Judges 6: The Midianites oppress Israel; the call of Gideon.

Chapters 6-8 of Judges tell the story of Gideon, who led the people of Israel against the Midianites. The Lord allowed the Midianites to oppress the children of Israel for seven years, because they had disobeyed His commandments once again. Israel fled to the mountain caves, and Midian starved the Israelites by destroying their crops and taking their livestock. When Israel cried out to the Lord for help, a prophet delivered the Lord’s message that He had always been with them, but they had kept disobeying.

Then the angel of the Lord appeared to Gideon, who was threshing wheat in the winepress to hide this from the Midianites. The angel brought news that he would lead the fight against the Midianites. Gideon was stunned, and replied that his family was the least important in the tribe of Manasseh, and that he was the least in his family. Even so, the Lord assured him would be victorious, because the Lord was with him.

Gideon asked for a sign to be given him, and then went to prepare an offering of food. When he came back, the angel told him to place the meat and unleavened bread upon a rock. When the angel touched it with his staff, fire came up from the rock and burned up the food. The angel then departed.

The Lord told Gideon to break down his father’s altars to Baal, and to build an altar to the Lord on top of it, which he did by night. In the morning, the men of the city discovered what Gideon had done, and demanded that he be killed. But Gideon’s father, Joash, replied that Baal himself would take action, if he were really a god.

The Midianites and their allies gathered for battle, and Gideon called on his tribe of Manasseh, as well as Asher, Zebulun, and Naphtali, to prepare to fight. Before the battle took place though, Gideon asked for another sign from God. He put a woolen fleece on the threshing floor, and if God would use him to save Israel, the fleece would have dew on it, while the ground around it would be dry. And so it was the next morning. Once again, Gideon asked for a sign, this time with dew on the ground, but not on the fleece. And again, this came to pass.

*****

The spiritual meaning of the Midianites is understanding spiritual truths, but leading a life of sensory pleasure anyway, rather than one built on genuine goodness (see Swedenborg’s work, Arcana Caelestia 7602). This is portrayed by the Midianites destroying all the crops which could be made into food, or spiritually, into what is good.

Threshing wheat and pressing wine are very similar processes; threshing wheat frees grain from the beaten husk, and pressing wine squeezes juice from a crushed grape. Both of these activities represent our spiritual determination to do what is good – the wheat for bread – because of the truth we have come to understand – the wine. Gideon’s name, meaning “to break apart”, and this passage are meant to show us that his strongest quality was determination to do good (Divine Providence 227[2]).

Gideon’s claim to be the least important of all demonstrates the place of genuine humility in our spiritual life. Acknowledging that the Lord brings about all good things is a sign of strength, not weakness (see Swedenborg’s work, Heaven and Hell 408).

The spiritual meaning of asking God for a sign – which Gideon did several times – is to confirm the validity of what we intend or understand. Paying attention to our internal state will show us the quality of our inner thoughts if we dare to listen, but ultimately, confirmation comes from the Word (see Swedenborg’s work, True Christian Religion 508[5]). The fire from the rock, which burned the meat, represents the power of love and truth to consume and sustain us.

The fascinating double sign involving the fleece has several layers of spiritual meaning: the threshing floor stands for the ground of our daily life and activity; the fleece, with its warmth and softness, stands for the principle of goodness; and the dew (water) stands for divine influx of truth into us from the Lord. These build the framework of the spiritual meaning. The dewy fleece on the dry ground means that we need to have the Lord’s truth in our mind, so we know how to lead a good life. Then, this needs to be reversed so that we feel the desire to do good, and then apply this in daily life (Arcana Caelestia 3579).

This sign is closely related to the spiritual meaning of the Midianites, the enemy to be overthrown. Simply knowing the Lord’s truths does not guarantee a good life; we must put these truths into practice.

4111. 'And Rachel stole the teraphim which belonged to her father' means a change, as regards truth, of the state meant by 'Laban'. This is clear from the meaning of 'stealing' here as taking away that which is cherished and holy, and so changing the state; from the meaning of 'the teraphim' as truths, dealt with below; and from the meaning of 'father', who in this case is Laban, as the good meant by him, dealt with already. 'Father' too means good, 3703. From this it is evident that 'Rachel stole the teraphim which belonged to her father' means a change, as regards truth, of the state meant by 'Laban'.

[2] What is implied in all this may be seen from the state in which spirits dwell when they are being separated. The states of good and truth in which spirits dwell are determined by the communities they are in, for as shown already, all thought flows in through others, doing so most immediately through those in whose community they are at the time. When therefore they are removed from one community and sent into another the states of their thoughts and affections are changed, and so therefore are the states of truth and good in which they dwell. If however they are sent into communities unlike themselves they take no delight in it, and consequently feel coerced; and therefore they are separated from them and taken to communities which are like themselves. This explains why the evil are unable to be present in and to stay among communities of the good, or the good to do so among communities of the evil, and also why all spirits and angels are distinguished into separate communities in accordance with those affections that belong to love. But every affection belonging to love contains many and varying features, 3078, 3189, 4005, though one feature is predominant. Each spirit therefore is capable of being in a number of communities, but he strives to get to the one in which his predominant affection reigns, and to which at length he is brought.

[3] As regards the good meant by 'Laban' and a change in the state of that good, as long as it was present with the good represented by 'Jacob' it was closer to the Divine; for 'Jacob' means that good within the Natural, and being closer to the Divine was also at that time in a more perfect state of truth and good. But when it was separated from it, it entered another state as regards truth and good, for in general changes of state in the next life are nothing else than movements towards the Divine or away from the Divine. This then shows what is understood by a change of state when the good meant by 'Laban' was separated.

[4] The reason why 'Rachel stole the teraphim which belonged to her father' means a change of state as regard truth is that by 'the teraphim' are meant his gods, as is evident from what follows below. For in verse 30 Laban says to Jacob, 'Why did you steal my gods?' and in verse 32 Jacob replies, 'Anyone with whom you find your gods shall not live in the presence of our brothers'. In the internal sense 'gods' means truths, which is also the reason why the name 'God' is used in the Word when truth is the subject, see 2586, 2769, 2807, 2822.

[5] The teraphim were idols which were used when people consulted God or asked Him something. And because the replies which they received were to those people Divine truths, truths were therefore meant by them, as in Hosea,

The children of Israel sat many days with no king and with no prince and with no sacrifice, nor ephod and teraphim. Hosea 3:4.

'Ephod and teraphim' stands for Divine truths which they received through the replies given, for when they asked God something they also put on the ephod, 1 Samuel 23:9-12. In Zechariah,

The teraphim speak iniquity, and the diviners see a lie, and the dreams speak vanity. Zechariah 10:2.

Here too 'the teraphim' stands for replies, but in that state iniquitous ones.

[6] And because 'the teraphim' had this kind of meaning, some also had them in their houses, even though this was forbidden. One such person was Micah, in the Book of Judges,

Micah had a house of God and he made an ephod and teraphim, and he consecrated ¹ one of his sons to be his priest. And some of the Danites said to their brethren, Do you know that in these houses there is an ephod and teraphim, and a graven image and a molten image? And when they had entered Micah's house and took the graven image, the ephod and the teraphim, and the molten image... And the priest's heart was glad, ² and he took the ephod and the teraphim, and the graven image. And Micah pursued the children of Dan, then he said, You have taken my gods which I made, and the priest, and have gone away. What have I more? Judges 17:5; 18:14, 18, 20, 24.

Michal too, David's wife, had them, as described in 1 Samuel,

Michal, David's wife, took the teraphim, and placed them in the bed and covered them over with a garment. Saul's messengers came, but behold, the teraphim were in the bed. 1 Samuel 19:13, 16.

The fact that they were however idols which were forbidden is evident from what is said in reference to them in 1 Samuel 15:23; 2 Kings 23:24; Ezekiel 21:21.

Poznámky pod čarou: