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Richter 10

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1 Und nach Abimelech stand auf, um Israel zu retten, Tola der Sohn Puas, des Sohnes Dodos, ein Mann von Issaschar; und er wohnte zu Schamir im Gebirge Ephraim.

2 Und er richtete Israel 23 Jahre; und er starb und wurde zu Schamir begraben.

3 Und nach ihm stand Jair, der Gileaditer, auf; und er richtete Israel 22 Jahre.

4 Und er hatte dreißig Söhne, die auf dreißig Eseln ritten, und sie hatten dreißig Städte; diese nennt man bis auf diesen Tag die Dörfer Jairs, welche im Lande Gilead sind.

5 Und Jair starb und wurde zu Kamon begraben.

6 Und die Kinder Israel taten wiederum, was böse war in den Augen Jehovas, und sie dienten den Baalim und den Astaroth, und den Göttern Syriens und den Göttern Zidons und den Göttern Moabs und den Göttern der Kinder Ammon und den Göttern der Philister; und sie verließen Jehova und dienten ihm nicht.

7 Da entbrannte der Zorn Jehovas wider Israel, und er verkaufte sie in die Hand der Philister und in die Hand der Kinder Ammon.

8 Und sie bedrückten und plagten die Kinder Israel in selbigem Jahre; achtzehn Jahre bedrückten sie alle Kinder Israel, welche jenseit des Jordan waren im Lande der Amoriter, das in Gilead ist.

9 Und die Kinder Ammon zogen über den Jordan, um auch wider Juda und wider Benjamin und wider das Haus Ephraim zu streiten; und Israel wurde sehr bedrängt.

10 Da schrieen die Kinder Israel zu Jehova und sprachen: Wir haben gegen dich gesündigt, und zwar weil wir unseren Gott verlassen und den Baalim gedient haben.

11 Und Jehova sprach zu den Kindern Israel: Habe ich euch nicht von den Ägyptern und von den Amoritern, von den Kindern Ammon und von den Philistern gerettet?

12 und als die Zidonier und Amalekiter und Maoniter euch bedrückten, und ihr zu mir schrieet, euch aus ihrer Hand gerettet?

13 Ihr aber habt mich verlassen und habt anderen Göttern gedient; darum werde ich euch nicht mehr retten.

14 Gehet hin und schreiet zu den Göttern, die ihr erwählt habt: sie mögen euch retten zur Zeit eurer Bedrängnis!

15 Und die Kinder Israel sprachen zu Jehova: Wir haben gesündigt. Tue du uns nach allem, was gut ist in deinen Augen; nur errette uns doch an diesem Tage!

16 Und sie taten die fremden Götter aus ihrer Mitte hinweg und dienten Jehova; und seine Seele wurde ungeduldig über die Mühsal Israels.

17 Und die Kinder Ammon versammelten sich und lagerten sich in Gilead; und die Kinder Israel kamen zusammen und lagerten sich zu Mizpa.

18 Da sprach das Volk, die Obersten von Gilead, einer zum anderen: Wer ist der Mann, der anfängt, wider die Kinder Ammon zu streiten? Er soll allen Bewohnern Gileads zum Haupte sein.

   

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Exploring the Meaning of Judges 10

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

Judges 10: Tola, Jair; Israel oppressed again.

This chapter opens by mentioning the judges Tola and Jair, who judged for twenty-three years and twenty-two years, respectively. The text gives us very little information about them, except that Jair had thirty sons, who rode on thirty donkeys and had thirty cities in the land of Gilead.

After Jair died, the people soon disobeyed the Lord, and worshipped the gods of Syria, Sidon, Moab, Philistia, and Ammon. This provoked the Lord’s anger, so He caused the Philistines and Ammonites to oppress Israel. The Ammonites first attacked the two-and-a-half tribes living on the eastern side of the Jordan, then crossed the river to attack Judah, Benjamin and Ephraim.

The people cried out to the Lord, saying that they had forsaken Him, but He told them to go to the other gods they had chosen. However, the people asked again for forgiveness, stopped worshipping foreign gods, and turned back to the Lord, so His anger toward them subsided.

*****

This chapter describes another episode in Israel’s cycle of disobedience and punishment, in which the people repeatedly turn away from the Lord when there is no leader. No matter how often we affirm our faith in the Lord, we, too, will default to our natural desires and false thinking. As we come to recognize and accept this fact of life, we can find comfort in the Lord. He understands this completely, and does not blame or punish us.

The first judge mentioned is Tola. His name means “a worm-like grub”, suggesting the idea of metamorphosis and regeneration (see Swedenborg’s work, True Christian Religion 106[2]). Tola’s father was Puah (meaning “shining”), his grandfather was Dodo (meaning “amorous, loving”), and their city was Shamir (which means “keeping the commandment”). These names bring to mind the spiritual qualities of truth, love and life in the Lord (see Swedenborg’s work, Arcana Caelestia 977).

The next judge is Jair, whose name means ”he whom God enlightens”. The number thirty (used in reference to his thirty sons and their thirty towns) means fullness or readiness. This readiness refers to our spiritual ‘remains’, or states of innocence and charity that the Lord imparts to us during childhood. These remains are essential during regeneration (Arcana Caelestia 1050).

The Philistines, soon to be a major enemy of Israel, stand for the belief in “faith alone” salvation. This way of thinking instills the idea that we will be saved if we “believe in the Lord”, regardless of our actions. “Faith alone” doctrine is present in many religious practices (see Swedenborg’s work, Doctrine of Life 4).

The people of Ammon stand for profaning what is true, by turning the truths of the Word into false ideas. We profane the truth when we claim to know what the Word teaches, but live in a way that is contrary to the Lord’s commandments (Arcana Caelestia 6348[3]).

This chapter, like many others in the book of Judges, shows Israel’s decline into chaos and evil. The two judges, Tola and Jair, provide a picture of spiritual integrity, in contrast with Israel’s oppression by the very evils they have turned to. In our regeneration, with its highs and lows, we must avoid the temptation of shallow faith by acting according to our values.

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Doctrine of Life # 5

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5. The way and means (to be received as worthy partakers of that Holy Table) is First, to examine your lives and conversations by the rule of God’s commandments and whereinsoever ye shall perceive yourselves to have offended either by will, word, or deed, there to bewail your own sinfulness, and to confess yourselves to Almighty God, with full purpose of amendment of life. And if ye shall perceive your offences to be such as are not only against God, but also against your neighbours, then ye shall reconcile yourselves unto them, being ready to make restitution and satisfaction according to the utmost of your powers, for all injuries and wrongs done by you to any other, and being likewise ready to forgive others that have offended you, as ye would have forgiveness of your offences at God’s hand: for otherwise the receiving of the Holy Communion doth nothing else but increase your condemnation. Therefore, if any of you be a blasphemer of God, an hinderer or slanderer of his Word, an adulterer, or be in malice, or envy, or in any other grievous crime, repent ye of your sins, or else come not to the Holy Table; lest after the taking of that Holy Sacrament the Devil enter into you, as he entered into Judas, and fill you with all iniquities, and bring you to destruction both of body and soul.

  
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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.