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Ruth 1

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1 In diebus unius judicis, quando judices præerant, facta est fames in terra. Abiitque homo de Bethlehem Juda, ut peregrinaretur in regione Moabitide cum uxore sua ac duobus liberis.

2 Ipse vocabatur Elimelech, et uxor ejus Noëmi : et duo filii, alter Mahalon, et alter Chelion, Ephrathæi de Bethlehem Juda. Ingressique regionem Moabitidem, morabantur ibi.

3 Et mortuus est Elimelech maritus Noëmi : remansitque ipsa cum filiis.

4 Qui acceperunt uxores Moabitidas, quarum una vocabatur Orpha, altera vero Ruth. Manseruntque ibi decem annis,

5 et ambo mortui sunt, Mahalon videlicet et Chelion : remansitque mulier orbata duobus liberis ac marito.

6 Et surrexit ut in patriam pergeret cum utraque nuru sua de regione Moabitide : audierat enim quod respexisset Dominus populum suum, et dedisset eis escas.

7 Egressa est itaque de loco peregrinationis suæ, cum utraque nuru : et jam in via revertendi posita in terram Juda,

8 dixit ad eas : Ite in domum matris vestræ : faciat vobiscum Dominus misericordiam, sicut fecistis cum mortuis et mecum.

9 Det vobis invenire requiem in domibus virorum quos sortituræ estis. Et osculata est eas. Quæ elevata voce flere cœperunt,

10 et dicere : Tecum pergemus ad populum tuum.

11 Quibus illa respondit : Revertimini, filiæ meæ, cur venitis mecum ? num ultra habeo filios in utero meo, ut viros ex me sperare possitis ?

12 Revertimini, filiæ meæ, et abite : jam enim senectute confecta sum, nec apta vinculo conjugali : etiamsi possem hac nocte concipere, et parere filios,

13 si eos expectare velitis donec crescant, et annos pubertatis impleant, ante eritis vetulæ quam nubatis. Nolite, quæso, filiæ meæ : quia vestra angustia magis me premit, et egressa est manus Domini contra me.

14 Elevata igitur voce, rursum flere cœperunt : Orpha osculata est socrum, ac reversa est : Ruth adhæsit socrui suæ :

15 cui dixit Noëmi : En reversa est cognata tua ad populum suum, et ad deos suos, vade cum ea.

16 Quæ respondit : Ne adverseris mihi ut relinquam te et abeam : quocumque enim perrexeris, pergam, et ubi morata fueris, et ego pariter morabor. Populus tuus populus meus, et Deus tuus Deus meus.

17 Quæ te terra morientem susceperit, in ea moriar : ibique locum accipiam sepulturæ. Hæc mihi faciat Dominus, et hæc addat, si non sola mors me et te separaverit.

18 Videns ergo Noëmi quod obstinato animo Ruth decrevisset secum pergere, adversari noluit, nec ad suos ultra reditum persuadere :

19 profectæque sunt simul, et venerunt in Bethlehem. Quibus urbem ingressis, velox apud cunctos fama percrebruit : dicebantque mulieres : Hæc est illa Noëmi.

20 Quibus ait : Ne vocetis me Noëmi (id est, pulchram), sed vocate me Mara (id est, amaram), quia amaritudine valde replevit me Omnipotens.

21 Egressa sum plena, et vacuam reduxit me Dominus. Cur ergo vocatis me Noëmi, quam Dominus humiliavit, et afflixit Omnipotens ?

22 Venit ergo Noëmi cum Ruth Moabitide nuru sua, de terra peregrinationis suæ : ac reversa est in Bethlehem, quando primum hordea metebantur.

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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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