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КнигаСудей 2

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1 И пришел Ангел Господень из Галгала в Бохим и сказал: Я вывел вас из Египта и ввел вас в землю, о которой клялся отцам вашим – дать вам, и сказал Я: „не нарушу завета Моего с вами вовек;

2 и вы не вступайте в союз с жителями земли сей; жертвенники их разрушьте". Но вы не послушали гласа Моего. Что вы это сделали?

3 И потому говорю Я: не изгоню их от вас, и будут они вам петлею, и боги их будут для вас сетью.

4 Когда Ангел Господень сказал слова сии всем сынам Израилевым, то народ поднял громкий вопль и заплакал.

5 От сего и называют то место Бохим. Там принесли они жертву Господу.

6 Когда Иисус распустил народ, и пошли сыны Израилевы, каждый в свой удел, чтобы получить в наследие землю,

7 тогда народ служил Господу во все дни Иисуса и во все дни старейшин, которых жизнь продлилась после Иисуса и которые видели все великие дела Господни, какие Он сделал Израилю.

8 Но когда умер Иисус, сын Навин, раб Господень, будучи ста десяти лет,

9 и похоронили его в пределе удела его в Фамнаф-Сараи, на горе Ефремовой, на север от горы Гааша;

10 и когда весь народ оный отошел к отцам своим, и восстал после них другой род, который не знал Господа и дел Его, какие Он делал Израилю, –

11 тогда сыны Израилевы стали делать злое пред очами Господа и стали служить Ваалам;

12 оставили Господа Бога отцов своих, Который вывел их из земли Египетской, и обратились к другим богам, богам народов, окружавших их, и стали поклоняться им, и раздражили Господа;

13 оставили Господа и стали служить Ваалу и Астартам.

14 И воспылал гнев Господень на Израиля, и предал их в руки грабителей, и грабили их; и предал их в руки врагов, окружавших их, и не могли уже устоять пред врагами своими.

15 Куда они ни пойдут, рука Господня везде была им во зло, как говорил им Господь и как клялся им Господь. И им было весьма тесно.

16 И воздвигал им Господь судей, которые спасали их от рукграбителей их;

17 но и судей они не слушали, а ходили блудно вслед других богов и поклонялись им, скоро уклонялись от пути, коим ходили отцы их, повинуясь заповедям Господним. Они так не делали.

18 Когда Господь воздвигал им судей, то Сам Господь был с судьею и спасал их от врагов их во все дни судьи: ибо жалел их Господь, слыша стон их от угнетавших и притеснявших их.

19 Но как скоро умирал судья, они опять делали хуже отцов своих, уклоняясь к другим богам, служа им и поклоняясь им. Не отставали от дел своих и от стропотного пути своего.

20 И воспылал гнев Господень на Израиля, и сказал Он: за то, что народ сей преступает завет Мой, который Я поставил с отцами их, и не слушает гласа Моего,

21 и Я не стану уже изгонять от них ни одного из тех народов, которых оставил Иисус, когда умирал, –

22 чтобы искушать ими Израиля: станут ли они держатьсяпути Господня и ходить по нему, как держались отцы их, или нет?

23 И оставил Господь народы сии и не изгнал их вскоре и не предал их в руки Иисуса.

   

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Exploring the Meaning of Judges 2

Napsal(a) New Christian Bible Study Staff, Julian Duckworth

Judges 2: Israel’s disobedience and Joshua’s death.

This chapter opens with a reprimand from the Angel of the Lord. The Israelites had been commanded not to make any treaties with the people of Canaan, and to tear down their altars. The Angel warned that Israel had broken their covenant to the Lord, so the Lord would not drive out the other inhabitants of the land; they would be thorns in Israel’s side, and their gods would be a snare. Israel wept, and sacrificed to the Lord.

After the Israelites had gone to their assigned territories, it mentions Joshua’s death and burial (yet Joshua had died at the end of the book of Joshua!). All Israel had followed the Lord during Joshua’s time, and understood what the Lord had done for Israel. But the older generation died away, and a new generation arose who did not know the Lord, nor what He had done for Israel.

The chapter then spells out the terrible plight in which the people of Israel had entangled themselves. They had begun to worship Baal and Ashtaroth, the gods of the Canaanites, and they turned away from the Lord who had done so much for them. So, the Lord allowed their enemies to attack them, and Israel could not stand against them. This theme of straying from the Lord, and in turn being punished, will return through the next few chapters.

In the midst of this, the text says that the Lord raised up judges who delivered Israel. However, when each judge died, the people reverted to worshipping other gods. This seems to anticipate the events ahead in Judges.

*****

This chapter really marks the first of many transgressions committed by the Israelites in the book of Judges. The first three verses of this chapter feature the Angel of the Lord, who appears many times throughout the Word, and for many reasons: sometimes to bless, but in this case, to admonish the children of Israel for their disobedience. The Angel of the Lord stands firm and resolute, and represents truths from the Lord revealed in our hearts and minds (see Swedenborg’s work, Divine Providence 96[6]).

The spiritual meaning of ‘weeping’ can mean various things, depending on the context. Here, the people wept because of the Angel’s warning, in momentary recognition of their wrongdoing. This is not real repentance (a ‘change of heart’), but fear along with a sense of our own self-love, which may lead us into more disobedience (see Swedenborg’s work, Heaven and Hell 153).

The death of the older generation and rise of a new one represents a change of state in us. The older generation - Joshua and the elders - served as a connection between the people and the Lord, since they had seen the Lord’s blessings on Israel in their own time. However, when we lose that connection, both our love of obedience and understanding of why we must obey the Lord fall away.

Our changes of state usually happen quickly; we suddenly get angry, feel fear, become selfish. When we turn to the Lord for help during these times, we quickly enter a state of humility in which the Lord can reach us (see Swedenborg’s Doctrine of Life 21).

After Joshua’s death, the children of Israel began to worship other gods, and the Lord punished them. In our lives, this would be like turning back on our devotion to the Lord to instead focus on worldly things, and do just as we please. There is no punishment from the Lord, only the consequences of our actions. We become weak, easy prey for doubts and anxieties, completely at the mercy of the hells (see Arcana Caelestia 7373).

Although the Lord raised judges to lead the people, the Israelites would would return to their old ways once the judge had passed away. This gives us a valuable spiritual truth that even in our sorry state of self-interest, we are still, at times, able to see the mess we are in. We may feel alarmed for a while, but this subsides and we grow complacent once again. The Lord raises up judges so that we can hold ourselves accountable.

Ze Swedenborgových děl

 

Heaven and Hell # 153

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153. Evil spirits sometimes seem to be oriented to heaven's directions, at which time they have intelligence and a grasp of what is true, but no affection for what is good; so as soon as they turn back toward their own directions, they are without intelligence or any grasp of what is true. They then say that the true things they had heard and understood are not true but false, and even want false things to be true. I have been told about this kind of turning, specifically that for evil people the intellectual faculty can be turned in this way, but not the voluntary faculty. I have also been told that this is provided by the Lord to the end that everyone may have the ability to see and acknowledge what is true, but that no one will accept it except people who are focused on what is good, since the good - never the evil - is what accepts truths. Further, it is similar with us, so that we can be corrected by means of truths, though the extent to which we are corrected depends on our focus on what is good. This is why we can be turned toward the Lord in much the same way. However, if we are engaged in evil in the conduct of our lives, we immediately turn back again and justify within ourselves the false rationalizations of our evil over against the truths that we have understood and seen. This happens when we think within ourselves, on the basis of our deeper inclinations.

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