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Hosea 8

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1 `Unto thy mouth -- a trumpet, As an eagle against the house of Jehovah, Because they transgressed My covenant, And against My law they have rebelled.

2 To Me they cry, `My God, we -- Israel -- have known Thee.'

3 Cast off good hath Israel, an enemy pursueth him.

4 They have made kings, and not by Me, They have made princes, and I have not known, Their silver and their gold they have made to them idols, So that they are cut off.

5 Cast off hath thy calf, O Samaria, Burned hath Mine anger against them, Till when are they not capable of purity?

6 For even it [is] of Israel; an artificer made it, And it [is] not God, For the calf of Samaria is fragments!

7 For wind they sow, and a hurricane they reap, Stalk it hath none -- a shoot not yielding grain, If so be it yield -- strangers do swallow it up.

8 Israel hath been swallowed up, Now they have been among nations, As a vessel in which is no delight.

9 For they -- they have gone up [to] Asshur, A wild ass alone by himself [is] Ephraim, They have hired lovers!

10 Also though they hire among nations, Now I gather them, and they are pained a little, From the burden of a king of princes.

11 Because Ephraim did multiply altars to sin, They have been to him altars to sin.

12 I write for him numerous things of My law, As a strange thing they have been reckoned.

13 The sacrifices of Mine offerings! They sacrifice flesh, and they eat, Jehovah hath not accepted them, Now doth He remember their iniquity, And inspect their sin, They -- [to] Egypt they turn back.

14 And forget doth Israel his Maker, and buildeth temples, And Judah hath multiplied cities of defence, And I have sent a fire into his cities, And it hath consumed their palaces!

   

Commentaire

 

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.

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

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Arcana Coelestia #9313

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9313. 'I will act as enemy to your enemies' means that the Lord will turn away all falsities arising from evil. This is clear from the meaning of 'acting as enemy', when it refers to Jehovah or the Lord, as turning away, dealt with below; and from the meaning of 'your enemies' as falsities arising from evil. These are 'enemies' in the spiritual sense, because they constantly molest, attack, and try to destroy truths springing from good; for they are opposites. The reason why 'acting as enemy', when it refers to Jehovah or the Lord, means turning away - turning away falsities arising from evil - is that the Lord never acts as enemy. For He is Mercy itself and Goodness itself, and enmity finds no place for itself in Mercy itself and Goodness itself, not even enmity against falsity and evil. But falsity and evil act in enmity against goodness and truth, that is, those ruled by falsity and evil do so against those governed by truth and good. And since they destroy themselves when they try to destroy those governed by truth and good it seems as though the Lord acts as their enemy, when in fact He is simply keeping safe His own. This shows how to understand the explanation that 'acting as enemy', when it refers to the Lord, means turning away falsities arising from evil. For more about the nature of this arcanum, see what has been shown in 4299, 7643, 7679, 7710, 7926, 7989, 8137, 8146, 8265, 8945, 8946.

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