Die Bibel

 

Deuteronomy 32

Lernen

   

1 Give·​·ear, O ye heavens, and I will speak; and hear, O earth, the sayings of my mouth.

2 My doctrine shall drip·​·down as the rain, what· I ·say shall stream as the dew, as the dewdrops upon the tender·​·herb, and as the raindrops upon the herb;

3 because I will proclaim the name of Jehovah; give ye greatness to our God.

4 He is the Rock, His work is perfect; for all His ways are judgment: a God of faithfulness and no perversity, just and upright is He.

5 They have corrupted themselves, they are not His sons, it is their blemish; they are a twisted and contorted generation.

6 Do you thus recompense Jehovah, O foolish people and unwise? Is not He thy father that has bought thee? Has He not made thee, and established thee?

7 Remember the days of eternity, understand the years of generation and generation; ask thy father, and he will·​·tell thee; thine elders, and they will say it to thee.

8 When the Most·​·High caused the nations to inherit, when He separated the sons of man, He set·​·up the borders of the people according to the number of the sons of Israel.

9 For Jehovah’s portion is His people; Jacob is the region of His inheritance.

10 He found him in a land of wilderness, and in the void of howling solitude; He led· him ·around, He caused him to understand, He preserved him as the pupil of His eye.

11 As an eagle stirs·​·up its nest, flutters over its young, spreads its wings, takes them, bears them on its wings*;

12 So Jehovah alone did lead him, and there was no foreign god with him.

13 He made him ride on the high·​·places of the earth, that he might eat the bounty of the fields; and He made him to nurse on honey from the rock, and oil from the flinty rock;

14 butter of the herd, and milk of the flock, with fat of lambs and rams, of the sons of Bashan, and of the he-goats, with the fat of kidneys of wheat; and thou didst drink the unmixed blood of the grape.

15 But Jeshurun became·​·fat, and kicked; thou art become·​·fat, thou art·​·thick, thou art covered with fatness; then he abandoned God who made him, and disparaged the Rock of his salvation.

16 They provoked Him to jealousy with strange gods, with abominations provoked they Him.

17 They sacrificed to demons, not to God; to gods that they knew not, to new gods that came from nearby, at which your fathers shuddered not.

18 Of the Rock who begot thee thou hast been oblivious, and hast forgotten God who brought thee forth*.

19 And Jehovah saw it, and He disdained them, because of the provocation of His sons, and of His daughters.

20 And He said, I will hide My face from them, I will see what their posterity shall be; for they are a very perverse generation, sons in whom is no faithfulness.

21 They have moved Me to jealousy with that which is not God; they have provoked Me with their vanities; and I will move them to jealousy with those who are not a people; I will provoke them with a foolish nation.

22 For a fire is ignited in My anger, and shall burn to the lowest hell, and shall eat·​·up the earth and her produce, and set·​·flame·​·to the foundations of the mountains.

23 I will add against them evils; I will consume·​·all My arrows on them.

24 They shall be burnt with famine, and devoured with embers, and with bitter disaster; I will also send the teeth of beasts upon them, with the poison of the snakes of the dust.

25 The sword outside, and terror from the chambers, shall bereave both the young·​·man and the virgin, the nursing infant with the man of gray·​·hairs.

26 I said, I would push· them ·to·​·the·​·corners, I would make the remembrance of them to cease from man;

27 except that I be·​·afraid of the provocation of the enemy, lest their adversaries should make· themselves ·unrecognizable, and lest they should say, Our hands are lifted·​·high, and Jehovah has not worked all this.

28 For they are a nation void* of counsel, neither is there any understanding in them.

29 Would·​·that they were·​·wise, that they had·​·intelligence in this, that they would understand their future!

30 How should one pursue a thousand, and two put· myriads ·to·​·flight, except their Rock had sold them, and Jehovah had closed· them ·in?

31 For their rock is not as our rock, even our enemies themselves being judges.

32 For their vine is of the vine of Sodom, and of the fields of Gomorrah; their grapes are grapes of gall, the bitter clusters are theirs.

33 their wine is the poison of dragons, and the cruel gall of adders.

34 Is not this laid up in store with Me, and sealed among My treasures?

35 To Me belongs vengeance, and repayment; their foot shall move in due time; for the day of their downfall is near, and their fortunes* shall hurry upon them.

36 For Jehovah shall make·​·judgment for His people, and repent Himself for His servants; for He sees that their hand* is spent, and nothing is restrained or forsaken.

37 And He shall say, Where are their gods, their rock in whom they confide,

38 which ate the fat of their sacrifices, and drank the wine of their poured·​·offerings? Let them rise·​·up and help you, and be a hiding·​·place over you.

39 See now that I, I am He, and there is no god with Me; I put·​·to·​·death, and I make·​·alive; I strike, and I heal; and there is none who can rescue from My hand.

40 For I lift up My hand to heaven, and say, I am alive to eternity.

41 If I sharpen My lightning sword, and My hand seizes on judgment; I will return vengeance to My adversaries, and will repay those who hate Me.

42 I will make· My arrows ·drunk from blood, and My sword shall eat·​·up flesh, from the blood of the slain and of the captivity, from the gall of revenging* the enemy.

43 Sing·​·aloud, O ye nations, with His people; for He will avenge the blood of His servants, and will return vengeance upon His adversaries, and will make·​·atonement for His ground for His people.

44 And Moses came and spoke all the words of this song in the ears of the people, he, and Hoshea* the son of Nun.

45 And Moses completed speaking all these words to all Israel;

46 and he said to them, Set your hearts to all the words which I testify among you today, which you shall command your sons to take·​·heed to do, all the words of this law.

47 For it is not a vain thing for you; because it is your life; and through this thing you shall prolong your days on the ground, whither you cross·​·over Jordan to possess it.

48 And Jehovah spoke to Moses that same day, saying,

49 Go·​·up to this mountain of Abarim, to Mount Nebo, which is in the land of Moab, which is over before Jericho; and see the land of Canaan, which I am giving to the sons of Israel for a possession;

50 and die in the mountain whither thou goest up, and be gathered to thy people; as Aaron thy brother died in Mount Hor, and was gathered to his people;

51 because you trespassed against Me among the sons of Israel at the waters of Meribath Kadesh, in the wilderness of Zin; because you sanctified Me not in the midst of the sons of Israel.

52 For thou shalt see the land in·​·front·​·of thee; but thither thou shalt not go·​·in to the land which I give to the sons of Israel.

   


Thanks to the Kempton Project for the permission to use this New Church translation of the Word.

Aus Swedenborgs Werken

 

Arcana Coelestia #10283

studieren Sie diesen Abschnitt

  
/ 10837  
  

10283. 'It shall not be poured onto the flesh of a person' means no imparting [of what is the Lord's] to a person's proprium or self. This is clear from the meaning of 'the flesh of a person' as his proprium, dealt with below; and from the meaning of 'pouring onto' as imparting to. For 'pouring' has a similar meaning to 'touching'; but 'pouring' is used in connection with liquids, namely oil, wine, and water, and 'pouring out' in connection with Divine, heavenly, and spiritual realities, whereas 'touching' is used in connection with dry substances and with bodily things. For the meaning of 'touching' as imparting, see 10130. From this it follows that 'the anointing oil shall not be poured onto the flesh of a person' means that there is no imparting of the Divine Good of the Lord's Divine Love to a person's proprium or self, because a person's proprium is nothing but evil and the Lord's Divine Good cannot be imparted to what is evil.

A person's proprium or self is nothing but evil, see 210, 215, 694, 731, 874-876, 987, 1023, 1024, 1047, 5660, 5786, 8480.

[2] One part of the human proprium belongs to the will and the other part to the understanding; the will part consists of evil, and the understanding part of falsity arising from this. The former - the will part of the proprium - is meant by human flesh, and the understanding part by the blood of that flesh. The truth of this is clear from the following places: In Matthew,

Jesus said, Blessed are you, Simon, for flesh and blood has not revealed this to you, but My Father who is in heaven. Matthew 16:17.

It is plainly evident that 'flesh' here, and also 'blood', means the human proprium or self.

[3] In John,

As many as received Him, to them He gave power to be sons of God, who were born, not of blood 1 , nor of the will of the flesh, but of God. John 1:12-13.

'Blood' here means falsities that come out of the understanding part of the human proprium, and 'the will of the flesh' evils that spring from the will part of it. For the meaning of 'blood' as falsity arising from evil, thus what is in the understanding part of the proprium as a result of what is in the will part, see 4735, 9127.

[4] In Isaiah,

I will feed your oppressors with their flesh and they will be drunk with their blood as with new wine. Isaiah 49:26.

'Feeding them with their flesh' and 'making them drunk with their blood' stands for filling them up with evil and the falsity of evil, thus with what is of the proprium or what is one's own; for both the evil and the falsity come out of the proprium.

[5] In Jeremiah,

Cursed is the man (homo) who trusts in man (homo) and makes flesh his arm. Jeremiah 17:5.

'Trusting in man and making flesh his arm' means trusting in oneself and one's proprium.

[6] In Isaiah,

The people have become as fuel for the fire. If any of them cuts down on the right he will be hungry, and if any eats on the left they will not be satisfied. Each will eat the flesh of his own arm 2 ; Manasseh [will eat] Ephraim, and Ephraim Manasseh. Isaiah 9:19-21.

'Fuel for the fire' means making the evils or desires of self-love and love of the world one's own, 'being hungry' and 'not being satisfied' mean not accepting the good or the truth of faith, and 'the flesh of his arm' means both parts of the human proprium, 'Manasseh' meaning evil in the will, 'Ephraim' falsity in the understanding, and 'eating' making one's own.

'Fire' means the evils or desires of self-love and love of the world, see 5071, 5215, 6314, 6832, 7324, 7575, 9141.

The reason why 'being hungry' and 'not being satisfied' mean not accepting the good or the truth of faith is that 'hunger' or famine and 'thirst' mean desolation with regard to goodness and truth, 5360, 5376, 6110, 7102, 8568(end).

'The right' means good from which truth emanates, and 'the left' truth through which good comes, 10061; consequently 'being hungry if any of them cuts down on the right, and not being satisfied if any eats on the left' means that no matter how much instruction they may receive about goodness and truth they will not accept them.

[7] 'Manasseh' means good in the will, 5351, 5353, 5354(end), 6222, 6234, 6238, 6267, and 'Ephraim' truth in the understanding, 3969, 5354, 6222, 6234, 6238, 6267, so that in the contrary sense 'Manasseh' means evil in the will and 'Ephraim' falsity in the understanding, since almost everything in the Word also has a contrary meaning.

'Eating' means making one's own, 3168, 3513(end), 3596, 4745, from which it is evident what 'eating the flesh of his own arm' means, namely making evil and falsity originating in the proprium one's own.

The expression 'flesh of the arm' is used because 'the arm', like 'the hand', means the powers present in a person, in which he puts his trust, see in the places referred to in 10019.

[8] In Zechariah,

I said, I will not feed you. Let the one that is dying die; [the sheep] that are left will eat, every one the flesh of another. Zechariah 11:9.

'Not feeding' stands for not teaching and reforming, 'dying' for loss of spiritual life, and 'eating the flesh of another' for making evils originating in the proprium of another one's own.

[9] In Ezekiel,

Jerusalem committed whoredom with the sons of Egypt, her neighbours, the great in flesh. Ezekiel 16:26.

'Jerusalem' stands for the perverted Church, 'committing whoredom with the sons of Egypt, the great in flesh' for falsifying the Church's truths by means of factual knowledge which begins in the natural man alone, thus by means of factual knowledge based on sensory evidence.

'Jerusalem' means the Church, see 402, 2117, 3654, in this instance the Church when it has been perverted.

'Committing whoredom' means falsifying truths, 2466, 2729, 8904.

'Sons' means truths, or else falsities, 1147, 3373, 4257, 9807.

'Egypt' means factual knowledge, in either [a good or a bad] sense, see in the places referred to in 9340, and also the natural, in the places referred to in 9391.

Consequently the words 'the great in flesh' describe people who, relying on sensory evidence, reason and draw conclusions about the Church's truths. Those who do this lay hold of falsities as truths, for to rely on sensory evidence to reason and draw conclusions about anything is to rely on the illusions of the bodily senses. People therefore who are ruled by their senses are meant by 'the great in flesh'; for their own bodily perceptions govern their thinking.

[10] In Isaiah,

Egypt is man (homo) and not God, and his horses are flesh, but not spirit. Isaiah 31:3.

Here also 'Egypt' stands for factual knowledge, 'his horses' for a power of understanding consisting of this. That power is called 'flesh, not spirit' when people use what is their own and not God's to draw conclusions.

By 'horses' is meant the power of understanding, see 2761, 2762, 3217, 5321, 6534, and by 'the horses of Egypt' factual knowledge supplied from a perverted understanding, 6125, 8146, 8148.

[11] The fact that 'flesh' means a person's proprium or selfhood, or what amounts to the same thing, his own evil will, is clear in Moses, where the subject is the Israelite people's desire for flesh to eat, described as follows,

The rabble who were in the midst of the people had a strong craving and said, Who will feed us with flesh? Jehovah said, Tomorrow you will eat flesh. Not for one day will you eat it, nor for two days, nor for five days, nor for ten days, nor for twenty days, [but] for a whole month. And a wind set out from Jehovah, and it cut off the quails from the sea and sent them down 3 over the camp, about two cubits above the surface of the land. The people rose up that whole day, and the whole night, and the whole of the next day, and gathered them and spread them out all around the camp. The flesh was still between their teeth, before it could be swallowed, and Jehovah's anger flared up against the people, and He struck the people with an extremely great plague. So he called the name of the place The Graves of Craving. Numbers 11:4, 18-20, 31-34.

[12] The fact that 'flesh' meant that nation's proprium becomes clear from every detail in these verses; for unless this had been meant what evil could there have been in their desire for flesh, especially as flesh had been promised them on a previous occasion, Exodus 16:12? But since it meant the proprium, thus an evil will, which that nation possessed in greater measure than other nations, it says - when they desired flesh - that they 'had a strong craving', on account of which they were struck with a great plague, and on account of which the place where they were buried was called The Graves of Craving. Whether you speak of an evil will or of craving, it amounts to the same thing, for an evil will consists in craving. The human proprium has no desire for anything apart from what belongs to itself; it has no desire for anything that concerns the neighbour or anything that concerns God, unless this is beneficial to itself. Since that nation was like this it says that they would eat flesh not for one day, not for two, not for five, nor for ten, nor for twenty, but for a whole month, meaning that this nation would be like that forever (for 'a whole month' means forever); and for the same reason it says that while the flesh was still between their teeth, before it could be swallowed, they were struck with a great plague. For by 'teeth' the bodily level of the proprium, the lowest of a person's mind, is meant, 4424(end), 5565-5568, 9062. The fact that this nation was like this may be seen in the places referred to in 9380, and in the Song of Moses, at Deuteronomy 32:20, 22-26, 28, 32-34.

[13] In the Word spirit is set in contrast to flesh, for 'spirit' means life from the Lord and 'flesh' life from man, as in John,

It is the Spirit which bestows life, the flesh does not profit anything. The words that I speak to you, they are spirit and they are life. John 6:63.

From this it is clear that 'spirit' means life from the Lord, which is the life of love to Him and faith in Him, received from Him, and that 'flesh' means life from man, thus his selfhood. This is why it says 'the flesh does not profit anything'. Something similar is meant elsewhere in John,

That which has been born from the flesh is flesh, but that which has been born from the spirit is spirit. John 3:6.

In David,

God remembered that they were flesh; a spirit which would pass away would not come back. Psalms 78:39.

[14] Since 'flesh' in reference to man means his proprium, which consists of the evil of self-love and love of the world, it is evident what 'flesh' means when used in reference to the Lord, namely His Proprium, which consists of the Divine Good of Divine Love. This is what 'the Lord's flesh' means in John,

The bread which I will give you is My flesh. Unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink His blood, you will have no life in you. Whoever eats My flesh and drinks My blood has eternal life; for My flesh is truly food and My blood is truly drink. John 6:51, 53-55.

'The flesh' of the Lord means the Divine Good of His Divine Love, and 'the blood' the Divine Truth emanating from that Divine Good, so that they are similar in meaning to the bread and wine in the Holy Supper; and those Divine Realities are His own, present within His Divine Human, see 1001, 3813, 4735, 6978, 7317, 7326, 7850, 9127, 9393, 10026, 10033, 10152. Also, the sacrifices represented forms of good that originate in the Lord, and therefore the flesh of those sacrifices meant forms of good, 10040, 10079. Furthermore, various places in the Word use the expression 'all flesh', by which every human being should be understood, as in Genesis 6:12-13, 17, 19; Isaiah 40:5-6; 49:26; 66:16, 23-24; Jeremiah 25:31; 32:27; 45:5; Ezekiel 20:48; 21:4-5; and elsewhere.

Fußnoten:

1. literally, bloods

2. literally, they will eat, a man (vir) the flesh of his own arm

3. Reading demisit (sent down) for dimisit (allowed to depart)

  
/ 10837  
  

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

Aus Swedenborgs Werken

 

Arcana Coelestia #5037

studieren Sie diesen Abschnitt

  
/ 10837  
  

5037. The reason why 'being committed to the prison-house' and 'being kept bound there' mean being subjected to temptations involving false-speaking against good is that the expression 'the prison house' is used for the entire place just beneath and round about the soles of the feet where those undergoing vastation are kept. Those undergoing vastation there are people who, in spite of their false assumptions and of their evil life arising from falsity, have nevertheless had good intentions. Such people cannot be received into heaven until they have divested themselves of their false assumptions and also of a living delight in them which sprang from these assumptions. People in that place are subjected to temptations, for the false assumptions and the living delights springing from these cannot be ousted except by means of temptations. The place where those people are, or rather the state which they are passing through, is meant in general by 'the prison-house' and those actual places by 'pits'. Regarding vastations in the next life, see 698, 699, 1106-1113, 2699, 2701, 2704. Those undergoing vastations are called 'the bound'; not that they are literally bound in any way but that they lack freedom so far as their previous thoughts and resulting affections are concerned.

[2] Such is the condition of those meant in the Word by 'the bound' and by 'those who are in prison', as is evident from other places in the Word:

In Isaiah,

I will give You to be a covenant of the people, a light of the nations, to open the blind eyes, to bring the bound out of prison, out of the dungeon-house those who sit in darkness. Isaiah 42:6-7.

This refers to the Lord and His Coming. Here 'opening the blind eyes and bringing the bound out of prison, and out of the dungeon-house those who sit in darkness' stands for those who have no knowledge of goodness and truth but who nevertheless have the desire to know and be taught about these. But in this instance a different word is used in the original language to describe a prison.

[3] In the same prophet,

All the young men are hidden in prison houses; they have become a prey, and none delivers and none says, Bring out. Isaiah 42:22.

'The young men' in the internal sense are the truths of faith, which are said 'to be hidden in prison-houses and to become a prey' when they are not acknowledged any longer. In the same prophet,

It will be on that day, that Jehovah will visit the host of the height on high, and the kings of the ground on the ground, and the bound will be gathered together over the pit, and they will be shut in 1 the dungeon; after a multitude of days they will be visited. Isaiah 24:21-22.

'The bound over the pit' stands for those undergoing experiences of vastation, that is, temptation.

[4] In the same prophet,

What will you do on the day of visitation and vastation? It will come from afar. To whom will you flee for help? [Anyone] who has not bowed himself down will fall beneath the bound and beneath the slain. Isaiah 10:3-4.

'Beneath the bound' stands for the hell which lies below the places of vastation.' The slain' stands for those who through the false assumptions adopted by them have destroyed the truths of faith to a smaller extent than those pierced [by the sword] have done, dealt with in 4503.

[5] In Zechariah,

He will speak peace to the nations, and His dominion will be from sea to sea, and from the river even to the ends of the earth. Also as for You, through the blood of Your covenant I will let out the bound ones from the pit in which there is no water. Return to the stronghold, O bound ones of hope. Zechariah 9:10-12.

'Letting out the bound ones from the pit' stands for those who are undergoing vastation and temptation; for the places where such undergo vastation are called 'pits', see 4728, 4744. In David,

Jehovah hears the needy and does not despise His bound ones. Psalms 69:33.

In the same author,

Let the groaning of him who is bound come before You. Psalms 79:11.

In the same author,

Jehovah looked from the heavens towards the earth to hear the groaning of him who was bound, to open to the sons of death. Psalms 102:19-20.

'Those who are bound' stands for those who are undergoing vastation and temptations. In Isaiah,

In a time of good pleasure I have answered You, and in a day of salvation I have helped 2 You; I have also guarded You, and I have given You for a covenant of the people to restore the land, to apportion the inheritances that have been laid waste, to say to those that are bound, Go out; and to those who are in darkness, Reveal yourselves. They will feed 3 along the roads, and on all slopes will their pasture 4 be. And they will neither hunger nor thirst. Isaiah 49:8-10.

[6] In the same prophet,

The Spirit of the Lord Jehovih is upon Me, Jehovah has anointed Me; to bring good tidings to the poor He has sent Me, and to bind up the broken in heart; to preach liberty to captives, and to those who are bound, to him who is blind; to proclaim the year of Jehovah's good pleasure.

In David,

Jehovah who executes judgement for the oppressed, who gives bread to the hungry; Jehovah who sets the bound free; Jehovah who opens the blind [eyes]; Jehovah who lifts up the bowed down; Jehovah who loves the righteous; Jehovah who guards strangers, upholds the orphan and the widow. Psalms 146:7-9.

'The bound' stands for those who are undergoing vastation and temptations because of falsities.

From all these places it is also evident who are meant in Matthew by those who are bound or 'in prison' and likewise who are meant by 'the hungry, the thirsty, and strangers',

Then the King will say to those at His right hand, I was hungry and you gave Me food, I was thirsty and you gave Me drink, I was a stranger and you took Me in, naked and you clothed Me around, I was sick and you visited Me, I was in prison and you came to Me. Matthew 25:34-36

Regarding these verses, see the preliminary section of the present chapter, 4954-4958.

Fußnoten:

1. literally, over

2. The Latin means heard, but the Hebrew means helped.

3. literally, pasture

4. The Latin means good pasture, but the Hebrew means their pasture, which Swedenborg has in other places where he quotes this verse.

  
/ 10837  
  

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