, Issand andis kõik nende vaenlased nende kätte.

45 Ainsatki sõna ei langenud tühja kõigist neist headest sõnadest, mis Issand oli rääkinud Iisraeli soole, vaid kõik läks täide.

   

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Exploring the Meaning of Joshua 21

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

Joshua 21: The cities of the Levite priests and the end of the settlement.

In this chapter, the last remaining part of the settlement was completed: the provision for the Levites, the priests of Israel. This tribe had been appointed priests because only they had answered the call, “Who is on the side of the Lord?” when the Israelites had been worshipping the golden calf in the wilderness (see Exodus 32:26).

Much of the chapter is spent listing the cities given to the three sons of Aaron, who was appointed high priest. Each extended family of Aaron’s sons was given about sixteen cities. It seems very significant that a lot of these cities were the same ones given to the other tribes, and were also the cities of refuge.

Levi’s name means ‘joined’, which is very suitable for the Levite priests, who received cities in every tribal territory. This meant that the presence of priests was everywhere (see Swedenborg’s work, Arcana Caelestia 342).

Spiritually speaking, this distribution is a wonderful illustration that our spirit lives throughout our whole body. Every part of us is alive! Every single thing in our body, from one blood cell to our heart and lungs, is maintained by our spirit, which itself is maintained by the influx of the Lord’s life. The function of everything in our body is in a perfect correspondence with the kingdom of heaven.

So, spiritually, the Levites stand for the presence of the Lord everywhere, in everything. This underlines the point that everything in the natural world - even the cities and territories described in this chapter of Joshua - reflect something about God and heaven (see Swedenborg’s Apocalypse Revealed 194). But there is another important meaning for the distribution of the priestly Levites in cities all through the tribal territories: we must keep on acknowledging that everything is a blessing from the Lord, that everything we do is for God, and that the Lord alone does what is truly good (see Swedenborg’s work, Divine Providence 91).

After the distribution of cities to the Levites, Israel was fully established in the land of Canaan. The rest of this chapter is a consolidating statement which is worth including in full:

v43. “So the Lord gave to Israel all the land of which He had sworn to give to their fathers, and they took possession of it and dwelt in it.

v44. The Lord gave them rest all around, according to all that he had sworn to their fathers. And not a man of all their enemies stood against them; the Lord delivered all their enemies into their hand.

v45. Not a word failed of any good thing which the Lord had spoken to the house of Israel. All came to pass.”

These are words of fulfillment, culmination, assurance and blessing. Everything here traces back to the Lord. The Lord made a covenant with the children of Israel, granted them victory over their enemies, and gave them the Land of Canaan; the Lord had spoken in complete truth. “All came to pass.”

This final statement is a promise of our own capacity for regeneration and spiritual progress. We are able to overcome our natural desires and selfish states; we have been established in our life with the ability to understand and do what is good. In devoting ourselves to the Lord, we find strength to see that He will never fail us, and will change us for the better. ‘All came to pass’ is our affirmation that our life is always under God’s care and providence (Arcana Caelestia 977).

Ze Swedenborgových děl

 

Apocalypse Revealed # 8

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8. Blessed is he who reads and those who hear the words of this prophecy, and keep those things which are written in it. (1:3) This symbolizes their communion with angels in heaven who live according to the doctrine of the New Jerusalem.

"Blessed is he" here means someone who in respect to his spirit is in heaven, thus someone who, while living in the world, is in communion with angels in heaven, inasmuch as he is in heaven in respect to his spirit.

"The words of this prophecy" mean nothing else than the doctrine of the New Jerusalem, for in an abstract sense a prophet symbolizes the doctrine of the church drawn from the Word, thus here the doctrine of the New Church, which is the New Jerusalem. The same is meant by prophecy. To read, hear and keep those things which are written in it means, symbolically, to wish to know it, to pay attention to the things written in it, and to do the things that are found in it - in sum, to live according to it. It is apparent that people are not blessed if they simply read, hear and keep or preserve in memory the things seen by John (see below, no. 944).

[2] A prophet symbolizes the doctrine of the church drawn from the Word, and the same is meant by a prophecy, because the Word was written by prophets, and in heaven a person is regarded in relation to something pertaining to his occupation or function. So, too, every person, spirit and angel mentioned in the Word. Because it was a prophet's function to write and teach the Word, therefore when a prophet is mentioned, the Word in relation to doctrine is meant, or doctrine drawn from the Word.

It is for this reason that the Lord, being the embodiment of the Word, was called a prophet (Deuteronomy 18:15-20, 1 Matthew 13:57, 2 21:11, 3 Luke 13:33 4 ).

To show that a prophet means the doctrine of the church drawn from the Word, we will cite several passages from which this may be concluded. In Matthew:

(At the end of the age) many false prophets will rise up and lead many astray... ...false christs and false prophets will rise... and lead astray, if possible, ...the elect. (Matthew 24:11, 24)

The end of the age is the final period of the church, which is the one that exists now, when there are not false prophets but doctrinal falsities.

[3] In the same gospel:

Whoever receives a prophet in the name of a prophet shall receive a prophet's reward. And whoever receives a righteous man in the name of a righteous man shall receive a righteous man's reward. (Matthew 10:41)

To receive a prophet in the name of a prophet is to accept doctrinal truth because it is true; to receive a righteous man in the name of a righteous man is to accept goodness because of its goodness; and to receive a reward is to be saved in accordance with that acceptance. Obviously no one receives a reward or is saved because he received a prophet or righteous man in the name of such.

Without a concept of what a prophet and righteous man mean, no one could understand these words, or those that follow:

Whoever gives one of these little ones just a cup of cold water in the name of a disciple..., shall by no means lose his reward. (Matthew 10:42)

A disciple means charity and at the same time faith from the Lord.

[4] In Joel:

...I will pour out My spirit on all flesh, so that your sons and your daughters prophesy... (Joel 2:28)

This is said of the church about to be established by the Lord, in which they did not prophesy but received doctrine, which is "to prophesy."

In Matthew:

(Jesus said,) "Many will say to Me in that day, 'Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in Your name...?' But then I will confess to them, 'I have not known you; depart from Me, you workers of iniquity!'" (Matthew 7:22-23)

Who does not see that they are not going to say they have prophesied, but that they have known the doctrine of the church and taught it?

In Revelation:

...the time has come to judge the dead and give the reward to... the prophets... (Revelation 11:18)

In another place:

Rejoice..., O heaven, ...you holy apostles and prophets, for God has given judgment for you... (Revelation 18:20)

It is plain that a reward is not to be given solely to prophets when the Last Judgment is about to take place, or that only apostles and prophets are going to rejoice, but that all will be rewarded and rejoice who have accepted doctrinal truths and lived according to them. These, therefore, are meant by apostles and prophets.

[5] In Exodus:

Jehovah said to Moses: ."..I have made you a god to Pharaoh, and Aaron your brother shall be your prophet." (Exodus 7:1)

"A god" means Divine truth in its reception from the Lord, and in this sense angels, too, are called gods; and a prophet means one who teaches and gives voice to that truth. It is because of this that Aaron is there termed a prophet.

A prophet has the same symbolic meaning elsewhere, as in the following:

...the law shall not perish from the priest..., nor the Word from the prophet. (Jeremiah 18:18)

...from the prophets of Jerusalem hypocrisy has gone out into all the land. (Jeremiah 23:15-16)

...the prophets will become wind, and the Word will not be in them. (Jeremiah 5:13)

The priest and the prophet err through intoxicating drink, they are swallowed up by wine..., they stumble in judgment. (Isaiah 28:7)

The sun is going down on the prophets, and the day is becoming dark upon them. (Micah 3:6)

From the prophet even to the priest, everyone works a falsehood. (Jeremiah 8:10)

[6] In these passages prophets and priests mean, in the spiritual sense, not prophets and priests but the entire church - prophets the church in respect to doctrinal truth, and priests the church in respect to goodness of life, both of which had been lost. These statements are so understood by angels in heaven when people read them in the world according to their literal sense.

To be shown that prophets represented the state of the church in respect to doctrine, and that the Lord represented it in respect to the Word itself, see The Doctrine of the New Jerusalem Regarding the Lord, nos. 15-17.

Poznámky pod čarou:

1. The LORD your God will raise up for you a Prophet like me from your midst, from your brethren. Him you shall hear, according to all you desired of the LORD your God in Horeb in the day of the assembly, saying, "Let me not hear again the voice of the LORD my God, nor let me see this great fire anymore, lest I die." And the LORD said to me: "What they have spoken is good. I will raise up for them a Prophet like you from among their brethren, and will put My words in His mouth, and He shall speak to them all that I command Him. And it shall be that whoever will not hear My words, which He speaks in My name, I will require it of him. But the prophet who presumes to speak a word in My name, which I have not commanded him to speak, or who speaks in the name of other gods, that prophet shall die."

2. So they were offended at Him. But Jesus said to them, "A prophet is not without honor except in his own country and in his own house."

3. So the multitudes said, "This is Jesus, the prophet from Nazareth of Galilee."

4. Nevertheless I must journey today, tomorrow, and the day following; for it cannot be that a prophet should perish outside of Jerusalem.

  
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Many thanks to the General Church of the New Jerusalem, and to Rev. N.B. Rogers, translator, for the permission to use this translation.