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Sudije 15

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1 A posle nekoliko dana, o pšeničnoj žetvi, dođe Samson da pohodi ženu svoju donesavši joj jare, i reče: Idem k ženi svojoj u ložnicu. Ali mu otac njen ne dade da uđe.

2 Jer reče otac njen: Ja mišljah zacelo da ti nije po volji, pa je dadoh drugu tvom; nego mlađa sestra njena nije li lepša od nje? Uzmi nju mesto one.

3 A Samson im reče: Ja neću biti kriv Filistejima kad im učinim zlo.

4 I otišavši Samson uhvati trista lisica, i uze luča, i sveza po dve u repove, i metnu po jedan luč među dva repa.

5 Pa zapali lučeve, i pusti u letinu filistejsku, i popali letinu požnjevenu i nepožnjevenu, i vinograde i maslinike.

6 Tada Filisteji rekoše: Ko je to učinio? I odgovoriše: Samson zet Tamnaćaninov, jer mu uze ženu i dade je drugu njegovom. Tada dođoše Filisteji i spališe ognjem nju i oca njenog.

7 A Samson im reče: Ako ste i učinili tako, opet ću vam se osvetiti, pa ću se onda okaniti.

8 I polomi ih ljuto nogama po bedrima: Potom otide i nastani se u pećini od stene Itama

9 Tada iziđoše Filisteji i stadoše u logor prema Judi, i raširiše se do Lehije.

10 A ljudi od Jude rekoše: Što ste izašli na nas? I odgovoriše: Izašli smo da svežemo Samsona i da mu učinimo kako je on nama učinio.

11 Tada iziđe tri hiljade ljudi iz Jude k pećini u steni Itamu, i rekoše Samsonu: Ne znaš li da Filisteji vladaju nad nama? A on im reče: Kako su oni meni učinili tako ja učinih njima.

12 Oni mu rekoše: Došli smo da te svežemo i predamo u ruke Filistejima. A Samson im reče: Zakunite mi se da nećete vi uložiti na me.

13 Oni mu odgovoriše i rekoše: Nećemo; nego ćemo te samo svezati i predati u njihove ruke, ali te nećemo pogubiti. I svezaše ga u dva nova uža i odvedoše ga iz stene.

14 I kad on dođe do Lehije, Filisteji ga sretoše vičući od radosti; a Duh Gospodnji siđe na nj, i uža na rukama njegovim postaše kao konci izgoreli od vatre, i spadoše sveze s ruku njegovih.

15 I on nađe čeljust magareću još sirovu, i pruživši ruku svoju uze je, i pobi njom hiljadu ljudi.

16 Potom reče Samson: Čeljušću magarećom jednu gomilu, dve gomile, čeljušću magarećom pobih hiljadu ljudi.

17 A kad izreče, baci čeljust iz ruke svoje, i nazva ono mesto Ramat-Lehija.

18 I beše žedan jako, te zavapi ka Gospodu i reče: Ti si učinio rukom sluge svog ovo izbavljenje veliko; a sad hoću li umreti od žeđi, ili ću pasti u ruke neobrezanima?

19 Tada Bog rascepi stenu u Lehiji, i poteče voda iz nje, te se napi, i povrati mu se duh i ožive. Zato se prozva onaj izvor En-Akore, koji je u Lehiji do današnjeg dana.

20 I bi sudija Izrailju za vremena filistejskog dvadeset godina.

   

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Exploring the Meaning of Judges 15

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

Judges 15: Samson defeats the Philistines.

At the beginning of this chapter, we learn that the one who gave Samson’s wife to another man was his father-in-law, who thought that Samson truly hated her. He then offered Samson her younger sister instead, saying, “Is she not better? Take her.”

Samson, enraged, took three-hundred foxes and tied them tail-to-tail in pairs, with a lit torch between them. He then released them in the Philistines’ standing grain, vineyards and olive groves to burn up their crops, as revenge for the loss of his wife. In retaliation, the Philistines went and burned her and her father. In a final act of vengeance, Samson killed very many of the Philistines, then went to dwell in the cleft of the rock of Etam.

The Philistines went to Judah, stating their intent to arrest Samson, and the men of Judah passed on the message to him. Samson made the Judeans promise not to kill him themselves, but only to bind him with two new ropes before giving him to the Philistines as a prisoner.

When the Philistines came, Samson broke apart the ropes, and killed a thousand of them with the jawbone of a donkey. Then he threw the jawbone away, and complained to the Lord that he was thirsty. The Lord answered his cry for help by splitting the ground where the jawbone fell, so that Samson could drink the water that flowed from it.

The final verse of this chapter tells us that Samson judged Israel twenty years.

*****

Samson’s marriage to a Philistine woman speaks to the appealing, or even enticing, nature of ‘faith alone’ spirituality, represented by the Philistines. We must stay on our guard, to ensure that we are not caught up in thinking that faith alone will save us. The father offers Samson his wife’s younger sister, saying she is even better, but Samson had already learned to be wary by that point.

The foxes, tied together with their tails lit on fire, vividly describes the twisted and destructive nature of faith alone, and the way it consumes our potential to lead a fruitful life. The Word often depicts the state of a nation or religion through a story illustrating its true nature (True Christian Religion 130)

The cycle of revenge between Samson and the Philistines represents our personal struggles during temptation and our wish to regenerate. Our whole effort during regeneration is to resist sins that might lure us in, and to maintain our intention to live the Word (see Swedenborg’s work, Divine Providence 83[6]). The men of Judah who bind Samson represent our love for the Lord and for everything of the Lord, although this seems contradictory on a surface level. In this case, being ‘bound up’ means to be bound in our commitment to the Lord, so that we are restrained from doing evil (see Swedenborg’s work, Heaven and Hell 577[4]).

Samson stands for the power of the Word acting in our lives to assert what is true, to protect what must be upheld, and to defend against evils. He uses the jawbone of a donkey because a jawbone allows us to eat food (spiritually, nourishment from the Word), and also to proclaim the Lord’s truths. This gives us the power to expose and reject the belief that spirituality consists of faith alone (see Swedenborg’s work, Arcana Caelestia 9049[6]).

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Ezekiel 7

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1 Moreover the word of Yahweh came to me, saying,

2 You, son of man, thus says the Lord Yahweh to the land of Israel, An end: the end is come on the four corners of the land.

3 Now is the end on you, and I will send my anger on you, and will judge you according to your ways; and I will bring on you all your abominations.

4 My eye shall not spare you, neither will I have pity; but I will bring your ways on you, and your abominations shall be in the midst of you: and you shall know that I am Yahweh.

5 Thus says the Lord Yahweh: An evil, an only evil; behold, it comes.

6 An end has come, the end has come; it awakes against you; behold, it comes.

7 Your doom has come to you, inhabitant of the land: the time has come, the day is near, [a day of] tumult, and not [of] joyful shouting, on the mountains.

8 Now will I shortly pour out my wrath on you, and accomplish my anger against you, and will judge you according to your ways; and I will bring on you all your abominations.

9 My eye shall not spare, neither will I have pity: I will bring on you according to your ways; and your abominations shall be in the midst of you; and you shall know that I, Yahweh, do strike.

10 Behold, the day, behold, it comes: your doom is gone forth; the rod has blossomed, pride has budded.

11 Violence is risen up into a rod of wickedness; none of them [shall remain], nor of their multitude, nor of their wealth: neither shall there be eminency among them.

12 The time is come, the day draws near: don't let the buyer rejoice, nor the seller mourn; for wrath is on all its multitude.

13 For the seller shall not return to that which is sold, although they be yet alive: for the vision is touching the whole multitude of it, none shall return; neither shall any strengthen himself in the iniquity of his life.

14 They have blown the trumpet, and have made all ready; but none goes to the battle; for my wrath is on all its multitude.

15 The sword is outside, and the pestilence and the famine within: he who is in the field shall die with the sword: and he who is in the city, famine and pestilence shall devour him.

16 But those of those who escape shall escape, and shall be on the mountains like doves of the valleys, all of them moaning, every one in his iniquity.

17 All hands shall be feeble, and all knees shall be weak as water.

18 They shall also clothe themselves with sackcloth, and horror shall cover them; and shame shall be on all faces, and baldness on all their heads.

19 They shall cast their silver in the streets, and their gold shall be as an unclean thing; their silver and their gold shall not be able to deliver them in the day of the wrath of Yahweh: they shall not satisfy their souls, neither fill their bowels; because it has been the stumbling block of their iniquity.

20 As for the beauty of his ornament, he set it in majesty; but they made the images of their abominations [and] their detestable things therein: therefore have I made it to them as an unclean thing.

21 I will give it into the hands of the strangers for a prey, and to the wicked of the earth for a spoil; and they shall profane it.

22 My face will I turn also from them, and they shall profane my secret [place]; and robbers shall enter into it, and profane it.

23 Make the chain; for the land is full of bloody crimes, and the city is full of violence.

24 Therefore I will bring the worst of the nations, and they shall possess their houses: I will also make the pride of the strong to cease; and their holy places shall be profaned.

25 Destruction comes; and they shall seek peace, and there shall be none.

26 Mischief shall come on mischief, and rumor shall be on rumor; and they shall seek a vision of the prophet; but the law shall perish from the priest, and counsel from the elders.

27 The king shall mourn, and the prince shall be clothed with desolation, and the hands of the people of the land shall be troubled: I will do to them after their way, and according to their own judgments will I judge them; and they shall know that I am Yahweh.