Bibliorum

 

Amos 4

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1 Höret dieses Wort, ihr Kühe Basans, die ihr auf dem Berge Samarias seid, die ihr die Armen bedrücket, die Dürftigen mißhandelt, und zu euren Herren sprechet: Bringe her, daß wir trinken!

2 Geschworen hat der Herr, Jehova, bei seiner Heiligkeit: Siehe, Tage werden über euch kommen, da man euch an Haken wegschleppen wird, und euren Rest an Fischerangeln.

3 Und ihr werdet durch die Mauerrisse hinausgehen, eine jede vor sich hin, und ihr werdet nach Harmon hingeworfen werden, spricht Jehova.

4 Gehet nach Bethel und übertretet! Nach Gilgal und mehret die Übertretung! Und bringet jeden Morgen eure Schlachtopfer, alle drei Tage eure Zehnten;

5 und räuchert von dem Gesäuerten Dankopfer, und rufet aus, verkündet freiwillige Gaben! Denn also liebet ihr's, ihr Kinder Israel, spricht der Herr, Jehova.

6 Und so habe auch ich euch reine Zähne gegeben in allen euren Städten und Mangel an Brot in allen euren Orten; und doch seid ihr nicht bis zu mir umgekehrt, spricht Jehova.

7 Und auch ich habe euch den Regen entzogen, als noch drei Monate bis zur Ernte waren; und ich habe auf die eine Stadt regnen lassen, während ich auf die andere Stadt nicht regnen ließ; der eine Acker wurde beregnet, und der Acker, auf welchen es nicht regnete, verdorrte;

8 und zwei, drei Städte wankten zu einer Stadt hin, um Wasser zu trinken, und wurden nicht satt. Dennoch seid ihr nicht bis zu mir umgekehrt, spricht Jehova.

9 Ich habe euch mit Kornbrand und mit Vergilben geschlagen; eine große Zahl eurer Gärten und eurer Weinberge und eurer Feigen-und eurer Olivenbäume fraß die Heuschrecke. Dennoch seid ihr nicht bis zu mir umgekehrt, spricht Jehova.

10 Ich habe die Pest unter euch gesandt in der Weise Ägyptens; ich habe eure Jünglinge mit dem Schwerte getötet, indem zugleich eure Rosse gefangen weggeführt wurden, und ich ließ den Gestank eurer Heerlager aufsteigen, und zwar in eure Nase. Dennoch seid ihr nicht bis zu mir umgekehrt, spricht Jehova.

11 Ich habe eine Umkehrung unter euch angerichtet wie die Umkehrung von Sodom und Gomorra durch Gott; und ihr waret wie ein Brandscheit, das aus dem Feuer gerettet ist. Dennoch seid ihr nicht bis zu mir umgekehrt, spricht Jehova. -

12 Darum werde ich dir also tun, Israel. Weil ich dir dieses tun will, so schicke dich an, Israel, deinem Gott zu begegnen!

13 Denn siehe, der die Berge bildet und den Wind schafft, und dem Menschen kundtut, was sein Gedanke ist; der die Morgenröte und die Finsternis macht, und einherschreitet auf den Höhen der Erde: Jehova, Gott der Heerscharen, ist sein Name.

   

Commentarius

 

Exploring the Meaning of Amos 4

By Helen Kennedy

In chapter 4 of the Book of Amos, verses 1-3 are talking about people who pervert the truths of the church. They will fall into falsities in outermost things.

In the Bible, fish represent "lower" things than mammals, so we can interpret the fishhooks in verse 2 as meaning being caught and held fast in natural or lower things.

Verses 4-6 are about acts of worship such as tithes and sacrifices. These look similar to genuine worship, but are only external sorts of things. We can tell because ‘teeth’ (in verse 6) represent ultimates or outermost things (see Secrets of Heaven 6380). It follows that “cleanness of teeth” would mean outermost things that look good but only imitate genuine worship. The Lord exhorts, “Yet you have not returned to me.”

Verses 7-8. Some things true will remain, when where there are too many false ideas, the truths don't get through. This can be seen where the Lord says, “I made it rain on one city; I withheld rain from another city... where it did not rain the part withered.” Again the Lord exhorts, “Yet you have not returned to me.”

Verse 9. Afterward all things of the church are falsified, shown by blight attacking the gardens, vineyards, fig tree and olive trees. The last three represent spiritual, natural and celestial things, or all the things of spiritual life. “Yet you have not returned to me,” says the Lord.

Verses 10-11. The Lord explains the devastating things he allowed to happen: plague in Egypt, death of young men by swords, stench in the camps, Sodom and Gomorrah. This is because they are profaned by sensual knowledges. Profanation means the mixing of good and evil together. (See Secrets of Heaven 1001[2]).

This extends to all things of the church, with the church being the Lord’s kingdom on earth (Secrets of Heaven 768[3]).

With profanation “as soon as any idea of what is holy arises, the idea of what is profane joins immediately to it,” (Secrets of Heaven 301).

Now there is hardly anything left. “Yet you have not returned to Me,” says the Lord again.

Verses 12-13: Because people adamantly remain in their profane ways, they are warned, “Prepare to meet your God!”. This is the God powerful and mighty, “who forms mountains, and creates the wind,” and even more close to home, “Who declares to man what his thought is.” As intimately a knowing as that is, the Lord’s love for all humanity is contained in His exhortations for them to turn themselves to Him.

See, for example, Luke 6:44-45, and True Christian Religion 373.

from the Writings of Emanuel Swedenborg

 

Apocalypse Explained #511

Studere hoc loco

  
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511. Was cast into the sea, signifies into the natural man. This is evident from the signification of the "sea," as being the knowledge [scientificum] in general which is in the natural man, consequently the natural man in respect to its knowledge there (See above n. 270, 342). This is the signification of "sea," because "water" signifies truth, and truth in the natural man is called knowledge [scientificum]; but truth itself is in itself spiritual, and in the spiritual man makes one with the affection of truth, for it is a form of affection there; consequently so far as this affection with its form is therefrom in the knowledges that are in the natural man, so far the knowledges contain in themselves truths, and are true knowledges; for the knowledges of the natural man, viewed in themselves, are not truths, but only containing vessels of truth, therefore "vessels" in the Word signify knowledges.

[2] That the "sea" signifies the natural man can be seen from passages in the Word cited above (n. 275, 342, which makes clear that the "sea" in reference to its water signifies knowledge [scientificum] in general, while the "sea" in reference to its waves signifies disputation and reasoning, which are maintained by knowledges; and as both knowledges and reasoning are in the natural man, therefore the "sea" signifies the natural man itself. But the state of the natural man is wholly in accordance with the affection of man's love. When spiritual affection, that is, affection of good and truth for the sake of good and truth, is dominant in man, and when this affection flows in through the spiritual into the natural man, then the natural man is a spiritual-natural man, for it is subordinate and subject to the spiritual, and as they thus act as a one, both are in heaven. But so long as a merely natural affection is dominant in man, there is in the natural man no truth, but everything therein is knowledge [scientificum] not true, it is dead knowledge and false knowledge, for the reason that the knowledges therein then conjoin themselves with affections merely natural, all of which spring from the loves of self and of the world, while truths themselves, because in themselves they are spiritual, conjoin themselves only with spiritual affections, as has been said above. When truths conjoin themselves with affections merely natural, they are no longer truths but falsities, for affection merely natural falsifies truths. Conjunctions of truth with affections merely natural correspond to whoredoms and adulteries of various kinds, and in the spiritual sense are meant in the Word by various kinds of whoredoms and adulteries. There are conjunctions of the truths of the Word with the love of self and the world that correspond to these.

[3] That the "sea" signifies the natural man with the things that are in it is also from correspondence; for in the spiritual world seas appear in various places, especially about the outmost boundaries where spiritual societies or heaven itself ends. There are seas there because in the boundaries of heaven and beyond them those dwell who have been merely natural men, and these appear there in deep places, where they have their abodes; the natural men there, however, are not evil, but the evil natural men are in the hells. The seas there seen also make evident what those are who are in them, especially from the color of the waters, as verging towards darkness or clearness; if towards darkness those therein are sensual spirits, who are the lowest natural, and if towards clearness those therein are the interior natural. But the waters of the seas that are over the hells are dense, black, and sometimes ruddy; and the infernal crew therein appear like snakes and serpents, and like such monsters as are in seas.

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