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Joshua 18

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1 Ja kaikki Israelin lasten kansa kokoontui Siloon ja pani siellä ylös seurakunnan majan; ja maa oli heille alamainen.

2 Ja oli vielä Israelin lapsista seitsemän sukukuntaa, joiden perintö ei ollut jaettu.

3 Ja Josua sanoi Israelin lapsille: kuinka kauvan te olette niin kähläät, ettette mene ja omista maata, jonka Herra teidän isäinne Jumala teille on antanut.

4 Ottakaat itsellenne jokaisesta sukukunnasta kolme miestä, lähettääkseni heitä menemään ja vaeltamaan maan lävitse, ja että he kirjoittaisivat sen perimisensä jälkeen ja palajaisivat minun tyköni.

5 Ja he jakakaan maan seitsemään osaan: Juudan pitää oleman rajallansa etelän puolella, ja Josephin huoneen pitä oleman rajallansa pohjan puolella.

6 Mutta teidän pitää kirjoittaman ne seitsemän maan osaa ja tuoman tänne minun tyköni, niin minä heitän teidän arpanne tässä Herran meidän Jumalamme edessä.

7 Sillä Leviläisillä ei ole yhtäkään osaa teidän seassanne, vaan Herran pappeus on heidän perimisensä. Mutta Gad ja Ruben, ja puoli Manassen sukukuntaa ottivat osansa tuolla puolella Jordania itäisellä puolella, jonka Moses Herran palvelia antoi heille.

8 Niin miehet nousivat ja läksivät matkaan, ja Josua käski heitä, kuin he tahtoivat mennä kirjoittamaan maata, ja sanoi: vaeltakaat maan lävitse ja kirjoittakaat se, ja tulkaat jälleen minun tyköni, ja minä heitän tässä teidän arpanne Herran edessä Silossa.

9 Niin miehet läksivät ja vaelsivat maan lävitse, ja kirjoittivat sen kirjaan, seitsemään osaan, kaupunkein jälkeen, ja tulivat Siloon, Josuan tykö leiriin.

10 Silloin heitti Josua Silossa arvan heille Herran edessä, ja Josua jakoi siinä maan Israelin lapsille, heidän osansa jälkeen.

11 Ja BenJaminin lasten sukukunnan arpa lankesi heidän sukukuntainsa jälkeen, ja heidän arpansa raja oli Juudan lasten ja Josephin lasten vaiheella.

12 Ja heidän rajansa oli pohjan kulmalla Jordanista, ja se raja menee ylöskäsin Jerihon viertä myöten pohjan puolesta, ja nousee vuorelle länteen päin, ja loppuu Betavenin korpeen.

13 Ja se raja juoksee sieltä Lutsaan, Lutsan viertä myöten lounaaseen päin, se on BetEl, ja laskee AtaraotAdariin, mäen ohessa etelään päin alamaista BetHoronia.

14 Sitte laskee raja ja kääntää itsensä ympäri lännen puoleen meren kulmaan siitä mäestä, joka on BetHoronin edessä mereen päin, ja loppuu KirjatBaalin tykönä, se on KirjatJearim, Juudan lasten kaupunki. Tämä on lännenpuolinen kulma.

15 Mutta lounaanpuolinen kulma on KirjatJearimin äärestä, ja loppuu raja lännen puoleen, ja tulee Nephtoan lähteen tykö,

16 Ja laskee mäen loppuun, joka on Hinnomin lasten laakson edessä, joka on Rephaimin notkossa, pohjan puolella, ja laskee Hinnomin laaksoon Jebusilaisten viereen etelään päin, ja laskee Rogelin lähteelle,

17 Ja antaa itsensä pohjoisesta, ja juoksee EnSemeksen tykö, ja juoksee Gelilotin tykö, jotka ovat ylhäällä Adummin puolessa, ja laskee Bohanin, Rubenin pojan kiven tykö,

18 Ja menee sen tasaisen kedon viertä myöten, joka on pohjaan päin, ja laskee tasaiselle kedolle,

19 Ja menee sitä viertä myöten, BetHoglan ohesta pohjaan päin, ja loppuu Suolaisen meren lahteen, pohjaan päin, lounaan puolella Jordania. Tämä on lounaan puolinen raja.

20 Mutta idänpuolinen kulma pitää Jordaniin loppuman. Tämä on BenJaminin lasten perintö heidän rajainsa ympärillä, heidän sukukuntainsa jälkeen.

21 Mutta nämät ovat BenJaminin lasten sukukunnan kaupungit heidän heimokuntainsa jälkeen: Jeriho, BetHogla, EmekKetsits;

22 BetAraba, Zemaraim, BetEl;

23 Avvim, Para ja Ophra;

24 KapharAmmoni, Ophni, ja Gaba: kaksitoistakymmentä kaupunkia kylinensä;

25 Gibeon, Rama ja Beerot;

26 Mitspe, Kaphira ja Mosa;

27 Rekem, Jirpeel ja Tarala;

28 Zela, Eleph, ja Jebusi, se on Jerusalem, GibeatKirjat, neljätoistakymmentä kaupunkia kylinensä. Tämä on BenJaminin lasten perimys heidän sukukuntainsa jälkeen.

   


SWORD version by Tero Favorin (tero at favorin dot com)

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Exploring the Meaning of Joshua 18

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

Joshua 18: The rest of the land is divided up among the 7 remaining tribes, and the tribe of Benjamin receives its lot.

After several chapters covering the allocation of the land for Reuben, Gad, Judah, Ephraim and Manasseh, there were still seven tribes to be provided for. Before this was done, Joshua gathered these seven tribes together and told them to choose three men from each tribe. These men went and surveyed the region, divided up all the land and cities into seven parts, and recorded everything in a book. Then they came back to Joshua, who cast lots to decide where the seven remaining tribes would live.

The first of the seven allocations was for the tribe of Benjamin. Benjamin was the youngest of the sons of Jacob, and he was a full brother to Joseph. Their mother, Rachel, whom Jacob had loved so much, died giving birth to Benjamin.

The city of Jerusalem was first allocated to Benjamin, but in time became more associated with Judah. In fact, these were the two tribes which later made up the kingdom of Judah, as opposed to the ten northern tribes forming the kingdom of Israel. Benjamin’s territory included the cities of Jericho, Ai and Gibeon, all of which had been significant soon after Israel crossed the River Jordan. Saul, the first king of Israel, was a Benjamite.

This story about surveying the land represents our need to know things as they truly are. This could mean many things: for example, exploring the idea of heaven, or hell, or life in this world, or a spiritual teaching such as providence. It might be to learn about justice and compassion, or true freedom. It may be our need to look honestly within ourselves and recognize some of our self-centred ways (see Swedenborg’s work, Arcana Caelestia 1612).

The Israelite’s findings about the land were recorded in a book, which really would have been a scroll. This is like our ‘book of life’, in which everything about us down to the least detail is preserved so that in eternity, we shall know who we are (see Swedenborg’s Apocalypse Explained 199). Joshua drew lots so the Lord’s will would be clear to the people of Israel.

The spiritual meaning of Benjamin needs some careful explanation. Technically, it means ’the spiritual of the celestial’, and this is our ability to understand the reason for the most loving experiences we can have. It is heightened thinking joining with heightened feeling. Benjamin was the youngest son, the special brother of Joseph, who stands for the Lord (Arcana Caelestia 4585).

With this in mind, it is useful to know that Bethlehem, the town where Jesus was born, lay in the territory of Benjamin. Bethlehem’s name means ‘house of bread’ giving us the idea of nourishment for our physical and our spiritual lives. God came into the world to bring us the food of heaven and nourishment from the Word, so that we may fight our evils and choose what is good (Arcana Caelestia 6247, 4594).

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Arcana Coelestia # 4585

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4585. 'They travelled on from Bethel, and there was still a stretch of land to go to Ephrath' means the spiritual of the celestial at this point. This is clear from the meaning of 'travelling on from Bethel' as a continuation of the progress of the Divine from the Divine Natural - 'travelling on' meaning a continuation, see 4554, and here in the highest sense a continuation of the progress made by the Divine, while 'Bethel' means the Divine Natural, 4559, 4560; from the meaning of 'a stretch of land to go' as that which exists in between, dealt with below; and from the meaning of 'Ephrath' as the spiritual of the celestial within the initial state, dealt with below where Bethlehem is the subject. 1 'Bethlehem' means the spiritual of the celestial within the new state, and this is why the phrase 'Ephrath, that is, Bethlehem' is used in verse 19 below.

[2] In these verses progress made by the Lord's Divine towards aspects more interior is the subject, for when the Lord made His Human Divine His progress involved a similar order to that employed by Him when He makes man new through regeneration. That is to say, it was a progression from external things to more interior ones, and so from truth as this exists in the ultimate degree of order to good which is more interior and is called spiritual good, and from this to celestial good. But ideas about these things do not come within the mental grasp of anyone unless he knows what the external man is and what the internal man is, and that the former is distinct and separate from the latter, though the two seem to be one and the same while a person lives in the body. Nor do those ideas come within his grasp unless he knows that the natural constitutes the external man, and the rational the internal man, and above all unless he knows what the spiritual is, and what the celestial is.

[3] These matters, it is true, have been explained several times already. Even so, those who have not previously had any idea concerning them - for the reason that they have not had any desire to know the things which belong to eternal life - are incapable of having any such idea. These people say, 'What is the internal man? How can it be anything different from the external man?' They also say, 'What is the natural, or the rational? Are these not one and the same thing?' Then they ask, 'What is the spiritual and the celestial? Isn't this some new distinction? We've heard about the spiritual, but not that the celestial is something different'. But the fact of the matter is that these are people who have not previously acquired any idea of these matters. They have failed to do so either because the cares of the world and of the body occupy their whole thought and take away all desire to know anything else, or because they suppose that no one needs to know anything beyond what the common people are taught and that there is nothing to be gained if their thought goes any further. For these say, 'The world we see, but the next life we do not see. Maybe it exists, maybe it doesn't'. People like these push those ideas away from themselves, for at heart they reject them the moment they see them.

[4] All the same, because such ideas are contained in the internal sense of the Word, though they cannot be explained without suitable terms to depict them, and as no terms more suitable exist than 'natural' to express exterior things and 'rational' to express interior, or 'spiritual' to express matters of truth and 'celestial' matters of good, the use of words like these is unavoidable. For without the right words nothing can be described. Therefore so that some idea may be formed by those who have a desire to know what the spiritual of the celestial is, which 'Benjamin' represents and which 'Bethlehem' means, a brief reference to it must be made here. The subject so far in the highest sense has been the glorification of the Lord's Natural, and in the relative sense the regeneration of man's natural. It was shown above, in 4286, that 'Jacob' represented the external man of one who belongs to the Church, and 'Israel' his internal man, thus that 'Jacob' represented the exterior aspect of the natural and 'Israel' the interior aspect; for the spiritual man develops out of the natural, but the celestial man out of the rational. It was also shown that the Lord's glorification advanced, even as the regeneration of man advances, from external things to more interior ones, and that for the sake of such a representation Jacob received the name Israel.

[5] But now the subject is further progress towards aspects more interior still, that is, towards the rational, for as stated immediately above, the rational constitutes the internal man. The part which exists between the internal of the natural and the external of the rational is what the term 'the spiritual of the celestial' - meant by 'Ephrath' and 'Bethlehem', and represented by 'Benjamin' - is used to denote. This intermediate part is derived to some extent from the internal of the natural, meant by 'Israel', and to some extent from the external of the rational, meant by 'Joseph'; for that intermediate part must be derived to some extent from each one, or else it cannot serve as an intermediary. So that anyone who is already spiritual can be made celestial he must of necessity make progress by means of this intermediate part. Without it no advance to higher things is possible.

[6] The nature of the progress made therefore by means of this intermediate part is described here in the internal sense by the statements that Jacob went to Ephrath, and that Rachel gave birth to Benjamin there. From this it is evident that 'they travelled on from Bethel, and there was still a stretch of land to go to Ephrath' means a continuation of the progress of the Lord's Divine from the Divine Natural to the spiritual of the celestial, meant by 'Ephrath' and 'Bethlehem', and represented by 'Benjamin'. The spiritual of the celestial is the intermediate part about which something is said above; it is spiritual insofar as it is derived from the spiritual man, which regarded in itself is the interior natural man, and it is [celestial] insofar as it is derived from the celestial man, which regarded in itself is the rational man. 'Joseph' is the exterior rational man, and therefore he is spoken of as the celestial of the spiritual derived from the rational.

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1. i.e. in 4594

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