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1 Samuelis 16

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1 Dixitque Dominus ad Samuelem : Usquequo tu luges Saul, cum ego projecerim eum ne regnet super Israël ? Imple cornu tuum oleo, et veni, ut mittam te ad Isai Bethlehemitem : providi enim in filiis ejus mihi regem.

2 Et ait Samuel : Quomodo vadam ? audiet enim Saul, et interficiet me. Et ait Dominus : Vitulum de armento tolles in manu tua, et dices : Ad immolandum Domino veni.

3 Et vocabis Isai ad victimam, et ego ostendam tibi quid facias, et unges quemcumque monstravero tibi.

4 Fecit ergo Samuel, sicut locutus est ei Dominus. Venitque in Bethlehem, et admirati sunt seniores civitatis, occurrentes ei, dixeruntque : Pacificusne est ingressus tuus ?

5 Et ait : Pacificus : ad immolandum Domino veni, sanctificamini, et venite mecum ut immolem. Sanctificavit ergo Isai et filios ejus, et vocavit eos ad sacrificium.

6 Cumque ingressi essent, vidit Eliab, et ait : Num coram Domino est Christus ejus ?

7 Et dixit Dominus ad Samuelem : Ne respicias vultum ejus, neque altitudinem staturæ ejus : quoniam abjeci eum, nec juxta intuitum hominis ego judico : homo enim videt ea quæ parent, Dominus autem intuetur cor.

8 Et vocavit Isai Abinadab, et adduxit eum coram Samuele. Qui dixit : Nec hunc elegit Dominus.

9 Adduxit autem Isai Samma, de quo ait : Etiam hunc non elegit Dominus.

10 Adduxit itaque Isai septem filios suos coram Samuele : et ait Samuel ad Isai : Non elegit Dominus ex istis.

11 Dixitque Samuel ad Isai : Numquid jam completi sunt filii ? Qui respondit : Adhuc reliquus est parvulus, et pascit oves. Et ait Samuel ad Isai : Mitte, et adduc eum : nec enim discumbemus priusquam huc ille veniat.

12 Misit ergo, et adduxit eum. Erat autem rufus, et pulcher aspectu, decoraque facie : et ait Dominus : Surge, unge eum, ipse est enim.

13 Tulit ergo Samuel cornu olei, et unxit eum in medio fratrum ejus : et directus est spiritus Domini a die illa in David, et deinceps : surgensque Samuel abiit in Ramatha.

14 Spiritus autem Domini recessit a Saul, et exagitabat eum spiritus nequam, a Domino.

15 Dixeruntque servi Saul ad eum : Ecce spiritus Dei malus exagitat te.

16 Jubeat dominus noster, et servi tui, qui coram te sunt, quærent hominem scientem psallere cithara, ut quando arripuerit te spiritus Domini malus, psallat manu sua, et levius feras.

17 Et ait Saul ad servos suos : Providete ergo mihi aliquem bene psallentem, et adducite eum ad me.

18 Et respondens unus de pueris, ait : Ecce vidi filium Isai Bethlehemitem scientem psallere, et fortissimum robore, et virum bellicosum, et prudentem in verbis, et virum pulchrum : et Dominus est cum eo.

19 Misit ergo Saul nuntios ad Isai, dicens : Mitte ad me David filium tuum, qui est in pascuis.

20 Tulit itaque Isai asinum plenum panibus, et lagenam vini, et hædum de capris unum, et misit per manum David filii sui Sauli.

21 Et venit David ad Saul, et stetit coram eo : at ille dilexit eum nimis, et factus est ejus armiger.

22 Misitque Saul ad Isai, dicens : Stet David in conspectu meo : invenit enim gratiam in oculis meis.

23 Igitur quandocumque spiritus Domini malus arripiebat Saul, David tollebat citharam, et percutiebat manu sua, et refocillabatur Saul, et levius habebat : recedebat enim ab eo spiritus malus.

   

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Bethlehem

  
Joseph and Mary arrive in Bethlehem, by William Brassey Hole

There is a strong relationship between Ephrath and Bethlehem in the Bible; they might be two different names for the same town, or it’s possible Ephrath describes a district which includes Bethlehem.

Whatever the case, they play key roles in the Bible. Bethlehem is well-known as the birthplace of Jesus, of course, but was also the birthplace of David and of Benjamin, and Benjamin’s mother Rachel was buried there. The reason for this is that Ephrath and Bethlehem (and Benjamin, incidentally) represent a key element of our spiritual wiring, an element that makes it possible for us to have a spiritual life.

At the deepest levels, our identity, our humanity, is a matter of love – what we love makes us who and what we are. But that love is locked away inside us; it’s not something we can share with others directly. To share it, we have to give it a form – and giving it a form means we are actually turning it into ideas, into truth. As truth it can be shared, and if we’re lucky the people receiving it will be able to run the process in reverse, feeling and internalizing the love contained in that truth.

This process, however, involves two sort of “quantum leaps.” Love is an internal thing, and truth is an external thing (or as Swedenborg puts it, love is celestial in nature and truth is spiritual in nature), and internal things and external things are separate, on two different planes of existence. To express love as truth takes a special process, and to receive love from truth does as well. That’s where Bethlehem comes in.

Bethlehem (and Ephrath and Benjamin) represent what Swedenborg calls “the spiritual of the celestial.” This is where the celestial element – love – can push toward taking a form, can become as “truth-like” as possible. It is matched by something called “the celestial of the spiritual,” where the spiritual element – truth – can become as “love-like” as possible. Through these intermediaries love can jump the gap, kind of like nerve impulses crossing synapses, or like magnetic fields drawing two magnets together. It is the only way we can get love into useful forms, and only way we can share it.

This explains why Joseph could not reveal himself to his brothers in Egypt until Benjamin was with them – Joseph represents the celestial of the spiritual, and needed to be paired with the spiritual of the celestial to communicate. It also explains why the Lord had to be born in Bethlehem: He came in human form so that His perfect, infinite, divine love could be put in form as truth and shared with us. That had to be done by putting an internal, celestial thing – His love – into an external, spiritual form – His truth. That could only happen through the spiritual of the celestial, which is Bethlehem.

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