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Hosea 6

Студија

   

1 Come and let us return unto Jehovah: for he hath torn, and he will heal us; he hath smitten, and he will bind us up.

2 After two days will he revive us; on the third day he will raise us up, and we shall live before his face;

3 and we shall know, -- we shall follow on to know Jehovah: his going forth is assured as the morning dawn; and he will come unto us as the rain, as the latter rain which watereth the earth.

4 What shall I do unto thee, Ephraim? What shall I do unto thee, Judah? For your goodness is as a morning cloud, and as the dew that early passeth away.

5 Therefore have I hewed [them] by the prophets; I have slain them by the words of my mouth: and my judgment goeth forth as the light.

6 For I delight in loving-kindness, and not sacrifice; and the knowledge of God more than burnt-offerings.

7 But they like Adam have transgressed the covenant: there have they dealt treacherously against me.

8 Gilead is a city of them that work iniquity; it is tracked with blood.

9 And as troops of robbers lie in wait for a man, so the company of priests murder in the way of Shechem; yea, they commit lewdness.

10 In the house of Israel have I seen a horrible thing: the whoredom of Ephraim is there; Israel is defiled.

11 Also, for thee, Judah, is a harvest appointed, when I shall turn again the captivity of my people.

   

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Ephraim

  
Jacob blessing the sons of Joseph, by Januarius Zick

Ephraim was the second son born to Joseph in Egypt and was, along with his older brother Manasseh, elevated by Jacob to the same status as Joseph’s brothers. Thus when the tribes of Israel are named, Ephraim and Manasseh are named as patriarchs along with their uncles – Reuben, Simeon, Levi, Judah, Dan, Naphtali, Gad, Asher, Issachar, Zebulun and Benjamin -- but Joseph is not. According to Swedenborg, Ephraim represents the intellectual aspect of the church, the part that explores and understands what is true – especially the true ideas that can be drawn from the Bible. Manasseh, meanwhile, represents the affectional aspect of the church, the part that feels and loves and cares. This plays into the best-known story of Ephraim’s life. When Jacob was old and nearing death, Joseph brought his two sons to be blessed. He presented Manasseh to Jacob’s right hand as the elder, and Ephraim to Jacob’s left hand. But Jacob crossed his hands and gave Ephraim the primary blessing. According to Swedenborg, Manasseh was the elder son because ultimately, what we love makes us who we are; our loves form our lives. So our loves are the most central, leading aspect of our human existence, with our intellect playing a secondary role. But as we develop, we need to reverse those. We can use our intellect to understand what is good and right and force ourselves to do it, even when our desires are for what’s selfish. If we stick to that out of a determination to follow the Lord and be good people, the Lord will eventually remove the selfishness from our hearts so we can truly love what is good. By having Jacob bless Ephraim above Manasseh, the Lord is telling us that we have to put our intellect first to pursue our spiritual journey.