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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.

Ze Swedenborgových děl

 

Arcana Coelestia # 348

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348. 'The fruit of the ground' is used to mean the works of faith devoid of charity. This also is evident from what follows. In effect the works of faith devoid of charity are the works of no faith at all. In themselves they are dead since they belong purely to the external man. Such works are referred to in Jeremiah as follows,

Why does the way of the wicked prosper? You have planted them, they have also taken root, they have gone on, they are also producing fruit. You are near in their mouth but far from their heart. 1 How long will the land mourn and the grass of every field wither? Jeremiah 12:1-2, 4.

'Near in their mouth but far from their heart' 1 means adherents to faith separated from charity, of whom it is said that 'the land mourns'. They are also called in the same prophet 'the fruit of works',

The heart is deceitful above all, and is something hopeless. Who knows it? I Jehovah who searches the heart and tries the reins, to give to everyone according to his ways, according to the fruit of his works. Jeremiah 17:9-10.

In Micah,

The earth will be a desolation because of its inhabitants, for the fruit of their works. Micah 7:13.

But the fact that this kind of fruit is no fruit at all, that is, a work that is dead, and that both this fruit and root perish, is stated in Amos,

I destroyed the Amorite before them, whose height was like the height of the cedars, and whose strength was like the oaks. Yet I destroyed his fruit above and his roots beneath. Amos 2:9.

And in David,

You will destroy their fruit from the earth and their seed from the sons of man. Psalms 21:10.

But works that stem from charity are alive, and are referred to as 'taking root below' and 'yielding fruit above', as in Isaiah,

And the surviving remnant of the house of Judah will take root downwards and bear fruit upwards. Isaiah 37:31.

'Producing fruit upwards' is doing so from charity. In the same prophet such fruit is called 'a fruit that is excellent',

On that day the branch of Jehovah will be beauty and glory, and the fruit of the land will be excellence and an adornment for the survivors of Israel. Isaiah 4:2.

It is also 'the fruit of salvation', as it is called in the same prophet,

Shower, O heavens, from above, and let the skies rain with righteousness; let the earth open, and let them bear the fruit of salvation, and let righteousness spring up together. I Jehovah will create it. Isaiah 45:8.

Poznámky pod čarou:

1. literally, reins or kidneys

  
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Thanks to the Swedenborg Society for the permission to use this translation.