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Deuteronomy 7

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1 When Jehovah thy God shall bring thee to the land whither thou comest to possess it, and shall shake·​·off many nations from before thee, the Hittites, and the Girgashites, and the Amorites, and the Canaanites, and the Perizzites, and the Hivites, and the Jebusites, seven nations of many, and more numerous than thou;

2 and Jehovah thy God shall give· them ·over before thee, and thou shalt smite them, dooming thou shalt·​·doom them; thou shalt not cut a covenant with them, nor be·​·gracious to them;

3 and thou shalt not make·​·marriages with them; thy daughter thou shalt not give to his son, and his daughter thou shalt not take to thy son.

4 For they will turn·​·aside thy son from following after Me, that they may serve other gods; and the anger of Jehovah shall be·​·fierce against you, and blot· thee ·out hastily.

5 But thus you shall do to them; you shall tear·​·down their altars, and break their statues, and hew·​·down their groves, and burn·​·up their graven images with fire.

6 For thou art a holy people to Jehovah thy God; Jehovah thy God has chosen thee to be a special people to Himself, above all the peoples who are on the faces of the ground.

7 It was not on account of your multitude being more than all the peoples that Jehovah delighted in you, and chose you; for you were the fewest of all the peoples;

8 but from the love of Jehovah for you, and from His keeping the promise which He had promised to your fathers, Jehovah has brought· you ·out with a firm hand, and redeemed you from the house of servitude*, from the hand of Pharaoh king of Egypt.

9 And know that Jehovah thy God, He is God, the faithful God, keeping the covenant and the mercy for them who love Him and keep His commandments for a thousand generations;

10 and repaying those who hate Him to His face, to make him perish; He will not delay for him who hates Him to His face, He will repay him.

11 And thou shalt keep the commandments, and the statutes, and the judgments, which I command thee today, to do them.

12 And it shall be, if you hear these judgments, and keep and do them, then Jehovah thy God shall keep for thee the covenant and the mercy which He promised to thy fathers;

13 and He will love thee, and bless thee, and multiply thee; and He will bless the fruit of thy belly, and the fruit of thy ground, thy grain, and thy must*, and thine olive·​·oil, the progeny of thine oxen, and the sheep of thy flock, on the ground which He promised to thy fathers to give to thee.

14 Thou shalt be blessed above all the peoples; there shall not be sterile or barren* among you, or among your beasts.

15 And Jehovah will remove from thee all sickness, and will put none of the evil diseases of Egypt, which· thou ·knowest, upon thee; but will lay them upon all them that hate thee.

16 And thou shalt devour all the people which Jehovah thy God shall deliver thee; thine eye shall not spare them; neither shalt thou serve their gods; for that will be a snare to thee.

17 For if thou shalt say in thy heart, These nations are more than I; how am· I ·able to dispossess them?

18 Thou shalt not fear them; remembering thou shalt remember what Jehovah thy God did to Pharaoh, and to all Egypt;

19 the great proofs which thine eyes saw, and the signs and the miracles, and the firm hand, and the stretched·​·out arm, by which Jehovah thy God brought· thee ·out; so shall Jehovah thy God do to all the peoples whose faces thou fearest.

20 And also Jehovah thy God will send the hornet among them, until they who are left, and hide themselves from thy face, perish.

21 Thou shalt not be terrified at their faces; for Jehovah thy God is among you, a great God and to be feared.

22 And Jehovah thy God will shake·​·off those nations from before thee a few by a few; thou wilt not be·​·able to consume·​·all of them hastily, lest the wild·​·animals of the field multiply upon thee.

23 But Jehovah thy God shall put them before thy face, and shall upset them with great upset, until they be blotted·​·out.

24 And He shall deliver their kings into thy hand, and thou shalt make· their name ·perish from under heaven; there shall no man be able to stand before thee, until thou have blotted· them ·out.

25 The graven images of their gods you shall burn·​·up with fire; thou shalt not covet the silver and gold that is on them, nor take it to thyself, lest thou be snared in it; for it is an abomination to Jehovah thy God.

26 Neither shalt thou bring an abomination into thy house, lest thou be a doomed·​·thing* like it; detesting thou shalt detest it, and abominating thou shalt abominate it; for it is a doomed·​·thing.

   


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

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Arcana Coelestia # 8875

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8875. 'A jealous God' means that as a result there is falsity and evil. This is clear from the consideration that in the genuine sense 'a jealous God' means the Divine Truth of Divine Good, since 'God' has reference to truth, 2586, 2769, 2807, 2822, 3921 (end), 4287, 4402, 7010, 7268, 8301, and 'jealous' to good, as will be seen below. But so far as those who do not receive the Divine Truth of the Lord's Divine Good are concerned, 'a jealous God' is falsity and evil. For those who are opposed to Him perceive Divine Truth as falsity, and Divine Good as evil; for the way in which everyone sees that Truth and Good is determined by what he really is in himself. So it is that the Lord's zeal, 1 which in itself is love and compassion, is seen by them as anger; for when the Lord in love and mercy protects His own in heaven those ruled by evil are indignant and angry with the good. They plunge into the sphere where Divine Good and Divine Truth are, endeavouring to destroy those who are there. But then the Divine Truth of Divine Good acts on them and causes them to experience torments like those suffered in hell. As a consequence of this they attribute wrath and anger, and also all evil, to the Divine, when in fact there is no anger whatever in the Divine, nor any evil whatever, only pure forbearance and mercy.

[2] From all this it is evident why 'jealous' means falsity and evil, and why 'zeal' means anger. See what has been shown already about them, that is to say, in the following places,

Wrath and anger are attributed to the Lord, when in fact they exist with those who are ruled by evil or who are full of anger against the Divine, 5798, 6997, 8284, 8483.

Evil things, punishments, and times of vastation are in a similar way attributed to the Lord, when in fact nothing except love and mercy reside with the Lord, 2447, 6071, 6559, 6991, 6997, 7533, 7632, 7643, 7679, 7710, 7877, 7926, 8214, 8223, 8226-8228, 8282, 8632.

Through their endeavour to destroy goodness and truth the evil bring about their own devastation and cast themselves into damnation and hell, 7643, 7679, 7710, 7926, 7989.

The way in which everyone sees the Lord is determined by what he is within himself, 1861 (end), 6832, 8197.

[3] The places in the Word which are quoted below will show that 'the zeal of the Lord' is love and mercy, and that when the Lord protects the good against the evil it seems like hostility, and also like anger.

The zeal of the Lord is love and mercy.

In Isaiah,

Look out from heaven, and see from the dwelling-place of Your holiness and of Your glory. And where are Your zeal and Your might? The yearning of Your loins, 2 and Your compassion, 3 towards me have held themselves back. Isaiah 63:15.

'Zeal' here stands for mercy, which is 'a yearning of the loins' and has reference to good. For where it says 'Your zeal and Your might' the word 'zeal' has reference to good, and the word 'might' to truth; and 'the yearning of the loins' likewise has reference to good, and 'compassion' to truth. In a like manner 'the dwelling-place of holiness' stands for the heaven where members of the celestial kingdom live, and 'the dwelling-place of glory' for the heaven where members of the spiritual kingdom live. From this too it is evident that where good is referred to in the Word, truth is referred to as well, on account of the heavenly marriage, which is the marriage of good and truth, in every individual part of the Word. This is so in the case of the Lord's two names Jesus and Christ; they are a sign of the Divine marriage within the Lord. Regarding these matters, see 683, 793, 801, 2516, 4138 (end), 5138, 5502, 6343, 7945, 8339 (end).

[4] In the same prophet,

To us a Boy is born, to us a Son is given, and the government will be upon His shoulder; and His name is called' 4 Wonderful, Counsellor, God, Hero, Father of Eternity, Prince of Peace. Of the increase of His government and of peace there will be no end. The zeal of Jehovah will do this. Isaiah 9:6-7.

This refers to the Lord and His Coming. 'The zeal of Jehovah will do this' stands for His acting from a love that burns to save the human race. In the same prophet,

Out of Jerusalem will go a remnant, and those who escape from Mount Zion. The zeal of Jehovah will do this. Isaiah 37:32.

'The zeal of Jehovah will do this' stands for His acting out of love and mercy.

[5] In Ezekiel,

Thus said the Lord Jehovih, Now I will bring back the captives of Jacob, and have mercy on the whole house of Israel; and I will be jealous for My holy name. 5 Ezekiel 39:25.

'Being jealous' stands for having mercy. In David, The zeal of Your house has devoured me. Psalms 69:9.

This refers to the Lord. 'The zeal of Jehovah's house' stands for love towards those who receive goodness and truth; for they are Jehovah's house.

[6] The Lord's zeal or mercy when He protects the good seems like hostility.

In Isaiah,

Jehovah will go forth as a mighty man, as a man of war He will arouse zeal; He will shout aloud and cry out, He will prevail over His enemies. Isaiah 42:13.

And in Joel,

Jehovah will be jealous for His land, and spare His people. Joel 2:18.

[7] The Lord's zeal is called anger and wrath because mercy is seen as such by the evil.

In Moses,

You shall not go after other gods, of the gods of the peoples who are round about you (for Jehovah your God in the midst of you is a jealous God), lest perhaps the anger of Jehovah your God flare up against you and destroy you from the face of the earth. Deuteronomy 6:14-15.

In the same author,

They provoked Him to jealousy through foreign [gods]; through abominations they made Him angry. They sacrifice to demons. They have moved Me to jealousy, 6 by what is not god, they have provoked Me to anger with their idols. 7 Deuteronomy 32:16-17, 21.

In Ezekiel,

When My anger is accomplished and I make My wrath rest on them, I will repent, so that they may know that I Jehovah have spoken in My zeal, when I have accomplished My wrath on them. Ezekiel 5:13.

In Zechariah,

The angel of Jehovah [speaking] in me said to me, Cry out, saying, Thus said Jehovah Zebaoth, I have been jealous for Jerusalem and for Zion with great zeal. For I have become extremely indignant against the nations that feel secure. Zechariah 1:14-15; 8:2.

In Zephaniah,

I will pour out onto them My indignation, all My fierce anger, 8 for in the fire of My zeal the whole earth will be devoured. Zephaniah 3:8.

In Moses,

Jehovah will not be pleased to pardon him; but then the anger of Jehovah, and His zeal, will smoke against that man, and every curse will rest on him Deuteronomy 29:20.

In David,

How long, O Jehovah; will you be angry forever? Will your jealousy burn line fire? Pour out Your anger on the nations that do not know You. Psalms 79:5-6.

Jehovah's zeal is in like manner referred to as 'anger' in Psalms 38:1; Ezekiel 16:42; 23:25; 38:19.

All this shows what is meant by 'Jehovah's zeal' or 'a jealous God' - in the genuine sense love and mercy, but in the non-genuine sense, such as that understood by those immersed in evils and falsities, anger and ruination.

[8] It should be recognized that Jehovah, that is, the Lord, is called 'jealous' or 'an avenger' especially when what ought to reign universally with a member of the Church - that is to say, what is Divine and must be either loved, held in mind, or feared above all things - is being corrupted. When it has been corrupted or destroyed complete and utter darkness ensues in place of heavenly light; for that light no longer flows in from the Divine because there is no acceptance of it. This is why the commandment says, 'I am Jehovah your God, a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers on the sons, on the third and on the fourth [generations] of those who hate Me', which He would do if they worshipped other gods or made either a graven image or likenesses for themselves. For these corrupt what is Divine and ought to reign universally.

[9] Therefore similar declarations occur elsewhere in Moses,

Take care, lest you make for yourselves a graven image of any figure; for Jehovah your God is a devouring fire, a jealous God. Deuteronomy 4:23-24

And in the same author,

You shall not worship any other god; for Jehovah, whose name is Jealous, He is a jealous [God]. Exodus 34:14.

The reason why the Israelite nation was forbidden so strictly to do these things was that any adoration of other gods, graven images, and other images destroyed everything representative of the Church among them. For in heaven Jehovah, that is, the Lord, reigns universally; His Divine [Life] fills all things there and composes the life of all. If anything else had been worshipped instead of the Divine, everything representative, and so contact with heaven, would have perished.

Poznámky pod čarou:

1. or jealousy. In Latin, as in Hebrew, the same noun may be rendered zeal or jealousy, and the same adjective may be rendered zealous or jealous.

2. literally, The commotion of Your viscera

3. literally, compassions

4. literally, He has called His name

5. literally, the name of My holiness

6. literally, they have moved My jealousy (or zeal)

7. literally, vanities

8. lit all the wrath of My anger

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

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Arcana Coelestia # 7679

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7679. 'And Jehovah brought an east wind' means an agent of destruction. This is clear from the meaning of 'an east wind' as an agent of destruction. 'An east wind' has this meaning because it was dry and turbulent, and because it therefore withered the produce of that land, and by its force shattered trees, and ships at sea. This is why that wind, acting as an agent [of destruction], describes the effect that Divine power can have. In addition 'the east' means the good of love and charity, for the Lord is meant by it in the highest sense, 101, 1250, 3708. Also, being Divine, the good of love and charity is in origin very gentle, and consequently is also such in its movements when it passes into heaven. But when it comes down into hell it becomes rough and fierce, because the inhabitants of hell make it so. Therefore the inflow and presence there of that Divine good not only torments them but also devastates them. This too explains why a wind from the east or 'an east wind' means an agent of destruction.

[2] The fact that this wind means an agent of destruction is evident from the places in which it is mentioned in the Word, as in Jeremiah,

Like an east wind I will scatter them before the enemy. Jeremiah 18:17.

In Ezekiel,

The vine that was planted, will it thrive? 1 When the east wind strikes it, will it not wither completely?. Ezekiel 17:10.

In the same prophet,

That vine has been plucked up in anger, it has been cast down onto the ground, the east wind has dried its fruit. Ezekiel 19:12.

In Hosea,

He will be among his brothers a ferocious one; an east wind will come, Jehovah's wind rising up from the desert, and his spring mill become dry, and his fountain dried up. Hosea 13:15.

In David,

By an east wind You will shatter the ships of Tarshish. Psalms 48:7.

In Ezekiel,

They brought you down to many waters, those who despise you; the east wind broke you in the heart of the seas. Ezekiel 27:26.

From these places it is evident that 'an east wind' means an agent of destruction, because it was a dry wind and a turbulent one. It therefore also means an agent of devastation, as in Hosea,

Ephraim feeds the wind, and pursues the east wind. All the day long he multiplies lies and devastation. Hosea 12:1.

'Ephraim' stands for the Church's understanding, 5354, 6222, 6238. 'Feeding the wind' is multiplying lies, and 'pursuing the east wind' is multiplying devastation. A state of devastation and temptation is also called 'the day of the east wind' in Isaiah 27:7-8.

Poznámky pod čarou:

1. Reading num prosperabitur (will it thrive?), which Swedenborg has in another place where he quotes this verse and which is the meaning of the Hebrew, for non prosperabitur (it will not thrive)

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