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Micah 2

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1 Woe to those who think iniquity and work evil on their beds! In the light of the morning they do it, for their own hand is for a god.*

2 And they covet fields, and they take· them ·by·​·robbery; and houses, and carry them away; and they oppress a mighty·​·man and his house, and a man and his inheritance.

3 Therefore thus says Jehovah: Behold, against this family do I reckon evil, from which you shall not withdraw your necks; neither shall you go exaltedly; for it is a time of evil.

4 In that day shall one take·​·up a proverb against you, and lament, lamenting with a lamentation, and say, Being devastated we are devastated! He has altered the partition of my people; how He has withdrawn it from me! Turning·​·back He has partitioned our fields.

5 Therefore thou shalt not have any who shall cast a cord by lot in the assembly of Jehovah.

6 Preach* ye not as they preach; they shall not preach to these; they shall not take·​·away humiliation.

7 It is said of the house of Jacob, Is the spirit of Jehovah shortened, if these are His actions? Do not My words do·​·good to him if he walks uprightly?

8 And yesterday My people have arisen as an enemy on account of raiment; you strip·​·off the magnificent robe* from those who pass·​·by securely, returning from war.

9 The women of My people you have driven·​·out from their delightful houses; with their babes you have taken My honor to eternity.

10 Arise ye, and go; for this is not your rest; on account of it being defiled, it shall hurt you, and the hurt will be·​·grievous.

11 If a man is·​·walking* in spirit and lies by falsity, saying, I will preach* to thee for wine and for strong·​·drink, then he shall be a preacher of this people.

12 Gathering I will gather Jacob, all of thee; bringing·​·together I will bring·​·together what·​·is·​·left of Israel; I will set them as·​·one, as the flock of Bozrah, as the drove in the midst of their fold*; they shall make·​·a·​·noise from man.

13 The breaking·​·off has gone·​·up before them; they have broken·​·off, and have passed·​·through the gate, and have gone·​·out by it: and their king shall pass·​·through before them, and Jehovah at the head of them.

   


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

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Midst

  

The "midst" of something in the Bible represents the thing that is most central and most important to the spiritual state being described, the motivation that drives everything else. In general this will be something we love or feel, because at the core of things we are what we love; our loves define us.

(Odkazy: Apocalypse Revealed 44, 90, 268; Arcana Coelestia 2252, 2940, 10153, 10365, 10557, 10635, 10641)

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Apocalypse Revealed # 44

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44. And in the midst of the seven lampstands one like the Son of Man. (1:13) This symbolizes the Lord in relation to the Word, from whom that church originates.

People know from the Word that the Lord called Himself the Son of God and also the Son of Man. By "the Son of God" He meant Himself in respect to His Divine humanity, and by "the Son of Man" He meant Himself in relation to the Word. This we fully demonstrated in The Doctrine of the New Jerusalem Regarding the Lord, nos. 19-28 and since we confirmed it thoroughly from the Word there, we refrain from confirming it further here.

Now because the Lord presented Himself to John as the Word, therefore in His appearance to him He is called the Son of Man.

The Lord presented Himself as the Word because the subject is the New Church, which is a church founded on the Word, according to its understanding of it. To be shown that the church is founded on the Word, and that its character is such as its understanding of the Word, see The Doctrine of the New Jerusalem Regarding the Sacred Scripture, nos. 76-79.

Since the church is a church from the Lord by means of the Word, therefore the Son of Man appeared in the midst of lampstands. "In the midst" means, symbolically, in the inmost, from which those things that are round about or exterior to it draw their essence, in this case their light or intelligence.

That the inmost is everything in the things that are round about or exterior to it is something we showed many times in Angelic Wisdom Regarding Divine Love and Wisdom. It is like a light or flame at the center, in consequence of which all the peripheries shine with light and are warm.

[2] "In the midst" has the same symbolic meaning in the following passages in the Word:

Cry out and shout, O inhabitant of Zion, for great is the Holy One of Israel in your midst! (Isaiah 12:6)

God is my King..., working salvation in the midst of the earth. (Psalms 74:12)

...God...(working) lovingkindness in the midst of (the) temple.

God stands in the congregation of God; in the midst of the gods He will judge. (Psalms 82:1)

Gods are what those people who possess Divine truths from the Lord are called, and in an abstract sense, the truths themselves.

Behold, I am sending an angel before you... Beware of his presence...; for My name is in the midst of him. (Exodus 23:20-21)

The name of Jehovah means everything Divine. In the midst means in the inmost and so in every part.

In the midst or within symbolizes the inmost and so every part in many other places in the Word, even where the subject is evils, as in Isaiah 24:13, Jeremiah 23:9, Psalms 5:9, Jeremiah 9:5-6, and Psalms 36:1; 55:4; 62:4.

We have cited these places to make known that "in the midst of the lampstands" means, symbolically, in the inmost of the church, from which the church and everything connected with it originates; for the church and everything connected with it comes from the Lord through the Word.

To be shown that the lampstands symbolize a new church, see no. 43 just above.

  
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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.