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Amos 2

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1 sier Herren: For tre misgjerninger av Moab, ja for fire vil jeg ikke ta det tilbake - fordi de brente Edom-kongens ben til kalk;

2 men jeg vil sende ild mot Moab, og den skal fortære Kerijots palasser, og Moab skal under krigsbulder, under hærskrik, under basunens lyd,

3 og jeg vil utrydde dommeren av deres land, og alle dets fyrster vil jeg drepe sammen med ham, sier Herren.

4 sier Herren: For tre misgjerninger av Juda, ja for fire vil jeg ikke ta det tilbake - fordi de foraktet Herrens lov og ikke holdt hans bud, og deres løgnguder, som deres fedre hadde fulgt, førte dem vill;

5 men jeg vil sende ild mot Juda, og den skal fortære Jerusalems palasser.

6 sier Herren: For tre misgjerninger av Israel, ja for fire vil jeg ikke ta det tilbake - fordi de selger den uskyldige for penger og den fattige for et par sko,

7 de som higer efter å se støv på de ringes hode og bøier retten for de saktmodige. En mann og hans far går til samme pike, så de vanhelliger mitt hellige navn.

8 På pantsatte klær strekker de sig ved hvert alter, og vin som de har tatt som bøter, drikker de i sin Guds hus.

9 Og jeg utryddet da amorittene foran dem, de som var høie som sedertrær og sterke som eketrær, og jeg ødela deres frukt oventil og deres røtter nedentil,

10 og jeg førte eder op fra Egyptens land, og jeg ledet eder i ørkenen i firti år, forat I skulde få amorittens land til eiendom,

11 og jeg opvakte nogen av eders sønner til profeter, og nogen av eders unge menn til nasireere. Er det ikke så, I Israels barn? sier Herren.

12 Men I fikk nasireerne til å drikke vin, og I forbød profetene å profetere.

13 Se, jeg vil knuge eder ned, likesom en vogn full av kornbånd knuger allting ned;

14 den raske skal intet tilfluktssted finne, og den sterke ikke kunne gjøre bruk av sin kraft, og helten ikke berge sitt liv;

15 bueskytteren skal ikke holde stand, den som er lett på foten, skal ikke berge sitt liv, og heller ikke rytteren på sin hest,

16 den modigste iblandt heltene skal flykte naken på den dag, sier Herren.

   

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Exploring the Meaning of Amos 2

Napsal(a) E. Taylor, Helen Kennedy

In the Book of Amos, chapter two begins with the Lord declaring his anger against the people of Moab, Judea, and Israel. They have committed various wrongs against the Lord and the church, despite His efforts to guide them, and the chapter goes on to suggest that the Lord is losing faith in His people.

Verses 1-8 of this chapter describe the specific ways in which people can destroy or misuse the good and truth of the Word.

Verses 1-3 discuss the Moabites specifically. They represent people who corrupt the good and truth of the church, meaning they would twist what they learned from the Word to suit their own selfish purposes. Bones represent natural truths that we can use as a framework to support all higher knowledge that we learn, so the fact that people were ‘burning bones’ means they destroyed their own foundation to gain spiritual knowledge. In verse 3, the Lord says that he will cut off the judge and the prince, meaning that the Moabites’ failure to determine what is good (like the judge), and lead a life based in truth (like the prince) will not stand against the real spiritual principles of the Lord.

Verses 4-5 are about people who destroy celestial things from the Word, by turning their hearts away from the Lord. The people of Judea had believed they were the Lord’s chosen people for so many generations at this point that they grew complacent, and no longer felt they needed to obey the Lord’s commandments.

Verses 6-8 tell what can happen when people pervert spiritual truths from the church, and turn them into falsities. Swedenborg writes that most of the images from these verses - silver, shoes, dust, wine - can all represent either falsity, or only the most external type of truth. The Israelites were turning to these falsities and to their own greed, instead of using the Lord’s truths to help the poor and the meek.

In verses 9-11, the Lord reminds the children of Israel of everything he has done to prepare them for salvation. He fought for them and delivered them from Egypt, lifted up their leaders and prophets, and provided them with the truths they would need in order to be regenerated.

He also shows that He has the strength to punish them, because He’s already overcome the Amorites, who symbolize evil in general (Secrets of Heaven 6306).

Verses 12-16 describe how the Israelites perverted the knowledge the Lord tried to give them. Instead of trusting what the Lord had taught them, they turned to their own self-righteousness for guidance. Since they thought they had all the answers, they corrupted the Nazarites and silenced the prophets. Without a proper understanding of the Lord’s teachings, the people were no longer equipped to fight against evils or to grow spiritually.

At face value, this chapter depicts the Lord as an angry god who will punish those who disobey him. What seems to be anger is actually the Lord fiercely protecting us, and calling us to follow Him. This chapter reminds us to turn our hearts toward the Lord, and to live according to the truths of the Word.

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Genesis 18

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1 Yahweh appeared to him by the oaks of Mamre, as he sat in the tent door in the heat of the day.

2 He lifted up his eyes and looked, and saw that three men stood opposite him. When he saw them, he ran to meet them from the tent door, and bowed himself to the earth,

3 and said, "My lord, if now I have found favor in your sight, please don't go away from your servant.

4 Now let a little water be fetched, wash your feet, and rest yourselves under the tree.

5 I will get a morsel of bread so you can refresh your heart. After that you may go your way, now that you have come to your servant." They said, "Very well, do as you have said."

6 Abraham hurried into the tent to Sarah, and said, "Quickly prepare three measures of fine meal, knead it, and make cakes."

7 Abraham ran to the herd, and fetched a tender and good calf, and gave it to the servant. He hurried to dress it.

8 He took butter, milk, and the calf which he had dressed, and set it before them. He stood by them under the tree, and they ate.

9 They asked him, "Where is Sarah, your wife?" He said, "See, in the tent."

10 He said, "I will certainly return to you when the season comes round. Behold, Sarah your wife will have a son." Sarah heard in the tent door, which was behind him.

11 Now Abraham and Sarah were old, well advanced in age. Sarah had passed the age of childbearing.

12 Sarah laughed within herself, saying, "After I have grown old will I have pleasure, my lord being old also?"

13 Yahweh said to Abraham, "Why did Sarah laugh, saying, 'Will I really bear a child, yet I am old?'

14 Is anything too hard for Yahweh? At the set time I will return to you, when the season comes round, and Sarah will have a son."

15 Then Sarah denied, saying, "I didn't laugh," for she was afraid. He said, "No, but you did laugh."

16 The men rose up from there, and looked toward Sodom. Abraham went with them to see them on their way.

17 Yahweh said, "Will I hide from Abraham what I do,

18 since Abraham has surely become a great and mighty nation, and all the nations of the earth will be blessed in him?

19 For I have known him, to the end that he may command his children and his household after him, that they may keep the way of Yahweh, to do righteousness and justice; to the end that Yahweh may bring on Abraham that which he has spoken of him."

20 Yahweh said, "Because the cry of Sodom and Gomorrah is great, and because their sin is very grievous,

21 I will go down now, and see whether their deeds are as bad as the reports which have come to me. If not, I will know."

22 The men turned from there, and went toward Sodom, but Abraham stood yet before Yahweh.

23 Abraham drew near, and said, "Will you consume the righteous with the wicked?

24 What if there are fifty righteous within the city? Will you consume and not spare the place for the fifty righteous who are in it?

25 Be it far from you to do things like that, to kill the righteous with the wicked, so that the righteous should be like the wicked. May that be far from you. Shouldn't the Judge of all the earth do right?"

26 Yahweh said, "If I find in Sodom fifty righteous within the city, then I will spare all the place for their sake."

27 Abraham answered, "See now, I have taken it on myself to speak to the Lord, who am but dust and ashes.

28 What if there will lack five of the fifty righteous? Will you destroy all the city for lack of five?" He said, "I will not destroy it, if I find forty-five there."

29 He spoke to him yet again, and said, "What if there are forty found there?" He said, "I will not do it for the forty's sake."

30 He said, "Oh don't let the Lord be angry, and I will speak. What if there are thirty found there?" He said, "I will not do it, if I find thirty there."

31 He said, "See now, I have taken it on myself to speak to the Lord. What if there are twenty found there?" He said, "I will not destroy it for the twenty's sake."

32 He said, "Oh don't let the Lord be angry, and I will speak just once more. What if ten are found there?" He said, "I will not destroy it for the ten's sake."

33 Yahweh went his way, as soon as he had finished communing with Abraham, and Abraham returned to his place.