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Deuteronomio 34

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1 POI Mosè salì dalle campagne di Moab, al monte di Nebo, alla sommità di Pisga, che è dirincontro a Gerico. E il Signore gli fece vedere tutto il paese, Galaad, fino a Dan;

2 e tutto Neftali, e il paese di Efraim, e di Manasse, e tutto il paese di Giuda, fino al mare Occidentale;

3 e la contrada Meridionale, e la pianura, e la valle di Gerico, città delle palme, fino a Soar.

4 E il Signore gli disse: Quest’è il paese del quale io giurai ad Abrahamo, a Isacco, e a Giacobbe, dicendo: Io lo darò alla tua progenie; io te l’ho fatto veder con gli occhi, ma tu non vi entrerai.

5 E Mosè, servitor del Signore, morì quivi, nel paese di Moab, secondo che il Signore avea detto.

6 E il Signore lo seppellì nella valle, nel paese di Moab, dirimpetto a Bet-peor; e niuno, infino a questo giorno, ha saputo ove fosse la sua sepoltura.

7 Or Mosè era d’età di centovent’anni quando morì; la vista non gli era scemata, e il suo vigore non era fuggito.

8 E i figliuoli d’Israele lo piansero nelle campagne di Moab, per trenta giorni; e così si compierono i giorni del pianto del cordoglio di Mosè.

9 E Giosuè, figliuolo di Nun, fu ripieno dello Spirito di sapienza; perciocchè Mosè avea posate le sue mani sopra lui; e i figliuoli d’Israele gli ubbidirono, e fecero come il Signore avea comandato a Mosè.

10 Or non è mai più sorto alcun profeta in Israele, simile a Mosè, il quale il Signore ha conosciuto a faccia a faccia,

11 in tutti i miracoli e prodigi, i quali il Signore lo mandò a fare nel paese d’Egitto, contro a Faraone, e contro a tutti i suoi servitori, e contro a tutto il suo paese, e in tutta quella potente mano,

12 e in tutte quelle gran cose tremende, che Mosè fece davanti agli occhi di tutto Israele.

   


To many Protestant and Evangelical Italians, the Bibles translated by Giovanni Diodati are an important part of their history. Diodati’s first Italian Bible edition was printed in 1607, and his second in 1641. He died in 1649. Throughout the 1800s two editions of Diodati’s text were printed by the British Foreign Bible Society. This is the more recent 1894 edition, translated by Claudiana.

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Jacob or Israel (the man)

  

Jacob is told twice that his name will now be Israel. The first time is when he wrestles with an angel on his journey to meet Esau, and the angel tells him that his name will be changed. After he is reconciled with Esau, they go their separate ways. Jacob moves to Shechem and then on to Bethel, where he builds an altar to the Lord. The Lord appears to him there, renews the covenant He first made with Abraham and again tells him that his name will be Israel (Genesis 35). The story goes on to tell of Benjamin's birth and Rachel's death in bearing him, and then of Jacob's return to Isaac and Isaac's death and burial. But at that point the main thread of the story leaves Israel and turns to Joseph, and Israel is hardly mentioned until after Joseph has risen to power in Egypt, has revealed himself to his brothers and tells them to bring all of their father's household down to Egypt. There, before Israel dies, he blesses Joseph's sons, plus all his own sons. After his death he is returned to the land of Canaan for burial in Abraham's tomb. In the story of Jacob and Esau, Jacob represents truth, and Esau good. Jacob's stay in Padan-Aram, and the wealth he acquired there, represent learning the truths of scripture, just as we learn when we read the Ten Commandments or the Sermon on the Mount. The change of name from Jacob to Israel represents the realization that what we learn should not simply be knowledge, but should be the rules of our life, to be followed by action. This action is the good that Esau has represented in the story up to that time, but after the reconciliation between Jacob and Esau, Jacob as Israel now represents the truth and the good, together. It is interesting that even after his name change Jacob is rarely called Israel. Sometimes he is called one and sometimes the other, and sometimes he is called both Jacob and Israel in the same verse (Genesis 46:2, 5, & 8 also Psalm 14:7). This is because Jacob represents the external person and Israel the internal person, and even after the internal person comes into being, we spend much of our lives living on the external level.

(Odkazy: Arcana Coelestia 4274, 4292, 4570, 5595, 6225, 6256, Genesis 2, 2:5, 46, 46:8; Psalms 7, 14)