Bibliorum

 

Amós 5

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1 Oíd esta palabra, porque yo levanto endecha sobre vosotros, Casa de Israel.

2 Cayó la virgen de Israel, no más podrá levantarse; dejada fue sobre su tierra, no hay quien la levante.

3 Porque así dijo el Señor DIOS: La ciudad que sacaba mil, quedará con ciento; y la que sacaba ciento, quedará con diez, en la casa de Israel.

4 Pero así dijo el SEÑOR a la Casa de Israel: Buscadme, y vivid;

5 y no busquéis a Bet-el ni entréis en Gilgal, ni paséis a Beerseba; porque Gilgal será llevada en cautiverio, y Bet-el será deshecha.

6 Buscad al SEÑOR, y vivid; no sea que hienda, como fuego, a la Casa de José, y la consuma, sin haber en Bet-el quien lo apague.

7 Los que convierten en ajenjo el juicio, y dejan de hacer la justicia en la tierra,

8 miren al que hace el Arcturo y el Orión, y las tinieblas vuelve en mañana, y hace oscurecer el día en noche; el que llama a las aguas del mar, y las derrama sobre la faz de la tierra; el SEÑOR es su nombre;

9 que da esfuerzo al despojador sobre el fuerte, y que el despojador venga contra la fortaleza.

10 Ellos aborrecieron en la puerta al reprensor, y al que hablaba lo recto abominaron.

11 Por tanto, puesto que vejáis al pobre y recibís de él carga de trigo; edificasteis casas de sillares, mas no las habitaréis; plantasteis hermosas viñas, mas no beberéis el vino de ellas.

12 Porque he sabido de vuestras muchas rebeliones, y de vuestros grandes pecados, que afligen al justo, y reciben cohecho, y a los pobres en la puerta hacen perder su causa.

13 Por tanto, el prudente en tal tiempo calla, porque el tiempo es malo.

14 Buscad lo bueno, y no lo malo, para que viváis; porque así el SEÑOR Dios de los ejércitos será con vosotros, como decís.

15 Aborreced el mal, y amad el bien, y poned juicio en la puerta; por ventura el SEÑOR, Dios de los ejércitos, tendrá piedad del remanente de José.

16 Por tanto, así dijo el SEÑOR, el Dios de los ejércitos, el SEÑOR: En todas las plazas habrá llanto, y en todas las calles dirán: ¡Ay! ¡ay! Y al labrador llamarán a lloro, y a endecha a los que endechar supieren.

17 Y en todas las viñas habrá llanto; porque pasaré por medio de ti, dijo el SEÑOR.

18 ¡Ay de los que desean el día del SEÑOR! ¿Para qué queréis este día del SEÑOR? Será de tinieblas, y no de luz;

19 como el que huye de delante del león, y se topa con el oso; o si entrare en casa y arrimare su mano a la pared, y le muerda la culebra.

20 ¿No será el día del SEÑOR tinieblas, y no luz; oscuridad, que no tiene resplandor?

21 Aborrecí, abominé vuestras solemnidades, y no me darán buen olor vuestras asambleas.

22 Y si me ofreciereis vuestros holocaustos y vuestros presentes, no los recibiré; ni miraré a los sacrificios pacíficos de vuestros engordados.

23 Quita de mí la multitud de tus cantares, que no escucharé las salmodias de tus instrumentos.

24 Antes corra el juicio como las aguas, y la justicia como impetuoso arroyo.

25 ¿Por ventura me ofrecisteis sacrificios y presente en el desierto en cuarenta años, casa de Israel?

26 Y ofrecisteis a Moloc vuestro rey, y a Quiún vuestros ídolos, la estrella de vuestros dioses que os hicisteis.

27 Os haré, pues, transportar más allá de Damasco, dijo el SEÑOR, cuyo Nombre es Dios de los ejércitos.

   

Commentarius

 

Virgin

  
This painting by Richard Cook  of the newborn baby Jesus, with Mary and Joseph, evokes the spiritual power of this long-awaited advent.

The word 'virgin' shows up in many places, where it symbolizes the Lord's kingdom and the church and therefore anyone who is a kingdom of the Lord, or who is a church. (Arcana Coelestia 3081)

In Genesis 24:16, a virgin signifies purity from all falsity.

In Leviticus 21:13 and Ezekiel 44:22, virgins signify the celestial church and people of the church who love the neighbor from their love of the Lord. That this might be represented in the Jewish Church, the priests were enjoined to marry virgins or the widow of another priest. (Arcana Coelestia 2362[4])

'Virgins,' as in Revelation 14:4, signify people who love truths because they are truths, so from a spiritual affection.

'Virgin' signifies the church as a spouse, who desires to be conjoined to the Lord, and to become a wife. The church that desires this union loves truths because they are truths. When life lived according to truths conjoins. This is why Israel, Zion, and Jerusalem, in the Word, are called 'virgins' and 'daughters' because they represent the church.

from the Writings of Emanuel Swedenborg

 

Arcana Coelestia #3081

Studere hoc loco

  
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3081. 'A virgin, and no man had known her' means pure from everything false. This is clear from the meaning of 'a virgin'. The word 'virgin' occurs in various places in the Word, where it means the Lord's kingdom, and also the Church, and therefore means every person who is the Lord's kingdom or who is the Church; and it receives this meaning from conjugial love which exists in chaste virgins. Conjugial love in the spiritual sense is the affection for good present in truth, and the affection for truth grounded in good, from which affections, when joined so to speak in marriage, conjugial love flows, see 2508, 2618, 2727-2729. And because conjugial love, as has been stated, is seen in a virgin, the Lord's kingdom, which is also compared to and actually called a marriage, is called a virgin. The reason 'no man had known her' means pure from everything false is that 'a man' (vir) in the Word means not only rational truth but also in the contrary sense falsity, see 265, 749, 1007, so that 'known by a man' means defiled by falsity, and 'not known by a man' pure from falsity. The word 'man' (vir) is not used here in the sense of a husband.

[2] 'A virgin' in the Word means those who are in the Lord's kingdom, or what amounts to the same, who have the Lord's kingdom within them. This is clear in John,

These are the ones who were not defiled with women, for they are virgins, these are the ones who follow the Lamb wherever He goes; for they are spotless before God's throne. Revelation 14:4-5.

[3] Plainly, these are called 'virgins, who follow the Lamb', that is, who are in the Lord's kingdom; and they are also said to be 'spotless'. In the proper sense they are 'virgins' who are governed by love to the Lord - that is, who are celestial - and so who are moved by an affection for good. They too are called 'virgins' who are governed by charity towards the neighbour - that is, who are spiritual - and so are moved by the affection for truth, as becomes clear from the following places in the Word: In Isaiah,

She has spurned you, she has scorned you, the virgin daughter of Zion; she wags her head behind you, the daughter of Jerusalem. Isaiah 37:22.

These words are addressed to the king of Asshur. 'The virgin daughter of Zion' stands for the celestial Church, 'the daughter of Jerusalem' for the spiritual Church.

[4] In Jeremiah,

Again I will build you, and you will be built, O virgin of Israel! Again you will adorn yourself with your timbrels and will go forth in the dance of the merrymakers. And their life 1 will become like a watered garden, and they will not sorrow any more: Then will the virgin rejoice in the dance, and the young men and the old together. Jeremiah 31:4, 12-13.

'Virgin of Israel' stands for the spiritual Church. The affection for truth which springs from good which exists with that Church is described here and elsewhere as 'timbrels' and 'dances'. In the same prophet,

The roads of Zion mourn, her priests groan, her virgins are dejected. The Lord has trodden the winepress for the virgin daughter of Judah. See my grief - my virgins and my young men have gone into captivity. Lamentations 1:4, 15, 18.

'Virgins' stands for affections for good and truth. Elsewhere in the same prophet,

Women have been ravished in Zion, virgins in the cities of Judah. Lamentations 5:11.

'Virgins' stands for affections for good.

[5] In Amos,

They will run to and fro to seek the Word of Jehovah, and will not find it. On that day the beautiful virgins and the young men will faint for thirst. Amos 8:12-13.

'The beautiful virgins' stands for affections for truth, 'the young men' for truths, or what amounts to the same, those with whom truths exist, of whom it is said that 'they will run to and fro to seek the Word of Jehovah, and will not find it', and so 'will faint for thirst'.

[6] In Zechariah,

Jehovah their God will save them on that day; as a flock - His people. For how great is his goodness, and how great his beauty! Grain will make the young men flourish, and new wine the virgins. Zechariah 9:16-17.

'The young men' stands for truths, 'the virgins' for affections. In David,

All glorious is the king's daughter within, in her clothing with gold interweavings; in embroidered robes she is led to the king. Virgins following her, her friends, have been brought to You. Psalms 45:13-14.

'The king's daughter' stands for the Lord's spiritual kingdom. 'Virgins following her, her friends' stands for affections for truth.

[7] In the same author,

They have seen Your goings, O God, the goings of my God in the sanctuary. The singers went before, players of the stringed instrument after, in the midst of the young women playing timbrels. Psalms 68:24-25.

'The young women playing timbrels' also stands for affections for truth. But young women are distinguished from virgins by innocence, the word 'virgins' being used because of conjugial love, thus of those in whom innocence is present since conjugial love is innocence itself, see 2736. This explains why in the verses quoted from John they are said 'to follow the Lamb wherever He goes', for 'the Lamb' is used to mean the Lord's innocence. Furthermore all in heaven are called virgins from the innocence present in their good. According to the amount and particular nature of the innocence present in that good 'they follow the Lamb'.

V:

1. literally, soul

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