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Amos 4

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1 Audite verbum hoc, vaccæ pingues, quæ estis in monte Samariæ, quæ calumniam facitis egenis et confringitis pauperes ; quæ dicitis dominis vestris : Afferte, et bibemus.

2 Juravit Dominus Deus in sancto suo, quia ecce dies venient super vos, et levabunt vos in contis, et reliquias vestras in ollis ferventibus.

3 Et per aperturas exibitis altera contra alteram, et projiciemini in Armon, dicit Dominus.

4 Venite ad Bethel, et impie agite ; ad Galgalam, et multiplicate prævaricationem : et afferte mane victimas vestras, tribus diebus decimas vestras.

5 Et sacrificate de fermentato laudem, et vocate voluntarias oblationes, et annuntiate ; sic enim voluistis, filii Israël, dicit Dominus Deus.

6 Unde et ego dedi vobis stuporem dentium in cunctis urbibus vestris, et indigentiam panum in omnibus locis vestris ; et non estis reversi ad me, dicit Dominus.

7 Ego quoque prohibui a vobis imbrem, cum adhuc tres menses superessent usque ad messem : et plui super unam civitatem, et super alteram civitatem non plui ; pars una compluta est, et pars super quam non plui, aruit.

8 Et venerunt duæ et tres civitates ad unam civitatem ut biberent aquam, et non sunt satiatæ ; et non redistis ad me, dicit Dominus.

9 Percussi vos in vento urente, et in aurugine : multitudinem hortorum vestrorum et vinearum vestrarum, oliveta vestra et ficeta vestra comedit eruca : et non redistis ad me, dicit Dominus.

10 Misi in vos mortem in via Ægypti ; percussi in gladio juvenes vestros, usque ad captivitatem equorum vestrorum, et ascendere feci putredinem castrorum vestrorum in nares vestras : et non redistis ad me, dicit Dominus.

11 Subverti vos sicut subvertit Deus Sodomam et Gomorrham, et facti estis quasi torris raptus ab incendio : et non redistis ad me, dicit Dominus.

12 Quapropter hæc faciam tibi, Israël : postquam autem hæc fecero tibi, præparare in occursum Dei tui, Israël.

13 Quia ecce formans montes, et creans ventum, et annuntians homini eloquium suum, faciens matutinam nebulam, et gradiens super excelsa terræ : Dominus Deus exercituum nomen ejus.

   

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Exploring the Meaning of Amos 4

Napsal(a) Helen Kennedy

In chapter 4 of the Book of Amos, verses 1-3 are talking about people who pervert the truths of the church. They will fall into falsities in outermost things.

In the Bible, fish represent "lower" things than mammals, so we can interpret the fishhooks in verse 2 as meaning being caught and held fast in natural or lower things.

Verses 4-6 are about acts of worship such as tithes and sacrifices. These look similar to genuine worship, but are only external sorts of things. We can tell because ‘teeth’ (in verse 6) represent ultimates or outermost things (see Secrets of Heaven 6380). It follows that “cleanness of teeth” would mean outermost things that look good but only imitate genuine worship. The Lord exhorts, “Yet you have not returned to me.”

Verses 7-8. Some things true will remain, when where there are too many false ideas, the truths don't get through. This can be seen where the Lord says, “I made it rain on one city; I withheld rain from another city... where it did not rain the part withered.” Again the Lord exhorts, “Yet you have not returned to me.”

Verse 9. Afterward all things of the church are falsified, shown by blight attacking the gardens, vineyards, fig tree and olive trees. The last three represent spiritual, natural and celestial things, or all the things of spiritual life. “Yet you have not returned to me,” says the Lord.

Verses 10-11. The Lord explains the devastating things he allowed to happen: plague in Egypt, death of young men by swords, stench in the camps, Sodom and Gomorrah. This is because they are profaned by sensual knowledges. Profanation means the mixing of good and evil together. (See Secrets of Heaven 1001[2]).

This extends to all things of the church, with the church being the Lord’s kingdom on earth (Secrets of Heaven 768[3]).

With profanation “as soon as any idea of what is holy arises, the idea of what is profane joins immediately to it,” (Secrets of Heaven 301).

Now there is hardly anything left. “Yet you have not returned to Me,” says the Lord again.

Verses 12-13: Because people adamantly remain in their profane ways, they are warned, “Prepare to meet your God!”. This is the God powerful and mighty, “who forms mountains, and creates the wind,” and even more close to home, “Who declares to man what his thought is.” As intimately a knowing as that is, the Lord’s love for all humanity is contained in His exhortations for them to turn themselves to Him.

See, for example, Luke 6:44-45, and True Christian Religion 373.

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Arcana Coelestia # 3374

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3374. ‘Dabo omnes terras has’: quod significet spiritualia, constat ex significatione ‘terrarum’ quod hic sint rationalia quae a Divino illustrata sunt apparentiae veri, de qua supra n. 3368; quae apparentiae quod sint vera etiam supra n. 3364, 3365 ostensum est, proinde spiritualia, haec enim non aliud sunt quam vera a Divino, ut constare potest ex illis quae multoties de significatione 'spiritualium dicta sunt: per spirituale in genuino sensu intelligitur ipsa lux veri quae a Domino, sicut per caeleste omnis flamma boni a Domino; inde constare potest quod quia lux illa influit a Domino tam in rationale quam in naturale hominis, spirituale praedicetur de utroque, et quod sit Divinum quoad verum quod influit. Ex his sciri potest quid per spirituale in genuino sensu significatur, et quod sit spirituale rationale et spirituale naturale.

  
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This is the Third Latin Edition, published by the Swedenborg Society, in London, between 1949 and 1973.