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Jonah 4

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1 And it was·​·evil to Jonah, a great evil, and he was·​·incensed by it.

2 And he prayed to Jehovah, and said, I pray Thee, O Jehovah, was not this my word, when I was yet upon my own ground? Therefore I went·​·before to run·​·away to Tarshish, for I knew that Thou art a God gracious and compassionate, slow to anger and of much mercy, and repenting concerning the evil.

3 And now, O Jehovah, take, I pray Thee, my soul from me; for my death is better than my life.

4 And Jehovah said, Doest· thou ·well to be·​·incensed?

5 And Jonah went·​·out from the city, and sat from the east to the city, and there made for himself a shelter, and sat under it in the shadow, until he might see what would become of the city.

6 And Jehovah God provided a kikajon*, and it went·​·up over Jonah, and it was a shade over his head, to rescue him from his evil. And Jonah was·​·glad on·​·account·​·of the kikajon, with great gladness.

7 But God provided a worm when the dawn came·​·up on the morrow, and it smote the kikajon, and it dried·​·up.

8 And it was, as the sun rose, that God provided a drying east wind; and the sun smote upon the head of Jonah, and he was·​·fatigued, and asked·​·for his soul to die, and said, My death would be better than my living.

9 And God said to Jonah, Doest· thou ·well to be·​·incensed for the kikajon? And he said, I do·​·well to be·​·incensed, even·​·to death.

10 And Jehovah said, Thou wouldst spare the kikajon, on which thou hast not labored, and didst not cause to grow·​·up; which is the son of a night, and the son of a night perishes;

11 and should not I spare Nineveh, the great city, in which are multiplied more than twelve myriads* of man* who knows not between his right·​·hand and his left; and also many beasts?

   


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

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Wind (as in west wind)

  
Storm in the Sea, by Théodore Gudin

In the Bible, the wind represents the power of the Lord working on us through the heavens. The Lord is love itself, and by extending His love He created the energy that created the universe, the energy that still sustains and empowers us. That love, and the wisdom that is its form, can act on us more or less directly depending on our spiritual states. A powerful wind indicates a more direct force.

It's interesting to note that the sun corresponds to the Lord, that its heat corresponds to the Lord's love and its light to the Lord's wisdom. In the natural world, the sun's heat causes wind by warming the air. In the spiritual world, the Lord's love causes spiritual wind by acting through heaven.

The Bible also talks about four winds, an east wind and a "wind of the sea." The four winds stand for the whole of the impact of the Lord's love. The east wind is withering, devastating – it represents the Lord's love as experienced by those in hell. The west wind represents stopping or turning aside the flow of the Lord's love – in Israel the "wind of the sea" would come from the west, opposing the east wind.

(Odkazy: Apocalypse Explained 418, 419; Apocalypse Revealed 343 [2-4]; Arcana Coelestia 7679, 7702)

Ze Swedenborgových děl

 

Arcana Coelestia # 367

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367. Apart from showing that charity is the 'brother' of faith and that 'field' means all that comprises doctrine, there is no need to confirm these considerations from similar usages in the Word. That charity is the brother of faith may be clear to anyone from the very nature or essence of faith. The brother relationship between these two was also represented by Esau and Jacob, and was the reason why they struggled for the birthright and the superior position this carried with it. The relationship was also represented by Perez and Zerah, the sons Tamar had by Judah, Genesis 38:28-30, where again the question of primogeniture arises. It was represented by Ephraim and Manasseh as well, Genesis 48:13-14, wherein a similar way the matter of the birthright and the higher position it carried occurs. And there are many other examples. Indeed these two, faith and charity, are both the offspring of the Church. Faith is called 'a man' (vir), as Cain is in verse 1 of this chapter, while charity is called 'a brother', as in Isaiah 19:2; Jeremiah 17:14 and in other places. In Amos 1:9 the union of faith and charity is called 'a covenant between brothers'.

[2] As has been stated, that which Jacob and Esau represented was similar to the meaning of Cain and Abel. The fact that Jacob in a similar manner wished to supplant Esau is also clear in Hosea,

He will make a visitation on Jacob over his ways and requite him according to his deeds; in the womb he supplanted his brother. Hosea 12:2-3.

But the fact that Esau, that is, charity represented by Esau, would nevertheless be the superior is clear from the prediction made through their father Isaac,

By your sword will you live, and you will serve your brother; but when you have dominion over him you will cast away his yoke from above your neck. Genesis 27:40.

Or what amounts to the same, a gentile or new Church is represented by Esau, and the Jewish Church by Jacob. This is why it was stated so many times that they were to recognize gentile nations as brothers. Charity was also the reason for everyone being referred to as 'a brother' in the gentile or Primitive Church, and for the Lord calling 'brothers' those who hear the Word and do it, Luke 8:21. Hearers of it are those who have faith, doers those who have charity. But those who are hearers, that is, say they have faith, but are not doers, that is, have no charity, are not brothers, for the Lord likens them to the foolish, Matthew 7:24, 26.

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