Bible

 

Matthew 8

Studie

   

1 When he had come down from the mountain, great multitudes followed him.

2 And behold, there came a leper and worshiped him, saying, Lord, if thou wilt, thou canst make me clean.

3 And Jesus put forth his hand, and touched him, saying, I will; be thou clean. And immediately his leprosy was cleansed.

4 And Jesus saith to him, See thou tell no man; but go, show thyself to the priest, and offer the gift that Moses commanded, for a testimony to them.

5 And when Jesus had entered into Capernaum, there came to him a centurion, beseeching him,

6 And saying, Lord, my servant lieth at home sick with the palsy, grievously tormented.

7 And Jesus saith to him, I will come and heal him.

8 The centurion answered and said, Lord, I am not worthy that thou shouldst come under my roof: but speak the word only, and my servant will be healed.

9 For I am a man under authority, having soldiers under me: and I say to this man, Go, and he goeth; and to another, Come, and he cometh; and to my servant, Do this, and he doeth it.

10 When Jesus heard it, he marveled, and said to them that followed, Verily I say to you, I have not found so great faith, no, not in Israel.

11 And I say to you, that many shall come from the east and the west, and shall sit down with Abraham, and Isaac, and Jacob in the kingdom of heaven.

12 But the children of the kingdom shall be cast out into utter darkness: there shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth.

13 And Jesus said to the centurion, Depart; and as thou hast believed, so be it done to thee. And his servant was healed in the same hour.

14 And when Jesus had come into Peter's house, he saw his wife's mother laid, and sick with a fever.

15 And he touched her hand, and the fever left her: and she arose, and ministered to them.

16 When the evening was come, they brought to him many that were possessed with demons: and he cast out the spirits with his word, and healed all that were sick;

17 That it might be fulfilled which was spoken by Isaiah the prophet, saying, He himself took our infirmities, and bore our sicknesses.

18 Now when Jesus saw great multitudes about him, he gave commandment to depart to the other side.

19 And a certain scribe came, and said to him, Master, I will follow thee whithersoever thou goest.

20 And Jesus saith to him, The foxes have holes, and the birds of the air have nests; but the Son of man hath not where to lay his head.

21 And another of his disciples said to him, Lord, suffer me first to go and bury my father.

22 But Jesus said to him, Follow me; and let the dead bury their dead.

23 And when he had entered into a boat, his disciples followed him.

24 And behold, there arose a great tempest in the sea, insomuch that the boat was covered with the waves: but he was asleep.

25 And his disciples came to him, and awoke him, saying, Lord, save us: we perish.

26 And he saith to them, Why are ye fearful, O ye of little faith? Then he arose, and rebuked the winds and the sea; and there was a great calm.

27 But the men marveled, saying, What manner of man is this, that even the winds and the sea obey him!

28 And when he had come to the other side, into the country of the Gergesenes, there met him two possessed with demons, coming out of the tombs, exceeding fierce, so that no man might pass by that way.

29 And behold, they cried out, saying, What have we to do with thee, Jesus, thou Son of God? art thou come hither to torment us before the time?

30 And there was a good way off from them a herd of many swine, feeding.

31 So the demons besought him, saying, If thou expellest us, suffer us to go away into the herd of swine.

32 And he said to them, Go. And when they had come out, they went into the herd of swine: and behold, the whole herd of swine ran violently down a steep place into the sea, and perished in the waters.

33 And they that kept them, fled, and went into the city, and told every thing; and what had befallen to the possessed with demons.

34 And behold, the whole city came out to meet Jesus: and when they saw him, they besought him that he would depart out of their borders.

   

Ze Swedenborgových děl

 

Arcana Coelestia # 10083

Prostudujte si tuto pasáž

  
/ 10837  
  

10083. 'And you shall wave them as a wave offering before Jehovah' means the life from God which comes as a result of this. This is clear from the meaning of 'waving a wave offering' as endowing with life, thus the life [present in something]; and since it says from 'before Jehovah' the life from God is meant. The fact that 'waving a wave offering' means endowing with life, that is, imparting the life from God, is clear from places in the Word where 'waving a wave offering' is spoken of, as in Moses,

When you bring a sheaf of the firstfruits of your harvest to the priest, he shall wave the sheaf before Jehovah, so that you may be acceptable; on the day after the sabbath the priest shall wave it. Leviticus 23:10-11.

'Harvest' means a state when the truth of faith springing from good exists, thus a state when good is present, 9295; 'a sheaf of the firstfruits' means all collectively constituting that state. 'Being waved by the priest' therefore means being endowed with life to receive a blessing; for every blessing, to be a blessing, must have life from God within it.

[2] In the same author,

Aaron shall wave the Levites before Jehovah as a wave offering 1 from among the children of Israel, that they may be used in the service of Jehovah. You shall stand the Levites before Aaron and before his sons, and you shall wave them as a wave offering to Jehovah. After that the Levites shall go in to serve in the tent of meeting; and you shall purify them, and wave them as a wave offering. And when the Levites had been purified, Aaron waved them before Jehovah as a wave offering, and Aaron expiated them to purify them. Numbers 8:11, 13, 15, 21.

These verses show what 'waving a wave offering' means, namely endowing with life through acknowledgement, which is the first phase of faith, and so the first phase of life from God with a person. Knowledge, it is true, comes before acknowledgement, but knowledge has none of God's life within it until it becomes acknowledgement and then faith. The Levites represented truths serving good, while Aaron represented the good they served; that is why they were 'waved', that is, were endowed with life. This also accounts for its being said that they were to be purified. For truths must have life from God within them if they are to serve good, and that life first flows in through acknowledgement.

[3] Much the same is meant by 'a wave offering of gold' in Moses,

They came, the men with the women ... they brought brooches, nose-jewels, rings, girdles 2 , all vessels of gold; and every man who waved a wave offering of gold to Jehovah. Exodus 35:22.

'Waving a wave offering of gold to Jehovah' means endowing with life through the acknowledgement that it was Jehovah's, that is, the Lord's. 'Waving a wave offering' means such things by virtue of what that action corresponds to; for every motion corresponds to a state of thought. In the Word therefore advancing, travelling on, and like movements mean states of life, see 3335, 4882, 5493, 5605, 8103, 8417, 8420, 8557.

[4] In John,

At the pool of Bethesda lay a large multitude of sick people; and an angel went down at a certain time to the pool and stirred up the water. Then whoever stepped in first after the movement of the water was cured of whatever disease he had. John 5:2-7.

'Stirring up the water' here was in like manner a sign of the endowment of life through acknowledgement and faith, and therefore also a sign of purification by means of truths.

'Movement' means states of life, see 2837, 3356, 3387, 4321, 4882, 5605, 7381, 9440, 9967.

'Water' means the truths of faith, 2702, 3058, 3424, 4976, 8568, 9323.

All purification is accomplished by means of the truths of faith, 2799, 5954 (end), 7044, 7918, 9088.

Healings represented the restoration of spiritual life, 8365, 9031 (end).

[5] Since 'the waving on Aaron's palms' means the endowment of life through acknowledgement of the Lord and the acknowledgement that all things come from Him, something brief must be stated with regard to that acknowledgement and resulting faith. The Lord often said, when sick people were being healed, that they should have faith, and, 'Let it be to you according to your faith', as in Matthew 8:10-13; 9:2, 22, 27-29; 13:57-58; 15:28; 21:21-22, 31-32; Mark 5:34, 36; 10:49, 52; 16:16; Luke 7:9, 48-50; 8:48; 17:19; 18:42-43. The reason why He said it was that the very first thing a person needs to do is to acknowledge that the Lord is the Saviour of the world; for unless he acknowledges this no one can receive any truth or good at all from heaven, or therefore receive faith from there. And since it was the very first and most essential thing, therefore in order that He might be acknowledged when He came into the world the Lord questioned the sick, when He healed them, about their faith; and those who had faith were healed. This faith was that He was the Son of God who was to come into the world, and that He had power to heal and save. Furthermore every healing of sickness by the Lord when He was in the world served to mean a healing of spiritual life, thus served to mean the things that belong to salvation, 8364, 9031(end), 9086.

[6] Since acknowledgement of the Lord is the first thing of all belonging to spiritual life and is the most essential feature of the Church, and since no one, unless he acknowledges Him, can receive any truth of faith or good of love at all from heaven, the Lord also often says that whoever believes in Him has eternal life, and whoever does not believe in Him does not have it, as in John 1:1, 4, 12-13; 3:14-16, 36; 5:39-40; 6:28-30, 33-35, 40, 47-48; 7:37-38; 8:24; 11:25-26; 20:30-31. But at the same time He also teaches that they have faith in Him who live according to His commandments, so that the life which results from doing so goes to compose their faith. These things have been stated to cast light on and corroborate the truth that acknowledging the Lord and acknowledging that all salvation comes from Him constitute the beginning of the life from God with a person. That beginning of it is meant by the offering waved on Aaron's palms.

Poznámky pod čarou:

1. i.e. the Levites were to be offered to Jehovah as though they were a wave offering

2. i.e. bracelets, necklaces, etc

  
/ 10837  
  

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