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Mga Hukom 10

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1 At pagkamatay ni Abimelech ay bumangon doon, upang magligtas sa Israel, si Tola na anak ni Pua, na anak ni Dodo, na lalake ng Issachar; at siya'y tumahan sa Samir sa lupaing maburol ng Ephraim.

2 At siya'y naghukom sa Israel na dalawang pu't tatlong taon; at namatay, at inilibing sa Samir.

3 At pagkamatay niya'y bumangon si Jair, na Galaadita; at siya'y naghukom sa Israel na dalawang pu't dalawang taon.

4 At siya'y may tatlong pung anak na sumasakay sa tatlong pung asno, at sila'y may tatlong pung bayan na tinatawag na Havot-jair hanggang sa araw na ito, na nangasa lupain ng Galaad.

5 At namatay si Jair, at inilibing sa Camon.

6 At ginawa uli ng mga anak ni Israel ang kasamaan sa paningin ng Panginoon, at naglingkod sa mga Baal, at kay Astaroth, at sa mga dios sa Siria, at sa mga dios sa Sidon, at sa mga dios sa Moab, at sa mga dios ng mga anak ni Ammon, at sa mga dios ng mga Filisteo; at pinabayaan nila ang Panginoon, at hindi naglingkod sa kaniya.

7 At ang galit ng Panginoon ay nagalab laban sa Israel, at ipinagbili niya sila sa kamay ng mga Filisteo, at sa kamay ng mga anak ni Ammon.

8 At kanilang pinahirapan at pinighati ang mga anak ni Israel nang taong yaon: labing walong taong pinighati ang lahat ng mga anak ni Israel na nangasa dako roon ng Jordan sa lupain ng mga Amorrheo, na nasa Galaad.

9 At ang mga anak ni Ammon ay tumawid sa Jordan upang lumaban naman sa Juda, at sa Benjamin, at sa sangbahayan ni Ephraim; na ano pa't ang Israel ay totoong pinapaghinagpis.

10 At dumaing ang mga anak ni Israel sa Panginoon, na sinasabi, Kami ay nagkasala laban sa iyo, sapagka't aming pinabayaan ang aming Dios, at kami ay naglingkod sa mga Baal.

11 At sinabi ng Panginoon sa mga anak ni Israel, Di ba pinapaging laya ko kayo sa mga taga Egipto, at sa mga Amorrheo, sa mga anak ni Ammon, at sa mga Filisteo?

12 Ang mga Sidonio man, at ang mga Amalecita, at ang mga Maonita ay pumighati rin sa iyo; at kayo'y dumaing sa akin, at pinapaging laya ko kayo sa kanilang mga kamay.

13 Gayon ma'y pinabayaan ninyo ako, at kayo'y naglingkod sa ibang mga dios: kaya't hindi ko na kayo palalayain.

14 Kayo'y yumaon at dumaing sa mga dios na inyong pinili; palayain kayo nila sa panahon ng inyong kapighatian.

15 At sinabi ng mga anak ni Israel sa Panginoon, Kami ay nagkasala: gawin mo sa amin anomang iyong mabutihin; isinasamo namin sa iyo, na iligtas mo lamang kami sa araw na ito.

16 At kanilang inihiwalay ang mga dios ng iba sa kanila, at naglingkod sa Panginoon: at ang kaniyang kaluluwa ay nagdalamhati dahil sa karalitaan ng Israel.

17 Nang magkagayon ang mga anak ni Ammon ay nagpipisan, at humantong sa Galaad. At ang mga anak ni Israel ay nagpipisan, at humantong sa Mizpa.

18 At ang bayan, at ang mga prinsipe sa Galaad, ay nagsangusapan, Sinong tao ang magpapasimulang lumaban sa mga anak ni Ammon? siya'y magiging pangulo ng lahat na taga Galaad.

   

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Exploring the Meaning of Judges 10

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

Judges 10: Tola, Jair; Israel oppressed again.

This chapter opens by mentioning the judges Tola and Jair, who judged for twenty-three years and twenty-two years, respectively. The text gives us very little information about them, except that Jair had thirty sons, who rode on thirty donkeys and had thirty cities in the land of Gilead.

After Jair died, the people soon disobeyed the Lord, and worshipped the gods of Syria, Sidon, Moab, Philistia, and Ammon. This provoked the Lord’s anger, so He caused the Philistines and Ammonites to oppress Israel. The Ammonites first attacked the two-and-a-half tribes living on the eastern side of the Jordan, then crossed the river to attack Judah, Benjamin and Ephraim.

The people cried out to the Lord, saying that they had forsaken Him, but He told them to go to the other gods they had chosen. However, the people asked again for forgiveness, stopped worshipping foreign gods, and turned back to the Lord, so His anger toward them subsided.

*****

This chapter describes another episode in Israel’s cycle of disobedience and punishment, in which the people repeatedly turn away from the Lord when there is no leader. No matter how often we affirm our faith in the Lord, we, too, will default to our natural desires and false thinking. As we come to recognize and accept this fact of life, we can find comfort in the Lord. He understands this completely, and does not blame or punish us.

The first judge mentioned is Tola. His name means “a worm-like grub”, suggesting the idea of metamorphosis and regeneration (see Swedenborg’s work, True Christian Religion 106[2]). Tola’s father was Puah (meaning “shining”), his grandfather was Dodo (meaning “amorous, loving”), and their city was Shamir (which means “keeping the commandment”). These names bring to mind the spiritual qualities of truth, love and life in the Lord (see Swedenborg’s work, Arcana Caelestia 977).

The next judge is Jair, whose name means ”he whom God enlightens”. The number thirty (used in reference to his thirty sons and their thirty towns) means fullness or readiness. This readiness refers to our spiritual ‘remains’, or states of innocence and charity that the Lord imparts to us during childhood. These remains are essential during regeneration (Arcana Caelestia 1050).

The Philistines, soon to be a major enemy of Israel, stand for the belief in “faith alone” salvation. This way of thinking instills the idea that we will be saved if we “believe in the Lord”, regardless of our actions. “Faith alone” doctrine is present in many religious practices (see Swedenborg’s work, Doctrine of Life 4).

The people of Ammon stand for profaning what is true, by turning the truths of the Word into false ideas. We profane the truth when we claim to know what the Word teaches, but live in a way that is contrary to the Lord’s commandments (Arcana Caelestia 6348[3]).

This chapter, like many others in the book of Judges, shows Israel’s decline into chaos and evil. The two judges, Tola and Jair, provide a picture of spiritual integrity, in contrast with Israel’s oppression by the very evils they have turned to. In our regeneration, with its highs and lows, we must avoid the temptation of shallow faith by acting according to our values.

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Arcana Coelestia # 3398

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3398. 'One of the people might easily have lain with your wife, and you would have brought guilt on us' means that it could have been adulterated and so profaned. This is clear from the meaning of 'lying wish' as being perverted or adulterated; from the meaning of 'one of the people' as one who belongs to the Church, that is to say, to the spiritual Church, dealt with in 2928; from the meaning of 'wife' - who is Rebekah here - as Divine Truth, dealt with above; and from the meaning of 'guilt' as blame for the profanation of truth. From this it is evident that 'one of the people might easily have lain with your wife, and you would have brought guilt on us' means that Divine Truth could easily have been adulterated by someone within the Church and so he would have made himself culpable of the profanation of truth. It has been stated above in 3386 that the reason why Abraham on two occasions spoke of Sarah his wife as his sister - first of all in Egypt, and then, when dwelling with Abimelech, in Gerar - and why Isaac in a similar way spoke of Rebekah his wife as his sister, when he too was dwelling with Abimelech, and why those three occasions are mentioned in the Word, is a very deep arcanum. The actual arcanum contained in these words is evident in the internal sense, and it is this: 'A sister' means rational truth, and 'a wife' Divine Truth; and rational truth is called this - that is, 'a sister' - to prevent Divine Truth, which is 'a wife' (Rebekah in this case) from being adulterated and so perverted.

[2] With regard to the profanation of truth the position is that Divine Truth cannot possibly be profaned except by those who have already acknowledged it. For these people have first of all, through acknowledgement and faith, come to the truth, and so have been introduced into it. If after this they depart from that truth there remains within them a permanent imprint of it, which is recalled together with falsity and evil whenever these are recalled. And being attached to falsity and evil that truth is consequently made profane. People therefore with whom this happens have within them permanently that which is condemning, and so the hell which is their own. Indeed when those in hell draw near a sphere where good and truth are present they instantly experience their own hell, for they run into that which they hate, and as a consequence into torment. People therefore who have profaned truth dwell permanently with that which torments them - the intensity of torment depending on the degree of profanation. This being so, the Lord makes the greatest provision to prevent Divine Good and Truth being made profane. He does so especially with anyone who is such that he cannot help profaning them, by keeping him as far back as possible from acknowledgement of and faith in truth and good. For as has been stated, no one is able to profane them except him who has already acknowledged and come to believe them.

[3] This was the reason why internal truths were not disclosed to the descendants of Jacob - to the Israelites and Jews. Not even the existence of anything internal within man, nor thus any kind of internal worship was openly declared to them, and scarcely anything about life after death, or about the heavenly kingdom of the Lord or the Messiah whom they awaited. The reason why these truths were not declared was, as foreseen, that if they had been disclosed to them, the Jews and Israelites were such as could not help profaning them; for they had no desire for anything other than what was earthly. And because those descendants were such, and are so still, they are still allowed to remain without any belief at all in internal truths. For if at one point they had given their assent to them and then had withdrawn it they would inevitably have ended up in the worst hell of all.

[4] This was also the reason why the Lord did not come into the world and reveal the internal features of the Word until the time when no good at all, not even natural good, remained with them. For at that point they were no longer capable of receiving any truth and acknowledging it internally - for good is what receives - and so were no longer capable of profaning it. It is this state that is meant by the fulness of time, and by the close of the age, and also by the last day, spoken of many times in the Prophets.

[5] It is for the same reason also that at the present time the arcana belonging to the internal sense of the Word are being revealed, for today scarcely any faith exists because charity is non-existent, so that the close of the age is here. When these conditions prevail these arcana can be revealed without any risk of profanation since they are not acknowledged interiorly. It is for the sake of this arcanum that in the Word mention is made of Abraham and of Isaac, of how, when dwelling in Gerar with Abimelech, each called his wife his sister. See in addition what has been stated and shown already on the same subject, to the effect that those who acknowledge are able to profane, but not those who do not acknowledge, still less those who do not even know, 593, 1008, 1010, 1059. How much danger lies in profaning sacred things and the Word, see 571, 582. People inside the Church are able to profane sacred things, but not those outside, 2051. The Lord provides against the occurrence of profanation, 1001, 2426. Worship may become external to prevent the profaning of internal worship, 1327, 1328. People are kept in ignorance to prevent the truths of faith being made profane, 301-303.

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