Bible

 

Deuteronomy 33

Studie

   

1 And this is the blessing with which Moses the man of God blessed the sons of Israel before his death.

2 And he said, Jehovah came from Sinai, and rose from Seir to them; He shone·​·forth from Mount Paran, and He came with a myriad of the holy ones; from His right·​·hand went a fire·​·of·​·law for them;

3 Yea, He loves the peoples. All His holy ones are in Thy hand, and they were prostrated at Thy feet; every one shall receive* of Thy words.*

4 Moses commanded us a law, even the possession of the assembly of Jacob.

5 And he was king in Jeshurun, when the heads of the people and the tribes of Israel were gathered together.

6 Let Reuben live, and not die; but his mortals will be few in number*.

7 And this is the blessing for Judah; and he said, Hear, Jehovah, the voice of Judah, and bring him to his people: let his hands be many for him; and be Thou a help to him from his adversaries.

8 And for Levi he said, Let thy Thummim and thine Urim be with thy merciful* Man, whom thou didst tempt at Massah*, and with whom thou didst strive by the waters of Meribah*;

9 who said to his father and to his mother, I have not seen him*; neither did he acknowledge his brothers, nor did he know his sons; for they have kept what· Thou ·sayest, and observed Thy covenant.

10 They shall instruct Jacob in Thy judgments, and Israel in Thy law; they shall set incense into Thy nose, and a whole·​·burnt·​·offering on Thine altar.

11 Jehovah, bless his force, and be·​·well·​·pleased with the work of his hands; strike the loins of those who rise·​·up against him and hate him, so that they rise· not ·up again.

12 For Benjamin he said, The beloved of Jehovah shall abide securely in Him; He shall cover· him ·over all the day, and between His shoulders he shall abide.

13 And for Joseph he said, Blessed of Jehovah be his land, for the precious·​·things of the heavens, for the dew, and for the abyss that coucheth beneath,

14 and for the precious·​·things of increase from the sun, and for the precious·​·things produced by the months,

15 and for the beginnings of the ancient mountains, and for the precious·​·things of the eternal hills,

16 and for the precious·​·things of the earth and her fullness, and for the good·​·pleasure of Him who inhabits the bramble; let it come to the head of Joseph, and to the top·​·of·​·the·​·head of the Nazarite* of his brothers.

17 The firstborn of his ox is honor for him, and horns of the unicorn are his horns; with them he shall charge·​·at the peoples as·​·one to the ends of the earth; and they are the myriads of Ephraim, and they are the thousands of Manasseh.

18 And for Zebulun he said, Be·​·glad, Zebulun, in thy going out; and, Issachar, in thy tents.

19 They shall call the peoples into the mountain; there they shall sacrifice sacrifices of justice; for they shall nurse on the abundance of the seas, and on a cache concealed by the sand.

20 And for Gad he said, Blessed be he that enlarges Gad; he abides as an old·​·lion, and tears the arm, yea, the top·​·of·​·the·​·head.

21 And he saw the first·​·parts for himself, because there was a part of the hidden* lawgiver, and thus came the heads of the people; he did the justice of Jehovah, and His judgments with Israel.

22 And for Dan he said, Dan is a lion’s whelp; he shall pounce from Bashan.

23 And for Naphtali he said, O Naphtali, satiated with good·​·pleasure, and full with the blessing of Jehovah; possess thou the west and the south.

24 And for Asher he said, Let Asher be blessed with sons; let him be well·​·pleasing to his brothers, and let him dip his foot in oil.

25 Thy shoe shall be iron and bronze; and as thy days, so shall be thy renown.

26 There is none like to the God of Jeshurun, who rides upon the heavens in thy help, and in His excellence on the higher·​·clouds.

27 The ancient God is thine abode, and beneath are the eternal arms; and He shall drive·​·out the enemy from before thee; and shall say, Blot· them ·out.

28 And Israel shall securely inhabit alone; the fount of Jacob shall be upon a land of grain and must*; also his heavens shall drip dew.

29 Happy art thou, O Israel; who is like to thee, O people saved by Jehovah, the Shield of thy help, and He who is the Sword of thine excellence! and thine enemies to thee shall be denied, and thou shalt tread on their high·​·places.

   


Thanks to the Kempton Project for the permission to use this New Church translation of the Word.

Ze Swedenborgových děl

 

Apocalypse Revealed # 935

Prostudujte si tuto pasáž

  
/ 962  
  

935. Yielding its fruit according to the month. This symbolically means that the Lord produces the goods in a person in accordance with every state of truth in him.

A month symbolizes a person's state of life in respect to truth, as will be seen below. To yield fruit means, symbolically, to produce goods. That fruits are goods of love and charity is something we just showed in no. 934 above. Moreover, because it is the Lord who essentially produces these in a person - even though the person does them as though of himself, thus apparently, as we said in no. 934 above - it follows that the symbolic meaning here is that the Lord produces them inmostly when He is present there.

But we must say how one is to understand the Lord's producing goods of charity in a person in accordance with every state of truth in him.

Someone who believes that a person does good acceptable to the Lord, good that is called spiritual good, without possessing in him truths from the Word, is much mistaken. Goods without truths are not good, and truths without goods are not true in the person, even though they are true in themselves. For good without truth is like something a person wills without understanding, a volition that is not human, but one like that of an animal, or like that of a robot that an operator causes to function.

On the other hand, volition together with comprehension becomes human in accordance with the state of the intellect by which it finds expression. For the condition of everyone's life is such that a person's will can do nothing without the instrumentality of the intellect, nor can the intellect entertain any thought without doing so from the will. The case is the same with goodness and truth, since goodness has to do with the will, and truth with the intellect.

[2] It is apparent from this that the good that the Lord produces in a person accords with the state of truth in him that forms his understanding.

This is what the tree of life yielding its fruit every month symbolizes, because a month symbolizes the state of truth in a person.

All periods of time, such as hours, days, weeks, months, years, and centuries, symbolize states of life, as may be seen in nos. 476, 562. Months symbolize states of life in respect to truths, because months mean times determined by the moon, and the moon symbolizes the truth of the intellect and of faith (nos. 332, 413, 414, 919).

Months have the same meaning in the following:

Blessed of Jehovah is (Joseph's) land..., with the precious fruits of the sun, and with the precious produce of the months... (Deuteronomy 33:13-14)

It shall come to pass that from month to month, and from Sabbath to Sabbath, all flesh shall come to bow down before (Jehovah).... (Isaiah 66:23)

Because of the symbolic meaning of a month, which is the same as that of the moon, sacrifices were made at the beginnings of each month or new moon (Numbers 29:1-6, Isaiah 1:14). The Israelites also sounded the trumpets then (Numbers 10:10, Psalms 81:3). And they were commanded to observe the month of Abib, in which they celebrated Passover (Exodus 12:2, Deuteronomy 16:1).

Months symbolize states of truth in a person, and in an opposite sense states of falsity in him, as may also be seen above in Revelation 9:5, 10, 15; 11:2, and 13:5.

A month has the same symbolic meaning here as in Ezekiel 47:12.

  
/ 962  
  

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