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Deuteronomy 25

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1 `When there is a strife between men, and they have come nigh unto the judgment, and they have judged, and declared righteous the righteous, and declared wrong the wrong-doer,

2 then it hath come to pass, if the wrong-doer is to be smitten, that the judge hath caused him to fall down, and [one] hath smitten him in his presence, according to the sufficiency of his wrong-doing, by number;

3 forty [times] he doth smite him -- he is not adding, lest, he is adding to smite him above these -- many stripes, and thy brother is lightly esteemed in thine eyes.

4 `Thou dost not muzzle an ox in its threshing.

5 `When brethren dwell together, and one of them hath died, and hath no son, the wife of the dead is not without to a strange man; her husband's brother doth go in unto her, and hath taken her to him for a wife, and doth perform the duty of her husband's brother;

6 and it hath been, the first-born which she beareth doth rise for the name of his dead brother, and his name is not wiped away out of Israel.

7 `And if the man doth not delight to take his brother's wife, then hath his brother's wife gone up to the gate, unto the elders, and said, My husband's brother is refusing to raise up to his brother a name in Israel; he hath not been willing to perform the duty of my husband's brother;

8 and the elders of his city have called for him, and spoken unto him, and he hath stood and said, I have no desire to take her;

9 `Then hath his brother's wife drawn nigh unto him, before the eyes of the elders, and drawn his shoe from off his foot, and spat in his face, and answered and said, Thus it is done to the man who doth not build up the house of his brother;

10 and his name hath been called in Israel -- The house of him whose shoe is drawn off.

11 `When men strive together, one with another, and the wife of the one hath drawn near to deliver her husband out of the hand of his smiter, and hath put forth her hand, and laid hold on his secrets,

12 then thou hast cut off her hand, thine eye doth not spare.

13 `Thou hast not in thy bag a stone and a stone, a great and a small.

14 Thou hast not in thy house an ephah and an ephah, a great and a small.

15 Thou hast a stone complete and just, thou hast an ephah complete and just, so that they prolong thy days on the ground which Jehovah thy God is giving to thee;

16 for the abomination of Jehovah thy God [is] any one doing these things, any one doing iniquity.

17 `Remember that which Amalek hath done to thee in the way, in your going out from Egypt,

18 that he hath met thee in the way, and smiteth in all those feeble behind thee (and thou wearied and fatigued), and is not fearing God.

19 And it hath been, in Jehovah thy God's giving rest to thee, from all thine enemies round about, in the land which Jehovah thy God is giving to thee -- an inheritance to possess it -- thou dost blot out the rememberance of Amalek from under the heavens -- thou dost not forget.

   

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Enemy

  
Charge of the Huns, by Ulpiano Checa

An enemy in the Bible refers to people who are in the love of evil and the false thinking that springs from evil. On a deeper level it refers to the forces of hell itself, and on an abstract level it refers to evil itself and falsity itself – which are, obviously, the ultimate enemies we have to fight.

(Referencias: Apocalypse Explained 671; Arcana Coelestia 2851 [1-15], 8282, 8289, 9255 [1-2], 9313)

De obras de Swedenborg

 

Apocalypse Explained #671

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671. And their enemies beheld them, signifies the knowledge and acknowledgment with those who are interiorly opposed to the goods and truths of the Word and of the church. This is evident from the signification of "to behold," as being to understand, consequently to know and to acknowledge (of which above, n. 11, 37, 260, 354, 529); also from the signification of "enemies," as being those who are opposed to the goods of love and the truths of doctrine, consequently those who are in evils and falsities, for these are meant in the Word in its spiritual sense by "enemies and adversaries." Thence it is clear that "their enemies beheld them" signifies the knowledge and acknowledgment with those who are against "the two witnesses," that is, against the goods of love and the truths of doctrine.

[2] The arcanum here involved is this: "Enemies" here mean those who are inwardly opposed to the goods of love and the truths of doctrine, but still not outwardly; for such with the mouth act like friends, but in heart they are enemies; therefore before the world they profess a belief in goods and truths, but in their spirit, in which they are when they meditate alone with themselves, they reject them. These are the "enemies who behold," for when such are in corporeal-natural thought, in which they are whenever they are in company with others, they see, that is, know and acknowledge, goods and truths. But when they are in their spiritual-natural thought, in which they are whenever they are alone and are thinking about matters of belief, they do not acknowledge. This is why it is said that "these two witnesses went up into heaven in the cloud;" for the "cloud" signifies the external of the Word, of the church, and of worship, which they see and from which they see. That the "cloud" here signifies this external may be seen in the article just above.

[3] In a multitude of passages in the Word, "adversaries" and "enemies" are mentioned, and by them evils and falsities are meant, evils by "adversaries," and falsities by "enemies;" for the Word in its bosom is spiritual, therefore in that sense no other than spiritual adversaries and enemies can be meant by "adversaries and enemies." That this is so can be seen from the following passages. In David:

Jehovah, how are my adversaries multiplied, many are they that rise up against me, that say of my soul, There is no salvation for him in God (Psalms 3:1, 2).

In the same:

Make wonderful Thy mercy, O Thou Savior of them that confide in Thee from them that rise up against me, 1 keep me by Thy right hand from the wicked who are against my soul, who compass me about (Psalms 17:7-9).

In the same:

Give me not up to the desire of my adversaries, for witnesses of a lie are risen up against me, who puff out violence; unless I had believed to see good in the land of life (Psalms 27:12, 13).

In the same-

Deliver me from my adversaries, O my God, set me on high from them that rise against me, deliver me from the workers of iniquity; behold they lie in wait for my soul (Psalms 59:1-3).

In Isaiah:

The wicked man acteth perversely in the land of uprightness; but Jehovah, Thy hand is exalted, fire shall devour Thine enemies (Isaiah 26:10, 11);

besides many other passages in the prophetic Word, where "adversaries and enemies" are mentioned, and also in the historic Word, where "adversaries," "wars," and "battles" are treated of. For as "war" signifies spiritual war, which is between truths and falsities, and thence weapons of war, such as "spears," "bows," "arrows," and "swords," signify such things as belong to spiritual warfare, so also do "adversaries and enemies." (That "wars" in the Word have this signification, also weapons of war, such as "bows," "arrows," and "swords," has here and there been shown in the preceding pages.)

Notas a pie de página:

1. The Hebrew has "that raise themselves up."

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